“Unfortunately the large retail music store is a dinosaur,” said Tony Beliech, 39, a former Virgin employee who was lugging around an armful of CDs that he said would cost him no more than $20. “It does matter because it was also a social gathering space, and that’s one thing that buying music online lacks.”
Jesus, why does this keep happening? I used to love browsing Virgin and Tower (and Arons!), and making special trips to go to Hollywood where we would make fun of the fashion sense of the kids working there, while secretly wishing I worked someplace I could dress like that, and getting recommendations from those very same people. I also remember hanging out in the Santa Monica store on my lunch break when I worked at Rizzoli, stalking cute guys in the jazz section.
Ah: the good ol' days.
Is it really the consumer's fault that these stores close, or is it a combination of bad business and whatever (the economy, iTunes, illegal downloading...)? I know people blame stuff like this on the Internet, and maybe that is it, but: sad. I mean, we get screwed when places like this close, including all the bookstores I've ever worked in. Does New York City really need another Forever 21 (that's what they're building in the space)? Does any city need another Forever 21?
Then again, on our recent flight home from Washington, D.C. on Virgin America (and I have no idea if these are actually the same company; please don't look to me for your business commentary), when I realized that they were so freakin' money-grubbing that I'd have to buy my own (wildly overpriced) snack-size bag of Dorito's, and I wasn't offered the whole can of Diet Coke (Jet Blue, I love you), I thought, well, that's not endearing at all nor will I fly again (or will come armed with my own snack items and cans of soda, if I can sneak 'em past the TSA) unless the price is just too good to pass up.
So there you go. Because I was too cheap to buy an $8 bag of chips, a whole industry goes down in flames (perhaps not a good choice of words considering I was just talking about an airplane. My apologies).
...
OK, so another thing I've been doing is thinking about music I never used to think about. Patrick has been listening to a lot of Steely Dan lately. When he first started playing it in the car when I was riding with him, I have to admit that I let fly with some of my patented sarcastic comments (the lyrics to Deacon Blues are so ridiculous that I crack up every time I hear that song), but then the other night on our way to the movies, we listened to the song "Peg." "Peg" also has laughable lyrics, but musically, it's a really happy, fun song. We had a fun time singing along. It's one of those songs where I pay more attention to the actual music than the singing - the bass line is gorgeous. I watched, from VH1's Behind the Music on this album, the section about this song. I love those shows, because it's almost always totally cool to hear the musicians talk about how they came up their parts or what it was like. Rick Marotta came up with a pretty slick drum part, and hearing how the bass player snuck in some of his own ideas is fun. The two guys who are actually all that is really "Steely Dan" (Donald Fagen and the other guy) seem like perfectionists. Well, just like Captain Beefheart, James Brown and Lawrence Welk.
Also, Heart's song "Love Alive" is another forgotten (by me) song that I've become a bit obsessed with - it's one of those dynamic, pretty, rockin' songs that has cheesy lyrics ("baby I want you to roll me, hold me in your love, no more habits, promises and jive") but wow, the phrasing and the way Ann's voice fits with the guitar's rhythm is beautiful. And I kind of really love that whole middle section before the whole thing gets hard - before the "you're up there under the spotlight" section. And hey: there's flute in there, too. Also, Ann makes such good use out of words like "yeah." She really works it in so that it fits perfectly with the melody or whatever she's singing. I watched some of their old videos from the seventies over the weekend, and Michael DeRosier (the drummer for Heart in the 70s) was working a major beard. Guy was pretty cute back then. His kit was like, a snare, a bass drum, one tom, and a couple of kettle drums. Pretty cool.
These hundred year old songs, while not exactly what I like to readily admit to listening, are gems. And just to let you know that I haven't had a stroke or anything, the other things I've been listening to are The Veils, the Jesus Lizard, and Jeff Buckley.
God, please protect Finn Anderson from drowning, accidental overdose, or suicide. Thank you.
i've spent countless hours at record stores and definitely lament their passing. my sense is that my music choices have become somewhat less adventurous? experimental? with the loss of the social and tactile aspect of music shopping.
ReplyDeleteand i've always been a fan of steely dan, but it is clear to me now that i -- fortunately -- had never bothered to dissect their lyrics in any detail. i suppose i'll also have to give heart another chance since i have tended to categorically dismiss any band that used the word "jive."