Vinyl blowout

I finally finished all of my lab work and fellowship applications, so I was able to relax this weekend. Anne and I went to the movies yesterday for the first time in what seems like months (we saw Borat, which was awkwardly hilarious) and then I went to the Cal game (we beat UCLA 38-24, Go Bears!). This morning we went to Oakland's Dia de los Muertos festival in the Fruitvale. The only thing that's mitigated my enjoyment of this weekend is the sheer ineptitude with which the Vikings are currently playing against the sheerly inept 49ers. [Update: Since I wrote that last sentence, the Vikings have been utterly embarrassed by the pathetic 49ers and are probably slinking back to the Twin Cities as I upload this to my blog.] Otherwise it's been a great weekend. But all of this pales in comparison to the time I had on Thursday when I rewarded myself for finishing all of my lab work by going on a record-shopping spree. I've been saving some money I got as an award at a conference last winter just for this occasion. I took the entire day off on Thursday to travel to a couple record shops in the East Bay and the city to spend it.

Luckily, none of the local record stores open before 11:00, so I was able to have a leisurely morning. I had a big breakfast and then studied a little Swedish before heading to Saturn Records. This store is a small, musty, used record store in Rockridge about a 5 minute bus ride from my apartment. In many ways it's the platonic ideal of the used record store -- frumpy and old, like it's merchandise. There's just one problem. If a store can be said to have an attitude, this one does. As just one example of the "too cool for school" attitude that permeates the store, on my only previous visit I was disappointed to see that all of the heavy metal was filed under Spinal Tap. Well, I wasn't disappointed on this trip. I was greeted by a diffident clerk who was listening to Carole King at an ear-splitting volume. It took me a few moments of hovering in front of her counter for her to look up from her computer and acknowledge me so that I could check my bag. It's not like she was overrun with customers on a rainy Thursday morning. I was there for about 20 minutes, and only one other person came in. But, in spite of our rarity, we customers were treated with jaded detachment. It almost seems too easy to draw a comparison to the record shop in "High Fidelity," but put Jack Black behind that counter and you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

At this point I should confess that I dislike virtually all forms of shopping. One of the very few exceptions is shopping for used records, which I think is one of consumerism's greatest pleasures. Because a store's stock is constantly changing, you never know exactly what you'll find. It's like a treasure hunt for music. Since I don't DJ, my main goal is just to plug holes in my music collection. I always have a mental list of things I'd like to get, but the best part can be the surprises. Although I rarely have the patience to rummage through a disorganized rack of shirts to find the ideal, if slightly irregular, dress shirt for under $20, happening upon that rare Iron Maiden bootleg can make my week.

Because of that, I'll put up with a lot of crap when on a record hunt because the shopping itself is inherently rewarding. And here is where Saturn Records really let me down. They didn't have a lot of things I was looking for, and the few things I might have considered buying weren't particularly economical -- most prices started around $10. After a bit of hemming and hawing, I decided I'd have better pickings later in the day, so I retrieved my backpack from the indifferent clerk and headed out into the rain.

My next stop was Groove Yard, a store that I pass every day on my bike ride to work but have never been to. It specializes in jazz, blues, and soul, mostly jazz. Our jazz collection was in need of some new material, so I was excited to check this place out. Also, it has a sweet name. It did not disappoint. It had a ton of records to choose from, with at least a couple dozen records each in the sections for jazz giants like Coltrane and Miles, and even a record or two from some pretty obscure artists like Archie Shepp. The clerk/owner was very helpful and knowledgeably answered all of my questions like "What's the best first album to buy from artist X," or "I like artist Y, who else should I listen to?" And the best part is he answered them without the least bit of condescension. I left the store happily with five new records, and I could have easily bought half a dozen more if I hadn't been trying to stick to a budget.

It was lunchtime, so I headed toward the Rockridge BART and looked for somewhere to eat. I settled on Ben and Nick's, which is the sister restaurant to Cato's, the world's greatest bar. As I settled in with my beer, looking at my stack of new records, I decided this was shaping up to be a very excellent day indeed.

The next stop was Mod Lang, which is a small, independent music shop. It has a good selection of new CD's, mostly indie rock, and a respectable selection of used records, too. It used to be on University Ave., just a few blocks from my office. Sadly, it moved to El Cerrito about six months ago, and I hadn't been to it's new location until Thursday. It was a little disconcerting getting off the BART at El Cerrito Plaza because I felt like I'd been transported to the suburbs. The first stores that greeted me were a Starbucks and a Jamba Juice, and it took some poking around to find the record shop tucked away in a back alley. The store itself was relatively unchanged, although the interior is a little more sterile than it was in the century-old building in downtown Berkeley. The selection was just as good, though, and I came away with five more records.

I decided that I should cap the day with a trip to the Mecca of used music stores: Amoeba in the Haight. I probably could have gone up to Telegraph to go to Rasputin's and the original Amoeba, but it was a special day, so I made the trip into the city. The store in the Haight is a converted bowling alley, making it one of the biggest music stores I've ever seen. The selection, however, isn't quite what I remember from my last trip there. The front room that used to be devoted to jazz, blues, and world music is now a used DVD showroom, so everything else has been compressed into the remaining area. Also, although Amoeba's reputation as a used CD store remains unchallenged, I think the fact that everyone shops there means the vinyl section is pretty picked over.

While shopping at Amoeba, I did come to a realization about shopping for used records that confirmed a growing suspicion of mine. When I started collecting records after discovering Recycled Records in Reno, a lot of people still listened to music on vinyl. As a consequence, I think that records weren't all that rare, and basic principles of supply and demand kept prices down. (Most of the records at Recycled Records were $3.50.) Nowadays, it seems that the only people who listen to / buy records are collectors and DJs. This drives up prices, especially in the Bay Area where a lot of people are into music (and it seems like every tenth person is a DJ.) (Another Bay Area factor is obviously the higher rents.) While I was able to find some good used options after a bit of digging, what was most striking about Amoeba's record section was how much of their vinyl was new, still in the shrink wrap, and obviously aimed at collectors. There were reissues of classic albums (I actually got a couple) and a lot of bootlegs and rarities. As one example, the only thing in the Smiths section was six copies of a collection of b-sides and demos called "Boyfriend in a Coma." Pink Floyd had a huge section, but most of this consisted of multiple copies of four different live bootlegs, all of which seemed pretty shady in terms of production values.

In spite of this, I was able to find a half dozen records I liked and could afford after poking around the recent arrivals and clearance sections, bringing my total haul to 16 new additions to my vinyl collection. Overall, it was a great way to spend my first day off in ages. Once I've had a chance to listen to them all, I plan on regaling you with reviews of all of my new finds.