Recession?

3-7-08 Recession

Remember, a ‘recession’ is playing the records / CD’s you already own, instead of going out and buying new ones.

Lately, I have been enjoying collating my ‘Playlists’. This is how I listen to my record collection. I make ‘various artist’ mini-discs (aka Playlists) and play them in my car, and sometimes dub them onto cassettes for my friends etc. The discs are usually 74-80 minutes in length ea., roughly 20 – 25 songs each. Sometimes the songs lead me on to other songs, other times I’m just playing stuff I obtained recently, just to see what it sounds like. Listening is listening!

Perhaps one of the reasons I enjoy having such a large music collection is that I always want to feel like it is possible to ‘get lost’ in my own collection – always something new to discover. I have successfully demonstrated that I can own records for decades without playing them – a recent such example is Bob Dylan & The Band “The Basement Tapes” – I’ve owned the 2LP set since it came out, only played it for the first time last year, lending credence to my statement, “My ‘To-Be-Played’ stack is about 30 years deep!”.

But, y’know – I really probably shouldn’t spend so much money on much more new-to-me stuff. True, I often don’t spend more than $1 or $2 on a used LP – or $3 – $5 on a used CD – and I very infrequently procure ‘new’ product – as in, full retail price stuff.

And where have all the record stores gone, in this recession? I used to live between two Tower Records stores, two Wherehouses, and a handful of indie retailers. Now there’s one Wherehouse (which is now called “F.Y.E.” = For Your Entertainment) and a smaller handful of indie stores. I do not tend to patronize either of these options very much, locally. When possible, I shop at one of the three Amoeba stores – a good friend of mine calls Amoeba “the Home Depot of music”! The only other indie store I really like (that sells new product as well as used product) is Rhino Records in Claremont, CA. – about 50 miles from my house! Neither Target or Best Buy carries any music I ever want.

And if I want a used CD of something? I’ve been after a used CD of the aforementioned Bob Dylan & The Band album for some time now. If I didn’t buy CD’s off of the internet or get a friend to dub it for me – there certainly haven’t been any used copies of it at any of the stores I have checked recently in L.A. or San Francisco. No, I don’t want to download anything. I guess I should check Poo Bah Record Shop in Pasadena, CA – a music store I used to work at! Or keep my eyes open at the local music swap meets.

So, today let’s all play a record / CD that we already own. Whatever it is, be glad that you already own it, and that you (hopefully) have a nice copy of it. You could even dub it for a friend or sell it on the internet, if you so desired. I’m going to sell my ‘extras’ next September at the Claremont LP swap meet – easily my favorite swap meet.