Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Stella asked to be included in the Christmas decorating and I have complied.

I might be adding a wee bit more today. But just a bit.

Yesterday was about running errands. Boring, but necessary. Because I freelance and am home a great deal of the time, I find myself moving slowly in the morning only to look up at the clock and see that it’s almost noon, which means there are only 4 more hours of daylight left. It always shocks me.

I ran into Barnes & Noble yesterday to look for a book which they, of course, did not have. While I was there I looked through the vinyl albums and CDs. Nothing I wanted in stock. I felt a wave of nostalgia and yearning for the days when I could visit a record store and spend hours looking through albums. I would search for something and invariably find it. In the course of the search, I would discover new artists. I’d chat with the expert sales staff. I’d talk to other music lovers.

It’s all gone now.

Now I’m forced to find a vintage vinyl shop with limited stock somewhere or order online, which is not the same as thumbing through albums or CDs, reading the liner notes, holding the album in my hands, accumulating a pile of albums to take up to the cash register, knowing that a great new-to-me listening experience lies ahead. Every time I see that scene in Hannah and Her Sisters  in which Woody Allen comes upon Dianne Wiest in Tower Records and they look through the albums together, I get so sad for something that has been lost, never to be found again.

Don and I had a big conversation yesterday about this, fueled by my reaction to the dearth of stock at B & N. This led to mourning for a way of life, for expert staff that knew everything about music and artists, for the opportunity to discover music, not streaming it, but holding it in your hands, reading the liner notes, looking at the artwork, placing the album on the turntable. We talked about how many hours we spent reading liner notes when we were young, bedroom door closed, stereo on, lazing on our beds, drinking in the sounds.

There was a great record shop in Ann Arbor when I was still living in Michigan called Liberty Music Shop – it was there for 50 years. My friend Joe actually worked there while he was getting his Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan (resulting in a stellar collection of albums). The staff knew everything about their stock and if they didn’t have it, they’d find it for you. They had actual listening rooms where you could listen to an album you were thinking about buying before you plunked down your hard-earned money. The stock was heavily classical, but there were plenty of other genres as well. No one minded if you spent hours there or wanted to sample an album before you bought it. I loved going there. I also loved going to Dearborn Music, in my hometown, which was my go-to source for records. Or Rose Records, when I visited Chicago. Even the basement of my college bookstore had more vinyl than B & N has now. And, when Tower Records came along, I went there. Now, there’s really nothing.

Don talked about Folk Arts Rare Records in San Diego (very near to our house) where the owner, Lou Curtiss, had an encyclopedic knowledge of all sorts of music, especially Folk and Americana, but really – everything. Lou died this past summer, may he rest in peace. His knowledge was so vast that the Smithsonian and Library of Congress digitized his vast collection. At one point, Don was going to direct a period play that took place in England in the twenties and he walked into the shop, told Lou about the play, and within 30 minutes, he had everything he needed for his score. Where do we find that sort of expertise nowadays?

I mean, really, we’re left with B & N as our source of recordings? Or sampling 30 seconds of a song on Amazon and basing our choice on that?

I’m encouraged by the resurgence of vinyl but I don’t think it will ever get back to the way it was in terms of sales and stores and everything I loved about shopping for music. The same with CDs. And because there are very few facilities pressing vinyl, the cost is much higher than it used to be.

As you know, my collection of hundreds of LPs was ruined in storage – too many years of having no place to put them led to warping and mustiness. I mourn those records on a daily basis and am ever-so-slowly trying to find copies in used record stores to add to our current collection. So many times I hear a song in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel  and I shout out to Don: “I had that album!” And I want to find it again.

Luckily, we do have a few vintage record shops in our area. But I want to see more new vinyl records issued. I want to see shops that specialize in records and CDs. I want to pull the plastic wrap off of a new LP and read the liner notes. By the way, Anastasia  is coming out on vinyl in the next few weeks. Rest assured, I will be buying a copy.

Yes, we have lots of technological advances. But at what cost?

Thoughts on a Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday,