things i didn't say at the record store

xpost - agreed!

yes

guy comes in and stands in front of me and says: "Jazz".

and i say: "uhhhhhhhh, okay. you want some?"

"Jazz".

"Dude, what the..."

"Bill Evans. Steve Allen. Got any? Chet Baker. I have lots of records. I'll probably just give them to you. I'm getting old. I don't listen to jazz anymore. Got any Steve Allen?"

"Wait, you have records with you?"

"No, I live in New York State..."

"Our jazz is by the window there."

He looks for one minute then turns and says really loudly: "WELP, NOTHIN'!" And then he shrugs his shoulders in a really exaggerated and broad way like he's in a silent movie.

He leaves without another word and then I say: "What the fuck?" "Fuck you, you fucking weirdo."

Then I go about my business.

ShopGPT

I feel I need to make a pilgrimage to this store and ask you where the 90's IDM section is and watch you twitch

some of these stories remind me of Daffer, this beloved Minneapolis record store dude. Daffer was, you know, a little different and also suffered from severe narcolepsy.

he was forever going through the bargain records (which were in bins on the floor underneath the main racks) and delivering his signature catch phrase "Why so expensive?", then his narcolepsy would kick in and he would take a snooze on the floor of the store. Everyone know the deal so you'd just gingerly step around him and let him take a little nap. then, he'd wake up like nothing happened and keep browsing.

(this was at Treehouse Records mostly, which was the newer name of the legendary Replacement/Husker daze institution Oar Folkjokeapus)

i think you both made a little jazz there

You know how they say music is largely the notes you don't play?

Maybe the moral of the story is that a record store is largely the records you don't have

Lol

i have a guy now who has just been reeling off names of things i don't have for the last hour and a half. "You know what I don't see? Parliament. Parliament/Funkadelic? Huh. Is it somewhere that I'm not seeing?"

Yes, some other store!

does anyone do this in any other kind of store?

i have about 4 to 5 thousand records in the store at any given time. there will be a few missing...

(also when anyone tells me about terrible experiences they had with a multitude of record stores and dealers over decades of time i say to myself: "uh oh i'm probably next. what terrible new story will i give this guy to tell to other record store people in the future?")

damn, sounds like someone from michelin was at your store

I worked in a record store in Boulder, Colorado in the 80s. We had an endless parade of insufferable dudes like this.

Scott, you’d probably have some Parliament-Funkadelic if you priced them NOT to sell! You ever consider that? How are you gonna have any good records in your store if you keep selling them?

lol

Running the record store might be described as “an endless parade of insufferable dudes”

its actually not that bad! my corner of the world is sleepy. at least they only come in one at a time. i like to complain but i can't complain. it used to bug me when people would say "It must be nice to sit and listen to records all day" because i know how hard i hustle to keep a full store of decent stuff all the time - let alone for 14 years - but now i'm like: uh, you know what, it IS nice to listen to records all day.

meanwhile , i just bought 30,000 records so i'll see you in...january.

<3

new name. new bags. only took 14 years. i always raise an eyebrow when people start selling shirts for their record store before they actually open. i wanted to make sure i was ready.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/365465155_10161373913462137_3791527539330556956_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=s63mnYQ2cu0AX_pjT4L&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=00_AfAvWCTkVXs436yDYammUtLnOQqTLRduxUCMiHxoUODAIw&oe=64CFE55A

nice merch! really dig the logo

"are the prices hard?"

"uhhhhh, huh? the prices are the prices..."

"what's with all these different prices...5...10...15...??"

"uhhhhh, yeah, things have different prices...?? Do you wish they were the same...? i don't understand.."

do you know what store is...

sometimes i don't get it. i guess they wondered how i came up with prices? they also mentioned that there was no condition on the record...

like i'm gonna put the condition on every record?

people baffle me.

then some guy said "i don't see any bargain cd area..."

and i said "like dollar CDs? no, there is a salvation army around the corner though. i think those are $1.99 plus tax..."

then my pal willie lane came in and everything was alright again. willie is an excellent musician who puts out his own records in small batches and then he never reissues them. though feeding tube did actually reissue an old one recently. he doesn't reissue them himself though.

i'm in the back working and maria is up front listening to sadness and responding in kind: "oh wow yeah your family loves the beatles..."

last parting quote from sadness: "i don't have any money..."

thanks for stopping by.

Willie Lane is great! tell him good job

i will!

tooooooooooooooooo many copies around here of:

david bromberg (jesus, so many. holy shit. you couldn't pay me to listen to one. same with leo kottke and leo sayer.)

joan armatrading (love you joan but you rival national geographics in sheer land mass in the great commonwealth of massachusetts)

the roches (weeeeee are maggie, terre, and we are friggin' everywhere...)

mccggarrigglle sisters (you wish roches our records actually mate and give birth to more of our records forever......)

sweet honey in the...(okay you get the picture.)

i refuse all records by: tom rush, fogeldork, kenny dorkins, dorkins & logorrhea, wet willie, les dudek, chi-raqo, muddy blahs...so many more.

really no Moody Blues? I would think those would sell?

with u on the rest tho

ehhh every blue moon i sell one. but the problem is when someone has one moody blues record they have 20 moody blues records all in the same dusty VG shape. tooooo many of them. even for a dollar they sit.

no offense to the MBs. they are fine by me.

I treasure my original Willie Lane Known Quantity LP

i want scratch ticket to play at my store. willie and sunburned rob and sunburned john. best local power trio! but i don't think they have played a show since before covid.

Hey Scott, would you be interested in having Glenn Jones play at your store too? Serious inquiry...

Glenn plays at my friend Josh's store, Mystery Train, pretty regularly. They are friends. right around the corner.

That's great! A few months ago he was itching to play more gigs but said he didn't have too many lined up - I told him I'd ask around.

I've been digging into the early Leo Kottke records recently, and they're really lovely! Rich cascades of acoustic guitar flowing out of clean black vinyl - nobody told me. I would believe that the market has little need for any more beat-up, sawdust-filled copies though.

my brother-in-law turned me on to that Circle 'Round The Sun record by Leo years ago and I will always be fond of it. listening to it super stoned on top of a mountain outside Woodstock. Pat Metheny at the bottom of the hill! that's the first time I ever heard Red Hash by Gary Higgins and I had a similar lovely experience with that.

The key isn’t how good something is; it’s how many people want it. Leo is great. I’ve all but given up trying to sell the wonderful Martha & the Muffins and Doug & the Slugs records. You can’t give away Kristofferson. Etc etc

LOL this all reminds me of the time years ago when I walked into Au Go-Go records in the 90s waving Scritti Polittis first 2 7" and asking what they were worth, and the guy just gave me this dead in the eyes look and said "nothing, nobody even likes Scritti Politti anymore".

Never ever tried that again lol.

does the seller ever try to min/max on the customer's "i have $40. here are the records i saw, what can i get from this?" and be generous to the customer? my favorite spot did that years and years ago.

(also when anyone tells me about terrible experiences they had with a multitude of record stores and dealers over decades of time i say to myself: "uh oh i'm probably next. what terrible new story will i give this guy to tell to other record store people in the future?")

― scott seward

also good advice if you're dating someone and they tell you about how all their exes are terrible fwiw

re: early kottke - i got in the mood to listen, hadn't heard in a while, and found a video of kottke playing vaseline machine gun on... cnn?!?!? cnn isn't really a channel i associate with great live music.

sold a near mint u.s copy of Keep On Movin' today. i put it out yesterday. i was really tempted to keep it. so pretty. like new! even though i have the CD. hard to find such a nice vinyl copy. maybe not in the U.K. but here it is. or for me it is. i always see beat to hell Soul II Soul singles and that's about it.
i don't like when things stick around to tempt me so its good when they go fast. priced to move!
finally sold that copy of Edgar Froese's Stuntman too. one of those records i look at in the stacks and think of rescuing like a stray cat. but now its gone!
sold some george duke. some albert king. sold a lot of stuff.
i sold the second One Way album to my friend Ryan. love that group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcpkN66sKdw

there needs to be a term for when you look up the price of a dollar chad everett album because you are afraid that large professor looped a beat from it for a big pun remix or something and made it a $50 record. you never know! i'm not a rap encyclopedia or something. i did listen to all 4 Eric B. and Rakim albums today while working though. Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em holds up like crazy. god i love that record. my top latter-day sleeper tracks are "In The Ghetto", "Mahogany", "Relax With Pep", and "Know The Ledge". though "Know The Ledge" is kinda well-known. "Teach The Children" is so prescient. But I wouldn't expect anything less from a prophet like Rakim.

https://i.discogs.com/Ei68GESbMBLH0MVcAaHMICEUgwcb83c7HWMMAfiGTaw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:512/w:512/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTMyNDg1/NzEtMTM0MjQ2Nzc2/NS04MTM2LmpwZWc.jpeg

what i didn't say today: fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck you.

guys brings in a big box of CDs. says: "do you sell CDs...???" he's standing in front of huge shelves filled with CDs but never mind that. then he says: "i don't want much for them...just a little something. i really just want to get rid of them."

i quickly look at the horrible trash he has thrown on my counter - beat up crust-covered michael bolton CDs... - and say that i don't need them. so then he says: "can i just give them to you? i have more in the car..."

i think: eh, i always need cases. i'll cannibalize them for plastic. so i say "sure, yeah, i can take them." i have a dumpster out back.

he brings in two more hideous boxes and then says: "you should do good with those. THEY SHOULD HELP YOU STAY IN BUSINESS. i hate to see so many business go under..."

and i say: "uh, we've been here for 14 years..."

anyway, I'M GLAD HE SAVED MY BUSINESS.

i don't know how me taking out his garbage turned him into bill gates spreading the wealth but what are you gonna do?

and i said thank you. instead of: "fuuuuuuck you get out of here with your trash i was having a good day you ain't saving shit fuckface!"

don't know if i already ranted about this but the thing people do when they come in and ask for something very specific and when i tell them i don't have it and tell them they can easily buy it online and they say "well i know but i just really want to help local businesses when i can." then they leave. and i want to yell "then buy something else, fuckface!"

guy who sells records online and who came in today and who has told my wife twice now when i wasn't there that i ALWAYS give him a 20% discount? he will get an earful the next time i see him.

i'm sure these people are wonderful people. really. but people don't think sometimes. it's out of my system! see, the power of venting on a computer. it gets a lot of negative press but venting can be a healing force. #oneworld #onevibe #blessed

One thing I will say about the specific thing shoppers - I can easily understand the thought process: want thing, check local shop first, resort to non-local means if unsuccessful. I don’t think it’s an empty gesture of local business support... they’re taking your advice about getting the thing online but choosing to take the time to make sure they can’t just get it from you first, where they’d also get to see what they’re buying in person.

Sorry for being the fuckface that responds to your venting but was having a hard time not seeing the logic of the fuckface with that one.

Is there a service (or maybe record shops do this) where I give someone a list of the several hundred records I want and they track them down and ship them to me? Maybe they’d get 10% of the cost or something?

Basically no. That's a tremendous amount of work you're asking already-busy shop owners/employees to do for like $3 per record. Especially for a picky buyer ("unreported hairline scratches").

I’ve all but given up trying to sell the wonderful Martha & the Muffins and Doug & the Slugs records.

fwiw I would buy all your Martha & The Muffins records (except This Is The Ice Age because I've already got that one) but I suspect you are too far away for that to be worthwhile

Postage is pretty cheap!

I think at this point I’ve given up on even trying to flog M&M so I dunno if I even have good copies anymore but I can put ‘em aside for you when they come in & bundle them off for practically nothing.

Pretty cheap when sending multiple records, that is.

is it any better now? the UK<->US rates have sucked for a while

I can usually send stuff to Europe for $30 or so, up to a certain point where it all of a sudden turns into $100

it's ok, it's not worth paying $20-30 postage when I can buy those records here. thanks anyway. found a VG+ copy of Trance & Dance for £4.50. Metro Music goes for a bit more

I am driving out to Greenfield tomorrow. 😎

Scott I saw your note on what to say/not to say to non-record ppl and, considering I ambushed you with a surprise visit to the shop and multiple ppl in tow, you were great! Not that I'm a non-record person just saying. I don't think you need the note! ❤️ Allen - stop by! SS is greay. Oh, I miss MA. sigh.

We miss you too. :(

Snagged some KLF singles!