|
Last year I bought a cheap promo copy of Bill Ricchini’s album Ordinary Time from AKA Music, only to find out that it was the same CD that my friend had sold to the store a few weeks earlier. They’ve moved into a bigger space since then, with seemingly endless rows of CDs, music DVDs, boxed sets, and records. A few listening stations punctuate the aisles. The extensive used CD collection is worth checking out, though one could easily squander the better part of an afternoon doing so—the truly vigilant must flip through every single copy. Even the new CDs are reasonably priced. In any case, music lovers know it’s less about the price and more about the experience of browsing through the blues section, handling the soundtracks, and checking out the new releases while melancholic tunes from the new Clientele album play in the background. It’s one thing to leaf through a music store’s selection, another to have the confidence to purchase exactly what you fancy. Sure, I had no problem buying a CD by local folkie Bill Ricchini, but what about something more pedestrian—say, Prince’s The Hits 2? The cashier didn’t even blink. Yep, feels like home.
|