Desperate Vinyl

I do not see this too often here in NYC. Seems impossible to fathom there is no such thing as a good old fashioned record store. Virgin, Tower and Sam Goody's have all closed here in Manhattan and they'd carried CDs...

There is something deeply wrong about all this. Because look, even these places know it: album cover art is its own billboard. Look at that cover shot of Ry Cooder. Or Aretha Franklin. The Box Tops! Or even the classic pulp fiction illustration & title of 'Desperate Rock n' Roll.' Had this been on a tiny CD, it's not likely to nab anyone's attention from the street.

I love CDs. I love the immediacy and global availability of mp3s. But...have record stores become so old-fashioned that their only cache is quaintness, like penny candy shops? I don't know. All I can say is that I can look at this and say that I miss it. I used to spend HOURS staring at my mother and grandmother's record collection, memorizing the images of Yma Sumac, the 5-octave Voice of Ixtabay, Ravi Shankar, Cannonball Adderly, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Shirley Maclaine as Irma La Douce, Dave Brubeck--just a few I can remember off the top of my head.