San Francisco, #1 -- Amoeba Music

[sun_set_bravely]

The stories of my trip aren't going to come out in chronological order. I'm just goint to tell them when they ask to be told.


In San Francisco, in a neighborhood called the Haight, there is a music store called Amoeba Music. This place is an enormous collection of new and used CDs, vinyl, tapes, DVDs, videos, etc. The first weekend I was in California, we went to this store. The first weekend, I behaved myself. I think this was because I was so jet-lagged that the large Saturday crowds made me dizzy and wiped away any memory of albums I wanted to buy. For these reasons, I only bought these five CDs the first weekend:

Bonnie Raitt "Silver Lining"
John Hiatt "Bring the Family"
Bonnie Raitt "Nick of Time"
Portishead "Roseland NYC Live"
Lucinda Williams "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"

I introduced my friend to Erin McKeown's "Grand", which she proceeded to play non-stop for about a week. Of all the CDs I've listened to this summer, that CD will probably be the one that will bring back everything when I listen to it in two years.

Of course, as soon as I stepped out of the store, I thought of at least five CDs that I've been wanting for a while. Okay. So I started making a list over the next two weeks.

This weekend, I did not behave myself. To be fair, neither did my friend. We both walked out with no less than eight CDs apiece. But the joy was that much of the music was new to us! I introduced her to Kinky, EBTG, David Gray, the Rushmore soundtrack, and she bought several "out on a limb" CDs from bands she'd never heard of before. And I added these CDs to my collection:

Morcheeba "Fragments of Freedom"
East Mountain South "East Mountain South"
Secret Chiefs 3 "Book M"
Beth Orton "Central Reservation"
Hem "Rabbit Songs"
Indigo Girls "Shaming of the Sun"
Freedy Johnston "This Perfect World"
the Monsoon Wedding soundtrack
Massive Attack "100th Window"

When I walked out of the store, I actually went into a little bit of Consumerism Shock. I turned to my friend and she asked, "What did we just do?" With a little distance, though, I realize I got some great deals. 14 CDs for $140 total. Not bad.

That store is devilish. I'm glad I don't live near it, and I'm glad I don't know of the NYC equivalent. Otherwise I would be broke most of the time.

Comments

[nickelchief.livejournal.com]

I lived in NYC seven years and never found a great used CD shop. (I got lucky just once, when I found Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea used for $12 in a place otherwise full of junk). I'll watch this space to see if any of your New York readers say there is one.

There probably is one, somewhere where you shall never find it, down in a manhole in the outer Bronx, on a boat docked just off Riker's Island, or at the end of a JFK airstrip.

[microbie.livejournal.com]

How fabulous! And that is such a great name for a store.

[paularubia.livejournal.com]

My brother lived in the Haight for a year or so - on Fillmore Street, I think. He was paying an outrageous amount of money to share a floor of an old house with 3 other people. I visited him when he lived there about 10 years ago, and I loved that area. Full of punks and old hippies, cool shops, and funky cafes. But WAY too much damned patchouli.

My brother worked at Rough Trade Records which was also in the Haight, I think.

Glad you had such a great time. I look forward to hearing more about your trip and your hobnobbing.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

You have got yourself a new life, woman, and music will take you everywhere you need to go. Central Reservation.

Welcome back! I missed you!

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

Uh, what I meant to say before I accidentally deleted part of a sentence, was Central Reservation is one of my top summer albums, perfect for sliding into fall, perfect for lazing around feeling slightly melancholy and self-satisfied.

Her next album, Daybreaker, is just delightful.

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

A new life? I think you may be right. It is moving in directions I never could have predicted. More details to come.

And thank you! I missed you too. I've caught up a little on your LJ -- a move? Congratulations! This sounds thrilling and Very Good. I can't wait to read more.

no mousey mouse y mousey mouse.

[freak1c.livejournal.com]

Speak to me of - Secret Chiefs 3 "Book M"

I ain't never heard of 'em.

And !yah! for introducing people to Ben and Tracey. Cesar is always on about Amoeba, truly this place must be wonderous.

Re: no mousey mouse y mousey mouse.

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

One of our crew members played them one day, and I was intrigued.

Here is their bio from their website (http://www.webofmimicry.com/artist_sc3.html): "A nouvelle vague assortment of musical influences ranging from psychadelic surf rock, noise, arabesque and other Middle Eastern elements comprise the avant-gardening of the Secret Chiefs 3's quasi-mysticism. The band is the musical manifestation of an arguably faux Masonic-type group, the Grand Order of the Secret Chiefs. Often involving the musicians Trey Spruance, Trevor Dunn, Eyvind Kang, and Danny Heifetz, the Secret Chiefs avoid the trappings of standard 'world fusion' while infusing nearly-paranoid cryptography into an already beautifully confusing musical amalgamation."

They're a little eerie, and I haven't listened to them enough to give you a better description. But the idea is pretty trippy and fun.

[bluesavannah.livejournal.com]

Lucinda Williams --- I used to love that CD, but I haven't heard it in a couple of years. Good picks!!!

[oceanic.livejournal.com]

God, Ameoba Records. Lock up your children. I could spend the life savings of fifty people in that store. :) You know it's a good store when you drive there regardless of the fact that there is no damn parking in the Haight.

[echoboom.livejournal.com]

i know all bout amoeba...

and its beena few months since ive been..


hmmm..maybe tommorrow...

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

Nooo! Don't do it!!!!!

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

There's nothing like Amoeba in Seattle. I went to the Berkeley one a few years ago, and it just totally stunned me. The SF Art Car Expo is partly sponsored by Amoeba, so they have an "Amoeba to Amoeba" cruise. That would be deadly. Just deadly.

(I'm also glad there's no Virgin records in Seattle.)