i am not really trying to put it down

but


after my visit there yesterday

1) i never ever find what i'm looking for.
2) its too loud in there w/ that big booming PA
3) its like 5000 square feet
4) 5000 square feet = too many customers at once
5) their existence drove rhino, aron's and other smaller indie stores out of business
6) despite everything, its still a san francisco hippie vibe

anyone else? i guess you other LA people probably like it.

i've just never found what i've wanted in there.... you know - things that should be normally easy to find - such as catalog ITR, Sympathy or Crypt releases....they never have them.

And I'm not trying to put you down Theresa, but I read similar things about this place fairly regularly- why do people go there? Is it the only record store left in LA?

He's totally trying to put you down, Theresa. Don't take shit from that Aussie.

odd ball crap
used treasure
better luck in
berk or SF
more junkies
and they unload
the crap they steal..

You are such a sore loser, Jack.
I offered you the chance to bail...

Whatever, kangaroo humper. Your Koala Bear tears said you wanted to quit. You wanna go again?

Is it the only record store left in LA?

yes. its a black hole that sucks up customers
tower is gone (due to its own problems)
indie stores like the rhino records store, and aron's records are gone - and even the LA Times could rack that up to amoeba sucking up the customers

my first paying job was in a record store the size of the goner store. in my estimation, most comfortable environment for record shopping.
nycd in nyc - closed its retail storefront and does most of their biz online. it was also the right size and had the two owners there covering the work day.

if you're gonna buy mainstream crap, i guess you'd go to the virgin megastore (which is the other record store around here), but since none of us actually do that....it sure would be nice to shop in a decent store

i think people NOT in big cities w/ thriving cultural scenes and the population to support them buy their records (well, their cd's ) at barnes & noble, borders, walmart...starbucks....

Sssh, Theresa and I are having a grown up conversation over here.

tet, your haiku-like post is fantastic
but SF/berkeley is the home of the original hippie megalopolis amoeba

i actually like record shopping in detroit quite a lot. but with the weather they are having right now, i'll order online or wait for the bands to come through town and give em cash greenbacks for their gastanks and get a record a real vinyl record in exchange

Sssh, Theresa and I are having a grown up conversation over here.

Boy, I ain't even started...

We seem to be lucky, that in such a small market, with a couple of large local chains as well as Virgin & HMV, the local stores can still make a buck.
I can't think of any Melbourne store that has closed since Au Go Go, and that was 4 or 5 years back.

Boy, I ain't even started...

Make your move then, I gotta go home in an hour.

honeysuckle - what is that cool indie store in st. kilda?
i have a friend who works there and i can't for the life of me remember its name

In St Kilda? Must be Raoul, Ben sold it a while back, now called Pure Pop. Still pretty damn good, they had free backyard shows on all summer.

it was raoul!
ok. mystery solved

Ben is still about, as is his lovely wife Lisa Miller...who is the friend? There is a slim chance I may know them.

jeff baker - he does a lbit of musical collarboration with dom mariani

in detroit
I like rust belt shopping better than west coast and my latest interest is "Cha Cha Twist" on the Madison

i never found anything in the LA amoeba - but i had many scores in SF (and a few in berkeley) - of course i lived only a few blocks from the SF store so i'd go in every week and comb the new arrivals

i remember goin to rhino in the mid 80's an coppin the strangeloves comp on rhino (i used to buy em all-chocolate watch band, slim harpo...you name it.). i carried it in my suitcase all the way home. plus i seen rodney at denny's.

my shit online, saves gas money.

I love amoeba... I try to go there every time that I'm in LA, which has been everyday lately. I'm an extreme-comuter as of late and I'm on the road between 3 to 4 hours a day. It's killing me. So the car trips are my time to really sit and listen to music. I've been getting into pod-casts which I just "discovered" last fall. Some of my favorites are "Snake Alley", "Get Drunk & Play Recs" and other Garage Punk.com stuff, Luxuria Radio's "Intoxica" is incredible! Anybody out there know of some other goodies??? Please hip me to them. Oh yeah, Ameoba... just yesterday I bought "Blackenstein" and Jesse Franco's "Dracula, Prisoneer of Frankenstein" on DVD for $7.99 each. I don't buy anything new there... Strictly used stuff. I used to go to Aaron's and Rhino all the time, but any port in a storm will do, I guess. Also, I don't remeber either of those stores having a the 78 selection that Amoeba does. One more thing... I saw Thee Midnighters play a free show in there 2 weeks ago that was c-c-c-c-c-cool!.. "I found a peanut" & "jump, jive & harmonize" slayed!!! I gotta go. Hugs, (MMMWWWaaaaw)
HG

Amoeba Berkeley and SF are great stores...they are good people too; employed me when I desperately needed a job. This was before the SF and LA stores were a twinkle in their eye. I think people are hating on them for their success. I personally have a hard time shopping in those massive stores also and while I have said the above statements regarding Amoeba at least twice before on this board, it is just as repetitive as the "I hate Amoeba" gripes!

Anyways, Goner was easily the best record store I'd been in lately--it actually compelled me to shop for music again.

1) i never ever find what i'm looking for.

I agree. People are shocked when the subject comes up about not finding what I'm looking for because they have everything.

5) their existence drove rhino, aron's and other smaller indie stores out of business

It's too bad, because all of those places had some real character and characters that really loved music and made shopping an there experience. Survival of the Fittest.

6) despite everything, its still a san francisco hippie vibe

Last time I was at the SF store I detected the MRR vibe. At least the San Francisco had what I was looking for, plus lots of stuff I didn't know I needed until I sawr it.

anyone else? i guess you other LA people probably like i

The one thing I'll give them good marks on is the parking and location. My girlfriends taste in music has improved since she started shopping there. She sometimes buys music from bands discussed or posting on here without even knowing it. Goner by osmosis.

Amoeba fucking rules. Huge selection, huge space, fair prices, etc. etc. The only people who complain are people who live in LA/SF and whine that all the small stores are gone now. WAAAAAAH! Try living in a small city where the only independent record store just closed up, and they didnt even carry any of the shit you wanted anyway. Be happy with what you got. Plus, i know a bunch of people in "Goner-approved" bands who have or do work there, so it's not like some huge Starbucks sucking the life out of the neighborhood. Again, be happy with what you have. It could be a lot worse.

Too many people in the store for you? Strore's too big? Who are you Howard Hughes? Jeez.

i am a cranky old lady. and i hate shopping. period. anywhere. for anything.
that good enough for you?
its like driving in los angeles or chicago. you have to do it but it doesn't mean you like it and you avoid doing it if there are alternatives.

the store in the haight (sf) used to be loads of fun. i would bring people there who claimed to hate california and everything about it.

and yeah - 5000 square feet is too fucking big for a store.

and further - its all relative - yeah - so i live in big cities. i am a goddam LA native (born here - not many who live here are). so i have big city complaints. there are small town complaints too and i don't begrudge anyone their small town or big city complaints. so let me fucking complain!

someday, you'll be old too and you will pine for the halcyon days when things had more character, when things revolved around your generation's needs and all that. you don't think so now? just wait til you turn 50.

there's nothing wrong with amoeba.... its just that i have a shitty time there. i am not wishing for them to go away but i liked a million times better the stores that amoeba's existence destroyed. there is room in the world for that opinion, and i see that i am not alone.

finally, i'll bet you don't like shopping in macy's, bloomingdale's, nordstrom, etc for your clothes. same thing applies to me for my records.

i like all my shopping to happen in small places where i can always see the exit and where there aren't 100's of people in there at once.

i went there recently and found the first television single for 18 bones and the second descendents single for 8. guess i know when to make the 8 hour trek from tucson.

plus i seen rodney at denny's.

you visited LA at the right time then.
that denny's is gone. it is a fancy schmancy character-free high end looking place that sells pastries and over priced fancy coffee. brass railings, euro trash table & chair sets, sbarro-like italian food priced way more than it should be

I hear one can find Rodney at Canter's these days.

I hear one can find Rodney at Canter's these days.

every night at 11 PM

Rodney was at all those "Kim Fowley Presents" Black Lips Shows that were at the Knitting Factory a while back but, haven't seen him since. Really though? Canter's at 11? I like their big turkey club stack with avacado.

Oh, but, I really like amoeba...Always have. I hate the crowded shopping shit too but, that's why I make lists. Otherwise I'd be there for hours not sure where to look if I don't write it down. I'll forget what I came there for. There's so much shit to distract me.

I love Amoeba. I have no problem dealing with such a massive stock - I can spend hours there. The DVD selection is as incredible as the music stock. I've never had a problem finding ITR or Sympathy titles there, though I suppose they run out of smaller indie titles from time to time. Aron's had really gone down hill even before Amoeba opened their doors so I don't feel too sorry for them. I saw Thee Midnighters perform live at Amoeba last week and I met John Waters there last night! I can't think of another record store in LA where that would be possible. Best of all, they allow (and actually encourage) customers to shop with their dogs!

The quality of their used 45's isn't even close to the level that their used LP's are on.

i sat next to the Dickies at that Denneys

I was at thee midnighters show too...It's a great place. I've never been to another record store like it. They keep new shit coming through and people trading used shit. It's great. Sorry, TK...You just gotta be patient and don't go on friday thru sunday...early weekday afternoons is best if you're worried about the crowd. The movie section rules as well as the world music vinyl section.

It's also great on account of it being in Hollyweird... as far as the whole DVD thingy goes; some industry guy gets promo shit, wants the creit and then sells it to them. I've got a bunch of brand new/still sealed DVDS that go for used prices. Cannibal Holocaust $12.99 when it normally goes for $24.99!!! Such a deal! You'd have to be mashugana to pass on such a price! I Drink Your Blood for $9.99!!! Only a putz would pass on such a price! The more you spend, the more you save!!! Thrill Killers $12.99! Regular price- $19.99!! That's a savings of $7.00!!! What are you waiting for?? Come on down!!!

if you can't find good records in L.A. then you don't know where to look.

Headline Records on Melrose

Don's Music in Eagle Rock

PooBah in Pasadena

going to Amoeba is like going to Costco

Tower hasn't been good since the 80's, Rhino was on the westside ewww.

Aaron's was cool but you were at the mercy of their buyers...Too much Prog Rock shit.

I love Amoeba and headline...Both rock hard shits.

But have you been to Don's?

btw nycd sucked. all they sold was bruce springsteen an shit like that. you should have seen those two losers faces when i tried to sell them audible hiss. an when did you work in your first record store then, when you were 40??? that place wasn't around that long. cb's record canteen circa me ruled for ny rec stores an venus circa mariconda. nyc's been lost as far as record stores goes for decades now.

fuck you - Alberto Rules!

Haven't been to don's yet...I gotta get out of LA for a few other's you told me about in the past...Poobah, Don's, And another I'm forgetting. Help me out here, Gore...Which am I forgetting?

Last time I went record shopping in LA was about 12 years ago and I got good stuff at Zed's Long Beach, Vinyl Solution HB and Green Hell in Hollywood--any of them still exist?

-Ryan

Speaking of John Waters, what is that new CD he put out on Rhino all about?

I Drink Your Blood told me that the devil was a black man.

Princeton Record Exchange was nice in 2000, that mike snipper still work there? And New Jeru, where can I turn my car around at? 5 miles that way, your boulevard's make me shit in my Arthur Treacher's sack.

What about Atomic Records in Burbank? Gf spotted me a hundred, brought me back records from my want list, and became my wife.

I Drink Your Blood told me that the devil was a black man.

I think that you're confused with I Eat Your Skin (1964) which goes like this:
"A cancer researcher on a remote Caribbean island discovers that by treating the natives with snake venom he can turn them into bug-eyed zombies. Uninterested in this information, the unfortunate man is forced by his evil employer to create an army of the creatures in order to conquer the world.

I Drink Your Blood (1970) is this:
"A band of satanist hippies roll into a town and begin terrorizing the local folk. They rape a local girl and her grandpa goes after them. He fails and is given LSD. This bothers his grandson and he gets back at the hippies by feeding them meat pies infected with blood from a rabid dog. They turn into crazed lunatics and begin killing and/or infecting everything in their path."
They used to be on the same double-bill together and are both worth checking out.

I just went to Hollywood Book & Poster and got for $5.99 this little beauty:

"Five Minutes to Live" AKA "Door-To-Door Maniac" (1961)
Johnny Cash plays a level-headed murderer named Johnny Cabot who teams up with another con (Vic Tayback!) in a scheme to hold a bank president's wife hostage. But what they don't know is that the bank president is planning to run off to Las Vegas with his mistress and couldn't care less about his wife! With Rue McClanahan and Merle Travis!! Yes!!! MERLE "DIVORCE ME C.O.D." TRAVIS!!!!

Nah, the black dude gets to jam with being the Supreme Ruler Of Sados for the night and he informs the other yippies that Olde Scratch comes correct and has a black ass. Grampa trippin bawlz. The soundtrack is killer too.

No wonder 5minutestolive.com doesn't carry that Cash movie anymore. Lootbeggers.

Last time I went record shopping in LA was about 12 years ago and I got good stuff at Zed's Long Beach, Vinyl Solution HB and Green Hell in Hollywood--any of them still exist?

-Ryan


Green Hell is dead
Zed's is Dead
Vinyl Solution is still kicking...but I heard they've slid.

Fingerprints in Long Beach is ok
Bionic in Cypress used to be pretty cool
Third Eye in Costa Mesa is pretty good too. Lot's of Rare stuff.

Licorce Pizza?

Are they still around?

The Wherehouse always had everything you were looking for...




if your taste in music was jammed way up your ass!

5000 square feet is too fucking big for a store.
They may be downsizing sometime soon if this report is on the money.

i completely have a hate.love with the place. there are finds there but ye get em when ya get em. i know, it's annoying. the movie section is pretty neat though. they'll order stuff for you. i hate how they closed everything down. i miss licorice pizza. they don't got those anymore. thats for sure....

i'm lazy so the internet is the way I go..

going to Amoeba is like going to Costco
that's for damn sure. its what it feels like to me.
and when i say i can never find what i want.... when i want to turn people on to stuff like KK & BBQ or Jack O+Tearjerkers or Mr Airplane Man.... I've NEVER been able to find their cd's or vinyl in there - new or used. they're not THAT obscure. same with lots of Yep Roc releases.
so - why do i want to continue to bash my head against the wall at amoeba when i can't even get these STAPLES?

as for the other stuff:

i practically LIVED in poohbah's in the 80s. there was a guy who worked there who used to play w/ capt. beefheart who always had entertaining stories to tell. The Rev, he was called. the guys who worked there each knew a whole lotta stuff about their own fave genres. i loved that place. a fellow punk rock photog, tom jamison worked there.

licorice pizza across the street from the whisky in the 70s was a social scene. they had fun in-stores. even though it was a chain store, that particular branch was unique. anna statman, who would go on to become Slash records A&R, and stay in the A&R game worked there. we called her "slunta."

even tower on sunset didn't suck during punk rock days. both tower and licorice pizza carried the fanzine i worked on (lobotomy), so i have a soft spot for those branches of those stores.

i do not know if Zed in Long Beach is still there. Mama Zampelli was way cool. her first-born son and i shared an office at island records in the less dark ages (80s).

dirk - i worked at morning glory music in isla vista (which is by UCSB - this is the University of California in Santa Barbara - where I grew up) when i was a teenager.... in the dark ages before the wheel and fire. other people call it the 1970s. when hippies came in and they annoyed me, i played sparks records. they would leave immediately. fond memories of the dark ages.

as for nycd - they would get whatever import i wanted in a couple days and had fantastic personal service... for me at least. they knew their eno, that's for sure. and i saw ray davies shopping in there at least half a dozen times. always fun, that.

FINALLY - i'm SO with you tet68..... its become the internet for shopping for me. because i guess at the end of the day i am a misanthrope and lots of people in a record store is my idea of where i don't want to be... in hollywood at least.

TK - I worked at Morninglory too, in 83 and 84. Fun little store. Leopolds was across the street. There was a dark-haired guy named Bob and there was Greg, who was running that store on State St. last time I was there a few years ago...

damn finnark.... my last day at morning glory was in 1975... then off to college in LA i went. great little store, indeed.

jessiebelle said what i should have said all along: love.hate relationship w/ amoeba.