I hope this doesn’t become a theme. A lot of things I’ve enjoyed died this week:
Andrew Wyeth – My first exposure to Wyeth came via the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock where they had some of his smaller works on display. This one, Snowflakes, completely captivated me, and represents one of the few instances in my life where I’ve gone to an art museum and had something completely imprinted on my brain for the rest of my life.
Circuit City – Given the choice, I’ve generally opted for Circuit City over Best Buy, and not just because I’m a inveterate underdogger. I was always impressed by the depth of their CD offerings. They’d have obscure side projects by my favorite artists, and they knew to file them under the name of the parent group, rather than the title of the project.
Zipper Factory – I’ve only been to this Manhattan venue once, to see David Mead, but I was quickly impressed and immediately knew it was a place I wanted to return to. Imagine a cozy theatre where the seats are a mishmash of conventional seating plus vintage bus and car seats, with cup holders. And the decor throughout is junk shop snazzy.
Virgin Megastore Times Square – OK so it’s crowded with tourists and insanely loud music, but its death is symbolic: the demise of the last bastion of retail music as something for tourists to do. The Union Square location, where I’ve been known to shop on occasion, may not be long for this world, either.
Z train – It’s an express train, so I can’t say I’ve used it that much, but as a Brooklyn institution, it made its mark. “Get on the JMZ” will have to become “get on the JM.” And if Wikipedia is to be believed, the JZ trains contributed to Shawn Corey Carter’s stage name.
Ricardo Montalban – “You see, their young enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later, as they grow, follows madness and death.” ¿Quien Es Mas Macho? Adios, Ricardo Montalban.
Yes, farewell to Andrew and Ricardo! They both contributed to the world in their own wonderful ways and affected the culture of my life.
Circuit City definitely had the better CD selection – you could even pick up imports and rare-ish CD singles there. It was always my first stop back in the day too. I found some locations had better selections of “hard to find” discs than others – that one down by Bowman Curve always had the best loot in Little Rock.
It’s a new age though, and no bricks & mortar store will ever be able to stock the same amount of inventory as a five minute Google search will turn up. I’d bemoan this, but being able to run down even the most obscure title with minimal effort tends to sway me to the ways of the future 🙂