My Reflection In The Coltrane

We are now officially selling vinyl at my music store. Or at least we will once we get these first six boxes of records priced and find some place in a store full of CD racks to place them. It's all brand new stuff, too, from new artists like Kanye West to James Brown and Toots & The Maytals, Q-Tip, Queen, Diana Krall, DJ Shadow, Tom Waits, Cream... and no, I seriously don't suspect that we'll start

taking back used records now that we are selling them new, and in fact a skeptical aspect of myself thinks that a good chunk of these records came from the Virgin megastore in Los Angeles, which our company bought while the rest of the Virgins were going under and closing. This makes me wonder if 1.) we'll only be getting what Virgin can't sell, or 2.) they are liquidating Virgin out in L.A. and we're helping. Still, it's pretty interesting, seeing vinyl making a return to

the music store business. But you know, I probably get at least three or four customers a week asking if we sell vinyl, so there's obviously some sort of market for it out there. But I'm not exactly sure what people are looking for on vinyl. We have Mos Def's new album The Ecstatic on LP, but I have never had a hip-hop fan come in looking for records, although I'd imagine deejays would be seeking them out for mixes and samples (most local club deejays probably go up to Washington DC for their dance/hip-hop records, since they have the best stores for such things). Is the soccer mom who asked me about vinyl last week looking for the latest Dave Matthews Band? Because we got that in on 33 1/3 as well. Anyway, it will be intriguing to see what sells and what doesn't. I'll keep you a abreast. (heehee)