This place was dangerous – a huge store FULL of used vinyls, CDs, DVDs, and whatnot that I couldn’t just window shop. I could have spent several days digging through all these treasures and spending every cent I have.
I was overjoyed to find they even had a whole section for French music with Edith Piaf and Jaques Brel… Obviously the two disc set for Edith Piaf came home with me.
I did a very quick sweep of the vinyls because I knew I could end up with a stack of them. Instead I grabbed a George Carlin and then got lost in a back corner where there was a distressingly large pile of completely unsorted $1 CDs. I’ve been looking for new music to play in the car and it has a CD player so I ended up with an absolutely psychotic little pile of Swing, Delta Blues, French, Indie Rock, and Surprise. Sadly didn’t find any Dark Caberet or random local bands no one’s ever heard of but I guess there’s always next time! I’d totally come back here… with a couple of cartoon styled money bags.
Having just come from “the least suspicious fish store” in New England my companion decided to bring me to the most suspicious record store just to bring a sense of balance to the day.
When I drove up to this place I wasn’t even sure it was a store. Another guy loitered outside with question marks floating over his head. A sign on the door said call to ring the owner and give him a couple minutes to get to the door. I’ve been to places like that before. It’s always sooo awkward… The guy loitering seemed infinitely relieved we’d also shown up to poke at things. Makes it less awkward you see. Comradery!
As we walked in I was met at first with a wall of nostalgic toys and board games. This place was exactly what I expected from the sign outside… clearly someone’s personal collection that got a bit out of hand and now occupied a weird little basement store.
My companion was immediately distracted by a Dungeons and Dragons board game. Had this satanic panic beloved past time not started as a board game? I guess not. The box was inspected with befuddlement as if it was some sort of blasphemy coffin.
As we inched farther into this crammed space we saw oodles of weird vinyls, a pile of random cast iron cookware, a light smattering of minstrel references (which I am deeply hoping was there to make white customers uncomfortable, you know doubling down on the awkward) as well as a series of bizarre knickknacks, a giant bowl and ball made of welded keys, and more weird records. I don’t know if this place takes part in Record Store Day but it should! It’s goddamn perfect for it. It had everything from a limited edition of Wicked to the California Raisins, to Pacman’s completely unwarranted musical debut next to the soundtrack to a B-rated zombie movie no one’s ever heard of. This place was dangerous. I could come home with half this entire collection. Mixed with the peculiar there was also well known albums cheap albeit deeply loved beforehand. I had to stop myself when I spotted Janis Joplin’s Pearl album. Siiiiiiigh, not today, though God forbid I come back on a day I have some spare spending change!
So would I suggest this place? Sure, but I’d deffinately also advise to bring a good gaggle of friends, fellow weirdoes who’d like this sort of thing. If you’re reading this you know the type.
You find the weirdest things when you’re not looking for anything in particular. I remember reading something that was basically a whole belief system based on the power of going on daily walks. And you know what? As kooky as it sounds I’m not going to disbelieve there isn’t some whimsical hand of chaos at play here.
A great example of this was Defiant Records and Craft Beer. I am a teetotaler. I do not go to bars. But on this day we were walking down the street exploring and on the look out for a bathroom. We thought this establishment might be obliging to such a thing and they were! ‘Course there was only one stall so as I waited for my companion I was left to look around and this place… it was nice! A sweet little hipster bar in the middle of Laconia selling used records in the back for five bucks a pop. How cute is that?? Also loved the bloody Jason mannikin at the entrance.
I don’t know man, if I were into alcohol or looking to cruise for a date in the area this might be a fun little stop.
