oh. I'm sad about Rhino closing! That's awful.

The Memphis Outback didn't seem to be a celebrity dining destination of choice last night either. Though with the vigil at Elvis' grave this weekend and all, I'm sure Nicholas Cage is somewhere in town.

If there's anything you want me to look out for, Kat, I'll probably swing by their parking lot sale.

I have hopelessly non-indie music tastes, but I figure I'll go browse and say goodbye to a store I liked in principle, even if they no longer have a Golden Apple inhouse.

My body is working against me today. I fell back asleep while sitting in the big comfy chair.

Now I am up and showered, hopefully I can get motivated. food first though.

I planned to be productive today, but it's 1pm and I am still bumming about. It's sunny and warm(-ish), I think I may go for a walk before I do anything.

Science's 10 Most Beautiful Experiments

I'm familiar with all of them. Yay me! with the appreciation of beautiful science stuff.

Howdy, folks!

Yeah, that is sad about Rhino going. I practically lived there when I went to UCLA. Well, at the store before they moved. It was a lot grungier. Rhino was the first record store I ever went to with a listening booth. That listening booth was instrumental to my purchase of a number of LPs and 12" singles from groups I'd never heard of like The Shillelagh Sisters and The West India Company.

I wonder why Amoeba's formula has been so successful and Rhino's wasn't (although I never saw the years when Rhino went to stocking comics or anything but music)? I think Amoeba was so successful here in Berkeley because they filled a niche. All we had at the time they started was Leopold's (which had been bought by The Wherehouse and was already in the process of being liquidated), Rasputin's (where the store help just dripped with attitude and the selection wasn't so great for anything that wasn't rock), Tower (high prices and antiseptic atmosphere), Saturn (a little boutique store in Oakland whose emphasis is on pop vocal rarities and novelties), Down Home Music (in El Cerrito...great selection but high prices)...I can't remember whether dba Brown and Berigan's were still around at that point (they were boutique stores with jazz and vintage jazz stock). That's a lot of stores within a 5 or so mile radius, but it didn't feel like it did you any good because there wasn't any single place that hit the spot.

Amoeba kicked right off with a large stock, reasonable prices, friendly staff, and knowledgeable music buyers in all sections of the store (that I frequented anyway). Prior to Amoeba, Leopold's had had the best International section (occasionally Tower) in Berkeley. (Down Home has an excellent International section but its prices are higher than any other store.) Amoeba had Cheb i Sabah as its first International buyer and it really showed. They took so much of that business away that you started to see Rasputin's beefing up its section in response. Tower as well. But as I said, every section's buyer seemed an ace and it enabled you to do one-stop shopping because they carried everything, even classical.

But everything that Amoeba has is something the Rhino I remember had. Except for the square footage.

But as I said, every section's buyer seemed an ace and it enabled you to do one-stop shopping because they carried everything, even classical.

That is the mandate of the Amoeba buyers. "Treat your section like your own personal specialty store."

But everything that Amoeba has is something the Rhino I remember had. Except for the square footage.

The square footage is key, though. That's what guarantees volume and flow and consequently lots of turnover in the used stock. There's always something new. At Restless Records I knew every bin by heart. I rarely had to dip outside the new arrival bins. No way you can do that at Amoeba.

Yeah, it seems that might be it. But wasn't the new Rhino store much bigger? I think I only visited there once. I've been visiting my parents (and thus, LA) less frequently. And now that I've lived away for so long, I no longer have an Angeleno's mind about distances by car. So the drive from South Pasadena to Westwood seems like a big noxious pain in the ass.

Cass,

I loved your story. It reminded me of a report I just saw on high/higher end wines being offered in boxes. Seriously. Check this out:

[link]