I just spotted this item on EV Grieve's site, and am newly depressed.
Etherea Records (pictured behind me at left last spring) wasn't my favorite record shop, but they had a decent selection, a knowledgable staff and sometimes hosted novel events like exhibitions of vintage rock photography. In the recent wake of Mondo Kim's, Subterranean and scores of others, the closing of Etherea means one less place where the culture of music is allowed to thrive. Sue me if that sounds histrionic, but it's true. It's also one more nail in the coffin of the East Village's (by this point rigor mortis-riddled) character.
Man, please don't tell me they are putting a Savings bank and an Applebees in their place. What gives here? At least keep one good record store open. Vinyl is making a small comeback in the mainstream now, I hear.
Posted by: MEK | January 28, 2009 at 03:23 PM
hey, did you know Disc-O-Rama on Bleecker is gone now too? maybe that's old news but I just saw that this morning, I was pretty sure it was open fairly recently...
Posted by: jon abbey | January 29, 2009 at 09:30 AM
Yeah, Disc-O-Rama now has a spot on 8th street, but they're no great shakes, really. Their Union Square spot is still there too, I believe.
Posted by: Alex in NYC | January 29, 2009 at 09:39 AM
The Kims demise is like a punch to the stomach -- I still have a list of movies not on DVD that I had planned on renting. Well at least St. Marks still has Sounds, The SM Ale House and the Yakitori place across the street.
Posted by: Alex Swingle | January 29, 2009 at 09:39 AM
"Yeah, Disc-O-Rama now has a spot on 8th street, but they're no great shakes, really."
yeah, that's been there for years.
all three of them have sucked for a long time, but the Bleecker St. one was where I bought my first CDs back when I was a Columbia undergrad. so there's a store I actually felt a second of nostalgia for, just to prove I'm not a hundred percent Grinch (like 99.6 tops).
Posted by: jon abbey | February 01, 2009 at 09:54 AM