I only went to Amoeba Music once or twice, and that would have been back in about 1995 or so. My good friends Rob D. and Rob C. (though not Rob B.) packed up shop and basically starting squatting in the well-appointed bungalow of Rob D’s stepmother in Costa Mesa in Orange County, CA. This charming corner cottage soon became a base of shady, ill-considered operations for not only the Robs, but also our mutual friends Tim and Adam, and – for a spell – those charmingly louche lotharios in The Unband (more about them here). I cannot remember how long the tenuous Costa Mesa contingent held together, but it was long enough for me to go out and visit the gang at least two or three times. You can read more about that whole chapter here.
In any case, when in the arguably nearby Los Angeles environs, I did make it a point to go check out the fabled Amoeba Music, an airplane-hangar-sized store stacked to the rafters with all enticing variants of music and neighboring ephemera. It was just one of THE places you had to go to, and so …go I did.
The only reason I’m bringing all this up is that I’ve more recenlty become prone to falling down the proverbial K-hole of watching endless installments of “What’s in My Bag?”, Amoeba Records’ long-running YouTube series wherein they feature a notable musician, actor or renowned figure of some pop cultural significance and basically watch them shop and then have them display their spoils. Each subject then regales viewers with items they've picked out. It sounds fairly simple and – I suppose – fairly banal to non-music types, but if – like me – you’re the sort of person who cannot stop scrutinizing other peoples’ purchases at record shops or who frequently provides unsolicited counsel to fellow record-shop patrons, this is the series for you.
I also like being surprised by left-field selections certain artists make. Like, who would have thought Jack Grisham of T.S.O.L. was a huge fan of The Spinners? To that same end, who’d have imagined that Mayhem bassist Jorn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud would admit to buying Kick by INXS? Or who knew – maybe you did – that the lead kid in “Stranger Things” is a superbig music nerd?
Anyway, I honestly cannot get enough of the series, so I’m recommending it. Find all the episodes --- and there's a LOT of them -- here.
Incidentally, no one asked, but I seem to remember picking three things up during my visit to Amoeba. The first was Sampler, a compilation of tracks by difficult British punk-prog band Cardiacs, the second was a deluxe re-release of the first album by The Undertones, which I bought in the strength of the inclusion of “Mars Bar.” The last was a hilariously rude record called Ad Nausem by Derek & Clive. I’d picked up an earlier album by Derek & Clive – basically Brit comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore drunkenly riffing some astonishingly profane bits of improv after several ill-considered pints – and this one did not dissapoint.
If you’re in Southern California, get yourselves to Amoeba …. while it’s still there.
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