Pace 6-The Michiaan Daily/New Student Edition - Thursday, September 5, 1991
The Michigan Daily/New Student Edition -TR
Take a walk on the
vinyl side
'Record' stores that actually still sell records and those who don't
by Peter Shapiro
Since most students are living and
feeling beings, not the brainwashed
automatons that George "Papa
Doc" Bush and other noxiously
fatuous mouthpieces of the
Hitlerian "new world order" paint
us as being, we would rather
fetishize some kind of commodity
than be blindly constructed by the
"illiberal politics" of one of the
"tenured radicals" on campus.
Whether that object is the sultry
upperclass woman in white t-shirt
and cut-off Levi's sucking on an
Evian bottle like Madonna, that
soccer stud struttin' into the Psych
172 lecture hall with his quads rip-
pling underneath his Umbros or the
sleek cover of your first Vintage
International paperback by some
tortured Eastern European intellec-
tual, your obsessions will invari-
ably define your personality more
apparently than H.D. Cameron's
Great Books lectures. Since they're
endlessly repeatable and easy to
fondle and to ogle at, nothing lends
itself to infatuation as easily as a
record does.
Unfortunately, like the rest of
the country, Ann Arbor is being
overrun by those obscenely impish
little aluminum coated things that
are too small to caress, that have
great mid-range fidelity butabso-
lutely no bottom and to which the
liner notes are usually impossible
to read. But, as long as there are stu-
dents who grew up in the pre-digital
'70s, there will be vinyl left in
town and at least a store or two that
will purvey it at reasonably cheap
prices.
P.J.'s Used Records (617
Packard): Don't be frightened by the
Subway downstairs, P.J.'s doesn't
serve up sterile plates of Oscar
Mayer variety. With perhaps the
greatest bargain bins anywhere east
of Kalamazoo (decent condition
copies of Stevie Wonder's Songs in
the Key of Life for $2, sealed Gloria
Gaynor Love Tracks for $3.50, free
copies of nearly every Osmond
record imaginable, etc.), P.J., Mark
and Jeff deal in hard-to-find hi-qual
items at low, low discount prices.
While perusing the shelves for an-
other copy of Thriller, Saturday
Night Fever, Bruce's The River or
begging them to find a copy of
Funkadelic's Cosmic Slop, the al-
bums and artists that they probably
sell more of than any other, take a
gander at their super jazz collection,
solid reggae/African section, the 32-
page color booklet to the album
that accompanied the This Is Elvis
documentary and definitely do not
miss the "Ric Flair Is Running the
White House" article from the
February Weekly World News hang-
ing on the wall. If you're an inveter-
ate record buyer and are addicted to
the rush you get when you receive
the hipster's badge of acceptance
(the nod of approval from the clerk
behind the counter), then here's
some advice: if Marc Taras is work-
ing (the bald guy bopping and hum-
ming to Eric Dolphy) then fork over
some cash for a Coltrane or Cecil
Taylor album, but make sure it's not
Alice Coltrane with Strings; if Jeff
is in the house (the head with long
hair fanatically raving about the
Dead resurrecting "Loose Lucy")
then Go to Heaven or a Hot Tuna
record is in order; and if P.J.'s
around (the one-two stepping to
Nathan Abshire songs) then it's
MUSEUMS
Continued from page 5
and one can get close to the exhibits
some of which date back as early as
the fifth century BC. Ancient Greek
Roman and Egyptian sculpture
Egyptian glass and stamp seals
Roman and Islamic beads anc
bracelets, Greek pottery, and a
mummy room which offers two ca
mummies, one dog mummy, and X-
rays of human mummies, are some
of the Kelsey's highlights. In addi
tion to these permanent displays
the Kelsey also mounts temporary
shows from the collection and fron
outside. But, like the Museum o
Art, the Kelsey can not afford tc
bring in all the shows it would like
to. Tallalay explains, "The Uni
versity is cutting back from al
sides. We'll probably only be doing
two shows a year. We used to de
four or six."
But even though both museum
suffer from budget problems, ad
mission to the museums, the tours
lectures and films, and to th
Museum of Art's lunchtime vide
rid of those heinous Zep and Floyd
records that scar your collection
don't do it here, they have about a
1000 copies of them in back.
Schoolkid's Records (523 Eas
Liberty): Named as one of the 2C
best record stores in the country, th
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While P.J.'s may not own, or at least display, Osmond Brothers' posters, the spatious upstairs location gives
you elbow room as you look for that copy of "Delta Dawn" or "Le Freak" for your way cool party tapes.
time to discover The Meters or The
Wild Tchoupitoulas.
Wazoo's Records (3361/2
South State): When you walk in the
door, immediately turn left and
walk towards the counter and look
behind the door to find Ann Arbor's
greatest cultural artifact. The
poster of The Osmonds (Wayne,
Alan, Merril, Bobby, and Donny) on
a yellow background with Donny
clad in Mickey Mouse trousers and a
magenta knit jumper with a circular
zipper that ends midway down his
torso is hard to believe. If, after
staring at it with mouth agape for
half an hour, you want it as badly as
I did, stop craving; it's not for sale.
But don't fret because you are in
Ann Arbor's other leading empo-
rium of vinyl wares where every-
thing from There Goes Rhymin
Simon to Live Air to Let it Bleed to
Flaco Jimenez Jr. is available in
good condition at cheap Ann Arbor
prices. If y'all want that party
started right after the inevitable
Led Zeppelin IV, Please Hammer
Don't Hurt 'Em, So, Don't Be Cruel,
Uplift Mofo Party Plan, whatever
fails to move the crowd, then look
below the CD crate near the afore-
mentioned poster and scan the bril-
liant selection of antique 45's from
the disco era. Trust me, after Are
You Experienced, flip on the first
side of Saturday Night Fever and
then the copies of "I Will Survive,"
"Le Freak," "We Are Family," and
"Boogie Oogie Oogie" that you find
and watch the party explode. One
word of warning: if you want to get
Wazoo Records may look big here, but the cramped upstairs place is chock full of LPs, CDs, and cassette
tapes. Here you can only see a hint of the funky wall decorations but not the greatest cultural artifact in Ann
Arbor, an Osmond Brothers poster.
selection of vinyl
dwindling faster
at Schoolkid's i
than Loverboy'
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Attention Freshman!
Don't Fight Over
Fall Course Books.
Reserve Yours Now!
Michigan Book & Supply's Book Reservation Service guarantees your
looks will be waiting for you when you arrive on campus. For quick,
accurate service, please have your CRISP (registration) form ready and call
us toll free at 1-800-765-6424 to place your order. A S25 non-refundable
deposit (applied toward the price of your books) is required. We accept
MasterCard, Visa and American Express. Or, if you prefer, fill out the form
to the right and mail it with a S25 check or money order to Michigan Book
& Supply, 317 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104. All books must be picked
up prior to the first day of classes, Thursday, September
5, 1991. All books are fully refundable up to two weeks
after the first day of classes .
with a receipt and in the
same condition as when li
Michigan Book & Supply Book Reservation Form
Last 1Fir't Phunc:
Department (o)urSe = SeCtioiB n1/ . albile la ok. L Opt ional TI titY
EXAMPLE: /71 201 VC SI lo 17j
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"'Great exa.
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Please fill out the form and mail it along with a S5 non-refundable check or
money order (applied to the price of your books) to Michigan Book & Supply.
31 S. State St..Ann Arbor, N1I 18104. Your books will be held for you until
Thursday. September 5. 1991. Please take advantage of this program before
August 23, 1991. the deadline for accepting book reservations.
We are located right on campus-on the corner of North University and State St.
VIS ~-
BOOK & SUPPLY
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purchased.