Monday, July 17, 2006

A Portrait Of The Blogger As A Young Jedi


Growing up in Rhode Island I watched tapes become compact discs, CDs become mini-discs, mini-discs fail and when I went to college I learned about mp3s, Napster and Discrete Dynamical Systems. This all becomes important (except for the Discrete Dynamical Systems) when I direct our discussion to how a young ruffian from Rogue's Island found out about new music when he was in his formative years.

1. He didn't.
2. He listened to what was on the radio (or MTV). See #1.
3. He listened to what his older brother played (Corrosion of Conformity, Megadeth, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Metallica, Queensryche, Ice Cube, etc.) on the CD player in the room they shared. See #1.
4. The Boston Globe. Living/Arts Section.
5. Newbury Comics.

It wasn't looking up when I was a wee lad. But things got better. And #5 had a big influence on it. The reason why is because, more often than not, I could go in there and find anything. Anything. I found the Pearl Jam Japanese (?) single for "Hail, Hail" in there as late as two years ago. Weird. Anyway, everything was at my fingertips. Newbury Comics was originally a Boston-based comic book store kicked off by some MIT guys, aptly named for its flagship store location on Newbury Street, which is walking distance from Quincy Market (I am pretty sure there is a T stop right across the way...Government Center? Bostonians, feel free to edumacate me if I am wrong on any of this).

In the mid-nineties a Newbury Comics opened up in L'il Rhody close to where I lived and I never bought a CD anywhere else (until college). Now, having entered the likes of Ameoba Records in San Francisco, I realize that Newbury Comics doesn't quite compare, but for a kid like me trying to keep it real in the smallest state in the union, it was a godsend. The prices were cheap and they were always handing out free shit. Just to the left of my Mac, on the wall, is a Pearl Jam poster I acquired after LIVE ON TWO LEGS came out that has every poster for every show that they did during that tour. It is pretty tight. The majority of the artwork is Jeff Ament's.

Some other free shit that I gobbled up over the years was their 25th Anniversary CD, which had the likes of Social D, Kate Bush, fIREHOSE, and Jeff Buckley. It came out in 2003, and by then I had heard of all the bands on the CD (except for possibly fIREHOSE & Uncle Tupelo), but I am sure there was a little hooligan out there somewhere, not unlike myself (ten years removed), that unwrapped it on the way to his car, threw it in his Sony ESP Discman (complete with car adapter) and expanded his horizons while blazing off into the sunset in a Pontiac 6000 LE that he would later destroy, much to his father's chagrin. At any rate, here's is the Newbury Comics 25th Anniversary CD.

MP3: Kate Bush - "This Woman's Work"
MP3: Oasis - "Don't Look Back In Anger"
MP3: Jeff Buckley - "Eternal Life" (live)
MP3: fIREHOSE - "Down With The Bass"
MP3: Suicidal Tendencies - "Trip At The Brain"
MP3: Uncle Tupelo - "Gun"
MP3: Adam & the Ants - "Stand And Deliver"
MP3: Ben Folds - "Not The Same" (live)
MP3: Ozzy Osbourne - "Gets Me Through"
MP3: Fishbone - "Sunless Saturday"
MP3: NaS - "The Cross"
MP3: Social Distortion - "Bad Luck"
MP3: The Psychedelic Furs - "Into You Like A Train"
MP3: 'Til Tuesday - "The Other End"
MP3: Alice In Chains - "The Rooster"
MP3: Tenacious D - "Wonderboy"

   
   
   
   

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, if you want to go to the Newbury Comics at Newbury Street, you should take the T to Hynes Convention Center. It's right around the corner. Government Center is pretty far away, on the other side of the Commons. Newbury Comics is all the way up at the top of Newbury Street, near Massachusetts Ave. Government Center and Quincy Market are within walking distance of Newbury Street, but only if you don't mind a long walk.

DJ durutti said...

Newbury Comics also has a Government Center store -- right around the corner from the Gov't Center Green/Blue Line T stop. So that's a possible source of confusion.

The orig/flagship store on upper Newbury is much better than the smaller Gov't Center branch (which is nevertheless a nice lunch time get-a-way for those of us Bostonians who work in the immediate area).

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