the last days of pompeii (or tower records)

so late yesterday afternoon, while on a quest for Ornette Coleman CDs at NYPL's Performing Arts branch, I stopped off at Tower Records by Lincoln Center. I believe that today is the final day that particular store will be open, so the few CDs that remained (kind of like getting picked last for a dodgeball game) were listed at 80% off. but what began with scavenger hunt anticipation (anything's possible) quickly turned into "we've already been to ten garage sales this morning and now I just want to go home and watch football" realism (yeah, anything's possible but all they have in this neighborhood is Reader's Digest and polyester muumuus).

I picked out maybe twelve discs after scouring pretty hard for at least the first twenty minutes, and pared by half before I reached the sales clerk. here's the list:

John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey's Dance Hall at Louse Point (import) for $4.40
Jon Langford's Gold Brick for $3.40
The Volebeats' Solitude for $3.00
Rhett Miller's The Believer for $2.00 (which for some reason was more than 80% off the marked price)
Billy Bob Thornton's Hobo for $3.60
Nine Black Alps' Everything Is for $2.60

total with tax: $20.59. and according to my receipt this represented a savings of $82.94.

but is it really saving $82.94 when the purchases didn't fill any particular holes in my lineup? not to get into the whole music as luxury vs. necessity thing, but I'm pretty sure I went in hoping for Ornette Coleman's Beauty Is A Rare Thing box, a couple of Lambchop I'm missing, and Richard Buckner's two MCA releases, Since and Devotion + Doubt.
obviously I didn't land what I wanted/needed.

I already have the Nine Black Alps downloaded but I really like the album (am I the only one? nobody but nobody paid attention to that record. and sure, they sound like a Nirvana-Oasis love child but, you know, that ain't all bad). the Billy Bob is pure perverse curiosity (I've never heard any of his music). the Parish-Harvey co-release is curiosity, but less perverse (I saw John Parish play a little over a year ago and like the little recorded stuff I've heard). no way I'm buying the Rhett Miller unless it's deeply discounted, but Jon Langford's pretty consistently good. probably most excited about finding the Volebeats (I reviewed Country Favorites when it came out and have been filling in the back catalog when I come across it).

still, not a good sign when the closing of a national chain of record stores and the bargains that instills elicit little more than a ho-hum. it seems the world has changed and I've changed with it.

last book read: Travelling People by B.S. Johnson (good luck finding a copy)
last DVD I can recommend with almost no reservations: New York Doll
last celebrity sighted in NYC: Rick Moranis (you win some, you lose some)
last musician interviewed: Stephen Malkmus
next set of photos to be post on The Last Concert I Ever Saw (probably): The Black Keys