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My Mind’s Eye Records: A Testimonial Although the proprietor of My Mind’s Records, Charles, claims to have been born in some exotic foreign land across some body of water in some different time zone speaking some other language that was not English, there is no doubt that, in whatever continent he was born, it was behind the counter of a record store - his mother in the middle of selling a NM copy of “Native Sounds of Exotic Lands” to some record jonesing sucker that should have been spending his liras on milk. |
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It is a certifiable jones for the record geek - a harsh jones that has
taken this vinyl junkie to all points around the country looking for
records. Amoeba in San
Francisco, CA and Berkeley, CA. Aron’s
in Los Angeles, CA. Reckless
in Chicago, IL. Kim’s
Underground in New York City. The
Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, NJ and Philadelphia, PA.
Jerry’s Records in Pittsburgh, PA.
Used Kid’s Records in Columbus, OH. And how does My Mind’s Eye stack up against these nationally known destinations for both audiophiles and obsessive fanatics alike? Great. Fucking great. My Mind’s Eye is smaller than all of them but cheaper too and there is always a pile of records sitting next to the counter that just came in on a trade from somebody whose father just died and left a couple of crates of dusty platters sitting in the basement. You could go into the record bins at My Mind’s Eye every day of the year (because My Mind’s Eye is open every day of the year) and find something different for less money than you will find it anywhere else. And what about the guy behind the counter? Charles, the owner of My Mind’s Eye, is a record store lifer and he really knows his shit. He is not afraid to recommend a record and has a sense for what people will like or for what is truly great. He recommended to me “In Search Of…” by Fu Manchu when he was working for a defunct in Cleveland, OH used record chain and Kyuss’ “Blues for the Red Sun” when he was working for another used record chain that fired him for being too enthusiastic. And those records are total classics. He started selling records for himself out of his car while he was working for yet another used record store and he will be selling records on the day he dies. And when Charles is not there Jamie (Boulder), Steve (9 Shocks Terror) and Tom (Pink Holes/New Salem Witch Hunters/Satan’s Satellites) fill in. If I were to write a poem with a used record store as a metaphor for paradise, My Mind’s Eye would be the store that I would have in mind while writing it. C. J. Klasa Assholier Than Thou November 8, 2002 Cleveland, OH |
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