Southern Book & Record Expedition
Good lord it felt good to be back on the road again. Not necessarily with a bulging wallet, but with perfect sunny fall weather, a fully functional vehicle and a partner with an equal love of books, records and funky road food.
Our first stop was a fairly middle of the road Antique Mall where they have hundreds of dealers with widely varying levels of expertise and pricing. The closest I got to a decent record was “Nancy Sinatra In London”. A mono Reprise original, but overpriced. Everything else was the kind of crispy taco shell jacketed stuff you see in every thrift store and they averaged $5 a record! But I did find a really good copy of Twenty Years of Congress, Lincoln to Garfield with nice map still attached in the back and an unusual WWII book printed in France and loaded with obscure maps, photos and charts.
The next stop was much more fun and gratifying - Plan 9 Music in Richmond. After loading up on historic “Sally Bells Kitchen” potato salad, deviled eggs, cheese nip and Smithfield ham of course. The place was started in 1924 and some of the original sunlight from that year still warbles in egg yolky blobs throughout the eldritch interior.
As I was near giddy with happiness going through Plan 9’s International Music bargain bin and finding a few really cheap treasures, the gawky young teen behind the counter played some of the most gruesome hair rock I’ve heard since being mocked in Jumper’s Hole Mall in Glen Burnie in the ’70s. Refreshing, though, in a backwards masochistic way to hear such awful music in a record store in these ultra-hip times.
In their new arrivals I snagged a near mint Bob Dylan bootleg I’d never seen before called “Tangerine”. Live in Paris from 1978 it covers a diverse selection of songs from his career. And the cover is a photo taken during the shooting of Billy the Kid. Also got a really nice clean copy of Leadbelly Sings Play-Party Songs Volumes I and II on the Stinson label, pressed on red vinyl and a very good + original Reprise stereo copy of the Fugs’ “Tenderness Junction”. Does the gatefold include a nude picture of Sir Allen Ginsberg? Why, yes.
Cary Street where Plan 9 abides, also hosts a great new and used book shop called “Chop Suey”. It’s two-storied and the first floor is mainly a fairly small but well curated selection of new books. But their new arrivals area near the front boasted four Phil Dick paperbacks, so my bibliowillie was engorged.
One of the books I was seeking out for myself which I’d owned many times before but didn’t hold onto, was a copy of Paul Bowles’ autobiography Without Stopping. Sure enough I found it, along with a hardback bibliography of the books of William Burroughs, in theiir “Beat Era” section. It’s a fine UK Peter Owen hardback to boot.
The stairs leading up to the used floor were lined with really good contemporary art. If I had had more time I would have gotten some information on the artists, but we wanted to get to Atlanta at some point and who knew how many more thrift stores and flea markets awaited us.
