Rainy Day Blues Blues Go Away

It particularly being a rainstormy kind of day, I thought I would cast my attention towards a sunny good time place (New Orleans) which I have come to grow increasingly fond of despite only having been there twice.  While my companion was busy tempting Lady Luck (and failing miserably) at the casino tables,  I decided to venture far out far from the tourist circuit/circus towards Magazine Street.   It was mentioned in guidebooks and the such that there were many antiques and such such to be found there, and following my interest in such things (though not necessarily the desire to acquire them), I set forth.  Well, it was a very very hot day, and it was almost as if a mirage when I saw the storefront of Jim Russell's Records.

No mirage.  It was really Jim Russell's Records.

Now, having become a record collector of sorts in the last decade or so (with decreasing frequency, actually, having reduced the number of vinyl records from over 2,000 to now a steady lot of around 400 to 500), I was quite sure that I had stumbled upon some goldmine. That it indeed was, from the very get-go, as the sight which greeted my heat haze eyes of a store packed to the rafters with records, tapes and all kinds of record related paraphernalia was surely quite wondrous.

The store in some of its glory (more not shown) and with Jim Russell's kin.

Well. to make a long story short, the most excitement was in actually seeing a place like this still exist, in an age where vinyl has (except for the so-called alternative music scene) all but disappeared.  I tried very hard to find something to buy here, and it took a lot of effort to make my way through the unsorted boxes (in particular, I was looking through the "After Katrina, people donated those" boxes as the many other categories of jazz, blues, rap and et cetera turned up empty for me.)  Finally, I was able to find a mint copy of the world premiere recording of Shostakovich conducting his final symphony, and inside the sleeve of which there was also a newspaper clipping from the Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) August 11th, 1975 edition of the conductor's death.  This attractive piece, being played now as I type these lines, came out to be a dollar and change. In addition, I was given a free keychain ("the last one") by the owner, the daughter of the record store as an added memory of the lovely experience.

Jim Russell Rare Records keychain ("the last one")

Come to think of it, writing this made the rainy day blues go away.