Afternoons at the Groove Merchant
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
I wrote this for my monthly Oakland Trib column, two days after I left the Bay for L.A. Seriously, of all the things I'll miss (friends aside), just being to spend my afternoons at the GM is something I'm going to feel most nostalgic for, I'm sure. (Somehow, "afternoons at Bagatelle" doesn't have the same ring to it, no offense to Young Ein). And in any case, I thought the piece was apropos for the Strut since it tries to articulate what it is about records that we find so compelling to spend hours around here waxing rhapsodic about them:http://www.insidebayarea.com/music/ci_4136913Afternoons at the Groove Merchant[/b]I FIRST moved to the Bay Area almost exactly 16 years ago, a few days after my 18th birthday. This past Saturday, I parted from San Francisco under cloudy skies, drove across the Bay Bridge and headed down to Los Angeles where I've relocated my family in order to become a professor at CSU-Long Beach.Sixteen years is a long time, especially when it encompasses all of your 20s and half your 30s. Of all my regrets during that time (the ones of a non-romantic variety at least), one of my greatest is that it took me nearly 10 years to walk through the door of the Groove Merchant in San Francisco, even though it opened the year I arrived in the Bay. I had certainly known good independent record stores prior ??? Leopold's and Amoeba in Berkeley, Star and Zebra in San Francisco ??? but the Groove Merchant was ??? and is ??? something beyond a place to arm your crates with the latest and greatest.Think of the fictitious store in the movie (or book) "High Fidelity." Sure, there might be obnoxious snobs manning the desk, but under the right circumstances, they'll help you to something that'll blow your mind. Now imagine that same store but with even better records and manned by one of the most generous and congenial proprietors ("Cool" Chris Veltri) you'll ever meet in the business.The Groove Merchant offered much more than good records (though it has these in abundance) ??? it's been a classroom of sorts, too, not only expanding my awareness about music but also deepening my appreciation for it.People sometimes forget that the very name of records comes from their ability to record things ??? not just literally, as in music and voices, but also stories. It may sound cliche to suggest that "every record tells a tale" but it's true: There's the story behind who recorded it, why they recorded it and what happened to that record after it left the pressing plant and came into the world.For example, one of my favorite albums I got at the store was a copy of Weldon Irvine's "Liberated Brother." I'm a major fan of the late jazz artist's work. He has such a storied history as Nina Simone's former musical director, later as an important jazz teacher in the New York'70s scene, and then sampled by many rappers a generation later. I had the opportunity to interview him several times around 2000, before he tragically took his own life in 2001."Liberated Brother" was one of his best works, recorded on his own independent label and very rare. Here was Chris with a signed copy of it, no less, and what I wanted to know was: Who were these people to whom Irvine signed and gave his album? And why did they get rid of it? Who else had owned this album before me in the 30 years and 3,000 miles in between?The Groove Merchant was some place where I could learn all these kinds of musical biographies. Far from the snotty Comic Book Guy caricature of what some record store owners actually resemble ??? people who sigh when forced to actually interact with question-bearing customers ??? Chris takes genuine pleasure in discussing music. He's a repository for the arcane, obscure and eccentric but doesn't hoard secrets. I spent countless hours soaking up whatever knowledge he wanted to share around everything from Latin boogaloo of the'60s, funky European jazz of the'70s or local Bay Area gangsta rap of the'80s.That kind of passion for records is infectious and undoubtedly, I've since inherited the same affliction. It's not a coincidence that I started to blog about soul, funk and jazz records a year after I began going to the store. There is a delight and wonder in learning the back stories behind music and, sharing that knowledge only amplifies the pleasure you take in it. I've always credited hip-hop as what pulled me into music ??? as a hobby, vocation, obsession ??? but it was those afternoons at the Groove Merchant that enhanced, elevated and constantly reinvigorated that ardor.This has all become part of the musical education I take with me as I leave the Bay. I feel tremendously privileged and thankful for my 16 years up there. What partially ameliorates the pain of leaving is knowing that L.A. and the Bay may be worlds apart as cultural spaces but those seven hours along the I-5 aren't too bad, especially when backed with good music or conversation. And best of all, on my trips back, I always know where one of my first destinations will be ??? a pilgrimage to a shiny red stool inside one of the greatest musical sanctums I've ever known.The Groove Merchant is located at 687 Haight St., in San Francisco's Lower Haight. Call (415) 252-5766 or visit http://www.groovemerchantrecords.com
Comments
Chris destroys all the stereotypes about record shop owners and is indeed one of the nicest guys I've met in 25 years of digging.....I regret I only get to hang out with him twice a year.
FUKIN RAD
peace,
amir
in the place for almost 10 years ... I have to assume you
were a record store regular before turning 30?
Someone needs to open a GM-esque store in Boston.
After In Your Ear closes next year, there will be only
2 record stores left in all of Boston (plus a few minutes away
in Cambridge, of course) - I think the time is right for someone
to move in with a new approach and an understanding of modern
record collecting. Everybody could win if the right person
took the challenge.
Who up in Boston would be better to do this than you???
But not wanting to thread hijack, the Chris the runs Street Corner, Birmingham, Detroit is such the best fellow I've ever dealt with.
We need more peoples like these two Chris'.
is this SonicReducer or some other dude ?
I started DJing in the summer of '93. I probably started "digging" for soul, funk, jazz, etc. a few years later but I was pretty amateur on many levels and just didn't do a lot of homework. I was content in finding stuff at Amoeba and Rasputin (not bad places, all things considered) and though I had "heard" of Groove Merchant, I didn't really know what a speciality store was and just had no idea on how frickin' awesome it could be until a friend of mine took me through around 1999. What's weird is that I can't remember if I had already been to A-1 (back when the TSL guys were running it) and why I wouldn't have wanted to seek out the GM in S.F.
Believe me, in hindsight, it really makes no sense except that I was young and not really knowing what the fuck I was doing.
Which is still kind of true. Minus the "young" part.
But hey, better late than never.
I hear this 'eBay' thing is pretty good too.
Hence URB thinkpieces singling out the people at CTI/Kudu as "visionaries"?
I'm just messing with you.
Oliver, if shit does'nt work out in Long Beach You got a job waiting for you Back At the Merchant.
Good Luck in L.A.
Oh,and Bring up some trades next time you come up.
Chris
chris has shown me so many records over the years. weve bought, traded, and sold records to one another as well. weve gone on short road trips and did deals together. weve hooked one another up with sellers and buyers and have had a good working relationship for the past few years.
aside from all the record knowledge chris is dude. if you ever find yourself in the vicinity of groove merchant you should stop by and meet chris. if hes not in josh b and vinnie are super nice cats as well...
by far my favorite shop to drink a beer, eat a sandwich, and wild out in...
thanks chris!
I just got back from GM today as a matter of fact.
Chris is very knowlegeable and one of the nicest at the same time. A couple of years back (I live in Sacramento) when I make my vinyl trips, I would always hit up Amoeba in Berkeley at that's it. Now, I'd say for the pass two/three years, I extend my trip a little longer and hit up GM before anyplace else. I think I spent a couple of hours in there today. I've been to places like O*** M*** and some of those dudes are totally unappoachable. And there is a place in Sacramento (famous for a DJ Shadow cover) where the second owner (original owner passed away) uses Ebay for his price guide.
Today's picks from the GM
Eddie Long- Did You Ever Dream Lucky? b/w It Don't Make Sense But... 7"
The Beginning Of The End- Funky Nassau Part 1 and 2 7"
Calif. Soul Explosion- The Feeling b/w Chain Of Fools 7"
Third Bass- The Cactus Album LP
Third Bass- Derelicts Of Dialect LP
Dizzy Gillespie- Portrait Of Jenny LP
Teruo Nakamura- Manhattan Special LP
Marc Moulin- Placebo Years 1971-1974 LP
about Cool Chris!
Of the handful times I've come through the GM Chris hasn't been
at the helm but the last time I came through he was...
I brought a nice trade pile thinking I'd get a better than average
deal since I know the shops specialty..
I had no idea I'd get a straight across trade $100 price tag at GM=$100 trade credit!
WTF! That's the shit!
I'd bet their isn't another shop anywhere that would do that.
He was happy to get some NW raers that don't come around in SF too often
and I was happy to check off some long time wants.
Having the mindset that sometimes it's better just to get certain titles in the
shop is a revelation.
Looking at his business as a whole rather than how much can I make off this guy,
right now makes Chris truly Cool (no homo, not that there is anything wrong with that).
Keep up the good work!
GM is the scnitt, so much nicer than how I was treated at Good Records:
"Excuse me, are you the creator of Hi and Lois because you are making me laugh"[/b]
i'm a member of the twice a year hang club
after years of trades, mostly for stuff i'm not up on
but the cool one always offers guidance
& each time i've come up even better than predicted ($ related)
solid dood, all local peep should hit the gm on the regular
A lot of dudes in specialist shops get' all snobby. But not the hommie Chris.
Big ups to Chris!
This moral of this thread is that if you remain cool, your store will survive forever..
+ asshole store owners get the gas face!
peace.
AAAHHAHAHAHAHA
PS Chris/GM is the inspiration for my shop, truly a wonderful person & place and the blueprint for how a record shop should be.
Where should we be getting our funk from, oh righteous one?
beyond the buying, the selling, the trading and the spaces in between: great to have shopowners and storefronts to hang out, listen to new sounds, discuss current events, personal events, fictitious events.
there's a little indoor flea market like this in san antonio where i rarely find any records to buy, but love stopping in b/c it's so damn social and laid back- you get to meet every single person who walks through the door..... that's the way it should be. like an ice-cream social for music nerds.
so nice to put aside the price tag conversations or mega-come up posturing in a record store setting and return to what's important- the music.
so lots of respect to all the dudes trying to make this happen or who have successfully made it happen- you all know who you are.
plus- it's great to have shops where you can stop in and check your email free of charge!!!
All better answers:
at a barbeque
at a fish fry
at a crawfish boil
at church
at a parade
in a pirough
from the spattered blood of an interrupted mosquito bite
from a perfect cast
on a basketball court
from a sexual partner
from a dirty diaper
from doing manual labor
etc.
Oh jeez--people like you are the reason why the word "funk" has acquired an embarassing connotation.
I've never gotten that "Oh, you don't know about this?" attitude at GM, ever (and there are endless records about which I know nothing).
Lil' story: Last year, I mentioned to Chris that I was looking for a copy of "People Hold On" [SOUL STRUT FACTOR]. Three days later, I get a voice mail from him saying that he snagged a copy for me (at the nicest of prices) and that it'd be at the store with my name on it.
He also broke down the Gin & Super Socco science for me.
Yo, son, you didn't have that?!
Invest yourself or fall back.
Not your money and your trainspotting skills...but your life.
Damned straight that plunging lung-deep into some old dusty warehouse is an exercise de funk.
Even garage sales cut the mustard.
But to me, there is something lacking de funk from being able to stop into a Groove Merchant and as long as you've got the dough you can indulge yourself practically devoid of any earthy funk experience.
I wouldn't even say that a Cool Chris is to blame for such a predicament. He's obviously doing a great job of digging for others.
And at least Groove Merchant is in the Moe.
But I'd rather my funk source be able to cook up a batch a succulent ribs, or know where we can drag-net some shrimp for a replenishment of live bait, or know where we can successfully hunt for some magic mushrooms, or know which house the girl down the road lives in...than be able to sell me records at Northern Soul prices.
And you know Cool Chris well enough to be able to state that he can do none of these things?
Ah, yes, how troublesome it must be to live in a world in which nobody else can match your level of authenticity.
One question, though. Isn't the following more of a frat guy type of activity than the pastime of an authentic funk source?