Stephen Mejias

It's really serious. I mean, in the beginning, you might give yourself a $25 spending limit, knowing very well that you'll find a little spot on the floor, alongside several others who'll be furiously rifling through the dollar bins. You'll almost certainly come away with a nice little stack of a dozen or so beautiful vinyl LPs. And that's all you'll need, really. That's all you'll need.

But then, just a short while later, with a bit more knowledge and a lot more desire, you'll double your spending limit. Fifty dollars will seem like no big deal; a small price to pay for a more beautiful life. You'll leave the record shop with a larger stack of vinyl LPs, but you'll regret all those you left behind. Why didn't you buy that original copy of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew and when are you going to find another one like it, dummy?

So, having kept these regrets in mind and having planned in advance, you'll soon make another trip to the wonderful record store. You'll say to yourself, screw it, I am not going to worry about how much money I spend today, it's a matter of art and beauty and soul and how can you put a price tag on happiness? And you'll spend over one hundred dollars. You'll feel a little uneasy about it. One hundred dollars could've gone into your high-interest savings account. You could've donated the money to charity. You could've bought your mom a present with that money or used it for groceries. Damn you! But when you get home and you play your records, all regrets and worries vanish.

This will happen a few more times. You'll tend to spend anywhere between $50 and $100 on records whenever you find yourself near a shop, regardless of whether you had planned on it. And don't forget about the money you spend online. Damn those online dealers with their excellent recommendations and their enormous stock of records from all over the world.

And then, one day, everything will just come together. You've made plans to meet a few friends at the Princeton Record Exchange. It's the day after payday, and you've been waiting and waiting for this. You've been avoiding those online retailers and you've even kept away from Iris Records for a couple of weeks, knowing that you'll make up for it at PREX. And the next thing you know, you've got an unbelievable stack of records beneath your arm and people are looking at you with a mixture of admiration and fear, and you're not going to worry about it, you're not going to worry about it, it'll all be okay, you were going to spend the money eventually anyway, and this is an investment that will last a lifetime. Be happy, you've got:

Alice Coltrane: Ptah the El Daoud (Impulse AS-9196; 1971)
Archie Shepp: Three For A Quarter, One For A Dime (Impulse AS-9162; 1966)
Archie Shepp: Yasmina, A Black Woman (Actuel 4 529.304; 1969)
Bruce Springsteen/Suicide: Dream Baby Dream (Blast First Petite PTYY 017; 2008)
The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo (Columbia CS 9670; 1968)
Country Joe and The Fish: Here We Are Again (Vanguard VSD 79299; 1969)
Herbie Mann: Memphis Underground (Atlantic SD1522; 1969)
Jah Wobble/The Edge/Holger Czukay: Snake Charmer (Island IMA1; 1983)
John Coltrane: Om (Impulse A-9140; 1965)
John Coltrane: Meditations (Impulse A-9110; 1966)
John Coltrane: Sun Ship (Impulse AS-9211; 1971)
John Fahey: Days Have Gone By, Vol. 6 (Takoma C1014; 1967)
Lightnin' Rod/Jimi Hendrix: Doriella Du Fontaine (Celluloid CEL166; 1984)
Lita Branda: La Tigresa de la Salsa (Toboga Records SERIE 0798; 1982)
Marion Brown: Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (ECM Records ECM 1004ST; 1970)
Nina Simone: Nina and Piano! (RCA LSP-4102; 1969)
Otis Redding: The Dock of the Bay (Volt S-419; 1968)
Pharaoh Sanders: Karma (Impulse A-9181; 1969)
Pocahaunted w/ Bob Bruno & Cameron Stallones: Passage (Troubleman Unlimited TMU 202; 2009)
Serge Gainsbourg: Aux Armes Et Caetera (4Men With Beards 4M171; 2009 reissue)
Sonic Youth/I.C.P./The Ex: In the Fishtank 9 (Konkurrent fish 9; 2002)
Sonny Sharrock: monkey-pockie-boo (Actuel 37 529.337; 1970, 2004 reissue)
Talking Heads: Little Creatures (Sire 25305-1; 1985)
The Tarriers: Tell The World About This (Atlantic 8042; 1960)

And even after all of that, you know you could have had more. You want to go back immediately and start all over again, knowing that new treasures have already been delivered to the racks. You wish you had more money, more energy, more time, more life, especially more life, because you know it would take so many more lives to get through all of the music there is to discover and enjoy, because hi-fi may be your hobby but music is your passion. Your passion.