Watched part of Press Your Luck as I got ready to go. The first half honestly went pretty well. One lady hit a very early CD player, but one of the guys just got more money than her. I was finally ready to go when the second round began.
Made a brief stop at WaWa for money and a Strawberry Kiwi Propel, then rode down to the PATCO. Had no trouble here whatsoever, other than they're still working on the escalator and sidewalk at Collingswood. The train to 8th and Market arrived within 4 minutes and wasn't at all full. I was in Philadelphia within 20 minutes.
This time, I did some research the night before and knew exactly how I was going to get where I was going. I hiked down to City Hall and very, very far underground to the Broad Street Line. Bought my ticket, then picked up a largely empty SEPTA train to the Tasker-Morris station. It dropped me off in 5 minutes about a block from my first stop.
Beautiful World Syndicate and Latchkey are within a block from each other on East Passyunk Avenue. Latchkey is the nicer of the two, but they have almost identical merchandise - mostly new hard rock, rap, and punk rock titles, with most of their used being horribly overpriced. I did manage to find a few older titles I could afford, including one from my childhood I had no idea was even made into a record. From Beautiful World Syndicate, I picked up:
Charlie Parker - Greatest Hits
Raccoons On Ice (The last thing I expected to find today is this retelling of the holiday special for the Canadian cartoon from the 80's. We used to love this show and got such a kick out of the antics of Ralph Raccoon and all his forest friends.)
Beautiful World Syndicate was messier and smaller. Latchkey was larger, with a slightly wider variety of titles but lacking Beautiful World's DVDs and books. Here, I found:
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Brubeck Time
Television's Greatest Hits Vol. II (Includes the themes from Hogan's Heroes and The Monkees, among others.)
The college girl with the yellow wig behind the counter at Latchkey kept talking about what a gorgeous day it was...and she was very right. The weather couldn't have been nicer. It was sunny, windy, and much cooler than it has been, probably in the lower 60's. It was just warm enough that I was fine in a sweater and jeans all day.
Strolled past The Singing Fountain between shops. I don't know about singing, but it is a beautiful fountain, sparkling like diamonds and glowing all blue and silver in the afternoon sunshine. Several people sat on benches, joining me in enjoying the radiance of an early fall day. (I later discovered that there's a reason the fountain was so pretty. It was just restored this past spring and summer.)
Was surprised to walk past a huge Acme. I did not expect to run into a grocery store in the middle of an urban neighborhood. It was big, too. I even saw a fair-sized liquor store in there. I couldn't find the bathroom, but I did walk out with a bagel for breakfast tomorrow and oatmeal-cranberry cookies as a treat for today.
Had a longer walk to my next location. Got turned around several times before I finally found myself back at the Italian Market. I wanted to try the famous Geno's and Pat's cheesesteaks on what's known as Cheesesteak Corner. Geno's was closer, so I went with them. They sported orange and white outdoor seating, with one order window for the sandwiches, and another for fries and drinks. I figured the sandwiches would be big enough, so I kept it to a mushroom cheesesteak and a large cup of Diet Pepsi. Not bad. At least they give you your choice of cheese. I went with nicely stringy provolone. The place was packed for 2:30, with most of the tables taken. Thankfully, I was able to get a table right near the cheesesteak window. I ate my big sandwich while watching cars and people go by on 9th Street.
After my long walk to Geno's, I needed a break. I called Uber from the same parking lot between buildings I got them from in July. The pleasant young man picked me up within two minutes of being called. He chatted about the nice weather as he made his way down to 4th Street in Queen Village.
I didn't really have much better luck here. Digital Underground had a great collection of Pokemon stuffed toys and cards, but their records were the same as the other two - mostly punk, rap, or hard rock, and way overpriced. Though they did have some interesting and unique soundtracks (including a lot of video game, anime, and Italian horror albums), I ultimately bought nothing here.
Did a little bit better at Cratediggerz two blocks down from Digital Underground. They had a larger, cleaner store with more variety and a row of dollar bins. I made both of my finds in the dollar bins:
George Shearing - I Hear Music
A Cabbage Patch Christmas (Yes, the Cabbage Patch dolls were so big in the early 80's, they had their own Christmas album. I bought this mainly for six original songs by the Sherman Brothers that probably can't be found elsewhere and the cute cover depicting three Cabbies singing Christmas carols.)
My last stops were two book stores. I found nothing at the smaller Brickbat Books next door to Cratediggerz, but a five-minute stroll to Bainbridge Avenue produced a gold mine. Mostly Books, despite its slightly shabby appearance, is a treasure trove of every book you can imagine. Books on every subject known to man (and probably a few not known) were tossed helter-skelter in loose piles on shelves and even on the floor. There was a second floor loft filled with even more books, mainly on culture and languages. They even had CDs up front and a very small bin of records in the back. I really hit the jackpot here. After almost an hour (and a bathroom break), I came up with three items I've been looking for:
The original cast album for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a 1985 adaptation of the unfinished Charles Dickens novel by Rupert Holmes
To Be Continued; A Complete Guide to Motion Picture Serials, by Ken Weiss and Ed Goodgold (Plot and cast listings for every serial made in the sound era, even those now considered lost or rare. I used to take this out of the library at Cape May all the time in the late 80's and early 90's.)
Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution, by Todd S. Purdum
By this point, I was just plain worn out. I was originally going to hike down to 8th and Market, but it was too far. 9th and Locust was far more reachable. I'm surprised the train wasn't busier, given it was 5 PM and the height of rush hour by the time I got out. I had no trouble getting a seat to myself. Got off at Collingswood, grabbed my bike, and rode home.
Went straight into The Last Five Years, dinner, and putting everything away when I got home. I go further into this bittersweet indie romantic comedy about a couple recalling their tumultuous marriage at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Finished the night after a shower with a couple of the rock records I picked up the other day. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones LTD is the Monkees' follow-up to Headquarters. They have a few more session musicians this time, but it's still mostly them on classics like "Pleasant Valley Sunday." Mike contributed my favorite songs from this one. Micky used the first Moog Synthesizer on an album for Mike's psychedelic freak-out "Daily Nightly." Other good ones here include "The Door Into Summer" and Mike's gorgeous soft-sell ballad "Don't Call On Me."
Pete Townsend had been branching off on his own since the 70's, but he finally had a hit as a solo artist with Empty Glass in 1980. The best - and best-known - song from this one is the jaunty ballad "Let My Love Open the Door." Other good songs here include the title song and "A Little Is Enough."
No comments:
Post a Comment