Village Music in Mill Valley, CA closing

I've been to California three times. Each visit brought me to this store. I'll try to post a picture later.

 

This really is the end, isn't it.

It's as though music itself doesn't matter anymore.

 

Has always been my favorite used shop. It's a shame.

 

Oh man, I'm devastated to hear that!!! Anytime I go over to Marin I try to make time to go over to Village Music. John is a real nice guy, and the store is like a living shrine to music of all genres. It's been a favorite spot of mine ever since I discovered it in the mid 80's. I'm hoping that someone will not allow this amazing store fade away. There is really no other place like it anywhere.

 

To put it as eloquently as I can, This SUCKS!!

Every time I was out in SF, I always made a point of going up there to buy stuff. It was like walking into Heaven with all those picture discs hanging from the ceiling, and the chance of actually finding the one record you always wanted there. I always asked John for some Mike Bloomfield stories, since he used to live nearby.

But he's right. Mill Valley's gotten so built up and high-rent these days, it's staggering. I'm sure half the new residents don't even know he's there...

 

To paraphrase someone in The Lord Of The Rings, we have fallen upon evil times.

 

I've helped pay some bills there. A contender for America's greatest record shop... truely tragic.

 

john really is an amazing guy, and the store is a treasure. and he's so right on about how the locals will now all talk about what a shame it is that he's closing. what a laugh! anyway, i'll definately be stopping by a few time between now and september (note to self for new year's resolution: win the lottery and buy the place from him, just to keep it open and not worry about making any money).

 

It's easy to decry shifts in industries - some people probably refuse to enter Amoeba and Rasputin Music even now because there are (shock!!) videos, DVDs and CD's in there, but it's that attitude that makes them a business rather than a hobby.

Nice store, bought some stuff there a few times. I know some locals who do well there, probably by visiting every day.

 

I'm surprised he lasted this long. Most of his inventory sat there for a long time. The store was never very busy. I shopped there in the late seventies.

Mill Valley is an expensive place.

 

I went there and spent a couple of hours, to be honest there really was not a lot of stuff there that interested me. Nothing really even remotely rare in the rock and roll genre.

 

Ed Ward comments on Village Music:

...clientele included a great number of people for whom access to the information in the grooves he sold was a matter of vital interest: professional musicians. And, this being Marin County and the '70s, the great majority of them could be filed under "rock stars." It wasn't at all unusual to be shopping with Mike Bloomfield, Nick Gravenites, Marty Balin, Jerry Garcia, David Crosby, or Maria Muldaur. I'm still pissed off at Bloomfield, whom I met when we both reached for the same Barbara Lynn album at the same time. "I need this," he said. But I saw it first! "Well, I'm Mike Bloomfield and you're not and I need this." We eventually became friendly, but that was also the only copy of that album I ever had a chance to own. I still haven't heard it. And, just as with the live music, these people passed on the knowledge they got: one day I walked in on a warm spring day and the most beautiful acoustic guitar music was playing. I asked what it was and he said "Slack key. Ry Cooder found a bunch of it in Hawaii and brought some back for me. I don't have any for sale, but I've got some ordered. Want me to save you some when it comes in? It's expensive..." It was, but it was worth it.

more...

 

When I lived in Novato back in the late '80's, I was there all the time. BUMMER!

 

Wow, after reading that news article, I wish I had had the opportunity to go there. Another sad story

 

Actually, the store is not closing 'till September at the current estimate, and there's promise of 'special items' from collections being brought in to keep the place fresh until then.

 

I hope I get the chance to visit there before it closes.

It makes me wonder, where, aside from the Internet and eBay, where you be able to get records anymore? I know shops like Village Music have been specialty shops for many years now, probably at least since the late 80s, but it's looking more and more like each and every one of them is set to disappear.

Sad indeed.

Dale

 

Last May, while my wife was on a business trip, I tagged along and spent the days in various San Fran area record stores, Village Music being one of them. Being a 45 collector first, I found their selection to be pretty interesting and not that expensive for California. I found many old 45's that I couldn't find elsewhere, but that back room where they are stored was not easy to navigate and the lighting was horrible to see the labels! I've got nothing to say for that owner because he was about as talkative as one of trees outside the building, which is disappointing when you've traveled from as far as Ohio and you're trying to tell the guy that he has a wonderful store, but he didn't seem to really give a sh**!

I would LOVE to have that very cool "Pet Sounds" display that he has hanging on the back wall of the store!

Always sad to see a worthy store go off the map, but some of these remaining record store owners need to get better attitudes, they all feel that their stores are worth millions, but the truth is that nobody is going to give them millions for them, so get over it!

Chris C

 

I first heard of this place some time around the late 80s...

I seem to recall Elvis Costello mentioning it, and I believe
I read somewhere that Jerry Garcia did some sort of concert
in the store (which doesn't sound correct - because its SO small).

I visited the store in January of 1990.

I thought the place was cool... but I didn't buy more
than a few records there and I never made a return
trip... in part, because it was a bit off the beaten
path... but also because I seem to recall that
it was pricey... and not a great place to find
bargains...

My main recollection of the store was that almost
EVERY album in the store was an album I had
never SEEN before... which is quite odd, because
when you spend a lot of time looking thru record
racks, you tend to see a lot of albums over and
over...

I think I bought an album by H.B. Barnum and
another by Muddy Wolf at the store. That
was all that interested me.... and I never
saw the Barnum album before or since...

It didn't help, that the woman who later became
my wife was kind of looking over my shoulder
asking me "Are you done yet?"

 

Elvis Costello and Jerry Garcia appeared together at a private party (held not in the store itself but in a club nearby) in honor of the store's 21st anniversary in 1989.



Elvis also referred to Village Music as "what may be the greatest record collecting store in the world" in the Kojak Variety liner notes.

 

I've never been there, but I hate to see a record shop close. I wish there were something that could be done to save it.

 

Could be, but maybe you're thinking of a show he played at the nearby venue called Sweetwater? Elvis Costello played with Garcia there once.

 

I remember at one time, they had an original "Jefferson Airplane Loves You" button in the display case and I wanted it real bad, but it wasn't for sale, or at least not for a price I was willing to pay!