June
17, 2008
HMV
Relaunch with Mr. Love & Justice
I've written about my fondness for record
stores before—when Sam
The Record Man's flagship Yonge Street shop closed last
May and when Music
World declared bankruptcy in November. Unfortunately,
the record store concept is beginning to seem like yet
another example of “don't know what you've got
till it's gone.” But HMV is still in the fight
and today,
along with a slew of musical guests, they revealed their
'Store of the Future' design in their Bloor Street location
in Toronto.
One of the musicians performing was Billy
Bragg, in town for his Harbourfront gig later tonight.
During his thirty minute set, Billy pointed out one
of the many bonuses of real life record stores: live
appearances. He kidded that the newly relaunched Bloor
Street store is where Canada will make it's last stand
against MP3s. Mentioning that HMV was one of the few
record stores to feature a “Canadian” section,
he also suggested that a dearth of bricks and mortar
stores could make it even more challenging for Canadian
music to find an audience.
As always, watching Billy play was both
a pleasure and surprise—you're never sure what,
from his extensive back catalogue and/or influences,
he'll play and what he has to say is always every
bit as interesting. This afternoon's acoustic set featured:
Sexuality, M For Me, Early Morning Rain
(Gordon
Lightfoot cover), Waiting For The Great Leap
Forwards and A New England (complete with
Kirsty MacColl verse and energetic audience singalong).
I'd promised myself that in the event
that Billy was signing afterwards, and that I
got a chance to speak to him again, I'd tell him
what an inspiration he's been over the years {gush time}
and give him one of my advance reader copies for I
Know It's Over.
So yes, he hung around to meet fans after
and that's an advance reader copy of my first novel
in Billy Bragg's left hand. Let me tell you, you don't
get THAT feeling from sitting at home with your MP3s.
Nope, you gotta go to the record store.
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