Hoodlums Music and Movies

Steve takes down the brown paper in the window.  It was good to see the light again.

Whew!  We finally opened on Saturday.  What a relief.  Kristian and I (along with Beth, Laura, Joe, Andy, Justin, Wasef, Maria, and a bunch of family and friends) have worked our tails off to make sure we pulled it off by our announced September 20th date.  It took every bit of effort we had, and the relief of actually pulling it off was like a literal wave of emotion (for me anyway, I can’t speak for everyone else).

Thursday and Friday night prior to opening, we were the last cars the parking lot… just like a lot of nights since we started our mission in late July.  It wasn’t until I was driving home at about 1:15 AM on Saturday that it truly hit me that we would be ringing up people again in the morning.

At least I hoped we would.  There’s no doubt that the thought of “what if nobody shows” entered my head… in spite of the overwhelming support we’ve felt since we announced the store.  Hopefully it is just natural human paranoia, I thought (either that or I have in fact lost my mind).

Luckily, it was paranoia.  Lots of people showed… starting with legendary Music Junkie Tim Handley at 9:30.  We were holding stuff for him, and he wanted to order a copy of the obscure Frank Marino CD I had used as an example on our Special Order page (complete with a “hover” note for Tim).

Over the weekend, we saw tons of friends and Music Junkies.  We bought and sold a bunch of records, CDs, and DVDs (I was so busy that I forgot to take any pictures beyond the pre-opening shots).  People picked up our new t-shirts, and were really encouraging about the store.  It was great.  Thanks to all of you that showed up and made us feel so welcome.

We’ve got a long way to go to get to full strength.  Mainly, we need to learn what our customers want.  But we learn fast, and we try hard, and we know you are going to help us figure it out.  It will be a lot of work, but we don’t mind.  We love peddling entertainment.

There may be some hard work ahead, but I’m ready.  After all, Saturday night was the first true night a sleep I’ve had in about two months… so I am getting my strength back.

Check out the rest of the pictures.  Better yet, come down and see us.

A shot from the back of the store before the paper came down.  Opening day about 8:30.

We’ve got more space, and we filled it with CDs, Records, DVDs, and art for you.

Our expanded DVD section has tons of classic movies, concert videos, and new releases

Record store geeks aren’t like normal music fans.  You probably knew that.  You may have even made a smart-ass comment about it at some point (I heard an old standup routine on HBO last week about record store clerks thinking they are rock stars… and it cracked me up).  It’s OK, we know we’re geeks.

Maybe you are one of us, and you think “geek” is too strong.  How about “obsessive collectors”?

Anyway, it’s midnight, and I am pulling CDs from my collection to contribute to the used stock at the new Hoodlums.  If you happened to read the post on “Gutting the Collection” (which I assume no one ever has… just like I assume no one will read this… yeah, I know it’s a paradox), you know this is my third time.

Just in case you are an obsessive collector, and you ever have to pull apart your collection for some tragic reason (not that opening a new Hoodlums is a tragic reason), here’s a tip or four on how to do it:

If the CD isn’t opened yet; chances are you can safely trade it in without remorse.  If every time you have looked at a CD you have said to yourself, “I’m going to listen to that someday”, but you still haven’t listened to it… you are having a pipe dream.  Pull it now.

Don’t forget to watch and listen for gems. Even though I just said pull the unopened stuff, you just never know, do ya?  Luckily, I put on the Eddie Harris/Les McCann Live at Montreaux CD when I was pulling in 1998, or I would have missed one of the greatest jazz CDs on Earth.  If you sense a potentially unlistened-to gem, throw it in and listen to it while you pull the rest.

Try to overcome your completionism with a small dose of reality. You don’t need 15 Jackie McLean CDs, Steve… you don’t need 15 Jackie McLeans.  Keep the ones you know are good, check the discography on AllMusic (it’s very trustworthy on the good stuff) for a five-star you might have not listened to yet, and let the other ones go.

If you have listened to an album three times through, it is in your collection for life. Three full listens is a lot if you have a big collection, so you’ve already invested a considerable amount of time on that sucker.  Besides, even the toughest-to-get albums have started to show their worth after three spins… so if you haven’t scrapped it by now, move to the next CD.

Of course, although these tips may help a little, they will not take away the pain of ripping through your collection, no matter how good the cause is.  But take heart, you can start building it up immediately (believe it or not, I bought about twelve CDs in Denver when I was there… even knowing I had to pull when I got home).

Note: If you are going to gut your own collection of used CDs, used records, or used DVDs - we recommend trading them in at Hoodlums.  If you are building the collection, and pulling nothing, we recommend Hoodlums for that as well.

… the new joint is shaping up.  When we first got here, it looked like this:

So we called our friend Tom the floor guy to come in and give the concrete a cool treatment.  Then we rolled up our sleeves, turned on the music, and we primed, painted, baseboarded, scraped, scoured, replaced and cleaned a bunch.

After that, it looked like this:

So we called our friend Neil the carpenter, and he came in and built us a stage so we can play host to all sorts of entertainers for our customers.

When he was done (he also patched some dry wall), it looked like this:

Kristian (that’s him in the picture cause the pic without him was blurry) got to work caulking and priming it while I took pictures, then went home and typed this blog about it.  That seems like a good division of duties for me, eh?  Hey, he’s younger than me and he doesn’t like to write emails, let alone blog.

But let’s not jump to conclusions folks: before and after I took this picture, I was busy going to government offices and getting licenses and that sort of fun stuff, so it wasn’t all blogs and roses for me either.

Between the two hoodlums, it all seems to get done.

We still have a long way to go, but it is coming along.  Stay tuned.