Cashier Chronicles

(all contents ©2015 Michele McManmon)

Prelude to a Kick:

The year, 2012.  The city, LA.  The day…”Monday, Monday” as the quintessential mid-sixties group The Mamas and The Papas sang.  Too bad they imploded after a few years….just like the record industry has in the 20^th century.  Steve Jobs and Napster were the wrenches in the over bloated wheel known as the “Biz”, which essentially was run by “The Big Four” labels.  Now they’ve down sized to Lady Gaga proportions while painting themselves as victims to the Big Bad Wolf internet.  Boo Hoo.  The “Industry” didn’t know what to do because music was suddenly free via downloads or only 99 cents on ITunes.  Their billion dollar cookie crumbled while those most effected were record stores.  The great chain stores, Virgin, Tower, all closed their doors and now only exists as faded childhood memories.  Downloads replaced hard copies of albums, CDs, and tapes.  Out of this new music evolution, however, began a revolution.  Music lovers turned their backs on their IPods and began to buy record players, vinyl, tapes, and cds once again.  The underground musicheads scrounged, scraped, and fought for tangible material of generations lost.  The Last American Record Store has suddenly become the last outpost for this new Mad Max society.  These are the stories of people who want their old MTV, people who want their LPs to have art and liner notes, people who buy CDs because the sound quality is better than MP3s.  These are the stories from the frontline of my new gig, these are my cashier chronicles…