Trips To The Music Store

I went out in search of more dvd-a discs today and had little luck in finding much variety. The first store I went to, SoundWaves, didn't even carry dvd-a. They are a local chain of stores here in Houston that claim to cater to audiofiles. While they do have a rather extensive collection of eclectic music, they seem to more interested in selling skateboards and surfboards. Their skate shop occupies about 1/4 of the store. Prices for music are a little high too. When I asked the clerk at the counter if they carried dvd-a, he looked at me like a dog shown a card trick and had to ask a more "informed" employee. Again, the answer was "no". Not going back there.
Next up was an excellent music store called Cactus Records. While their dvd-a collection was small, they did have a few titles I was interested in. Namely the Grateful Dead's American Beauty and Neil Young's On The Beach. The latter was a few dollars cheaper than the former, so I bought it. They also have a bitchin' used vinyl collection that seems to get larger everytime I go there. After much thumbing, I decided on the Rolling Stones Goats Head Soup($7) and a newly pressed double album of Brian Wilson's SMiLE($25). It was a bit pricey, but I figured I wasn't gonna run in to many of those, so I had better grab it while I had the chance. I now officially have that recording in 3 formats, cd, vinyl, and dvd video. Excessive, yes. Worth it, you fucking bet.
Unfortunately, Cactus Records was sold out of SMiLE on cd, so I had to resort to Best Buy. They only had 3 copies and I bought 2. Their dvd-a selection was about as good as Cactus', but I didn't see anything I couldn't get at www.deepdiscountdvd.com at a much better price.
You see, I had a dream last night that I needed to buy SMiLE for an old high school chum who lives in Austin. My mom & stepdad are visiting her this weekend and are gonna drop it off with her. I also bought a copy for Lisa D'Amore, an up and coming playwright commissioned to write an original play for the theatre company I work for in town. We recently had a discussion about it on the first night of her visit and as she was leaving, she mentioned that my enthusiasm for the recording & concert made her want to go and buy it herself. So, I thought it would be a nice gesture to hook her up. Last christmas I bought a copy for my stepdad. And not long after it came out, I bought a copy for my ex-girlfriend. So, that's 5 cd copies and counting. Suck on that music industry! If you actually put out good music, people will be more than happy to buy it multiple times.