Pocket Symphony

I admit it, I’m a fan of Flight Of The Conchords. The clever comedy of the acoustic-folk duo from New Zealand consistently entertains me. Their HBO show, which is basically a live-action version of their BBC radio show, was a surprise hit, and their EP on Sub-Pop was able to straddle the hipster label’s music and comedy genres, and even pick up a Grammy Award.

This past Tuesday, their full-length CD was released, and two days later (that’s Thursday, for those of you playing at home), FOTC was going to do an in-store appearance at Amoeba Records, the largest independent record store in L.A. (in the world? - maybe).

[A brief aside: I love Amoeba. I often jump to its defense when friends argue that it put other mom & pop record stores out of business or that they charge too much for used CDs. But earlier in the week, I had had two disappointing Amoeba experiences: I had visited the store on Saturday for "Record Store Day" to pick up a day-only 10" by Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, only to discover that the 15 copies(!) that the store had received had sold out within moments of the store's opening, leaving me in a extra-crowded shop with longer-than-usual lines and no special sales or discounts - and then on my return a couple of days later, I asked a clerk in the video department why used and promo copies of the excellent DVD magazine Wholphin were marked at 5 to 10 dollars over the printed cover price, considering they're still all in print and available at book stores all over the city, and was rudely told that "that's capitalism, man." (By the way, if anyone wants to sell me a copy of the Malkmus "Cold Son" 10" - let me know)]

I figured that I’d head over to Amoeba and catch the show, which was scheduled to take place at 6 p.m.

I left work around 4-ish, and went home first to walk and feed the dogs (I know I should have gone straight to Amoeba, but that would make me an irresponsible dog owner - which is one of the worst things one can be), and then headed over to the store on Sunset Blvd. When I got there, there was a line that wrapped 3/4 the way around the block, and apparently, the store was already full (we were told that 1,000 people were inside). I quickly weighed my options (1.stubbornly try to get into the store, 2. go home, 3. go someplace else), and decided to go someplace else. I remembered that my friend Jeff, who, along with his wife Diane, runs the excellent Ocean Avenue Books in San Francisco, had suggested I pick up “The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare And How It Changed America” by David Hajdu. I decided that I would go to Book Soup (a terrific independent bookstore, also on Sunset) and see if they had it. When I arrived at Book Soup, an in-store wine and beer and snack party had just begun for 4 authors from Akashic Books: Mike Farrell (ex TV-star turned activist), Elizabeth Crane, Nina Revoyr, and Abraham Rodriguez. There was no reading, no autograph table - just a bunch of people hanging out and chatting. Very civil. Unlike the massive crowd at the record store, this was a more laid-back affair. I said hello to Mike, Nina and Elizabeth and chatted for several minutes with Abraham. Before he became a novelist and moved to Berlin, he was the leader of the punk band “Urgent Fury”, so we talked about music and politics and the European perception of the US Presidential elections. He was kind enough to sign a copy of his new book, “South By South Bronx” for me. I’m looking forward to reading it. When I went to pay for the books, I noticed that Book Soup also had a copy of the brand-new issue of Wholphin, as well as an autographed copy (!) of the new Julie Andrew memoir for sale. I hung out at the register for a bit, talking about alt-rock, Blake Edwards, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, and Buster Keaton with the clerks (more on that later, I’m sure).

In retrospect, I’m not too disappointed that I missed Flight Of The Conchords - they’re playing two nights at The Orpheum next month. Instead, I got to hang with some cool people and pick up some neat stuff. Expect some book reports here soon.