Another Sad Sign Of The Times.

[Murph]

Ernest Tubbs Record Shop is for sale.

If I had Sal's money, I'd buy it. We could have Gibson Acoustic Forum member jam sessions back where they did the mid-night jams in the day.

Famed Ernest Tubb Record Shop in Nashville up for sale (msn.com)

[Murph]

For those who have never been, it's pretty much across the street from Tootsies and the original Gruhn's location. I've been there many times, bought a bunch of "Stoneman" music there in the day.

Haven't been down in a few years, they tell me it's all changing, Gruhn's is gone, Tootsies is different.

And so it goes.

[Dave F]

Very sad. It's been about 6 years since I was there. They also operated a shop in Pigeon Forge for years that shut down a few years ago.

[zombywoof]

In New York we had Bleeker Bob's Records in the Village.  They opened in 1967.  I swear they never closed.  If you wanted to kill some time after the late show at the Fillmore East you could walk in there.  Back in the day they had a stage where you could catch the likes of Tim Buckley, the Lovin' Spoonful and James Taylor.  They remained in the same location until 2013 when they shut their doors after the landlord sold the building to a frozen yogurt chain.

But for me the real sign of the times came earlier when Music Row on 48th Street vanished.  It had begun in the 1930s with the entire street eventually becoming lined with instrument stores and repair shops.  By the time I started going down there in the 1960s you had Manny's, Terminal Music, Dan Amstrong's repair shop, Stuyvesant Music and on and on.  During the early-2000s though ever increasing rents began forcing them to close their doors or move to another location.  Today it is just a ghost town.  

[fortyearspickn]

They're paving over paradise and putting up parking lots everywhere.  We had a cool used record shop on one of the main drags. Along with an iconic hamburger place and a rib place - gone.  It became the 'in'  location to create a  "Millennial Village".  Upscale apartments,  micro-breweries, express bus routes.   Our little city has increased from 1.2M to 1.5M in the past 20 years.  Outside the city 'loop', they clear hundreds of acres of every living thing so they can put in apartments.  Put all the trees in wood chippers to crate 'mulch'.   Probably includes rabbits, snakes and armadillos.    Of course, the City doesn't do anything to widen or otherwise improve the roads, so 'rush hour' is no longer an hour.  Closer to three.   Then, they clear another hundred acres and put in Self Storage facilities, Starbucks, Nail Salons and oil change drive thrus.   There was a 200 year old single, solitary oak on one site here  being cleared for houses on 100' x 70' lots.   They left it - until all the houses were sold - since it added beauty and character - and then cut it down and squeezed in one more house.   If a developer or real estate investor could milk a thousand bucks out of a property - they'd tear down the Washington Monument.   Same thing happened when we lived in South Florida - Dredge and Fill.  Bankers, Developers and Politicians got rich.  Good Times. 

[Boyd]

"The suburbs are where they cut down all the trees and then name the streets after them" 🙃

[Murph]

Looks more like, in this case, Broadway is becoming a mega-bar, "destination" for the modern day drug store cowboys.

Property values have sky-rocketed past logical.

All the $6.00 parking spots are gone...

[Sgt. Pepper]

I’ve went in when I was In Nashville. 

[QuestionMark]

I was at the Ernest Tubb Record Store when I was about 15 years old…when my brother and I convinced our parents to take us to the a grand Ole Opry House House for vacation and to check out Ernest Tubb’s Record Store and everything in the vicinity.  We used to tune in clear channel WSM radio from Chicago’s northern suburbs each Saturday opry and ET Record Store show and wanted to see/hear it in person.  It was a great experience!

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff

[Sgt. Pepper]

Lasted longer than Tower Records.

[BluesKing777]

 

Does anyone buy records or even listen to guitarists anymore? Not a lot of evidence!

The record shops are putting their money to important things, like selling coffees. Though that can be a fickle biz too - long story short, I take my dog to the beach every morning before the 10am deadline, rain or shine, and last year the groovy people were seen lining up at one particular vendor.....and Covid or not, they lined up around the block. Dirty little cafe got rid of all their old stock! Made a few kazoos. But then, here is the fickle part, another cafe opened in a groovy red shipping container with window in a previously sad and lonely beach plaza thingy and.....sign said Coffee plus bacon roll for..X or something and every time I drive past, the line is.....of course, around the black and people sitting on all the previously unused benches.

But then the other cafe has no customers.

Now the groovy people walk the beach with a reusable coffee cup in one hand and phone in the other! What happened?

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

[MissouriPicker]

14 hours ago, Murph said:

For those who have never been, it's pretty much across the street from Tootsies and the original Gruhn's location. I've been there many times, bought a bunch of "Stoneman" music there in the day.

Haven't been down in a few years, they tell me it's all changing, Gruhn's is gone, Tootsies is different.

And so it goes.

It’s all changing.  Including us…..It’s good to remember the “good old days” and realize that for some people that these are the “good old days.”  Sometimes it’s hell to get older, but it beats the alternative.  Don’t know where I’m going with this…lol…I guess the closing-down of this iconic place makes me sad.  Someday, Sun Studios and other legendary places will also be gone.

[jt]

I last visited the Ernest Tubb shop last September when I was in Nashville to premier the trailer for the Kalamazoo Gals documentary at AmericanaFest. I'm sad to say that I was the only customer in the shop during my visit (I'm happy to report that the shop carried my book, 🙂 ).

The closing is fueled, of course, by the changing ways that we listen to music, but also by the value of real estate in downtown Nashville. My bet is that the property sells and quickly, the building is demolished, and some glitzy franchised hotel/bar takes it rightful place in the new Nashville. 😞

As for Nashville changing ... When I was there in September the most common sight on the roads were party busses, truck, and those pedal carts on which the pedals suck beer from rubber hoses, all filled with young women. WTF? I asked someone who lives in Nashville. "Oh, didn't you know, Nashville is Bachelorette Party Capital." Really. Sigh.

[Murph]

39 minutes ago, jt said:

The closing is fueled, ... by the value of real estate in downtown Nashville. 

This.

They haven't made any money with that property in decades. You'd have to be a wealthy heir to keep it as it was.

It's still sad, and Gillian saw this coming long ago.

 

 

[zombywoof]

13 hours ago, BluesKing777 said:

 

Does anyone buy records or even listen to guitarists anymore? Not a lot of evidence!

The record shops are putting their money to important things, like selling coffees. Though that can be a fickle biz too - long story short, I take my dog to the beach every morning before the 10am deadline, rain or shine, and last year the groovy people were seen lining up at one particular vendor.....and Covid or not, they lined up around the block. Dirty little cafe got rid of all their old stock! Made a few kazoos. But then, here is the fickle part, another cafe opened in a groovy red shipping container with window in a previously sad and lonely beach plaza thingy and.....sign said Coffee plus bacon roll for..X or something and every time I drive past, the line is.....of course, around the black and people sitting on all the previously unused benches.

But then the other cafe has no customers.

Now the groovy people walk the beach with a reusable coffee cup in one hand and phone in the other! What happened?

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

Last year vinyl outsold CDs.  Then again with all the downloading and stuff who buys CDs anymore?  

All I have to do though is look over my shoulder to see a Dual 1219 turntable sitting next to a Fisher 500B amp while off in the corners are a pair of Advent speakers.

[Sgt. Pepper]

15 hours ago, BluesKing777 said:

 

Does anyone buy records or even listen to guitarists anymore? Not a lot of evidence!

I do. I recently bought the Remixed Let It Be on vinyl. I‘ve got 2 - Zappa 3 record sets arriving this Friday, and bought The Tubes - Remote Control used yesterday.

I listen to guitarist all the time. I was listening to John Martyn yesterday, unless he’s a flute player and I’m confused about it, but it sounds like he’s playing guitar.

Edited March 13, 2022 by Sgt. Pepper

[Boyd]

Records and CD's don't interest me anymore. Stopped buying records 30 years ago and CD's 15 years ago, that is all behind me now, digital is just so much more accessible. Last summer I dug out my boxes of vinyl records from the attic and gave them to my daughter and son in law who recently bought a turntable. I had already ripped everything I wanted to my media server. They were just in heaven and are evidently the envy of their friends now, LOL. 🤣

Yeah, it's a "sign of the times". 

Edited March 13, 2022 by Boyd

[Murph]

2 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

 bought The Tubes - Remote Control used yesterday.

The Tubes were formed from 2 Phoenix bands who moved to San Fransisco. One of which was the Beans, with Bill Spooner and Vince Welnick (Vince would later join the Grateful Dead.)

Here's an audio file from an underground Phoenix radio station in 1969 you might enjoy.

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by Murph

[Sgt. Pepper]

The last time I saw The Grateful Dead at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA in 1995, or so before Jerry died, Vince was the keyboard player. All the other times it was Brent. 

Prairie Prince plays with Todd Rundgren now.

WPOD.

Edited March 13, 2022 by Sgt. Pepper

[zombywoof]

46 minutes ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

The last time I saw The Grateful Dead at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA in 1995, or so before Jerry died, Vince was the keyboard player. All the other times it was Brent. 

Prairie Prince plays with Todd Rundgren now.

WPOD.

I was not the biggest Dead fan out there, so did not get around to going to seeing them until 1969 when they shared the bill with Country Joe and the Fish.  The last time I caught them was in 1973 at RFK Stadium with the Allman Bros. and Wet Willie.  That one I will never forget not because it was a great show but because it was an unusually hot spring day with the temperature probably hitting 100 degrees on the field.  But I always thought the Dead were at their best when Pigpen was with them. 

I guess I am still not their biggest fan as I have not bothered to replace any of my original Dead LPs with better copies. 

Edited March 13, 2022 by zombywoof

[Sgt. Pepper]

8 minutes ago, zombywoof said:

I was not the biggest Dead fan out there, so did not get around to going to seeing them until 1969 when they shared the bill with Country Joe and the Fish.  The last time I caught them was in 1973 at RFK Stadium with the Allman Bros. and Wet Willie.   That one I will never forget not because it was a great show but because it was an unusually hot spring day with the temperature probably hitting 100 degrees on the field.  But I always thought the Dead were at their best when Pigpen was with them. 

I guess I am still not their biggest fan as I have not bothered to replace any of my original Dead LPs with better copies. 

I like them with Keith, but Donna sometimes screams into the mic and when she does it ruins the song. The PP years are okay, lots of classic songs. One more R N R tragedy. He loved his booze. The first bunch of albums were meh. American and Workingman's are classic and anyone even non Dead Heads can get into them. Kieth was a much better key player than Piggy. I didn't start seeing the Dead until '95.

[Dave in SC]

13 hours ago, zombywoof said:

Last year vinyl outsold CDs.  Then again with all the downloading and stuff who buys CDs anymore?  

All I have to do though is look over my shoulder to see a Dual 1219 turntable sitting next to a Fisher 500B amp while off in the corners are a pair of Advent speakers.

I had five or six CDs on my desk at work, and a youngster engineer was in my office and saw them. He says, "You've got CDs?! Do you listen to those?"

Yeah, well I'm old 😋

[BluesKing777]

I saw my mechanic looking aghast at a dusty cd cover in my glove box when I gave him the service book.......he is the young groovy type who texts my phone when he has finished a car repair, most times with photos of the repair or parts, and has a phone full of song hits and videos ready to play.....that is why people drive all over the road - they are looking at their digital songlist to find a song, I guess.....

I work on various digital ‘lists’ all week and don’t want to look through another one, so in my car I listen to.......gasp........the radio! 😁 (though I am very modern radio listener - FM, baby! ) I let someone else pick the list! And boy-o, they pick some crapola sometimes!

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

Edited March 14, 2022 by BluesKing777

[Murph]

6 hours ago, BluesKing777 said:

I saw my mechanic looking aghast at a dusty cd cover in my glove box 

 

 

My 2016 Ram doesn't have a cd player, and it's a loaded Bighorn. I have music on my phone, but still wish I had a cd player from time to time. It has a jack, but I where do you find a cd player for that? Do they still make walkmans?

[fortyearspickn]

31 minutes ago, Murph said:

My 2016 Ram doesn't have a cd player, and it's a loaded Bighorn. I have music on my phone, but still wish I had a cd player from time to time. It has a jack, but I where do you find a cd player for that? Do they still make walkmans?

Thanks for giving me another reason for holding on to my 2011 Ford Taurus SHO.