Vintage Vinyl
Standing inside Strange Maine looking out on Congress Street, I'm getting nostalgic. Yes, that feeling overcomes me at times. Strange Maine is a vintage record store right at the top where Forest Avenue intersects Congress. Back in 1957, Ruthie Baker opened Recordland on this main drag, and if you had a 'vinyl obsession' or just needed those just released 45s, you headed here. In the early Sixties, I often did. I stopped there by not necessarily to buy but to check out the latest blitz of new albums from England. Bands like the Animals, the Kinks, the Moody Blues, the Who, and Them were on my radar, while many friends were still stuck on Elvis. I do remember walking into Recordland on a cold, snowy December evening and purchasing the just-released Byrds album "Turn, Turn, Turn" for a girl who I thought was special. I was wrong, but that's a whole other chapter that won't be opened today.
Now, brother Marchin believes strongly that Strange Maine occupies the walls of the former Recordland, but I'm not so sure. It could have been on either side of this shop. I've done some minor investigation but have come up empty. I'm still on it.
Rock n' Roll is here to stay!
good luck getting to the bottom of the mystery. rock on.
ReplyDeleteYou had the same taste in music back then as I did! Love the Kinks especially. And I still have that Byrds album floating around somewhere!
ReplyDeleteNow that's my kind of store.
ReplyDeleteI'm from the same era. Remember the sock hops?
ReplyDeleteThe kinks & al - those were the days ...
ReplyDeleteAhhhh.....the Moody Blues, I think I'll put one of those albums on now.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, in the early 70s, I wrote a record review column for a local paper and was gifted "demo" records by the various companies...I had thousands of the things which I finally sold and gave away. They might be worth something today - especially at Strange Maine!
ReplyDeleteI am of your era, Birdman, and in fact may still have the 45 of Turn, Turn, Turn.
ReplyDeleteThat's not my era, but it's good to know more about it.
ReplyDeleteOh boy did I love my vinyls...
ReplyDeleteI still have many vinyls...
ReplyDeleteYou, nostalgic? NO!
ReplyDeleteThat was definitely my musical youth, too, but I was glad just to listen to the radio. I never had the need to buy the records. (Plus, I didn't have any money . . . )
Great name for a store. Maine definitely has strangeness. Something about the attitude and all those dark, cold woods.
ReplyDeleteI remember buying my copy of Sergeant Pepper on the day of release at Alexander's department store, at the intersection of Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.
Nothing can replace vinyl, this takes me back to radio days! We've a shop like that here (Princeton Record Exchange). Yours looks great!
ReplyDelete(Re: your question - I hyperlinked to Amy and her backstory, sorry it didn't show up clear in the post. She died of heart failure while undergoing radiology treatment for a venous malformation, very sad.)
R & R is indeed here to stay. As are the blues and jazz. Hooray! The British invasion was definitely my cup of tea. Count me as a fan of the Beatles and Kinks.
ReplyDeleteI would love to explore inside this store! Love vinyl! :)
ReplyDeleteLéia
I have boxes of vinyl in my basement, which probably have been ruined from the dampness. Should get rid of them; better yet I should have preserved them.
ReplyDeleteI remember Ruthie Baker from the 80's...Great portrait you've created here...
ReplyDeleteOtto Pizza is where Recordland was. I spent pretty much every Saturday visiting Ruthie, bought 2-3 albums a week. Then off to New England Music and Erebus. My routine from '66 'til the late '70s.
ReplyDeleteDale