First up, thanks to big Johnny Murphy at Shite 'N' Onions for reposting my Shamrock-N-Roll blog on his site last week. It's always nice to find out that someone likes your work enough to associate their name with it. And he's asked me to do an interview and album review for the new Radiators From Space CD (Phil Chevron of the Pogues' other band). John's one of the really good guys in the Irish rock scene, and I'm glad he's got the confidence in me to do this. Go raibh maith agat, sir.
I like walking through my downtown. I've started doing it a lot lately, both on my own and with Jess when she's down. It's a cool little three or four block strip of different kinds of businesses, services, and stores. And hair salons (Sweet Christ, there are a lot of hair salons. You can't go half a block without smelling burning hair. After a while it's kind of soothing, actually.). There's a tattoo shop, a few restaurants, bars, a couple of sub shops, an alternative food market, a witchcraft supply store/gift shop, a thrift shop or two, a novelty store/head shop, et. cetera. Pretty standard fare for a blue collar, working class town.
Like most small(ish) towns, there are also one or two empty storefronts along the way. Some of them still have the signage from what used to be there. One or two show signs of someone renovating for a new business. Every time I see one of these places, no matter where I am, my mind starts to wander, and I think about what I'd do with the space, given the chance. It's sort of my own version of the old guidance counselor question, "What do you want to do with your life?"
The only thing I've ever really concluded is that I'd like to open a book and music store. And it would likely lean towards the alternative/underground/punk sensibility, both in my choice of stock and in atmosphere. Really, I've wanted to do this since college. Of course, this is back in the late 80's/early 90's, and even then the independent book store and record store (Yeah, I still call them record stores. I also still use the term "album" to describe a band's newest release. You can't change me, so don't even try.) was an endangered species. But you can still find them here and there. And if a tattoo shop (next door to an insurance agency) and a witchcraft store (that isn't in Salem), not to mention a store devoted entirely to yarn, can survive these days, why not a place where folks can get music and literature that's a little bit off the beaten path?
I know, know...it's hard to start your own business, most small businesses don't survive, blah blah blah... Well so what? It's not like people haven't been trying to discourage me from doing what I've wanted to do for most of my life. I decided to stop listening to them, and now I'm writing again, performing again, and setting goals again. Am I going to do this tomorrow? No, I've got other things I need to take care of first. But if, 20 or so years later, I still keep coming back to this idea, then that must mean something. It could mean I'm an unrealistic daydreamer, or it could mean that this is what I was always meant to do. I'm going to go on the assumption that it's a little bit of both, with an emphasis in the latter.
I've been wrong before, and I'm still alive. Sometimes, you just gotta get over your fears and do it.
I'm still never going bungie jumping...or eating mushrooms...
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