What's playing at Vespertine..

One of my fave customers (KP!) encouraged me to make a post about the music I play in the store. I thought it was a brilliant idea, because not only am I crazy about my music, but I do have some interesting stories regarding customer reactions to what I am playing. I get a looooot of questions, and a lot of great reactions when people walk in and I happen to be playing their favorite semi-obscure artist(Cat Power). Today I have a mp3 cd on shuffle that has Broken Bells, the Fleet Foxes, and these guys, that KP liked:

This a great band from Brooklyn, Grizzly Bear, that I discovered on a icy day this winter while lounging around surfing YouTube looking for John Oliver stand up routines.. I have had many customers try to guess who they are, most notably Neil Young, which still makes me giggle.



The story for this song happened recently and involves two teenage girls who walked in, and upon insulting most of the soap flavors asked "what is this you are listening to". I was taken aback because 1. this is an incredible song and 2. this is the second most popular band in the universe(I'm putting them right behind the Beatles, and I mean, very close second). I told them it was Radiohead and the first girl professed her love of Radiohead and said she was a big fan while her friend pointed out that she hadn't even recognized the song. "Oh", she said, "it must be from one of their old albums", which made me feel ancient.. I can remember as if it was yesterday laying on Hannah's bedroom floor, our heads near the speakers, listening to Radiohead... so lovely! But yeah, these girls probably weren't born yet....



This last vignette into life as a shop owner comes from when I had just opened my shop on the big street, and people hadn't figured out I was here yet. (who am I kidding, people still don't know, three years later) A couple came in the shop and browsed around, the woman was quietly admiring everything. As they were at the door to leave, the man came back, leaned into my face and whispered "I think there is a sick woman over there". I was worried and confused as they were the only people there and his girlfriend looked fine. "A sick woman" he went on, "a very sick woman, I think it has something to do with her stomach" Then he gestured to the Bose and the ambient music (which was the above song) and I realized he was attempting to tease me about my music choice. At the time I just smiled politely and waited for them to leave.. but I have always wished I'd told him to stuff it...