6/26 (cont.) - left the motel as late as possible, then headed off to OH. land of cran comics in canton is pretty cool and has a great selection but no discount trade bins. why shouldn’t i buy online again? hit a couple of thrift stores in town without much luck. while there do seem to be a lot of thrift stores in the midwest, a lot of them are stocked with ‘newer’ (less than ten years old) items. i was able to find a sweet moose lodge shirt for fifty cents though.
checked into the motel, ate dinner and watched some world cup. wimbledon was rained out. it kind of bugs me that agassi is announcing that he’s retiring after the U.S. open. not so much that he’s retiring but that he’s announcing it months ahead of time. chris evert did that too. attention whores! i admire the way pete sampras went out; he didn’t say he was retired until almost a year after his last tournament.
got into kent early but the town shuts down by 7:00PM. there was a young couple locked out of their car on the street outside the club. used bookstore was closed but turnup records on north water street was open. it’s a small but great store. i picked up synchronicity by the police and ELO’s out of the blue on vinyl, the blood brothers’ crimes and american don by don caballero on cd and two zines based on mike’s (?) recommendation - bad touch and worry. all for just over $20. bad touch has its moments and reads more like a high school kid’s zine but worry is a flat-out riot with its absurdist cartoons. an interesting note is that abraham lincoln and john-wilkes booth make appearances in both zines. i’m too lazy to look up the connection.
the ECC is a super cool club in kent’s art district. they make it a point to say that they’re not a gay bar which would lead me to believe that they ARE a gay bar but that’s neither here nor there. i was greeted by a couple of hipsters in hoodies and studded belts. yeesh, this type is everywhere! we talked for a little bit, they were nice. one of them was totally trashed:
‘hey man, how much would you pay me to put my cigarette out on my arm?’
‘you’re asking the wrong guy’
‘oh i hear you, i know what it’s like to be poor’
‘no, i meant that i have zero interest in watching you burn yourself’
(shakes my hand) ‘you’re my kind of guy!’
the promoter joel, came out from the back. he was a few inches taller than me, thin beard, longish hair and was inexplicably wearing beach bum wear, complete with flip-flops. he would have looked way more at home in a sharp suit. we went over some of the show details and cigarette-burn kid interrupted us saying, ‘hey, i love this place but i have a few suggestions…’ joel said, ‘now isn’t a good time. listen, i’ll go to the print shop, get some comment cards made and you can come back tomorrow and fill one out.’ hilarious.
the show was OK, nothing to write home about besides the sound, which was the best of the tour so far. afterwards, one guy told me he loved how mellow it was and joel said he was meditating to the music. he then proceeded to pay me, which wasn’t necessary but was much appreciated. the DJ that was going on after me (it was lounge night at the club) was waiting outside and i’d guess that he didn’t think i was very cool. he bumped me with his crate of records on purpose! i sarcastically said, ‘whoa, whoa! is your crate OK?’ he mumbled something inaudible and i left it at that. when i got to my car, the young couple was just getting their car door opened. they should have come to the show while they waited.
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