Allston, MA –Here find you a man underground.
His name is Pat. He owns a record store called Looney Tunes in the basement of a building near Allston post station. The store sells mostly second-hand-vinyl and also has a few CDs.
Having long hair, wearing a pair of glasses and a faded jacket, and holding a milkshake from five guys, Pat said in the interview that his favorite notion of music is from Thomas Beecham:” The purpose of music is to free your minds from the tyranny of conscious thought.” As a musician, Pat regards music as a way to get out of any limitation.
Pat said the record store provides people with the same interest a place to meet and talk. He also said the record store enables people to encounter something they have never seen or heard before. “I think it is a public service,” he said proudly.
However, operating the record store also forced him to give up performing publicly. He used to sing and play Guitar at bars with bands and also famous guys such as Peter Wolf. Speaking of this, Pat played his Guitar for a while and said he missed it so much. “It is not because of liking it[playing Guitar] or not,” Pat said, “It is part of me.”
Pat said the culture, era or genre should not define or limit music, for it is for everyone. He said he used to meet a twelve-year-old girl looking for Benny Goodman’s record in his store. “She wants to hear Sing Sing Sing,” Pat said with a smile, “She said it is blazing.” Pat said he believes what appeals to one person is the right music for him/her.
The store has several speakers: some indoors, some outdoors in the yard. Usually, Pat would play either vinyl or CDs for an entire day. He calls his vinyl “licorice pizza,” and that is also written on the shop’s sign outside his basement.
(For the full version of the video, see Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg47UZZvmHc&feature=youtu.be )
