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Thursday, June 08, 2023

The HMV music store in downtown Toronto, (1990?)

The HMV store at 333 Yonge Street was a very big deal. On their rooftop they had four searchlights which spun and shone into the night sky. I could see this from the  outdoor swimming pool (which I used once) and ballpark at Coxwell and Girrard. 

I would enter the main floor and get searched by the bodyguard. The guy on the PA was often playing something cool. I can remember one time when he was playing the theme from Loveboat. The main floor is also where I purchased issues of Details magazine when I wasn't buying the rag from Lichtman's

The second floor was movies and TV shows  — pretty rarefied stuff, I thought. 

I typically took the speedy escalator up to "Jazz" on the third floor. I asked the fellow there what I asked everybody at Church. "What's the most depressing CD you've got?" (I was nursing a broken heart.)

"I can't help you with that, but try Soulville by Ben Webster. You'll feel like you're in a club"

That was quite the nexus. Sam the Record Man was just north of HMV and Sunrise Records was right across the street. I bought a Lou Reed boxed set at Sunrise, and it took some scrounging , but Terry G. found the Slaid Cleaves CD at Sam the Record Man and introduced us to Slaid's music. I don't know but I believe I got Merry Xmas From The Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Esquivel at HMV Downtown. 


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