Amoeba Music

Oh honey, let me tell you. I've probably been squatting and lying on the ground in the aisles of Amoeba since I was 16. I actually have the patience and quick fingers to go through the boxes of 45s and the dollar bins. I've contributed to the very slow depletion of the cassette shelves (it never hurts to have a back-up of a favorite album WITH the art for a friend's '80s car). I probably own 5 separate copies of Orff's Carmina Burana, Satie piano pieces, the Ravel string quartet, and Bach's cello and violin suites just for the sake of hearing different ensembles and soloists play them. I've written to bands years after they put out single albums and went defunct (hullo Bubble Core Records, reply to me!). I've stalked bands nobody likes in England based off random bin purchases from years before, I've duplicated buys of stuff I already own just to give as gifts, I've asked for advice in the Berkeley classical section just to hear them talk, and I probably have the saddest, dustiest collection of VHS tapes from below hip level than anyone around. Yep, I'm into FINDS. Sometimes just for the spectacle, most of the time because I've had so much success finding things I love almost at random. I even had a system - judging a random clearance item based on the album art, the looks of the artist, the cleverness of the title, the instrumentation (if listed), and the year it was published actually works! But I think one experience that ties all this cray-cray together must be the time I walked into the SF store with my brother and a friend from high school. I was wandering the aisles and finally got a call from another friend who had been MIA for weeks. By gut instinct I said, "Wait, you've been getting laid, haven't you? In fact, are you getting laid right now as you're talking to me on the phone?" Well I was right on the first count! Hmph! Psychic AND neglected. But as my friend described the Irish dude whose best friend was also picked up by her co-worker (ewww), I exclaimed, "Oh HELL! The Hairspray soundtrack, with an OUT OF PRINT sticker, on cassette tape!" I think it was $1.95! Just then, my brother poked me in the shoulder to tell me that he and my friend were tapping their feet at the front waiting for me to finish. I started to walk to the line, and noticed what looked like the holiday wall decorations of a suburban '60s family to my left. John Waters was in the store signing autographs! And in addition to my Hairspray snag, I had my Pink Flamingos CD in my bag because I was about to lend it to my friend! I think the signs and the security guard's growl said that only those who purchased a new triple-DVD set could stand in line and get John Waters' autograph. But I thought I'd lollygag and stare at him for a moment at least. You know, for a mental reference so I could get my future pencil-thin mustache *just so* in the far future. The guard just put his mom-arm across my chest as John Waters spied me and the items I was holding. He motioned for me to come over, and when I showed him the cassette and the CD, he just said, "OH MY GOD. Take a Polaroid with me!" I cannot tell who's more amused in the photo. Later on in life, I met a banker who owns a can of AquaNet signed by John Waters. I wonder how THAT one came about!

I'm submitting this on behalf of my brother Jon. He is the biggest Amoeba fan on the planet!!! He's been a regular customer since 2001. According to him, Amoeba has saved his life. His purchases of his favorite media have kept him sane. He has fleshed out his collection of Star Trek, Big Bang Theory, Holocaust documentaries and foreign films primarily from your store. Additionally, my bro is a YouTube blogger. He has featured your store in his videos. He even refers to Amoeba as his church. He has a huge following on YouTube, and because of him, people all over the world have become intimately acquainted with Amoeba. He showcases your store in his video blogs. I thank you for being a savior for my brother. He's been through some horrible times, and his collection of videos and DVDs have pulled him through. His idea of the perfect day is to spend hours browsing amongst your offerings. I can't possibly think of anyone more deserving to win your contest. I love my bro, and completely support his love of the cinematic arts. Bravo Amoeba!!! You've made a family extraordinarily happy with the service that you provide!! To see one of my bro's tributes to your Hollywood store, please go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/numerguy#p/u/13/30plUYnzifU It's a mildly lengthy video blog through downtown, but at about minute 7 my bro pays a major homage to Amoeba Records. It is a must see video, and you must watch it!!! He pays a major tribute to Amoeba and the reverence he holds for your store is supremely evident. So, I implore you to watch his video tribute and understand what an Amoeba enthusiast is really about!!!

I actually got a pass to the preview day when they opened the L.A. store. I was just 19 and although I lived in the L.A. area for a while I didn't know Hollywood all that well. Since then I returned to Hollywood on a constant basis, and now Amoeba is a usual stop. If I go to Pink's I have to swing by Amoeba. If I meet a friend for drinks I have to get there early to do a little shopping at Amoeba. If I go to the ArcLight, I have to walk across the street after the movie and pick me up a few CDs or LPs at Amoeba. I also have a bit of a tradition with my friends: When ever I take a someone who's never been there I have to buy them a CD. Introduce them to something they've never heard. On their first visit to Amoeba they have to leave with something new. Often, I have friends asking me to let them know when I'm headed to Hollywood because they wanna check out the store again.

Before Amoeba entered my life, I was a bored kid stuck in the suburbs. I was interested in music but didn't have friends who knew about cool bands or artists, and I didn't know how to get exposed to anything new on my own either. We knew what was fed to us -- KROQ and MTV, and our only choice as far as what we could buy was what was available at a who's who list of now defunct commodity barns - Sam Goody, Wherehouse, Tower, you name it. Napster came along at a pretty pivotal moment in my young adulthood, and that took care of the problem of access (but only somewhat, since in those dark dial-up days, it was really more of a means to sample than a viable way to ingest tons of songs). With the freedom to try new sounds, my tastes widened, but there were no record stores that I knew of that had these new bands I was interested in. And this was not arcane, obscure, off-the-radar stuff. This was Pixies, the Breeders, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth. I'd heard murmurs of this strange mecca in Hollywood called Amoeba around high school. Oh, how far away it seemed. How badly I wanted to go. All my favorites were playing in-store shows. People I knew who had been there described it with awe. But I didn't learn to drive until years after most kids my age, and I didn't get to experience Amoeba until college. And oh, it was glorious. I went often. What little money I had pretty much went there (actually, this is still sort of true). And while school took up most of my time, I treated Amoeba as a secondary sort of education -- a giant hive mind of culture that could feed all of my curiosities. They had everything I already knew about, and many more treasures that I had yet to discover. This is still the case today for most of us non-wizard level geeks, I'd wager. When I moved to Berkeley, I suddenly had an Amoeba in my neighborhood, and I went there probably every day of my first semester at Cal. Not always to buy, but to just be there, browse, hear what was playing on the speakers. Amoeba Berkeley became 'my' Amoeba and it was and is a beautiful, special place filled with wonderful people who love what they do. Over the years it became a haven and hang out spot that introduced me to some great friends. Amoeba Berkeley is synonymous with discovery and friendship for me. I am glad Amoeba exists, because for many of us, a good record store means more than loading an anonymous stream into our earbuds. It's about building a community, experiencing culture and the exchange of ideas. It's a place to go to find out about the secret life of your neighborhood. It's about the search and not just the find. And it gives you something the hunter-gatherer mentality of torrent- and blog-pillaging never will, which is the sense of investing in something personal and long lasting. Music, film, books. These things feed the mind and furnish a life. Long live Amoeba.

When I need a DVD or CD fast, I know where to go to find even the most obscure title. Case in point. Rachael Leigh Cook (Josie and the Pussycats) was scheduled to film Daniel Powder's video follow up to "Had a Bad Day" at my apt. the next day and I needed a copy of Josie and the Pussycats for her to sign. With all the other stores closed, the only store I even remotely thought would have a copy would be Amoeba. Even though it was a bit of a trip, I drove over there knowing I needed the DVD that night but as I was about to pull into the parking structure, a bicyclist not looking where he was going and riding against the light ran right into my car. Arrrrgh. Anyway, after he got up and left without apologizing for scratching my fender, I went into the store and was happy to find a used copy of the DVD for an amazing price. Thanks to Amoeba, I was able to have Rachael sign the DVD the next day and didn't even care too much after that about the scratch. I still have the scratch and still have the DVD. Thanks Amoeba. Dave

Living in Oakland, I used to visit the Berkeley store and that's where it all started. I was 19 years old and I had no major commitments. I would work and spend. Work and spend. I used to get so excited when I entered Amoeba. I'd grab a basket and shop, shop, shop. I would spend what I can on as many cassettes as I could. I loved making mix tapes and getting my music at Amoeba was easy and fun. My family and friends loved the tapes and were surprised that I had such a large music library. I love Amoeba. BTW: My very first CD that I ever bought was BOOK OF LOVE at Amoeba. I still have that CD.

I had just moved to LA and I needed a job, badly. Through a friend, I heard that Amoeba was opening a store in Hollywood. That friend got me an interview which lead to one of the best jobs I've ever had. I worked there for five years and was reluctant to leave. I often think back on days spent with great, funny, genuine people and a daily education in music that always left me hungry for more. I grew as a person as Amoeba grew as a store. Thanks Amoebites, a lot.

Amoeba is one of the only things that keeps me from having a vicious hatred for living in LA. I can't even count how many CDs I've gotten from Amoeba, but I'm sure it's somewhere in the hundreds. Between helpful staff who not only know their music, but also, make good conversation. Also, this has become the place where me and my best friend catch up. We get together on one of his very few days off, and we remember one of the main things that keeps us tied together ; Music! Thank you Amoeba for existing, I only hope I can go to the original Berkeley location sometime.

My testimonial simply covers why I think Amoeba Berkeley is the best store in the world, without exception. I've been a regular customer since the Berkeley store opened, and in that time I've found many nuggets in the store, and have had very interesting encounters. Whether it's chatting up the folks at the buy counter, crossing paths with friends for whom their Amoeba obsession is now, like mine, revealed, or discovering that a couple of staff were friends in a past life, Amoeba has become a locus of my life. Okay, I guess there is a story here. One of the staff friends is Felix Elieff. Felix and I ran track together at Cal in the early '80's and we've rekindled our friendship from college days over music at Amoeba. Back in the day, Felix was a pretty hard core Stones fan, so it's been nice to find that his musical world has greatly expanded. It's kind of funny that we have a lot more in common now than we did then. Anyway, it's the music, the personal touch, and the Berkeley vibe that all combine to make Amoeba the best. Keep up the good work!

I actually got a pass to the preview day when they opened the L.A. store. I was just 19 and although I lived in the L.A. area for a while I didn't know Hollywood all that well. Since then I returned to Hollywood on a constant basis, and now Amoeba is a usual stop. If I go to Pink's I have to swing by Amoeba. If I meet a friend for drinks I have to get there early to do a little shopping at Amoeba. If I go to the ArcLight, I have to walk across the street after the movie and pick me up a few CDs or LPs at Amoeba. I also have a bit of a tradition with my friends: When ever I take a someone who's never been there I have to buy them a CD. Introduce them to something they've never heard. On their first visit to Amoeba they have to leave with something new. Often, I have friends asking me to let them know when I'm headed to Hollywood because they wanna check out the store again.