“I used to work in a record store. It was (and still is) called Toonerville Trolley, owned by a lanky, tufty haired dude named Hal March. Hal’s shop was shotgun style, a long hallway front door to back with CDs and box sets as you walked in by a hand cranked register—shelves of vinyl by the bathroom in crinkled plastic sleeves.”
“When Hal was working there was always loud and fucking weird music playing, distorted free jazz solo saxophone explorations recorded in a basement somewhere. He would tell me about shows he’d gone to, shows you would have to wear the kind of headphones you’d use when lawn mowing for hours or directing airplanes down a runway.
I loved working at Toonerville and I made no money. My paycheck went towards buying out Hal’s stock at wholesale price so I guess NEITHER of us made any money, but he had a kid to lock the doors for him when he wanted to go home or take a day off.
Napster, the first free (pirate) music site had come out maybe a year or two before I’d started working there and I could see it change my habits, not immediately or entirely, but gradually since then I’ve moved further and further away from buying CDs or vinyl. Every year since high school I would come home and drive by Toonerville, see that it was still open, and maybe stop in and say hi to Hal.
Things seemed pretty lean for a while, sales we’re slumping in an already tight business but Toonerville stayed afloat, and as Hal moved his vinyl stock online, the store started to flourish. Vinyl had seemed to creep back out of nowhere, moving from the staunch diehard that had kept it alive through the ’90s, to mainstream retro novelty, to a full-fledged standard product that every band either produced or was asked for.
I feel conflicted about vinyl. I LOVE the idea of capturing and preserving music, especially performances from a time where vinyl was the only medium. I treasure the artwork that becomes inseparable from the music. I don’t love the idea of moving back towards manufacturing massive amounts of plastic and oil discs when there is a way to experience music with a fraction of the environmental impact. I love that vinyl kept Toonerville Trolley alive.
I believe that the better you take care of music, the better it will take care of you. I see the sacrifices that a lot of people make in the music “business” and the value that is created only when people express what they are truly passionate about. Hal and Toonerville helped create a place where an experimental noise art—loving vinyl collector and a 16-year-old moron, could both find a way to make and spend a living for themselves.
For about a century, records, vinyl or wax or plastic or digital have been helping us figure this all (and each other) out. I think we’re all pretty grateful for that.”
—Ben Jaffe
HONEYHONEY’s third full length release, 3 is in stores now via Rounder Records. On vinyl.
TVD is pleased to partner with Goldenvoice to bring HONEYHONEY to LA’s El Rey Theatre on Wednesday, July 1. Tickets are available here—and watch this space this week for your opportunity to see the band on us.
