I ran across this while perusing music sites earlier: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/06/sound_garden_owner_says_syracu.html
I've been kind of silently following this story for the past month. Why? Fresh out of college, I ran the "sister" (though "redheaded stepchild" might be a more appropriate title) location of the Sound Garden record store in Geneseo, NY for a year. It was an eye-opening experience and one I still value all these years later. Bryan Burkert's management style was, shall we say, "different" than mine, but the Sound Garden was proudly independent and like most mom-and-pop record shops HIGHLY dependent upon used product to keep the doors open. What the Syracuse Commom Council is doing is not only asinine from a logistical standpoint (requiring the store to log EVERY used item be logged into a police database and held for 5-7 days before being sold, despite CDs/DVDs/etc NOT HAVING SERIAL NUMBERS!) but as a way of keeping independently owned businesses in the downtown Syracuse area? Shitty, to say the least. So, I share this because I care more about the little guy than the shortsighted (but likely well-meaning) government doofuses who blew an opportunity to keep life in a downtown area that sorely needs it. I share this because I am proud to have been a footnote in the history of this venerable institution. But mostly I share this because like many of you, record stores were a safe haven for geeky kids like myself...and it hurts my heart to see one fewer of them out there. So, the Sound Garden is dead...long live the Sound Garden!
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