serendipity in Ballard

I punked myself with the Guerrilla Queer Bar night: it's tonight, which I can't make because of m'boy, not last night. So I drank one nice beer in this (of course) hipster joint and walked around my old stomping ground* of Ballard.

I knew Easy Street Sonic Boom Records was there, and as soon as I walked in, I saw something on my to-buy list: Lucius, Good Grief. As soon as I walked out, I saw that Bop Street records had moved across the street. As I drew near, I could hear Underworld's "Two Months Off". Even though all I could see was vinyl - vinyl all the way up to the top of a high ceiling - and I have no turntable, as I said to the dudes behind the counter, "You play Underworld; I walk in your store." I walked out of there with a used CD of Moby's 18 and the business card for a place that sells turntables.



*I lived in Ballard, in the northwest corner of Seattle, from '94 to '98, right before all the old Scandihoovians either died or sold out. The Norwegians may be gone, but their legendarily slow, crazy driving lives on after them. I wonder if you can still hear sea lions barking at night.