Photo from the Looney Tunes MySpace page.
With a heavy heart, I’m sorry to say that by the time this article is published, record store Looney Tunes will no longer be residing on Boylston St. Looney Tunes held its Boylston St. location for about 30 years, its first couple of years being spent closer to BU, and now, they will be moving to Allston, where currently, the awesome Store 54 resides (which will relocate in a few months.)
The story is a confusing one but try to follow along. Some weeks ago, you might have noticed the JP Licks on Newbury St. had closed down. In its windows was a lengthy message explaining how landlords were raising the rent to simply drive them out to put in a third American Apparel or an even larger Converse store. Flash forward to today, when I learn Looney Tunes is moving – and what is going in its place? You guessed it, a JP Licks, completing a strip of overpriced restaurants and expensive apartments. Now, I sure love my local ice creamery, and I frequent the Centre St. location often, but when you remove a record store, well, that’s another story.
So why does this matter? Well, it matters because, as musicians, it is our job to always be listening to music; to always discover something new. The fact that the Back Bay area is now missing its finest record store will strike a blow to the entire music community. And for what, ice cream?
Before I moved to Boston, when I was 16 I came to visit for a few days as I participated in the Berklee Percussion Camp. One of the first things I noticed on the cab ride from the airport (other than the absurd fare) was a record store. Two and a half years later, when searching for my first apartment, I picked one that was near a record store. There was also a time I saw the drummer from Mission of Burma in a record store. The record store in all of these examples, of course, is Looney Tunes.
Of course, I’ll still visit the Allston location when I get the time – and I know it’s going to be the same staff and the same great selection. I guess we’re lucky considering Looney Tunes isn’t shutting down, but gone are the days of spending hours between classes and work and rehearsal in the dusty record store, searching for Tar LPs you spotted two weeks previous, or heading over in February and walking out with a stack of half-off CDs and DVDs. I have countless Looney Tunes stories, but these are the ones that stick out to me now.
Ironically, this news comes just in the wake of Record Store Day, a day in which us music lovers are to do our best to support independent music retailers. It’s times like this where we should remember that Record Store Day should be every day. So please, in your month left here, go to record stores! Go to Planet Records, go to Weirdo Records, go to Store 54, go to Orpheus, go to Nuggets, go to In Your Ear, heck, even go to Newbury Comics. Just spend your money on something that matters.
Ted Reichman said that Looney Tunes was probably the best record store in the area, and he’s probably right. I look forward to seeing them in Allston when I come back after the break – it’ll be nice to see how DJ Nitetrain and the rest of the crew are doing.
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