A Message From Jon:
Hi. I'm still here.
It's been an interesting and slightly strange August. I resigned my full-time position at The Love Garden, where I had worked for 14 years. I don't recall ever talking too much about the shop here on the blog, but let me just say a couple of things: First of all, I'm extremely proud of the store. We frequently hear customers from all over the country telling us that it's one of the best record stores they've ever seen. We strive to be fair, friendly, and interesting, and I think we've generally accomplished that, and I have every confidence that we will do so in the future. Secondly, I'd like to publicly state how much it meant to me that my bosses, Kory Willis and Kelly Corcoran (and earlier Zippy Hester) accommodated my school schedule, always paid me a living wage, and made sure I was taken care of financially when I had to miss weeks of work with a fairly serious health issue a couple of years ago.
Actually, let me drop this in, at the risk of giving you too much information. The "issue" referred to above was testicular cancer. I was 37 at the time, past the age at which the disease normally occurs. My point is, guys, check yourself out regularly, and if anything seems amiss, go to a doctor. I waited quite a while (probably a year or so) to do anything about it, and as a result had to endure chemotherapy that probably could have been avoided. I know...I'm just sayin'.
Anyway, the reason I quit the store was because I have a student teaching assignment this semester. I'll be teaching three Accelerated Senior English classes and one Science Fiction class. I'm very much looking forward to it, while simultaneously worrying that I'm a complete fraud.
I'm actually kind of hoping that being away from the store will make music more precious (because less of it) and therefore get me more excited about it than I have been for most of 2006. I really enjoy getting in my car after school and turning the stereo up, understanding that "up" is not nearly as loud as "up" was in 1982. I hope I will have more motivation to update this site frequently, because your kind words and comments and e-mails really do mean a lot to me. Once again, I'd like to thank Andrew Chalfen and Stewart Mason for their help and patience.
Oh yeah, saw a couple of Embarrassment reunion shows this weekend. I can't say they were musically stellar, but it was cool to see those four guys playing a bunch of songs I loved, and there were certainly glorious moments. Bill Goffrier was particularly good. He's still a post-punk guitar genius.
Thanks for letting me ramble. As a reward, here's a belated Little Hits tribute to the late Syd Barrett by Martin Newell's Cleaners From Venus.
Peace,
Jon
It's been an interesting and slightly strange August. I resigned my full-time position at The Love Garden, where I had worked for 14 years. I don't recall ever talking too much about the shop here on the blog, but let me just say a couple of things: First of all, I'm extremely proud of the store. We frequently hear customers from all over the country telling us that it's one of the best record stores they've ever seen. We strive to be fair, friendly, and interesting, and I think we've generally accomplished that, and I have every confidence that we will do so in the future. Secondly, I'd like to publicly state how much it meant to me that my bosses, Kory Willis and Kelly Corcoran (and earlier Zippy Hester) accommodated my school schedule, always paid me a living wage, and made sure I was taken care of financially when I had to miss weeks of work with a fairly serious health issue a couple of years ago.
Actually, let me drop this in, at the risk of giving you too much information. The "issue" referred to above was testicular cancer. I was 37 at the time, past the age at which the disease normally occurs. My point is, guys, check yourself out regularly, and if anything seems amiss, go to a doctor. I waited quite a while (probably a year or so) to do anything about it, and as a result had to endure chemotherapy that probably could have been avoided. I know...I'm just sayin'.
Anyway, the reason I quit the store was because I have a student teaching assignment this semester. I'll be teaching three Accelerated Senior English classes and one Science Fiction class. I'm very much looking forward to it, while simultaneously worrying that I'm a complete fraud.
I'm actually kind of hoping that being away from the store will make music more precious (because less of it) and therefore get me more excited about it than I have been for most of 2006. I really enjoy getting in my car after school and turning the stereo up, understanding that "up" is not nearly as loud as "up" was in 1982. I hope I will have more motivation to update this site frequently, because your kind words and comments and e-mails really do mean a lot to me. Once again, I'd like to thank Andrew Chalfen and Stewart Mason for their help and patience.
Oh yeah, saw a couple of Embarrassment reunion shows this weekend. I can't say they were musically stellar, but it was cool to see those four guys playing a bunch of songs I loved, and there were certainly glorious moments. Bill Goffrier was particularly good. He's still a post-punk guitar genius.
Thanks for letting me ramble. As a reward, here's a belated Little Hits tribute to the late Syd Barrett by Martin Newell's Cleaners From Venus.
Peace,
Jon
