The flagship store for "Sam the Record Man" in Toronto, has closed it's doors, for good. For the longest of time, it was "the place" to find that album, you just couldn't find elsewhere, in the city. The store would also feature independent releases, through consignment orders, giving unsigned artists a chance to become better known. The store's signage is something else, two large neon records (and three smaller ones).

It's signage could be seen in the movie "Scanners" by David Cronenberg, Rush's "Subdivisions" video and the store is "that late night record shop" mentioned in BNL's song "Brian Wilson".

Last week an auction was held, putting up items such as: signed posters, signed pieces of drywall, gold and platinum records and other memorabilia for sale. Pictures: http://www.benacosales.com/samspicpage.htm

More info at wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_the_Record_Man

and from a local tv station:http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_11504.aspx

I made one final trip to the store last week, picked up 7 cds and one cassette (it was 25 cents) for $51 after taxes. Trips downtown will not be the same anymore

The building was declared a "Heritage site" so the large neon records will still be there. A local university is interested in purchasing the property.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/sto...ams-store.html

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" The universe is running away
I heard it on the news just the other day
There's this new stuff called dark energy
We can't measure and we can't see..." - from Jimmy Buffett's What if the hokey pokey is all it really is about?

I'm always getting "Brian Wilson" stuck in my head--it's in there now--but it's nice to have that much more context to it. (I do get the Brian Wilson references!)

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"