A Brief Tribute to Tracks #6...Evansville, Indiana

The Joy of Tracks? Well, maybe not exactly up there with the Joy of Sex, although sometimes it may have been damn close. Walking in, pursuing the new release section, listening to Gary insulting Dan, Dan insulting Gary, and Dave just trying to keep the peace was always a joy and worth the 45 minute drive from my home alone. Buying the music sometimes was almost just an afterthought.

Yeah, those were the days. What a concept. Buying CDs in a store where the employees actually KNEW something about music! No wonder Andy eventually decided to shut it down, hell, it was too good to be true, and certainly too good for Evansville, Indiana, and the surrounding area. Typical conversation: John: "Gary, are you going to be getting in the new (fill in blank here with spiritually fulfilling, artistically gifted artist with zero sales potential)? Gary: "Yes, John, I ordered the usual three: one for you, one for me, and one for Wes." What more could you ask for than a record store that knew what you would want BEFORE you did? And I don't even want to discuss the period when they carried bootlegs, uh, sorry, I mean "collector's recordings". Jesus! Talk about heaven on earth. I felt like Roman Polanski walking into an American Girl magazine convention. 
And who could forget Gary's classic comment to a TV reporter who asked about the Tracks age requirement for purchasing the Madonna book. "16", Gary said. "16?", the reporter asked (all of the other managers interviewed had said 18 or 21)."Absolutely!" Gary responded. "I believe if you can drive two tons of metal down a street you should be able to see Madonna naked!" How could anyone argue with logic like that?

I spent a load of money at Tracks, as did loyal customers like Wes (rest in peace, my friend, he was the prototype of the informed music consumer) and Greg (wherever he may be, I'm sure he's dumping his reissue CDs into a used bin as new reissue CDs come out to replace them) did. But it really was worth every penny, and every mile driven. I always rationalized that my consistent and high level of patronage was  helping to keep the place alive, whether it did or not. And what the hell, I made some great friends, and I've learned over the years that friends made though music are the best and most loyal of all.