Don't Ask Me Why

Well, today I finally gave in and went to Real Groovy, one of the bigger music stores around Auckland. I had for some time been wanting to get my hands on some Billy Joel records- I am about as big a fan as the come! I only had one record, 52nd Street, which was originally my mother's (grief!). I knew that this store had a great collection of second-hand vinyls, and in pretty good condition too.

Since today was my shortest day at university- only one hour of lectures, at 9am of all hours- I decided to make use of being in the city and pop down the road to the store. Before I went in, I decided that I would probably only get the one- after all, I can always go back. I had my mind set on The Stranger, which is *probably* his best album- but don't hold me to that, they are all so good! I had no idea how much it would cost, but I thought $20 would be reasonable. That was about the price of the CD versions of the albums, which I had seen in Marbecks, another big music store, recently.

I arrived and headed straight for the vinyl section; for some reason, these stores file Billy Joel under J and not B, as I have twice discovered to my great annoyance. Fool me once, and all that. Anyway, I soon found the section marked Billy Joel and was quite pleased to see it was quite full. There they were, all the good ones, right before my eyes. And what's more, they were CHEAP. Because they were naturally second-hand, they were all bargains. Some were under $10, another had a double set of two of his early albums for only $14. 

My Current Collection!

No longer was it a simple equation. I was inundated, reason went out the window. I started making excuses and breaking all my miserly rules. $50 later, and I had Cold Spring Harbour, Piano Man, Turnstiles, The Stranger and Glass Houses. And the Billy Joel section in the store was looking a lot smaller! I didn't regret it then, and I don't regret it now. I have played them all through today; we have a special turntable that can record onto the computer, so I might even make mp3s of the songs I haven't already got on my iTunes (which is only about 4, but some others aren't these originals). 

As you can tell, I'm pretty excited about this. I very rarely spend money on myself, but just this one time, it was definitely worth it for the amount of enjoyment I will get out of them. I even have a place up on the wall to display them. Everyone has their own obsession, and this is mine!

Room For One Or Two More?

Q.E.D.