March 28, 2011

Okay, I’ve decided to dedicate Sunday nights to independent businesses. The only problem with this is that a lot of them close early on Sundays. So Sunday’s will be the rare MAD experience that occasionally starts in the early evening hours before it’s actually dark out. My two favorite kind of stores are bookstores and record shops, so we'll be seeing a lot of them on Sunday's. This week I’m going to a cool little record store on Bleecker street called, Rebel Rebel.

Ack! The brightness...it's all too much!

Check out this store on 14th Street. It's called, NYC Candy. Yet...

They don't sell candy! Now I don't know about you, but...

I want candy!

Private hooker joke between Biff and I alert: Ah, the Karavas Tavern, spanks for the memories!

Okay, we're on Bleecker, just a few blocks till we get to Rebel Rebel.

Speaking of hookers, this place is a real meat market. (Rimshot.)

And here we are, Rebel Rebel. The store's named after this David Bowie tune.

You don't even have to go inside to shop here.

But let's go in, it's freezing as fuck out here. Where is spring?

Okay, I went in and met the owner (I think he was the owner.) He was a real nice guy, but couldn't seem to understand what I was doing and why. He told me I could take a couple pictures. I told him I really needed to take more and he told me a couple would be enough. And again, he was being super-nice about it, so I asked if I could take ten and he said I could take five. Here's the thing, I don't know much about photography (other things I don't know much about: History, biology, algebra and no, I don't know what a slide rule is for) so usually I take about sixty photos and out of those I'll get about twenty good ones. So I'm really feeling the pressure here to get five decent ones in a row. Here's number one: A full shot of the shop. There's tons of records and CD's in the small shop.

There's a nice selection of rock and roll magazines in here, Mojo magazine is great!

This shot kind of sucked, I'm really feeling the pressure here.

A stack of Rebel Rebel shirts on top of a pile of albums.

The back wall has tons of magazines with Madonna on the cover. That's it, my five picture deal is done. I feel I did the best I could under the circumstances. Please don't rag on this place in the comments, it's a great store, the owner is just a little camera shy. If you're ever in New York, you should check it out.

I found a German import of "The Who Sell Out," one of my favorite records of all time. Since I bought something the owner agreed to one more photo and even took it himself. Squeezed an extra photo out of him! I felt really good about that. Yes, this is what my life has been reduced to!

And the sun has set. Look to the right of this photo for a reminder that the stupid-ass all-important Papaya Wars continue tomorrow, exclusively here at MAD! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.

Rebel Rebel
319 Bleecker St. (Near Grove St.)
212-989-0770

Further reading: New York magazine, nycgoth, Turntabling and the Village Voice.

When I was a kid Sunday nights meant three things: School was starting the next day, my homework was never done and Ed Sullivan was on TV that night. Here’s five great Ed Sullivan moments via YouTube. You can only watch these if you've done your homework!
The Beatles
Richard Pryor
Topo Gigio
Plate Spinning
Senor Wences

 The Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal are mine to see on clear days,
You thought that I would need a crystal ball to see right through the haze.

ARCHIVES