Sad Sad Day for the 206 but especially me
I came close to crying when I heard this.
I knew something was wrong when I kept going there in the early summer and it was closed in prime business hours. It doesn't surprise that there was some drug stuff going down there, they got a back room that he took me back to once, and I know stuff was happening back there. Also, they used to have a guy named Brett working there, he always cut me deals (Syko for $5!). He got fired and I asked Thomas why and Thomas said because he got sent to jail.
That store was really where my 206 rap collection exploded. Before I set foot in there, all I was doing was getting stuff from seaspot.com (which isn't a whole lot). I heard an add for them on Future Flavors, went down there the next day and OH MY GOD. It was like I done died and went to heaven. Holy shit all the local rap they had. I can attribute about half my collection to that store. They realized I was an avid supporter of local music, so they were great about giving me deals. Thomas probably bought me about 10 or 11 cds. One time there was an old Funkdaddy cd that I wanted, he didn't have it, so he paged Funk right there and asked for it. When he didn't bring it after a week or so, Thomas called him on the phone again and demanded it. He even put me on the line with him. Also, when there was all this hype about Livio and all the delays with the release, Thomas gave me a burnt copy of the album (it included some tracks that actually weren't released). So I was riding around the town listening to Livio 4 months before anbody else could. I hooked Thomas up with some baseball equipment for a team he was sponsoring in the Central District Little League.
I met Lil' T-Kid there, I met Livio there, I met Playa'Lo there. I met Jamesupopo there. That store was great. It;s like 7 minutes from my old HS, so I'd always buzz down to 23rd & E. Union on my lunch breaks.
I talked to Guy (owner of ARS) the other day and he wants to move into "the old neighborhood" (as he calls it) to that 23rd & E. Union spot. That would be great. That neighborhood needs a store like that because so many of these local rap artists come from that area. I really hope Guy gets on that quick and opens a 4th ARS in the CD. I mourn Millenium, but if Guy gets up in there, everything will be ok.
I was gonna try to get Thomas' phone number (to see if I can get some free cds off of him) but I guess I can't now. Too bad.
