September 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine

COVER FEATURELOCAL BUSINESS
THE MUSHROOM
The Mushroom might look like it grew from hippie roots, but its birth
is a far more extreme story than their subdued black light posters may
lead you to think. As legend goes, the Tulane student body became
radical with protests of Vietnam in 1969, occupied the university center
and burned down the ROTC building. During negotiations between the
protesting student body and the upper crust at the university, a settlement
was reached where the students would receive their own book store and thus
the Mushroom was born—in a back room of the Phelps dorm, selling books,
comics, incense and soap, with music not coming until later. But when it did
the place blew up quickly, inviting many non-students to the campus shop to
talk and trade. Soon it swelled to where the Mushroom became the largest
vinyl record store in the southern United States, but they got kicked off the
university campus in 1971 and set up shop above Eddie Price’s, now known
as the Boot.
The Mushroom has been there ever since—right on what has become
Frat Row, within walking distance to two of the city’s major universities
while selling everything: new and used CDs, vinyl records, movies, posters,
incense, jewelry and a plethora of pipes that allow you to cleverly and
creatively smoke tobacco.
It’s hard to be a college music store when the majority of the college kids
are strictly downloading songs, both illegally and through legit means. Only
about 30% of the Mushroom’s business comes from the Tulane and Loyola
crowd. The rest comes from locals—collectors who will show up week after
week, looking for something. The Mushroom is one of those places that
decided to eschew the technological dawn of the twenty first century, with its
internet-based sales and corporate chains—they come from a time where a
record store was something much more than a place to simply buy a CD or an
album, and the Mushroom’s owner, Tim, stresses this. “We believe its gotta
be worth the trip. We gotta give them something to find. The collectors gotta
be able to hunt, They gotta come here and walk away with treasure.” That’s
what makes the Mushroom worth it, the idea that people can leave with
something worth coming out for. And, as Tim said, “They got something
that means something to them.” —Caroline DeBruhl; Photo by Dan Fox
The Mushroom is located at 1037 Broadway St. in New Orleans. For more info,
call 504.866.6065.
JIM RUSSELL’S
In the late ’50s and early ’60s, James Russell was a local concert promoter who was put in jail again
and again for booking white musicians in black clubs and vice versa. Russell, who invented the term
“sock-hop,” was also a manager who represented Deacon John, Eddie Bo, the Dixie Cups, Ernie K-
Doe and many others. He was selling records out of his car when he decided to get more serious about
distribution and in 1967 opened a wholesale store at 1837 Magazine Street. He closed and re-opened in
1969 as a retail store in the same location. This was the beginning of Jim Russell’s Records, which is now
the longest-lasting music store in New Orleans.
Walking into Jim Russell’s is overwhelming. Countless boxes of .45s are stacked high and hundreds,
maybe thousands, of ten-inch vinyl records line the bottom of the CD aisles, out of sight. That’s just the
beginning. There’s a side room where vinyl is stacked with no particular reason, a scavenger’s wet dream.
The back room is the rock room, which easily wins the prize for the largest selection of rock vinyl in the
city. During a tour of the store by co-owner Denise Russell, wife of Jim Russell, Jr., she led me past the rock
room to what looked like a dead end. Then she pushed open a door and there was another huge room full
of vinyl that could be a
store unto itself. And
then to know there’s
more upstairs! Russell
said she and her
daughter are constantly
rummaging through the
unseen back room and
selecting quality vinyl
to bring to the front.
Jim Russell’s had
a particularly good
JazzFest in 2008.
The record players
used for listening
were always manned,
usually by foreign
DJs in New Orleans
to attend the festival.
Unfortunately, the
store seems to be better
known internationally
than locally. Russell
said locals frequently
walk in and say, “I’ve
never been here before.
How long has it been here?” She said one time a local woman even
apologized to her for not having visited the store sooner.
Despite the JazzFest sales, the store is struggling. The city raised
her property tax from $1600 per year to $5400, and her regulars from
before Katrina have either not returned or understandably don’t have
the disposable income for records. So we have to be careful not to lose
this internationally known treasure trove—if you’ve got a turntable at
home, swing by Jim Russell’s because you’ll likely find a couple, or ten,
quality records to load onto your deck.—Jason Songe; Store photo by Dan
Fox; Denise Russell photo by Zack Smith.
Jim Russell’s Records is located at 1837 Magazine St. in New Orleans. For
more info, call 504.522.2602 or visit jimrussellrecords.com.
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