Amoeba Music is a well-known independent record store chain in Hollywood, San Francisco and Berkeley. They opened their first store in 1990 close to the UC Berkeley Campus. The cultural history of their first store is quite something, having been a famous coffee store (The Forum) during the height of the Beat Generation. Then in the early 1970s, it was taken over by the One World Family cult, who also hosted a Sun Ra residency. You can check out more about each of their stores here – https://www.amoeba.com/our-stores/.
Besides selling great records, and putting on in-store gigs, Amoeba also run a regular video series called ‘What’s In My Bag?’ – they invite an artist to go around the store and pick out some favourite albums and then talk about them. The store features new and secondhand vinyl, CD and Tape, so there are plenty of gems to be found, and the choices are often far from obvious.
One recent guest at their Hollywood store was Damien Jurado, and this episode is up there with my top favourites from the series.
Jurado was so excited about his visit to Amoeba that he couldn’t sleep the night before. Check it out below:
Damien recently released Reggae Film Star (reviewed here), before which David Weir interviewed him for Folk Radio:
Damien Jurado’s Album Picks
- Scott Walker – Scott 3 (CD)
- Cécile McLorin Salvant – Ghost Song (LP)
- Ritchie Valens – Ritchie Valens (LP)
- The Standells – Why Pick On Me / Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White (LP)
- Fugazi – Instrument OST
- Bobby Darin – The Direction Albums (LP)
- Various Artists – Back From The Grave, Volume 9 (LP)
- The 4 Seasons – The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette (LP)
- Frank Sinatra – Watertown (LP)
- The Doors – The Doors (LP)
- Jessica Pratt – Quiet Signs (LP)
- King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King (LP)
Links
https://damienjurado.bandcamp.com/album/reggae-film-star