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About halfway through my trip last week my friend Rob called to see how things were going. While we were on the phone he told me about a sweet record store in Chicago called Dusty Groove America. I had a couple hours to kill the next day and it wasn’t too far from where I was so I checked it out and ended up spending about $90. I didn’t even make it out of the jazz section!

The store isn’t too big, but most of what they had was good and reasonably priced. Not sure if it had recently been remodeled, but it was nicer and more well lit than most used record stores. You can tell that the people who run it are bigger record geeks than you.

They seem to do a fairly brisk business online. There were two other customers while I was in there, but there were also two clerks constantly flipping through the bins and pulling records. I assumed they were filling orders.

Here’s what I picked up:

• Herbie Hancock: The Spook Who Sat By The Door OST (reissue)
• Melvin Jackson: Funky Skull (reissue)
• Weather Report: I Sing The Body Electric
• Big John Patton: Blue John
• Gene Ammons: The Best of Gene Ammons with Brother Jack McDuff
• Herbie Mann and Rufus Harley: The Wailing Dervishes
• Jack McDuff: Tobacco Road
• Jimmy McGriff: Movin’ Upside The Blues
• Willis Jackson: Cool Gator

I have a feeling I’m going to do some damage to my bank account at this place.

After a week in Chicago apartment hunting, I found a place. It’s a 3 BR, 2600 sq ft loft in Humboldt Park. I’ll be sharing with two other artists I found on craigslist. They were looking for someone who wanted a live/work space and I fit the bill.

The neighborhood is definitely transitional, but the space should more than make up for that: hardwood floors, exposed brick, lots of windows and a huge kitchen. Plenty of room for work tables, bikes, etc.

The guys I’ll living with seem pretty cool. Ben does these excellent graphite drawings and works at a frame shop. Aaron is a photographer and works at a photo supply place. We ended up hanging out for about an hour and a half when I came over to see the place. They found the place through a realtor and signed a lease figuring they wouldn’ t have too much trouble finding a third.

Move in for me is set for the second week of August, which isn’t too far away. Yikes!

I’ll post more pictures once I move in.