It's been over a year since I have gone to Madison in search of music and records. Last time I took part in the third and final World Naked Bike Ride Day I would do. It would be 15 months before I came back.
Being stuck with a sinus issue all summer was part of the reason why I didn't go, but with fall processing coming up and winter too, I decided if I didn't go this week, then I wouldn't go at all. Still dealing with hacking and coughing issues, I packed my suitcase and took off. And that was the start of the Madison Bargain Hunts.
Road construction? Of course, mostly inside Wisconsin past Mineral Point and there was two lane between there and Ridgeway. And the big mess on Verona Road leading into Madison. A short cut took me right into that mess, no thanks to a five minute long red light and congesting traffic. Somehow I found the right road that took me to the west side Goodwill. The west side Goodwill seems to have a better selection of CDs more than the North Goodwill, a couple places down from the hotel and the third Goodwill, next to Wal Mart on Roundabout Hell Rd was ignored. Frugal Muse and both Pre Played stores were bypassed, The Muse is moving to a new place and Pre Played still has a good selection but they have bullish on inflating the price of CDs and 45s. Sugar Shack's inventory is more into records and the last time I was there, the 45s department had way too many scratched up ones than good. Perhaps I should have visited them since I haven't been there in over 4 years. It was easier to go to Mad City Music X and I spent four hours in two days turning their 45 selection upside down. They were the most reasonably priced and they did have plenty of quarter 45s for me to take home. I also found five 45s that my mom had when she was younger that I picked up and a couple of 2 dollar stuff as well. Strictly Discs had plenty of 45s but they were a bit more expensive but I did buy a 45 storage box so they didn't feel left out. I bought CDs there instead, including A Can Of Bees from the Soft Boys and a couple of 4.99 specials. St. Vincent De paul on Williamson street had plenty of 45s as well. The big winner was Gogi Grant as I found 3 RCA 45s and one from ERA from her. The St Vincent De Paul on Osana Rd wasn't visited, they don't have 45s in my time of going there but the Park St, Grab and Go had three pop standards singles and a Urban Cowboy CD I got for 1.50 total. The Grab and Go St Vincent De Paul had 45s, mostly scratched up beyond belief but the ABC Tangerine mistake Frankie Laine 45, I basically picked up. Frankie never recorded for Ray Charles' Tangerine label.
Weatherwise, it was beautiful but State Street continues to go down in quality. What used to be a nice hangout for shops and music stores have become a place where homeless folks roam and beg for money. Mostly black guys that came up to me to ask for change (10 of them) but a white woman also was begging to, perhaps she was the most needy. The trick was to keep walking and don't even look at them. And this was in the afternoon, God forbid if I should be down there at night where the drunkards get into fights and the change chasers get aggressive. Still a lot of nice looking co ed's down in the college district, tho me being 30 years older than any of them didn't help the things. I certainly wasn't getting lucky any time soon. Unlike Cedar Rapids, you can still rent a bike with a credit card at the kiosks that have the bikes, but they upgraded them to electric bikes. I suppose in the future I should invest in a smart phone but in reality I still don't need one, unless ordering a pizza.
A lot of empty buildings are all around, thanks to Shopko closing their doors, Copps leaving Whitney Way and Menards vacating the location next the East Towne Mall. 10 years ago, Pawn America replaced Circuit City and was one of the main destinations for me for cheap Cds and sometimes cymbals. On this trip, they're moving somewhere else and while they have 75 percent off, I didn't find anything. They quit selling CDs about four years ago. Hard to believe I found 36 of them in one trip. And also Big Lots got replaced by an Over 21 on the other side of town.
The Half Price Bookstore on the west side was the hang out place for me. They seem to have better CDs than the east side. And it has been that way for the last three visits. Certainly both places didn't have much in the 3 dollar bins. Best place remains the Marion Half Price Bookstore.
I stuck to the usual food places tho the Pho King Good Noodle place (where Wau Kee used to be) I'd love to visit the next time I'm in Madison. But everything I ate came back to haunt me a half hour later. Rocky Rocco, Pizza Hut, Hardee's were the place and I couldn't find a Italian place till it was too late. I stayed at The Microtel Monday Night and got rewarded with a total of two hours of sleep. Which made going home interesting since I couldn't find a Speedway or 7-11 that had sweet tea. I finally stopped at a truck stop and picked up a bottle of Nestea. And thankfully I made it home before the storm hit a hour later.
If this is the final bargain hunt (as I have threatened the past decade) I think it was a good haul. I think I'm more comfortable going to Dubuque and hang at Moondog Music, since they're closer. However, the folks at Mad City Music X and Strictly Disc will be sending things via email to let me know if somebody drops off more 45s from estate sales and people running out of room at their place. It's a shame that my body just have issues that prevent me to do this more often.
It was 25 years ago in 1994, that I discovered Madison on a whim and it took me a good ten more years to figure out how to get around town. In this time, I've seen the good and the bad and the ugly but in the end I always managed to find records and CDs. I spent more time in that town than I ever did going to Des Moines but Madison is closer and easy to get around town. Des Moines is not. Perhaps in due time, I'll chance going to our capitol. But at this moment, it's not high on my list of places to go to.
