JON GOSA: Distractions keep kids from local music stores

There is something magical about a music store. Walls adorned from floor to ceiling with exotic guitars, drum kits with cymbals of shimmering brass, synthesizers, bass, horns and strings, all keepers of a mystical potential and waiting for the right person to summon forth the music.

When I was young I loved to go to the local music stores on Saturday. It was a mission of discovery. Where did all this fantastic music come from? Surely these instruments and the people here knew.

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The stores were always full of three or four guys playing guitar simultaneously, awkwardly cutting heads and showing off their best chops. Someone on the other side of the store inevitably would play “Home Sweet Home” on a keyboard they couldn’t possibly afford. There was electricity not just in the guitars, but in the air.

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It was here that I was drawn to learn the secrets of music. Here I learned lessons. Such as a Fender Telecaster has as much twang as Merle Haggard, but if you really want Slash to rip that lead he’s going to need a Gibson Les Paul (preferably a ’59 solid body with alnico pickups).

These stores were vibrant, alive and teeming with locals.

Today, however, local music stores face a different reality, one similar to that faced by animals on the endangered species list: loss of habitat to giant corporate wholesalers, invasive and competing species that I like to call “the gamer,” and a shrinking economic food source.

Here in Albany we have seen several local music stores close their doors. The ones left — Ed Jordan Music, Parker Music, Portman Music, Stallion Music — are all a little quieter these days, and their principles seem to agree that business has dwindled in the last few years.

Representatives of each have their own theories as to why each store has had to adjust its business strategy, from downsizing to offering fewer services or simply lowering prices to stay competitive.

“Thank God for the churches,” said Ed Jordan, owner/operator of his eponymous business for the last 31 years. “The kids just aren’t into the guitar the way they used to be … and these days parents just can’t afford the luxury of band rentals.”

Steve Parker of Parker Music, in business since 1976, said he believes social media, the economy and video games have all contributed to the decline in local business. But worse, he notes, is a loss of interest.

“With all of the distractions today and the way the economy is,” Parker said, “kids just don’t have time for music.”

Unfortunately, this is a sad truth. Budget cuts across the nation are silencing music programs in schools or simply making them too expensive. And kids today face an ever-accelerating flood of distractions. You add all that together with an increasing trend toward online shopping, and it spells disaster for the local music store.

“Why would I want to get in my car and drive down to the local music store when I can order anything I need on the Internet and have it delivered to my doorstep?” kids ask. “Why go to all that trouble?”

I’ll tell you why. Because every one of the guys that I talked with was more concerned and excited about a child becoming interested in music than he was about selling a guitar. Each one in his own way said it was great to make money but it was better to inspire the love of music, which they all agreed makes a more rounded individual and human being.

The people who work in these and other music stores are there because they love it. Their expertise and knowledge come from years of devotion for which they will receive little gratitude and only edification as personal solace and reward for their service. Beyond that it is simple: If people don’t buy local, these guys won’t be around to inspire a future Jimmy Page, Jack White or Johnny Cash.

So, the next time you are setting up at the big gig and realize you need strings or a guitar cable because you broke yours during the last Hendrix cover, or your kid won’t leave you alone about why he can’t have Grand Theft Auto 5, get in the car and head down to the local music store. You will be amazed at what you find there, and both you and your kids will be better for it.

“I’m only as good as the people walking in that door,” Jordan said. “That’s all I can tell you. That’s true of any business; we are only as good as people walking in and buying local. If they buy local, we can survive.”

A graduate of the University of Georgia, Jon Gosa is a freelance writer and author of the novel “August Ending.” He is currently at work on his second book and lives in his native Albany with his wife and son.