stupid rant #1
Blaming shitty parking on University, Mod Lang’s decided to move. Huh? Parking’s been shitty for years! Hella years. I’m guessing the foot traffic from UC Berkeley students has been diminishing lately. More and more, the independent music communities in dormitories everywhere discover that they can download whatever hip music on-line for free, then they’ll have more spending money for hip clothes at Hot Topic, American Apparel… where do the hip kids buy their clothes on Telegraph these days, anyway? Plus, when whatever band they’re listening to becomes passé, they won’t have to suffer the embarrassment of selling the CD back to get some cash. “You bought that Faint album? Pff.”
Oh, Mod Lang, I hope the thriving independent music community of El Cerrito gives you more money than those cheap punks in Berkeley. There should be plenty of people drawn to the area by a new coffee shop, Central Perk! Y’know, like in Friends! The TV show that taught us all that discussing your sex life over an espresso makes you look more sophisticated!
You see, espresso became quite hip in the mid-90s, creating lots of business for the independent coffee shops that were selling it, subsequently creating a lot of business for the Starbuck’s that moved in across the street from said independent coffee shops. I had always heard of this happening, but never actually seen it firsthand… UNTIL NOW! Yes, apparently the Stork Club’s happy hour, the DIY classes at Rock Paper Scissors, and the tasty coffee at Mama Buzz Café have drawn enough white people into Koreatown to validate opening a Starbuck’s there. It’s nice to know that such a large corporation will take notice of such a small punk community… and then try to profit from it.
Will independent music stores survive in spite of cheap, speedy internet downloads? I doubt it. Will independent coffee shops be able to compete with neighboring Starbuck’s’s? Quite unlikely. Will stupid blog entries like this one continue to thrive everywhere? I’d put money on it.