A Child's Eyes

Last weekend, I went to a mall close to my apartment. I meant to just get lunch and a haircut but I found myself in a small music store. This store is one of a rare breed here. Bins full of pirated music and movies crowd the floors of a mall just next door. It's no wonder at all that stores selling original music get crowded out.

The ones that do survive are quite selective in their merchandise. They can't hope to break even on sales of original Avril Lavigne and Jennifer Lopez albums.

I was in no hurry, so I decided to stay and look over all the albums they had for sale. It was a small store, with only a couple of small racks for CDs. It was then that I noticed something odd about how the items were arranged.

Elvis, Eminem, and Enya.

George Thorogood, Fleetwood Mac, and Hoobastank.

The other rack was for live recordings. I noticed some of Peter Frampton albums mingled with a couple from Portishead.

Yes, they were all arranged alphabetically by artist.

There were more that a few that I wasn't familiar with. But for the ones I was familiar with, I knew that in their own time and in their own niche, they stood out.

It was truly amazing to see them all together. It's not a sight I would have seen if the store had a larger collection and, consequently, its items were arranged by genre.

I managed to pick out what I wanted, Joni Mitchell's Hits and Paul Simon's Graceland.

I may just go back for George Thorogood and Pink Floyd.