Amoeba Music

I usually go to Amoeba when I am in LA. This time I guess it was no different. I don't even remember why I was in LA in the first place. But something cosmic was in the air for sure. That night I park a few blocks down. About a block from Amoeba a car rushes by and I feel a stinging on my stomach. I looked down and there in my hand is an unbroken egg. I caught the egg while protecting myself from whatever was flying at me. To some miracle the egg did not break. This in itself was just crazy to me. As I pass the Arclight I bump into none other than Jamie Foxx, coming out of the premiere of his great turn as one of my musical heroes Ray Charles. As I was taken off guard and still a bit bewieldered by the egg incident that just happened about a minute ago I say nothing. I don't get star struck to easily, though I do appreciate the mans art. So far I have had an interesting 15 minutes and I haven't even looked for any records. As I walk in the store I realize that it is about to close (Meaning in like 30 min or something which seriously you might as well not go in if you only have that much time and you plan on hunting). The store is like a ghost town which is pretty rare. Just about 5 min into my visit I look up and see none other than the man himself. My god damn idle! Elvis Costello! And no one was in the store! He was just sitting there by himself at a table! It was kind of spooky. Where were the people. Fuck! Why didn't I know about this! I guess it was the end of a signing and there was no one left. But seriously, no one. Not even a friend for him to talk to at the table. I go to his section and pick up King of America. One of my favorite album covers of his. I was wearing a western shirt and he said he liked my shirt a lot. Everything after that is hazy but I do know that that compliment of that shirt follows it around everywhere.

this is a love story. I have literally walked by Amoeba, 100s of times as I went to Hollywood High...I never walked in though because for some reason i felt like I wasn't 'indie' or cool enough...I only finally went in after I graduated high school...I of course was completely fucking amazed at how awesome the store is...a giant warehouse full of music..genius...I took this boy John there that I was doing a musical with who I was so crushing on..like deep...He was the perfect guy to take there...he likes the most obscure bands with names like Panda Bear and... I cant even remember what else but you know, cool sensitive awesome guy bands. we of course went to the Soundtrack section where the musicals are located(where I now live and have spent hours in) and flipped through CDs...we came to "The Light in the Piazza" and we both said "ugh i love this" at the same time...and then he began singing the song "Love to Me" uh...to me. I died, so died. As we were walking out he grabbed my hand. A few weeks later when we were watching the Perseids meteor shower, he started singing it...It sounds so cheesy when I write it all down, but it was beautiful in real life, and it would not have happened had we not gone into Amoeba that day.

You’ve been there. The dollar bin. It’s on the ground there, in an old cardboard box under the death metal shelf, unassuming, mysterious. It smiles and winks at you because it knows you think you have a chance. Strictly statistically speaking, most dollar bin experiences end one of two ways. Either: a) you walk away empty-handed after shuffling through endless cracked-plastic cases of Engelbert Humperdinck’s greatest hits, the Bhumfuk Orkestra’s extended-release collection of Wohlfahrt etudes, and at least one Barbara Streisand (once called the Gideons Bible of used record bins); or b) an unfamiliar but artful album cover catches your otherwise mothball-scorched eyes, so you decide to throw your dollar to the ever-hopeful wind... and then - yes, you know it well - that brief period of elation while the album, still unheard, holds all wondrous mysteries in the etchings on its gleaming surface, and you get home, and you rush to your speakers, and with trembling hands unfold its jewel-case cradle, click the disc into position and press play, only suddenly to find your innocent eardrums assaulted with white-hot ice picks of pain and sonic despair... alas, sometimes you get what you pay for, but sometimes one must wonder what really goes on in all those amplified garages across America... But sometimes, ah, sometimes, that taped-together Washington you found in your ass pocket lands you a true gem. Some holy hand has graced that kicked-in box with something truly funky, or something endearingly ridiculous enough to merit repeat listens with an understanding and pacifist friend. As an otherwise deadbeat with a deep-seated affinity for music (the best mixer for my whiskey), I once decided to dedicate more time to that little box, given I felt rich enough to dish out for what is admittedly a weakness of mine. Good music! Or maybe ridiculous music! Or maybe terrible music I would employ as a soundtrack to humanity shitting itself out of spite. Nothing is holy. But one thing does come close to holy, and that, my friends, is the dollar bin at your friendly neighborhood Amoeba. Because the California gold rush lives on through its kicked-in corners. Behold, for there I found such titles as Booker T and the MGs (Melting Pot), Django Reinhardt (Paris 1945), some Budos Band/Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings sampler, The Unicorns (Who Will Cut Our Hair), Tiger Army (Tiger Army III: Ghost Tigers Rise) and on one glorious day, both Radiodread AND Dub Side of the Moon. Plus, I got something at Amoeba I’ll never get rid of. A terrible gnawing guilt that I’ll never live long enough to listen to more than a tiny fraction of what they’ve got.

Amoeba Hollywood is like my movie version of Alice in Wonderland.I am in awe everytime my husband and I enter into the store.It is such a fantasy.I always have intentions on coming to the store to buy one CD.Instead I leave with a big charge on my credit card.I love the staff.They are so damn helpful.So they always,always,always help me find everything I am looking for, and make suggestions on what else I may like.It works.I buy it too.There is no other store where 2 hours goes by so fast, and you still want to look some more.The list never gets shorter.I love this wonderland. Thanks

On my 15th birthday I came down to LA to hang out with my sister who moved down there a couple years earlier. She didn't really know what to do but then stated, "I went to really cool music store a while back, but all I remember is that it is across the street from a jack in the box." So we typed in jack in the box on the GPS and found ourselves searching and searching until, we found it. I think I almost peed myself when I rounded the corner of the stairs and the vast store opened up before my eyes like a boy at his first baseball game. I ended spending over 100 of my newfound birthday bucks, and don't regret a cent of it. It has now come somewhat of a tradition to go on my birthday and go all out.

When I walked into the Amoeba in Hollywood for the first time I heard a choir of angels singing and I knew my music prayers had been answered. My girlfriend Diana had brought me to Amoeba as a surprise and right then and there I knew she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

Amoeba is my rock n' roll savior. Music that I have found at amoeba has influenced me so much more than an illegal download ever has. In the early 00's my music taste was dominated by the moderately priced cassette selection at Amoeba. All of my "new" discoveries were awesome 80's-90's cassettes. The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Smiths/ Morrissey, The Violent Femmes, Sonic Youth, and several other favorites that are with me to this day. Downloading a song is meaningless, discovering a deal is forever.

i've been to amoeba a few times but i was there about 2 weeks ago visiting just before the jack Johnson concert at the Hollywood bowl. i was searching through the used section looking for some beach boys, cibo matto and the replacements. i was lucky enough to think to myself ( when i think to myself this leads to problems but this time it didn't) why not check the $2.99 section. sure enough there was cibo matto and the replacements sit there glowing and basking in the light that was my smile. i grab them and the beach boys run at up to the counter and bought them all right away. my friend who was with me turned to me smacked me and called me crazy. i smacked him backed and called him lazy cause he didn't look hard enough for his CD's. BAM!

My first trip to Amoeba was amazing as I flipped through the bargain bins for hours until I had to pee and found out there wasn't a restroom in the store. Even though I am not very close to the store, I save up my "music money" and make trips to buy cd's and lp's only from Amoeba several times a year. My prized possession is a signed Solomon Burke poster that I got when I met the legend at an in-store show.

Amoeba is an amazing place, I feel at home there. I always find something fantastic, they have great deals, great workers who are very helpful. I've had alot of fun times with my friends there. But the hightlight has to be meeting Shane West! He was there as i was checking out, he was even nice enough to take a minute to meet me and take a picture. It is forever a highlight of my life, I LOVE Amoeba for it! Always keeps me coming back.