Took the bus to Akron today for the first time. I'd always wanted to but would get stressed out at the prospect of missing the bus back. Since I had off from work due to Veterans Day, I took the opportunity to head out early.
My main target was Time Traveler Records, which I'd never been to before. Very cool and very Akron. (@excellentflowers, you would have loved the frequency of Kate Bush and Todd Rundgren posters on the walls.) It's one of those music stores where most of the CDs are in those rickety plastic longbox skeletons made to fit in record booths and cost at least $12.99, but you're paying that much because you're getting your money's worth, baby. Besides, what other place has a designated and stocked John's Children section? Kick. Ass.
I purchased CDs of Tommy by the Who, which I recently fell back in love with all over again for the first time since about age ten; Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround by the Kinks, who I've been in the mood to get more into; and S. F. Sorrow by the Pretty Things, which I've been intending to listen to in full for a while now.
There is also a mattress shop in the same building with a man in a gorilla suit waving to cars outside. That is wonderful.
Lunch was a grilled cheese with artichoke hearts at the Lockview downtown. It was very good. Right by it there is going to be a restaurant opening called the UNITED STATES POTATO SERVICE, which is regionally appropriate and also terrifying. I bet it will be fun, though I eat too many french fries at this time in my life because they're one of the only things at the dining halls that I trust. It's still a vegetable, right?
I also really liked the mysterious piles of popcorn (x1) and Cheerios (x2) I encountered at one point. I would love to know their carnal origin.
I would also like to stay as far away from this as possible:
Spaghetti Warehouse. Who would've thunk it.
