So Long, Michael Bell

I discovered the tiny Clarkston, Georgia record store Records Galore about 17 years ago.  I don't remember why I was driving through Clarkston, a suburb of Atlanta, but I was surprised to see a record store, and I stopped, of course.  On that first visit, I found a hard-to-find, long-out-of-print album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Byard Lancaster for a ridiculously cheap price, and I was hooked.  I have been a regular customer ever since, and have made some fabulous finds there.

My last visit was in November, and the owner, Michael Bell, was looking very unwell.  I wondered if he was not long for the world, and sure enough, he died in December.  I drove by the store today, and it's sitting closed and empty of people, although still full of records and CDs.  It seemed particularly poignant that Mr. Bell's water bottle is still in the window, and that on his last day at the store he must have felt so bad that he forgot to turn the sign from "OPEN" to "CLOSED."  Mr. Bell was pretty taciturn, so we only had brief conversations, but I admired his dedication to recorded music, and I miss him.