Remember “The Andy Griffith Show”? Where did he guys all hang out in Mayberry? Floyd’s barber shop! It was the epitome of small town social intercourse. Besides being a place where one could get a shave and a haircut, it was the town’s men hung out when there was nothing else going on. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they didn’t. Floyd himself was a fountain of misinformation and half-baked opinions – invaluable to Mayberry’s gossip pipeline.
Those who have seen me know darn well I haven’t spent a lot of time around barbershops, but from my limited personal interaction with these establishments, I think by the late 60’s, their role as a local hangout was diminishing. I remember lots of casual conversation, but nothing too interesting. I remember the barbershop always had, uh, gentleman’s magazines laying around and often a somewhat racy calendar hanging behind the cash register, but it never seemed like a “hangout” to me.
As a young teen, my friends and I spent considerable time at a somewhat local music store. It was about a 30 minute bike ride, but it had all the stuff to make us young aspiring musicians drool. It was called Brown’s Music in Concord, and the proprietors were surprisingly tolerant of us. We didn’t often have much money to spend, but we could go there and play good instruments, and when we did have some money, we spent it there. LIke Floyd’s barbershop, it was usually pretty quiet there, but once in a while, local music stars showed up and we got to talk “shop” with them. It generally made for an afternoon well spent, well worth the hour spent just getting there and back.
On Facebook, I often see Larry Chung at Gryphon Music, grinning as he plays one amazing instrument after another – it seems obvious he spends considerable time there, and clearly enjoys himself.
Here in Martinez, there’s a music store right on Main Street, called Good Stuff Guitar shop, and it absolutely is a local hangout. I go there just about every Saturday, walking my dog Levi. They keep a supply of dog treats behind the counter, and Levi knows this very well. I’ll drop in, Levi will gnaw biscuits and I’ll get the lowdown on what new instruments have arrived, or what vintage treasures have come in for repairs or modifications. We’ll jaw about who’s playing where, who’s playing what, and every few minutes someone else comes in and the conversation gets renewed. There are no dodgy magazines however. One of the locals dubbed it the “guitarbershop”, and it’s an apt moniker.
My interest in haircuts is still very low, but I really enjoy having around the guitarbershop!
