This guy just doesn't stop...

I admire Simmons.  A genuine entrepeneur succeeding in the U.S. (mostly) free market economy.

Licorice Pizza! Tablejockey, I shopped at the one on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Canoga Park when I lived there in '78-'82. LP was a small record store chain in SoCal, of which there were a few. Another was Moby Disc (good name!), in whose Sherman Oaks store on Ventura Boulevard Lucinda Williams could be found standing behind the cash register at in 1987, staring off into space (perhaps writing some lyrics in her head) when not ringing up customer’s purchases. She was playing around L.A. with a small band in little dives---I saw her in a pizza parlor, singing to a crowd of a half dozen. At that time she was recording what I still consider her best album---the s/t one on Rough Trade (1988), a great, great album.

bondmanp- Indeed, the band itself is a marketing machine. Can't fault them for that.

bdp24-I remember Moby Disc, but never shopped there. Are you still living in SoCal, or did you get out of this madness?

I heard him on NPR once being interviewed by TerryGross. He came off pretty bad. He tried playing rock star like the interview was beneath his coolness and ended up sounding like a real fool. Bad interview possibly and maybe misjudged the moment and audience. Ignorant and uninformed at a minimum. It was pretty cringe worthy moment and funny in the end he could be that dim.

That Terry Gross interview was bizarre. Chaim Weiss revealed himself as a total a$$. You can pull it up from the internets.