DOMINO'S FAVOURITE RECORD SHOPS AROUND THE WORLD - BULL MOOSE RECORDS, BRUNSWICK, MAINE, USA

Short bio of your Bull Moose:

Started in 1989 in Brunswick, Maine by Bowdoin College junior Brett Wickard. What began as a makeshift store carrying only a few records is now the largest music retailer in Maine and Seacoast New Hampshire with ten stores and more than 100 employees. Its product line includes new and used records, CDs, DVDs and new and used video games. The stores also carry accessories including CD cases, "Magic: the Gathering Cards,” and incense. Bull Moose also recently opened its online store where customers can purchase new and used items from Bull Moose’s entire inventory.

1) How did you end up working in a record shop?

I'd worked in the music business for about 25 years before I arrived at Bull Moose. I’ve worked in music retail either as an hourly in the store, a store manager or a (failed) store owner, as well as a concert promoter, a music columnist, and a rep for a music distributor.

2) What do you love so much about music?

I love the fact that my favorites are contemptible in other music lover's ears and that what many others hold close to their hearts fails to even register in mine. The diversity, as in visual arts, is amazing.

3) If your record shop was an album, what would it be?

I think Bull Moose is like a mix-tape put together by chimps. We have all of the usual musical genre suspects, but we are also able to sell show tunes: Persian classical, western classical, bluegrass and Ma Rainey. It is as if the buyers had little or no idea what they were ordering. Pleasantly, the opposite is true, and we just cross our fingers that perhaps others share our catholic tastes. Add the range of our store employees from the extravagantly pierced to those who might offer sartorial tips to bankers, all of whom are embraced, and you get the sense it is as if a slightly differently-abled primate has assembled this business.
Let's call the mix-tape "Bonzo in Wonderland".

4) Do people come to your counter knowing what they want or do you have a huge role in turning people onto great stuff still?

It is always a bit of both. We believe there is no bad or stupid music, but we never temper our enthusiasm for other things we believe our customers may find interesting. "Love that Josh Groban? Where are you on Scandinavian Death Metal?"

5) What’s the local music scene like in your city? Is there a distinctive identity to the type of music coming out?

There are vibrant music scenes in Portland, Maine and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Perhaps a bit less so in the eight other towns where Bull Moose has stores. Though the majority of that is “alternative,” there is a large hard rock and metal contingent in the northeast and they’re all well represented in the clubs.

6) What’s the place for record stores in the 21st Century?

Each year for the past seven years I have said, "I'll give the music industry, as we know it, another five years" so I am clearly the wrong person to ask. However, older record stores have seen cassettes and 8 tracks come and go, perhaps even 78's, so when the holographic performance on a shiny disc hits the stores in the next decade it will just be a continuation of the process.

7) If you could make a perfect mix tape from your record shop collection– what would be on it?

A perfect mix-tape for Bull Moose would have to include something old and something new because we are very big on catalogue.

1) Let’s start with Dylan's "ent To See the Gypsy" because I think the demographic for him is so wide and that represents who we shoot for. We may come off as more of a specialty rock chain, but if we put Dylan on sale, the numbers are always astonishing. And it’s MY hypothetical mix-tape so I get to choose! Dylan+ great song writing, and I value that.
2) Ryan Adams' "Hardest Part" is a solid musical segue and because anybody who admires good song writing and isn't listening to Adams must be introduced.
3) Let's complete this opening trio with Wilco's "Ashes of American Flags" from the live cd. The current version of Wilco is brilliant and the addition of Nels Cline to the band a few years ago was astonishing. I'd been a fan of his since his tenure with the late Julius Hemphill, and I thought this would never last. I was wrong.
4) Changing gears, it is important to represent a bit of our international section with something. I love Thomas Mapfumo's "Chamunorwa" from the album of the same name. We sell used and new cds. I believe this old Mango release is long out of print, but it is one of his best and worth tracking down.
5) One great dance track deserves another, so let’s add "100 Days, 100 Nights" by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Old soul. Recent disc.
6) "Rehab" Amy, Amy, Amy. Don't turn your back on her! It's an obvious follow up to #5, but this is still one of the greatest albums of last year. We sold a butt load of "Back to Black" (who didn't?) and for a very good reason. It is great fun and "Rehab" is the best single of the past five years.
7) A final soulful track by Gnarls Barkley-"Who’s Gonna Save My Soul" from The Odd Couple. New Old Soul.
8) There are lessons to be learned from John Cusack's character in High Fidelity on how to make a mix-tape. Here is where it is evident I did not pay attention. "Loose Lips" by Kimya Dawson. Juno soundtrack. Hey, I think this, too, is soulful.
9) Another woman, and maybe a bit of a shout out to Domino…but I do so love this song…"El Pastor Mentiroso" on Juana Molina's cd, Segundo. But it actually balances Kimya quite well.
10) As does the a capella "Beautiful Hills of Galilee" from Hazel Dickins' "Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People." This one is almost painfully stark. It is a perfect tonic to all things overly considered in the studio. And, as a final song, it encourages listeners to know it’s only music... but that is plenty.