In recent years, I've been increasingly warming up to Hackettstown; I like to do my "walking…read moremeditation" perambulations in Union Cemetery (which I definitely have to review at some point in the future; it's beautiful, peaceful and historic), and I've really, really liked some of the town's restaurants (although I'm beginning to think I'm a virtual Angel of Death when it comes to restaurants I like-- there's the memory of an Italian restaurant in Fairfield that closed after I wrote an enthusiastic review on Yelp, and "Home Made" on Hackettstown's Main St., which, regrettably, seems to have closed not long after I wrote a laudatory review).
Although, I have to say-- It's an odd town; sorta spooky after dark (I keep thinking of vampires emerging from the surrounding buildings as the sun sets; the vibe reminds me of "Midnight Mess" in the old E.C. comics of the 1950s, or the modern-day "Midnight Mass" on Netflix...both of which I heartily recommend, by the way, especially if you like vampire stories. But again, I digress...). Parking can be tough (I nearly got clipped trying to pull out of a tight parking spot back out onto the street), you'd better have a pocketful of quarters for the parking meters (you don't have to pay after 6pm; the vampires will take care of it for you after that), and the town has some very "unique" shops and restaurants. One store specializes in "jerky." One store specializes in pickles. I noticed what appear to be several Bodegas (I walked into one that was selling religious items, bobble-head dolls, Lotto tickets, and also had 2 old-fashioned slot machines-- I'm not sure if they were for sale or to be used for gambling purposes). Another shop features only soup (along with signs from a guy indicating that if he's elected Sheriff, he'll personally arrest Governor Phil Murphy; at first, I thought the store was playing into the whole Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" thing, but...sadly...I think they're serious).
And then there's Sound Effects Records. I became aware of it over the summer. My old friend and I had gotten together on a Tuesday and were looking for a restaurant to eat at when we inadvertently stumbled upon it. At that time, it was closed. (Another odd thing about this town-- everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING!!!-- seems to shut down and close on Tuesdays.) We had parked, put numerous quarters into the parking meter (vampires are quiescent during the daylight), and noticed a seemingly abandoned "mini mall" off to the side. There weren't many stores in the mall, and those that existed were closed (the mall has 2 floors, and the bottom floor was even ghostlier and more deserted than the upper "shopping" area), but I was intrigued by Sound Effects. I resolved to return at some point in the near future. Yesterday, we returned. Thankfully, it was open.
According to the gentleman manning the front desk, the place has been in operation for over 30 years, but it has been at various locations in the town. As its name suggests, it specializes in records and CDs. My friend is into records, and I'm into CDs, and it has a lot of both.
About half of the CDs are at prices you'd expect; the other half are on sale ($5 a CD for the most part). A lot of fluff (for example, numerous Billy Joel CDs; I remember when radio station WFMU held a marathon fundraiser to drum up money-- one DJ threatened that if they didn't make their hourly goal, he'd play "Piano Man" until they did, and... sure enough...he was as good as his word). But there's good stuff here too. The Cramps. The Pretty Things. Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. Even some Moby Grape.
What I ended up buying was pretty conventional, but of great quality. A Moody Blues Cd. An early Rolling Stones CD. Rush. Early Pink Floyd. Tangerine Dream. Sugar Loaf. (Sugar Loaf!?! Of "Green Eyed Lady" fame? Well...yeah. I don't know if their other songs are any good...I suspect they aren't...but for $5, it isn't going to break the bank, and my pleasure in music these days is exploring genres and artists from the past that are unknown or unfamiliar to me...Afropop, as one example...and maybe discovering some gold threads amidst the dross.) A CD of 10 Schubert symphonies for $3. How can you go wrong?
I'd love it if they sold more DVDs, or "spoken word" CDs (The Great Courses, Noam Chomsky, Alan Watts, old-time radio, the "Dark Fantasy" dramatizations of Lovecraft stories, etc.) There were 2 bins containing some conventional DVDs (I ended up buying "Misery" with James Caan and Kathy Bates; I'm not the biggest Stephen King fan, but I liked the book).
All in all, this is a really good store, with fairly priced items, and a better, more diverse selection than "Spin Me Round" in PA, or "Sound Exchange" in Somerville (although, let me hasten to add, I like both of those stores). They're friendly people, and willing to search for items that they don't have (I told the proprietor I'm going to return with a list of the Moby Grape CDs that I don't have).
