How I Feel

I was in the States in early December last year, and spent a couple of days in Nashville, Tennessee. I had no real plans to go to Nashville, but we ended up getting cheap business class flights there, so figured we'd spend a little time there to check the place out.

One place that I was really keen to go to was Third Man Records. I'm not really a fan of Jack White's music, but I like him as a person as he has done a lot for music and especially vinyl. Third Man Records in Nashville is a pretty unique space. It's a record store, but also has a live music venue in the same building. Oh, and Third Man also now owns a vinyl pressing plant, so the label presses its own records. A pretty damn cool set up, I'm sure you will agree.

Well, I had a look around the store (which also has lots of rare items on display, museum style) and even though I didn't find anything that I wanted to buy, I made a decision to buy the latest Jack White 7" as a souvenir of my visit. I mean, I figure that I'm unlikely to ever visit Nashville again.

So this is where the story becomes slightly amusing. I had looked through the 7" racks in the store, and all of the 7"s were around $10. For whatever reason, the new Jack White 7" was not in the rack, but on the counter. Or rather, the limited colour vinyl pressing was. So I asked at the counter for a copy. A 7" was placed into a bag and I was asked if I wanted to pay cash or card. 'Card' I replied, at which point I was directed to tap my card on some white plastic thing. The transaction was over in seconds, and we left the store.

The next day I was updating my spend spreadsheet, so logged into my bank to check the amount in £, at which point my eyes almost popped out of my head. I then realised that at no point during the transaction did anyone tell me how much the 7" was. I was simply offered a card reader (with no kind of display screen) and I tapped my card, assuming it was going to be $10 plus tax. It turned out that the black vinyl 7" cost $10, whereas the colour vinyl copy that I bought was $50.

To be fair, the price was there, I just hadn't bothered to look. If I'd have seen the price tag before I decided to buy this then I wouldn't have bought it. But if there is any saving grace, it looks like this is quite rare and sought after, and I could sell it for more than I paid for it. Also, I gave it a spin, and it's actually really good. I wouldn't usually listen to Jack White's material, but given I paid a small fortune for this, I figured I may as well check it and yeah... it's good. I just can't decide whether to sell it or keep it at this point.