RIP Manny's

I see where Manny's Music Store, that West 48th Street musicianly mecca, has lost its lease and may have to close.

This makes me so very sad. Manny's was where I bought my first real guitar (a lovely Goya, back in 1964) and my first SERIOUS guitar (a Martin D-8, I think it was, or a D-28? A big honkin' dreadnought, anyway!). And I recall happy times there with musicians of my acquaintance back in the day...EVERYbody shopped at Manny's, from Dylan on down.

I even put Manny's into one of my rock murder mystery books (nothing you've seen so far yet; it's not until Rennie and Turk move to New York in Book 6 or so, and he goes up to Manny's to buy yet another axe to add to the eighty or so he already owns, to her puzzlement and dismay).

But that's what people did at Manny's. They had a "you try it, you buy it" rule, so guitarists looking to buy had to make do with "Old Yeller", a by-now-extremely-battered yellow-finish Strat. Not helpful if you wanted to buy a Gibson, I guess. But the people who played Old Yeller included Clapton, Hendrix, McCartney, Harrison, Cocker and Garcia...most of them now dead. (Including Paul.)

Anyway, Manny and his wife, who owned the place, were really nice, and I got a decent professional-courtesy discount on my Martin (the most expensive thing I then owned). since my publisher, Pauline, was tight with them. The store may not close altogether; it's still being determined if the current owners want to be bothered with moving to a new location. It would be great if it stayed around.

A girl and her axe...maybe I should finally go and buy that black Strat I keep dreaming about, before they close. Turk would want me to...