A student-made documentary about Flat, Black and Circular, the preeminent used record store in East Lansing, Michigan.



My musical tastes were shaped by Dick and Dave ... when I first started going to FBC as a dopey 19 year old they were intimidating, a pair of crotchety ex-hippies who didn't seem to have much use for me or the lousy records I was buying. But Dick and Dave have an eye for which of their young customers were seriously interested in music, and after repeated exposure to me spending hours combing through their library and buying odd combinations of genres, they warmed to me and began suggesting better records. I can still remember Dave trying to talk me into not buying a GG Allin single, showing me a number of other records with equally filthy lyrics but higher "artistic" values -- of course, I bought the Allin disc anyhow and I don't regret it, but I appreciate his attempt at saving me from myself.

And I swear those guys would deliberately price collectible vinyl ridiculously low just to find out which of their customers would gasp and then run to the counter. I bought a copy of Back in the USA by the MC5 autographed by four of the five for a paltry $12, and it wasn't until after I'd made the purchase that they told me the record had originally belonged to Ted Nugent (they could have tripled the price, advertised the record's provenance and I still would have bought it). And I learned about country music from their dollar bins, which held fabulous records that simply wouldn't sell for full price in a college town -- scratchy copies of live Merle Haggard and Buck Owens records that I ended up spinning obsessively.

It was a badge of pride among my circle to be asked to fill in at the store on Saturdays, a shift I held on and off for a year or two. They'd either give you cash under the table or the equivelant in vinyl, and I usually took the records -- after a full day of shifting platters and eyeing the current stock, it was difficult to think of the rewards that mere cash could provide. It was my old roommate Jon Howard who ended up becoming the sole full-fledged employee, however, still there today (that's him in the video, the cat with the short grey hair). Hiya Joho!

Anyways, if you end up in East Lansing you ought to go there.