KLSU alumni.net

It's been 20 years since I'd gone there, and I know it's gone now - but what I'm wondering is... where exactly WAS G & S?

I remember that it was somewhere behind the Bayou, somewhere in that "no-man's land" parking lot grassy knoll whatever it was back there. I sure spent a lot of time and money in that place - and in fact I just got back in touch with Don Smith, who was one of the owners and the main guy there all the time! (Ron & Don were the "S" in G&S) I guess I can ask him, but wanted to see if anyone here remembered it.

I sure did spend a lot of money in there, too. Got lots of great imports, cool $1 albums, and all sorts of nice stuff. I still have everything, too. I don't think I bought very many CDs from them, but then again most of the time I spent in there was 1985-1989... vinyl was still predominant.

I remember one day there was a box of old records sitting out in the front of the store with the message "free!" They were old psych albums that had lots of water damage. I took some of the records from the box - I can only remember the Blue Cheer LPs offhand - and took 'em back to my pad for cleaning and restoration work. I put more time into that project than I did my studies... and in the end, the records sounded pretty good! Some scratches and pops, but that was unavoidable. Got to hear Vincebus Eruptum again for the first time in ages! (My older brother had that record, and I used to listen to it when I was in 2nd and 3rd grade... then he loaned it out to someone and I never saw it again... unless this was his old copy)

Also - our very good friend Jeff Suhy worked there! That was where many of us first met Jeff - I remember going in there, he'd say "oh man you've gotta hear this!" and I'd hear something truly awesome and then I'd HAVE to buy it along with whatever I went in there to get. Ya just don't get service like that these days...

Anyway - I am getting old now, and my memories are really starting to fade. I'd just like to remember exactly where the "original" G&S was - silly as that may seem - but I've been trying to figure it out now for a couple years and I even went back there once and couldn't figure out where the building used to be. When did they tear it down?

One other thing. I do remember that in 1988 or 1989 they moved to a new location right on Highland Rd. across from the Varsity. The storefront was there and the store itself went way back - they had a lot more space than they did before. Also started selling magazines, including some choice adult mags and early fanzines. Lester (anyone remember him?) with the long hair worked there around this time. I think it was probably late '88. Then, sometime in the early 1990's they moved to Government St and I would visit whenever I went up to Baton Rouge - I think they were probably there until the mid-90's and then just disappeared, sadly...

Barry

Replying to my own message... kinda lame...

Anyway - there's a Facebook group dedicated to Chimes St., and somewhere in there I found a picture showing Demon's venerable mural on the back of the Bayou. The picture was wide enough to show the black top parking lot back there as well as a little red building off to the right, behind the old Library. THAT was G&S. I had forgotten about the graffiti on the thing, and for some reason remembered it as blue (instead of brick red).

Yea, I was introduced to G&S in 1985 when a friend that went to the Section 25 show with me introduced me to it. I loaded up on the import records the second time, my first purchase including Section 25, Vicious Pink, Neubauten, and a sealed copy of Sparks "Number one..." I sold a buttload of records there as well, but didn't get sh*t for them. But I did score some beauties there.

I remeber it was an OLD building with the red paint peeling off and ready to crumble into toothpicks to the ground. I remember Ron and Don. And I remember the store moving to the corner of Highland and Chimes in the late 80's. Then I remember Lester working there. I had been friends and musician partners with him for a time before that. I moved away to Dallas for a time between 1990 and 1995 when they moved to a location next to the Winn Dixie on Government, then moved down the street two blocks up into one of those old buildings that had an old Coca Cola sign in front on Government. I think it is an art gallery now. And I used to talk to Lester all the time and he ended up shaving his head and moved in with his husband. I have no idea what happened to him after 2004. I emailed him last year and got a very blah response. We used to be good friends in the 80's but I guess me going away to Dallas and Chicago, we lost touch.

Yea, the original store was a great place to get rare and very obscure records and I will always feel lucky to have that experience. A great influence on my musical development when I was a young man.