Jelly's Honolulu: A music fanatic weighs in
Special to Metromix
I dig for music, and Jelly's is a mainstay among diggers seeking obscure singles and rare tracks. Jelly's has always been there to keep most of us music geeks from drowning in the swirling commode of artless pop and artless noise posing as art-rock.
As its signs proudly proclaim, Jelly's has been selling used records and books in Hawaii since 1976. But for years, the only Jelly's on the Island was in Aiea. After Tower Records and Cheapo Music went under, there was no choice but to schlep to the other side of town for a place of refuge.
The new Jelly's Honolulu, located in a Kakaako warehouse, doesn't have the en masse quality of the Aiea store, but you don't need to get onto the H1, and it's situated near some decent restaurants and coffee bars.
There are lots of reasons to come to this Jelly's. For one thing, the staff is friendly. You don't get that "I hate you" attitude usually associated with corporate music and book store employees. Rather, the people here actually help you. "I can't find The Sonics," you say. "It's in the Memory Lane section," they'll tell you.
You can also preview albums you're thinking of buying. Say you want a Style Council LP because you're a Paul Weller fan, but you aren't sure because all you have is "Compact Snap." Head to a listening station, put your vinyl down (even pre-opened CDs) and sample the music.
Then, there are the prices. Most records and CDs here are used and range from $4 to $20 - a lot cheaper than in corporate chain stores. For example, a Bobbie Womack vinyl LP with no skips costs $4. Finally, broke college kids can afford to be music aficianados, and have the collections to prove it. There are some rare books that go up to a whopping (gasp) $100. Rare and out-of-print books for that much generally have something wrong with them, but the ones that I saw and (double-gasp) handled were as sturdy as the day they were born.
Regarding selection, Jelly's stocks thousands of titles in all genres. My musical taste is primarily rock influenced, mostly along the lines of Bo Diddley (rest his soul) beats, or the dual-guitar attack of Sleater-Kinney. Jelly's usually has rock albums I've been looking for, but sometimes, lacks the newer stuff. And while I've found some of the Stevie Wonder albums I crave, I still haven't gotten a hold of Bob Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home," "Blonde on Blonde," My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," the entire Sleater-Kinney discography and The Zombies' "The Odyssey and the "Oracle." The list goes on…
Jelly’s Honolulu will surely gain as big an inventory as its Aiea counterpart. For now, it's a nicely centralized oasis that the musical lover in all of us can drink from.
Jelly's Honolulu
670 Auahi St.
808-587-7001
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