Vacation Vinyl

The Massachusetts island called Martha's Vineyard, a tourist destination with a year-round population of only 18,000, is home to at least a hundred T-shirt shops, scores of seafood shacks (the calamari at Nancy's is amazing), dozens of ice-cream parlors, and three unpleasant cute-tiques called The Black Dog. Residents and vacationers alike are also served by an excellent store called Aboveground Records (8 Great Harbor Triangle, Edgartown, MA 02539). Having been on the Vineyard with my family for the past few days, working diligently on my tan and my badminton serve, I decided to take a break and go record shopping. Aboveground's considerable vinyl inventory, with used and new titles alike, is both varied and fairly priced, and I walked away with titles from Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar, June Christy, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and the inimitable Jimmy Smith. (They have an especially nice selection of original Blue Notes.) Noting that there is, indeed, such a thing as a record collection that's worth as much as a new car (I'm aiming for a Morgan Plus-4), I plan one more trip to Aboveground Records before we leave the island on Tuesday.