cd hunting

i did it again, spent a bunch of money on cds (actually maybe the equivalent of 2 cds in the states). but i guess it balances itself out since i was out there to buy a certain type of tea for a guy in the states. he's paying me to buy tea for him and send it back since its a tea only sold at the jade buddha temple in shanghai. it's called 阿麻茶 , its apparently a green tea from yunan. the really interesting thing about it is, the tea is naturally really sweet without adding any sort of sugar. its quite refreshing and relaxing, so i bought myself a little box.

but anyway, by suggestion of one of the forum members on smartshanghai.com i went to a place near the jade buddha temple, No.1505 Xi Kang Rd., cross road Yi Chang Rd. it's an electronics market, but on the third floor they sell a bunch of original (原版) cds. so there's a few different types that they sell, ones that have holes in the cds, ones that have cuts, and totally intact cds... all these types in their original packaging or without the actual cd case (but the booklet and the cd insert). prices range from 5-30rmb a disc- classical music, jazz music, and cds in their case go for the higher prices usually (i guess its a "being cultured" tax haha). there are a few places around where i live that sell these cds, but for higher prices unless you spend some time haggling or are a regular. my cd man is the guy on shanxi nan lu and chang le lu but he pisses me off because i still have to haggle with him even though i've bought over 100 cds from him (he originally charged me 8 kuai and he's done some shady stuff sometimes like putting a cd in another cd's packaging to say its a 2cd or putting random ass cds like the olsen's twins cd in a james brown cd case (boy i was maaaad), etc.) and there's a small shop just down the street on ruijin yi lu that sells the cds without cases for 5rmb, but they usually don't budge from the standard 25-30rmb for a classical/jazz cd. then there's people walking around the streets with boxes of cds, i unfortunately only have run into these people once, but managed to get cds in original cases from them for 7rmb. anyway, this new place i went to proved to be worth the trip out there, haggling was much easier, and you could even get some cds in their cases for 5rmb (63 cents) not bad.

this is one thing i managed to find cheaper in shanghai than in beijing (and i hear guangzhou is a bit more expensive, but that might be because this expat i spoke to didn't know what he was doing). so naturally i am stocking up. i think i already set about 100 cds back home with mandy, and i think i just bought another 30 more today. some of the cds have been mainstream rap cds, as i think in a few years i'll probably forget what i was listening to and usually a hard drive with all my mp3s crashes so i have nothing to show for it.... so i'm trying to leave a cd trail for myself. my parents are going to kill me :).

so some of the more interesting stuff i got are:

tomasz stanko - selected recordings ECM
meshell ndegeocello - cookie: the anthropological mixtape
janet jackson - the velvet rope
air - premiers symptomes, 10 000hz legend, moon safari, talkie walkie
tito puente - the complete rca recordings vol. 2
brand new heavies - we won't stop
best of classical chill out 6cd (the tracklisting didn't look so bad, so hey for $7 why not - not sure what "classical chillout" actually is)
jamiroquai - a funk odyssey
hank mobley - the flip
asian dub foundation - community music
nobody - soulmates
boysetsfire - tomorrow come today (wonder why this is here, i also saw a sensefield and a cave in cd crazy hm?)

i'm also trying to broaden my knowledge of good music, currently trying to explore reggae since i never really did and well that's where hip-hop came from too, so i should at least know a bit about it right?