On Louisville's loss of ear X-tacy

When ear X-tacy announced its closing this week, it was sad, but not all that surprising news. The iconic Bardstown Road music store had made its financial woes of the past few years well known through a series of news conferences and online announcements over the past 12 months or so.

Though I'd love to go on a tirade about the evils that big box and online retailers present to local merchants, I won't. Not today anyway. I will however say this: If it hadn't been for ear X-tacy I may have never discovered Drive by Truckers, Bodeco, or My Morning Jacket, all bands that produce music which enriches my life every time that I listen to one of their albums.

Gone too is a place I was always proud to take non-Louisvillians to. ear X-tacy really was one of those places that made Louisville hip, and even--as their ads touted--a little weird. So thanks for the memories. And god help those Louisvillians who, now without a local music store that is willing to stock eclectic selections, are sentenced to lifetimes of purchasing MP3s recorded by Justin Bieber and the latest American Idol wash-up.