Mandolin Cafe Blog

I'm a fan of Anthony Bourdain, the booze swilling, retired former not-so-great chef who just happens to be one of the great food writers of our time. And, he made a marvelous travel/food show for a number of years. His award winning show No Reservations is ending today. It'll be missed. He recently penned an article for CNN about the restaurant industry that we can apply to our friends in the music industry on the East coast:

Eat out and tip big to save NYC restaurants after Sandy.

So consider the plight of many of the great music stores in Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn, New Jersey and up and down the East coast. Whether directly damaged by Sandy or not, they're suffering. We were happy to hear no damage to stores like Mandolin Brothers or their instrument inventory. However, travel to the island and then getting transportation once you're there is going to be a roll of the dice for awhile. Ferry service from Manhattan was disrupted for quite some time. Much of the store's foot traffic originates there. You might get lucky and make it to the store. You might not. Their web site was down for three days, the store was closed, little or no walk-in traffic. For a business, this all adds up to lost revenue an insurance company isn't going to reimburse anyone for. Stores like Retrofret in Brooklyn and Matt Umanov in Greenwich Village are bleeding revenue as a result. The rent is still due if the electricity is off and there are no customers or transportation to the stores.

So when I see someone whose writing I admire calling for foodies to get out and eat and tip big, I think there are worse things we can do than show our support for these companies that tempt us regularly with their fine products, and should we forget, also provide us with some remarkable instruments that help make the music we love.

I don't know that any of the stores mentioned (and those I failed to) will go out of business due to the storm, but the damage has been done. I suppose I could go online and donate to the Red Cross, undoubtedly a remarkable organization, but I think instead I'll be making some purchases from some of the stores mentioned above.

Consider joining me. There are a lot worse ways to spend your money.