Like a virgin

I'm going to New York in a couple of weeks and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll get to see my friends Josh and Nancy as well as soak in all the cityness the Big Apple has to offer. The reason I'm really going, though, it to see my friend Andrew's play. I haven't seen Andrew for years but he's always been a theater guy. So it's exciting to think of him all grown up and directing a play. If you live in New York or will happen to be there in late October or early November you should go see his play. You can find more info here.

Whenever I tell people I'm going to New York, they're always quick to offer suggestions. Museums to visit, restaurants to eat at, things you just can't miss. I try to keep a small list in my head so I always have something to do when I'm there. I've been to NYC a couple of times now so I feel like I've hit all the big stuff. That was until Jeff reminded of something I can't believe I missed.

When your a fan of British music, there is no greater place on this planet than a Virgin Megastore. I was spoiled when I lived in California. There was one in Sacramento and a great meagstore on Union Square in San Francisco. Now, though, I'm hundreds of miles from the closest one. I think the Virign Megastore in Columbus closed so that leaves Chicago.

But Jeff reminded me that New York is home to not one, but two Virgin Megastores. I know it's no Empire State Building but it's definitely a big attraction for me. So during my trip to NYC, I'll make sure to head to the megastore and see what I can find.

All this brings me to today's album. It's an import called the 2000 Technic's Mercury Prize Sampler and I picked it up at a Virgin Megastore in Chicago a few years ago.

I've told you all about the Mercury Prize before. 2000 was the first year Coldplay made the list of finalists but it wouldn't be the last. Badly Drawn Boy ended up winning for his great album Hour of Bewilderbeast. This sampler CD has songs from all the nominated albums and it really opened my eyes to a lot of great new British music.

The one group it didn't open my eyes to, though, was Coldplay. Their song on the sampler was "Spies" which is o.k. but far from my favorite song. It would take a few months before I decided to pick up their album (at a Virgin Megastore, of course).

I did get very excited about Badly Drawn Boy after listening to the sampler. The album included "The Shining" which is arguably his best song ever. While the rest of Hour of Bewilderbeast doesn't really sound similar, I was still really happy I got it. I've been a Badly Drawn Boy fan ever since.

I never bought anything by the Delgados but I did like their song "American Trilogy." The sampler also featured "Song for the Lovers" by Richard Ashcroft which I was pretty sure was the only song I wanted off his album anyway. So looking back, I guess it was worth paying the extra money that an import album costs to get caught up on all my British music needs.