Sunday, February 26, 2012

consumer goods

To the chagrin of sundry family members, I've been doing most of my economic transactions on craigslist, including my current apartment, my car, my camera (from a hobbyist banker), art supplies (a Korean couple in a rocky marriage), and now a beautiful red Gibson SG guitar with crescent moon inlays on the fretboard from an Oberlin music student who doesn't play it anymore, needed the cash, and wanted it to go to a good home. I insist that I do a cursory google-style background check and if anything carries a whiff of weird, I back off, but in this case I knew what I was in for.


She plugs in the guitar in her dorm room and as I play it we end up talking about this and that to the point where the whole transactional nature and the exchange of cash feels like an afterthought. Sometimes these feel awkward, like the art supplies bought from a Korean couple that wasn't speaking to each other, and other times, it's pure business like the CD player from an Afghanistan vet who returned to find his audio equipment obsolete, but in this case, it's one of those times when it doesn't feel awkward at all. I really hope she goes far with her music, because even though I haven't been following much of the folky stuff The Kids are into these days, this song of theirs hits me somehow, and I wish them all the best.

2 comments:

  1. No wonder she sold it, the SG is for Rocking Out, and that doesn't rock at all! (but doesn't suck, so folk on, young people, folk on)

    Don't buy pots & pans from a serial killer.

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  2. safety issues aside nice to have the human aspect of the market be so human.
    http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rhythmdivine/

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