Courage

You risked your life, but what else have you risked?  Have you ever risked disapproval?  Have you ever risked economic security?  Have you ever risked a belief?  I see nothing particularly courageous about risking one's life.  So you lose it, you go to your hero's heaven and everything is milk and honey 'til the end of time.  Right?  You get your reward and suffer no earthly consequences.  That's not courage.

Real courage is risking something you have to keep living with.  Real courage is risking something that forces you to re-think your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness.  Real courage is risking one's cliches.

Metaphysical Books. Rip

On Friday afternoon April 16^th at about 3pm, Joseph Benzola locked the door of Metaphysical Books and Tools in Sag Harbor for the last time, and walked away.  Forever.   After eight years Joe could no longer afford to keep the store going.   In the last few weeks of the store’s life Joe had put everything on sale, slashing prices in half. 

The store, which had been Joe’s lonely outpost for many months suddenly teemed with excitement, people walking away with armfuls of books or CDs, incense or the  wood icon of a Hindu goddesses. They bought large candles for a dollar and “The Films of Ingmar Bergman” for twenty and on and on and on.  When the sale ended Joe Benzola packed the remaining stock into several boxes and then into a station wagon until the store was entirely bare. 

How did it happen?

Metaphysical Books was open for business at 83 Main Street, six days a week for almost 30 years.  It was one of many local businesses that made Sag Harbor’s commercial center different from  other towns in the Hamptons.   No chain stores, no flagship stores for large brands and other designer stores that exist only to display items that will be bought elsewhere..  And, after a long battle, no 30,000 square foot CVS where the Seven Eleven stands.

The question is was Metaphysical Books the leading edge of a trend or simply an anomaly of poor timing and bad luck.

The movie theater is for sale. Romany Gallery was approached by Starbucks. Other stores have disappeared and some have limited hours because they have few, if any, customers out of season.

In the case of Metaphysical Books the reasons for its early success and ultimate failure are fairly straightforward. 

“A thirty percent decline over the last twelve months and a sixty percent drop in the winter combined with the financial crisis.  It was a perfect storm of bad news for the store,” Joe Benzola said, 

And then there is the internet.  “Internet sources like Amazon and iTunes took away business  by offering books and music at enormous discounts, often well below my wholesale costs,” he said.

Had something about the store changed, I wondered.  What had he done with the store after he bought it?

“When I bought the store, I changed it from a typcial new age store  to what became a cultural center for artists and lovers of the arts who enjoyed discovering uncommon items.  An Albert Ayler or John Coltrane box set or films by independent film makers, the likes of  Kenneth Anger or rare recorded performances by blues players from the first and second generation of that genre.”

The store was, for many people, the singular source of uncommon books, art, musical instruments, incense, rare cd and vinyl recordings, candles, crystals and more.  An eclectic array of merchandise not usually found in stores of its type.

There was always music playing softly in the background when you walked in.  Often music you hadn’t heard in a long time, if ever.  And the stuff was all there, out in the open, where you could touch it, read the liner notes or a few pages of a book, smell a scented candle or soap and sometimes talk to Joe about whatever it was.   The store was a mirror of Joe’s own wide ranging interests and he was usually able to discuss the items in question and the field they covered.

And there were the people you’d run into in the store.   People you knew or complete strangers.  People with a passion for Buddhism or an ear for Mingus or an interest in some subject you’d never heard of.   People often talked to each other in Metaphysical Books.  It was, many felt, an oasis, away from in the maelstrom of  the Main Street scene.. 

But much of the new age stuff didn’t sell well.  The incense sold a bit.  But less so books about telekinesis or Angel Charms made of soapstone.

Another issue Benzola raised were the rents.

“Sag Harbor is turning into what East Hampton was,” he told us.  Rents suddenly going from  $11,000 a month to $30,000”

I talked to other store owners along Main Street.  Most were under some financial stress.  It had not been a great year for anybody.    But most were determined to persevere.

As for Joe Benzola, his immediate plans are uncertain.   He said he would take a breather and then, maybe creating an online store, dealing in some of the same items that the store was prized for. 

Soon enough, there will be another store to take the place of Metaphysical Books.  A clothing store is rumored.  But for now all that remains is a spooky emptiness, where only yesterday the shelves were overflowing with wonderful stuff.

Community Service

I got a speeding ticket on route 27.   It happened where the road goes suddenly from 55 mph to 35mph in the space of maybe two hundred yards.   A state trooper pulled me over and gave me the ticket.   I had to appear in person in county court at Hauppauge, which is a bit more than an hour away.   I was going so fast that I plead not guilty because a guilty verdict would mean points on my license or the suspension of it.   My punishment was 35 hours of community service.  

They hand you a card with community service choices. There was the South Hampton museum, the town Dump, something I can't remember and the Senior Citizens Center in South Hampton.   I knew the museum was not going to make me a curator and the dump would probably be just as bad as it sounded.  That left the Senior Citizens Center which I chose because I thought it would be great to work with the old people. Lots of wise talk and memories, I thought.  When I called to set up my service I told the lady who answered that I even played the guitar, which I thought would be great for the old people.

"Your guitar," she said.
"Yes?"
"Is it water-proof?"
"Why?"
"Because," she said, "you're gonna spend your 35 hours washing dishes."