TOWER: THE COUNTDOWN TO OBLIVION! Don't be deceived by the photo on the right: The closeout sale at Tower is much farther along now...and only a few days remain! You can get CDs for $5 and less and DVDs for $10 and less, but beware: To do so you must brave the emptied ruins of the once-vital store, stagger past rows of severely unloved recordings, and weather any flashbacks such an experience might trigger. (Back when I took the picture at the East Village location, I remembered buying a VHS tape of Murder, My Sweet in the basement sometime in the 1980s.)

Early in the sale I managed to obtain treasures such as Conjure CDs and DVDs of Naked City and Merv Griffin Show highlights. I also purchased a bad albeit cheap transfer DVD of Nothing Sacred. More recently, I was still able to find the following: Robbie Fulks's Georgia Hard, Doppelganger by Kid Creole and the Coconuts, and DVDs such as Gun, The Girl Next Door, A League of Ordinary Gentlemen, Always a Bridesmaid, and Who Are the Debolts?

Photo: David Marc Fischer