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Dominick Fernow is doing his taxes. The proprietor of New York City’s Hospital Productions sits in a chair, reciting receipts to a female assistant at a computer. Piles of invoice pads litter the floor near his feet. “18, 24, 6, 5, 96, 5, 8.” The sound is oddly hypnotic.
Hospital Productions – Tax Time
“You picked the weirdest time of the year to come,” he says during a break. Frankly, any visit to Hospital Productions would constitute a weird time. The record store huddles behind another one; to get to it, one walks through a reggae shop and climbs down a ladder through a hole in the floor. Hitting one’s head on the tiny opening is practically an entrance requirement.
The spelunking expedition doesn’t stop there. Racks of CD’s, vinyl, and cassette tapes house esoteric music ranging from noise and experimental recordings to black metal. There’s barely room to turn around. The store is a small room, no larger than a bathtub-in-the-kitchen Manhattan apartment. It’s cozy yet edgy, with red walls adorned with runic art and crusty music gear.
“Intimacy” is the word Fernow constantly repeats when describing his ethic. He extols the physical artifact of the print ‘zine and limited edition pressing, laments the instant gratification of MySpace and the Internet. As a child, he grew up on the personal interaction of discussing music with record store clerks. Now he’s passing on the tradition, talking about personal favorites Bone Awl and Ildjarn with sweeping arm gestures, doing Darkthrone with earnest air guitar. Any record store owner given to air guitar is all right with me.
Hospital Productions is located at 60 East 3rd St., NYC, NY.
