David Whitbeck <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>When I went to UC Davis I found there were quite a few peers that enjoyed
>classical music.  There were many concerts to go to.  My favorites were
>the free noon concerts they had every week.  Now that I live in Penn
>State there is only two people that I know that enjoy classical music.
>There's not as many concerts.  ...
>
>Is the town that you live in a cultural wasteland?
>A. Yes  B. No

My undergraduate years were spent from 1948 to 1952 at Cornell University
in Ithaca, NY.  Almost all of my friends there enjoyed listening to
classical music, although none of us were music majors.  We were either
engineering students, pre-med or majoring in science or mathematics.
Some of us had extensive technical musical backgrounds and others, like
me, had none at all.  We collected LPs but as far as I can recall there
was no store selling classical LPs in Ithaca, at least not at discounted
prices.  What we did was order them by mail from Sam Goody, then the
major, although not the only, discount retailer of classical LPs in New
York City.  Or we would wait for breaks to go to NY and raid his store
on Eighth Avenue.  He had a declared policy of accepting the return of
any LP so long as it has been played only once.  He claimed he could
tell by examining the grooves.  It it was a bluff, few of us called it.
Twelve inch LPs, listing at $4.85 up to $5.95 regularly sold at 30%
discount.  Sometimes he'd have a sale of all records, including the
premium priced $5.95 LPs,at $3.50.  Much of my record collection was
acquired during those years.

Walter Meyer