When I visited New Orleans a few years ago, I headed down to a music store in the French Quarter with my aunt and uncle, who are both big jazz fans. We were all perusing the various genres of music when a sales associate approached me.
Can I help you find something? he asked with a smile.
Now, my favorite kind of music is classical, and I was in a jovial mood, so I said that I was looking for a classical music CD that included Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. I was expecting a surprised or dumbfounded expression, but the associate smiled again and said, Right this way.
He walked me over to a section that had a rather sizable classical music selection and that included three different CDs with all six of the Brandenburg Concertos. Now I was the one with the surprised and dumbfounded expression.
I had not bought a classical music CD in months, and New Orleans, the jazz and blues capital of America, was the last place I expected to find what has become one of my favorite recordings. I began to wonder what else the store may have had that would be worth purchasing, so I continued to look.
I found a copy of Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Seventh, Eight and Ninth Symphonies, and an assortment of other pieces that I knew and loved. Many of them I already owned, but some I did not.
I eventually found so many other interesting classical music CDs that I put the Brandenburg Concertos back and bought several of the others. When I returned home, I was quite contented with my haul, but wondered why I decided not to buy that one classical music CD.
Last year, I made another trip down to the Big Easy and the first place that I went was to that little music store down in the French Quarter, just to see if that one particular classical music CD might miraculously still be there.
Sure enough, there was the CD, in the exact same place, with the same composer and orchestra. I wondered if anyone had even touched it since I'd picked it up a few years ago.
This time, I went ahead and bought it, and I actually felt a great sense of closure as I left the store. My aunt and uncle were very happy for me, though they thought it was strange that I had left it in the store in the first place, and we returned home after a great day of sight-seeing.
The Brandenburg Concertos was the last classical music CD I ever bought, thanks to such innovations as iTunes, but it was quite an experience to find such a good classical music selection in that shop in the French Quarter. The CD itself is still one of better ones I have.