The Eidetic Fugue (pt 1 of 3?)

Long, long ago, in a town called Salem, several young men were longing for female company. Many summer evenings passed as they cogitated over what could be done. Finally an idea took hold - if we build it, they will come kind of thing. We decided that we needed a place, perhaps a store of some kind, downtown would be best, that was attractive for all, threatening only to an older generation and might even make enough money to keep us in pepsi and music.

At that time, (say fall 1967), there was nowhere in this town of many thousands to buy the rock and roll that was being created in San Francisco, Boston, New York and elsewhere. Today it is hard to believe you couldn't buy popular culture items since you can do it so many different ways in 2009, but back 43 years ago, such was the case. And if you couldn't buy 33's from the Cream, Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplan, you certainly couldn't buy posters, stickers, buttons and anything else from the emerging counter-culture. Not in Salem... yet.

I had the money, Bill had the art skills, Mike had the connections and away we went. First to find a location for rent, cheap. We found a store front that was narrow and half a block long and it was on HIGH STREET... what could be better for a place to buy music, posters, incense and other legal items in 1967. The older gentleman that owned the building, met us there and led us through the two rooms. That took about 30 seconds. He showed us the heater, told us he needed two months rent in cash. We all trekked two blocks to the bank and handed him the cash. Now our 500$ booty was down to 400$.

We got brooms, mops, rags and water and cleaned up the place. We didn't bother with paint with one exception - Bill wanted to do a mural on the glass entry door. It looked just like the poster (oops, I got ahead of myself.. how did we get the posters?) So be it we said and proceded to buy dayglow red paints and all cheered Bill on as he worked into the night, painting the lady on the door. We needed a name. I can't remember all the names that were tossed out but I have always had a fondness for the final solution. We wanted a place that you remembered, that put you into a new state of mind and perhaps left a few marks on your mind, too. We wanted to name to be unique and easy to shorten. And we wanted it to be ours.

Eidetic meant, at least to us, was a type of image that left its mark. Today the dictionary says it is "visual imagery vividly experienced and readily reproducible with great accuracy and in great detail". This meant the shop was a poster shop first, and then a bead, music, art, button and whatnot shop second.
Fugue has a musical meaning, referring to a certain type of composition. We meant the psychiatric meaning actually (me being a psychology major) and today's dictionary says it is a state when a "person suffers from loss of memory, often begins a new life, and, upon recovery, remembers nothing of the amnesic phase" .
Put these together and we were trying to create a place where experiencing the images blows you away with their vividness and detail and you are in a new beginning and really can't remember much about the experience except things are different. Everyone called it "the fugue" and basically ignored any intention the name might have had.

Next installment has us off to the Bay area for provisioning and opening the store, a few surprises happen and mostly, things are good.