This one's for Tom

If you don't know where to look, you probably don't even know it's there.\nTucked away behind Soma coffee shop and Laughing Planet is TD's CDs and LPs, a place where many have found a musical haven in a record shop smaller than a Teter floor lounge run by a guy named Tom.\nYou'd walk into the small basement shop to the unheard sounds of unheard bands varying from places halfway around the world to as close as Bloomington. Under the buzz of a few lights, you'd sift through the tightly packed bins of CDs and LPs, glancing at the walls to see piles upon piles of even more music: boxed sets, videos, DVDs, books, magazines, posters. Within all the chaos, Tom could see the order.\nHe had a system.\nIf you couldn't find the latest Mogwai album, Tom would unearth a box from underneath his desk containing five copies and hand you one. If you wanted to special-order an album of shoegazing rock from Canada, Tom was your guy. If you wanted to know when Sex Tiger was playing at a house on Dunn, Tom would tell you.\nAnd when you were ready to make your purchase, he would use his calculator, a pen and a pad of paper to figure out your price. You'd pay and leave, walking up the stairs and past dozens of flyers for local shows, many of which he helped to organize and promote.\nHe was part of a rare breed of independent record store owners, working virtually every day by himself, with his friends and regular customers keeping him company.\nWe lost Tom Donohue Wednesday to liver cancer, just shy of his 54th birthday.\nBut we've lost more than that.\nFor some, buying music can be as matter-of-fact as filling up a gas tank, but for others it can be a source of expression, release and self-fulfillment. A great album's value supercedes its cost, and, in time, can truly define who we are.\nTom understood that.\nSeeking out new sounds is what talented and dedicated record store owners have done best. They've always been on the cusp of what was about to break, always knowing, appreciating and willing to recommend both something fresh and exceptional to meet the demanding tastes of the music aficionado. I've walked into a shop with a paycheck and no agenda, only to walk out 20 minutes later, flat broke with a smile on my face carrying five CDs I never knew existed until the moment the guy in the record store played them for me.\nYou can't teach anyone how to do that.\nBig chains have huge selections and some cheap prices, but they don't have that intangible power of musical faith and knowledge that compels someone to work in a dingy dank with every wall covered by posters of the Strokes, Death Cab for Cutie and Miles Davis. They don't have the patience or the time to turn people on to a band whose existence is based solely on a 7-inch record. \nThere were times where I would buy an album at Borders out of convenience, when I could have taken the extra five minutes to go to TD's and support someone who really cared, someone who asked questions as well as answered them.\nBut I just didn't have the time.\nI look back now with regret because, maybe, it's too late.\nCameron Crowe once wrote, "If you ever get lonely, you can just go to the record store and visit your friends."\nFor those who knew Tom Donohue, nothing could be more true.