What does "Prelude and Dawn" mean?

Prelude and Dawn is the name of a song by English drummer and composer Basil Kirchin (August 1927-June 2005). Basil did loads of cool things before it was even cool; he studied spirituality and music in India in the 50's (a decade before all of the others went in the 60's), and experimented with electronic music and tape manipulation early on. I'm not a Basil expert, in fact, I only listen to his music once in a while, but his 1966 song "Prelude and Dawn," especially the first 1:30 before some swanky jazzy madness breaks in, is what I imagine my shop "sounds" like. 

My life has revolved around music. I was a young pianist, a touring musician (guitar), and later on, a composer for TV and film (my composer website is so old, it's not even formatted for smart phones 🙃). When streaming television and web-only campaigns became more conventional around 2013/14, composers started receiving smaller offers for the same amount of work. Spots for streaming TV paid 4x less than a network-airing spot at the time. I decided to leave the business and start a new career. 

Established in 2016, I opened a small boutique on Figueroa Street in Highland Park, CA. In 2020 I moved a block away, next door to Highland Park Bowl, which used to be a divey punk rock music venue called Mr. T's Bowl, where I would occasionally play shows in the late 90s and early 2000s. Highland Park Bowl is great, but I do miss Mr. T's. I never thought I would be opening a boutique? next door?? twenty years later. 

We grew quite a bit during Covid; Prelude evolved into a fun, colorful, post-modern space with a large selection of gifts and accessories. 2024 was a tough year for us and most other small shops; we hope to keep the momentum at our Los Angeles shop steady through these hard times. A second location in Tucson, AZ is being planned for 2025, and I'll be leading that space.

Thank you so much for your support, and for shopping small.

Love,
Alison