LOS ANGELES (AP): Marc Maron is fumbling through his glove compartment looking for coffee. A certain record store owner in East Los Angeles lets him trade the nice blends he's occasionally sent for discounts.
"Barter economy," he shrugs.
At 55, he's in a place where he is finally enjoying stability after years of struggles and he doesn't spend his money on much, but he likes his records, invested in some good equipment and has found himself in a pretty deep dive on jazz these days.
"I'm not bringing you garbage records this time," Maron announces as he walks through the door. "Just four bags of coffee!"
Every little bit counts when the good jazz albums can run a person $140 or more and the owner has an eclectic stack of albums on hold that he thinks Maron might like. So does the man working at the second shop we visit.
And after some conversation and browsing, Maron walks away from both with an arm full of new goodies: A William S Burroughs recording, Robert Johnson's King of the Delta Blues Singers and The Modern Lovers among them.
Maron is doing this hometown record store tour to promote the film Sword of Trust in which he plays an ornery pawn shop owner who can wax poetic about Charley Patton.
The charming indie comedy from director Lynn Shelton, which opens in limited release Friday, finds Maron's character on an adventure trying to sell a Civil War-era sword that may or may not prove the South actually won.
It's almost entirely improvised, and includes a show-stopping monologue from Maron that Shelton says affectionately is one of her "favourite performances by anyone in anything." She said it even made him cry at the South by Southwest premiere — a detail Maron doesn't offer himself.
"He's one of the most natural actors I know," says Shelton. "He is just built for it in a way. He has a complete lack of self-consciousness. I don't even think is he really aware of where the camera is."
Maron is adjusting to this new reality where he has the freedom to choose what he wants to go out for.
"For years I didn't even have an agent. Acting was not where I was going," Maron says. "I was barely surviving in any way before the podcast."