On April 19, Record Store Day, I got up early, had a
quick shower and one cup of coffee (for reasons which may appear obvious later)
and made my way to my first stop. I knew
from advance recognizance that the Great Escape in Nashville was likely to have
many of the exclusive titles I was looking for (the RSD folks make the list available online) which when coupled
with an 8:00 starting time and a conservative line has made this location a
no-brainer starting point for the past couple of years.
True to form,
the Great Escape had most of the special Record Store Day releases I was
looking for and a few surprises in the regular stock. I was out of there before 9:00 a.m. and
ready for my next stop. I knew that Jack
White had promised to record and release the world's fastest single that day
and more significantly I had it on good authority that his Third Man Records was going to be stocking Neil Young's A Letter Home which was recorded on Jack's Voice‑o‑Graph late last year.
Between
waiting in line to get into the store at Third Man to purchase the Neil Young
album and waiting in line for the world’s fastest single I probably spent four
hours at Third Man. I had a blast people
watching: Hipsters, soccer moms, soccer
kids, even some honest to goodness dope smoking burnouts. I got to hear a
couple of cool young bands in the parking lot. We all go to watch as the suspicious looking
motorcycle cops drove up escorting Jack White while he delivered on his promise
to create the world's fastest record pressed (at one of the coolest places on earth,
United Record Pressing) in something
like 3 hours 55 minutes.
Because of prior commitments I didn't get to hit Grimeys or the Groove
or the new store Fond Object - but there's next year.
Why I am
writing all of this? Because I want to
relate how much fun I had buying records and perhaps more importantly
participating in the communal activity of buying records. For those of us of a certain age the record
store was an important part of our musical development. From the formal stores
of my youth to the head shops of my early teenage years to the mega chains of
yesterday, all were important. Record Store Day as an event has brought back
the fun of the record store, something we all used to experience on a weekly if
not nearly daily basis and I can't help but think this has had a positive
effect on the music industry. It
certainly had a positive effect on me and
all those folks at Third Man Records a
couple weeks ago.
As I write
this, I am aware that artists like Paul Weller are less than charitable in
their view of Record Store Day because of the obvious profiteering that always
arises when demand is greater than supply.
As much as I admire Weller (and I admire him a lot), I think his
comments are a bit short‑sighted He
complained when his Record Store Day single, which was apparently limited to
500 copies ended up on eBay. What did he expect? Sure, all of the bad things that Weller
describes happen but they would happen with or without Record Store Day (have
you tried to buy a concert ticket lately?)
I applaud
Record Store Day and the companies that participate by doing something to make
their releases special and by keeping the buying experience fun. I see that some comic book stores are
starting to adapt the model and I can't help think that book stores should try
to create the same strategy to bring people in; as a child of two booksellers I
like this idea.
My inner
teenager and I are already looking forward to next year (and oh yeah, record
store Black Friday in November).
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