More About Record Store Day

What's easy? Downloading music files from the internet to your pc. Either by stealing them or paying for them legitimately, at an online shop.

So what? Not everything has to be easy. Although that what is not I'm not too keen to undertake.

I do my share of downloading music. I don't wanna say how many albums I get a week. Let's just say that I don't know the titles of a lot of songs, or what some songs sound like from the titles, or what songs may be on what albums, or who is in what group. Mind, I know some of that stuff; I used to know it all, or at least all the stuff in my personal collection. But then I used to have a lot less than I do now. OK, if you insist I'll ballpark it and say I get 15 - 20 new albums a week. I know I know, it's crazy and cool.

A few weeks back a friend and I did something I don't do a lot of anymore, but I used to do all the time. We went to an actual record shop. The main reason it's become a very infrequent outing for me is there is no decent music stockist near me (read: one that does not also sell baby clothes and toothpaste). The second reason is that it's so easy to download. but the main reason for this particular trip was that one of my favorite shops was closing one of its two locations (the further in proximity but still a favorite nonetheless). Such is the nature of the biz nowadays.

A field trip to the record shop is a real experience. So many things are going on aaround you there. Music, whether bad or good, is always playing, that in itself could be an experience - "ugh, get that off!!" "what is that? where can I find it in the racks?" "who picked that?" "puh-leese!" See, it's like this blog! Plus, it's an exercise in what I like to call feng-shit. Typical record shop decor means posters, bumper stickers, album covers, all kindsa music related crap adorn every square inch of the walls. The ratio of stuff you don't care about to stuff you'd like to steal is about 5-1. Furniture usually means plywood bins made by the owner and his staff or some guy who did it for a stack of free CDs or a lifetime discount. You'll see people from all walks of life there - skater punks, hip-hop poseurs, pseudo-intellectuals in ill-fitting Woody Allen jackets, pierced punks from suburbia, and cool folk like me. I like to play "stump the clerk", even if I don't really want what I'm asking about. Here's a tip to winning this game: ask for "Lane Changer" by Michael Fennelly. No one ever has it, and they can't order it. Until recently another winner was "Boulders" by Roy Wood. It's been re-released, which is a very good thing, just not for stump the clerk. I'm usually amused by the selections people are picking out or carrying around. Even when I see someone with an armful of stuff that I myself would get, I have contempt for them. It's like self-loathing but without the guilt. And then there are people who ask for something really loud so everyone will hear how cool they perceive themselves to be. "Pardon me, where can I find THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR ELEVATORS JAPANESE BOX SETS?" (hint: there are none, so feel free to call them on that one)

Anyway, another fellow shopper was talking to someone about transferring vinyl to digital, and I butted in because as you may know I am undertaking that same task. I asked what equipment he had, etc. I don't remember his response because he started talking geekspeak & my mind started to wander. Then the subject of The Ramones came up, and albums that haven't been released on CD, and other semi-related stuff. Another guy said, "isn't this great? If we were shopping at Amazon-dot-com we wouldn't be having this conversation and exchanging ideas". And he is so right.

All of this downloading I'm doing, and most of the world is doing it, too, is killing the record shops. This is really a sad thing, because there is absolutely nothing that can compare to a Saturday trip to the record shop. I can still remember when I was a wee lad, my sister used to take me to the local spot. Once, and I remember this vividly, We were at a place called Bundy's in Hamtramck, and my treat was to get one single. Well, this black teenager* came in with a list, which I had never seen before (a kid with a record shopping list that is, not a black teen). The lady behind the counter was rifling through the box of singles on top of the counter, pulling out certain ones as she went down his list. All of a sudden I saw her pull out a single on the famous yellow Tamla label. It was Barrett Strong's "Money", which was brand-spankin' new. I exclaimed to my sister, "Money!!" That's the one I was going to ask for. She put it back in the box, the kid didn't notice, and she said "we don't have this one". He paid for his booty (I wish I knew what else he got) & left. Then, she turned to me & pulled "Money" back out of the box. It was mine!!

(*the reason I mention he was a black teen was because I thought it was cool that he got "punk'd" by a fat little 6 year old white pollock kid. it was the start of my career as a music fascist.)

I remember my first trip to the mall by myself. I bought "Tell Me" by The Rolling Stones & "The Girl From Ipanema" by Getz/Gilberto. I remember riding my bike to Ross Music, buying "My Generation" by The Who. When I came out, my bike was stolen. And I wasn't concerned; I just wanted to get home to my phonograph. The bike was returned the next day, by the kid and his mother. Talkin' 'Bout My G-G-G-Generation!

I'll spare you the details involved, but I actually vividly remember when I bought Sgt Pepper; Rubber Soul; God Save The Queen and the first Clash single, both on import; the first Ramones lp; my first purchase all by myself, "Fingertips" by Little Stevie Wonder. I could go on forever.

And that's why you need to participate in Record Store Day on April 19. No amount of downloading ease or web shopping could ever replace that kind of excitement, anticipation and incidental magic. It's truly a communal thing, something wonderful, even for someone like me who hates people. Just like it's better to see a band in person than on TV or YouTube. The proprietors of record shops really need everyone's support nowadays. Because they are dying out there. And I'm doing my part to kill them, but I don't want them to die. I will never turn down a trip to the record shop. And by the way, this trip I took a few weeks back resulted in $75 worth of stuff, and that was even after a 60% discount on everything, and none of it is stuff I've ever seen on the web. (my biggest haul was a trip to Chicago, where FIVE MINUTES in Tower records cost me $200. Even I was amazed, like I was working against time)

So no smartass cynicism, no sarcasm, no bullshit. Plan on doing what you know you have to do. recordstoreday.com will tell you who in your area is participating.