Record Store Day, April 19, 2008

This Saturday is Record Store Day all over America! Actual record stores at physical locations all over the country will be holding events and hosting bands playing live music within the physical spaces of these actual record stores. Some of these record stores may be offering sales on their wares, which include plastic discs surrounded by a plastic cases that may or may not include pictures and lyrics on a coated sheet of paper.

Honestly, it’s great that someone has organized a day to celebrate our extant record stores–they really are my favorite places in the world and, as every girlfriend I’ve ever had can tell you, they are also a virtual black hole that sucks time from your very existence and soul, turning day to night and summer to winter.

And there are probably more record stores around than you might think. I went through the Record Store Day list of participating stores to find that there are several record stores within 45-50 miles of where I live that I never even knew existed.

So go out there on Saturday and blow $14 on a CD that you could have burned from a friend or downloaded from a Torrent site. But don’t just buy any CD. Ask the clerk for his or her recommendation. Give the clerk a challenge, such as “Do you have anything that sounds like Fugazi, but with Robyn Hitchcock’s singing style, covering Jeff Buckley songs using a ukulele?” Not sure if that’s a good example. But maybe ask a legitimate question, like “Do you have anything that sounds like the new Why? album?” or “Is there a one-hit wonder from the 60s whose album was actually really underrated that you can suggest?” or “I don’t like country music. Suggest a country album I won’t hate and I’ll buy it.” Go ahead. Try it out, and enjoy record store day before all the stores are gone forever and someone feels the need to organize iTunes store day.

–Posted by Scotter