now here are my thoughts.
when i first read about national record store day, i thought it seemed pretty ridiculous. like, why are record stores such a novel thing that need their own day? as far as i'm concerned, record stores are a part of life and i'd as soon celebrate a national grocery store day or a national gas station day or a national bar day. and even so, i figured independents week was a good enough annual celebration of my beloved local record stores.
but then i read about what is actually going down on national record store day. pitchfork has a pretty good run-down for you right here, but here's what's listed for twist & shout, my personal ear-watering-hole of choice:
it's a big weekend at twist, because they are also celebrating their 20th birthday this weekend. they turned 20 the day before national record store day, on friday april 18th. and let me just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite place to be in denver. here's what they have going on:
-20% off all used cds, lps, and dvds
-cake
-champagne
-all those exclusive releases by the breeders, stephen malkmus, built to spill, black keys, death cab, etc
-free stuff (granted some of these are with purchase):
*record store day vinyl sampler with purchase of new vinyl
*fine frenzy dvd sampler
*ringo starr buttons
*matador sampler
*nonesuch sampler
*freaky creatures comic book
*bjork 3d glasses (although i guess that video isn't screening at twist)
*paste magazine
*bullet for my valentine comic book
*brushfire vinyl sampler
*flyleaf cd ep
*gavin de graw magnets
*merge 7" sampler
*monster drink
*RED metal sampler
*RED indie rock sampler
*sub pop sampler
*touch & go stickers (good, i'd used up all the ones i'd gotten at their anniversary block party!)
*vice records sampler
*MGMT 3d glasses
*MGMT 7"
*redeye sampler
*record store day buttons
*free gift bag with purchase of $50 (sorry twist, i'm unemployed i don't think i can do that one)
-contests to win:
*numark usb turntable with some 7"s from jack johnson, rogue wave, and matt costa
*saturday looks good to me t-shirt (and let me just say, saturday looks awesome to me)
*people take warning: murder ballads & disaster songs 1913-1938 box set, signed by TOM WAITS
-live performance by jackie greene in the neighborhood flix theatre next door
so in summation, record store day is a VERY good thing. it'll be like christmas!
in honor of record store day, i am going to tell you MY story, my experience with record stores and why they're so special to me.
my first real record store was also a tattoo parlor. it was called tribal rites. i made the discovery in 9th grade, when i was first getting into "independent" music that i couldn't find at blockbuster music (ha, remember that?) or best buy. at the time, that meant ska and punk rock. my friend that turned me on to bands like mustard plug and skankin' pickle would talk about this place. we were 15...but taking the bus was free for 15-year-olds. so we'd ride the bus to downtown fort collins and go check out the store. i'll never forget the dwarves poster there. oh man. now that was controversial. that was up in a STORE? was it ALLOWED? if you were wondering, the poster was the cover art for the dwarves are young and good looking. look it up (NSFW!).
anyhow, tribal rites was my haven in 9th grade, where i could find those punk rock cds at actually very decent prices. and NOFX video tapes and all sorts of stuff. that christmas, or maybe the christmas after that, or maybe it was a birthday, my brother got me a turntable from a pawn shop. i had wanted one, since many of my favorite bands were putting out some exclusive material on 7" vinyl. so, proud owner of a turntable, i went back to tribal rites with a newfound appreciation of vinyl.
the very first "new" 12" record i bought was propagandhi's how to clean everything. mostly i was eager, and my friend suggested that i pick it up. probably because of the song "ska sucks," when he was the friend that would make fun of me for listening to ska. oh, and the first 7" i bought was fugazi's "3 songs." i played the crap out of that 7" but it still sounds incredible.
so i was happy. into high school, tribal rites was just my place to go. then one day the new mustard plug album came out. i forget which one. but i couldn't find it ANYWHERE. so i remember calling tribal rites, asking if they had it. the cashier broke my heart when he said that they weren't getting in any more new music. but to come in because they were clearing out and would have some really cheap prices.
tribal rites still stands, but they only do the tattoos and piercings now.
luckily, soon after the loss of my first favorite record store, another one opened, just around the corner: rocks off records. i remember i thought my friend said "rock soft" when he first told me about this new place. anyhow, it basically picked up where tribal rites left off, with even better music selection and more vinyl. sadly, rocks off only lasted a couple years. and then fort collins proceeded to suck. at least as far as record stores go. that hippie shop sucks and smells like pot (even though they had some rare-but expensive-operation ivy), abcd's is a joke (i hear they closed anyway?), and finest kinda blows except on their sidewalk sale...if they're even open anymore.
well fort collins started sucking, but i moved to boulder for school. boulder had three fantastic record shops: albums on the hill was a bit expensive but had a certain charm. it was in the basement, it had tons of goodies, and the owner was super awesome and super nice. i have a preferred customer card that gets me $1 off every purchase. very nice place to be. but i preferred wax trax. wax trax was right across the street from albums. they had a way better vinyl section, and allllll the rare 7"s i could handle. their prices were a little better too. there's also the fact that they were close enough to campus that on some certain special tuesdays i'd go there right after my morning class and pick up a brand new release. ah yes. i remember wax trax. sadly, the boulder store closed forever during my tenure in boulder even though i'd assumed it was a permanent institution of the hill.
luckily, however, i discovered bart's cd cellar on pearl street (still in boulder). a slightly longer walk but totally worth it. while the cd part of the store was great and had very good prices for a local shop, the main attraction is upstairs. a huge room of nothing but vinyl. racks and racks. i remember blowing most of my textbook buyback money on nothing but used records from bart's. $40-$50 on nothing but $2-$4 records.
and now i live in denver, where i shop at two permanent fixtures of independent music: wax trax and twist & shout. wax trax is really the more cliche music snob haven, but that's mostly the cd store. see, it's divided into a cd store and a separate vinyl store. the vinyl store is, i believe, the best place to get wax in denver. it's huge, it's got more 45s than one could possibly rifle through. it's got a huge soul section. rows of hip hop. a 50s & 60s rock and roll section separate from more "modern" rock. i've gotten so many gems there i can't even keep track. and the rare 7"s from the boulder wax trax...they're all there. and the woman that works there, she's not your typical record store music snob. super nice. but obviously well-versed in the world of music. wax trax isn't an official participant in record store day, but i feel like they just don't care about stuff like that. people who know, know that wax trax is the place to get records, no question.
twist & shout used to be two separate stores as well. back on alameda, they were the place to go to buy cds, run across the street dodging traffic, and peruse the records. now they've moved to colfax as one big store and they kind of make me wonder how record stores are in "danger." i know they are, i know the boulder wax trax couldn't make it, i know how rocks off in fort collins died, i witnessed these casualties before the music industry even started collapsing on itself. but twist & shout seems to be doing incredibly well. there are always crowds there, there's always a line at the counter, and according to a recent newsletter, "vinyl sales are through the roof!"
so therefore, i expect tomorrow to be crazy at twist & shout. i expect the whole store to be a crowded mess. so i really must get to bed now, because i have to get up early. who knows how many copies of that stephen malkmus 10" they'll have in stock.
No comments:
Post a Comment