Thursday, June 19, 2008

Announcing: For The Record; a journeying tour of regional record strores

photo copyright of NY Times

There are two things I have a rough time getting enough of. Record stores and road trips.

And with traditional record shops closing up all over the place, I figure I got work to do. (we won't even get into gas prices for the road trip part.)

This 2006 article from the NY times probably illustrates the music store landscape best.

I, of course, do not envision a day when music will be all download, or a day when record stores will cease to exist. But the fundamental need for them is one that is quickly shrinking, and has only gotten gloomier since the above mentioned article was written.

I understand this better than most, because I work for a newspaper, a business with a future not all that different from music business.

Nevertheless, my personal mantra comes from a little movie called Almost Famous.

"If you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends."

To me, there is nothing like hanging out at a record shop. Even if I don't plan on buying something, it is the most beautiful place to get lost and sink into. It is full of my friends. The dusty smell of used vinyl, the shop clerk painted in the sweetest tattoo art you've ever seen, obscure acid jazz bopping over the soundsystem, or a random Dylan bootleg. People on the floor digging through the bargain boxes looking for a buried gem, discussions on the artistic merits of a certain artist sail through the aisles. You hear the constant click of plastic cases slinking against one another as a browser browses. It all dovetails like nothing else could. It's my type of place with my type of people--random folks hunting for something, even if they don't know what they are hunting for.

It's a totally gypsy way of thinking about it, but it's true. A music shop is the one place you are safe from anything in the outside world. Back in the 70's, when music was more of a spinal chord in culture, these sort of places were bedrocks for entire communities. Going to the store was like going to the show.

Now where do kids go? The mall? To each others house to play video games? Nowhere? Maybe I'm a bit overly nostalgic for that old time vein of what a record store once meant, but I think there is something eternally special--and valuable--about these places, and refuse to watch them disappear from the face of our culture.

And whenever I read about another shop closing, I honestly feel like someone just demolished a house I used to live in to put up a new Walmart.

Lots of great stores have been sucked into the black hole of the 21st century digital age in the past few years and closed doors, but the map remains dotted with plenty of these musical havens, these safe houses for musical wackos like me.

I plan to visit each and every one of these in the coming months, to dig on their digs. I'll document my visit to each and every one right here on the blog, with photos, some history and quirks, reviews, and lists of what I bought. (be wary, nothing is off limits when I purchase used records. I've shelled out for everything from Muddy Waters to silly compilations to David Hasslehoff.)

Why? Well, it's an excuse to jump in on the 2 things I love. AND these are places that, quite ironically, need to be heard to keep making noise. I'd be happy to be your hearing aid.

I will go for A SPIN and visit one record store per week, starting this weekend.

And what better place to start than the new one that just popped up right down the road in Phoenixville--The Creep Industries Store.

Stay tuned for "For The Record" features every week, folks.

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5 Comments:

Blogger leah said...

Hmmm, is 'Young Ones' in Kutztown still around? That was my fave!

June 20, 2008 at 9:34 AM 
Blogger Mercury Muncher said...

Young Ones is alive and well. Looks like that will have to be my visit for week 2. :)

June 20, 2008 at 10:49 AM 
Blogger Carrie said...

this has the academy written all over it. :)

June 21, 2008 at 10:10 AM 
Blogger Mercury Muncher said...

saving THAT one for a grand finale, miss esteem.

June 23, 2008 at 12:24 PM 
Blogger Dominique (Nikki) Minor said...

Nice blog.

I'm working on a piece this summer about a similar subject. There's a local music stop re-opening in the French Quarter (in a much larger location than it's original), which is awesome/puzzling since music stores are on a decline and Hurricane Katrina wiped out our Virgin and Tower (the only music stores in the metro area).

I'm not sure if you read Paste magazine, but in the July issue there's a compilation of the country's best record stores. You should check out Happy Record Store Day's official website: http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home. Cool stuff.

And, yes. It is feels good to be back (it also feels good to be a gangsta).

June 23, 2008 at 5:36 PM 

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