Record Store Day - Not Good for Me

I wish I could tell the whole story of why my day yesterday was the PITS. I better stick with the short version:

I decided to visit my local independent record store. Since there isn't one near me, I had to look up the closest one. I could have driven 10 miles to Laguna Beach or 20 miles to Orange. I chose Laguna, bad choice.

Laguna Beach is beautiful. But the people who worked at the record store - not so much. They were rude and cranky. The other customers (there were only two) looked bored and weren't even looking at music, they were looking at t-shirts. But the real bummer was the small selection of LPs. There were 4 rows in the store, only 1/4 of one row contained used vinyl and one very small section up front had new vinyl (at crazy prices that made me sad).

So, I trudged the five blocks back to my car, enjoying the ocean view but wishing I would have driven to Orange instead and went to a better store.

THEN, this happened:

I decided to fulfill a promise I mad here months ago. I dug out the box of albums in my garage so I could go through them, take some photos and tell you all what treasures I had left in my collection (which went from about 300 to 50 but we won't even go there today).

I sat there in the garage smiling as I took each one out of the box, looked at it front and back (and in the middle when there was one). Wow. What memories. There are some classics in that box. There were also about ten of my dad's favorite LP's, which also brought a smile and some good memories.

I decided to arrange them in a really cool looking collage and take a picture of them. But that's where the ugly part of the story comes in. In a fit of rage someone in my family threw a chair at my carefully laid out collage knocking it over and probably cracking several of the records (I was too upset to look I just put them all away and stormed off, and no it was not my son, he may get into trouble now and then but knows better than to mess with my music.

So, I'll have to wait for another day to share pics. In the meantime, if you find yourself in Laguna Beach don't bother stopping here:

Buying Record Albums

Image by frotzed2 via Flickr I've been a bit nostalgic lately - probably because of you guys! Several of you have written about vinyl records. Oh how I miss vinyl! I still have a box of them and like to take them out and reminisce. CDs are convenient and all...but can you remember this experience:

Your favorite band has just come out with a new record. You drive (walk, bike, hithchike, take a bus) to the local music store. There were several music stores to choose from back then, but you had a favorite. Mine was Tower Records.

You enter the store, its HUGE. There is some loud music playing and all the employees are the epitome of cool (whatever that happened to look like for that particular era). My Tower had mostly musicians working there, skinny guys with waist length hair and pot leaves on their belt buckles.

Right in front was a display of that longed-for new album. You grabbed it and looked at both sides, barely able to keep from opening it in the store to see the liner notes. But now the adventure begins....rather than heading for the cashier to make a purchase, you enter the AISLES.

There are aisles and aisles of records albums. They are in alphabetical order according to genre. "Rock" takes up 75% of the store. You start with "A" and look through each section, browsing, seeking treasures, getting excited at those marked down prices on old records you always wanted.

Hours could pass during this time. You may notice some other browsers nearby or even strike up a conversation about a great concert you heard while you both stand in front of the "P" section fondly leafing through Pink Floyd, The Police, The Pretenders and Tom Petty.

You usually left with at least three new albums and hurried home for the unwrapping. Remember taking the cellophane off the cover? I used my finger nail to slice along the side and then ripped that stuff off. Then, if you were lucky, the album opened up and had artwork to see not only on front and back but INSIDE. You took out that sweet disc and gently put it on the turntable and sat reading the lyrics along with each new song.

I loved albums. I loved the art, the words, the process of buying them, bringing them home and playing them. I really need to invest in a turntable.