Record Store Day

Let’s take a few moments to remember.
Remember going to your favorite record store to find out about new music. Remember talking to the obsessed know it all employees who’d hand you a record/compact disc/cassette tape/8 track and say “Listen to this- It will change your life.” Remember disappearing for hours, searching through stacks and rows of music trying to find something special. Something that none of your friends knew about yet. Remember as a young teenager blindly purchasing music from bands that you had never heard of based on the cover art (“any band with a cover like this has got to be worth listening to!”) or a cool name. This strategy did not always work out -Sounds of Blackness is NOT a heavy metal band (Gospel)- but it was all part of the process of discovering, uncovering, and finding the music that defined your life, your time, your rebellion, your ability to make something yours.

Those stores are still out there, fighting to survive in a world of digital downloads and instantly accessible information. Record Store Day was started to help support those stores (and independent musicians). Each year, super limited edition recordings are released, and bands perform. This Saturday is Record Store Day, and stores all over the country are celebrating with performances, limited edition records, and free stuff. Go to http://www.recordstoreday.com to find the store near you.