On Saturday, my husband informed me that it was Record Store Day and to honor the day, he wanted to visit two of our local record shops. Count me in, I said.
If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know how I feel about record stores. In fact, I’ve written two posts about records and record stores; Things I Miss: Record Stores, and Things I Miss: Record Albums. I lament the loss of large record stores with new albums appearing every day; thumbing through the albums, reading the liner notes, discovering new albums and artists. Some of my best memories involve record stores. I had a huge collection of albums, most of which are now warped and unplayable after being stored for many years. Big mistake. Breaks my heart.
Don and I have been slowly buying vintage vinyl records. And new vinyl is increasingly becoming popular again, which gives me hope. I think there is a real difference in the sound of a vinyl record and a CD or MP3. The vinyl sounds more live, more exciting – less perfect in the best possible way.
It’s nice to be able to download music, of course. I do it myself. But where are the liner notes? Where is the artwork on the album cover? Where are the lyrics?
It’s not the same.
Interesting information: Musician Jack White, who has a store/studio in Nashville, is a big proponent of vinyl. He has a Record Booth in his store where you can record your own record! Don wants to do that. So do I! His store and studio are very cool and are decorated in a wonderfully retro style. In honor of Record Store Day, he recorded the world’s fastest record – recorded, pressed and distributed in under four hours.
Here are some photos of our day.
Don, outside our favorite local record shop.
I look so much like my mother in this photo.
Thumbing through the albums. Ahhh, I’ve missed this! That’s the owner in the background. He’s smart and funny and knowledgeable. Plus, he has a Record Store Cat named Watson who was sleeping on top of the albums that were just to the right of the group in this picture. Watson is inscrutable and clearly the lord of the manor.
I include this simply because I seem to be wearing two pair of glasses. Interesting trick.
Don with a Loudon Wainwright album. He ended up buying it.
Oh, Joni. I have this album somewhere. Hours and hours of memories.
I posted this on Facebook because it made me laugh. A spoken word album of correct pronunciations. Since I have spent years teaching this very subject, I remarked that I could have saved myself all the hours put into creating lesson plans and played the gosh-darned record instead.
Look what I found! A near mint condition soundtrack to my favorite movie. I have this album somewhere, but I know it isn’t in great shape. So I snapped this baby up and it is now living in Mockingbird Hill Cottage, along with an Earth, Wind and Fire album that I also purchased.
I dare you to stay in a bad mood when Earth, Wind and Fire is on the turntable.
Go ahead. Try it.
I dream of a big record store, full of thousands of albums, with music playing and all sorts of music to discover. But, in the meantime, I’m sure happy that these charming shops exist, with owners who love vinyl and want to share that love with everyone.
It’s Earth Day today. Let’s use this day (and every day) to urge our world leaders to finally do something about climate change before it is too late. Or we might just end up with an Earth that is uninhabitable.
And finally, I wrote about this yesterday but I’m not sure how many of you saw it, so I’m reposting:
On another note: Several of you who subscribe to this blog via email have mentioned that you have not been receiving recent posts. This is a Feedburner problem and it seems to be happening across the blogging world. The short answer: there’s nothing I can do about it but trust it will be sorted out eventually. Feedburner often has mysterious glitches. May I offer some easy, practical advice? Most readers subscribe to a blog via email because the blogger doesn’t post every day and they want to know when a new post is up. You know I post every day. Every Day. So, barring unforeseen circumstances, there will be a new post on this blog every morning. Why not simply bookmark the blog on your browser and click on it at some point during the day? Quite frankly, that’s how I read blogs. (The only blog I subscribe to is my own and that’s just to keep tabs on whether the email is working – and it has been working for me.) Bookmark it. You can rest assured that a new post will be up by 10 am every morning. Like clockwork.
Happy Tuesday.
What a fun day. There is something about Spring and music. They just go together.
Tana
I think you’re right, Tana!
Your record store day looks like so much fun! I loved listening to Joni Mitchell albums, but I don’t have any albums from those days, I lost most of them years ago in a fire. I miss being able to thumb through the albums just like I miss being able to thumb through a card catalog at the library. So glad you shared pictures of your fun time at the record store!
Same here, Debbie. Oh, gosh, I miss card catalogs!
Good morning,
Ah albums, my husband is a collector. We are currently boxing everything up for a move from the Thumb of Michigan to Florida. My husband has over 2000 albums, sure am glad we have movers doing the heavy lifting.
I noticed Don’s hand appears to have a bandage on it, hope it’s not too serious.
I am one of those that isn’t receiving my email notices through Feedburner ;-( I’ve lost contact with so many blogs, I don’t even have the URL for many because I simply clicked on the link in my inbox each day. I have yours saved in my Favorites so I drop in each day, don’t want to miss a thing.
Have a good day,
Kathleen
You’re moving to Florida, Kathleen! What a change that will be for you!
Sorry about the email hassles – every blogger seems to be affected. I’m hoping it resolves itself – it isn’t happening to every email subscriber, just some.
Great post and pictures! My 20 year-old daughter loves new and used vinyl records. So glad that they are coming back again and popular with the younger generation. We have about 100 of our old albums from the 60’s into the 80’s – including my first album “Meet the Beatles”. What fun to play again!
Oh, Meet the Beatles! The best!
We do still have several of our albums from oh-so-many years ago. Going through them a while ago, I came across an old Rod McKuen (sp) album…… The Sea (or some such thing). I just laughed and laughed remembering my room mate and myself falling asleep to his *ramblings*. We were so cool!! :-) Lots of Chicago, Beatles, Herb Alpert (This Boy’s in Love w/ You), Joni Mitchell, Peter, Paul & Mary, Iron Butterfly (In-A-Gadda-Da Vida!!), Hair!! we would blast those albums through the dorm hallway, as did every other room. Music truly is the window we look through to keep our memories alive. I hear those songs and am transported back to those dorm rooms so very many many years ago!! Your finds are wonderful, and I bet you have already enjoyed listening and had some transporting-in-time moments of your own!!
I haven’t had a blip in my email delivery of your blog. Thankfully, it still comes in shortly after 10 AM every morning!
I remember the Rod McKuen phase – I had a college professor that called him Rod McPuken. Ah, memories!
Loved Chicago, Joni, Iron Butterflym all of it!
What a fun day Claudia! And yes, when I hear Earth, Wind and Fire I get happy!
They are a guaranteed mood changer!
Looks like a really fun day! I’ve still got all my albums from the 60’s…I believe they are still in decent shape. Very fond memories for sure! Our turntable is kaput, however. I had several Beach Boys, Meet the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, the Rolling Stones,and a few others I listened to incessantly! You know what I liked the most about music of that time….you could understand the lyrics! I miss that…and you could sing along! ;)
We have an inexpensive turntable because I foolishly gave my old one away. What was I thinking? We do want to invest in a good turntable in the near future.
Funny how that works out…we bought one for our son’s birthday last year…then, we found out ours didn’t work anymore! C’est la vie! ;)
We are really lucky that int he town I live in there are many record stores! Athens, Ga is a university town and has a huge music scene. My kids included and they seem to love the retro, recycling and saving our Planet. My Grandson is growing up on vinyl music played each day and not kids stuff either! Music brings such memories.~
hugs to you on this Earth Day!
Linda
Our neighboring town is also a college town and that’s where the record shops we visited are. Love that your grandson is listening to vinyl! Happy Earth Day, Linda!
Another great post, Claudia. I can relate but in my case, it’s bookstores. Like you, I love the ease and convenience of a lot of what computers have brought us, but I think I’ll always especially love the smell of a brand new paper book more. You know, the wonderfully-intoxicating scent of fresh paper and printing ink that seems to just rise up from a new book the minute you open it. PS – I’m lovin’ those red glasses of yours – they look great on you.
Oh, I’m the same about bookstores. Goodness knows, I’ve written a lot about them on this blog! If I had a day when I could visit a bookstore and a record store, I was in heaven!
Thanks for the compliment on my glasses!
I miss vinyl records too. In the 70’s my Hubby and I had several hundred albums between us when we married. Then the record player went kaput and we had no way to play them so while he was on a business trip I had a yard sale. I sold all of his Elvis albums along with many of the other singers of the 60’s and 70’s. The Elvis ones went for about $5.00! I still can’t believe I did that. They were the original albums and he had every. single. one. He’s say’s he’s forgiven me, but I’m not sure. :-)
Blessings,
Betsy
Oh boy, ALL of his Elvis albums???
My hubby and I would have a blast in that store. Record stores are a lot like the old used book stores, there is something very artsy and cool about them. Record albums used to be like a work of art, music and design together in one package. I had that Joni Mitchell album, too. Gosh I must have listened to it a million times. Thanks for the photos, made me feel like I was back in my twenties again.
You are very welcome, Lana. I listened to Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins and Gordon Lightfoot endlessly.
Looks like fun. I have no idea where there is a record store around here. I might have to look that up
I still have some of my albums. Carol King’s Tapestry, Jethro Tull’s Aqualung, and a few more. such fun!
I noticed Don’s hand also. Hope it isn’t too serious.
Thanks for letting us in on your day. pam
Don did something to his hand while lifting cinder blocks. It’s getting better, but we wrapped it that day so he would remember not to use it.
It is so good to see the two of you out and having fun together again..Oh yes..vinyl records..not sure where mine disappeared to years ago..but I did love them back then..and Joni Mitchell..I miss you so..lol..What a great day you had!!
We had a terrific day, Nancy!
What a great day!! Unfortunately I am not set up to play vinyl, but someday I’d love to do that. I still have lots of nostalgia for the good ol’ days of the record store. And of sitting around with friends listening to records. Although I do still do that, just using Rhapsody! It’s not the same, but at least our life is filled with music anyway. :-) ~Angela~
Hi Claudia, We have a huge collection of vinyl which we still play! So many of the older ones are still not available any other way. Ours include many from the 50s which belonged to grandparents, Reader’s Digest collections (just wonderful!), one from the 1964 World’s Fair, all the fabulous 60s and 70s classics, and even one with JRR Tolkien reading from his works. Goodwill stores often have quite a few records, although the condition is not always the best. But we can never resist flipping through them! Linda
I love your glasses! :-)
It looks like a very fun day, Claudia! You remind me of me – I’ve always got two pairs of glasses going on sunny days – my readers and a pair of sunglasses. Depending on what I’m doing, I’m wearing one pair and the other is on top of my head – and then there are those occasions when they’re both on top of my head! haha
Donna
How fun to spend time in a record store! I bought Brian a turntable for Christmas, but we don’t have it set up yet due to a lack of room. We’re hoping to find room in Tim’s room for it now that we’re redoing that room, or else in our bedroom once we redo that room. Cool info about Jack White – I like most of his music.
You know it is just the same in any other field.
You’d think past showes us anything, but no.
Feel free to disagree but the world is changing, and we have no control whatsoever over it.
For instance, If only Barack had any balls to put Putin to his place, but it seems like it’s not happening, welcome third world war.
A very deep post, thanks!