April 20, 2008


People have been talking about Record Stores

Apparently yesterday was Record Store Day.

The NYT has a great map of record stores in NYC since 2003, outlining which remain open and which closed in the past five years. Roughly seventy are still opened as of April 2008.

Singer-songwriter James McMurtry shares some memories of hanging out in record stores, on NPR.

And little over a week ago I was flipping through my records and found this gem while reminiscing about my favorite high school record store, Princeton Record Exchange. Living in St. Louis now, I occasionally find myself haunting the stacks of Vintage Vinyl.

Looking for an Indie Record Store? Go check out the Independent Record Store Directory.

comments

20 Responses to “People have been talking about Record Stores”

  1. Deron Bauman on April 20th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    great post, Andrew.

  2. Cooper Renner on April 21st, 2008 at 10:29 am

    I made it a point to stop in at Waterloo Records in Austin as I drove to San Antonio last Monday. I was there for probably a record (haha) short visit for me–only about 30 minutes. I traded in some CDs and some cash and came out with the new one by Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band, as well as BJ Nilsen’s Short Night and Wire’s Send and Burn 03. Good listening. Great store. But don’t forget Grand Prairie’s Forever Young Records, a masterful store which really excels in ’60s music (especially imports) on CD and a huge amount of vinyl.

  3. Sheila Ryan on April 21st, 2008 at 10:39 am

    Forever Young. I was trying to recall the name of that place. If you and I are ever again in Dallas at the same time, we’ll have to organize a field trip, yes?

  4. Deron Bauman on April 21st, 2008 at 10:47 am

    Sheila, Renner, if you two go, I’m sure Amy, Cindy, Daryl, and I would love to join you.

  5. Cindy Scroggins on April 21st, 2008 at 10:49 am

    I’m sure we would!

  6. Sheila Ryan on April 21st, 2008 at 11:02 am

    We can all pile into somebody’s Element and sing “NInety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall”!

  7. Deron Bauman on April 21st, 2008 at 11:06 am

    And make a scene from an imaginary vampire movie.

  8. Sheila Ryan on April 21st, 2008 at 11:17 am

    Ooh, a carload of vampires en route to a used record store, singing “Ninety-NIne Bottles of Beer on the Wall”.

    (By the way, Deron, my effort to shoot scenes from an imaginary Civil War vampire film did not work out as I had hoped. It was too hard to infiltrate Their camp without being noticed. But this will not deter me from continuing my work in other settings.)

  9. Cindy Scroggins on April 21st, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    Sheila, you must climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, ’til you find your dream.

  10. Sheila Ryan on April 21st, 2008 at 1:03 pm

    Oh, Cindy, that message is one of my favorite daily affirmations.

  11. Cindy Scroggins on April 21st, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    Perhaps you could include a Bonzos scene in the imaginary vampire film.

  12. Rick Neece on April 21st, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    A dream that will need
    all the love you can give.
    Every day of your life
    For as long as you liiiiIIIIIIIIIIIiiiive.

    “Big finish now, boys!”

    CLIMB
    chord
    EV
    chord
    RY, MOUN TAIN

    chordCHORDchord

    FORD
    chord
    EV
    chord
    RY STREAM
    chordCHORDchord
    FOL LOW EV RY RAIN BOW
    chordchord
    ‘TIL

    CHORD

    YOU

    CHORD

    FIND.

    CHORD

    YoOUR…

    DREEEEEEEEEEAM!

    KA-CHORD!
    k-chord.

  13. Sheila Ryan on April 21st, 2008 at 1:12 pm

    Well, Cindy, as their “Death Cab for Cutie” scene was definitely the high point of Magical Mystery Tour, I’d say I couldn’t go wrong.

  14. Cindy Scroggins on April 21st, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    I hereby nominate Rick Neece as the official Clusterflock Choir Director.

  15. Sheila Ryan on April 21st, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    Second the nomination! (Is that what you say?)

    Oh, and I know one Bonzo image I’m going to feature in my imaginary vampire film, Cindy. It’s from their performance of “Monster Mash” on “Do Not Adjust your Set”, when a portrait of Liberace is briefly flashed to accompany the line, “The guests included Wolfman,/ Dracula — and his son“.

  16. Cindy Scroggins on April 21st, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    Perfect!

  17. Rick Neece on April 21st, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    A vampire choir! The Von Tramps?

  18. Sheila Ryan on April 21st, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    Oh. My. God. In. Whom. I. Do. Not. Even. Believe.

    The Von Tramps!

  19. vin. on April 21st, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    Vintage Vinyl was a standard stop for me on my way back home from Columbia to Poplar Bluff, MO for music that would get me through my temporary stays in Southeast Missouri during college and med school.

    Thanks for bringing back some memories.

  20. Andrew Simone on April 21st, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    You bet, vin.

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