Record Store Day 2013

Saturday morning, much against my nature and the allergies I am suffering from, I arose at 5:30am so that I could drive over to a little record store and stand in line so that I had a chance to maybe buy some special records.

Record Store Day is an "event" that vinyl-nerds like me look forward to every year. Here's how it works: artists make available special releases in very limited quantities (usually 3000 to 5000) to independent record stores in support of these local shops that sell vinyl and keep up the spirit of indie music. Not every store gets any quantities of every release. You can view a list of what will be available but it's really a surprise as to what will be actually be there. Last year I went at 1pm, being the naive fool I am, and discovered there was nothing left.

So having learned my lesson I arrive in front of Record and Tape Exchange in Fairfax VA at 6am. There are already two guys out there. One kind in his early twenties is huddled under a blanket on a ratty old mattress. Another guy is sitting in only of those collapsable wing chairs. The kid says he has two buddies that ran off to get food. The other guy is there by his lonesome. Fifth in line, that's pretty good. We chit chat about what we want and we discover, happily, our lists do not collide. There are cool guys. The one kid is wearing a Mastodon sweatshirt so we talk about seeing them in concert. They offer us honey buns.

My list had two tiers: 1) really want; 2) intrigued. In the first category there were four things. I didn't know if there were any limitations or other rules on what to buy, so I wanted it tiered. The four things were: Big Star's Nothing Can Hurt Me double LP; Old 97s with Waylon Jennings on 7"; The Hold Steady Criminal Fingers 7"; and Calexico's Spiritoso 12". The Big Star vinyl is different mixes and alternate versions of their songs for an upcoming documentary. The Old 97s and Waylon thing was something the band did with him way back in 1996 and are finally releasing. The Hold Steady 7" includes the "Bear and the Maiden Fair" song used in Game of Thrones. And the Calexico LP is them doing songs with a couple orchestras in Europe.

Some of the stuff in the other category included The Band, Elliott Smith, Aloha, Gram Parsons, Brendan Benson, Cream. These were things that if I saw I would consider but wouldn't be sad if I couldn't find or got beaten to.

At around quarter-to-8 the owners showed up saying "Happy Record Store day!!" We replied in turn, though it had gotten pretty chilly and I was feeling close to miserable; but the thought of the gold mine that lay beyond the glass kept me warm inside. HA! We watched them inside busy making the final preparations. The kids in front of us had been there since the store closed the night before and they knew the folks who worked there. They mentioned seeing The Band's triple-LP of  The Last Waltz on the shelf so I knew I could get that at least.

At T-minus-five-minutes one of the workers opened the door and said the first 10 people in line would get 90s seconds of alone-time with the store. This was exciting because I was 5th and there are now 30 people behind me. Ninety seconds would be more than enough time to secure what I was hoping to get.

So the door swings open and we go in and the stuff is nicely organized and easy to find. Unfortunately for me they only had 1 of the things I really wanted (or at least that I could find) and that was the Calexico record. The other 3 were not to be found. I did manage to grab the The Last Waltz and another 3xLP of Cream's 2005 reunion shows at the Royal Albert Hall.

I was really happy with being able to get these special things, but all in all I was a bit disappointed in the overall selection. That's no knock on the store. As I understand it stores don't always get what they ordered. Part of the charm of the event is not knowing what is going to be there. So it's Christmas to vinyl-geeks. By the time I paid and left the RSD section was stripped bare. This was about 15 minutes after the doors opened.

So for next year, I think I will call up in advance and make sure the store at least orders what I am looking for. That way I can be more heartbroken when it doesn't show. HA!

The Last Waltz with retro label

Cream; dig the gorgeous white vinyl

Calexico's Spirtoso