What is this "Record Store Day?" you might ask yourself. Well, it's a celebration of all the independent record stores that we have relied on to give us new music, a hang out, a place we fit in, a room to sift through quantities of vinyl until my fingers are sore from flipping through the racks.
For us Minneapolitans, we get to celebrate this high holiest of holy days with The Electric Fetus! Their schedule hasn't come out yet as far as their in-stores for that day, but I'm assured it's going to be one hell of a ride. Support local music! Support your local independent record store!
I promise to give you an update when I hear exactly who's playing and what the events for the day are. To wet your palate, here are a few famous music folks talking about record stores:
Nick Hornby (Author, High Fidelity, Slam)
"Yes, yes, I know. It's easier to download music, and probably cheaper. But what's playing on your favorite download store when you walk into it?
Nothing, that's what. Who are you going to meet in there? Nobody. Where are the notice boards offering flatshares and vacant slots in bands destined for superstardom? Who's going to tell you to stop listening to that and start listening to this? Go ahead and save yourself a couple of quid. The saving will cost you a career, a set of cool friends, musical taste and, eventually, your soul. Record stores can't save your life. But they can give you a better one."
Cameron Crowe
"The record store. Where true fandom begins. It's the soul of discovery, and the place where you can always return for that mighty buzz. The posters. The imports. The magazines. The discerning clerks, paid in vinyl, professors of the groove. Long live that first step inside, when the music envelopes you and you can't help it. You walk up to the counter and ask the question that begins the journey -- "what is that you're playing?" Long live the record store, and the guys and girls who turn the key, and unlock those dreams, every day."
Peter Gabriel
"I was introduced to lots of great music through my local record store. It was a place where people knew music and they knew me, and could make great suggestions and discoveries. Whether it is in the physical world or on-line, the value of a great and knowledgeable record store has not gone away"
Regina Spektor
“I just really love anything that’s not faceless and where people know each other and work together to build, like, a community. People that work there know their stuff; they’re not coming in today to sell music and tomorrow to sell TVs and the next day to sell whatever. Somebody can come in and say, “I want somebody who plays piano music” or something, and somebody will actually tell them to listen to my record and they’ll play it in the store for them and they’ll talk about it. You can connect in some way with somebody who’s doing something that they love. And that it’s important to have something that is being done just out of true love for new music that is being welcomed into the world. People should go to their indie record store and find out what is happening.”
Links:
Official Record Store Day site
The Electric Fetus site
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