While I hadn't actually been in several years, the Tenth Anniversary of Record Store Day on Saturday, April 22 was, despite a rainy afternoon in NYC, quite a success. Everywhere I went lots of LPs, RSD special releases, and vintage vinyl alike, were steadily flying out of the bins. Stores were crowded. The energy levels were off the map. And it did my `ol 331/3 heart good to be shoved out of the way, at Academy Records in Brooklyn's Greenpoint district, by vinyl-mad teenagers who'd grown impatient with my aimless grooving to Let It Bleed and my serious abuse of the free Stumptown Coffee. These kids were focused and motivated. In other words, RSD works.
Having hit three stores in Brooklyn where nearly all of the best record stores in the five boroughs now reside, thanks to skyrocketing rents, I watched as those in the considerable line inside Academy slowly wound around and bought up most of the RSD special LPs and 7-inchers. Bowie's Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74), The Cars, Live at the Agora 1978, and Go Robot by Red Hot Chili Peppers all flew off the shelves as I stood doing my best Mick air-vocals to "Monkey Man."
My friend Rick, who has contracted a vinyl obsession late in life and is rapidly making up for lost time, walked right past the free donuts and coffee, dove into the vintage vinyl and scored an 1980s British Apple reissue of The Beatles Let It Be and a pristine 2008,180gm reissue of the landmark Prestige Records Bill Evans live set, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, for $15 each.
At Rough Trade in Williamsburg, the last large new vinyl store in all of New York City, the most annoying aspect of Record Store Day showed its ugly visage. If you wanted to enter the store and shop in the normal racks, or even see the live performers like Steve Earle in the venue that is part of the store, you could walk right in.
But if you wanted to peruse any of the 350 RSD specialty items, you had to go outside, cross the street, put on a wristband, stand in a line, in the rain, before being let in, a couple folks at a time. Once in you were allowed to dig through plastic milk crates of RSD stuff on tables. Meanwhile, the store was filled with shoppers, browsers, and a lot of folks, like me, who couldn't understand exactly where they were and were not supposed to be. Chaos reigned. A vivid example of what happens when whatever plan exists just ain't workable.
The day's highlight was a stop at Human Head Records in Bushwick, which had a booming scene going on. A huge amount of 99-cent LPs in boxes under tarps, a deejay, free beer, grills for burgers and dogs, and a store packed beyond claustrophobia was all fabulous to see and experience. Not sure that allowing open cups of tap beer around racks of records is such a great idea—saw several spilling incidents—but the wide-eyed millennials, standing in line, cradling armloads of vinyl, and eventually trundling laboriously towards the checkout counter with their booty was a sight I will not soon forget. Suffice it to say, the vinyl resurgence shows no signs of abating any time soon! Viva RSD!
