Last Saturday was my first Record Store Day heading to any kind of record store. Me and my girlfriend went to an on-campus shop called Village Green Records. The place is small but really rich in selections, you can find anything from Amon Tobin and Boards of Canada to Kid Cudi and U2. There's this great "bug" poster of Massive Attack's Mezzanine hanging up behind the counter. The guy who runs the store lives there - one third of the store is his house - and there's at least 2 or 3 cats running around the place at any time. Local written all over it. For record store day he had about 12 bands playing on the yard by the street corner next to the shop, all mostly amature college rock collectives and pretty talented too, made for a great evening. I managed to accidentally unplug a band during setup by stepping on a powercable - gaaaah.
Being in a record store, on RSD, on 4/20, on a college campus, was one of a kind. The lead singer of one band was doing a fantastic job during the show. Then between songs he'd just gaze at the grass or a building, laugh to himself and go "h-he-alright... yeaah", and spend about 30 seconds deciding what song to go with next. I mean I've seen stoned people before but they were just out in force!
Another fun part about this record store day was that I came into it with no cash or money at all - I've been completely broke for about a week. There was a free box outside the building filled with loads of awful, simply terrible 70's records - which I raided and got away with about 20 records free of charge (the store worker behind the counter warned me: "you know these
are from the free box, listen at your own risk!"). My best catch from my very first RSD had to be this fantastic record called
After The Lovin' by a bloke named
Englebert Humperdinck. Here's the cover art:
All in all, great RSD. Next time I'll bring cash.