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| Record Store Day |
Sniff. The point of that heartwrenching tale is that music is a powerful thing. It holds within it the ability to create memories, the ability to fill even a small child with joy as he or she sings the praises of two-wheeled women with large derrieres and learns the skilful mastery of the double entendre in relation to "hungry" and "meat."
And it is that tactile relationship to an aural creation that has further enriched that love affair between man and music for generations, and a relationship that more and more people are now returning to as witnessed and encouraged by the internationally recognized Record Store Day, which happens to be today.
It is a day where society shuns the digital age and returns to a time when music came in a physical form, and more importantly, to a time when people actually left their homes and interacted with one another, on a local level, even if it was to have a surly teenage clerk mock you for not knowing who the hell Das Racist or the Crystal Stilts are.
"It's becoming an incredibly popular thing," says Chris Brown, marketing man for Bull Moose entertainment stores in Maine. He first came up with the idea four years ago, surprisingly, not as a way to save or eulogize the music stores, but more as a way to celebrate that they were still alive and, in many cases, flourishing.
"We were seeing that thriving, but nobody except for the people who came into our stores knew it. There was a lot of bad press in 2007 when I proposed Record Store Day -that was when big chains were closing and there was a lot of stuff in the news about music sales being down . . . . A lot of us were doing fine or great and I kind of wanted to celebrate that."
Since that first day, when 300 stores mostly in the U.S. and Canada participated, Record Store Day is now observed in 21 countries by approximately 1,500 shops -all independent stores, no chains. Celebrations include sales, in-store performances and -the most exciting aspect for some -limited-edition products created specifically for the event.
"Although it sounds as though it should be about the stores, what it's turned into is 'be awesome,' " says Brown, noting that the 250 RSD releases include a Foo Fighters covers album, a Decembrists live record, a Radiohead album and a whole host of rarities from such major-label acts as Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam and Jimi Hendrix. "Everybody in the music industry puts down what they're doing and focuses on being awesome for music fans in one way or another."
In Calgary, five fabulous stores are marking Record Store Day in their own unique ways: Hot Wax (114 10th St. N.W.) will have local bands performing as well as a sale; Heritage Posters and Music (1502 11th Ave. S.W.) have 25 per cent off all of their records; The Inner Sleeve (117 3411 20th St. S.W.) is opening early with specials, sales and tasty cupcakes; Sloth Records (736b 17th Ave. S.W.) will have freebies, giveaways and discounts; and Melodiya Records (2523 17th Ave. S.W.) will also have most of its stock on sale as well as, like the rest, some of those limited-edition releases.
"Oh it's huge -it's our biggest day of the year. It's massive," says Ben Falconer from Melodiya, who notes that lovers are lined up outside the door prior to opening for the opportunity to buy some of those special creations. "Whatever we get, we'll sell out of. I've had 30 to 40 calls asking what time we open and what we're going to have. The thing is, we don't know. That's the crazy thing about Record Store Day."
Another crazy thing about Record Store Day is how it has now morphed into a day about records -or rather the vinyl definition of records -and a celebration of its return. Melodiya, for example, is now an exclusively vinyl music store, that will only special order CDs. And all of the other shops are once again bringing in freshly pressed LPs, and seeing a huge demand for used and reissued older stuff that listeners had ditched in recent years for the digital form. According to Nielson, vinyl was the fastest growing format in 2010.
And it's not just the old people suffering regret over those discarded early Roxy Music albums in all of their 12-inch glory, it's the kids who are coming back to the form, as witnessed by some of the hipper wax releases, and by the fact that campus and community radio station CJSW is devoting two full days (Friday and today) to vinyl-only programming, to please their younger audience.
"It's our listeners, but it's us, too," says music director Kat Dornian, who initiated the event. "Just the fact that we're the only station in Calgary to still play vinyl on a daily basis. . . . All of our DJs, all of our programmers have record collections and love vinyl, and just when I mentioned it people were like, 'Oh, I want to do an allvinyl show.' People are just getting really excited. It just speaks to our passion of our DJs. And I think a lot of people around Calgary are tuning back into vinyl. . . .
"I'm pretty young (24) and, with vinyl, it's amazing. It sounds great, it's more of an experience."
As for the Record Store Day experience, in general, founder Brown doesn't really care if it becomes specifically about vinyl over the coming years, or if turns into cassette tapes down the road and then maybe CDs in another decade or two -he just wants it to be about that idea of music bringing people together.
"I'm really hoping that people understand that there are these great businesses in their town that are really thriving and have a lot to offer them," he says. "And maybe people remember how fun it is to go see people in person and connect on music."
Which brings us back to that boy and the story of his traumatic experience all those years ago. Did he ever make that connection? Did he ever experience that Bohemian Rhapsody, was he ever rocked or entertained by the inimitable quartet of Queen? What, you may ask, became of him?
Don't remember. Think his parents divorced and he moved with his mom to St. Petersburg or Charlotte -somewhere down south. I think his name was Steve. Or Scott. Something. Nice kid. Little whiny, though.
