Saturday 18th May - International Record Store Day
Check out this video about the world's largest record collection - both amazing & heartbreaking, why it's not a museum I don't know...but I have a horrible feeling this guy has really bad taste & no one was prepared to buy the place off him (quality not quantity no?)
I imagine you have to be completely obsessive to still be running a record shop. I can't say I have fond memories of them...for those of us who have dated crate diggers it usually meant moving house was hell, you spent inordinate amounts of time being patronized by the men who worked in them (who generally lived at home with their mothers & got paid in records), and holidays/ meals/ rent (in extreme cases) were foregone for some ridiculous rare white label 12" that would get lost amongst the other 6000. You can usually tell when someone has dated a crate digger - she knows about Ramellzee, Pharoah Sanders & Dwight Trible, can navigate Soho blindfold in the dark, and is one of 4 (single) women you'll see at bacpacker-music-nerd events. To this day I still feel uncomfortable crossing the threshold despite the fact that now I actually know what I'm talking about. Sort of.
For those of you, male and female, still dedicated to keeping record shops open - and this is actually still a surprisingly large number - knock yourself out this weekend, your partner will understand that their birthday present is a bit late and you can't take them out to dinner. Just tell them it's International Record Store Day!
Participating shops in London (if they haven't closed down by Saturday):
All Ages Records
Brill
The Dream Machine
Phonica Records
Pure Groove
Record Savings
Rough Trade East
Rough Trade West
Soul Brother Records
I imagine you have to be completely obsessive to still be running a record shop. I can't say I have fond memories of them...for those of us who have dated crate diggers it usually meant moving house was hell, you spent inordinate amounts of time being patronized by the men who worked in them (who generally lived at home with their mothers & got paid in records), and holidays/ meals/ rent (in extreme cases) were foregone for some ridiculous rare white label 12" that would get lost amongst the other 6000. You can usually tell when someone has dated a crate digger - she knows about Ramellzee, Pharoah Sanders & Dwight Trible, can navigate Soho blindfold in the dark, and is one of 4 (single) women you'll see at bacpacker-music-nerd events. To this day I still feel uncomfortable crossing the threshold despite the fact that now I actually know what I'm talking about. Sort of.
For those of you, male and female, still dedicated to keeping record shops open - and this is actually still a surprisingly large number - knock yourself out this weekend, your partner will understand that their birthday present is a bit late and you can't take them out to dinner. Just tell them it's International Record Store Day!
Participating shops in London (if they haven't closed down by Saturday):
All Ages Records
Brill
The Dream Machine
Phonica Records
Pure Groove
Record Savings
Rough Trade East
Rough Trade West
Soul Brother Records