April 16, 2010

Record Store Day reminds me...

In case you haven't been paying attention, Record Store Day is this Saturday, 4/17.  You can find a list of participating stores in DC here.  Ironic thing about this list?  It includes CD Warehouse, which if I'm not mistaken, is now a fro-yo place in Georgetown.



I won't pretend that I'm someone who does a lot of vinyl, outside of my kiddie Christmas collections at my mother's.  However, in college I had the luxury of spending hours at my formerly local record store, Plan 9 on the Corner in Charlottesville--"formerly" since I graduated and moved away, and it no longer exists.  Such fond memories of being blasted by a completely artificial smell upon opening the doors (seriously, the plastic is nostalgic), avoiding the hipsters who didn't like my voting record at the concert committee meetings, drowning in new releases at the listening "booth," taking random bumper stickers and buttons from a freebie cardboard box--I went there to escape and belong.  I also saw John Mayer there, for free, the day before he "made it."

So I thought I'd pose the question, do you, few loyal readers, have memories of a record store that has now closed?

4 comments:

  1. That CD Warehouse sucked anyway. They would never buy anything or issue store credit, and all their stuff was overpriced. I guess maybe that's the downside of having a record store in GEORGETOWN. If Ed Hardy can't survive, neither can the CD Warehouse.

    Anyway, I have two fond memories of indie record stores. One, ear x-tacy in Louisville. I had ear x-tacy everything; t-shirts, bumper stickers, samplers, hats, you name it. It was just the coolest store ever, and the prices were on par with the majors. Still around too, although every so often there's a scare and they do a benefit or something to save it.

    Two, remember Olsson's Books and Records? Man I loved that place. Friendly staff, great recommendations, and just the best selection. I'd go every Tuesday for new album releases, and I'd always walk away with four or five different things. I think the flagship store in Dupont could've weathered, but the owners decided to expand well beyond their ability, putting stores in Reagan airport, Crystal City, Old Town, and Courthouse, all around the same time, all during the worst economic downturn since THE depression. Shame.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh man! I used to spend so much time at Olsson's, how could I forget. You know, they never got CDs on the big release days though... not the one in Courthouse anyway, at the end of their lifecycle.

    Also, Ear X-Tacy is listed in Spin's top indie record stores. There's one in Baltimore on that list too--who knew?

    http://www.spin.com/articles/americas-15-best-indie-record-stores

    ReplyDelete
  3. I happen to have fond memories of going to Goody's - and trying to find a tape by searching through a gigantic catalog tied to a chain in front of the tape section.

    Needless to say, we could NEVER find the tape with Bette Midler's rendition of Under the Boardwalk - which we wanted so we could do our talent competition lip synch at Summer Fun summer camp!

    My, times have changed. Can you imagine walking into a music store and looking up what you'd like to find in a freaking dictionary? Then walking to the corresponding aisle?

    Craziness.

    ReplyDelete