This past weekend I had the pleasure of sharing a really cool experience with my buddy David. Record Store Day(RSD) is a day when a handful (though growing) of small record stores across the country celebrate the joy of collecting vinyl.
Typically the day only happens once a year with exclusive special releases and highly collectible distribution of albums. This year because of Covid-19 it was decided by the powers that be to split the day into three separate days.
The first two days happened in August in September. Unfortunately, we were camping both of the other days, so this third and final day of the year was the first one that we got to participate in.
Lucky for us, there is a small record store in one of the towns near us that was participating in the day.
Radio Wasteland didn't open until 8:00 AM, but I wasn't sure how many people were going to be waiting in line so I had my buddy pick me up at 5:30 AM. We drove over to the store and found that there was already a line at the door.
Because the store is so small and again because of Covid-19, they had made it clear they would only allow 10 people in the store at a time. Thankfully, when we got to the store there were only eight people in line. This meant that David and I got to be lucky numbers 9 and 10.
Let me explain why this is important....
There are probably close to 100 albums that were getting released for this RSD. Many of the albums are limited to a couple thousand pressings. That means not all stores will get all of the albums and the ones they do get, they may only have two or three copies of each album. For example, there was a live Allman Brother's album that I had my eye on, but in their Facebook post the night before, Radio Wasteland had stated they only got a single copy of it.
In the spirit of RSD, each store that participates has to sign a pact that they will not hold records ahead of time for patrons and they will only allow one copy per patron. The fact that we were numbers 9 and 10 just gave us a better chance of the selections we were hoping for still being available by the time we got to the front of the line.
We got to the store around 5:45 AM and thankfully we didn't have to wait too long. The owner showed up at 6:05 AM and started handing out numbers as well as the nice pen you see above. This meant that once we got our number, we were "locked in" as long as we were back by 8:00 AM when he opened. This gave us the opportunity to sit in the truck where it was warm or in our case, run and get some breakfast. We found out as he was handing out the numbers that some people had been standing at the door since 3:00 AM that morning and during the RSD in September there was a guy who spent the night outside the store.
We were going to go to a place that I have heard good things about, but when we pulled into the parking lot around 6:20 AM we found they didn't open until 7:00 AM. Looking for some instant gratification and not wanting to wait the 40 minutes, we headed to another place that I knew opened at 4:30 AM.
I got this western omelet which as fantastic and my buddy got a ham and cheese omelet. As you can tell, it isn't anything fancy, but the portions are big and the flavors are on point. The price is pretty decent too at less than $10 per plate. I also got some sourdough toast that you can't see in the photo.
After breakfast, we headed back to the store and sat in the truck until it was about 7:50 AM.
The store isn't huge, but they have a ton of stuff. The prices also vary from $2 for some records to closer to $50 for others. As you can see, they even have compelling artist such as David Hasselhoff. :P
Since I was number 10 in line I had to nervously wander the store looking at stuff, hoping the albums I wanted were still there when it was my turn.
I really wanted to spend more time looking, but there was another group of 10 people who needed in after us, so once I had my selections we quickly exited the store vowing that we will need to return one day when we have more time to browse.
I think I did pretty good with my haul.
This Bon Jovi album my buddy actually picked up for me at a different auction. He thought it was their new one, but didn't realize that album is called "2020". This album is "Bounce" and it is actually a really good album.
This album was the one I was really hoping to get. When my buddy also requested it I was afraid he might have gotten the last copy, but luckily they still had one for me. Surprisingly, that Allman Brothers album I mentioned early was still available too. When I found out it was $45 I quickly passed. As you can see, this Rolling Stones album was $35 which is typically quite a bit more than I spend on a record, but in the spirit of RSD I couldn't resist, plus it is a green colored vinyl, so that is cool.
This Cheap Trick album was also an exclusive. It is a live album that was recorded at I think Whiskey Go Go. As you can tell by the date, it is a bit early so it doesn't have their big hits on it like "Surrender" and "I want you to want me", but Cheap Trick has always been a really entertaining band, so I am excited to give it a spin.
There was a London Suede album that I was really hoping to get my hands on, but Radio Wasteland wasn't blessed with any copies of it. Either they didn't request it or they just didn't get it. Anyway, I had to settle instead for this exclusive RSD reissue of "Gold Afternoon Fix" by The Church. It is just recently that I started getting into The Church, so I am excited about this one.
I could have easily purchased more of the options they had, but I had a $100 budget in mind when I entered the store and I would have been better off not coming home if I had spent more than that.
I also snagged these non-RSD grabs from their general inventory.
I have been wanting some ARS for a while now, so at $3 this was a steal. They had another one I might pick up next time I am back.
I also grabbed this classic Heart album. At $8 I felt it was a pretty good deal as well.
So there you go, that was my Saturday morning. I was home by 9:00 and ready for a day full of yardwork.
I am sorry this post got to be so long. Apparently, there is another RSD event happening on Black Friday (shopping day after Thanksgiving), so if you have a record store near you and you don't mind waiting in line, check them out and see if they have anything you might want.
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All pictures taken by myself or @mrsbozz