Month: April 2015

Reason #931205137 To Love Records

Nikki1 Comment

Posters.

IMG_2353 princeposter

Just look at these gems! That Prince poster was unexpectedly discovered after buying Dirty Minds at Rasputin (oh my gosh, Prince records have the best inserts and posters). And the S&G poster was tucked into a copy of Bookends that I found at a little record store in Lausanne, Switzerland. It’s one of my favorite purchases of all time (is there no imagery that better embodies Simon & Garfunkel than the 59th Street Bridge and a sprig of flowers??). So you see, another reason to celebrate the existence of the LP: free life-sized pictures of musical legends, just waiting to get unfolded and put onto a wall.

Which leads me to…

This past weekend was Record Store Day, and also Rock ‘N Swap at USF (I know, I was overwhelmed). I spent most of Saturday making my way down Haight Street, browsing through one record store until the next opened. I found it weird that 4 out of the 5 stores were no busier than they would be on any normal day, and then Amoeba was so packed that the checkout line wrapped all the way around the store. It was madness. Made me confirm that I’m not into RSD for the re-releases and special deals, but rather the experience of digging through stacks and bonding with people over a mutual nerdy obsession. Take, for instance, the fancily-dressed guy looking through records next to me at Rock ‘N Swap, who told me that he saw me buying Remain in Light and was so excited for me. Thanks dude, I was excited too! Or the owner of Rooky Ricardo’s, who you can tell has been doing this for decades and always wants to make sure you know where to find what you’re looking for (at RR’s, I got this Taj Mahal album mostly because I liked the cover art, but the guy made sure to tell me it was a good choice and a great album).

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My takeaway from RSD15: you don’t have to buy a ton of records to show your appreciation for record stores. Going there, and sharing the experience with friends or strangers, is half the fun.

…But it doesn’t hurt if you find some awesome albums along the way.

A list of delightful things, lately

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1. The discovery of Cher’s twitter account. You guys, how did I not know that tweets like this have been happening since 2010? These days, she and Ringo Starr combined probably use more emojis than the collective rest of the internet.

Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 9.50.07 PMFair warning: Cher is also prone to explosive caps lock and the occasional angry political tweet.

2. “Foreign Object” – My current favorite song (and lyric: “I personally will stab you in the eye with a foreign object”), from the new Mountain Goats album Beat the Champ. Can’t wait for my third—and possibly fourth—Mountain Goats concert in June!

3. I recently watched Help! again, and what a good idea that was. It is just the silliest movie.

4. Fun updates from David Byrne: DB and friends went to a WGI (colorguard) show and then he blogged about it! A video update was also posted on Facebook (my thought process while watching the first 15 seconds: “Why is there only one person clapping OH MY GOD THAT PERSON IS DAVID BYRNE LOOK AT HIM HE’S SO HAPPY”).

5. Speaking of WGI (percussion), huge congrats to RCC for winning gold in Dayton! As always, a proud alum. <3 You can watch their finals show here.
Side note: the first time I heard the show name, I thought it was “Guardians of the Bread.” Which would be a whole different show entirely.

6. Other delightful things: it’s spring, taxes are over, and the weekend is near. Everyone deserves a pick-me-up!