April 19, 2009

Record Store Day - Not Good for Me

I wish I could tell the whole story of why my day yesterday was the PITS. I better stick with the short version:

I decided to visit my local independent record store. Since there isn't one near me, I had to look up the closest one. I could have driven 10 miles to Laguna Beach or 20 miles to Orange. I chose Laguna, bad choice.

Laguna Beach is beautiful. But the people who worked at the record store - not so much. They were rude and cranky. The other customers (there were only two) looked bored and weren't even looking at music, they were looking at t-shirts. But the real bummer was the small selection of LPs. There were 4 rows in the store, only 1/4 of one row contained used vinyl and one very small section up front had new vinyl (at crazy prices that made me sad).

So, I trudged the five blocks back to my car, enjoying the ocean view but wishing I would have driven to Orange instead and went to a better store.

THEN, this happened:

I decided to fulfill a promise I mad here months ago. I dug out the box of albums in my garage so I could go through them, take some photos and tell you all what treasures I had left in my collection (which went from about 300 to 50 but we won't even go there today).

I sat there in the garage smiling as I took each one out of the box, looked at it front and back (and in the middle when there was one). Wow. What memories. There are some classics in that box. There were also about ten of my dad's favorite LP's, which also brought a smile and some good memories.

I decided to arrange them in a really cool looking collage and take a picture of them. But that's where the ugly part of the story comes in. In a fit of rage someone in my family threw a chair at my carefully laid out collage knocking it over and probably cracking several of the records (I was too upset to look I just put them all away and stormed off, and no it was not my son, he may get into trouble now and then but knows better than to mess with my music.

So, I'll have to wait for another day to share pics. In the meantime, if you find yourself in Laguna Beach don't bother stopping here:


10 comments:

Sean Coleman said...

Sorry to hear about your experience. Here in Ottawa, there is a monster second hand record shop called "Legend". Thousands of LPs. I only go when I have time to spare because you can easily lose a couple of hours (it always seems like 15 minutes)

Can't wait to see the vinyl collection.

music obsessive said...

I'm not surprised you got upset over your records being trashed - anyone messing with mine would be dead!

Looking forward to seeing the pics, I'm sure there'll be some similarities. My wife bought me some LP frames so that I can have a selection up on the wall. They look like what they are - art.

chez bez said...

I hate that there are folks out there perpetuating the stereotype that all record store clerks are cranky. Grimey's here in Nashville continually makes it into those Best Record Stores lists. The folks know their stuff and are always happy to help all customers. They're awesome.

I cringed at that last part. There's no need for that kind of behavior, of course.

Jeff said...

Sorry to hear your record store day didn't go so well. If it makes you feel any better, mine was a bust as well, but luckily for me, none of the vinyls I own broke. The store I went to had practically none of the exclusives I was hoping to get my hands on. I'll probably post my experience sometime later today...

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

Someone messed with your vinyl and lived?

Would not have had the same outcome if it had happened to mine

Southern (in)Sanity said...

I worked in a record store back when CD's first came around.

It's scary that vinyl now costs what CD's did back then.

Rockin' Jeff said...

I went to my local record store here in Chicago, "Reckless Records."
I had a good old time looking around but didn't find anything that i absolutely had to have, so i left empty handed...
Sometimes it's just fun to go on the hunt even if you don't find anything.

I hope none of your records were damaged in the incident.

Plochmann said...

It's unfortunate that there are folks who create their own demise. The record store is a dying breed (unfortunately). Way to share your experience though Barbara.

classicrockforthesoul said...

Sorry to hear about your bummer Record Store Day. That's no good :(

I actually wanted to go to a record store on Saturday, but believe it or not, there aren't any record stores around here.
We had ONE (with two locations), but they shut down sometime late last year. Alas, I couldn't participate and was quite sad.

Guitarman5150 said...

I'm having a great time looking at your page I think I'm gonna cry now! I think I'd have killed somebody! I can't believe you didn't!

I still have my collection, the only problem is half of them are here and half of them are with my ex-wife in a storage space in IL she better PRAY nothing happens to them (warp dammage or anything else) or I'll kill her! I think all I can fink here are my Van Halen LP's or that's all I have come across anyway.

I have lots of Kiss, Jimi Hendrix live stuff, Clapton, Derick And The Dominos, Beatles and the list goes on. She just better PRAY!

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