The Days of Lore

Record Store Day is groovy

Saturday, April 18th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | No Comments

Record/music stores are disappearing faster than … hmm … than a plate of donuts in front of a fat kid’s face? Sorry. But there is hope … for record stores, not for my lack of couth … or child obesity in America.

Record Store Day was first observed in 2007 as a way to celebrate the holiest of places for white males ages 25 to 50. Six months ago I moved from a town that was down to its last record store, not counting the one that had a horrible selection of over-priced CDs and sold more dildos and bongs than it did actual music. But Portland—being the mega-hot indie rock mecca of planet Earth—has several fine establishments where one can peruse for hours on end while the rest of the world passes by and your girlfriend finally comes to terms to the fact that you have a problem. I’ve come home.

So. Take your pick. There will be tons of special releases from a laundry list of bands like [inhale] The Thermals, The Decemberists, Blitzen Trapper, Flaming Lips, Elvis Costello, Pavement, Slayer, Queen (!), Bob Dylan, Jesus Lizard, Obits and much, much more [exhale]. More info on releases and participating stores can be found here.

There will also be loads of live performances and special events here in Portland including Langhorne Slim (1 p.m. at Jackpot Records on Hawthorne), and Loch Lomond and Shaky Hands at the downtown location starting at 2 p.m. Queensrÿche (yes, that Queensrÿche) will sign copies of their new record at Music Millennium at noon. And Green Noise Records will be giving away some goodies from its sister label Dirtnap. Oh, and make sure Exiled Records is on your list of stops today. All of this, of course, leads up to the big Night Owl Record Show—a Portland tradition since 2003—where vinyl junkies come together and do what they do ($2; 5-9 p.m).

In honor of Record Store Day I give you a song from the very first 45 rpm I owned that wasn’t associated with Batman or Star Wars (promise, no more KISS-related posts for at least a few months). Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to get into some mischief.

“See You In Your Dreams” - Gene Simmons (1978 solo album)

Tags: Green Noise Records, Jackpot Records, Langhorne Slim, Loch Lomond, Music Millennium, Night Owl Record Show, Queensrÿche, Record Store Day, Shaky Hands