Daddy, what's a record?

Greetings Krazy Kats,

RecordStoreDay.com

April 16, was Record Store Day worldwide, and my friends it was epic! I know most of you haven't listened to anything on vinyl in years, hell let's face it up until a few months ago I hadn't listened to a record in many moons. I can still remember digging through a bunch of boxes in my parent’s basement and finding my dad's turntable and freaking out. I had to check to see if it still worked and to my amazement it did. So I busted out my copy of Deep Purple's "Machine Head" I had hanging on a wall and turned the bitch up! I had an Eargasm! These beautiful pops and hisses with wonderful music in between, was cosmic.
 To hear Ritchie Blackmore's solo in "Smoke on the Water" on vinyl was like nothing else I've experienced. Yes I know I maybe being a little melodramatic, but it was a wonderful feeling like discovering my passion for music all over again. This brings me to my reason in writing this issue on Record Store Day. I had never really experienced an event like this. I didn’t even know there was a record store down the street from me. So it was a few days before while clicking through Rock and Roll articles on the net and finding advertisement for the Record Store Day event, I knew I had to partake in the festivities. As I drove up to the store I could barely find a parking space it was so packed and I knew at that moment I was in for something special. You could hear the store was jumping with the music playing and the people going in and out with huge smiles on their faces like they just got laid. As soon as I walked in I was in my version of Mecca. There were records and people everywhere. You would have thought this was a Black Friday sale at Wal-mart, well except nobody was beating the shit out of each other. But I had come ready and had a mission baby! I had to pick up some new vinyl. And as I was sifting through Led Zepplin and The Sex pistols and even some great new releases, I knew I would be making this place a home away from home. They even had brought in a pretty good band for this wonderful occasion. 
  Like I said before I was in Heaven. The first thing I saw that I knew I had to have was The Beatles Abbey Road album. It was calling me. If you haven’t heard a Beatles album on vinyl you are missing out. Then I went for something new. Mind you everything that was released just for the Record Store Day event was completely picked through, but I managed to pick up  Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs live album, which I might add is amazing. And finally The Fleet Foxes first 2 new singles on their upcoming album, amazing as well. I had to pinch myself that day just to make sure the fun I was having was not a dream. In closing I feel that Record Store Day was a smashing success. It’s amazing how the 8 track, the cassette tape, the CD, and even the digital music revolution was going to put an end to Vinyl. Well Vinyl may not be the format of the future or what you are listening to today, but it definitely is not dead and in fact if you look a little closer sales are up, and today’s artist’s are releasing vinyl in conjunction with CD’s  and digital versions of their work. If you can pick up a record player somewhere or dig through your parent’s basement for that copy of The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack I recommend you turn it on, and turn it up. Now get to your local record store! And long live Vinyl! I leave you with some parting words from a great artist.

“I think it’s high time the mentors, big brothers, big sisters, parents, Guardians, and neighborhood ne’er do wells, start taking younger people That look up to them To a real record store and show them what an important part of life music really is. I trust no one who hasn’t time for music. What a shame to Leave a child, or worse, a generation orphaned from one of life’s great beauties. And to the record stores, artists, labels, dj’s, and journalists; we’re all in this together. Show respect for the tangible music that you’ve dedicated your careers and lives to, and help It from becoming nothing more than disposable digital data.”- Jack White

Always remember music is life….

Thanks to Earwaxx Records for my amazing Eargasms!
Earwaxx Records & More
or on Facebook.com