TODAY is, they tell me, national record store day… it’s hard not to be both excited and sadly nostalgic. i’ve been haunting record stores in every city and town i’ve ever lived in — severna park maryland; middletown, ct; brighton, england; baltimore; chapel hill; new london/mystic, ct; LA — and almost every place i’ve visited. okay, i’m a junkie.
i loved newberry comics in boston, waterloo in austin, and the now-shuttered schoolkids in chapel hill… not to mention other music in new york. and pickadilly in manchester, UK!
HERE is a piece i wrote about LA’s greatest record store clerks. it should surprise nobody when i point out that several of the stores in question have closed since i reported the story. either way, a lot of my education, musical and otherwise, came from hanging out in (and working in) record stores.
and here is an ap story on natl record store day.
a friend is writing a book about great record stores. what are my illustrious readers favorites?
sigh.
Photo credit: Flickr user rocknroll_guitar
there is one in murfreesboro, tn just south of nashville that is a cool little unknown spot off of the square called Grand Palace Record Store. the space is also used as a recording studio and screen print shop and sometimes apartment. at one point in time there were live bands as well but the fire marshall had other ideas. check them out at http://palacepromo.googlepages.com/
We just got back from visiting Athens, GA, where there still is a Schoolkids Records…spent an awesome amount of time there…great store! Loved the cross-references (e.g. Polvo–see also “Libraness”).
We didn’t have time to visit the others, but Athens is still a good record store town, it seems.