Most "Shop Local" events in this town focus on food or beer, but once in a while, an event comes along that won't mean ingesting a week's worth of calories in one sitting. Been there, done that, got fat.
So, you ask, what's left? Plenty. But this weekend, one of the very best shop local events returns. Record Store Day (RSD) is an internationally organized event, but locally focused in that it has been created to celebrate the power your local record store has to create a community. Some cities no longer have a local record store (often the victim of changing tastes in a market), but the Greater Grand Rapids area has three great choices. G-sync insists you hit one or all of these fantastic events.
First up is
Vertigo Music, an official RSD venue and a true classic downtown record store that is alive and brimming with more excitement each passing year. Join the massive crowds in the excitable art of bin diving for new and used vinyl, compact discs, or cassette tapes. Enjoy a slice from CVLT PIZZA, or catch any one of the bands booked by the staff to rock the house. This year, you can expect to hear a lot of new local music from acts including The Corrosive Kids, Haunted Leather, Trinket, Helical Scan, as well as catch Modern Convenience, an act from Memphis, Tenn. passing through the area. And the best part? The entertainment is free and everything is on sale on Record Store Day at Vertigo Music.
Also an official venue for RSD 2013 is Grandville's
Corner Record Shop. Corner will be serving up hot dogs, and offering another bangin' lineup of live local talent with Glowfriends, Dangerville, The Boss Mustangs, The Diemakers, Mike Key, and Dave Hardin (performing in the order listed here). CRS isn't offering any specials, but their used vinyl is so dirt cheap that every day feels like Record Store Day.
What both Vertigo and The Corner Record Shop have in common is that both venues will be receiving any number of the official limited releases sent only to small and local record stores around the word as a part of Record Store Days' mission to promote the local shop over the big box. Incidentally, Detroit's Jack White is the official ambassador of RSD this year.
The last venue honoring RSD this year is S. Division's
Dodd's Records. While not an official venue, this fact will not stop one local musician, Rev. Charles Smith of the Potatoebabies, who has a flair for going rogue. He'll be celebrating on the roof of this local vinyl shop that has been in our city since 1951.
When I stopped to ask Gerald Dodd of Dodd's what he has planned for Record Store Day he humbly replied, "Oh, I don't know. I did get in a lot of new records this week."
For the record, Charles has a lot planned starting at 1 p.m. with Old Man Jenkins, Burnt Offerings, Mick Nasty and the Bullets, The Bitters, and the PotatoeBabies all performing on the roof. Take that Beatles, U2, and those actors in that crazy film based on The Fab 4's music. Grand Rapids literally hits the heights this weekend.
Admission: Free