Record Store Day is here again, and it is to our local independent record stores what ArtPrize is to downtown restaurants: Christmas-like cash raining from the sky…. that is, if you show up to support your record store.
Started in 2007, RSD started as a reaction to the possible closing of a much-beloved indie record store. Now celebrated each year, this annual event has captured not just the imagination of the indie music scene all around the world, but RSD has introduced a new era of music lovers to the concept of the local record store. (Remember a lot of next gen folk's first experiences with music purchases has been through big box department stores and online digital downloading of tracks.)
Record Store Day is a celebration of vinyl, and the music companies have embraced this renaissance of 33 1/3 & 45 rpm recordings with special releases only available on this day. Who doesn't love vinyl, anyway? It calls us to the art of pressing a record and demands we leave our digital collections be as we sit in front of a 12 by 12-inch piece of cardboard adorned with some of the best art the last 100-plus years has produced (and that you can easily own).
Locally you have three options, with each business offering a full day of programming celebrating music along with a chance to hang with the staff, musicians, and the fans who love them.
So if you get a chance on Saturday, wander into downtown Grand Rapids'
Vertigo Music and
Dodds Record Store, or head west to Grandville to visit the
Corner Record Store. I can guarantee you that you will never miss Record Store Day again after you experience the beautiful chaos that ultimately is about saving these iconic shops of the small business landscape.
Admission: Free