A rainy Saturday at the record store

Since my work load is slowing down at work (seeing all of our sports are over since school is out) I finally had a rare Saturday by myself for the first time in what seems like forever. What makes this rare is the fact that my daughter decided it was best to stay at home and not go to the Rangers game (to those past readers that means no Josh Hamilton Bobble Head) since it was also raining. That also meant no t-ball game that day as well, so Sloan ran off to see her grandparents, and most of all her favorite dog Chloe. Since it was a weekend, Kristen was at work at the hospital. That meant I actually had a day to myself. So I did my favorite thing in the world, I went to the slowly dying music store to browse through their music. The best thing about going to these places is it’s almost like my place to escape. I know for a fact the best way to have Kristen leave me in a cloud of dust is to tell her I am going to Hastings or for that matter Best Buy. It’s almost girl repellant, and maybe that can explain my college years among other things.

A favorite store of mine (next to CD Warehouse in Oklahoma, which by now is probably closed) is going to Hastings here. I like going to these stores for the fact that you can find the rare gems that people have sold back to stores because they fell out of love with the band or album. Of course I go in with bands and albums I am always looking for used, almost anything by Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Phish, The Grateful Dead, and of course new groups I have just discovered but want to see if they have release anything else. Also the most important thing you have there is the awesome ability of people watching. Trust me the Hastings here is like the music lover’s wal-mart for people watching.

So I begin my stroll, first to stop by the vinyl, drool, curse to myself for giving my record player away, and walk off to all of the racks of cds. I browse for at least an hour, in the nice peace and quiet of the store, stopping every once in a while to see the mother of four in short-shorts with a tattoo of a panther crawling up her leg, and an artfully done tramp stamp , wishing Kristen was there to laugh with me.

While losing myself in the music, the one thing that hit me is the fact most of these wonderful stores are slowly starting to close up around the world. The electronic way of downloading an album is taking over the rush you once got going down to your local record store and buying an album. The new smell of a cd when you break it open and plop it in your stereo, and hoping it has some life altering effect on you when you listen to it. Flipping through the liner notes trying to catch something they wrote to the girl that broke their heart and inspired some song, the artist’s artwork they slaved over to make for the album cover, all of it is now sent to you digitally over the internet.

Don’t get me wrong, I am downloading music left and right from iTunes. I am surprised that Steve Jobs doesn’t greet me by name when I log into my iTunes account. There is one thing that Apple can’t replace and that is the joy of getting to lose yourself in the record store, the fact that you can bump into people that have the same interests in music you do, and one thing they can’t replace is the smell of the brand new album out of the wrapper.

Go support your local record store, before it’s too late……….

This week’s music:

These are older albums (last year) but they are in heavy rotation on my ipod-

The National- Boxer

After reading one of my favorite blogs by Paul Shirley, I e-mailed him one day to see if he had anyone to recommend me since I was in a rut with my taste of music. He was very kind enough to send me a response and recommended the National among many other bands. The lead singer Matt Berninger has a very unique sound, and I really like their music. Thanks to Paul, I recommend giving the National a listen.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds- Dig Lazarus Dig

When Nick Cave pops up on my shuffle at work, I always quit what I am doing to see who it is playing. He has an unmistakable voice and style of music, but it’s always a nice out of nowhere pick. My first listen to Dig Lazarus Dig, I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not, but after a few listens I have to say one of my favorite albums of last year. Nick Cave has been around a long time, but I love him.

Bon Iver- Blood Bank

Don’t let the name fool you, it’s actually a corruption of the French term "bon hiver" (good winter). The lead singer Justin Vernon is from Wisconsin, he had a few bands before he formed Bon Iver. I could write a whole blog about how he came up with everything but you can check his background out here. I love his voice and his music, this is just his second album (actually an EP), his first album is amazing. If you like Blood Bank, check out his first album For Emma, Forever Ago.