A Record Store Day Journal
How one vinyl collector celebrated Record Store Day
What Is Record Store Day?
This is a day where independently owned music stores get together with audiophiles to discuss music, showcase some awesome music releases, and possibly meet your favorite band (Metallica showed up one year at a local shop in San Francisco signing autographs for fans).
Some places have DJs spinning records, some have keg parties, and in rare cases it can involve a giant stage with multiple bands performing throughout the day.
Mostly it is a time for people of common interests to come together and celebrate their love of music and music formats.
For vinyl collectors such as myself it is Christmas in April (funny thing is I have seen more snow and cold on Record Store Day than the actual day of Christmas, thanks New England).
A Day In the Life on Record Store Day - April 23rd, 2022
7:15 - 7:30AM - Tyngsborough, MA
My alarm clock goes off and it’s cold water in the face bringing me back to this amazing time and place (a little spin on, The Clash if you will), Record Store Day. After brushing my teeth and changing into my warmest early spring clothes; my Psychedelic Furs concert t-shirt and a pair of shorts (it is a crisp 42 degrees with some nice wind gusts making it feel like just above freezing) I ran down the stairs to warm up the car. My excitement cannot be contained even though my face reads: dead ass tired. In reality I am beyond thrilled for a chance to get my hands on one of the things I was looking for, Motörhead – The Löst Tapes Vol. 2 (ironically on vinyl).
7:35 - 8:05AM - Route 3, Massachusetts / New Hampshire
Now the fun part of my day, driving up to Manchester, NH to hit up my favorite music store, Music Connection. I have been coming to this store since the very beginning of my collecting days (early 2016). The shop owner John is friendly and we always manage to have at least a 5 minute chat on all things vinyl, music, or just how life is going. Without his shop and help with many things I would probably say my collection would still be around the original 30 vinyl I received from my good friend Jean for house sitting.
The drive itself isn’t bad but the music in my Nissan Rogue makes the trip fly by as I am jamming out to my favorite Pandora station, Sabaton Radio. This station has been perfectly curated by yours truly to include some metal, sea shanties, and even the occasional viking folk metal music (Wardruna and Danhiem are a few groups you should check out).
8:15 - 9:05AM - Freezing Cold Line outside Music Connection in Manchester, NH
Now that the drive is complete I take my place in the ever-growing line to pick up my Record Store Day item that made this pilgrimage possible. My only hope is being number 68 in line is that they still have the item I am looking for. The feeling of possibly not having this item is fine by me because I plan on doing some personal shopping for the collection while I am here. I mean I didn’t spend the equivalent of $17 dollars in gas to get shutout and go home empty handed.
After a few glances in my direction (probably people thinking I am crazy for how I am dressed as most people are bundled up in multiple layers due to the biting wind making it feel colder than it really is), I strike up a conversation with a few people in front of me and they tell me the albums they are waiting for. No surprise that the Taylor Swift album they are looking is gone within the first 5 people in line, but one of my new friends ends up getting his hands on a Mariah Carey album (it is the last one in stock).
Does my luck hold as my place in line slowly moves to the entrance of the record store? I mean with the only copy available I am beginning to doubt my luck as a store employee makes his rounds and informs countless patrons that the item they are looking for is sold out. To loosely use a term from Lemmy Kilmister (the lead singer for Motörhead) I was beginning to freeze my ‘feckin bollocks off’ as I was nearing an hour in line. Finally, I am the next to enter the store and the employee tells me to head to the back right to collect my copy of the album I came this far to get. My heart races as I am one of the lucky ones to get what they came for.
9:07- 10:00AM - Inside Music Connection
After securing my copy I decided to look around a little bit more and see if I could find anything else that would enhance my collection. I make my way to the stock of brand new albums that were stocked in anticipation of the Record Store Day crowds. I mean why wouldn’t I? Each new album is 10% off and I also have a BOGO (Buy one, get one free) coupon stored on my phone from my last trip to the store.
After some perusing I stop on the letter ‘P’ in the hopes I can find anything from the 80s hair metal group, Poison. These guys have eluded my collection for a few years now as most are either ridiculously expensive or just not in stock (usually it is the latter). After a couple of minutes of looking through the crate, SCORE! I actually find a pressing of, Open Up and Say Ahhhh!, but not just any copy; it is the audiophile’s 180 gram gold pressing (the thickness of the vinyl not actual weight in gold). For a well priced $35 I pick it up and think the rock gods are definitely with me today.
After scoring this album I stay in the general vicinity of the sealed albums and spot out of the corner of my eye, Hallucinations - Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults. I try not to draw attention to the fact I really want this album so I play coy with the guy looking it over. After about 2 minutes of him reading the bands that are on the album he puts it back in its place. He walks away and I sauntered over and grabbed it before anyone else could. To my surprise it was a 2016 Record Store Day edition limited to 6,500 copies worldwide.
This only takes me 25 minutes and I spend the next half hour going through various crates but nothing really catches my eye. Plus I am already at $80 with my coupons so I worked my way to the check out line and that's when I saw the mother lode, The Grateful Dead - Cornell 1977 (these are live shows picked by the Dead’s sound engineer for audio quality among other things). As much as I would like to own this album I know that spending $450 is out of the question even though I know the long term investment is worth it but the short term has me explaining to my wife that I spent that kind of money on one album. I am saved though! As soon as I set it down another person grabs the only copy and heads to the back of the line. Now I don't have to give it a second glance and possibly buying it because I was hearing the little Jerry Garcia with a hash pipe on my shoulder saying, ‘Buy me Joe!’
3:45 - 4:25PM - Dyno Records, Newburyport, MA
After a few hours break and getting a much needed meal after standing out in the cold in shorts and a t-shirt I convinced my wife to head up to Newburyport. I told her we could use our gift card to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Agave. By doing this I also can hit up another favorite place of mine, Dyno Records. I didn’t plan on getting much but I did want to use my $50 voucher that was given to me as a wedding present. What a perfect day to spend it, am I right?
This location is much smaller than Music Connection so they usually focus on newer stuff rather than a wide ranging selection like my previous stop. Being Record Store Day it was much busier than I was used to and sadly my wife and I felt like packed sardines in a tin. She had to exit the store but I asked her to come back in about 10 minutes later so she could pick out which Lumineers album she wanted to get (yep, my wife has her selection that I call, Sarah’s picks). She ended up deciding on a solid album, Cleopatra. After that she once again exited the store and I was left to my own devices.
After some extensive searching I came across a solo album by Metallica guitarist, Kirk Hammett. Being the excellent guitarist that he is I wondered if this was a new band he formed or just a side project. I dug into my phone and learned it was a side project containing four kick ass guitar solos that paid homage to his love of horror movies and spaghetti westerns. For the price tag of $27.99 I mean why wouldn’t I add this to my collection? The cool thing I noticed even before sampling the album was that it came in sea blue and was a limited edition pressing of 5,500 just for Record Store Day 2022 (four of the five albums I picked up came in another color other than traditional black).
4:45PM - Main Street, Newburyport
I walked out of the music store beyond thrilled with my choices today. I also took time to count my blessings that I was able to add such high quality music to my collection. Taking a deep breath I looked over to my wife and asked her if she was ready for dinner. She nodded and we walked hand in hand the short distance to Agave for drinks and food.
The Haul
Music Connection - Manchester, NH
Poison - Open Up and Say… Ahhh
Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults
Motörhead – The Löst Tapes Vol. 2
Dyno Records - Newburyport, MA
Kirk Hammett - Portals
The Lumineers - Cleopatra
Record Store Day Beverage
The beverage of choice is a Pink Cadillac and a traditional margarita with a side of the world’s greatest nachos. Nothing is better than margaritas and nachos after a long day of vinyl hunting on Record Store Day.
