For a select, intense, some might even say lonely group of us, National Record Store Day is a totally redundant notion. It's like celebrating National Arby's Day. We don't need to be urged to visit a place we loiter weekly. Okay, daily.
That said, RSD is an inherently hip notion, and Saturday's fourth installment of the growing geek holiday will once again give life and zest to independent record shops all over the country, including several on our shores.
Hey, I buy music at Best Buy and on iTunes, too. No guilt involved there. But you can't buy a totally rad Lady Gaga 12-inch vinyl Born This Way "picture disc" at those places, can you?
As you'll see in the box, all manner of live music, funky art, discounts, food, beer and more will be offered at our local shops. There will also be free posters, stickers and such to make your bedroom and/or locker that much cooler.
As I've gushed ad nauseam, I'm a vinyl freak, and at home I basically just spin records. And not just the old stuff; Taylor Swift and Kanye West released their new albums on vinyl, too. Plus, a lot of new releases also come with a complete download of the album.
What really gets my nerd juices pumping, however, is the exclusive product by major artists released just for Record Store Day. "We order a ton of stuff," says Doug Allen, the vinyl czar at St. Petersburg's iconic Bananas Music and Movies. "That limited-edition stuff gets distributed across the country, so I'm often surprised at things we don't get. However, I did get copies of that Beach Boys 78 RPM — of course, I kept one for myself!"
Ah yes, the Beach Boys 10-inch vinyl exclusive of Good Vibrations, just one of some 250 rare Record Store Day goodies. Not every store will have all 250 — for instance, only 5,000 copies of that Gaga Born This Way vinyl were printed — but hey, the search is half the fun. Here are a few more for your search:
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, limited edition I Love Rock 'n' Roll 12-inch 180-gram vinyl plus download card.
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Class Mythology EP, two yellow and orange 7-inch vinyl records plus a full poster.
Regina Spektor, Four From Far, light-blue 7-inch 33 1/3 RPM vinyl record.
Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan in Concert: Brandeis University 1963 vinyl LP, available until May 9.
White Stripes, Lafayette Blues, red-black-swirled 7-inch vinyl record.
Peter Tosh, Legalize It, green-yellow-red 7-inch vinyl record.
Sean Daly can be reached at sdaly@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8467. His Pop Life blog is at tampabay.com/blogs/poplife.
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