There are more than fifty people politely moving around one another in the small storefront space among the stacks of neatly organized vinyl, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, books, t-shirts and other various merchandise at Laurie’s Planet of Sound in Lincoln Square.
It’s Record Store Day, an international event that is designed to get people out of chain stores, off of the Internet and into independent record stores. Though many special-edition seven-inch records, compilations and other limited-edition items were released for today’s festivities, by noon, a list near the cash register with many of the titles scratched out with black ink indicates that many of these releases are already sold out.
Near the back of the store, Drag City recording artist Azita sets up her Fender Rhodes piano, squeezing into a little space between the t-shirts and the VHS tapes. While she gets ready for her midday set, Peter Andreadis of Baby Teeth and All City Affairs spins records for people to listen to in the meantime.
As customers flip through the merchandise, there is a feeling of community while strangers chat with each other about this record or that. One customer, Christopher Smith, is attending Record Store Day for the first time. “I think it’s really important for people to go to their independent stores and avoid big mass retailers and downloading music illegally, and even though that’s free, it’s better to support stuff like this.”
A short time later Azita is ready to begin. “I’m going to do a music-for-while-you’re-shopping set for you today,” she says into the microphone. As she begins her first song, some people stand and watch the performance, some others continue to shop. There is a constant line at the cash register. (Todd Miller)
Record Store Day 2020: A One-Off—or the New Normal? Record Store Day makes me anxious. As soon as the list is posted, I worry about flippers and records selling-out. Yet, this year, I could be in the moment.
