Record Store Day 2013

Record Store Day was celebrated on Saturday, April 20, 2013. A day to show support for all the independent record storeowners.  I took part and did a small tour of a couple shops in my hometown.

1.     The Attic – Located in Millville this shop has been around since 1980. Primarily The Attic is known for its vinyl collection, but also offers CDs for sale as well. As I was checking out with my purchases, the owner helped me out. I said I had heard the WYEP Record Stories series this week and ask if it was him who told the story. He replied, “No, it was my son.” I asked how the turn out was for him and he said it was really good this year. I said it seemed as though this year’s Record Store Day had more acceptance and hype than the previous, and he agreed.

2.     Sound Cat Records – Bloomfield is one of the most unique areas of Pittsburgh with the people and types of shops there are. Not a much visited area by me, so finding this store was difficult, even with my GPS. The store is not well marked, as is donned a small sign on the window, “Sound Cat Records”. Smaller of the three stores I visited that day and has the least amount of vinyl’s. Primarily adorned with every genre of music on CD and a small space of new and slightly used records in the front of the store. The walls were plastered with album posters and it was the cleanest shop we entered, perhaps the limited amount vinyl’s kept the amount of unwanted dust down.

3.     Dave’s Music Mine - In the heart of South Side this record store started in the 1996 with this family owning several stores in the 90’s. Since the times have changed and demand for tangible records decreased, they now have this last store. The upstairs contained all CDs with a small rack of new releases on vinyl. When venturing to the back of the store there was a sign pointing down a set of stairs in Pittsburghese – “You can go down ere…”  In the basement were racks of cassettes and old vintage vinyl records. It reminded me of my parent’s collection as a child. – Earth Wind and Fire, Phil Collins, Barbara Streisand and even the soundtrack to Flashdance.

It was a wonderful day to go out and show support to the Indy store owners. But remember you can do this year round and Record Store Day is there is raise awareness for the owners that are knowledgeable about sound, music, and the artists out there. They actually listen to the music they put on their shelves and can tell you the history of the albums they have received. It is quite nostalgic from the smells of the stores to the shop owners themselves.  Check out the series “Record Stories” on WYEP’s website.