This year I was in the USA for Record Store Day and I shopped at two stores; Burger Records in Orange County and Amoeba Records in Hollywood. It’s a completely different situation in the USA to what it is here in Australia. I’ll explain my purchases:
On the Friday, I was out with a friend and she took me to Burger Records. The guy who works there, he was pricing everything and I asked him if I could buy the stuff early and he kindly let me do so. He didn’t have everything but he did have some great titles. From this store I bought the Empire Records 2xLP soundtrack, The White Stripes 7″, The Black Angels 7″, Otis Redding / Aretha Franklin split 7″, MC5 / Afrika Bambaataa split 7″, and the Chocolate Watchband 7″. I also picked up some other classic vinyl LPs including the Riot On Sunset Strip soundtrack LP that I had been looking for over the years and this copy is in awesome condition considering it’s age.
The next day we headed to Amoeba Records in Hollywood and I knew this day was going to be manic. We got there 2 hours before doors opened and the line was huge. We got our place in line and the people there distributed lists of the exclusive releases to everyone that was waiting in line. The way it works there is you tick off all the ones you want and then when you get close to the door, they take your list, give you a number and they take your list away and bag up what you are lucky enough to get then you wait in another line and then go and purchase your products. You have no idea what you are lucky enough to get and that’s kind of a thrill but also a bummer because I listed things nine items that I wanted but only got four of them when it came time to hand over my cash. Sadly, I didn’t get the Joey Ramone single which was one of the main things I wanted. I did however get The Bronx record which I was excited about. Also got the Pelican / Playing Enemy split 7″, The Horrible Crowes 7″, and the Mastodon / The Flaming Lips split 7″.
The Wednesday night before, I was lucky enough to attend the REFUSED show in San Francisco and they had copes of the Record Store Day reissue of The Shape Of Punk To Come on 2xLP red vinyl. I snapped up one of these for $20. Comes with a CD of the album, a DVD of Refused Are Fucking Dead, and a poster. Not a bad deal at all!
All up, I had a good day and I hope next years Record Store Day will be just as fun. Please leave a comment below on how your day was.
MONO Equipped 