Record Store Day Ruled

Record Store Day at Aquarius Records on Valencia Street in San Francisco

It sounds like Saturday's 2nd annual Record Store Day was a big success. I was happy to get out and buy some new music on a glorious San Francisco Day.

Closed-down Streetlight Records on 24th Street in San Francisco

Before I hit my destination of Aquarius Records, however, I happened to stop by the shuttered Streetlight Records on 24th Street (don't worry, their other locations in SF, San Jose and Santa Cruz are alive and well). It was a sad reminder of why support for indie music shops is so vital.

For the first time in a long time I bought some vinyl (it seemed fitting), picking up the new Bill Callahan release. I also got two CDs: Vashti Bunyan and Damon & Naomi with Ghost. My husband purchased Beck's "One Foot in the Grave: Expanded Edition" and an Okkervil River CD. Even our 3-year-old daughter selected some music. Her picks: Thee Oh Sees, Bottom, and Black Time. She was drawn to Thee Oh Sees by the bat on the cover and the other two jumped out at her as she scanned through a $3.99 bin.

Our Record Store Haul

After I got home, it was cool to see status updates on Facebook and Twitter from friends all over the country who participated in Record Store Day. There are so many ways to bond over music, and devoting an entire day to record stores became an awesome rallying cry for "music that you can hold in your hand."

I hope you got a chance to drop some coins at a record store on Saturday. If you didn't, then go today or tomorrow or this week...but just go!