The world conspired against me on Record Store Day, 2009. My dog came down with a wicked case of Bordetella and was hacking up masses of sputum all over the house, immediately before I was slated to pile into the Dickmobile and head to Music Saves to celebrate all that is wonderful about independent music. I took the little fellow to the veterinarian, copped some doggie meds and spent the afternoon shooting Robitussin into a beagle mix’s mouth. Good times.
Happily, another Dick had my back, and Kevin acted as my agent at Record Store Day. The biggest score for me was the My Morning Jacket live EP, which is absolutely bad-ass. There are several other RSD purchases that are impossible to get off the turntable: Kevin’s loving the Black Keys/Flaming Lips split and we’re all fawning over the sweet appearance of the Blitzen Trapper 7 inch. In broader terms, however, the musical community’s support of independent records stores is more impressive than any rare b-sides we might have snagged. On that MMJ EP, part of which was recorded in Nashville’s Ear-Xtacy, Jim James rambles on about the importance of “weird, local shit,” extolling the virtue of local shops of all stripes and their ability to delineate your town from everybody else’s. We luck out in Cleveland, with record shops like Music Saves, restaurants like Tommy’s, bookstores like Mac’s Backs and the like. Besides the inherent excellence of all of these places, it’s something of a cultural duty to support these places.
If, like me, you had a legitimate excuse for missing RSD 2009, look forward to next year. In the meantime, since you didn’t score anything sweet yesterday, here are some live tracks from some of our favorite RSD participants to tide you over. For all of the rest of you, (in my best auditorium announcer voice) thanks for coming out and supporting the scene.
“Big Black Bird” – Blitzen Trapper – Live
“Just Because I Do” – My Morning Jacket – Live
“I Got Mine” – The Black Keys – Live
As an added bonus for our loyal readers, we’ve got exclusive coverage of records Kevin took home on Saturday, including a few he picked up at Collinwood’s newest record emporium, Blue Arrow.
RSD 2009 Snags:
1. Flaming Lips/Black Keys “Borderline” and “Her Eyes are a Blue Million Miles”
2. Blitzen Trapper 7″
3. Lykke Li 7″
4. Camera Obscura 7″
5. The Dead Weather 7″
6. Elvis Perkins in Dearland 7″
7. Radiohead “No Surprises” 12″
8. Radiohead “Fake Plastic Trees” 12″
Vintage snags:
1. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin
2. David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
To add to my collection:
1. OK Computer
2. Appetitite For Destruction
3. The Strange Boys – The Strange Boys and Girls Club
