Written by Andy Schwartz for the program given to attendees of the 2008 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions, "The Great Record Stores" manages to capture that nostalgic je ne sais quoi that I miss so much about the subject. Given Andy's past as a record store clerk, writer, editor of the NY Rocker, and much more, he knows of which he speaks. The featured stores in the piece are Wallichs Music City, Commodore Music Shop, Rhino Records, Oar Folkjokeopus, and (I'm proud to say) Bleecker Bob's. As a bonus, "Philadelphia: The Record Museum" by Jerry “the Geator” Blavat is also included.
"As someone who began his music industry career behind the counter of one such outlet, I see the entire saga of American record retail as having taken on the qualities of a vivid and slightly crazy dream. Nothing else in my life has ever replaced the record store as a locus of musical community, and probably nothing ever will. A great record store was a marketplace not only of music but of ideas and opinions – and of the innumerable schemes and scams that played out endlessly among retailers, labels, and distributors, from the inflation of Billboard sales reports to the wholesale counter-
feiting of best-selling LPs."
Download a PDF of the 3 page article here. Special thanks to Andy for permitting me to post this. Keep up with some of his writing over at http://www.nyrocker.com/blog/.
3 comments:
Record Revolution on Coventry Rd., in Cleveland Heights, OH was a great place. They used to have everything you could ever want: huge music selection, band t-shirts, skateboards, head shop, jewelry, hipster clothes, bootleg audio/video, LPs...now it is just overpriced!
Are they still in business?
Yeah...barely. I am guessing the head shop section keeps 'em afloat (so to speak), but everything there is now incredibly overpriced.
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