Pretty cool item, but you know, those hardcore Bruce fans are so predictable: they tend to not care about any other music on the planet. I mean, they'll know every obscure b-side lyrics backwards and forwards and be able to tell you about the show in Idaho somewhere 5 years ago when Bruce played the song during an encore and changed 3 words in the 4th verse.... but they have no clue about who the Flaming Lips are, or even Gaslight Anthem or Hold Steady (close to the 'new Bruce' idiom stuff). Totally annoying. So, back to my story: I started chatting with the early RSD crowd and figured out in 5 seconds just from listening to them that they really were all Bruce fans. Overheard: "That Bitch in front of the line, I've seen her at the pit at Giants before, at the last Bruce show and she gave me problems before. She better not snag my vinyl..." The Brucehead in front of me wanted to know what I was looking for at Scotti's: I told her, truthfully: "Superchunk". Blank stare, no clue. I said, "Springsteen, right?" She says, "How did you know?" My reply, "Just guessing." She then proceeded to tell her line buddy about how she still had on last night's makeup... ugghh. So then I get to thinking: what is going on here: all of these Bruce-nerds are lined up single file at the door like its a line for tickets to an E-Street Band show or something, but its just a store opening the doors: what are we going to do - stand in front of the rack of RSD specials in a neat line and wait for each person to choose everything they want and then let the next person go? No way, man, its everyone for himself..... so the doors open and the Bruceheads all march in excitedly single file towards the rack at the back of the store clearly marked with all the tasty new vinyl ready to be scooped up. They actually did stand in a single file line, but it started turning into a little bit of a blob within seconds so I ducked around the next aisle to cut around to the other side of the rack... at which point, it happened: "Hey, that guy took all the Springsteen vinyl!" "Stop him" "Don't let him out of the store" Etc. Pushing, Shoving, Yelling, Grabing at vinyl records. A mini Bruce vinyl riot. Store staff getting involved and reminding everyone "Only One Record Store Day Item Per Customer".... at which point the Bruce Blob crowd drifted back towards the front of the store (I guess to prevent the dude from leaving and to stop him from purchasing the pile of Bruce). I mean, really, store policy or not, it was pretty rude, even UNETHICAL to try to buy the whole pile of them (I think there were 5 copies in the whole store). However: this was my opening - as soon as they cleared out, I swooped in with my kid, grabbing as many nice new vinyl releases as I could reasonably justify purchasing and hold in my arms: I nabbed the store's only copy of a Lennon singles package, an MGMT 12 inch single, a MUSE 12 inch, Flaming Lips "Dark Side of the Moon" on clear double 12 inch vinyl.... and more: "SWEET!!!" All while the Bruceheads were still arguing ... and once they figured out that there were no more to buy, they all left! Ridiculous: it was all over in 10 minutes --- fine for me, I got to dig through the nice dusty bins and discover even more treasures: 2 Japanese pressings of some McCartney albums and an Israeli Orange/Clear vinyl copy of "Mull of Kintyre" with the picture sleeve: bizarre, and only 4 bucks! Unfortunately, no Superchunk. But the nice Tegan & Sara single I picked up was going on EBay that night for $100, so I think I made out OK (I'll never sell my RSD treasures, but it is somehow strangely satisfying to know how much other people will pay for these things). One last thing: what is with all of the fake holidays in April? In the last few days we've had "Record Store Day", "Administrative Assistant's Day" and "Bring Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day". And a very local holiday at my kid's school one day this week, for some totally unknown reason: "Wacky Hair Day". They're all actually pretty cool, but who decides these things, anyway? My favorite fake holiday, after Record Store Day? It's FESTIVUS. Oh yea, and happy fake "Earth Day" everyone (April 22): NBC is celebrating by having a green peacock appear in the lower right hand corner on my HDTV tonight. I don't think that little green bird is helping my carbon footprint much.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Reflections on a Record Store Day mini Bruce RIOT, and on Fake Holidays
Last Saturday was my favorite fake holiday of the year: "Record Store Day". Check out the official website for all the fun you missed. Basically its a thing started by Warner Brothers to sell vinyl and create interest in your friendly neighborhood record store, but now 3 years in, all the major and many minor labels have joined in - what's the big deal: exclusive 1 day only limited edition vinyl releases: perfect for a music geek like me. So last year, I showed up at my local participating shop, SCOTTI's in Morristown, in the afternoon to find that many of the cool items were long gone. So, this year, I went again with my 15 year old with a plan: get there at the store opening, 10 am, and scoop up all the goodies. Well, there was a line way before we got there. My instant hunch: its the Springsteen fans. To digress: there was a RSD exclusive vinyl only limited release only place in the planet to get "Wrecking Ball", Bruce's new live-only song about the destruction of Giants Stadium.
Pretty cool item, but you know, those hardcore Bruce fans are so predictable: they tend to not care about any other music on the planet. I mean, they'll know every obscure b-side lyrics backwards and forwards and be able to tell you about the show in Idaho somewhere 5 years ago when Bruce played the song during an encore and changed 3 words in the 4th verse.... but they have no clue about who the Flaming Lips are, or even Gaslight Anthem or Hold Steady (close to the 'new Bruce' idiom stuff). Totally annoying. So, back to my story: I started chatting with the early RSD crowd and figured out in 5 seconds just from listening to them that they really were all Bruce fans. Overheard: "That Bitch in front of the line, I've seen her at the pit at Giants before, at the last Bruce show and she gave me problems before. She better not snag my vinyl..." The Brucehead in front of me wanted to know what I was looking for at Scotti's: I told her, truthfully: "Superchunk". Blank stare, no clue. I said, "Springsteen, right?" She says, "How did you know?" My reply, "Just guessing." She then proceeded to tell her line buddy about how she still had on last night's makeup... ugghh. So then I get to thinking: what is going on here: all of these Bruce-nerds are lined up single file at the door like its a line for tickets to an E-Street Band show or something, but its just a store opening the doors: what are we going to do - stand in front of the rack of RSD specials in a neat line and wait for each person to choose everything they want and then let the next person go? No way, man, its everyone for himself..... so the doors open and the Bruceheads all march in excitedly single file towards the rack at the back of the store clearly marked with all the tasty new vinyl ready to be scooped up. They actually did stand in a single file line, but it started turning into a little bit of a blob within seconds so I ducked around the next aisle to cut around to the other side of the rack... at which point, it happened: "Hey, that guy took all the Springsteen vinyl!" "Stop him" "Don't let him out of the store" Etc. Pushing, Shoving, Yelling, Grabing at vinyl records. A mini Bruce vinyl riot. Store staff getting involved and reminding everyone "Only One Record Store Day Item Per Customer".... at which point the Bruce Blob crowd drifted back towards the front of the store (I guess to prevent the dude from leaving and to stop him from purchasing the pile of Bruce). I mean, really, store policy or not, it was pretty rude, even UNETHICAL to try to buy the whole pile of them (I think there were 5 copies in the whole store). However: this was my opening - as soon as they cleared out, I swooped in with my kid, grabbing as many nice new vinyl releases as I could reasonably justify purchasing and hold in my arms: I nabbed the store's only copy of a Lennon singles package, an MGMT 12 inch single, a MUSE 12 inch, Flaming Lips "Dark Side of the Moon" on clear double 12 inch vinyl.... and more: "SWEET!!!" All while the Bruceheads were still arguing ... and once they figured out that there were no more to buy, they all left! Ridiculous: it was all over in 10 minutes --- fine for me, I got to dig through the nice dusty bins and discover even more treasures: 2 Japanese pressings of some McCartney albums and an Israeli Orange/Clear vinyl copy of "Mull of Kintyre" with the picture sleeve: bizarre, and only 4 bucks! Unfortunately, no Superchunk. But the nice Tegan & Sara single I picked up was going on EBay that night for $100, so I think I made out OK (I'll never sell my RSD treasures, but it is somehow strangely satisfying to know how much other people will pay for these things). One last thing: what is with all of the fake holidays in April? In the last few days we've had "Record Store Day", "Administrative Assistant's Day" and "Bring Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day". And a very local holiday at my kid's school one day this week, for some totally unknown reason: "Wacky Hair Day". They're all actually pretty cool, but who decides these things, anyway? My favorite fake holiday, after Record Store Day? It's FESTIVUS. Oh yea, and happy fake "Earth Day" everyone (April 22): NBC is celebrating by having a green peacock appear in the lower right hand corner on my HDTV tonight. I don't think that little green bird is helping my carbon footprint much.
Pretty cool item, but you know, those hardcore Bruce fans are so predictable: they tend to not care about any other music on the planet. I mean, they'll know every obscure b-side lyrics backwards and forwards and be able to tell you about the show in Idaho somewhere 5 years ago when Bruce played the song during an encore and changed 3 words in the 4th verse.... but they have no clue about who the Flaming Lips are, or even Gaslight Anthem or Hold Steady (close to the 'new Bruce' idiom stuff). Totally annoying. So, back to my story: I started chatting with the early RSD crowd and figured out in 5 seconds just from listening to them that they really were all Bruce fans. Overheard: "That Bitch in front of the line, I've seen her at the pit at Giants before, at the last Bruce show and she gave me problems before. She better not snag my vinyl..." The Brucehead in front of me wanted to know what I was looking for at Scotti's: I told her, truthfully: "Superchunk". Blank stare, no clue. I said, "Springsteen, right?" She says, "How did you know?" My reply, "Just guessing." She then proceeded to tell her line buddy about how she still had on last night's makeup... ugghh. So then I get to thinking: what is going on here: all of these Bruce-nerds are lined up single file at the door like its a line for tickets to an E-Street Band show or something, but its just a store opening the doors: what are we going to do - stand in front of the rack of RSD specials in a neat line and wait for each person to choose everything they want and then let the next person go? No way, man, its everyone for himself..... so the doors open and the Bruceheads all march in excitedly single file towards the rack at the back of the store clearly marked with all the tasty new vinyl ready to be scooped up. They actually did stand in a single file line, but it started turning into a little bit of a blob within seconds so I ducked around the next aisle to cut around to the other side of the rack... at which point, it happened: "Hey, that guy took all the Springsteen vinyl!" "Stop him" "Don't let him out of the store" Etc. Pushing, Shoving, Yelling, Grabing at vinyl records. A mini Bruce vinyl riot. Store staff getting involved and reminding everyone "Only One Record Store Day Item Per Customer".... at which point the Bruce Blob crowd drifted back towards the front of the store (I guess to prevent the dude from leaving and to stop him from purchasing the pile of Bruce). I mean, really, store policy or not, it was pretty rude, even UNETHICAL to try to buy the whole pile of them (I think there were 5 copies in the whole store). However: this was my opening - as soon as they cleared out, I swooped in with my kid, grabbing as many nice new vinyl releases as I could reasonably justify purchasing and hold in my arms: I nabbed the store's only copy of a Lennon singles package, an MGMT 12 inch single, a MUSE 12 inch, Flaming Lips "Dark Side of the Moon" on clear double 12 inch vinyl.... and more: "SWEET!!!" All while the Bruceheads were still arguing ... and once they figured out that there were no more to buy, they all left! Ridiculous: it was all over in 10 minutes --- fine for me, I got to dig through the nice dusty bins and discover even more treasures: 2 Japanese pressings of some McCartney albums and an Israeli Orange/Clear vinyl copy of "Mull of Kintyre" with the picture sleeve: bizarre, and only 4 bucks! Unfortunately, no Superchunk. But the nice Tegan & Sara single I picked up was going on EBay that night for $100, so I think I made out OK (I'll never sell my RSD treasures, but it is somehow strangely satisfying to know how much other people will pay for these things). One last thing: what is with all of the fake holidays in April? In the last few days we've had "Record Store Day", "Administrative Assistant's Day" and "Bring Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day". And a very local holiday at my kid's school one day this week, for some totally unknown reason: "Wacky Hair Day". They're all actually pretty cool, but who decides these things, anyway? My favorite fake holiday, after Record Store Day? It's FESTIVUS. Oh yea, and happy fake "Earth Day" everyone (April 22): NBC is celebrating by having a green peacock appear in the lower right hand corner on my HDTV tonight. I don't think that little green bird is helping my carbon footprint much.
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