They all smelled pretty weird in an oddly pleasant way, a combination of dust, vinyl, cardboard and whatever the guy behind the counter from some foreign country, you don’t know which one, was having for lunch, something you never ate in your life. The aisles were crooked and cluttered, and the wooden bins of records were a wreck half the time, but they were all Paradise. Today we sing on
NATIONAL RECORD STORE DAY!
What was your favorite bin; New Releases, Blues, Rock, Soul, Folk, Country & Western, Standards, Jazz, Swing, Broadway, Classical, Bluegrass, Reggae, Opera, Polka, Latin, R&B, or the best one, the Clearance Bin, where you found some of your all time favorites for 59¢?
The best record stores were narrow, dimly lit and cramped, with everything looking like it was on the verge of collapse, but you knew where most things were, and where other great music might be.
You knew the guy who owned the place, everyone who worked there, and the customers hanging around for hours searching for that one record they needed to have more than anything else in this world. Record stores thrived because the music was just so important. Music meant everything, and record stores were where all the music was.
•Suggested Activities: Building another orange crate shelf to separate the 45s from the 33-1/3s.