“Damn the man. Save the Empire.” It’s Record Store Day!

Record Store Day began April 19, 2008 as a way to celebrate the culture of Independent Record Stores. It is observed all over the world, usually on the third Saturday of April and in November on Black Friday in the US. 

The Role of the Record Store

Billboard Magazine calls Record Store Day a “music-geek shoppers holiday” but honestly it’s much more than that. It’s an experience. The Music Origins Project has written about The Role of the Record Store as a cultural-showroom where a wide variety of people can interact, listen to and talk about music, and quite possibly discover something that changes their lives forever… they can hold it in their hands.

Memory writing prompt… write about the first time you saw one of these.

This year Record Store Day serendipitously lands on April 20th, 2024, the day of a once-in-a-lifetime Jupiter and Uranus conjunction in Taurus at 7:26 pst.

History in Swing

Uranus and Jupiter last met 14 years ago in 2011, the year Adele released “Rolling in the Deep.” But, the last time Jupiter & Uranus were conjunct in the same place, at the same time, in the constellation of Taurus, was in 1941. That was the year Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra released “Everything Happens to Me” featuring Frank Sinatra and it is the year Germany launched a surprise attack on it’s ally the Soviet Union. Later that year the US entered WWII.

What does it mean in 2024? No idea, but hopefully it means there’s the potential for sudden change (Uranus) and expansion (Jupiter) of everyone’s music collections. Celebrate it. Buy records, support independent record stores like Freakbeat Records, support local artists, enjoy yourself (responsibly), stay hydrated & remember Earth Day on April 22nd.

May music and a kinder cosmos bring us better days.

Oh Mercy,

Lastly to play favorites, we love that Garbage is releasing a Record Store Day exclusive with four unreleased tracks on lime-colored vinyl! Oh mercy, it includes a cover of This Mortal Coil’s “Song to the Siren.” *Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett wrote “Song to the Siren” and it was originally released by Buckley on his album “Starsailer.”  Buckle up Astronauts.

Find participating Record Stores in California and beyond… RecordStoreDay

What are we listening to? EMPIRE RECORDS soundtrack!

Our Weekend Watchlist: Empire Records of course, Record City, it’s LA in 1978 and the documentaries, Last Shop Standing and Hitsville: The Making of Motown.