Pass the Grape Ape, George!Record Store Day returns this Saturday with a small music festival’s worth of events to choose from. Here’s a round-up:
– At Music Millenium, Queensryche will be signing copies of their new CD, American Soldier, at noon. Really! 3158 E. Burnside, noon
– Meanwhile, at Fabulous Jackpot! Records (Downtown location), Shaky Hands and Loch Lomond will play in-stores at 2 & 3 pm respectively. Also, Voodoo Donuts will serve donuts especially designed for Record Store Day (So what does that mean? Will they be in a shape suggesting the Beatles’ infamous “butcher” cover? Or a delicious cake-y spindle?) 203 SW 9th Ave, 2pm free
– Then later on at the Cleaners, Jackpot! will present “Record Store Day into Night,” an after hours party featuring the Mercury‘s own Ned Lannamann (aka DJ Titmouse) on the wheels of steel; plus DJ sets from Rick Emerson, Casey Jarman (WW), Patrick Dennehy (Jackpot), and… swear to god, Mayor Sam Adams (I thought this was a joke until I asked Jackpot! owner Isaac Slusarenko about five time “are you sure?” before he gripped me in the tightest headlock I’ve ever received from a man who saw R.E.M. on their Reckoning tour. The Cleaners at Ace Hotel, 403 SW 10th, 9pm, FREE 21+
– The kind souls at Green Noise Records will be giving away F-R-E-E Dirtnap Records CDs all day long. But read this before you back up the U-Haul truck for your big score of free CDs: “Titles and quantities are limited.”
Green Noise Records, 2615 SE Clinton St, 12-8pm
– Also, Menomena will be playing foosball once again, but at a record store in San Diego. What? Doesn’t this remind you of that “lobster scene” in Annie Hall, where Woody Allen keeps trying to reenact the best moments of his previous relationship? No? Okay, sorry.
– PLUS! these stores will be selling some of the exclusive Record Store Day schwag from the likes of the Decemberists, the Thermals, even those lovable Dandy Warhols—among non-local artists like Neko Case, Beck, and, yes, Queen.
360 Vinyl, 214 SW 8th Ave
Everyday Music, 1313 W. Burnside
Exiled Records, 4628 SE Hawthorne
Timbuktunes World Music</a, 4726 SE Hawthorne
But why would anyone waste their time at Green Noise Records, who — in their own adverts — claim to be a “reluctant participant” in an event designed to bring more revenue into independent record stores, as well as fuel some kind of comradery between the record stores themselves.
If Green Noise is already pulling in enough revenue to reluctantly participate, then why not spend your money at another record store that may actually need it, and appreciate it.
I don’t know, but I liked Green Noise better back when it was in Eugene. I forget the name of the dude that ran the place, but he introduced me to all sorts of cool music. That record store was the best ever, and I miss it.