It was Record Store Day on Saturday.
This year Jack White was ambassador. The idea is to get people to remember that listening to music isn’t just something you do via earbuds. The stores open at 8 a.m., unnaturally early, especially for the typical vinyl-lovers crowd. There are special sales, and most stores have program of live performances. At Reggie’s Records , Cloud Cultwas in good form playing a variety of tunes, including some from their upcoming album.
Another store that was swinging was Chicago’s oldest independent record store, Jazz Record Mart, at 27 E. Illinois, where Nick Mazzarella (sax,) Mike Reed (drums,) and Devin Huff (upright bass) were jazzing it up. Jazz Record Mart is chock full or new and used LPs, CDs, 45s, 78s, Cassettes, DVDs, Books, magazines, posters, postcards and more, including the a copy of Mr. Lucky by Henry Mancini that is so cool it almost freezes up the Bang and Olufsen.
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[pullquote]We need to re-educate ourselves about human interaction and the difference between downloading a track on a computer and talking to other people in person and getting turned onto music that you can hold in your hands and share with others. The size, shape, smell, texture and sound of a vinyl record; how do you explain to that teenager who doesn’t know that it’s a more beautiful musical experience than a mouse click? You get up off your ass, you grab them by the arm and you take them there. You put the record in their hands. You make them drop the needle on the platter. Then they’ll know. — Jack White[/pullquote]
