Record Store Day Adventures, 2015

When I woke this morning with a bit of a sore throat, I thought for a moment about skipping Record Store Day entirely and going back to sleep. But I knew if I did that, it wouldn't be long before I would be wondering, "What if?" I'd read a couple of places online that the Miss Tess And The Talkbacks single was delayed. Delayed until when? Who knows? But that explains why record stores didn't get any of that particular record in stock. Of course, now I'm wondering how I'll get myself a copy of it.

Anyway, I arrived at Freakbeat at 7:30 a.m., a half hour earlier than I usually get there, and there was already a line. I took my spot at the end of it, and noted that this was the farthest back I'd ever been in line for this store, but I had a chair with me and a bottle of water and a granola bar, and figured, "Okay, we'll see." Freakbeat doesn't open until 11 a.m., so I had plenty of time to think about what I might want to purchase. There was a bit of talk about how many of these records are already being sold on Ebay, and of course the general feeling was one of hatred toward those bastards. But the crowd at Freakbeat is a mellow, optimistic, friendly bunch, and the conversation quickly turned to music and baseball (and where to park). And of course there was interest in people's lists.

Just before 9:00, the owner came out with slips of paper for everyone in line to write his or wish list. He said half the time people would forget paper, and try to show him their lists on their phones, so this time around he was providing the paper himself. Though I had plenty of paper with me, I took the small sheet and wrote my list:

• The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band: "You Can't Judge A Book By Looking At The Cover" 7"
• The Buzzcocks: "The Way" 7"
• Asleep At The Wheel (with Willie Nelson and Blind Boys Of Alabama): "New Spanish Two Step" 7"
• The Reverend Horton Heat: "It's A Rave Up/Beer, Write This Song" 7"
• The Kinks: "You Really Got Me (Live)" 7"
• Rockabye Baby: "Lullaby Renditions Of Grateful Dead" LP
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show Time Warp EP 10"
• The Pretty Things EP 7"

Of course, I wasn't sure how many of these they'd actually still have by the time I was at the front of the line. And some of them the store might not have gotten at all. So I added two under a "Maybe" heading:

• The Kinks: "Kinksize Hits" 7"
• The Kinks: "Kinksize Session" 7"

A little while later the owner came by again to ask us what our number one choices were. The way it works at this store is everyone is guaranteed to get his or her number one choice, provided that no one else ahead had already claimed the last copy. I told him The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, and hurrah, it turned out no one in front of me had chosen it. The store had just one copy, and it was mine. I was feeling pretty good by this point.

It's really after we were all settled on getting our number one picks that people felt freer about sharing their wish lists, and so that's what we did. And then the store opened a bit early, which was great. The line moved fairly quickly. I ended up with half of what was on my list. This is what I got:

• The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band: "You Can't Judge A Book By Looking At The Cover"
• The Reverend Horton Heat: "It's A Rave Up/Beer, Write This Song"
• The Kinks: "You Really Got Me (Live)"
• The Kinks: "Kinksize Hits"
• The Kinks: "Kinksize Session"

My total came to just under fifty dollars. I knew the store got only one copy of the Buzzcocks single (though they'd ordered ten), and wondered which person in line ended up with it. And I learned that they didn't get any copies at all of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Time Warp EP, though several had been ordered. Well, we know who got them. Just take a look at how many are for sale on Ebay already. I'm trying not to let that anger me. It's no big deal, right? I just hope that no one makes any purchases from those sellers. Let those sellers hold onto those records until their deaths. That's what I say. Meanwhile, I have a lot of music to enjoy.