"After the Gold Rush" Record Store Day 2018 - Epilogue

Success!

Epilog: It took a few days for me to recover from my Record Store Day "hangover". However, now that I am refreshed, I can look back on the experience and share my thoughts. In an attempt to be succinct, here they are:

1. Vinyl hunters are passionate about their records and willingly share with others.

2. It was wonderful to find the vinyl stores filled with customers and hope the resurgence in vinyl collecting continues.

3. I have faith that I will find the Eric Church release at some point.

4. I can survive freezing temperatures and avoid needing a restroom for hours on end.

5. I should have gone to the John Wesley Harding show a few months back. Why? Because Gold Million posted a picture of him with the owners on Facebook from that day and I swear it was the man in black I passed! Ugh! I should have recognized him!

In all, Record Store Day 2018 goes in the books as a success for the Vinyl Huntress. If you were out there vinyl hunting, I hope you found everything you were looking for. If not, keep the hunt going... the vinyl is out there for the finding!

"Can't Buy Me Love" Record Store Day 2018 - Part 2

"Live" lps-Steve Earle, Neil Young, The Doors, Dylan and The Dead

"Can't Buy Me Love" but can buy great vinyl on Record Store Day! After leaving Shady Dog Records, I headed down Lancaster Avenue towards Gold Million Records in Bryn Mawr. As excited as I was that Record Store Day had finally arrived, I was worried about finding a parking space. Luckily, I found one on the side street by Gold Million and walked hurriedly down the sidewalk, eager to see what was left.

Gold Million was packed, to say the least. Packed to the gills, in fact. I immediately spotted where the Record Store Day releases were and made my way through the crowd towards them. At this point, I was looking for "Roxanne" and the Eric Church release. Finding neither, I did find the live Dylan and The Dead lp and the Elvis Costello cover of Squeeze's "Someone Else's Heart" featuring ?uestlove (included a free digital copy). In addition, I found the Cheech and Chong release that a friend of mine had asked me to look out for. This proved to be a valuable find as I am swapping it with him for a stand-up cardboard Sting display from his last album. (By the way I am a huge Sting fan).

While doing my best to weave my way through the crowd at Gold Million, a tall gentleman, dressed in black shirt and black pants, walked past me and we exchanged "Excuse me"s. (More on this later) After a quick look into the XTC, Elvis Costello, and Police sections, I decided it was time to move on to store #3, The Rock Shop in the King of Prussia Mall.

Luckily, traffic was light on Montgomery Avenue as I made my way to the mall. Unfortunately, the mall parking lot was packed! Even though I was sure I was parked in a zip code different from the mall's, I made my way to The Rock Shop. The Rock Shop has been open in the King of Prussia Mall since about October. I wasn't sure what the extent of their Record Store Day special release inventory would be but was pleasantly surprised when I found "Roxanne" lying on the counter! Success! I told the store associate that I was amazed it was still there and he said he was, too, because they only got one copy and he was sure it would be gone by then. The vinyl gods had smiled on me. At this point, I was starving and headed to The Ardmore Music Hall where local radio station WMMR was having a free Record Store Day Party.

At the AMH, I met up with a good friend and took the opportunity to rest and gather strength to make it to my last stop, Vinyl Revival, in Lansdowne. I was also hopeful that one of us would win some of the 100 tickets they were giving away for a special noon-time performance of Nathaniel Rateliff in June. We didn't win. Oh, well, I was still flying high on the success I had so far.

At the point I made it to Vinyl Revival, the Eric Church release was the only one I was really seeking. When I arrived, I again found a record store that was packed to the gills. The difference here was that hors d'oeuvres were being served. I was immediately greeted by one of the owners who remembered me as a Sting fan and said they never got the "Roxanne" release. Grateful for her concern, I told her it was okay because I had found it earlier. Again, the crowd made it difficult to examine the inventory and, by this point, having been up for about 36 hours, I was exhausted! Even though live music was about to begin, I knew it was time to take my treasures home.

I had hoped to have made it to Vinyl Closet and one or two of the Jupiter Records stores, but even though I am the Vinyl Huntress, I am only human. Once I made it home, I had two choices: begin listening to my new vinyl or collapse onto the couch. I am only human. The vinyl waited.

"A Hard Day's Night" Record Store Day 2018: Part 1

Hardcore vinyl hunters in the early morn

It was cold. No, it was freezing! I began my Record Store Day around 2am, eight hours before the doors of Shady Dog Records in Berwyn, PA were to open. Upon reflection, I realized that I had waited the equivalent of a work day in a 40-hour week. But, I certainly did not consider the long hours "work". Uncomfortable, due to the cold - yes. But, not work. Especially because I was fortunate enough to have the company of a great group of fellow vinyl hunters (pictured above).

Being the first to arrive and start the line, I was not alone long as vinyl hunter #2 came about 15 minutes after me. A veteran of Record Store Days, he proved to be a valuable source of information and his vinyl knowledge lent itself to interesting conversation throughout the long cold hours. Vinyl hunter #3 did not arrive until the sun made its appearance. He had the sense to wait until the temperature was above freezing! An avid fan of The Who, his addition to the line and contributions to the conversation were welcome and, soon after, vinyl hunter #4 appeared. At this point, hunger was setting in and #4 made a call to his friend who made a Wawa run and treated us to coffee and breakfast sandwiches. It was amazing how this group of once total strangers had bonded over a love of vinyl. What was more amazing was the fact that after sharing the names of the albums we were hoping to get when Shady Dog's doors opened, we realized none of us were after the same titles! In the true spirit of vinyl hunter camaraderie, we agreed to look out for those titles and pass what we found to whoever had it on their list.

As 10am loomed closer, the owners of Shady Dog Records arrived. By this point, we had basically thawed out while standing in the sunshine and more people were arriving, including three high school students. We were pleased to see that members of the younger generation were getting into vinyl collecting. We were also pleased when Shady Dog brought donuts from the local bakery for us. The atmosphere was one of anticipation and excitement. Several of us were peering through the glass doors, trying to get a sense of how the boxes with our treasures were arranged. So close...yet, so far. But, then, it was ten!

Shady Dog Records on Record Store Day 2018

The doors opened and we entered, ready to get to as many boxes as possible in order to find the titles we wanted before they were scored by another vinyl hunter. I am happy to report that although there was quite a crowd, everyone was pretty cool about sharing looks into boxes and taking the occasional accidental bumping in stride. With assistance from vinyl hunter #2, I immediately scored a copy of Steve Earle live which was one of the two I most desired. The other was a reissue of "Roxanne" by The Police on red vinyl. I was told it was there...somewhere...but never found it even though I repeatedly called out "Roxanne!" hoping someone would pass it on to me. Even so, I was happy with the vinyl I did get there on my first stop that day. (More on my acquisitions in Part Two of this adventure)

I spent about 20 minutes in Shady Dog Records and got a look into all the boxes. I would have liked to have spent more time there looking through their inventory, but...it was on to the next one.