"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.