Record Store Day!!!
Please click the title of this post (or click THIS) to read all about Record Store Day, which is today - April 19. It takes place all over the USA at many of your favorite indie record stores. Go out and support them!! Following are my favorite record stores.
Inside Goner Records in Memphis, Tennessee
John Hoppe - one of the Goner dudes who will sell you only the best punk rock music
The indie record store has always been a haven for people in bands... Goner Records is no different -- Eric Friedl (Oblivians, Dutch Masters, True Sons of Thunder) and Zac Ives (Final Solutions) own and operate the Goner store and label... below, Cheater Slicks co-founder Tom Shannon, himself a record store worker (Used Kids in Columbus, OH) and Eric talk shop at Goner.
Goner has hosted both the Punk Turns 30 exhibit (at Goner Fest 2 in 2005) and the first Punk Rock Day of the Dead exhibit (2007). Thank you Eric and Zac!
And the scene at Pass Out Record Shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York
Memphis Mike, who's now in Pennsylvania, manned Pass Out. Yeah - he's a musician too... drummer for the hardcore band Man With Gun Lives Here.
Jake of Wellington Ladies Welfare League and Pass Out Records employee with co-worker Chris Teenager, a psych aficionado despite his tender years.
The Judith Light play at Pass Out
Thanks to Pee Wee for brightening up the South Side of Williamsburg with this fab shop! Thanks, too for hosting my Punk Rock Dead of Winter show this past winter.
Yours truly at Vinyl Fever in Tampa with Josh, who helped me install my exhibit there in October 2005! Yes... Punk Turns 30 has been on the road since even before then. Thank you Lee Wolfson for hosting not one but two Punk Turns 30 exhibits in Tampa and Tallahassee in 2005.
The Cheetah Chromes at Grimey's in Nashville - also in 2005 (June) with their son, Rogan, who's walking, talking and playing guitar now!
Mike Grimes and Doyle Davis were the first record store owners to host Punk Turns 30's exhibit back in June 2005. Thank you gentlemen!
Yours truly (same Bat Shirt!) and Monsieur Jeffrey Evans (a superstar who needs no introduction!) in front of Shangri La in Memphis, TN (2007)
Shangri La is one of those fantastic stores with expert employees who can tell you all you need to know about some of the greatest music ever. They are a boon to the community and have weathered 20 years in the biz.
I met John Paul Keith, a guitar player you need to know about in the parking lot at Shangri La last fall. He fronts the One Four Fives and is based in Memphis. He also plays with Jack Oblivian in the Tearjerkers. He's the greatest player since Chet Atkins, people. You can buy his brand new single (Looking for a Thrill) at Goner. Thanks Monsieur for the introduction!
Me again - at Sound Exchange in Houston, with co-owner Kurt Brennan. GREAT store in a town I didn't realize even had a punk rock scene! Thanks to Rosa Guerrero for bringing Punk Turns 30's tour and me out there!
Record stores no longer with us...
Tower Records, the huge chain... gone.... above is 999 outside the Sunset Strip store, and below is Chrissie Hynde exiting her limo to sign autographs in that same store.
Licorice Pizza.... gone.... here's Billy Idol at his May 1978 in-store, and Belinda Carlisle checking out Elvis records in that same store.
And one of two record store employees I have known who have gone on to great careers in A&R - Anna Statman on Sunset Blvd. right outside Licorice Pizza.
Anna together with my good friend and Lobotomy zine co-founder, Randy Kaye did A&R at Slash and then moved on to Geffen and Interscope, where she continues to keep the world safe for rock n roll.
Gary Stewart, who worked at Rhino, first as a record clerk in the Westwood Blvd store, and then as an A&R guy for the Rhino label was among the company's longest lasting employees, and he helped to build Rhino's reputation. The Rhino store that I knew in Westwood is gone... although there is a Rhino in Claremont. Rhino the label is now part of the Warner Music Group. Yes... they blew up extra large.. the little company that could... DID!
Greg Shaw operated not only the Bomp label, but the record store of the same name and a zine called Bomp as well. The store, the zine and Greg have all left the planet, but Greg's legacy lives on in the label, carried on by Suzy Shaw and Patrick Boisel. Also, Suzy has created a loving fantastic tribute in the form of the BOMP! autobiography - a photo-filled anecdotal journey through Greg's and the Bomp legacy. A worthwhile read.
Don't forget to click the title of this post and learn all about record store day. And go buy some records!
Inside Goner Records in Memphis, Tennessee
John Hoppe - one of the Goner dudes who will sell you only the best punk rock music
The indie record store has always been a haven for people in bands... Goner Records is no different -- Eric Friedl (Oblivians, Dutch Masters, True Sons of Thunder) and Zac Ives (Final Solutions) own and operate the Goner store and label... below, Cheater Slicks co-founder Tom Shannon, himself a record store worker (Used Kids in Columbus, OH) and Eric talk shop at Goner.
Goner has hosted both the Punk Turns 30 exhibit (at Goner Fest 2 in 2005) and the first Punk Rock Day of the Dead exhibit (2007). Thank you Eric and Zac!
And the scene at Pass Out Record Shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York
Memphis Mike, who's now in Pennsylvania, manned Pass Out. Yeah - he's a musician too... drummer for the hardcore band Man With Gun Lives Here.
Jake of Wellington Ladies Welfare League and Pass Out Records employee with co-worker Chris Teenager, a psych aficionado despite his tender years.
The Judith Light play at Pass Out
Thanks to Pee Wee for brightening up the South Side of Williamsburg with this fab shop! Thanks, too for hosting my Punk Rock Dead of Winter show this past winter.
Yours truly at Vinyl Fever in Tampa with Josh, who helped me install my exhibit there in October 2005! Yes... Punk Turns 30 has been on the road since even before then. Thank you Lee Wolfson for hosting not one but two Punk Turns 30 exhibits in Tampa and Tallahassee in 2005.
The Cheetah Chromes at Grimey's in Nashville - also in 2005 (June) with their son, Rogan, who's walking, talking and playing guitar now!
Mike Grimes and Doyle Davis were the first record store owners to host Punk Turns 30's exhibit back in June 2005. Thank you gentlemen!
Yours truly (same Bat Shirt!) and Monsieur Jeffrey Evans (a superstar who needs no introduction!) in front of Shangri La in Memphis, TN (2007)
Shangri La is one of those fantastic stores with expert employees who can tell you all you need to know about some of the greatest music ever. They are a boon to the community and have weathered 20 years in the biz.
I met John Paul Keith, a guitar player you need to know about in the parking lot at Shangri La last fall. He fronts the One Four Fives and is based in Memphis. He also plays with Jack Oblivian in the Tearjerkers. He's the greatest player since Chet Atkins, people. You can buy his brand new single (Looking for a Thrill) at Goner. Thanks Monsieur for the introduction!
Me again - at Sound Exchange in Houston, with co-owner Kurt Brennan. GREAT store in a town I didn't realize even had a punk rock scene! Thanks to Rosa Guerrero for bringing Punk Turns 30's tour and me out there!
Record stores no longer with us...
Tower Records, the huge chain... gone.... above is 999 outside the Sunset Strip store, and below is Chrissie Hynde exiting her limo to sign autographs in that same store.
Licorice Pizza.... gone.... here's Billy Idol at his May 1978 in-store, and Belinda Carlisle checking out Elvis records in that same store.
And one of two record store employees I have known who have gone on to great careers in A&R - Anna Statman on Sunset Blvd. right outside Licorice Pizza.
Anna together with my good friend and Lobotomy zine co-founder, Randy Kaye did A&R at Slash and then moved on to Geffen and Interscope, where she continues to keep the world safe for rock n roll.
Gary Stewart, who worked at Rhino, first as a record clerk in the Westwood Blvd store, and then as an A&R guy for the Rhino label was among the company's longest lasting employees, and he helped to build Rhino's reputation. The Rhino store that I knew in Westwood is gone... although there is a Rhino in Claremont. Rhino the label is now part of the Warner Music Group. Yes... they blew up extra large.. the little company that could... DID!
Greg Shaw operated not only the Bomp label, but the record store of the same name and a zine called Bomp as well. The store, the zine and Greg have all left the planet, but Greg's legacy lives on in the label, carried on by Suzy Shaw and Patrick Boisel. Also, Suzy has created a loving fantastic tribute in the form of the BOMP! autobiography - a photo-filled anecdotal journey through Greg's and the Bomp legacy. A worthwhile read.
Don't forget to click the title of this post and learn all about record store day. And go buy some records!
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