Record Store Day: The hot vinyl releases, the live music, the indie phenomenon returns Saturday

Grand Rapids music lovers will pack independent area shops – Vertigo Music, Corner Record Shop, Dodd’s – for concerts, specials and refreshments on Saturday.

 

It’s not exactly Christmas. But for independent record stores, it comes pretty darned close.

Saturday’s Record Store Day extravaganza for a few enduring retailers in the Grand Rapids area has become a celebration of vinyl’s resurgency and local music’s power, of vibrant re-releases of classic albums and limited-edition distribution of brand new recordings, of freedom from the corporate-driven music machine.

For eager consumers, it means a day filled with specials, discounts and free refreshments and performances by a diverse roster of West Michigan bands at Vertigo Music, Corner Record Shop and Dodd’s Record Store, part of a national celebration of indie stores.

For small business operators like Vertigo’s Herm Baker, it means doing an entire month’s worth of business in a single day. Every year since the first Record Store Day in 2007, Vertigo, at 129 S. Division Ave., has increased its sales during this mid-April affair.

And almost all of that can be attributed – in the category of “what goes around, comes around” – to the amazing revival of vinyl, which makes up the lion’s share of the record shop’s sales.

“We continue to add more and more vinyl, and we hold back and release some really awesome records that day,” said Baker, who will once again have customers lined up outside the door on Saturday for these special releases, refreshments and performances by Memphis rock/punk act Modern Convenience and four local bands: Corrosive Kids, Haunted Leather, Trinket and Helical Scan.

The same will be true at Grandville’s Corner Record Shop, where owner Steve Williamson plans to “hammer down prices” on all of his stock that day, along with a few special giveaways for customers.

In addition to live music from six acts – Dave Hardin, Mike Key, The Diemakers, The Boss Mustangs, Dangerville and Glowfriends — the Corner Record Shop will offer hot dogs and free coffee, popcorn and pop.

“It’s right up there,” Williamson said of the huge sales day for the store at 3562 Chicago Dr. SW. “Christmas ain’t bad, but it’s right up there.”

And at Grand Rapids’ oldest independent record retailer, Gerry Dodd’s Record Shop at 20 S. Division Ave., a handful of Grand Rapids rock bands plan to celebrate by performing on the roof of the business – the brainchild of Rev. Charles Preston Smith of PotatoeBabies, who’ll close out the day’s high-level entertainment at 4 p.m. Saturday.

“Why? Because I thought it would be cooler than cool,” quipped Smith, who conceded the weather looks “iffy” for Saturday and may force organizers to change those up-on-the-rooftop plans.

Performances aside, Baker stressed that Vertigo plans to have a host of unusual, one-of-a-kind releases by hugely popular post-punk acts such as The Cure and The Flaming Lips – along with a highly anticipated Phish reissue and the first-ever vinyl release from Notorious B.I.G. – while avoiding over-priced “niche items” aimed at exploiting the Record Store Day phenomenon.

And it really is a phenomenon – from reveling in the tactile, retro-experience of browsing bins packed with vinyl to the performances by West Michigan bands getting a chance to boost their exposure and sell their music.

“Absolutely. It’s a good time,” Baker said of that invigorating Record Store Day vibe.

Take it from Michigan native Jack White, this year’s official “Record Store Day ambassador,” who at his own Third Man Records in Nashville will unveil a booth featuring a refurbished 1947 Voice-o-Graph machine to record customers’ songs and messages on a six-inch phonograph disc.

“Actively venturing to your local record shop is one of those honors and privileges in this life that we just shouldn’t take for granted,” White insisted in a prepared statement. “Certain beautiful experiences can only happen in the environment of a record store.”

I’ll second that emotion.

Here are the lineups of Saturday performances at Vertigo Music, Dodd’s Record Store and Grandville’s Corner Record Shop. (Green Light Music & Video and Corner Record Shop in Kalamazoo, The Full Circle in Holland and other shops around the state also are participating in Record Store Day. You can find a list of participating stores online here.)

Vertigo Music, 129 S. Division Ave.,
11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Noon – Modern Convenience
1:15 p.m. – Trinket
2:30 p.m. – Haunted Leather
3:45 p.m. – Corrosive Kids
5 p.m. – Helical Scan

Corner Record Shop, 3562 Chicago Dr. SW,
11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Noon – Dave Hardin
1:30 p.m. – Mike Key
2:30 p.m. – The Diemakers
3:30 p.m. – The Boss Mustangs
4:30 p.m. – Dangerville
5:30 p.m. – Glowfriends

Dodd’s Record Shop, 20 S. Division Ave.
1 p.m. – Old Man Jenkins
1:45 p.m. – Burnt Offerings
2:30 p.m. – Mick Nasty & The Bullets
3:15 p.m. – The Bitters
4 p.m. – The PotatoeBabies

Video highlights from 2012’s Record Store Day celebration

Email: jsinkevics@gmail.com
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music