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RECORD STORE.
Happy New Year folks!!
First of all, I want to send huge thanks to everyone who came out for the Tuesdays at the Hotel shows in Hollywood in November and December. Really can’t express how good it felt to be back there with so many old and new friends. To those who drove a long way only to have to listen to the show from the alley — wasn’t it awesome? I’m sorry that you couldn’t get in, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you, and I know that the alley hang was a blast. Funny, that even all these years later with the Hotel Cafe so legit now, there are still these funny little quirks that make it the same little joint it was when we started.
Ups to Dizzy D who outfitted everyone in Bird. stickers, pins, temporary tattoos, and, of course, CAKE.
Special ups to Marko, Max, Tera, Ricky, and the rest of the folks at the Hotel who were so cool to us, and who have done an insane job at blowing the place up. Man! It’s so swank in there now. Not sure how they afford JB’s bar tab, but there you go.
Super special uppity ups to the latest version of the Group Rules: Al Sgro, Holly Conlan, Ben Peeler, Fil Krohnengold, Lucas Cheadle, and Aaron Redfield — greatest band ever. Forever gratitude for such a vibe, and a great run of shows, despite the inevitable chaos and bad backs.
Since I got back to North Carolina we’ve gotten a bunch of emails (as usual) from folks asking:
“Hey! I heard your song _____ on _______, and I’d like to buy your albums. Why aren’t Bird. and the rest of your albums in stores?
If I could give three hour lectures on Tues. and Thurs. from 10am to 1pm, and if you all promise to show up for smaller proctored study groups for at least two hours a week, come early 2011 we might have all of the necessary information to begin approaching that question (though by then, the answer will have changed several more times). To save us all a lot of time, boredom, and soul scars, I’ll cut it down to the bare minimum . . .
“They just aren’t . . . yet.”
That’s right, “yet”. I have made two very important decisions in the last few weeks. First, I’m going to get my band . . . yes, the WHOLE band, on the road this year. Not exactly sure how yet, but I’m going to. Secondly, I am going to get all 4 of my albums, Greetings From the Side, Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets, Gary Jules (Airplane), and GJGR Bird. into record stores by the end of April. I have rearranged my understanding of the immediate purpose of “albums”, and intend to use my new exegesis of traditional industry scripture to the advantage of all involved, to wit: listeners, record store owners, and me.
I had a conversation with a record store owner here in Asheville the other day. I explained some of my frustrations about physical distribution (getting actual CD’s in stores) to him, and he was nice enough to school me on HIS side of the ever-changing story — which is that folks come in and ask for certain CD’s, he goes online only to find that he can’t get it . . . and then has to tell his customers that there’s nothing he can do.
Let me pause here to say that I LOVE RECORD STORES!! I grew up going to record stores, and still love to find cool mom and pop shops anywhere I am in the world. The classic record store is SO much more than just a retail outlet for record companies, it’s a community center, a library, a museum. What a shame that they’ve become such an endangered species. I have watched my friend Andy who owns Albums on the Hill in Boulder Colorado roll with the punches like a champ in the 12 years that I’ve known him, and he’s still rolling. Luckily, as we march on through history, and thanks in no small part to people like Andy who continue to believe in it, the Record Store has evolved both physically and conceptually, and may in the end be the sole survivor of the industry/technology revolution.
Take, for instance, The Record Exchange in Boise Idaho. They’ve been there for more than 30 years, imagine what they’ve seen! Vinyl to cassette, cassette to CD, and then back to vinyl (kinda). Less than ethical dealings by “The Industry” meant ridiculously high prices for CD’s in the late 90’s when Joe the Plumber was finally forced to replace his weathered copies of Frampton Comes Alive and Cheap Trick at Budokon with their smaller, boring, shiny, soulless counterparts. Joe was pissed when he found out that he was being gouged. He was even more pissed when he discovered that he’d rather re-buy the album AGAIN to have it on his iPod instead of taking the time to load his whole CD collection into his computer, and then onto an iPod, and then onto an external hard drive.
Then, as Joe stewed, came the boy bands, and the girl bands, and the Disney bands, and punk rock for toddlers. When I first went there in 2004, The Record Exchange had just (fairly recently) opened a coffee counter and curios section of the store. The same sorts of changes were happening in shops all over — owners started selling DVD’s and posters and merch and tshirts and sunglasses and all sorts of fun stuff to make the Record Store a fun hang in general. Some people saw these changes as a perversion of the sanctity of the ideal, but it was about survival.
The way I see it is — obviously, selling CD’s is no longer a lucrative enough business to keep mom and pop’s doors open in this day and age. Blame it on file sharing, iTunes, Britney, Best Buy, or Jimmy Iovine — that’s the reality of the situation. I mean, when was the last time you went to a store that sells ONLY garbage bags? Everyone needs garbage bags, but not enough for there to be a Garbage Bags Emporium. That doesn’t mean that you have to buy your music at Walmart either though. It’s about time that the idea of sustainability become part of the shopping canon around here, sustainability and grey area.
The way I see it, if CD’s go directly from me to a distributor to the Record Store, then there should be plenty of grain to sow to feed everyone involved. Enough mixed metaphor for you?
Alright already, you get the picture. I want all my records to be in record stores. I want to tour around and play at record stores. I want to meet people and buy coffee in record stores, I want you to shop for music at Lou’s Records in San Diego, The Record Exchange in Boise, Amoeba Records in Hollywood, San Francisco and Berkeley, Bleecker Bob’s in NYC, Karmasonic in Asheville North Carolina, Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, Waterloo in Austin. And yes, I’m going to keep calling them “record stores” and I’m going to keep calling my records “records” or at least “albums”, even though I’ve never actually made a vinyl LP of my music (note to self). And why? Because it’s COOL, that’s why. Saying, “My new CD comes out in April” doesn’t sound cool. “Beautiful is the first song on my new record” does sound cool.
I believe in the radio. I believe in music blood. I believe in record stores. If you haven’t been recently, go. You won’t regret it. PS — while you’re there buy Mason Jennings’ In the Ever or Use Your Voice. You won’t regret that either. G
Posted on 1.15.09