February 1970: Shocking Blue's "Venus," Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back," Tom Jones' "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" and the B. J. Thomas cover of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" (after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969) . . . all hits. Forty years later: Michael Jackson, Mariska Veres and Paul Newman are dead, Sly Stone and Tom Jones are recording again, Robert Redford abides.
The Record Bar is gone, as are most of the chains (though a few remnants may remain here and there): Harmony House Records and Tapes; Sam Goody; Schoolkids Records; HMV; Music Zone; Tower Records; Planet Music, Camelot Music. Of these, I liked Schoolkids Records.
But never fear, independent records stores persist, and are celebrated annually on Record Store Day every April. For more on that happy thought, please see: http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home
Good short story collection: Jill McCorkle's Final Vinyl Days and Other Stories (Algonquin Books, 1998). I was working at Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill when her first two books came out in 1984: The Cheerleader and July 7th.
Today's Rune: Warrior.
2 comments:
There were a couple of really neat record stores down here for a long time. More than bookstores. I don't think most of them are around now.
A couple who are close friends of my wife and I own a record store in the Chicago area, The Old School Records: http://www.theoldschoolrecords.com/. They've managed to make it work for five years now. They sell a lot of vinyl still.
My local record store was The Swollen Head in Lagrange, Illinois. As you might guess, it was also a head shop, until the local police rousted them. Bought my vinyl copy of Bowie's Ziggy Stardust there when I was a freshman in high school.
Post a Comment