We at The Bay Bridged did a little Record Store Day celebrating over the weekend, whether that means stopping in to catch a performance or seeking out the one-day-only sales (we’re just as poor as all of you, folks!). Compiled below are our observations from events throughout the Bay Area.
Armadillo Music in Davis, 5pm:
This independent record store has been providing Davis with local support and decent prices for decades, and it is no wonder that they were busy on Saturday — yet partly due to the yearly Picnic Day event thrown on UC Davis’ campus. Every Saturday they bring their used CD section out onto the sidewalk to boost sales and seduce the occasional passerby with an album priced too low to pass up (I won’t lie, I was tempted by Brandy’s first album, then saw some of my sell-backs in there and remembered I’m cutting back on clutter). For Record Store Day, the used section was knocked down to half off.
Any in-store performances? Don’t be wary of Armadillo’s living room dimensions, indeed there was a performance from Garrett Pierce for Record Store Day at 5pm. Roughly twenty people lined the CD racks to watch Garrett, perched on a listening booth barstool, taking audience requests from his newly released All Masks (put out by Davis label Crossbill Records). As always, Garrett’s voice charmed those within earshot, especially when he threw in a Nina Simone cover.
–Nicole L. Browner
2nd Annual Independent Record Store Day, originally uploaded by Maggie Die Katze.
Amoeba SF, around 4:30pm:
The vibe was pretty decent, although it didn’t seem more packed then usual. There was definitely a line at the Record Store Day Exclusive Releases area but they were out of the two 7″s I was hoping to get – Vetiver and The Thermals/Thao Nguyen split. I did see Anna G, former editor of The Deli: SF and now News Editor of Stranger Dance, while I was perusing around.
Buy anything? I was actually surprised how expensive certain vinyl releases were – it’s been a while so maybe I’m just out of touch these days. Regardless I still dropped a bunch of money on some great vinyl including Thee Oh Sees’ Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion LP, the 3 disc Dark was the Night compilation, and Vetiver’s Tight Knit.
Any news? Amoeba had a great set of rotating DJs throughout the day. I actually arrived to meet up with John Vanderslice, the DJ from 4-5pm, who just got back from tour with John Darnielle. They released an incredible split vinyl tour EP titled Moon Colony Bloodbath that I picked up from him – there are only a few copies left but I highly recommend grabbing one if you can. This will tide me over until the release of his next full length, Romanian Names on May 19th.
–Christian Cunningham
