Record Shop Day 2010

I've just spent a rather pleasant day in the town with the family on the back of record shop day.

To think that I wasn't going to bother.

Up until last night I was still of the opinion that I would give it a miss, my reasoning being that I still frequent record shops as often as the wife and funds allow but the thought of missing out on an exclusive Fall single, which I would end up buying for at least twice the price on ebay, spurred me on and I had L and the boys up early.

We got to the King Street car park at quarter to eleven and there was already about sixty people waiting to get into Monorail. I jumped out the car leaving Lynn to park and get the boys organised and joined the queue. I struck up a conversation with a guy in front, who was suppossed to picking up his kilt for a wedding he was attending in a couple of hours, or so his wife thought. I have to admit that I began to get a sweat on when he said that he was also after the Fall single amongst other things and I started to wonder how many others in front of me were looking for the same thing.

When the doors eventually opened after what seemed like an age but was in fact at eleven on the dot. It still took forever to actually get to the racks. One of the sales assistants passed and I asked how many copies of the Fall single they had got and to my dismay he replied "only fifteen". I resigned myself to the fact that I had a snowball in hell's chance of getting one. The guy behind me said that he had been in Avalanche earlier and they had a couple of copies but that what he was looking for was sold before he got to the counter, the Factory Sampler 10" and the Beatles repress.

What to do? Leave the queue and bolt to Avalanche or stay put and hope that there were copies left? M said "stay here, I like it here" and the decision was made. When I eventually got to the counter, 11:45,  to my utter joy the guy in front passed me a copy of the single and I relaxed. It was now time to see what else I could get, so I also purchased a copy of the Mogwai/Fuck Buttons split 10" and another copy of You Trip Me Up by the Jesus And Mary Chain, why I don't know, I think that I just got caught up in the moment but alas no Harmonia 76 remixes, copies of that were long gone.

I am not sure how much good an event such as Record Shop Day does for independant record shops because to me the guys (and yes 98% were male) who were waiting patiently but with a lot of nervousness to
get into Monorail looked like the sort of people who frequent record shops on a weekly if not more frequent basis. I suppose any focus on these shops is good.

I don't know about any of the other shops taking part but Monorail certainly put a lot of effort into the day and should be applauded for it, what with having bands and dj sets throughout the day, cup cakes and muffins, quizes and activities for the kids. I just wish that I could have spent more time there, however I promised M while we were waiting that we would go to Forbidden Planet!

So tonight I'm home happy, objective achieved and possibly,  after talking to Steven in Monorail, something that I have been thinking of doing for ages and have discussed with a few others may now come off. As they say check here for details and all will be revealed in the fulness of time, hopefully.

Here is the b-side of the Fall single, just the thing for early Saturday evening.

The Fall - Cowboy Gregori