Mid-Michigan Celebrates Record Store Day 2019

Record Store Day 2019 is tomorrow. For 12 years, people have streamed into record stores to celebrate was used to be just another day at the mall - looking through bins of vinyl records to find your favorites.

When I got my first job in radio, at a Top 40 radio station in Rolla, Missouri, that's all we had - we played 45s on the radio most of the time (the big stations by that time were recording the songs on easier to handle tapes that looked like 8-tracks - we weren't that fancy). One night of the week, I played a whole album. Played the first side, stopped it, played some commercials and then flipped it over and played the other side. It mimicked sitting around listening to albums with your friends, which is usually how everybody back then got exposed to new bands and different music. And, from that, you learned that the best songs on albums were not ALWAYS the hits you heard on the radio. Maybe that's what's driving Record Store Day. That - and the fact that you get more range of sound when you listen to a vinyl record as opposed to an mp3 or most digital recordings.

I still have albums at my house, but no turntable. I should probably get one and get down to one of the record stores on Saturday. They might have something I've been looking for.

According to RecordStoreDay.com, the three (Record Store Pledge) stores in our area are:

Flat Black and Circular in East Lansing on Grand River - across from MSU  (they'll have live music and a lot going on all day)

Replay Entertainment Exchange, in Old Town at 536 E Grand River Ave

The Record Lounge at 1027 S. Washington Ave. (inside Reo Town Marketplace)