NJ Heroes The Bouncing Souls RSD Release For Tomorrow
Record Store Day is upon us and fans are already planning out how early they’ll be at their favorite store for exclusive, limited edition releases. I am actually more excited about tomorrow than I am about Easter—finally a national Holiday for me! Nerds, unite!
I thought I’d give you a rundown of the stores I am hoping to hit, though I know that some of you enthusiasts are gonna be out there bright and early to beat me to it, but hey that’s social Darwinism. However, if I catch any of you perverts who are hitting RSD to make a quick buck by buying up limited editions and then jacking up the price to flip them in order to exploit the actual fans, I’ll kill you in your sleep. Free market economics only justify so much, man.
Here are the 5 area record stores I am planning to hit. Like children and snowflakes, they are all very special in their own unique way, and even if you don’t hit them up this time around, make plans to soon! You never know who or what you’ll find!
My 1st Time Was Here…Buying Records, Ya Perv!
The Record Store in Howell, NJ was an oasis in the perfectly pleasant subdivision hell that is suburban Monmouth County. I first started visiting The Record Store years ago in high school, fervently on the search of Nirvana imports, and CD and vinyl singles. I’ve got quite the B-Side collection thanks to these guys. Today they’ve managed to ward off the MP3 download disease by offering a huge selection of graphic novels, movies, comics and comic book paraphernalia, and an eclectic selection of vinyl. Plus cool weird collectible nerdy music lover stuff like my Power-Puff girl Christmas lights. Hollah!
Bouncing Souls Fans, (Don’t) Be Jealous! Pete Steinkopf and Oi Oi Oi Oi Lamar Vannoy Hanging Out At Holdfast Records In AP
Holdfast Record & Clothing is going to be my first stop tomorrow, and they’ll be open early at 10 AM (hey, that’s like 5 AM musician time, so that’s early to me!) and I will be there when Meghan and Joe unlock the doors. I’m after exclusive Record Store Day releases from The Bouncing Souls and Bruce Springsteen, and I know my favorite local shop will have them both!
Jack’s Music Shoppe in Redbank is going to be the next stop on my tour-de-records. You may recognize this iconic storefront from NJ’s own Kevin Smith, in his film “Chasing Amy”. (I remember watching that movie in the theatre when it came out and we were all cheering when they showed Jack’s in it for the first time. Surreal).
In addition to always having the newest releases on CD, this store has a pretty nifty instrument section and other accoutrement for musicians. Plus Bruce Springsteen (look, it’s The Vinyl District AP—what do you expect?) is a regular there, and has been known to come in and spend a few thousand when the mood strikes on stacks of records and CD’s. He even invited the staff to come see him perform as his guests one time when he stopped in after hours to say hi. Pretty neat-o!
Vintage Vinyl In Fords, NJ
Next is Vintage Vinyl in Fords, NJ. They have a ton of records and really amazing In-Store appearances on the regular, including an appearance by NJ local boys made good, Thursday last week for a live performance and album signing. Ian Axel and Jon Leguizamo will be hanging out tomorrow for meet and greets and autographs. ( I know—not sure how Leguizamo fits into all this, but the people get what they want at Vintage Vinyl!)
Princeton Record Exchange
Finally I am going to hike it up to Princeton Record Exchange, but I’ll need to do some steroids first, because that place is a veritable ocean of vinyl. You can spend HOURS in there and still have more to see because their collection is just that extensive. I personally picked up a great Beach Boys album there, as well as Double Fantasy by John & Yoko.
All right readers, I’m gonna go do a few calesthenics in preparation for this Music Marathon tomorrow. But hey–if you see me out there, you can definitely still buy me a beer! It’s the breakfast of champions on days like Record Store Day!
XOXO!
Ang
