Record Store Day: April 18, 2009

Mark your calendars! April 18 is Record Store Day.

[Update] Here is a list of some exclusive releases that will be available on Record Store Day.

On April 18, we celebrate the momentous event that occurred in nineteen hundred and thirty nine (A.D.) when an enterprising, young, music enthusiast named Ned Whipplebottom (pictured left), despite the opprobrium of three-quarters of the town of Horace, Indiana, declared his "record emporium," Whipplebottom's Records, open for business. Most of Horace's townsfolk at the time (population 3,020) listened either to the radio or to phonograph cylinders and dismissed the advent of the 12-inch gramophone record as nothing more than a passing frivolity. Nonetheless, as the first of its kind, Whipplebottom's Records boasted a formidable selection of "microgroove" LP's (long-players), from Bach's Goldberg Variations to the rollicking tunes of the Memphis Jug Band, which some members of Horace decried as "the devil's music." (Its best-selling record was "The Nutcracker Suite" by Tchaikovsky.) To the chagrin of some members of the community, word spread like a brush fire among the town's young people about this hitherto unheard-of retail niche--the record store, and its affable owner, Ned Whipplebottom, contributing to the business's steadily increasing sales and subsequently, to the ubiquitous presence of record stores in America. We salute you, Ned!

Alright, I confess. I made Ned Whipplebottom up. There isn't some elaborate story to explain the origins of Record Store Day except that independent record stores are floundering right now and this day is designed to allow music fans to show their support for their favorite record shops and what they provide the music community. That's reason enough for me.

Prefuse 73, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Bill Callahan (of Smog) will be giving a free performance at Other Music in New York on Record Store Day.

Click here to find a participating store near you.