Vinyl fetish

Search your memory banks. Think hard. Can you remember those days when people used to actually go to record stores to socialize? In a not so far off time known as the 1990s, before the days of iTunes and music blogs, people actually used to brave the elements and convene around dusty vinyl records and small plastic squares that housed CDs. People would go to these ad hoc salons for music aficionados and read album lyrics like poetry, and pull out vinyl records from their sheaths the way a passionate lover delicately removes a partner’s clothes.

They were magical times when, whether you were going to trash on the latest pop music flavor of the month, or discuss the underappreciated influence of Lou Reed on modern American rock ’n’ roll, you were there out of a mutual appreciation of music, and how it united and separated us, for better or for worse.

It’s with nostalgia of those days in mind that local record stores will celebrate Record Store Day (RSD) on April 21st.

RSD is a national celebration where thousands of records are released to participating retailers with the diehard collector in mind. Paul Doege of Recycled Records explains the process, “RSD has a bunch of limited edition releases, and basically you put in for them, and see what ends up showing.” He adds reassuringly, “I’ve usually gotten what I put in for.”

Recycled Records will host an event on the 21st when, not only will you be able to purchase hard-to-find records, but you’ll also be able to enjoy live music from 11 to 4 p.m. There will be records available covering a wide range of musical genres, which will satisfy music-lovers of all stripes and creeds.

A particular record that Doege is interested in is a record of a live Devo performance in Seattle from 1981. “It was cut from a cassette of one of their shows in Seattle. Somebody found a tape in an old shoebox full of cassettes. So, it disappeared, and then it got resurrected.”

The record is of particular interest to Doege, because one of his first shows upon moving to Reno was a Devo performance at the old gym at the University of Nevada, Reno from the very same tour, which still resonates in his heart as the quintessence of live performance.

And he hopes to resurrect this type of nostalgia in others at this event.

To keep the party going after hours, Mike Moberly of the Biggest Little City Club on California Ave will be hosting an event from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., with DJs spinning vinyl, a record swap, and records that didn’t sell earlier in the day available for sale.

“Last year they had some RSD exclusives that they didn’t sell, so we wanted to make sure we could help sell them off, and be a part of the celebration, more than anything,” says Moberly.

A DJ and record-lover himself, Moberly is just happy to help out in any way, and to be a facilitator. “Hey, we’re helping you getting nerdy all night.”

Doege also hopes to keep this momentum going after the event, which is why he’s excited about his store moving to the MidTown area in June. He hopes the new move will help usher in a general interest in records stores locally.

“It’s a celebration of that style of buying,” says Doege. “A record store was a cool place to go back in the day.”

And he’s excited that MidTown might be a great location to reignite that interest. “To get that kind of walk-in, and those kind of people interested in doing business with small local places, that’s so much different than the strip mall world I’ve lived in for the past 30 years.”