Kevin…
I spent many hours of my teen years hanging out in record stores and sifting through crates for new albums. I loved the atmosphere, the smell and flipping through the records. Pulling out albums for close inspection. Id hit different stores depending on what I was looking for. I worked after school just to hand over my paycheck for that week’s selections. Back then albums were released on Tuesdays, so I’d show up with cash in hand for whatever new release I was excited about. I knew all the music heads that worked the counter and sometimes they turned me on to artists I wasn’t familiar with. Best of times!
When I got home I took the plastic off the records and pulled out the beautiful black vinyl, carefully placing in on my turntable. I Put the needle on and turned it up, while checking out every inch of the album cover and liner notes. I listened to every song straight through and then went back and listened to my favorite songs over and over again.
I had a nice collection going. Hundreds of records. All my favorite artists and , in some cases, entire collections, including band members solo albums and even a few bootlegs. Remember bootlegs? Unfortunately , a few years before I moved here to Springfield, my records were stolen. I never figured out who did it. I was heartbroken over it. I thought about trying to build it back, but that’s expensive.
These days I’m living vicariously through my son who seems to have the same bug I had. He’s been building his own record collection and it’s been fun watching him get into it. He doesn’t always get the record store experience I had because he buys a lot of his stuff online. He did however, get up to St. Louis recently and he threw down some dollars at Vintage Vinyl. Sometimes we hit “Stick It In Your Ear” here in Springfield too. I still get a good feeling going into record stores.