Record Store Day - Your Contribution

I bring up The Beatles' "Revolver" a lot. It's really important to me largely because it started me out on my journey into music and vinyl. So it was vital to leading me to do what I do today.

All the records in my collection that I bought after my dad introduced me to "Revolver" came from used record stores. I would still, today, rather wait until I find the record I want at a local independent used music store then to point and click on eBay for albums I want to add to my collection. I talked earlier this week about how much those stores in West L.A. meant to me.

Tomorrow is the second annual celebration of Record Store Day. Last year I posted this about it. I'm so glad that it's grown in strength and reach along with the dramatic increase in vinyl reissues. Those reissues are mostly stocked in those independent record stores.

So I need your support of RSD09 because I need those out-of-print hard-to-find albums to be reissued, so I can paint more pieces, connecting more people like you to your music, your culture. Basically, buying music at your local shop directly and indirectly makes the world better. You get the music you love and humanity gets the creativity it loves.

Go to the organizer's site if you don't know a local store, and tomorrow go buy your favorite album on vinyl or even buy that CD you just found out about. Feel good! You know you will.

Me, I'm buying Gomez's new album, along with maybe Tricky's "Knowle West Boy" and Gnarls Barkley's "The Odd Couple". At least.

Peace.

Don't Let It Fade (Like Stonewashed Jeans)

Sometimes I think the amount of paint I use, the brightness of the image I paint, is proportional to the impact the music had on me. That and the image I choose.

You know the music I'm talking about. Not one hit wonders, but really decent music that just doesn't stand out in your memory. The Doors stand out. Elvis stands out. Nirvana stands out. Madonna stands out. Hendrix stands out. Dire Straits doesn't.

But damn it's good music. Solid. They do what they do. "Sultans of Swing" says it and is it. So even though it's a minor part of the tapestry of your music, don't let it fade. It's a vital vibrant thread.

For Record Store Day on Saturday, April 18th, go buy a couple albums you played constantly on vinyl, 8-track, or cassette growing up. Buy them at a local independent music store. Support their spirit and your memory.

Peace.

Mark Knopfler 04/07/09

Record Store Day - My Contribution

They added my quote! It's the 4th one. Here's the start of it:

"In West L.A., stores like Record Surplus, Penny Lane, Rhino, Record Rover and Moby Disc became my refuge growing up, offering hours of uninterrupted bliss. The racks became my friends, suggesting new plastic etched with brilliance with albums placed randomly askew, teasing me with a corner of the sleeve, and hand-scrawled dividers shouting undiscovered names.

Now, paying tribute to vinyl, the musicians that created and the stores that redistributed, I hope... "

Check out http://www.recordstoreday.com/CustomPage/382 to read the rest!

Peace.