Record Store Day 2011

TOMORROW, Saturday, is dedicated to an endangered species that had an important role in raising yours truly: the humble record shop. Record Store Day was launched in 2007 to recognize and help preserve independent shops, which have taken a serious beating from the economy, predatory chains and the music's shift online.

The holiday includes various live events, sales, cookouts, and so on. (Check out that website and the ones run by your favorite store.) Here is a post by an old friend about Providence-area record stores.

Anyone who loves a record store -- and these days Amoeba Hollywood, Rockaway Records in Silverlake and Pasadena's Canterbury are some of my favorites -- knows that the experience of visiting one is much richer than calling up iTunes or dropping into a typical mall store. One of the key differences is the clerks at a good record store.

Two of the favorite pieces I've ever written are these two, about classical and pop music clerks. One of the stores I wrote about -- Tower Classical on Sunset, which had some of the spirit of an indie spirit despite being part of a chain -- has since closed.

I'll see you at the record store...