Ignore the title of this post, I just thought it sounded cool.  I am going to ramble here – just a heads up…

Honestly , this year’s Record Store Day (RSD) did not exactly go to plan but it worked out entirely in my favor by the end of the day yesterday.

Record Poachers

A term my pal Eugene texted me when neither of us could find any of the wax we were looking for in retail stores on Saturday.

A record poacher is one of those folk out there who fancy a profit of mass proportions.  They snag up all the good RSD vinyl and throw it on eBay where people like me will pay outrageous amounts of money for items that normally cost $10-$20.   Some of these record poachers are actually shady store owners too who know damn well that they are cheating the purpose of RSD.

Knowing this, I still refuse to be defeated and try my luck on eBay.  I am not the only one either.

Why do we do it?  Because we are the reason RSD exists, we are the the vinyl collectors and sometimes we need to bite the bullet and pay a little more to get something we really want.

Example.  I really wanted the Deftones Covers LP.  It was sold out almost instantly across America.  Coincidentally it was also all over eBay going for $40 to $70.  Mind you there were only 3000 made. 

I bid on it and was outbid immediately.  I knew that I should just forget about it.  I was bummed, but honestly, it is a record, I will live…

Right?

Lucky for me I have some amazing ass friends out there across the states and once they heard I was looking for that, as well as a couple other LPs,  they made every effort they could to search for them.

There is a Deftones LP waiting for me now.  I did not spend $452.87 on it either.  There are also a couple other RSD releases I had my eye on that will be accompanying that LP too.

I have some damn good friends out there.  I feel the need to emphasize that.

I am done rambling now.

Beyond my battle to get some of the RSD releases I wanted, I have to say that RSD 2011 was enjoyable.

How about a recap of RSD?  Ok…

There were about 100 people lined up in the rain outside of Music Saves waiting to get first dibs on the goods when I arrived around 11:30am.  That is dedication right there.

I sat in my car and chose to wait for my friends – and stay dry. 

Come noon, my friends and I all perused Blue Arrow Records for a while, snagged up a couple things here and there, and just enjoyed the excitement that surrounded us.  I picked up the Rome 7″ I was looking for as well as some used records that caught my eye.

Once the line at Music Saves calmed down, we all took a peek in there to see if any scraps were left over.  I knew in advance of the Music Saves offerings and this year around there was not anything that got me too excited so I was ok with just grabbing a couple little things and saying hi to the owners and their special in-house phone answerer guy.

The Beachland opened their hallway to a couple of vendors who had some good finds.  I walked out with a Pagans cover 7″ as well as a Germs cover 7″ both totaling a whopping $4.  Not too shabby.

After kicking it on Waterloo we did the next best thing – went to Chili Peppers on 185th to feast.  Best burritos ever.

It’s actually become a tradition for me to do RSD and then pound a burrito at Chili Peppers with friends.  I did it last year, and I am pretty sure I will do it again next year.

I love me some RSD.  It’s the one day a year where I can just geek out on vinyl with friends and complete strangers.  Blue Arrow and Music Saves always do an amazing job with setting up for the big day and evening.

I skipped out on the free shows again this year in favor of hangouts with good peoples.

Good music was being spun and played at all the shops and everyone was in a good mood.  If only every holiday were like this.