Vinyl Lives

When you go to your local used record shop, it's easy to determine if a record is in the desired condition.  A visual appraisal right there in the store will give you a really good idea of how the record will play.  Sure, it might look clean and still have some surface noise or have visible scuffs and still play clean, but by and large, when you get it home on your turntable, there shouldn't be tremendous deviation from your expectations at the time of purchase.

It seems like there's never a shortage of new holidays that pop up and, sadly, marketing is almost always the force behind them.  Well, add one more to that list:  Record Store Day.  This holiday is certainly about marketing, but it's not quite what you'd expect.  You see, this is about marketing for the underdog, the independent record store.  It's also about community, because, in many ways, that's what these stores are about.

In 1977, at age 6, Glide's Bob Lange bought his first record, Kiss Alive, and started an obsession that's lasted a lifetime.  Welcome to Bob's new column dedicated to that very obsession, "Vinyl Lives"