Adventues in Record Collecting (aka my 2010 Record Store Day Aventure)

I have gone out for all kind of different promotional events. I've met bands like Kiss, Gwar, Nuclear Assault & The Bosstones at in-store aperances. I've gone to Rubber Chicken Comics in Bellingham, MA for a bunch of 'Free Comic Book Day' events over the last few years, got some free books, taken advantage of some great sale prices and met some pretty cool Stormtroopers. I have even been out on Record Store Day, but this year I was taking it much more serious! There were a few records that I really wanted to get and quite a few more that would have been a nice bonus to get and I was determined to not leave empty handed!



Top of my list was the Revelation records reissue of the 1st Sick Of It All 7" pressed on clear vinyl. I have a black vinyl version, but this clear vinyl press was limited to only 500 copies and was a Record Store Day exclusive. Also near the too of my list was the Reissue of the greatest hits collection 'Ramones Mania', obviously by the Ramones. This special version is a double LP on green & blue split vinyl and is limited to 1000 copies. Rounding out my top 3 was a new 12" by the Beastie Boys that being billed as the "mystery white label 12 inch". No one knows what is on it, but it's limited to only 1000 copies so everyone wants one!

There was lots of other stuff that I was hoping to find but could live without. Reissues of the the first 3 (real) Pantera Records, 'Cowboys From Hell' (limited to 5000), 'Vulgar Display of Power' (limited to 5000) & 'Far Beyond Driven' (limited to 3000). A Devo 12" of new material limited to 2500. 3 John Lennon 7"s that comes with some postcards, a big poster and a special 45 adapter for your turntable all in a special box hand numbered out of 7000. A reissue of the Soundgarden 'Hunted Down' 7" pressed on orange vinyl by Sub Pop. A box set of 4 180 gram vinyl Joy Division LPs that wad limited to only 820 copies!  A white vinyl 10" of 2 songs from the Courtney Love's reunited Hole and a few other odds and ends.

For Record Store Day 2010 I knew I needed a plan of action! In 2008 I had kind of randomly stumbled upon the event at a local Newbury Comics and really just got some free comp CD and stickers. In 2009 I was aware of the day, but didn't rush out to the stores or anything. I just headed to Newbury Comics again a few hours after they opened and was able to get the Slayer 'Psychopathy Red' 7", Bad Religion reissue 7" and the 180 gram vinyl reissue of The Misfits 'Walk Among Us' and a few free compilations and other swag. So this year as soon as the Record Store Day date was announced I started doing my research! 



I downloaded the complete list of official RSD (Record Store Day) releases and used their site specific search engine to find the participating stores in my area. I started searching message boards local and national to get more in-depth info on the releases. I even got in touch with some friends that work at a few stores and got some 'inside info' about what records would be shipped to which stores in their chain. 

Once I compiled all this information I was able to determine that there was really only 3 stores that were worth trying to get to in the amount of time that I would have. Thanks to my friend Roger I was able to find out that the Newbury Comics in North Attleboro, MA would be getting 1 copy of the Sick Of It All 7" and 2 copies of the Ramones Mania double LP. Unfortunately they would not be getting any copies of the Mystery Beastie Boys 12". That meant that I had to hit a minimum of 2 stores to even have a chance at getting the top 3 records on my list for the day and just getting to the stores would not guaranty me a copy of even 1 of my top 3! 



Thanks to some people on the www.LotsOfNoise.com message board I found out that Time Capsule Comics & Records would be getting the Mystery Beastie Boys 12". Not only would they have it, but they would have at least 2 copies in both their Cranston, RI and their Seekonk, MA stores. Unfortunately Time Capsule would not be getting copies of Ramones Mania or the Sick Of It All 7"! 

I was pretty sure that Armageddon Shop in Providence, RI would be getting some of the RSD exclusive releases, but they were pretty tight lipped and didn't really give anyone a heads up about what they were or were not going to have. Since Armageddon was going to be a total crap shoot I decided that they would be my number 3 stop of the day and if they had something I hadn't gotten yet then cool, but if not then I wouldn't have missed it at one of the stores that I knew was getting stuff I wanted. 

My next course of action was to find out what time all of these stores were opening on Record Store Day so that I could schedule my Saturday morning. It ended up that Newbury Comics opened at 1:00 am, both Time Capsule locations opened at 11:00 am and Armageddon Shop opened at noon (or a few minutes after). I was pretty sure that I could leave home at about 9:00 am and get to Newbury Comics by 9:15 to wait outside until they opened at 10:00 am. The problem is that if I was in North Attleboro at 10:00 am the odds are that I couldn't be in Seekonk by 11:00 am. 

Now I have 3 options to remedy this problem. 1. I could buy a Delorean and have a Flux Capacitor installed, but that didn't seem like the most cost effective route to take. 2. I could make a decision about which records were most important to try to get and just go to that store, but I'm a collector and I wanted them all! 3. I could find someone to 'help' me by going to one of the stores for me. Even though I would really like to own a Delorean (time machine or otherwise) and there are time when I think I might have to many records... option number 3 seemed like the best way to go. Like usual when I need help with something, be it a sill scheme or something actually important I looked no further than my best friend and better half, Jenns. 



I knew that she would help me no matter what it was that I asked for, but I still felt bad asking her to stand outside a record store on a Saturday morning to help feed my silly obsession with slabs of collectible colored vinyl.... Not bad enough to not ask her though! I triple checked all my information about store hours, store locations and potential store inventories for Saturday and finalized my plan. Since Jenns usually goes to visit her mom on Saturdays I knew that sending her to Seekonk was out of the way and she was definitely more familiar with the location of the Newbury Comics. I decided that it made the most sense to have her go to the North Attleboro Newbury Comics and I would go to the Time Capsule in Seekonk. 



After I asked Jenns if she would do me the favor and she agreed I went back to the Record Store Day websites list of exclusive releases and made a full list of everything that I could possibly want to buy. I gave the list to Jenns along with a brief explanation about where I thought the stuff would be, what the cover art might be and any other shred borderline useless information I could possibly think up. 

Fast forward to the morning or Saturday, April 17th. Tired from a late night of poker with some friends (I won $20) I got up, threw on some clothes and brushed my teeth. I went over the list with Jenns one last time and then we both left the house at about 9:20 am. 



Jenns headed straight to the prize and go to Newbury Comics in time to join 2 other people already standing outside in the rain. Luckily she made friends with one of them who said he would help her grab the stuff she was looking for which would be very helpful as the line got longer behind them. After a little less than a half hour of waiting in the rain the store finally opened and Jenns along with her assistant headed to the RSD display tables with post haste. When it was all said and done she walked out with a little over $100 worth of vinyl including the Sick Of It All 7", Ramones Mania double LP (numbers 1 & 2 on my want list for the day), Pantera 'Cowboys From hell' & 'Vulgar Display of Power', the John Lennon 3 7" box set, Devo 'Fresh/What We Do' blue vinyl 12", Elvis Presley 'Thats Alright Mama' 7", a Newbury Comics exclusive Ramones picture disc 7",  a handful of free promotional records of assorted sizes (7", 10" & 12") and a Rob Zombies Halloween II movie poster all neatly packed up in a free RSD exclusive record bag. Not a bad score at all for a Record Store Day newbie that was doing me a huge favor! 



When Jenns left the house and headed to Newbury Comics, I left the house to start my personal mission also. Since I had a lot more time to kill my first stop was actually Dunkin' Donuts. I got a large hot chocolate & an egg & cheese sandwich on an onion bagel and I was on my way! No more screwing around, I headed straight to Time Capsule in Seekonk, MA. I had only been there one time before and that was to pick up some comic book long boxes to finally put away the months of comic books that were covering my bedroom floor. I pulled in the Time Capsule parking lot at about 9:45 half expecting a small group of people to be standing outside, but I was wrong. There was no one standing outside and the parking lot was deserted, probably because they didn't open until 11:00 am. I was okay with the wait and had anticipated it the whole time so I sat back and started eating my breakfast. 



At about five past ten a truck pulled up and parked. I immediately sprang to action grabbing my phone, hot chocolate and the rest of my sandwich and hopped out of the car. I rushed over to the front door of the store before the other gentleman was even out of his truck. I was first in line and I was proud... until about 2 minutes later when the man in the truck walked over with a set of keys in his hand and said "You're a little early, we don't open for another hour". I was deflated and embarrassed... but I was still first! 



I explained why I was there so early and that I knew they didn't open until 11::00 and prepared to go and sit back in my car when he invited me in to sit and wait. I sat at an empty table and looked around at the shelves filled with graphic novels, recent and back issue comics and bins of records along the walls. After sitting for about half an hour the clerk said that his cash drawer was all set and I could buy my stuff if I wanted. I asked to be sure it was okay to buy the stuff early and he assured me that it wasn't a big deal and that he wasn't expecting a big rush. I walked up to the counter and looked at the Record Store Day releases on the wall behind him. I kindly requested the Mystery Beastie Boys 12" that I knew they had and the Soundgarden orange vinyl 7" that I saw on the shelf. I then asked if he had multiple copies of the Government Issue 'Joy Ride' LP and the Bouncing Souls 'Jersey Pride' picture disc 7" hanging on the wall. With in a few seconds he pulled out 1 copy of each form a box by his side and plopped them on the counter and started ringing up my purchase. 



Two minutes and $30 later I left with the final record on my top 3 list for the day, plus 3 others that I had really hoped to be able to get. Not only did I now have almost all the records I wanted for the day, but it was only about 10:30 am. I was over 30 minutes a head of schedule! This new found time I revamped my previous plan of heading from Seekonk straight to Providence to go to Armageddon, which opened at noon. Instead with trusty Google Maps on the iPhone I got directions from Time Capsule in Seekonk to Time Capsule in Cranston. I was 99% sure they would have the same stuff, but I had time to kill and figured why not check just in case! 



It didn't take long to get to Cranston, but by the time I got there Time Capsule was already open so I parked and went right in. The Record Store Day releases were once again behind the counter and there was a list posted so people could read the details about each record. Even though it was the same assortment as in Seekonk I got sucked into the excitement of the day and I picked up copies of the two No Idea Records reissue LPs by Lifetime, 'Jerseys Best Dancers' and 'Hello Bastards' and considered myself lucky to be able to grab a second copy of the Mystery Beastie Boys 12".

After I paid the clerk commented on my Slapshot sweatshirt and said they had gotten a Slapshot record on red vinyl that was up on the wall in the other room so before I left I decided to check it out. The record room isn't that big, but there's a lot of stuff in there! There was a 'Teen Wolf Soundtrack' LP that caught my eye, but it was a little pricey. I saw the Slapshot LP and it was 'Step On It' like I had assumed it would be. I believe it was priced at $40 which is not a bad price, but I don't really need another copy of it right now. Then I saw a really nice copy of the Warzone LP 'Open Your Eyes' that was priced at $45. I did a quick popsike.com search and decided it wasn't cheap enough that I needed to pick it up right away. I flipped through a few more stacks of records and then headed out for my next stop. 



Another quick Google Maps search to make sure I was heading in the right direction and within about 15 minutes I was sitting outside Armageddon Shop in Providence. I knew they didn't open until noon, but also knew the odds were that it would probably be shortly after 12:00 that they actually opened. I hopped on the trusty iPhone and checked Facebook while I killed time and saw some posts that Armageddon had made promoting the new releases for the day and a request for coffee since it was going to be a long and busy day. Knowing I had at least 45 minutes to wait I made a drive a few blocks to the closest Dunkin' Donuts (my second DD stop of the day) and picked up 2 coffees and a soda and then headed back to Armageddon to finish waiting. 



To my surprise by the time I got back to Armageddon there was 5 people waiting outside and 2 more pulling up at the same time as I was. I quickly grabbed my phone and the coffee and hopped in line. I joined in the conversation about what everyone was hoping to find and what they had already found at the stores they had already visited and then talked to Brian fro Dropdead a bit when he joined the line. By the time Chris opened up the store the line had grown quite a bit and everyone in it was excited to rush in and find their personal number one record of the day. If you've never been to Armageddon Shop I highly recommend that you check it out. Tons of vinyl, tons of CDs, tons of cassettes, zines, books, magazines, shirts and other stuff all packed into a pretty small space. 



On a normal Saturday people come in and out of Armageddon, a few will hang out and chat for a while and the narrow aisles can sometimes feel cramped, but this was by no means a normal Saturday! Chris walked in the store and the 20 plus people in line filed in behind him. There was immediate confusion because there was no clearly defined location for the RSD exclusive releases that most people were looking for. Instead they seemed to be filed in the normal new release boxes by genre with the exception of the RSD 7"s that were in a small pile at the front counter. Most people tried to squat down to flip through the boxes of records on the floor while other people tried to squeeze by and push their way further into the store, but there was practically a roadblock as people searched for the hidden Record Store Day gems. After I handed off the coffees I had brought to Chris, I managed to dig through a few boxes but didn't see much of major interest. I fought the crowd and made a loop of the shop checked out the 2 boxes of 'rare' records that had been put out special for the day. Original presses of classic records by Youth of Today, Crass, The Beatles, Carcass, Subhumans, Underdog and many more all priced more than fair, but still out of reach for the current state of my wallet. 



The one record that caught my eye and made me stop dead in my tracks was an original first press Minor Threat 'Filler' 7". This is the record that has defined Straight Edge for the almost 30 years! The bright red sleeve looked almost as crisp as the day it was printed. The bright yellow labels beaming like the sun on a hot summer day. Both the original lyric sheet and the additional Dischord inserts included and not yellowed at all. As if that were not enough there was a note written on the clear protective sleeve that explained how this particular 7" was originally owned by one of the Verbal Assault roadies and that he had gotten it directly from Dischord when it was released. So what was it that stopped me from immediately slapping down the cash for this record that is easily in the top 10 most relevant hardcore records of all time? It was the price tag which was $499.99. I will tell you that my credit card was burning a hole in my pocket begging to be used, but as good as the price was and as bad as I wanted it I refrained from spending the money. However I will also admit that there's part of me that is hoping that it is still there next time I go to the shop! 

After more than a few minutes of holding and staring at the Minor Threat 7" I decided to get some air and maybe wait for the store to clear out a bit so I could take a better look at the new releases. When I stepped out of the shop there were 3 kids standing and talking about what they had bought. One was wearing an American Nightmare sweatshirt and one was in a Gorilla Biscuits sweatshirt so it was no surprise that they were talking about the youth of Today and Converge records that the one in the GB hoodie bought. After joining in on the conversation I found out the Youth of Today record is question was an original Wishing Well Records press of 'Break Down The Walls'. 

A little back story... 'Break Down The Walls' was pressed by Wishing Well Records in 1987. There were 1000 black vinyl copies, 150 blue vinyl copies and 150 red vinyl copies. Wishing Well gave the band 100 red and 100 blue vinyl copies to sell at shows, but after only a couple of shows their van was stolen and the records were never recovered. It is a safe yet unfortunately assumption that they were destroyed leaving only 50 of each color remaining. In an even sadder twist its been rumored that a portion of the 50 red ones were warped beyond recognition when a record store owner purposely left them outside in the sun. This makes the red and even the blue vinyl copies one of the rarest hardcore records in existence. 



Ok, back to my original thought. The kid in the Gorilla Biscuits sweatshirt had just bought a pristine mint and SEALED copy of the 'Break Down The Walls' LP. Like with most collectible records there is no way to tell what color the vinyl is without actually looking at it and if the record is sealed you cant look at it. Well, this kid wanted to know what color it was and nothing was going to stop him. Standing on the sidewalk he pulled the LP out of his bag and made a slit where the sleeve opened and slide out the inner sleeve. He peeked in and then slit out the LP for the rest of us to see the shinny brand new..... black vinyl. Yup, unfortunately for him it was not one of the super rare red or blue vinyl copies that he hoped, but he didn't care. He was still 100% happy with his $150 and said that after a quick stop at Taco Bell he was heading home to drop it on his turntable for its maiden spin!  As much as I respected the fact that he opened the LP I know that there's no way I could have. Heck, I have some sealed records that are worthless compared to an original Youth of Today LP and if I don't need to listen to it then I don't see a need to open it. 

One the 3 kids left with vinyl in hand I went back in to Armageddon for another walk through. I did see a bunch of stuff that would be nice to have, but nothing that felt compelled to drop the money on. I made another stop at the front counter to look at the Minor Threat 7" again and convince myself that I didn't need to buy it. I said bye to Chris and Ben and I headed out. Once I got in the car I decided that I was going to make a stop at the Newbury Comics in the Providence Place Mall since it was only 2-3 minutes down the street. I started heading toward the mall and I was barely there when I realized what a bad idea it was. After about 10 minutes in stop & go traffic I was finally at the entrance to the mall parking garage when I made my last minute decision to skip out on the mall. I headed back toward the highway and decided I would check out what was going on at the Newbury Comics in North Attleboro before I went home. 




I knew that Jenns had been there when they opened and had gotten me almost everything that I wanted, but it wouldn't hurt to look again. When I walked in and checked the RSD display and was surprised to see a copy of the Hole 'Skinny Little Bitch' white vinyl 10" which I immediately grabbed because it was the only thing that was on the list I gave Jenns that she wasn't able to get. One of the people ahead of her in line had grabbed it, but apparently put it back after she left the store. After a few more minutes of poking around I found a couple of other things that I had kind of forgotten about but figured I would grab while I was there. After talking to Mike who works there for a bit and a quick walk through the rest of the store I left my 4th Record Store Day stop with the white vinyl Hole 10", a Deftones 7" of two versions of a new song called 'Rocket Skates, a Ted Leo & The Pharmacists 7" of two previously unreleased songs, an issue of Revolver Magazine and some random stickers, pins and other swag type junk. 

After one more stop for some bad Mexican food I headed home to check out my newly acquired vinyl and tally up what this wonderful, yet cold and rainy, Record Store Day had cost me. 

Heres what it looked like when it was all said and done....

Sick Of It All - clear vinyl 7"
The Ramones - Ramones Mania double LP 
Pantera - Cowboys From hell double LP
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power double LP
John Lennon - Singles Bag (3 x 7" box set)
Soundgarden 'Hunted Down' orange vinyl 7"
Devo 'Fresh/What We Do' blue vinyl 12"
Elvis Presley Thats Alright Mama 7"
Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated picture disc 7"
Beastie Boys - Mystery White Label 12" (I got 2 of these)
Government Issue - Joy Ride LP
Bouncing Souls - Jersey Pride picture disc 7" 
Lifetime - Jerseys Best Dancers LP
Lifetime - Hello Bastards LP
Hole - Skinny Little Bitch white vinyl 10"
Deftones - Rocket Skates 7"
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - North Coast/Oldest House 7"
Assorted promotional records (7", 10" & 12")
Assorted promotional CDs & compilations
Rob Zombies Halloween II movie poster
Record Store Day promo record tote bag
Newbury Comics Tooth Face logo pins
Led Zeppelin promo stickers
Record Store Day promo stickers


And here is what it all cost me....

Records Jenns got from Newbury Comics $103.94
Breakfast from Dunkin' Donuts - $4.53
Records from Time Capsule in Seekonk, MA $37.15
Records from Time Capsule in Cranston, RI $$36.35
Coffee for Chris & Ben & soda for me from Dunkin' Donuts $5.92
Records from my stop at Newbury Comics $21.87
Bad Mexican food for lunch $6.02

Grand total for the day: $215.78