Jeff Evans, owner of On the Corner Music, estimates that he has somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 records boxed up and ready to be tossed out on the pavement outside his Campbell storefront, weather permitting.
The vinyl merchant isn’t giving up on his enterprise. On the contrary, he’s planning to cash in—50 cents at a time. This Saturday is Record Store Day, and while Evans won’t be selling any new albums, he will have plenty of used wax. And, so long as it isn’t raining, he plans to have the bulk of it outside and priced at half a buck each.
Beginning as a small Bay Area-centric event, Record Store Day has become a national phenomenon—growing in popularity year over year, in tandem with the resurgent interest in vinyl records.
The ninth annual celebration of records and record stores is slated to unfold April 16 at independent shops all over the world, including several in Silicon Valley. Some locations will feature in-store performances and appearances from artists. Many more will be selling highly collectable items produced specifically for the vinyl holiday. And others, like On the Corner, will just stick to selling from their stock.
Evans says he has never dealt in new music, but rather in a curated collection of vintage titles. For the 2016 edition of RSD, Evans will have some highly prized gems on sale, like an original, sealed copy of Let it Be by The Beatles; a David Bowie box set; and an original copy of Pink Floyd’s seminal Dark Side of the Moon, complete with the posters and stickers. Also, he won’t be charging sales tax and, of course, there are those 40 to 50 boxes of vinyl which are certain to bear rewarding fruit to audiophiles willing to dig.
On the Corner isn’t the only local shop with deals this Record Store Day. In addition to hosting live in-store DJ sets, San Jose’s Streetlight Records will be opening an hour early—at 10am—and will have coffee and snacks for the diehards waiting in line.
The Bascom Avenue location will have a plethora of new titles, including RSD exclusives. A representative from Streetlight says she can’t guarantee anything, but noted a recent packing list showed the following names: Sublime, David Bowie, Chvrches, The Kinks, Weeknd, Fela Kuti, The Sex Pistols, Notorious B.I.G., mewithoutYou.
The official Record Store Day website names releases from many of the same artists: Sublime, Jah Won’t Pay the Bills (LP and cassette); Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy and Mase, “Mo Money Mo Problems” (colored vinyl 12”); Deftones, B-Sides & Rarities; David Bowie, “The Man Who Sold the World” (picture disc); and Circa Survive and mewithoutYou (7” split).
Rasputin Music, which has stores all over the Bay Area—including in Mountain View and Campbell—will host a performance by Metallica at its Berkeley store. The San Francisco thrash legends helped launch Record Store Day back in 2008, spending a few hours at Rasputin’s Haight Street shop, mingling with fans and signing albums.
Representatives from Rasputin’s South Bay stores couldn’t say exactly what they’d have on sale for the special day, but they did anticipate a high turnout.
Evans, who founded On the Corner Music about 10 years ago, says he is always excited for Record Store Day and is stoked to see more music fans listening to their favorite artists on vinyl.
The vinyl seller recalls his reaction when he first heard about Record Store Day back in 2008. “It was kind of like, ‘Huh? Record Store Day?’” Though he wasn’t sure what to expect back then, he is pleased to see that it has grown.
Over the course of RSD’s nine years, he has had customers come into his shop and tell him that they had gotten rid of a lot of their records and are now hunting them down and buying them all over again—often sharing the experience with their children.
Other local vinyl merchants open for Record Store Day include Needle to the Groove in San Jose and Fremont, The Record Man in Redwood City and The Analog Room in San Jose.
Record Store Day
Apr 16
Valleywide
