Record Store Day Booty

This past Saturday was Record Store Day across the nation.  Mom and Pop Record Stores are one of the few places I feel like I'm home anymore.  In other words, I understand most anything in it.

As such, I visited my favorite Mom and Pop Record Store, The Vinyl Frontier, in McHenry, Illinois.  There were quite a few others also paying respects and buying albums and CDs.

I bought ten CDs and three albums.

ALBUMS:

The Best of Herman's Hermits Volume 2

The Box Tops: The Letter / Neon Rainbow

Beau Brummels:  You Tell Me Why / Don't Talk to Strangers

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CDs: 

These next six all had 22 songs apiece.

AM Gold 1966

AM Gold 1967

AM Gold 1968

AM Gold 1969

AM Gold: The 60s Generation

AM Gold: The Mid-60s

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Retro 70s  (two discs with 15 tracks each)

The Vogues Greatest Hits

Swing Time--  Wayne Hancock

House of Blues Swings!

--Love Those Mom and Pops.  --RoadRecord

Record Store Day Today

Today marks the 17th anniversary of Record Store Day in the United States and in several other world countries.

This is a day to show our appreciation for independently-owned record stores, those great Mom and Pop stores.  

And, I am fortunate to have a lot of record stores in the area, starting with my favorite one and another one in McHenry, Illinois.  My favorite one also has one great name for this kind of place, The Vinyl Frontier at 4720 W. Elm Street (Illinois Highway 120).  Kind of tells it all.  Especially with the near extinction of vinyl records, you know, vinyl.

The other record store is Siren Records at 3902 Main Street in McHenry.  Then we have two more places called Reef Records in Antioch and Lakemoor.

I'm sure going to The Vinyl Frontier and plan on buying at least one LP and several CDs.  I actually like CDs better than LPs now.

I Good Day for the Cause.  --RoadRecord

Update on the Beatles Top Five Billboard Chart Hits

In Sunday's post on the Beatles having the Top Five slots on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 11, 1964, I was off by one week.  The Top Five they had was the week before, April 4.  I realized this when listening to Bob Stroud's Rock and Roll Roots show yesterday and he did not have those.

It turns out that the Top Five that I listed was from April 4 and there were a total of just 12 Beatles songs in the Hot 100.  Two more joined the following week which was the one that Stroud played.

You can see the Top Five songs on my Sunday, April 11, 2021, post.

The other Beatles songs in the Hot 100 on April 4, 1964

31.  I SAW HER STANDING THERE  (Capitol)

41.  FROM ME TO YOU  (Vee Jay)

46.  DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET  (Vee Jay)

58.  ALL MY LOVING   (Capitol)

65.  YOU CAN'T DO THAT   (Capitol)

68.  ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN   (Capitol)

79.  THANK YOU GIRL   (Vee Jay)

Of interest, the 12 Hot 100 songs were not all on the same label, but four labels which showed how the record companies were scurrying to cash in on the Beatle phenomenon.  They were Capitol, Tollie, Swan and Vee Jay.  I put the record companies on the Top Five on my Sunday post.

Learn Somethin' Ever' Day.  --RoadTle

TEENAGERS AND CATS:   Neither teenagers nor cats turn their heads when you call them by name.

All-Vinyl Friday at Chicago's WXRT from 9am to Midnight

 

Chicago's WXRT, 93.1 FM will be having their All Vinyl Friday today starting at 9 am and going to midnight.  That means they will play one side of some of the best albums ever made from the first song to the last one on that side.  Always fun to listen to this day.

It streams at www.wxrt.com, so give it  a listenn.

--ToadDog

Well, I Went to My Local Record Store on Record Store Day Today

I drove to McHenry, Illinois, just a few hours ago and visited my usual mom and pop record store, The Vinyl Frontier.  I always thought that was a great name for a record store.  Quite catchy.

However, this year, the store was not participating.  Evidently there is a $1500 cost involved to be in it, and business has been so bad thanks to you-know-what, they are sitting this one out.

However, I did what I was going to do anyway and that was buy at least one album and five CDs.

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ALBUM

K-Tel Hit Machine  ($3)  1976  Those old K-Tel and Ronco collection albums were a great way to build up your record collection cheaply.  They usually had at least 20 songs.

Some of the ones on this album:

Shake Your Booty--  K.C. & Sunshine Band
Summer-- War
When Will I be Loved--  Linda Ronstadt
Disco Duck--  Rick Dees

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CDs  The Vinyl Frontier always has a 5 for $20 special.

**Nuggets from Nuggets  Great Garage Rock.

**  The Copulation Compilation  Including "The Rodeo Song" and "The I-95 Song"

**  American Beauty--  Grateful Dead  I loved their studio albums, but hated their shows, but I hate jamming.

**  Some Girls--  Rolling Stones

**  Electric Barnyard--  Kentucky Headhunters

I Did My Part for the Mom and Pop Record Stores.  --RoadDog

PONDER THIS:  The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.  Amen to that!

Two of My Favorite Things

The May 19, 2020, Hi and Lois cartoon strip hit home especially for me.

FIRST FRAME:

Lois is inside a store and speaks to someone else:  "It's great to see  a new brick-and-mortar business back in town..."

SECOND FRAME:

She finishes by say, "filled with paper and ink."

The owner of the store looks at her and says:  "Bookstores are back."

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I sure am going to miss brick-and-mortar stores.  I love to walk around and look.  You never know what you're going to find.  Plus, I really like bookstores.  I am a book freak, even if I don't usually read all of them, I love them.

I still miss my McHenry Borders and then the nearest Barnes and Noble to me in Crystal Lake, Illinois closed down. Even though they are Big Box stores, they had that little book store feel, plus, of course, music in the form of records and CDs.  My other favorite thing.

--RoadDog


LAUGHTER HELPS WITH THE "V":  "We all owe an apology to 2019 for what we said about it."

Longest Consecutive Weeks At #1 on Billboard Hot 100: New Record "Old Town Road"

Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road"  featuring Billy Ray Cyrus set a record for most weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 for 19 weeks.  I just now listened to it.  Very interesting.  I like the official video with Chris Rock.

Anyway, here are the Top Ten longest #1 songs in the past 60 years.  The number in front is how many weeks at #1:

19     "Old Town Road,"  Lil Nas X ff. Billy Ray Cyrus (2019)
16     "Despacito,"  Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ff Justin Bieber  (2017)
16     "One Sweet Day,"   Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men  (1995)

14.    "Uptown Funk,"  Mark Ronson ff Bruno Mars   (2015)
14.    "I Gotta Feeling,"  The Black Eyed Peas   (2009)
14     "We Belong Together,"  Mariah Carey   (2005)
14      "Candle In the Wind 1997,"  Elton John   (1997)

14      "Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix),"  Los Del Rio    (1996)
14      "I'll Make Love to You,"  Boyz II Men   (1994)
14      "I Will Always Love You,"  Whitney Houston   (1992)

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "That Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night."    Answer below.  --RoadDog


"I Gotta Feeling"

Today Is Record Store Day!!!

I am glad I was listening to Chicago's WXRT, 93.1 FM today as this date had completely slipped by me.  I knew it was Record Store Day, but had forgotten.  They reminded me.  Thanks, guys.

This is the day to go back into the past, go back to my time, when I used to love to go to mom and pop record stores, or even the big ones, and flip through those vinyl albums.  I could flip through them for hours, or until Liz got bored.  But, I had to go to clothing stores with her so this was a kind of payback.

I have gone to Record Store Day most years.  My local mom and pop record store is in McHenry, Illinois, and called The Vinyl Frontier.  I always felt that was a good name for a record store.  They get huge crowds for this day and open at 8 instead of the usual noon.  I tell you, it does my old soul good to see young people flipping through the albums and BUYING them in this digital download age.

I used to have a favorite record store in Crystal Lake, Illinois, where I'm heading in an hour for the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group's meeting at Panera Bread at 10 a.m., about the month of April 1865, a really momentous month in U.S. history.  That record store was called Full Cyrkle Records.

I had another favorite one in DeKalb, Illinois, called Record Revolution and one in Goldsboro N.C., called The Record Rack.

So, I will stop at The Vinyl Frontier on my way to Crystal Lake.

There is a website and you can find record stores near you.  Just search Record Store Day.

WXRT has had many commercials about Record Day and starting at noon to midnight today, in homor of it, will only play vinyl records.  It streams.

Give Me That Vinyl.  --  RoadDog

I Did My Part for Record Store Day

I guess it is not National record Store Day anymore as they also have it in other countries.

I went to The Vinyl Frontier record store in McHenry, Illinois in the afternoon.  The place gets so crowded this day in the morning, I figured I'd miss some of the hub bub.  I didn't. there were 18 people in there and with the record racks being so close together, it was hard to move around.

The owner said that there had been 60 people in the place when he opened.  That had to be chaos.

I looked through most of the album racks.  I can tell you that few things are more fun than flipping through albums and looking for that special treasure.

I bought these albums:

Blue and Gray by Poco
Lady Willpower by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap
Young Girl by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap
Powerslide by New Riders of the Purple Sage
School's Out by Alice Cooper
In One Ear and Gone Tomorrow by the Buckinghams

These were all $3 albums, but for Record Store Day were marked down a dollar.

I also bought the CD Face to Face by the Kinks.

A Pretty Good Haul Even If I Do Say So.  --RoadDog

YOUR BANK'S IN TROUBLE WHEN:  Your monthly statements are handwritten, in crayon.

Record Store Day TODAY!!-- Part 3: Going

I know where I am going to be this afternoon.

I will definitely be at The Vinyl Frontier in McHenry, my home mom and pop record store.  But I am also thinking of possibly getting up to Track One Vintage Stereo in Antioch, Illinois at 348 North Avenue.

Plus, there is Black Circle Records in nearby Lake Geneva, Wisconsin at 772 W. main Street.

I like having at least a few record stores around me.

Every Record Store Day I like to think back on my three all-time favorite record stores, all now gone, but at least two I think still operate online.

RECORD RACK--  In Goldsboro, North Carolina.  Bought a whole lot of Beach music in there and had long talks with gene and Stan.

RECORD REVOLUTION0--  DeKalb, Illinois.  A definite stop anytime I was at NIU.

FULL CYRKLE RECORDS--  Crystal Lake, Illinois.  Always enjoyed talking records with Skip and, especially Shawn.

Be There or be Square.  --RoadDog

A Visit to My Record Store: Vinyl Frontier

Saturday, I negotiated the horrible mess that is streets in McHenry, Illinois, to visit my local mom and pop record store and spend some dough.  It didn't much matter which street you took, traffic was backed up and you waited and waited.  Il-120 and Il-31 in town are receiving a long overdue construction project.

Talked with the owner who said the Record Store Day we had several weeks ago was the best-ever.  He had over 500 customers that day and made enough profit to buy himself a new car with cash.  Perhaps there is hope for old non-downloading folk like me who just play cassette tapes, vinyl and CDs.

I bought four CDs and an album.

The album was continuing with my collecting Dave Clark Five music "I Like It Like That."  It features that song.and eleven others I haven't heard before.

As the liner notes said: "Exactly what consumes D.C. fans is Dave's compelling directness, a beat that's brazen and bold (to say the least), an approach to tunes (mostly penned with other members of his glad-all-over group) that's rugged and rousing.  In all, music that is as direct as its lyrics."

About Those CDs.  --RoadDog

Record Store Day Purchases-- Part 2

I also bought two other albums: Cry Like a Baby by the Box Tops and Just Like Us by Paul Rever & the Raiders. //// Cry Like a Baby featured the title song, but none others that I recognize and was boasting that "Cry Like a Baby" would go all the way to #1 like the group's first hit, "The Letter." Alex Chilton and the boys recorded it in Memphis at American Sound Studio. //// Just Like Us featured the hits "Steppin' Out" and "Just Like Me." Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay wrote "Steppin' Out." Loved the American Army Revolutionary War uniforms on the front cover. Definitely the anti British Invasion group now that I think about it. //// I also bought a four-CD set of Stax music. //// --Keep Step, Step Steppin' Up Against the Brits. --RoadDog

Record Store Day Purchases-- Part 1

This past Saturday, I went to The Vinyl Frontier in McHenry, Illinois, and bought four albums and I went way back for them, all from the 1960s. //// Two were by Chicago groups: TIME & CHANGES by the Buckinghams ($4) and SUGAR & SPICE by the Cryan Shames ($2). //// The Buckinghams album featured "Don't You Care," "I'll Be Back," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and "Foreign Policy." Of course, part of the name Buckinghams came from the British Invasion. Buckingham sounded British, even though there is a fountain in Chicago by that name. "I'll Be Back" was written by Lennon-McCartney. //// The Cryan' Shames album featured "Sugar and Spice" and "I Wanna Meet You." Another song on it was written by George Harrison "If I Needed Someone." Of interest was the ages of the group with two at 18 and the other four at 21. Many of the songs were written by group member Jim Fairs, on of the 18-year-olds. //// One reason Chicago groups got so popular was that the Chicago radio stations (WLS and WCFL) really played a lot of their music. //// --RoadDog

Record Store Day Today!!

A favorite day of mine. A blast from the past in the days before downloading. Something that "they haven't taken away from me"...yet, anyway. We're not going out to DeKalb for the NIU spring football game, so I will be getting over to our local place in McHenry, The Vinyl Frontier, at noon and hang around and buy some stuff. That is, hang around until the Hawks game starts at 2, and then it is over to the Twisted Moose for all the fans, air horns and flashing lights. Hopefully, it won't be a repeat of the forever triple overtime game from Thursday. So, go to the website www.recordstoreday.com, and find out the record store closest to you. (Well, I suppose you already know where it is.) Support 'Em before They're Gone. --RoadDog

Dave Clark Five Albums and National Record Store Day

This past Saturday, i stopped at my local mom and pop record store, Vinyl Frontier, in McHenry, Illinois, and was happy to find out that the big Record Store Day is this Saturday. Right now, it appears that the weather isn't going to be too good in DeKalb, where we were intending to go to the NIU spring football game, so we might be sticking around and if we do, I'm going for the records. //// Anyway, I walked into the Vinyl Frontier and, there, right at front of their album racks were three Dave Clark Five lps. I've had the desire to buy DC5 ever since seeing the PBS special on them this past week. //// I bought The Dave Clark Five's Greatest Hits for $3; The Dave Clark Five Return for $3 with "Can't You See That She's Mine" and Glad All Over-- Dave Clark Five for $6 with "Glad All Over" and "Bits and Pieces." //// Now, Tbat's Some Great Music. --RoadDog

Beatles Hits-Krieg, April 4, 1964-- Part 1

Continued from yesterday. //// The only artist to ever come close to the Beatles Top Five rankings was 50 Cent, who had three titles in the Top Five in March 2005 "Candy Shop" at #1, "How Do We Do (the Game) at #4 and "Disco inferno at #5. I wonder if "Disco Inferno" was a take on the old Trammps disco song? //// Is the Beatles Top Five something that could be broken in the future? In the past, Billboard's Hot 100 were based on singles sales in stores, but in this era of the internet and downloading, all those tracks show up on the Hot 100. //// In addition, the week the Beatles had the Top Five songs, they also had another seven songs spread across the Hot 100. They set the record with 12 songs, but broke that a week later when they had 14. (I'll have the other seven songs in a post tomorrow.) --RoadDog

Fun Times Here on the Frozen Tundra-- Part 4: Third-Most Snow-- Snow Tracking-- Gray Ice

JSS-- Just Some Stuff. //// 1. THIRD-MOST SNOW-- I knew we had gotten a lot of snow this last month, and at 33.5 inches, it is the third-most since records have been kept dating to 1884. The most was January 1918 with 42.5 inches and second-most 40.4 inches in 1979. Last month, Minneapolis-St. Paul received 22.7 inches, Green Bay 17 inches and Denver 14 inches. What's wrong with this picture? 2. SNOW TRACKING--- I feel sorry for the poor car and truck mats, which are soaked. Plus, coming in involves shedding that wet footwear. Go into any public place and the floors are muddy from all the slush. 3. GRAY ICE-- Another problem this year is that unbelievably gross "Gray Ice/Snow" that attaches to your car whenever you drive anywhere as our roads are generally not clear. Huge chunks of this gross stuff is all over parking lots and in the roadways. Plus, I keep having to clear out accumulation from the garage. //// The Midwest Must Have Gotten Mother Nature Really Mad This Year. --RoadDog