Record Store Day

Andy & I with Todd behind the cell phone

Busy fun day. Got up early this morning - on a Saturday! - for Record Store Day. Met up with my friends Todd Fredericks and Andy Konrad at Rough Trade in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint part of Brooklyn, dead center Hipsterville. I got there at maybe 8:40 (they opened at 9:00) and Todd was near the back of a very long line having gotten there maybe ten minutes earlier. Andy - younger and more energetic - had gotten up even earlier to hit Rock n Soul at 8:00. Andy got to Brooklyn maybe ten minutes after I did, and the three of us creeped along this long line for maybe a half hour before we got in. Waited outside in the bright clear sun. And man is my bald head feeling that as I write this now.

Great new record store is Rough Trade. We entered, we spread out, we conquered. I picked up some choice vinyl including a sparkling re-issue of Jorma Kaukonen's first solo album after Jefferson Airplane broke up titled "Quah" (he was JA's lead guitarist) which is playing as I write this. Andy and Todd got handfuls of interesting releases which I'm looking forward to hearing on future Music Nights.

Headed back to The City (that's "Manhattan" for y'all non-New Yorkers) and hit three more record stores including Rebel Rebel where, years ago, Andy worked his first NYC job. We also visited the re-located Bleecker Records which bears a spookily similar resemblance to its former location.

I left my comrades around noon, got home for a quick lunch and pot of coffee with Melanie, then headed back out on the F train to Brooklyn with Melanie to visit her father Stephen who turned 100 - that's right, 100 - last November. Bet you didn't realize Melanie's 73. Looks great for her age, doesn't she?

No no no you idiots. Melanie's mom was considerably younger than her father, making her father basically my hero.

We spent the early afternoon visiting Stephen in his nursing home. He's doing well. I think he likes the fact we're both ex-military, Stephen going from enlisted to officer during WWII in the Army, and I serving a little over four years in the Air Force in the 80s. For 100 he's holding up amazingly well.

Then back home to the city where Melanie whipped up another amazing supper, and then out the door at just after 7:00 for opera at The MET, Madama Butterfly. Melanie'd entered the lottery and won it this time, allowing her to get $25 tickets to the performance. I'd never seen it before - Melanie is the opera aficionado in this union and this was the third production she'd seen - and I thought it was great. The MET is an amazing place to see anything in, and this was a beautiful production with, to my ears, fantastic singers.

Then zipped back home where we sat up for a while listening to music, sipping Pinot Grigio, and finalizing our plans tomorrow to head to Staten Island for an Easter Sunday gathering with Melanie's girlhood friend at her friend's parent's home; are ya still with me sweetheart? Melanie threw in the towel a little while ago and I'm listening to my Record Store Day spoils and writing this before joining her. Which I think is now.