For your Beacon trivia, this E.T. is the main storefront display for local record store favorite, Audioccult.

Beginning with a group of independent record stores wanting to celebrate and get the word out about vinyl records back in 2007, Record Store Day was created to show everyone that vinyl records can still be enjoyed. The first Record Store Day was on April 19, 2008, and has turned into a global phenomenon. It is a day that rabid vinyl collectors look forward to - some even camp out for it!

This year, Record Store Day is on Saturday, April 16, and you do not have a travel far to take advantage of all the RSD exclusives. Audioccult, located on Beacon's Main Street across from Key Food and next door to vintage shop American Gypsy (and host of this E.T. pictured here), will be celebrating their one-year anniversary (first opened on April 11, 2015, and covered by A Little Beacon Blog here!) and their doors will open at 9 am.  There will be live music at 1 pm with a performance from Zack Campone.

Here is a list of participating stores in our area:

Audioccult (Beacon, NY)
Sound Shack (Newburgh, NY - you won't find new releases aren't here, as they are into the vintage)
Halfmoon Records (Cold Spring, NY)
Darkside Records & Gallery (Poughkeepsie, NY)
Jack's Rhythms (New Paltz, NY)
Rhino Records (New Paltz, NY)
Rock Fantasy (Middletown, NY)
The Kiam Records Shop (Nyack, NY)
Wright Gallery Records (Kingston, NY)

To see " The List" of this year's exclusives, visit www.recordstoreday.com and check out our Events Guide for more happenings coming up!

For the Love of Records

When A Little Beacon Blog's publisher, Katie, first learned about Record Store Day last year, thanks to Sound Shack's promotion of it days before they left their Beacon location for the Newburgh Emproium, Katie's interest in why people love listening to records was piqued. What is it about records that has people so passionate? Do we all need to be buying record players now? It seems so! We asked around and heard from different folks about why they love listening to records. Here is what they had to say:

Photo Credit: The Fleshtones

Ken Fox, a local Beaconite and bass player for The Fleshtones (he also moonlights as an occasional handyman here in Beacon - he's really good!), loves records so much, that he very strategically tiled his kitchen floor in album covers. Says Ken about his love of records, and the difference between records and CD:

"The difference between vinyl and CDs is emotional as well as technical. Certainly LPs sound better, crackles and all. But it's the emotional ties that go with memories of peering through record store windows at new releases, the thrill of gate-fold sleeves and the occasional poster or insert. The way choice LPs feel when tucked under your arm on the way to a party. CDs could never match that."

Photo Credit: The Fleshtones

Special for Record Store Day, The Fleshtones are releasing "End Of My Neighborhood,” composed and sung by The Fleshtones guitarist Keith Streng. Says their Facebook page: "He certainly lets us know he is more than concerned about the re-development of his neighborhood and the concurrent loss, not only of all the things that made the ‘Northside’ of Williamsburg such a cool place to live, but of its human scale as well."

The 45’s sleeve shown here was designed by Herve Peroncini of the Italian band The Peawees. The photos are by Jacopo Benessi before a Fleshtones show in La Spezia, Italy. The songs were recorded with longtime friend of The Fleshtones, Florent Barbier, at Cold Cut Productions Studios. This release is exclusive to Record Store Day 2016.

Photo Credit: airbnb host.

Karen Meyer, founder and massage therapist at River Therapeutic Massage on Route 52, is so fond of records, a record player influenced her pick of airbnb's on an upcoming trip to Nashville for a family reunion. Says Karen:

"I grew up listening to records and still miss the sound of the needle on vinyl. We have a fairly large collection (combined) of albums, but they've been in boxes since before we moved up here in '93 :(
I will be visiting Nashville with my mom for a family reunion this August. We were lucky to get the same airbnb that we stayed in during our last visit - and it has records and a record player. I am looking forward to spinning some country western tunes while I'm there. Patsy Cline, anyone?"




Do you love listening to records? We would love to know why! Tell us in the Comments below.