"A Hard Day's Night" Record Store Day 2018: Part 1

Hardcore vinyl hunters in the early morn

It was cold. No, it was freezing! I began my Record Store Day around 2am, eight hours before the doors of Shady Dog Records in Berwyn, PA were to open. Upon reflection, I realized that I had waited the equivalent of a work day in a 40-hour week. But, I certainly did not consider the long hours "work". Uncomfortable, due to the cold - yes. But, not work. Especially because I was fortunate enough to have the company of a great group of fellow vinyl hunters (pictured above).

Being the first to arrive and start the line, I was not alone long as vinyl hunter #2 came about 15 minutes after me. A veteran of Record Store Days, he proved to be a valuable source of information and his vinyl knowledge lent itself to interesting conversation throughout the long cold hours. Vinyl hunter #3 did not arrive until the sun made its appearance. He had the sense to wait until the temperature was above freezing! An avid fan of The Who, his addition to the line and contributions to the conversation were welcome and, soon after, vinyl hunter #4 appeared. At this point, hunger was setting in and #4 made a call to his friend who made a Wawa run and treated us to coffee and breakfast sandwiches. It was amazing how this group of once total strangers had bonded over a love of vinyl. What was more amazing was the fact that after sharing the names of the albums we were hoping to get when Shady Dog's doors opened, we realized none of us were after the same titles! In the true spirit of vinyl hunter camaraderie, we agreed to look out for those titles and pass what we found to whoever had it on their list.

As 10am loomed closer, the owners of Shady Dog Records arrived. By this point, we had basically thawed out while standing in the sunshine and more people were arriving, including three high school students. We were pleased to see that members of the younger generation were getting into vinyl collecting. We were also pleased when Shady Dog brought donuts from the local bakery for us. The atmosphere was one of anticipation and excitement. Several of us were peering through the glass doors, trying to get a sense of how the boxes with our treasures were arranged. So close...yet, so far. But, then, it was ten!

Shady Dog Records on Record Store Day 2018

The doors opened and we entered, ready to get to as many boxes as possible in order to find the titles we wanted before they were scored by another vinyl hunter. I am happy to report that although there was quite a crowd, everyone was pretty cool about sharing looks into boxes and taking the occasional accidental bumping in stride. With assistance from vinyl hunter #2, I immediately scored a copy of Steve Earle live which was one of the two I most desired. The other was a reissue of "Roxanne" by The Police on red vinyl. I was told it was there...somewhere...but never found it even though I repeatedly called out "Roxanne!" hoping someone would pass it on to me. Even so, I was happy with the vinyl I did get there on my first stop that day. (More on my acquisitions in Part Two of this adventure)

I spent about 20 minutes in Shady Dog Records and got a look into all the boxes. I would have liked to have spent more time there looking through their inventory, but...it was on to the next one.