record store day! support indie record stores!

tomorrow is record store day, a celebration of independent music stores around the country. there are artist appearances, free stuff galore and great deals on music from the kinds of stores that have been the heart and soul of breaking new bands for years. i'll likely be hitting lou's recordsin encinitas, and there are hundreds of other great shops around the country that deserve your support.

I totally understand the changing face of music retail, and online destinations like amiestreet, noisetrade, pitchfork, filter, pandora and of course itunes have all made music easier to find and purchase. but i still love the feel of a place that allows for true community to form and people to recognize other like-minded music maniacs. i remember heading to uncle albert's records in my hometown of arlington heights, il to buy a copy of wls djs larry lujack and tommy edwards' (uncle 'lar and little tommy) animal stories records, or when i was on the dj committee at my junior high and buying 45s of j. geils band "freeze frame" and "centerfold" and csn's "southern cross", barely realizing that i was also immersed in the nw suburbs' prime a head shop and meeting place for incense afficionados.

in nashville, grimey's new & pre-loved music is the place to go not just for great music but for a great hang and a room where music lovers are celebrated. there's also a great little venue downstairs, appropriately called the basement, where you're likely to hear great music most nights, and certainly some surprises through the years.

so go to the record store day site and find your local record store and be sure to spend a little scratch with them not just on saturday, but throughout the year, and know that you're contributing to the lifeblood of great new music. amen.

why do people go to church?

today i picked up the latest issue of the san diego reader, an alternative weekly paper, and read this really interesting story. the headline is provocative enough, and i expected something different than what the story held, but it was a great read nonetheless. i had expected more word on the street kinds of things, interviews with people abut why they did or didn't go to church, and it really turned into more of a piece on an orthodox priest who had travelled to that place from beginnings in a presbyterian church and a lot of time with campus crusade for christ.

it's interesting in that i've become aware of a decent number of people who have found themselves drawn to eastern orthodoxy (be that greek, russian, serbian, etc.) in the past few years, as well as many more who have gone from conventional evangelicalism to anglican, catholic and other more liturgical traditions as they have delved deeper into the roots of their faith.

growing up in the chicago area i was fully aware of catholicism, and my mom, though she was raised to believe that catholic=bad, never conveyed that thought to me, for which i am thankful. i don't think she believes that either, by the way - something she overcame from her youth.

anyway, it's a fascinating read and i need to go revisit karen armstrong's a history of god,particularly for its passages on the divide between the easter church and what has become catholicism.

still to come this weekend, a new favorite song that fits right in to easter, albeit in an unconventional and sloppy, salty way.