Record Store Day at Love Garden was controlled madness

This year, we wanted to focus on capturing Record Store Day around Lawrence and Kansas City. We sent writers to Love Garden Sounds, Mills Record Company and Vinyl Renaissance. If you didn’t make it out, here’s your chance to live vicariously.  

Thanks to three rather insistent cats demanding to be fed, I was somewhere in the first 25 people or so at Love Garden Sounds. With a pair of lawn chairs, my brother and I sat in line for two hours with friends, chatting about wish lists and comic books. Seems everyone had their absolute wants, as well as a backup list of releases they’d buy if their needs weren’t met. When you’re limited to five picks from the bins, you choose wisely.

Everyone had the stuff that was regular issue and in good supply – OutKast, 311, etc. – along with their weird left-of-center super-limited shit. Mine were Death Waltz’s soundtrack reissues, as well as some other punky whatnot. Owner Kelly Corcoran was walking the line before doors opened, finding out what folks were after and letting them know their chances. For somebody like St. Joseph writer Danny Phillips, who got up at 4:55 a.m. and drove a couple hours, knowing that he had a shot at the Velvet Underground’s Loaded reissue, this was important conversing to be had.

Sadly, for every album that was in excessive supply, there were some records that even a bust shop like Love Garden couldn’t get. For as many people who wanted Powerglove’s Far Cry 3 soundtrack (notably my linemate Matthew, who was so devoted to the whole Record Store Day thing, he’d brought Corcoran and his crew a box of doughnuts from the Lawrence Farmer’s Market), there were no copies to be had. Additionally, a survey of those around me, made it seem like the entirety of the line really wanted the Devo Live at Max’s Kansas City LP. Unfortunately, there were exactly two copies to be had, and the middle-aged guy and his teenaged son who were first in line walked off with both copies.

For all the discussion, and time invested, however, it was all over over quickly. Several folks remarked that it was “just like sex,” in that there was a lot of preparation and build-up, only for it to be done in a matter of minutes. Everyone seemed to agree it was a morning well-spent, however, and folks were already making plans to where they were headed next. The die-hards had other stores to visit, while the rest seemed content to go home and listen to their scores after a spot of lunch.

After a “What’d you end up getting?” conversation and much appreciative oohing and aahing betwixt my line mates and I (managing to get those reissues, happily), it was time to hop in the car and make the drive to Westport’s Mills Record Company.

See also: 
Rev Gusto discovers the delights of vinyl just in time for Record Store Day
Spin Cycle: Our Record Store Day Top Five