Buy Vinyl. Stop Wars.

In the past year I’ve started collecting vinyl again. Like so many other good things in my life, the story starts with Renee. My love for vinyl was reignited when Renee bought me a record player and two records. Since then I’ve fallen head over heals for vinyl.

I rarely buy CD’s now. When I buy music I look for it on vinyl. I’m going to the record store again. When I’m in Denver I’ll be stopping in at Twist and Shout, a record store I used to hang out in years ago, when it was a little store on South Pearl St. in Denver.

Twist and Shout was then and is now owned by Paul Epstein and Jill Stein. Here’s a clip from their About page:

##
Twist and Shout began in 1988 when Paul Epstein and Jill Parrish, two high school English teachers, were taking a walk through their West Washington Park neighborhood when they approached what had been Paul’s favorite record store since moving to Denver in 1968. As they approached, they noticed a sign on the door: SEIZED: Tax Auction. In a moment of serendipitous clarity, Paul and Jill knew where their future lay – a 2,000 square foot record store on South Pearl Street. Cut to 2016. Paul and Jill Epstein (now married for over a quarter of a century, with two grandchildren to show for it) are celebrating 27 years in the music business. Twist and Shout, now 11,000 square feet in the heart of Denver’s Congress Park neighborhood, a stone’s throw from The Fillmore, Bluebird, Ogden, Lion’s Lair, Goosetown and many other venues, finds itself at the crossroads of the past and future.”
###

This past weekend I went to my first Record Store Day.

I got there the day before and camped out – just like I used to do to get concert tickets at Peaches, a record store in Denver that closed years ago.

I was first in line. I’ve never been first in line for concert tickets. I’ll be 60 on June 25. I’m camping out at the record store again. I’m first in line. I love it.

It was snowy and cold. I strategically parked the van right out in front of Twist and Shout. So the van was my shelter, as always.

I built the van exactly for this – music. Rock and Roll. It served me well, once again.

About 9pm I started to get some company. It might have been earlier, not sure. I was hanging out in the van, watching video on my iPad. Here’s the first of many, super cool people I met. In fact everyone was super cool. More on that coming.

By 11pm or so the line was already pretty long. I managed to hang out till about 12:3am, sharing the vibe with my new friends. Then I crashed in the van, where I was cozy. We love our van.

 

I was like a kid on Christmas Eve, waiting for Christmas Day to come. I got up about 5am, did my chanting. By 6am the line was around the block!

One of the people I met was Sam Knights. Sam is super cool cat with a super cool vibe. Sam and I had it going on from the outset – politics, music, other stuff. What do you think Sam does for a living?

Sam teaches at Denver University. I bet you didn’t guess that, now did you?

It felt so good to reconnect with Paul, the owner. Paul probably didn’t remember me from back on Pearl Street, but I never forgot about him. Paul is everything that’s right in the music business.

At 7am they came out with donuts, coffee, and bagels. Who does this? They do. And that’s one of the reasons why I’ll never miss another Record Store Day.

The crowd is amped up, in a good way. We’re all filled with excitement.

Record Store Day @ Twist and Shout is a big deal. It was live on the radio!

I got all the pieces I wanted and then some. Time to put the top down on the van, start getting psyched for next years Record Store Day @ Twist and Shout.

Here’s a link to some pics from Twist and Shout’s home page.

So about the title of this post.

Everyone at Record Store Day was super cool. The store was packed – elbow to elbow. But everyone was kind and polite.

With vinyl you sit down and listen to a record. You can read the lyrics. You turn the record over. You connect with the art and message of the song. Nowadays vinyl is much like an art piece. Every artist I’ve met is peace loving. I don’t imagine that artists believe in war.

If everyone started going to the record store and buying records, I think there’d be peace. There’d be love.

Please tell everyone you know to go to the record store. While there, buy some vinyl. Talk to others in the store. Hang out. It’s the best idea for peace I know of.

peace. love. reverence. justice,

---

Paul