Like A Virgin...Megastore

For years whenever I went out of town for gigs or was out on the road, the first place I wanted to check out was The Virgin Megastore. Virgin is one of, if not the last retail chains that sold up to date vinyl records and all sorts of re-issued old school gems and compilations. There were thousands of CDs, random merchandise, and sometimes a familiar face like: The Roots, Ben Harper, or your favorite gangster rapper in-store signing autographs. My favorite locations, which were in Dallas and New Orleans, were always stocked with great vinyl and I usually spent way too much then I should have. By the end of the summer , all Virgin Megastores will be closed down, because they cannot keep up with the pace of online music distribution hot spots like Amazon and iTunes. For those of us who used to depend on vinyl records to pay the bills before Serato was introduced to the world, this is sad in a way.

On the other hand, even though the cost of a vinyl record averages ten dollars more than a CD, Best Buy will start carrying 200-300 pieces of vinyl in their stores starting in the next few months due to the rise in vinyl record popularity. Mediocre profits are being made of the sales of '12 inch vinyl and they are going to run with it. This is exciting because EMI launched its "From the Capitol Vaults" vinyl initiative with such titles as The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds," Jimi Hendrix's "Band of Gypsies," and Radiohead's "OK Computer."
I believe that if Best Buy feels the economic climate is healthy enough to do something like that, then that it is great for vinyl junkies, DJs, and for music culture/education.

DIGGING IN THE CRATES OF OKC

CHARLIE'S RECORD STORE - OKLAHOMA CITY

There is also a rise in locally owned vinyl record store sales as well. Oklahoma City has some great diggin spots, such as Size Records, Happy Days, Memory Market, Guestroom Records, and my all time favorite Charlie's Record Store on Classen near Edna's and The HiLo. Charlie will not sell you a record unless he thinks you are worthy to have it. He keeps all the old funk, soul, and old school hip hop rare gems in the back and once you have been in a few times and he has gotten to know you, he will let you check them out. I was with someone the first time they came in and they asked Charlie if he had "The Funky Drummer" by James Brown, which is a highly sampled track. Charlie responded with "You know who else is lookin for that" my friend paused and Charlie rudely replied "You and everyother motherf*cker."

DUSTY FINGERS

When world famous DJs, like DJ Scene and D.J.P came through Oklahoma City years back I took them 'diggin at some spots and they were amazed what they found and how popular the culture of it was here in Oklahoma City. Record 'diggin is almost a whole other culture within itself. I myself was an "O.G. Break" or rare groove digger. Whenever I went and dug in random antique shops, record stores, thrift stores, or anything I ran into around the country, I would look for old funk albums that had drum beats or instrumentals that were sampled to make classic early 90s hip hop tracks. For instance: The Isley Brother's 1970's single "Between The Sheets" which you would never even think of wanting to buy at some random record store, was sampled to make the Notorious B.I.G classic "Big Poppa"

To some DJs, this practice of record digging is serious as sin and they would never tell you their spots or where they got what. Cut Chemist, a well-known producer and DJ for the group Jurassic 5 said when he was touring he would stop through towns and the record store pages were torn out of the phonebook.

My record collection of over a thousand pieces really has not increased since I have started using Serato/Final Scratch 3 years ago. Basically, Serato is a computer program and piece of hardware that runs off of a laptop and still allows turntables and common mixers to be used but your songs run in realtime onto control records like this: A-Trak Final Scratch/Serato Video Demo

In my days of record diggin, everything I ever wanted to find, I eventually did... just short of ten years. My top five dig finds would have to be:


The Winstons - Amen Brother - the most highly sampled song of all time
Galt McDermott - Space - sampled by Busta Rhymes on "Woo-Ha"
Robin Trower - Bridge Of Sighs - rare record that has personal value
Main Source - Live At The BBQ - the first track Nas was ever featured on
Grandmaster Flash - The Message - Original pressing, shrinkwrapped & mint

On a side note, there is nothing like listening to a record and hearing the crackling sound of old vinyl. I think everyone should have a phonograph/record player in their house and a small collection of records.