Record Store Day 2014

I know Record Store Day actually took place a couple of weeks ago now, but, I had such a blast celebrating it this year, and I took so many cool pics, that I simply had to share them again here. So, bear with me…Facebook friends.

Unlike in previous years, Record Store Day 2014 fell on Easter weekend this year, and since we always spend Easter at my Mom’s place in San Diego, we got to check out a couple of different record stores this go around. So, yay for us!

First up was a cool little place in the grungy-hip North Park neighborhood called Off The Record. And though the selection was pretty decent — but nowhere near the awesomeness of our local Amoeba Records in Hollywood! — the prices were fantastic, so, I would totally hit them up again. I bought a brand new Nina Simone CD for $5.99 and my brother-in-law walked away with a handful of very cool used CD’s for around $10-$15 bucks for the lot of them. Not bad.

But our next stop was even cooler. San Diego’s M-Theory Records has been rated one of San Diego’s Best Record Stores for years and it’s not hard to see why. Although their selection seemed much smaller than Off The Record’s, the depth and quality of M-Theory’s inventory was amazing. I’m not kidding, man…they had some really eclectic shit in there.

Even more surprising than M-Theory’s artfully curated vinyl stash was the totally disarming coolness of their staff. Friendly, smart and totally knowledgable, the clerks at M-Theory seemed determined to dispel the myth of the surly hipster record store clerk once and for all. And all I can say to that is: “Amen, brother!” Record Store Day or not, I can’t wait to spend more money in that joint next time we’re in town!

And even though I wasn’t able to find that David Lynch record or the Original The Muppet Movie Soundtrack vinyl reissue I was looking for, I still had a blast. So, rock on, San Diego record stores…see ya next year!

The Library Store on Wheels rolls on!

If you think I’ve been busy after my recent bout with Hobbit fever, you can’t imagine how busy Mrs. Yeti has been getting her store’s new Library Store on Wheels…well, on wheels! It’s been a long, hard journey for Mrs. Yeti (aka Christine Romero) and her co-pilot Sarah Lancaster, from concept to actual execution, but, yesterday morning they finally took their award-winning Library Store on the road and Angelenos ate it up!

And we, for one, could not be prouder of the ladies behind the wheel. Sarah and Christine worked their butts off to make this happen, and their artful attention to detail shows in every nook and cranny of this rocking new Library Store truck. Or so I hear. I haven’t actually seen the truck in person yet, but, I do know that Sarah even designed the linoleum pattern on the floor herself! Cool, huh?

The Library Store on Wheels will be rolling across the southland for the rest of this week and part of next week as well, trying to hit as many different corners of the vast L.A. Library system as they can. For a full schedule of which branch they’ll be parked at each day — they’ll even be parked outside Hollywood’s Amoeba Records on Wed. 12/19 — please visit the Library Foundation’s blog here. You can also follow their every move at The Library Store on Twitter.

Greta and I will be touring the truck for the first time today at the Sherman Oaks library. So, if you’re in the neighborhood drop by and say hello. Or better yet, do some holiday shopping and buy some of the fun, eclectic stuff that The Library Store has to offer.

I mean, hey, Christmas is right around the corner…