Today is Record Store Day in the United States and 17 other countries worldwide. According to the website, “This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with the artists to celebrate that art of music.” There are over 700 stories participating this year, so there’s probably one near you. There will be live music, DJs, and special vinyl and CD releases available at most of them, so get out there and give these businesses some much-needed support. I will be doing my celebrating at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, NJ, where they’ll have live sets by Willie Nile, Titus Andronicus, and others throughout the day.

To commemorate the occasion, I’ve decided to begin a new column for Popdose, and I’m calling it Cratedigger. As you may know, I’ve been doing CD reviews, live reviews, and even a few obituaries in the year-plus that I’ve been here, but I’ve never had a regular, titled column. So this is my shot at the bigs.

As a music writer, I get more CDs than I could ever want sent to me at no charge. I am blessed. So, awhile back, I started to think about what I was going to do with the money that I used to spend on CDs. At first I didn’t even consider vinyl, because I had a turntable that I’d had since the ’70s, and it never worked properly. But after my girlfriend Nikki told me I could have the one she was keeping under her bed, I grabbed it and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve been hunting for used vinyl at stores, shows, flea markets, and garage sales. (more…)