Celebrate Record Store Day @ Gem City Records

...with the weather so beautiful today in Dayton, it's a perfect excuse for you to get out to Gem City Records today to show yr support for Record Store Day. Gem City Records will be giving away plenty of swag. If nothing else, there will be several local musicians performing today and tomorrow including Brandon Hawk, John Gassett, Jordan Hull, and Mascot. You can get the performance schedules here. If yr up for a road trip, Dayton's favorite sisters The Breeders will be doing a very special in-store performance at Shake It Records in Cincinnati at 8 pm this evening. The ladies will also have on hand their new EP, Fate to Fatal which they handscreened themselves before it's Tuesday, April 21 release date. You'll wanna grab those up before they're gone...

National Record Store Day in Dayton

...yes, there are still independent record stores in Dayton. Today is National Record Store Day, in which more than 30 independent record outlets across the country celebrate the culture of independent record stores. Two of the country's most renowned indie record stores, Dingleberry's (who was the first record outlet in the country to EVER play in-store music video promos. Seriously. Look it up.) and Gem City Records will both host special events and have incredibly stupid good deals for patrons...

...starting at 4 today, Dingleberry's will have DJ Jay Madewell (pictured above) spin vintage rock, soul, funk, and new wave. Over at Gem City Records, there will be special in-store performances by Nick Kizirnis, XL427, and many more all afternoon. Wanna show yr love for independent music? Wave that flag....

Joe Anderl-Today @ Gem City Records

...fresh off of a short tour with Winters Make Sailors, local troubadour Joe Anderl will be performing a special, high-profile set this evening at Gem City Records. With crews on hand from WDTN and the local FOX news affiliate, Anderl will perform at 6 pm this evening. We HIGHLY recommend that everyone head down for this and make your presence known in support of local music. It's not often that the mass media takes note of local music, so let's show them why they should....

Afternoon Delight

What? Don't like football? Not ready to head to the mall for Christmas shopping yet? Try this on for size....Gem City Records is hosting a songwriter's showcase in-store today between 2 and 4 pm. We can't say for certain who will be playing, but hey, it's free, it's live music, and it's at the best record store in town. You tell us how you can go wrong...

Okay, I'll Admit That I Don't Really Understand

...for the 10th Anniversary of their artistic coup de grace, the Flaming Lips prepared a special 10-channel version of the epic Zaireeka album, complete with a virtual Wayne Coyne serving as MC to the event, cueing the CD operators when to start each of the album's eight tracks. In addition, Coyne provided additional insight into the making of the album in between tracks. While brevity may not be his strong suit, it was enlightening and gave the album additional perspective, both historically and musically....

...while I could imagine at least a dozen places, situations, and levels of consciousness in which this album might be better appreciated, the fact that it was in public, in record store, and during operational hours made for a rather unique experience. Moving in between the speakers was confined to the rows of CDs. As you passed through the G-H section, you found yourself at a rather optimal position between the speakers that, in our opinion, provided one of the most balanced positions in the room. However, you had to constantly navigate through other people. As opposed to headphones, in which you might feel in between music moving between two poles two-dimensionally, the Zaireeka experience was truly 3-dimensional, as you could move inside the music in some kind of spherical container. Truly an experience....

...Thanks again to Eric Cassidy and Gem City Records for making this happen. On a Monday night, no les...

Zaireeka listening party tonight @ Gem City Records

Few records in the history of rock n' roll come with such mystique and have been so difficult to digest. The sheer audacity of Zaireeka at that particular moment in the journey of The Flaming Lips speaks not only to their unbounded daring, but also to the scope of their vision. An album that is only fully appreciated with the aid of 4, yes 4, CD players?!?!? Who has that technology laying around??? Well, perhaps it was an attempt to bring people together to enjoy the experience, like it is happening tonight. Seems like something Wayne Coyne would think up....

...so, tonight. 7 PM. Gem City Records. Curated by Eric Cassidy of Shrug. Virtual Wayne Coyne. We can't imagine this being anything less than bizarre.....