I made roughly my 54th trip (since patronizing it) to Bull Moose Music for the 2nd annual National Record Store Day (see last year's post - http://mog.com/blog_posts/156641). Bands from Cali to Maine (where I'm at) were performing, signing, and chillin'. That's not all. There were supposed to be a ton of exclusives (mostly 7"'s) from bands like Whiskeytown, Flaming Lips, The Smiths, Jesus Lizard, Wilco (an advanced DVD being sold) and others. There was free stuff (ala music samplers, mouse pads, goodie bags, free promo 7" and 12" records and more). I penned a few things I really wanted like the Beck/Sonic Youth split 7", a Flaming Lips/Black Keys split 7", Bad Religion original EP 7" release, and unrelease Smiths Headmaster Ritual 7" (never released in the states), MuteMath EP (featuring the one song from the Twilight soundtrack and 3 unreleased tracks), Flight of the Conchords, a Radiohead 10" vinyl series and a live Tom Waits 7".

Shew. So, I get there and the place is pretty full. It's about 1:30 PM. The free stuff table is right next to the "exclusives" table. There are a ton of Iron & Wine full length live discs for sale ($9) and a few random LP's - Jane's Addiction, Silversun Pickups, Dr. Dog, Cursive but all I could find from my "To Find" list was the...hmmm...the Flight of the conchords 7" and MuteMath (which although it was a 12" EP, cost $12). Everything else was gone. I missed the last goodie bag by minutes and I did snag the last Record Store Day mouse pad.

So, the mission was sort of aborted but I found some rad stuff. I got a Record Store Day comp from Caroline Records - featuring stuff from Chin Chin, Harlem Shakes, Lady Sovereign, Fever Ray and others. I snagged a free Fat Possum Records colord 7" vinyl for Wavves, Crocodiles, Thomas Function, and Preacher Man from 1990. I got a free Astralworks CD sampler and a Peter Bjorn and John 12" remix EP of the song, Nothing to Worry About.

The cool thing was the stuff I did pay for and purchase for a grand total of about $26. Check this out -

Depeche Mode Some Great Reward LP - (180 gram vinyl, 75% off - original price was something like $23)

Louis XIV Slick Dogs and Ponies (their sub par sophomore album on wax w/ a the full length CD inside, also 75% off)

Flight of the Conchords 7" - (Pencils in the Wind and Albi the Racist Dragon, also got a code to d/l the MP3 of these songs)

The Decemberists Perfect Crime #2 EP on vinyl (75% off - original price was $9)

Beck Gamma Ray 7" (w/ Jay Reatard remix - $.99)

The Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (CD - on sale for $8.99 - when is Beatles stuff ever on sale, new for that cheap???)

I was very happy w/ my purchases and I'm glad I could help out the little independent record store a bit. I felt bad for an actual record, record store, a few doors down from Bull Moose, Vinyl Haven - they didn't seem to get the same type of 'pop' Bull Moose did but either way, I'm glad this is becoming an annual tradition nonetheless.