In the Mix

This Saturday is Record Store Day. Hundreds of independent stores across the country that have thus far survived the downloadable music revolution will jointly celebrate the bricks and mortar music store culture, and lots and lots of bands will play free shows amidst the bins of CDs and vinyl.

In Philadelphia, the marquee act is British songwriter Kate Nash. Her show at the Trocadero on Saturday night is sold out, but she's playing for free at Main Street Music in Manayunk at 3 p.m. that day. And at a.k.a. music in Old City, Princeton punkers Home Blitz will be playing at 7. Repo Records on South Street is also participating, though there's no in-store perfromance there.

Over at recordstoreday.com, where there's a list of all participating stores around the country, they've gathered up lots of quotes from estimable individuals on the importance of the local record store to the health of the culture at large.

Among them:

Damon Albarn, of Blur and Gorillaz: "My local independent record shop (Honest Jons) is a library, where you can go to listen to music, learn about it, exchange ideas about it and be inspired by it. I think independent record shops will outlive the music industry as we know it because long term their value to people is far greater, because even in our era of file-sharing and blogs, you cant replace the actual look on someone’s face when they are playing something they really rate and think you should listen to it too. It’s special.”

Bruce Springsteen: "I buy CDs all the time. I'll go into a record store and just buy $500 worth of CDs. I will! I am singlehandedly supporting what's left of the record business."

Del The Funkyhomosapien: "Independent record stores are like the best thing going for real music lovers. There's just no way you're gonna find those elusive grooves that fan fan salivates over at a chain store. Those important records that shape the industry and add so much dimension to it can be found at the indie spots. I remember going to a store named Leopold's in Berkeley CA when I was younger. Man, I used to live in that place. They were pretty much the only place I could find Hiphop. Back then, there wasn't much at the chain stores. You had to go forth and discover stuff, and the indie stores is where the discovery begins. People in the store are informed, they can actually HELP you find stuff that you're interested in or suggest things that you may be interested in. It's just a hip place to be, man."

Nick Hornby: "Record stores can't save your life. But they can give you a better one."

Regina Spektor: “I just really love anything that’s not faceless and where people know each other and work together to build, like, a community. People that work there know their stuff; they’re not coming in today to sell music and tomorrow to sell TVs and the next day to sell whatever. Somebody can come in and say, “I want somebody who plays piano music” or something, and somebody will actually tell them to listen to my record and they’ll play it in the store for them and they’ll talk about it. You can connect in some way with somebody who’s doing something that they love. And that it’s important to have something that is being done just out of true love for new music that is being welcomed into the world. People should go to their indie record store and find out what is happening.”

Joan Jett: “The indie record stores are the backbone of the recorded music culture. It's where we go to network, browse around, and find new songs to love. The stores whose owners and staff live for music have spread the word about exciting new things faster and with more essence than either radio or the press. Any artist that doesn't support the wonderful ma and pa record stores across America is contributing to our own extinction.”

Shelby Lynne: "You can't roll a joint on an iPod - buy vinyl!"