Help out the local independents...

Sorry, kiddios...just got back in town yesterday from visiting the family and dropping a lil' birthday gift on the sister. Happy 27th, by the by, if you see this.

Also took a moment after dinner at Wick's Pizza Parlor - I especially recommend the bacon and banana pepper, loads of bacon from the Wick folks - to stop over at a music store that my mom's been frequenting of late, Underground Sounds and grabbed the new Richard Thompson album. Pretty nice album, not quite on par with his last studio release, Mock Tudor but not without its highlights. Gimme a couple of days and I'll have it posted over on my entertainment blog.

A little discussion that I had with the proprietor of Underground Sounds got me to thinking that I might wanna give a little shout out to some of my favorite local independent media providors, the record vendors of the world. Since I've only spent a great deal of time in three or four cities, this won't be by any stretch an exhaustive tour through the finest independent media dealers around the country - for that, check either AIMS or CIMS. I'm just dropping in a few of my favorites.

First and foremost, there's Shake It Records down in the Northside region of Cincinnati. They've been named the best music store in town for three years running - impressive considering they've barely been open longer than that. They've got the most exhaustive and successful arrangement of genres in the city - Americana, Unlistenable, Punk, Oldies, Grunge, Garage Rock, and a bunch more that I should be able to remember but can't. They have some great listening stations, and they sell tickets to local shows at some of the smaller venues around town - including but not limited to my favorite place to see a show, the Southgate House. And they're able to make some great recommendations if you're willing to chat them up about what your tastes are.

Shake It has taken over the title of best record store in town from Everybody's Records which used to have an impressive offering of import and less officially released, shall we say, albums but have really pared back their offerings and begun targeting more rap and hardcore music, genres that I don't enjoy quite as much. They're far from a bad store at this point, and they're great about buying used CDs ($4 cash or $5 store credit), but they're just not the alpha dog in town anymore, and I do wish their hours were a little later on the weekends.

In Louisville, it's one of two places - either the afore mentioned Underground Sounds where I will admit to having found a couple of less officially released live recordings from some great artists or Ear-X-Tacy in the same area of town. Both are great record stores, and I haven't been in either enough of late to compare them - hey, ya move out of town and lose a little connection with the local scene, so sue me. I do love the Ear-X-Tacy bumper sticker, though...

And in case you needed more impetus to drop by your local independent retailer, all of these stores I've mentioned sell exclusive CDs by artists who want to help out their local little guys - Ben Folds, Ween, Richard Thompson, PJ Harvey, Jay Farrar, Belle & Sebastian, Ben Harper, My Morning Jacket, Queens of the Stone Age, Mars Volta, Matthew Sweet, Jason Mraz, Phish, and a bunch more. If you want the good stuff, you'll have to go to the good places...