Record Store Day @ Guestroom Records In Norman

A man surely 10 years younger than me asked about the commotion down at Guestroom Records on Saturday night, and I told him it was "Record Store Day" as if he had just asked why everybody was wearing green on March 17.

I explained that every third Saturday in April is a day where local, independent record stores celebrate music, the unique culture of the indie record shop and its unique customer base -- in this case Norman, Okla.

It helps that one of Guestroom's two stores is in a college town. It rocks that it's on Main Street, which has boomed big time the past 10 to 15 years.

Back in the day, when I went to OU, we had Sound Warehouse. I'm not going to knock them; heck, they were way better than the corporate behemoths that followed. However, SW's massive inventory was canceled out by the white walls and uniformed employees.

For those of you who haven't been to Guestroom Records, it looks like a kick-ass record shop you'd see in Seattle, San Fran or New York. Heck, it reminds me a ton of Good Records in Dallas and a bit less so like the Tower Records on Lemmon Avenue.

Much of the art is done by hand, and the walls are plastered with classic posters and album covers. While the musical spirit of Guestoom is clearly steeped in today, it pays the proper amount of respect to the greats who paved the way: Bowie, Cash, The Ramones.

Furthermore, its proprietors seem to be super laid-back cool. When I asked about coming down to snap some shots during Record Store Day, the response I got was: "Man, come on down and spend the whole day with us!" What was doubly neat is that when I asked the man at the counter about the band playing, there wasn't an ounce of condescension.

"They're The Evangelicals," he told me.

While I'm a 38-year-old, approaching-middle age professional, I still felt a little embarrassed that I had to ask. See, The Evangelicals are one of Norman's best-known current indie bands. I'd describe their sound as one-part electro pop with some heavy punk influence.

Maybe I'm totally off there; you tell me. However, they were really quite excellent, and there was a crowd of at least 200 to 300 people there cheering them on.

In addition to the live music, Record Store Day at Guestroom also featured one-day-only store specials and plenty of food and drinks. Not just any drinks: They broke out the Pabst Blue Ribbon, which is perfect for a college town. One part cool, many parts cheap.

My kind of town.

This Record Store Day concept is nationwide, and the only requirement is that the store be at least 50 percent music retail, be operated in the state of location and I think be owned 70 percent by live, breathing individuals.

No corporate behemoths.

Why is this important?

Because the creative process in music starts with the individual. If one wants to become a singer-songwriter, one does this himself or herself. You learn an instrument, start a band, learn to write lyrics, buy a van, live together eating corn dogs and drinking cheap beer while playing live shows night after night in town after town.

If you want to become a pop star and you have the talent and the look, you just move to L.A. or N.Y. and let the corporations mold you into who they want you to be.

Today was a day to celebrate the hard work that goes into the music-creation process at a hyperlocal level and the locally owned stores that propel them into the marketplace. It was also a day to celebrate the color and character a store like Guestroom gives downtown Norman.

On a side note, I thought it doubly cool that Record Store Day comes exactly one week before the Norman Music Festival. This was like a cool warmup Saturday to the festivities scheduled for downtown next week.

By the way, early word on the forecast next week indicates that the weather will be GREAT. Bring sunscreen.

And make it a point to at least check out Guestroom Records.