[ and to RSD organizers everywhere!
BONUS: I’ve got a shot of the finished sign, installed in my yard, at the end of the post now. Enjoy, and I’ll see some of you Saturday!
As you should know by now, Record Store Day (April 16, 2011) is rapid approaching, and to me it’s more of a holiday than most holidays. As a quick intro, their site states that, “This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. […] Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April.” As I’ve blogged about it, each year, since it started - I wanted to do more this year, I wanted to promote Record Store Day to all the people in my neighborhood that might not appreciate the local record shop (Euclid Records) that I’ve spent time in for over 25 years. To do this my thought was one of getting offline, ya, going analog, taking it to the streets as it were, so I checked with @recordstoreday on Twitter to see if they had any ready made posters I could print out…
..and since they didn’t - my mind full of morning coffee starting cranking on the problem and quickly came up with an (almost) free DIY solution. One that would promote RSD and allow others to do the same, in their own way, or a new way, using my simple idea as a base (hmm…sounds like why I like open source software…but I digress, we’re talking about MUSIC in this post people!). I know of a few places online that you can upload an image and have it blown up so it can be printed across multiple pages that you can then piece together like a puzzle, but my favorite one is Block Posters. Now I’m sure some crazy Photoshop people can do this better, and I hope they do, but I wanted to keep a free option for those that don’t have the chops and/or software to go that route. So, if ready for the challenge, here are the steps:
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Download a promotional Record Store Day image ready to print, I prefer this one.
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Visit Block Posters, choose your image and upload it by clicking ‘Continue’
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Decide how many pages you want your image sliced up in, and the overall layout. Notice that they list the overall size as you change the parameters which is muy, muy helpful. Once you are satisfied with the layout, click ‘Continue’ again.
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Download and save your PDF, open it and print it. After that put it together, color it, distort it or otherwise make it your own.
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Plaster it wherever (you have permission to) and repeat as necessary!
For people that are happy with the basic size of 2.8 feet wide by 2 feet high, I’ve saved a copy so as not to hammer the nice folks at Block Posters, it was created with the preferred JPG from above and these basic options…
and you can grab it here. Wow, how considerate am I?
Then check for your closest participating record store, and go there to celebrate Record Store Day 2011, enjoy the bands that play the in-store sets, checkout what’s for sale and buy as much as necessary! Now besides (pun intended) the sense of community and the recognition of how important independent record stores are to you, tons of bands and artists now release all sorts of limited edition records and CDs just for this special day. I could not believe the list they compiled for this year, there really has to be something for everyone, and if not, buy something that looks interesting - you never know, you may discover your next favorite band!
Viva Record Store Day!
Here’s the finished product, installed and ready for the passing motorists!
I went to Record Store Day 2011, and all I got was an armful of records and cds, earfuls of live music by bands all day, free beer, a goofy grin and the realization that if stores and communities like this continue to exist through this part of our history, things just might be ok.