As a twenty-five year old individual, I have fond memories of shopping at various record stores around the Cleveland area including Ultrasound, My Mind's Eye, Chris' Warped Records, and so on. Many of these tiny shops acted less as stores and more as meeting halls, where local fans would meet one another, discuss shows, pass out demos, and generally congregate while escaping class, work, or other irritating responsibilities. As much as I would like to avoid sounding like a nostalgic old man rambling about the "glory days," I feel compelled to discuss how the digital age has transformed the very nature of every music culture. Clearly the digital age has made participation in any particular music culture easily achievable. For example, I think it is great that a fourteen year old boy or girl can wake up one day subjected to the constant loop of bull shit on MTV and by the next day have an entire punk rock catalog on his or her Ipod. The accessibility of music is something that helps bands and fans alike, and there is a clear correlation between the increased availability of music and the expansion of once minimalist independent music cultures, thus forcing everyone involved in said cultures to reassess their once narrow interpretations of what "independent" even means or is capable of meaning. Simply put, there are far more punks, indies, and metalheads than there were ten years ago. As expected, record labels (both independent and corporate) have survived the digital age by evolving accordingly. Digital downloads are purchased in droves as discs and records once were, although independent record labels still heavily benefit from the cultural norm of record ownership among independent music scenes. While labels are clearly surviving the digital age, record shops are not. In the past year, Cleveland fans paid their last respects to Ultrasound Music, owned and operated in Mentor / Willoughby by Gary Pflueger since 1995. I spent ample time at Gary's shop, and over the years (ever since I was a pimply faced kid buying death metal CDs and hiding the disgusting inserts from my mom) we developed a friendship. Gary was a kind of independent music guru for me, molding my tastes and shaping a very profound aspect of my personality, perhaps without even realizing it. I am not advocating for regression in this modern age, honestly I feel that record stores would benefit from an increased participation in the digital age and should seriously consider the idea of blending record stores with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. What is true is that the record store as we know it has become a relic, so enjoy them while they are around. Travel to My Mind's Eye, meet and discuss music with Charles (owner), and enjoy the company and surroundings. It's the closest thing to time traveling you'll ever participate in.
- Joe