A Record Store Worth Going Out of My Way For

For a place that has so much to offer, Northern Colorado has always been lacking in the record store department, in my humble opinion.  So thank goodness we have Downtown Sound in Loveland and Bazaar Bizarre in FoCo, as they get record geeks like myself by! Because the pickin's can be slim, at least when it comes to used records & CDs, you have to either be in the store when a good selection shows up, or have reeeeally obscure taste in music.  I mainly love rock music from the late 60s to now that I haven't already heard 60 million times, so every now & then I am permitted to call my taste "obscure."  I like to think of it more as just "not totally boring."

The reason I love Ernie November is it has its "own" selection of used vinyl.  It's not necessarily the largest assortment, but if you take an occasional trip in, you'll have a lot of those "Oh wow" moments, seeing things you haven't thought about in awhile.  I picked up the 1970 record from Wishbone Ash, which is a great example of something you might not see for awhile at some of the other stores - and if you do, it might run you $20, rather than the $8 that I paid.

Side note:  Could everyone please stop buying records?  I'm kidding.  But still, a few years back $5 was expensive and $.50 was fairly common.  Now, if it's .$50, you're gonna get Yoko Ono's Least Favorite Christmas Hits Volume IV.  (No offense if you're a Yoko Ono fan.)

The experience at Ernie's has always been fun, though.  You walk in and the first thing you see is the $1 CD bin.  When I find something I love in there, I am both tickled and slightly offended at the same time.  When I don't, that's five minutes of my life I'll never get back.  But that's part of the ride you sign up for when you go into a record store.

Next, I'll glance at all the black light posters, and I have to say:  It's nice to see ones that don't necessarily glamorize drugs (although I do own a magic mushroom one that says "Give These a Try.")  Nope, this weekend, I picked up one that looks like a giant aquarium.  I'll be framing that and putting it over my stairs where, at one time, I was going to install a real aquarium.  I'm all about economy and humanity, baby.

The used records are waaaay in the back.  You used to feel so smart going back there because they are nearly hidden, and you used to even have to ask for permission to go in there.  And now, they have an old Crosley turntable whose belt seems to be going out because, after listening to like five records, I still can't tell you whether I liked any of them.  They all kind of sounded like Bob Dylan having a terrible day.

If you have a favorite place to shop for music, not so much a website or an app, I would love to know about it!  I love every one of these stores around here.  Finally,