1987 found us in Joliet, IL - fictional home of the Blues Brothers, and my first exposure to the true greatness of independent record stores. Crow's Nest Music was, and is still the coolest record store I've ever been to. Music in every format as far as the eye can see, and an incredibly knowledgeable staff. If you were looking for it, Crow's Nest had it, and if they didn't have it, they could get it, and it wasn't a problem. You know that feeling, of asking the record store clerk if they can order something, and getting that disgusted look, like you're wrecking their day. That never happened at Crow's Nest.

After I moved from the Chicagoland area, I would make trips back for concerts and to visit friends, and each trip included a necessary stop at Crow's Nest Music, often to introduce friends that were traveling with me, to a great record store, as if it was an old friend. Sadly, Crow's Nest closed a few years back, a victim of the same problems in the industry that have wiped out so many other great independent record stores. Events like this, make Record Store Day a powerful effort for awareness. These days, there's a store called Disc Replay which is part of a small chain of stores in Illinois and Indiana, but it's not the same.

Before we leave Illinois, let's give honorable mention to Toad Hall. My dad was working in Rockford, and while visiting, I found Toad Hall, which the link above describes as "a wonderful repository of books, comics, games, prints, old toys, memorabilia of all kinds, posters and most importantly, to me at least, records." It was Toad Hall where I found old issues of Rolling Stone from the 70s and 80s, a great stock of used CDs, and I believe, even old radio shows (Casey Kasem, Rick Dees, etc) on vinyl.

I was happy to hear recently that Toad Hall is still around, and I need to make a trip to Rockford to visit that musical haven again. I think now that I am older, I would appreciate it more.

1989 found me in Cleveland, home to many great record stores that have come and gone through the years, including two of my favorites, My Generation in Westlake (R.I.P), and for a brief period in the 90s, Repeat The Beat, which illustrates my view of dangerous record stores. Dangerous record stores are the ones that have SO much cool stuff, yet not much in the way of foot traffic. I've seen many a store like it with great inventory, but a small customer base, come and go in the past 20 years. And that sucks. You love it, and you get it... where are the rest of the music fans. Don't they know? That was my definition for Repeat The Beat - a great idea, but too much of a great idea. I bought some great music during the times that I was there though, for sure.