Today is set aside to honor one of the most beleaguered sectors of our retail economy – the small independent record store. Special events are underway at nearly all the economically pummeled and most certainly doomed establishments. For years it has been an article of faith that the shop you go to when you want to physically peruse an assortment of non-mainstream recordings will soon be extinct.

So think of this as the day the Dodo Bird decided to have an open house. How will you feel about yourself the day after you find out he’s gone for good? And you didn’t even visit when you had such a nice invitation!

Having said that, I must note that there are many small shops that continue to defy these dire predictions and (knock on wood) always will. They enrich our communities and give us hope.

Chief among these sturdy stalwarts is the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor in Richfield, which has catered to an acoustic and roots music crowd since its founding in 1979. The shop is also an academy where some of the finest local musicians of today teach the finest local musicians of tomorrow. The Homestead, under the steady leadership of Marv and Dawn Menzel, is an invaluable resource – a place where performers and their fans find nourishment.

I talked to Marv yesterday and he confirmed that the shop is a survivor.

“There’s no question that small businesses received the brunt of the downturn in the economy. But we’re alive and well. The rent’s paid. The lights are on. And we’re open for business.”

When I pressed him on the dismal economic predictions for those who sell CD’s in a world increasingly in love with the download, Marv acknowledged that the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor is more than a record shop.

“But records are certainly a big part of what we do. Every CD that’s released by an artist, and I’m sure there are exceptions to this, but … it’s a work of art. The artist puts a lot of him or her self into that product, not only the selection of tunes but the art itself, the liner notes … it’s a package that they’re putting together with their fans in mind. And with the advent of the downloading and everything we’ve lost sight of that. Or we are abdicating our right to have such a thing. And that troubles me dearly.”

As a consequence of it’s location on Penn Avenue just south of 66th Street in Richfield, the shop suffered from years of highway construction on the Crosstown and Interstate 35W – a disruption that made it difficult even for not-too-distant customers to get to and from Homestead. Now that the work is done, Marv Menzel is optimistic.

“We’re back to having easy access … and we’re looking ahead to a brighter future.”

The Homestead Pickin’ Parlor will celebrate Record Store Day with live music and hot dogs. There will be specials. And though you can always visit them online, if you don’t find the strength to get up and walk away from that computer, you’ll cheat yourself out of a wonderful and whimsical experience.

Who knows what you might find, just thumbing through the bins?

Share a record store memory.

Sunday Extra:

When I stopped by the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor yesterday, business was brisk.
Live music and free hot dogs added to the festivities. Added advantage: It was cozy inside despite the gale force winds and barely-above-freezing outdoor temps.

Marv admitted this was far from a normal Saturday crowd, and he appeared to enjoy the commotion. Shoppers stood elbow-to-elbow going through raggedy cardboard boxes full of CD’s and LP’s – just the way it should be.

And when I say “raggedy cardboard boxes”, I’m not kidding. At Homestead, every type of display option is on display. From the ‘nice tidy bin’ approach to the ‘box on the floor’ strategy to the ‘stack of discs in the corner’ configuration, the product is out and ready for you to discover it!

There’s a lot to see at the counter. A retail consultant might say there’s too much here for any one thing to make an impression, but I hope that consultant’s advice would get lost in the clutter. The cash register is more than a place to check out with your purchase – it’s a day’s worth of distraction.

All in all, it was a warm and cheerful place to be on a blustery afternoon in April. If only every day could be like Record Store Day!

Today is Billie Holiday’s birthday. She started her famously untidy life in Baltimore on April 7th, 1915 as Eleanora Fagan. It didn’t last long. She died at 44.

It’s hard to imagine how anyone could begin with more obstacles to face – poverty and racism for starters with physical abuse and drug addiction down the road. With no status and no advantages she managed to create a lasting body of work and fundamentally changed the way people sing songs. Billie Holiday performed sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall and was also arrested on drug charges in a hospital bed during her final illness. Saying she had highs and lows doesn’t even begin to describe it.

What strikes me is how casually the world would have overlooked her, as countless millions born into similar circumstances have been. It is completely whimsical that we got to hear her voice at all – it could so easily have gone another way. Jazz impresario John Hammond went to a club to listen to a different singer but heard Billie Holiday instead. She caught a break and made a lasting impression, and as a result people will be listening to Billie Holiday long after the rest of us are forgotten.

Here she is with her voice weirdly out of synch to the video – so close your eyes if you have to. I’m guessing this is what the experts mean when they say she sang like a horn player, trading solos with the guys in the band.

So I guess we learn from this that talent can be found an appreciated in spite of adversity, though in the case of Billie Holiday you can’t say adversity was overcome. Her amazing emergence makes me think of a talk I heard a few weeks ago that had to do with the way diamonds are formed and brought to the surface. They are incredibly hard to find even if you know the conditions are right for diamonds to exist. There could be a diamond strike under your house, or under the parking lot across the street, but not necessarily both.

Ever stumble across an amazing, totally unexpected find?

Today is Bobby McFerrin’s Birthday.

He’s a performer with the skill and the openness to unite all the musical genres. There doesn’t seem to be a style that’s beyond his reach. McFerrin teaches while he entertains, and he gets more involvement out of his audiences than anyone since Pete Seeger was in his prime.

I first became aware of his talent with the live recording of his solo performances in Germany. The Germans call him “Wunder Stimme”, or “Wonder Voice”. I’m still amazed to hear this one guy keeping a crowd enthralled, singing without accompaniment and using his own body for percussion. What a remarkable (and gutsy) thing to do.

It almost didn’t happen. He was a 27 year old piano player working with bands when he had his “Aha” moment.

“I was living in Salt Lake City and I was an accompanist in the dance department at the University of Utah. I was walking home during a lunch break when, all of a sudden, I knew I was a singer. I called the Hilton Hotel to ask for an audition. I sang five tunes and the guy hired me on the spot. I started working as a singer right away, at the piano bar.”

I wonder why it hit him then – walking home for lunch. Maybe hunger had something to do with it. And calling the Hilton to ask for an audition just because you had this weird idea? That’s bold. But if you’re Bobby McFerrin, it pays off.

On his 61st birthday today we’ll hear him with some other geniuses, Mark O’Connor, Yo Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer.

He had one hit, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. McFerrin handled that just the right way – he let it open some doors, but didn’t allow one song to define him. Instead of succumbing to the constant pressure to come up with another hit song, and another and another, he stopped performing his chart topper. He let it go off and have its own life without him.

Who else would do that?

McFerrin has established himself as a musical force that thrives in areas outside the narrow demands of popular culture. He has shown us a remarkable combination of integrity and freedom, in part made possible from the money generated by one big financial success.

You’ve just written and performed a hit song, and the money is rolling in. What do you do NEXT?

I don’t really think acoustic music is about to have a resurgence in the popular culture, but it is nice to see that Bob Dylan, The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons will do a special “salute to acoustic music” as part of Sunday night’s Grammy broadcast.

21st century Folk Scare, anyone?

Here’s Bob using his unplugged guitar to do a familiar and uncomplicated version of one of his most resonant songs.

But why is his face so blue? Sunburn medication, perhaps? He looks like a love child of Woody Guthrie and one of the Na’vi from the film Avatar.

What does it mean to be “Tangled Up In Blue?”