Saturday is April 20th, and it’s a special day because… no, I’m not talking about it being 4/20 (although that WILL be a topic in a separate post). No, it’s the annual Record Store Day, and it’s a day to patronize and enjoy your local record shop and celebrate vinyl records and keep the flame alive.

What? You only download now? Physical manifestations of music are not your thing? Huh. Well, you little whippersnapper, let me tell you about… wait, I don’t want to get into Old Guy mode. But here’s the thing: Like book stores (another endangered species of retail), there’s something about a good record shop that you can’t replace with ITunes or Spotify or torrents. It’s the shuffling through the racks, the curiosity about the record with the strange cover that kinda looks like it might sound cool, the sound of whatever the clerk threw onto the stereo and the discovery thereby of something you wouldn’t otherwise have heard. I’m a sucker for all of that, and as someone who still has all his vinyl records (and married a girl who kept her records, too — a match made in LP and 45 heaven), I’m all-in.

Here’s what’s in store for Record Store Day 2013:

-Exclusive releases. Some records will ONLY be available on Record Store Day. and you’ll have to go here to see what’s available and where. There’s new music, special reissues in numbered editions, picture discs, exclusives… I might have to hunt down the special 7-inch red-and-yellow-splatter-colored 45 with The Stooges doing “No Fun” and The Black Keys’ cover of the same, or the release of the “other” sessions Miles Davis recorded during the production of what became Kind of Blue. There’s even a 7-inch picture disc of Cheech and Chong’s “Earache My Eye,” appropriately enough for 4/20. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., the Flaming Lips, Bob Dylan, the Foals, Rob Zombie, David Guetta, The Hold Steady, Robyn Hitchcock, Lonely Island, MGMT (on cassette!), and, for Matt Mira, the Dave Matthews Band…. there’s something for everyone.

-Live Appearances. Here’s the list. Local bands, well-known artists, all sorts of in-store entertainment and signings.

All the information is at this link here. Go see which stores in your area are participating (it’s worldwide, by the way).