Record Store Culture Celebrated At Beverly Records

CHICAGO — It was one of those rare confluences of holidays, like having two solar eclipses seven years apart, when the (wink-wink) 4/20 and Record Store Day fell on the same Saturday. It won’t happen again until 2030.

Beverly Records, 11612 S. Western Ave., Chicago, kicked off its first RSD party in the parking lot. Although it was 43 degrees and there was a stiff Chicago wind, the vibes were warm once the music started.

Talking about record store culture, Record Store Day is a good day to reflect on the record stores of my youth when record shops proliferated on every corner. There was the blacklight-lit shop in my hometown that I went to as a young teen to buy Cowsills records entering through a beaded curtain where a haze of marijuana smoke hung over the shop. The freaks who ran the place always had big smiles on their faces. I’m sure my parents would have been horrified knowing I was walking into such a den of iniquity.

Beverly Records, 11612 S. Western Ave., Chicago | Lorraine Swanson

Algonquin Records, 532 E. Algonquin Road, Des Plaines, also celebrated RSD on Saturday. Pushing 48 years old, the record shop was started by two brothers who were my high school classmates (not the aforementioned store I went to at 14). The Gonk was the first store in my suburb to rent VHS and Beta movies, which was pretty radical for 1980. To this day Algonquin Records is still holding its own, carrying vinyl, audio and video tapes.

Beverly Records emanated pulsating rays from the South Side into space for the global RSD event on Saturday. The venerable record shop quickly sold out of the Beatles box sets of Ed Sullivan performances and mini-turntables. Customers flowed through the store the entire day, squeezing by each other through the maze of bins and crates presided over by the serene co-owners, Jack and Randy Dreznes. The store began in 1967 and went through various incarnations selling stationary, toys, stamps and records, until its current storefront became available and was filled with records in 1971.

Willie Buck and the Secret 4 | Lorraine Swanson

Randy Dreznes says 30 to 40 percent of their customers are between the ages of 15 and 30, who are coming in to buy heavy metal, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Metallica and Led Zeppelin records, to name a few. Vinyl sales have outclipped CD sales in recent years. The analog sound creates a warm sound that reverberates. There are also the artful covers and the shared experience of slipping the album out of the cover and putting it on the turntable, instead of listening in isolation on streaming devices.

Justin Bader and Erin Kharzai , of The Bourbon Belts, a soulful country folk duo from Tinley Park, warmed up the crowd playing a variety of original songs and rare B-side covers, their harmonies soaring over the garage roofs of Morgan Park.

Vinyl fans gather for Record Store Day at Beverly Records. | Lorraine Swanson

Jack Bilby, lead guitarist for The Secret 4, gifted people cans of Stroh’s waiting around in the cold for the music to start. The Secret 4, an all instrumental band, out of Chicago with a deep dive into Chicago blues, rockabilly, jazz and punk, put on an electrifying show. Their self-titled album, “The Secret 4” can currently be heard on all streaming platforms, with a vinyl release slated for June 1. Fronting the Secret 4 was former Muddy Waters bandmate, Willie Buck, a powerful Chicago blues elder statesman.

All in all, it was a grand afternoon. I hope this becomes a thing in years to come. Congrats to Beverly Records, here’s to another 58 years.