Growing up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, record stores were somewhere you could lose yourself for hours.
Browsing through the new releases, asking about a song you heard on the radio, or an album someone told you was a "must have"... Some days you came away with nothing, others with a huge poster for the bedroom wall.
Buying music wasn't the instant gratification it is today, where, at 4:00am on a Saturday morning, you can buy a track you heard in a club just a couple of hours earlier. No track is rare these days. Everyone has access to every song. You would, if it wasn't in stock, hope that the store could order it in for you... That could take a week, two if you were unlucky.
Anyway, where am I going with this? Well, for the last few years, Naas has had a record store hidden away down a side street and in through a gate... You'd not notice it even if you were standing outside! I'd bet that most people in Naas don't even know about it!
The Record Rack is the brainchild of Robert Garvey, a well-known face on the local music scene, having DJ'd for a long time. How long? Well, when I was a teenager, Rob was DJing! Now that was a long time ago! Mind you, he is only a couple of years older than me, so I guess we are both old!
So, a couple of weeks back, a friend messaged me to say that he'd bought me a ticket for a little shindig Rob was holding in The Record Rack. As luck would have it, I was not booked to shoot any show that night, so off I headed down to check it out.
I got there a little late. I missed the one live act on the night, but I did get to hear some sweet, mellow tunes courtesy of three very different DJs spinning vinyl (I think that is the term), and it brought back fond memories of lounging in sunny beachside bars around the Mediterranean back in the early 90s.
A wonderful chilled-out vibe, on a warm night, in Naas... Who would have thought it possible?
The crowd, an eclectic mix of young and old, were enjoying the sounds. Some were dancing, others, like me, just standing, nodding their heads in time to the beat!
It was certainly an unexpected experience, but it was absolutely a wonderful night. Nothing beats good sounds outdoors on a warm summer's evening, and I'm looking forward to the next one!
I did take some photos. Are they any good? Ahhh, they're a tad grainy, to be honest. I hadn't meant to take any photos on the night, but that's like putting Tayto in front of me and expecting me not to eat them!
