Record Store Day Means Deals, Live Music in Oak Park, Forest Park

The advent of MP3s, online releases and video sharing has made the lives of record store owners more difficult. 

Just last year, Val's Halla Records in Oak Park was struggling to survive. Then a group of friends and music fans created a "Help Val Keep the Lights On" fundraiser.

The Christmas shopping season was a success, and owner Val Camilletti said things are going pretty well now, but could always be better.

"Vinyl is making a big comeback," she said. "It's out-selling CDs 4-to-1 right now."

Next weekend, enter what they call "Christmas 2": Record Store Day. 

Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture of record stores, according to the Record Store Day website.

"It's all about having people acknowledge the independent record stores in their neighborhoods," Camilletti said. 

What that means locally is a day packed with live music, giveaways, deals and special edition LPs, and more. 

Val's will open two hours early, at 9 a.m., and have coffee, doughnuts and more, courtesy of fellow Arts District businesses Buzz Cafe, Eastgate Cafe and Trattoria 225. 

Chris Neville of Tributosaurus, and his friends, will be playing live music throughout the day, and there will be limited edition releases available. 

Everything in the store will be on sale all day, and there will also be raffle tickets for several upcoming concerts. Val's is also debuting new T-shirts.

179 S. Oak Park Ave., will also be participating in Record Store Day. The store will feature 20 percent off used vinyl, 25 percent off CDs and half off 45rpm.

Besides those discounts, everything else in the store will be on sale. There will also be free snacks as well as raffles, including five $20 gift certificates. And there are T-shirts available for $10 for people who spend more than $75. 

Over in Forest Park, Old School Records will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and feature live music starting at 1:30 p.m. with Zigtebra. Thea Grace will perform at 2:30, followed by Daniel Fromberg at 3:30, Dave Boykin at 4:30 and Black Bear Combo at 5:30. 

Old School Records will also have many giveaways for early arrivers. 

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