I'm not going to lie to you. Black Friday is ass. People want to talk about the decline of America and I point to how we're actively ruining the Thanksgiving holiday weekend: people running around like animals and behaving badly in the name of commerce and sales sales sales, with retail workers caught in the melee and worse, called upon to get up earlier and earlier to deal with the mobs until this year, when we've moved Black Friday to Thanksgiving and ruined that too. Thanksgiving, and the day after Thanksgiving used to be great, but now they're both rubbish. Indeed, the only genuinely good thing about Black Friday at this point is the Record Store Day Black Friday sale at locally owned independent record stores. Like the Record Store Day holiday in April, there's an amazing bounty of cool (and weird) exclusive releases. To give you time to properly get your lists ready here's a probably incomplete list of stuff hitting stores this Friday (a complete list can be found at the handy Record Store Day site):


Beach Boys  Surfin' Safari Capitol 10" black vinyl
David Bowie Jean Genie Virgin Records 7" picture disc
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band 7" singles
Gene Clark Echoes/I Found You Sundazed 7" single
Coheed and Cambria The Afterman Ascension 12" clear vinyl
Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley Hallelujah 7" split single
Dr. Dog Wild Race 12" etched vinyl
Bob Dylan Duquesne Whistle  Columbia 7" single 5000
Fat Boys  Fat Boys Pizza Box LP 12" vinyl picture disc
Gaslight Anthem Hold You Up 10" red Vinyl
Grateful Dead Live at Winterland (5/30/1971) double LP 
CeeLo Green/Donny Hathaway This Christmas 7" red & green vinyl
Merle Haggard Capitol Rarities 10" black vinyl 1200
Mayer Hawthorne KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic 10" black vinyl
Lee Hazlewood You Turned My Head Around: Lee Hazlewood Industries 
1967-1970 (11 x 7" Box Set)
Wanda Jackson Capitol Rarities 10" black vinyl 
Bert Jansch Blackwater Side Spiritual Pajamas 7" single 
JEFF The Brotherhood Dark Energy 7" vinyl 
Jellyfish Stack-a-Tracks Double CD set 
Joan Jett Bad Reputation LP w/ bonus CD 180g clear vinyl LP
Ethan Johns Whip Poor Will 7" single 
Norah Jones Little Broken Hearts Remix EP 10" black vinyl 
George Jones United Artists Rarities 10" black vinyl 
King Diamond No Presents For Christmas 12" picture disc 
Bettye LaVette More Thankful, More Thoughtful EP
Love Forever Changes  180g vinyl w/bonus 7"
Lucero Live at Sun Studios  7" single 
Lumineers Winter EP 10" vinyl 
M83 Reunion remix 12” LP 
Mad Season "River of Deceit"/"I Don't Know Anything" (live) 10" colored vinyl 
Biz Markie  The Biz Never Sleeps 12" picture disc
John Mayer The Complete 2012 Performances Collection 12" vinyl 
Mogwai A Wrenched Virile Lore double 12" colored vinyl
My Morning Jacket "It Makes No Difference" (Live Ft. Brittany Howard) 10"
Nirvana 20th Anniversary Edition of Incesticide 45RPM Edition 
Buck Owens Buck Sings Eagles 10" black vinyl 
Primus Green Naugahyde 10"
Tyler Ramsey  "Raven Shadow"/"Black Pines" 10" vinyl  
Reservoir Dogs Soundtrack 12" colored vinyl 
Rockabye Baby Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of The Flaming Lips LP
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones (EP) 7" single 
Asobi Seksu/Boris Split 7" single
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros/Aaron Embry Community Vagrant 7" 
Joe Strummer Live at Acton Town Hall double 12" vinyl 
Teddy Thompson Window Up Above 7" single 
Tomahawk Stone Letter 7" single  
Toro Y Moi  So Many Details  7" single 
Various Artists Death May Be Your Santa CD 
Various Artists Moonrise Kingdom (Original Score) 10" black vinyl 
Various Artists Obscure Giants of Acoustic Guitar trading cards
The White Stripes “Hotel Yorba” (Live at the Hotel Yorba) b/w “Rated X” (Live 
at the Hotel Yorba) 7" red opaque vinyl
The White Stripes “Fell in Love With a Girl” b/w “I Just Don’t Know What to 
Do With Myself” 7" red opaque vinyl
The White Stripes “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” b/w “Stop Breaking 
Down” 7" red opaque vinyl
Lucinda Williams / Michael Chapman "That Time of Night" 10" vinyl 
Link Wray and The Raymen "Big City After Dark", “Hold It,” “Dance 
Party Pts. 1 & 2”  7" single
Frank Zappa Why Don'cha Do Me Right, Big Leg Emma 7" single


There's even more, but I can't ruin the surprises and child-like wonders that will still await you when you hit up your local record stores, I just can't. Which stores are participating?

Record Theatre (both locations), 1800 Main St. Buffalo and 3500 Main St. Amherst
Spiral Scratch Records, which will also be featuring live music and Amy's Food Truck. 291 Bryant St. Buffalo
M&B Record Exchange, 207 Delaware St. Tonawanda
Music Matters, 527 Cayuga Dr. Niagara Falls


No matter where you are in WNY, there's a record store for you this Friday, where people are nice, everything's copacetic, and the music is going to be good. To hell with that other noise. Sleep Thanksgiving off (cuz you tied one on- like your supposed to) and hit up a local record store to snag some neat stuff and do some holiday shopping. It's good for the soul.