My first album was Blood Sugar Said Sex Magic by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Hi, my name is Sydney Bunky and my first LP was 1989 by Taylor Swift.

I got it for Christmas 2014.

Hi, my name is driven and my first album was Goo Kid Mad City by Kendrick Lamar.

So my very, very first impression of Portland, Oregon was, how can a town this siz have more than 20 record stores?

That was a few years ago, well before the vinyl LP revival that we now see.

It's a city that punches above its weight when it comes to independent record store culture.

We're going to check out a couple of my good friends, and we're going to see what Portland has to offer.

I want everybody to get up now.

Let's do the Saint Louis break now.

Come on.

Oh, want to break it down?

Oh, that ain't Chicago.

Let's get together in the Saint Louis.

Break.

Deck.

One of the perks of owning a record store is getting to mee my musical heroes along the way, be it well known performers that currently glitter in the public media, as well as those who are not Tik-Tok superstars, but really should be those whose musical rap sheet would impress anyone finding out for the first time who they are and what they've done.

And I can tell you a long ways.

Me day.

That's how I feel about Curtis Salgado, the soul and blues vocalist songwriter, virtuoso master of his instrument, the harmonica.

I'm a friend and peer of Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Steve Miller and many musical professionals.

A recognized artist and international performer whose recording career stretches back four decades.

Who happens to reside in the city of Portland?

Someone I've known for 25 years.

Now, who better to show me the ropes in this city and hang with better than Curtis Salgado?

Oh, yeah.

After all, this is the guy who, at the age of 16, teetered John Belushi in his role in a certain big movie called The Blues Brothers.

And.

Blues.

Right here in the city of Portland, there are many, many, many record stores.

Right now we are in the one that I consider to be the Don Dora of record stores in Portland, Oregon, with two of the main men of music in the city.

My good friend Mr.

Terry Currier, and of course, Curtis Salgado, music master in background, holding his latest record on the village label.

And, Thank you.

That's nice of you.

So, Terry, what is it, 45 years?

55 years.

Yeah.

We started on March 15th, 1969, at 3:00 in the afternoon.

You remember the hour?

I had to be told on that because I didn't start working in a record store until 1972.

I was only 14 years old in 1969.

You make me feel so young.

So am I wrong in a few years ago, that CDs and vinyl was going down, like, because of internet and streaming and all this kind of stuff as vinyl was just appearing.

Is that true?

Well, around 2000, when Napster came along.

Right.

There was a whole bunch of people that just gravitated towards sharing music and getting it for free.

Yes.

At that point in time, CDs and pushed their self up to almost $20 a pop.

Right.

And there was a great contingent of people across the United States that were ready to revolt.

And they all gravitate towards this.

And when they're streaming, it's towards streaming.

And as that happened, physical music sales started plummeting.

All right.

So what brought it back?

I mean, now there's so I mean, I put out a vinyl record, you know, I talked to both of you gentlemen.

You came from a conference and national conference where everybody was just, like, talking about vinyl is back.

And not only that, and I'm going, well, nobody has record players, you know, and they and so are our record players coming back on this final.

This is back.

They are back.

There are any number of what I call boutique turntable companie making some good equipment.

And there are turntables now available.

In fact, one of the, owners of a well-known turntable company was my customers, a 15 year old come to my store, and, you can tell that he missed the fact that vinyl had become such an invisible man in the industry.

And right now, you know, he's reaping the benefits.

And stores such as music millennium and my own.

We're selling turntables to our customers every day of the week.

We got a good doze different variety of turntables down there.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

From the cheap end ones all the way up into the six $700 ones.

Terry, what was your favorite story?

Music.

Oh, you can get down to one.

I don't think I could pick just one, but we've had some prett amazing people in here, are we?

We did Joe Strummer from the clashes.

Only ever in store.

Had Charlie rambling playing up here.

Just him and a guitar player.

And I could feel the roof of the store raised off the building.

It was so dynamic.

We had a jazz pianist in here, a guy who was Billie Holiday's last pianist, Mal Waldron, and he was up here.

He was in his mid 70s.

One of my employees taps me on the shoulder, goes, hey, Terry, that guy up there, he's smoking.

I go, he's 76.

I'm just going to let him smoke.

But anybody who came in the store for that in store was just like, but they got the show of their life.

But the people that walked in the store that knew nothing about this event happening, they were stopped in their tracks because his piano playing was fat, captivating.

Wow.

We should have seen that.

How much?

JD McPherson.

JD McPherson.

That was as fun as fun could be.

I was.

You were at that one?

Yeah, it and I was I admire him.

I do too.

Good music and a great band.

He's playing rock.

The way was before the Beatles and writing.

He is writing this very well.

As to.

Yeah and yeah.

I love this place.

I love your store so.

Well.

I'm in musical heaven, a musica heaven called Music millennium with, two gentlemen.

I admire and enjoy their company very much.

Like I said before, Mr.

Terry Courier, Mr.

Curtis Salgado.

Yeah.

Get me out of here before I buy something.

Hi.

My name is Robin Jorgeson.

I was the youngest of three children and inherited some Beatles and Monkey albums.

But I will say my very first all my own was Fleetwood Mac rumors.

So my first record was a z.z top vinyl.

To be honest with you, I can't even recall which one it was.

It was from my grandpa who gave me my first record player, and he gave me like a bit of his old stash, and it still sits on my shelf and.

I want you to know it's a beautiful day here in Portland, Oregon, and I am in the kind of vinyl store that I could spend hours and hours in talking about a place called jump, jump.

And I'm here with the owner, Dan Bachman, and I'm here with my good friend, Mr.

Curtis Salgado.

And, we're just three final junkies, and we're going to do the due right now.

But you've had your store since the 1990s in a town with a whole lot of, competition.

Why?

What did you think when it became apparent that this medium that everybody said was going to die started coming back?

Star.

Did coming back.

Well, what year was it where you went.

Oh man.

This is coming around again.

So when I moved to this location and started concentrating more on mail order, I quit stocking in new CDs.

And that was great that because there was zero money and new CDs.

Because I had to compete with Incredible Universe and so it was people overseas keeping me in business doing mail order, and I wasn't selling the stuff in the States that much.

And then it was in the late 90s, when I started getting hip hop producers in here and, and, it became a destination for hip hop producers, even even had the first disco hit, you know?

Yeah.

Just go lady.

Yeah, except that wasn't a disco record, but they put the name on it.

Yeah.

That album, that was the best selling record.

Sony Columbia had this single for 20 years.

You're kidding me.

And Bootsy Collins play based on.

Yes, indeed.

Oh, I know, yeah, Johnny Taylors and Johnny Taylor.

I watched Johnny Taylor one night in Saint Louis.

I have the mayor emcee two of his sold out shows back to back in a room with thousand 500 people and, you know, dressed to the nines.

Yeah.

And that's who Johnny Taylor was.

Right.

He also had the best selling album in my store in 1996.

Good love.

The second one was a Pearl Jam Out and the guy that one of the great great southern record men died yesterday, Sam Phillips, who ran oh, I know I hadn't seen UMass.

He was in his 80s, but, I mean, I he bought all my Malco from him.

Right.

And his daughter, Mary Tommy Couch, you, you know, people in our family that owned Malcolm.

So the best party music, the best record industry party I ever went to was the anniversary party for Malcolm Records held that weekend at Peabody Inn in Memphis, Tennessee.

Yeah.

Malco picked up all the great soul singers from the 60s and 76, all the stacked, all the guys who were leaving Stax when Stax, little Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, not little Johnnie, but Johnnie Taylor and Bobby Salmon and Sam Phillips wa a person that I always addressed when we would talk in this.

This is not Sun Records central.

That was his nephew.

No kidding me.

And here's who this guy was.

He paid and he paid and was involved with bringin Jerry Lee Lewis to England.

And we figured that was going to make a big lot of money, right?

Of course it didn't.

He went broke doing it.

Had to move, I understand.

Had to go and liv in a chicken coop with his wife and child until he could save up enough money to open select the Ritz in Memphis.

He was a great, great guy.

That's like from the bottom up and stuff, you know what I'm saying i that you have a Wilson Pickett Total Soul poster and then a complete gospel and then a hip hop poster or.

Yeah, yeah, that is, those are those for sale.

And those are all 80s.

They look like they might be from the 60s.

Exactly.

Off a telephone.

This globe globe printers kept doing those for years.

Hey, my name is Craig Harms.

I'm here.

Vintage vinyl.

And, And the first albu I ever got was, monitoring this after the snow.

I my name's David.

My first vinyl was, unfortunately, unfortunately, a sandwich with vinyl.

So let's go to Burnside Avenue, where one of Portland's long time stores has gone through some changes while keeping the doors open every day.

Music.

From 1996 to now.

Absolutely a beautiful day here in Portland, and we are here at Every Day Music, one of the standout record stores in a city with a lot of standout record stores.

My man Michael is going to tell us a little bit about the place.

You have been here in one form or other in the city.

How many years?

30 years since 1995.

Good, good run.

And, in a tow which has so many record stores, would you say tha there is a sense of competition, or is there sort of a sense of fraternity among all of y'all?

We all are.

All in touch with one another, I think.

I think it's a pretty good camaraderie.

Yeah.

True that.

Well, I mean, we were at, Blackwater yesterday, and they were recommendin stores that we should go to and, of course, over at, Music Millennium, the same culture, in fact, the, you know, cherry insisted that, we come here.

Awesome.

So, Michael, I hav a real crucial question to ask.

What was your first record?

My first record?

I think it was, Freewheelin Bob Dylan.

Taken from my dad's collection.

I really want to than you for allowing us to come in.

And I know it was on short, you know, short order, but, you know, this is a happening store, and, the feeling is right.

Right.

Thank you.

Thanks for being here.

And, I'm sure you provide a lot of happy people.

A musical day, so bless up.

Thank you so much.

Hi, my name is Angela.

First LP I ever bought was from Vintage Vinyl and it was Paul's Boutique Beastie Boys.

My first LP was West Side Story from my grandmother and I was about 14.

Hi, my name is Natalie and my first LP I ever got was Re Taylor's version back in 2021.

Now I am a full blown addict and have all of her records, all the variance, all the things, and I'm hoping to get one today.

And.

You know, I've just walked into another example of why Portland has is great.

A number of indie record stores is anywhere on the planet.

My man Eric is here at Mississippi Records.

And by the way, the first record I see is the Saint Louis and Fon Taylor Bass.

This is where in about 1976, and as you can see from the cover, Erykah Badu didn't do it first here.

Are you having a musical day?

Always tell us about this great store.

We've been here 22 years.

We're very community rooted, but then we also try to be international at the sam time, balance those two things.

So, yeah, we're just par of the neighborhood, you know, just another neighborhood mom and pop.

A little record store.

Well, looking through your music, I can see i goes from ancient to the future.

If that's the idea.

A lot of jazz, a lot of world music, a lot of soul, reggae, new and used.

And I noticed that, you say you pay special attention to the, interplanetary force known as the Sun Ra.

And we always have at least 75 Sun Ra, different sun Ra titles in stock.

We have a theory that if we have even 70 for the entire building we'll just collapse in on itself or something horrible happened.

So we always have 75 sun Rob records.

At least right now, I think we're up to at least 160.

As one of his LP said, space is the place always.

Yeah.

So you serve the community.

You're in a town wher there are many records stores.

I've seen, quit a number of them on this trip.

They're good stores, but this one is unique in and of itself because of the focu of the music that you're doing.

Was it a conscious effort or as you went along, did you kind of, you know, pull that mantle on yourself to do it?

Oh, it's very conscious.

It was the concept was ver this place is sealed in amber.

So it's been the sam 22 years ago as it is right now.

It hasn't changed at all.

We just got a credit car reader a couple of years back, so we were just working out of a notebook and a calculator for years, and it broke our hearts to get that credit card reader, but we did it.

So, everything here is very intentional.

Like this place.

This space is, sort of like a point of resistance, I guess you could say to a lot of the things going on in the modern world right now.

I've always been a paranoia about technology being sort of the harbinger of a totalitarian, something horrible.

And as we've seen lately, it's kind of what's happening.

Like my worst fears are coming true, sadly.

So this place is, has always been the same, which is sort of a funny way to stay.

To resist is to just, but we have, guard towers up and, you know, the gunman looking down like, no, we're not going to let it change if we can help it.

So that was a great Nigerian band leader, was fond of saying music is the weapon.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying too.

Yeah.

So I'm trying to say, can you, tell us what was, maybe, notable in story you had maybe a musical luminary who came to visit or even a performance?

Well, we've been privileged.

We have, an employee here and Karen, who runs a label called The Sounds, which is a great label.

And, because of that, we get bands from the Sahel region all the time.

So, people like I'm Dr.

Moctar, and they're trained in the air and people like that playing in the store.

Bands that, you know, come all the way from from, Mauritania and places like that.

And so those who've been some of the most memorable and stars for me, and we've also had the space lady, we have Michael Hurley playing here all the time just because he's down the way.

I mean, we've had, you know, pure stereos, we've had crazy bands playin here, you know, to come out of a culture that isn't necessaril friendly to the idea of music, to me, to be a musician from, one of those culture takes special level of resolve.

And, courage.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's it's a risk.

You're risking your life by playing, electric guitar in some of those places.

That's my impression.

The first time I saw Bambino, who, slowed down at the Jazz Fest one time, and then I saw him at the spirits here in about a world festival.

And, the third time I saw him was in Saint Louis.

By that point, the band had quit wearing desert garb and was, you know, wearing street clothes.

And I said, I bet you'll have a easier time going through TSA.

Don't you have some amazing African psychedelic electric music?

Yeah, some of the best stuff go on these days.

I think.

So typical day.

You're buying records.

You're selling records?

You are seven day a week operation, seven days a week.

12.

Seven.

We've only been close to six day besides Christmas in 22 years.

And three of them were to move the shop.

One of two of them were because we had a fire, and one of them was because the employee forgot it was their day off.

So yeah, not too shabby.

Not too shabby at all.

So combination of, carrying, not only doing retail music, but being hooked up with a label that is a sort of dynamic I see over and over again with candy record stores.

It's not just one off, you know, one operation or One Direction you know, it's it's 360 degrees and it's always based in the community and it's always something that, you know it's a benefit to the community in ways that a big box retailer can never really be.

I agree.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, we've we've been, the label has been pretty central to this place.

And we, we represent a lot of local bands, but then we also put our records from Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia all over the world.

And, it's kind of a nice way to connect without having to use th internet or anything like that.

These records are sort of these total mystic traveling things that get the word out in a different way.

And as a result, we get a lot of people from all over the world coming in the shop, which if they come to you, if they come into town, they're going to look you up.

And, you mentioned that you have a relationship to that fan store down in New Orleans.

Domino sound.

Yeah.

It' the best store in the country.

Those are very similar.

Kind of, stroke.

Yeah.

You know, it was a musical time, and, New Orleans and we're having a musical time here in Portlan and I really want to thank you.

And now the big question.

Oh, what was your first LP?

My first LP.

It's not that excited.

I was the Beatles White Album.

Not too shabby.

Not too shabby.

My name's London, and I'm pretty sure the first record I bought was a bone thousand Harmony record.

My name is Claire.

My first CD was, Fuji La by the Fugees.

Hi, my name is Car and my very first CD was R.E.M.

monster.

Hi, my name is Lindi.

The first record I bought was TLC's Crazy Sexy Cool.

My name is Savannah and my first album was, Death Cab for Cutie and Billy.

The first album I got for myself anyway was Hallowed Ground by the Wild Femmes.