Record Store Day

: it’s Record Store Day; leave the house by 10:30 and head for the park; does everyone in this city jog and ride their bikes for sport?; a pack of three kids, “Hey! Excuse me. Hey!” I refuse to respond to ‘Hey!’; I forget that it’s 420; the park is filled with baggy t-shirts, red-eyed people, brownies, cookies, and snacks, smoking blunts, hitting bongs, playing drums; passing the crowd I come to young kids’ soccer games, their yuppie parents unsure of how to behave with all this going around; contact high; Amoeba is busy, the line snaking all along the wall, to the back, and towards the Blues section; I have a list and I begin hunting; get 3 records I was looking for, O+S, Patty Griffin, and Stereo Total; next year I’ll have to come early; waiting in line is close to pleasant; two guys behind me talk about Ghostface Killah and people 'sleeping' on certain records; reminds me of the Newbury Comics days, I like listening to them; I’m calm (contact high); in the Classical section I look for Haydn’s complete sonatas; I buy an Amoeba tote to hold my stuff; see what D.’s up to: “I’m officiating L.’s wedding. Want to come? I need someone to film.”; get a Kalbi sandwich from King Foot Sub and two Orange Mango juices; it’s a gorgeous day, warm and bright; D. wears a kilt; his new roommate J. is getting ready; we decide to take a cab, Homobile to Marshall Beach where the wedding will be; we sing “Ziggy Stardust”, “Enter Sandman”, and “Rhythm of the Night” as we cruise through the city looking for the entrance; she loves us; “I can’t believe you kids know these songs.”; we find L., his fiance W., and a few of their friends and find our way to the stairs that lead to the secluded beach; J. smokes a Newport, wears cowboy boots, and worries about falling into the brush; this is her first time at the cliffs; the water is cool, the sand warm, we make our way to a cluster of rocks; they open Pabst Blue Ribbon and roll joints; it’s nearing 4:30pm when the wedding begins; I use a Flip camera to record and W.’s friend R. takes photographs; J. marks their foreheads with silver makeup; D. reads a Rimbaud poem about humans, the Earth, and teats; the bridge stands like a tiara in the background; on the beach someone says, “I know you.”; it’s C.B. from UMass; he wears a cowboy hat; “I heard you were living in town,” he says; “The last time I saw you was at Truck. That was ages ago.”; I decide to walk home; a burrito at Gordo’s; first episode of The Americans.