Welcome to NorCal Narratives

Speaker 1 0:03

Hello everyone and welcome to NorCal Narratives on KPCR 92.9 FM from Los Gatos and KMRT 101.9 FM out of Santa Cruz. Today we're going to spotlight voices from across Northern California who are rethinking work, art, learning and community. I think about all four of those things. I am excited to be in the studio with someone who's been at the heart of what I think really is an enduring cultural institution for more than three decades. Paige Brodsky from Streetlight Records has helped shape the cultural life of this region through music, connection and a love of all things, vinyl. Paige, I couldn't be more excited to welcome you to this show. Welcome.

Speaker 2 0:52

Thank you so much.

Paige: 36 Years at Streetlight Records

Speaker 1 0:53

I'm thrilled to be here 30 years at a record store and we're going to talk about that in multiple ways. It's just. I think about my memories as a child and going to record stores as a teenager and thinking it was very cool to live our lives through those artists. When you were little, you must have developed some sense of enjoying. Controlling the music, spinning the music yeah.

Speaker 2 1:20

What's your?

Speaker 1 1:20

early memories of spinning vinyl.

Speaker 2 1:24

I very earliest memory was when I was in junior high. A friend of ours was moving away and we decided to have a little going away party for him and we bought him some 45s from the record store. What a nice gift that was, I remember one of them was England Dan, and John Ford Coley Will Never have to Say Goodbye Again, which was an ironic gift.

Speaker 1 1:51

But it wasn't an intentional gift it was.

Speaker 2 1:54

That's the only one I can remember by name, but there were probably like four or five. Four or five different seven-inch singles that we gave our friend and we had a little party. How thoughtful. And then I remember for my eighth grade graduation from junior high, I had a request list for some LPs that I wanted for graduation from my, I think, my grandparents and my parents, and I think there were like six albums on that list.

Speaker 1 2:24

So I remember you wanted the gift of music, I wanted the gift of music and you had given the gift of music.

Speaker 2 2:28

Yes, yes, but even before that I remember begging my mom to order the Monkees compilation off the TV from an ad. I loved watching the Monkees every day when I came home from school and I still love the Monkees every day when I came home from school and I still loved the Monkees. And I landed myself with a partner who also loves the Monkees and is a musician so he can play the Monkees. I love it. But, yes, records, even from an early age, just had a really important place in my life. Music is universal Math and music the universal languages. Oh, and it is yeah.

Speaker 1 3:07

I won't go there with you, but I think we understand that it's the only thing. Perfect Math is perfect. Yeah, if you can go with that Right. And music is born of math.

Speaker 2 3:16

Exactly, and.

Speaker 1 3:18

I took nine difficult years of piano lessons. I took nine years of piano. I love it. I love it. Yeah, so we understand. It is a language.

Speaker 2 3:31

Yes, it's math and it's a language and I don't play anymore. I am really happy that I know how to read music.

Speaker 1 3:41

I think in fact, my initial memory with music was my cousin Lisa had a little like Barbie. It was just a square bop, probably 14, 15 inches by 14, 15 inches, maybe 6 inches tall, but that was a record player, yes, and we would sit in her room and we would play Sean Cassidy and what's the thing. And she got the satin jacket for Christmas and I didn't, oh, but that's okay, my parents got me that. Same year was probably the year that I got a cassette tape recorder.

Speaker 2 4:11

And I would record.

Speaker 1 4:12

So that's the beginning of this right.

Speaker 2 4:14

Which is probably life changing.

Speaker 1 4:16

Yes, I hated my voice so I wouldn't use. For many years I wouldn't use my voice publicly because I didn't like and I haven't really met anybody who likes the sound of their own voice. No, I wouldn't use my voice publicly because I didn't like and I haven't really met anybody who likes the sound of their own voice?

Speaker 1 4:27

No, I haven't either. As a kid I didn't know that, and so records were with my cousin Lisa that's great. And Sean Cassidy and where I'm leading into that with your 30 year career, I think you've probably done some promotion as well. Yes, related to the record store. Yes, so I'm curious. Sean Cassidy is what I go back to with my childhood. Is there anyone that you've met through doing productions or promotions at the record store that was life-changing for you?

Speaker 2 4:56

Life-changing. I will say that one of my current musical heroes, one of my musical heroes of all time One of my current musical heroes, one of my musical heroes of all time but he is currently still making music is guitarist and songwriter Dave Alvin, who was with the Blasters back in the 80s and he does rootsy, some countryish, some bluesish.

Speaker 2 5:17

So he has a psychedelic project now called Third Mind and the record company contacted us a few months ago and said the new album's coming out soon. They're playing at Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz. Do you guys want to have the band autograph copies of the album for you to sell? And I was like, yes, please, yes, please. And I had actually met Dave Allen a couple times, but this was great because I got to see the soundcheck and it talked with the to see the soundcheck and talk with the whole band and got a picture with the band and that's my most recent memory and he's one of life's great treasures. He's just an amazing songwriter and part of what I love about him is his humility and how much respect he has for the musicians that came before. Yeah, and he really goes out of his way to express that.

Speaker 1 6:09

And.

Speaker 2 6:09

I just love that.

Speaker 1 6:10

How amazing that you get to see humanity. He's a musician and you get to see his humanity and his grace. You said psychedelic projects. Now is that a new industry thing? I've never heard this Well for him.

Meeting Musicians and Creating Community

Speaker 2 6:24

It's a project in that it's not. All of the other band members are from different bands, so they're not able to get together all the time. So it's why they call themselves a project, more so than a band.

Speaker 1 6:36

Okay, I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 6:37

But he is known as bluesy rootsy. And this is they cover a Grateful Dead song, but you wouldn't know it was a Grateful Dead song. They just completely make these different arrangements and the woman that sings with them has this very ethereal voice and it just has just more of a psychedelic feel to it, which is a departure.

Speaker 1 7:01

I love it and you've explained very well. Psychedelic is, to it, okay, which is a departure. So I love it and you've explained very well. Psychedelic is the feel. It's not the instrument of creation, because I'm sure there's some of that happens around the world.

Speaker 2 7:13

But that's true, although I will say it generally involves an electric guitar but yes, not always.

Speaker 1 7:20

Okay, okay, very cool, tell me the artist's name again that you saw, at Moe's Dave Alvin.

Speaker 2 7:28

Dave Alvin. Okay, people will have to check that out. Yeah, and the band slash project is called Third Mind.

Speaker 1 7:34

Third, not Third Eye Third.

Speaker 2 7:35

Mind. So I've got to think about that, got to think about that.

Speaker 1 7:39

We were talking before we started the show about how vintage is cool and people collect these things. Even you said when they don't have turntable, which is amazing. But I'm curious about your collection. It must be extensive, because you've had 30 years of being in this industry. What's the one record that you could never, ever, give up? Only one I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it.

Speaker 2 8:08

Oh, that's hard. I don't even know if I could answer that. I'm making you choose between the babies? Yes, exactly, and it changes from day to day or week to week. Yeah, and there are patterns and things that are in high rotation on the turntable for a few weeks, and then you remember a record that you forgot about, so I'll tell you today my record of the day today.

Speaker 2 8:33

That you could not give up, that I yes, you would have a hard time prying it out of my hands is a reissue that just came out recently. The band is called the Rain Parade and they were part of a scene in Southern California in the like mid to late 80s, early 90s, called the Paisley Underground, which involves some roots musicians. But this was more and I don't want to say psychedelic, but a little more, a little more poppy than rootsy. And for Record Store Day I think it was this past year they reissued an album of theirs called Crashing Dream and they issued it in a two LP form.

Speaker 2 9:17

So the second LP is all bonus material live material and demos.

Speaker 1 9:24

Oh, what an interesting kind of location.

Speaker 2 9:27

I love the color blue and the cover is like a. I guess it's a picture of a swimming pool or maybe a shallow part of an ocean. But it's just a beautiful cover and they did a nice job with the remastering, the reissue. But tomorrow I would tell you something totally different.

Speaker 1 9:47

Yeah, okay, and I don't know yet what it would be. Because you truly love music too, I feel the need to confess I prize silence, so I don't consider myself a music person. Oh interesting. Music has moved me at different points in my life and I could talk about being a teenager at the Cookville Mall, at the record store in Cookville Mall, just hanging out. But as an adult, like my daddy, wanted the TV on all the time, drove my mama nuts but I never had the TV on. I don't drive with the radio on.

Speaker 1 10:18

I need peace and quiet in this brain of mine and I find that to be the case too.

Speaker 2 10:24

Oftentimes I'll be thinking about what record I'm going to play when. I get home, yeah, and I'll be home and I'll be puttering around the kitchen or living room and it'll be a half hour and I'll realize, oh, you haven't put anything on yet.

From Vinyl to Digital: Industry Evolution

Speaker 1 10:35

Yeah, I guess I needed the quiet. Yes, yeah, yeah, I do love live shows, though, and I have this small addiction to cover bands. I know it's cheap and cheerful, but there's something about being able to just sing as loud as you want, because you know every word, because you know the words, because it's part of your soundtrack and it hooks back into the whole nostalgia thing, yes, we all, and I've even battled with this idea of can you have the feeling of nostalgia for a time that you did not even experience because you weren't alive yet?

Speaker 1 11:06

And yes, you can, but something absolutely I think that's this whole recent craze with vintage. Is people craving something they only, I'll say, academically know of, but they appreciate the values that were happening and, yeah, I think there's a lot of truth to that.

Speaker 2 11:23

Yeah, and part of it, I think, is imagining being alive in that time. That you weren't alive for Benny Goodman's concert at Carnegie Hall in 1939 that made all these waves. Oh, to be in that audience long before I was born.

Speaker 1 11:39

I'm a sucker for these clips on Instagram when they have the Kennedy Awards for music and when you see somebody sitting up in the balconies wearing their big medal bestowed upon them by the president. But you see some newer creator on the stage delivering this remarkable version their signature song, and always the tears are flowing because that was such an impactful time in their lives. And now someone new is finding a different way to give voice to that vision and keeping their art relevant.

Speaker 2 12:16

Yes, yeah, in the modern time.

Speaker 1 12:17

Yeah, so you've seen decades of trends. What? Do you like, on the retail side, you get to not just have your own experience with music, but you get to be part of other people's experience, which is the favorite part of my job.

Speaker 2 12:34

I love that, and lately I would say the last year or two record labels have started doing listening parties at independent record stores, so they're for a particular release and it'll either be an early listening party, so it's a chance for the fans to come in and listen to the album before it's available anywhere, before it's available on Spotify. It's not streaming, yet they send us a protected streaming link that only we have access to and some special prizes and free goodies and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 13:09

But the beautiful thing about that is these fans maybe some of them know each other through meetup groups or Facebook groups or through common things that they follow on Instagram, but they haven't met in real life yet and a lot of them haven't even met on the Internet, yet.

Speaker 2 13:29

Still a community, yeah, and sometimes it's a community of 300 young women in the store who are all there to hear the new Melanie Martinez record and get a copy of, with an alternate cover that's only available at these parties, and to watch these fans meet each other and make what could end up being lifelong friendships over an album. It's astonishing and it's heartwarming, and it's one of the main reasons why I still do what I do.

Speaker 1 14:05

Because people are at the center.

Speaker 2 14:07

Yeah.

Speaker 1 14:07

Making music, going music, sharing music. I love it. What's been the difference in the way, like compared to 30 years ago, that you see people discovering music? You were talking about the monkeys and what you referenced was seeing them on TV. Remember American Bandstand Of course you do.

Speaker 2 14:23

Yes, I love American Bandstand, and those aren't avenues these days. Soul Train that occurs.

Speaker 1 14:28

Oh God, soul, train, train. I hear that choo-choo sound. I can remember running through my house, my train.

Speaker 2 14:35

Soul.

Speaker 1 14:35

Train and some of the people that will hear this are going to have to go look up Soul Train.

Speaker 2 14:41

So how do people discover music these days, which means they have all that great fun ahead of them.

Speaker 2 14:46

Yes, they do that vintage awesome fun and the crazy outfits and the crazy now, oh, and Midnight Special, which I was not allowed to stay up to watch, but luckily they have episodes on YouTube and I have a nice DVD box set. It's a nice compilation. How did they discover it? These days, so much of it is streaming and also through friends, which used to be the old fashioned way, but it was your friend would find out about something, they'd buy the record, go over to your friend's house and you'd listen to the record, and these days a lot of that happens online social media or chat groups, different fan base groups that are out there, but I still think at the heart of it, you're still finding out about new music from people. It could be from people. It could be back in my childhood.

Speaker 1 15:40

It was you reading the liner notes on the album and you're seeing who the artist is giving credit to. Thank you to who mattered to that person.

Speaker 2 15:49

Yes, and then the next task was you go find a record from that artist. I will say I did hear. I didn't hear the interview, but I know there was going to be one on NPR recently of someone who wrote a book about Spotify and the Spotify algorithms and how Spotify was originally supposed to be the great equalizer. Yep, your music was on Spotify. Anybody can find it and that's true, wow. But Spotify does develop their own playlist.

Speaker 1 16:16

You use the word algorithms.

Speaker 2 16:17

We all know what that means Engineered, but it's still. It is still. It's an important way that people are finding out about new music and another way that we hear from our customers is Sirius XM Radio.

Speaker 2 16:28

And another way that we hear from our customers is Sirius XM Radio. One of the great things about that is that it shows you the artist and the name of the artist and the name of the song, so they have that information when they come in. I'm looking for such and such an artist, the album that has this song, Whereas in three decades ago at the record store somebody would have heard it on the radio but they didn't catch the name of the artist. But they didn't catch the name of the artist and they didn't catch the name of the singer, but they'd come in and sing it to you.

The Vinyl Revival and Listening Parties

Speaker 2 16:55

Yes, oh, now, that had to be fun, yes, but it was frustrating if we didn't know the answer, but it was so exciting. Then, 10 years ago, we had Shazam. Remember the app Shazam, which some people are still using yeah, yeah, and that's a fun game for some people to try and trip up Shazam. Somebody did it just yesterday in the store. They were Shazaming an instrumental guitar piece that was playing and Shazam didn't know it and they were so disappointed.

Speaker 1 17:21

Speaking of fun games, that's a great segue to do a quick station identifier. Okay, because KPCR 92.9 FM and KMRT 101.9 FM out of Santa Cruz have been proud creators of the Signal Society, and Streetlight is involved in that program and this announcement that I have is to thank the Santa Cruz Warriors. That's my tie-in to the game. So the Santa Cruz Warriors are also sponsors of the Signal Society and KPCR Radio, so we want to give a big shout out to thank them. If you're interested, members receive access to special ticket promotions so you can find that on kpcrorg and if you hit slash and join, you can become part of the Signal Society. So thank you for that opportunity. Circling back to radio stations and 30 years ago, cookville Mall and Streetlight still exist today in multiple locations. What do you think? What do you think kept you guys alive? What helped you endure?

Speaker 2 18:24

the move to streaming.

Speaker 1 18:33

So many things, and I will mention that, as a business, we are celebrating our 50th anniversary this year.

Speaker 2 18:35

Now I knew you had been there 30 years. I didn't think how long has the business? Been around and, interestingly so, I've been there actually 36 years at this point, and when I first started working at Streetlight, it was two small stores up in San Francisco. They were neighborhood stores.

Speaker 2 18:52

And I had just moved to San Francisco. It was 1989. And I was excited. I'm like, oh, I'm good, I applied for a job at this. What I saw as an institution Streetlight's been around forever and in retrospect I see, oh, they had been around for 14 years and now we've been around for 36 more.

Speaker 1 19:09

Yeah, and 14 years would have been forever to a 20 something year old.

Speaker 2 19:13

Yes, and it was, yes it was yeah, there have been so many changes. When I first started working, I had one job before Streetlight at a record store for about a year in South Carolina at Peaches, which was a chain in the Southeast back then, and LPs were the format of choice, yes, but then cassettes were introduced, yeah. So home recording became a thing.

Speaker 1 19:38

But also the commercial cassettes. Oh, are you going to skip the 8-track? Really, are you not going to give the 8-track?

Speaker 2 19:42

Well, I do love the 8-track and when I was growing up before I had LPs my parents had 8-track tapes and Before I had LPs, my parents had 8-track tapes and I still don't really understand how they worked.

Speaker 1 19:53

Physically, mechanically, I don't have any idea I know, I just know that big cartridge played Cher Gypsy's Trampsy.

Speaker 2 20:01

Oh my God, I would dance around the house to that tape. In my house it was Carole King tapestry.

Speaker 1 20:05

Oh, yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 20:07

Of course.

Speaker 1 20:08

I mean I interrupted your train of thought. No, that's okay. That's okay From eight track. Give it to you to LPs you send in cassettes.

Speaker 2 20:15

And then CDs were coming on the scene right around the time that I started working in a record store and people were uncertain if this technology was going to fly. And it did, and it flew for a long time and, as a result, record stores both chain stores and independent record stores were flying high like we were selling so many cds yeah, new and used. And then napster came around and downloaded they're back.

Speaker 1 20:46

I had heard of mash. I used to have Nashville. I'm an AI strategist and I consult with a lot of founders, and so they've come into my attention lately. The guy is a very experienced music industry CEO and he's in Nashville hiring for VPs of product management and they're under the Napster name. I was fascinated. Yeah, I went into a rat hole on it and researched for a couple of hours, because Napster is almost a four letter word. It was, and musicians write royalties and payments, and so it's interesting that they are coming back with a legitimate way to license and pay artists and then provide music.

Speaker 2 21:26

I will be curious to hear more about that. They've got a website.

Speaker 1 21:29

You can look it up.

Speaker 2 21:30

But, Napster came along and kind of really impacted the industry in a negative way, right, the whole peer-to-peer file sharing thing happened. And then Apple Music, which was iTunes at that time, which made the download available for sale, and the portability of it, the ease of it. It was very attractive to people.

Speaker 2 21:52

I had a little nano that my dad had for christmas, yeah could carry hundreds of songs right, that was what was that thing one by one inch or teeny tiny yeah, yeah and oddly enough, I'm not. I'm a little bit of a tech. Good tech no, no tech challenge oh and sorry, I, I just expect. No, I'm on the other end of the spectrum. You're vintage, yeah, I know, but I would like to say that it's because my heart has been with vinyl the whole time, which it has been, but it's also because I don't like to learn new technologies take the time to do so.

Speaker 2 22:27

It's not my thing, yeah. And all these years later it circles back around. And now I see iTunes, which is now Apple Music, and streaming and Spotify as avenues to learn about music so that you can make an informed and educated decision about what you want to spend your money on. Yes, I hate it. I hate the idea of the artists not making making almost no money off of streaming, but in the share that the artist gets from physical products the sale of an LP or a.

Speaker 2 23:00

CD is much more the way to make a living, ok, and when they sell their own merchandise at live shows like T-Stickers, all of that. But it has been interesting to see it come back around and there were lean years when downloading from iTunes a big thing like we got hit pretty hard and we had some tough times.

Speaker 2 23:21

But I would say one of the things that helps and this is true in any business, I'm sure is if you're an independent business and you can be nimble as a result it's assuming that you're open to change, you are willing to restructure what you're doing, your priorities are and possibly even what products you sell then you can make Candles with Sean Cassidy on the end maybe. So here's the thing we do sell prayer candles and we do have the ability to request anybody we want on them.

Speaker 1 23:55

I do think Sean Castee is like a CPA. I saw that five years ago.

Indie Record Store Resilience

Speaker 2 23:59

I saw a picture of him not that long ago, and he's still pretty cute, isn't he?

Speaker 1 24:05

really cutie. But he went on to less musically inclined things, I believe.

Speaker 2 24:10

Yes, more stable things.

Speaker 1 24:11

But you guys stayed around at Streetlight have stayed around 50 years. So you've seen all these different cycles of industry and you said you knew how to be nimble. But I'm going to suggest that somehow you know how to keep people coming to your store. You create community.

Speaker 2 24:27

You create demand. It is so about community. It is all about community. You create demand. It is so about community. It is all about community it is. It's a safe place for people. Yeah, you can be into whatever.

Speaker 1 24:39

Do you guys serve coffee? Because I've got this vision.

Speaker 2 24:41

I know I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 24:42

I haven't been into your store, but I've admitted.

Speaker 2 24:43

I'm not a music person, no, but my, and the biggest hurdle for that is having to deal health regulations and inspections.

Speaker 1 24:53

But I just see this, I'll say bookstore. I see this bookstore vibe of having the coffee and the records that people can meet and I can put you in touch with somebody that wants to do that.

Speaker 2 25:05

So anyway, yeah, so community is where it's at when there's a place that you know you can go you can wear whatever you want, you can be yourself, you can like whatever kind of music you want, and you're not going to get judged, barry.

Speaker 1 25:21

Manilow. Do you have Barry Manilow?

Speaker 2 25:23

Yes, we do have Barry Manilow. Oh, my goodness, one of my good friends just went and saw him the other night on his final tour.

Speaker 1 25:30

Oh, is he on a final tour? He's on a final tour. A friend of mine lives down in Palm Springs, about a mile and a half from his compound, oh yeah, and says that occasionally he's spotted at the grocery store.

Speaker 2 25:41

And I guess he wrote a bunch of radio and TV jingles advertising jingles.

Speaker 1 25:47

Oh, I didn't know this. He's a pretty clever musician.

Speaker 2 25:53

Whatever music you like, you come in. It's not like the movie High Fidelity, where you get yelled at for liking something that's got popular recognition.

Speaker 1 26:02

Nobody's going to look down on me if I'm looking for a Barry Manley.

Speaker 2 26:04

No, we're going to help you find it. This is what we tell people every time we hire and we train people, which, I'm happy to say, is not often we have very low turnover is that when you're helping a customer and they're asking for something, you even if it's something you can't stand remember that the music they want makes them feel the way your favorite artist makes you feel. Okay, that's how we're all connected, like it's just as meaningful for that person as your favorite artist is for you.

Speaker 1 26:37

I'm thinking about Barry Manilow. It's my memories right? I mentioned my cousin Lisa. Lisa had an older sister, debbie, who's actually just passed away in the last few months, but her old Debbie was into her 60s because of the age. Debbie was like a senior in high school. When we were six years old and Debbie was a freak over being a man-lover, she would play him 24. You can imagine the times this was in the 70s.

Speaker 1 27:01

In the mid-70s, and so that's I'm coming back to my memories. You talked about something that made me wonder. I saw something on the podcast you did with Record Store Day. You talked about how you were seeing different communities rise up between the San Jose and the Santa Cruz stores Different vibes.

Speaker 2 27:20

Very different.

Speaker 1 27:21

So how, as the business leader for marketing, how do you see those trends and what do you do to do things differently, to serve those communities and still keep them coming back because they're different?

Speaker 2 27:34

you can't just do a one-size-fits-all no, and that's one of the things about being nimble is like there is, in some cases the same person is the new product buyer for both stores, depending on what record label. But they very much pay attention to the differences in the demographics, difference in the vibe Reggae is big in Santa Cruz, yeah, not as big in San Jose, okay, classic rock and hard rock are bigger in San Jose than it is in Santa Cruz. Okay, 20th century classical music has more of a following in Santa Cruz than it does in San Jose.

Speaker 2 28:10

It's just Unexpected, it's. There are certain things that trends that we see in both stores as well, like the big pop artists Charlie XCX and Chapel Roan and Claro and Gracie Abrams, Taylor Swift, Like those are going to be popular at both stores. The subcultures are a little bit different in each store.

Speaker 1 28:32

Do you have to engage differently to support the community that's built around?

Speaker 2 28:37

it. I think you have to do your buying differently.

Speaker 1 28:41

You have to do your new product buying differently.

Speaker 2 28:44

And sometimes Facebook might be a little more powerful in San Jose and Instagram might be a little more powerful in Santa Cruz. I'm not actually even sure if that's true, but there can be differences like that. Even sure if that's true, but there can be differences like that. And another thing about Santa Cruz that impacts the community, but also the staff at the store, is it seems like a number of people live in Santa Cruz for a little while.

Speaker 1 29:08

Oh, that's, interesting I wouldn't know that.

Speaker 2 29:11

Yeah, and then move somewhere else. So you do have to. You have to pay close attention to what the customers are asking for, and luckily we do. We're able to special order things for people at no extra charge and then you know by the third time you're special ordering the same album is a trend. It's time to get it in the store permanently. Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 1 29:32

Yeah, I love it. I'm going to go here with you. Okay, you said you weren't necessarily a big fan of technology, but I don't think any of us can escape AI. If you guys could see her, she looks like so despondent when I say AI her shoulders shrugged, looking down at the ground. But I wonder if you guys because you're an indie record store with currently two outposts Are you guys using AI in how you either? I know we've been talking about community, but even in your operations I'm curious because I deal with larger enterprises. I see so much opportunity for how you guys source that information. You just mentioned how many people have requested this record special custom order and there's ways for AI to be engaged in your business to provide those insights for you.

Speaker 2 30:29

We haven't or I haven't used.

Speaker 1 30:32

AI yet.

Speaker 2 30:33

But I will say that the one time that I seriously considered doing it and I think this is going to be true of all businesses is help in helping with compliance of regulations as a business. Yeah, particularly in California more stringent regulations. Yes, so the time that I considered doing it was when we had to write a workplace violence prevention plan and I thought yeah, you should have.

Speaker 1 31:01

That would have been like oh, I'm just juicy.

Speaker 2 31:05

I will say the California Chamber of Commerce came to our rescue and mine is the CFO of the California Chamber of Commerce. There you go.

Celebrating 50 Years of Streetlight Records

Speaker 1 31:12

Worth any. They have a great I don't want to call it a compliance team, but their customer service teams really do at a state level of fantastic service in terms of supporting small and mid-sized businesses and advocating for us yeah, advocating for us in the political sphere and with the broader community, and I will say that I totally lost my thought there.

Speaker 2 31:35

Okay, maybe it'll come back at some point.

Speaker 1 31:37

I'm just I'm going to, I'm not, this is not a question, I'm just going to push you a little. I think AI is the magic elixir and it might be opening Pandora's box, but for small businesses to get on to the efficiencies and the breadth that AI can bring them, I think that's our next interesting wave with the use of generative AI. And even I'm not going to get into the different kinds of AI, because that would be really you'd be like stop, tony, stop. But the ways you manage your inventory and the ways you manage customer interaction and security, all those things can just be simplified for you, and I think that people like me, are going to be turning our focus to stores like Streetlight to say how do we help you guys deliver better service?

Speaker 1 32:26

And it's not about having fewer people, it's bringing up your people to engage human to human. So you're not back there, right in the back room, writing that plan for workplace violence. Let me tell you.

Speaker 2 32:36

that was not fun, that was not your highest and best use. No.

Speaker 1 32:40

I'm always looking for my Habu.

Speaker 2 32:42

What's my highest and best use, highest and best use, but also the flip side of that is what one of my friends calls the job hobby, like the thing that you like to go do at your job once you've gotten all the other stuff that you didn't want to do. Write that plan, or make those phone calls or answer those emails.

Speaker 2 33:00

Yeah, and I do think, yeah, ai, certainly on the administrative end of the business, could definitely potentially have uses, have tremendous use and allow you and free you to enjoy music with people as a part of your job, which is what it's all about. Yeah, Do more of the parts of my job that I love the most I had to ask you about AI.

Speaker 1 33:21

but let's go back to nostalgia.

Speaker 2 33:22

Yes so nostalgia.

Speaker 1 33:25

There's something about vintage LPs. Just even if it's a brand new LP by Taylor Swift, they still feel vintage, they feel so good. I snapped with an early one Her posture, the whole. I saw her posture, the whole energy around her sunk and now I said vintage and she's just bright and lit up. I love it.

Speaker 2 33:46

I love taking the record out of the sleeve and then careful, I feel the same way about.

Speaker 1 33:53

Apple devices, unwrapping them, it's a whole process of unwrapping. But that's why I love people, because we're all so different and yet we're all the same. Yes, yes. The feelings that it inspires in us are very similar.

Speaker 2 34:08

We just get there through different ways. But one of the great things, one of many. There are so many great things about vinyl and one of them is the analog sound if you're playing it, particularly if you're playing it through a tube amp, which I do not have.

Speaker 1 34:25

But you get a little. Partner needs to be listening to this. Oh no, wants a tube amp.

Speaker 2 34:31

No, see, here's the thing at our house we have his and hers turntables. Oh, oh my.

Speaker 1 34:37

He has a tube amp.

Speaker 2 34:40

And you don't, and I don't not yet. But there are some downsides with the tube amp. If you leave it on it gets really hot and then the tubes wear out. That's cool.

Speaker 1 34:48

Yeah, so you're in the middle of Silicon Valley, which is known for tech pros. In its worst place, it's known for tech pros. What do you think adheres people to vintage? What about? So? People collect. People collect records and memorabilia. You have people that come in looking for specific and they're young.

Speaker 2 35:10

Some of them are really young.

Speaker 1 35:14

So what do you think creates this about the LP? And LP, for those out there who might be listening, is the vinyl records. If you're concerned about what it is, lps are the vinyl record. Yeah, what do those people?

Speaker 2 35:27

Really speak to and I need to pick some burdens about this for the people who are collecting that don't own turntables. I don't quite get that they collect turntables too. No, they don't own turntables, but they're collecting the vinyl. Oh, I don't quite get that they collect turntables.

Speaker 1 35:38

No, they don't own turntables. Oh, they don't own, but they collect records. Yeah, is it like wine? Do they have value? Do they think there's some kind of financial potential?

Speaker 2 35:46

I mean there is. There is potentially a financial upside, but I don't think that's what's driving them. I think that, being a fan of the artist and wanting each format that it comes out on, I'll buy that Charlie XCX LP, but I'm also going to buy it on cassette, even though I don't have a cassette player. So that's part of it, okay. And I would like to think that part of it is that they're thinking that they will have a turntable at some point in time. Okay, because I do know there'll be like a group of young women and like teenage four teenage women come into the store and they're shopping around and each one buys a record and they're going over to one person's house to listen to them afterwards, because that's the girl that has the turntable. I also think in every era it seems like we are nostalgic for an earlier time that, in our minds anyway, seems like it was a simpler time.

Speaker 1 36:44

I agree.

Speaker 2 36:45

And I think that records are a part of that.

Speaker 1 36:49

They're reflective of.

Speaker 2 36:50

But there's also the art side of it, an LP front cover, back cover. If it's a gatefold sleeve, you got two more. What's a gatefold sleeve? Gatefold, two more. What's a gatefold Gatefold you open like a book.

Speaker 1 37:01

Oh, so it's got even more information, or?

Speaker 2 37:04

pictures or song lyric printed on the inside of that and there's, you can really like dig in and learn about an artist, and it's an important part of the creation. Packaging is oftentimes for an artist as important as the music that they're putting on the LP. I love it, and you put it all together and it is a work of art.

Speaker 1 37:25

I remember in Lisa and her older sister Debbie, their collection there were some red albums like red LPs, like the vinyl itself, and those were very special. They were like the, don't Touch that One when we were six years old and Debbie was 18. What's with the colored, because most records are black these days.

Speaker 2 37:48

So many releases are on colored vinyl and we'll have the artist's website will have one color. The indie record stores will have another color and sometimes that makes it more collectible it does. And sometimes they're opaque and sometimes they're translucent, and sometimes they're splatter vinyl and sometimes they're like creamsicle, like orange and white swirls.

Speaker 1 38:15

Okay, so I think I'm pretty like normal, yeah, and there think I'm pretty like normal, yeah, and there's a whole generation of us that has no idea that you can buy these vinyl like this Beautiful.

Speaker 2 38:26

My boyfriend has one, an Elton John, I think, it's Mad Men Across the Water, and it's called Propeller. It's basically lines that come out from the center a blue area next to a white area next to a blue area and when it's spinning on the turntable it looks like a propeller. It's great, it's just so fun to watch.

Speaker 1 38:51

You're making me want to be a music person and because it's the full experience.

Speaker 2 38:55

It is.

Speaker 1 38:55

It's not just the audio that's coming across and that I see now, People who follow this, who do this. Streaming is not enough because it's so one dimensional it is. It gives you access to research, access to get exposed to a broad range.

Speaker 2 39:14

It is a great research tool. I have come from originally being in a place where I resented downloading and streaming to seeing it as a tool. Cool yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 39:25

And just to replug on AI. I think AI is just a tool. We are going to be more analog and enjoy our analog time and stop grinding out on tasks like violence in the workplace plans.

Speaker 1 39:41

I promise, I promise I see the horizon and it's going to, but ai is not going. This thing that we're railing against now, I see, is exactly when people, when musicians and artists and people who loved music railed against streaming. I think in a short time we will see it as it's a tool to help us do more of what makes us human that experience. You did a podcast I mentioned with Record Store Day and you called record stores the cockroaches of the business world. How clever the cockroaches of the business world.

Speaker 2 40:16

So yes, because I remember hearing once upon a time that the only creature on Earth I have no idea if this is true or not, but the only creature on Earth that will survive the nuclear holocaust will be the cockroach.

Speaker 1 40:28

Resilient and hard to kill. Hard to kill Is the way we see cockroaches.

Speaker 2 40:31

Yes and dogged determination, and we're part of a larger group of indie record stores from across the country.

Speaker 1 40:39

So there is some connection there A lot, a lot of connection.

Speaker 2 40:42

So the Record Store Day is actually an organization. That was formed by three different indie record store coalitions we all know each other. We're getting together in New Orleans next week for our annual convention, because what could be better than New Orleans in?

Speaker 1 40:58

late July and early August, when my mama and daddy were alive. I took them to New Orleans and we just like. I'm from Nashville, so you take music for granted because it's everywhere.

Speaker 2 41:09

It's around you, yeah.

Speaker 1 41:11

And they took, but it was a different kind of music in New Orleans, so great place for you guys to go.

Speaker 2 41:15

Oh, it's just yeah, so great. So we share ideas with each other, we share statistics with each other. There have been times, like during the pandemic, when we hosted Record Store Day, one of our sister stores up in Idaho decided to do this like by an appointment only. So I just called them and I'm like can I use your system and can I copy it word for word? And they're like yeah, go ahead, take it.

Speaker 1 41:43

So I love the sharing. Yeah, it's community. Right, it's community. We all want the same outcomes Right. Yeah.

Speaker 2 41:50

And if you're not competitors, why not share? Why not make each other stronger? And it's great when I have maybe a legal question or a payroll question or something. I have this whole group of people that I can get information from.

Speaker 1 42:05

Yeah, it's great, I love it. Don't know how to frame the last question, but you've been in this industry over 30 years 36. You said yeah, you are vibrant, you are bold. You've got 30 more years 36. You said yeah, you are vibrant, you are bold, you've got 30 more years in you. How do you see the next 30 years with music for you?

Speaker 2 42:28

I see myself finally listening to some of the records that I bought and haven't listened to you, you know because that happened.

Speaker 2 42:36

Yeah, it's hard to know. I will say that the resurgence in vinyl seems like it's not temporary. It's been steadily. Sales have been steadily increasing every year for 13 years now. There's no end in sight. It's phenomenal growth each year. I really hope that I am still involved in music somehow. Perhaps owning a store at some point I got to say my heart is in this, so I want my heart to be in whatever I do. I cannot imagine having a job where A I needed to have a certain wardrobe to wear to the job. The worst it gets at the record store is hey, can you not have a swear word on your t-shirt? Okay, thanks, that's it for dress code. But also to not have passion for the thing that you're spending eight hours a day, five days a week doing. It just seems like it would be soul crushing, and part of it is the passion for music. But the other part of it is my coworkers and what a team they are and what a family we have, what you enjoy.

Speaker 2 43:47

Yes, what we enjoy and what we think is important. And the same is true of our customers. They're coming into our store because they've been brought there by their love for music.

The Future of Music and Connection

Speaker 1 43:58

It's instant community for us, it's instant connection for us, and I can't imagine having a job or making a living in some way that doesn't have that outside of this industry, because you have the remarkable privilege of being able to combine your work and your passion, what you're interested in, what you genuinely love. It's true, not everyone gets that opportunity, so you really have lived a privileged life.

Speaker 2 44:32

I, yes, I consider myself very fortunate.

Speaker 1 44:35

I love it. I love it, paige, it was such. It was a privilege. I'll keep landing on that one, but it was an honor to meet you and to see someone who's had such a different career than I've had and have so much energy still around it and doing the thing. But the common thread is that we serve people.

Speaker 2 44:55

It's all about community and connecting with others, and thank you so much for this opportunity. It's been so great and it's been wonderful.

Speaker 1 45:02

Tell people really quickly where to find you. I know it's San Jose and Santa Cruz, yes, and maybe what's the best time of day to go. If people want to be around other people, what's the optimum time to go and where do they go to part of your community?

Speaker 2 45:17

Yeah, so both stores one store in Santa Cruz on South Bascom, one store, I'm sorry, in San Jose on South Bascom, in Santa Cruz, on the south end of Pacific Avenue, and both stores are open 11 to 7 every day. Nice, saturdays are the big day. Okay, lots going on Saturdays and in particular we have our 50th anniversary celebration coming up in a few weeks.

Speaker 1 45:39

Is it a planned public event? Yes, it is Okay tell us about it.

Speaker 2 45:43

So it's going to be on Saturday, july 26th, okay, all day from 11 to 7. We're going to have DJs spinning records at both stores. We're going to have enter to win prize packages. We're going to have goodie bags free with purchase until we run out of those, yeah, oh, and at our San Jose store we're going to have a book signing. There's a new book out called South Bay Flashback, which is about the untold psychedelic underground of San Jose.

Speaker 1 46:11

Of San Jose, because we think about San Francisco for that. But there was a lot going on in San Jose.

Speaker 2 46:16

Fascinating and the author. Both authors, Bill Gardino and Brian Conroy, are going to be signing their book at the San Jose store from noon until two. Yeah.

Speaker 1 46:26

KPCR is one of the sponsors you may be as well of a Beatles, rolling Stones musical performance that evening, oh, that very night.

Speaker 2 46:37

In Campbell, okay, in Campbell.

Speaker 1 46:40

So I'm thinking that, for people wanting to have the full musical experience, come see you at Streetlight on Bascom in the afternoon, explore that book, grab some dinner and then show up. I've forgotten where it is in Campbell. We'll make sure it's on our website, but it's a cover band performance and it's like a Stones versus the Beatles kind of mashup. Yeah, I think, that'd be a great day of music.

Speaker 2 47:06

It sounds like a perfect day to me. Where do I sign up?

Speaker 1 47:09

I will get you a ticket as soon as we finish this Excellent Paige Brodsky from Streetlight Records. You have been an absolute joy.

Speaker 2 47:18

Thank you, it's been so much fun.

Speaker 1 47:19

You've shared so much wisdom and perspective and a history of what it's like to work your passion. So thank you for that and thank you Really appreciate it. This has been fun. Orcal Narratives, where we bring you the people and the stories that remind us of what we create. When we care about something that we're building, we care about what matters. You've been listening to KPCR LP 92.9 in Los Gatos and KMRT, lp 101.9 in Santa Cruz. Until next time, we will see you soon. Take care everyone. Goodbye.