In a vain attempt to maintain my teetering level of street cred with the kids, here I am, ensuring that you, wonderful DCist reader, are properly informed about today's Record Store Day. The occasion's official website, The Vinyl District, and City Paper's Arts Desk all have the info you need to plot out a proper cash-dropping long-playing-acquisition course, should you possess the means. Today's festivities will be capped by a concert (7 p.m., $10, all ages, booze-free) at St. Stephen's Church this evening featuring the likes of Olivia Mancini, Paul Michel, Tone, and New Rock Church of Fire and benefiting Fort Reno's summer concert series -- which can't arrive soon enough, if you ask me. Not only that, anyone showing a receipt from an area record store dated April 17 gets admission to the show for half-price. Seems like the perfect chance to go pick up that reissue of Jersey's Best Dancers that I've been putting off for quite some time. more ›

From the twitterwires comes the exciting news that the Black Cat will host the next Record Fair. That ought to alleviate the crowding, which has been as much a feature of the event as nostalgia during its previous incarnations at the Warehouse and Civilian Art Projects (which is now in the Warehouse). Som Records, DC Soul Recordings, and The Vinyl District are reuniting for a very special Valentine's Day edition of the Record Fair, bringing some 30 record dealers together for your perusal. The event will not be light on entertainment, either: Eric Hilton (Thievery Corporation), Kid Congo Powers, and Bluebrain are all spinning. Take a look at DCist's photos from the May '09 fair. more ›

Sure, Crafty Bastards is back today. But while you're perusing the multitudes of DIY, don't forget that the arty festival is hardly your last chance to blow a rather large wad of cash over the next 36 hours. That elusive seven-inch will certainly be calling for you from the third annual D.C. Record Fair at Comet Ping Pong on Sunday, featuring 25 of the East Coast's finest purveyors of vinyl, crates of wax in tow. The Caps, Redskins, and D.C. United all have big games with available tickets this weekend too, so there's plenty of opportunities to drop some cold hard cash for the sporting-inclined amongst us. Add in the regular Friday and Saturday night tabs, and your wallet is nearly certain to be significantly thinner on Monday morning. (Looks like a Ramen kind of week.) more ›

Late Thursday afternoon, DJ Hut announced via Facebook that it will be shuttering its store in the upstairs portion of 2010 P Street NW. A little over a year ago, we heralded its return after a damaging fire, but the economic downturn coupled with the music industry's move further down the MP3 road appears to have ultimately made DJ Hut's physical location no longer viable. The notice, sent to DJ Hut's Facebook group, declared that the primarily vinyl institution will close at the end of April, with a 20 percent discount on most merchandise until then. The store will, however, continue to exist online for the foreseeable future. more ›

Good news for all those who've lamented the unavailability of high quality, unrestricted digital content from D.C.'s most storied independent record label. Dischord Records' catalog has been available via the iTunes store and some other online sources for a few years now, but those recordings were most often only available at relatively low 128 kbps quality, and contained all the usual DRM restrictions. Not only that, in many of those stores a Dischord track cost the same as the new single by Britney Spears, when the label has historically been all about pricing things more reasonably than major labels. more ›