Brooklyn Record Riot!

Though the music industry may be struggling, and many music-lovers haven’t seen the shiny surface of a CD in years, over six hundred people came to the Warsaw last Sunday to consume perogies, kielbasa, beer, and one form of music that continues to fight obsolescence: vinyl.

The Brooklyn Record Riot is a tri-annual record sale hosted by long-time music dealers John Bastone and Stephen Gritzan, who own Exile Records And CDs in White Plains, New York, and Iris Records in Jersey City, New Jersey, respectively. The duo began hosting record fairs in Connecticut in 2005, and have since expanded to seven fairs in the tri-state area.

“We wanted to do something consistently, with cool DJs and good dealers, and we wanted to do it at a recognizable venue that had a good reputation,” Gritzan said of their venue of choice, the Warsaw. “It’s a perfect place to have [the Record Riot]. Patti Smith has played here. We wanted to have a place that Greenpoint and Williamsburg knew. There’s a bar, there’s Polish food. We wanted to make it more than just a record show.”

Bastone and Gritzan launched the Brooklyn Record Riot in June 2008, perceiving the need for a major record fair in Brooklyn, which they’ve watched become the new Manhattan for writers, artists, and musicians over the years. And although music sales have declined rapidly, the recent resurgence in vinyl has kept their industry, and their shows, afloat.

“The whole dynamic and business has changed,” said Bastone, who has seen a decline in his CD sales but a rise in both online and record sales.

Last Sunday’s sale included fifty tables and over thirty-five dealers, and featured eight DJs and an array of Polish fare to sustain the avid record-seekers.

“There wasn’t a major show in Brooklyn,” Bastone explained, though he was quick to mention the social, more DJ-centric, evening record fair, Shakey’s. “This is a social event, but it’s more focused on buying and selling, and more for the general public. Most of the Brooklyn people now are misplaced Manhattanites. We saw a need for it.”

Though there are a healthy amount of record stores and flea markets in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Bastone and Gritzan’s events provide a diverse, high-quality array of several dozen dealers in one place. While many dealers are local, some come from as far as Virginia and Quebec, offering material that people can’t get just anywhere, like French-Canadian psychedelic rock. And for customers, the concentration of dealers breeds competitive pricing.

“The crowd here is very knowledgeable,” Gritzan said. “They know their prices; they know their music. It’s a very discerning crowd.”

Both Bastone and Gritzan noted that their Brooklyn shows in particular tend to draw a younger, enthusiastic crowd, with more people in their twenties, as well as more women.

“This business no longer has mass appeal,” Gritzan said. “It’s a niche business because not everyone gets their music this way anymore. Records have made a comeback. They’re more popular now than they’ve been in a long time, which is cool. You have to keep changing with what’s gong on.”
Bastone and Gritzan will be launching a Record Riot in Philidelphia in the spring. For more information, visit recordriots.com

Share