This week, Good Records celebrated a milestone. The shop turned 24, its third anniversary of being able to legally drink and its last year of being eligible to date Leonardo DiCaprio.
On Saturday, one of Dallas’ most venerated record stores — which long stood on a Greenville Avenue corner before moving to Garland Road — celebrated the occasion with a big bash at Deep Ellum Art Co.
The party was headlined by none other than Brainiac (also known as 3RA1N1AC), the first appearance in Dallas by the Dayton, Ohio, experimental rock greats in 27 years. Opening the stacked bill were Cincinnati cello rockers Lung (who are opening the bands' tour) and Dallas’ own Baboon and Def Rain.
Along with Alice Cooper, Brainiac is one of those rare acts that has an inexplicable association with Good Records. Owner Chris Penn has been accompanying the band on this run, and beyond that, he has been one of the most outspoken evangelists of the band’s greatness. Penn and the band go way back to Penn’s College Station days, where he booked them at the Northgate Café after sending written correspondence to the band’s late vocalist, Tim Taylor.
In the past, the record store has also hosted book parties for The Doors' John Densmore, and Alice Cooper played a show there after reuniting his original band.
Someone also lit a couch on fire outside the store once.
What other markets would ordinarily see as a niche art-rock show was an appropriately vivacious celebration of Good Records and the nexus between musical greatness onstage and the wax that embodies it. Here’s to 24 more years.