Daniel Kohn

Reed ready to sign

On Friday, Lou Reed, did an in-store at Fingerprints in Long Beach. As expected, there were fans from all walks of love at the beloved record store. The line, per usual, extended from the store's front on 4th St. and around Elm. Unlike the recent Brian Wilson signing, there were less people and alas, less time for the Velvet Underground impresinario to sign. However, all wasn't lost as Reed performed a poetry reading during the middle of the signing session. As we waited on-line for the Long Island-native to make his way to the store, here are some of our favorite people we encountered and what they had signed.More >>

Lilledeshan Bose/OC Weekly

Brian Wilson with his wife Melinda. Click here to see more photos frrom the night.

​Brian Wilson owes the world nothing. Nope, not you, mega fan. Nor you, guy who owns a mint condition 45 of Heroes And Villains. Nor you, guy who traded in his Sublime records for a copy of Pet Sounds.

But Wilson made a super rare public appearance and held an autograph session for the long awaited, never-completed-album-until-now, The Smile Sessions boxed set. Did he have to do it? Of course not. But he did and he chose the perfect venue for the evening: Fingerprints Records.

Wilson signed non-stop for a little over two hours for approximately 350 fans filing politely in from a line stretching down 4th St. and around Elm. The flock consisted of the old, the young, the hip and the not-so-hip, all holding onto prized copies of favorite LPs or brand new CDs. Here's a sampling of the kind of people we met in line.
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​The word "legend" applies only to a few people on this planet. One of those people is Brian Wilson. The man behind the Beach Boys is a bona fide musical genius and most certainly a legend in my book, which is why everyone reading this should stop what they are doing and go to Fingerprints in Long Beach right now because Wilson will be there Tuesday at 7 p.m. signing copies of the Smile Sessions box set.

Pretty awesome, right? Right.

However -- and it pains me to say this -- don't expect much from Wilson other than his signature on your record. I "met" Wilson once and have done two phone interviews with him and to say he is uncomfortable around people he doesn't know is like saying Pet Sounds is just "some record."

The time I "met" him went like this: I was backstage at a Brian Wilson/Paul Simon show at the Greek Theatre. There was a small room of about 20 people waiting for the post-gig meet and greet, which should have been titled the "Brian Wilson walks into a doorway, sees 20 people waiting for him, makes a face like he caught his parents having sex, then tries to escape before anyone notices but can't because the entire room starts clapping as he is quietly high-tailing it out of there."


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Chad Sengstock/OC Weekly

​We just gleaned this from Fingerprints Records' Facebook page a few minutes ago: "Oh, look. We just found 30 spots on the guest list, no purchase necessary, for today's performance by The Airborne Toxic Event. It's at 1:00pm, and you can bring your lunch. Lets do this. 562.433.4996"

And you know, you should check out the indie rockers' moody, high-drama tunes if you can--watch what you could be seeing in two hours after the jump.
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​This is what we get for running with a press release about an art show with the word "chronic" in the title.

Last week we received an e-mail from a gentleman named Sergio Sandoval associated with skate, surf and smoke-lifestyle company, Long Beach Chronic. The impresario was promoting a 420 event featuring works by various artists including Opie Ortiz and former Rat Fink illustrator, The Pizz, among others. The theme was, take a guess-- weed--as visualized on a quintessential  southern California canvas--the skateboard deck. Sounded promising.

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​Meet your new guilty pleasure: All Time Low. Even if you weren't a 15-year-old girl, I think you'd agree the band is pretty cute. So cute, in fact, that you'd think about prepurchasing their major-label debut Dirty Work to get a wristband today to have them sign autographs at Hot Topic in Santa Ana's Main Place on April 15.

All Time Low singer/guitarist Alex Gaskarth teamed up with Weezer's Rivers Cuomo to write "I Feel Like Dancin,'" off the new album. It's also available digitally today here. 
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​It's a big weekend for Long Beach's Fingerprints record store--both The Dears and Tapes N' Tapes are performing in-stores on Saturday and Sunday.

Montreal's the Dears are in town pre-SxSw to perform a warm-up gig featuring songs from their latest set, Degeneration Street. The Eulogies also open the in-store appearance, so you get two intensely atmospheric bands for the price of none. RSVP at (562) 433-4996; if you buy Degeneration Street (CD or LP) or the Eulogies' Here Anonymous (LP with CD), you get in first and receive a poster from the event.

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Christopher Victorio/OC Weekly

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Feb. 3, 2011
Fingerprints

Click here to see the photos!

There's not much on the walls, and all the merch that aren't CDs or vinyl are nowhere to be found, but if you squint long and hard enough, you can see that the new Fingerprints location near the intersection of Fourth Street and Long Beach Boulevard is going to be an improvement over the cramped quarters of its former Second Street abode.
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Andrew Youssef

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"O Canada", we still haven't forgiven you for defeating the US hockey team in the gold medal game at the Olympics. Lucky for you, the amount of cool Canadian indie bands that you export is very impressive (excluding the horrid Nickelback). One such export is the obscenely talented composer and violinist Owen Pallett who has shed his previous moniker as Final Fantasy to avoid legal prosecution.More >>

Jeff Antebi

Sub Pop band Avi Buffalo to hold hometown record release bash at Fingerprints in Long Beach

Fresh off successful SXSW showcases, Avi Buffalo, led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg, has booked a free in-store homecoming/record release performance at Fingerprints on April 16. It's a Monday and starts at 6 p.m. 

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