Brian's Record Option
381 Princess St. K7L 1B9 Kingston, ON, Canada

I had an interesting experience in the store today . A woman asked me whether I had a specific Ricky Skaggs record which I had for $10. It was supposed to be a... [present for her mother. The only ptroblem was she did not have the cash , She called all these relatives asking them to put the money in her bank account but obviously she had done this before and nobody got paid back. It was amusing hearing the conversations amongst them and her. After 1 rejection after another she looked me in the eye desperately and asked whether I would give her the record and then she would allow me to look at her boobs. I couldn`t help laughing and the woman responded with "I guess not" and left. See more

For the past 3 years a young couple from a small town in rural Ontario frequent my store looking for Halloween sound effect records for the purpose of scaring t...he shit out of the trick or treating kids at their door. The couple have fallen in love with Kingston and so this time they were here on their honeymoon. I told them of the couple who came to the store about 10 years ago who were looking for cds for a road trip but could not agree on anything because their musical tastes were far appart. They each were loudly knocking the taste of the other to the point of being belligerent and obviously were not getting along. I looked at both of them and said that they obviously had been married for too long and they needed a break from each other. Both the couples` faces turned red as they confessed to the fact that they were on their honeymoon. lol The couple who were in the store a few weeks ago got along splendidly and besides their choice of Kingston for their honeymoon they also blurted out that their young child was given the name Kingston as a first name. Kingstonians should be proud. See more

I have noticed on my feed lately that there are quite a few men and women who are dying young while their older parents are still living. This is a tragic state... of affairs especially when you have known them for many years. Take 1 of my long time customers who I took for granted I would see again. Sometimes he would buy a lot of stuff while other times he would sell the merchandise because of lack of money. He was a man in his low 50 who smoked a lot even though he knew cigarettes were bad for him and he generally was in poor health. Many times he would come and visit just to blow off some steam because he said I was a good listener. Over the years he would come in while I was busy with paperwork and I would reluctantly stop with what I was doing and listen to his mishaps with the opposite sex He like many others wanted desperatelysomeone to love and be loved but because of their awkwardness in the game of courtship and their rather inappropriate behaviour generally thjey saw themselves as failures in that department. There was nothing special about this person as far as appearance, intelligence or skills but mind you I can say the same about many women I know also, He was like the majority of us waiting for that special somebody who thought we were pretty special anyways, He was an ordinary kind of a guy with a heart of gold and that I believe is pretty special in a way. I remember once while I was shooting the shit with him some female student came up to the counter with a Grateful Dead record in her hand, He went up to her bragging about seeing Jerry Garcia in concert many times and he really expected her to be impressed. Mind you it turned out she was only buying the record for her boyfriend and she did not know the name for Adam. After she left the store I chided him for thinking a woman would go to bed with him just because he saw the Grateful Dead in concert. I could see someone wanting to fuck Jerry Garcia but......Jerry Garcia was a legend and special person and this customer was very ordinary like the rest of us , legends in our own minds but everyone is special in a way I told him to be patient and the right person will eventually appear but the customer was impatient and he tended to fuck things up when something promising appeared. I will miss that bugger though He was a good soul even though he did not know it See more

"I am just kidding" I told the 2 Queen`s University first years who visited the store last week, I told them jokingly I saw their faces on the CBC and CTV te...levision reporting of the Aberdeen fiasco. They both took me seriously and had worried looks on their faces. One of the students asked whether the reporting was shoved near the end of the news program and I told them the coverage was at the top of the newscast . The other student told me if his parents were watching the news and saw his face, they would probably cut him off financially. His college nodded his head in agreement. They both were relieved when I told them I was just pulling their legs and I did not see their faces on tv To celebrate they each bought some vinyl and they will never take me seriously again. See more

I find that whatever one says or does there is always one person who raises a fuss and disagrees with one`s words and/or actions. Take yesterday for example, 2... women were going through the posters when the older woman pointed to one of the posters in disgust. I overheard her say to the other How could he sell a poster of a naked man with his penus in full view. This is just disgusting. I came over to the racks to view the poster in question, I immediately told her that the naked figure is the famous Michelangelo`s David . This statue is a Renaissance masterpiece created in the early 1500`s . The original copy can be viewed in a Florence museum while a copy is located in a Piazzajust opposite the old palace. It is in full view on a street in Florence which I saw myself in the early 1970`s. The woman did not believe my words and demanded me to do something about it. After a moment of thought I replaced a Marilyn Monroe poster with the naked David in a prominent place in my front window. The 2 women were not impressed. In my opinion, the customer is not always right See more

An old man in his eighties sauntered in not wearing a mask. I stopped him in his tracks and asked him where his mask was, His response I only wear a mask when I am robbing banks Laughter ensued and the man left the premises

Inner and outer record sleeves back in stock

Last week I was phoned by an elderly woman wo wanted to know if I had a copy of the Verdi opera Aida on vinyl and I told her I had quite a few versions to choo...se from. It turned out there were in fact 6 different boxsets and she narrowed it down to 2. To make her choice easier, I played a random cut from each of the recordings and one definitely stood out to both of us in its sound and vitality. As we were listening to the music. a person either looking in the metal or hip hop section perked up his ears and abruptly left the store probably thinking he was in the wrong place. lol I told the woman that the music reminded me of the music playing in the movie Fatal Attraction where the music of Puccini`s Madame Butterfly played throughout the l;ovemaking and later the stabbing scenes of the movie. I could also visualize Nicholas Cage and Cher falling inlove during the scenes of Puccini~ La Boheme or even Ricahard Gere~s relationshi[p with Julia Roberts moving in a different direction watching Verdi`s La Traviata. My imagination gets the better of me at times. As she paid for the Verdi boxset the woman asked for the name of the Michael Douglas movie I had initially mentioned and walked out of the store with a smile. See more

There’s an even more mind blowing way to experience Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon... -Lew

I never thought this would happen in the store. An older gentleman of retirement age wanted to donate a gospel record collection which I immediately placed wi...th the many others in the section down in the basement. American politics somehow entered the conversation and suddenly this Canadian retiree began to repeat all the Trumpisms word for word from the campaign speeches of Trump himself. I knew better than to argue with him because what can you say to someone who believes what he has been told. You can`t argue with an idealogue whether they be on the far right or left. As he was repeating the Trump dogma word for word someone who was browsing through the new arrival jazz records picked up his head and started to question the Canadian Trumpers logic. This customer used to be a diplomat sent to many parts of the world representing Canada. He asked the Trumper for facts that would prove his assertions that Trump was the best president in American history. The bigot poo pooed facts as being irrevelant fossils of the far left and mere rhetoric of fake new. Since such truisms come from the God himself. they must be true. I looked at the retired diplomat and shook my head in disbelief. Another day at Brians Record Option See more

350 Jazz Record collection just bought All in mint shape All in new arrival section

BEHIND THE SCENES Some behind-the-scenes shots of Brian’s Records Option store in downtown Kingston... Watch Life in Rotations by Loyalist College students,... Cole Vance, Rae de Jong, Kim Pothier & Ashley Dubblestein at Belleville Downtown DocFest - International Documentary Film Festival beginning tomorrow. GET YOUR TICKETS NOW : https://downtowndocfest.ca/tickets-passes/ : Cole Vance Belleville Downtown DocFest - International Documentary Film Festival | Loyalist College | Brian's Record Option

Joni Mitchell once said in an i interview that she sometimes has trouble relating to that crazy girl she had been from her distant past and I have to confess to... say the same. except not as crazy or famous. I remember myself in the early days when my parents made the decision for me to go through a rather risky operation on my eyes and I endured a 2 week stay in a hospital room shared with other kids . For those 2 weeks I had a bandage over my eyes not knowing if I would ever see again and when I was out of the hospital I was also forced to wear a black patch over my left eye for awhile and the kids on the street kept calling me the Pirate from Peter Pan. As I grew older I was blessed with bucked teeth and the kids in school would call me Bucky the Beaver. Kids can be cruel with their name calling. and laughter at anyone who differs from themselves. I remember in the early grades the boy who was sitting behind me came to class with the news that his mother`s best friend from Hollywood was coming for lunch the next day and it turned out this friend was the famous Ethel Merman whose signature song was "Give my Regards to Broadway . Unfortunately none of the kids knew who she was and so the indifference of them put a damper on this child`s story and he was rather sad the rest of the day. Because of my bucked teeth I was forced to endure braces and then a retainer to straighten out the teeth. Unfortunately I kept losing that damn retainer on the railroad tracks behind our house. It is definitely much easier now as an adult not having to endure such shit as I had to back then. I still can`t believe after so many years I was that child making some attempt at growing up See more

A couple entered the store this afternoon. The man was all over the store searching for records while his wife stood across from the counter standing at atten...tion with her hands crossed. She definitely had no interest in what was in the store. She was obviously waiting for her husband to finish his search. After 10 minutes had elapsed I offered the woman a chair but she ignored me. After an hour of looking the man came up to the counter and apologized for not finding anything and his wife kept hounding him for waisting her time. I turned to her and said that now it was her turn to drag him somewhere where he had no interest. "You`re damn right He will be waiting for me to try on dresses, shoes and coats. and it serves him right for making me stand here like a zombie" The man was shaking miserably. Another happy relationship. See more

A few years ago someone came into the store looking for Nirvana`s second record Nevermind for his sister who was turning 50. The cover featured a few months ol...d naked baby underwater swimming toward a fishook with a $1 bill in between. The customer bought the record and had a brilliant idea of covering the $1 bill with a 50 . I heard through the grapevine that this same baby is now 25 and he goes up to women in bars and tells them he is in fact the baby on the cover of this Nirvana record and when they laugh and say "Prove it" he goes through the motions of stripping. I somehow don`t believe this although in this world anything can happen. See more

During the pandemic it is a no no to use the store washroom or telephone even though many customers want to. This was happening before Covid was here and by kee...ping the washroom a total mess kept people away. However this did not stop the landlord`s wife . I remember when she was pregnant with her eldest daughter she insisted on using it so of course I relented. The next time I saw the landlord he mentioned his wife using my facilities and told me she would definitely not use it again. I told him that my washroom was not for public use and this included his wife. We both had a good laugh over his wife complaining and so there was no harm done. His wife gave birth months later to a healthy baby girl and thankfully there was no contamination from my facilities. Years later when the landlord`s wife was pregnant with a second girl, amnesia struck the woman and again she wanted to use my toilet even though this time there was no door to close. I thought mistakenly that this would be a better deterrent. But no the landlord`s wife had such a good time before, she thought she would try again with the same result as before. When the landlord told me again about her second experience I pleaded with him to install a bathroom door. I never did get a door for the bathroom until after the flood when the insurance paid for it See more

I remember the days living at home with my parents and my mother saying all the time that you have to clean before the cleaning lady comes.. I never paid much a...ttention to her words of wisdom until I bought that house on Montreal St many moons ago. Since I work long hours there is very little time to clean house and when the opportunity came I immediately took advantage. A young woman was starting a cleaning business and approached me at the store to put up her poster up on my bulletin board. I decided to test out her cleaning skills and gave her the keys to my house. After work when she returned the keys I ran home to inspect. The house still looked the same minus the odd dust bunnies surrounding the stuff I left on the floor. My clothes remained on the floor including the jellybeans and peanut shells. She never picked up anything on the floor except to dust around my underwear and dust around each jellybean I guess it wasn`t her job to pick anything up. I never did understand my mother`s advice until that moment of shock. I should have cleaned up before the lady came to also clean up. So the experiment was a failure and I was back to my old ways lol See more

A funny thing happened this morning. I received a call from an elderly woman who wanted CDs of Joshua Bell a popular classical violinist and I told her the stor...y about the man who phoned up another record store asking for this violinist playing Vivaldi Four Seasons. When he arrived at the store he was extremely disappointed to hear that the store clerk mistakenly thought he wanted Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons, After the lady had a good laugh from this story I told her to wait a few minutes while I search the classical string section which was situated at the back of the store. However someone had piled a whole wack of opera box sets covering the string CD section and I cursed twice at the top of my lungs. I found 2 used CDS of Joshua Bell but the lady had hung up the phone After calling her she immediately asked me if I was ok and I said I was fine. Apparently when she heard me swear she thought something was wrong and called 911 who was still on the line. We both had another good laugh. See more

A person came into the store last week with a cast over his arm. I asked him what had happened and he told me the story of falling off his motorcycle. I told h...im the story of a customer who was in a near fatal motorcycle accident where his head hit the pavement and the result being he lost any memory of his wife and family. Mind you the only memory that was salvaged was his music and where he had bought his collection of records. So his wife had to divorce him while he still was a regular customer. How ironic! See more

Walking down Princess Street I pass by the regular trail of panhandlers There is the guy who has a sign which states he is homeless. Doug actually has a home a...bove one of the retaurants by Division St and he receives every month a nice disability pension and whatever he receives from Kingstonians he spends in my store for Johnny Cash records or blank tapes. Further down is the woman who buys a poster from me when she is drunk and wants to take it the next day when she is sober. The problem is the next day she has no memory of buying the poster and does not know what I am talking about. During my flood she would give me a hug and say how sorry she was and then ask me for spare change. Next is the man who basically lives and sleeps on a bench comatose most of the time. but he still remembers my name. There is the alcholic who spends money on booze. and there is the druggie who spends his money on drugs. There is also the man who checks his cell phone at different intervals and asks me for money while I always tell him That I only keep a debit card in my pocket . Welcome to Princess Street. See more

While I was eating lunch today a woman in her late teens early twenties was looking through the posters and later the stickers and postcards.and she did not sto...p talking for a moment. She picked up a postcard she had bought from me a few weeks ago but her boyfriend had apparently ripped it up. "Why didn`t you kick his ass for doing this" I said. She immediately responded that he had kicked her ass instead and in fact real bad. I told her if I was her I would run as far away as possible from him. She again responded that she could not do such a thing because she was in love with him. I immediately wrote with a black magic marker on a folded piece of cardboard the words THE DOCTOR IS OUT and I continued eating my lunch. See more

When $1 and $2 bills were plentiful I had a customer who taped them to the walls of his house and when there was no room left on the walls it was time for vaca...tion.He would spend hours taking the bills down and putting them in a neat pile and counting the bills. I asked him what if there was a fire in his house. There was no way the insurance company would believe his story about money on his walls. It turned out he was never insured and he was taking his chances. I know another person who puts 45 rpm records on his walls. Whenever he gets tired of looking at one he brings it into the store to trade the record in. Now a days many students buy $30 records to put on their walls. They do not have players but like the look of them in a frame. See more

While I was dealing with a lineup at the counter a woman cut into the line to ask whether I would have time to look at her 3 boxes of CDs and DVDs They were in... her car parked around the corner. She wanted me to ignore the people and leave the store. This happened sometime today. As I was completing a sale I told her to park in front of the store and bring the boxes to me. So the car was parked in front of the store and the lady wanted me to lift these extremely heavy boxes. I refused so she called her poor husband to do the lifting. Her husband looked like he was in his 80s , very grey, a stooped posture , a shadow of a corpse, He brought 2 boxes in and I thought for sure he would be getting a heartattack while if I had done the deed., I would be a hernia candidate. I began to look at each DVD I wanted so to see the condition. The woman asked me if I was going look at each item and I said yes. She initially thought I would give her a price for everything without looking at the merchandise and I asked her what she would like? She responded at least $500. I insisted on looking over everything and she said no deal and yelled for her lapdog to come and put the boxes back into the car. The day ended on a funny note. Another woman wanted a record she could use to make her plants grow tall, "Have you ever thought of using water?" I said. She responded by calling me a wise guy and insisted on finding such a recording. I thought about this for a few minutes and then came up with something. I went to the miscellaneous Classical section and after pulling ot about 50 records I found the gem I was hoping I had. The title was Plant Music. The customer smiled See more

This coming Saturday is the second of 3 Record Store Day drop-offs of limited and rare vinyl. The store will open at 8 am on that day and close at 6pm. For the list of this product google Canadian Record Store Day drop=offs Sept. 2020.

Surprises for birthdays and other special occasions are very far and in between. When most people come in for birthdays they buy gift certificates or stuff from... want lists. People should get what the want. There was a customer who used to buy for his daughter this years volume of Women and Song. After she would thank him profusely for the CD the next day I would have an unopened copy. "Why don`t you tell him you don`t want it" I always ask but she just can`t hurt his feelings. Last month my nephew Jeremy pulled a huge surprise on his mother for her birthday. When he was much younger he happened to befriend on facebook or through other means contacts of famous artists. From their point of view how can anyone say no to a sweet looking innocent face like Jeremy . Mind you appearance could be deadly like Damean in the movie the Omen not to say Jeremy is like Damean LOL. Anyways he had a contact with the artist Melissa Manchester who was his mother`s favourite and sweet talked her into singing Happy Birthday and more in a video he could show his mother. So his mother is sitting on the living room couch watching this video while Jeremy is videotaping her reaction. As the video is progressing his mother`s eyes are bulging out of her face with utter surprise. She reminded me of the horror movie Carrie in a specific scene I won`t go into.. Tears were streaming down her face when Melissa Manchester was singing her praises. Here was the unbreakable bond between a mother and a son.It was heartwarming to witness the surprise Jeremy had for his mother and this amazing event did not cost him a dime . So kudos to Jeremy for using the power of surprise on his mother. As his fellow Californian-Canadian musician Neil Young would say "Long may you run" See more

A student came up to the counter to buy a Johnny Cash poster as I was talking to an elderly customer. The older guy turned to the student and said that he was t...oo young to buy the poster. I turned to the old man and said that he was too old to buy it. After the student left with the poster the elderly gentleman started to make anti-gay remarks for some reason. As he was about to leave he started to sing the Nat King Cole song Mona Lisa in his lowsy baritone voice.. At the same time a male student came into the store and I shouted at the old man to stop serenading this young male student. The man was not impressed with my words. See more

Since the students have come back to campus the store has never been as busy. I initially thought that since most courses are online there would be fewer studen...ts but not in my store. Besides the students there are a smattering of tourists from Montreal and from many Ontario towns and cities. And also the Kingston characters who always seem to come when least expected. A woman who I had never seen before told me she bought her first record player and was excited to buy music so she could erase all the pain she faced from her past. In between sales of posters she ignored the people wanting to buy stuff and continued to tell me her story about her father being a serial killer and trying to poison her and her sister when she was young. She claimed she is an author and professor at Queens and craved the attention I could not give. Outside the store was a bearded guy having a intellectual discussion with one of the posters covering my window. He tried to come in earlier without a mask so I told him I would have to take his temperature with a rectal thermometer. He left without understanding a word I said. Another person wanted to use my bathroom and I said no because the toilet had too many Christmas CDs on the lid waiting to be put in the bins on the wall. Someone else wanted to avoid the police so he took refuge in the store pretending to be a customer. A typical day at Brians Record Option. See more

Today a student asked for Taylor Swift on vinyl and she seemed embarassed asking me. Apparently all her friends laugh at her musical taste. To help quell her e...mbarassment I told her a story of another customer much younger than her who came into the store with her mother looking for Osmond records. This girl of 9 was hounded by her classmates for liking this group. I mentioned the tough looking biker who was in the store previously all dressed in black leather riding a cool looking Harley. This man who seemed to be the personification of cool asked for a hard to find Donny Osmond record and he also was sent to the Osmond section." Tell that to your uncool classmates" I said with a chuckle. See more

One of the advantages of having a store located close to musical venues is that famous musicians can easily stop by. I remember when Trooper was playing at Stag...es and the drummer came in and bought all my Trooper records and from what I had heard later he marked them up 3 fold while having each band member sign the covers. The lead singer from Nazareth wanted to browse the stacks at the time I needed something to eat so I mistakenly told him to return in 5 minutes. Upon leaving the store he gave me a Nazareth guitar pick but never came back. One of the most recognizable guys from the band Billy Talent was looking at the rock cds when someone came in and asked if there were anymore tickets left and even if there were him and his friends could not really afford the cost of admission. The musician looked up at the customer and asked him for his name and how many of his friends could make the show and put them all on the guest list.That lucky bastard!! See more

A young and frantic couple came into the store near closing. The tall lanky man was carrying an infant while the woman had a few roses in her hand. As a joke I... grabbed the roses with the comment "You shouldn`t have" and the woman grabbed them back with the aside "I know,"The woman started to tell me that it was their anniversary and their son had vomited all over her husband`s shirt and it was much too late to retrieve another one. She noticed I sell shirts and was wondering if I could loan her husband a shirt to wear for tonight and would promise to return it the next day. I retorted that I do not rent anything and the shirts are $25. The husband embarassed by his wifes remarks ended up buying an XL bright pink Brians Record Option shirt which he wore all night. See more

Brians Record Option shirts are quite a hot commodity these days but sometimes people buy them because they are in need of a shirt no matter what is printed on... them.Take for instance that couple who rushed into the store near closing time. The over weight older man was trying to impress this much younger petit ball of fire he had just picked up hours before, They were planning on having a few drinks on some patio but the slob she was with had stained his once very white shirt and of course all the clothing stores were closed Walking past my store was a sign advertising shirts by Brians Record Option and the Tragically Hip andthe word SHIRTS caught their eye. The man needed a 2X but my largest size at the time was XL. He tried on a black XL and for the evening the shirt had just fit, Perhaps after washing it in hot water the next day it would not but he was thinking of the present and for this evening the store received some advertisement for better or worse. I hoped he behaved himself. See more

I am very critical of people with their cell phones especially in the store. The louder the talking, the louder becomes my music. Actually one time the raising ...of the volume became a detriment because I blew the fuse of one side of the amp as a result. A person will come in to browze and as soon as their phone rings they leave unexpectantly. Businessmen do their business in the store while the person on the other end think that person is at their office. I go into a restaurant and a family is sitting together each looking at their individual phones. A couple are in a theatre waiting for the film to begin and they are each on their phones As you can tell I do not own such a phone and I am dependent on others because of this. While I was dealing with my flood a few years back I needed something to tell people that the situation was temporary. Someone in the insurance business donated a flip phone to which the store number was transferred so anyone who called Brians Record Option got me. So this tiny object was always in my pocket One time I was in the basement of the store and the phone happened to be in my shirt pocket Because I was bending down a lot organizing 45s it somehow fell into the abyss of the basement and I needed another phone to call me so I could trace the ring of my phone. It literally took hours to find it within the thousands of 45s. Here I am criticizing people who answer their phones in stores and other public places interrupting important conversationsand here I am in an important meeting with insurance people. The phone rings and instead of not answering the call I do so and keep all these people waiting impatiently. and here I am being critical. Blame it on that damn phone I say but I did not need to answer. The contradictions of being human! See more

One student asked me if I had any Edward Bear vinyl and he was surprised I actually had a section for the group. I asked him how he heard about the group and ...he told me his father was the main vocalist. Another student played the drums like his father who was the early drummer for the Canadian group Dr Music. He later was involved in a movie about a rock n roll band in Montreal. I saw the movie at the Kingston Film Festival and I found it very disjointed and boring When he asked me what I thought I told him straight why I did not like it. Before he was a regular customer. After the criticism he was never to be seen. So much for honesty. See more

I sold an Avril Lavigne poster today. It has been in my stacks for quite awhile. Avril does not sell as she used to. I remember in the days she was really hot ...and CD sales were incredible. I remember when a father and his teenage daughter were hanging out in the store. The father could not take his daugher always mentioning Avril Lavigne this and Avril Lavigne that. His solution was everytime she mentioned Avril`s name he replaced Lavigne with Lavignsky. and this drove his daughter as insane as when she would say her name to her father. An eye for an eye ...A number of years ago one of the drummers for the band Sum 41 came into the store and as he was checking out some vinyl I asked him about the lead singer Deryck Whibley~s and how he first met Avril. The drummer mentioned Avril showing up to their gigs and was always chasing after Deryck. See more