My trip to Ric’s started with a real tourist type ‘fail’. I looked at the map and saw a Sunrise Records within a radius I estimated was about $10 via Uber. So I hauled over there but as I got close I saw that the area just didn’t look conducive to a record store, or any kind of real culture at all. Turned out that Sunrise is a pretty big chain (I kind of already knew this) and this location was inside of about the biggest and most modern shopping mall I’ve ever been in. They did have vinyl, but only new vinyl, stupid 180g reissues and corny, trendy modern ‘music’. I was having some gut issues that day and hadn’t wanted to even do this. I already hit Value Village and checked off Ontario from my list, I didn’t need to do anything else. I was tired and felt weak, and I came over here for nothing. So I sat on a big chair in the middle of the mall for at least 30 minutes trying to figure out what to do next. I could turn back to my hotel, or…..
I saw Ric’s on the map, but it was the opposite direction, further away from my home base. And again, I was really tired and now I was running up some substantial Uber fares. But I pulled myself together, and reminded myself I had very limited time here in Canada and as always, take advantage of it no matter what state you are in. So I headed further east toward the Port Credit neighborhood right on Lake Ontario. This area had some culture and felt far more comfortable. And inside, things only got better.
Ric’s is a very clean and well organized space. The selection is excellent, and even better for me as almost everything in there is a Canadian pressing. The store was totally empty and one of Canada’s most famous artist was on the turntable, albeit it one of his most obscure albums. As I listened to track A3 I knew I was going to ask ‘what the hell is this?’. It certainly didn’t sound like Neil Young, hell, it wasn’t even very good! I did approach the fellow behind the counter and he laughed and did a quick rundown of the ridiculous lyrics (‘got mashed potatoes/ain’t got no T-bone’, repeated for 9 minutes over a meandering rock beat) and we both had a laugh. Then apparently the universe shined down on me (or both of us), as he then put on one of my favorite albums of all time, and one on which I consider myself an expert (on the artist in general, but especially this album). I took a deep breath and we began a righteous discussion on the merits of Steely Dan and their early work.
Ric knew his stuff as well as I and there was no pretentiousness (as often found in such places), just two guys having a chat about a classic LP. In the meantime, I hadn’t stopped digging. Back in Connecticut a few months ago, I found a Kai Winding record I had been looking for. I still really wanted the alternate titled release and alas I found it. Not only did I find it, I found the mono Canadian pressing! No way I would have walked away from this one, even for triple the price.
I was tempted to grab some Max Webster or Kim Mitchell because I am a silly American, and it would have been exciting to get Canadian pressings for such quintessential Canadian artists. But I determined that I already have the best Kim Mitchell album (and the club version) and I have enough Max Webster…for now. I did come across a live album I’ve wanted for a long time. A few years ago I borrowed my dad’s car and he had this CD in the player and I got hooked on it. Glad to have it on vinyl (another Canada press, to boot).
Now that I’m home and I take a closer look at Ric’s website I see that he is basically a Port Credit icon, who has basically devoted his whole life to vinyl. I’m proud of my blog but I can’t hold a candle to someone like this, it was a privilege to talk vinyl with someone like that, in their castle. I could smell the class on this guy and even solicited him for a selfie, something I’ve never done before on this blog. He was a good sport and you can see the delight in my eyes, being in a place like this.
