April 20 is Record Store Day
VP’s ‘Miss Pat’ looks to keep preserving legacy
Come Saturday, April 20, across the US, Europe, and parts of Asia, music professionals and enthusiasts will celebrate Record Store Day.
First held in the US in 2007, the event was conceived at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees.
It brings together fans, artistes, and thousands of record stores globally in celebrating the culture of independently owned record stores and the vinyl record culture that has brought these stores into a new era of relevance.
Over the past six decades Patricia “Miss Pat” Chin has been making an impact in the music industry. The first 20 of those years she spent with her husband Vincent Chin operating a small record store, Randy’s Record Mart, and a recording studio, Studio 17, in downtown Kingston.
After the couple migrated to the United States, they founded VP Records
— the label name paying homage to their initials
— in New York in 1979, growing the business from a tiny retail outlet on Jamaica Avenue in Queens to the largest independent reggae label and distributor of Caribbean music in the world.
Since Vincent’s passing in February 2003, Miss Pat has kept the business going. And now, at an age when many of her peers are enjoying retirement and slowing down, the tireless Miss Pat asserts that none of that is on her agenda.
“I’m not retired,” the 86-year-old entrepreneur said laughing. “I don’t think of myself as retired at all. I still have work to do and I still have my ears to the streets. I’ve been through it all
— from mento, ska, to rock steady, reggae, dancehall, and dub
— and I’ve never lost track of the different trends in the music. My plan is to keep going and to keep preserving our musical legacy for as long as I can.
“Music is my life, and I still have to keep the momentum going from the past 60 years. I love to communicate and unite people. Doing nothing is not my goal,” she added as she and her team prepare for Record Store Day 2024.
Record Store Day provides promotions, marketing, and other opportunities for stores throughout the year, maintaining a website, social media, and other means of sharing its views about the value of independent record stores.
A highlight of the day is the issuing of special vinyl releases along with other promotional offerings to mark the occasion, and which are only available at participating stores.
A strictly vinyl-only showcase will hear performances by renowned sound systems Bass Odyssey, Nexxt Level, Super Force, and ReggaeBoyz Sound, and there will be access to this year’s exclusive Record Store Day LP release: Pass Me The Lazer Beam by Don Carlos.
Miss Pat says she is eagerly anticipating Saturday’s celebration which, at VP Records, will run from midday to 6:00 pm at the flagship store in Jamaica, Queens, and at the retail store in Miramar, Florida.
Special guest for the day at the Jamaica, Queens, event will be VP recording artiste Romain Virgo.
“It will be a celebration of Romain’s new album release, The Gentle Man, and also the work that he has done over the years. We want to honour his accomplishments from his
Rising Stars days up till now. He will be present to do a meet and greet, take photos with his fans and sign copies of the album. It promises to be a fun day and will shine a light on the sound system and vinyl culture, showing everyone that our music is alive and well, even with all the stages that we have passed through,” she is quoted in a news release.
