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Hackensack Record King One-stop shopping for Music Oldies |
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Artical reprinted from the Sun Bulletin January 9, 1999
by Lila Wassenaar and Marsha Stolz
Editor's Note: Still roving around, our reporter finds a paradise for the avid collector of vinyl records highlighting big bands, rock and roll and country music.
HACKENSACK--Oh, What A Day It Was, It Really Was Such A Day, when I stepped forward into the past at the Hackensack Record King.
Bill Smith and his partner Craig Stepneski are celebrating 25 years of service to all music lovers. From Sinatra, Beatles, Supremes and Patsy Kline, they offer a wide variety of records in the original LP "vinyl" format.
Stepping into this store for the first time is like walking into a time machine. What is this in the racks? Records? Real LP's and 45's -- excuse me, "vinyl" -- often in their original jackets?
I felt like I was in seventh heaven. Does anyone remember the old record shops where you could listen to a record in a booth before you purchased? Well, the Hackensack Record King has a corner or two with a turntable and headphone and lots of smiling folks doing just that.
Yes, they also have cassette tapes and CDs. However, it is the records --real records--that sets the store apart and gives it its unique charm. The store has, or can gain access to, just about anything ever recorded. The neatly lined walls, shelves, alphabetized and categorized record bins make it easy to browse and look for your favorites.
Imagine: every single ever recorded by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in their cute little jackets, several copies of each, one after another, filling a whole row. Every Beach Boys single. Things you forgot about and never thought you'd hear again.
If you don't see it, ask. They are used to odd requests. We got "Hey Joe" by -- are you ready? -- The Leaves. Outstanding. "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'' by Crazy Elephant. Too good to be true.
Some CDs, tapes and records are used and priced accordingly. No need to fret, all purchases are guaranteed and can be returned for a refund. Their used records will have varying levels of "static" depending on how old and rare they are, but rarely a skip. If you are a sound purist and hate that seasoned "scratchy" sound, they will gladly help you locate the CD version if it has been reissued.
A never-released "10th Anniversary Capitol Records" album was there for any collector walking in with artists such as Johnny Mercer, Stan Kenton, Nellie Lutcher, Margaret Whiting, and--get this--the Pied Pipers.
We found some old sheet music printed about 50 years ago of "Lover" by Lorenz hart and Richards Rodgers in perfect condition.
Craig Stepneski is known as "The Answer Man" on his website: http://www.therecordking.com He can answer questions about rock 'n roll, big bands or almost any record ever made. He will search and research to find your answer and e-mail it to you free of charge.
Many services
"This is just one of the many services available to collectors or anyone who enjoys the popular records music of the 20th Century," he says. "One of the best questions I received was, "When was the long playing (LP) record invented?" The answer is that Edison started it in the 1920's with a 36 RPM Sound Bud. It wasn't popular, but in the 1930's RCA Victor came up with the 33-1/3 RPM and it became standard." The first big selling LP? "Frank Sinatra's "The Voice" album on Columbia No. 6002 in the year 1949," he said. Now where else would you get that kind of information?
Ask questions
In fact, asking Craig questions is one of the highlights of visiting the store. Craig is a music lover's dream, someone who can tell you the history of every record: what label, what month and year a song was issued, what side it was on (A or B), what was on the other side, who sang backup ("You'll hear Cher if you listen carefully"), and probably what they had for lunch the day they recorded. Or he can find out. quickly.
Craig gave us the complete history of the legal battles by the Ronettes and the Dave Clark Five over rights to their music, and the earliest possible notice when the music was once again available after the settlement. Thank you.
As a bonus, Craig will gladly sing the lyrics to any song you can't quite remember to help you refresh your memory, complete with finger snaps and footwork as performed by the original artist. We got an excellent rendition of "Tonight, Tonight" by the Mello Kings (Yes, 50's fans, the Mello Kings).
(When I called to refresh my memory on the spelling of Mello Kings, he cautioned that in earlier editions they spelled their name without a hyphen but added a hyphen in later pressings...that's Craig.)
Find anything
Some portions of the store will look a bit disorganized with stacks of records sitting around in odd corners waiting to be catalogued and filed away. Do not despair however, ask Craig, and he will perform the seemingly miraculous feat of pulling out just the record you want from the middle of a 12-inch high stack. Presto!
Looking for period music for your next party? Just name the year or time period and stand back. Craig will produce the tracks one after another...and sing them to you as he goes. A walking American Bandstand!
Look for other neat accessories while you are there. It's one of the few places you can buy replacement paper jackets for 45's (in several colors, thank you very much). The shop keeps current and older "top 100 lists" from area radio stations so if you want to update your collection from any period you can use their lists as memory refreshers.
It's hard to leave and rejoin the real world.
Mr. Stepneski started in the record shop as what he calls "an oldies sorter." Eventually, he became a partner with founder Bill Smith. They advertise in collectors' trade magazines and on the Internet. This store is a haven for all of us who want to keep our music with us always. Visit them at 303 Main Street. You won't be sorry. Call 201-488-4232 for more information.
The soundtrack of your lives is waiting...at The Record King.
Hackensack's Record King vows to rock on Sunday, May 9, 2004 By RICHARD COWEN STAFF WRITER Rock-and-roll will never die - better yet, it can never die - as long as people like Craig Stepneski are willing to breathe life into the music by blowing the dust off a stack of old vinyl 45s and putting them on a shelf. Stepneski, Hackensack's self-proclaimed Record King, celebrated his 30th year on Main Street on Saturday, a party attended by family, friends, and his most loyal subjects: the thousands of vinyl discs stuffed into the store's bins, the hits sitting right next to the misses. "It's been 30 years, and I couldn't have made it without you," Stepneski told the small crowd just before cutting the red ribbon at the entrance to 303 Main St. "Now here's to the next 30 years." The big news - again - was that rock wasn't dead. Nor was this little stretch of Main Street, battered and bruised by hard economic times, but still rockin'. Take it from Harry Harrison, the former WCBS-FM morning man, who hosted the grand reopening. "This area is coming back," Harrison told the crowd. "It's coming alive again." Stepneski, 46, grew up in Hackensack. The Beatles arrived in America in 1964 - the same year that Art Applebaum opened the Hackensack Record Shop across the street. Long before he was a record seller, Stepneski was a record buyer. He remembers the first two records he bought in the store: "Alice in Wonderland" by Neil Sedaka and "Penny Arcade" by The Cyrkle, a Beatles sound-alike. Neither record is likely to make anyone's Top 10 list, but no matter. He was hooked. In 1974, a local guy named Bill Smith bought out Applebaum and moved the store across the street, renaming it the Hackensack Record King. Stepneski came to work for Smith as a teenager, and the two became more than just business partners. When Smith fell prey to Alzheimer's disease, Stepneski took care of the old man, bringing him to the store each day so he would be surrounded by the yellowed album covers and the dusty sleeves of the greats and the not-so-greats: from Elvis Presley to Deke Leonard and everyone in between. Stepneski knows that for every million-selling Elvis record, there were thousands of stiffs. So there's a section of the store called "The Oddball Wall" - where the shelves are full of tunes by the mildly talented and no-hit wonders that will forever remain part of the secret history of rock-and-roll. And then there are the real stars. People like Doc "Too Sweet" Russell, a local legend from Hackensack who spends a lot of time combing through the racks. Russell showed up Saturday, grabbed hold of the karaoke mike and did a drop-dead rendition of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" and "I Can't Turn You Loose." Or the guy who haunts the place, whose last name no one knows. He goes by the name of Mark, dresses in black, and reads the obituary pages. When a rock-and-roller dies, he runs into the store and buys a record by the artist, takes it home and plays it. Stepneski calls him "The Grim Reaper." Mark says he was "very, very hurt" when Perry Como died several years ago. "I took it really bad," he said. But he's quick to point out that he doesn't just listen to records of dead people. "I listen to them when they are alive, too," he said. Stepneski says he gets a little uneasy when The Grim Reaper shows up and wants a record by an artist who is still alive - especially since rock-and-rollers have a penchant for dying young and tragically. "What if I sold him the record and the guy died?" Stepneski said. "That could be an omen." Better to just cue up the turntable and play another record, Stepneski says. "After 30 years, if there's one thing that I learned, is that you meet all kinds of people in this business."
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