Left: setting up new Fingerprints location (early 2011). Right: five months later, Record Store Day 2011. Photos by Rand Foster.
“It’s kind of amazing,” says owner Rand Foster of having The Fixx play (tonight!) as part of Fingerprints 20th anniversary celebration (check out Side A for the skinny on how it all began). “I think back to being that kid who was so almost, like, trying to break the spell between the girl and the TV in Poltergeist. I mean, me and MTV, it was that intense. I would completely go into the screen. And to have a band that were very regular staples of that timeframe is kind of amazing.”
Festivities continue with a big sale July 20–22. A show by Miss Suzi and the Boomerang Gang happens on July 29. Then comes an acoustic in-store gig by Fishbone on July 31. But in Foster’s mind the celebration can’t be contained in a couple of weeks.
“It’s weird, because, you know, we get an opportunity to have someone like Foo Fighters come in last year, I still think of that as part of our 20th anniversary,” he says. “[Because] those kinds of things [come as part of] an evolutionary process.”
When asked about regrets, Foster is stumped, eventually naming an issue that he speculates is inherent to a retail environment: “It’s very difficult to work in a retail store and have grown-up expenses. We’ve had some amazing people [working in the store] over the years. I wish there some way we pay forty, fifty, sixty thousand dollars a year, but we can’t. So I guess I regret—or it’s a disappointment, I guess—that this is not an environment that fosters people being able to stay here forever. Because we’ve had some amazing people. Especially coming up on your 20th anniversary, you tend to think about those things. This store exists because of some of the people that have worked here.”
One thing Foster has yet to do with Fingerprints is found a record label. “I tried, and it was an expensive learning experience—[though] not in the big picture,” he says.
But he’s far from settled on that score, and the first forays into that world are likely to come by way of releasing recordings of in-store performances, the quality of which is apparent from an anecdote he shares concerning Warner Bros. recording artist Damien Rice. In 2007 Rice played England’s Glastonbury Festival, and Warner Bros. spent something on the order of $100,000 recording show. Nonetheless, Rice favored the recording of his Fingerprints in-store—which cost all of $200 to make—and told the label so. The result was Live at Fingerprints Warts and All.
“I recently sat down with a scrapbook kind of thing my wife did,” Foster says, “and it was amazing to look at it and think, ‘They played in my store!’ you know? It’s pretty incredible.”
He labels Fingerprints’ move to the East Village Arts District as the biggest challenge—by far—of the last two decades, a challenge made necessary to take on due to the transformation of Belmont Shore.
“Belmont Shore had changed so much in 20 years that it had turned from being a neighborhood that was in search of an identity, that was just kind of a cool beach community, into what it’s become,” he says. “I say that with no judgment implied there; it just is what it is. But it wasn’t the best environment for us to do what we do there.”
Foster is happy with the move and looks forward to getting happier.
“There’s this amazing organic thing happening, and it seems to be happening on the fringes of downtown,” he says. “It includes the East Village, and it includes Lord Windsor [Roasters] and what they’ve got going on down there. It’s a lot like what I felt about Belmont Shore 20 years ago: a neighborhood with a ton of potential, a lot of major positives, and not really having an identity. […] This feels like an area where [Fingerprints] can really have an impact. And my hope is we can really play a role in redeveloping this area. Selfishly. It’s good for Fingerprints if the East Village thrives.”
When asked whether he’s frustrated with Long Beach’s continued lack of ability to establish itself as a destination from other parts of the Southland, he keeps his eyes on the sunny side of the street.
“I’m much more in the moment in looking at what’s here that’s working than spending a lot of time thinking about what’s working,” he says. “Long Beach has changed a lot in the last 20 years, but I think a lot of those changes have been for the better. […] I don’t see as much the missed opportunities as I see the opportunities.”
Optimistic? Absolutely. It’s proving to be a winning strategy for Foster.
“I do consider myself an optimist,” he says. “I mean, what’s the alternative? [Laughs] I have pessimistic moments, but I try to talk myself out of them, ’cause they’re no fun. [Laughs] There’s very little blue sky for a pessimist.”
Fingerprints is a record store and much more located at 420 E. 4th St., LB 90802. For more information, call (562) 433-4996 or go to fingerprintsrecords.com
Rand Foster (third from right) with The Kooks (Sept. 2011). Photo by Roxanne Haynes.
Foo Fighters rock Fingerprints. Photo by Rand Foster.