Happy Belated Rex Manning Day!

Shawn celebrated Rex Manning Day at his Forever Changes record shop this weekend. Shawn’s wife Anna and our friends Lee, Carl, Ruth, and Tom joined in the revelry. It was great fun, but it ultimately led to me to out myself as someone who doesn’t get Empire Records, the 1995 cult movie that led to April 8 being celebrated as Rex Manning Day.

If you know, you know, as they say. Somehow, I’ve never known about Empire Records. The movie barely dented my consciousness though I knew that one song I love (Edwyn Collins’ “A Girl Like You”) appeared on the soundtrack.

When I finally saw it with some diehard fans, I didn’t get the appeal. That’s just me though: I’ve got a weird relationship with ‘90s pop culture. The words “Toad the Wet Sprocket” make me bristle, and the first notes of Del Amitri’s “Roll With Me” have me lunging for the radio dial. What can I say?

You know what though? You don’t have to love what your friends love to love that your friends love that thing. And, anyway, I’ve seen Elvis’ Clambake more times than I ought to admit. We all have our secret cheese and we should all be free to revel in it when we can.

Say no more, mon amour!

~217~