Some Olympic records should never be broken. I dropped by Olympic Records on Wickenden Street today to get an expert opinion on the Paris Games, and it took mere seconds for store owner Kevin to put his hands on the perfect 45: “The Bounce” by the Olympics, with “Fireworks” on the B-side. It may still be there.
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Kevin was kind enough to stand for an interview for which he was given absolutely no time to prepare. Comments have been edited for clarity.
PDD: Do you have any special sales or promotions planned for the Olympics?
Kevin: [laughs] No I don’t actually. It’s kind of come up so quickly and I hadn’t really thought of it to be 100% honest.
PDD: Did you watch last night’s opening ceremony?
Kevin: Just for a moment, I briefly flipped it on.
PDD: Are you aware that for the first time the opening ceremony included a performance by a heavy metal band?
Kevin: No, who?
PDD: The French metal band, Gojira.
Kevin: Okay.
PDD: Do you have any Gojira?
Kevin: No.
[Gojira is the first metal band to perform at the Opening Ceremonies (WashPo). They have performed with Metallica and Slip Knot and they sounded very cool on Friday.]
PDD: Why did you call the store Olympic Records?
Kevin: I always say that the hardest part about opening a new business is coming up with the name, and it was something I mulled over for weeks and weeks and weeks . . . and asked people, and thought about it. I wanted to have the word “records” in the name, but when you add “records” to any word, it’s all taken. So it was difficult to find new ground . . . it was very difficult. I just liked the ring of Olympic Records, I liked the sound of it . . . I could picture it on a T-shirt. But if I had it to do over again now, I would name myself something a little more rooted in the history of Rhode Island or Providence. And it reminded me of “Empire Records,” a nineties teen movie I liked growing up that takes place in a record store. “Olympic” had the same kind of ring as that.
PDD: In conclusion, no special promotions— just their usual everyday low low prices.
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Kevin gets into the Olympics coverage like everybody and will be checking in on the men’s basketball, skateboarding, surfing, track, diving. (And we are both curious about the new Breaking thing.) Warning to hooligans and troublemakers: For the past nine years, Kevin has been training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which may not be an Olympic event but don’t try anything stupid.
Olympic Records celebrated 13 years of operation just last week. Not only does he have a huge selection of records, but he just picked up a bunch of laser discs. And don’t forget: the LPs and 45s are machine cleaned. And, he’s always buying.
About those t-shirts: This is one of my favorite local tees. It was executed by local graphic designer Cara Sylvia.
Olympic is closed Sundays.
Olympic Records, 580 Wickenden Street, (directions)
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Great store and great owner! – Highly recommend!!