Mission Mission

That’s right, aQuarius has been “getting the music to the people” since 1970 (hence our Age-of-Aquarius monicker).
…
So 2010 marks our 40th anniversary.

Wow.

Of course, none of us here now have been at AQ quite that long. But still, it’s a milestone worthy of note. And we’re certainly proud of aQuarius’ history as San Francisco’s oldest surviving independent record store. aQuarius was SF’s punk rock/new wave store back in the ’70s (when we were located on Castro St.), and over the years we sure have seen lots of music trends/scenes/formats come and go. All along, doing our very best to bring you the best, music-wise.

We said “surviving”, and we won’t kid you, as you can imagine, in the current economy, it’s not always easy. But we’d sure like to be doing what we do for a long time yet to come. And thanks to all the folks like you reading this, hopefully we will!

Everybody here feels like it’s a special thing to be a part of aQuarius, a chance to be involved with the music we love, getting it to the people who will appreciate it. And we couldn’t do it without you! In fact, there’d be no point.

So, to celebrate 40 years of aQuarius, we’re throwing ourselves a “surprise” birthday party. Real soon. And you’re invited!

It’s on Monday October 25th, doors at 7:30pm show starting at 8pm sharp, at the Cafe DuNord, 2170 Market Street (www.cafedunord.com)

We’ve got six great bands lined up for the event:

PIGS
heavy, rifftastic punk-metal radness sorta like a scuzzier Melvins

DATE PALMS
boy-girl dream-drone duo from Oakland with a fantastic debut lp just out on Root Strata

DZJENGHIS KHAN
retro-proto-metal garage rock power trio a la Blue Cheer

THE LUMERIANS
psychedelic hypno dirge space rock, & maybe they’ll do “Crazy Horses”!

THE MANTLES
power pop drone rockers, with records on Siltbreeze and Mexican Summer

PLUS a special, secret headliner!!! We can’t tell you who they are just yet, but there’s a pretty good chance you bought their new album from us… and their shows are usually at places a bit bigger than the DuNord… and they’re on the poppier, sunshinier side of things… huge faves here.

We’ll have some birthday cake to share with folks who get to the show early enough (you’ll want to anyway, with six bands it’s gonna start on time!). Also we’ll be doing raffles throughout the night for aQuarius gift certificates as well as various goodies from Neurot Records, Hydra Head Records, Mint Records, Porter Records, Temporary Residence, Matador, Absolutely Kosher, Relapse, Dynamophone and more!!!

Admission is just $10, advance tickets available here at AQ and at the DuNord box office.

We really hope to see you all there (and tell your friends!). Please come out, see some great music, support AQ, and make it a 40th to remember!

Thanks!!!