4 minute read
Sounds of Eden
Sounds of Eden
LOVE GARDEN’S KELLY CORCORAN PROGRAMS MASS. STREET’S PERMANENT PLAYLIST
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By Drew Windish
Pushing through the swinging entrance door of Love Garden is an experience defined by the store’s sheer zeal. The shelves stretch with record selections long and divergent. Suspended album art, while jumbled, strikes a harmony with its interior wood paneling. Most guests quietly browse albums filed between the playfully sketched dividers. Others remain engrossed in conversation about the compositions of both mainstream and underground tracks.
Upon checkout, you’re likely to meet the store owner himself, Kelly Corcoran. He’ll hold your record as carefully as he would the store’s wandering cat, Chardonnay. If you’re interested, he’s sure to share his favorite components or some out-there tidbits of the record’s history—information born of immersing himself in the Lawrence music community for over 20 years.
Love Garden has served local artists and music lovers for more than three decades. Located at the heart of downtown Lawrence, the record store stands as an invitational time capsule to audiophiles everywhere with records, compact discs, and cassettes—new and old.
The store remains a staple in the community, which can be attributed to Corcoran’s intentionality with business and guests. He prefers to uncover and assess music trends through conversation rather than spend hours in isolation analyzing music graphs. He believes human connection is far more important when it comes to a store’s growth and community.
“I try to stay curious,” says Corcoran. “I try to look at stuff and understand what the value to the person is. Where’s the emotional connection that’s made there? That’s something I learned through having to watch formats and people’s interests change, generationally.”
Corcoran became Love Garden’s owner back in 2004 when it was located above The Toy Store. Still staking its claim on Massachusetts Street today, Corcoran kept the place alive by catering to all genres and mediums of music as well as hosting live bands in-store.
Browsing a record shop may seem like an antiquated past-time in today’s world of streaming. General Manager Dean Edington of Liberty Hall, a historic theater and one of Lawrence’s most vibrant music venues, explains how Corcoran’s approach is an experience irreplaceable by big-tech platforms. One that has cemented the store’s status as the de facto hub of music exploration.
“[Advertisements] are not something that you want to engage with or connect with. When you have a building full of people whose main passion is listening to music, that’s got to be the place that ties it all together,” says Edington. “[Love Garden] is a business that has constantly evolved while still being insanely true to its mission, and its mission is placed in the community.”
Love Garden promotional skits can be found currently screening at Liberty Hall. Both entertainment landmarks have collaborated to promote the reciprocal nature of the music community on Mass. Street. One such scene features a Love Garden employee in the grueling process of sorting through and filing new albums and records—all of which end up in the dollar section.
Corcoran’s contributions even extend beyond Mass. Street. The music aficionado has been known to donate records to the local University of Kansas radio station, 90.7 FM KJHK. The station also marks Corcoran’s first introduction to the industry, having taken the helm as KJHK’s previous music, program, and assistant music director.
All the while, Love Garden remains endorsed by the Midwest music scene, as well as on a national scale (Kurt Vile stopped by most recently). Its praises are sung from local bands found on the shelves near the entryway, and the store’s galactic squid logo—its tentacles engulfing a planet and its rings—can be found scattered throughout the city. Drowning in today’s era of typical snobbery in angry-nerd record stores, even artists within county lines appreciate Love Garden’s down-to-earth attitude.
“I hate to say that for a lot of my record store experiences, they felt a little bit pretentious,” says local artist Olivia Mancina. “But [Love Garden has] always been extremely accommodating, very chill, and very welcoming. It’s a beautiful bridge between the Kansas City music scene and the Lawrence music scene. You see so many KC local artists there: R.I.Peter and Daniel Gum—it’s so, so cool.”
Whether you’ve already spent countless hours browsing thick rows of vinyl, or have yet to discover the joys that come with hearing the warm tone of tracks on wax, there’s always something new and expanding to be dug up at Love Garden—the one constant being Kelly Corcoran and his ability to orchestrate anyone’s personal playlist.
