Nobody Is Safe From the Rumba

This story originally appeared in The Stranger’s 2026 Queer Issue.
It’s easy to glamorize the life of a record store owner. Just look at High Fidelity (both the original and the remake). Shooting the shit all day with your similarly music-obsessed friends while you mercilessly judge the tastes of customers—what more could you ask for?Well, a lot, but that’s beside the point. Romanticizing the experience of vinyl—listening to it, buying it, and selling it—is e