Before Terry Nelson joined the payroll of Raffe's Record Riot, he remembered the Portage Park vinyl shop as a hazardous minefield. Album-belching crates plopped atop dingy floors with several drop-offs, and aisles were only penetrable sideways, abs engaged. Nelson since made sense of the place, turning the clutter into alphabetized-sectioned carts.

Stocked with a range of folk and movie soundtracks to polka and classical, Raffe's works for the all-around customer, as not all record shop devotees delve into the usual psychedelic rock, blues and jazz genres. Mostly vinyl, the shop houses a cassette corner and film section, although the movies (three for $5 on VHS) include rather lame titles like "Rookie of the Year" and "You've Got Mail."

Void of any valuable street parking, most visitors include area residents or commuters as the Metra Mayfair and Montrose Blue Line stations merge nearby. College radio hosts and experimental DJs hoping for a hot sample drop by, as do record cover collectors on a mission for a wacky find.

Joanne Deane, who often passed by, found her first time here worthy of applause. Nelson helped her restore her Dad's lost copy of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison" just before Father's Day. Nelson worked with Deane for two weeks, finally uncovering a copy in the shop's 45,000 titles (an off-site storage area houses an additional 100,000).

Raffe's welcomes buyers, sellers and traders; however, is cash only with a listening station in the works. Reflect on the riot you experienced when tuning in to the "Friday Night Showdown," a Loyola radio station (WLUW 88.7) Nelson hosts from 11 p.m.-2 a.m.

Centerstage Reviewer: David-Anthony Gonzalez