Monthly Archives: July 2018

Shreveport, LA | Remembering Stan “The Record Man” Lewis: A Shreveport music pioneer dies over the weekend. Now he’s being remembered by those who knew him best as helping discover the sound of an entire generation. “A man that loved what he did and that’s why he was Stan the Man…the Record Man. Seriously.” Lenny Lewis is remembering his father, Stan “The Record Man” Lewis, a musical pioneer and international music industry exec. “A man that loved something, that never got out of his system. Loved the music industry. He loved it.” Stan and his wife Pauline opened his music store in Shreveport, but it eventually grew into so much more. Garland Jones say, “Most people for the most part only knew about the store, the retail store. They didn’t know behind that store, there was probably 200 people working behind the scenes as one of the largest record distributors in the country.” Stan’s business eventually expanded to six stores.

Shreveport, LA | Shreveport music legend Stan ‘The Record Man’ Lewis dies, age 91: Stan Lewis — known in Shreveport as “The Record Man” — has died. He was 91. Lewis died Saturday morning in Ruston where he lived for the past several months, according to his son, Lenny Lewis. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, July 18 at Roseneath Funeral home, 1815 Marshall St. in Shreveport. The public visitation will be followed by readings from a priest and speakers from 7-8 p.m. In the 1940’s, Lewis, a Shreveport native, was a music distributor and retailer as the owner of Stan’s Record Shops. He eventually operated a nationwide mail-order and distributor service and record label. “He was definitely ‘Stan The Record Man,'” Lenny Lewis said of his father. “He ate and breathed music.”

Nashville, TN | Third Man Records announces Nashville photo studio: Third Man Records is pleased to announce the addition of a photo studio to their Nashville location. The newly opened Third Man Photo Studio specializes in high-quality photographic film development and analog print processing using the darkroom hidden in the walls of the famed Blue Room. Third Man’s photo chemists hand process C-41 (Color Negative), Black & White, and E-6 (Color Positive/Slide) films, and they use traditional photographic enlargement techniques to create one-of-a-kind archival quality prints from film negatives. This is a hands-on, all analog process, which yields the highest quality photographic prints possible: completely free of pixels and ink.

Boston, MA | The world’s best record shops #115: In Your Ear, Boston: Found a stones throw from the snaking Charles River that flows through the city of Boston, one of America’s oldest, and arguably its most boisterous, cities, In Your Ear boasts a musical heritage that stretches back for decades. 36 years to be exact, first opening its doors in 1982 and now owned by Reed Lappin, Mark Henderson and Chris Zingg. “We are all music lovers, we have no other skills,” laughs Lappin, but what skills they do have they channel into their 100,000+ strong record collection that climb the walls and takes over every conceivable space in this humble store. Their racks span everything from classic rock and weirdo jazz to euphoric disco, rare boogie from a bygone era and Detroit techno, making In Your Ear a quintessential slice of Americana.

Mapping Record Stores: New York City in the 1970s and 1980s: Between the early 1960s and the mid 1990s, the independent record store was a mainstay in New York culture, providing a space for music fans, critics, and creators to congregate and share the burgeoning rock and roll, disco, dance, and new wave scenes. A basic understanding of economics and technological change, however, can explain the sharp decline in the world’s record stores since the 1990s. Besides the shift to digital consumption of music, New York has become one of the most expensive cities for commercial renters, leading to the loss not only of its shops, but the sense of community they once provided.

Vinyl records make a comeback in Chile: A Chilean company is busy bringing vinyl records back to life after they disappeared from this South American country more than 35 years ago. The vinyl record had been a mainstay in this country since 1951 when it made its debut as the great sound invention of modern times in the form of the “LP” or long play record. But vinyl factories ended up being dismantled in 1983, after succumbing to the arrival of the cassette. Since the late 1980s not a single label was interested or even dared to once again manufacture vinyl records in Chile. And like in many other places, vinyl became more of a collector’s item than a go-to choice for music. However, a small group of young people clung tight to this form of musical reproduction…

Vinyl Sales Have Grown 66.6% In Canada This Year Alone — Among Other Huge Gains: When it comes to the music consumption habits of Canada, some interesting trends have emerged during the first half of 2018. In particular, vinyl records enjoyed a surge of 66.6 percent, according to Nielsen’s mid-year report. In 2017, there were 300,000 vinyl LPs sold, but that number jumped to 400,000 vinyl LPs in 2018. Just last week, we reported that sales of vinyl records were up 19.2 percent for the first half of the year in the United States. It’s speculated that as customers look for a “tangible product” instead of CDs, that records are filling that void. And as that demand continues, upgraded vinyl solutions like HD Vinyl are likely to blossom.

‘It’s an antidote to streaming culture’ – meet the people reconnecting with vinyl in Ireland: On Monday, Mark Whelan woke to a lovely message on Facebook. “It was the most intimate experience I think I’ve ever had listening to an album – it truly blew me away.” The note was sent from someone who had been at a vinyl-listening party organised by Whelan and held in Dublin’s Liquor Rooms the night before. The album in question was Pink Floyd’s 1973 classic, The Dark Side of the Moon, and Whelan says a number of people there – the vast majority of them Floyd obsessives – told him afterwards they had heard sonic detail on the album that they hadn’t encountered before.

Hallmark Pacts With WMG To Offer Cards Packaged With Vinyl 45s: This summer, Hallmark is expanding its collection of Vinyl Record Cards with birthday cards featuring songs from Warner Music Group (WMG) artists such as Tina Turner and The Cars. Each card includes a 7-inch vinyl record with two songs from each artist built into a sleeve on the card’s cover. Available in card shops and online at Hallmark.com and Amazon.com, the first in the co-venture program started Valentine’s Day when three were issued featuring songs from Atlantic Records artists Bruno Mars, Aretha Franklin and INXS. The century-old Hallmark Cards company is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, employing more than 28,000 worldwide and with revenues of about $4 billion annually.

There’s Still One Blockbuster Store Left In the United States: In 2004, Blockbuster had more than 9,000 stores. Now, that number is down to 1. ‘Blockbuster video stores have been officially closing around the country’ sounds like 2003 headline. But in the intervening 15 years, a few have been hanging tough. Now as two stores close in Alaska, just one store is left standing. That store resides in Bend, Oregon, giving customers one chance to step inside the iconic video rental store before it too closes down for good…Incidentally, physical record retailers appeared doomed to a similar fate. But a resurgence in vinyl, as well as nostalgia for the record store vibe, helped to keep a lot of record shops alive. No such luck for video rental stores, who never enjoyed nostalgia for VCR tapes of DVDs.

The Music Industry At 2018’s Midpoint: Jack White Snags The Bestselling Vinyl: Vinyl has been steadily growing in popularity for years now, and while it still isn’t a major media format in the U.S. (at least not when compared to streams and sales of CDs and digital albums), the rate at which more Americans are choosing to buy wax is still impressive. Since the same point in time last year, vinyl sales have grown by over 19%, and that trend may continue for the coming years, as it hasn’t slowed down yet. Pushing vinyl’s continued reemergence is a healthy mix of new titles and longstanding favorites which people in America can’t seem to get enough of.

Newcastle, UK | Newcastle record shop hopes to host music and comedy gigs in store. Beyond sells a range of vinyl records and CDs from at its shop on Westgate Road. A vinyl record shop in Newcastle is planning to host live music and comedy gigs to turn itself into a hub for the city’s music lovers. Beyond opened its doors on Westgate Road in March but is already planning to expand to give music fans somewhere they can meet up and discuss their favourite tracks. The shop is run by David McGovern, who has worked in record stores since 1996. After feeling that music shops no longer provided places for the local community to hang out, he decided to open his own store. Commenting on how he intends to make his business different from other shops, Mr McGovern said: “It’s about making it more about the customer and having a chat with them when they come in. We make it a bit more personal…”

Peoria, IL | Storm destroys thousands of albums at Peoria music store: When it comes to music in Peoria, particularly of the recorded variety, few can match devotion like Craig Moore. The septuagenarian rock-music performer might be best known around town as owner of Younger than Yesterday, a Central Peoria store jammed with tens of thousands of albums and ancillary artifacts. Looking for a copy of “Trout Mask Replica” by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band? There’s a good chance Moore’s store has it. Unfortunately for Moore, more than 4,000 of his albums were destroyed recently. To quote a rock duo that fell from grace almost as quickly as it ascended, blame it on the rain. Or the monsoon, more accurately. “To end up in a situation where I have to Dumpsterize thousands of these records rubs me the wrong way…”

Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning soundtrack released on deluxe 2xLP: Henry Manfredini’s complete soundtrack for 1985 horror film Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning has been released on deluxe double vinyl, via Waxworks. During the course of his career Manfredini has composed scores for over 100 films, including the entire Friday The 13th film series. Friday The 13th: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack has been remastered for this new reissue on “Imposter Jason” clear blue vinyl, with artwork by Matt Ryan Tobin.

Sufjan Stevens’ The Avalanche Gets First Vinyl Release. The Illinois companion album pressed on colored vinyl: Sufjan Stevens has announced the first vinyl release of The Avalanche, his 2006 companion album to the previous year’s Illinois. The 2xLP set is pressed on “Hatchback Orange” and “Avalanche White” colored vinyl, and it’s due out August 31 via Asthmatic Kitty…In June, Sufjan was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ music branch. Earlier this year, he performed his Call Me by Your Name track “Mystery of Love” at the Oscars ceremony. He also recently shared a reworked version of Moses Sumney’s “Make Out in My Car.” Plus, he appeared on a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Memories” with the National’s Matt Berninger and more.