Grand Rapids, MI | Michigan’s oldest vinyl record store: …That love for vinyl is proven right here in Michigan by the state’s oldest, still-running record store, Gerry Dodd’s Record Shop in Grand Rapids. According to Rapid Growth Media, what is now known as “Dodds” actually was Cole’s Record Shop until Gerald Dodds purchased it in 1951 and for 30 years operated in various areas of West Michigan before settling in downtown Grand Rapids. For those who want to discover more vintage sights or establishments similar to this, they can head out to blogs like the lapeer county.
It is now under new ownership, has been reorganized and re-branded a bit by Reverend Charles Preston Smith who also turned the shop into a museum titled “Rev Charles’ Museum of Music and Memorabilia.” To make a long, beautiful story a bit shorter, Smith acquired the store after he made quite a lasting impression on Dodds and his family one record store day, so much so that when Dodds’ health was declining, they asked Smith to take over. “When the family contacted me they said, ‘Why is it you think you should have this?’” Smith recalled to Rapid Growth in 2014, “My only thought was there’s Amway, there’s Van Andel and there should be Dodds. So why can’t it be a museum?”
Madison, WI | Strictly Discs in Wisconsin, in a Pandemic: ‘We’re Only About 10% Down for the Year:’ Turns out the Madison record store has taken only a modest hit from the pandemic — but threats facing the U.S. postal service could be “debilitating.” In October 1988, Angie Roloff and her husband Ron opened Strictly Discs in Madison, Wisconsin, after Ron left a career in the biomedical research field to pursue his love of music full time. Nearly 31 years later, the couple made the difficult decision to shutter in-store operations due to COVID-19, roughly a week before Governor Tony Evers forced a mandatory shutdown of all non-essential businesses. Now that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has overturned Evers’ stay-at-home order — ruling it “unlawful” and “unenforceable” — the Roloffs and their employees have reopened Strictly Discs in a limited capacity. As part of Billboard’s efforts to best cover the coronavirus pandemic and its impacts on the music industry, we will be speaking with Roloff regularly` to chronicle her experience throughout the crisis.
Tokyo, JP | Tokyo record store Technique moves to a temporary new space: The Shibuya staple is downsizing due to the impacts of the pandemic and a shift towards online orders. Japanese record store Technique Tokyo is moving to a new location this month. The house and techno outlet is one of the country’s most reputable stores, having now been open for 25 years in Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district. Citing a downturn in customers visiting the shop due to the pandemic, along with an increase in online orders, particularly from overseas, Technique will close its doors on August 13th and move to a smaller space nearby. The new storefront is located inside Shibuya shopping complex Parco. It will open on August 20th for a period of one year only. A statement was published in Japanese on the store’s website. Technique’s managing director Yoshiharu Sato spoke to RA back in March about the pandemic’s potential impacts on stores like his.
Madison, WI | Quarantine Tunes: Local record store owners share their playlists: We chatted with MadCity Music Exchange owner Dave Zero and B-Side Records owner Steve Manley about what they have been jamming to lately and the power of music in isolating times. Celebrate National Vinyl Record Day on Aug. 12 by masking up and stopping in, or check out MadCity’s and B-Side’s online shopping options.: What have been your go-to quarantine albums to listen to on vinyl? Dave Zero: At first I started with the “comfort food” albums … albums you already love that have been with you forever and make you feel good — Hüsker Dü, Cheap Trick, Public Enemy, X, Thin Lizzy and many more like that. Now that we’re a couple of months in, I’ve gone back to my usual absorption of new releases and discovering older titles. Lately it’s been a lot of The Saints, Swamp Dogg, Khruangbin, Waxahatchee, Bill Withers, Tanya Tucker, and Dwight Twilley Band.”
In the groove: Maybe it’s time to dig out your old record albums and share them with a young music lover: While he dabbled in Pokémon cards and comics when he was younger, Jason Whatley never expected a vinyl record purchase several years ago would lead to a full-blown collection. Today this unintentional discographer from Round Rock, Texas, owns a growing and diverse cataloged music library. Whatley’s first album buy came after attending a concert when he was 15. “I saw a band I really liked,” he says, “and found out they pressed a record on vinyl.” That one acquisition was all it took to get his collection under way. Soon, he was adding more titles. “My music interests are kind of all over the place,” says Whatley, who is now 18. “My appreciation has definitely grown working at the store.” After listening to a variety of music genres in the shop where he works, Piranha Records, this college student now owns both new and vintage rock, jazz, funk, metal, hip-hop and country records, among other genres. His parents and grandparents also encouraged his passion for vinyl by gifting him vintage classic rock albums from their own stock of records…
David Bowie’s ‘Young Americans’ to be reissued on gold vinyl to mark album’s 45th anniversary: A limited-edition gold-vinyl version of David Bowie’s classic 1975 album Young Americans will be released on September 18 in celebration of the record’s 45th anniversary. Young Americans, which was Bowie’s ninth studio album, originally was released in March of 1975. The eight-song collection, which was recorded in New York City and Philadelphia, found David moving away from glam rock and embracing a sound that the rock legend described as “plastic soul,” incorporating R&B and soul influences. The album peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 and featured Bowie’s first #1 hit in the U.S., “Fame,” as well as the title track, which peaked at #29 on the Hot 100. David co-wrote “Fame” with John Lennon and guitarist Carlos Alomar. Lennon also contributed vocals and guitar to that track and to a cover of The Beatles’ “Across the Universe.” A young Luther Vandross was featured on backing vocals throughout the album, which has been certified gold for sales of more than 500,000 in the U.S.
MY | Cinemalaya and the memoirs of vinyl records: When my father was still alive, our house during weekends were normally filled with soothing sounds emanating from the phonographs playing LP vinyl records. Vinyl records became the subject of the short film “Ang Gasgas na Plaka ni Lolo Bert” which is one of the 10 short films (finalists) of this year’s 16th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. The film features a closeted gay man in his 60s (Dido de la Paz) who has been living with HIV for 10 years. His monotonous life takes a sudden turn when he receives an old vinyl record from his dead ex-lover and his fixation with the owner of a store selling old vinyl records (Soliman Cruz). I have been watching Cinemalaya since it started in 2004, or 16 years ago, and held annually during the month August at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex and various cinemas. …The film “Gasgas na Plaka” focused on vinyl records, sometimes called LPs which stands for “long playing” or “long play”. It is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by a speed in rpm and use of the “microgroove” groove specification.
