Amarillo, TX | Exciting news in Amarillo. New store for collectors and music lovers. Records are back. They’re back in a big way. That’s what makes the news about a new(ish) store opening in Amarillo so exciting for collectors and music lovers. Amarillo’s Funky Little Record Store Has Big Plans For 2022 If you’re familiar with High Fidelity Records in Amarillo, you know that for a long time they’ve been located inside The Nat. Nothing wrong with that, but as a customer it always felt like the record shop had outgrown its space. There were several crates full of everything from classic Motown to current releases. According to an announcement made on social media, High Fidelity will be moving to a new location. They’re getting their own space. It looks like they’re getting their own building.
Winnipeg, CA | What one Winnipeg store is auctioning off to help teachers through the pandemic: A local Winnipeg store is hoping to do its part in helping out during the pandemic by auctioning off a piece of music history. Ray Giguere, the owner of Argy’s Records and Entertainment Shop, said he is auctioning off a bus shelter poster from the Meat Loaf concert that came to Winnipeg on Aug. 29, 1994. All the proceeds that are raised from this auction will go toward buying N95 masks for teachers. Giguere said the idea came to him after he learned that Meat Loaf passed away last week. “I was kind of thinking of turning a negative into a positive,” he said. He said he posted the idea he had online and immediately people started bidding on it. He added he chose getting masks for teachers because he has friends and family who work in the school system and he understands the struggles they have been facing. “I just thought it was good to give something back…it’s all about giving back.”
Terry Tolkin, Who Championed Alt-Rock at Elektra, Dies at 62: Legend has it Tolkin coined the term “alternative music” in the late 1970s. “It’s one of those claims that he didn’t necessarily deny,” says his friend Dean Wareham. Terry Tolkin, a former Elektra Records A&R executive who worked with influential bands including the Butthole Surfers, Stereolab and Luna, created the 1989 album The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young, starring Sonic Youth and the Pixies, and was a crucial figure in the development of “alternative music,” a phrase he was said to coin, died Friday at a New Orleans hospital. He was 62 and had been ill for months, to the point that his friend, Galaxie 500 frontman Dean Wareham, had posted rarities from his band Luna to raise money for Tolkin’s medical bills. “We were the artists, but he was the one who lived like a rock star, running up big restaurant tabs — getting limos, doing drugs, sleeping with lots of people,” Wareham tells Billboard. “More than we did, I think!”
Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, U2 Among Interscope 30th Anniversary Vinyl Series Dropping Via Livestream: Interscope Records is celebrating its 30th anniversary by releasing a limited-edition vinyl series featuring new artwork on classic albums for sale exclusively via livestream shopping platform NTWRK (thentwrk.com). 2Pac, Billie Eilish, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Gwen Stefani, Juice WRLD, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Mary J. Blige, MGK, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, Olivia Rodrigo, Selena Gomez, Snoop Dogg and U2 are among the musicians featured in the series of 57 albums that will go on sale January 27-31. The drop features 100 of each album with the reimagined artwork, each released with a numbered archival quality giclee printed cover and delivered via a custom Gucci box for a price tag of $2,500 as part of an Interscope-Gucci collab. Interscope and NTWRK will donate 100 percent of net profits from the project to the Iovine and Young Foundation, the organization founded by Interscope co-founder Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young, the music artist known professionally as Dr. Dre. The Foundation is currently building a school in South Los Angeles.
Rhino Records Honors Generations of Black Musical Icons with a Curated Collection of Black History Month Vinyl & Digital Drops: Honoring the importance and impact of legendary black artists on popular culture, Rhino Records launches its annual Black History Month celebration with a series of vinyl reissues, first-ever digital releases, initiatives, activations, and various collaborations. 2022’s release lineup highlights the influence of nineties trailblazers En Vogue and Brandy as well as seventies hitmakers Slave Ft Steve Arrington and Ashford & Simpson. In addition to new releases, Rhino will be featuring new remixes of beloved tracks like Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness”, and playlists that demonstrate the depth and cultural impact of the Black artists in Warner Music Group’s expansive catalog. Other key artists who will be celebrated through the month include The Notorious B.I.G., who would have celebrated his 50th Birthday in 2022, to inimitable Anita Baker, Nipsey Hussle, and more.
Brighton, UK | Yard Act bring ‘The Overload’ to Brighton in-store: Leeds four-piece Yard Act generated a considerable buzz last year. Their ‘Dark Days’ EP, a collection of previous singles, established them as front runners amongst the current crop of guitar bands with a sound vaguely reminiscent of 1980s post-punk. Most striking are the semi-spoken lyrics of frontman James Smith, loaded with witty social observation and often delivered in character, in a conversational style. Their debut album ‘The Overload’ has been eagerly awaited, and with impressive pre-orders prior to its 21st January release date, has an outside chance of hitting the top of the UK album charts. Needless to say, that means a busy week for the band, and this evening’s sold-out in-store show at Resident in Brighton is the fourth record shop they’ve been to today, having worked their way along the coast via Bournemouth, Southampton and Southsea.
