Distraught music lovers as Leamington record store closes its doors: An independent record store in Leamington has closed its doors. Head has been operating in The Priors shopping centre for over a decade. The store stocked a range of music, film and media, from vinyl records and CDs to turntables and Blu-ray DVDs. A heartfelt Facebook post from its staff to customers reads: “Welcome to the saddest selfie we have ever posted. I am very, very sorry to tell you that today we closed the shutters for good. “Thank you all for your loyalty and friendship. It was a genuine honour and our daily pleasure to provide you with the experience we did. “We all loved every minute of it.
Do you remember these lost Nottingham record shops? Here’s a vinyl countdown to some of the stores we miss the most: Next month a Nottingham bakery will be holding a day of celebration in honour of late, great record shop Selectadisc. Ugly Bread Bakery’s decision to host the event – which will include pop-up shops and DJs – at its Market Street premises on February 11 got us thinking about some of the other ‘lost’ music shops of the city…Set up by Brian Selby in 1966 (as a stall in Mansfield Market) the vinyl-lover’s haven was a feature of Nottingham’s music scene for more than 40 years. In 1985, within months of each other, Billy Bragg and The Clash played the store to benefit striking miners. The Clash gig came about when Selectadisc’s Jim Cooke bumped into Joe Strummer in a club and asked if he could play the following day in the shop. It turned into an acoustic show with Strummer standing on the counter. Afterwards, they went for pints at the Newshouse. The shop closed in March 2009.
Weirdsville Records closes for store renovations: Weirdsville Records is about to get weirder — in a good way. The Mount Clemens record shop temporarily closed Sunday for a long-conceived remodeling that will take the place in a slightly new direction. “We’re going to be moving things around, freshening things up a bit and becoming more feng shui,” said owner Davey Taylor. Weirdsville Records specializes in vinyl records, including LPs and 45-rpm singles, but also has pop-culture collectible memorabilia including DVDs, cassettes, vintage clothes, rock posters and comic books. The 2,900-square-foot store also is home to Paperback Writer Book Shop, which is owned by Taylor’s wife, Lisa. It has 25,000 books on everything from sports to transportation to films and TV.
There’s a difference between listening and hearing: how Truck Store is riding a vinyl wave into 2018: In January 2011, at the height of the music industry’s sales crisis, Gary Smith announced he was opening a new record shop in Oxford. The manager of Rapture Records in Witney had teamed up with Truck Festival co-founder Robin Bennett to transform the former Videosyncratic video rental shop at 101 Cowley Road. Given Oxford’s last independent music shop, Polar Bear Records just up the road, had been forced to close three years before because of poor sales, opening a new one seemed to some – including even its most diehard supporters – like madness…And even though the very first photos in the Oxford Mail pictured Mr Smith, Mr Bennett and the shop’s new manager Carl Smithson brandishing shiny vinyl records, no one in 2011 could have predicted that the format, which even then had been outdated for decades, would keep the shop in business.
Nyack Record Shop Project to Mass Collect Oral Histories Documenting, The African American Experience in Nyack: The Nyack Record Shop Project (NRSP) has set Martin Luther King Day, Monday January 15, for the launch of an intensive effort to collect oral histories documenting the rich experiences and inspiring personal stories of African Americans living in the Nyack community. The project opens at 2:00 pm on January 15 with the interfaith Martin Luther King service at Pilgrim Baptist Church, located at 80 North Franklin Street in Nyack…Oral history interviews will be conducted by volunteers recruited by NRSP Director Bill Batson, and will continue during the week from Tuesday, January 16th to Saturday, January 20th at Kiam Record Shop at 95 Main Street in Nyack. Residents are invited to contribute, and to bring an object, photo or publication of historic interest to augment their stories.
Dublin welcomes new vinyl pressing plant, The plant expects to reach a capacity of 100,000 records per month before February: A brand-new record pressing plant has opened its door in Dublin. Aptly named Dublin Vinyl, the state-of-the-art Irish plant is housed in a 9,000 square foot former steelworks site, and comes complete with accompanying music venue. According to Dublin Vinyl’s website, “Each member of our team has over 15 years experience in the Music Industry, in areas including Management, Production, Labels, Artist Relations, Music Retail, and Distribution”. Take a look here for more information, and read about vinyl’s record-breaking year here.
Vinyl fair back in York for a spin: The first vinyl record collectors’ fair of the year will take place at The Basement at City Screen, off Coney Street in York, this Saturday, January 13 between 10.30am and 3.30pm. There will be new dealers, in addition to sellers that have visited York before. Specialist dealers in jazz, soul, folk, rock and 1960/70s music will be attending this event. A free valuation service is also available for fair goers to take their own vinyl LPs, singles and promotional and memorabilia along to find out if they have hidden treasure in their collections. Rarities surface at fairs and vinyl has been back on track, not just for the music, but for the artwork too.
Record sleeves designed by iconic artists explored in new exhibition, Featuring Picasso, Basquiat, Cindy Sherman, Warhol and more. A new exhibition looking at artwork created for vinyl over the past 70 years has opened in San Francisco. Art & Vinyl includes over 100 album covers and records, with artwork by Picasso, Basquiat, Cindy Sherman and Warhol. An accompanying book of the same name exploring over 200 LPs and records has also been released. Last year Taschen published a 400-page survey of artist-designed record sleeves, 10 of which were featured on VF in the artists you didn’t know designed record sleeves. Art & Vinyl exhibition runs from the 4th January through 8th March 2018 at Fraenkel Gallery; head here for more info.
