Ray Anderson, Avid Record Collector and Purveyor at Market Street’s Grooves, Reportedly Dies at 77: The owner of 23-year-old record shop Grooves at Market and Octavia, Ray Anderson, has reportedly passed away. The news was reported by local friend Meggan Scavio via Twitter, and we await confirmation of any more details from the family or another source. Anderson was 77 years old. Anderson was a fairly well known figure in the counterculture of 1960’s San Francisco, best known as the head of the Holy See Light Show — a kind of psychedelic precursor to the flashy, LED-strewn, multi-media dance parties of today.
R.I.P. Toronto Record Store Good Music: In some truly bad news for good music, Toronto record store Good Music is closing its doors forever. In an abrupt move, the store announced its closure today on its website. “I know this is probably sad or shocking news to some of you, but it is honestly the best scenario for me,” wrote Good Music owner Lincoln Stewart (former manager of the now shuttered Vortex Records). “Based solely on personal factors, the decision was mine alone and I made it happily.” Good Music opened in 2014, originally on Queen West before moving to a pop-up space on Dundas West last November. Lincoln was in the midst of signing a new lease for Good Music, but instead he’s decided to close up shop for good, with his remaining stock all being sold in one lump sum to Rotate This.
San Francisco band Negativland offer bandmember’s ashes with sales of their new album: Negativland, who formed in 1979 in Concord, CA, are offering an unusual package with their latest album, ‘The Chopping Channel‘. The project itself is Volume 9 in the ongoing series of albums edited from their long-running livemix radio show, Over The Edge. But this release is particularly significant as, for a limited period, fans have been able to buy the album and also receive two grams of the ashes of their deceased bandmember Don Joyce, who died in July 2015 aged 71. A statement from the band on Boing Boing explains the thinking behind the move.
Hitch a ride with the world’s best mobile record shops: What’s better than going to a record shop? Having the record shop come to you, obviously. Whether driven to the road (or the river) by rising rents or a restless spirit, a growing number of record shops are embracing the nomadic lifestyle with a few crates of vinyl in tow. While this is not a new phenomenon – you need look no further than Jamaica to Charlie Ace’s famous Swing-A-Ling Record Shack for inspiration – we thought it was high time these rootless wanderers were pulled over for a bit of love.
A lost ‘Smiths’ song is being released 25 years after it was recorded: A lost cassette containing two songs written by the band that would become The Smiths has been unearthed – and it’s about to get a national release. The studio demo, called Kraak Therapy, contains two tracks recorded by Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, and drummer Si Wolstencroft in an Ancoats studio in the winter of 1981. It recently turned up in an old flight case in Si’s cellar when he was moving house, and on Monday, October 24, he’s preparing to release 500 vinyl only copies of it into record shops on his Funky Si Records label.
Oasis’ classic Be Here Now claims Number 1 on the Official Vinyl Albums Chart: 19 years after it smashed its way to Number 1 and into the record books, Oasis’ classic third album once again reigns supreme. Be Here Now, reissued soon after the release of documentary Supersonic, which charts the early days of the band’s success, is this week’s best-selling vinyl album. On original release in 1997, Be Here Now broke the chart record for highest first-week sales, shifting 663,389 copies despite only going on sale on a Thursday, a mere three full days before the chart was compiled. The sales figures may not be as lofty as 1997, but Be Here Now is in good company, with an array of classic albums entering the Top 10.
