Portland, OR | Face the Music: Looking to build up your record collection? Here’s where to find vinyl in Portland. Support local businesses and fill the void of live music with the next best thing. Over the past year, as we’ve slogged, cried and persevered our way through the pandemic, I’ve tried to offer up ways to support local music venues and musicians. This week I’m pulling a slightly different thread by suggesting some retail therapy in the form of record shopping in and around Portland and through local stores online. Not only will you support local businesses, you never know what you might find while out there flipping through the stacks. I reached out to several shops in Portland to check in about sales during the pandemic and found that vinyl, which started its resurgence a few years back, is as popular as ever. Whether you’ve already jumped on the trend or are interested in starting a collection, here are places to look and what they have to offer.
Boise, ID | A breath of fresh air: The Record Exchange adds air purifier to safety measures for in-store shoppers: In a news release, The Record Exchange in Boise announced it is adding to its cadre of safety measures for in-store shoppers. “Behold the power of ions!” The announcement said, “Since the start of the pandemic, The Record Exchange has taken multiple steps to make sure you stay safe when you step inside our store. And now we’ve taken a leap into the air – literally.” With the installation of needlepoint bipolar ionization technology, the result is cleaner, purer, air, said the release. “Needlepoint bipolar ionization is a purification process that removes airborne particulates, odors and pathogens using safe ultraviolet rays. Basically, it attacks and kills all the bad stuff in the air – dust, spores, bacteria, and yes, viruses – by stealing its life-sustaining hydrogen. In the process, the system also greatly reduces outdoor air intake, keeping our newly pure store air nice and pure.”
Wappingers Falls, NY | Wappingers Falls brewpub The Vinyl Room moving to Beacon: The Vinyl Room, a Wappingers Falls-based brewpub and record shop, has announced it will close on Feb. 28 and reopen later this year in Beacon. The Vinyl Room opened in 2017 at 2656 E. Main St. and offered its customers an extensive inventory of vinyl records along with craft beer, wine and pizza. The company shared the news of its move on its Facebook page, but did not state where or when it would be opening in Beacon. “These uncertain times have presented us with some new opportunities to grow our business, and we are looking forward to setting up shop in our hometown of Beacon this coming spring,” the statement said. “We would also like to thank everyone for all the support the last four years in the village of Wappingers Falls. We’ve built some wonderful friendships, enjoyed some amazing times together, and we will truly miss everyone visiting us in Wappingers.”
Norwich, CT | New comics and records store in Griswold looks to hold future events: Comics have been a way of life for Chris Hebert since, as a child, he was given a Star Wars: Return of the Jedi comic book by his mother before getting surgery about 40 years ago. Since then, he has kept up comic book collecting as both a hobby and as a side job. However, the pandemic has made him rethink how he approaches his business. On Sunday, Hebert, along with Mike Young, opened CH2 Collectibles featuring RPM Records, in the Slater Mill Mall in Griswold. The collectibles include comics, records, toy cars and trading cards. The store’s hours are Thursdays and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hebert and Young met while working as vendors at the Slater Mill Mall’s flea market. Because of the pandemic, the men weren’t able to access their inventor in store. However, Hebert said an opportunity became available when a space in the Slater Mill Mall opened up, and the two men moved in February.
Athens, GA | Athens record store now streaming new doc about heavy metal activist: Can music save the world? That’s one of the questions posed to musician and activist Serj Tankian in the newly-released documentary “Truth to Power,” which centers on the heavy metal frontman and his decades-long commitment to humanitarian causes. Proceeds of the $12 streaming rental price for the film will go directly to Athens-based Secret Sounds Records, which has been operating solely as an online shop while their Commerce Blvd. storefront remains closed due to COVID-19. The revenue partnership is through Oscilloscope Labs, which was founded by the late Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys hip hop group. Secret Sounds owner Chris Razz told the Banner-Herald about his special connection to the distributor. “I used to manage the Connecticut band The Butterflies of Love with my friend Tom Slidek, who went on to work sales for Oscilloscope,” said Razz. “Tom hooked me up with them for this.” “Truth to Power,” which clocks in at 79 minutes, tells the life story of Armenian-American recording artist Tankian, from his childhood in Beirut, Lebanon and Los Angeles, California to his Grammy Award-winning success in the early 2000s as the singer for metal band System of a Down.
Louisville, KY | Frazier History Museum to be permanent home of iconic ear X-tacy sign: A record store that was part of the Louisville music scene for more than 25 years has donated its iconic sign to a local museum. From Sept. 2019 until Jan. 2021, the Frazier History Museum featured ear X-tacy’s sign in its Celebrating the Sounds of Kentucky exhibit. Now, the sign has been officially donated to the museum. The sign will be displayed in the museum’s permanent exhibit, Cool Kentucky. That exhibit opened in the fall of 2020. Ear X-tacy launched in 1985, “with my record collection and a $500 cash advance on my Master Charge card,” founder John Timmons said in a recent Frazier History Museum newsletter. The original store was located at what is now a ramp connecting Poplar Level Road to the Watterson Expressway. “What started in a 500-square-foot space grew to occupy a massive 15,000 square feet over the years,” Timmons said. “I wanted it to be a place where anyone could find whatever music they liked, and more importantly, discover something new.
AU | Here’s How Your Old Vinyl Collection Could Help Save The Planet: Heard about Australia’s Vinyl Deposit Scheme yet? If you’ve got some old vinyl lying around and want to make a little cash while helping the environment, you’ll want to become acquainted with Australia’s new Vinyl Deposit Scheme. Much like container deposit schemes you’ve probably heard about (or read about on the side of a bottle or can), the groundbreaking initiative by local promoter/label I heard a whisper and its Club Seven in partnership with Melbourne-based Program Records Thornbury is looking to make the world a better place, one record at a time. The scheme will see I heard a whisper reimburse purchasers $1 for their used vinyl when they return it to Program Records Thornbury; those records will then be recycled into new records. “During lockdown, I started studying UTas’ free online Sustainable Living course (thanks UTas!) and was thinking about how when I went to high school in Germany the recycling culture left Australia embarrassingly for dead,” I heard a whisper’s Jas Moore told The Music.
What ‘Old’ Technology Do You Think Is Cool? Why do you think there is so much interest in obsolete technologies like Polaroid instant cameras, record players, Atari game systems or VHS tapes? Do you think “old” technology is cool? Do you appreciate vinyl records, for example, or Polaroid cameras? Eight-track tapes or printed newspapers? What do you find appealing about these items that our modern world has already made — or may still make — obsolete? In the 2016 article “Why Vinyl Records and Other ‘Old’ Technologies Die Hard,” Nick Bilton wrote: For a glimpse of what teenagers are into these days, all you have to do is visit Abbot Kinney Boulevard in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles. On weekend nights, the half-mile shopping drag is packed with style-conscious kids who traipse past coffee shops, ice cream parlors and boutiques, often while taking selfies. Yet one of the most popular destinations for these teenagers is a white, single-story building with big pink letters on the roof that spell “Vnyl.” The store sells records, and the kids who gather there are often in awe.
