Sonic Boom Record Store to sell, owner moving out of state: Sonic Boom, one of Ballard’s independently owned record stores, is for sale. According to a listing in the Puget Sound Business Journal, the store at 2209 N.W. Market St. is going for $850,000. It was reported that the reason for the sale is the owner is moving out of state. Sonic Boom was Rolling Stone’s 2010 list of the “Best Record Stores in the USA.”
Jazz Record Mart for sale: The Jazz Record Mart, long billed as “The World’s Largest Jazz and Blues Record Store,” is up for sale while its founder searches for a possible new location. “The rent is killing us,” said Bob Koester, 83, owner of the famous shop at 27 E. Illinois St. “I want to die with the store. But it’s either phase it out or sell it. Phasing it out is not easy. Know anyone who wants to buy a record store?”
Record collector opens Winchester’s first vinyl shop since the 1990s: A Winchester music lover has opened the city’s first independent record shop in 20 years. Elephant Records has set up in Kings Walk to capitalise on vinyl’s remarkable comeback…He took his extensive collection of hip-hop and dance albums, rented a unit in the shopping strip and started bringing in new and used stock…”It was something I’d always wanted to do,” he said. “I’m really passionate about music and I thought Winchester could do with a good independent record shop. I thought it might work in Winchester.”
AKAI Pro unveil new hybrid turntable: The Akai BT-500 promises to combine “audiophile performance” with digital file conversion and Bluetooth playback. The brains behind the MPC, Akai Professional have unveiled their newest BT-500 deck to try and drag vinyl into the digital age without compromising on quality. In what sounds like something of a ‘Jack-of-all-trades’ approach, the BT-500 will marry “audiophile performance” with the ability to rip your vinyl to digital, or play back wirelessly through Bluetooth speakers.
Starving for Art: For the record: Round and round we go: It’s been a few years since I hosted a jazz program on WIOX, in Roxbury, but that’s what got me started on collecting vinyl records again. When I began doing the show, I started playing MP3 files off a flash drive, then interspersed CDs, then learned to use the turntable, like DJs of old and new. Around that time, I discovered a record store in Oneonta. Hopefully you’ve heard of it: the Vinyl Music Vault…
