Indianapolis, IN | Karma Records announces closure of north side location: Karma Records recently announced it will close its north side location after being open for around four decades. According to a post on its Facebook page, the business announced the closure of its 86th and Michigan location. The post does not specify when the location will officially be closed but stressed that its locations on the west side and the east side will continue to be open. The post read that Jeff Wicks, after nearly 40 years as an employee/owner at Karma, has decided to “pursue other interests.” The business said that for this reason, as well as a few others, they made the decision to close the location. Starting Friday (3/22), officials said that all of the location’s inventory will be on sale. “We truly appreciate your patronage and support of the Pyramids location for the last four decades!” the post read.
Bozeman, MT | Out and About: At Bozeman’s Wax Museum you won’t find wax sculptures—just a whole bunch of records. Bozeman has a Wax Museum on East Mendenhall. And no, its not a collection of waxy historical figures—it’s a record shop! “Saw it was the house with the big round window that had haunted me since I had been in college here back in the 80s, and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s that house? Ok, can’t say no to that,’” Kels Koch, the owner of the Wax Museum told me. …Since opening, the Wax Museum has been a hidden gem for record enthusiasts across Bozeman and has even gained interest across the country. In fact, Koch got an order from Minnesota during our conversation. “I’m getting calls from—that one was Minneapolis—I’ve sent them off to Maryland, Maine,” said Koch. But what makes this record shop so desirable that people across the country are calling?
Riverside, CA | Gillette’s Records was a longtime favorite for Riverside youth: One of the original shops in the last phase of the new Brockton Arcade was Gillette’s Records, a teen hangout and music mecca in Riverside for about 25 years. For those who remember, its owner was very much a kid-at-heart. Gillette’s Records opened April 11, 1962, along with five other stores. The owner of Gillette’s was Doug Gillette, who, at age 53, could not be considered a “youth.” However, he wanted to connect to the youth of the day, and the way he figured he’d do that was through operating a record store that catered to the under-30 crowd – just modern music, no classical or “adult” genres. …The record store, though, was Gillette’s lifeline and connection to the younger generation. Later in life, he became an avid bicycler. When I knew him in the early 1980s, he would bicycle to Los Angeles each weekend to pick up records ordered throughout the week. In the 1980s, when he thought he’d retire, along came CDs and he was enthralled.
Germantown, KY | Underground Sounds In Germantown Will Close After 28 Years In Business: The independent record store will make its final sales in April. Underground Sounds will close after 28 years in business. Owner Craig Rich has announced that his record store at 1006 Barret Ave. in the Germantown neighborhood will vacate the space at the end of April. Rich told Louisville Business First that he is closing Underground Sounds because the property owner, Almost Diamond, has declined to renew his lease. When Almost Diamond purchased the property for $506,500 in April 2022, they let Rich know that they were planning to open a tequila bar there. Rich opened Underground Sounds in a retail space at 2003 Highland Ave. in 1995. As many independent record stores have experienced since the turn of the millennium, he says listening habits have changed and it has affected business. Digital downloads and streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music have diminished sales of physical media.
Tyler, TX | Semiannual vinyl expo draws community of music lovers to Tyler: The platform for music has changed a lot over the last hundred years or so, from phonograph records to CDs and cassette tapes to the most current form — streaming. But for many, classic vinyl is the way to go. “I am a big music fan,” said Dominique Guthrie of Tyler. “And I like the way vinyl sounds… if you ever listen to an album or songs from it, there’s like a scratchiness to it when it’s starting. It just says authenticity to me.” According to House of Marley, vinyl records have small micro-grooves that contain an imprint of recorded sound. As a vinyl record spins, the record player’s needle passes through the groove to reproduce the sound written on the surface of the disc. …“I actually saw this event on Facebook Marketplace and I’ve never seen anything advertised like this entirely before,” Guthrie said. “So I decided to pop by for some in-person shopping. You can buy these on Amazon, but I haven’t found a place here locally where you can browse in person like this…”
Cincinnati, OH | Biannual Northside Record Fair Returns at the End of March: At the Northside Record Fair, you can find thousands of vinyl records in every genre imaginable. Attention vinyl fans and crate-diggers: The Northside Record Fair is back on Saturday, March 30. The biannual fair, located inside the former North Church, now the Heart In Balance Event Center, at 4222 Hamilton Ave., features thousands of records in every genre imaginable, from jazz to experimental. Sponsored by Cincinnati’s Feel It Records and Shake It Records, the fair will feature vendors from across the Midwest. “This ain’t no Beatles and Elvis fair. These vendors will be bringing out the good stuff, the rare stuff, the stuff you only dream of finding,” reads a release. “Everything from LPs, 45s, 7s, cassettes, CDs, posters, T-shirts and who knows what other kinds of memorabilia, plus DJs spinning killer tunes all day.” The fair is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is $5. For $10, you can get early-bird admission at 10 a.m.
Winnipeg, CA | ‘Something fantastic’: Manitoba Music Show sees hundreds of vinyl collectors, buyers: Manitoba’s largest music and record sale returned to Winnipeg’s Caboto Centre Sunday. The Manitoba Music Show was packed with people of all ages who said vendors offered something for every style. “You’re going to find every type of genre music here,” said Mike Huen, one of the people behind the event. “You’re going to find every format of music here, you’re going to find CDs, vinyl, you’re gonna find any kind of…music memorabilia.” Huen said collecting vinyl records has recently become more popular, especially among people 40 years old and younger. “The younger people – they missed an important era of music, which was the 50s, the 60s and part of the 70s,” said John Belasco, who was visiting the market. “So for them to discover that is something fantastic.”
St. Louis, MO | Student-run KWUR amplifies diverse music, student sounds: Horsegirl and Non-Euclidean Geometry to play KWUR Week March 25-29. “Hello and welcome to Música in Missouri!” It’s 3 p.m. on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and sophomore Natalia León Díaz is kicking off her weekly DJ set with co-host and fellow sophomore Andrés Orbegozo. The two are DJs for KWUR 90.3 FM Clayton — KWUR for short — Washington University in St. Louis’ student-run radio station since 1976. Each week, they focus on a genre or a specific country. This week, the theme is guajira. …León Díaz and Orbegozo are two of the 75 student DJs who host weekly shows that spotlight unique — and often obscure — genres and artists. Other shows feature jazz deep cuts, global R&B and house music. After broadcasting online only for several years, KWUR is back on the airwaves, offering student programmers an opportunity to share their passions and listeners a chance to discover something new.
Door County, Wisconsin | On the Record: DJ David Watkins with huge assortment of vintage vinyl: David Watkins started collecting records as a teenager. Now he’s 57, and his collection is still growing. A 1960s music revival during Watkins’ high-school career drew him towards garage punk, ska and other music from the era. He wanted to know where this music came from and what influenced it, so he found himself traveling back further and further through music history. …Today, Watkins’ collection still includes a few albums he bought back in high school. He hasn’t kept count of how many he’s accumulated over the years, but he had to weigh his collection when he moved from California to Sister Bay in 2020. His vinyls weighed in at about 2,000 pounds, while his stock of 78s – the predecessors to vinyl records, typically made of shellac and used commonly in the early 20th century – weighed in at about 5,000 pounds.
