Denton, TX | Denton businesses find new life after pandemic closures: Mad World Records. …Mad World Records, which operated a storefront on the Denton Square for nine years, closed its doors in June and moved its inventory to an online store that has been operating since, owner Mark Burke said. One factor in Burke’s decision to close the store was that his family was impacted personally by the pandemic early on. Burke’s brother — a former employee at the record store who now lives in New York City — contracted a particularly bad case of COVID-19 through his work with people who have special needs. Now, about a year after getting sick, he still suffers from complications, including fevers and lung trouble, though Mark Burke said his brother was healthy and athletic before contracting the virus. “We had no desire to be any kind of source where people are going to go in and touch everything and breathe on everything and be in this enclosed space,” Burke said. “We were always so busy with so many people, even if they weren’t buying stuff. There are so many people on the Square all the time that it was just a germ trap, and my wife and I both decided there’s no way we’re going to put money over lives.”
New York, NY | New record store brings hard wax to Industry City: A new record store in Industry City promises to be a haven for crate-digging Brooklynites. HiFi Provisions, a passion project from collector Matthew Coluccio, opens its doors in Industry City to wax-spinners this week — making the owner’s hobby official, after ten years of obsessive collecting. “It was kind of a hobby gone awry,” said Coluccio. “Records are kind of like cockroaches, more and more of them just keep showing up.” Throughout his years of collecting, Coluccio often sold records and stereo equipment at the yearly Carroll Park flea market in Carroll Gardens, but never had plans to open up a brick-and-mortar store. Yet, after a conversation at a birthday party with an Industry City executive, he decided to turn his side project into a full-blown business. Now, he’s set up a space in the sprawling waterfront complex and filled with records and other collectibles, including objects like a vintage fly-fishing rod and piles of old stereo equipment. The collector says he envisions the shop filling to the brim with records and other items, creating a space where collectors can dig for hours in hopes of finding a hidden gem.
San Diego, CA | San Diego’s vinyl records surge, but why? A talk with owners of Re-animated, Folk Arts, Lou’s, Beat Box. Nicholas Friesen is a 38-year-old native San Diegan – he grew up in Southeast – who has been working in used record stores all his life. “I’ve got this 10,000-hour thing going for me,” he says. “I started working at Music Trader in downtown when I was a senior in high school, and I’ve been loving it ever since. It’s about the only thing I’m good at.” For years, the CD was the lifeblood of San Diego’s independent record stores, but as digital downloading and then streaming caught on, CD sales shrank, as did the number of local record stores. But then, about a decade ago, a funny thing happened. The 12-inch vinyl LP, snuffed out by the CD back in the middle 1980s, began a dramatic comeback. It was spurred by nostalgic Boomers who started collecting the albums they had discarded decades earlier, and by a new generation of music lovers who saw the vinyl LP as something cool. “The first time I heard a record on a turntable, at a friend’s house, I was hooked,” says Jacob Lange, a 19-year-old Carlsbad local who received his first record player this past Christmas as a gift.
Los Angeles, CA | There’s a new ‘rare vinyl” record shop opening in Los Angeles: The shop in downtown LA is run by the promoters behind the city’s Dialogue and Midnight Lovers events. A new record shop is opening in downtown Los Angeles, run by Rolando Alvarez and Eddie Vela, the duo behind the city’s Dialogue and Midnight Lovers parties. The pair launch Chapter One Records — a store they say specialises in “rare vinyl” — alongside their new vinyl-only record label, Dialogue Records. Artists connected to Dialogue and Midnight Lovers will play a part in curating the wax on sale at Chapter One Records, with SONN’s of Making Shapes, the west coast’s TK Disco, Dublab’s esteemed vinyl purist Daddy Differently, and Club Tularosa all involved. Resident labels include Stones Throw, Visionquest, and Let’s Play House. According to the press release announcing the news, “Chapter One aims to fuel what its founders see as a cultural renaissance aimed to revitalize Los Angeles’ nightlife in the wake of shutdowns. “This new creative hub will also offer their community a range of in-store gatherings and services including release listening parties, live stream production, and media creation.”
Sioux City, IA | Morningside College’s student-run radio station hosting all-day vinylthon: On a Friday afternoon, station manager Matthew O’Connell thumbed his way through a batch of vinyl records that may soon find their way onto the playlist of KMSC 92.9 F.M., Morningside College’s campus radio station. So, what will Mustang music aficionados be listening to? Perhaps, the soundtrack from “The Sound of Music,” a Christmas album courtesy of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass and, even, the mellow melodies of Mr. Perry Como. Wait, what!?! That doesn’t sound like very college-radio-y. According to O’Connell, this is a misconception many people have about radio stations run by students. “As KMSC’s station manager, it is my job to play a wide variety of music,” the Morningside mass communications senior explained, while pulling albums featuring Aretha Franklin, John Denver and Chet Atkins. And for a large portion of the day on Saturday, all of KMSC’s music won’t be alternative fare coming from CDs or off MP3s. Instead, they’ll be quirkier stuff, all on vinyl.
