Springfield, IL | Local Business Notes: Mark your calendars for April 13, vinyl lovers. That’s the day independent record stores across the country and around the world will mark “Record Store Day,” an annual event that celebrates the unique culture surrounding independently owned record stores with exclusive vinyl and CD releases. Two of Springfield’s three independent record stores, DUMB RECORDS and RECYCLED RECORDS, will be participating this year. The two will both open that day at 8 a.m., with Recycled Records offering cookies, doughnuts, fruit and coffee for attendees. A full listing of Dumb Records’ Record Store Day offerings can be found on the store’s website. Recycled Records owner MARK KESSLER said he has ordered more than 1,000 pieces of vinyl for the day. Some the artists with special edition vinyl will include Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Queen, Van Morrison, Elton John, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and more.
Springfield, IL | SHOP > Recycled Records. Every trip needs a soundtrack, and Recycled Records has your back. On a recent excursion, my husband and I picked up a wide-ranging stack of CDs, including Jimmy Buffett and Dr. Dre, which made for a much more interesting sing-along on the drive home to Chicago. The shop has been around since hair metal was in, and it’s easy to lose an hour or so digging through the stacks of inexpensive vinyl and CDs. Like any good record store, the wares aren’t just limited to music. Some of the knickknacks for purchase: neon beer signs and vintage Playboys. 625 E. Adams St.; recycledrecords.com or 217-522-5122
Middletown, Ohio | Music store expanding its ’80s bedroom feel to much larger location in Middletown: For the past three years, business has been good for Chris Lester of Lester’s Rock N Roll Shop in downtown Middletown. So good that his music store business has outgrown his previous downtown Middletown location at 1123 Central Ave.Lester is planning to open in larger building that once housed the Music Central shop during the 1980s at 1959 Central Ave., just outside of the downtown Central Avenue corridor. Most recently, it was the location of All Cash for Gold which closed after 17 years there. A soft opening will be followed by a grand opening in mid-April. Lester is also planning a promotion for National Record Store Day on April 13.Lester, who has worked in the music business playing or in retail most of his life, said the new location gives him six times the size at half the price. He said things fell into place with his former boss owning the building, and his lease was up at the old location.
Loveland, CO | Loveland’s Keptone Music Workshop merges with Downtown Sound: When Rogan Magyar, owner of Loveland’s Keptone Music Workshop, merged his company with Downtown Sound, both the music-lessons business and the vinyl-records shop reaped some benefits. At the beginning of March, Magyar closed the Keptone location at 273-B E. 29th St. in Orchards Shopping Center and combined operations with Downtown Sound, 330 E. Fourth St. In doing so, he combined the two businesses’ hours. Keptone Music Workshop had limited hours in the afternoons and evenings, when students would come for their private lessons on all sorts of musical instruments. And Downtown Sound had more typical retail hours…”It was exciting news for our old Keptone customers, because we had really limited hours,” Magyar said. “And it’s really paid off for us on the retail side. We had no idea that we’d have that many late shoppers.”
Vienna, WV | First ever Mid-Ohio Valley Record Show draws vendors and collectors area: A show that’s the first of its kind held in the Mid-Ohio Valley gave attendees a chance to take home some nostalgia. “We have the first ever Mid-Ohio Valley Record Show. There’s over 20 vendors from all over the place and everybody coming together for their love of music and records and CD’s and vinyl and just wanted to get together and have a way to bring records back into the Mid-Ohio Valley,” explains Aaron Whited, one of the event organizers of the record show. The vendors, traveling in from as far as Illinois and Baltimore, brought a large selection. “Anything from country, blue grass, rock, psychedelic-type music. Anything you can think of, you’ll find it here,” says Josh Weekley, a customer. In a time where you can store thousands of songs in the palm of your hand, it may seem irrational to invest in vinyl. But Whited say it’s worth it.
Staten Island, NY | Top 10 forgotten, bizarre vinyl at Staten Island record fair: Just keep digging! A record fair Saturday at Flagship Brewery in Tompkinsville featured a little of everything for vinyl enthusiasts; including a Charles Manson album displayed by the man who published it, a transformative album from an often forgotten jazz-man and a signed piece from Staten Island’s own. Here’s a look at the top 10 picks plucked from the milk crates by the collectors themselves, at the inaugural MakerParkRadio Record Fair: The Way-Out Record: The 60s, well, got a little weird. This children’s album pressed in 1968 features experimental synthesizers about 20 years ahead of their time. Songwriter Bruce Haack partnered with school teacher “Miss Nelson,” to produce a record for kids, which includes vocals from Miss Nelson’s children. The record was on sale at a listed at $50 by Brooklyn-based collector and world-traveler Tim Harris.
Behind The Board: Get Into The Vinyl Groove With Producer/ Engineer Jeff Powell: “I’m very encouraged where vinyl is taking things,” the Memphis-based producer/engineer tells the Recording Academy. Jeff Powell has spent a lot of time behind the board in Memphis, Tenn., learning from fellow music-minded greats and fine-tuning his craft at Ardent Studios. In the latest episode of Behind The Board, he recalls some of the magic moments he’s been a part of at the studio. Above, Powell talks about a famed piece of Ardent studio equipment: the lathe, or vinyl cutter, that originally belonged to their friends at Stax Records, another Memphis label/studio that is often cited as the birthplace of Southern soul. The lathe had been used to cut iconic records from Stax artists in their heyday in the ’60s and ’70s, but had been out of use for years since. Powell got it up and running again while working at Ardent, and began to cut records, including many classic album reissues he had worked on as engineer and/or mixer, including Al Green’s Greatest Hits.
