The Book Nook: Crossing ‘The Bridge’ between record albums and books: A group of fellows at my high school used to have a joyous weekly ritual. We scanned our music magazines with intense devotion. We knew which new records were due to be out. Then we would head out to the record shops to pick up the latest works of genius by groups we adored — bands like Led Zeppelin, Genesis, The Who, The Grateful Dead and The Rolling Stones. In my 20s, I perpetuated this weekly habit by myself. I had an agreement with a record store: I asked them to order every new album released on a particular label and I was confident I would love every one. I was rarely disappointed.
Battered but unbroken, Brooklyn music label sees ‘new golden age of vinyl’, Norton Records survived Hurricane Sandy and has made a comeback, like vinyl itself, with a brick-and-mortar store: Norton Records, named after Art Carney’s character on “The Honeymooners,” was founded in 1986, when vinyl was starting its decline. CD sales were on the rise. “We loved living in this beautiful vinyl world,” said Miriam Linna, the label’s co-founder. “When the CD thing happened, it was absolutely brutal.” Despite fewer labels releasing actual records, Norton released its artists’ music on both vinyl and CD. And when vinyl began its mainstream resurgence in the mid-2000s amid the start of digital music, “it was extremely gratifying and mysterious,” Linna said.
New retail-entertainment space at Record Archive: What’s the best way to get people to your retail business? Offer them fun and entertainment, said Richard Storms, president of Record Archives. The 41-year-old business at 33 ⅓ Rockwood Place in Rochester off East Avenue recently expanded its offerings with the Backroom Lounge. It is an eclectic in-store 2,000 square-foot entertainment space with a state of the art sound system for live music and a bar serving local brews and wines in a room decorated with vintage furnishings; a T-Rex and Velvis — Velvet Elvis. The venue is designed to attract new people to Record Archive, a venerable retail store selling not just music, but an array of gift items, local foods and vintage decor.
Repressed Records Expands Its 15th Anniversary Vivid Live Party Line-up: Repressed Records’ Nic Warnock said: “To celebrate 15 years of Repressed Records we’ve put together a line-up that reflects our vision of what a music community can be in 2017. From roots in youth centre hardcore punk to bedroom electronic experimentation, we think all the acts are linked by the ever-evolving ‘do-it-yourself’ music tradition that can break through the mainstream mould. Like our previous collaborations with the Opera House, consider this your friendly neighbourhood store guarantee that we’ll knock ya socks off on the waterfront outdoor stage at Vivid LIVE!”
Spin it, and they will come: “If you build it, he will come” was such a good line for writers to borrow and tweak to their own purpose that doing so quickly became trite. We drag it out to compare the love of baseball, the subject of “Field of Dreams,” to the ongoing resurgence of vinyl record albums, which Ogden wrote about. Spin it, and they will come. Who will come? – to paraphrase yet another line from the movie. In the the case of vinyl, “they” are a cross-section of American music lovers, young and old, looking to buy new music, or to replace albums they might have played decades ago or always wanted to own.
Sound Advice: A new-generation stylus rejuveninates old vinyl records: One of my regrets is that most readers don’t get a chance to experience how good vinyl really can be. Most turntables I recommend in the column sell for under $500 because that is where most of the public is shopping. While these turntables certainly can sound very good and bring a lot of enjoyment, they are limited in their ability to bring out the musical magic hidden in the grooves of a vinyl record. To access that sound, you typically need a fairly expensive cartridge, which usually means a fairly expensive turntable to go with it.
