Consumer Watch: Vinyl revival hits Oklahoma City: Everything that is old is new again and that also applies to the vinyl record industry. There is a nationwide vinyl revival, and it is a new opportunity for music lovers and local businesses in the Oklahoma City metro. John Dunning has always loved music. He once made his living in the antique business, but when he came upon a massive record collection, it was time to make his passion, the new way he made a living. “You’ve got these records that are actual art, and artifact, and a piece of history. Plus, they sound better, and people just get in it,” says Dunning…This means the potential for business growth, and Trolley Stop Record Shop recently bought a new space that once housed the old Penn Theater, and will likely keep the six-year old first location open as well.
Cosmic Vinyl: For the Record: Among the promo posters, thousands of LP’s and 45 RPM’s was a record lathe. Blank vinyl records can be placed on the lathe and in real time, new recordings are cut permanently into the wax. Tony Oriza is a gifted multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer who performs indie bands ranging from metal to shoegaze. He’s also largely responsible for pressing the albums. The master recording is played, and in the time it takes for a song to play from start to finish, a new vinyl is cut. “Orders typically run between one or 50,” said Oriza. (For the one-off pressings.) “We get people transferring old recordings they did years ago or even wedding proposals.”
Watch A Single Life: An Oscar-Nominated Short About How Vinyl Records Can Take Us Magically Through Time: In 2015, the Dutch animation studio Job, Joris & Marieke, got an Oscar nomination for this delightful animated short, “A Single Life.” It’s a two minute tale about how music–particularly vinyl records–can transport us to magical places. And we mean really magical places. Seeing that we don’t believe in spoilers, we’re not going to say anything more–other than “A Single Life” has been screened at more than 200 festivals and received more than 40 awards. And, what’s more, it will be added to our collection of Animated Films, a subset of our collection 1,150 Free Movies Online: Great Classics, Indies, Noir, Westerns, etc.
Vinyl records ‘more popular than ever’: Andrew Montgomery knows all too well about revolving trends. The owner of Leederville’s Urban Records says the resurgence of vinyl records is continuing to build, as young people are drawn to their tactile appeal. Mr Montgomery has run the Oxford Street store for 16 years and said the vintage music medium is now more popular than ever. “In the last five years it has steadily picked up,” he said. “Everything is being released on vinyl now, and there is a generation who did not even buy CDs but are buying vinyl.” Mr Montgomery said his CD sales make up about 20 per cent of his album sales where vinyl records were 80 per cent.
Thor Lindsay, Co-Founder of Legendary Portland Record Label Tim/Kerr, Has Died: Thor Lindsay, a longtime fixture of Portland’s independent music scene who issued early recordings the Dandy Warhols and Everclear through his label, Tim/Kerr Records, has died. He was 59. Originally from Minnesota, Lindsay moved to Portland in the late ’70s, where he opened a record store, Singles Going Steady, downtown, and worked for then-fledgling concert promoter Monqui Presents. In the ’80s, Lindsay co-founded Tim/Kerr Records with namesake Tim Kerr, initially to release a set of spoken word pieces by William Burroughs featuring accompaniment by Gus Van Sant. The label went on to release the debut albums by Dandy Warhols and Everclear, as well as recordings by Poison Idea, the Wipers and Pere Ubu, among many others. Two years after a distribution deal with PolyGram subsidiary Mercury Records fell apart, the label shuttered in 1999.
Eli’s owner to open record store, music space downtown in historic building: One of Cincinnati’s most celebrated pitmasters is serving music on the side of his lip-smackin’ barbecue with his latest business venture, Herzog Music. Elias Leisring, owner of the popular Eli’s BBQ, is preparing to open the record store and music shop in the historic building where Hank Williams and other pioneering country, R&B and blues musicians recorded some of their earliest music in the famed Herzog music studio. A weekend-long opening event for the store at 811 Race St. is planned Saturday and Sunday, across the street from the Phoenix reception venue.
