Stanton Man’s Record Store Thriving: In the small city of Stanton, Brian Osbourne says his record store holds endless gems for music lovers. “It’s just music has touched me so much in different ways and it talked to me and helped through certain times of my life. It’s just that I’d like to share that with people too,” said Osbourne. With the help of his wife, Osbourne opened up Backstage Past and is celebrating one year of being open. While CDs and shirts are items offered, vinyl records are his prized merchandise.
More Than Mere Commerce, Buffalo’s Record Store Culture: Buffalo is a record lover’s town. Marc Weinstein, one of the co-founders of Amoeba Records (the world’s largest independent record store), is a Buffalo native and a former Record Theatre employee. We’ve always had several independent record stores to choose from, each serving its own niche. But in keeping with national trends, Buffalo’s record store scene has suffered some major losses over the past decade starting with the closing of Home of the Hits, followed by New World Record, Spiral Scratch, and now Record Theatre. These closings aren’t just signs of bad business for Buffalo, they are losses for our arts community.
Fans Flock to Oakland Record Store for Green Day Pop-up Shop: Green Day fans showed up in force to 1-2-3-4! Go Records in Oakland on Thursday, hoping to get some exclusive merchandise ahead of the rock band’s homecoming concert at the Oakland Coliseum. Famous for songs such as “American Idiot” and “Good Riddance,” Green Day formed in 1986 and has been performing ever since. The pop up is part of a two-day celebratory event for the the latest album, titled Revolutionary Radio. It will be open until 8 p.m. Friday. Some fans drove for more than an hour to get to the shop, lured by the prospect of T-shirts and limited edition memorabilia, including notebooks and skateboards.
A year and still spinning: Novel Idea Bookstore & More owner Brenda Whitaker had a lot of used vinyl records. So several months ago, she came up with an idea. She decided to create a floor with about 600 vinyl records at the Granite City bookstore, 1400 Niedringhaus Ave. “At the (Alfresco) arts center, I did a bar top with pennies, so I mozaiced a bar top with pennies,” Whitaker said. “I had all of these albums that were scratched or of no use and I couldn’t do anything with them, so I thought what I’m going to do with all of these albums that I can’t sell. So I thought I might as well mozaic the floor like I did the bar top.” …At Novel Idea Bookstore & More, patrons can buy candy, used clothes and LPs and read a book. The business is divided into seven sections — the Book Nook, Sweet Treats, For The Record, Youtopia, Wee-SALE, Daisy’s, and the Story Room.
How A Small Town Record Store Quietly Released An Exclusive Aphex Twin Record: In both Aphex Twin and Osborn’s customarily understated style, the record went up on the store’s shelves with no announcement of any kind, just sitting there alongside the store’s other sweeping mix of music. Aphex Twin’s obsessive fan base guaranteed that word would get out — and it eventually did, igniting a firestorm of Internet chatter on sites like Resident Advisor, which covers electronic music with exhaustive detail. “Richard [James, Aphex Twin’s real name] and I have been friends forever. I used to record under the alias Soundmurderer, on his label Rephlex. There’s a whole bunch of stuff lined up for my label, and it’s all just friends I’ve helped in different ways over the years.
Brews and beat shine at first ever record fair in Silver Spring: Barrels of beer were covered with vinyl records, while organizer and c, played dance tracks from the top of a fermenter at the first ever Silver Spring Record Fair on Sunday at Denizens Brewing Company. “It’s a way to spread the love of vinyl around Montgomery County, to bring folks into records together to listen to good music, have some beers, and buy some records,” said Megan, who was the organizer of the event. The event lasted for five hours and featured 20 vendors and six different DJs who spanned many different genres. Three of them, Bobby Babylon, Leon City Sounds, and Megan himself, mainly played world music and reggae. (The DC Record Fair was in fact, the first record fair in Silver Spring. —Ed.)
Northampton Record Fair draws collectors early: Well it’s returned this year to The Deuce…the Northampton Record Fair! And for you vinyl record fans, today could be the day to get that record you always wanted. So what can you buy at the fair? Western Mass News stopped by this morning to find out! Well, it’s not just those classic vinyl’s (“Vinyl’s” is not a word. —Ed.) on sale, you can also find some vintage CD’s as well. But what would a record fair be without music in the background, there’s DJ’s here and they’ll be spinning tracks until 5 p.m. At 9 a.m. the fair was just getting underway with a number of collectors showing up for early admission which goes from 9-11 a.m. After that the doors are open to all until 5 p.m. for free!
London’s Sunfall festival has an independent record fair with vinyl delivery service: Back for its second instalment, London’s Sunfall music festival sees a heady lineup takeover Brockwell Park on the 12th of August during the day, including Larry Heard’s first UK performance in over 20 years, Madlib, Roy Ayers and more. The festival then spreads across the city for nine night sessions. Sunfall is also bringing back its independent record fair, showcasing the best of the city’s local labels alongside its daytime event. “We wanted to make sure the things that people loved about Sunfall in its first year returned in year two. The record fair is a project we want to nurture. It’s a reminder of why we’re doing the festival in the first place, to support the music we love” says festival co-founder Andy Peyton.
