Record store finds vinyl niche in downtown Fairbanks: When Megan and Max Frost moved to Fairbanks a little more than a year ago, they planned on getting “real jobs,” and for a while they did, but it wasn’t long before their shared love of music and art pulled them back to their passions. Before they packed their bags for Fairbanks, the two operated a small record store in the Florida tourist destination of St. Augustine. In what seems to be a time-honored Fairbanks tradition, when faced with a void in the Golden Heart City, they set about to fill it themselves.
It’s a record…the unstoppable rise of vinyl in Scotland: In the 1960s and 70s they were called LPs, not albums, and were the cornerstone of music culture. Back then groups of excitable teenagers would gather around Dansette record players listening to their favourite artists with reverence. Or check out the latest releases in a booth in a local record shop wearing headphones. But with the massive popularity of CDs in the Naughties vinyl seemed set to die out. Records were boxed up and put in the attic, or sold off to collectors, factories closed down. But, over the last decade, sales of records have been steadily growing and we are now seeing a vinyl renaissance.
Czech businessman leads vinyl revival: Nowadays you can’t call yourself a true music fan if you aren’t curating a collection of vinyl records. Vinyl can be bought everywhere — from independent record stores to Urban Outfitters and even Whole Foods. “Nothing’s final til it’s vinyl,” says the old music business saying — but it hasn’t always been that way…Vinyl makers across the world stopped production, but In the Czech Republic, Zdeneck Pelc — CEO and owner of GZ Media — did not follow suit. His company kept its 45-year-old equipment and is now the world’s biggest vinyl supplier.
Vinyl Fest ready to spin in Penticton: Vinyl lovers rejoice. The Okanagan Vinyl Fest annual record fair is ready to spin some tunes and talk everything vinyl on Sunday, Sept. 25. The event is a major fundrasier for CFUZ (Peach City Community Radio) and puts many audio lovers in touch with the medium that they love. This fifth anniversary year will feature 34 enthusiastic and knowledgeable vinyl vendors – most of whom have attended since year one. The event has grown over the years and now takes place in the Great Hall at the Penticton Senior’s Drop-In Centre on South Main Street.
For the love of records, Festival draws strong crowd to Galt Gardens: It was a grey and windy fall day on Saturday, but Galt Gardens was packed with as much musical love and records as Lethbians could handle. The annual Love and Records music and vinyl festival is itself like two sides of a great record for local music enthusiasts, bringing together record collectors and live music lovers. But it also brought people attracted by the sound of great music, the smells of delicious local cuisine, and the sound of children’s laughter.
10 tips for starting your own vinyl collection: First thing’s first. You can’t start a vinyl collection without a turntable (or record player) to play the music on. This is easier than you might expect, as the resurgent interest in vinyl recordings has led to a revival in record player and turntable manufacturing. Many leading stores such as Target and Walmart are selling these devices, as are local record stores. These turntables are likely to be pretty generic and cost in the $75 to $100 range. If you’re truly serious about audio perfection, then you’ll likely want to visit a specialty stereo shop to buy a superior sound system.
