New Brunswick, NJ | NJ Record Shop Is Home to Many Classic Gems: Darren Revilla is an avid collector of vinyl LPs and vintage audio gear. If you’re looking for an album from an obscure band no one (except collectors) has ever heard of, he’s the guy you ask. He’s also the owner of Revilla Grooves and Gear, the retro-cool shop specializing in vinyl LPs and vintage audio gear he opened five years ago in the heart of Milltown, New Jersey, 15 minutes from the main campus of Rutgers University in neighboring New Brunswick. …Two years ago Revilla moved into a more spacious location just down the block. Apart from accommodating twice as many record bins (for a total of around 15,000 records), the new spot has more wall space for highlighting special finds like a near-mint copy of the 1958 Miles Davis classic Milestones (yours for a hundred bucks), and a lot more room for showcasing vintage gear that runs the gamut from classic receivers, preamps, and power amps to open-reel tape decks, turntables, and speakers.
Asheville, NC | Citizen Vinyl record pressing plant to open in Asheville, NC this September. Record store, bar/cafe among plans for downtown Citizen-Times building. A full circle revival is underway for Asheville, NC’s Citizen-Times building. While still home to the daily paper’s printing facility and offices, the historic site will soon be unveiled with a new identity as a boutique vinyl pressing plant, record store and bar/cafe (and a new name): Citizen Vinyl. Founded by veteran music producer Gar Ragland and supported by a dream team of industry professionals and craftsmen, Citizen Vinyl is slated to become North Carolina’s first on site pressing plant, though its mission goes beyond just manufacturing great quality records. With a craft-first approach that prioritizes quality and superior customer service, Citizen Vinyl hopes to make record production more manageable and accessible for both first-time vinyl clients and major label customers alike. With all shipping and manufacturing kept in-house, Citizen Vinyl will be able to fulfill low-volume orders at a budget friendly price and still maintain the bandwidth to execute large scale projects. Citizen Vinyl’s vision extends past vinyl manufacturing to embrace a role as a community hub and center for creative collaboration.
Wilkes-Barre Township, PA | Gallery of Sound: Raising money for the arts in Luzerne County. All of the proceeds from “Come Together To Raise Money For The Arts” will go to local theaters and art departments. About a dozen bands were set to hit the stage tonight for a community benefit concert called “Come Together To Raise Money For The Arts.” “Music is such a big part of everybody’s lives here,” said Cat Havrilla of Rockology Americans. “Without them, it would kind of be really difficult its really nice to be able to give back to everybody who gives us the opportunities that we have.” The idea for the benefit came from Joe Nardone, owner of the Gallery of Sound record store. He said that while the stage is up for other events this weekend, he thought it would be a good way to give back to the organizations that are hurting right now. “Every band in fact on this bill has played in my store once or twice,” Nardone said. “These guys aren’t working and all the places guys play in are shutdown and were just trying to do the best we can to give these people a little bit of money.”
Nursing home residents re-create iconic album covers while in lockdown: Rock on, Nana! Music and art have become two popular pastimes during the long months of coronavirus lockdown, and one nursing home in the U.K. found the perfect way to combine the two. Residents at Sydmar Lodge Care Home in Edgware, outside London, took photographs re-creating famous album covers, from makeup to the perfect pose. The re-creations cross genres and decades, including covers by David Bowie, Taylor Swift, Elvis Presley, Madonna and more. The staff member who headed up the project, activities coordinator Robert Speker, told TODAY that he tries to keep his residents entertained with “topical” ideas and that they got on board with his plan “pretty quickly.” He wanted to achieve a mix of current and classic albums that were “well-known,” he explained. After he’d chosen the albums, he then had to decide which artist best suited which resident. “When I was matching the residents up, I had a quick think. Who would like to participate, and which would best suit them? Who wouldn’t mind having tattoos drawn on their arms or zigzags painted on their faces?” Speker said. “I wanted the resident’s personality to shine through. I feel I managed that, unbelievably,” he continued. “The reaction they had was so lovely.”
Perry Farrell to release limited edition, nine vinyl box set retrospective of his 35+ years musical career in November: Perry Farrell – The Glitz; The Glamour is a 35-year retrospective of his life, music and art that looks into his world outside the works of Jane’s Addiction and Porno For Pyros, to focus on 68 tracks worth of Perry’s alt rock rarities and heart-pounding artistic explorations. The retrospective is served up in the form of limited edition and numbered vinyl and collectible box set and will be an art piece in its own right, in collaboration with fine artist, Zoltar. This offering firmly puts his stake in the ground as the “Godfather of Alternative Rock.” In addition to the deep groove audiophile vinyl recordings, the boxset will also include a Blu-ray featuring 12 uncompressed Dolby Atmos mixes from Kind Heaven and three brand new previously unreleased Atmos mixes, a hardcover mini book, a bandana, plus two exclusive Zoltar prints.
Record Store Day And Urban Outfitters Team Up With Post Malone For Limited Edition RSD2020 Mini-Turntable/3″ Post Malone Vinyl Bundles. Record Store Day and Urban Outfitters are releasing a limited edition riff on the RSD3 mini-turntable, refreshed for 2020. The RSD2020 mini-turntable is made of transparent acrylic, allowing the inner workings of the turntable to be fully visible. An RSD2020 exclusive bundle containing the RSD2020 clear mini-turntable and two 3” colored vinyl Post Malone hit singles will be available at both participating Record Store Day record stores and online at Urban Outfitters. Colored vinyl 3” versions of “Sunflower” and “Wow” will be included in the Urban Outfitters package and the indie record store exclusive bundle includes “Goodbyes” and “Saint Tropez” on 3” colored vinyl. (Yikes. —Ed.)
Manu Dibango’s Gone Clear and Ambassador reissued on 2xLP: Featuring a reggae rework of ‘Soul Makossa.’ Legendary Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango’s Gone Clear and Ambassador albums are being reissued on 2xLP, via Sony Music Video Enterprises this August. Following a tour with the Ivorian Radio-Television Orchestra, Dibango landed in Kingston for the first time during 1976. Later setting up at Dynamic Sounds Studios with a cast of musicians including Sly Dunbar on drums, Robbie Shakespeare on bass and Michael Brecker on sax to record Gone Clear, Dibango released the album on Island Records in 1981. A year later, Dibango recorded Ambassador with the same group of musicians, and also released it on Island Records in 1981. Both of the albums have been reissued together in a 2xLP package, featuring the original cover artwork from Gone Clear.
