Friday, January 28, 2011

Vinyl Record News & Notes, Did You Know?


Well, he's done it! Artist and friend in vinyl Daniel Edlen has just announced that VH1 will be displaying his Vinyl Art pieces for the months of February and March, 2011 in their corporate art gallery in New York City! Congrats!! Check it out       VH1

Check out his web site: VinylArt.info

--------------------------------

My DJ buddy Shawn has jumped into the record collection he has and is selling some great old jazz on Bluenote, check out his auction (with more to be posted this weekend!):

Jazz Vinyl on eBay

--------------------------------

a lengthy but compelling look at the physical nature of the music biz:

Music Packaging Today: An Interview with Sarah Robertson and Scott Pollack of A to Z Media

By James Beaudreau

A to Z Media is a small New York City-based company that’s facilitating some of the best music packaging and manufacturing in the world today. I recently sat down with A to Z’s Sarah Robertson and Scott Pollack to discuss the state of physical media in 2011.

James: Tell me a little about the company.

Sarah: I came over from England in May of 1994 and set up the business. There was a need to serve as the conduit between large and impersonal printing and optical media plants, and small-to-medium size music companies........

Read the rest HERE

--------------------------------

Neil Young to Receive Humanitarian Award

Neil Young will be presented with the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award on March 27 at the 40th annual Juno Awards in Toronto.

The award goes to a Canadian artist who has made a positive contribution the the country's society through humanitarianism. Young has been involved in social causes most of his career, including Farm Aid and the Bridge School.

Melanie Berry, president and CEO of CARAS, The Juno Awards and MusiCounts, said:

Read the rest at VintageVinylNews.com


--------------------------------

Gladys Horton of The Marvelettes Dies

By Bryan Wawzenek

Gladys Horton, the co-founder of hit Motown group The Marvelettes, has died. The singer passed away late on Wednesday (January 26) in a Los Angeles nursing home, according to Spinner.com. She was 66. Horton’s cause of death is unknown, although her son said that she had been recovering from complications from a stroke she suffered last year.

Read more at Gibson.com  




--------------------------------

A look at the vinyl record revival north of our border:

For the record
The great vinyl revival

By Sean Campbell


SNAP! CRACKLE! POP! It’s not Rice Crispies, but the sound of a less modern form of music listening, commonly associated with hipster culture and aging parents. We’re talking vinyl. That means record players, scratching, and a distinctness of sound you can’t get on your iPod.

But in a world where the MP3 reigns supreme, has vinyl lost its appeal?
Most vinyl collectors will tell you the sound produced from records has a much better quality; some will call it a simple hobby.

“It’s all about the hunt,” says Richard Campbell, a local vinyl enthusiast. “the feeling you get when you walk into a record shop, it’s a thrilling experience for a collector.”

Read the rest HERE

--------------------------------

Defeater Unveils New Album Cover Art

Defeater's second full-length album, 'Empty Days & Sleepless Nights,' is scheduled for release on March 8th via Bridge Nine Records. This album, the third installment of the conceptual opus that is Defeater (following 2008's 'Travels' & 2009's 'Lost Ground' EP), carries on the narrative songwriting style the band has developed about a family set in post-WWII America. 'Empty Days & Sleepless Nights' traces back to the family setting from Travels, but focuses on the older of the two sons, with the events unfolding through the older sibling's eyes. ED&SL features fourteen tracks: ten of the heaviest and most musically intricate songs Defeater has written to date and four acoustic songs that sound a lot like Rocky Votolato and Ryan Adams.


Check out two songs off of Empty Days & Sleepless Nights by pre-ordering the Dear Father EP, which features one acoustic track ("I Don't Mind") and one heavy track ("Dear Father") from the album now on B9store.com. http://www.b9store.com/defeater  Check the store for other deals on beautiful colored vinyl records. This album teaser hits streets on February 8th while the ED&SL full length will be available everywhere on March 8th, 2011.









--------------------------------

Wax Nostalgic: 7 Questions With Rick Wojcik of Dusty Groove America (Chicago)

By Jaeki Cho

Dusty Groove America
1120 North Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL
(773) 342-5800


We started our weekly look at the last real record stores alive—the City Guide’s Wax Nostalgic—in New York City, so this week we're heading to the Midwest to visit the Windy City's eclectic vinyl haven, Dusty Groove America.

Birthed by former radio DJ/record collector Rick Wojcik (and a partner) as an online store in 1996, the shop has since gained an international following for its vast collection.

Read the rest HERE



--------------------------------

As Vinyl Fever closes, local record stores ponder the future

By Jay Cridlin, Times Staff Writer

Record stores die. All of them do.

It happened just a few weeks ago in Arizona, when Eastside Records, a 25-year-old Phoenix institution, shut its doors over New Year's. "It was exactly like High Fidelity, that kind of record store," said Jimmy Eat World singer Jim Adkins, a loyal customer. "It's a bummer. I mean, I get it; it's tough selling physical units now."

Read the rest HERE

--------------------------------

Bob Seger tour to start in March ahead of new album 

By Allison Reitz

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band will tour North America for the first time in about four years, the iconic American musician and his band announced today, January 27.

Besides its planned March start, most details of the 2011 trek are still unknown, such as where it will launch and its expected duration. A press release stated only that the musician will visit "major cities across North America," with dates and ticketing information coming soon.

Read more Seger

--------------------------------

Ancients Reveals Cover Art For Forthcoming Self-Titled EP

Vancouver, Canada sludge metal act Ancients has revealed the cover artwork for their upcoming, self-titled debut EP. The artwork was created by Cam Strudwick who is also known for his work with grindcore acts Burning Ghats and Burn In Hell. The EP will to feature two tracks, recorded in separate sessions, and will see its release in early 2011.

Tracklisting

1. Humanist
2. Built to Die

Ancients Guitarist Chris commented on the EP by saying;

"The art is Cam's interpretation of my lyrics and ideas. I'm pretty heavy into crazy ancient religious stuff, secret societies, etc...especially Sumerian creation myths and The Anunnaki and stuff. I Couldnt be any more stoked on the way things are going so far at the shows and we are booked into may with a bunch of killer shows!

--------------------------------

$3,000 in cash discovered in donation of record albums

SEATTLE, WA - There's a story behind every record donated to Bop Street Records.

"Occasionally, I might find odd things or old letters inside of a record," says owner Dave Voorhees.

But none like the one discovered inside of a box of recently donated records – 1,400 to be exact. They were given to the store by Janet Back. They were from her husband, Gordon's, collection.

"His big interest in the world was classical music on vinyl records," said Janet.

Gordon has severe Parkinson's disease and now lives in an adult care center. Two weeks ago with his permission, Janet cleared out his old records.

Read the rest HERE

--------------------------------

and in the land down under.....

LP releases: like a broken record

Simon Tatz

Surely there should be a limit to the number of times an LP can be repackaged, re-reordered, remastered, issued with bonus tracks, demo tracks, live tracks and so on?

At some point, this postmodern fixation with trying to improve on works of art may well be diluting and even spoiling one of our most wonderful cultural artefacts - the 40-minute long-playing vinyl record.

The constant reissuing of LPs has reached a point of absurdity. Record companies scour their vaults for unreleased tracks, alternative versions and all manner of music that was not deemed suitable for release at the time.

The LP worked precisely because of its time limitations.

Read the rest HERE

--------------------------------

Did You Know?

A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off - it dies from starvation!

A hummingbird weighs less than a penny, in case you were wondering....

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second!

After eating, a housefly regurgitates its food and then eats it again.  Mmmmmm....

Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the mornings!

Bingo is the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box.

The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.

The male gypsy moth can "smell" the virgin female gypsy moth from 1.8
miles away.  Really??

enough of that, now on to the music:

The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles at a religious retreat in India.



In 1965, the Who perform their debut hit, "I Can't Explain" on the UK music show Ready, Steady, Go!. To project the desired image, the hand-picked audience consists only of teens dressed in the current Mod fashion.

In 1978, rumor has it that, at the request of a fan, Ted Nugent autographed the man's arm with a bowie knife. Cool.....

In 1983, Radio station WDHA, 105.5 in New Jersey claims to be the first US station to play music from a compact disc. Booo! Hissss!!!!

In 1984, despite being banned by Radio 1 and the BBC for its suggestive lyrics, "Relax" by the British dance group Frankie Goes to Hollywood climbs to the top of the UK singles chart. The objectionable words were "Relax, don't do it, when you want to sock it to it, Relax, don't do it, when you want to come". Many other UK commercial radio stations continued to play the record and it stayed at the top for five straight weeks and remained on the chart for a then record forty-two consecutive weeks. Later in the year, the ban would be lifted. Shit, they should have banned the video as well.....



In 1985, forty-six major American recording artists came together at A&M Studios in Hollywood, to record "We Are The World", a song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie. The effort was part of an album called "USA for Africa" and featured Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Willie Nelson, Steve Perry, Ray Charles and others. Those attending the session were asked to "leave your egos at the door."

In 1997, Pat Boone releases an album of Heavy Metal tunes called "In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy", a tongue-in-cheek collection of tunes like "Smoke on the Water" and "Stairway to Heaven". When the religious community failed to get the joke, he was dismissed from his Trinity Broadcasting Network program, Gospel America.

In 2005, we lost one of the true talents in rock and roll when legendary Rock drummer and Hall of Fame inductee Jim Capaldi died after a brief fight with stomach cancer. He was 61. Jim is most often remembered as a member of Traffic, with Steve Winwood and Dave Mason.

and if you see them on the street wish a happy birthday to Sara McLachlan (1968) and Joey Fatone Jr. ('N Sync)(1977)