Fort Wayne, IN | Owner puts Neat Neat Neat Records up for sale: A message posted Friday evening on Facebook signals a looming change for a well known local record store. The owners of “Neat Neat Neat Records and Music” said they are “actively pursuing a buyer,” as they move on to a new endeavor…”I feel that it is time that we come public with our intentions and the future of NNN. I am starting a new company that I am very excited about, and that shows a lot of promise. In order to put my full efforts behind this new venture, Danielle and I have decided that I will need to step away from Neat Neat Neat, which means selling it. This decision does not come lightly. NNN has been my lifes work thus far, and my intention is to see it continue to flourish under new ownership.” UPDATE: “We have had a very serious offer from a prospective buyer and will be talking tomorrow about moving forward. I’ll keep everyone updated as we proceed.”
San Francisco, CA | Rasputin Music On Haight Street Closes: Rasputin Music, the iconic Bay Area record store chain, will be closing its Haight Ashbury location, its last storefront in San Francisco. Employees were informed Friday. The Haight Ashbury Rasputin location opened in 2013. Rasputin closing its doors is the latest in a series of storefronts shutting down on Haight Street. Christin Evans runs The Booksmith on Haight Street, located just a few doors down. She is also the president of the Haight Ashbury Merchants Association and has been active in the economic welfare of the street since 2007. “There’s about 150 storefronts on Haight Street and there have been more vacant ones on Haight recently than any other time in my memory of being on the street,” she tells SF Weekly. “Even when we had the economic downturn we did not see as many storefronts closed as we do now.” She says she believes the stores closing on the street is the result of several factors all at once.
Shamrock, TX | Spinning the black circle: Spinning Jenny’s House of Music: As the saying goes, everything old is new again, and the comeback of vinyl records is proof of that. The resurgence of the classic musical platform has inspired one local resident and helped give an economic boost to the city of Shamrock. “All the way from Amarillo, Wichita Falls, Pampa, and Oklahoma. We have several that come from there,” said Jenny Morgan, Spinning Jenny’s House of Music owner. Spinning Jenny’s House of Music has been open since 2017. Life long resident and owner Jenny Morgan got the idea to open her own record store by watching something else spin round and round. “I honestly was doing laundry one day and it just came to me. I was just racking my brain, ‘What can I do that I would really enjoy for the rest of my life,’ and I thought its got to be something with music,” said Morgan.
Chicago, IL | Selling Your Record Collection To Move On In Life The Focus Of New Documentary Based At Dusty Groove: “It’s really not about how cool records are or the resurgence of vinyl, it’s really about people who are letting go of the things that once defined them.” A new documentary about West Town’s Dusty Groove records is a lot more than a story about vinyl. The film, “Dusty Groove: The Sound of Transition,” is Chicago filmmaker Danielle Beverly’s look at several people at a transition in their lives, often opting to sell their record collections to move on to their next phase. But Beverly provides enough footage of record culture to satisfy the vinyl lovers. “If someone loves vinyl records and record stores, they are going to love this film. The vinyl nerds are going to get their fix. But it’s really not about how cool records are or the resurgence of vinyl, it’s really about people who are letting go of the things that once defined them,” Beverly said. Beverly is a professor at Northwestern University who teaches documentary filmmaking both in Evanston and at the school’s campus in Qatar. She recently moved back to Chicago from Qatar. …“I had just finished buying a record collection from a woman named Jazzy Joyce, who was one of the first female hip-hop DJs in New York,” Wojcik recalled. “This was like 2010 and Joyce was just ready to start the next chapter of her life. And as with everybody when I buy these records, hers was just a fascinating story.”
Miami, FL | Electric Pickle brings new record shop, nightclub and bar, ATV Records, to Miami: Poplife, Grand Central and Casa Florida are also part of the joint venture. A new venue, record store and bar is coming to Miami. This month, record store and nightclub ATV Records (it stands for “addicted to vinyl”) will open alongside mezcaleria and restaurant Melinda’s on 1306 N Miami Avenue. The new projects come from Miami promoters and clubs Electric Pickle, Poplife, Grand Central and Casa Florida. The first club night will be this Friday, November 8th, with Fumiya Tanaka. Nights with Varhat and Moodymann will follow. The record store’s vinyl collection will focus on electronic music and dance floor sounds. In the evening, the store will become an intimate club space with a four-point sound system. Run by Casa Florida’s Gaston Gonzalez, Melinda’s will move from its former home below the Electric Pickle. Housed in the same address as ATV Records, the bar will focus on mezcal-based drinks. Electric Pickle was a small nightclub previously located on N Miami Avenue. Earlier this summer, the club shut its doors after “leaving the door open for a possible new location.”
Death Confirmed Of Esteemed Beatles Photographer Robert Freeman: Freeman took the images for ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ ‘Help!’ and other unforgettable album covers, and travelled and worked with The Beatles from 1963 to 1966. Robert Freeman, the British photographer and graphic designer whose career will always be closely linked to The Beatles via his album cover images and work on their films from 1963 to 1966, has died. Freeman, born in Cambridge in 1936, was also known for his work as a photo-journalist with the Sunday Times, on the iconic Pirelli calendars and as the director of the 1968 “Swinging London” film The Touchables. He also took photographs of Andy Warhol, Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Jimmy Cliff and Muhammad Ali, among others. But it was via his images of The Beatles, notably on five consecutive album front covers as well as for other releases, that he became most widely recognised. The photographer, who also toured with The Beatles as their photographer of choice in those early years, later described his early days and how he came into The Beatles’ orbit.
Brooklyn, NY | Starting from scratch with little scratch: One way to become a record collector. In an earlier edition this year of the Red Hook Star-Revue, Mike Cobb wrote about the welcome revival of record shops in Red Hook (see “The Return of the Record Store,” February 2019). In his treatise, Mike told of the special relationship that music lovers have with vinyl records. To paraphrase his sentiments, he said something like “You can’t put your arms around an MP3.” He wasn’t pinching a Johnny Thunders line here (the dead New York Doll’s guitarist was talking about a memory, not an MP3). I would add that you cannot roll a joint on the cover of an MP3 either, nor can you spill beer all over one and still listen to it. But you can make associations with records, ones that will never go away.
George Strait releases Strait Out of the Box: Vinyl Collection available for pre-order today: George Strait, the undisputed “King of Country Music,” is set to release Strait Out of the Box: Vinyl Collection, a limited-edition, 10-volume vinyl set on sale Friday, Dec. 9, with pre-orders beginning today at GeorgeStraitBoxSet.com. The American music icon has released 30 studio albums with over 400 cuts in his illustrious career—this unparalleled compilation offers 128 of those songs, featuring an incredible 57 No. 1 singles. With hits spanning 35 prolific years (1981 – 2016), the collection will comprise all of the songs on previous Strait Out Of The Box projects, including singles such as “All My Ex’s Live in Texas,” “Check Yes or No” and “She’ll Leave You with a Smile.” This multi-volume set concludes a momentous year for the longtime MCA Nashville artist, who released Honky Tonk Time Machine in March. Produced by Strait and Chuck Ainlay, the album quickly became the Country Music Hall of Fame member’s record-extending 27th No. 1 Billboard country album.
