Welcome to The Vinyl District: Austin. It’s an honor to be included in the quickly expanding TVD network. It will be hard to avoid sounding like Howard Dean with his scream speech when telling you about all the exciting things we’ll be rolling out in the coming months, but here we go. As the official blog of Record Store Day, you know we’ll be feeding you every thing you need to know as we get closer to the 4th annual April 16th holiday, but there’s a whole lot more to look forward to until then. We’re already planning our SXSW showcase and scavenger hunt this Spring, while pumping out to daily features, profiles and news stories at a clip of two-a-day Monday to Friday.
We’ll start by profiling every store in Austin. From the friendly giant, Waterloo Records, to the fresh indie at End of an Ear, the soul and funk of Breakaway Records, the hip hop and dance at Backspin Records and the eclectic mix at Friends of Sound, Antone’s, Cheap-O and Snake Eyes. We’ll even let you know how to build a perfect stereo system at Whetstone Audio and how to DJ at Dub Academy. And even though they aren’t record stores, per se, we’ll even let you what’s in the used bins at Music Mania and Half Priced Books and the unique set-up of Rock-A-Round records and what Mike’s latest haul has brought in.
Photo by Mary Rehak of Shutter-noise.com
For all of this to happen, we’re going to need your help. If it takes a village to raise a child, then it will require the whole city of Austin’s vinyl diggers to make TVD: Austin all that it can be. This town is dripping with creativity. Pour a little out on us. We’re looking for:
- Writers- We need an expert for each store, maybe more for the big ones. You’ll be responsible for a once a week report on new releases, new buys, what gems are in the dollar bin, what the in-store events are and anything else you notice. We need feature writers to profiles on collectors and store owners, interview DJ’s and whatever else you can think of. Pitch us an idea.
- Videographers- Written features are great, but vinyl looks cooler when it’s moving. We want to shoot short films on each store, the conventions, record store day and scavenger hunts. Send us your reel and let us know what you want to shoot.
- Collectors- We’ve found a few collectors, but know there are dozens more of you with glorious collections of thousands of albums carefully organized by genre and alphabetized. Let us know if this describes you or someone you know in Austin. We know you’re out there.
- Diggers and Tippers- Not everyone can write essays. A tip like “I’m in Waterloo and they just tapped the keg for today’s in-store” or “Gabe just put a stack of used soul 45’s out at Breakaway. Get here before the best ones are gone.” is the kind of update we’d all love. Tweet it at us or put it on our Facebook page. Spread the love around.
Tonight we’ll be at the Dub Academy on E. 5th from 6 to 8 p.m. sitting in on a beginner class on how to DJ and then we’re heading down to E. 6th to Rio Rita for the weekly Love and a 45 to test our skills spinning our favorite 45s. Austin may be the live music capital of the world, but we’re deep in the heart of the vinyl community as well. Enjoy it with us.
Follow TVD: Austin and post often on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Have more to say? Feel free to e-mail me anything longer to Zack (at) thevinyldistrict (dot) com.
Thanks for checking us out. Bookmark us and come back every day. Keep spinning.
