
Raleigh, NC | Collecting the dying medium: Why physical media appeals to the internet generation. By most measures, physical media has been sundowning for decades, from music to TV and movies to video games. PlayStation announced they will stop producing discs for new games in 2028. Netflix terminated its decades-old DVD rental program in 2023. Of the biggest movies of the year, only a few are guaranteed to be distributed on DVD. From the modern perspective championing efficiency and cost-effectiveness, a Spotify subscription is an easy choice to make over individually purchasing albums at Target. Despite that logic, the average college student now has a certain kind of reverence for the dusty vinyl collection in their parent’s attic.
Matthews, NC | Inside Goodwill’s new record store in downtown Matthews: Opened Sept. 4 in downtown Matthews, the donation-based shop sells records for $4.99 and lets shoppers test media before buying. …Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont opened the record and media store on Sept. 4 in downtown Matthews. According to the nonprofit, it’s a first-of-its-kind concept for the organization, its first new store since 2024 and its 37th in the greater Charlotte region. The space is small but not snug, with three distinct areas. …That’s the trade-off with a donation-based media store; people are less likely to part with rare, in-demand records that gain value over time, especially for free. And the inventory is only as good as what the surrounding area gives away. If folks in Matthews aren’t donating R&B and hip-hop, that section stays skimpy.
Houston, TX | Memo’s Record Shop—a Houston East End treasure keeping Latin music alive: Walk into Memo’s Record Shop in Houston’s East End and you’re not just walking into a store—you’re walking into decades of history. The walls are covered in photos of big-name artists. The shelves are stacked with the music people grew up on—Juan Gabriel, Vicente Fernandez, Selena, Jose Jose, and Luis Miguel. And behind every photo, every album and every memory is the same family that has kept this place running since 1968. The man in those photos—standing shoulder to shoulder with some of Latin music’s biggest stars—is 87-year-old Guillermo “Memo” Villarreal. He was home resting when KPRC 2 stopped by, but his impact is everywhere you look.
London, UK | USM and Symbol Audio Open The Doors to a “Record Shop” in London: Complete with a vinyl collection, coffee shop, and DJ sets. …Installed as part of this week’s London Design Festival (which runs until Sunday, September 20) the “USM Record Store” takes over the Marylebone space, paying homage to the connection between design and music through talks, performances, and other activations. Pieces from the existing Symbol collaboration, first launched in 2024, are dotted around—from record stands, to a DJ booth, and vinyl crates to display cabinets. “We’ve held USM in high-regard here at Symbol for a long time, not only for their incredible product, but the clarity of their vision for the world of furniture,” Walker Tovin, Symbol’s brand director said at the time of the first launch.






I’m being unfair, of course. Avalon was just a good Italian kid from Philly who specialized in froth, didn’t have a rebellious bone in his body, and never pretended otherwise. An earnest and wholesome boy who never got hooked on heroin or attempted to reinvent himself as a pinwheel-eyed avatar of the hallucinogenic sixties was our Frankie. But say what you will about his escapist product, Avalon has always been and will always be true to himself.


Casale was a graduate student at Kent State on May 4, 1970, and witnessed the National Guard shootings that killed four students, two of whom he knew. That day shaped the worldview that de-evolution came from, and it runs through everything Devo has made since. We got into all of it: the origins of Devo, the band itself, politics, Kent State, his winemaking, and his new solo work.

Cleveland, OH | Get into the groove as Wax and Tracks Fest brings Midwest record stores to Cleveland: Vinyl Groove Records in Old Brooklyn hosts the only Cleveland music festival celebrating small, local record stores Saturday, Sept. 19. Independent record store owners and staff from all over the Midwest are coming to Cleveland and bringing their own crates of rare vinyls, new music and more to share with local music fans. Wax and Tracks Fest, now in its second year, is Saturday, Sept. 19, at Vinyl Groove Records, 5100 Pearl Road in Old Brooklyn. “…It is a love letter to Cleveland,” Cecilia Wolfe said. “[We’re] giving back to our community and also keeping the music alive, because Cleveland is the home of rock and roll, and people forget that
Bristol, VA | Businesses and vibes thrive during Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion: Downtown Bristol, in both Virginia and Tennessee, has grown along with the 25-year-old festival. …A few doors down from Blakley-Mitchell, Cheap Thrill Records doesn’t have quite the lengthy State Street history, but owner Wyatt Lilly likes the decision he made to set up shop here. Lilly had two West Virginia stores, one in Princeton that he opened in 1995 and one in Beckley that he launched four years later. After some friends encouraged him to check out Bristol, he noticed that the music-centric downtown, with its iconic sign that says “Bristol Va Tenn A Good Place to Live,” was lacking a business like his. “If you’ve ever been down here when it’s not Rhythm & Roots, it’s just 


But so far as declarations of war go, Ramones is a hilarious one. On it, the most famous band to ever come out of Forest Hills, Queens state their demands (they wanna be your boyfriend and they wanna sniff some glue; they don’t wanna go down to the basement and they don’t wanna walk around with you), dabble with fascism (“I’m a Nazi schatze”), and beat on the brat with a baseball bat.
When it comes to concise surveys of Hank Williams’ exceptional musical abilities (by which I mean single or double sets), the gold standard remains Polydor’s 40 Greatest Hits. Released in 1978, it was distinguished at the time for its lack of production meddling. Those four vinyl sides weren’t rechanneled into stereo, and there was no additional posthumous meddling such as overdubs or duet fakery.
Oxford, UK | Oxford record shop to close as redevelopment plans approved: A record shop in Oxford will have to close as a planning application lodged with Oxford City Council have been approved. Riverman Records has been successfully run by long-time record shop owner Andy Tucker in Walton Street, Oxford, since 2019. But a planning application submitted and approved by the landlords of the premises to Oxford City Council revealed a proposal to turn the shop into a one-bedroom flat. At the time the plans were lodged Mr Tucker said the plans “didn’t come as shock” as the building owner advised him that he was exploring the change due to new environmental standards for commercial properties coming into force. The shop owner said: “I knew that
Ville Platte, LA | Would Floyd Soileau have made Louisiana music history if he hadn’t messed up his gig as a DJ? “Ask him,” Todd Ortego prompted. Ask him what? “Ask Floyd about the time he played the wrong record,” he said. Ortego is already laughing on this August afternoon visit with Floyd Soileau as Soileau prepares to tell the story of how he started out as a disc jockey at KVPI-AM in his hometown of Ville Platte before opening a record shop in 1956. …It’s where he produced recordings of Louisiana artists, some of whom made it into Billboard magazine’s top 20. But it was a wrong record on the turntable at KVPI that set him on the recording path. Those were the days before vinyl gave way to CDs, which were finally overtaken by digital formats—the days when 












































