Gainesville, GA | Moe’s Record Shop Creates a Home for Local Musicians: Every weekend, live music can be heard from the back of Moe’s Record Shop in downtown Gainesville, adding to the sounds of North Georgia’s local music scene. From album release parties to live shows, the local record shop offers more than vintage vinyl. Leonard “Moe” Lyons opened his shop in Gainesville in 2019. After moving to his current location in the downtown Gainesville square, live music became an important part of the store. “We moved to this spot in April of 2023, and we had a show that weekend and we’ve been having shows ever since then,” Lyons said.
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 we are a music city.”
Houston, TX | Midtown record shop Sig’s Lagoon’s new YouTube show is turning into a campy must-watch: On certain Sunday nights, Midtown record shop Sig’s Lagoon turns its heavily stocked music haven into a talk-show set for “Late Night at the Lagoon.” Debuting in April on YouTube, this mini-talk show is a silly 15-20 minutes that features interviews and performances filmed on the store’s first floor. Nick Walton, an employee and “keyholder” since last November, created “Lagoon” with producer/musician Evan Escalante, the son of owner/executive producer Tomas Escalante. “When I started, they were mentioning that they’d been wanting to do video content for a while,” says Walton, who handles directing and editing duties. “I have a background in radio, television, film, and music. So I was like, well, I can cook something like that up.”
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 a totally charming downtown.”
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 
Stevie Nicks is rock’s own Patron Saint of Lessons Learned. But in order to reach this point she had to endure a world that underestimated, misunderstood, dismissed, and mocked her. She battled sexist narratives, helped popularize a struggling mid-level rock band, became a successful solo act, and beat addiction, all while staying connected to her creativity, authenticity, and mysticism. Drawing on archival first-person interviews and insights from people in Stevie Nicks’ world, Lessons & Lace chronicles her remarkable story, featuring notable quotes that inspire hard-learned, life-changing lessons.
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.
One gauge of the true greats is that the music improves, or at least maintains a high standard of quality, as the discs take their place in the racks. So it is with the Small Faces. With that said, the Decca period offers distinct and enduring appeal; more so than The Who, the Small Faces circa ’65-’66 are the true ambassadors of Mod. Utterly Brit in orientation, it wasn’t until the fourth LP that the group entered the US market.
Miami, FL | Beatles for sale! Miami record shop selling rare record for $5K: The cover, depicting the band covered in raw meat and decapitated baby dolls, shocked audiences upon release in 1966. For Beatles fans, it’s the stuff of legend: a rare 1966 album cover depicting John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, still mop-topped but well into their psychedelic era, covered in bloody, raw meat and decapitated baby dolls. No, you’re not tripping on acid-laced tea. 
Utsunomiya City, JP | Snokey Record in Japan’s Utsunomiya City Offers Vinyl That Is Meant to Be Part of People’s Lives Through Music: Located on the second floor of a small building right next to Orion-dori street, the bustling downtown area in the city of Utsunomiya, Snokey Record is meant to be a part of people’s lives through music. Rock, jazz, Latin music—the shop’s shelves are packed with a variety of different records, mostly Western music, including many obscure titles. The owner, Masaaki Takezawa, 55, sources the inventory himself, and the collection numbers roughly 10,000 albums. As Takezawa drops the needle onto a record from behind the counter, the enthusiastic vocals of American soul singer Phil Flowers filled the room. It was a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” The sound was pleasing to the ear, and you would find yourself 
