Waupaca, WI | New Grooves In Waupaca: Music shop sells vinyl. One of Marty Milner’s favorite movies while growing up was “Back to the Future.” His high school friends called him McFly. His dream was to someday own a DeLorean. He never got one but he did follow through on another dream: to own a record shop. He named it Back to the Vinyl. He and his wife Jennifer run the shop on 102 Water St., across from Danes Hall. They opened two weeks ago. “Owning a music store was one of those dreams I thought I’d never actually get. We would walk our dog around downtown and look at spaces for rent. It was always a running joke: that would be a cool place for a record store,” he said. When the Water Street location came up, Jennifer asked, “If not now, when?” Milner’s inventory of vinyl records covers all musical genres. He sells both used and new records. He purchases records and is happy to look at collections and make an offer
Chicago, IL | In Chicago’s ‘top five,’ High Fidelity is a chart-topper: John Cusack will host an intimate screening of one of Chicago’s most impactful films at the Auditorium Theatre in early 2024. Some records never get old. Often on repeat, we grow fonder, more in love with our favorite tracks. Of course, there’s always the fear of getting sick of the songs we love the most, but let’s be fair: nostalgia isn’t easily muted. Like these sorts of records, High Fidelity, no matter how many rewatches, remains a classic hit in Chicago’s cinematic playlist. The movie is whimsical and undeniably fun, packed with a love for music, but not unaware of the troubling side of romance. It’s a film that reimagined the rom-com, inviting emotional complexity and cynicism into the love story, and its influence is still sampled today. And in January 2024, barring any further delays due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, John Cusack will host an intimate screening of the long-admired film at the Auditorium Theatre. The Evanston native will follow the screening with a conversation about his career and the making of the film, plus an audience Q&A.
Seattle, WA | Capitol Hill Rewind – Rubato Records: breaking the lease on Broadway. Exploring the neighborhood’s record-shop history. Rubato Records & Espresso’s brief existence at the Broadway Alley began in 1982. Capitol Hill was one of a few locations—Wallingford and West Seattle stores opened later—for a record shop opened in downtown Bellevue in 1976 by John and Helena Rogers. The pair—who later married and separated but remain friends—also co-founded the New Wave/progressive rock/avant-garde band Student Nurse. Helena remembers selling records to Bob Blackburn, the voice of the Seattle SuperSonics, and former Seattle Mariners ace Randy Johnson at the Bellevue shop. “[Randy] would come in and lowball us trying to sell crappy heavy metal records,” Helena told me during an interview this summer at Georgetown’s Equinox Studios, where she is also an artist who paints. “He would say, ‘That’s all you’re giving me?!’ It was, like, ‘Dude, you have millions of dollars, and we barely have enough money to buy a hamburger after work!’”
Tulsa, OK | Hot sellers: Studio Records keeping Swifties and 90s fans happy: While recently perusing the vinyl at Josey Records, I continued my search for a Jesse Ed Davis record. Never having found one there, I asked an employee how often they hit the shelves. “Rarely,” he said. “You should go check out Studio Records over by the Church. They usually have it.” He was correct. I had two choices, the reissued debut “Jesse Davis” or a used (and more expensive) copy of “Ululu” – Davis’ second album. I went with the debut. Studio Records, 409 S. Trenton Ave., has been in business for five years helping fuel the sustained resurgence of interest in vinyl. On this day, owner Mike Nobels is manning the register when he’s not restocking the shelves. He has fun buying, selling and trading records of all genres. “The kids are really into the ‘80s and ‘90s music because that’s what their parents listened to,” Nobles says. Cue a record needle scratching to a stop.
How the vinyl industry weathered pandemic disruptions to emerge stronger than ever: Industry experts weigh in on the challenges and opportunities of 21st-century vinyl production and why events like the Haarlem Vinyl Festival are key to the continuing relevance of records. COVID-19 hit the vinyl industry as a perfect storm. Making a recording, even at the best of times, demands an intricate and specialised production process. The pandemic introduced shortages of key materials and skyrocketing manufacturing costs that pushed lead times for new vinyl pressings to as long as 12 months. Stores shuttered. Global shipping delays kept existing stock off shelves. And, as the disruptions of 2020 stretched into 2022, stakeholders across the industry were left with the uneasy but not unfamiliar feeling that maybe the medium of vinyl truly might not recover this time. However, if there’s one thing we should have learned over the last few decades, it’s that 
Los Angeles, CA | Musician-Owned Onyx record press opens in LA: Onyx Record Press, a newly opened vinyl pressing located in Arcadia, Calif., has opened their doors with a focus on the independent musician. “We wanted to directly cater to the independent community of musicians and labels, giving them the means to manufacture vinyl,” explains co-owner, DJ/producer Moe Espinosa, who under the Drumcell moniker, is credited with reviving techno in Los Angeles and Vice dubbed “a hometown hero.” “It’s one of the best ways to connect listeners to music, because there’s nothing like a tangible physical record.” “As an independent artist and label owner, I’ve faced the problems that so many of my friends and colleagues have faced: 
These days Nick Cave is a well respected man of letters, an unabashed litterateur whose eternally thin visage gets brief cameo spots in the big Hollywood films that happen to sport his scripts. Indeed, he can be located in Lawless, currently (hopefully) playing in a theatre near you as directed by his friend and collaborator John Hillcoat. But it should also be noted that once upon a time, Cave was a completely punk-centric scribe, his scrawling taken seriously by only a small handful beyond the ‘80s subterranean music playground. In fact his double duty as a musician and writer placed him in the direct company of such names as Henry Rollins, Lydia Lunch, and Chris Desjardins aka Chris D.
Who else to take us on this multicultural, international trip but 
Brooklyn, NY | English Presents “Vinyl Chord: A Revolutionary Record Store” at Public Pool Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC: Come check out the brand new Ron English pop-up entitled “Vinyl Chord Records: an imaginary record store”. Public Pool is pleased to present Vinyl Chord: A Revolutionary Record Store with the Godfather of Street Art, Ron English, in which English remixes and remakes the most iconic album covers of the last fifty years.The reimagined album covers will be presented as 12 x 12 inch prints, in editions of 33. The exhibition will include 
Seattle, WA | On the record: New vinyl Hi-Fi lounge in Seattle skips the algorithm and gets back to music basics: The term “Seattle sound” often refers to the heyday of grunge music in the city. But the people behind a new cocktail lounge think Seattle has never sounded better thanks to the high-fidelity listening experience they have created. Shibuya Hi-Fi opens Thursday in the Ballard neighborhood with a rather simple plan to offer good drinks and good music. The execution is more nuanced, and involves an expertly curated selection of vinyl records spun by world class DJs in the hopes that people who have given over their listening lives to streaming services and algorithms can 
