Here at THE VINYL DISTRICTwe're good consumers. All Mp3's are posted to promote and give exposure to the music and are linked for a limited time. Please download to preview, then head promptly to your local vinyl vendor (or - OK, CD store too) and fork over your hard earned cash. You'll appreciate the piece of mind.
Got something you think we should be listening to or reading? thevinyldistrict (at) gmail.com
At a time when the passing of any under-developed Pitchfork or Stereogum craze de jour artist would merit blogger tears and hyperlinks galore, it BLOWS MY MIND UP to think that I haven’t seen a mention in the US media of the passing of The Delfonics founding member Randy Cain last week at the age of 63.
Really, WTF?
ONE music media outlet picked up on Cain’s passing and that was NME.
Embarrassing.
I’m really starting to think that being somewhat older isn’t the liability it’s made out to be and is FAR more of an attribute.
Indeed, the cavalcade of crankiness and foul language begins anew...
So, last week while getting dressed for work, I had the ‘Today’ show on in the background. (For you readers abroad: morning television chat show.) Co-hosts Matt and Meredith were consulting with a home electronics guru in regard to all variations of home appliances to determine when and if it’s a good idea to have something repaired or replaced.
...then they get to the DVD player. Mr. Electronics Whiz says something to the effect of, unless you’re using your DVD player almost daily, there’s no need to repair or replace because very shortly we’re JUST GOING TO BE DOWNLOADING OUR MOVIES ANYWAY -- so why even bother?
Lemme get this straight--all of those collector’s DVD sets I’ve purchased over the past few years are now just relics? And the entertainment industry as whole hasn’t gotten wind of the groundswell back toward, not just vinyl, but physical product?
You can make the argument for convenience, etc—but don’t.
In honor of Record Store Day this very Saturday, April 18th allow me to be clear—give us something we can put in our:
Our friend, Leerone will be performing on a live streaming web show called Raw Rhythms, produced and hosted by Katie Scanlon and Megan Marlow, and executive produced by Brian Gramo (owner of The Stream).
Monday night, April 13th from 8:00 - 9:00 pm Pacific Standard Time (Los Angeles, CA) 11 pm Eastern Standard Time
Raw Rhythms can be found at: www.thestream.tv/rawrhythms or click here.
Raw Rhythms provides a place for fans to interact with the guest artist/band through questions and comments that are fielded through a live chatroom feed and instant messages so please do send a message! The show will be available on demand the following morning on thestream.tv.
Viewers can send instant messages to us during the show at: thestreamdottv (This works for AOL/MSN/Yahoo/ICQ)
Where DOES the time go? Eleven weeks ago we began our ‘Eleven Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways,’ and today kicks into gear the very last contest in celebration of Record Store Day 2009 (which is a mere 11 days off at this point...)
To send us out on a high note, we’ve got Jenny Lewis’ 2008 release ‘Acid Tongue’ in a double-gatefold, 2-LP set. The package contains three sides of audio with a special etching on the fourth side. The set also comes with a CD of the full release for use as a coaster or something. (What’s a CD?)
For the last time, the drill is still the same. Grab our attention in the comments (WITH your email address--important!) gushing over TVD's final Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaway. (Or, you can comment and forward your email address in an email to us. We're not picky.) And remember - each entry into our vinyl contest is an automatic entry to win the Stanton T.90 USB turntable on Record Store Day 2009!
Just make it funny. Or make it smart. About record stores. Or Record Store Day. Or vinyl. About us or you. Or something else all together. Just make it before next Monday (4/13) when we'll choose our winner and begin the count down to awarding the Stanton T.90 to one lucky reader...
For a while there I had a front row seat for Fire’s unique brand of transcendence. Or perhaps I should say ‘back seat,’ behind the drum kit for a number of months with Fire as he prepped new material at the Donkey Palace years back.
From that vantage point alone I can tell you--Fire Dean is one hell of a songwriter, performer, and story teller, and as TVD was growing I kept saying to him, “We gotta’ do a feature...we gotta’ do a feature...” ...until I think I caught him at the right time recently when boom...in-box: full of stuff.
Make certain you check that vid too.
"Elton John...Madman Across The Water. Jimmy Arlis, the coolest kid on my dead end street had played it for me. I was 10 or 11 yrs old. The back cover was the ass end of a pair of blue jeans with the song titles embroidered over....'Rotten Peaches' .... 'Levon' ... 'Indian Sunset'... Clearly this guy Elton was the Grizzly Adams sort I could hang around with. He'd come down from the Black Mountains after his tribe had been slaughtered and sat down at the piano, just really pissed off "...I heard from passing Renegades..." Holy Shit! My sister understood. She gave me a pair of jeans for Xmas with the embroidery done just like the cover. But my older brother was a problem. He saw me lying in front of the turntable mesmerized with Elton Madman John, and sneered. I was distressed. What did he mean by this? What did he know that I didn't? He'd been listening to Renaissance, Ashes Are Burning ALOT..I liked the girl's voice from the pic of her on the inside sleeve, she was nearly hot as Farah Fawcett only she seemed accessible. My bro told me live he'd almost seen her breasts at a concert in Red Bank, NJ. Woah, I was right. Access unlimited. Still, I knew in order to do this correctly I needed to make a bold, independent decision. Annie Haslam was out and Bowie had his chance. 'Diamond Dogs' was a shot in the dark based on some magnificent pre-Photoshop imagery, I had never heard the music, any of it. I bought it at Jacks' Records, also in Red Bank. At home I pretended I knew all about this record I'd just bought and after I'd listened once invited my brother to check it out. This time his sneer became more like a muted smirk. He hurriedly explained his condescension. "David Bowie has a better record...you got the wrong one," he said. "Really?" I said and needled up 'Rebel Rebel.' "Better than this?" "Oh yeah." He tried again. But I could tell he was lying."
Fire Dean - Up at Ericas/Motorcycle Sled-Pull (Mp3) Wrote this last month. Title is a reference to a game I played as a kid. Gravity wasn't enough apparently. We tied our sleds to dirt bikes and then raced around a horse field out in the woods. The idea was to pull next to the other guy and knock him off, a la Ben Hur.
Fire Dean - Irrational Exhuberance1 (Mp3) Also new. Inspired by an imposing old Hungarian from Queens. He had dream, my job was to build it. A half million dollars and anything I needed.
Fire Dean - In A Way (Mp3) One beat fits all. My friend Roger wrote this beat to a guitar riff I came up with 5 years ago. Its since been repackaged into 3 songs. This is the latest.
Fire Dean/Big Black Nun - Burnin' Lucy...(followed by 'Honeymoon In Niagra') (Mp3) A two-fer. Recorded to 45 vinyl in '94 as a single released by my old band, Big Black Nun. First up is 'Burnin' Lucy' with Riley McMahon on big slide gtar. That's me of course contemplating the pros and cons of honor killing. Of course 'Honeymoon...' is the sentimental flip to my metallic slaying.
I can’t JUST be me who misses the free-wheeling radio days of yore, now can it? We’d like to publish YOUR radio recollections right here, next week, TVD reader. No matter where you turned it on, or when you tuned it in, we’d like to hear what or who informed your tastes for better or for worse.
Shoot TVD a note (email address lower left) and with any luck we’ll post ‘em throughout the week to come.
"...With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early western United States. Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse Silver! The Lone Ranger rides again!"
ANNOUNCER: Cramel Hair Tonic and Cramel Shampoo present the new adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, and Tom Conway as Sherlock Holmes.
(MUSIC UP AND UNDER)
ANNOUNCER: Now once again it's time to keep that weekly appointment with our good friend and host, Dr. Watson. Good evening, Dr. Watson.
WATSON: Good evening, Mr. Bell. As usual you're punctual to the minute. Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable.
BELL: Thank you.
WATSON: That's it.
BELL: I see that you have the old black, tin dispatch box out again, Dr. Watson. I deduce that you were going over your notes on tonight's case.
WATSON: Elementary my, dear boy. Among the records I came across some notes of some cases that I'd almost forgotten. The shocking death of Crosby the banker, the Adeltine tragedy, and some darter on the unusual contents of the ancient British pharaoh.
BELL: Those stories sound pretty intriguing, Dr. Watson.
WATSON: I shall tell them to you some other evening, Mr. Bell. Tonight, I'm going to recount an adventure that took place in the heart of the beautiful English countryside. I call it, "The Adventure of the Tolling Bell." (NARRATING) Well that story began in a small country village of Conforth. Holmes had recently brought to a successful conclusion the affair of the Barrow and Furnace Wheelchair Murders. And we decided a few days rest in nearby Conforth would do us good before returning to our arduous life on Baker Street. We were staying in a small, but comfortable Inn. Only on the morning of the third day, I remember, Holmes and I were in our bedroom waiting for those two essentials without which an English country gentleman could not start his day -- an early morning cup of tea and a jug of hot water for shaving. As we sat there at the open window a nearby church bell was tolling a funeral nell.
It’s easy to forget that prior to television, radio was not just a music and information source. Radio was an all encompassing entertainment medium--one which, like vinyl, demands listener participation to be enjoyed to its fullest.
So, this week we’ll remember a hey-day long before our days. (...and bonus! Verrry SFW...)
So, you're saying to yourself, Record Store Day 2009 is quickly approaching--but whatever will I wear?
Well, TVD's one step ahead of you.
In celebration of RSD09, TVD has partnered with Worn Free -- purveyors of a ridiculously cool line of shirts that indeed rock -- to wheedle you out of your wardrobe dilemma. Here's the schpiel:
"Worn Free reproduces original tees famously worn by such rock legends as John Lennon, Joey Ramone, Frank Zappa, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Gram Parsons, Johnny Ramone and Joan Jett, among others – and regularly adds fantastic new images (of fantastic old shirts) to its catalog.
Celebrating punk fury, hippie utopianism, psychedelic excess and art-pop whimsy – not to mention the eye-popping graphics of celebrated artists like John Van Hamersveld – Worn Free shirts express the insurrectionary spirit of rock and roll in all its forms.
We’ve spent more than a decade combing worldwide photo archives of music and style icons, learning what they’ve been wearing and bringing it straight to you.
The tag inside each shirt is a sticker resembling a backstage pass, featuring either a photo of a rock star wearing the original shirt or a rendering of the design, with information documenting its initial date, artist and venue.
But despite their stellar images, these are no museum pieces. Made of fine, luxuriously soft cotton, Worn Free shirts are also decadently comfortable – and fit like your old favorites the first time you slip them on."
...and they come with the TVD stamp of approval. How can ya go wrong?
So, in a blatant attempt to get you to visit the site and peruse the T's, TVD and Worn Free will award two winners one shirt a piece! All you need to do is choose the design you wish to sport from their selection and post a comment as to why we should have your back on this one. Wordy, insightful, or damn funny comments appreciated.
We're also fully aware that TVD's readership is pretty darn global, so no matter where you're tuning us in, we'll send you the shirt for your effervescent commentary. Got that?
We'll choose two winners this coming Monday (4/6) so check out the site and get to commenting! You'll see some really cool designs from some pretty unexpected sources...
I like to think that one underlying, yet recurring theme here at TVD, is that vinyl in all of its various formats is a contemporary medium--perhaps even more so than CDs at the moment.
In tandem with this notion is our constant search for new artists or bands with an affinity for vinyl, who are releasing new product on vinyl, and who go so far as to have a record literally tattooed on their person. (Ahem...)
It is with this in mind ladies and gents, TVD's Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaway Week #10 is most proud to present: Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles' new release 'The Stars Are Out!'
"The ten selections of 'The Stars Are Out'—five new originals, and five covers—winnowed down by Sarah, band mates—guitarist Lyle Brewer, bassist Binky, and drummer Rob Dulaney—and producers Paul Q. Kolderie (the Pixies, Lemonheads, Radiohead) and Adam Taylor, include tunes attributed to Smokey Robinson (a radically reworked “Being With You”), Stiff Records act Any Trouble (“Yesterday'sLove,” penned by Clive Gregson), and the Magnetic Fields' “No One Will Ever Love You.”
The results of 'The Stars Are Out' include the slinky, '60s stroll of “Me and Your Ghost”; the flirtatious, guitar-driven kickoff, “Do It For Free”; and “It Comes To Me Naturally,” a hip-shaking tale of a girl-about-town, originally recorded by bar band supreme NRBQ."
We'll have three winners for this particular giveaway. Sarah's given TVD a highly limited clear orange vinyl copy of 'The Stars Are Out' and the 7" single from her previous LP, 'The Day We Met' for one grand prize winner. Two runners up will receive 'The Day We Met' 7" and a CD copy of 'The Stars Are Out.'
The drill is the same, grab our attention in the comments (WITH your email address--important!) gushing over TVD's Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaway Week #10. (Or, you can comment and forward your email address in an email to us. We're not picky.) And remember - each entry into our vinyl contest is an automatic entry to win the Stanton T.90 USB turntable on Record Store Day 2009!
Just make it funny. Or make it smart. About record stores. Or Record Store Day. Or vinyl. About us or you. Or something else all together. Just make it before next Monday (4/6) when we'll choose our winner. (AND launch our LAST RSD09 vinyl giveaway -- #11 of 11!)
Each time I pick up the phone to check in with my mom who’s afflicted with Alzheimer’s, she's more and more distant, more gone, more out there--while maintaining the sharp tongue and her wicked way with words which made her a particular favorite with my friends along the way.
Last night I caught up with the very current going’s on with her mom and dad, her sister, and her brother-in-law, all of whom have been dead for many, many years now. They had just been by the house, they say hello, etc.
But alas, now her sister isn’t talking to her for some reason mom couldn’t quite put her finger on. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it’s because she’s been gone for oh, 15 years now?
Having been adopted myself, my sister long gone, my dad having passed away, and mom in her condition, it suddenly hit me that I’m the sole bearer of the life and times.
And having been adopted, despite the love from very real and involved parents, I/you/we long for the twinge of any semblance of self reflected in someone’s face or gestures. The genetic twist that reveals--you’re FROM someplace.
We have some sad and disappointing news to share with you. Dj Hut can no longer battle the dual headwind of the demise of the music retail industry and the economic downturn. As a result, we are forced to shut down the store and go strictly online at the end of April. Effective immediately, all vinyl records, CDs, DVDs and books will be liquidated at the rate of 20% off the regular price.
We would like to thank you for your support over the last 7 years at the store and we look forward to your continued support in the future online.
Know where you’re more likely to hear the radio than not? That’d be in a taxi cab, such as the one I was in last night.
The rain had begun to fall a bit, tapping out a groove on the hood of the car in sync with the selection on the dial. The windshield wipers wound a twisty bass line below the rain as the bleating of car horns accented on the downbeat. My rum and coke soaked fingers tapped out 8th notes after writing KISS on the humid window with the sharp SS’s per the actual logo.
And the soundtrack? 80’s synthpop, way out of context.
I paid the driver at my door, his head not once stopping its bobbing to the tinny groove. Smiled, waved, drove off.
At a time when the passing of any under-developed Pitchfork or Stereogum craze de jour artist would merit blogger tears and hyperlinks galore, it BLOWS MY MIND UP to think that I haven’t seen a mention in the US media of the passing of The Delfonics founding member Randy Cain last week at the age of 63.
