I’ve already posted about Nuggets Records here - it was one of the first record stores I ever went to, and it remains one of my favorites. I created a short video about Nuggets and the people who shop there – watch it below:
Video: Nuggets Records
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Joan Baez’s Boston
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Twice, while buying records from different record stores in Boston, the person ringing up my order has noticed a Joan Baez record I’m buying and has offered up some anecdote about Baez’s Boston connections. This is always something I’m interested in, both because I’m a fan of hers and because she went to my university and even lived in the dorm I lived in last year (she dropped out after less than a year, but I’m still counting it!).
It doesn’t seem to be common knowledge, but in the late 50s and early 60s, Boston and Cambridge were a major part of the folk scene of the time. Folk musicians like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Eric Von Schmidt, and Richard and Mimi Fariña traveled back and forth between Harvard Square and Greenwich Village to perform and record.
Unfortunately, besides Club Passim, once Club 47, very few of the coffeehouses and gathering spaces of the ‘60s folk scene survive. This map isn’t much use as a tour guide – I doubt anyone wants to spend a day visiting dry cleaners’ and fast food places that were once something much more – but it gives an idea of the geography of the folk scene of the time.
I took this information from Baez’s And A Voice To Sing With, David Hajdu’s Positively Fourth Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina, and the Cambridge Historical Society’s pages on Cambridge’s folk music history.
The interactive map is here – click on each location for a short description of what was once there.
And this song seems appropriate to include:
Repurposing Records
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My 6-year-old cousin and goddaughter Nora loves crafts. She makes dolls out of tongue depressors, cookies out of tin foil, doll clothes out of newspaper. And recently, she used glitter glue and sequins to turn a vinyl record into a fancy wall hanging.
This kind of repurposing isn’t uncommon – a search for “records” on Etsy turns up over 11,000 results. Those results include plenty of unmodified records for sale and record-inspired art, jewelry, and paraphernalia (I love these Miniature Vinyl Record Earrings). But they also include repurposed records, everything from silhouette wall hangings to coasters to clocks – my favorite is this Born In the USA clock.
There are many Etsy artists selling bowls made out of records. Flipped upside down, it’s a vinyl chandelier. My very crafty mother tried doing this a few years ago, with smelly, lumpy, misshapen results, so kudos to the crafters who can melt a record with such a pretty outcome!
Other common ways of repurposing records are bookends, clocks, notebooks (made from album sleeves), and jewelry, especially bracelets and cuffs.
When I see repurposed records, I have a double reaction – half of me is flinching and screaming because somebody ruined that record and nobody can ever listen to it every again; half of me want to buy everything and redecorate my apartment with a vinyl theme because everything looks so cool. Of course, the best way to use a record is to listen to it. But for damaged records, records no one wants to listen to, and records with little entertainment or monetary value, Etsy artists have figured out plenty of ways to make them live on. And what better way to show your vinyl enthusiasm and boost your indie cred than displaying or wearing repurposed records – especially if it’s something you’ve done yourself. But for those of us (like me) who are low on crafting skills, there’s plenty of record art on Etsy.
And now I want to buy everything. Time to go write my Christmas list!
Record Stores: Newbury Comics
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Walking into Newbury Comics, I’m often overwhelmed by the sheer variety of things they sell. Books, magazines, comic books, videos, lunchboxes, purses, T-shirts, magnets, posters, Legos, stuffed animals….and records.
Newbury Comics does not feel like a record store – it’s clean and organized and crowded with people, and all the records are sealed in plastic, in good condition, and cost more than a few dollars. That’s because Newbury Comics is a chain store, with 29 stores in five states, including 21 in Massachusetts. It’s organized like a chain store and priced like a chain store. That said, if you’re looking for vinyl records that have been released in the last decade, Newbury Comics is the place to look. You’re going to have a hard time finding the latest Vampire Weekend album at your typical used record store, but Newbury Comics has plenty of shiny new indie vinyl, as well as plenty of used records.
Newbury Comics also has plenty of music paraphernalia. Looking around, you can find everything from Beatles coasters to Death Cab for Cutie pint glasses to a Keith Richards action figure. Though I’ve found some great used books and magazines at independent used record stores, Newbury Comics is the only place I’ve found a Yellow Submarine shopping bag. When I visit Newbury Comics, I always go straight to the vinyl, but I usually spend more time exploring the music paraphernalia and wishing I had could justify furnishing my apartment to fit a Beatles theme.
Newbury Comics has locations all over Massachusetts, including two in Boston and two in Cambridge. I usually go to the Newbury Street location, which is the original location. There’s also an extensive online store. Newbury Comics isn’t what you think of when you think “record store,” but for people who love music and the quirky craziness that goes with it, Newbury Comics is definitely worth a visit.
Vinyl Sunday
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watch my audio slideshow on Vinyl Sunday here.
Music on Boylston and Newbury
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Music is so completely a part of life that we often don’t even notice it. Zoning out what’s in your headphones while you’re writing that essay; getting so used to your brother practicing his saxophone that you don’t even notice it anymore; only hearing the Muzak in the elevator or the soft-rock in the grocery store when it suddenly stops. While shopping on Boylston and Newbury Streets this week, I noticed music all around. Because of the newly freezing weather, that music was far more visual than it was audible – the street musicians and Berklee/BoCo students apparently all decided to stay inside where it’s nice and warm! But window displays, handwritten signs, and sculptures provided plenty of evidence of just how fully music infiltrates our lives – and just how little we notice it.
Levi's on Newbury Street
Levi’s on Newbury Street currently has a militia band-inspired look in its main window – very patriotic and very Bostonian!
United Colors of Bennetton headphones display
United Colors of Bennetton has a separate, outdoor mini-display of their headphones – “USE YOUR HEAD.”
Sculpture near Boylston Street
I saw this sculpture in a little fenced-off area off of Boylston Street. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be but it (and its shadow) reminds me of a guitar.
Berklee building
I love this mural on this Berklee building on Boylston Street. I didn’t notice the kid with the guitar until I uploaded the photos!
Berklee Books + Music
Berklee Books + Music on Boylston St. – I love the giant saxophone!
close-up
And a close-up of that saxophone shows a handwritten sign: “WANTED: 15 foot tall bassist + drummer for gigantic saxophone trio.”
Bob Dylan: Nobel Prize Winner?
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A few weeks ago, Bob Dylan was considered to be the frontrunner to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The prize went to Swedish poet Tomas Transtrommer, but the fact that Dylan’s odds were so high shows that the Nobel Prize Committee is beginning to get behind the idea of looking at song lyrics as a type of literature. Here, I talk about the situation and read the lyrics to “Love Minus Zero/No Limit,” from Dylan’s 1965 album “Bringing It All Back Home.”
Gimme Some Tooth
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John Lennon’s tooth is going to be auctioned on November 5 with a reserve price of £10,000, or $16,000. The news was met with general disbelief, amusement, and a whole lot of tooth-related puns.
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John Lennon’s Tooth to Be Auctioned | Music News | Rolling Stone
October 18, 2011 3:55 PM ET John Lennon smiles for photographers, 1964 One of John Lennon’s teeth is expected to sell for $16,000 at an auction in England on November 5th. The late Beatle gave the tooth to his housekeeper, Dot Jarlett, at his Kenwood mansion in Surrey, England in the late Sixties.
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| “ | Why in the WORLD would someone buy or even sell John Lennon’s tooth??? http://t.co/Jnd10iXB | |||
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| “ | Are we THAT obsessed with celebrity?!?!? John Lennon’s tooth up for auction http://t.co/K4KPEg0z (via @cnn) | |||
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| “ | A sacred relic of St John of Lennon is to be auctioned (reserve: $16,000). It is a holy molar, removed by a dentist… http://t.co/kHu2qND4 | |||
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John Lennon’s Tooth Up For Auction – Paste Magazine
Sure, maybe you”ve got all of the Beatles” remastered albums, every Anthology collection, the mono albums and if you”re really lucky, you”ve got a “butcher” cover or two. But an auction that will take place next month will test exactly how crazy some people are over the Beatles.
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| “ | http://t.co/TW0mInaX —-anyone want to buy me a birthday present ?!! <3 =D | |||
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| “ | "@NMEmagazine: John Lennon tooth to be auctioned with a £10,000 reserve. http://t.co/vfzdjUIk" @emily_hannah crazy! Bank loan? | |||
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| “ | RT @carlzimmer: This John Lennon tooth genome possibility has me picturing superfans carrying out horrific cloning experiments… #imagine | |||
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| “ | Inspired by Lennon’s molar, shall we have a Saturday game of #beatleteeth ? We’ll start with ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gum’ | |||
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| “ | #beatleteeth Molar-di Molar-da | |||
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| “ | @NMEmagazine The Whitening Album #beatleteeth | |||
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| “ | #beatleteeth @NMEmagazine I Want Chew | |||
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| “ | @NMEmagazine Enamel Rigby#beatleteeth | |||
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| “ | #beatleteeth Yesdecay | |||
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| “ | RT @malcolmsteel: @NMEmagazine Plaque in the USSR #beatleteeth | |||
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Record Stores – Looney Tunes
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Looney Tunes on Boylston Street is one of those stores I’d walked past dozens of times, thought to myself, “Hmm, that looks cool, I should check it out,” but somehow never found the time to step inside. But this year, I finally went in – twice.
Based on a quick glance through the reviews on yelp, Looney Tunes seems to be a pretty good record store. Unfortunately, it’s not my kind of record store.
If you’re the type of the collector who values rarity and obscurity and looks for records in mint condition, then this is probably the place for you. I can’t tell by looking how rare the records are, but the prices make me think that for a certain kind of vinyl collector, Looney Tunes would be a godsend.
When I shop for vinyl, I’m always keeping an eye open for my favorite albums by my favorite artists. But I also like to buy albums I’ve never heard before because they’re by artists I’m interested in or just because the cover looks interesting. I don’t mind if they’re in mint condition; in fact, I love it when someone’s scrawled their name all over record or drawn a heart around Paul McCartney’s face. It shows that the records have a history, that they’ve been loved.
I noticed plenty of good things about Looney Tunes. The store well organized and clean-ish, while still retaining just enough of that dusty semi-chaos to feel like a record store. Although the store is small, it’s as packed full of records as it can be forcing shoppers to perform acrobatics to get around. There are huge classical and jazz selections, which I don’t often see in record stores. The collection of 45s is a decent size and much more organized than I expected. And like I said, for the amount they’re priced, the records they’re selling must be pretty rare.
For a certain type of record collector, Looney Tunes is a great record store. For me, it’s not. But if you’re the type of vinyl collector that loves obscure records in mint condition and is willing to drop $50 on a single album, then this is the store for you.
In Your Ear is practically on my campus, but for some reason I had never been there before – probably because I’ve always lived on the opposite side of campus, much closer to Nuggets.
I’ve been missing out.
In Your Ear has a huge selection of records, as well as used CDs, VHSs, posters, and used books and magazines. In fact, it has such a huge selection that in some places it’s hard to move! Besides the usual semi-organized crates of music (are the Animals in the ‘60s psychedelia section, the rock section, or the folk section?), there are cardboard boxes and free-standing stacks of records all around the store. There’s also an extensive 45s section, but it’s very disorganized.
I’m all for a bit of disorganization, but In Your Ear is a sort of obstacle course. I had to perform some strange acrobatic leans and high steps to move between aisles, look into some of the further-back crates, or, worst of all, pass a fellow shopper. And, full disclosure, I’m a 20-year-old, 5’3”, completely physically able college student. If you’re bigger or older and less limber, you’re probably going to knock something over.
Most of the records are a little out of my usual vinyl price range; a casual look showed that most seemed to be in the $10-$30 range, with only a few under $5. I had picked out a few cheaper records and was about to check out when I ran into the “Cheap Section” – a huge section of crates and cardboard boxes, all priced at 50 cents a record or 3 for $1.
It’s easy to see why most of the cheap section is cheap. There’s a lot of Neil Diamond, Englebert Humperdink, and Carly Simon. But if you look hard enough, there are plenty of gems to be found, including some Motown, a few good Paul Simon records, and some ‘60s folk finds. There are also loads of musical soundtracks – I picked up a copy of Hair – and a lot of quirky, kitschy finds.
Of those, I picked out a record called “Todays scene!” featuring a picture of two teenagers sitting on the top of a red convertible with an impossibly blue ocean in the background. It looks to be from the late ‘60s – featured artists include Paul Revere & the Raiders and Simon & Garfunkel – but there’s no way of knowing.
The blurb on the back reads:
Todays scene! is dominated by a big beat that’s dynamic and sets the pace for teenagers all over the world from New York’s famed Apollo to Hollywood’s Whiskey a Go-Go, to the caverns of Liverpool & the “switched on” city of London, home of fabgear, mod & miniskirts.
Now that’s certainly worth 33 cents!
The cashiers were younger and chattier than the usual record store employees, and the atmosphere was fun and casual, even more than the typical record store. While In Your Ear might not replace my semiregular Nuggets shopping trips, I’ll definitely be back.
