Oldie but Goodie

In a class I took recently the guest speaker gave a warmup poll asking the students and instructors whether Michael Jackson or Prince was the better artist. I was the only one on the Prince side of the room, and numerous kids asked "Who's Prince?"

Here's my evidence.

Support your local record store!

Pretty sad, but accurate post on FB from Sound it Out Records in Traverse City, MI:

Sound it Out Records In keeping with the current music sales climate we will be greatly reducing the amount of new releases we stock on CD as well as discontinuing restocking most older CD titles. Some bigger titles or albums of local interest will be ordered for their release date, but for the most part we will only be stocking vinyl copies of new releases. We are happy to special order any CDs at no additional cost.

I sure hope vinyl customers are taking up the slack, but we know we aren't as we hear news of yet another shop closing it seems every week. Record shops are a hub, a watercooler of sorts, where music lovers can meet and discuss, and actually have face time. With music playing. No earbuds. I hate to think that chatrooms and iTunes will replace it all....