Tag Archives: vinyl road rage

Vinyl Road Rage: Laurie’s Planet of Sound Chicago, Illinois

vinyl road rage, , , , , , ,

by Joe Wallace

I thought I’d kick off Vinyl Road Rage 4 with a look at a record shop right in my own back yard. Before I get behind the wheel today to hit the road for Bloomington, Indiana, Nashville and points beyond, Laurie’s Planet of Sound definitely deserves a mention.

Laurie’s is literally two blocks away from my place, which makes it very handy to indulge in some early-afternoon record shopping, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to Laurie’s in the past two months when I sorely needed some new, obscure or bizarro vinyl titles to write about for my book in progress WTF Records: The Turntabling Guide To Weird and Wonderful Vinyl.

And that is the real draw for me–Laurie’s carries the usual stuff with plenty of new vinyl across the expected genres plus soundtracks, imports and more. But Laurie’s absolutely excels at bringing in rarities new and used that impresses me no end. In another life, my exposure to neighborhood record stores was rather unimpressive. Since moving to Chicago proper a few years back that’s changed.

But I’ve never been so spoiled as I have been with Laurie’s so close and so well-stocked with awesomeness. I’ve scored Legendary Pink Dots vinyl, Nurse With Wound, the Blacula soundtrack, some very tasty minimal wave titles, and my all-time favorite holy grail find: Punishment of Luxury.

Laurie’s is a must-visit if you come to Chicago for a visit. They carry DVDs including a variety of off-the-beaten-track titles that are just as obsessive-worthy as the vinyl (plenty of Something Weird titles, horror movie trailer collections, drive-in exploitation and other wonderful things), and there’s even a great, eclectic book selection, too.

The shop is friendly, fun to shop, and beware what they are playing on the turntable when you walk in–chances are you’ll be walking out with it before your shopping spree is done or regret NOT buying it when you leave. I had non-buyer’s remorse for AGES after walking out without the album by Social Climbers they were playing. What was I thinking?

This jaded record store blogger HIGHLY recommends Laurie’s Planet of Sound at 4639 N Lincoln in Chicago. And be sure and tell them Turntabling.net sent you. That might make them giggle.

Vinyl Road Rage 4

vinyl road rage, , ,

by Joe Wallace

It’s been a hell of a crazy fall and winter season, culminating with Vinyl Road Rage 4–the cross country indie record store blogging trip/shopping spree Turntabling does at least once a year (this year it was TWO) to find the weird, the wonderful, the rare and obscure at cool indie record stores all over the USA.

Tomorrow, Wednesday December 7, Turntabling hits the open highway once more for fifteen days of record stores and more. I’ll be driving from Chicago to Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock, Tulsa, Denton, Norman, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and back up north toward Springfield Illinois and finally back home in Chicago on Wednesday December 21. There will be plenty of updates here on my finds and experiences.

Fifteen days is a long time to be on the road, but there is much to do along the way so I have no doubt the time will fly by like mad.

I am taking an armload of limited edition promotional discs along on this trip. One is a Vinyl Road Rage 4 soundtrack featuring select cuts from the collection that will be on heavy rotation on my speakers during the road trip.

The other is a limited edition Paisley Babylon release called Republican Disco, currently unavailable in any other format or avenue besides my handing them out on the road at record shops and elsewhere. If you’re interested in either of these two limited edition promotion-only discs, contact me (jwallace at turntabling dot net) and I’ll let you know of their availability post-road trip.

With more than 17 record shops to hit along the way and plenty of other surprises in store, Vinyl Road Rage Four should be a very interesting experience. There will be daily updates here, plus video on the Turntabling.net YouTube channel and on my Facebook page.

The madness begins tomorrow–there will be a late update once I get off the road and then it really goes mental from there…join me! And record store suggestions are ALWAYS welcome–drop me a line on Facebook to suggest an addition to the route.

Back From HorrorHound Weekend

Events,

…and what a weekend it was! LOTS of great conversations with vinyl lovers from all over. Thank you for supporting Turntabling and coming out to the show. This was the final Turntabling.net appearance of the year and the convention season (for me, anyway) is finished. It’s been a hell of a tour! Flashback Weekend, Cinema Wasteland, HorrorHound, the Dark Carnival Film Festival and the utterly wonderful Flint Horror Con.

It’s hard to believe the season is over for us now, but in a few weeks, Vinyl Road Rage Four kicks off a six-state tour of indie record shops, blogging all the way.

Please spread the word about the journey as all the attention this little excursion can get goes a long way toward helping spread the word–Turntabling wants to get to know and promote indie record stores across the USA, and in this craptacular economy we’re in, these stores need all the support they can get.

There will be a post with the full six-state itinerary in a few days.

I should mention that this particular Vinyl Road Rage is going to be recorded not only as the blog posts you see here, but also as a tour diary that is going to be published as a book. Stay tuned for details on that. Chances are good that several Vinyl Road Rage journeys will be part of that book along with pictures and possibly even a DVD companion. More info on that as it develops.

–Joe Wallace

On The Road Again…

Events, , , ,

Posts have been minimal lately due to the prep for HorrorHound Weekend in Ohio–looking forward to an excellent extended weekend with vinyl and horror fans alike, starting tomorrow (Thursday) when I hit the road (a bit early, yes). When Turntabling gets back from the show the usual posts will begin again as usual…if you want the latest from the show, join me on my Facebook page for photos and updates. I post often when the reception is good.

The next big news for Turntabling after HorrorHound Weekend is Vinyl Road Rage #4, which departs Chicago on December 8 to hit and blog about indie record shops between Chi-town and Dallas, Texas. A full itinerary will be announced next week including a list of record shop stops planned.

As of now the route includes Nashville, Tennessee for a stop at the legendary Grimey’s, then a hop over to Memphis, then on to Little Rock Arkansas. Then it’s to Norman, Oklahoma for a look at Guestroom Records-a place long on the wish list for Vinyl Road Rage.

After Oklahoma it’s off in search of awesome indie record shops in Dallas, Fort Worth, Denton, Tulsa Oklahoma, Kansas City, and then a stopover in Springfield, Illinois to Recycled Records. After Springfield, it’s the final four hour home stretch back to Chicago.

Does that trip sound a bit crazy to you? It starts on the 8th of December and ends on the 21st. I must add that I’ll be blogging the entire way–including some video on the Turntabling YouTube Channel, which is linked to the right of this post at the top where all the social media icons are 🙂

–Joe Wallace