Saying The Unthinkable! Vinyl Documentary Film

This is a clip from Vinyl, the documentary film about record collectors, hoarders, miscreants, and music lovers in general. In this segment, filmmaker Alan Zweig talks about maybe packing it in, getting a life (huh?) and finding a girlfriend. The most insane moment in the clip is when he intimates that collecting vinyl and having a life are incompatible. What?

Fascinating, but the sentiment is a bit misguided. You don’t have to be a no-life cellar dweller to collect vinyl, but I DO understand the obsessive need to immerse yourself in something. What did you think of this clip? I haven’t seen the full documentary yet so it’s hard to say if he’s deadpan kidding here or if there’s a scary degree of seriousness to his idea that vinyl might be incompatible with life in general.

–Joe Wallace

Omega Music, Dayton Ohio

Vinyl Road Rage made a quick trip over to Dayton, Ohio to find Omega Music, a big record shop in a town apparently once known for a much richer selection of indie shops but–I’m told–having suffered through the lousy economy since the insanity of 2008, it’s a lucky thing the survivors are still around.

Omega Music has size going for it–there is a large collection of vinyl to dig through here and you’ll be rewarded for persistence. Plenty of grandpa rock, to be sure, but lots of other fun stuff to dig through including a selection of vintage gear like this:

I had a couple of pretty nice finds in the soundtrack section, and there’s jazz and R&B out the wazoo here, so an aspiring jazz collector should definitely have a look. A new vinyl junkie would do well to sift through the bargains and try out new things on for size–Omega Music has plenty of cheaps to look over and a nice selection of collector-riffic titles on display, too.

Dayton is a nice pit stop for a record buying trip between Cincinnati and Columbus, and there’s a few very conveniently placed restaurants nearby to make the stop additionally tempting. On this trip, the stop was literally just long enough to get into Omega and get out, so I’ve promised myself another look around the area when I return.

For the hardcore, jaded collector, this is a great pit stop. For the new collector, get your browse on and don’t be in a hurry–there’s plenty of crates to dig through!

Everybody’s Records, Pleasant Ridge Ohio

by Joe Wallace

An outsider might not be able to tell the difference between Cincinnati proper and Pleasant Ridge, Ohio but one thing’s for sure–if you’re at Everybody’s Records looking for vinyl, you won’t care WHERE it’s at as long as you’re there.

Everybody’s Records has a nice collection of vinyl that looks like a typical pile of titles–at first glance. But look closer. There are plenty of the usual suspects lurking in the stacks–a dedicated crate digger will likely note the Alice Cooper new wave record “Flush The Fashion”, the occasional Gary Myrick and the Figures album, Our Daughter’s Wedding, and other fun titles. But look further still.

On my visit to this shop, I scored not one, but THREE albums by The Legendary Pink Dots. These titles are sought after by a certain rabid type of collector and are not what you’d call readily available simply lurking in the record shop stacks. But there they were, waiting just for me, it seems.

All this stuff was hiding in, if memory serves, the “Rock” section–one reason why it’s important to give those bins a closer look. “Rock” to me says AC/DC, Aerosmith, and a lot of other crap I don’t have much interest in. It’s a real stretch to call Skinny Puppy or Coil “rock”, but more often than not, they get lumped in to that category.

I can’t REALLY blame the shop for this–who wants to spend endless hours creating new categories to fit all these bands?

“Bands That Sound Like Erasure But Who Worship Satan” won’t fit on a category card unless you write REALLY SMALL, and there are only a handful of groups that would fit into “Electronic Performers Who Enjoy Semi-Consensual Buggery In Public Places But Only While Wearing Goat Horns” or “The Ghost of Brian Eno Eats Peanut Butter”.

Back to Everybody’s Records–they also have a healthy collection of oddball titles–one of my favorite sections in any record store–and some REALLY tasty finds in the soundtrack bins. I wound up dropping a nice chunk of change at this Ohio record store.  Final verdict? No trip to Ohio is complete without dropping by Everybody’s Records. Recommended.

Strange Wax Documentary

Our coverage of Vinyl Road Rage continues shortly, but we take a quick break from that to take a gander at this documentary from LM Vision Productions. The clip here is part one of two available, and while it was published online last year we’re just now discovering this…a vinyl documentary always grabs our attention as it’s good to see this lifestyle through other people’s eyes. Sometimes that is a hilarious experience, sometimes slightly painful to watch, but always interesting. What do you think of part one here?

Ear X-Tacy, Louisville Kentucky

Our coverage of indie record stores continues as Vinyl Road Rage heads into Louisville Kentucky for another look at the indie record shop scene there.

Louisville has a nice collection of stores along a single road, and while they aren’t close together, it does make them quite easy to find. Ear X-Tacy is one of Louisville’s largest (from what I could find) and there is definitely a LOT of vinyl on sale here. This store is MASSIVE!

Crate diggers have their work cut out for them, as there’s a lot of digging to be done. You’ll have to wade through some grandpa rock–probably more than your usual share of Journey, Dio, AC/DC and other tired old titles, but there are also plenty of new, fresh vinyl releases to drool over here.

Like many good record shops, Ear X-Tacy doesn’t limit itself to carrying vinyl and CDs;  there is a decent collection of books here including this extremely funny and oh-so-relevant volume critiquing today’s modern tattooed scene-rats in ways I’m sure would get the author lynched by trust-fund kiddies at Ivy League campuses all over the country. Behold:

Ear X-Tacy gets big kudos for offering vinyl listening stations–this is a very important part of the experience for a new-to-vinyl buyer who doesn’t know Milli Vanilli from Brian Eno, and even for those that DO, the ability to test drive an album is a major plus. Nice going, Ear X-Tacy. Those of us who might reject an album based on too much surface noise just as easily as a crummy set of songs salute you.

Yes, there are plenty of those goofy old CDs to choose from to0…not a bad option when you can’t find Nurse With Wound’s Rock and Roll Station on vinyl without paying out the wazoo for it…at the end of the day, some things must be heard no matter what format they are delivered on.

If you’re in Louisville Kentucky, have a look in Ear X-Tacy, but be prepared to stay a while. Fortunately, the records are all off the floor in regular displays, so no spinal or knee discomfort here! Thanks, guys….

–Joe Wallace