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Grex > Music2 > #291: Music retail again: SKR Uptown (Classical) & Downtown to close |  |
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| 17 new of 194 responses total. |
remmers
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response 178 of 194:
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Mar 29 12:04 UTC 2001 |
A search of Elderly's web site brought up some CD's, but not very many.
I found the classic "Red Back Book" album of orchestral arrangements
of Scott Joplin Rags; "Grace and Beauty" with the New Orleans Ragtime
Orchesta; Butch Thompson performing Scott Joplin; some Jelly Roll Morton
recordings; Joshua Rifkin's classic Joplin recordings from the 70's;
a small handful of other CD's of possible interest.
I found nothing at all by the many excellent artists that I hear at the
ragtime festivals I attend, even though they produce CD's. Nothing by
Scott Kirby (possibly the foremost interpreter of Scott Joplin now
active), Jeff Barnhart, Bob Milne, Sue Keller, John Arpin, Terry Waldo,
Mimi Blais, Dick Zimmerman, The Etcetera String Band, Tony Caramia,
Frank French, David Thomas Roberts, etc. etc. etc. I have CD's by all
of these folks, purchased at ragtime festivals. I never see them in
record stores. Ragtime performing and recording is alive and well,
but is largely invisible to all but the most dedicated fans.
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davel
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response 179 of 194:
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Mar 29 14:50 UTC 2001 |
The same is generally true of the musical ghettos I move in these days.
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orinoco
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response 180 of 194:
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Mar 30 03:03 UTC 2001 |
You might have better luck looking for personal websites for those performers.
Those will probably have CD order forms if they've got CDs out.
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remmers
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response 181 of 194:
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Mar 30 17:07 UTC 2001 |
Yes indeed, most of them do have websites, and there are other
websites from which one can order the CD's. My point was that
their material is virtually unavailable from traditional retail
outlets.
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orinoco
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response 182 of 194:
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Mar 30 21:33 UTC 2001 |
Oh yeah? Well ... um ... uh ... then you're right.
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tpryan
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response 183 of 194:
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Apr 4 02:19 UTC 2001 |
Same with the funny music artists. Mostly self produced
and distributed. Some CDs are burnt 10 at a time. Better than
home duped cassettes. Most have web-sites of their own, some
use co-operative web distribution also.
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krj
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response 184 of 194:
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Oct 21 17:42 UTC 2001 |
---(( this item is now only active in the classical music conference ))---
In the restarted music conference, I put a pointer to the following
New York Times article: "Classical Music, Spinning Into Oblivion?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/21/arts/music/21TOMM.html
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krj
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response 185 of 194:
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Oct 21 17:43 UTC 2001 |
((Oops, miswrote the headline. The article is about the collapse of the
classical CD business.))
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dbratman
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response 186 of 194:
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Oct 22 21:56 UTC 2001 |
At least this article addresses 1) the difficulty of browsing online,
and 2) the inadequacy of MP3 and any other current downloadable format
for classical listeners. I was saying long ago that MP3 may be
convenient for some purposes but isn't going to take over, because it
provides lousy sound quality, and now I finally find a real article
saying the same thing.
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krj
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response 187 of 194:
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Oct 25 04:38 UTC 2001 |
I'm duplicating things because there is no linked retail item between
the Classical and current Music conferences.
Gramophone's web site reports that Nimbus Records has gone into
receivership. Their spokesman said they could not operate further after
the collapse of US consumer confidence following the September 11
attacks. Nimbus' UK business included providing distribution for
several small independent labels. Another UK distributor has closed
recently and yet another one is expected to fold.
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krj
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response 188 of 194:
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Jul 18 15:55 UTC 2002 |
I'll utilize this item again to distribute some news to the classical
music conference.
WWJ-AM reported this morning that the Harmony House retail chain is
shutting down. Some stores will close next week, others will close
in the fall. Someone with more time and initiative than I have
at the moment might wish to contact the Royal Oak classical store and
find out details about the going-out-of-business sale; it's likely
to be the last great classical going-out-of-business sale ever to be
seen around Michigan.
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krj
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response 189 of 194:
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Aug 23 03:34 UTC 2002 |
Today's Free Press web site reports that Harmony House has raised the
discount at their remaining stores, including the Royal Oak
classical store, to 40%. They'd like to get rid of all
the merchandise by the end of September.
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dbratman
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response 190 of 194:
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Nov 29 07:56 UTC 2002 |
Excuse me, but I am feeling slightly dazed at the moment. I have seen
the past of classical music retailing. It still exists somewhere, and
the where is Portland, Oregon. On East Burnside Street is a store
called Classical Millennium.
Those of you with long memories, which I'd guess is everyone here, will
remember the great specialty classical stores of the later LP era, with
hundreds or thousands of selections, separated by white plastic cards
into tiny distinct categories, one for each minor composer (no "L
miscellaneous"), a dozen or more for major composers, divided by genre
and even individual work.
I hadn't seen a store with that kind of selection, and that kind of
care in laying it out, since before the end of the LP era. I have
now. Wow. And several customers around on a quiet Sunday afternoon
last week. I left with 6 items, several of which I'd never actually
seen before, and did I ever have to prune to get down that low.
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coyote
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response 191 of 194:
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Dec 22 06:48 UTC 2002 |
wow... <trying not to salivate>
too bad I don't have any plans in the foreseeable future to head to
portland...
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krj
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response 192 of 194:
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Oct 29 21:24 UTC 2003 |
(classical conference only)
Harmony House had a rally, but it looks like it's over. I have a hot
rumor that what's left of Harmony House has been sold to Trans World,
whoever they are. Harmony House's web page is gone, and the Google
cache version says that the Classical store on Woodward is to close.
That google cache page has a Sept. 27 date on it.
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md
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response 193 of 194:
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Oct 30 03:47 UTC 2003 |
Yeah, it's gone. The few remaining CDs have been moved to the Harmony
House down the street. Don't know how much longer that one will last.
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dbratman
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response 194 of 194:
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Oct 30 17:22 UTC 2003 |
"what's left ... has been sold to Trans World, whoever they are."
Didn't they use to be an airline? <g>
I wish someone would invent a way to browse online stores' inventory
that was as easy as flicking through the CDs in a rack - or, better
yet, the LPs, because those you could turn over and read the liner
notes. If that could be done, I wouldn't miss the death of retail
stores so much. But every system I've seen online is hideously clumsy
and awkward.
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