Record Store Spotlight

There’s something about California that’s hard to explain. I’ve only been there twice in my life, and both times I felt a change in the air compared to my home state of New Hampshire. It wasn’t better or worse. It was different. Maybe it was the warm temperatures when...

I’ve told the story a few times before concerning my original copy of ZZ Top’s Eliminator. I remember the day I bought it and why? I’m not ashamed to say it was because of the airplay “Gimme All Your Lovin’” received on the then newly launched MTV. I loved the song,...

Who knew you could find paradise at the corner of Cameron Street and Georgia Ave in Silver Spring, MD? Well, you can, if by paradise you mean 6,000 square feet of space to browse through records. It’s called Joe’s Record Paradise, and if you’re looking for that...

There is no better place in the world than New England in the fall. When the leaves change color, and there’s a cool, clean, and crisp feeling in the air, it’s time to put on some warm clothes and explore. You can drive for hours surrounded by splashes of color not...

“Good things come to those who wait.” It’s a phrase that has been used in poems, songs, and advertising campaigns by companies like Heinz and Guinness. But it’s true. The best things truly do come to those who wait. Especially when you have someone on your side...

Travel thirty minutes north of Portland, Maine, follow the seacoast, and you’ll arrive in Brunswick. Brunswick isn’t very big, with a population hovering around 20k, but it has a large history. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin there, and film crews have...

Portland, Maine’s Old Port in the summer - there’s no place like it. The crowds, the stores, and the ferries bumping against the piers for vacationers, tourists, and residents to pile on and off of as music drifts from the many bars, pubs, and restaurants that line...

When The Police released Synchronicity in the summer of 1983, I was at the record store when it opened. “Every Breath You Take” was all over the radio. When I got home, I devoured the lyrics before putting the record on. What drew me in was the lines to the song...

It’s easy to spend the day in Joliet, Illinois. There’s never a lack of something to do. You can visit the “Jewel of Joliet”, also known as the Rialto Square Theatre. Constructed in 1926, it has entertained Joliet with movies, concerts, musicals, and comedy. A quick...

It’s time to pick up my order. I hop in my car and head down Stafford Dr. in Princeton, W. Virginia. I pass Advanced Auto Parts and Little Caesars. There’s the yellow arch of Angelo’s Pizza. I could go for a BBQ chicken pizza right now. But, since it’s just past...

“Rising up, back on the street Did my time, took my chances. Went the distance, now I’m back on my feet.” Those were the lyrics to the 1982 hit “Eye of the Tiger” by the band Survivor. The song enjoyed six weeks at the number one spot and would have been the number...

The Factory in Franklin, Tennessee, began its existence in 1929 as a production facility for Dortch Stove Works. It has changed hands a few times over the last century. After being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, it became The Factory in...