This Weekend’s Events & Offers
If you’re in Toronto this weekend, you should probably consider dropping by at the Toronto East Vinyl Record & Collectibles Show, which will be held this Sunday from 10 am to 3
This is one of Canada’s largest record and music memorabilia conventions and admission is only $5. But if you’re planning on simply relaxing and buying online, you should probably look at what Indigo Books and Music has to offer this weekend, especially if you’re an RBC credit cardholder.
In addition to the free shipping offer on orders over $25, they will offer ten times the Plum Rewards Points on orders over $30 this weekend. And some RBC credit card orders will get a $10 credit back on their card on purchases over $50, provided they load up this offer and use it by September 30, 2019.
Hopefully this information will help you find something you’ve been looking for this weekend.
In Port Perry, Ontario This Weekend?
You might like to stop by at the Port Perry Vinyl Record & Collectibles Show on Sunday, the 21st at Latcham Hall (121 Queen Street) from 10 am to 3 pm ; Admission will be $4.
Record Shows This Weekend
Are you going to be in St. Catharines, Ontario or St. John’s, Newfoundland on Sunday, June the 2nd, 2019? Then you might like to pop in the local record shows that are happening in these cities.
Both events will be occurring at their respectful Holiday Inns :
St. Catharines Record Show / Holiday Inn, 327 Ontario St. / 10:30am-4pm / $4 Admission
Record Fair / Holiday Inn, 180 Portugal Cove Road / 10am-4pm / $2 Admission
Why is Vinyl So Expensive?
I just ran into a Toronto Star article that I pretty much agree with.
Although I love the depth of analog, I now purchase the rare long play records to mount them on my walls as art and/or to find tracks that have not yet been released digitally online. And I would never think of replacing my CD collection with vinyl now because they’re way too expensive.
Yes, I can find popular and new releases (or new re-releases) for around $26 online. But many are well over $40 and some DVD-audio or Blu-Ray audio titles are cheaper.
I may indulge with a few of my very favourite albums and might buy LPs that include downloads but i’m happy with my collection for the moment.
Levitating Turntable
A levitating turntable is now available via Kickstarter.
The Mag-Lev Audio turntable will play your 33 rpm LPs and 45 rpm singles, the latter with an adapter that is included with the purchase of the turntable. And the actual turntable is available in several finishes, as described on this Kickstarter page.
Interesting Idea
Years back I started framing and mounting some of my favorite album covers and although they look great on the wall, there were several issues I had to contend with.
If I had decided to mount the whole LP, the record and inner sleeve included, I would not able to play it regularly because to do so I’d need to take it off the wall and open up the frame to access the LP. And if I choose to make the frame lighter by not including the actual record and inner sleeve, I risked exposing the later to dust, fingerprints and general wear and tear.
What I ended up doing was buying used copies of my album to mount, to simply use the cover and disregards the rest. But this is of course not an environmentally friendly option in the long run. And I could have probably protected my exposed records more in a heavy duty carrying case.
Oh well. Live and learn.
Album collectors today of course have access to better options like the Snap Show and Use Vinyl Record Frame, the Art Vinyl Play and Display Record Frame, the Records on Walls slide in frame, the 12 Inch Art LP mounting kits and this new British Kickstarter crowdfunding project called Record Roots.
With Record Roots one can also easily remove and replace LPs, displaying eight albums at once. And the frame is modular so additional eight album modules can be added to each other.
Like the Art Vinyl Play and Display Record Frame and the Records on Walls slide in frame these hold double LPs. But it appears that the Art Vinyl Play and Display Record Frame is better for triple LPs.
Had I started mounting my favorite albums today I would have probably chosen to use the Record Roots system because I don’t have any double and triple LPs. I had sold those to upgrade to compact disc, back in the day, and my very favorite albums are single LPs anyway.
In case you’re curious, some of my favorite album art features paintings like Live’s “Throwing Copper“, Fleetwood Mac “Tango In The Night“, Queen’s “News of the World“, Heart’s “Dog & Butterfly” and Talk Talk’s “Natural History“.
I am also quite fond of Pink Floyd’s “Division Bell” and “Tree of Half Life“, as well as Def Leppard’s “Pyromania“, “Adrenalize” and “Retro-Active” cover art.
Those are of course the only ones I can think of, off the top of my head. And I managed to find album sized posters and promo posters for most of the above mentioned but I have just so much wall space. đŸ™‚
By the way, if you’re a fan of album cover art you might like “Album Cover Album” by Roger Dean, “The Greatest Album Covers of All Times” by Barry Miles and “1000 Record Covers” by Michael Ochs.