The times they are a changin'

It has now been several weeks since Buch Spieler lost a pair of the legs upon which it has stood for almost 22 years. Kevin MacNeil Brown has moved on to paint, write, compose, and play music - all of which he has done over these years while at Buch Spieler but now he has even more time to pursue his talents. We miss him and wish him the very best.

Our challenge at Buch Spieler is to adapt to the changes in technology that allows people to get music as digital downloads. The iPhone is killing the iPod and the iPod (or similar MP3 players) is making the CD obsolete. But those among you who value high quality sound can still count on Buch Spieler to offer a great selection of CD's.

Les Paul R.I.P.

We would like to take a moment to honor the man who helped pioneer the electric guitar and who invented the multi-track recording process.
The creative and musical spirit of Les Paul lives on forever!

New Release: Myra Flynn- CROOKED MEASURES

We've just received delivery of Myra Flynn's brand new CD!
Here's Myra and band live at Burlington's Flynnspace, performing a song from the album:

Vermont Music Outsells Even Michael Jackson at BS!

Our best-selling CD for the past week, AREA CODE 802 features a plethora of Vermont artists. Part of the proceeds go to benefit Prevent Child Abuse Vermont.

Here's the list of artists and songs:

1) BIG POPPA - Native Tongue
2) RESCUE ME - Susannah Blachly
3) NEW FACE - The Complaints
4) SPARKS FLY - Keeghan Nolan
5) DANCE AROUND THE TRUTH - Jamie Lee Thurston
6) TELECASTER GIRL - Rusty Romance
7) MY YOUTH - Emily Nyman
8) GUY ON THE RADIO - John Ross Douglass
9) BATHTUB MARY - Celisa Stratton
10) PROMISED LAND - Red House
11) FLY - Colleen Mari
12) TRUE AMERICAN - Duane Carleton
13) LIFE GOES ON - Electric Sorcery
14) MIDNIGHT TRAIN - Audio Journal
15) IT ALL COMES DOWN - Patti Casey
16) GOODTIME FRIENDS - Tim Brick

It's a nicely-sequenced listening experience, with a wide variety of fine music flowing together, all in support of a great cause!

Downtown Music: Montpelier Brown Bag Series Kicks Off With Rusty Romance

We're ready for music -- and sunshine!-- in downtown Montpelier, as the noontime Brown bag Concert series--Thursdays at Christ Church Pocket Park--kicks off this week with roots n' rollers Rusty Romance! ( btw, Buch Spieler's Kevin "Bucky" Brown is a band member.)

Here's the full summer schedule:

http://www.mdca.org/brown_bag_concerts

More about Rusty Romance at http://www.rustyromance.com/

Of course, music from many of the artists featured during the summer series is available at BUCH SPIELER MUSIC.

Happy summer listening to all!

King Sunny Ade, and Movement Of The People

Our friends at Cumbancha Records are presenting the Juju master King Sunny Ade at Higher Ground, Tuesday July 7.
The opening act will be the spellbinding Vermont-based Fela Kuti tribute juggernaut, Movement of The People.

More information here:

http://www.highergroundmusic.com/calendar/show/3219/

Here's a treat! King Sunny Ade in action:

New Releases: Wilco, Levon Helm

Two of the most anxiously awaited CDs of the summer are on the way for Tuesday, June 30.

Here's a review of WILCO: THE ALBUM:

http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/1282077.html

Our own review will be coming soon!

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From Levon Helm's website, here's a preview and some information about his latest:

http://www.levonhelm.com/

See you soon, on Langdon Street or elsewhere!

Record Label of Love: Analog Africa

Analog Africa is one of the most exciting new record labels of recent years, releasing passionately-selected masterpieces of amazing-- and, to most ears, almost forgotten-- African pop from the 1970s and 80s. We try to keep all of their CD titles in stock here at the store.
The label's latest, LEGENDS OF BENIN, is a compelling compendium of funk, groove, melody, and roots.
For more about this, and for some treats and surprises, you can check out the label's blog right here:

http://analogafrica.blogspot.com/

Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza Spalding-- a dynamic singer and bassist, to put it mildly--has lately been among the most requested artists here at the store. People are still buzzing about her performance at the Burlington Jazz Festival.
In this video she plays and sings for President Obama and Stevie Wonder!

Best Sellers--- and Big News!!!

(Dave Keller, Vermont Bluesman, goes national! )

Our top 10 best sellers for the week just past are:

1. DAVE MATTHEWS BAND- BIG WHISKEY AND THE GROOGRUX KING

2. RONNIE EARL AND THE BROADCASTERS- LIVING IN THE LIGHT

This one's the big news, as it features local blues legend Dave Keller!

Here's the story, from the TIMES ARGUS:

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090522/FEATURES02/905220302/1011/FEATURES02

3. GREEN DAY -21st CENTURY BREAKDOWN

4. YUSUF (cat stevens)- ROADSINGER

5. BOB DYLAN- TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE

6. LEONARD COHEN- LIVE IN LONDON

7. U2-NO LINE ON THE HORIZON

8.DIANA KRALL- QUIET NIGHTS

9.PASSION PIT- MANNERS

10.DAVID BYRNE/BRIAN ENO- EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS....

New Releases

Two of the seasons's most anxiously-awaited new releases are here today:

Bluegrass Gospel Project- The Blue Morpho

Bob Dylan- Together Through Life

Top Ten, Democracy, All Blues

BUCH SPIELER's TOP TEN BEST SELLING CDS THIS WEEK:

1. Leonard Cohen- Live in London

Here's our man on Democracy:



2. Diana Krall- Quiet Nights
3. Decemberists- Hazards of Love
4. Lucinda Williams- Little Honey
5. Elvis Perkins- Dearland
6. Grateful Dead- To Tererrapin: Hartford '77
7. Neil Young- Fork In the Road
8. U2- No Line on the Horizon
9. Miles Davis- Kind Of Blue

Here's a vintage taste of Miles and Trane:



10.Neko Case- Middle Cyclone

Record Store Day, Part 2: Wilco, etc.

Record store day is tomorrow, Saturday. April 18.

Among the special goodies we'll have for sale is the brand new Wilco DVD,
ASHES OF AMERICAN FLAGS.

Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFpHvkrL83s

The official release date for this DVD is next Tuesday, but Record Store Day and Wilco are helping us celebrate with this early release. Thanks !

Quantities are limited, and availability is first-come, first- served.

We'll have some other cool stuff, too.
Please come celebrate the existence of independent record stores with us.

Record Store Day: Saturday, April 18

We're taking part in a worldwide effort to celebrate the bricks and mortar, flesh and blood world of the indie record store. We're talking about the places where you can actually hold CDs or records in your hand, maybe ask somebody a question about music, or hear something strange and interesting playing on the store sound system.
We'll be celebrating with a fresh new batch of deep catalog CDs at a nice discount, along with offering a few items special to Record Store Day.
We hope to see you Saturday, April 18, between 10 AM and 5 PM.

-kmb

I'm From Vermont, I Do What I Want

Yes, we have the bumper sticker! We hope you will come on down, buy one, and show your local pride!

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We at Buch Spieler have become fans of the Lefsetz Letter. Bob Lefsetz is a long-time music industry insider who calls things as he sees them. And he usually sees things pretty clearly; often painfully so. This recent piece, for instance, takes a look at changing realities in music retailing:

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/04/02/mannys/


Finding ourselves among the last record stores standing, we are quite interested in what Lefsetz has to say here. What do you think? About music, about neighborhood stores, about the ways you find and enjoy music in your life?
We'd love to read your comments.


_

Last Record Store Standing?

It's no secret that the economic paradigms of recorded music have changed in recent years. Here in little Montpelier, Vermont, we at Buch Spieler find ourselves among the last record stores standing. We started our mission-- selling music to color the silence; all kinds of music from all over the world for all kinds of people-- more than 35 years ago. We're still in the same building, on the same street, as we we were back then. But the world has changed around us, with downloads and mp3s coming to supplant the hard copies of sonic art that have long been our bread and butter.
Every day we hear from customers who value cover art, liner notes, spinning discs: the ancillaries to recorded music that help bring cultural, aesthetic context-- not to mention a sense, perhaps illusory, of permanence-- to the ephemeral art of organized sound.

I came to work at Buch Spieler in the autumn of 1987. Before that, I'd been a customer for a while. I still remember the first record I bought here on Langdon Street. It was Van Morrison's NO GURU, NO METHOD, NO TEACHER, a perfect album for the hot hazy nights full of fireflies that I remember from my first summer in Vermont.

We'd love to hear from you. What was the first album-- LP, Cassette, CD-- you bought? What do you remember about it, about the times surrounding it? Give us a sentence, a paragraph, an essay; whatever you'd like.
We will return with more rambles soon!
-kmb