VINYL VIEWS: WEEK OF 12/13/21
Vinyl Views is our weekly blog where we feature album recommendations from our store team (Shayne and Jaxon) and reveal picks from guest contributors. This week we hear from Eddie Medrano and share some year-end wrap-up lists!
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With over a decade of experience working within the live event industry, including a role as talent buyer for Wire, Eddie will be joining the WBEZ team as Senior Event Producer in January 2022. When not producing events, Eddie spends his time with his wife, son, and three fur babies. An avid listener of music, Eddie is the proud owner of about 1,500 records, and counting.
In lieu of a traditional Top 5 album or song list I’ve chosen to look back on some of my favorite moments from the last year. We’ve all learned a hard, important lesson in appreciating the good when it comes, so here’s my “Silver Linings Playlist!”
Early this year I was delighted to discover that my appearance in the documentary “Stuck In The Groove” earned me my very own IMDB listing! I’m still pretty tickled about it.
Prince
Song: Baby I’m A Star
In August I turned 40, making me officially half as old as I feel. Miserable airport experience notwithstanding, my trip back home was great! Mom and I basically just hung out by the fire pit and grilled for a solid week! Also I got my first chiropractic treatment and it was sweeeet…
Ozzy Osbourne
Song: Mama, I’m Coming Home
Recently Jaxon & I had the opportunity to see Magnetic Fields at City Winery and they rolled out the red carpet! Our own private table next to the stage, free drinks, greeted like celebrities (maybe they saw my IMDB page!)
The Magnetic Fields
Song: It’s Only Time
If you didn’t make it out for Black Friday this year you missed something special. Mom was back in town and some of our favorite peeps returned to the stage after much too long. It finally felt like some kind of return to normalcy. Thanks again to our main man Thomas Klein and Pravda Records for bringing the party!
Vince Salerno & Gerald McClendon
Song: Do Drop In
While I was certainly eager to get vaxxed, I didn’t expect it would rank among the most fun experiences of the year, but with the whole store crew road-tripping to Indiana and collaborating on a “shot/poke” themed playlist and pulling up to what can only be described as the party tent, the whole experience was way more fun than it had any right to be!
LMFAO ft. Lil Jon
Song: Shots
As 2021 comes to an end, I’m finding myself reflecting on what my favorite albums of the year were. 2021 has been a great year for music, and there have been a ton of amazing albums released this year, making it hard for me to pick my top 5. But I have finally made my choice. Here they are, ordered from first to fifth, with one song choice from each. In perfect luck, these songs total up to a run time of 21 minutes. Check it out!
How Do I Order Music (Or Other Things)?
Val’s is now open again (safely)! Bring a face mask and we will sanitize your hands on the way in. Social distancing, of course. Val’s halla has worked hard over this quarantine period to launch its Online Store which has thousands of titles for you to choose from. We will continue to add inventory everyday, but just let us know what you are looking for! We are happy to look through our off-line inventory of over 50,000 titles to see what we have for you. Also, we place orders with our distributor every Monday which means we see them in our store by Tuesday (most of the time). We sell records (as well as turntables), CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks, DVDs and more. To get started, you can Click Here to access the Online Store, or fill out the form below to let us know what you are looking for.
What About Delivery?
Val’s is offering Curbside Pickup and No-Contact Delivery Service to customers who live within a 5-mile radius of the Oak Park Arts District. Orders can also be shipped to customers outside that radius for a flat fee of $5. Order as much as you want – still $5 shipping! Stay safe and be well!
What Are You Looking For?
Jaxon is switching it up this week with a custom playlist! Check it out here or come into the store and listen to it in our Sounderator (tricked out 1940’s refrigerator that you sit in while enjoying a tasty selection of tunes).
From: Jaxon:
For this week I have started a playlist where each of the songs is a tribute to another artist. Sounds easy? Here’s the catch. The following song on the playlist has to be a song performed by the artist that the previous song was a tribute to. Let’s see how far I can go. I’m counting cover songs as tributes for this playlist.