Boulder Report

Smaller Bart's Music Shack worth finding on west Pearl St. for vinyl collectors

The new Bart's Music Shack is located at 236 Pearl St., several blocks west of the prime Boulder downtown Pearl Street mall but worth finding the location for good vinyl and used CDs.

 

Watch for this small yellow sign pointing you to the parking lot location of Bart's Music Shack.

It's not real easy to find unless you know where it's at, but the reborn Bart's Music Shack at 236 Pearl St. is worth discovering if you like vintage vinyl as well as used CDs and music DVDs.

Bart Stinchcomb is back selling vinyl at this small outlet off Pearl Street, but now you can watch for the yellow sign on the street directing you in. The one-room store is located in the parking lot behind Borg Real Estates, and when I visited, music was being quietly piped outside, where there's also a few seats if you want to browse but maybe take along your lunch. A large CD sign sits outside as well.

The owner of Bart's CD Cellar, Value Music Concepts, closed one of the city's best music shops earlier this year, and that prime downtown site is being renovated for a new coffee shop by Ozo's Coffee, which has a popular coffee shop east on Arapaho Avenue. 

The new store is not nearly as big as the former CD Cellar, but still well organized with vinyl and CDs listed by music category and artist names. Prices seemed reasonable for several of the albums I looked at, although I didn't notice a "bargain bin" with lower-priced possibilities.

Boulder still has Albums on the Hill near the CU university and the newer Absolute Vinyl, which shares space with Little Horse Books, on North Broadway. And the Beat Book Shop also carries some vinyl on East Pearl. 

 

Boulder concert Nov. 19 benefits education in Nepal

 

 

Doug Gaddy, owner of Absolute Vinyl Records & Stereo in North Boulder, asked for some help in getting the word out on a concert of some young bands as well as a way to help a good cause.

Doug and his wife Annie have been supporting the Shanti's Children Foundation, a small nonprofit that now helps to send about 40 disadvantaged kids to school in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal. Now Doug's helping to promote a concert by Orange Free State, a band he describes as "infectious and danceable" and another band, Stellar Atlas. The concert benefits the good work being done in Nepal.

The concert will be at 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 19 at Astroland, a DIY concert venue at 4415 N. Broadway in Boulder across the street from Doug's vinyl store. Doug says both bands are being looked at by some record labels, so the concert is helping to showcase their talent. Tickets are just $5 at the door.

There's a small get-together before-concert gathering at Absolute Vinyl, with some snacks, drinks and of course, tunes played on the store's turntables. No digital iPods allowed (well, actually I made up that rule.)

If you haven't been to Absolute Vinyl, which shares space with Little Horse Books, be sure and stop in some time, especially if you like to browse through some great albums. Doug says he's putting out more and more LPs over the next few weeks, so get over there before the good ones are gone.