From the Inquirer.
Does anyone remember the Record Collector? After Pryor's moved out (and before the gentleman's club brouhaha), the corner of Pennsylvania and Bridge used to host a rather amazing and eclectic collection of vinyl LP, cassette, and CD format music.
This is an example of "what coulda been" if Morrisville was a more proactive and welcoming business community.
Too bad the DeLorean's time circuits are all kerfarbled...
Music in store
Performers share space with vintage vinyl at Bordentown's Record Collector.
By Susan Van Dongen, For The Inquirer Posted on Fri, Mar. 6, 2009
On a recent Saturday night after a particularly bad week of economic news, a few dozen people enjoyed almost more live music than they could handle, and for a song.
The Buicks, one of the region's best original blues bands, rocked the room at the Record Collector, in the tiny colonial city of Bordentown. Admission was a recession-friendly 10 bucks.
There were no overpriced drinks to drain your wallet, and no elbow-to-elbow indifferent crowds disrespecting the band. People came to the Record Collector for the music, or maybe to peruse the vintage vinyl, posters and rock-and-roll memorabilia, things like a Beatles tray, a Conway Twitty ashtray, a Monkees charm bracelet, and a Jerry Garcia puppet.
It's like this every weekend at this venue, where there is live music - or sometimes comedy - offered on Friday and Saturday nights. The Record Collector welcomes singer-songwriter Lisa Bouchelle and the all-female group the Refugees tonight. It's the Figgs and Kitty & the Kowalskis on Saturday night.
The store, housed in a renovated art-deco-era bowling alley, can comfortably seat 60 people, but the number at times swells to 75 and more. If you don't want to sit, you can hang out among the records and CDs on the lower tier - not quite a mosh pit, but a fine place to dance.
Promoter and WTSR-FM DJ Randy "Now" Ellis, who used to put on punk and New Wave concerts at the former City Gardens in Trenton, isn't hesitant to reach out to the famous and bring them to Bordentown. Pete Best, the original drummer for the Beatles, was here in October and is scheduled to return July 5.
Peter Tork of the Monkees has been in Bordentown twice with his band, Shoe Suede Blues. Rockabilly great Robert Gordon put on a lively show, as did Graham Parker, Marshall Crenshaw and Ian McLagan.
Scheduled between the better-known acts are some of the tri-state area's most talented bands and performers who play rock, pop, punk, blues and world music.
Owner John Chrambanis opened the store at its Farnsworth Avenue location in the fall of 2006. He previously had a place in Morrisville, and in Trenton before that. With more than 25 years of purveying vintage vinyl to music lovers from all over the country, Chrambanis has an amazing personal collection.
"I really do have an inventory of one million records," he says.
Currently, one of the most valuable items on display at the store is Elvis Presley's first hit single, "That's All Right" with the B-side "Blue Moon of Kentucky," released in 1954. Framed and mounted, it's valued at about $1,200. There's also a recording from 1958 by Mickey Mantle titled My Favorite Hits, with the slugger singing his favorite songs, worth about $100. Previously, Chrambanis had a copy of the Beatles' 1966 release Yesterday and Today, the famed "Butcher Cover" edition, which was pulled by their record company for being in bad taste. Chrambanis sold that record for $1,500.
The tidy, well-organized store also sells sheet music, candy and other goodies, a few kitschy books and sound equipment - including turntables to play all those great records.
Free, live concerts at this vinyl haven began about a year ago, and quickly became a hit. Ellis raised the price of admission to $3, presenting the Grip Weeds to a standing-room-only crowd last July 4.
"I realized that we had something here, so I started pursuing some bigger names," Ellis says. His real coup was getting Best and his band, the beginning of a streak of top-notch concerts that doesn't seem to be slowing down.
You'll find all generations of music lovers at the Record Collector's live shows. "Bring your kids to the show," Ellis says. "It's cheaper than a baby sitter and it's a history lesson."
Saturday, March 7, 2009
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5 comments:
Saw that too and thought the same thing.
Made me think of a guy on the Phillies who hits .197 and stinks in the field, who then gets traded to another team and plays like a Hall-of-Famer.
As usual, I doubt there will be much self-analysis about why it couldn't have happened here instead, probably just heaping gobs of negativity about why it shouldn't have happened here (traffic, noise, sex, drugs, & rock n' roll lovin' music freaks, police, security, too close to Trenton, not the right place at the right time, etc.).
From today's BCCT.
Special education moves pondered to cut costs
By: JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
Bristol School District officials are putting special education expenses under the microscope to see what can be trimmed from the 2009-10 projected budget.
Damon Smith, the district's special education coordinator, explained to school board members Thursday night there's urgency to make some cost-cutting moves.
About 40 new special education students have enrolled since July, Smith said. Most are identified as emotional support students, he said.
The added enrollments have pushed total special education population past 270 students in Bristol. That's about a sixth of the 1,200-plus student population in the riverside community, officials said.
Smith is investigating the reason behind the influx.
Among cost-cutting options, district officials may move more special education students, educated in off-site, private facilities back to the district to reduce expenses.
Bristol began that effort in 2008, when it transferred elementary autistic support students back into a district classroom. Students in that program had been outsourced to other area autism classes.
That move was designed to save Bristol about $357,000, administrators said.
If officials are able to come up with more program transfers, the adjustments could help cut into the $270,000 jump for special education costs projected for the upcoming school year, according to Joseph Roe, the district's business manager.
Overall, special education costs are expected to top $3.3 million in the projected $20.5 million budget for 2009-10, he said.
From today's BCCT.
Asbestos scare halts musical show
By: JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
The "Seussical the Musical" show was postponed Friday night at Bristol Borough Junior-Senior High School after possible asbestos was detected in the school auditorium, the superintendent said.
Superintendent Broadus Davis Jr. said he scrubbed the performance as a precautionary measure.
Also, as a precaution, staff members who were in the building at the time the suspected asbestos was found Friday morning were moved to nearby Warren Snyder-John Girotti Elementary School for the rest of the workday, Davis said.
No students were in school Friday because of a staff professional development day. High school staff members conducted their activities at Snyder-Girotti, the superintendent said.
Asbestos and air quality experts were brought into the high school to determine if cancer-causing asbestos was present in the auditorium, Davis said. Asbestos was once widely used in building materials. It becomes hazardous and poses a health threat if its fibers become airborne and lodge in the lungs, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Davis said he expects to receive a written report today from the environmental experts about their findings.
The drama club's performances today and Sunday are on hold while the investigation continues, Davis said.
Students also are scheduled to perform the musical March 13 and 14. Those performances are still on, barring any unforeseen developments, Davis said. He's not sure if or when the drama club will be able to schedule new dates to perform this weekend's shows.
March 07, 2009 12:00 AM
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davary, 03-07-09, 11:12 am | Rate: 0 | Report
What happened with the removal program 15 years ago. Didn't they get it all? The taxpayers paid enough.
Mission Accomplished:
Morrisville's school board majority has really turned things around. They wanted us to be more like Bristol, and now Bristol is clearly following our lead now. In your face, Bristol!
Last, but certainly not least, from today's BCCT.
Students, teachers donate to Locks of Love
By: MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
At least five feet of hair will soon be flying through the mail from Morrisville.
Three students and three teachers got their ponytails lopped off Friday in front of the entire student body in Morrisville Middle/Senior High School. The hair will be donated to Locks of Love, which fashions it into hairpieces for children who have lost their own hair due to medical conditions.
"I wanted to get my hair cut anyway, and I also wanted to do it for the cause," said sixth-grader Maggie Colon, 11. Wearing the school colors, blue and gold, in her tie-dyed knee socks, and sporting blue paw prints on her cheeks, she left the event gripping several inches of hair in her hand, secured at one end by rubber bands.
Other students wearing blue and gold saturated the gym with cheers and school spirit during the school's annual Gym Night, a primarily athletic competition pitting one half of the student body against the other.
The afternoon event started with some students and a teacher playing the national anthem on electric guitars. During a variety of games, students in grades six through eight ran in relay races, shot hoops and participated in other contests. In the evening, grades nine through 12 had their own Gym Night with similar events, including dance and cheerleading competitions and an art contest.
Kids were judged on sportsmanship and school spirit, the teachers said.
It was the third Gym Night where staff and students had their hair cut for Locks of Love, said French teacher and National Honor Society adviser Elizabeth Glaum-Lathbury. Each time she has organized the charitable event, the response has grown, especially from students, she said.
"This is a fun event and a great cause," she said, adding that many students said they wanted to participate next year when their hair would be long enough. Locks of Love requires a hair donation to be at least 10 inches long.
The donors sat in folding chairs over a sheet of blue tarp for the quickest haircuts of their lives.
"I've done it twice already. I've been wanting to do it again," said senior Nichole Kamann, 18, holding up a hank of dark brown hair in her fist.
Students from the National Honor Society sold more than $100 of raffle tickets to the student body for a chance to cut a teacher's hair. The school is sending a $200 check from the ticket sales and other donated funds to Locks of Love, along with the ponytails.
While the ponytails came from female heads, teacher Kevin Jones got his head shaved. It's not enough to donate, but his gesture did raise more money through ticket sales. The rest of the time, Jones ran around dressed up as the school's bulldog mascot and pretended to cut the hair of people in the crowd with oversized plastic scissors.
After understandably unprofessional cuts, the kids got a chance to have their hair snipped and styled by Barbara Girton, a hairdresser in a Morrisville barbershop. She volunteers to help clean up after the pony tail snips every time the school holds the event.
One of Girton's daughters was diagnosed with leukemia a couple of years ago, so helping a Locks of Love event is more meaningful than ever to her. Her daughter is now in remission from the cancer.
"This town was very supportive through all of that," she said. "Anytime I can do this, I don't mind."
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