music in miami

i hit up blue note records yesterday and they are moving!

new address:
Ravenswood Warehouse
4931 Anglers Ave
Building A #11
Dania, FL 33312

dude at the store said they should be open by next saturday.

where is dania?

north of the old location, near the coast. another 30 minutes driving, i guess.

That's really far (from downtown Miami or south of it). It's getting harder and harder to find good music stores, here.

Sweat Records changed its hours, too, which is also frustrating. Now it opens at 6 p.m., making it very hard for me to ever get there. It's also become a bit harder to place orders for delivery (for me it has, at least).

a record store that opens at 6 pm? jeezus, no wonder the lfam orders most of his stuff from forced exposure. that's some weird ass shit.

also btw, it's no great shakes up here in philly, either. we have more record stores, but other than one new/used and one all-used, the quality is horrific.

i think sweat changed their hours to get more of the bar crowd

Yeah, I think that's right. But it's not even a reliable 6 p.m. I once sat around for 20 minutes waiting for them to open, with only a "Back in 5 Minutes" sign on the locked front door. I don't mean to dump on Sweat Records; I've shopped there a lot and it's the best record shop I've ever seen in Miami (in my musically sheltered life, mind you). But that opening time is just very difficult to accommodate.

I had a good friend who worked there about a year ago; he'd get to Churchill's and see three or four people queued up outside.

It's rather embarrassing that a city this size has only one independent record store.

Haha. I might have been one of those people.

Normally I'd never wait 20 minutes for any store to open. I only did so because I want to patron them (I like locally-owned businesses), I was there and I knew I wouldn't be back anytime soon.

Now it will be mail-orders only from Sweat, for me. I just can't afford the time to get there during their hours.

also, yesterday & today records has a big sale this week. like 50% off on most items.

wait, 50% off vinyl except for "new LP's and certain collectibles"

10% off everything else (cds? i don't know what else)

Amazingly, in case you're in that neck-of-the-woods, I was in a Borders bookstore in Aventura that had a not-so-terrible music section, for a bookstore. It had a healty reggae section (including the new Trojan Lee Perry disc, The Upsetter Selection), lots of old-time blues, and a lot of decent new rock stuff.

Uhh . . . I meant "healthy" reggae selection.

i checked out the new blue note location yesterday. it's a lot easier to get to than i expected, mostly because it's right off I-95. it took me about 25 minutes to get there from coral gables. that place is is awesome. they keep the kraftwerk in the soul/funk section. lots of stuff on sale, too. i picked up a horace andy digital dancehall single.

i had a hard time finding their phone number. here it is: 954-961-3928

also, i had their address wrong.

corrected:

Ravenswood Warehouse
5931 Anglers Ave
Dania, FL 33312

it's in the warehouses behind the wachovia bank.

I forgot that you guys (elan and Daniel) are local. It's partly my fault that we haven't tried to hang out.

We should. Elan, you're in the Gables? I live basically across the street from the University of Miami.

SW Miami in the house.

i live near calle ocho and 57 ave

my parents live in palmetto bay. i'm there sometimes.

Cool! I'm in Westchester. We should plan a FAP then.

Sounds good. Suggestions for a convenient spot?

What's a FAP?

I had to look it up on the FAQ page. It means "Fancy A Pint, used "to ask fellow posters whether they would like to go out for a drink."

What about the Gables? Thursday night?

That works for me. I was going to suggest either Titanic (the UM hangout) or John Martins (the Miracle Mile landmark.

I feel like a long-toothed lech whenever I walk into Titanic. John Martins is fine. We'll finalize the details as the day approaches.

did I ever send you an email, Daniel? If not, keep an eye on your inbox.

I hadn't received one yet. I'll be on the lookout for it in the inbox.

I'll await the invite, too. I'll even buy an Interpol shirt.

Maybe I'll stay home. I may have underwear to wash.

i will be back in miami in between dec 21 and jan 20. i am not of drinking age, so maybe i'll fancy a pepsi or something.

my email: lfamular 4t oberlin d0t 3du

if tonight is still on, i can't make it.

We'll try again! I'm leaving in a few minutes to meet Daniel.

oh would i was there. it is terribly cold up here.

warm beds are great, but so are warm breezes.

some more record store reviews

SWEAT Records re-opened (in Little Haiti), but I haven't been back.

shit, i wrote a long thing and it disappeared

the new sweat location is cool. i miss being able to take drinks from the bar into the record store. i haven't tried it but they have a coffee bar.

Yeah, but that bar (where SWEAT used to be) is kind of seedy, no?

Karma Records

868 E. OAKLAND PARK BLVD. FT. LAUDERDALE, FL 33334
954-564-4898

Karma is mostly a dance music store, from what I saw. They had a smallish selection of new house records (sorry, I only looked at the house records) when I visited a couple months ago. The real treasure is in the thousands of used dance records they have in boxes all around the store. I found a lot of good stuff, and it was very reasonably priced. Also, the owner is friendly and very willing to talk to customers. She also has baby's playpen next to the counter, although the baby wasn't there when I visited. Also, you can smoke and drink beer in the store! I think that is not allowed when the baby is present. Some people might be turned off by it, but I think it's great!

The downside is that if you are traveling from Miami, it's a long drive. It took me about 45 minutes to get there at midday. That is why you should make a big deal about it and also visit this other record store in Fort Lauderdale:

Radio-Active Records

1930B East Sunrise Boulevard, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33304
(just west of the Galleria Mall on Sunrise Boulevard)
phone: 954.762.9488
email: i✧✧✧@radio-active-reco✧✧✧.c✧✧
Monday-Thursday: 10am to 9pm
Friday-Saturday: 10am to 10pm
Sunday: Noon-5pm

Radio-Active Records carries a wider selection of styles than Karma, and they are divided up onto traditional record store cascading shelves. They even have specific sections for certain labels, which is always cool in my book. Overall. their selection is more curated. It's a double-edged sword, because you probably won't find any super rare treasures for cheap like you would digging at a place like Karma. Still, even with the higher prices, it's very reasonable. I found Carl Craig's More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art 2xLP for $13. I didn't spend much time looking through non-dance related stuff, but they have a lot. My only complaint is even though they have a big space (about 2 or 3 times the size of Karma), they could have a lot more stock. But it's hard out here for a pimp record store... to expand. Business is tight. And they have a lot of really good stuff.

Overall, I would rate the trip to Fort Lauderdale for these stores a B+/A-. The only downside is the long drive and all the money I spent.

xpost

you mean churchill's? you make seedy sound like a bad thing! churchill's is not fancy, or even very clean, but people are respectful and the vibe is good. i've never heard of cars getting broken into or anything. the only bar i prefer more is The Bar on giralda avenue in coral gables.

also, i would like to take back some of the nasty things i said about Uncle Sam's Music on Miami Beach. when i wrote that i was a house music neophyte, and i was really into the minimal scene in europe. uncle sam's is not so into that scene. since i bashed them, i have learned a lot about music and bought tons of great stuff from them. the prices are good. they still have a lot of stupid tschochkes, but whatever. it's really the best dance music store in miami-dade county, with the possible exception of Super Soul Records in allapatah, but i have only been there once and didn't have enough time to really dig.

so, uncle sam's gets a B+.

sorry guys!

also, looks like super soul is doing the online thing as well, now: http://stores.ebay.com/SUPER-SOUL-RECORD-SHOP

super soul records seems like it could rival blue note, from the one time i went there. the guy have 50,000 records.

i will definitely visit super soul again before i leave miami at the end of the month.