A-SIDES AND STAND-BYS
STEREO JACK’S
BY BLAKE MADDUX | @BLAKESMADDUX
“Are you closing this weekend?” a well-dressed customer at Stereo Jack’s Records asks.
“Nope,” a burly, bespectacled man replies.
“End of the month?”
“Not for another year.”
“What about the pizza shop?”
“What about it?” retorts the manager of the store, Jack Woker (pronounced “like joker,” he explains).
Stereo Jack’s Records has occupied the space at 1686 Mass. Ave. in Cambridge since August 1982. Word had gotten around early this year that it would be closing down within a few months.
Woker’s landlord told him last December hat he planned to move his pizzeria down the block into 1686 in April. Stereo Jack’s, an institution among analogue-lovers in the Boston area, was going to close just short of celebrating its three-decade anniversary. However, April, May and June came and went and neither the pizza place nor the record store had budged.
Now, after staying put through the first two weeks of July, Woker was happy to inform all those who walk through his door that Stereo Jack’s Records will be open through at least August 2012.
“I was all set to retire, but now they won’t let me!”
Woker jokes. “They” are Stereo Jack’s loyal customers and the neighbors around it. “They” want a certain kinds of businesses around them. “They” want a funky old record store, and “they” are the reason Woker isn’t going anywhere.
“I won’t walk away while we’re doing well,” he confidently proclaims. “Business is good. We have every reason to believe that it will be extended beyond one year.”
[Stereo Jack’s Records. 1686 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. 617.497.9447. stereojacks.com]
B-SIDES AND RARITIES
SOMERVILLE GROOVES
BY SYDNEY SHEA
Everything is about to get groovy in Union Square as David Plunkett opens up Somerville Grooves, the newest kid on the block, this Saturday, August 14th.
The record guru has quite the collection of records wedged into his hot-pink shop interior, with artists reppin’ every era and genre of music. So far, Plunkett’s inventory has an outstanding amount of post-punk and 12-inches from the ‘80s, but he wants carry every kind of music out there, old and new.
Also, Plunkett stresses that customers can expect more tunes and less ‘tude.
“People who come in here won’t get belittled—they won’t get the record-store attitude,” he said. “I want people to enjoy coming in here.”
There will not be any definitive label for Somerville Grooves. Plunkett will be collecting from art fairs, flea markets and walk-ins. When it comes to music, anything and everything goes.
“I’m viewing it as part of the store’s mission to take trashed, beat-up records out of circulation,” Plunkett said. “There are thrift stores that will put beat-up records out on the shelves. People buy them ‘cause they’re cheap and then never play them, and they end up in some other store eventually. Some stores are just crammed with them.
Only records in decent shape will be at Somerville Grooves, even in the cheap bins.”
The opening of this new record store is only adding to the ever-growing music culture around Union Square. Somerville Grooves will be reaching out to neighboring music venues in the ‘hood. “I think it’s a good fit with the Somerville art scene,” he said. “I’ve been going to P.A.’s [Lounge] forever. Once I open, I definitely expect to be a part of the community, co-sponsoring events and seeing what we can do.”
One thing’s for sure—Plunkett is supporting a revival that won’t allow records to become a thing of the past.
[Somerville Grooves. 26 Union Square, Somerville. 617.666.1749. facebook.com/SomervilleGrooves]
