Citizens of Vinyl Nation!
Welcome to so many new ones of you. Our movie has been (virtually) in theatres for just over two weeks now and we can’t get over how many new friends from all corners of the vinyl globe we have heard from. Getting you to see the movie and hearing how it moved you (beautifully and/or angrily) is why we started on this journey two years ago (not to crate dig in all 50 states, as rumors would have it). It’s a lot of work but we’re having such a spinningly special time, thanks to you all and your good vibes.
Thank you so very much.
We don’t have exact numbers on how many tickets we are selling as many of our theatres report sales at staggered times and new theatres are coming on board later this month. But thus far, we are both pleased and committed to doubling down on our efforts for every music lover in every corner of America to know about our documentary.
It’s working. We’ve already gotten strong reviews and write-ups from from The Houston Chronicle, The Detroit News, the Boston Globe, Baltimore Magazine, and the Chicago Reader. NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour named our movie as something “that’s making us happy” on Sept. 4th. Based on 9 reviews so far, we’re a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Vinyl Nation is available via arthouse cinema, record store, radio station and café partners in 35 states and the District of Columbia. If you’ve seen the movie already, you may gift a ticket to someone else via the ticket purchase page of your favorite partner. You can find all of our virtual cinema partners by state here.
And if you or anyone has trouble seeing it, our customer service email address (info@vinylnationfilm.com) is only answered by Kevin and Chris.
Our plan is to keep the movie playing in virtual cinemas in America until Monday, November 30th to encompass all 4 Record Store Day celebrations this fall. We’re working on plans for an international release, too.
Up until then…
A modestly budgeted, independent documentary like ours is already running uphill when it comes to getting the word out. Throw a pandemic into that mix, and well, you can guess how much easier THAT makes things. Nonetheless, we’ve been pretty glad with the attention Vinyl Nation has gotten thus far, just based on the work we have done and with your help.
If you’ve enjoyed our movie, here’s how we can keep this rolling.
Review it: The more reviews our movie has on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Letterbxd, and Reelgood, the more people know about it.
Suggest it: Via your social media channels or in plain old regular interactions, anyone who loves music is probably the right person for this movie. Let 'em know. This goes for the musician, DJ or record store in your life, too.
Point us to… In our experience, the kinds of media people who like Vinyl Nation best are local music writers/blogs/podcasts and community and public radio stations, particularly radio shows with names like “From the Crates!” or “The All Vinyl Hour!” or something like that. If you’ve got one of these on your radar in the town where you live, could you point us to it (info@vinylnationfilm.com)?
Records have only a single grove, a mirror of the single groove on a metal stamper or cut directly into a plastic plate via a lathe. Either way, at SOME POINT in the process, a sharp instrument left a long line in a flat surface as evidence of its passing, like a plow through a field. The word “tracks” is commonly used in this way (as in tire tracks) but is also the root word for the 400 meter oval that runners compete on (as in “track and field”) AND the bands left in the surface of a vinyl record that we now call “tracks.”
Juice (1992) is our favorite movie where the main character is a DJ. What’s yours?
We are obsessed with great writing about music and each newsletter try to share a few choice examples with you.
Okayplayer asks: “Can Hip-Hop Shows Survive when 90% of Independent Music Venues face Closure?” Kate Bush’s Running up that Hill at age 35. RIP Toots Hibbert. There’s going to be a Stevie Nicks concert film. A 2015 oral history of Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit label. Bandcamp announced it will continue indefinitely their program of first Friday of the month revenues going 100% to artists. Pitchfork: “It’s Time to Take Enya Seriously”.
Also: The great music writer/social critic Stanley Crouch died today following a long illness at the age of 74. Unsparing, pugnacious and intellectually rigorous as his heroes Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray, Crouch wrote about jazz, literature, race and the shaping of the American musical character. The author of 11 books including a 2013 biography of Charlie Parker, Crouch was the senior creative consultant on Ken Burns’s Jazz documentary and the co-founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis.
Every Vinyl Nation newsletter features a Spotify playlist we put together just for you. This time, we bring you a sad news playlist honoring the life of Ronald Bell, co-founder of Kool and the Gang along with his brother Robert “Kool” Bell, who died on Sept 9th at the age of 68.
10 songs this time.
And who could forget this? (Pay attention to the white shoes at the very beginning)
We’re thinking of having…
Tell us how these sound at our Facebook Page or our Instagram account, where you can always find out the latest about the movie and the sonic heartbeat of Vinyl Nation, which never stops.
In 33 and 45,
Kevin (smokler@gmail.com) & Chris (cbboone@hotmail.com)