Groove Masters of the Vinyl Revival

[mjzee]

You don’t hear this very often anymore in Salina, Kan., but business is booming—for one company at least. Amid the blue-collar town’s shuttered factories and empty grain elevators sits the squat brick warehouse that’s home to Quality Record Pressings, which does exactly what its name says. QRP’s services are so much in demand, it had to stop taking orders temporarily last August; for much of last year, Chad Kassem, founder and chief executive officer, had to run the plant 24 hours a day to work through a backlog of some half a million albums overdue to be pressed. QRP manufactures about 1.6 million records a year—from artists ranging from Miles Davis to Nirvana—making it one of the largest such plants in the country. And demand won’t quit. “Nobody wants to hear you bellyaching about how you’re so busy,” says Kassem, 53. “But who wants to turn away work because you don’t have time to do it?”

More here: Bloomberg

[six string]

Well, you don't grow a business like he has by sitting on your tush.  

[JSngry]

I spent a whole day negotiating for the release of my fellow band members from the Salina jail as the result of a groggy early AM each van thought that the other had paid for the gas thing.

Police and citizens alike were racist pig assholes (but they did have their price, eventually), so forgive me if I say Fuck Salinas and funk their vinyls too.

[six string]

Yeah, that would leave a bad taste in my mouth too.  

[JSngry]

35 years ago, granted. But it made us a day late for a gig in Calgary that could have led to more gigs in that lovely city. Instead it led to a docked paycheck and increased disgust of America at its worse (not gonna say worst because nobody got killed or maimed). But that shit was insane - they sent a whole phalanx or chevron or whatever you call of copcars after us and we were like, whoa, something BAD'S gone down, check this out....and then oh, really?

It was a hotel show band, 50-50 African & Anglo American, and we had done just a weekend in Salina as a schedule filler. The audience was assholey too, racial taunts and lewd comments about the singer's wife, who was indeed a very attractive woman, but who was also the lead singer's wife, and mother of their two kids who were working lights in the room (good training AND cheap labor!). The dude finally silenced the worst loudmouth in the room by asking Sir, is that the way your mother had raised you, to which he said my momma's dead you N-word, to which my man came back with, in this really elegant Jamaican/Brooklyn hybrid accent that he came by naturally, well, I'm sure she's looking down at you right now and feeling very sad, which was like, you know, I grab the mike stand ready to bust heads if need be, but no, that chilled everybody out, but nobody was smiling, if you know what I mean.

So, you know, we were ready to book out right away, get the hell out of Salina, get up into Calgary, worked from immediately after the last beat to get out of there at, like 4 AM, fill up and LEAVE. And then each van thought the other had paid for the gas and here comes ALL of the Salina PD, roads blocked, guns drawn, whoever called it in must've been batshit crazy, maybe it was that guy with the sad dead momma, but I didn't see any sign of relaxation after this sweet couple tried to explain that is was an accident, offered to be escorted by the police back to the gas station to pay in full and then some, no, it was straight to jail for everybody, including the kids, except me and one other white guy who spent the whole damn day negotiating EVERYBODY'S shakedown fees. I tell you, I've palyed in all sorts of shady joints over the years, but nothing was as full-frontal evil as a mainstream bar/showroom in Salina, Kansas and the town that held it.

I started this post thinking I was gonna be able to walk it back a little upon reflection, but no - FUCK Salina, Kansas, them and their vinyls. If that stenchious mass of sub-humanity has been washed away, good. May their hearts be happy and their vinyl pure. But until I know that...let somebody else make the vinyls.

[Dmitry]

Most of QRP’s workers are former auto mechanics or heating and cooling engineers from Salina, with no background in acoustics or vinyl; Salstrom has had to teach them the intricacies of each phase of the process.

Hey Jim, maybe some of your former Salina acquaintances are pressing Lou Lonaldson's records.

[JSngry]

Not for me, they're not.

[clifford_thornton]

I'm not a fan of Salina either and grew up just a couple hours east.