“It’s helped to re-engage older record buyers, and engage a audience.” And if anyone told you that they anticipated that, they are lying to you!” Bishop says. “It’s become an international celebration of record store culture, and brilliantly coincided with the resurgence of vinyl. There are now more than 1,400 indie record stores around the country, and labels have gotten wise to catering to those who actually still buy physical music. All those Big Box stores have either eliminated or greatly reduced their CD shelf space (though, oddly, some stock…vinyl!). Stores which could (and did) offer deep discounts on music as a loss leader just to entice customers in to perhaps buy other things.įast forward to 2019 and how things have changed. That’s despite very stiff competition from the Big Box Stores like Best Buy, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, and Target. Perhaps his favorite role is that of jazz educator to young students in schools and programs like his decades-old Summer Jazz Workshop and other programs through Jazz Education, Inc., which Thomas founded in 1970.Īs for Record Store Day, it began as a grassroots effort among independent outlets in 2008 as a way to both celebrate its culture and remind customers that they were still open for business. In addition to music, Bubbha Thomas has also been a journalist, book author, radio DJ, TV host, and community/cultural activist. Bubbha was a fearless community activist and a fiery musician. “And we all felt out the conversation around this music. “I went to his house a couple of times, once with the producer Madlib,” he recalls. Photo by Erica Sparlin Dryden But even though Thomas himself anointed Alapatt as the “right man for the job,” there was still a lot of work involved in bringing the reissues to reality. “There had to come a point where there was a descriptor for that nexus between funk, jazz, political unrest, and social struggle…when people finally started clamoring for ‘Spiritual Jazz.’ I realized, finally, I might be able to do this project right.” In the late ‘90s, most of Bubbha’s work wasn’t appreciated for what it was, which was revolutionary music,” Alapatt says. “Bubbha’s a unique drummer and his band was unique. The drummer didn’t, but through purchases and swaps, Alapatt eventually got them. Now Again Records founder/president Eothen “Egon” Alapatt’s history with Thomas goes back to the 1990s when – as a college student on a quest to find these albums – he tracked down Thomas himself to see if he had any copies to sell. But even if you’re not, it’s just great music.” “Among deep jazz guys and those who like spiritual or improvisational jazz, they are very important. I’d seen them go for something like $600, $700 each when they came on the market,” Cactus Music owner Quinn Bishop says. “I’d always heard about the Lightmen but had never seen the records, but I know they were highly revered. All were recorded in Houston at either the Nashville Sound or Soundville Studios.Īs part of the special events occurring nationwide to celebrate Record Store Day this Saturday, April 13, Thomas will make a rare public appearance at Cactus Records for signing and Q&A at 2 p.m., followed by a set by DJ Flash Gordon Parks spinning selections from the albums. Each 2LP or to 2CD release features the original album and a second disc of alternate mixes and bonus tracks, and a booklet with a career-spanning essay and photos. Record cover from Now Again Records Now, all of them – Free As You Wanna Be, Fancy Pants, Energy Control Center, and Country Fried Chicken have been lovingly reissued by the Now Again label.
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