Seven Windsor record stores are the focus of a Record Store Day documentary screening
Windsor photographer and director Syx Langemann is hosting a free Record Store Day screening of his new docuseries ‘Spinning Stories’ that explores the recent resurgence in vinyl records.
The documentary showcases local record stores and collectors, highlighting their unique experiences and perspectives while emphasizing that record collecting is not just about the music, but also the social aspect of connecting with like-minded individuals and sharing memories through music.
“The documentary literally is because of Record Store Day,” Langemann explained.
“It's like Christmas morning and a Christmas movie on Christmas morning,” he said, referring to the excitement that comes with each year’s Record Store Day events.
“There's so much more to collecting and why people collect and then it kind of started and it's kind of like a tattoo habit, but it's essentially going to continue and the collection will continue and it keeps growing and growing and getting bigger and not necessarily organized, but it's there,” said Langemann.
Along with filmmaker Gavin Michael Booth, Langemann visits seven record stores across Windsor-Essex, including Dr. Disc, Galaxy Records, and Going Thru Vinyl Records, to name a few.
“I hit every record store we have,” Langemann said. “It's an eight-part documentary series. So each of them kind of gets their own highlight. The eighth episode kind of goes a little bit more into the record swaps, record store days, and events that kind of go on.”
Langemann continued, “There's a lot of newer, younger collectors and that was one of the things that I really wanted to make sure was also in the documentary. That it wasn't just a bunch of old guys listening to 1970s music. There's a lot of new music coming out. A lot of indie bands are actually producing vinyl and it's this amazing physical art form and some of the records, the actual physical record that you see, are just works of art.”
Going Thru Vinyl Records owner Jason Hoffer on April 19, 2024. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor) Langemann said Saturday’s free screening of the Bell Fibe TV 1 docuseries at the Capitol Theatre is his way of giving back to the local community, noting donations to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Windsor-Essex will be accepted at the door.
“It's really important to me to, in a way, give back to the community that gave me this documentary over the last couple of years. Not make them pay, have a nice kind of community event for it. And then if you do come in, the CMHA will be there to accept any donations in honour of Dave Hunter,” said Langemann. “We lost Dave hunter, a good friend of mine and also a record collector over the filming the documentary. So money essentially will hopefully then go to the CMHA.”
Langemann noted the screening starts at 1 p.m., allowing collectors and vinyl record enthusiasts time to visit their favourite stores in the morning.
“I think it's awesome,” said Going Thru Vinyl Records owner Jason Hoffer, who noted his Ottawa Street store opens early at 8 a.m. “Everybody's got their own way and reason for collecting records and they're not all the same. They may not even have a record player, but they want that as a token, like a t-shirt or something like that, a keychain of their favorite artists.”
Hoffer continued, “Music is universal. I think that there's a need right now for records because now that we're living in a time where there's so much blue screen, everybody works all day in front of a computer. Then at night they're watching movies on their computer. This is now a hobby that you can share with family members.”
“You have an album that you love, and it means something. It becomes a soundtrack to your life. And so when you listen to it, all these memories come rushing back and it creates conversation and you can kind of say to your son or daughter, ‘Hey, do you know what this song means to me, do you know what I was doing during this time,’ and that becomes awesome,” said Hoffer.
Liam O’Donnell, owner of Dr. Disc Records on Ouellette Avenue, said it’s amazing to have a documentary put a positive spin on the vinyl record industry and is grateful to have been included.
“It makes downtown a little more inviting,” O’Donnell said. “It's amazing because Syx, he's into it himself. So you know, having someone that's into the collecting and really loving it, to actually ask the questions and you know that he cares… It's really nice.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
President Joe Biden calls Japan and India 'xenophobic' nations that do not welcome immigrants
President Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain their economic circumstances and contrasted the four with the U.S. on immigration.