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Hello, friends of Atomic Records. Rich here. I'm dusting off my rusty HTML skills because it has come to my attention that some sort of organization known as "Atomic Glass" is opening in the location formerly occupied by Atomic Records. I want it to be known that Atomic Glass has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Atomic Records. That's all I've got right now. That and the realization that there are some really lame people in this world. (6/17/09) We're down, but not quite out. Look for Atomic to resurface for a gasp of air this Sunday (3/29) at the WMSE & Friends Rummage Sale. We will have thousands of cheap CDs, most below $5 and many for only $1-$2. (Most of these CDs were not available at our recent closing sale as we didn't have room to display them all.) And while there may be an ATM in the vicinity, you might want to bring a wad of greenbacks so as not to miss out on any bargains. Admission is $4 and worth every penny as you will not only gain access to tons of cool stuff at cheapo prices but the proceeds will also benefit our favorite radio station -- WMSE! The rummage sale hours are from 10AM to 3PM at the Michael J. Cudahy Student Life Center (1025 N. Broadway) on the MSOE campus. We will be joined by Recycled Records and Books, Rush Mor Records, Cascio Interstate Music, Trotsky's Vintage Repair, The Exclusive Company, Luv Unlimited, WMSE DJs and more. See you this Sunday!
----- Rock & Roll Rummage Update #7 (3/11/09) ----- This is it folks! The last four days of regularly scheduled Atomic madness. Everything* is 20% off on Thursday, 30% off on Friday, 40% off on Saturday and 50% off on Sunday. Hours are Noon to 6PM -- or until the shelves are bare, whichever comes first. *Of course there's an exception-or-two: Atomic T-shirts are not discounted (as always, already a bargain at $10 each, or $15 for the commemorative edition) nor is the box of brand new vinyl we just received from one of the distros that owed us money. Titles by: Black Lips, Boston Spaceships, Cheap Time, Crystal Stilts, Damon & Naomi, Deerhunter, Jurassic 5, Kool Keith, LCD Soundsystem, Lemonheads, Jay Reatard, Sonic Youth, Strange Boys, Phil Wilson, Wooden Shjips, Xiu Xiu, Aethenor, Booker T. & The M.G.s, Bob Dylan, The Gestures, Nico, The Pretty Things, The Stooges, Jan & Dean, and more. (These records are already priced at our cost, so no further discounts.) BUT... all of the items previously marked "firm" are now open to discounts! So if you had your eye on the New Order record award or that Misfits "3 Hits From Hell" single or the Mars Volta artwork, now's your chance to get them at up to 50% off -- unless someone else beats you to it. (We can do holds over the phone provided you pay with a credit card.) AND... everything that was already 1/2 price -- 7" singles, rare imports, etc. -- are now open to the new discounts. You math wizards know that'll mean a whopping 75% discount come Sunday. Have a little time to kill? There's a pretty nice PopMatters interview here: Requiem For A Record Store You've got to know your chicken.
----- Rock & Roll Rummage Update #6 (3/4/09) ----- Still More Stuff! We keep digging and we keep finding more cool stuff. Well, stuff we think is cool anyway. YMMV. Lots of vinyl in the folk, country, and international genres, Beatles 7"s with pic sleeves, rare/weird promo items, vintage mags and zines, autographed items, posters, "weirdness" and more. Some specifics are listed below so you get an idea.
Posters !!! Finally !!!! And they're all only $2 !!!!! At long last, we have hundreds of music posters available for your perusal on the main floor. Many of these had been priced at $5 to $10 and more. Now they are only $2 each!! Stock up and your walls shall never want for coverage again.
Most 7" 45s Are Now Half-Price!! Most all of the 7" 45s are now half-price, the only exceptions being the few that are marked "firm" or are in the display case. (Since these are now priced so cheap, they are exempt from our regular 10% & 20% discount structure.) And don't forget that the ever-popular Rare Import CDs and DVDs are also now half-price...
Rare Imports Are Now Half-Price!! You didn't forget already, did you? In case you did, those "rare import" (you know what I mean) CDs and DVDs that were previously priced at cost are now slashed to half price. Come and get 'em! (Since these are now priced so cheap, they are exempt from our regular 10% & 20% discount structure.)
Some New Vinyl Showed Up -- Priced At Cost A couple of our distros owed us money and they were kinda jerks about it and would only allow us to get reimbursed with "product", as they say. So we have some brand spanking new vinyl priced at cost. From Bob Dylan to Dr. Dre, from the MC5 to The Minutemen, from, uh, I've run out of alliteration so I'll just mention Black Flag, The Stooges, Husker Du, and Love as some of the other artists you can pick up on the cheap-ski.
The Weirdness We have a new vinyl section called "The Weirdness" for stuff that's hard to categorize. It includes everything from spoken word to stereo test to CB to medical to sports to exercise to military to environmental to racing to synthesizer to astrology to bird calls to stripping to old timey radio shows to bongos. And everything in between. Like I said, weirdness.
Goofy Promo Items For Your Collection Back when the record biz was humming along nicely, labels would come up with wacky promotional geegaws to herald a new release. We are now at liberty to share some of these goofy baubles with you...
Butthole Surfers toilet paper
More Cool Magazines Back before the intranetz, people would often read magazines to get info on new music. These fascinating items serve as little time capsules into rock & roll history, jam-packed with interviews, photos and trivia. Dating from the late '70s to the early '90s, we have issues of Creem, Circus, Rolling Stone, Spin, OP, Interview, High Times, NME, Melody Maker, Sounds, Blitz, Record Mirror, Kerrang, Smash Hits, Zig Zag, Contrast, Maximum Rock & Roll, Flip Side, Reflex, Guitar Player, Musician, Hit Parader, Record Collector, Hits, CMJ, Ice, Big Takeover, Trouser Press (my personal favorite as a youngster), and many more.
More Rarities To Be Had... Records, Autographs... Some more of the rarities the basement has coughed up...
Henry Rollins - autographed copy of High Adventure book That's all for now. I'm sure I've forgotten a bunch of stuff but oh well. Thank you for reading this far. We hope to see you again before the curtain falls... ----- Rock & Roll Rummage Update #5 (2/17/09) ----- Once again, I apologize for not writing more often. We're still busy, busy, busy with the basement rock & roll rarity excavation. The regulars know that cool stuff keeps creeping into the racks every day. So much so that I don't know what exactly to put in these here emails, especially since a lot of it disappears right away. And then there was that little thing called Atomic Valentine -- WOW! (more on that in a future email...) So without further ado-do, here's a little update for you-ou...
March Closing? New Hours Of Operation Since we can't seem to quit you, it looks like the doors of Atomic will be open until March 15. (Unless our landlord gives us another 5-day eviction notice -- like he did last week -- as a "formality.") That's a Sunday. "But aren't you now closed on Sundays?" you may ask. Well, come March we will have new hours -- Thursday through Sunday, from Noon to 6PM. We'll be closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as we prepare for the inevitable.
WMSE Rummage Sale Since we can't seem to quit you even more -- and we can't quit our favorite radio station -- we will be appearing at WMSE's Music Rummage Sale Blowout on Sunday, March 29. "What will Atomic have there?" you might ask. Not sure exactly, but it will be darn cheap whatever it is.
Record Racks Want a piece of Atomic for your record collection? We have a couple more record racks available. These ones are black and hold hundreds of LPs. Give us a call if interested.
7" 45 Mania!! If you've stopped in the past week you've noticed the thousands of 7" singles we've put out -- primarily punk, new wave and alternative titles dating back to the late-70s. Most are in the $2-4 range but there are many rarities as well. As is our tradition, the rare ones are priced below current market value cuz we'd rather sell them than sit on them. To give you an idea of the stuff we're finding, here's a list of some of the more desirable ones (all in stock as I hit send):
Death Cab For Cutie - Sub-Pop Singles Club And there's more where those came from!
Vinyl Rollout Continues: Rock, 10" Records, 12" Singles, R&B/Soul and Jazz While the rock vinyl gravy train is slowing down, we're still finding boxes here and there and we're adding them to stock. There are also a bunch of fresh 12" singles as well as soul and R&B titles. We've also found some jazz, but it's mostly the modern fusiony stuff, not the hip Blue Note stuff. Oh well. We'll keep digging for you. Also a cache of 10" vinyl, from Tommy Steele to 7 Year Bitch. Blues, country and comedy titles are in the pipeline...
Presskits Hundreds of presskits are now available. These were sent out to journalists to hype new releases. Most include bio information and an 8x10 photo.
Wesley Willis Singing "Atomic Records" We located a box of Wesley Willis Drag Disharmony Hell Ride CDs. This release includes the track "Atomic Records" as well as the classic ode "Eat That Mule Sh!t." $10. Rest In Peace, Wesley.
Do You Still Have Atomic T-Shirts? Yes, we do!
More Autographed Stuff...
R.E.M. - Alternative NRG Greenpeace Benefit Print Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Signed 20" Logo Drumhead
Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart Artwork
Collectables & Memorabilia...
Pearl Jam - Do The Evolution Todd McFarlane Framed Print
John Lennon - Benny & The Jets Lithograph
Kiss - Kissopoly Store Display
Smoke King Zippo Lighters
The Beatles - Yellow Submarine Inflatable Chair
See ya later, music lovers!
Join us at Atomic Valentine! It's a pleasure to announce this very special concert taking place at the Miramar Theatre on Valentine's Day, Saturday, February 14. The show starts at 6:30 and runs to the wee hours.
The stellar lineup of Milwaukee musical goodness pretty much speaks for itself. Many of these bands are getting back together specifically for this performance so don't miss it! For more information, check out this article at onmilwaukee.com: http://onmilwaukee.com/music/articles/atomicval.html Tickets are available here at Atomic. $10 cash, $11 check or charge. They are also available online at: http://www.themiramartheatre.com/shows/calendar Our thanks goes out to Damian Strigens and the bands for putting it together. You all rock!
----- Rock & Roll Rummage Update #4 (2/3/09) ----- When is the last day you're open? Can you believe we still don't know? Here's the deal. Our lease was supposed to be up at the end of February, so we figured we'd have to close towards the end of the month (probably the 21st). That way we'd have time to remove store fixtures and box up the remaining inventory before March arrived. But we hadn't realized how much coolness we had in the basement and, more importantly, how excited everyone would be to get their hands on it. As our landlord doesn't have immediate plans for the location he is going to let us stay on until sometime in March. So you can now expect the doors of Atomic to be open -- at the very least -- until the end of February. And during this time we will continue to burrow our way through the stash to bring up more and more goodies for your enjoyment.
So what's new? Plenty! In addition to hundreds of bargain-priced used LPs, here is a small sampling of the more collectible stuff we've found...
the vinyl...
The Beatles - The White Album 2xLP (Apple)
The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers LP (Capitol)
The Desert Sessions - Vol. 1: Instrumental Driving Music 10" (Man's Ruin)
Electric Frankenstein - Listen Up, Baby! 10" (Man's Ruin)
Smashing Pumpkins - I Am One 7" 45 (Limited Potential)
Jay Reatard - Trapped Here 7" 45 (Matador)
David Garza - Underdub LP (Atlantic) Mogwai/Bardo Pond - split 10" (Matador)
the promo displays...
Girls Against Boys - GVSB Neon Display
Debbie Harry (Blondie) - Koo Koo Lightbox
the memorabilia...
White Stripes & Mistreaters - Von Munz LP Screen Print
Neil Young - Hey Hey My My Poster
Face To Face - How To Ruin Everything Poster More autographed things to come...
and a few cheap CDs... (you remember them, right?)
Dashboard Confessional - A Mark, A Mission... 2xCD Coming soon... a ton of 7" singles, press kits, posters and more of the ol' whatnot...
----- Rock & Roll Rummage Update #3 (1/26/09) ----- Hello there! I realize it's been awhile since the last update. Reason being is we've had our nose to the grindstone burrowing through all the vinyl in the basement, checking each record out for condition and worthiness and getting them in the racks for your enjoyment. A time-consuming process. Frankly, we're a little embarrassed by how much there is. We keep hauling up box after box but the stash doesn't seem to get any smaller. We're doing our best to price it all -- the vast majority in the $2-$4 range -- as fast as we can. So those of you thinking the stock is totally picked over are mistaken. Regular shoppers can attest we weren't kidding when we said good stuff would be hitting the racks every day -- from classic rock to old school hip-hop to '80s indie rock to (fill in your favorite genre here). Here is a small sampling of recent finds so you have an idea...
Various Artists - Sub Pop 200 LP Box Set (Obviously we aren't going to be selling rarities such as these for under $5, but rest assured that we've done our homework and have priced them below the going rate. We'd rather sell them at a fair price than have to put them in storage.) Also, rare titles from Plasticland, F/i, The Promise Ring, The Wigs, The Frogs and other collectable local artists have been added to the Wisconsin section. We even found a 7" by The Shivvers but it is spoken for already. Maybe we'll locate another one... Again, that is just a small sampling of what we've found. We urge you to stop on by to discover other audio delights on your own. On the memorabilia front we're starting to come across some rather unique items, including a Guns N' Roses autographed (by Steven, Duff, Slash & Axl) 8x10 as well as an autographed Little Richard photo, nicely matted and framed. Also of interest -- often for the pix of haircuts and styles gone amok -- are old issues of rock and pop periodicals from the '70s through the '90s. Titles include Smash Hits, Creem, The Face, Blitz, i-D, Trouser Press, Option, Spin, Rolling Stone, Flexipop and more. Most are priced at $2-$3 and are worth it just to giggle at the fashions. More of this fun stuff to come! CD-wise, we've recently added hundreds of in-store play copies to our used shelves. And we remind you that most all of our new full-length CDs are priced at $10 or less. Box sets from the likes of Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton and This Mortal Coil have been added to the front display case. Anywayz, I guess we just wanted to pop into your inbox to let you know we're still here for a while longer and we still have tons of cool stuff to offer. Hope to see you again soon!
----- Rock & Roll Rummage Update #2 (1/16/09) ----- Brrrrrrrrr. Jeez it's cold. Is this better than snow? Yes, but not much.
From Our Basement To Your Stereo So, um, DANG! Last Saturday was the busiest day in the history of Atomic Records!! Y'all ran us ragged with shoppage and we are dearly gratified to you for the effort. We even cracked a T-shirt record with over a hundred sold. Yes, it's a drag that these achievements come under the pall of a going-out-of-business sale but it's nice to see all of this wonderful music getting dispersed amongst the peeps. To be honest, Atomic went heavily into debt the last couple of years so your support at this time certainly helps us balance the books. Please consider your purchases to be sort of a benefit for us. Thanks!
A Frequently Asked Question When is the final day Atomic will be open? We're still not sure, but Saturday, February 21 might be that day.
Okay, what's new since last time... Most all of our new CDs have been marked down to $10 or less (cheaper than iTunes!). Plenty of great titles still in stock, even a bunch of good stuff (Nada Surf, Robyn Hitchcock, Juliana Hatfield, Sun Ra, Sun Kil Moon, Squarepusher, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Black Diamond Heavies, Black Lips, Tony Allen, Exploding Hearts and David Garza, to name a few...) you haven't seen in awhile that were in boxes awaiting return to a distro. And don't forget that a $50 purchase will get you an additional 10% discount and a $100 purchase will earn you a 20% discount. Yes, freaking cheap it all be! We found a cabinet in the basement full of alt-rock vinyl circa the early '90s. So if you're looking for minty records from artists such as Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, Tad, Foo Fighters, Melvins, Aphex Twin and Guns N' Roses (including many first pressings, color vinyl and picture disc editions) -- we'll see you soon! Crate-digger alert! Hundreds of soul, funk, R&B, disco, mix, club, hip-hop and rap LPs and 12"s are now available, including many collectible old school and gangsta titles from the likes of EPMD, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Grandmaster Flash, Trouble Funk, Public Enemy, Kurtis Blow, Ultramagnetic MCs, Dr. Dre and more. So come on down and check out our rare (and even the not-so-rare) grooves. We've added a couple hundred jazz, folk, country and blues LPs to the bins -- most at $2-3. More rock titles are making their way up from the basement daily. Our faves Cheap Trick are in town this week and we are pleased to offer a few vinyl rarities (advance promo copies of the Live At Budokan LP, a One On One picture disc, etc.) as well as a giant Sex, America, Cheap Trick poster -- nicely framed & autographed! People often ask about the framed posters, artwork and record awards on the walls. Many of them are now for sale, including items from The Beatles, Marilyn Manson, Tori Amos, New Pornographers, Everything But The Girl, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, R.E.M., New Order, The Mars Volta, The Black Keys, The Young Racers (framed movie poster) and The Vampire Lovers (framed movie poster). Be prepared though, as many of these one-of-a-kind items don't come cheap. Remember the Great Ice-T "Cop Killer" Controversy of '92? We've got a few copies of an underground 7" released at the time with the banned studio track by Ice-T & Bodycount on one side and a live version of the song by Soundgarden on the flip. It comes in a nifty poster sleeve for only $5. (And, for the record, we don't recommend killing cops.) Additional rare import CDs have been unearthed, primarily from The Beatles, Dylan, Led Zep, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. Also a few boxes of rare import DVDs. (Feel free to audition this stuff before purchase.) As we've explained before, this is a month-long-plus project and this update only represents the tip of an iceberg. New stuff will be pulled out of our basement and added to the racks every day. Stop in regularly for surprises.
Our New Discount Structure Everything is being priced to move, but we know everyone likes a bargain. Purchases totaling over $50 will get an additional 10% discount, those totaling over $100 will earn a 20% discount. Sound cool? (There are a number of items marked "firm" which can't be discounted further as we would be absolutely bonkerz to do so.)
Sign Our Guest Book If you're so inclined, please sign our guest book and feel free to share thoughts or memories of Atomic. It's located on the front counter. Be nice.
We are now Closed on Sundays and Mondays, other hours are reduced... Just a reminder that we are now closed on Sundays and Mondays, and our Tuesday through Saturday hours are reduced to Noon to 6PM. Please adjust your Atomic clocks accordingly. We hope this doesn't inconvenience too many of you. Be seeing you!
----- Rock & Roll Rummage Update #1 (1/9/09) ----- Hello there, ladies and gentleman! Our month-long Rock & Roll Rummage Sale is in full swing. Thanks for the awesome turnout! We'll keep re-filling the bins as fast as we can. And our hats are doffed to those we see coming back for more every day. We appreciate the dedication!
Here's a weekend update, so to speak... We've completed sale pricing the new vinyl, most at 50% off. This includes all of the desirable Sundazed, 4 Men With Beards, and Soul Jazz label stuff. All of the 7" 45s as well. All of the used vinyl has been sale priced, most to $2 each. We've also added over 500 LPs to the mix with 1000s more to come. Most of these are priced at $2, although some rarer items are a little more. And if they're really rare, we'll put them on the wall. And if they're really, REALLY rare they'll end up in our Amazon listings. These can be very pricey but you'll notice we usually have the lowest price. If you see something in our Amazon listings that you'd like you can get it at the store for a 10% discount because Amazon won't act as a middleman. All DVDs and boxsets and oddities in our front display case (need the Sex Pistols on cassette?) are marked down. Our remaining inventory of the ever-popular Johnny Cash action figure have been reduced to $10. Stock up now for next Christmas! All of the remaining books and magazines (including back issues of Mojo, Uncut, Record Collector, Wire, Shook, etc) are now on sale at half-price. Need a five-disc CD changer? We have a few for only $25 each, some with MP3 capability. They work just dandy.
Check out our new T-shirt design! By popular demand we are now offering a commemorative two-sided T-shirt design with the Atomic bomb logo and "1985-2009" on the front and "Viva La Vinyl" on the back. It's a black print on a dark gray shirt which, although somber, has been described as "pretty darn cool."
Available in S, M, L, XL and XXL, the shirts are $15 at the store (tax included) or $20 postpaid anywhere in the US, $25 to our friends in Canada. As usual -- since we can't figger out this new-fangled e-commerce thing -- just call us during business hours (Noon-6PM Central, Tuesday through Saturday) with a credit card handy and we'll fix you up. Thanks for checking it out! And many thanks to Damian Strigens for helping us on this. He's a gem!
Our New Discount Structure Everything is being priced to move, but we know everyone likes a bargain. Purchases totaling over $50 will get an additional 10% discount, those totaling over $100 will earn a 20% discount. Sound cool? (There are a handful of items marked "firm" which can't be discounted further as we would be absolutely bonkerz to do so.)
Sign Our Guest Book If you're so inclined, please sign our guest book and feel free to share thoughts or memories of Atomic. It's located on the front counter. Be nice.
I know I promised... ... to answer all of the emails I've been receiving. As evidenced by my lack of replies I have to admit I'm hopelessly behind. My apologies. I am truly moved by the outpouring of love. Maybe in March? -- Rich
We are now Closed on Sundays and Mondays, other hours are reduced... Just a reminder that we are now closed on Sundays and Mondays, and our Tuesday through Saturday hours are reduced to Noon to 6PM. Please adjust your Atomic clocks accordingly. We hope this doesn't inconvenience too many of you. So long for now!
Atomic T-Shirt Update Most T-shirt styles are back in stock. They are a flat $10 at the store (tax included) or $15 postpaid anywhere in the U.S. Call us at 414-332-3663 with a credit card handy and we'll hook you up.
The Announcement: Atomic Records To Close In February 2009 Rich from Atomic Records here. It is with great sadness and more than a little difficulty that I have to announce that Atomic Records will be closing in February 2009. The reasons for shutting down are many -- and I'd hate to bore you with wonkish details of shifting demographics, downward market trends, changing consumer habits, etc. -- but the decade-long (and running) decline of the music industry combined with the recent economic downturn have made it impossible to continue doing what we love to do. Thank You ! First off, THANK YOU! It has truly been a pleasure serving the music lovers of Milwaukee for the past 24 years. Much gratitude goes out to our customers. The recent words of encouragement -- the likes of "hang in there," "please don't go out of business," "what would I do without you?" -- mean more than you can imagine. I only wish we had the wherewithal to continue on. But for the next couple months the current members of Team Atomic shall keep on serving you as best we can. -- 12/04/2008 Please read on for answers to some other questions you might have... What About Gift Certificates? If you have one, use it! If you recently bought one for gift-giving purposes, please let the receiver know the situation. We are making arrangements for any unused gift certificates that slip between the cracks to be redeemable through the end of 2009 at either Atomic's Amazon Marketplace Store or via some of our favorite Milwaukee business partners/organizations. January -- A Rock & Roll Rummage Sale January will see reduced hours -- Noon to 6PM, Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday -- and we will not be ordering any new product. Any remaining non-returnable stock will be reduced further. In addition, a basement full of memorabilia, posters, press kits, displays, LPs, 45s, rare CDs and DVDs, stereo equipment, racks, amplifiers and whatever else a record store accumulates over 20+ years will all be sale priced. It will be a constantly replenished, month-long musical rummage sale that should be of particular interest to collectors. February? February is still a mystery. We've never done this before, so please allow for a little improvisation. Look for details in an upcoming communique when we get it figgered out.
Lastly, please don't be shy about stopping by the store. The act of hanging out at the old record shop and yakking about music is fast becoming a lost art. We would love to see you! And sign our guest book when you do.
Sincerely,
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