Night Owl Wrap Up

Saturday was a long, but super fun, productive day. We got to the Night Owl Record Show about 1:30PM to set up. Early entry started at 3:00PM and regular admission started at 5:00PM and went til 9:00PM. We met tons of really nice people and got to spend some quality time with the people we've been selling with for a while.

Our friends Reid and Rachel came and got a bunch of really good stuff. Rachel picked up one of my favorite albums from us, The Menahan St. Band, Make the Road By Walking. We took a break from the overwhelmingness of the records and played a few games on the Megatouch. They had never played before but I totally enveloped them into the fantastic world of Photo Hunt.

Towards the end of the night our friends Alli and Tony showed up. Alli was on a mission to find a Wings record but did not find one. :( After the show we went to our favorite Thai place for a late dinner. Alli and Tony met us there and then we all met up with some other record sellers at the Gold Dust Meridian. We hung out with a bunch of record sellers from Seattle and our friends Erik and Graham. All in all it was a super fun way to cap off a very productive day.

Justin made a video of the show:

Night Owl Record Show: Fall 2009 from Justin Meyer on Vimeo.

Night Owl this weekend!

I wish I had taken pictures at the last Wax Broker Riot!!! But alas, I was too busy playing hostess. The night flew by. I wish I had had more time to spend with all of our amazing friends that came out. But someone always had to be manning the record table, too.

The party was a success. We had people waiting at the door for us before we even got there! We're hoping to see a lot of those same people when we sell records at the Night Owl this weekend.

Location Stories

I feel so lucky that I have had the opportunity to help so many people start their own businesses. A few of my restaurant clients are getting ready to open their doors and it makes me so happy to know that I had a part in it. In the past few months, I have written business plans for about 5 people with restaurant aspirations in Portland as well as been on the periphery of many others. Each one has had its own series of lessons that have huge value to anyone wanting to start their own business.

Of everything I have seen, the most constant lesson is that finding the right location is hands down the most important and hardest part. I know a lot of people that have been looking for locations for a very long time. It makes me feel better knowing there are others in the same boat as us. And of the clients that do have locations I have seen some pretty crazy stuff happen.

I've seen one landlord turn out to be a complete nut job and lock the owner out of their own restaurant, losing everything inside and their entire investment. Another person lose their location because a higher bidder came along and they did not have their contract in writing. I've seen another get really lucky and fall in to a great location but they were 100% not ready mentally (we have to see what happens with this one). I've also seen people be so anxious for a location that they jumped at the first one that came along and ended up making a huge mistake that they're now trying to get out of.

The crazy thing is that this is all part of normal business. We have experienced a lot of the same lessons first hand in our 1.5 year long quest. But success, to me, means not giving up when faced with these pitfalls. I keep reminding myself that this is normal. One of these days, all our dues will be paid and the result will be beyond our wildest dreams.

Yesterday, we were walking down SE Hawthorne and noticed that the Chance of Rain Cafe had newspaper in the windows. We walked up to see what was going on just as the new owner was coming outside for some fresh air. He said he had bought the place a week ago and was turning it in to a breakfast and lunch place called Magnolia. We talked with him for about 5 - 10 minutes (turns out he's also from Nashville) and then went on our way. I wish I had asked him about how he found the place or how long he was looking for one. I'm sure he would have had a good story too.

Sweet Sweet Music

It's been a while since I've done a narrative posting so I thought I was about due. We're getting excited for the party coming up on Friday. We got a new $5 Crate full of some sweet sweet vinyl.

I've really been loving the Mayer Hawthorne Record and bought multiple copies of his heart shaped 7". I checked with the label today and it seems like they're already sold out. Another online store is selling it for $40!! I'm glad I got my copies before they sold out :)


Admittedly, Justin is the vinyl collector but I get to throw my opinion into the mix every once in a while. He asked me to make a list of some current artists that I wanted to add to the sale bins. So I added The Bamboos, The Apples, Budos Band, El Michels Affair and Nicole Willis, among others. I've been really loving them all lately, especially the Bamboos with Alice Russell. I encourage everyone to check them out!!

And on the indie rock tip, we are super excited because The Features are coming to Portland November 15th!! Justin knows these guys personally and used to play in a band that was on their same label. He introduced them to me a few years ago and they're SO FUN!!! They will be at the Doug Fir playing with the Whigs.

If you are in Portland come on out to the party on Friday and get a taste of some of our sweet sweet sounds.

Next Party Friday October 2nd!!

Wax Broker Riot; Vinyl Sale & Party
Friday, October 2, 2009
7:00PM Records Go on Sale / 8:00PM Party

It's a Beautiful Pizza
3342 SE Belmont Ave
Portland, OR 97214

Hope to see you there!!

Big Dig Seattle Pics

The Space Needle from the Venue




Early in the Day

Dan from Jump Jump, DJ Nealie Neal and us representing Portland








Erik and Justin looking really happy :)


Reid's favorite find of the day


Justin and DJ Nealie Neal




View from the Front Door

Big Dig Seattle

This Saturday we're heading up to the beautiful city of Seattle for the Big Dig Record Show. Justin met the organizer, Christian, at the Night Owl Record Show last spring. They have kept in touch and Christian asked us to come up and sell records at his show. According to our friend Eric, we have to bring our "A" game to the show. Apparently there are going to be some high rollers in the vinyl world attending.

We're just excited for the opportunity to meet more people and spread the word about the Hall of Records.

Belmont St. Fair Pics

We had such a good time yesterday! We met TONS of new people and sold a bunch of awesome vinyl. Thank you so much to all who came out!!!

All packed up and ready to go
Setting up
Heather & Dave
Alli's Card Display
Our favorite street!
Trolly!
Posting up!
Nothing like a little grass between your toes
Love the stilts
Cutest lemonade pusher I've ever seen
Bike Art a la Tim Burton

Our First Signage

We just finished making our first piece of signage for the Belmont Street Fair tomorrow. Justin's aunt Marie is a photographer here in town and she had a record-centric photo shoot for us. The picture is her in a hat (very much like the kinds of hats Justin wears) inspecting the vinyl. We were hoping to have our logo done in time for tomorrow, but that hasn't happened so this will do. And it looks good anyway.

We are really looking forward to tomorrow. Our friends Heather and Alli will both be participating in the fair as well.

And it turns out that KBOO triple booked guests this Sunday night so Justin's going to wait until next Sunday to be a guest. That way he should have the whole show to himself.

See ya on the street!

KBOO & a big weekend!

This Sunday Justin is going to be representing Hall of Records on Astral Traveling on KBOO. The show runs 6:30 - 8:00PM Sunday Nights on 90.7FM Portland.

That means he's DJing at the Zilla Sake House Friday, selling records at the Belmont Street Fair all day Saturday and then he'll be on the radio on Sunday. Big weekend!

Zilla Sake House

Our good friend Edgar is the manager at the Zilla Sake House on Alberta. We have come to frequent the place a lot and Edgar asked Justin to DJ on Friday night. Edgar also happens to run a radio show on KBOO Sunday nights and asked Justin to come on as a guest this weekend. I'll do another post soon about the KBOO show. But if you're around on Friday night come on out to the Sake House! This man knows his sake and is not afraid to show you!

(photo borrowed with love from Yelp)

Belmont Street Fair Booth Assignment

The Belmont Street Fair is next weekend! We just got the map of where our booth will be. We'll be the very first booth on the right as you come up Belmont from Downtown, next to the stage. We are pumped (!) and hoping that the bands will be good since we're there all day :)

Jade Lounge Tomorrow Night

Tomorrow night we're going back to the Jade Lounge for Justin and Dameian's bi-weekly Gems and Giants.



Jade Lounge
SE 24th & SE Ankeny
Portland
1st & 3rd Thursdays

Movement

So we've had some movement at our location lately. I can't say much but it's a step in the right direction. We had a great conversation with our would-be landlord, reiterating our interest in the space. We may soon have an opportunity to be able to start small and eventually grow in to it. Hopefully we'll be able to figure some stuff out this week or next.

Community Involvement

I am super excited because this Tuesday there is an open house for the New Community Center at SE 12th and Stark.

About two months ago I got a survey in the mail asking my opinion for what I'd want in a community center. The survey focused on the new swimming pool which was EXACTLY what I wanted to express my opinion about.

Growing up I spent every single day of the summer at our local swimming pool. We had two glorious diving boards, a one meter and a three meter, that I probably spent 95% of my time on at the pool. At age 8, I was the only girl that knew how to do a One and a Half Sumersault and I reveled in the attention.

My sophomore year in high school we got a swimming and diving team at my school. I jumped at the opportunity and spent most of my days getting up at 5AM to go to practice before school. Looking back, I definitely think it instilled a sense of discipline that has carried through in to my adult life.

Before moving to Portland, I did some research on the state of diving in Oregon. It's not good. Zero high schools have swimming or diving teams and only one of the colleges has a swim team (but no diving and it's only girls). During the heat-wave of this summer we went to the pool and saw kids lining up to jump off the side of the pool!! These kids are in desperate need of some diving boards!!

So when I got my survey in the mail I wrote all over it that I thought the children of Portland deserved some diving boards. I also wrote that I wanted to help in any way I can. Never-mind that I have a deep seeded wish to create an Olympic level diving facility (full of trampolines, harnesses and foam pits) one day. But we need to start somewhere.

If anyone's interested the next meeting is:

TUESDAY, AUGUST 25th
BUCKMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
320 SE 16TH Ave.
7PM - 9PM