High Fidelity in the New Age Meet your friendly neighborhood record store
In the age of the download, owning a neighborhood record store can only be a labor of love. Fortunately, John Healy, owner of Buffalo Records in midtown Ventura, likes music more than money. Open just two years after relocating from Santa Barbara, Buffalo Records is more than a store where music is sold. Buffalo Records is a place where music is revered; and not just by those who work there. Enter the hip but welcoming store on any given day and you’ll encounter people engaged in conversation about music, people sharing music and sometimes people playing music. For Healy, there is something almost sacred about discovering music. Call it old school, but listening to a new record for Healy and many like him, is more than another acquisition, it’s a ceremony. With new and used vinyl, CDs and DVDs in stock, there is plenty to find at Buffalo Records, but if you’re looking for much mainstream, chart topping stuff, you’ll probably need to order it. The vast variety of music on the market necessitates a judicious approach to buying for Healy, and his choices for the store lean toward the esoteric or niche, but he will special order anything and his prices are fair. In keeping with the Buffalo Records ethos, live music and art are vigorously supported and Healy regularly features fringe and up and coming musical acts in-store and free to the public. Past performers include Tom Brosseau, Frausdots, Gramcracker, Franklin For Short, Coral Sea, Jason Webley and Bridgess. Exploring and enjoying music—live or otherwise, in the company of friends and strangers—is not yet available for your iPod, but it is happening right around the corner on Thompson Blvd.
Visit Buffalo Records at 2111 E. Thompson Blvd., Ventura. (805) 648-3345. July’s Lineup
July 1, 3 p.m. Shades of Day, The Blank Tapes July 11, 6 p.m. BOAT (from Seattle) July 22, 3 p.m. Tiny Moths, Salad Days, Le Severence July 27 6 p.m. Tender Forever, Rubies
In the age of the download, owning a neighborhood record store can only be a labor of love. Fortunately, John Healy, owner of Buffalo Records in midtown Ventura, likes music more than money. 