(Image: Audrey Frigon for CHS)
(Image: Audrey Frigon for CHS)
By Audrey Frigon, CHS Fall Intern
In the digital age of music streaming, vinyl records just won’t die. With record sales reaching their highest revenue level since 1988, Capitol Hill and the nearby have sustained a few shops that have survived long enough to cash in on the resurgence. And sometimes, something new comes along.
Selector Records and Apparel opened earlier this month off the beaten track on E Madison.
After eleven years DJing in Hawaii, Seattle native Sherman Crawford moved back home with the goal of opening a record store business. “I always had a dream of having a record store and that opportunity fell into my lap with this building,” he said. This building, located on 23rd and Madison, previously housed Looters Records. Crawford stumbled upon the store and moved in upstairs. When the record store closed, Crawford took over.
A music lover his whole life, Crawford first began collecting records and cassettes when he was eight years old. But the real beginning of his music addiction came in 1992 when he attended a rave and discovered the world of underground techno and dance music. “I was enthralled by the energy of the music and became obsessed,” Crawford said. As his fascination and love of the music grew, so did his record collection.
That music became the inspiration for his store. “When I came back from Hawaii I saw a void. There were no other stores focusing on underground techno music, especially new releases, and I wanted to fill that void,” said Crawford. Continue reading
Launch the season with joy, nostalgia and inspiration! We’ll be singing songs about what it means to come home at Christmas — the power, the sustenance, and the rebirth. And, as a special treat, we’ll be premiering a brand new work by local composer Ben Markin, the winner of our 2019 Student Choral Composition Competition. Come celebrate this new work, a setting of Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” as well as all the delightful songs in our program.
