After nocturnal rebuff, don’t dream of going back

After 20 years, Planet of Sound is still in its own orbit around the world of music

According to a press release issued last week by the Recording Industry Association of America, for the first time since 1986 — the year songs such as Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach, Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus were topping charts all over the globe — sales of vinyl records outstripped sales of compact discs for the initial six months of the year.

Hey, Mr. Mister, it wasn’t even close. The RIAA report stated that between January and June, audiophiles doled out US$232.1 million on vinyl albums as compared with just less than US$130 million on their digital counterparts. And while that bit of news was music to the ears of Planet of Sound owner Dave Wright, it certainly didn’t come as some big surprise.

“Vinyl is definitely on the upswing and has been for a while, which is precisely why we started carrying it in the store about 10 years ago,” says Wright, whose cosy, 800-square-foot shop at 1109 Henderson Hwy., which stocks a healthy number of LPs in addition to CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays, even an assortment of long-considered extinct LaserDiscs, will celebrate its 20th anniversary in November.

“It’s not just people who grew up listening to vinyl, either,” he goes on, sporting the office uniform: sneakers, dark jeans and an aquamarine-coloured, zip-up hoodie, the latter of which only partially conceals a well-worn, Joy Division T-shirt. “The other day there was a gal in here who I would have put at around 14. She picked up the Tea Party’s Edges of Twilight plus an album by the Wallflowers, the one that had their first big hit on it (we think he means Bringing Down the Horse). As she was taking out her debit card to pay I was like, how do you even know about these groups? Don’t they predate you by at least 10 years?”

White eyes curtain call as Kim preps for another Olympic run

Snider was a brief, shining light during his time with the Jays. It’s a shame that he never became all that we hoped he would be on the field, Mike Wilner writes.

Main Street Project to expand to former Mitchell Fabrics building

The Main Street Project is moving on up.

The shelter’s administration finalized the purchase of the former Mitchell Fabrics building at Main Street and Logan Avenue on Sept. 21, a move that will revolutionize the services the facility offers to the city’s chronically homeless and addicted.

“It’s still very fresh for us, and we’re very excited. This is probably the first significant shelter, mental health and addictions support expansion of this size in the last 30 years for Winnipeg,” Main Street Project executive director Rick Lees said.

The purchase is the culmination of efforts that began two years ago, when the agency did long-term planning to identify the biggest hurdles it faced moving forward. One key challenge identified was lack of space.

Winnipeg woman among those mourned after shooting rampage

One of the presumed victims of Nova Scotia’s deadly weekend rampage is being remembered as a kind and gentle soul by those who knew her during her childhood in Winnipeg.

(Elizabeth) Joanne Thomas, 58, and her husband John Zahl, 69, are presumed dead following the events of the weekend in Portapique, N.S. Their home was burned to the ground, but their bodies have not yet been located and identified by authorities.

The nation was left reeling by the deadly events of the weekend, during which a man impersonating an RCMP officer shot multiple people and burned homes in a rampage across the Maritime province. By Tuesday afternoon the death toll had risen to 23 people. The alleged shooter, identified by police as Gabriel Wortman, 51, was killed after being intercepted by police in Enfield, N.S.

“It’s unbelievable that with all the crappy people in this world, that their family is one to get hit like this. It doesn’t even make sense, and we’ll probably never know what happened,” said Jeanine Remillard, from her Winnipeg home.

Security guard in stable condition after grocery store assault

A security guard was taken to hospital after an assault at a Sargent Avenue FreshCo Friday, just days after another guard was stabbed during a robbery at a St. James Dollarama.

Winnipeg police said officers were called to a store in the 600 block of Sargent Avenue shortly after 1 p.m. for a report of an assault.

An adult victim was taken to hospital in stable condition. Police did not provide details about what led to the assault or whether any arrests were made.

The incident comes three days after a 22-year-old security guard was stabbed during a robbery at a Dollarama in the Courts of St. James.

Jury's swift verdict for Chauvin in Floyd death: Guilty

MINNEAPOLIS - After three weeks of testimony, the trial of the former police officer charged with killing George Floyd ended swiftly: barely over a day of jury deliberations, then just minutes for the verdicts to be read — guilty, guilty and guilty — and Derek Chauvin was handcuffed and taken away to prison.

Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for decades when he is sentenced in about two months in a case that triggered worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.

The verdict set off jubilation mixed with sorrow across the city and around the nation. Hundreds of people poured into the streets of Minneapolis, some running through traffic with banners. Drivers blared their horns in celebration.

“Today, we are able to breathe again,” Floyd's younger brother Philonise said at a joyous family news conference where tears streamed down his face as he likened Floyd to the 1955 Mississippi lynching victim Emmett Till, except that this time there were cameras around to show the world what happened.