Record stores have been on the decline in recent years, thanks to online downloading and piracy, but don’t tell Phono Select Records owners Dal Basi and Nich Lujan that. Loyal customers to the store would be the first to tell you otherwise, as well. Phono Select is here for the long haul. On a sunny, green spring afternoon, a customer locks his bike up outside the midtown shop and walks inside, where a few others already browse the aisles of vinyl and CDs, the shelves of cassettes and ’zines, and racks of T-shirts and other accessories. Paintings by local artists and photographs of rock ’n’ roll icons line the walls. Behind the counter, co-owners Basi and Lujan go about their work, the fo

In an era dominated by MP3 players and downloaded music, two music lovers are confident other fans are hungry for the real thing: vinyl, and lots of it. Dal Basi, a longtime Tower Records music buyer, and his partner, Nich Lujan, are banking on the importance of being able to touch your music collection. They are opening an independent vinyl specialty store, Phono Select Records, in Midtown in early September. "Digital music is so soulless," said Basi, 42. "Fast food is kind of like an MP3. You're getting what you need for the moment, but it's not something special." Basi and Lujan both use digital audio players. But the most devoted music fans are into the entire "organic" experience:

Russ Solomon, the iconic founder of Tower Records, officially retired from the music business Saturday. But it was clear he hasn't retired from the hearts and minds of many Sacramentans. More than 200 people turned out on a scorching afternoon for Solomon’s retirement party at the corner of 16th Street and Broadway — the longtime site of his Tower Records store and now the home of Dimple Records. The 84-year-old record store mogul built a multimillion-dollar chain that spanned seven decades, with stores on three continents. Guitarist Skip Maggiora, owner of Skip's Music stores, thanked Solomon for "putting music into millions of lives," including his. "He had a passionate way of doing b

Sacramento's record stores are world class. On Saturday, April 18, several record stores in the grid proved it during International Record Store Day, a celebration of real, physical record stores -- as opposed to online behemoths or corporations who sell music. Over 500 record stores across the country participated in the second annual celebration held on the third Saturday of every April. "Some of the best records stores in the entire country are in Sacramento," Hip Hop artist and record collector Lyrics Born said in a previous Sacramento Press article. "I think the record store is vastly under appreciated," said former 30-year Tower Records employee Mike Farrace outside of R5 records