Sacramento residents can impress their loved ones this holiday season with unique gifts from Dragatomi. Dragatomi, a toy store located at 2317 J St., showcases limited-edition vinyl toys, and even commissioned custom toys upon request to artists who were featured in the store. "Our products are anywhere from the cute to the dark," co-owner Joanne Suavillo, 33, said. "I feel that we have something for everybody in here – some are custom, and some are production items." Suavillo described the toys in the store as "made for the older child." "We have customers who start collecting at 7 years old and grannies who buy for themselves," Suavillo said. "Even though it's a small store, it's

Marty DeAnda started a vinyl record store by accident with a little help from Louis Armstrong. Medium Rare Records is in the offices of the Dig Music label, which DeAnda co-founded. The label represents local artists such as Jackie Greene, Chris Webster and Sal Valentino. The business is located in The Urban Hive at 1931 H St. and was pretty typical of a recording label office, with couches and music-themed décor, before becoming a retail store. The office, visible from the sidewalk, featured a mannequin of Louis Armstrong in the window, staring out at 20th Street, and passers-by routinely came in to ask about it. “I’d have 30 people coming by each day,” DeAnda said. “I figured I might

Take a million-dollar inventory of LPs, CDs and DVDs, arrange them on several 80-foot-long tables and place them into a 10,000 square foot room for three days. This is the recipe for Capital Public Radio's (CPR) annual Used Record and CD Sale. It will commence on Friday night with a "Preview Party" from 6 - 9 p.m. For a $20 cover charge, people can get a jump start on the musical feast while enjoying live music, food and wine. On Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., the public can dig in for free and search through the leftovers. It all takes place in suite 172 of the "Howe 'bout Arden" shopping center at 2100 Arden Way. All-in-all there will be approximately 45,000 vinyl records

Every year, Davis radio station KDVS holds a record swap where local record labels, record collectors and record stores can trade thousands of records. It's likely that a few CDs, T-shirts and turntables will turn up as well. This year's event will be held Saturday in Luigi's Fun Garden, and music nerds, casual shoppers and passersby can get in for $3. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. people will be able to visit booths of more than a dozen vendors, including punk-rock labels Gearhead and Prank Records. KDVS, Midtown Monthly and the 'Zine Symposium held July 11 will also have tables, according to event co-coordinator Heather Klinger. Also a DJ at KDVS, she's been coordinating the event with Tim Mat

As a child born in the eighties, I didn’t have time for much of a love affair with the vinyl record. A few years laid out on our brown shag carpet listening to the soft whir and tick of the record needle – gone in a flash with the appearance of the compact disc player. With its built-in lasers and shiny discs that occupied less space on cramped apartment shelves, the new device easily charmed our family. The records were quickly scuttled away in pine boxes to the dank recesses of our storage space. There was no looking back. Now almost three decades later, armed with an iPod, a BlackBerry and a lovely home network of Macintosh computers, I find myself happily rediscovering vinyl. And I’m