When you download an MP3 audio file, the music gets compressed and you lose the fullness of sound that you get on vinyl records. The sound on vinyl is more expansive, nuanced and loaded with delicious sonic subtleties that are lost on all other formats. You can feel the music when listening to LP’s.
Plus, vinyl record listening, collecting and appreciation is a wonderful culture. Buying records at a store and listening to it is a fun and meaningful experience. You develop great relationships with record store owners and come to enjoy the variety of eclectic tastes out there.
If you’re just starting out, make sure you:
Buy a good, quality turntable
Buy at least 2-4 good, quality speakers
Buy some record crates to store your records in
Buy some record sleeves to protect your records
Get some good chairs for you and your friends to sit in
You don’t need to worry about cork mats, titanium tone arms, 180-gram vinyl, etc, when starting out. Just enjoy digging in crates and listening to good music that you like.
Audiophiles are vinyl connoisseurs whom appreciate hi-fi records and the sport & hobby of amassing an incredible collection of high grade records. Audiophiles are very knowledgeable and have years of experience. But you do not need to be an audiophile to appreciate good records.
We also want to thank Third Man Records Detroit and Archer Record Pressing Plant for making vinyl records in Detroit!
FUNK MUSIC
DJ Zig-Zag will be bringing the funk, the whole funk and nothing but the funk to Detroit Festival of Books (aka: Detroit Bookfest).
Why do we love funk music?
Because it’s fun, upbeat, and there’s a certain Detroitness to funk music and a certain funk music vibe to the city of Detroit.
Going strong since 2001, they are held the last Friday of every month at a different spot in Detroit. Frank spins funk records and they have live funk bands. We highly recommend you check them out!
MC5, Wayne Kramer & 50 Years of Kickin’ Out the Jams!
The rock band MC5 formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan in 1964.
On Devils Night and Halloween 1968, they recorded their famous ‘Kick Out the Jams’ album live at Detroit’s legendary Grande Ballroom. This album propelled them to international acclaim.
2018 marks the 50th anniversary of MC5 and leader Wayne Kramer is leading MC5 on a historic 50th Anniversary concert tour that will culminate in an October live show at the Fillmore Detroit.
Sure, Bill Gates is worth a measly $90 BILLION DOLLARS.
He’s the world’s 2nd richest person and instead of being less busy than most people, Gates is far busier with traveling, speaking engagements, diving Scrooge McDuck-style into mountains of gold coins and more.
Despite his intense schedule, Bill Gates still manages to read at least 50 books per year.
How to Read More BOOKS!
That may not sound like alot, but it is. 50 books per year is an average of 4 books per month. Now, Gates reads mostly non-fiction.
Non-fiction averages around 200 pages (ie: 55,000 words). So, Bill Gates reads over 9,000 pages per year, which is an incredible accomplishment and inspiring example for anyone.
Gates says, “One of the things I love about reading is each book opens up new avenues of knowledge to explore.”
We here at Detroit Festival of Books (aka: Detroit Bookfest) encourage you to explore your willpower and limits and READ MORE BOOKS! You can do it!
How to Read More BOOKS!
Ryan’s strategy to read more books:
1.) Create a Book Log for notes (and subsequent Book Fund to purchase books). Over time, you’ll find the money in the Book Fund does not keep pace with the # of books you want to read in your Book Log! This is a good thing. It means your curiosity is flourishing. Keep moving.
2.) Make some lists: books you want to read, books you have read, your favorite books, etc.
3.) Prioritize the books you want to read and try reading at least one book per month. Since we are all insanely hyper-busy nowadays, this will not be as easy as it sounds. But it can be done and sometimes book planning helps.
4.) Schedule some Designated Reading Time for yourself either daily, nightly or weekly. For myself personally, I read at night, usually for 1-2 hours before bedtime. Nighttime is when I find that my mind is most relaxed and perceptive. Morning is for coffee and busywork.
5.) There are thousands of genres of books out there. Yes, something for everyone. Once you find a genre (or genres) you really like, and you stick to your reading schedule, you’ll find yourself reading more and more books in less and less time. You will find that books are not boring cures for insomnia, but fascinating, wonderful, mind-expanding resources that can help you in your daily life.
How to Read More BOOKS!
Ryan’s fun book recommendations to get you started (these are just personal suggestions):
1.) Tao Te Ching (500 BC) Lao Tzu
2.) Man’s Search for Meaning (1946) Viktor Frankl
3.) Bleak House (1853) Charles Dickens
4.) Ubik (1969) Philip K. Dick
5.) Meditations (180 AD) Marcus Aurelius
6.) Hamlet (1600) Shakespeare
7.) The Rose of Paracelsus: On Secrets & Sacraments (2015) William Leonard Pickard
8.) Jane Eyre (1847) Charlotte Bronte
9.) Smiley’s People (1979) John Le Carre
10.) The Haunting of Hill House (1959) Shirley Jackson
How to Read More BOOKS!
If the successful billionaire co-founder of Microsoft can read 50 books per year, you can read at least one book per month or more. We believe in you! Don’t dream it, do it!
I don’t care who you are, where you live in the world, how old you are, etc, just remember BOOKS ARE FUN, BOOKS ARE FOR EVERYONE!
Help the City of Detroit Find Great TREE PLANTING Locations!
The City of Detroit is determined to plant 10,000+ trees before 2020. Over 1,000 trees have been planted already.
This is called the ‘10,000 UP’ Initiative. But they need help finding great locations for new trees!
Please tell the Detroit Forestry Division the nearest property address of any berms (ie: open areas between the street and sidewalk) where you think a tree should be planted.
They are accepting suggestions and will plant accordingly.
Help the City of Detroit Find Great TREE PLANTING Locations!
By planting, caring for and maintaining trees, you could be your very own Neighborhood Arborist.
Detroit needs more trees, parks and canopies.
Belle Isle is our version of Central Park but we could have a greater percentage of trees across the entire city. We need one big widespread swath, Detroit’s new Urban Forest.
One inspiring example is that over 30% of the island-republic of Singapore is forested and by 2030, over 85% of their residents will live within a green-space AND within 1,000 feet of a park!
Another great example is that Atlanta, Georgia is often called the “City in a Forest” because 36% of the city is leafy, making it the most densely forested city in the United States
Help the City of Detroit Find Great TREE PLANTING Locations!
Planting will be done Spring-Fall until all 10,000 trees are in the ground and growing.
Trees are incredible.
Trees produce oxygen, cycle out harmful carbon dioxide, create homes for wildlife, beautify neighborhoods, increase property values, drive biodiversity, help people relax, etc.
Trees = Books
Raw wood is made of cellulose fibers, which are stuck together via lignin. Paper is made when these materials are separated and turned into wood pulp.
The pulp is bleached white and made into huge 30-foot wide rolls, which are inked, cut and bound into books.
Another common method of making paper is the chemical pulping of woodchips.
Help the City of Detroit Find Great TREE PLANTING Locations!
If you are interested in helping the City of Detroit, please email:
Detroit’s own KHALI SWEENEY, founder of Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program!
*Special thank you to Carolyn Geck, Development Director, for enlightening me on this!*
CNN Heroes is an annual public tribute, which honors “everyday heroes and their extraordinary deeds,” says CNN.
Vote here for Coach Khali to be CNN Hero of the Year! (use your Facebook or email address to vote) HURRY! Voting closes at Midnight on Tues, Dec. 12th.
Detroit’s own KHALI SWEENEY, founder of Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program!
Khali Sweeney is a bold, inspiring and dedicated individual.
“Education is key. Books before boxing has always been our motto,” says Sweeney.
Born in 1969, Carlo “Coach Khali” Sweeney grew up in a do-or-die neighborhood on Detroit’s Lower Eastside. He was passed along from grade to grade in the public school system, without ever learning to read or write. He dropped out of school in 11th grade and later taught himself to read as an adult. Soon afterwards, he fell in love with books and helping people, especially children struggling in his city.
Vote here for Coach Khali to be CNN Hero of the Year! (use your Facebook or email address to vote) HURRY! Voting closes at Midnight on Tues, Dec. 12th.
In 2007, Sweeney opened the non-profit Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program.
The boxing gym is a free after-school academic tutoring and self-development program, which is dedicated full-time (yes, even in the Summer!) to helping students ages 7-18 by providing them with teachers and volunteers, math & literacy programs, boxing lessons and learning that ‘Family’ can be an all-encompassing word.
Every Monday through Friday, over 100 kids are picked up in the boxing gym vans and transported to and from the gym.
“267 students have completed the program, graduated high school and 98% have gone on to college,” says Sweeney.
Vote here for Coach Khali to be CNN Hero of the Year! (use your Facebook or email address to vote) HURRY! Voting closes at Midnight on Tues, Dec. 12th.
Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program (6445 E. Vernor Hwy, Detroit)
After several years on his own, Sweeney linked up with current boxing gym Executive Director Jessica Hauser and they were able to raise enough money to move into their current 27,500-square foot gym.
Located at 6445 East Vernor Hwy, Detroit, the gym is inside the old Page Litho book bindery.
Famous Eminem collaborator and music producer Jeff Bass and his wife Julie and film producer Couni Young helped create a music studio inside the school.
Vote here for Coach Khali to be CNN Hero of the Year! (use your Facebook or email address to vote) HURRY! Voting closes at Midnight on Tues, Dec. 12th.
Each student attends free. However, the cost to the non-profit is $1,800 per student per year.
In order to increase their attendance, bring in as many of the 800 students on their wait-list that they can, and make the entire operation financially sustainable long-term, DBFYP needs adequate funding.
If Coach Khali is chosen as CNN Hero of the Year, the Downtown Boxing Gym will receive a $100,000 grant, which will help tremendously.
This man and his amazing gym deserve to win. Please help them out by voting now, as many times as you can!
Detroit’s own KHALI SWEENEY, founder of Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program!
Vote here for Coach Khali to be CNN Hero of the Year! (use your Facebook or email address to vote) HURRY! Voting closes at Midnight on Tues, Dec. 12th.
Charlie LeDuff live in Berkley! (Photo By: Ryan M. Place)
American reporter & author Charlie LeDuff packed the Berkley First United Methodist Church in Berkley, Michigan on Wednesday, November 8th, 2017.
Organized by the Friends of The Berkley Library, an estimated 300 people showed up to hear Charlie talk about his thoughts and experiences as a reporter. Charlie is funny, he cares, he speaks so people can understand and he’s entertaining.
Charlie also read passages from his new book ‘Sh*tshow‘ which will be released in May 2018.
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