Tag Archives: j&r music world

Features, In Memoriam

J&R Music World Closes After 43 Years (1971-2014)

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Come on NYC. You are killing me here as this news marks the second iconic music related thing in NYC to shutter its doors this week alone. On Monday Lady Gaga performed the last concert ever at Roseland Ballroom (a venue which I lamented about HERE). Then comes the news that J&R Music World would be closing the retail stores that have been a staple attraction on the Park Row street for 43 years.

Logo - JR Music World

Speaking personally I figure that I have been going to these stores since the mid-eighties as I worked down on Wall Street after school running paperwork from company to company. This was always an accidental detour when I was nearby and actually so was the much longer shuttered Bondy’s. I found a whole lot of my earliest inspiring Metal and Hard Rock here and this was from a time when you had to climb an almost four story staircase to reach the goodies. They would eventually move the music stuff downstairs and reconfigure that upstairs for another medium/genre. The would open up a large computer store but I seldom used that and then there was an aim to compete with chains like Sam Ash and Guitar Center when they opened up their music instruments section. The music instruments section was nice enough and I saw Zebra’s Randy Jackson perform there once but I don’t think it ever took off the way they had planned.
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Events, Reviews

Steven Wilson In-Store Appearance @ J&R Music World (11/11/2011)

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This was going to be a treat if you were a fan of Steven Wilson, the main brain who is not only behind the Progressive Rock band Porcupine Tree, but also a rather prolific Producer and Engineer when it comes down to it.  Tonight the musician was going to be bringing his solo material to the fans over at the Best Buy Theater but that is a narrative for a different blog posting.  Right now we were going to celebrate the fact that Steven Wilson was going to take some time out of the busy day to head down to J&R Music World where he would entertain fans with a short acoustic set and then sign copies of his newest album “Grace For Drowning”.  I snapped a lot of photos of the performance and wrote up a piece on it that you can enjoy in full by clicking the logo below.  As you readers know this will take you over to the main PiercingMetal.com site but then please scroll down for some visuals that I am only presenting here for you.

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Events, Reviews

Lez Zeppelin @ J&R Music World (4/16/2011)

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Logo - Lez Zeppelin

Artist: Lez Zeppelin
Venue: J&R Music World (New York, NY)
Opener: n/a
Date: 4/16/2011
Label: Pie Records

It was that time of the musical year again as Record Store Day hit the region with a melodic force of nature. I present it like this because while this is always an event to remember, the weather outside was doing its best to keep the adventurous gormandizer far away from the racks at J&R Music World. It would clearly have to do a lot worse to stop those kind of folks from taking advantage of the discounts at this store and to prevent them from enjoying some free music courtesy of the band Lez Zeppelin. In order to celebrate Record Store Day, the ladies would be doing a special acoustic set of Zeppelin classics and also giving people a chance to pick up their sophomore album “Lez Zeppelin I” and get it signed if they had such interest.
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Events, Reviews

ZO2 In-Store Appearance @ J&R Music World (4/17/2010)

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Logo - ZO2

Artist: ZO2
Venue: J&R Music World (New Yotk, NY)
Opener: n/a
Date: 4/17/2010
Label: In Tune Music

Now that your taxes were paid you could sit back and relax and see what money you had left to use for that wonderful musical holiday that they call “Record Store Day”. At this stage of the game in music purchasing I am guessing that it should be called either “CD Day” or “MP3 Day” when you think about it. Of course there are vinyl releases coming out every now and again these days but they are no longer the ruler of the musical roost when compared to the dominant mediums. The fun today would take place at J&R Music World where we have covered a number of in-store appearances and intimate performances in the past and among the many that were taking part in the day would be Folk legend Judy Collins and Brooklyn’s own ZO2.
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Events, Reviews

Carmine Appice @ J&R Music World (11/19/2009)

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Legendary Rock drummer Carmine Appice made an appearance at J&R Music World in lower Manhattan the other day and folks who attended were treated to a quick performance on the drums and a brief Q&A session.  After this was done Carmine would sign copies of his “Carmine Appice’s Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes” CD for those fans who wanted him to personalize it.

Artist: Carmine Appice
Venue: J&R Music World (New York, NY)
Event: “Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes” CD Signing & Performance
Date: 11/19/2009
Label: Rocket Science Records

You know his name and legendary drumming from bands such as Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Rod Stewart, Blue Murder and even King Kobra but the resume of Carmine Appice reaches so deep into the history of modern Rock and Metal music that it would take several articles just to line out the full roster of talent that he has worked with over the course of his career. Today, J&R Music World down in lower Manhattan would continue their presenting artists such as Carmine to the general public and allow the drummer to do a short performance and question and answer session before he would sign copies of his latest album “Guitar Zeus: Conquering Heroes”.

“GZCH” is a double disc affair that finds the drummer playing with a healthy batch of the world’s greatest guitar gods while musicians like Tony Franklin and Kelly Keeling join in and provide extra support for the songs. The great thing about the release is that it gives you the chance to hear what a band that features guitar player “X” in the band if Carmine Appice was also on the drums. I found that much to be rather cool. He would sit behind a beautiful DDrum kit for the performance and it was a double bass setup with two rack mounted toms and a single floor tom. He had about six or seven Sabian Cymbals mounted around which were a blend of China type and conventional crashes. Carmine took to the small stage and played against three of the albums tracks with the first one being a rocking number that features “Uncle” Ted Nugent on guitar. He would also do the tunes “Stash” and “Gonna Rain” which feature Steve Salas and Richie Sambora respectively. It was a fun event and there was a surprise celebrity guest in Ramones drummer Marky Ramone. He made sure to be up front and center during the jam and was making Carmine chuckle a little bit based on how close his proximity was.
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