When I was a kid my grandfather passed his 45-r.p.m. record player to me along with some records to play on it. Among the records was a set of three RCA Victor red vinyl records of Brahms Hungarian Dances by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra recorded in 1950. I found this set advertised in ebay.com with the original packaging for the set. These 7" 45s were made the same way the 12" ‘long play’ records introduced in 1948 were made.

A new technology was introduced then that used PVC plastic instead of the heavy shellac compound used to make the 78 r.p.m. records, the common mass-produced audio recording format for most of the first half of the twentieth century. The grooves on the LP records were not as coarse as on the 78s so that more music could fit on each disc.

Most records have been black vinyl discs that were made with black carbon that had anti-static properties and generally played with less extraneous noise. But today many records are produced on colored or clear vinyl to make them more collectible. The vinyl record-making process has mostly minimized audio playback issues (but not all). Colorful vinyl records, fun to handle, have been considered to have a higher resale value just because they have been rare, but the colorful vinyl discs are rapidly becoming commonplace. Going back about four decades, the Beatles' White Album on white vinyl was prized primarily because it was unique among pop albums and rumor had it that the white vinyl provided improved sound quality compared to the original black vinyl records. The White Album on white vinyl sold for about twice as much in stores as the same album on black vinyl. 

I suspect the fashion of colorful vinyl records will get old and audiophiles will soon prefer the black ones again for the very reasons most records were produced in black vinyl in the past: audio quality, anti-static properties and a deeper appreciation for the color black.

The 12-year run of the Bradenton Blues Festival came to an end when a nonprofit was
no longer able to fund the event. But the former festival’s artistic director formed a new
promotion alliance in nearby Lakewood Ranch to produce a new blues festival on the same
weekend. The inaugural Lakewood Blues Festival will take place on December 7, 2024 from
9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Waterside Park in Lakewood Ranch.

Entertainment company Independent Jones, whose president is Morgan Bettes Angell,
and Paul E. Benjamin will partner on the Lakewood Ranch Blues Festival. Benjamin was the
artistic director of the Bradenton Blues Festival that was produced by nonprofit organization
Realize Bradenton, whose founding director Johnette Isham died last year.

Blues artists for the inaugural Lakewood Ranch Blues Fest will include Danielle Nichole
Band (Kansas City), Vanessa Collier (Dallas), Monster Mike Welch (Boston), Kat Riggins
(Miami), Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88s (Brooklyn), Dylan Triplett (St. Louis), Melody Angel
(Chicago). Advance tickets are $75 each.

lakewoodranchbluesfestival.com