[Archived] Uptown Retail & Restaurant News 2012-17

[LakeCharles]

What is your issue with vinyl? You keep talking about how terrible it is. How is it different than any other extraneous thing people spend money on?

[FISHMANPET]

I don't really care what people do with their money, but vinyl is one of those things where you're buying a product that's objectively worse in all ways and then claiming it superior.

I mean, I get with CDs vs downloaded music that the downloaded stuff isn't as high a quality as the CD and there's a value judgement on the part of the consumer where they fall on the trade off of quality vs convenience, but vinyl is just objectively worse. It has less dynamic range than a CD, it's more prone to physical damage of the media, it's less convenient to carry around, etc. The qualities of "warmth" are literally imperfections in the media.

The closest you can come to vinyl being superior is that the limited dynamic range means that vinyl isn't "loud" but that's just an issue of mastering, there's nothing prohibiting a CD from being mixed the same way as a vinyl record.

But whatever, some people just want that more physical experience, and I personally find it hard to care much about that when things like the NFL and structural racism still exist.

[Wedgeguy]

What is your issue with vinyl? You keep talking about how terrible it is. How is it different than any other extraneous thing people spend money on?

Could have been that he was traumatized by vinyl as a child or young man. Maybe he got is ass burnt a few times on some vinyl seats in the car, Had his favorite Partridge Family album get scratched and was never the same, or was horrified by a vinyl blow up doll. Who knows.

[LakeCharles]

I don't really care what people do with their money, but vinyl is one of those things where you're buying a product that's objectively worse in all ways and then claiming it superior.

I'm not a heavy vinyl user, mostly just use an mp3 player. But I really like the larger art (and the non-portability doesn't really matter as who is traveling with vinyl or CDs anyway?), and I enjoy visiting friends houses with a turntable out and vinyl playing on it. Just something about it. Aesthetics and perception drive most of our purchases, it seems to me. Anyway, uptown retail.

[Wedgeguy]

Just noticed today that they have build another level on the 2 story remaining section of the Cowboy jack's building. Not sure it this is a private dining room for the restaurant or if this is part of the office space that was left over above the E cig place. It has its own private patio up there too. At the rate they are going they will have this open just in time for the patio to be snowed under.

[David Greene]

What is your issue with vinyl? You keep talking about how terrible it is. How is it different than any other extraneous thing people spend money on?

My issue is the ignorance/conning of/by people who claim vinyl is "better." Claiming vinyl is "better" than CDs because, "analog," is like claiming a 1920 Victrola is "better" than vinyl, because, "acoustic." People actually believe this stuff and pay extra for something that is worse.

It's not the medium that matters, it's the distortion of the system from performer to speaker. Many CDs suck not because they're digital or have insufficient sampling (Nyquist proves that wrong, BTW) but because the audio engineers have used dynamic compression out their ears on the recording. They deliberately introduce distortion.

You can get a tube CD player. You can get a solid-state turntable. It ain't the media, it's the recording and playback process.

One datapoint on the specrtum to illustrate: there is an acoustic playback mechanism with perfect fidelity that uses digital media.

A player piano.

[David Greene]

I'm not a heavy vinyl user, mostly just use an mp3 player. But I really like the larger art (and the non-portability doesn't really matter as who is traveling with vinyl or CDs anyway?), and I enjoy visiting friends houses with a turntable out and vinyl playing on it. Just something about it. Aesthetics and perception drive most of our purchases, it seems to me.

And this is a totally valid viewpoint. I get that it's fun to listen to records, read the liner notes, etc. What I dislike is people claiming things about sound that are demonstrably untrue. It irks me because it's a con game by the sellers and just sad on the part of buyers.

I listen to all kinds of terribly distorted acoustic recordings. But I don't claim the sound quality is better than everything else.

[Tyler]

a well mastered cd can sound fantastic. a well mastered record can sound fantastic. if you care so much, listen to the best recordings on the best medium for that particular recording. dismissing vinyl out of hand is dismissing the best sounding recordings of tens of thousands of albums. despite cds technical superiority.

[David Greene]

I think you misunderstood. I'm not dismissing vinyl out of hand. I'm dismissing a culture that hold vinyl above all else always. I'm dismissing the ignorance of signal processing theory.

I recognize that my initial post wasn't that nuanced.

[Tyler]

well, ok. but buying vinyl is for suckers? maybe the suckers are the ones buying remastered drc'd cds and mp3s?

and what is someone really saying when they say vinyl sounds better than cds? they are saying they prefer the sound. why exactly would that piss you off? ive never heard a single person claim vinyl is a more "accurate" medium.

[Drizzay]

I am very happy with my 24-bit FLAC's. Just my $0.02.

HDTracks.com is a wonderful breath of fresh digital air.

[seamonster]

Let's take this to the Music thread in Anything Goes. I have some thoughts on vinyl, but no update for Uptown Retail or Restaurants.

[missaymeck]

Did Volstead's Emporium ever open? Last I heard anything about it was in 2014.

[twincitizen]

That's a great question. Even though their whole shtick was sort of based upon keeping it hidden/low-key, I do believe we would've seen something in the press by now. Maybe someone ought to do some recon in the alley one of these nights...

[prettylessghetto]

Take this with a grain of salt, but a friend of a friend of is doing the artwork for Volstead's Emporium, it is still in progress as far as I know and I heard September is what they are aiming for.

[mnmike]

I don't think this has been discussed...but maybe? Seems to be construction at the old Bar Abeline space...Any idea what is going in?

[HiawathaGuy]

I don't think this has been discussed...but maybe? Seems to be construction at the old Bar Abeline space...Any idea what is going in?

Remodel permit pulled by Outland Builders of Shakopee on 7/16/15: http://apps.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/PIApp/ ... 2924430116

The "Fremont" link on their website offers remodel plans from May 2015:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing

The plans show the owner is Gene Suh, who owns the adjacent Hammer & Sickle Russian Vodka Bar, Lyndale Tap House, Valley Tap House & Praire Tap House.

That's about all I can find out. So it looks like this space will open as a new restaurant soon. Can anyone else with super sleuth skills find anything more?

[MattW]

I had heard something about "The Freemont" bar from a friend. Said friend tends to tell a lot of big stories about things like this, but now it looks like it might actually happen!

I've heard it's mostly going to be a sports bar, bar food, on the weekend circuit of the younger 20's crowd. More of the same.

[mnmike]

Wow, nice work.

[HiawathaGuy]

I had heard something about "The Freemont" bar from a friend. Said friend tends to tell a lot of big stories about things like this, but now it looks like it might actually happen!

I've heard it's mostly going to be a sports bar, bar food, on the weekend circuit of the younger 20's crowd. More of the same.

The plans do have "Fremont" on the outside, so that very well could be. They also show a large amount of TV mounts being installed. So the whole sports bar theme seems entirely plausible too. Fun stuff.