After 15 years and 29 sales at the Park Community Centre Don Burnett has decided to change venues for the popular Brandon event that consistently drew more people with each passing year. Just as the demand for vinyl has grown over the years, the popularity of the sale has grown as well. In fact it has gained so much momentum the sale was renamed “Brandon’s Biggest Record and Music Sale!” According to Burnett the timing was just right, “It  was  finally  time  as  the  years  went  on  more  vendors  came  on  board  and  some  wanted  a second  table. The  last  few  shows  I  had  vendors  in  the  coat  check  room   and  in  the  skating  room of the Park Community Centre so we literally out grew that venue.” Recent stats show vinyl sales are the highest they’ve been since 1988! Many people will remember the handful of albums they may have bought that year but fewer will still own those records as the CD became the dominant music format in the mid-eighties. More and more people are going back to the vinyl format so it’s nice to see things have come full circle (pun intended). What’s even stranger than the impressive stats of vinyl sales these days is the fact that the younger generation are consuming more classic rock than what is passing for music today. Although there are a handful of today’s artists who lead the charge with sales according to some recent eyebrow raising stats here in Canada. The top selling record was Adele’s ’25’, which sold 116,000 copies, followed by Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’, with 74,000. But overall Vinyl sales are up more than 26% than at this point last year. What’s more, bands and artists are making more from vinyl sales than at any time since 1988, with 17 million records sold last year in the US alone. With sales up 28% on 2014, they accounted for 6% of the overall retail music market, and one in five of all ‘physical’ sales. Those numbers are impressive and inspiring to Burnett who thinks they’ll translate into a busy day for the sale come next Sunday, “I  would  like  to  see  400  to  500  through  the doors. With the resurgence of vinyl it is possible.” Burnett says attendance figures at the Park Community Sales over the past few years reached upwards of 200 – 300 people per sale so hitting the 400 mark is doable. Burnett is quite happy about that his love of collecting has grown into a sale that has continued for so long, “I have been collecting for about 33 years. I started when I was 16, got a little more serious about it in 1990 when I met Wayne Russell who used to run the country music center on 10th street.” So how many albums does a collector amass who has been at it for over 30 years? Burnett offers a staggering ballpark figure, “I can't really put a number on it for sure but I would say 4500 to 5000. Keep meaning to count them one of these years I’ll get around to it.” Some of his more prized possessions are impressive batch of oddball titles as well as releases from more popular artists, “oh I have a Japanese pressing of Pink Floyd’s Obscured by Clouds, some colored vinyl and some picture discs of The Beatles, Marc Bolan and The Yarbirds.” Like many collectors do Burnett says he has a wish list of titles, “I am trying to get Rodreguez's albums Cold Facts and Coming back to Reality. Also looking for Porcupine Tree, the Black Angels, Gov't  Mule, Joe Bonnamassa, also Roky Erickson and any Psyche/Garage rock records.” As for what the common consumer is after these days Burnett says from his experience at his various sales, “most people want the standards like Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd or Black Sabbath but you also get people that want Lenny Breau and more obscure albums. However I would say David Bowie will be one of the more popular artists this year, possibly the Eagles and Jefferson Airplane, all because of the recent deaths and a renewed interest in their music.” Vinyl won’t be the only item available at the sale, Burnett says when it comes to music, the list of items will run the gamut, “There will be t-shirts hoodies, music books, CDs and Music DVDs. Maybe some stereos and Musical Instruments, all depends on what the vendors bring it is basically anything musically related as well as records.” The sale runs from 11am – 5pm and there is no admission but the Legion will be taking a silver collection at the door and there will be a non-perishable food item collection for the Samaritan House. The new location is The Royal Canadian Legion Branch # 3 (Banquet Room) at 560-13th Street EAST Brandon. The new venue allows for 40 tables to be set up. To inquire about table rentals call Don at 204-726-0703 tables are $35 each. As of this writing there were only 6 tables available. Sale runs from 11am – 5pm. So just how valuable can some vinyl be to some collectors?

Sean Paul will be performing live this Wednesday night at Houston's.  Without a doubt one of the larger entertainment names to play at this club. Being affiliated with huge names like Beyonce, Akon and Snoop Dogg to name a few Brandon will have their first chance to witness the platinum selling artist in person. Tickets are now available by clicking on this link.  VIP tickets also available. http://www.diyobo.com/events/sean-paul-live-in-brandon-brandon-mb-canada

Anyone who is immersed in technology on a daily basis knows how wild and wonderful it is all at the same time!  New gadgets, apps, and devices are being developed and introduced every minute of every day.  Along with this constant advancement comes a certain amount of responsibility in being smart and safe, particularly when it comes to your data. I'm not talking about personal information, but the other digital information we collect:  music, movies, books, documents, and in this case, your photos. What you are looking at is the equivalent of a year-and-a-half worth of professional photographing, editing, refining, and creative work that could potentially go right down the drain.  This 1.5TB (TerraBytes, which is 1500GigaBytes) came to a screeching halt recently after running continuously (24/7) for about 7 years.  This is just one of 8 hard drives in our fileserver that is full of our daily commercial and portrait work. If you look at parts of the top disc, you can see circular lines where the drive has simply “worn out”, which had a snowball effect and lead to the complete failure of this hard drive.  Of course, disaster was averted in this case because of the live backups we keep of all of our precious data in our active server.  For anyone who collects and stores massive amounts of critical data, whether for business or personal use, the practice of daily backups is essential.  After having several hard drives fail over the years, I can tell you that it’s an inevitability.  It’s a question of when, not if a hard drive will fail. The thought of the day: when it comes to your data, how are you protecting it?  Do you have a backup hard drive? When it comes to your photos, do you print the most important ones? When you stop and think about it, it's pretty clear that the most reliable, long-lived copy you can have of any image is a printed copy.  Most people will have prints or albums of their parents or grandparents that are decades old.  A print on a wall will last for decades.  A print in a box or an album (not exposed to daily UV light) will potentially last for centuries.  An image on a hard drive might last seven years, or at least until the hard drive fails completely.  Sure there are lots of different conditions and variables to consider like the make and model of the hard drive or storage device, or even the quality of the print itself (note: archival printing is engineered to last 100 years).  But at a glance, look at the necessity of having to store digital images and even maintain them by checking them every once in awhile, and buying a new backup device every so often because they simply wear out, all in an effort to preserve your images (or any other data for that matter).  Now compare that to an album or a box of photos that sits on a shelf somewhere, that only needs to be looked at and enjoyed from time to time.  Much more low-maintenance. The bottom line: if you want to preserve your images, the best method is to create physical copies of them, whether prints, albums, canvasses or the like.  They are not prone to hard drive failures, OS updates, power outages, or any other technology-induced issues.  And they can be viewed and enjoyed anytime, anywhere, and will potentially last hassle-free for several generations.  :)

Johnny Reid Concert: Friday, March the 7th inside the Keystone Centre. Johnny is a country artist with several hit singles in Canada. Nominated for a 2008 Juno award, he has twice been named Male Artist of the Year at the CCMA Awards. Songs include Missing an Angel, A Woman Like You, Dance With Me and Let's Go Higher. With special guests: Natalie MacMaster, Aaron Goodvin and JJ Shiplett. For ticket information click here. 2016 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair: March 28- April 2: Held annually at the Keystone Centre during the Manitoba Spring Break, the fair has tons to do and see for visitors. Scheduled events include a world class equine show, fiddlers contest, Ag competitions, trade show and the ever popular SuperDogs. Early risers may want to take in the traditional Sunrise Breakfast on the first day of the fair to get the festivities started. For more information click here. George Canyon Concert: George Canyon brings his 'Jekyll & Nothing to Hide' Tour” to the WMCA on Wednesday, March the 2nd. George is is a Canadian country music singer who was the runner-up on the second season of Nashville Star in 2004. He grew up in Fox Brook Nova Scotia and later lived in Hopewell, Nova Scotia before moving west. Singles include I Got This, Crazy Love, Slow Dance and others, Besides being an accomplished musician George has also acted in many TV shows including the Trailer Park Boys and Heartland. Ryan Keown is listed as a special guest.  Click here for more information. 2016 CIS Women's Volleyball Nationals: Brandon University will host the nation's best as they compete for the CIS Women's Volleyball National Championship March 11-13, 2016. A total of seven teams will travel to Brandon to join the host lady Bobcats as they get set to throw down inside the BU Healthy Living Centre. Included in the list of activities include an 11 match tournament, an All-Canadian award reception, and an anniversary celebration marking the 10th year of having CIS volleyball at the Brandon University. For tournament schedule please click here. Raise the Woof: Three comedians take the stage at The 40 located inside the Trails West Motor Inn, in support of Funds for Furry Friends. The fourth annual now is scheduled for Saturday, March the 12th and features the comedy workings of Cory Mack, Mike Green, and Dan Glasswick. Advance tickets are only $35 and include a steak sandwich and the comedy show. Get out and support this worthy cause. For more information please visit their Facebook events page.

DJ Red (Jared Weir) has been rocking parties in and around Brandon and the Westman area for more than 15 years. Starting out working for Expressions Entertainment, he cut his teeth doing socials, school dances and wedding receptions before going out on his own and working for himself. He has also held residencies at 2 Brandon nightclubs and most recently hosted a DJ workshop for kids aged 9-15 through the City of Brandon's Youth Activity Centre. For bookings contact him by phone or text to (204)721-2593 or email him at jptweir@gmail.com Where you can catch DJ Red live: The 40 on Friday, March the 25th. Fri.Apr. 8th: Drink the Bar Dry @ SUDS Sat.Apr. 9th: Houston's May Long 2 nights @ Danceland Clear Lake