0 4B - Thursday, November 5, 2009 The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com BLUES From Page 1B store) doesn't feel like it's some- thing that's really hitting home to me, because of the convenience and the quickness and the accu- racy you can get online." "I don't really have that nos- talgia of going to a record store and being really pumped about a release that's coming out in the way that our parents or older siblings might have felt," Leahy admits. Marc Taras of PJ's validates this generational gap, explaining how his core demographic has shifted in the past 15 years from 25-and- younger to 25-and-older. While these stores are remark- ably staying afloat, the general engulfment of culture by the Internet is increasingly pigeonhol- ing them in a niche market. And the fan base for this market may be dying - literally. THE DEATH OF THE CD When it comes down to it, the root of the problem lies in the fact that the CD, the former bread and butter of most record stores, has become financially inviable com- pared to the MP3. "If you spend $1,000 pressing a CD, you have to sell 100 of them at $10 before there's even a dollar actually made," says Al McWil- liams, CEO of Quack!Media, an independent multimedia distribu- tor in Ann Arbor. On the other hand, you don't have to pay up-front costs to pro- duce an MP3. "With digital, you have to make one penny to profit," McWilliams explains. While record labels haven't stopped selling CDs just yet, sales figures might give them incentive to go totally digital. According to eMpyre ramireX, the pseudonym- masked president of Galactic Dust, a Detroit-based indepen- dent record label, for every $45 he makes on MP3 sales, he only makes about $5 on physical CDs. So why do these companies continue to sell CDs? Well, mainly because certain people keep buy- ing them - there's a sort of CD fetish inherent in bona fide music nerds. Brian Peters of Ghostly Interna- tional, an independent Ann Arbor music label, discusses the com- pulsive tendency of hardcore audiophiles to "want the tac- tile sense of holdingthe LP: seeing the art, having that ownership over the prod- uct and that connection to the band." And, of course, there's the issue of sound quality. "The amount of quality information - audio bits - that are on a CD is just such a higher sampling rate than what's on (the usual) MP3," explains Mark Clague, assistant professor of Musicology at the University. Bradish of Underground Sounds speculates that "people who are buying a CD or an LP have usually heard it and know what they're getting into and are making an investment in sound quality." As far as MP3s, Bradish is turned off: "It always comes off flat and com- pressed and tinny. There's absolutely no room sound ... most vinyl, if it's mastered r W correctly ... you can c actually get a feel for the room it was record- ed in." Luckily for these record stores, audiophiles have shown a rekin- dled appreciation for the subtle- ties of acoustic fidelity. While CD sales are plummeting, sales in vinyl have enjoyed an unexpected resurgence, and local record stores have capitalized on this trend to stay alive. "We sell a lot of CDs, but they just pay forthe rentbasically," says Dale. "We make our money off of (vinyl)." While the CD market may be drying up significantly, the true music fan's unrelenting passion for local music from the past ump- teen years. Encore, Wazoo and Underground Sounds all carry extensive collections of local releases. And they do it on an essen- tially non-profit basis, marking up the CDs just enough to cover stock- ing costs. Butmostimportantly,AnnArbor record stores actively spread the love for local artists. Leah Diehl of the band Lightning Love mentions how Bradish fervently pro- moted her music, hooking her band up with a show in Ohio and selling her album to people who had never even heard of the group. And while Google may be cheapening the value of a record store owner's musical expertise by placing all of that knowledge and' more within the easy-access reach of a search engine, there's a human element inherent in record stores that will never be displaced by the Information Age. Peters of Ghostly International talks about the sort of invaluable relationship that a consumer can build with a record store owner. "Matt Bradish at Underground Sounds is really good about bring- ing in specialty discs. I got the My Bloody Valentine reissue EPson vinyl. And he knew, the second I walked in he knew I'd want it," Peters said. "He knows me. I know him. And there's just that great sense of curation that I think you don'tget at Best Buy." And Clague mentions how, while the Internet has revolutionized the spread of culture and information, it "has a way of sort of atom- izing everything to make it almost invisible." There's a cer- tain preciousness to witnessing all of these musical trinkets huddled together under one roof, a preciousness that evaporates when this information is relegated to Web pages. "There's something about walk- ing into Encore, in a-space where the titles are almost falling down because the stacks are so high," Clague says. "And you get a vis- ceral sense, a physical sense, .a psychic sense of the kind of legacy and amount of art that's been cre- ated that there is to grasp ... If you just started at one end and tried to listen your way through the store, you'd die before you made it 10 feet past the front entrance." Perhaps more than anything, local record stores are refreshing slices of reality in a world that's been increasingly digitized. While they may be quaint, local record stores are a crucial component of Ann Arbor's cultural vibrancy as a sort of embassy where audiophiles can converge instead of walking around, severed from the out- side world by their iPod earbuds. And while the stores may be on or near their deathbeds, they're still around for now. "We can't take our whole life and put it online. There has to be somethingyou can walk out of your house and actually do," McWil- liams of Quack!Media says. "I have a special appreciation for record stores but I also have a general of appreciation for real life and leaving the house sometimes. I met girls in record stores." 0 If you want to live in a fascist society, keep buying on the Internet ... This town's turning into a giant restaurant anyw . - Matt Bradi Owner, Underground Sounds the physical object is a staple that's preventing these stores from clos- ing down - for now. LOCAL RECORD STORES: KEEPING REALITY REAL So what is it thatwe would all be missing out on if our local record stores just decided to up and leave? According to the major players in the Ann Arbor music scene: alot. For one, record stores are help- ing to keep downtown Ann Arbor culturally alive ina time when real estate is becoming increasingly smothered by mass-produced chain stores. Bradish is particularly vehe- ment on this subject: "People have got to realize, what do they want? Do they want corporate control of everything? If so, keep buying on the Internet. If you want to live in a fascist society, keep buying on the Internet ... This town's turning into a giant restaurant anyway." These stores are keeping the local music scene alive, too. Just walk into Encore - the r front counter is overflowing with shelves of exclusively 0 YOU'RE SMART. DO THE RIGHT THING. Write for Daily Arts. E-mail battlebots@umich.edu for an application. 'DIDDY KONG RACING' (1997) N64 ario Kart's multiplayer superior By JACK PORTER Daily Arts Writer "Mario Kart 64" was the video game that defined the kart racing genre, inspiring a legion of knock- offs in its wake. The kart fad, though short-lived, produced a few stellar games. While "Mario Kart 64" still had the best multiplayer, itssingle-play- er modes were shamedby the Story Mode in "Diddy Kong Racing," a game that has been sorely over- looked. "Diddy Kong" offered more than just a vanilla racing package - the extra plane and hovercraft vehicles, item-collecting challeng- es and boss battlesbrought new life to the format. Best of all, the wick- ed track designs and devilish diffi- culty ensured the game's longevity. At first glance, "Diddy Kong Racing" appears infantile and its cast of colorful cartoon animals with squeaky, child-like voices can grate on the nerves. The plot is also woefully vapid, meaning Story Mode fails to live up to its name. Taj, a thickly Indian-accented blue elephant wearing a turban (really) summons Diddy Kong and his friends (some of whom later star in their own games, like Banjo and Conker) to save their island para- dise from Wizpig, an evil porcine wizard. The plot is really just a silly contrivance to provide grounds for the platforming and adventure ele- ments interspersed into the racing gameplay. Another distinctive quirk is the game's focus on collecting objects, from golden balloons to silver coins and amulet pieces. The golden bal- The Clinton era's finest kart game. loons are garnered through racing victories and found while explor- ing the game's island overworld. Silver coins are snagged during specialraces, and amulet pieces are collected after besting each world's boss in two races. The collecting aspect works because the sense of incremental accomplishment is addicting, as countless other games have proven. Rare, the game's developer, is a master of the collect-a-thon ("Don- key Kong Country" was its break- out title), so this idea was a natural fit. In the end, Rare should've made more racers. As an oddball racer, "DiddyKong Racing" shines when it comes time to put the joystick to the plastic. Courses are filled with daunting hairpin turns, steep drops, speed- boosting strips and shortcuts. By crafting clever alternate paths, Rare endowed the game with sur- prising depth. During .the Silver Coin Chal- lenges, the player mustcollect eight hidden coins throughout the track within three laps and still manage to finish first. To ensure victorythe player has to learn the intricacies of courses like the pirate-themed Treasure Cove, which has at least three shortcuts. This brings a stra- tegic element to the racer, as the player needs to plotout fast and safe routes to the coins. If this demand for precision sounds masochistic, well, maybe it is. "Diddy Kong Rac- ing" is not for the faint of heart, and the bosses are proof of that as well. The boss races appear simple enough in theory: The goal is to finish first against the boss while he attempts to squash or other- wise sabotage the player. But as the game progresses, the difficulty skyrockets. Most notorious among the bosses is the third level's octo- pus, which veteran players unof- ficially refer to as "that fucking octopus." Inthe race, the player.must con- trol the hovercraft (which has the most fickle handling of any vehi- cle) while dodgingerrant logs and giant bubbles, which the octopus lays as traps -one mistake and the raceis effectivelyover. Butaswith any well-designed video game, the profanity-spewing player will still want to give it"just one more go." Despite its cheery, candy-coat- ed exterior, "Diddy Kong Racing" delivers a challengingsingle-play- er mode with considerable depth. The "Mario Kart" series is a blast with friends, but none of those titles can provide such a lengthy, rewarding solo quest. Any fans of unrealistic racers should pick up "Diddy Kong Racing" and expe- rience the controller-chucking magic that has endeared gamers to"thatfuckingoctopus"sincethe Clinton administrabon. Apr 40 F w s'I -IL A- d - _ - -L- - A - M _- I_- M O Panel Discussion and QA withthose who support President Obam's Exeuive Order banning tortue Reardmiral John D. Hutson, JAC,tJSN(Ret) BIgadierGeneral Stephen N. Xenalds, USA(Ret) Elisa Massimino, CEO and Executive Director, Human Rights Frst University of Michigan Law School Honigman Auditorium, 100 Hutchins Hall Thursday, November 5 4 -6P.m. E B SPONSO(EDBY THE OFFICE #F PUBLIC SERVICE,