Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Vintage vinyl victory

Beat Box Records in Barrio Logan turns two

Beat Box’s Bernie Fishman, aka DJ Inform: “Like a lot of people my age, we got into soul and jazz through sampling.” - Image by Sean Horton
Beat Box’s Bernie Fishman, aka DJ Inform: “Like a lot of people my age, we got into soul and jazz through sampling.”

Access Hip Hop in P.B. and Beat Box Records serve the hip-hop community from different angles. Access sells new hip-hop albums by current artists. Beat Box sells the 40- and 50-year-old soul, jazz, and funk vinyl that hip-hop artists use to create their tracks.

Access is closing after 15 years. Beat Box turns 2 on Saturday and its founder says business is booming.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“To me, playing vinyl just feels right,” says Bernie Fishman. “When you’re hunting through bins, you’re looking through 50 or 60 years of recorded music.” But he admits carrying crates of singles can get tiring. “A lot of DJs just stopped buying singles. They can get all they need on the internet.”

Fishman still spins as DJ Inform. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, he discovered this wonderful otherworld of vintage vinyl while producing his own tracks.

Beat Box Records turns 2 on Saturday and its founder says business is booming.

“Like a lot of people my age, we got into soul and jazz through sampling. You hear this stuff and you want to find out more about the original artist. And it just grows from there.”

But isn’t the universe of classic vinyl by jazzman Donald Byrd or funk-rock band Coldblood finite?

“A lot of my friends are convinced it’s all dried up. But that’s not my experience at all. I look for records constantly. I go out five or six times a week to estate sales, garage sales, and swap meets. I go to L.A., Arizona, and in a couple weeks I’m going to Minneapolis. If I get too much to bring back on the plane I’ll have it shipped back. I eat, sleep, and breathe records.”

Beat Box clientele includes average music fans and snooty collectors. Fishman knows a “holy grail” disc when he sees it. “One of the best discoveries I ever made was by a psychedelic rock band from Escondido called Brain Police. They only pressed 100 copies of their record not to sell but just to get gigs. Then they disbanded.” He says that record is are worth four figures to collectors.

Because of his Barrio Logan locale he says certain oldies artists “fly out of the store. Like Mary Wells, Otis Redding, Brenton Wood, El Chicano, Bill Withers. If I see someone checking out one artist I’ll tell them, ‘You might also like this.’ I let people play anything they want in the store.”

The store’s two-year anniversary show — and Fishman’s 34th birthday — is November 12 at Beat Box Records (2148 Logan Avenue). Fifteen DJs, including XL Middleton (L.A.) and San Diego’s Marsellus Wallace, perform from noon to 6 p.m. Free admission.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Syrian treat maker Hakmi Sweets makes Dubai chocolate bars

Look for the counter shop inside a Mediterranean grill in El Cajon
Next Article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Beat Box’s Bernie Fishman, aka DJ Inform: “Like a lot of people my age, we got into soul and jazz through sampling.” - Image by Sean Horton
Beat Box’s Bernie Fishman, aka DJ Inform: “Like a lot of people my age, we got into soul and jazz through sampling.”

Access Hip Hop in P.B. and Beat Box Records serve the hip-hop community from different angles. Access sells new hip-hop albums by current artists. Beat Box sells the 40- and 50-year-old soul, jazz, and funk vinyl that hip-hop artists use to create their tracks.

Access is closing after 15 years. Beat Box turns 2 on Saturday and its founder says business is booming.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“To me, playing vinyl just feels right,” says Bernie Fishman. “When you’re hunting through bins, you’re looking through 50 or 60 years of recorded music.” But he admits carrying crates of singles can get tiring. “A lot of DJs just stopped buying singles. They can get all they need on the internet.”

Fishman still spins as DJ Inform. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, he discovered this wonderful otherworld of vintage vinyl while producing his own tracks.

Beat Box Records turns 2 on Saturday and its founder says business is booming.

“Like a lot of people my age, we got into soul and jazz through sampling. You hear this stuff and you want to find out more about the original artist. And it just grows from there.”

But isn’t the universe of classic vinyl by jazzman Donald Byrd or funk-rock band Coldblood finite?

“A lot of my friends are convinced it’s all dried up. But that’s not my experience at all. I look for records constantly. I go out five or six times a week to estate sales, garage sales, and swap meets. I go to L.A., Arizona, and in a couple weeks I’m going to Minneapolis. If I get too much to bring back on the plane I’ll have it shipped back. I eat, sleep, and breathe records.”

Beat Box clientele includes average music fans and snooty collectors. Fishman knows a “holy grail” disc when he sees it. “One of the best discoveries I ever made was by a psychedelic rock band from Escondido called Brain Police. They only pressed 100 copies of their record not to sell but just to get gigs. Then they disbanded.” He says that record is are worth four figures to collectors.

Because of his Barrio Logan locale he says certain oldies artists “fly out of the store. Like Mary Wells, Otis Redding, Brenton Wood, El Chicano, Bill Withers. If I see someone checking out one artist I’ll tell them, ‘You might also like this.’ I let people play anything they want in the store.”

The store’s two-year anniversary show — and Fishman’s 34th birthday — is November 12 at Beat Box Records (2148 Logan Avenue). Fifteen DJs, including XL Middleton (L.A.) and San Diego’s Marsellus Wallace, perform from noon to 6 p.m. Free admission.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Dim Sum Tour, Warwick’s Holiday Open House

Events November 24-November 27, 2024
Next Article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader