Tag Archives: local

Finding a good bookstore like finding a good book

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Story and photos by Brianna Brickweg

MSUM English/Mass Communications

B.D.S. Books is located on the corner of 1st Avenue North and 12th Street in Fargo.

Books nerds across the world dream about a store where books line the walls and flood the aisles. This dream becomes a reality through B.D.S. Books in downtown Fargo.

The bookstore was located on Broadway but moved in 2007. Brad Stephenson, the owner of B.D.S. Books, said that business is coming back as book lovers are slowly finding the store.

“Being on Broadway was nice because we got a lot of walking traffic that we don’t get here,” Stephenson said. “People lost us for a while but it’s coming back.”

B.D.S. Books has been in business since 1995. The bookstore was located in Wahpeton but moved to Fargo in May 2001.

Stephenson talks about why he loves books.

B.D.S. is open throughout the week and “by accident”

B.D.S. Books is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, until 8 p.m. on Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and “other times by accident,” as it says on the store’s hours sign.

“If you see the lights on and you catch me in here, I’m open,” Stephenson said.

The story behind the name

B.D.S. comes from the owner’s name, Brad Dean Stephenson.

Stephenson said the name also comes from an old man who walked into the store one day. The man was a newcomer and he looked at Stephenson and said “I know what B.D.S. stands for: best damn store!” Stephenson never saw the man again.

Stephenson had a sign made for the store based on what the old man said, which now hangs on the back wall of the store.

B.D.S. obtains books through donations and sales

Readers looking to thin their bookshelves can bring their books to B.D.S. for donation or for sale.

Whether or not readers donate or sell the books is up to them. If they feel the books are worth a significant amount of money, readers may choose to sell them; if readers just want to get rid of the books, B.D.S. is happy to accept donations.

Stephenson encourages those who want to donate to consider a trade: Stephenson offers two-for-one for similar kind and price.

“You can get more back that way than you can in cash,” Stephenson said.

Many donators bring in boxes...

And boxes...

And boxes of books for donations.

Students can sell their textbooks to B.D.S.

Students can also sell their textbooks to B.D.S. Stephenson uses buy guides from wholesale textbook companies to determine how much he can afford to pay for the books. He takes the books he buys and sells them back to the textbook companies.

Stephenson encourages students to sell their textbooks to B.D.S. even if the rates are low because, if the textbook is three years old, chances are good that a new edition is on the way and the textbook company won’t be buying the book anymore.

“It’s worth checking,” Stephenson said.

B.D.S. provides readers with a variety of genres

One aisle at B.D.S. can hold many different genres.

Boxes of books are scattered throughout the aisles.

B.D.S. Books is divided into two sections: fiction and nonfiction. The fiction section is divided into the following genres:

  • Classics;
  • Suspense/Thriller;
  • Military;
  • Horror;
  • Action/Adventure;
  • General fiction;
  • Vintage paperbacks;
  • Science fiction/fantasy;
  • Romance, which is subdivided into regency romance, gothic romance, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, historical romance, paranormal romance and harlequin, which is also subdivided into harlequin historicals and harlequin superromance;
  • Mystery;
  • Western; and
  • Historical fiction.

The bookstore also has sections specifically for hardcover editions of books, also separated by genre, and for “sets,” such as old Modern Library, an anthology of classical literature, editions.

Some vintage books, called “map backs,” contain maps of different places. Stephenson encounters many readers who enjoy collecting vintage books like these “map backs.”

The list of genres within nonfiction is at least twice as long as fiction.

A shelf of the “erotic” section at B.D.S. Stephenson joked that most of the readers who venture into this section wouldn’t know what the note means because they don’t know what “prurient” means.

Stephenson enjoys a variety of literature

Stephenson doesn’t get much time to read because he runs the bookstore, but he enjoys reading anything depending on his mood.

“I try to read a little bit of everything, even if I don’t particularly like it, because I want to know what you’re reading. If I know you’re reading vampire lover books, I want to read a few of them and at least have a sense of what they’re about.,” Stephenson said.

And yes, he has read the first “Twilight” book.

“It was fine – if you’re a fourteen-year-old girl,” Stephenson said. “I can understand (why) the young girls (read it), I really can, because all of us at that age…we all feel like the outsider at that age and to have the biggest, baddest, magical lover and ‘He loves me! Little me!’ I can understand it.”

Stephenson particularly enjoys reading science fiction and ”Don Quixote”.

“I just about cried when it (‘Don Quixote’) ended,” Stephenson said. “I wanted it to keep going. It was so much fun.”

Stephenson says, “Look for us!”

“Get on First Avenue and come until Twelfth Street,” Stephenson said. “People ask that (where B.D.S. is) all the time – ‘Where are you?’ and I say ‘On the corner of First Avenue and Twelfth Street’ and they say ‘What’s it near?’ I say ‘We got a green-and-purple building, for God’s sake. We’re what everything’s near!’”

Many people have struggled to find the bookstore but Stephenson said people are slowly finding where they are located. Stephenson said most of the problems finding the bookstore come from people simply not looking at the street signs.

“Watch your street signs,” Stephenson said. “People are funny.”

Shopping locally first can help readers find better deals

A regular customer shops at B.D.S.

Stephenson thinks Kindles are “the work of the devil.”

“You can’t share them with somebody,” Stephenson said. “’Hey Mom, you gotta read this book but it’s on my Kindle. I can’t give it to you because you’re gonna see my porn.’ That’s the problem with the Kindle: you can’t give it to Mom.”

Stephenson supports selling books online at sites like Amazon.com because he sells there as well, but he encourages readers to check locally first.

“Right now we can buy online,” Stephenson said. “If you continue to buy online to the exclusion of buying locally, eventually you won’t have a choice because that local business won’t be there.”

A customer talks about why he loves B.D.S.

Edited by Matthew Beckman, MSUM Journalism.

Pink is in—Local musician Michael Pink gains attention from coast to coast

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Text and Photos by Shane Maland

MSUM Journalism

Michael Pink

Turn up your radios. Michael Pink is about to blow up the airwaves.

“Another one of those stupidly talented pop guys,” said music critic and author John Borack.

“Anytime a guy who has written a book on John Lennon puts me in their top 20, I’m a happy man for an open-ended amount of time,” said Pink.

Going Coast to Coast

Michael Pink, the preeminent pop/rock musician of North Dakota, has a growing following of loyal listeners, and not just in the Valley. From New York City to Eugene, Oregon, Pink’s songs are reaching an audience of ears he could only dream of playing for. It wasn’t a long road that he had to take for his music to bloom, but it was a winding one that took him out of living rooms and into venues as historic as the Fargo Theatre. He even earned himself a trip to a Grammy winning producer’s studio.

The Recording Environment

Pink has been used to recording his albums in various houses across the Midwest, working the knobs and mixer boards himself. He won’t have to do that anymore.

Monthly, Pink has been traveling to Minneapolis to record with Kevin Bowe, writer and producer. Bowe is the producer that discovered Fargo’s own Jonny Lang, and has written with the likes of Leo Kottke, Robben Ford, The Rembrandts and Peter Case (just to name a few).

"When Grammy award winning people take notice, it’s definitely settling. I’m doing something right."

“There is a confirmation there. He is associated with some of my heroes. When Grammy award winning people take notice, it’s definitely settling. I’m doing something right,” said Pink.

But don’t think that the golden roads of the music business can steer Pink away from the rural dirt roads of his home state.

A Wagon Full of Vagabonds

Michael’s favorite guitar is his grandfather’s 1961 Gretsch Tennessean.

“He took out a loan at the bank in Enderlin to get it. He played in a band with my grandmother and played this guitar at my parents wedding dance in 1976. He was a hard working farmer. He did a fine job of raising my mother and played a fine guitar, although I never got the chance to hear him play it.”

His grandparents, Bernerd and Marilyn Stangler, were in a band called The Vagabonds.

“They were actually kind of a big deal, back in the day. They had a wagon that they would hook up to the pickup with the band’s name on it, and they’d come pull in to your town and play in some un-air-conditioned town hall. They always encouraged me,” said Pink.

“Anytime a guy who has written a book on John Lennon puts me in their top 20, I'm a happy man for an open-ended amount of time.”

The Way Music Should Be

“There’s something about the downtown feel. It’s where music lives. It doesn’t live out in Rose Creek. I love how you can just walk off the street and there is music. The next place has more music. That’s the way it should be. People can knock on the local music scene, but there is still music going on. It could be better, but it could be worse,” said Pink.

No matter what your music scene, it’s time to turn up your stereos and help Michael paint this town Pink.

Edited by Isabella Cody, MSUM journalism

Vinyl Rage; Records make a comeback

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Story and photos by Ashley Wirtzfeld
MSUM Mass Comm Major

 

 


The front of Orange Records facing First Avenue N.

      

        Music and ways to listen to music evolve all the time: Vinyl, cassette, CDs, IPods and MP3s. With all the new ways to listen to music, it’s a wonder an old way of listening is slowly starting to re-emerge. The demand for vinyl is starting to become popular once again. The plea for vinyl, particularly new vinyl, is one people of the Fargo-Moorhead area are getting into. That’s where Orange Records, at 641 First Ave. N. in downtown Fargo, fills a void. Orange Records bills itself as home to the largest selection of new vinyl in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

 

Not your average business owner

       With Orange Vinyl’s third anniversary approaching on July 23, owner Matt Oland is not a new business owner. But at age of 25, one would expect that to be the case.

 


Orange Records owner Matt Oland.

 


       After graduating from Lidgerwood High School, Oland didn’t feel the need to attend college. But he did feel the need for vinyl.
       “There was no place in the area where you could buy new vinyl,” said Oland. “There are a few places where you can buy old stuff but definitely not anything new.”
       With no business background but sensing a demand for new vinyl, Oland decided to open Orange Records in 2007.
       “The name really has no meaning,” he said. “I just liked the sound of it.”
       Deciding to open up shop in downtown Fargo was also a no-brainer for Oland.
       “It just seems like the place a record store should be,” he said. “It seems like with the Aquarium moving in downtown there is a lot more going on. Especially in the last five years.”

 

Not your average store

       Walking into Orange Records customers are hit with the color orange. Enormous walls are covered in orange paint. The next thing customers notice is the vast number of music posters on the walls. The posters leave no doubt: This is a music store.

 


The single room store located in downtown Fargo.

      

       Orange Records doesn’t stop at selling music. It also sells buttons, stickers, incense, hooded sweatshirts, t-shirts, and DVDs. Orange Records also buys used music, and is always taking it in. Oland also offers a variety of specialty music magazines.
       “Specialty magazines are hard to sell,” said Oland. “But I do know I am the only store that carries some of these magazines, like ‘Razorcake.’ ”

 


Orange Records also sells incense and posters, and has a window facing Roberts St.

 

Repeat Customers

       Orange Records doesn’t have a website, however, it does have a MySpace and Facebook page. Oland would be the first to admit he doesn’t have enough advertising. But a lot of the same customers come in, which helps, he said.
       “My average customer is between the ages of 18 and 40,” he said. “Some of the same people come in all the time.”
       One of those repeat customers is Curt Schindler of West Fargo.
“I got into record collecting last fall and started going to Orange Records since then,” Schindler said. “I spend a lot of time downtown and just saw the store.”

 


Posters and vinyls featured at Orange Records.      

       

        Most customers appreciate the wide variety of music Orange Records offers; some especially appreciate the new vinyl. But new vinyl isn’t all Schindler shops for, either.
       “I was first drawn to Orange Records for their new vinyl, but I have bought concert tickets there before, too” Schindler said.


A little bit of everything

        Orange Records has music for all types of music lovers. Oland features quite a bit of local music in his store.
        “I sell a lot of local stuff on consignment,” he said. “Anyone can bring in their stuff and I’ll sell it for them.”
       Besides local music, Oland carries a variety of regional music as well.
       “We have a lot of music from bands in Duluth and Minneapolis,” Oland said.
       Every Tuesday, Oland features new releases in his store and constantly posts updates about new music in his store and online.

 


New releases are written on a grease board to update customers.

      

       Orange Records also has a variety of hip-hop albums on vinyl. Besides hip-hop, Oland offers break records for DJ spinning, which is a hard-to-find item.
       “Break records bring in a lot of business for me,” Oland said. “It saves people from having to drive to Minneapolis to buy it.”
       If there is something you want and can’t find, Oland is more than happy to find it for you. Some customers choose to use Facebook and MySpace as a means to request the store stock a specific item.
       “I do special orders all the time here,” Oland said. “If they ask for it I’ll always try to get it.”

 


A row of vinyl located in Orange Records.

 

 


An upclose shot of vinyls at Orange Records.

 

F-M Downtown