Hi Everyone,

This week a giant congratulations goes out to CIMS member, Karl Groeger Jr., as well as the entire Looney Tunes family as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the store. Karl has been a long-time member of CIMS, served on the CIMS Board for two decades, and is known for making plenty of noise in his little corner of West Babylon, New York.

Looney Tunes Records was opened by Karl Groeger Sr. in 1971. In 1989, Karl Jr. and his brother Jamie took the helm. The store suffered a fire in 2007 that completely destroyed the space. Most people at that point may have hung their hats up and called it a day, but not Looney Tunes! They rebuilt the store and carried on. In 50 years, they have seen it all. The CD boom, the emergence of the digital world, a devastating fire, the comeback of vinyl, a global pandemic, and countless amazing music events. Through it all, Looney Tunes continues to serve the Long Island music community every day.

Sadly, they also just suffered the loss of a long-time member of the Looney Tunes family, store manager, John Sadowski (also formerly of Polygram Records and then Universal Music)/ I know this will make celebrating this monumental achievement bittersweet, so I wanted to share Karl’s lovely tribute to John here:

https://www.looneytuneslongisland.com/post/john-sadowski-tribute

December 18th is when the anniversary celebrations will commence, so check out the details of that here and show some love to Karl and Looney Tunes!

https://www.looneytuneslongisland.com/post/looney-tunes-is-celebrating-50-years-on-saturday-dec-18th-2021

I talk a lot here about how music is a force that drives us. Let’s face it, you don’t usually make it to 50 years by just doing something you just kind of like doing. So, I asked my old pal Karl because I was curious what are some of the albums that changed his life. Here are 5 of those.

From Karl:

1) The Beatles- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
For me it has always been The Beatles and then everything else in life. Was my dad’s favorite band and we listened to them all day everyday growing up. Sgt. Peppers has always been my favorite.
Really I could just list all Beatles albums here but let’s try and find some others

2) Boston- Boston
So, in the Groeger house, even though my dad had a record store… I didn’t get anything for free! I was able to play my dad’s records, but I had to clean them after I played with them and put them back in order (lol) and they were his records so, when I was about 8 years old I saved enough money to buy my first record by myself - and I picked this one. Still to this day, it’s one of my favorites

3) Led Zeppelin- IV
After the Beatles, Led Zeppelin is my second favorite band. I had the classic Jimmy Page double-neck guitar poster in my room growing up and would stare at it daily. The sounds that they made together - just amazing. That album is perfect

4) Pink Floyd- Darkside of the Moon
How do you have a list of favorite records and not include Pink Floyd!

5) Queensryche- Operation Mindcrime
I have always leaned towards classic rock and heavy metal. I was always the one playing music the loudest and banging my head way too often. The first concert I was allowed to go to by myself was Helloween, Armored Saint and Grim Reaper! LOL This is one of those metal albums that is just perfect from beginning to end.

The list could go on forever... but that’ s my desert island 5! - It covers every mood!

There you have it!

Thanks, Karl, for keeping the love alive. Here is to 50 Years of Looney Tunes Records and to many more!!

Here are the charts,
Andrea

Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
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