Downtown Sounds to celebrate 50th anniversary

Downtown Sounds.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis

NORTHAMPTON — To mark half a century as a staple of the Northampton music community, Downtown Sounds Workers Co-op is hosting a 50th anniversary celebration event on Monday, June 1, at the Iron Horse.

Located on Pleasant Street since 1976, Downtown Sounds has been the go-to place for musicians to help cover any guitar, percussion, orchestral and other musical needs. It became a co-op in 2019 following the retirement of original owner and founder Joe Blumenthal. Offering general sales, repairs and lessons, Downtown Sounds has stuck around over the last 50 years by delivering music services as a hub for the arts and the live music scene.

“We are a local community-based store, a place where people can come and get good advice on instruments, repairs or lessons. There is a strong musical and artistic community [in Northampton], so it really helps to be in a place that really appreciates being able to come in and have a face-to-face interaction with somebody instead of just using their phone or going online,” said Aaron Borucki, who works in sales for Downtown Sounds and has been an employee at the shop since 2004.

Borucki is also a multi-instrument musician who writes, plays, and sings for Behold! True Believers, one of the acts set for the celebration. He told Reminder Publishing it was important for the co-op to host this event as a celebration for Downtown Sounds history. He added that it is also a celebration of the music community that has been so foundational to Northampton and part of why Downtown Sounds has existed for so long.

“The event is twofold. It is just a way for all of us to celebrate all the hard work that we put into this for such a long time. Everybody here from the store is a musician one way or another, and we are excited to have a celebration. We have a mutual relationship with the Parlor Room, the people that run the Iron Horse now too, so we are using this opportunity to do a show celebrating Downtown Sounds, but it’s also a benefit for the Iron Horse,” said Borucki. “We’re not taking any money, and all the proceeds are going to go directly to the Parlor Room to help out with the wicked expensive ask it is to run that venue. In a way, we’re giving back to the community and at the same time being able to celebrate all the hard work that we’ve done over the years.”

Borucki’s group will bring bombastic blasts of color and light through four melodic instruments and three vocals with their performance. They will be joined by other acts, including alternative country group the Lonesome Brothers, indie pop and Northampton-based group King Radio, and Klezamir, a Klezmer-based band in Western Massachusetts, which features Blumenthal on acoustic and electric bass guitar.

“It just so happens that June 1 is actually the 50th anniversary to the day, so it’s nice that it’s a Monday. It helps out the Iron Horse because we’re not taking up a weekend where they could be pulling in a big crowd,” added Borucki. “I’m hoping that we’re going to sell the place out and it’ll be a big blowout, but it just all kind of came together that way. It’s going to help them, it’s going to give us a venue to be able to perform in a professional environment that cultivates music and art, so I think it’s going to work out pretty nicely for everybody.”

As part of the special guest performers, Borucki shared that some of the co-op’s younger employees, Ari Benjamin and Adam Ives, will also get some stage time. He said, overall, the celebration of 50 years will highlight both old and new from the music community behind the shop.

“We’re really glad to have some of our younger staff involved and not have it just be the old hat and the old traditions. We’re going to be having a marriage of the old guard and the future generation of the store coming together all to celebrate, and it’s going to be really great to get everybody that has been part of this for such a long time under the same roof to get to celebrate; we’re really excited about it,” Borucki added.

The benefit for the Iron Horse and celebration of Downtown Sound’s 50th anniversary is a perfect match, according to Borucki, because he said the co-op is grateful to still be around and in their Pleasant Street location. He shared that the community support is apparent and appreciated, and it only made sense to celebrate the shop’s milestone in a way that gives back to the local music community.

“We’re grateful to be here. The fact that we’re a co-op is something that I think means a lot to a small community. People tend to really appreciate the fact that we are worker-owned … we are just extremely grateful for all the support we’ve had over the years from customers and students and people coming in to get stuff repaired or even just families out of town coming through on the weekend,” said Borucki. “What we are doing is something that I think is really special, and it’s really pretty awesome to get to be your own boss. It’s more work than it’s ever been, but for the most part it is extremely rewarding.”

Doors will open for the celebration at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $24, but prices will increase on the day of the event. To purchase tickets beforehand, visit theparlorroom.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/events/a0SV500000BNpbNMAT.