Apr 4, 2023Liked by URB Est. 1990, Raymond Leon Roker
As a journalist covering multiple nascent scenes in the late ‘90s, URB was one of the few places who gave my words the presence and visual support they needed to be brought to life. Thanks Raymond and team for supporting not only the scenes, but the writers chronicling them.
Apr 4, 2023Liked by URB Est. 1990, Raymond Leon Roker
I have been waiting for this for a long time. Been with ya before Science. Sundays, if I recall...
On a side note from all the music stuff, thanks for answering the question "why substack?".
Now then, onto the question of how to bring the archive forward.
There's a mountain of juicy click-bait like "all the acts ranked 33rd" or "top soulful/retro/futuristic acts" etc which will all be great to see.
You can take that to a deeper level with "Tracks recorded on X piece of equipment" or at a specific studio, or "best vinyl printings", or "appeared in a movie/video game", etc.
There's definitely some research spikes for some of those.
This day in urb history might have some potential....
Apr 4, 2023Liked by URB Est. 1990, Raymond Leon Roker
Your magazine was inspiration and lifeline to me at my Kate teens and twenties. It literally changed my life - and made me a publisher as well (Sacramento area). Those were such heady and exciting times. URB deserves to be a pillar of those times and archival for reference for as long as possible. Thank you for doing this. 🙏🏻💯
Apr 4, 2023Liked by URB Est. 1990, Raymond Leon Roker
Thanks for sharing this Raymond, and so excited to see these essential stories documenting the culture coming back to life. I still own almost every copy published and lived by the gospel of the pages from 92 on - the first 10 years from the East coast and the West coast from '02, the magazine being an inspiration for making that move across the country. From Da Scoop, the reviews, the fashion the club listings, to the look of Rivas graphics - MASSIVE. So many stories to tell, would love to see the some of those original party reviews from Da Scoop in the archives, and would love to be involved myself with the next chapter. Cheers!
Apr 4, 2023Liked by URB Est. 1990, Raymond Leon Roker
Working at distributors in the 90s, seeing the artists whose stuff we started selling to the DJ shops on the cover of URB was like a validation of what we were doing. Great stuff, great memories. Time to go dig in the crates a bit!
My years at URB were wonderful. Even at the time, I knew URB was special. I still have most of MASSV archived on various old hard drives, if there's anything you're missing. Happy to help with this project, and thrilled you're putting the archives online.
Apr 5, 2023Liked by URB Est. 1990, Raymond Leon Roker
Thanks for all the love, heart and soul that you and your team put into URB. You efforts, creativity and professionalism were much appreciated and still are. Forever grateful. Stash ICU Art
Apr 5, 2023Liked by URB Est. 1990, Raymond Leon Roker
I’ve been so hopeful to see this happen! Your dedication to make it so is truly admirable and inspiring… I have proudly held onto my historical URB Magazine collection along with an impressive rave flyer collection through a mess of life learning to become an adult, with this I say Thank you so much for passion and time into the evolution that it has become… ♥️🎶
So glad you're doing this, Raymond! I loved URB and probably still have a few issues with my clips in it in an archive box in my closet. Excited to follow along here and witness the next chapter.
“URB Magazine was where the coolest kids spent their time.” Truer words never spoken 🔊🔊🔊🔊🔊
Always there...still in Raymond! :-)
As a journalist covering multiple nascent scenes in the late ‘90s, URB was one of the few places who gave my words the presence and visual support they needed to be brought to life. Thanks Raymond and team for supporting not only the scenes, but the writers chronicling them.
I have been waiting for this for a long time. Been with ya before Science. Sundays, if I recall...
On a side note from all the music stuff, thanks for answering the question "why substack?".
Now then, onto the question of how to bring the archive forward.
There's a mountain of juicy click-bait like "all the acts ranked 33rd" or "top soulful/retro/futuristic acts" etc which will all be great to see.
You can take that to a deeper level with "Tracks recorded on X piece of equipment" or at a specific studio, or "best vinyl printings", or "appeared in a movie/video game", etc.
There's definitely some research spikes for some of those.
This day in urb history might have some potential....
Your magazine was inspiration and lifeline to me at my Kate teens and twenties. It literally changed my life - and made me a publisher as well (Sacramento area). Those were such heady and exciting times. URB deserves to be a pillar of those times and archival for reference for as long as possible. Thank you for doing this. 🙏🏻💯
Thanks for sharing this Raymond, and so excited to see these essential stories documenting the culture coming back to life. I still own almost every copy published and lived by the gospel of the pages from 92 on - the first 10 years from the East coast and the West coast from '02, the magazine being an inspiration for making that move across the country. From Da Scoop, the reviews, the fashion the club listings, to the look of Rivas graphics - MASSIVE. So many stories to tell, would love to see the some of those original party reviews from Da Scoop in the archives, and would love to be involved myself with the next chapter. Cheers!
Can’t wait to hopefully scroll through all the covers in order. So many memories.
Working at distributors in the 90s, seeing the artists whose stuff we started selling to the DJ shops on the cover of URB was like a validation of what we were doing. Great stuff, great memories. Time to go dig in the crates a bit!
I want to see all the URB comic strips from backinthedayz!..that would be a cool look back.
My days at URB were some of the greatest of my life and career. Excited to see what you've got to share from the archives.
Really glad you’re doing this. Looking forward to looking back.
My years at URB were wonderful. Even at the time, I knew URB was special. I still have most of MASSV archived on various old hard drives, if there's anything you're missing. Happy to help with this project, and thrilled you're putting the archives online.
Thanks for all the love, heart and soul that you and your team put into URB. You efforts, creativity and professionalism were much appreciated and still are. Forever grateful. Stash ICU Art
I’ve been so hopeful to see this happen! Your dedication to make it so is truly admirable and inspiring… I have proudly held onto my historical URB Magazine collection along with an impressive rave flyer collection through a mess of life learning to become an adult, with this I say Thank you so much for passion and time into the evolution that it has become… ♥️🎶
i have a very similar story... also a music publisher in my home country and URB was a big source of inspiration and ideas. Thanks and "welcome back"!
So glad you're doing this, Raymond! I loved URB and probably still have a few issues with my clips in it in an archive box in my closet. Excited to follow along here and witness the next chapter.