Ultrasound Going Silent: Another landmark record store is closing its doors. After 15 years, Ultrasound Music (36495 Vine St., Willoughby,) will liquidate its metal-heavy stock and shutter its storefront in March. It's the same old story: As digital music grows, CD sales are plummeting.
"It's time," says owner Gary Pfleuger. "I'd sit around for a couple hours waiting for people to come in. EBay has kept my store afloat."
One day in 1984, Pfleuger bought Venom's Possessed and Metallica's Kill 'Em All cassettes at Mentor's Record Den. Soon, metal and punk were his job. He started working at Cleveland Heights' Wax Stacks, then bought the business.
Ultrasound opened in Mentor in 1995, after Pfleuger's lawyer talked him out of naming it Enemy of God Records. It became Northeast Ohio's best source for hardcore, stoner rock and obscure metal. Underground stars like Death, Cannibal Corpse and Obituary made in-store appearances. In 2005, the store moved to Willoughby. In 2007, Revolver magazine named it one of the country's top metal shops.
Pfleuger, who is still managing and booking Nemeth's Lounge in Painesville, will continue to sell music on eBay.
"It was the best heavy metal store, without a doubt," says Bill Peters, a regular customer and host of WJCU 88.7 FM's Metal on Metal. "Nobody stocks metal like Gary did. He was great. Very friendly."
LiLi Roquelin's new album, Will You Hate the Rest of the World or Will You Renew Your Life, is streaming at MySpace.com/LiliRoquelin. The French-born performer — who lived in Kent for several years in the mid '00s, where she sang with metal band Hate Dies Hard on their 2006 album Neverending Sundown before moving to New York in 2008 — delivers dynamic vocals over piano-driven tracks and electro beats.
The Goodwill Band and the Gretchen Pleuss Band will alternate sets and share songs on Saturday, February 27, at Grande Ranch (4586 E. Lincoln Way, Wooster). Goodwill singer Jim Good will join Pleuss to harmonize on "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" and "Killing the Blues" from the 2007 Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album Raising Sand. Music starts at 8:30 p.m., cover $5.
To commemorate Johnny Cash's birthday, Eric "DJ Porkchop" Taylor will spin Cash-related music all night on Friday, February 26, at the 5 O'Clock Lounge (11904 Detroit Ave., Lakewood). Doors 9 p.m., no cover. The first 50 fans get Cash pins. Cash's final studio album, American VI: Ain't No Grave, recorded before his 2003 death, was released Tuesday. To celebrate that, as well as what would have been his 78th birthday, America Recordings is asking fans to post pictures of themselves wearing black at Facebook.com/JohnnyCash on February 26.
