Anita Sattel
On Nov. 28, I took a break to enjoy the still-warm weather and wandered down State Street to visit B-Side Records. When I approached the counter, owner Steve Manley apologized for moving gingerly. During his bike ride to work, he said, his bike had slipped on the wet pavement, the tire caught some railroad tracks and he crashed. He said he was hoping he hadn’t broken any bones.
Unfortunately, that turned out to not be the case: A GoFundMe page created Sunday by Manley’s son Brendan states that Steve sustained a broken hip (in two places) and also a fractured right elbow in the crash. Since Nov. 29 he has been absent from the store and will be out of work for a few months while recovering. (Full disclosure: As a longtime customer and vinyl aficionado, I donated to the crowdfunding campaign.)
Although the store has operated since 1982, regular customers know that for several years Manley has been the sole employee at B-Side. The scaling back became a necessity because of declining sales in the era of digital platforms. It’s a task that would seem more onerous if not for Manley’s love of sharing his deep knowledge of music with his customers, which comes through clearly in his daily posts on music history at the store’s Facebook page.
Even after Manley began holding down the fort on his own, the B-Side family has remained close knit, and after the accident, plans came together to keep the store open during his recovery. Former employees Ralph Cross, Dave Colby and Jim Ackerman are helping keep things going, along with Manley’s son Brendan and his Dash Hounds bandmate Alivia Kleinfeldt, who are both learning as they go along.
Kleinfeldt was at the counter Dec. 5. She says the current hours for the store are somewhat up in the air, but the doors will be open as much as possible. “We’re kind of scrambling to make our schedules fit, do some training [on working the counter] and in some cases re-training.”
Madison’s music fans are spreading the word about the GoFundMe campaign, and as of 4:30 p.m. Dec. 5, donations are flowing in steadily. The initial goal was crossed by mid-Monday afternoon and the total is currently more than $10,000.
Manley writes via email that he has fielded many messages today as word of the campaign spreads. “As someone who ran all aspects of my music retail business for years, I feel overwhelmed by the support offered by not only family and friends, but customers and people I barely know. Grateful and humbled. And relieved, knowing I will be able to compensate the temporary staff filling in while I am disabled.”
