The ARChive Holiday Record + CD Sale is a success so far with plenty of folks shoppin’ n’ boppin.’
Still plenty of tasty vinyl and CDs left. 300 LPs make a great stocking stuffer! So come on down and tell your friends. Join the fun. Support the ARC. Everyday, 11-6, from now until Sunday Dec 20. Thanks to all who have already visited or donated materials for the sale. B.
ARChive of Contemporary Music
54 White Street New York City, 10013
3 blocks South of Canal between Church + Broadway
Take the #1 train to Franklin St, or any train to Canal
tel : 212-226-6967 e : arcmusic@inch.com
http://www.arcmusic.org blog: http://arcmusic.wordpress.com
Please join your friends at the ARChive as they present their first event up at Columbia University - Greil Marcus in Lipstick Traces: Live
Thursday, November 19, 6 pm
Free and open to the public
Altschul Auditorium, 417 International Affairs Building (SIPA), 420 West 118th Street
In Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century, Greil Marcus delved into the cross-currents, tangles, and whirlpools that made such vastly different movements as dada, lettrism, the Situationist International, and punk part of a single current. To mark the just-published 20th-anniversary edition of the book, Columbia University presents Greil Marcus in a one-man performance of Lipstick Traces.
This will be smart AND fun!
A book signing will follow the event. Lipstick Traces: Live is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Columbia Libraries, the ARChive of Contemporary Music, and the Arts Initiative at Columbia University.
In addition, the Music & Arts Library at Columbia University will display books by Marcus, books that influenced him, and posters, records, and other materials courtesy of the ARChive of Contemporary Music. The exhibition will be on display from November 1 to December 15, 2009 at The Gabe M. Wiener Music & Arts Library, 7th floor of Dodge Hall, at 2960 Broadway.
Here’s a simple bibliography of Greil’s work:
* Rock & Roll Will Stand (1969), edited anthology
* Double Feature: Movies & Politics (1972), co-authored with Michael Goodwin.
* Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ‘n’ Roll Music (E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1975/2008).
* Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island (1979, editor and contributor)
* Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century (1989/2009), a book on 20th century avant-garde art movements like Dadaism, Lettrist International and Situationist International and their influence on late 20th century countercultures and The Sex Pistols and Punk Movement.
* Dead Elvis: A Chronicle of a Cultural Obsession (1991), about the phenomenon of Elvis Presley in the years since his death
* In the Fascist Bathroom: Punk in Pop Music, 1977-1992 (1993, published in the US as Ranters and Crowd Pleasers)
* The Dustbin of History (1995)
* Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes (1998; also published as The Old, Weird America: Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes, 2001), an account of American folk culture, seen through Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes.
* Double Trouble: Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley in a Land of No Alternatives (2001)
* The Manchurian Candidate (2002)
* The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad (2004, co-edited with Sean Wilentz)
* Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads (2005), a “biography” of the Dylan song
* The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy in the American Voice (2006)
• A New Literary History of America (2009, with Werner Sollers, Harvard University Press)
call or e-me if you have any questions : B. George 212-226-6967 arcmusic@inch.com=
DIRECTIONS - International Affairs Building (SIPA) / Altschul Auditorium
Getting to Columbia’s Campus:
The main entrances to Columbia’s campus on Morningside Heights in Manhattan are at Broadway and 116th Street (where the subway station is) and at Amsterdam Avenue and 116th Street.
Public Transportation:
The best way to reach campus is using the subway. Take subway line number 1 or 9 local to 116th Street (Columbia University) station.
Parking:
You may park on the street or use the local parking garages. The 512-520 Garage is located at the corner of 112th Street and Amsterdam; the Riverside Church Parking Garage is located on 120th Street between Claremont Avenue and Riverside Drive.
Finding Altschul Auditorium on Columbia’s Campus:
The International Affairs building (also known as SIPA) is on the eastern side of Columbia University’s Morningside Campus. The building is at 420 W. 118th Street, on the south side of 118th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Avenue (closer to Amsterdam). Altschul Auditorium is located in the lobby of the building on the first floor, room 417.
Entering From Campus:
From the main campus entrance (right by the subway stop at 116th Street and Broadway) walk east all the way across College Walk (116th Street) to Amsterdam Avenue. Go north two blocks to 118th Street and cross Amsterdam; the International Affairs building is there on the corner. The entrance is on 118th Street (south side).
Today, me and the boys picked up a generous donation of over 6000 LPs from Jerry Rappaport. Now Jerry has the life, a former record exec. he runs a swell hotel with his wife in Grenada, La Sagesse, and they just planted some mangostein trees - he’ll let you know how they’re doing in about ten years. But for now he’s back in NYC, and cleared out a rental space of about half his collection to donate to the ARC.
Here’s Keith Streng, just before rushing off to a rehearsal and gig as a member of the Fleshtones, helping to unload the truck. Nice boxes.
The collection is swell too! Tons of world music and reggae from Jerry’s days at Mango, and a pretty good batch of R&B, and blues recordings from the 60s – right up our alley. We took the am to pick them up, and jumped right in to cataloging that afternoon. Always nice when you have six Misty In Roots LPs, and someone donates six you didn’t have. And you gotta love a guy with 16 Elis Regina albums!
Fred is down for the count. Juan surveys the field.
AND – We are looking for folks to volunteer @ ARC and help catalog all this great stuff. If you have a 4 hr block, at least once a week, give us a call! 212 -226-6967
It is a little known fact that the ancient Nabataeans were early adaptors of new sound recording technologies. They began with cylinder discs (called columns) but found them awkward. Later, around 70 BC, they sliced the cylinders into wafer thin segments, well thin for the time, and began recording on the flat side. Thwarted by a region-only spindle size and fierce competition from the Hittites (every tune a Hitt!) and the Phoenicians (the original Purple Reign), they were soon forced out of the market. Not to mention the freight, as these babies were 33 1/3 tons. Alas, here at Petra, unshipped goods, in a format that defies migration, linger still.
But, I may be mistaken about all this. What I do know is that the walk through Al-Siq, and the first glimpse of the Treasury through the slice of rock, luminous pink curtained black, is a remarkable thing and well worth a trip through time.
All I can think of is our last administration, and the inability to tackle any problem successfully, and how everything was ‘hard work” Please. Have a look at Ajunta, Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, Petra. Imagine signing off on 40 years to carve a rock facade and we can’t rebuild twenty rows of wooden shotgun houses in New Orleans! Disgrace, I mean I digress.
I’ve spent the last 10 days here in Amman Jordan setting up the first stages of Muslim World Music Day (formerly the Muslim Music Crash Course) at Columbia Universities Middle Eastern Research Center. It has been a whirlwind of meetings, show-and tells, planning, report writing and visits to archives, schools, libraries, embassies, musicians and government offices. The project director handling things from Jordan – the man with ALL the contacts – is Kareem Talhouni.
If you don’t know, Muslim World Music Day is an attempt to catalog all the relevant recording in the world, in one day, and surround this core database with informational and entertaining content, online. Read all about it at our pre-website blog www.arcmmcc.wordpress.com
One nice find was a thesis, written in English, but only published in Arabic, on Jordanian music, written by Prof Abdel Hamid Hamam the Dean of the College of Art and Design, University of Jordan. Written in Wales no less. We will excerpt it in both languages on the Muslim World Music Day website.
Equally amazing is the work of Dr. Mohammed Taha Ghawanmeh, Music professor and Dean of fine art @ Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan. Dr Ghawanmeh has spent his life collecting the traditional music of Jordan, and the result is a 500 cassette edition, each cassette one hour long and accompanied by a booklet of lyrics, notation and explanatory notes. This is hard work at its very best. Only two sets of the series now exist and I can only hope that some scholars or universities that read this could find this work useful for their institution of scholarly pursuits. Here’s the contact for the fine arts dept : fac_finart@yu.edu.jo and Arabic speakers can call +962 79 574 3535
By the way on the road to Petra I has coffee, and after a 800 step climb rested in a rock solid tea room overlooking the rose red monestary. Life used to be so hard…
My favorite reaction to the project was from a woman at the Center who wanted to know if every whore and slut who parades nearly naked on the TV, shaking her stuff, and singing in Arabic would be a part of the website. She then showed me a few of Nancy Ajram’s videos (mild by my standards) and then exclaimed with a smile, “This is my favorite!” And shaking her shoulders, “I love to dance to this one.” Hey, Nancy was on Ophra last month!
With downloading so prevalent and pirating commonplace, music shops have all but disappeared in Jordan – one small chain, The Music Box, holding its own. Plus the visual versions are very seductive as DVDs and music on TV predominates. Live music is scarce in formal performance. This photo is from a concert at Al Hussein Cultural Center taken by Robert Reeder, an ex pro photographer visiting Amman. Musically, it was the kanoon playing of Tewfik Mirkham (sp?) that was luminous.
My endless search for actual music collections was finally rewarded on the last day of my visit to Amman with a trip to The Jordan Radio and Television Corp. Our animated host, Ms. Hala Zureiqat, Director of Jordan Television, listened to our pitch, conferred with her Director, then nearly shouted, “We’re in!” What has made this trip rewarding is that so many people in the region are willing to support the Muslim World Music Day - a new idea, on first hearing – so enthusiastically.
In one of the rehearsal rooms we were treated to a short concert by 73 year old singer Mohammed Wahib – sweet, toothless and energetic. The song is, “Slaima.”
The station has saved nearly its entire history since the 60s on reel to reel tape, and it is mostly catalogued. The recent past is digitized and can be called up inhouse, electronically. But for me the real fun was to finally see some real vinyl – 45s, LPs and a full shelf unit of approx 4,300 seventy-eights.
We will work to make sure this material is cataloged for the project and who knows what trash or treasures we will unearth. Maybe an early Nabataean disc?
Freddie, who does the weeding @ ARC, was comparing our three copies of the LP “Combo” by Henry Mancini and His Orchestra ( RCA Victor Records, LPM-2258 , 1961). We sell third copies, keep two of everything. Well why not hava listen he sez to himself he sez. Lo, it turns out two copies of the album play “Moanin’” as the first track on both sides, but lists “Powdered Wig” as the first track on side two. So that means we gotta keep ‘em all. But what it really means is that we should be listening to ALL TWO MILLION RECORDINGS at ARC. Freddie will start Aug 24, when he gets back from vacation.
Well, the Summer Sale is over and was a great success. Thanks to all who braved the rain and helped us out by carting off our wretched excess. We’ve neglected the blog for a while, so here’s some recent things that caught our eye/ear. And it’s more than the weather that has made me a bit cranky.
Midsummer Night Swing (a fine roster of entertainment from an organization that I boycott because of the segregation of a paying and not paying sections, non payers getting lousy sound) will feature our very own archivist – DJ: Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus. Fred will play the pony, twist and way funkier stuff, pre –mid + post The Chubby Checker set. It’s this Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 6:30. Dance Lesson at 6:30, Live Music at 8:30, Damrosch Park, 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam. They don’t say it upfront (because they are ashamed) and they hide the single event price (pushing an $80 batch of tickets), but you can actually get on the dance floor for ONLY $15.
Other shocking news is that one of the best Rai singers is in the clink. Reuters reports that Cheb Mami (Mohamed Khelifati ) got 5 years from a French court for trying to force his girlfriend to have an abortion. It wasn’t just that he offered a strong polemic; it seems he had her kidnapped, drugged, and he and his henchmen attempted an amateur operation at the star’s villa in Algeria. A light sentence if you ask me.
I‘ve often abandoned artists with reprehensible acts in their resumes. Not that my vote counts, but if you shoot your wife in the head (Wm Burrohs) or seem ‘fascinated’ by fascism (any old Futurist), or that joining the Hitler Youth is good training for being the Pope, well, you lost me.
A speaking of the wrong person in a nice place, Prince is once again slated to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival – the closing act no less. What, they couldn’t book Hanna Montana? That there is so little imagination left in this world is baffling. Prince is but one of too many non-jazz acts, making the festival indistinguishable from all the other Euro summerfare. Call me naïve, but I believe a jazz festival should book jazz artists.
On the bright side, one donation during the sale brought in a signed copy of, Have Guitar Will Travel, by that world renowned jazz artist, Bo Diddley. For youguns out there, the calling card and travelin’ theme on this LP comes from a late 50s-early 60s TV western “Have Gun Will Travel” starring Richard Boone. His character, Paladin, was a mustachioed knight-errant, schizo-ing between tails and all-black westernwear.
Finally, I’m torn between my hatred of the lowest common denominator and corporate media rule, in an AP story of Disney having its lawsuit dismissed against the masterminds (?) behind the animated comedy (?) Family Guy, for their off-color parody of “When You Wish Upon A Star” from Pinocchio, sung by Cliff Edwards (Ukulele Ike). The only thing worse than a lame parody, it the protection of an imagined sacred source.
So in memorial, after you hit Forest Lawn for a MJ deathpeek, grab a uke and mosey over to visit Cliff Edwards at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park in Burbank. We have no idea where Vibe is buried, but it’s gone too…
Join your pals @ ARC for our Summer Record + CD Sale JUNE 13 – 21 !!!
And NOW, with Virgin closing, ARC is the largest record store in New York! (at least for the next week). So come on down and support ARC.
Admission is free! New items daily. Over 20,000 items for sale
At our ground floor office: 54 White St.
3 short blocks south of Canal, between Broadway & Church in Tribeca.
Take the 1 train to Franklin, or any train to Canal.
CDs are NEW donations from record companies, NOT used, returns or defects!
Mostly pop and rock recordings. Collectible LPs are priced below book value.
Hundreds of CDs are priced at $1 to $5 each. Cassettes are 4 for $1.00
Just released NEW & HOT CDs are $5 – $10.
PLUS
7” singles • many desirable and hard to find • Shelves of new music books • 100s of sealed/unopened LPs • African, Reggae & world-music releases • Classical LPs 50¢ or LESS • laserdiscs • videos
For the dis-en-vinyled our Astroturf Yardsale of 50s kitchen stuff and clothing!!!
COCKTAIL PARTY - ARChive Members are invited to a cocktail party on
Thursday, JUNE 11 Members shop before the general public.
JOIN / call for details : 212-226-6967 Champagne supplied by the Bubble Lounge
I think everyone should send an old pair of shoes to Bush to let him know what we think of him – with the wish that they be donated to the poor – signed Muntadhar al-Zeidi. Wrap in newspaper. Add a label. post…
The image of 100,000 shoes piled outside the White House is a good parting shot. Pass it on…
attn: George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Searching the ARC database here’s a portion of our “shoes aren’t bombs” memorial discography:
Just Because You Wear Big Shoes – The Jody Grind
Cold, Cold Shoes – Fleshtones
The Steel Shoe – Risers
Hillbilly Shoes – Montgomery Gentry
Dead Man’s Shoes – Caberet Voltaire-
Take Your Shoes Off – Midnight Star
Get Your Feet Out of My Shoes – The Boothill Foot-Tappers
Old Brown Shoe – The Beatles
Brown Shoes Don’t Make It – Mothers of Invention
Worried Shoes – Daniel Johnston
I’ve Got Sand In My Shoes – The Drifters
Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy – Red Foley
Blue Suede Shoes – Carl Perkins
Red Shoes by the Drugstore – Tom Waits
Walk In My Shoes – Hazel Dean
The Shoemaker – Mad Daddys
No Shoes – John Lee Hooker
Red Shoes by the Drugstore- Tom Waits
Wigs, Blues and High Heeled Shoes – Burning Tree
If the Shoe Fits – Leon Russell
My Father’s Shoes – Leon Russell
Shoe Shoe Shine – Centerfold
Layin’ Down My Shoes And Clothes – The Johnny Shines Blues Band
The Story Of Someones Shoe – The Style Council
Travelin’ Shoes – Elvin Bishop
Blue Shoes Stepping – The Bible
Walk a Mile in My Shoes – Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne
Shoe Broke My Heart – Souled American
Hair Shoes – Pale Saints
In Their Shoes – The Boston Tea Party
Leather On My Shoes – Chris De Burgh
Travellin’ Shoes – Bill Wood
Muddy Shoes – Elmore James
Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes – Paul Simon
Welfare Shoes – Dancing Hoods
Shoes – Brooke Benton
Wing Tip Shoes – Henry Lee Summer
Shoeshiner’s Drag – Lionel Hampton
Nobody Can Fill Your Shoes – Conway Twitty
Soul Shoes – Graham Parker
My Little Suede Shoes – Sadik Hakim
Shoe Shine Man – Jimmy Davis & Junction
Red Goose Shoes – Sharky’s Machine
Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot – Von Dexter Orchestra
Shoemaker’s Holiday – Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra
Mama Get Down Those Rock & Roll Shoes – NRBQ
(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes – Elvis Costello
Standin in My Shoes – Leo Kottke
Step In My Shoes – Ruby Turner
Shoeshine Boy – The Humblebums
The Captain’s Fat Theresa Shoes – GTO’s
Put On Your Dancing Shoes – Steve Winwood
Soft Shoe Booty – King Sun
Rock and Roll Shoes – Ray Charles
Italian Shoes – Dynatones
House Shoes – Bar-Kays
Turtle Shoes – Bobby McFerrin
Walkin’ Shoes – Tora Tora
My Father’s Shoes – Cliff Eberhardt
Country Shoes – Alexis Korner & Snape
Shoes – Dick Curless
Those Shoes – Eagles
Wooden Shoes – Texas Instruments
She’s Got Another Pair of Shoes – Alan Price
Hole in the Shoe Blues – Thomas Jefferson Kaye
2000 Shoes – Big Audio Dynamite
Shoes – Bobby Bland
Sailin’ Shoes – Littlr Feet
Happy Shoes – Joe Beck
Shiny Black FBI Shoes – A Tent
Goody Two Shoes – Adam and the Ants
Breakin’ in a Pair of Shoes – Manny Albam and His Orchestra
Brown Shoes – Karen Alexander
Wedding Shoes – Alistair Anderson with Fennig’s All-Star String Band
Sand in My Shoes – Toni Arden
A Shine on Your Shoes – Fred Astaire
Stepping Out of These Shoes – Mick Audsley
Tied Shoes – Auracle
Take Your Shoes Off Baby – Gene Austin
Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes – Kevin Ayers
Dancing Shoes – Kathi Baker
(I Don’t Want To) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes – The Band
Mercury Shoes – Jesse Barish
I Wont’ Step on Your Shoes – Barnaby Bye
Rockin’ Shoes – Paul Barrère
Boogie Woogie Dancing Shoes – Claudja Barry
Old Shoe – Joe Bauer
Soul Shoes – Graham Parker
Who’s Going to Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot – Allan Block & Ralph Lee Smith
My Shoes – Hippos Blue
New Shoes – Pearl Bailey
Sweet Goody Two Shoes – The Blend
Rock In My Shoe – Hank Williams, Jr.
Two Shoes – Carlos Núñez
Jungle Shoes – Bernie Krause
In His Shoes – The Screaming Tribesmen
When My Shoes Are Loose – Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer
Boogie Shoes – KC & the Sunshine Band
Paper In My Shoe – BooZoo Chavis
Sensible Shoes – David Lee Roth
Water In And Out of my Shoe – Men & Volts
Shoe Salesman – Alice Cooper
Paper Shoes – Yoko Ono
Radio Shoes – Bruce Cockburn
Hair Shoes – Pale Saints
…and over 400 more!
Come on down and help us pay the rent here at the ARChive and pick up some great bargains @ bargain prices – CDs, books, singles, LPS – all for a good cause
One nice find was a thesis, written in English, but only published in Arabic, on Jordanian music, written by Prof Abdel Hamid Hamam the Dean of the College of Art and Design, University of Jordan. Written in Wales no less. We will excerpt it in both languages on the Muslim World Music Day website.
On the bright side, one donation during the sale brought in a signed copy of, Have Guitar Will Travel, by that world renowned jazz artist, Bo Diddley. For youguns out there, the calling card and travelin’ theme on this LP comes from a late 50s-early 60s TV western “Have Gun Will Travel” starring Richard Boone. His character, Paladin, was a mustachioed knight-errant, schizo-ing between tails and all-black westernwear.
!