Some RIPs

Ghostly Visit to 54 White St

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…

Freddy’s Ready – Summer Sale Dates Announced

Join your pals @ ARC for our annual Summer Record + CD Sale.

Yes its true, mainstream rags are ga-ga for vinyl, those johnny-come-latelies trying to explain what we all know – you can’t love a CD!  So Fred put on his fez and got to work rooting through the 350,000 singles to pull third copies , just for you, for our next sale.

Cuz you can never have enough vinyl!

He’s working on the “R”s, trying to find some funky Johhny Ray, low-key Ramones and leathery Bobby Rydell.  Yes, he’s eyeing up a cartload of “R”s.  If we have THIRD copies,
well to the salebins they go

Sale begins Sat June 13 and goes everyday from 11am – 6pm, ending Sun June 21 , when mysterious traders, in fezes, clean us out.

If you have stuff to donate, do it soon.  If you need more, do frop by this June.

Dan Donates!

A good friend of ARC, Dan Zanes, has done the impossible; donated ALL, not some, no ALL of his LPs to the library. Sure he threw in a nice pile of CDs (841), but ALL’s a lot, or at least 1,954 discs, and that’s a lot. Not only ALL, but ALL in great condition, and not only that, great recordings. All of them.

Over 300 LPs were Reggae of the highest caliber and rare enough. Like every donation there were the usual 20 or so Dylan items, but no one ever offered 23 Burl Ives albums? Some of them pre-beard!

If you don’t know who Dan is, well you can go to his webthing. We first knew him as a Del Fuego. These days he’s one of our leading family entertainers, and that’s his press agents way of saying an amazing performer of music for kids.

His Catch That Train! was the 2007 GrammyAward winner for Best Musical Album for Children. There was a100+ count box of children’s recordings in the donation, and equal sized boxes of jazz, early R&B, blues and Folkways LPs. Nice.

So thanks Dan for the incredible donation – we should have them all catalogued and infiled by the end of the month.

Ton o’ Tomes

Today we honor David Hinckley, of the New York Daily News. David has, over the years, contributed mightily to ARC. Unlike MOST critics, David neither sells nor hoards the swag and promos the recording industry sends his way. He reviews and comments on what he likes, promotes what he can, keeps what he loves the most, and then, generously, passes on piles and piles to us to fill in our collection. When we get third copies of things we sell them off. This in turn, helps keep ARC alive.

This year, as the promos dwindle to a precious few (because of electronic press kits) well, we get fewer and fewer new CDs donated. So David, feeling low that 328 CDs that he dropped off seemed a little ‘light’, culled his bookshelves for 261 good books to donate.

Aside from the simply odd, the simply odd and wonderful, the essential and the tossable (which we would never do) there were quite a few we really needed.

David added 48 books on the Beatles to our already catalogued 513 on our shelves. As always, Elvis was a close second, followed by Stones, Bowie and Dead (a law firm you can trust.)

One nice duo we’ve never seen was First Pressing , a two volume set of “Rock History as Chronicled in Billboard Magazine” compiled by Galen Gart in 1986 and published by Big Nickel – one of our favorites. Ringbound, and covering the years from 1949-1952, these oblong wonders attempt to summarize the newstories that did and didn’t matter. Looking at Oct 1949, we learn that Sensation Records, out of Detroit,“…recently resumed pressing after dissolving its contract with King Records, [and] is returning strong in the race field…” with releases by John Lee Hooker, Milt Jackson, and Wild Bill Moore. Well, try googling ‘Sensation Records” and you’ll wear out your mousearm by the time you can get to any real info on this indie long-gone. Did we mention there’s a reason we save, use and need books?

Look for a nice stack at our sale, as many are third copies. And not only should you come by [buy] and shop, but consider donating materials if you have any similar antiques, like records, CDs or books cluttering up the home or office.

SUMMER RECORD + CD SALE
20,000 discs’o'joy for sale @ great prices!
Sat June 7 – Sun June 15
everyday 11-6

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 • url: www.arcmusic.org

the NICE

One of the nicest things about the ARC is the nice people who pop up over the Holidays, the nicest time of the year. So Here’s to jolly, saintly, James Doran, who gave us the nicest gift of all to round out the season, 308 jazz books!

Jim is a long-time ARC supporter, who’s passion is piano jazz. He has authored Herman Chittison : A Bio-Discography, (International Association of Jazz Record Collectors, monograph No. 2, 1993), and made a major donation of his work, as well as that of Erroll Garner, in the past.

This years donation are mostly out-of-print books, with rarities among the rows, and we needed nearly all of them. ARCster Brian, who is Jazz-knowledgeable, had a look at the cache and pointed out a few nice items…

Inside Be-Bop
Leonard Feather, J.J. Robbins & Sons, 1949, paper,103 pp
“Written by America’s No. 1 Authority on Be-Bop” this book looks beyond the eccentric personality angles of the bop cult — the goatees, berets, and other superficial manifestations — and instead focuses on more serious aspects of the music. Includes a technical explanation with musical illustrations, biographies, photos, and a list of albums suitable for a general introduction to bebop.

Hot Discography
Charles Delauney, Commodore Record Co., 1943 edition (Revised and corrected reproduction of the original 1938 French edition), cloth, 416 pp
Hot Discography was the first attempt to systematically list all “hot” jazz records along with the personnel for each performance.

Duke Ellington on Compact Disc
Jerry Valbourn, Marlor Productions, 1993, paper, 253 pp
Evidence that jazz discographies can succeed when focusing on something other than original pressings of the material. According to the author the compact disc has done more to perpetuate Duke Ellington’s legacy than any other retrieval format. Includes documentation of over 1,000 Duke Ellington related compact disc releases.

The collection contained plenty of other distinguished discographies, including many from Greenwood Publishing focusing on, among others, the Prestige, Savoy and King labels, 25 volumes of The Jazz Discography by Tom Lord, and a whole shelfload of titles on women in jazz; I Had the Craziest Dream by Helen Forrest, American Women in Jazz by Sally Placksin, and Jazz Women at the Keyboard by Mary Unterbrink. You can see the complete list of everything donated on our webthing.

Jim also donated 176 LPs and as clever as we think we are, we had to be told that the one person common to every disc was pianist Tommy Flanagan.

Stealth themed donations are encouraged.

You should all give it a try!

b.ARC

Sneaky Santa Holiday Sale!

Do you like music? How about the holidays? If you answered “yes” to both, then you’re in luck! It time again for the ARChive of Contemporary Music’s big Holiday Record & CD sale!

It all gets going on Saturday, December 8th and we’ll keep it going everyday, from 11-6, until Sunday, December 16th. We have 20,000 items for sale, and we’ll add new items daily. CDs are NEW donations from record companies, NOT used, returns or defects! We have mostly pop and rock recordings, but keep your eyes open for CDs from Rough Trade and reggae from Trojan and Sanctuary! Collectible LPs are priced below book value – all sorts of new things. Hundreds of CDs are priced at $1 to $5 each. cassettes $1.00 ea./ 12 for $10. Just released NEW & HOT CDs are $5 – $10 • MOST LPS $1! BEST DEAL = BOXES of 125 Pop, Soundtrack or Classical LPs = $5 a BOX • TONS of Film Soundtrack & Broadway LPs + CDs – MOST for a BUCK • Signed records • 100s of sealed/unopened LPs (Aretha, Troggs, Smiths) • BEATLES and more BEATLES LPs • African & world-music • Classical LPs $1 or LESS each! • Vintage punk, new wave & classic rock LPs • music books • videos • 7″ singles • PLUS, you’ll find CHRISTMAS Records to suit all of your holiday needs!

Here’s chilly Volunteer Jessica wearing one of our flea market sweaters and restocking a hot off the shelves Feotus On Your Breath LP.

(Wow, look at all that stuff!)

There’s even stuff for the dis-en-vinyled out there at our Astroturf Yardsale of 50s kitchen stuff and clothing!!! THERE IS STUFF FOR LITERALLY EVERYONE! YOU GOTTA BE THERE!

(Don’t you just LOVE that Dress!)

Admission is free! You’ll find us at 54 White St, just three short blocks south of Canal, between Broadway & Church in Tribeca. Take the 1 train to Franklin, or any train to Canal.

Dues-paying members of the ARChive, were treated to a cocktail party on Thursday, December 6 (6-9 PM) and treated to the hillbilly sounds of Susquehanna Industrial Tool and Die Co. It was ballads, boogie and blues to all, and to all a good night! (BTW, members get to shop before the general public! If you’d like to JOIN, call 212-226-6967 for details.)

The ARChive of Contemporary Music’s Holiday Record & CD sale promises to be THE musical event of the season. It’s cheaper than downloading and the shopping is LOADS more fun, so spread the word and tell EVERYONE you know to be there!

EDIT 12-3: We got Dugg on Digg! Click here to have a look, let everyone know, Digg us up, whatever man!

EDIT 12-4: TONS and TONS of Rough Guide CDs arrived TODAY. Music from all around the world!

(ThailandScotlandSouthAfricanJazz LuckyDubeBrothersJamaicaDominicanRepublic KlezmerNativeAmericanOkinawa ColombiaCanadaANDMORE.)

(Really amazing stuff, all between $3 and $10!)

EDIT 12-5: A HUGE shipment of CDs from those pioneers of weird electronic dance music, Warp Records! (Brothomstates, Gravenhurst, Prefuse73, Maxïmo Park, Req and MORE.)

Teen-a-rama!

So this week K. and I are wading through decades of accumulated crapola in preparation for the big yard sale (11th Street near First Ave. this Saturday, if you’re around) and we uncovered this vintage Beatles scrapbook. This was given to K. long, long ago by a girl she worked with when she lived in San Francisco. It’s mostly SF newspaper clippings arranged in a delightfully quintessential preteen-girl aesthetic. Nifty as it is, we have to make some sacrifices for our new streamlined lifestyle, so the scrapbook is now a part of the ARChive of Contemporary Music. If you got to say goodbye to some boss old junk you want it should go to a good home.

– Jonny

Past Lives

If you ask, nearly everyone you know went to Woodstock, or was in a band, or once dated someone in the Eagles – or at least it seems that way. So it’s nice to see some proof every now and then.

[Joshua Light biz card; click on this and other images for larger view]

Our favorite past life belongs to Lois Weiss, a real estate columnist for the New York Post. As a young Miss Zelman and later Adams, Lois was on the music scene big-time. The early Sixties saw her 12th row center at The Beatles Carnegie Hall Concert, meeting the Rolling Stones backstage at the same venue, working as a hired “screamer” in the audience at Peter & Gordon and Billy J. Kramer gigs, a reporter for various teen mags, a publicist for college rock shows, and even one of the principals manning the magic lanterns at the Joshua Light Show at the Fillmore East. Lucky for the ARC, she saved a lot of the memorabilia she acquired along the way.

                                                                                                                                    [The Beatles, circa 1964]

Last Friday we picked up the first six boxes of her massive donation. We are slowly going through and cataloging everything, and there are still file cabinets of clippings and boxes of books to be picked up. So far we really like her notebooks of concert reviews and the original Woodstock program covered in original Woodstock mud. But by far the most valuable materials are the photographs, negatives and slides of shows and stars. There are tons of these and Lois is generously donating a slide and film scanner so we can digitally save this treasure trove.

[Beatles itinerary, first US tour, 1964]

Wanna be like Weiss?

Send in a story of your past life and back it up with some memorabilia or donation of any kind. It couldn’t hurt, and it really helps us build our collections here at the ARC!

b.arc

Crazy like a fox.

God knows we love Britney Spears, y’all. But she’s troubled. Oh, so troubled. “Celebrity train wreck” troubled. The divorce from K-Fed, rumors of a sex tape, botched rehab, crotch shots, hair weaves that don’t fool anyone, greasy couture chicken fingers and a falling out with her momma. But now, we’re seeing reports that the next stop for her on the comeback trail will be a performance at the MTV VMAs. How in the world can this possibly be a good idea? Besides, what will she sing? It’s not like she can go back to any of her hits. Not now…not anymore. She needs something new. A song that shows she’s moved beyond her troubles and is still relevant, but one that also shows that she has good sense of humor about her past. It also has to be something that pushes the boundaries of pop taste. But what to choose…what to choose?

We here at the ARChive have a suggestion:

A real oldie, but a goodie. Yes, we realize that this suggestion is a little off the wall, but ask yourself: with all the trouble surrounding her, how crazy would it really be if she sang about selling a baby? Imagine Brit-Brit singing THIS jam through a vocoder over a heavy dance beat LIVE, on stage, at the Video Music Awards:

You know what we hear? A return to her rightful place as #1 Pop Princess, that’s what.

dtn

(The sheet music is a recent donation from Kevin Lanagan, a regular contributor to the ARChive’s sheet music collection. The sound file can be found on UCSB’s Cylinder Preservation and Digitization page. If you like the recording and want to hear others like it, I encourage you to click on over. It’s off the hizzy, y’all!)

Don’t MIND me…

Accept it; he is the Master of Self-Suggestion. Nay, the Impossibilist. But, relax? This Reveen is in the Valley of Creepsville. The Latinate vocal pace is, we hope, slightly, electronically altered slowspeech that one could imagine the devil or an alien brain-only intelligence in a B film mouthing. The catch phrase, “I maintain at all times a calm, confident cheerful state of mind,” meant to give you the relaxing confidence that breeds success, trips off the tongue like an anvil – he’s no Mahesh Yogi and this is no-man’s mantra.

But there is a congruence here beyond ‘our’ world – the very day after Board member Amy Larkin donated this LP, blogmates at WFMU posted a Reveen comic and outré LP of a more elder, more Wolfman Jack lookin’ Reveen. Have we exhausted the oeuvre? Are there more Reveens out there to wade in? “You will relax.” “You ..will…firmly… plantinyourmind…that ..NOW… is……………..the… time…. To……..ACT!” “You will send all known Reveenware to be preserved at the ARC!!!”

B.ARC