ARC HOLIDAY RECORD + CD SALE

Well, it’s the Holiday Season and that means that for one week in December the ARC becomes the largest record store in New York!  Starting Sat Dec 10 and going a full week till Dec 18, everyday 11-6.

CDs are mostly NEW pop + rock donations from record companies and collectors, NOT used, returns or defects!   Collectible LPs are priced below book/online value.   Hundreds of CDs are priced at $1 to $5 each.  Just released NEW & HOT CDs are $5 – $10.

This year specials include  •  hundreds of Big Band / Swing / Trad Jazz LPs  •  Thousands of indie CDs – the stars of the future!  •  CDs from Mute Records  •  Classical LPs and CDs  •  Original vintage 60s psychedelic posters from the Gande Ballroom in Detroit  •  Over 700 desirable and hard to find 7” singles never offered before – sorted by artists who’s names begin with the letters «H» + «N»   •   A large selection of ART BOOKS that are great coffetable gifts  + music books   •  Classic Rock LPs  African, Reggae & world-music releases  •  MOST Classical LPs 50¢ or LESS  •  videos + DVDs.  A big box of ever-popular LAZERDISCS. 

For the dis-en-vinyled – our Astroturf Yard Sale section of vintage kitchen wares and clothing!!!  Hawaiian shirts + Winter coats.

Call us if you have things to donate – LPs, CDs, books, VHS, DVDs, audio equipment – anything and everything musical.  It helps us and all donations are tax deductible.

ARC member can attend our pre-sale Holiday COCKTAIL PARTY – Thursday evening, December 8, 6pm – 9pm.

Members shop before the general public and shmooze, drink and snack.  All attending get a Frank Zappa poster donated by renowned rock photographer Lynn Goldsmith.

This year’s party will feature plenty of food plus moonshine handmade by  Kenny the Singing Busdriver, beer donated by Brooklyn’s Bonnie’s Grill, and from Tribeca’s Bubble Lounge, a Pares Balta Cava.  Krrb is your host for the evening, a local classified startup. Do visit:  Krrb.com

YOU CAN JOIN by calling us @ 212-226-6967
or join online by clicking here >>>  

ARChive of Contemporary Music

54 White Street, New York City, 10013

tel : 212-226-6967     e : info@arcmusic.org      http://arcmusic.org

ARC blog: https://arcmusic.wordpress.com
Muslim World Music Day : http://muslimworldmusicday.com

Brazilian World Music Day – Sept 7, 2012

Book Digitization @ ARC

Some thoughts on scanning the ARC’s 20,000+ music books in partnership with the Internet Archive by project coordinator Alexis Cavaretta…

The ARChive is the kind of place that will say yes to just about anything – no exclusions. Their collection of music books reflects this diversity. As someone who must navigate through the catalog records daily, I’ve come to appreciate the unconventional nature of this collection. Some books are indeed very bibliographic and it is easy to capture information about the object and the scope of its content. It is also true that the book collection has some non-descriptive books that are more like pictorial works or are just old, published differently, or published in a different country and/or language. Though the most difficult and elusive bibliographic items, which are also some of the most unique, are not books but serials (think: event pamphlets, record company promotional products, tour/celebrity souvenir books, etc.), art books (Elvis Presley pop-up book etc.), and/or sheet music.

When we first started the project, I was concerned mainly with understanding how to use the Internet Archive’s (IA) Scribe II book digitizing machine and how to navigate their scanning software. The Scribe was ingeniously designed to preserve the books it scans. It allows the book to sit in a cradle, partially open, while the operator lifts the glass with a pedal to turn each page after each shot of the two cameras placed on an angle above. In order to the check human and computer error, the scanner works alongside the “republisher”, who adjusts auto-crop of images, verifies page numbers, and inserts metadata for scanned books.

As the project progressed, Will Susich (Archivist) and I created a guide for interns, outlining the detail oriented tasks that running the Scribe machine and working in republishing requires. We also started troubleshooting the various software, camera, and other sundry aspects of the project, which was all made easier by the presence of the Troubleshooter-in-Chief, Paul Nguyen, our IA contact. There were also choices to be made. Soon we began setting aside oversized books that are too large to scan and pop-up books, which cannot be scanned using the Scribe. For them we wait for the fabled “foldout machine” (we are in the queue), with which both can be scanned.

Overall, we soon began to understand the scope of the many factors that effect book digitization. Yet, the books (and related bibliographic objects) are always at the center of it all, giving us glimpses into the ARChive’s amazing and diverse collection. And now, many of those books are digitized and readable in our in-house electronic online database, which is hosted by IA. How we will provide access to the collection is still being decided, but the idea that there is a searchable online archive of a part of the ARChive’s collection is very compelling. This collection represents contemporary music cultural production, visual culture, and print history, which we hope our digital ARChive will provide visitors the opportunity to analyze and reevaluate.

ps x B: Google had asked us why we were doing this, as they were scanning all books.  Well we did showed them a list of the 25 Brazilian books that we had scanned, and they had only scanned four of them.  Case closed.

Gil @ NYPL

Friday evening I attended an event focusing on one of my favorite Brazilian artists, Gilberto Gil. This casual conversation was part of the excellent “Live from the NYPL” series at the New York Public Library, curated and hosted by Paul Holdengräber. We were treated to glimpses into the creative process, the room sprinkled with song as Gil occasionally illustrated points in time with music.

Both Paul and Gil were charming and smart. The interview leaned too much towards other musicians, mostly well-known rockers who influenced Gil. Understandable I think in terms of the audience, an effort perhaps to offer familiar references and context. I would have liked to have heard more about negotiating art in a dictatorship, or perhaps the journey Gil made from outside agitator to government employee as a one-term Minister of Culture. After all ‘Western’ performers who sling lyrics at power know their efforts register as entertainment, earning a governmental shrug over a ticket out-of-town. But Gil, like Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Thomas Mapfumo, Manno Charlemagne and countless others faced realworld consequences when their music addressed corruption, abuse and neglect. Gil’s status in Brazil rests not only on the grace and beauty of his art, but in remaining relevant over a long stretch of time. Few elder statesmen avoid being a nostalgia act.

One brilliant touch, invigorating a familiar format, was having the interview rendered on paper in real time by artist Flash Rosenberg. Eventually a short animated film will be made, with added touches and music.

You can view some video of past interviews @ vimeo.com/livenypl and see the remaining schedule @ http://www.nypl.org/events/live-nypl. Thanks to everyone at NYPublic for letting us use the illustration above, created during the talk. All about Gilberto Gil can be found @ http://www.gilbertogil.com.br/

There are over 100 recordings of Gil’s here at the ARChive. Here’s a discography minus the Various Artists collections and guest shots…

• A Arte Maior De Gilberto Gil (Fontana, Brasil, 6470 537/8, 12″, vinyl disc-2Lp, 1975)

• A Gente Precisa Ver o Luar (WEA, Brazil, BR 38.180, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1981)

• A Voz de Gilberto Gil (Fontana, Brasil, 6488 111, 12″ , vinyl disc-Lp, 1981)

• Acoustic (Warner, Brazil, 82564-2, 5″, compact disc, 1994)

• Antologia do Samba-Choro [Gilberto Gil & Germano Mathias ] (Philips, USA, 6349 361, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1978)

• Ao Vivo em Tùquio (Live in Tokyo) (Braziloid, USA, BR 4009, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, 1987)

• Brasil [Joao Gilberto, Caetono Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethïnia] (Warner Bros., USA, BSK 3613, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1981)

• “Chororo” / “Respeita Januario” (Elektra Records, Brazil, BR 12.024, 7″, vinyl disc-Single or Ep, 1978)

• Dia Dorim Noite Neon (Warner Bros, Brasil, BR 36.207 / 610.6012, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp , 1985)

• Doces Barbaros [Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethania] (Philips, Brasil , 6349 307/8, 12″, vinyl disc-2Lp, 1976)

• Expresso 2222 (Fontana, Brazil, 6488 194, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1982)

• Extra (WEA Latina, WH 50128, 5″, compact disc, 1983)

• Extra (Warner, Brazil, BR 36198, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1983)

• Gil Jorge [Gilberto Gil, Jorge Ben]. (Verve, USA, 314 512 067 2, 5″, compact disc, 1975)

• Gilberto Gil (Abril Cultural, Brasil, n.n., 12″, vinyl disc-LP, 1982)

• Gilberto Gil (PolyGram, Brasil, , 12″, vinyl disc-Lp , 1982)

• Gilberto Gil (Philips, Brazil, 6349.006, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp , 1971)

• Gilberto Gil (Abril Cultural, Brasil, HMPB-13, 10″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1977)

• Gilberto Gil (Fontana, Brasil, 6488 147, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1982)

• Le Troubadour du BrÄsil (Warner Jazz, France, WE 889, 5″, compact disc, 1997)

• Music from the film Me You Them (Atlantic, USA, 83430-2, 5″, compact disc, 2000)

• Nightingale (Elektra, USA, 6E-167, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1979)

• O Eterno Deus Mu Danìa (WEA, Brasil, 670.8059, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1989)

• Personalidade (Philips, Brazil, 832 216-1, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1987)

• Quanta (Mesa/Blue Moon. USA, , 5″, compact disc, )

• Quanta (WEA, Brazil, 063018644-2, 5″, compact disc-2CD, 1997)

• Quilombo (trilha sonora) (WEA International, France, 251632-1, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1984)

• Raìa Humana (Warner Bros., Brasil, BR 36.201, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1984)

• Raìa Humana / Human Race (WEA International, USA, WEA 1805, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1984)

• Re, Sol Vida (Warner Bros., Brasil, BR 26.133, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1985)

• Realce (WEA Latina, USA, WH 53068, cassette, 1979)

• Realce (WEA, Germany, 25.0038-1, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, n.d.)

• Realce (Elektra, Brasil, BR 32.038, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp , 1978)

• Refavela (Philips, Brasil, 5349 329, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp , 1977)

• Refazenda (PHILIPS, Brasil, 6349 152, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp , 1975)

• Soy Loco Por Ti America (Braziloid, USA, BR 4000, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp , 1988)

• Temporada de verïo – ao vivo na Bahia [Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa] (Philips, Brasil, 6349 108, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1984)

• The Eternal God of Change (Tropical Storm, USA, WH 56620, 5″, compact disc, 1989)

• Tropicçlia 2 [Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso] (Philips, Brasil, 79339 , 12″, vinyl disc-Lp , 1993)

• Um Banda Um (WEA Latina, USA, WH 50006, 5″, compact disc, 1982)

• Um Banda Um (Warner Bros, Brasil, BR 26.063, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp , 1982)

• Z300 Anos de Zumbi (Blue Jackel Entertainment , 54634-2, 5″, compact disc, 2002)