[78-L] ARSC Awards: 2008 Winners

[Bill Klinger]

The following message has been posted by the Outreach Committee of the
Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC). For further information,
please click on the link at the end of this message.

--- 2008 ARSC AWARDS ---

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) is pleased to announce
the winners of the 2008 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded
Sound Research. Begun in 1991, the awards are presented to authors and
publishers of books, articles, liner notes, and monographs, to recognize
outstanding published research in the field of recorded sound. In giving
these awards, ARSC recognizes outstanding contributions, encourages high
standards, and promotes awareness of superior works. A maximum of two awards
is presented annually in each category -- one for best history and one for
best discography. Certificates of Merit are presented to runners-up for
works of exceptionally high quality. The 2008 Awards for Excellence honor
works published in 2007. Additionally, a Lifetime Achievement Award and an
Award for Distinguished Service to Historical Recordings are also presented
annually. The 2008 winners are:

BEST RESEARCH in RECORDED BLUES, RHYTHM & BLUES, or SOUL MUSIC

Best Discography:
The Gospel Discography: A Discography of Post-war African-American Gospel
Records from 1943 to 1970, by Cedric Hayes and Bob Laughton (Eyeball
Productions)

Best History:
How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues
Style in the United Kingdom, by Roberta Freund Schwartz (Ashgate)

Certificate of Merit:
Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe, edited by Neil A.
Wynn (University of Mississippi Press)

BEST RESEARCH in RECORDED CLASSICAL MUSIC

Best Discography:
Joan Tower: The Comprehensive Bio-Bibliography, by Ellen K. Grolman
(Scarecrow)

Best History:
Moondog: The Viking of 6th Avenue: The Authorized Biography, by Robert
Scotto (Process)

Certificate of Merit:
Sigmund Romberg, by William A. Everett (Yale University Press)

BEST RESEARCH in RECORDED COUNTRY MUSIC

Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost, by Tony Russell (Oxford
University Press)

Certificates of Merit:

Charlie Monroe: I'm Old Kentucky Bound: His Recordings, 1938-1956, liner
notes by Richard K. Spottswood (Bear Family)

Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry, by Holly
George-Warren (Oxford University Press)

Whiskey River (Take My Mind): The True Story of Texas Honky-Tonk, by Johnny
Bush with Rick Mitchell (University of Texas Press)

The Selling Sound: The Rise of the Country Music Industry, by Diane Pecknold
(Duke University Press)

BEST RESEARCH in RECORDED FOLK, ETHNIC, or WORLD MUSIC

Best Discography:
Hawaiian & Hawaiian Guitar Records, 1891-1960, by T. Malcolm Rockwell
(Mahina Piha Press)

Best History:
Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae, by Michael E. Veal
(Wesleyan University Press)

BEST RESEARCH in GENERAL HISTORY of RECORDED SOUND

The Complete Guide to Vintage Children's Records: Identification & Value
Guide, by Peter Muldavin (Collector's Books)

BEST RESEARCH in RECORD LABELS

Best Discography:
Beltona: A Label Listing and History, by William Dean-Myatt (The City of
London Phonograph and Gramophone Society)

Best History:
Horizons Touched: The Music of ECM, edited by Steve Lake and Paul Griffiths
(Granta)

BEST RESEARCH in RECORDED JAZZ MUSIC

Lennie Tristano: His Life in Music, by Eunmi Shim (University of Michigan
Press)

Certificates of Merit:

Subversive Sounds: Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans, by Charles
Hersch (University of Chicago Press)

The Original Hot Five Recordings of Louis Armstrong, by Gene H. Anderson
(Pendragon)

Ragtime: An Encyclopedia, Discography, and Sheetography, by David A. Jasen
(Routledge)

BEST RESEARCH in RECORDED POPULAR MUSIC

Best Discography:
The Complete New Zealand Music Charts, 1966-2006: Singles, Albums, DVDs,
Compilations, by Dean Scapolo (Maurienne House)

Best History:
Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life and Times of Doc Pomus, by Alex Halberstadt
(Da Capo)

Certificate of Merit:
Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector, by Mick
Brown (Knopf)

BEST RESEARCH in RECORDED ROCK MUSIC

Best Discography:
The Beatles Swan Song: "She Loves You" & Other Records, by Bruce Spizer (498
Productions)

Best History:
Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds, and Influences of the
Beach Boys' Founding Genius, by Philip Lambert (Continuum)

Certificate of Merit:
Jimmy Page: Magus, Musician, Man: An Unauthorized Biography, by George Case
(Hal Leonard)


2008 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: JERRY WEBER

ARSC annually presents a Lifetime Achievement Award to an individual, in
recognition of a life's work in recorded sound research and publication.

Jerome F. Weber (better known to his ARSC colleagues as Jerry) is recognized
for the depth and breadth of his discographical research. He has spent much
of his lifetime surveying many kinds of music.

Weber's religious vocation gave him a logical entree for examining a
considerable body of recorded Gregorian Chant, culminating in 1990 with the
publication of a definitive two-volume discography of this music.

Weber researched, compiled, and published a large series of discographies of
music by various composers: Schubert Lieder (1970), Brahms Lieder (1970),
Schumann Lieder (1971), Mahler (1971), Hugo Wolf (1975), and Schubert's
Great C Major Symphony, D.944 (2000), to name a few.

In addition to his published discographies, Weber has written articles on
medieval music and been a reviewer of recordings for Fanfare, for many
years. His pioneering studies on the "science" of discography -- a scholarly
approach to organizing data about recordings -- have appeared in the ARSC
Journal.


2008 AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO HISTORICAL RECORDINGS: SAM BRYLAWSKI

ARSC's Award for Distinguished Service to Historical Recordings honors a
person who has made outstanding contributions to the field, outside of
published works or discographic research.

Sam Brylawski has worked in nearly every aspect of recorded sound archiving,
been involved in many significant library developments over the past thirty
years, and served as a national leader in the field.

In the early 1970s, Brylawski began his career at the Library of Congress,
as a transfer engineer. He became a reference librarian for recorded sound
in 1980, and was promoted to Curator of Recorded Sound in the early 1990s.
In 1996, he was chosen to head the re-formed Recorded Sound Section of the
Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division -- a position he
held until his retirement in 2004.

Under Brylawski's leadership, the Library acquired many important
collections of commercial, non-commercial, and broadcast recordings, and --
for the first time in the Recorded Sound Section -- major manuscript
collections. He devised efficient inventory and cataloging procedures, which
resulted in the online SONIC database that indexes more than 200,000
recordings, including 90,000 radio broadcast recordings of the NBC network.

Brylawski worked on the passage of the National Recording Preservation Act
of 2000 that established the National Recording Preservation Board, where he
serves as advisor to the Library. In addition, he was on the executive team
that planned the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper,
Virginia.

After retiring from the Library, Brylawski was appointed Editor and Project
Manager of the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings, by the
University of California, Santa Barbara. As editor, he has brought this
long-awaited project to fruition as a Web database. His goal for the future
is a comprehensive database of all standard-groove discs.

Brylawski has served as ARSC Program Chair and ARSC President, and is a
member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He has
authored articles and liner notes, and produced CDs and websites. He
continues to work on national policy initiatives and lead the profession
through his vast experience, wisdom, and humor.


2008 ARSC AWARDS COMMITTEE

Winners are chosen by the ARSC Awards Committee: five elected judges
representing specific fields of study, plus the ARSC President, and the Book
Review Editor of the ARSC Journal. The members of the 2008 ARSC Awards
Committee are:

Robert Iannapollo (Awards Committee Co-Chair)
Roberta Freund-Schwartz (Awards Committee Co-Chair)
Sam Brylawski (ARSC President)
Brenda Nelson-Strauss (ARSC Past-President)
Jim Farrington (Book Review Editor, ARSC Journal)
David Hamilton (Classical Music Judge)
Kip Lornell (Judge-At-Large)
Dan Morgenstern (Jazz Music Judge)
William L. Schurk (Popular Music Judge)
Dick Spottswood (Judge-at-Large)

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings -- in all genres
of music and speech, in all formats, and from all periods. ARSC is unique in
bringing together private individuals and institutional professionals --
everyone with a serious interest in recorded sound. Additional information
about ARSC, including lists of past ARSC Award Winners and Finalists, may be
found at www.arsc-audio.org.