[78-L] R. I. P. Citizen Kafka 1947-2009

[Michael Biel]

David Nolan gave me permission to cross-post this from ARSC-List.  Those of you who are 78-L old-timers will recognize the signature Citizen Kafka.  Although it has been many years since he graced this list, he was a great guy and did a lot of interesting posts here.  



Dave Nolan Audio wrote:
> It is with great sadness that I tell you that Citizen Kafka (a.k.a. Richie
> Shulberg) passed away suddenly at home on Saturday.  He was 61.
>
> For those who are not familiar with Kafka's amazing body of work, he was a
> long-time WBAI (99.5FM Pacifica Radio, NYC) producer who created some of the
> funniest radio comedy bits in history on the Citizen Kafka Radio Hour with his
> partners in crime Kenny Kosek (Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, amongst many others),
> and actor John Goodman (just before his rise to fame).
>
> He founded and led the Wretched Refuse String Band, which featured Kosek, Andy
> Statman, and many other famed bluegrass players amongst its alumni, as well as
> the harder-edged electric Citizen Kafka Band.
>
> He was also an avid collector of just about everything from rare 78's to dried
> armadillos and laboratory glassware (I once had the distinct privilege of
> helping him to reorganize his storage area when it lived in a double-wide
> tenement basement on W. 18th St. - before the collection became so large that it
> had to move to an actual warehouse).
>
> On both WBAI and WFMU (with co-producer Pat Conte), he produced a brilliant
> program called Secret Museum of the Air, featuring many rare and obscure
> recordings from the cylinder era, acoustic recordings, early ethnic music
> releases, and many other odd audio collectors items.
>
> He was a creative force, and more importantly, a complete mensch in every sense
> of the word. Always giving of his time, knowledge, and basic human friendship -
> he will be sorely missed...
>
> Services are today (Monday) at 1:00pm at the I. J. Morris Funeral Home, 1895
> Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.
>
> dave nolan     DaveNolanAudio at earthlink.net
> 92nd Street Y
> nyc
>   

Dave further reported to me about the above mentioned services:

> Even if he dropped off the 78-list a few years ago, he was such a vital
> and important part of the collecting community, that everyone there should know.

> The service today was very short - probably the first time anything
> having to do with Kafka started on time and ended early.  I was
> expecting the speakers to go on for hours  ;-) 

> There are plans in the works to do a real Kafka-style memorial, with
> all his old musical and comedy friends performing and paying tribute
> long into the night.  I'll keep you posted when that comes together.


I crashed at his apartment one night about 8 or 9 years ago when I 
needed a place to stay in NYC before my daughter moved there.  Just a 
week ago I was being interviewed by a Seattle public radio broadcaster 
and I talked about two sets of records he sold me from the Bea Lillie 
collection he had gotten from her secretary.  There's a Nov 1934 
broadcast on lacquer coated aluminum and a Jan 1935 broadcast on 
uncoated aluminum.  The former are among the earliest lacquers in 
existence, and the latter show that the changeover was not total 
immediately.  And they are otherwise unknown broadcasts.

 Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com