[78-L] tolerance

[Michael Biel]

From: buster <busterdog at mac.com>
> You can't be serious. But you probably are, since you are\
> so immersed in it yourself, as is your poor child.
> Her trailer, specifically the montage of individuals, is
> the best evidence against your "not examples of misfits" remark.


I don't think you have any real knowledge of the people we have profiled
in the documentary.  Here in reverse alphabetical order is the list --

Seth B. Winner  -- one of the top five world-class transfer engineers
and an important technical staff member at the Rodgers and Hammerstein
Archive of Recorded Sound of the New York Public Library at Lincoln
Center

Fred Williams -- a retired stock broker from one of the largest
international firms, and one of the most important experts of the
history of American military bands, author of many band discographies
and producer of many LP and CD reissues of historic military band
recordings including a best selling box set containing one example of
every Sousa composition that was recorded by Sousa's band.

Ray Wile --  retired Queens College librarian, author of several
important Edison discographies, and dozens of articles and presentations
that have detailed and uncovered the most important information about
the first 25 years of the phonograph industry

Terry Solomonson -- broadcast technician, and owner of one of the
largest private collections of original broadcast discs and the author
of a dozen detailed broadcast logs of important radio series

Joe Salerno -- expert in piano recordings and recording transfer
engineer, producer and provider of recordings for reissues.

Dennis Rooney -- noted classical broadcaster, lecturer, writer, and
producer for RCA and many other classical record labels.

Steve Ramm -- certified public accountant by profession, collector of
ephemera of the record industry, and writer of a monthly column of media
reviews  

Graham Newton --  former disc mastering engineer at Canadian RCA, now
owner of a remastering firm, and noted expert in music and sound library
companies.

Kurt Nauck -- originally an antique dealer, now runs one of the most
important record auction companies

R. Peter Munves -- noted classical record producer and marketing
director of Masterworks at Columbia Records and then RCA and many other
labels.  Creator of many unique concepts in marketing classical records
-- the industry hasn't been the same since he retired.

Peter Muldavin -- researcher and author of The Complete Guide to Vintage
Children's Records

Rich Markow -- international conference director at a major medical
facility, and a collector of personality recordings who has provided
masters for many reissues

David Lennick -- notable former CBC broadcast personality and producer
of hundreds of reissue CDs at many labels worldwide

Tim Brooks -- former director of audience research at NBC-TV and retired
vice-president of Lifetime TV, National Book Award winning co-author of
ten best selling editions of "The Complete Directory To Prime Time
Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present", and "Lost Sounds", Grammy
Award winning co-producer of "Lost Sounds" CD set, noted expert in sound
recording copyright, chair ARSC Copyright Committee, longtime author of
Bibliography of Discographies column and book, former president and
incoming 2nd vice-president/program chair of ARSC.

Bill Bragg -- longtime Dallas broadcaster and engineer, production
director of E.D.S, former owner of National Broadcasting Museum, owner
of YesterdayUSA Network, and the voice of Big Tex at the Texas State
Fair.

Michael Biel -- retired professor of electronic media, former president
and two time 2nd-vice-president/conference program chair of ARSC, author
of numerous conference presentations at ARSC, Broadcast Educ Assoc,
Friends of Old Time Radio, Popular Culture Assoc, International Assoc of
Sound Archives, etc., author of Ph.D. dissertation "The Making and Use
of Recordings In Broadcasting Before 1936".

Steven C. Barr -- author of "The (Almost) Complete Guide To Dating 78
RPM Records"

> Isn't it better to wear the badge proudly than to live in denial?
> No one's denying the scholarship or the seriousness of this little 
> collecting world, but to consider it anything even close to
> mainstream or normal is laughable...or fatally sad.

While you might have your issues with Steve Barr whose problems lie in
several medical conditions, most of the people in this list have worked
for (and even were executives of) some of the largest firms in the
country,  many not connected with their collecting, but some have been
able to integrate their collecting into their professional life.  Many
are noted authors and some have produced, engineered, or contributed to
award winning LPs and CDs.  This is not a list of small-timers.  They
have a life, and some have national and even international reputations
in and out of the field of recordings.   

> Everyone finds their niche eventually, and here we are.

And for most of this list, their record collection is only a small part
of their niche.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  




On Jul 15, 2009, at 8:15 PM, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:

> buster wrote:
>>> This group, by definition, is composed of a higher than average 
>>> number
>>> of "eccentrics." That's what we record collectors are, to 
>>> ourselves at
>>> least, as has recently been discussed. Outsiders are less kind, 
>>> often
>>> (seen "Ghost World" or "American Splendor"? 78 collectors are
>>> pitiable freaks and outcasts). We have bombastic pontificators,
>>> tightwads, endless repeaters, egotists, antisocial hermits, whiners,
>>> and who knows what else. I mean, fergawdsakes, if you need any
>>> evidence just look at Leah's trailer, or go to an ARSC event.
>
> Not quite. If you pay attention to what Leah's whole documentary is
> about, it was the rebuttal to "Ghost World" and other such films,
> especially "Vinyl". The collectors selected are among those we knew 
> who
> had made positive contributions to the scholarship and appreciation of
> the recording industry and the content of recordings. And the same is
> true of ARSC, which actually is a serious group of professional
> archivists and advanced collectors, researchers, and enthusiasts -- 
> and
> those who aspire towards those goals. Sure we are a friendly lot and
> filled with diverse personalities -- some of them extreme -- but we 
> are
> not examples of misfits. The documentary does touch on the compulsion
> to collect, and as Graham Newton says with a laugh in the documentary
> "We're all crazy. We're nuts!" and as one of the posted clips show
> there were some extremes in The Syndicate, but on the whole it shows
> collectors with a life.
>
> Mike Biel mbiel at mbiel.com