[78-L] Youth collectors

Mon May 3 11:23:55 PDT 2010

Craig,

Thanks for adding your "two cents"...which is worth a LOT more than that.

I started collecting the stuff when I was 12...in 1965.  I do recall running 
into one older collector who was pleasant but many of the other local 
big-shots were either unpleasant,  patronizing,  or just dismissive of me 
and often of my interests,  which were not restricted to what Mr. Barr calls 
the "accepted jazz records."

The first genuine encouragement I received from a collector,  with no 
strings attached,  was in 1968  from an older gent who had run an ad in the 
paper (remember newspaper classified ads?  Talk about nostalgia.) to sell 
his accumulation of 78s which he'd junked in the 1950s.   There were about 
500 very interesting (to me) dance and pop 78s from the late 20s to the mid 
30s,  most in decent if not pristine condition.  I had zilch money but he 
was so nice that I wasn't afraid to tell him that all I had to spend was 20 
bucks...so he GAVE me the entire collection,  no charge,  and said he hoped 
I would enjoy them as much as he had.

That one gesture was a tremendous boost for me,  not just with the doubling 
of the size of my collection,  but with learning that there were collectors 
out there who were interested in passing on their interests to the next 
generation with kindness and generosity.

Taylor

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Ventresco" <craigventresco at gmail.com>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 11:12 AM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Youth collectors

> I began collecting 78's in 1st grade.When I was in fourth grade I really
> wanted a Victrola, so I wrote in to the local paper, and they ended up
> writing a short article about me. The result was that I did get a few 
> people
> calling the house who had Victrolas, but no collectors responded. Then I
> found out that my 4th grade teacher had a big phonograph collection. He
> couldn't have been less interested in helping me, however. I remember his
> bringing a cylinder phonograph into show the class and my going up to him
> afterwards and telling him how much I loved the Edison Concert Band (ok--I
> was a weird kid). He wasn't impressed.  In fact, he seemed irritated.Years
> later as a teen I became a member of the local record collecting group and
> attended a meeting at his house, which was stuffed with phonographs and
> records. I quizzed him about his record collection and it turned out that
> he thought I was out of my mind because I was so interested in Billy 
> Murray.
> He was a 4th grade teacher with absolutely no interest in passing on any
> knowledge to a younger collector.
> In my early 20's I moved to California and met a number of collectors with
> great collections of records.Most were REALLY nice people.. Some of them,
> however, were completely disinterested in helping a younger collector with
> information. In fact, it seemed like there was  an "old boy network" which
> featured a lot of crotchety, jaded guys being dismissive of me because I 
> was
> so young. I had no war stories about junking store stock Paramounts--and I
> had few good trade items,so what good was I?  The dynamic was hard to
> take.Older collectors have to watch it--they can be extremely offputting 
> to
> younger people. They also are not  always neccesarily the most informed
> about record history. Just because somebody is older doesn't mean that 
> they
> used to hang out with Frank Crumit.. sometimes it means little more than 
> the
> fact that they were able to buy great records for a penny a piece at the
> local Salvatiion Army.---Most collectors I have met have been great--but
> some have come off more like the Major Braggart who Edward M Favor sings
> about in "Would You Mind Passing the Salt?"
> The collectors who were helpful to me early on really helped shape my
> collecting interestes as an adult. I can't say enough nice things about
> them.They helped keep my interest level high and I owe them a lot. Those
> awesome collectors who come to mind include John A Petty, Bill Bryant,
> Milford Fargo , George Blacker and Jim Walsh, .(all deceased now) I won't
> bother naming the jerks whom I encountered!
> I'm 42 now and still working on my collection. I would encourage all older
> collectors on this list to be accepting of younger folk just getting into
> records. I have met some people in their 20's with a keen awareness of
> records, however I have also seen younger people loose interest and 
> abandon
> records, in part because it is sometimes very hard to find sympathetic
> people to talk shop with.Older record guys: If you know a younger 
> collector
> be nice to them! Take the time to pass on the fascinating tidbits of 
> minutia
> that you encounter .Explain matrix and take numbers. Play them records.
> It's getting less likely every year that a younger collector will go into 
> a
> junk shop and find a stack of Zonophones for sale for 50 cents each, and
> Ebay prices teenagers out of the running to aquire the rarer things for 
> sale
> out there. Younger collectors are less likely to be able to examine brown
> wax cylinders or Herwin 78's up close. Somebody has to expose them to that
> stuff.
> What's the point in all this? I'm not sure--just thought I'd add my 2 
> cents.
>
> On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 9:36 AM, Gene Baron <gene.baron at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> There are several threads on this interesting topic so I wasn't sure 
>> which
>> one to reply to but I chose this one.  I think we need also to 
>> distinguish
>> between colelcting the discs and interest in the music itself.  My son is
>> 22
>> years old and is about to graduate from Earlham College in Richmond
>> Indiana.  Not too many people know much about Richmond IN other than us 
>> old
>> music enthusiasts (for Gennett, or course) and Quakers (for the college 
>> and
>> related Quaker organizations located in the same town).  Falling into 
>> both
>> of these groups, I am no stranger to the area.  But I digress -- my son 
>> has
>> a strong interest in music going way back, and has even featured English
>> Music Hall and old Hillbilly music on a radio show has has hosted from 
>> the
>> college for a year or so.  He enjoys seeing the oddities I pull out from
>> the
>> basement, and I am sure he'd be pleased to get my 78rpm records at some
>> point, but I doubt he'd listen to them much.  He is very much of this era
>> in
>> that even the oldest of the music he plays is from CD reissues or gotten 
>> on
>> line.  So in his case anyway I think the interest in the musical content
>> outweighs the interest in the physical record itself.  Thanks.
>>
>> Gene
>> gene.baron at gmail.com
>>
>> On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 12:15 PM, David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca
>> >wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > Vinyl seems to be "hip", but Barnes & NoBull tried it for about five
>> > minutes. Possibly the fact that they were carrying stuff like "Sweet 
>> > Baby
>> > James" for $18 when you can find an original copy in any Goodwill for a
>> buck
>> > didn't help.
>> >
>> > dl
>> >
>> > > Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 16:09:47 +0000
>> > > From: fnarf at comcast.net
>> > > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>> > > Subject: Re: [78-L] Youth collectors
>>  >  >
>> > > > So everybody on the list is right - the young people of today
>> > > > don't know what a 78 is and they are also very interested when
>> > > > they hear one.
>> > >
>> > > I don't think 78s will be coming back anytime soon, but vinyl LPs 
>> > > sure
>> > are. Sales have been increasing by 30% a year for a couple of years 
>> > now,
>> > with the biggest interest among young people, even teens. At some 
>> > hipster
>> > stores, records sell as much as, or more than, CDs, and most new 
>> > releases
>> > today are available on LP, with a coupon for a free MP3 download. It's
>> CDs
>> > that are in most danger of dying out; the only reason anyone wants them
>> is
>> > to rip to MP3 as quickly as possible and get rid of (records are a pain
>> to
>> > rip).
>> > >
>> > > In addition to new releases, companies like Sundazed are reissuing
>> > thousands of classic country, rock, funk, and jazz LPs. It's a little
>> > startling to walk into a shop and see pristine new copies of the first
>> > Flying Burrito Brothers or Pretty Things record sitting in the bin for
>> the
>> > first time in forty years!
>> > > _______________________________________________
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>> >
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