[78-L] Youth collectors

Tue May 4 19:36:51 PDT 2010

Agreed about Milford, George, John and Bill.....All amazing people. Bill
Bryant was one of the most knowledgable collectors I have ever known. I was
lucky to have lived about five minutes away from him and so I got to spend
many afternoons at his house listening to his intense collection of early
cylinders and discs. I found him pretty much unstumpable--a humble expert!
Also, he was so nice! My parents , who are NOT record collectors, thought
the world of him.I was shocked when he died and I still miss him a LOT!. I
remember him going to Connecticut to get George's paperwork. That as all
very sad. Imagine if Bill had been on the internet...We'd have so much
valuable information ,some of which may be lost forever.
 I went to John's house for weeks at a time in the summer. He drove me all
over North Carolina looking for records, and he taught me lot about methods
for transfering cylinders. Milford, as you say, was probably one of the
sweetest humans you could ever meet. George Blacker was awesome...a super
smart guy and pioneer discographer. He definitely would have loved the
internet...The world lost so much when we lost him) He actually took me to
meet  Carl Kendziora , who showed me his rare labels stacks in his basement.
. Jim Walsh was a pioneer researcher and collector whose Hobbies articles
have never been rivaled for large scale, original biographical research. I
love his articles, even the ones where he's talking about Richard Jose one
minute and his cats the next. I wrote him afan letter when I was really
young and he ended up calling me several times and letting me ask him any
questions I had about recording artists.
I sure miss those guys. They were true characters all...and you're right, I
consider myself extremely lucky to have known them.

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 7:03 PM, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:

> From: "Craig Ventresco" <craigventresco at gmail.com>
>
> > He was a 4th grade teacher with absolutely no interest in passing on any
> > knowledge to a younger collector.
>
> As a retired teacher, I find this very, very strange!
>
> > 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.
>
> In NYC we had the Syndicate, and people like Len Kunstadt, Carl
> Kendzioria, and George Blacker who LOVED passing on the info from the
> old boys to the young guys.  See the video excerpt about the Syndicate
> from my daughter's documentary.
> http://fortherecorddvdspecial.blogspot.com/
>
> > 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)
>
> You were so, so, so lucky to have met and known these people.  Milford
> was the sweetest guy who ever walked on earth.  A talented performer and
> teacher.  I did the eulogy for him at ARSC in Rochester.  George was a
> close pal of mine and I miss communicating with him terribly.  He would
> have LOVED the 78-L and what computers can do to bring collectors
> together and distribute records.  He would have been the KING of this
> list.
>
> Bill Bryant is the real tragedy.  He was so young, and none of us really
> expected him to go.  He was so lonely out in Maine, and the internet
> would have really boosted his spirits when he needed it.  He got
> George's papers when George died, and many of these included papers from
> the late Carl Kendzioria, who had in turn inherited many papers from the
> late Perry Argamac.  As Bill packed the papers into his car I reminded
> him of this genealogy.  "Does this mean I'm next?" he said laughingly.
> And he was.
>
> I only met John Petty a couple of times, but he was the most unusual
> person for being a preacher. He was THE Uncle Josh collector.  His death
> still gives me the creeps -- it was a horrible way to die.  (The car he
> was working on fell on him.)  I didn't know Jim Walsh except by
> reputation and meeting him a couple of times.  A person more dedicated
> to his cats never lived!  He started more people on collecting 78s than
> possibly anybody in this country.
>
> > I won't bother naming the jerks whom I encountered!
>
> I think we might guess!!
>
> > 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.
>
> I practice this on my daughter all the time!!
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
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