[78-L] ITG - Tim Brooks article and MAPS update

[Tim McCormick]

As many of you may have already read, The Michigan Antique Phonograph
Society's magazine, In The Groove has expanded.  We are offering more
articles per issue, including the occasional reprint from the past.  The
August/September issue of ITG has a follow-up article entitled, "Two
Collectors Who Made a Difference" that is a follow-up to an article
originally written by Tim Brooks back in 1984.  The October/November issue
will include the original 1984 article including a photo of what the
original looked like from that past issue of ITG.  We are currently
soliciting articles for the October/November edition.  If you have an
article you'd like to share with our readers, we would be honored to publish
it for you.  Send contributions, comments or suggestions to
President at MAPS-ITG.org

The MAPS website is being redesigned later this year.  It will start
offering ITG back issues as a downloadable .PDF to members.  Below, please
find my President's Message from the most recent issue to help explain all
that we are doing to improve MAPS and ITG for our members now, and in the
future.
___________

Welcome to the Special Collector's Edition of  In The Groove.  This issue is
extraordinary for several reasons.  (1) It includes histories of the
Michigan Antique Phonograph Society including an article written by the last
surviving founding member especially for this issue.  (2) This is our very
first expanded Bi-Monthly issue and we are celebrating this achievement by
providing our faithful readers with a whole host of contributors.  (3) We
are starting the new tradition of full color glossy covers printed on heavy
paper stock. 

I hope you are as impressed with the front cover artwork, as I was when I
first laid eyes on it.  My nephew, Pete McCormick, is a professional graphic
artist that works in gasoline alley, and produces some of the most
impressive graphics on the world's most expensive cars at the Indianapolis
500 Motor Speedway.  Pete lent his talent at Phonovention 2009 by producing
the 14' mural of the Edison Recording Studio for Peter Dilg's live recording
event.  Recently, I had lunch with him and asked if he would consider
designing the new "In The Groove" front cover.  His mouth was drooling.  I
provided him several period books and catalogs from my collection.  His eyes
fell on the two statuary ornamentations representing Knowledge and Music
adorning a 1919 Victor record supplement catalog, and said, "These belong on
our cover," and so they are.  The bottom corners include a Berliner and an
Edison phonograph representing competing schools of technology, reminding us
of the reason we hold dear these historic treasurers of acoustic discovery.
The color scheme makes any antique phonograph collector feel right at home,
with Gold, Brass and Nickel metallic finishes on a Honduras Mahogany wood
background.

This issue of "In The Groove" also introduces new sustaining columns such as
"So, You Have Been Vaccinated By Your First Antique Phonograph Needle" - a
column dedicated to educate those newly introduced to our celebrated antique
talking machine fascination.  This column will be written by various
contributors in the future, starting with our very own Larry Crandell.  Paul
Ladd introduces his new series of articles entitled "What the Phonograph Has
Taught Me."  Paul will systematically discuss antique phonograph repair
issues organized in a workshop manual format.  He intends for his articles
to be photocopied, three-hole-punched and organized into binders by future
antique phonograph repair people.

The next issue of "In The Groove" will be the October edition.  We are
planning a few more surprises and enhancements that are sure to please. We
are starting a new article contribution collection convention.  All
contributions, paid advertisements, classified ads and the like must be in
the editor's possession 30 days prior to the next issue release date.  The
deadline for submission to our October edition will be August 31st, 2010.
Anything provided after that date will be printed in the following December
issue. Speaking of the December issue, we have high hopes that we can
persuade our members and contributors to narrow their article topics to
something consistent with the holiday season.  We hope to compile a very
special Christmas present for our readers to enjoy this year.

In the mean time, we will be planning and designing our new web site:
www.MAPS-ITG.org  Our goal is to have the basic structure up and running by
October 1st as well.  Our web site will become reason alone to be a MAPS
member.  One of the first features will include an automatically updated
database of our members.  As a member, you will have access to your account
to change your mailing address, pay your membership through PayPal, and
update your collecting information profile to be shared with other members,
if you so choose.  Later will come discussion forums so you can ask
questions of other MAPS members and receive replies from some of the finest
experts known to exist.  The web site features we are developing are too
numerous to detail in this article, I'll leave that for our October edition
of "In The Groove."

Before I end this message, I wanted to share with you news from Don Gfell in
his own words, "There is some good news however about Edison. He just won
the popular vote in Ohio for our statue in Washington. There is still more
to finalize this and it will probably be August before this happens."  It
appears all of Don's hard work has paid off.  To read more about the State
of Ohio's new statue at our nation's capital, please visit www.TomEdison.org

And now a message about Phonovention 2010.  The very first Phonovention took
place at Jackson, Michigan in August 1979. Phonovention returns to Michigan
this year, but this time in association with the Fall 2010 Stanton Auction
in Charlotte, MI.  Enjoy the Stanton Auction by day, then relax and kick
back at Phonovention in the evening. Following the Stanton Preview show on
Thursday, you will be captivated by none other than Mr. Jerry Fabris, museum
curator of the Thomas Edison National Historical Park. Following Friday's
auction, return to Phonovention for dinner, round table discussions and a
presentation by Paul Ladd describing how to prepare a World Class collection
for auction.  The Phonovention registration form can be found later in this
issue of "In The Groove."

If you are not a MAPS member, you could not join at a better time.  If you
are a Michigan Antique Phonograph Society member, please have your shirt
buttons reinforced as they may soon be popping off from pride of membership.

Enthusiastically Yours,

Tim McCormick