a blog for those who never gave up their turntables
I WAS RESEARCHING AN ARTICLE when I stumbled over a site containing thousands of images, all apparently scanned from ‘underground newspapers’ and similar counterculture publications. And best of all, they appeared to all come from that period of unrest and upheaval that we call “The Sixties”—which took place between 1962 and 1975, depending on how you define it and where you lived at the time. [Read more] “on babylon falling (fingers up and crossed)”
I WAS INVITED by a young musician in England to make a connection on the LinkedIn, the “world’s largest professional network.” Of course I accepted it, despite the fact that I have yet to meet anyone who has actually benefited professionally from any of these LinkedIn connections. Nonetheless, I certainly don’t know everyone on that network, so maybe I was missing something. [Read more] “linked in with cheryl pawelski, record producer and collector”
A FEW WEEKS AGO, I received an invitation from a young musician in England to make a connection on the LinkedIn site, the “world’s largest professional network.” Reluctantly I accepted it, despite the fact that I have yet to meet anyone who has actually benefited professionally from any of their LinkedIn connections. [Read more] “talking with ken barnes on his career as a rock journalist”
THIS IS PART 3 of an ongoing conversation with or about Lawrence Bray concerning his career as a solo artist and as a member of the group Around Town. The group has a new record Out Of Control and both it and its accompanying video gave me great joy to participate within. Here [Read more] “channeling the rich sonic palette of george martin”
THIS IS PART 2 of three articles on Around Town and their single Out Of Control. This one hopes to answer the age-old question, “What do Mick Jagger and Lawrence Bray have in common?” But first, some background: while researching something else, I came across the ad for the MP3 download on Amazon (above) and, lo and behold, no one had yet submitted a review. [Read more] “what do mick jagger and lawrence bray have in common?”
A FRIEND WAS LEARNING THE ROPES of making money by selling other people’s ‘collectables’ by auctioning them on eBay. It’s his experience that inspired this article, “Grading Records for Sale Part 1.” Let’s pretend his name is Luke. As the bulk of Luke’s consignments were from friends, it was a reasonably relaxed affair and no one was trying to pull the wool over the other’s eyes. [Read more] “on grading records for sale part 1: ‘still sealed’ and ‘mint’ are not the same thing”
THIS IS A TRUE STORY of the derrings-do that so often transpire in the swashbuckling (and often piratical) world record collecting. And it’s an honest to Grommett true story because Wholly Grommett does not like people leading people on with falsehoods—especially when it comes to records. Grommett is very, very concerned about the state of record collecting in the world today. [Read more] “there’s the rub and it’s all taken care of with a sanford magic rub”
FOR THOSE OF YOU with an interest in collecting, the Record Collectors Guild website is a forum titled Ask Neal Umphred. Anyone can ask me anything and as I am often an absentee landlord, others may answer the question in my stead. A few days ago, I was asked a question by a Guild member who wheels and deals records out of Mexico:
“Neal, could you explain why anyone would want a ‘rare’ Mexican pressing of a less-than-mediocre Dylan record? [Read more] “collectors collect to collect (because the collector wants what the collector wants)”
I JUST STUMBLED over this on Facebook and I wanted to post it here immediately sans commentary. This is a lesson that EVERY one of you wannabe recording artists should watch until it is burned into the deepest recesses of your lizard-brain: a brief description of the managerial problems faced by a rock and roll band . . . [Read more] “managerial problems faced by a rock & roll band”
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a blog for those of us who never gave up our turntables
