78 Collectors: Why are they so weird?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed

Tucked-in t-shirts. Played a few times on a bad hi-fi. Do you have any more Paramounts? Can I look at them? Doesn't get much more blue than this, huh?

YEaaaaaah.

ian, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:31 (5 years ago) Permalink

jealous much?

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:49 (5 years ago) Permalink

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:51 (5 years ago) Permalink

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:51 (5 years ago) Permalink

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:51 (5 years ago) Permalink

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:52 (5 years ago) Permalink

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:53 (5 years ago) Permalink

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:53 (5 years ago) Permalink

http://www.tedstaunton.com/labels/1910-1919.index.html

ian, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:54 (5 years ago) Permalink

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:55 (5 years ago) Permalink

gayest polar bear EVER

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:55 (5 years ago) Permalink

this place in minneapolis is PACKED with only 78s, the dudes are kinda crusty but it's pretty neat:

M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:55 (5 years ago) Permalink

ian, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:56 (5 years ago) Permalink

ian, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:57 (5 years ago) Permalink

If you like authentic blues you'll love Blues Hammer

dad a, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:58 (5 years ago) Permalink

JN$OT, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 17:59 (5 years ago) Permalink

i used to have a turntable just for 78s but i don't anymore. i need to get one. you need a heavy arm/needle. they sound amazing though. just so damn heavy so i don't go out of my way to buy any. and i still see plenty.

scott seward, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 18:00 (5 years ago) Permalink

curses! just go here:

http://www.readyourselfraw.com/profiles/crumb/selfportrait_crumb.jpg

JN$OT, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 18:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

ian, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 18:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

i used to have a turntable just for 78s but i don't anymore. i need to get one. you need a heavy arm/needle. they sound amazing though. just so damn heavy so i don't go out of my way to buy any. and i still see plenty.

-- scott seward, Wednesday, September 19, 2007 6:00 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

the thorens PD 190 (i think that's the model number you can find pretty decently cheap used, it's got a 78 setting (but i think you do need a cartridge that can handle 78s) but anyway you can find those used, i saw one for about 175 and it's a good all-around turntable if you just want to have one...

M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 19:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

I have a Thorens with a 78 setting, I think it's TD 170 or something. But I don't have a 78 cartridge, or in fact any 78s to play on it. My grandma has quite a few 78s stashed away somewhere but probably nothing that's worth me spending the ££ for a cartridge to be able to listen to.

Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 20:03 (5 years ago) Permalink

sometimes they get the girl...

henry s, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 20:42 (5 years ago) Permalink

the girl with the large ass and thighs

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 20:58 (5 years ago) Permalink

like you wouldn't do her...

henry s, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 21:21 (5 years ago) Permalink

the girl with the large ass and thighs

-- Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, September 19, 2007 8:58 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

u mad (at titties)

M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 21:26 (5 years ago) Permalink

big leg woman ain't got no soul

sexyDancer, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 21:28 (5 years ago) Permalink

78 is the loneliest number.

ian, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 21:32 (5 years ago) Permalink

god those rpm, can't wait for them

dad a, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 21:56 (5 years ago) Permalink

i've never met a 78 collector, but i sure would like to. i mean, it'd be better than meeting, say, a Nascar fan, right?

tylerw, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 22:32 (5 years ago) Permalink

I have one of those library all-in-one units, like from an AV class in the 70's. It has the kind of needle you flip over to play 78s. My entire collection came from the dump here, one day I was doing a dump run for work and my friend who works there was like "you gotta take these". There were probably a dozen boxes. I gave a lot away to a local 78 fiend I know. There are a bunch of kids here in Eugene who have a 78 club where they all sit around and play their latest finds. They are younger than me but total geeks when it comes to shellac. They are all way into old time music and most of them play in bands.

sleeve, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 23:08 (5 years ago) Permalink

I think of an entire scene of dudes like Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar when I think of 78 collectors.

I know this stuff is very collectible for older guys. Is there any demand for these records among younger listeners?

Display Name, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 23:56 (5 years ago) Permalink

dreamy
http://quandros.com/blog/FONOTONE_bussard.jpg

ogmor, Thursday, 20 September 2007 00:19 (5 years ago) Permalink

uh

ogmor, Thursday, 20 September 2007 00:20 (5 years ago) Permalink

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=32147741

Joe Bussard's myspace site

curmudgeon, Thursday, 20 September 2007 04:13 (5 years ago) Permalink

I collect vintage 78's from the thirties. I don't like anything made after the the thirties. Rap music is pure garbage Now don’t classify that stuff as music, good Lord. You run into a teenager, 16 or 17, ask them what noise is. “I don’t know.” How could they know ‘cause that’s all they hear. All you gotta do is listen. It’s a shame that all that’s great in this country is gone. Rock music is garbage – Straight from hell. Look at the people who do it. Idiots, they’re like animals. 99% of ‘em’s drug heads. The Beatles are crap You ought to step on them. That’s what you do with beetles. It’s just a sign of the times, a bunch of weirdos banging crap. It’s too bad their plane made it over here. If one had to crash that should have been the one. That would have helped our music situation for years. Elvis Presley – Couldn’t stand him Stupid looking thing. I’m just tellin’ it like it is

curmudgeon, Thursday, 20 September 2007 04:15 (5 years ago) Permalink

What's wrong with tucked-in t-shirts? And Thora Birch, for that matter??

dell, Thursday, 20 September 2007 04:17 (5 years ago) Permalink

a few months ago i told a friend if i started collecting 45s to shoot me. later that weekend we were in a 45 only store digging for hours.

i will end up like one of these guys one day.

jaxon, Thursday, 20 September 2007 04:56 (5 years ago) Permalink

nah, i'm sure you've got too much self-awareness for that, and are also probably missing some borderline-Apergerian gene that those guys have.

dell, Thursday, 20 September 2007 05:05 (5 years ago) Permalink

"Asperbegerian"

dell, Thursday, 20 September 2007 05:05 (5 years ago) Permalink

eh, never mind.

dell, Thursday, 20 September 2007 05:06 (5 years ago) Permalink

what i'm saying is you're probably too self-aware, as well as able to balance any compulsive crate-digging with healthy socializing to wind up as one of "those guys"

dell, Thursday, 20 September 2007 05:08 (5 years ago) Permalink

it's spelled ass burgers

jaxon, Thursday, 20 September 2007 05:08 (5 years ago) Permalink

right.

dell, Thursday, 20 September 2007 05:09 (5 years ago) Permalink

Bussard's so old school he doesn't even like swing.

"Lemme play you one of the last real jazz bands, Joseph Robechaux and his New Orleans Rhythm Boys, recorded in New York City in 1933," he says of the record, "King Kong Stomp" on Vocalion. "You can hear it slip into the swing [he slurs this word as a ready-made profanity], but it's still good, one of the last really hot jazz songs. But that beautiful tone, that perfection, is starting to slide."

ogmor, Thursday, 20 September 2007 13:25 (5 years ago) Permalink

I saw an amazing vintage HMV gramophone at a car boot last weekend. £30. Wish I'd taken the thing. I just love the way they're completely portable. And no batteries! Fuck a ghetto blaster...

Michael Dudikoff presents Action Adventure Theatre, Thursday, 20 September 2007 13:52 (5 years ago) Permalink

joe bussard otm

am0n, Thursday, 20 September 2007 15:05 (5 years ago) Permalink

Item: RICHARD HITTERS CAB1NEERS EVERYBODYS 1063 78RPM (180160742569)
Subject: Re: Question for item #180160742569 - RICHARD HITTERS CAB1NEERS EVERYBODYS 1063 78RPM

Q: hi, is this hot fast paced jazz, really hot, burn you hot, need a pucket of water hot- or is it slow dance music also how many records did this group do? and is everybody's record label a spinoff of victor records thankyou

ian, Thursday, 20 September 2007 15:36 (5 years ago) Permalink

i like this joe bussard guy.

M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 20 September 2007 16:19 (5 years ago) Permalink

ha ha, yeah, joe bussard is pretty hilarious in his claim that jazz died somewhere around 1932 ... the guy does not mince words! his stories about finding 78 collections off in the hills are practically erotica. He used to have a Web site where you could order homemade cassettes of his old 78s -- i have two of them and they're awesome! Not sure if he still does that though ...

tylerw, Thursday, 20 September 2007 16:29 (5 years ago) Permalink

http://www.youtube.com/user/78MAN

for all your 78 viewing needs

zappi, Thursday, 20 September 2007 16:33 (5 years ago) Permalink

what is all this about "theories about artefacts" or whatever? you guys are reading an awful lot into my posts. i guess i just feel that for a guy who gets hella attention for having the most awesome record collection in the USA i don't find what he has to say very interesting.

ian since you watch out for these things, can you look out for piano and other 78s by a guy named "lee sims" (not frankie lee sims, just lee sims)? none of his stuff (well, save for one or two tracks) is on CD and most isn't on LP either. but he's great. i'll pay you for any of his 78s in decent condition.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Saturday, 7 July 2012 02:08 (10 months ago) Permalink

funny though, out of all those 78s bussard has, i wonder how many he'd say were total garbage.

― tylerw, Friday, July 6, 2012 10:54 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

doesn't he pointedly not collect stuff (like any jazz post-1933 or whatever) that he thinks is trash? or he'll collect the valuable ones just so's he can trade them away for stuff he really wants.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Saturday, 7 July 2012 02:09 (10 months ago) Permalink

When you consider that it's about two songs per record, it's not too hard to believe that he thinks all his records are cool.

bamcquern, Saturday, 7 July 2012 02:22 (10 months ago) Permalink

I've got about a box of 78s now but I still don't have a way to play them. I play them on other people's record players sometimes. It seems like a tougher hobby than regular record collecting.

bamcquern, Saturday, 7 July 2012 02:23 (10 months ago) Permalink

I peed my pants when I found some 78s lying around, including an entire Hank Williams set.

However, they sound like shit. I think archivists must like them for other reasons. God bless them, but they are a pain in the ass. The old stereos you can play them on are really cool though.

Jim wants answers (tootie and the blowfish), Saturday, 7 July 2012 02:44 (10 months ago) Permalink

um, lots of 78s sound great.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Saturday, 7 July 2012 12:41 (10 months ago) Permalink

and you can play them on lots of record players--was standard until the late '50s/early '60s really. not just gramaphones or whatever.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Saturday, 7 July 2012 12:41 (10 months ago) Permalink

they last is the thing.

Authorities don't know who shot the 50 Cent the goose. (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 8 July 2012 03:02 (10 months ago) Permalink

bebop 78s sound SO GOOD

american consumer goods (los blue jeans), Wednesday, 11 July 2012 04:04 (10 months ago) Permalink

tyler, thank you for that link to the r. crumb shows, i really enjoyed them, especially the last one on black string bands. i was surprised at how great most of the recs sounded (i'm used to hearing skip james 78s that are more crackle than music) - dunno if the discs had been sonically tidied up, or if crumb has enough coin to only collect the most pristine examples of such, or what. it was also amusing to me hear 'respected american cartoonist robert crumb' drawling on BBC Radio 3, which is as 'straight' an institution as you can imagine...) Could have done w/ a few more tales of rec collecting/hunting and maybe a lil less primo levi, but o/wise it was fab, so thanks again.

Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 11 July 2012 08:06 (10 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

scott seward, Monday, 1 October 2012 16:21 (7 months ago) Permalink

scott seward, Monday, 1 October 2012 16:22 (7 months ago) Permalink

scott seward, Monday, 1 October 2012 16:23 (7 months ago) Permalink

scott seward, Monday, 1 October 2012 16:24 (7 months ago) Permalink

scott seward, Monday, 1 October 2012 16:26 (7 months ago) Permalink

everybody wants a key to my cellar

tylerw, Monday, 1 October 2012 16:27 (7 months ago) Permalink

scott seward, Monday, 1 October 2012 16:27 (7 months ago) Permalink

okay, that's it. just some stuff i picked up this morning before i'd had my coffee. greenfield usually more of a doris day kinda town.

scott seward, Monday, 1 October 2012 16:28 (7 months ago) Permalink

that tom hutchinson is actually tom ashley under a pseudonym and i would like to buy it from you if it's not cracked? can we talk abut this?

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Monday, 1 October 2012 17:56 (7 months ago) Permalink

i don't usually photograph labels and post 'em online but i got some good ones from my pal.. so.. in honor of skot's birthday, i will take a few photos

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Monday, 1 October 2012 17:58 (7 months ago) Permalink

except i can't find the camera

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Monday, 1 October 2012 18:00 (7 months ago) Permalink

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Monday, 1 October 2012 18:13 (7 months ago) Permalink

those are in order:
chubby parker
tommy dandurand as UNCLE STEVE HUBBARD
rayne-bo ramblers (flip side is THE BLIND FIDDLER, good cajun record)
blind lemon jefferson (looks bad, plays decent!)

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Monday, 1 October 2012 18:18 (7 months ago) Permalink

I'm old enough to (barely) remember when Sears sold records, but never knew they once had their own label

Lee626, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 05:29 (7 months ago) Permalink

they didn't ~really~ have their own label -- they would lease titles from other record companies, often changing the artists name to a pseudonym, and press on their own budget imprint.

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 21:12 (7 months ago) Permalink

so Sears cheaped out even way back then....

the info on 78 labels amuzes me, like how the older ones were cleanly styled and had just the essentials but as time went on more and more legal crap had to be squeezed into the border. And why did they feel a need to clue you in on what style the music was? like "a foxtrot"?

Lee626, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 22:22 (7 months ago) Permalink

that's for the consumer!

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 22:31 (7 months ago) Permalink

well since Sears used pseudonyms to avoid paying royalties or whatever, customers had no idea who the recording was of, only the name of the song. At least you knew it what style of music it was before you bought it ...

Lee626, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 22:44 (7 months ago) Permalink

it wasn't really to avoid any kind of payment, it was just a distribution arrangement in a way -- the pseudonyms were so that the label the recording is leased from could still sell the recording for a higher price than the sears price. some pseudonyms were also to avoid breaking a contract w another label.

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 22:46 (7 months ago) Permalink

So you would know how to dance to the song.

*tera, Tuesday, 2 October 2012 22:46 (7 months ago) Permalink

favorite genres of music on 78 labels --

barn dance with calls
stomp
two-step
reel
old-time song with banjo

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Tuesday, 2 October 2012 22:55 (7 months ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

innerestin'

let's have sex and then throw pottery (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 21 October 2012 23:51 (7 months ago) Permalink

people almost never bring me 78s at the store.
this one guy dan does -- a collector from upstate (moving back to brooklyn!)

got these for myself from him today --

byrd moore and his hot shots 'frankie silvers' / 'hills of tennesee'
north carolina ramblers 'too young to marry' / 'ragtime annie'
gid tanner & riley puckett 'fox chase' / 'arkansas traveler'
burnett/rutherford/moore 'cumberland gap' / 'goodnight waltz'
narmour & smith 'captain george has your money come?' / 'the sunny waltz'

i love old-time music. these were all on columbia except the burnett/rutherford/moore which was on champion and the narmour & smith which was on okeh.

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Thursday, 25 October 2012 23:32 (6 months ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

Came here to post that Jerry's link. Jerry's vast offerings of 70s compilations of pre-war music, sold for a few bucks at a time, did a lot for my musical education. I wonder how hard it will be to find a buyer. It seems like if any 78 era musician would might have a stigma of being over-praised among 78 collectors, it would be Johnson.

bendy, Sunday, 18 November 2012 01:37 (6 months ago) Permalink

i keep waiting for a story like this to pop up with some new skip james or something no one's ever heard. sigh, oh well.

arby's, Sunday, 18 November 2012 03:14 (6 months ago) Permalink

man you kind have to wade through some 'pitch corrected' shit on youtube, huh.

arby's, Sunday, 18 November 2012 03:15 (6 months ago) Permalink

unskewed pitch

arby's, Sunday, 18 November 2012 03:16 (6 months ago) Permalink

it wasn't such a big deal in 2005:

http://www.popsike.com/ROBERT-JOHNSON-Dust-My-Broom-VOCALION-03475-E/4801793362.html

scott seward, Sunday, 18 November 2012 03:23 (6 months ago) Permalink

and this version is even scarcerer:

http://www.popsike.com/Original-Robert-Johnson-78-record-Dust-My-Broom-Conqueror-label-1937/200717160756.html

scott seward, Sunday, 18 November 2012 03:27 (6 months ago) Permalink

still all in all they could get 3 or 4 grand at auction. still think it was kind of rude to gloat about it in a newspaper.

scott seward, Sunday, 18 November 2012 03:34 (6 months ago) Permalink

yeah i was kinda wondering whether the story was the editor's idea or

arby's, Sunday, 18 November 2012 03:38 (6 months ago) Permalink

might not even be worth as much as a necros single when you get right down to it:

http://www.popsike.com/php/detaildatar.php?itemnr=170923607910

scott seward, Sunday, 18 November 2012 03:39 (6 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/01/03/saved/
good article!

tylerw, Thursday, 3 January 2013 20:14 (4 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

imo the better version of "i heard the voice of a porkchop" is the one by jim jackson --

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Wednesday, 27 February 2013 19:26 (2 months ago) Permalink

hey ian a friend of mine is in white plains/westchester clearing out his mother's house and found ~100 old blues 78s & is wondering if there's somewhere he can bring em to try to sell some or put them in good hands. do you know anywhere in nyc he could bring them? would you be interested?

flopson, Sunday, 3 March 2013 20:28 (2 months ago) Permalink

i'd be interested in em for sure. you can have your friend email me -- dr.carl.sagan @ gmail.com. i am in brooklyn, would love to take a look at em. do you know some the artists or the general era? Stuff after the mid thirties is less interesting to me, and condition is v important, but i'd be interested in talking to yer friend. since i am currently unemployed i would also be interested in selling on consignment or buying 'em from him.

i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Sunday, 3 March 2013 22:28 (2 months ago) Permalink

don't know about condition or year or anything, but he should be emailing you. thx a lot

flopson, Monday, 4 March 2013 20:13 (2 months ago) Permalink


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.