78 Collectors: Why are they so weird?

bebop 78s sound SO GOOD

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.

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everybody wants a key to my cellar

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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.

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 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

except i can't find the camera

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

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.

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"?

that's for the consumer!

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 ...

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.

So you would know how to dance to the song.

favorite genres of music on 78 labels --

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

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/nyregion/rescued-kurt-weill-recording-is-sweet-vindication-for-accidental-discoverer.html

innerestin'

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.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/music/rare-robert-johnson-record-turns-up-at-jerrys-records-662343/

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.

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.

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

unskewed pitch

it wasn't such a big deal in 2005:

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

and this version is even scarcerer:

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

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.

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

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

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

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jerry's in the news again. with added r crumb
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/art-architecture/rare-lp-spins-into-trade-for-drawing-by-noted-artist-677032/#ixzz2M7UrICDc

imo the better version of "i heard the voice of a porkchop" is the one by jim jackson -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU0ZEMYsCpA

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?

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.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IKjwSWReaU

got dis one in da mail today.

some other recent arrivals --
dykes magic city trio - frankie / poor ellen smith (great tunes, not the greatest copy but listenable!; brunswick)
tom owens barn dance trio - ocean waves / stony point (gennett)
byrd moore & his hot shots - careless love / three men went a-hunting
bunch of carter family and darby & tarlton records

i love 78s :(

are you tucking in your t-shirts now?

NEVER

:)

lol

but are you wearing suspenders and a boater yet?

NEVER

i am, however, buying expensive discographical reference volumes and putting check marks next to records i own.