Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78rpm Records

Found this on Amazon.com.

Looks fascinating to me.

Anyone read this book yet.

I think even Steve Hoffman might enjoy reading this on collecting 78 RPM vinyl.

 

About 10 years ago, I was at the home of an acquaintance who collected 78s from the 40s & 50s. Was shocked at how good a clean 78 could sound on the right equipment.

I also remember the guy saying how frustrating 78's could be; that you could handle them with the utmost care, yet sometimes they'd still break without warning or apparent reason. No, thanks!

Note to the OP: Nice avatar!

 

Thanks for the heads-up. Just preordered this om Amazon UK.

Best Wishes,
David

 

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicag...rs-do-not-sell-any-price/Content?oid=14146401

Darryl

 

Prediction: Joe Bussard and John Tefteller are mentioned.

 

Thanks ... just finished downloading from iTunes ... some reading before bed tonight

 

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks back about 78 collecting, and the journalist reviews this book within it. Here's the link, it's a pretty good read.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/book...the-blues-revival-by-steve-cushing-1405112759

 

I love 78s!!!!!

 

NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/books/do-not-sell-at-any-price-and-dust-grooves.html?emc=eta1&_r=1

 

Since this thread was started I've read the book, and here's my take on it as previously posted in the "Read any good music books lately?" thread:

I recently read Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78rpm Records by Amanda Petrusich. It's a decent yarn about 78's and the sorts of folks who collect them, along with info on the history of 78 collecting, Paramount Records, and the appeal of the old-timey music that's in those grooves. I enjoyed the book and Petrusich writes engagingly well overall, but I've a few gripes that will be familiar to anyone who's read the sort of feature writing that turns up in Esquire and other mags of its ilk: Petrusich sometimes with too much colour, like she's adding metaphorical descriptive detail to up the word count, and she inserts herself into the narrative too much. That's fine to a degree, since her learning about the 78 collecting scene is part of the story, but sometimes she goes overboard into the frivolous: like, we didn't need 10 pages on her learning to scuba-dive so she could go trolling for dumped Paramount sides at the bottom of the Milwaukee River, and we didn't need two or three pages on the journey to and from Joe Bussard's hometown, pages that could've been used for one or two more of the old coot's anecdotes.

Nevertheless, well worth reading for anyone who enjoys books like Vinyl Junkies or the Desperate Man Blues documentary, just don't pay full list price.

 

Great post. Thanks for being the canary in the coal mine -- I've been eyeing that book, but after reading some interviews with the author, she did strike me as someone who would make herself a part of the story to an annoying degree. The subject matter is fascinating to me, though, so I'm sure I'll read it sooner or later.

BTW: Does she cover R. Crumb and his pals?


http://matsgus.com/discaholic_corner/?p=2048

 

I have my grandfather's and his mom's (my great grandmother's) 78 record collection....I need to get them out....maybe tomorrow...curious what's in there (and how many) They were in very nice shape when I was a teen back in the 80's (and I've had them safe since then)...we'll see what remains after 25-35 years in a closet and who knows how old the original records are to begin with.

hopefully there's a nice gem or two...hard to really say/

 

Sounds good, hope you find some "gems." Just don't drop the older shellac ones -- they break really easy. Good luck.

 

hahaha

yeah I will be very careful for sure!

 

Did you ever watch the documentary about him? It's called 'Crumb' and came out around '95 or so. It gets into his records briefly, but that's not really the subject of the doc. I haven't seen it since around the time it came out, but much of it has really stuck with me over the years, so I'd certainly recommend it.

 

There's a store near our Office in Tokyo that specializes in 78rpm records and vintage players. A colleague has an old unit in beautiful shape, but he needs to change the needle every time he plays a records.

 

When hanging out at my local indie record store, I remember on occasion some customers dragging in boxes of 78s for sale. Either it was a recent inheritance, or they were just helping a friend out, they just wanted to move the 78s out. Unfortunately the store had neither the space nor the clientele to sell the discs, so the customer was disappointed - some thought they had a goldmine on their hands, or even if not so optimistic, were surprised that something more than half a century old (at that time) was not such a strong seller.
The store would strongly recommended them to take the discs to a larger used record store, who could sell them. I always thought of 78s as museum pieces...so amazing and historical, like an undeniable part of our collective cultural past that's faded away decades ago. But, in this consumer focused society, if it's not so easily or conveniently utilized, it's discarded...

 

One of my saddest days in this hobby was when I found a box full of 78's at a local thrift shop - Lightning Hopkins, Leadbelly, T-Bone, Billie and Bessie. Several blues records and a few jazz titles here and there amongst the usual fare... and all were cracked almost exactly in half. By the looks of it, it must've happened very recently as all the records were still standing upright and in order. It just broke my heart as I kept pulling one half of a record after another... sniff.

 

That's par-for-the-course.

 

It's quite remarkable really (given their age and fragility) that so many have survived so that you do see the occasional selection for sale in 2nd hand stores.

I've never deliberately sought after 78's, but whenever I do see a stack for sale I have a glance through for anything interesting to play (in the hope I might spot an early Miles Davis rarity or the like). The last 78 I purchased was at a charity store, Johnny Cash I Walk the Line, it played nicely I was quite pleased with that!

 

In my mind, I was trying to figure out how many old records and players they need to sell at what incredible mark up in order to justify store space in Tokyo. Maybe it's a labor of love. I should visit

 

The trouble with 78s is the vast majority of them are of no interest musically. For every Leadbelly 78, there are 1000 Teresa Brewers. Most random collections are going to be of the latter variety. When I go through a batch of 78s at a thrift store, etc., I rarely find anything better than a Benny Goodman.

 

Crumb is mentioned in passing a few times, but he isn't covered directly.

 

I'm not a 78 collector at all and always thought they were collected mainly for either rarity or nostalgia's sake not for the music. I work in a friend's record store and we were talking about that and he said sometimes 78s sound really nice. He then pulled out a pristine copy of the Everly Bros. Bye Bye Love and played it for me on the store's speakers. He was right, it sounded beautiful. Still won't collect 78s though. Don't need another obsession.

One other thing, has anybody seen the movie Ghost World (ca 2001)? The movie revolves around these two girls (Thora Birch and Scarlett Johanssen) who've just graduated from high school. At a yard sale they meet Steve Buscemi who plays a nerdy collector of 78s. He invites the girls to a party at his house and the rest of the attendees are older, nerdy 78 collector guys. It's a funny scene. Sure there's some mockery involved but it strikes me as an affectionate sendup. Worth seeing.

 

Yes, that documentary is great. I think the movie Ghost World was partially inspired by him, as well.

Thanks. The radio show American Routes recently featured Crumb, and visited him in his "record room" in France. He played several of his old 78s, and they sounded extremely cool.

EDIT: I see trebori made the Ghost World connection, too. And Crumb was also a character in American Splendor, IIRC.