Europe's Society Orchestra Animation!

Yup. You read it right. Another incredible find from Rob Chalfen (local archivist and itinerant Jazz historian). This one is so amazing, I could not sleep on it.

James Resse Europe was one of the first African American musicians on record and was a critical link in the transition from Ragtime to Jazz in the early part of the last century. A less well known fact is how two ragtime dancers, Irene and Vernon Castle, contributed to the development of Jazz by broadly exposing Europe's music to white society audiences.

Reading Eileen Southern's foundational The Music of Black Americans, it becomes clear that African American bands were the performers of choice for dance parties starting at the very beginning of the republic. Nothing much had changed by the time the Castles got back from Europe where they had been performing their diluted, African American derived Ragtime dances to society audiences in 1911-12. Upon returning to the states and hearing James Reese Europe's unique brand of stompin' and swerving ragtime (aka proto Jazz) in 1913, they decided to team up. This combination of high society dancers performing "cleaned up" African American derived dances to the stomp and swerve of Europe's Society Orcestra was to become an irresistable combination. It led to national tours and the first recording of an African American Orchestra by a major record label among other important firsts.

It also led to a film reel made in 1914 called Social and Theatrical Dancing and the publication of a dance instruction book called Modern Dancing later that year. As ever, Europe's Society Orchestra provided the music. Just a little while ago, Chalfen found the book. In it are plates of the Castles doing some of their famous dances, including the Castle Walk. In the background is Europe's Society Orchestra.



Ever the Ragtime Quasi-Experimentalists, we realized that if we animated these plates, we could create a short film of Europe's Society Orchestra performing in 1914. And that's just what we did friends! While its kind of badly registered, the animation below gives you some feel for the vibe in the room. Amazingly, you can even see the fiddle player bowing. If you listen to this Europe's Society Orchestra Castle Twofer.mp3 which contains two songs Europe wrote for the Castles around that time ("Castle House Rag - The Castle's in Europe" and "Castle Walk"), you get an even better sense.

I hope to do more with these plates soon (like scan them properly rather than photograph them with my little digital camera). But for now, enjoy this rare look at one of the most important musical/dance combos in history.

Record stores are so 20th century

Being a data junkie, I decided to do a little more research on what appears to be a national trend in record store closings. No big surprise, but the news is not good.

Here's a chart I made from some data I dug up in Plunkett's Entertainment and Media Industry Almanac (Jan 17, 2002).

The chart looks at the changes in where people purchased music over the last decade of the 20th century. Notice that the trend line for record stores is dramatically down. I find it particularly interesting that the trend began well before the internet crept in in the late 1990's. Looking at the growth of the "other stores" category, it makes me think that there are actually two intersecting trends going on. One is the general trend toward buying everything at big megastores and the other is the gradual decline of record sales generally. While much more data is required to draw any conclusions about causality, the basic trend looks pretty undeniable to me.

Luckily, none of this will affect the hardcore diggers who seem to find piles where none should exist.

Mashistory Vol. 2.: The Sour Cream Control Committee

Sorry I have been so sour of late. Let me lighten the mood with a little thing I have been thinkin about for a while. Of course, it has a Mojo connection too. So let me start there.



Bhind the counter on the wall, Mojo used to have a great collection of Whipped Cream and Other Delights knockoff records. The original Herb Albert album has become iconic among record people, partly because of its omnipresence and partly because, well, it has the super sexy picture of Dolores Erikson covered in whipped cream on the front. This is the record that is virtually guaranteed to appear in every pile of records that you ever encounter. From the sheer frequency of its appearance, it seems that everyone in the 1960's must have had a copy (if not two). According to this chronology, not everyone bought it, but a whole lot did. In 1966, "Herb Alpert sold 13.7 million albums in a 12-month period, an unprecedented achievement."

Perhaps as a result of its iconic status, but certainly reiforcing it, there have been innumerable remixes, knock offs and other homages to this record over the years. Here are delicious tags for some of the ones I found.

Mojo had all of them it seemed. All but this one. I had always wanted to give it to them, but frankly, I just couldn't part with it. Can you blame me? Maybe you will after you hear the first track on this SourCreamControlCommitteeTwofer.mp3. It's the signature, Alpert tune "A Taste of Honey", but tortured and Klezmerized in a way that seems almost too perfectly terrible to be accidental. Come on, listen to that modulation again, Peter.



I follow the Sour Cream with another of my favorite Alpert mashups. This one by the Evolution Control Committee was originally released on the 1994 Gunderphonics casette and then came out on a 1996 7" as "The Whipped Cream Mixes". Widely regarded as one of the first A+B mashups, this bastard pop classic set the standard for genre the blending hillarity of the mashup craze to come. According to info available at ECC site, Rebel Wihtout A Pause mashes Public Enemy, "The Rhythm, The Rebel", Prophets Of Rage EP with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, "Bittersweet Samba", Whipped Cream and Other Delights. My favorite thing about this track is how the juxtapositon recontextualizes the "break" in Bittersweet Samba with Flav's introduction somehow making its squareness seem super hip.

I have always wondered how they actually constructed the track. I sat with a guitar and plunked along to see if the pitch changes, and it doesn't. That means it was not done live on two decks. They must have used some kind of editing system. Was it digital? I'd love any more info anyone finds on the method behind this madness.

Either way. I think these two tracks belong together somehow. Enjoy.

Long live the death of vinyl

As it turned out, I was a week early. Mojo survived well into the week of March 20, 2006. After lumbering along like a wounded analog Kong valiantly battling the digital biplanes, Mojo finally closed its doors on Friday, March 24, 2006. I had planned to document the moment of its official demise. But as one day bled into the next, it became clear that there was not going to be "a moment". There were a whole series of them. Some were more hillarious than poignant, but they were all tinged with sadness and the kind of frenzy you get when there are too many records to take but the prices are too great to pass up. Here's my haul from Day 1. Those crates are all dancehall 45's.


I was there more often than not that last week. Luckily, I took to bringing my camera and wound up getting some great footage, along with all the wax. I also met some local dudes who had already documented two closings and are working on a movie. I'd love to see that footage, so get in touch if you read this.

Amazingly, there were still gems turning up late into that week. Several boxes of 45s from some 1980's wedding DJ appeared. As I flipped through, I noticed Blondie's "Rapture" because of the picture sleve. What do you think came next? Yup. Queen, "Another one bites the dust". Having just spent a week putting together a lecture/demo on The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steels, I knew I had to look at every 45 in there. (Not to mention the double coincidence of finding "Another one bites the dust" at the Mojo sale). Even though I have both tracks, it seemed wrong to separate these old friends after so many years together. I took them both. Now they can hang together in my 45 box for another few decades.

I guess the absence of heavy diggin surprised me more than anything else. I mean, I was pulling James Brown records on King out of that pile on Tues and Wed. And new stuff seemd to titrate out all week as the final solution settled. With all that, it felt like there was less interest overall than you might expect. Even on the last day, there were Sly and Robbie picture discs on the wall. (Where did those wind up Mike?)

I was able to hang out long enough to get priceless footage of the last days of Mojo. There was the race between Billy and the Goodwill dudes cleaning out the dollar bins. There was the ubiquitous (and mysterious) Folk Man. There was the soundtrack to "How to succeed in business without really trying" in the window, right under the "going out of business" signs. There were the demolition dudes cutting up the bins themselves. I got it all on my mini DV. Witness.


I even traced the records to their semi-final resting places in Goodwill stores across greater Boston. I felt like some kind of ecologist, mapping the vinyl ecosystem. As in most novel field studies, some amazing things emerged. First, it seems clear that the market for vinyl is more like an ecosystem than a real market. More on that soon. Second, there are paradoxical flows of information and material through this system.

While it made me a little sad to see the records at Goodwill, by the time I got to the one in Davis Sq. only a few days later, 5 bins (like the ones above) had disappeared. Amazing, that with DJ culture goin strong and enough people willing to buy THREE BINS of records in as many days, its hard to make a go of it as a storefront. Yet with pressures from E-bay and other online outlets, it is inevitable. Everyone is feeling the pressure to go online. But as we do, local ecologies suffer in strange ways.

I get the sense from my travels that used record stores are closing everywhere. Either that, or becoming Amoebas. I'd be curious how the trend looks to others, but to me, it seems that the days of diggin in the new arrivals bins are limited. At least around here. Keep the faith Loony Tunes, Mystery Train, Nuggets, Cheapo and all you other wax preservationists out there.

Most of all, thanks to David, Mike and all the Mojo patrons who put up with me that last week. I am gonna miss the Mojo. Not to mention the records.

The last days of Mojo Music

Today, another name is added to the growing list of used record stores that have closed in Boston over the last few years. Remember these?

Disc Diggers, Mars Records, Phase 4 Records, Record Hog, Smash City Records, Mystery Train. Not to mention Biscuit Head, Calabash, and all the other small independent stores that come and go (but seem to go more than come).

Yup. Mojo music is closing today. While it is just one more in a long series of used record store closings in the area, this one hits close to home for me (figuratively and literally). Mojo has been a favorite stop on my route since it opened in the (mid?) 1990's. From their extensive dollar and inexpensive new arrival bins to their listening station and crates of 1980's reggae singles, this has long been a local mecca for me. Reorganizing my records recently, it seemed that every 5th one had a Mojo label on it. This is where I got my Winston's "Amen" single and the Chakacha's classic "Jungle Fever". I can't even count the blissful Sundays spent diggin through the dollar bins downstairs.

Needless to say, I have spent a lot of time in there lately. Just recently, I had arrived early enough that no one noticed me slip down into the dusty basement. Some two hours later, I staggered up the stairs, bleary eyed and clutching some strange disco and kids records. Taking one look at me (and not realizing I had come in earlier), David hollered from behind the counter: "Just waking up there, Pace?". We had a good laugh, but I might as well have slept over these last few weeks. When their 50% off sale hit, I probably looked through half the records in there. The other half? I saw those when they came in ;-)

Those younger folks among you might be laughing at this point. "Dude, you can get all those records on line now. Helooooo." Yeah, I know you can get almost any record you want on E-bay and Gemm (if not on a brand new compilation at Dusty Groove). Guess what? It’s not the same. Sorry. As more and more of our media consumption becomes computer mediated and collaboratively filtered, we loose something unique and irreplaceable (even as we gain variety along with a repetitive stress injury).

Since the beginning of the record industry, small local stores have served as watering holes for local musicians, collectors, audiophiles, vinly junkies and other music obsessives (and just plain wierdos). In their capacity to attract people seeking information (customers) and people seeking to dispense it (often too much of it, for too long, when you didn't even ask for it) used record stores are places where the very threads that make up the fabric of musical culture are woven.

Just a few weeks ago, I was in Mojo’s and Peter Wolfe wandered in. As he laughed with David about some inside joke only two local music mavens would understand, I realized how big a hole Mojo is going to leave in the social and cultural fabric of Cambridge.

At least the Plough is back. I'll be there later, trying to drown out the echo of the sound of the lock closing on the Mojo door this one last time. (If I am lucky, maybe they'll lock me in there!)

We'll miss you Mojo.

Vinyl Junkies Hall of Fame Vol 1: 石岡市の旧家 （指南オーディオ道場） 青柳邸の門構え

This is the first of reoccurring set of entries giving respect to the most inspired and committed vinyl junkies and record obsessives among us. And there are lots to choose from. Believe me. But why try the rest, when you can start with the best?

Allow me to set the scene:

The e-mail subject line caught my eye right away. "The most astoundingly beautiful audio pictures..." Audio pictures?!?!? Man, what's next? Movies with little scratch and sniff cards? (Of course, there is even a copyright battle going on about odorama, it turns out.) Being a big fan of synesthesia myself, I opened it with glee.

"...I've ever seen."

As I read on, it dawned on me.

"Take a few minutes out of your busy day to drool -- especially if, like myself, you're into the, ah, older stuff."

Knowing Clark, I quickly realized that this was going to be some high grade product. Audio product that is. As in gear. Well, see for yourself.

http://shu-ks.com/zakki/0aoyagitei.html

Thanks CJ! (and most of all...Mr. Aoyagi!!)

Fickr webs

Riddimmethod-flickr graph c/o the nice people at flickr graph

From recent developments over at the Forest and the Trees blog, it feels as if the semantic web is just around the corner.

Doug has written an amazing new program called Findr, that searches through Flickr tags to find sets of photos representing the intersection of multiple tags. Doug describes it as Folksonomy + Interesection = Taxonomy. While he immediately downplays it, I think he is right on. His view is congruent with research in cognitive anthropology, and in particular, cognitive views of cultural meaning. In “A cognitive theory of cultural meaning” Strauss and Quinn (1997) argue that a cognitive/connectionist theory of meaning resolves long standing debates in cultural theory about the relationship between individual meaning making and culture (e.g., the age old debate between agency and structure). Strauss and Quinn (1997:82) define cultural meaning as follows:

"The meaning of an object or event for a person at a given time is the output of something like a connectionist network. The 'cultural meaning' of an object or event is the typical output of the networks of people who have similar histories"

While they have a specific idea in mind when they talk about a connectionist network, flickr/findr is “something like it” indeed. What makes Doug’s AP so fun is that it lets you play with groups of cultural categories (e.g., the collective output of individual mental models). Let me be more specific. When people tag things (in this case, photos), they are marking associations between the items and cognitive-cultural schemata. While these schemata are represented in individual minds, they are influenced by the experiences the individual has had in particular cultures/settings up to that point (as well as more idiosyncratic things like his/her mood, level of intoxication, activation level at the time, etc.). When you sort by tags, you are sorting by the collective output of a “kind of connectionist network”. If so, you should be able to learn something about the culture by playing with the associations among items.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started experimenting. Doing a general search like “people”, you can narrow down to smaller subsets by adding tags. For example, “people+clown+blackandwhite” gives predictable results. While this is cool (and better than flickr’s advanced search options due to the great visual interface, what is more interesting (and sometimes surprising) is the list of associated tags that appears below your current search. This list gives a flavor for the associated items in the cognitive schema most closely associated with the current search term/s.

However, it also works in reverse. You can learn something about the meaning of search terms by looking at the images associated with them. I tried putting in some descriptive, and slightly unusual words. “Dribble” for example, pulls up lots of pictures of babies, which tells you something about how that word gets associated with items at this time in the “culture” of flickr taggers. Because of Doug’s amazing graphical interface, it is easy to see patterns as they emerge. E.g., it’s easy to see the outlines of schemata emerge, and when they do, boy is it fun. It’s that process of intuitive, schema based exploration (paired with a nice graphical interface) that makes cognitive network data so sticky (e.g., fun). Don't believe me? Try flickr graph.

Mashistory Vol 1: Stairway to Gilligan

"Gilligan's Island (Stairway)" Mp3

I have been planning a series of shorter posts on the history of the Mashup (the musical craze that has been raging in the DJ world for several years now). If you want to check it out "live" head down to the now infamous Mash Ave party with residents DJ BC and Lenow. As someone who has been drifting back and forth between DJ and rock band worlds for some time now, I find it amusing that this musical form has been heralded as the new new thing. In fact, people have been at this for quite some time. What really changed is that digital technology has finally made it possible for everyone to mix and mash. (Note that this article makes the claim that "Mashups first appeared on the pop-culture radar screen earlier this year with the release of The Grey Album"). Others have suggested connections between mashups and the cut up record, plunderphonics, sample based music and even the audio collage work of John Cage. But really, these things are all very different.


Wayne does a super job juggling the nuances of mashup politics in his summer '05 post Mashpolitik. I am going to take a slightly different approach by occasionally featuring tracks and ideas related to the history of the mashup. My first selection was inspired by a recent e-mail from Franc Graham. Her reference to Little Roger and the Goosebumps' 1978 song "Gilligan's Island (Stairway)" reminded me that this was my first encounter with a "mashup".

I won't try to recreate the history of this song (which was penned by Little Roger's late guitarist John Shield). Suffice it to say that the track features the music of Stairway to Heaven with the lyrics and melody of the Gilligan Island theme on top. Not only is it hillarious (methinks), the specific format (instrumentals of one song with vocals from another) make it a good candidate for an early Mashup. This form distinguishes it from related musical parody work of folks like Wierd Al who sing goofy lyrics over familiar tunes. Not only that, but Little Roger and the GB's were even sued by Led Zep and forced to stop selling the single. This outlaw status strengthens its connection to more recent illegal art forms like the mashup. Luckily, it was finally re-released on a 2000 compilation called Laguna Tunes, which features the work of Kenny Laguna, who produced the band.

You have to give respect to Little Roger and the Goosebumps for doing it all on guitars and stuff. 'Member those?

Finally, here is a nice little blurb about the band I found at a site on the Sacramento music scene.

"Little Roger & The Goosebumps - Their one single didn't quite climb the charts nationally in 1978 because it was pre-empted by a lawsuit while the song was steadily gaining airplay around the country. The song was called "Stairway To Gilligan's Island," (ed note: the actual title appears to have been "Gilligan's Island - Stairway" judging from the 45 below) which was a novelty featuring the lyrics of the Gilligan's Island Theme set to the music of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven." It was Led Zeppelin's publishing company who kept the song from growing into a hit due to Little Roger's failure to seek permission prior to releasing the record. The plaintiffs ordered the record to be taken off the market and all copies destroyed. The band was formed in the mid-seventies and became well-known in the Davis scene before spreading to Sacramento and ultimately gaining more popularity in the Bay Area. It was fronted by Roger Clark, who teamed up with San Francisco band Earthquake to record the instrumentation in London at Pete Townshend's studio. Other members included the late guitarist John Shield, who came up with the idea of mixing the two songs together, and violinist Dick Bright, who became an accomplished orchestra leader in the Bay Area and backed artists like Santana and Bonnie Raitt. After the smoke had cleared, the recording later appeared on a Blackheart/Mercury Records compilation called Laguna Tunes, compiled by producer Kenny Laguna."

And a picture of the orignal 45 (reposted here from the nice folks at www.gilligansisle.com).