In The Groove
Each issue of ITG provides several articles ranging from exceptional collectors to professional writers of highly regarded books on the topic of antique phonographs, recordings and related focuses. Below, is the President’s Message from the August/September 2010 issue:
Welcome to the Special Collector’s Edition of In The Groove. This issue is extraordinary for several reasons. (1) It includes histories of the Michigan Antique Phonograph Society including an article written by the last surviving founding member especially for this issue. (2) This is our very first expanded Bi-Monthly issue and we are celebrating this achievement by providing our faithful readers with a whole host of contributors. (3) We are starting the new tradition of full color glossy covers printed on heavy paper stock.
I hope you are as impressed with the front cover artwork, as I was when I first laid eyes on it. My nephew, Pete McCormick, is a professional graphic artist that works in gasoline alley, and produces some of the most impressive graphics on the world’s most expensive cars at the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway. Pete lent his talent at Phonovention 2009 by producing the 14’ mural of the Edison Recording Studio for Peter Dilg’s live recording event. Recently, I had lunch with him and asked if he would consider designing the new In The Groove front cover. His mouth was drooling. I provided him several period books and catalogs from my collection. His eyes fell on the two statuary ornamentations representing Knowledge and Music adorning a 1919 Victor record supplement catalog, and said, “These belong on our cover,” and so they are. The bottom corners include a Berliner and an Edison phonograph representing competing schools of technology, reminding us of the reason we hold dear these historic treasurers of acoustic discovery. The color scheme makes any antique phonograph collector feel right at home, with Gold, Brass and Nickel metallic finishes on a Honduras Mahogany wood background.
This issue of In The Groove also introduces new sustaining columns such as “So, You Have Been Vaccinated By Your First Antique Phonograph Needle” – a column dedicated to educate those newly introduced to our celebrated antique talking machine fascination. This column will be written by various contributors in the future, starting with our very own Larry Crandell. Paul Ladd introduces his new series of articles entitled “What the Phonograph Has Taught Me.” Paul will systematically discuss antique phonograph repair issues organized in a workshop manual format. He intends for his articles to be photocopied, three-hole-punched and organized into binders by future antique phonograph repair people. The next issue of In The Groove will be the October edition. We are planning a few more surprises and enhancements that are sure to please. We are starting a new article contribution collection convention. All contributions, paid advertisements, classified ads and the like must be in the editor’s possession 30 days prior to the next issue release date. The deadline for submission to our October edition will be August 31st, 2010. Anything provided after that date will be printed in the following December issue. Speaking of the December issue, we have high hopes that we can persuade our members and contributors to narrow their article topics to something consistent with the holiday season. We hope to compile a very special Christmas present for our readers to enjoy this year.
In the meantime, we will be planning and designing our new web site: www.MAPS-ITG.org Our goal is to have the basic structure up and running by October 1st as well. Our web site will become reason alone to be a MAPS member. One of the first features will include an automatically updated database of our members. As a member, you will have access to your account to change your mailing address, pay your membership through PayPal, and update your collecting information profile to be shared with other members, if you so choose. Later will come discussion forums so you can ask questions of other MAPS members and receive replies from some of the finest experts known to exist. The web site features we are developing are too numerous to detail in this article, I’ll leave that for our October edition of In The Groove.
Before I end this message, I wanted to share with you news from Don Gfell in his own words, “There is some good news however about Edison. He just won the popular vote in Ohio for our statue in Washington. There is still more to finalize this and it will probably be August before this happens.” It appears all of Don’s hard work has paid off. To read more about the State of Ohio’s new statue at our nation’s capital, please visit www.TomEdison.org
And now a message about Phonovention 2010. The very first Phonovention took place at Jackson, Michigan in August 1979. Phonovention returns to Michigan this year, but this time in association with the Fall 2010 Stanton Auction in Charlotte, MI. Enjoy the Stanton Auction by day, then relax and kick back at Phonovention in the evening. Following the Stanton Preview show on Thursday, you will be captivated by none other than Mr. Jerry Fabris, museum curator of the Thomas Edison National Historical Park. Following Friday’s auction, return to Phonovention for dinner, round table discussions and a presentation by Paul Ladd describing how to prepare a World Class collection for auction. The Phonovention registration form can be found on page 39 of In The Groove.
If you are not a MAPS member, you could not join at a better time. If you are a Michigan Antique Phonograph Society member, please have your shirt buttons reinforced as they may soon be popping off from pride of membership.
Enthusiastically yours,
Tim McCormick |
