In trying to gather up the materials I’ll need to build my phonograph, I have come to the conclusion that I’m way more likely to end up with a working phonograph if I follow these instructions: http://www.christerhamp.se/phono/matteson.html.  That means I’ll be trying for a tinfoil (or something similar) cylinder, not a wax one.

Things I’ll need that I already have:

• Tuna can for sound chamber
• Hard plastic for diaphragm (I’ll try a CD case as suggested in the addendum.)
• Cardboard (It is a special thrill whenever a use for cardboard presents itself.)
• Thumb tacks (I’m going to try using one of these as the needle.)
• Heavy aluminum foil (Although I’m going to try to use the aluminum foil duct tape recommended in the addendum.)
• Duct tape

Things I think I can get from other people:

• Manila file folder (I think I can get an old one at work.)
• Wire hanger (I believe my roommate is looking to get rid of some.)

Things I can get at hardware store(s):

• Plywood and pine
• Screws, nuts, & washers (I may very well have what I need, but I have it randomly distributed in plastic bags hidden in dark recesses of boxes I’ve moved with several times without opening.  Let this be a lesson to me!)
• Sheet metal
• Drawer knobs
• Wood glue & epoxy
• Aluminum foil duct tape

Things I can get at a craft store:

• Felt

Things I probably have to order:

• 1/4″ pre-threaded stock shaft

Tools I’ll need that I already have:

• Screw driver(s)
• Can opener (for the tuna)
• Scissors (for the cardboard, felt, & foil/tape)

Tools I want to buy:

• Drill (I can probably borrow use of a drill press, but given the things I plan to do, it’s worth owning one.)
• Hand saw (Once again, I can borrow use of something fancy, but I should have one handy too.)

Starting this blog in the paleolithic era was almost an afterthought.  In retrospect, I’m glad because the questions I’m examining here are very important and will become a point of reference for the entire project.  Questions like, “What is technology,” and, “What are human beings in the first place?”  Nevertheless, it has gone kind of slowly and I don’t like feeling stagnant so early on (or at all).  For a while I’ve been considering grabbing a task from later on in history, just to mix it up a little.  A recent Nerd Fun outing has inspired me pick the task: build a phonograph!

Gerald Fabris, Curator of the Edison Historical Site in West Orange, NJ, gave a demonstration of wax cylinder recording and playback at the Boston Public Library on Tuesday.  It was a fascinating presentation.  It turns out the phonograph was preceded by a device called a phonautograph.  This worked similarly to a traditional seismograph: a moving stylus draws a waveform on a long, scrolling sheet of paper.  In this case, the stylus is attached to a diaphragm which vibrates with the compression and rarefaction of the air.  So the stylus is drawing sound waves.  The inventor of the phonautograph, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, had no way to play back his recordings, but quite recently the documents were scanned into computers and turned back into sounds for the first time.  The sounds were played during the presentation.  It was very muddled, but it definitely sounds like a human voice!

Thomas Edison’s phonograph worked the same way, with a diaphragm vibrating with the sound waves, but instead of drawing back and forth on paper the stylus pushed in and out against a rapidly spinning, slowly advancing, tinfoil covered cylinder.  In this way, the stylus digs a helical grove into the tinfoil with varying depth.  The pattern of changing depth, of course, encodes the sound wave.  The process is reversed for playback.  A more blunt “needle” presses against the groove as the cylinder spins.  The needle, in turn, pushes a diaphragm.  As the needle is pushed in and out by the varying depth of the groove, so is the diaphragm – and the recorded sound is reproduced.

Through the years the material of the recording surface and many other details of implementation were altered and refined.  I’m not going to attempt to replicate any particular historical phonograph.  I’ll pick what I see as the most practical way to prove the concept.  I’ve found several guides on the internet for how to build a simple phonograph.  I’m going to see how well this one works for me: http://www.creative-science.org.uk/RS2phono.html.

I’ll try to interleave my work on this with the throwing spear discussion.  For the paleolithic era, I plan to make my throwing spear, finish watching Becoming Human, and possibly visit a museum or two.  Then I’ll move on until the weather gets warmer.  Then I’ll go back and finish some of the outdoor paleolithic activities such as fire-making and shelters.

Thank you for reading!

It’s Beanz Five Years & the new e.p Fat Noble Kings Eat Buffalo Wings by The Fleiss is now available from Your Mixed State, LLC, an Independent record label based in Orange County, California. This double 7″ 45 offers 4 new Acoustasonic songs by The Fleiss & in addition includes the Freedom of download coupons so fans can add songs to their playlist; on Zune & Apple i-Pod

Click Image Ad below 2 mail order Fat Noble Kings Eat Buffalo Wings on Paypal (accepts Visa)

Initially Fat Noble Kings Eat Buffalo Wings will be available on YourMixedState.com 4 mail order only. It’s not available in @ HMV (U.K), Chapters (Canada), Best Buy or Barnes & Noble (USA) yet… although copies will be shipped World Wide by United States Postal Service

The First 400 copies sold on the Internet will receive a free 2005 clear vinyl release of The Fleiss called I’ve Disappeared upon request with the order. Fans should type “Freebie” when prompted to send a message during the Paypal order process. First come frist served & while stocks last only

There are 4 full songs on the e.p, one song per side & all songs can be classified as Acoustic Alternative, Indie Pop & or comedy. In an unusual move the front Double Jacket cover has text of song titles & credits displayed in Times New. The inside cover contains song lyrics & embedded in the sleeve is a download coupon with A unique code 2 access digital copies of the songs from the Internet. On the jacket rear, A text sent by Blackberry & written in Green Goat Method of Accord (GuN’s personal Philosophy of Language) explains the plight of Glen ugly Naughty, The Fleiss & Your Mixed State’s Battlefront with the major lables. It’s a riverting read thru the eyes of Manic Depression

Although this record includes free Mp3 Download Coupons 4 All songs, Folks in need of A turntable might try Target Stores who carry A wide selection of phonograph players; USB & Stand Alone

The new record is selling retail @ $8.00(USD) of which 12% ($1.00 USD) will be donated to Orange County Rescue Mission 2 help the homeless in Orange County. California orders pay 8.75% state sales tax (70 cents  per copy) It’s A great value

US Postal Service
48 Contegious States $1.73 (1 copy) $2.58 (2 copies)
Alaska & Hawaiin $2.07 (1 copy) $2.58 (2 copies)
Rest of the World/International $5.44 (1 copy) $8.84 (2 copies)
For volume orders please contact Your Mixed State,LLC

Produced using high quality manufacture technique on Southern California soil, Your Mixed State guarentee that the records strong physical quality & cutting edge content will make u smile

Click Image Ad above 2 mail order Fat Noble Kings Eat Buffalo Wings on Paypal (accepts Visa)

Track listing includes…

Side A) Anarchy On A Small Business Blog (Jan Norman’s Small Business Blog) – Glen Naughty forgets his antipsychotic meds (Johnson Risperdal) & decides to self medicate dropping A LSD Acid Tab instead.  While picking up tips 4 Your Mixed State, LLC on Jan’s Normans blog his Pearson Prentice Focus on Problem Solving shifts 2 flashbacks of the Vietnam War Mai Lai Massacre; the twist, he was never actually there butt remembers the orders of William Callie & its Horror well. Death by Government. This song’s lyrics were written riding A Care Ambulance driven by Nascar Champion Buddy Rice transporting GuN  from Mayo Clinic 2 Kaiser Permanente psych ward during A Narcotics Anonymous (N.A) Drug rehab program. World Famous Flashback

Side B) Stephen J Proctor Jr (Z-Billionaire) – Delusions of Grandeur. GuN protests Stephen Forbe’s Billionaire list, his Beef cannot remain silent anymore. The Singer accuses Forbes of redlining his prestigious list by excluding Gay Billionaires. Glen Naughty cries out his friends great traits & demands Stephen J Proctor Jr (Z_Billionaire) be included on the list 4 making A Billion US dollars remodeling apartments & flats despite the fact he’s  A trannie & A Queer . Celebrity voice impersonated   

Side X) The Worldwide Fleiss Tour (Fleiss Can’t Play The Warped Tour! – Jack’s Breaking news outside the Key club in Hollywood, California USA reveals Kevin Lyman (the promoter of The Warped Tour) has called The Fleiss music Waste Management & says Glen ugly Naughty is 2 Fat 2 play; A lost Alchoholic loser. GuN laments & reflects upon all his hard work writing protest songs on Yamaha guitars,  Guerrilla Publicity plus Myspace & Facebook advertising promotions. He fears All his hard effort will may become A waste of breath & break his heart

Side Z) A Wall Street Toy (Drat that Young Bloody Murdoch!!!) ((Imagine it’s live @ Staples Center)) – At A recent secret David Bowie gig GuN drinks half a bottle of Jamison Irish Whisky, sneaks past Staples Center security with his Fender Acoustasonic amp, powers up & plays A Wall Street Toy to a great receptive audience. During the catchy song  accusations fly of how AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is linetapping WMG; they still remain unanswered. In additions, rumors r already circulating around as 2 why Young James Murdoch stole GuN’s Honey on Southwest Airlines

u can listen to sum samples of the music on this promotional Video Stream. This is a temproary vid as A new & improved video is coming soon or u can order the record online here

For customer service please e-mail Your Mixed State

Buy A copy t0day

View Circuit Diagram

Old 78 rpm collector’s – item records cutback in the early days when the performers sang in front of a large horn usually have a peak in the midband that drives the sound into your mind like a finger nail scratched across a blackboard. The overall sound quality is easily tamed, and made more natural and modern, by attenuating the shrill peaks with a record restorer, a device that suppresses, by hi-fi standards, the midband frequencies. The record restorer should be assembled in a metal cabinet to prevent hum pickup. Connect the output of your phonograph to the restorer input. Connect the output of the restorer to your tape recorder. Set potentiometer R2 to maximum resistance and adjust potentiometer R3 for the most pleasing sound. If R3’s adjustment is too little, or too much as evidenced by a “hole” in the sound quality, trim the restorer with R2 until you get the optimum equalization.

Parts List For Record Restorer

C1, C3 – 0.2 uF mylar capacitor, 25V DC or better

C2 – 0.02 uF mylar capacitor, 25V DC or better

R1 – 270,000 ohm, 1/2 – watt resistor

R2, R3 – 25,000 ohm potentiometer, linear taper

I find the camera work meant to feature the unmoving speakers to be less soothing.

The history of music is intertwined with the technology of the time. Each new technology somehow enhanced music and changed the way that people interacted with the music. The road that music had to follow in order to get to today was a long one. Even today, music is constantly evolving with the new technologies and the people who use that technology in creative ways.

Before the phonograph was invented, music was only heard live. There was no way to record sound and thus, music belonged only to the artists who had live shows. People had a connection to the artist and the artist’s music through watching the expression during live performances. Music was never for personal use and was not heard daily.

Once the phonograph was invented, there was a drastic change in music. People could now record the sounds and play them back, even if it was imperfect. The artists had to learn how to optimize the performance of the phonograph in order to get the most preferred sound played back. This brought about new techniques used to make music and also allowed a more personal use of music for the general public. “Even when recordings aren’t winging their way across continents, they can move easily within our daily lives, detaching music from its traditional times, venues, and rituals” (Katz 16). Now people could buy albums and hear their favorite songs while making breakfast. This was also the first time that people could hold music in their hands. No one would ever thought that you could hold something that could play your favorite songs back to you in your own hands. This was a big step for music.

However the phonograph also changed the way music was made. Not only did the musicians have to learn new techniques in order to preserve sound quality, they also had a limited time for each song. While they could split songs amongst many tracks, many performers chose to conform their music to this limit. “Practically speaking, however, the time limitation encouraged performers to record shorter pieces. …It was not long before the time limitation affected not only what musicians recorded but also what they performed in public” (Katz 33). It was obvious that the new technology drastically changed they way that artists made their music.

Another change for music that came with the phonograph was the issue of repeatability. When artists play their music live, no two performances will be exactly the same. While they will play the same songs, the notes that are played may be slightly different. A note may be out of tune, or in a slightly different place. Or the dynamics of a song may differ. However, when the song is recorded, that recording will always be the same. The song will never change in any way. “With sufficient repetition, listeners may normalize interpretive features of a performance or even mistakes, regarding them as integral not only to the performance but to the music” (Katz 25). This difference causes expectations from the listeners. When they have been listening to the recording they will assume that the live performances should sound exactly the same. This affects the way that people listen to music and how they expect certain songs to sound like.

Once the radio was invented, personal use of music was even more prevalent. People could now listen to music wherever they wanted. Radios became a part of many homes in America it drastically changed the way music was marketed ad they way people listened to music.

People started trying to find uses for the radio in everyday life. They started coming up with ideas that would be of use in the military, on boats, soothing animals or children, and allowing the women of the home to listen to their favorite programs. Businesses would also start to use radios as a way to attract customers. This would provide the customers with a more comfortable feeling.

Another aspect of the personal was that there could be multiple radios in a household and the multiple channels allowed people to listen to what they wanted easily. This created more personalized music. People began to have favorite stations or types of music that they enjoyed listening to and would use the radio in order to listen to that music. Artists would use the radio to become more intimate with the listeners by using the new technique of “crooning.” “Whereas the other styles…were clearly intended for listening in public spaces, with the singers singing as loudly and/or as penetratingly as possible, crooning was just the opposite – it was as if the singer was singing only to you in your home, through the miracle of radio” (Taylor). This was different from the phonograph, in that the phonograph was not used in these intimate spaces and did not allow for the listener to fantasize about the song.  The “crooning” of the radio allowed it to enter the private lives of the listeners, while the phonograph was geared more towards the public space.

However, it took a long time for the radio to benefit the musicians. For a long time the radios would play the music and the musicians would not get any money for it. “For most musicians in the United States considering their jobs, it was difficult to say which was the greater evil: radio, records – or the film industry.” (Chanan 83). Eventually, through boycotts and bans, the artists were able to get the royalties that they deserved from the major music companies.

Eventually they recording studio became an extremely important tool for both musicians and record labels. This brought on a lot more creativity and also brought in questions of authenticity. The recording studio allowed artists to use samples and cut and edit their own music in order to create a whole new art piece. Music began to be written for recording and not for live performance. A lot of music during this time would not have been able to be played the exact same live. It is meant for the record and the radio. “…as if the studio had become a huge musical instrument at the producer’s disposal” (Chanan 144). The studio required more than just the musicians. Now in order to produce a successful album using the studio, the musicians required a producer to direct the musicians and engineers to work the equipment.

Of course with all the people who were now involved with the making of music, problems in ownership and authorship arose. “As musicians, engineers and producers became ever more involved in different facets of the recording process, two things happened: authorship became diffused, and uncertainty in the relations of production led to power struggles for aesthetic control of the finished product…” (Chanan 145). The recording studio was the main thing that sent this long debated problem in motion.

The recording studios also gave rise to the debate about authenticity. Many of the songs recorded in the studio could not be preformed live and thus were not considered by some to be authentic. Others looked at them as a different kind of artistry. They considered the studio to be an instrument in itself.

Then comes the issue of remixing and hip-hop music. These artists would take beats from songs and dub over it. This caused problems with musicians and was even banned for a time by Jamaican radio. “This is not just a new kind of sound or even a new musical style, but a transformation of music, in which the ‘misuse’ of music becomes a new norm” (Chanan 150). While this makes the creation of music a little more accessible, it brings the debate about ownership to the forefront.

Another technology that drastically changed how music is distributed and viewed by the public is the Internet. One of the greatest changes that the Internet has made is the easy access to music. With the Internet, people can easily share music with each other with no cost. The music companies were completely unprepared for the wave of file sharing and put bans on it. Instead they put up sites where you can download music for a small fee. However, this did not stop people from committing piracy and downloading the music for free.

Music is viewed by most people as tracks. It is simple to have music libraries of over 5,000 songs. This also brought about the creation of playlists, which allowed people to organize their libraries in genres or whatever order they would like to listen to their music. This gives a whole new experience to the listener. Not only can they listen to it at home, but MP3 players allow people to have portable music libraries, where you can listen to music wherever you are. Like the first recordings, it has the issue of repeatability that will never be present in live shows. It also makes recording and mixing much easier. Any person with a will to do so could make music right in their own home, with the most basic set of skills.

Music and technology will forever affect one another. Music will evolve with technologies and technologies will be invented with the purpose of making music even more accessible and easy to create. Technology is constantly evolving and it has been going at an increasingly fast pace. Whenever these new technologies come forth, they seek to enhance the creation and the enjoyment of music. Just how they will change the music industry, no one can predict.

Pilgrimage Statistics

Consecutive Days Riding: 61                                Consecutive Days Blogging: 62

Today’s Mileage: 5                                           Total Trip Mileage: 535

The red line marks our progress.

As I ride the bike today we are preparing to pull into our twelfth pilgrimage site.  Today’s site is unique and some people might question why it warrants a designation as a spiritual pilgrimage site. We are stopping at the Edison Museum and Winter Estates in Fort Myers Florida.  The roadways we have travelled are populated by a great many churches, but finding sites that speak to the wider array of expressions of spirituality can be more challenging.  I happened upon the Edison Winter Estate site at the same time I was researching the Koreshan Unity Village Site we visited last week. 

In the lab!

With the Koreshan movement we had a charismatic leader and followers who combined religious revelations with quasi- scientific thinking to create a utopian dream. At the same time just thirty miles up the road, we find Thomas Edison, who many would view as the archetypical inventor, solving the world’s problems in practical ways.  Through his innovations he created a new world of electrical lights, phonographs, and movies. He accomplished his feats with little formal education and a lot of hard work.  Edison is often cited as an example of ingenuity, perseverance, and a “get it done” practicality. Among his many quotes that adorn bumper stickers, t-shirts and office walls are: “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration,” and “To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” He was not theoretical like Einstein; he was practical, hardworking and no-nonsense. “”Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”  He reframed the whole concept of failure: “I have not failed. I’ve just fond 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

First Banyan tree in the US planted by Edison in his garden.

His personal spirituality and approach to the divine is less clear. I’ve found references that labeled him as an atheist, an agnostic, a freethinker and a deist.  He attended a Congregational church near his home which in memorial to his membership changed it name to Thomas Edison Congregational Church.

 In a New York Times Magazine interview conducted in 1910 he stated: “Nature is what we know. We do not know the gods of religions. And nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving… nature made us – nature did it all – not the gods of the religions.”  These remark generated a great deal of controversy, and although he did not allow himself to be drawn into a public discussion he clarified himself in a private letter by stating: “You have misunderstood the whole article, because you jumped to the conclusion that it denies the existence of God.  There is no such denial, what you call God I call nature, the Supreme intelligence that rules matter.”

Edison statue with Banyan tree.

His involvement with causes such as nonviolence and Civitan appears to attest to his belief in the importance of social action over professed beliefs. A visit to his winter home site also emphasizes the importance he placed on nature, with his beautiful gardens, dock into the bay and cherished Banyan trees. All of this make one wonder if he represents a scientific thinker who experienced moments of nature mysticism.

 Again I am struck by the synchronicity of my site visits. With one site we find a cult-like community, dreaming of changing the world based upon religious revelations and questionable scientific theory.  Its “New Jerusalem” is now a state park housing RVs and sun worshipers. Existing at the same time and just a few  miles away, we find an individual embedded in a practical science, who was described as logical, reasoning and creative.  He surrounded himself with the beauty and inspiration of nature and changed the world! 

Edison provided a source of light, helped capture visual and auditory memories for future generations, provided inspiring words and left us a pilgrimage site that attests to the power of perserverance, creativity and engagement with the world around us. 

Fort Myers' sunset.

To visit the Site please click on the tab at the top of this page labelled Pilgrimage Sites. A special thanks to the photographers associated with Panramio for the beautiful scenes from along the roadside.

 The information on holy days and sacred holidays comes from www.interfaithcalendar.org.

I love the mixtape.

Or, perhaps, the mix CD, iTunes playlist or podcast, depending on your age and technical abilities.

I’ve lived through almost every era of music recording and playback, save for phonographs and 78 rpms…

I’ve witnessed each evolutionary leap from the vinyl record on, embracing and adapting to each new format as quickly as possible.

I remember 8-Tracks, and I remember 45’s. Hundreds of little plastic inserts littered the carpet in our family room, allowing me to play my single of Come On Eileen on our gigantic, solid oak record player/cabinet. My collection of cassettes and casingles filled countless shoeboxes, shelves and glove compartments.

I remember my first walkman, discman, and the wonderous day I simultaneously discovered MP3s and Napster.

My first record player/tape deck combo was, perhaps, the greatest leap forward. It was a brave new world—a world I could control.

Thus began the dawn of the mixtape for a young, mildly obsessive/compulsive audiophile.

I made mixtapes for everything—mixes of lovesongs, break-up songs, songs for road trips, songs for sleeping…

They became a self-authored soundtrack to my life, as if it were a movie.

This obsession only grew with the advent of MP3s and burnable CDs.

These days, I make a playlist to run up the street for a pack of cigarettes. CDs have become disposable, turning quickly from music to drink coasters, laying unmarked in piles never to be played again.

Thank god for the iPod, my carbon footprint was getting bigger than King Kong driving a Hummer.

My conscience is guilty enough as it is.

I do sometimes use my powers for good.

I remember the first time I was unemployed for the holidays.

It was about ten years ago.

Money was extremely tight and the gift giving season was standing on the top turnbuckle, ready to drop an elbow on my head.

I could only afford to give my family small things; a book, calendar or DVD from the clearance table—it just didn’t feel personal enough.

I had to supplement with homemade gifts. My wife made some cranberry bread, and I made the first CD in what has become one of the longest standing holiday traditions I keep.

The first one was nothing but the classics: Bing’s Christmas was white, Elvis’ was blue. Dean crooned about snow and Ella asked what we were doing New Year’s Eve. Nat King Cole sang about chestnuts while Ray Charles walked us through a winter wonderland.

After that, they began taking a different direction.

Everybody already had all the classics. If they wanted to listen to Wham or Mariah Carey, they need only find the holiday station on radio or satellite.

I wanted to give them what they didn’t already have.

The first few years were easy, as I searched the modern Christmas compilation CDs on Amazon, finding some of the most wonderful, god-awful and sometimes downright absurd modern takes on timeless classics.

The longer I make them however, the harder it becomes to find new songs that don’t suck.

I tried to stop about five years ago, but the anger was palpable when I told my friends and family.

I feared a visit from three ghosts if I didn’t keep the tradition going.

When I was gainfully employed in a nondescript, cubicle-ridden, corporate-casual office, the CD became my annual Christmas card—by my final year as a corporate soldier, I was handing out more than fifty.

And now, here we are, ten years later.

Money is tight and the gift giving season is looming.

It would seem recessions and unemployment are a Christmas tradition, as well.

Just as they were so many years ago, my gifts have reverted back to small trinkets and homemade goods, with the CD being at the top of the list once more.

Times may be a little tough, but so long as there’s music, we can always still dance…

…And I have the perfect mix CD for just such an occasion.

Great news! My test pressing did arrive from Rainbo Records on UPS today

A test pressing may also be called a White Label which is essentially A Dummy record that can be played and tested before the full product run.
I did check the record for errors and it seems to be AOK.. There are 4 sides to the upcoming Fleiss 45 so 4 copies of 4 sides where issues as test pressings

Wow! Rick Lepore delivered as promised All 4  sides, A,B,X & Z of the new upcoming e.p Fleiss release on Your Mixed Stare, LLC titled “Fat Noble Kings Eat Buffalo Wings”. The quality of the record manufacture is outstanding & I AM looking forward to the full run that will include the artwork & full track listing.. I told Rick to “Lock & Load” & “Send the Wax to the Max”  (a music biz term 4 “”Start of full production run”). He told me selling of vinyl records especially 7″ 45′ is on the upturn & they are busy selling all kinds of records for Christmas

As you can see my desk in The Office is a mess right now (i need a professional organizer) butt things are allways Mad @ Your Mixed State

Here is a Coolpix of the Test Pressing. The A side 4 The Fleiss e.p ”Fat Noble Kings Eat Buffalo Wings” is called “Anarchy On A Small Business Blog – (Jan Norman’s Blog)’” It’s been specially remixed 4 vinyl

Here is a rare picture of a test pressing. As u can see Quality is Job #1

Additional updates & details of the new record from Your Mixed State, LLC will be coming soon so join our Feedburner to always be connected

GuN

21 november 1877 presenterade Thomas Alva Edison sin allra senaste uppfinning; phonographen. Med den kunde man fånga ljud för att återspela dom precis när man så själv önskade. Ingen Edison, inget PopGiss. Vi höjer en bägare till denne innovatörs minne i afton.

En annan jubilar är Mac Rebennack som fyller 69 idag. Låt oss göra ännu ett besök hos The Last Waltz där Dr John, som vi oftast känner honom, bjuder på Such A Night. Magi.

Är man sugen på lite jazztoner live kan Effes vara ett alternativ i afton. Bandet Slim Pim & The Bullets, med bland andra popgissaren Kenneth Rootmos, står för musiken. Men glöm aldrig att…

Uppdatering: Staffan Lyttkens, bror till Hans Lyttkens som nämns i inlägget före detta, påpekar att Slim Pim & The Bullets alls ingen jazz spelar. Utan mer Blues Band-svängig gubbrock. Skönt att höra, eftersom jazz är farligt.

On November 21:

164 BC Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restoresdthe Temple in Jerusalem. This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.

1694 Voltaire, French philosopher, was born.

1783 Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d’Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.

1787 Samuel Cunard, Canadian-born shipping magnate, was born.

1863 Maori surrendered at Rangiriri.

1877  Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound

1905 Albert Einstein’s paper, Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?, was published in the journal “Annalen der Physik”. This paper reveals the relationship between energy and mass. This led to the mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc².

1920 In Dublin, 31 people were killed in what became known as “Bloody Sunday“.

1922 Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia took the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator.

1929 Marilyn French, American feminist writer, was born.

1936 Victor Chang, Australian physician, was born.

1941 Juliet Mills, British actress, was born.

1945  Goldie Hawn, American actress, was born.

1948  George Zimmer, American entrepreneur, was born.

1977 Minister of Internal Affairs Allan Highet announced that ‘the national anthems of New Zealand shall be the traditional anthem “God Save the Queen” and the poem “God Defend New Zealand“, written by Thomas Bracken, as set to music by John Joseph Woods, both being of equal status as national anthems appropriate to the occasion.

Thanks for stopping by!  We at Record Relics strongly believe that vinyl records make the world a better place and we’d like to share some with you that we find interesting…

“POT LIQUOR”
http://recordrelics.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=3398152
(With a band name like Pot Liquor, it doesn’t really matter if your music’s good or not…but in this case the band’s actually pretty decent!)

“T. REX – MARC BOLAN”
http://recordrelics.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=3283077
(Arguably T. Rex is either the BEGINNING or the END of the Glam genre, deoending on your point of view)

“SEX PISTOLS PICTURE DISC”
http://recordrelics.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2138276
(Picture discs were big in the eighties and so were the Pistols, so cool combo here)

“THELONIOUS MONK”
http://recordrelics.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2005129
(Take time to thank the record companies for re-issuing some of the old Jazz classics.  This sealed LP is an exact re-issue of Monk’s “Criss Cross” album from the days of yore)

“INDY 500 RACING”
http://recordrelics.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=1506144
(Amazingy this album was originally given away as a promotional record by the VanCamp’s Pork And Beans company as an incentive to buy their canned food!  Nowadays it’s a cool piece of NASCAR racing memorabilia, and has great art on the cover)

Check out our website for thousands of cool LP record albums for sale at www.recordrelics.com

We also have a 45 website, which can be seen at www.recordrelics45.com

New vinyl is added on a regular basis to both sites so bookmark us and check back often!

RECORD RELICS

A month sans internet and a million other committments/distractions have left me without a lot to show for the month that was October; as for now, here’s a wee private commission I cranked out over the last few weeks, soon to be offending people’s eyes in a living room near you.

[Click to enlarge]

Early one morning, not so long ago, I stretched out in bed and listened as Johan Sebastian Bach entered the room, along with Albert Schweitzer. My time machine was fully functioning.

Before you scoff, let me add that one of my time machines consists of a stereo player, a record turntable, a CD player, compact disks, and vinyl recordings that prior to being used are amply doused with distilled water to eliminate static and give me, via five speakers placed appropriately within the room, excellent sound from earlier times.

I don’t remember where or how, back in 1980, I acquired a remarkable Japanese monophonic recording under the label of “EMI Angel.” Everything on the record’s jacket is in Japanese except the part that promises that I could hear Albert Schweitzer playing Johan Sebastian Bach’s Chorale Preludes. I was reaching back in time and listening to music that was composed centuries ago and played by a great man who has not been alive on this planet for decades, using an organ that may not even exist any more. Who is so out of touch with reality as to doubt the existence of time machines like this, making it possible for the past to be heard again?

I remember the time when I was a little boy and a stand-up phonograph, taller than me, was brought home. When my parents weren’t looking I opened the cloth-covered lattice that hid the sound box, trying to find the little people who I thought were inside. My mystification was not removed when I found nothing but empty space.

A few years later my imagination was kindled after browsing in the children’s section of a public library that the small-town fathers had thoughtfully provided for kids like me. My fingers touched a book by Carolyn Rogers titled “Pirate’s Loot.” Published in 1931, it had full-color illustrations by Gustaf Tenggren. I took it home, read it, and never forgot it. I often wondered if it would still hold the appeal that it had so many years ago. It did, after I acquired a copy from an antiquarian book source on the Internet and read it again.

The story was about several boys and girls who were on an island reputed to have a cave in which pirates had buried their treasure. The youngsters met an old man who was fussing with an electronic machine that might be able to reproduce sound from former times. His theory was that sound waves were permanently imbedded in stones and trees in much the same way as sounds were imprinted on 78-revolutions-per-minute records of that era. Eventually, after many trials and failures, the old man’s machine began to function. Along with the youngsters, he took it into the interior of the pirates’ cave and turned it on. They sat around the machine and listened. And through the static they heard the footsteps of pirates entering the cave. Their voices (in English, of course) were describing certain stones embedded in the cave that, properly turned, would open a back wall and reveal a room filled with treasure. The old man and the children located the stones, turned each one like the dial on a safe, and a hidden door creaked open to reveal a room where a skeleton dressed in a pirate’s ragged clothes was still keeping watch over the treasure.

I often think of that book. And now, as I listen to music composed at another time and played at still another time, I still have something of that boyish sense of wonder. The wealthiest person in all the world, not all that long ago, couldn’t have financed a command performance such as we can achieve by the touch of a button on one of our marvelous twenty-first century time machines!

I think of the other time machines in my home. A television set which actually shows me – and let’s me hear – people from the past. With the right programming I can see, as a young agile man, Fred Astaire dancing. Through the wonders of DVD recordings I can see and hear Jack Benny, still 39 years old, with his wonderful humor that continues to make me laugh. I can reach back in time!

I can record live programs from television and, a dozen years from now, see those very same programs again.

I open the pages of history books and they enable my mind to return to a world ten or ten thousand years ago.

I leaf through a photograph album and see my parents and grandparents once again, at different stages of their lives. That album is a time machine made of paper!

I’m a very lucky guy. Where is my imagination, if I do not recognize that time is being preserved, and I’m able to see and hear once again what once was? We praise technological knowledge that proves there are no miracles. But if I lack the wisdom that preserves a sense of wonder, have I not lost a marvelous gift? While retaining my knowledge, don’t I do well if I allow my primitive spirit to soar with gratitude? How many time machines do you have where you live?

I like the spinning.

Ariel Sammone

The phonograph/gramophone, radio, and “talkies” each had similar and disparate effects on the American people by way of introduction, reception, and integration into everyday life and business.

The phonograph was introduced into a market that had known music previously only through the medium of live performance. Karl Marx’s gripe about this particular state of affairs was rendered invalid when the gramophone and phonograph were made available to the public. Though never achieving a truly broad popularity, due to technical issues of “canned” sound–inferior musical integrity–the advent of these devices was received with something akin to awe: for the first time, music sans musicians was possible. While hitherto the experience of music was a communal one, known only in public at concerts and the like, it could become a private matter. Still, the preexisting idea that music was something to share could still be indulged, with the added benefit of the ability to choose one’s company and preferential setting. New ways of appreciating and interacting with music became possible: the tangible collection, something unimaginable prior to the invention of music recorded to a physical medium; relatively portable music, which could be listened to in a variety of settings (although not all); and repeatable music, that could be savored as frequently as one wished. The new invention had some effects on the practice of musicians as they recorded tracks in the studio: temporal restraints sometimes dictated the length of songs, which were occasionally composed specifically to fit within these confines. Longer tracks needed to be split up among several sides or multiple discs, which necessarily had an effect on the way some listeners understood and received the music. In any regard, music was revolutionized, and took on new meaning within society.

The later introduction of radio had far-reaching effects: the notions of public and private began to blur; a new consumer economy began to emerge; radio stars were being born (later to be killed by The Buggles & MTV); all kinds of locations, from the home to public areas such as transport (buses, cable cars), hotels, and hospitals were outfitted with the new device; technology became recognized (in no small part due to advertisers) as a symbol of “modernity,” which simultaneously united some peoples of the nation, ethnicizing and primitivizing others within and abroad; and still yet new styles and approaches to music were emerging, inspired by the new possibilities the technology, including better microphones, made available. The rise of “crooning,” an intimate, romantic style, was adored by women, and helped to further establish the radio as a mainstay in increasingly many homes. Like the phonograph and gramophone, radio was a new means of sharing music, with the choice on the part of the consumer whether to listen in the home or in public, with others or alone, tuning in at one’s own leisure. Some people found new jobs as radio DJs and technicians. Others found work in factories. On both the business and social fronts, radio was bursting with opportunity. It began to decline, however, when successive technology worked out its initial kinks, and began to embrace Americans in an all new manner.

Talkies had some trouble in the beginning. The difficulty of synchronizing a sound track with the visual reel seemed insurmountable, until at last the invention of light-recorded sound enabled filmmakers to embed sound and music into film. The later improvement of boomed microphones removed an inherent cheesiness from the sound quality associated with film. Talkies were a real thrill: like never before, music could be experienced alongside a previously recorded moving picture, repeatable, unlike live performance, as anyone could see a film at will as long as he or she had money enough to pay for admission. This resulted in a loss for the radio market, and also for musicians who previously held jobs playing live alongside silent films. Talkies, however, were to be the precedent for the still-booming film industry as we know it today. And radio never truly went out of style; new services such as internet-steaming and satellite radio have actually expanded its influence. Gramophones and phonographs, however, proved too flawed to have long-lasting value.

The first three decades of the twentieth century saw an amazing influx of technological developments. Advancements such as the phonograph, gramophone, radio, and the ’talkies’ were popularized and made accessible to nearly all economic classes during these times. These changes in technology served to restructure people’s perceptions of music, how to interact with it, and what relationship they had to it–as well as to each other. I would particularly like to discuss how the expansion of the musical technologies affected the relationship between performers and the consumers/listeners. In 1877 Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, marking the beginning of a machine that not only recorded sound, but had the ability to play it back. Edison hypothesized a great deal of uses for the machinery: recordings for the preservation of proper language, stenographer-less dictation, phonographic books for the blind, and the reproduction of music (among others). Ingenious as it was, the markings in wax that were utilized in the process were not ideal because of issues with durability. Ten years later, the innovative Emile Berliner introduced the gramophone to the masses: a similar technology that operated with a rubber stamp-like material in place of Edison’s wax. Astoundingly, by 1904 one in every twenty-two households owned a gramophone and/or phonograph. Clearly it was a very exciting new item to have around the household; one no longer had to travel to a theater or dance hall to enjoy music, but instead had the convenient option of staying in for the night while still taking pleasure in the tunes of their choice. Similarly, the radio was a big hit with the masses. It was perhaps more economic than a phonograph because with a single piece of equipment, one could hear an array of musical stylings, current news, etc. Originally developed as a war-time device, the radio was an efficient tool for long-distance communication as well as entertainment. Unlike the phonograph and gramophone, all of the available audio was live and thus, unrepeatable. Bands performed at the radio station for the listeners, rather than radio personalities playing records. Radios were the new hit sensation of the 1920s: between the years 1920 to 1927, the number of stations sky-rocketed from a humble three, to one-thousand. This piece of technology was no longer reserved for the hobbyists, but was now advertised as a key-player in the modern world. Advertising effectively reached the public by linking concepts of modernity with the ownership of a radio. The piece of equipment was marketed as being helpful in agriculture, raising children, weddings, funerals, and simply enjoyable to have around. By utilizing the sound experts in the field of radio, the ‘talkies’–films that successfully married recorded images with sound–became possible. Technological advancements made for ‘the air’ such as the special microphones, were employed in order to resolve the long-time conundrums of the amplification and accurate synchronization of sound in films. The first microphones used were those of popularity in 1920s radio studios: the condenser type. Once adopted on the sets of Hollywood films, it became clear that the sound-in-film goldmine hadn’t quite been struck yet. The microphones were finicky and did not perform effectively unless the sound source was quite close; there was plenty of work to be done on the technology. Still, in the latter half of the 1920s the films “Don Juan” and “The Jazz Singer” were produced with sound, respectively. It is clear that these technologies were catching like wild-fire, becoming cheaper, and more accessible to the general public. However, it is necessary to ask a question that is perhaps completely obvious at first: how did this new technological mediation of music to people affect their relationship to performers/musicians? At the outset, the phonograph/gramophone technologies made music tangible: for the first time the listener could own music and with that ownership came the ability to repeat the music over and over. Additionally, recorded performances needn’t be in their original environment any longer–nor was it necessary to have the performers physically present. Using a record is, at least in a way, eliminating the performer from the picture by pulling the musical piece and the listener into a more intimate, closer bond. This can be seen in a positive and negative light: on one hand, individuals can create new and unique ways to experience music by choosing where and with whom they enjoy it with; on the other hand, music is no longer a communal event and without the presence of the performer, an important line of communication is lost–the energy of a performance cannot be conveyed visually with a record. Also of importance is how the attributes of the record shaped music as we know it. Another one of the double-edged swords of recorded music is repeatability. Katz notes in his piece “Capturing Sound”: “For listeners, repetition raises expectations…With sufficient repetitions, listeners may normalize interpretive features of a performance or even mistakes” (25). The issue that Katz is illustrating, is the pressure put on artists to meet the expectations set by a repeatable record. Listeners begin to see an artistic interpretation of a work as the correct and perhaps the only way, to play a piece. Also with repeatability comes the ability for performers to scrutinize previous recordings of their work and/or emulate the work of others–possibly taking the ‘life’ or energy out of the music. Musicians were further pressured by the early acoustic recording technologies to change the instrumental composition of their pieces (upright basses weren’t effective for instance) as well as the length of their songs (early records had approximately four minutes to each side). Similar to the phonograph/gramophone, the radio features disembodied music–void of a visual presence of performers. The radio differed however, in that the music presented was always live from the studio. Also of note, is the individual listening of music that is involved with the radio. This technology helped to restructure society’s notions of public and private space. With the required machinery, one could bring popular music and performers in their homes, bedrooms, garages, etc. Another move towards more intimate musical interaction was the popularization of the crooning style of singing. Vocalists needn’t project their voices in the older, dramatic belting style–they could speak softly into the recording equipment or radio microphone. When heard, it was as if the performer was in the listener’s private space speaking to them directly–making the listener feel closer to the artist. Next is the topic of the ‘talkies’. As mentioned above, there were initially many issues with including synchronized sound with recorded film. Initially, there might be a single microphone on stage which the actors/actresses couldn’t stray far away from if the equipment was to work effectively. This limited the shots that the camera could capture and thus, was viewed as an artistic step backwards for film. However, once microphones were put on the boom a clearer, more intelligible sound could be heard in films–creating an illusion of reality and suppressed “the signs of fabrication” (“Enter the Talkies” 77). These technological developments in the areas of film and music have all completely altered the face of the musical world as we know it today. Characteristics ranging from the disembodiment of music, the repeatability of recorded sound, and the limitations of the record itself have shaped how people interact with music and those who perform it. For better or worse, the music industry has been put on a path of individual enjoyment which often erases the artist from the picture.

RCAH Technoculture Blog # 2

Lauren Halsey
In the late 19th century and the early 20^th century music was always played and listened to in person, audience and performer together. In the 1920’s technology began to expand to help music reach new audiences and be more easily accessible. Since the Gramophone and phonograph were invented, and people no longer had to be in the same room or venue to hear their favorite artist’s music, people’s musical tastes have expanded and genres have grown to cater to all sorts of musical needs. Each genre requires different aspects of recording to make them sound authentic for their type of music and sound, and each uses different instruments and acoustic techniques. As soon as recording became readily accessible and common for most songs, artists developed solely to edit pieces and fit them together to make the perfect recordings for their audiences, though deeming the ideal sound of the song impossible to an extent.
The club scene would not be possible were it not for these recording technologies and amplification inventions.  Loud music blasts through the speakers, blasting one or many songs at once mixed together,  or hinting at what song could be coming up next with the turn tables scratching and changing the music constantly to keep the audience entertained, these people come out to a large public venue not necessarily to see their favorite bands in person, as would happen many years ago, but here they can hear all kinds of music and artists that flow together and mix together with the technologies and enjoy the music and appreciate it in large groups rather than by themselves or at home, which used to be more common ways to appreciate recorded music.

Music recording popularity and technology allowed for people to learn about new artists that they may not have come on contact to if they had to hear them in person, technology has now expanded to be able to sense a person’s musical taste and recommend new music they wouldn’t have known about or tried before, which I think would not be possible if recordings weren’t so easily accessible. And, music downloading, though a majority of which is not paid for, therefore illegal was inspired by the recording technologies and the need to expand music to everyone.  Downloading allows anyone to easily search for an artist, or genre , etc. and find whatever they want and be able to listen to it in the comfort of their own homes, or in their cars, on CD mixes, their iPods or other portable devices easily, which creates a deeper connection for the person to the music, though they aren’t right there hearing them in person making that connection, the artist can be with them anywhere they go, which would then inspire them to want to see them in concert because they’ll know all their music and this would make their experience all around more exciting and meaningful for the most part.

Vincent Sawaya

Blogging assignment #2:

In the late 1870s Thomas Alva Edison proposed a variety of uses for his genius invention: the phonograph.  Among the phonograph’s many uses, Edison suggested that it would be well suited for the reproduction of music and education.  Edison’s phonograph is but one example of the various sound technologies that developed during the turn of the century (19^th-20^th).  The phonograph was eventually replaced with Emile Berliner’s gramophone, which essentially became our modern turntable.  With the gramophone people could now have a recorded sound anywhere: on a picnic, in their parlors, even in one’s restroom.  It was revolutionary.

Sound, namely music, began to take on a different cultural meaning in the developing world.  Music no longer had to be experienced only through live venues.  Not only was people’s relationship to music changing but also new musical objects became readily available for the masses.  In the book Capturing Sound by Mark Katz he speaks about the new found cultural purpose of musical objects: “it is often the physical artifacts themselves, more than the sound of the music, that the collectors find meaningful” (Katz 11).  Personally I collect old Nintendo video games, games that I hardly play but often display.  This type of ‘tangibility’ as Katz refers to it, is a chief example of how the human’s relationship to not only music but to the objects that hold music was changing (and with digital recordings it still is today).  This is but one example of the immense impact on consumers by early sound recording technologies.

When the microphone became readily available for musicians more cultural waves manifested.  Imagine a time when amplification of a sound did not exist at all.  Singers needed to reach an audience with their vocal muscles alone.  The microphone changed this.  Singers could now sing softly.  Creating a more intimate exchange of music.  With the microphone, Singers such as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby became cultural marvels.  The established singers of this time were upset.  For these ‘crooners’, as they called these microphone singers, could not fill auditoriums with their voices alone.  They used a technology to aid them, just as many artists do now.  Thus the microphone caused people to rethink and redefine what singing entailed.  This redefining has happened over and over again in the light of new technologies, and by the nineteen twenties radio became another cultural catalyst.

Radio became heavily endorsed by a cultural push towards modernity.  Middle class people wished to benefit from a new technologically advanced society.  With radio the benefits were seemingly endless.  As Timothy Taylor writes in his article Music and the Rise of Radio in Twenties America states: “Radio, as an important marker of America’s technological modernity, was thought to be able to accomplish almost anything. It could make the disparate peoples of the nation one; it could uplift everyone culturally by playing good music… it could educate” (Taylor 7).  One can see the power that radio posses’ to reinforce or critique cultural norms.  Radio connected people in ways they had not been before.  During the depression one can imagine the importance of a radio in a modern home to hear FDR’s fireside chats and listen to a plethora of entertainment programming.

Sound technologies never stay stagnant.  Music recording is ever changing.  I owe my cherished relationship with music to these changes.  From gramophone to now digital recording techniques, the recoding of sound has shown many drastically different faces.  Due to these differences, people are constantly debating about what music is.  An important question to ask now is: if technology can make any person a creator of music, then what is the importance of a human’s musical capability (such as tone quality and the ability to hear pitches)?  I leave that question for another time…

Mercury Records and Beck-John Productions put out a series of children’s records in the ’60s called Storyteller which were ”Dramatically enacted, accompanied by a 40 piece orchestra”. Each record had “2 Complete Stories”. The pairings were “Robinson Crusoe” and “Davy Crockett”; “Cinderella” and “Jack and the Beanstalk”; “Robin Hood” and “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves”; “Hansel and Gretel” and “Sleeping Beauty”; “David and Goliath” and “Noah’s Ark”; “Rip Van Winkle and “Three Musketeers”; “St George and the Dragon” and “William Tell”; and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and “Tortoise and the Hare”.

We had the last one, whose catalog number was SLP 107. I listened to it so many times as a kid that certain lines of the narratives, and certain passages of the scores, and certain images that were painted in my little brain at each repeated hearing have remained with me all my life. The word “columbines” held a magic for me long before I knew what columbines were or what the flower looked like. The phrase “I’m scot nared — I mean…I’m not scared” gave rise to that knock-kneed spoonerism’s use in our family throughout my life. Somewhere among my parents’ photo albums is a black and white photo of me sitting on the floor – with legs bent back on either side in that impossible way four-year-olds sit — in front of the huge cabinet phonograph that we had in the living room under the copper-colored clock. I think I am listening to “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” or “Tortoise and the Hare”.

The stuff dreams are made of. Detail from the back of SLP 107's jacket.

The narrator in these recordings talked a lot and said funny-sounding things I didn’t understand before each story and at various points in the tale. He said, “But I’ll just tell you the story and let you draw your own conclusion. Have you ever drawn a conclusion? Or would you rather draw a house with a chimney? Oh, now that’s a silly question isn’t it…now where were we?” At that age, I did not yet register puns.  

As such things tend to do, this vinyl recording and its sleeve and tattered jacket fell into disuse after a time and languished in a box of other recordings — Johnny Appleseed, Pinnochio, The Chipmunks. Considering the untold numbers of things that I once owned, or my sister or brother once owned, that we in any case collectively cherished, that “went away” over the course of our first three decades, it is a miracle that this recording managed to remain in the house in south Bellevue where I grew up until sometime in my late thirties or early forties, when I found it and brought it with me to join the collection of albums, already a museum, that I had chosen as a self-differentiating youth — Al Stewart, Alan Parsons, Supertramp, Genesis, Renaissance, Triumvirat — and those that represented my later, expanding musical taste — John Williams (the guitarist), the Pretenders, the Boys o’ the Loch, Joni Mitchell, Rod Patterson and the Easy Club, the Stranglers.

I’m looking at SLP 107 now. The jacket is now two separate pieces of cardboard, though matching pairs of yellowed strips of celophane tape on both halves still show where some effort was made to keep it together. The back has ink drawings around the edge of various scenes from the stories. I dug it out this morning after the three of us got up. Saturdays Mara gets up and comes into our bed, and the cats join us, and we all loll around and tickle each other and sometimes Mara asks one of us to tell a story. It’s a weekend treat, since I don’t have to get up in a rush. Today I told the story of Goldilocks as I recalled it from this recording from my childhood.

It went over big, so I went down into the garage and brought up a turntable that belonged (still technically belongs) to an old roommate of mine and hooked it up to our stereo. It was a moment of strange beauty for me when I lowered the needle on this venerable vinyl platter and the old familiar music started. It was a moment of even stranger beauty when I stood looking down at Mara, who, after a few minutes of rapt attention to the spinning label and the odd machinery of the needle arm, curled up on the floor and entered for the first time a world that I remember but can no longer reach.

I can see her going but I'm not allowed to follow.

San Francisco native Harry Aleo passed away last year and left behind an estate which included, among other notable relics, a hand-lettered sign which used to hang outside of his realty office proclaiming it (the office) “an island of traditional conservative values in a sea of latte-sipping liberal loonies.”

Since Mr. Aleo’s passing, those same liberal loonies have become strangely interested in preserving his memory as a matter of history. Joel Panzer, of San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood (where he and Mr. Aleo lived), has started to collect and catalog the signs and other pieces of Mr. Aleo’s office memorabilia, which include Ronald Reagan campaign posters and a phonograph, for future inclusion in a museum dedicated to the neighborhood.  

Such benign interest wasn’t always the case: Mr. Aleo’s conservative voice was, in a town which hadn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1959, a bit jarring. He received hate mail and his office windows, often displaying his scribbled political signs, were alternately shot out, egged, scratched, broken, spray painted, and spit on. One such attack inspired the next morning’s window sign: “To the sneaky night-crawlers who spray painted ‘Death To Fascists’ on my window… you are the fascists! If you gutless creeps have anything to say to me, come in and say it to my face.”

In his younger days Mr. Aleo was a minor league baseball player scouted by the Brooklyn Dodgers, a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of The Bulge, and an owner of thoroughbred racehorses. As a Noe Valley real estate investor, he owned and managed 12 rental buildings at the time of his death. He was 88 years old.

Noe Valley conservative Harry Aleo.