After being a ‘no show’ for a while – lost in creating Muslim World Music Day this April – the ARCblog is back, talkin’ ’bout what’s going on around here, and What’s Going On – the Super Deluxe Edition.

Let’s tip our hat to those evil corporate record companies that we say we hate, but thankfully scrawled who what where when chalk marks all over us.  So I’d like to recommend the re-issued, re-packaged, re-evaluated,  “What’s Going On.”  This is one of those LPs that never left the turntable for weeks on end when I was in Michigan, cocooned in Ann Arbor, barely a whiff of Detroit burning still in the air.  The smooth golfing sharkskin Marvin Gaye all scruffy wool-hat earthy, lifted his advise songs (most pop music is advice) to higher ground.  It is a remarkable piece of art.  Forty years on the tunes are now mostly shuffled not spun – I’ve yet to hear a Motown CD that could match the wax.  Maybe that’s why this package includes a vinyl disc and an admission that the reissues were not so hot.   So flow with the medium, dig the message.  This is a recording everyone should hear.  Over and over.

My sage advice is that you come by and visit ARC during our Summer Record + CD Sale!  Starts Saturday, June 18 through Sunday the 26, every day, 11-6.   Maybe we’ll have some copies of “What’s Going On.” (shameless plea to UMe) at our sale.   If you’re an ARC member, remember, the party in on Thursday evening, June 14th.  You can join anytime and attend – it helps us stay afloat.

Of course marketing is a poor second fiddle to the real thrill of being here, new arrivals.  Some recent donations that we will be writing more about soon include:  A fairly complete run of mint/unplayed Decca and Coral recordings donated by the grandkids of one of the company’s engineers, including a trove of 78 rpm test pressings; the final LP installment from the Eric Schmuckler Collection; and 20 boxes of broadcast quality world music videotapes from a relocating, Westcoastin’ Link TV.   Also upcoming is a bit by Guliamo, our favorite Italian intern, who will fill you in on the scene in his hometown, Abruzzo, my recent visit with Keith Richards, and our next dedicated project, Brazilian World Music Day.

And finally not only is “What’s Goin On” back, but so is a beloved tradition here at ARC, Hawaiian Shirt Day.  We hope you all join us every Weds in celebrating, in our own small vintage way, the demise of bad weather and homage to surf Tiki nonsense.  New ARCster, Will, unable to grasp the importance of synchronicity or climate control, was relegated to taking the snap …