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Today another six boxes of recordings arrived, by surprise I might add, with the latest installment of the massive Richard Zirinsky Collection. Sure there were the usual 10 Paul Weller box sets, more than 250 music DVDs and dozens of Jamaican singles. … read more >>
Today critic David Hinkley dropped off his twice-a- year carload of donated goodies. As usual hundreds of LPs, CDs, books and swag in great condition. This year he outdid himself by donating these two rare 45s. The almost cleverly named Hatenanny Records… read more >>
above: The Cashmeres – “Satisfied Part 1″ (Lake 705, 1960) • All 7” discs and scans are in the collection of the ARChive of Contemporary Music As a Nineties baby my unusual love of doo-wop records stems back to a Time-Life commercial… read more >>
This morning, Tuesday April 14, 2015, the great soul singer Percy Sledge died of liver cancer at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was 73. Mr. Sledge’s biggest hit was “When a Man Loves a Woman”—arguably a song that should be… read more >>
Yes, it’s that time of year again – Happy V day from your pals @ the ARC – B, Fred + Quinn!
Everyone knows that ARC has the BEST interns in the American League, and today’s All-Star is Arlo, who, while inspecting classical LPs for surface worthiness, discovered some booklets stuffed inappropriately in inappropriate sleeves. Who could have have thought to place these very… read more >>
Our fearless leader here at the ARC, known affectionately as B., often prowls rural flea markets, combing the stalls for unique and/or interesting sound recordings. The recent Fourth of July weekend was no exception, as B. returned with an armful of 12-inch… read more >>
This year’s winter Members Only Party, a preview and a shindig held on the Thursday evening before the semi-annual Record and CD Sale kicks into full swing, was a very soulful event. Frank Lipsius, whose father founded Jamie and Guyden Records in… read more >>
Its been a long time since we offered info on our Blues recordings here at the ARC and the Keith Richards’ Blues Collection. We hope to make the metadata on the whole 10,000 plus discs available online soon, so stay tuned. For… read more >>
Sure Hillary is swigging it down at a Cuban ‘theme’ club in Cartagena, and Obama remains locked into a 50 year hissy fit against the mouse that roared, but we, the sensible ones, the friends of the ARChive, People Who Like People,… read more >>
It’s amazing to me that more people in the city do not know about the great house, great gardens and great concerts at Caramoor in upstate New York. Caramoor has had a remarkable history of presenting the arts, the legacy of… read more >>
Well, it’s a traditional view of pair bonding, but at least the title, Girl Meets Boy, gives the majority gender top billing. Happy Valentines from your institutional love machine, ARC. No kisses for the latest show up at the Museum of the… read more >>
In the early 80s I spent a lot of time in Jamaica, mostly in Kingston, twice on the north shore. No matter where you were someone would point out that that villa over there was Goldeneye, home of Ian Fleming, author of… read more >>
Ah, the past. It’s all coming back to me now. Spirits in the air, then airmail brought this very nice memory from the UK. This large poster was one of six placed around London in 1983 when I launched Volume, (736 page… read more >>
You know for over 25 years now I have been reading and jotting down all the wrong things I’ve discovered in the review and indexes and odd-numbered pages of music writings. When I read that another favorite singer Gregory Isaacs had died,… read more >>
Staying in NYC for the weekend for this and that, for both of them, saw and heard some very nice performances by Khaira (or Haira) Arby and Laurie Anderson. On Saturday Khaira , ‘The Nightingale of the North,” aka, “The Aretha Franklin… read more >>
Yup, that’s how I spent my last tree huggin’ beach lovin’ day in San Fran, touring Muir Woods, Chimney Rock, Point Reyes (et fried oysters), Inverness (et Bar-B-Que’d oysters) and the Drake Bay Lighthouse – all north of the Golden Gate. Muir… read more >>
Well, the Summer Sale is over and was a great success. Thanks to all who braved the rain and helped us out by carting off our wretched excess. We’ve neglected the blog for a while, so here’s some recent things that caught… read more >>
It was sad to learn today that Miraim Makeba died. ARC keeps running bios on many artists, so here is our last entry we did on Ms. Makbe, from 1999. We’ll update again soon and send along. Miriam Makeba South Africa nee… read more >>
Well, If you’re like me you spent last Tuesday listening to the great Eddie Simpson singing “Pray and Vote” (“Listen people…ain’t gonna wear these shoes no longer, ain’t gonna stay in this house no longer, ain’t gonna carry these blues no longer,… read more >>