Jim R

The material from that gig has been released on different CD's over the years, and there are more than two tracks that weren't on the original Argo and Cadet LP's (the different CD's included different bonus tracks). There are also some tracks that I don't think have ever been issued. It was discussed in some detail here in 2003:

Does anybody know when the AAJ forum actually began? I don't think I was aware of it until about 15 years ago. Never really thought about joining until the BNBB went down, and then I joined both AAJ and the Big O, gradually tiring of the atmosphere at AAJ probably some time in the course of 2003 when this place picked up steam and proved itself to be the better option. Maybe others can help fill out the forums timeline here... I got online in 1998, and soon joined in at Jazz Central Station (JCS). It was a bit of a decaying zoo at that time, and as I recall it didn't last very long after that. I think I migrated to Jazz Corner for awhile, but didn't really feel at home there either. Then I remember joining Jazz Online (JOL), and posting there for a year or three (?) before it too went under (a couple of format changes occurred during that time, as well as fluctuating activity levels). Overlapping in that period of time was the Blue Note board, which as I recall had a primitive software system and layout, which was changed to a more functional and modern type somewhere around Y2K (?). I spent way more time at the BNBB than anywhere else until it folded up and Jim opened the doors here. Verve also had a forum, which was not exactly a hot spot. It was well moderated for awhile, and then sort of became a ghost town. There were two other forums I remember... one was associated with "A Great Day In Harlem" and the history around that (pretty much a ghost town); and the other was "Jazz X", with "X" being a number which I'm currently blanking on. I feel like I might be forgetting about one other one similar to JOL, which was fairly active... Edit: Not "Jazz X". The one I was thinking of was "52nd Street Jazz".

Not a complete costume, but...

I can't say that I recognize the design, but it's interesting. Any idea how old it may be? Got any more photos? Any showing the underside of the base? I wonder how many switches are on that thing!

Nice idea, but it's all sort of included in this one:

Yeah, our LCW's came via Modernica, around 1998. The vintage red examples can get pretty expensive. Our Nelson bench is vintage, and we really lucked out... found it at a garage sale (in San Jose, no less!) just a couple of blocks from our house... $40. When I tried a web search for our Modernica/Eames storage unit (designated the ESU 230 due to the custom 2 X 3 configuration that they offered, which was not an original configuration back in the day), I found very few results, which makes me wonder how unusual/rare they are now. Lamps were always near the top of my list of favorite vintage design objects. So many variations! Your Grossman pieces are very cool. I love adjustable lamps. So, I just tried a web search, hoping to find some info on the "mystery" lamp I mentioned above. I've tried this in the past, and never found anything. This time I did. I've tried various designer names (Donald Deskey, Kem Weber, etc), but I always suspected it might be by Kurt Versen, and sure enough I found something close enough to convince me, even though the one I found is slightly different. Ours looks exactly like this (circa 1935 Versen design), except that the shade material on ours is comprised of dozens of individual thin, vertically mounted clear glass cylindrical rods instead of the silk on this one. Versen apparently used parchment on another similar model from 1934, OR... these examples I found originally had the glass rods like ours, and they were broken and repaired using these other materials. Associating a piece with a great designer is of course a big deal, and I've been wondering about this lamp for over 25 years! My instincts are also telling me that the shade design using the glass, being more stylish and difficult/expensive to execute might make our example a bit more special, even if there were examples where silk or parchment were the original material used. Anyway, this is exciting for me to be discovering this today. Glad I got into this discussion!

Steve, those mags are beautiful little works of art. We tried to get Roadshow tickets when they were filming in town several years ago, but missed out. I still ask myself what we would have brought... probably our Normandie poster (a 1939 commemorative edition which we've never had appraised) and a very rare moderne metal/glass lamp that isn't signed or labeled. We think it was designed by Kurt Versen. Brooks, I am indeed familiar with Greta Grossman, although I'm no expert on her work, and I don't think we ever sold any of her pieces. We also own an Eames lounge chair, which we bought new through Modernica in L.A. about 20 years ago when we moved from our 1930's house to our current place, built in the 50's. That's when we sold off some of our deco collection and started collecting some mid-century modern. We bought several nice contemporary examples of some of the classic designs from Modernica (the Eames lounge, an Eames storage unit where they allowed you to design the configuration yourselves; a couple of LCW's, and a "hang-it-all"; Noguchi coffee and end tables; etc), and also found some original pieces (Eames compact sofa; Saarinen womb chair and tulip dining set; George Nelson slat bench, bubble floor lamp, and ball clock; Kem Weber trimline desk for Heywood Wakefield; Arteluce triennale floor lamp). Just for fun, some photos of similar examples taken from the web: The current episode of Antiques Roadshow features a rare early Eames 420N shelving unit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/21/fort-worth-tx/appraisals/herman-miller-storage-unit-ca-1950--201604A05/

Yup, I saw that Radio Nurse appraisal, and many years ago I saw the above Von Nessen lamp on the show, when they visited a museum in Minneapolis. I never miss an episode of the Roadshow. Have always enjoyed the UK version too.

A few things we've kept... Another Teague design: ... and another lamp, this one by Walter von Nessen ... a Fada bullet radio Isamu Noguchi's "Radio Nurse", for Zenith (an intercom speaker created for home safety following the Lindbergh kidnapping scare) ... and two items from 1939 and 1940 that I loved, but don't own anymore:

Just to be clear, I got all of those camera photos online. We did buy and sell a few examples of those cameras over the years, but we own none of them now. Since many people seem to appreciate and enjoy art deco/moderne/machine age design, I'll post a few photos of some of the things we've collected (again, I'll just find similar examples online). The great Walter Teague also designed these glass (mirrored) radios for the Sparton company, a few examples of which (the smaller table models) we owned at one time. The extremely rare console model, the "Nocturne", has sold at auction for more than $50K.

Waves WACS Wacky Jacks

One thing I forgot to mention. The subject of cameras reminded me that we've bought and sold a few in the past, when we (my wife, her parents, and myself) were dealers of 20th century decorative arts (art deco, industrial design, mid-century modern). That is- or was, my other primary focus as a collector. We haven't been doing that for about 20 years, and haven't added anything to our collection for years, but we still have a lot of items (furniture, lamps, radios, etc) from that time. The cameras were never something we used, but were bought and sold for the appeal of their design (by a famous industrial designer named Walter Dorwin Teague). Brooks, you will no doubt know more about the actual cameras than I do.

bunt attempts missed? batter attacks mound? balks after midnight? Hey, you never know these days...

The Epi sounds like a nice addition to your collection, Lon. It's often fun and rewarding when you switch gears and try something different (an archtop, in this case). I had sort of the reverse experience about ten years ago, when I got a Strat after not owning a solidbody for decades. I've also been enjoying the "semi-hollow" experience again with a couple of instruments I acquired in recent years (see below). I've never tried the Bassman TV 15, but I'll bet I would like it. Many of my favorite amps in the past had 15" speakers, and my favorite since the early 90's has been my 4x10 Bassman ('59) reissue. I replied to this topic in 2010, but it didn't occur to me to really respond to the original question. I definitely have a collector gene, and guitars are also my primary interest in that regard. I got interested in guitars as more than just musical tools somewhere around 1980, when I bought my first "vintage" Gibson- a 1964 Barney Kessel regular model. The look, the feel, the sound, the smell (yes, the smell)... it began a love affair with guitars which has continued to the present. I've owned a couple dozen since then (never more than about five or six at a time), many of them too expensive to keep if I wanted to try something different, so I've done a lot of buying and selling and trading. I was lucky to get started in the 80's, before prices really started to get crazy. To me, many guitars are works of art that your senses can engage with beyond just using your eyes. I do use my eyes a lot, though. For years I have been finding and saving vintage guitar images online, putting them in a folder and using them as the screensaver on my Mac. My actual guitar "collecting" has slowed down, mainly because I have been fortunate enough to acquire some wonderful instruments that pretty much have me content and satisfied (and less inclined to risk upsetting my wife with any more big investments). Coincidentally, it was in 2010 that I bought one of my favorite guitars (a sort of "ancestor" of Lon's new acquisition), a 1962 Epiphone Sheraton. Here are four of my six. From left to right... 1963 Gibson L5CT(ES), a rare thinner-body L5 originally created for comedian George Gobel; 1966 Gibson L5CN (custom ordered with a classic "Charlie Christian" pickup); 1962 Epiphone Sheraton (a "semi-hollow" instrument, with a solid block of maple through the center of the body); and a 1960 Gretsch Country Gentleman (refers to the original design collaborator and endorsing artist, Chet Atkins). The Gretsch has a somewhat unique internal construction, referred to as "trestle bracing", which makes it sort of a cross between a fully hollow archtop and a traditional "semi-hollow" like my Sheraton).

Diego Luna Donnie Yen Mads Mikkelsen

Ah, you should re-post it. The more the merrier! I just thought it was funny... can't recall three almost simultaneous posts like that!

And it only took me 7 years to bring it up!