ftp.xmission.com/2014.06.ftp.xmission.com.tar/ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/exotica/archive/v02.n851

Internet Message Format | 2000-12-12 | 41KB

From: [e-mail] (exotica-digest)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: exotica-digest V2 #851
Reply-To: exotica-digest
Sender: [e-mail]
Errors-To: [e-mail]
Precedence: bulk
X-No-Archive: yes


exotica-digest      Wednesday, December 13 2000      Volume 02 : Number 851



In This Digest:

Re: (exotica) Accidental Thrift Store Scores.... help?
(exotica) clarification
(exotica) Origins of popular music
(exotica) CD Logistics
(exotica) Nitty Gritty Kitty Litter
(exotica) Condition of Vinyl
(exotica) Califone
(exotica) Surface noise
(exotica) CD vs. LP
(exotica) The hunt...
(exotica) Blood pumping...
(exotica) Crops
(exotica) quick billboard-related question
Re: (exotica) CD vs LP
Re: (exotica) CD vs LP
Re: (exotica) Condition of Vinyl
Re: (exotica) CD vs LP
(exotica)Tokyo & Hawaii
Re: (exotica)Tokyo & Hawaii
(exotica) mini phonographs
Re: (exotica) new Califone record players (was: CD vs LP)
Re: (exotica) new Califone record players (was: CD vs LP)
Re: (exotica) CD vs LP
(exotica) into something radioshow
Re: (exotica) CD vs LP
(exotica)Thrift Stores Horrors

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 22:27:32 -0500
From: alan  zweig <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Accidental Thrift Store Scores.... help?

At 02:29 AM 12/13/00 -0000, naile trismegistus wrote:
>
> If anybody can
>tell me anything about these, I'd love some opinions.
>
>Constellation: An Introduction To Essential Stereo
>(I'm dying to hear the tracks by "Big Ben Hawaiian Band" and "Manuel And The
>Music Of The Mountains")

I had a sampler once with a cut by the Big Ben Hawaiian Band and it was
amazing and surprising and even original.  For what that's worth.
And I had a record by Manuel called "Exotica" and it was almost as good as
string-laden exotica gets.

AZ




# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 22:39:12 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (exotica) clarification

My last post about Goodwill records and sorting was a bit confusing ...
too much cutting and pasting and not enough re-reading on my part --
sorry!

The collectible Elvis's and Beatles and James Brown were set aside for
the big annual sale .... and never made it back to the individual thrift
stores.

The records that made it back to the stores were the very common ones,
or others that had noticeable scratches on them.  Billy Joel records are
way too common - us volunteers would have a small contest to see who was
the first to see a copy of Joel's  'Glass Houses'

By the way, volunteering did NOT mean that we could simply flip quickly
through the boxes of donated records, looking for the neat and rare
ones.  It meant taking a stack of records, and visually inspecting EVERY
record for scratches .... even the Billy Joels, the Streisands andthe
John Denver.  ....and then when you worked your way through one stack,
you started on another one filled with more Joels and Streisands and
Denvers.  It does get monotonous, but it is fun when you see a somewhat
rare record and you could pull it aside for the big sale.  It does feel
good when I see that my knowledge of records is actually helping a
worthwhile organization.

Vern




# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 20:16:19 -0800
From: bigshot <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Origins of popular music

exotica-digest wrote:

>Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 08:36:06 -0800 (PST)
>From: chuck <[e-mail]>
>Subject: RE: (exotica) Gentle Waves
>
>I find it difficult to understand the origins and extent of
>influences of music culture.  Certainly it has become accepted that
>the banjo and African influences plus European folk music came over
>and lead to many 1900 folk songs whether they were soul ballads or
>country ballads.  Did this lead to the pop music of the 1920's, I
>think so but I'm guessing.

Popular music of the 20s came out of Ragtime and Tin Pan Alley
tunes. This was an interesting form of music, because it was the
first to be spread entirely by commercial marketing. Before records
were popular, sheet music was the medium of distribution. People
would go to the store to buy the latest tune's sheet music the
way we go to the store to buy the latest CDs. The competition for
the sheet music market speeded up the development of ragtime music
much faster than folk music could have ever evolved through the
performance tradition. The ultimate product of this rapid growth
was jazz. Ragtime and Tin Pan Alley called upon a wide range of
music brought to the US by immigrants from all over the world.

That's it in a nutshell as I understand it.

See ya
Steve


      Stephen Worth
      [e-mail]

      The Web: http://www.spumco.com
      Usenet:  alt.animation.spumco
      Palace:  cartoonsforum.com:9994

      Spumco International
      1021 Grandview, 2nd Floor
      Glendale, CA 91201



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 20:19:52 -0800
From: bigshot <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) CD Logistics

exotica-digest wrote:

>Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 11:44:51 -0500
>From: alan  zweig <[e-mail]>
>Subject: Re: (exotica) jewel cases (was: CD vs LP)
>
>The "logical" mode for CD's would be for everyone to have those 200 CD
>changers which are becoming more and more common and more and more cheap.

I have one of those... The trick is figuring out which of my 3000
CDs to put in it! Maybe I should buy 15 CD changers!

See ya
Steve


      Stephen Worth
      [e-mail]

      The Web: http://www.spumco.com
      Usenet:  alt.animation.spumco
      Palace:  cartoonsforum.com:9994

      Spumco International
      1021 Grandview, 2nd Floor
      Glendale, CA 91201



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 20:34:24 -0800
From: bigshot <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Nitty Gritty Kitty Litter

>Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 16:46:38 -0500
>From: cheryl <[e-mail]>
>Subject: Re: (exotica) CD vs LP
>
>As for Steve's theory that Discwashers work fine, well, once you've used
>a Nitty Gritty, you'll never use a Discwasher velvet again - they're not
>the same thing at all

Actually, you're right... A Discwasher velvet is best for
maintaining a clean record rather than cleaning a dirty one.
I don't have a Nitty Gritty, so I don't know much about it. But one
of the rituals of 78 collecting is washing your records. When I get
a batch in, I sit in front of the TV or stereo and placidly wash
records. (It's kind of soothing!)

To clean 78s, I totally wet them on both sides with a sponge full
of white vinegar, then I wipe them dry with another sponge. Then
I wet them again with distilled water and wipe that dry with another
sponge. Then I get the record totally dry using a soft bath towel.

I've used this technique on some late fifties vinyl 78s, and it
gets them sparkly clean. I haven't tried it on an LP, but I bet
it would work. White vinegar is a good solvent to clean away
grunge, but it's distilled, so it leaves no residue. The same
goes for the distilled water.

If someone has a dirty record they'd like to try this out on,
let me know how it works.

>And I don't know if anyone on this list would know if this is true or
>not, but I was once told that if you played a vinyl LP more than once in
>a row, because the vinyl heats up slightly while it's being played,
>repeated playing could damage the LP because the stylus lops off bits of
>vinyl if it's warm.

I've heard that. Supposedly, you should let a record "rest" 24
hours between plays. I don't know how much stock I put in that
though. When I was a kid, I had one of my speakers on the same
table as my turntable. I realized that the acoustic feedback
of playing bad music really loud was causing the needle to
vibrate in the grooves. Records I played loud were wearing out,
while records I played quietly were fine. I moved my speaker,
and haven't had a problem with record wear since.

See ya
Steve


      Stephen Worth
      [e-mail]

      The Web: http://www.spumco.com
      Usenet:  alt.animation.spumco
      Palace:  cartoonsforum.com:9994

      Spumco International
      1021 Grandview, 2nd Floor
      Glendale, CA 91201



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 20:47:23 -0800
From: bigshot <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Condition of Vinyl

exotica-digest wrote:

>Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 22:34:57
>From: "Daniel Shiman" <[e-mail]>
>Subject: Re: (exotica) CD vs LP
>
>And this leads me to a barely-related question: I'm not hyper-meticulous
>with my records, but still I think only one LP has been scratched of my own
>accord over years of constant use, banging, dropping, needle-skipping, etc.
>But then how do thrift-store records wind up in such bedraggled condition?

There are two reasons for that... Nowadays, all turntables use a very
lightweight tracking force. Back in the fifties, a family might be
using an old RCA Ortophonic cabinet model with a tracking force like
an elephant. Groove wear just isn't a problem with modern turntables.

Secondly, a lot of people were used to 78s. The grooves on a 78 are
really deep and coarse compared to an LP. You can take a 78 and lay
a sheet of paper over it and write on it with a ball point pen and
it won't hurt it. You can hold the record with your fingers on the
grooves without a problem. You can even scratch the damn thing with
your car keys, and unless you really gouge it, it will play fine.

When LPs came in, people weren't used to handling records the way
we do now. They would toss sides on the record player and stack them
up on the coffee table when they were finished. The change came with
the audiophile percussion records. All of the technical mumbo jumbo
on the covers was there to instill respect for the masterpiece of
modern engineering you held in your hands. The notes told you NOT
to play this fine stereophonic gem on your nasty old mono cabinet
record player. Handle it by the edges and return it to its sleeve
after playing it. The copy was written to inspire awe.

Of course the kids kept tossing their Beatle records on the
bedspread when they were done, and 45s were tossed into boxes
without sleeves half the time. These records were considered
disposable. That's why a lot of the "lounge" records you find
from the fifties are in pristine shape, while a lot of the pop
music from the 60s is all beat up. Dads knew how to treat a
record! Thank God for Dads and Dad music!

See ya
Steve


      Stephen Worth
      [e-mail]

      The Web: http://www.spumco.com
      Usenet:  alt.animation.spumco
      Palace:  cartoonsforum.com:9994

      Spumco International
      1021 Grandview, 2nd Floor
      Glendale, CA 91201



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 20:59:28 -0800
From: bigshot <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Califone

exotica-digest wrote:

>Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 21:48:53 -0500
>From: "m.ace" <[e-mail]>
>Subject: Re: (exotica) new Califone record players (was: CD vs LP)
>
>Sniffing around Stephen's recommended site, I find that Califone is
>apparently still making those tempting little classroom record players!
>It would be real nice to play 78s on... would this have the flipover needle?

Yes. Garage A Records has replacement needles too. Sometimes on
particularly worn records those flipover needles work like a
charm. The amp in a Califone isn't the quietest though. They
have a tendency to hum. I wouldn't use it to transfer 78s,
just to play them.

>The prices actually look competitive with a lot of the used prices I see
>online. Do anyone of you Califone fans (I know you're out there) know how
>these new units compare to the old ones? Is the build-quality still good?

The same old quality. Those things last forever. The nice thing
about those is all the speeds. A friend of mine had a 78 of
Liberace singing Slim Gailard's "Cement Mixer Putti Putti". We
would slap it on his surplus school phono at 16 and sit down for
a half hour of delightfully bizzare entertainment!

>My sensibilities have gotten warped enough that I think I would really
>enjoy listening to records on one of these, but my concern is whether it
>would put significantly more wear on a record -- compared to a modern
>magnetic cartridge turntable. I'd imagine the tracking force would be
>higher. Opinions or hard observations anyone?

It would definitely wear out a vinyl record faster, but if you
already have a good turntable, why would you want to use the
Califone for those? For 78s, it wouldn't add any wear whatsoever.
You could play them till the cows come home with no worries.

See ya
Steve


      Stephen Worth
      [e-mail]

      The Web: http://www.spumco.com
      Usenet:  alt.animation.spumco
      Palace:  cartoonsforum.com:9994

      Spumco International
      1021 Grandview, 2nd Floor
      Glendale, CA 91201



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 21:01:01 -0800
From: bigshot <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Surface noise

exotica-digest wrote:

>Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 19:16:13 -0800 (PST)
>From: "Domenic Ciccone" <[e-mail]>
>Subject: Re: (exotica) CD vs LP
>
>CD=EDs have totally spoiled me. I love the lack of background noise.  When=
 I
>can hear the background noise. The needle going over the records reminds
>me of a plow furrowing a field.

Do you own a turntable? If so, what kind?

See ya
Steve

      Stephen Worth
      [e-mail]

      The Web: http://www.spumco.com
      Usenet:  alt.animation.spumco
      Palace:  cartoonsforum.com:9994

      Spumco International
      1021 Grandview, 2nd Floor
      Glendale, CA 91201



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 22:05:31 -0800
From: Kevin Crossman <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) CD vs. LP

Hey folks - this message is on behalf of Dave Bartell who is unable to
post to the list re: mail editor problems.
- -Kevin

I am still failing to post to exotica!  Please post for me, even though
I hereby disagree with you!

********************************************************************************

> You're kidding, right?  Why in the world would silence, when designed
> and desired by the artist, be less desireable than cracks and pops all
> the time throughout the entire record?  That's just crazy!

Of course wear noise on vinyl is not a good thing.  We used to spend big
bucks on positive track tonearms, weight control,
discwashers, etc to avoid it.  And I like CDs - I'd add the scan and
direct access to a track as some great features.

That said, we're not kidding about good "noise".  I like vinyl because
it has a warmer, more organic sound than digital.
Analog is what the audio environment is made of.  CDs have to mimic
that, then convert back to it.  They do a good job, but
have biases of their own.

The human auditory system is wonderful at selective hearing; we can shut
out noise.  We've been trained to do so, so the
noise doesn't enter our "negative space".  I theorize that younger
listeners aren't conditioned to do so, and the noise is an
annoyance.  On the other hand, for older listeners, the lack of ambience
becomes a distraction.  It is a primary role of Hi
Fi to remove unwanted noise.  But...

Did you know that every room has its own ambient noise?  In the film
industry this is called "prescence" and wherever
dialog is recorded, some "blank" tape is also recorded to capture that
prescence.  This represents "silence".  When dialog
is dubbed, this prescence must be mixed in, or the patched dialog would
sound punched in, with audible rises and falls in
the noise background.

Many other examples.   A massive concert hall (Kennedy Center?) was
recently revamped to improve its acoustics.  One
school of recording places mikes at all instruments point blank, to be
massively mixed, while another audiophile
technique is to place two or three mikes strategically in the concert
hall, to reproduce that experience.  I have a bizzare
recording of Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" recorded point blank with no
reverb.  It sounds wonderfully immediate -- and
dead.

> Ok... how many new LPs and 78s do YOU own?

Maybe three hundred near-mint.

db


# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 01:59:30 -0500
From: "The Workmans" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) The hunt...

I feel it IS true that the hunt is better than the capture. BUT, even when
you do capture (which then brings that sense of "closure" to the event)
something else almost immediately takes its place and the hunt begins anew.
This, of course, brings you to the other concern.  I always spend too much
money on things I am sure I don't need--even to the point of buying
doubles/triples (someone has to buy them, don't they?) of albums that I
already have on CD or tape.  Hummmm.  I think I've just defined an
obsessive/compulsive disorder that I am sure I already have/had (in double
or triple....) Keep me posted on your disease and treatments...Inquiring
minds want to know.

Waiting for a miracle, landlocked in Ohio   JW
[e-mail]



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 02:10:00 -0500
From: "The Workmans" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Blood pumping...

Mo, surely you don't mean walking through the valley of the shadow of
death....I am sure that would get one's blood to pumping.  Just picked up
101's "Astro Sounds from Beyond..." and that gets the blood to
pumping...Truthfully, I liked the CD, and prefered the Astro portion more
than the bonus "erotic" numbers.  Back to "Soothing Sounds for Baby" for me,
all this talk has got me jumpy and I need to relax to some intense
electronic exotica....
PS--also picked up the "Best of Moog"  CD, which I am digesting being new to
Moog, via Bob Moog, via Raymond Scott "Manhattan" project.  Just to let you
all know where I am "at" today....Subject to change without notice.
Landlocked in Ohio, JW
[e-mail]



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 02:25:56 -0500
From: "The Workmans" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Crops

Vern, thanks for the tip. I had been hand weeding for quite sometime, just
the other day, and failed to properly clean my hands. That was embarrassing,
as well as unsettling, to the rest of the members of the plant kingdom
(phylum,class,order,family,genus,species...sorry, that Bio degree rearing
its' ugly head again!) that I came in contact with on that particular day.
My hands and my records thank you for their newfound sense of
sterility....On a roll, landlocked in Ohio, JW
[e-mail]



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 23:44:07 -0800
From: "Benito Vergara" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) quick billboard-related question

Hello folks,

I'm busy compiling a couple of CDs with one track from each year I've been
alive (don't ask), and I'm wondering where I can find online a quick and
dirty list of songs. I've looked for a good Billboard-related site and came
up with nothing. Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance,
Ben

http://www.bigfoot.com/~bvergara
ICQ: 12832406



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 10:12:18 +0100
From: Moritz R <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) CD vs LP

[e-mail] wrote:

> In a message dated 12/12/0 2:40:44 PM, [e-mail] wrote:
>
> >people who play LPs more than a hundred times are either 12 years old,
> crazy, or DJs.
>
> Some of us crazy 12 year olds might just like the rekkid a whole lot.

Still.... after 45 times of recieving the same information the referring parts of
the brain start to crystalize and become somewhat deaf, no? Try playing a record
for more than 45 times and you'll know what I mean.

No - seriously... I just thought this was a - slightly - unbelievable story. A
guy saying "if you use this machine each time you can play your records more than
a hundred times". It was like saying "after more than a hundred times of going to
the moon it becomes a bit boring". As if he had ever tried.


Mo - the eternal child



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 10:12:45 +0100
From: Moritz R <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) CD vs LP

alan zweig wrote:

> Quick, what's the name of the Godard film where Johnny Hallyday plays a
> Belmondo-style gangster role?
> Anyway in that film, Johnny is taking a piss beside one of the other
> characters and he says (and I'm paraphrasing)...
> "There are two kinds of men in this world.  Those who wash their hands
> before they piss and those who wash their hands after they piss.  The first
> kind want to keep their penis clean and the second kind want to keep their
> hands clean".

And is almost killed for that by the other man. Your memory  seems to be better
than mine. I have been trying to remember which film this is for two decades.
It even changed my hand-washing routines since I saw it.

Mo



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 12:23:35 +0000
From: Michael Jemmeson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Condition of Vinyl

bigshot wrote:
>
>
> There are two reasons for that... Nowadays, all turntables use a very
> lightweight tracking force. Back in the fifties, a family might be
> using an old RCA Ortophonic cabinet model with a tracking force like
> an elephant. Groove wear just isn't a problem with modern turntables.

Groove wear may not be such a problem, but stylus wear is... the stylus
gets sharper with use, and sinks lower in the grooves - if it gets too
sharp it will sink the bottom and trash the record by cutting out the
bottom of the groove...


# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 08:29:49 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) CD vs LP

> It was like saying "after more than a hundred times of going to
> the moon it becomes a bit boring". As if he had ever tried.

I'm picturing a late 1950's guy, some hick from the backwoods who discovers a Playboy
magazine and decides to transform himself into a 'hip' persona.  He moves into a
bachelor pad, buys a stereo and a few of the recommended records, and reads and
learns the recommended methods to treat his three records and how to make a perfect
martini.

Then he invites a woman over, pulls out the LP 'Music to Romance by' , goes through
the elaborate motions of cleaning the record to impress his date ..... makes the
drinks ..... and then strikes out.

He places the record back onto the shelf, and waits for his next date.  Next week -
different woman, but the same results.  One month later - the same story.

5 years later he has played the record 100 times, and still has not found his mate -
but in consolation, he still has a close to mint LP.

Then he washes his hands and meets the woman who adores him and they live happily
ever after.

Not based on a true story,
Vern



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 08:48:45 -0500
From: Peter Gingerich <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica)Tokyo & Hawaii

Hi there-

     Seems like I have a chance to go to Tokyo and Hawaii.....anyone have
any tips re: clubs, rekkid stores, thrift stores, used bookstores, tiki
bars, bars, toy stores, lounges, hotel interiors, populuxe...you know, the
whole gamut of exotica and stuff.
    Thanx, feel free to contact off list. Am esp. interested in any lounge
acts playing Honolulu 'tween Xmas and new years, or if there are any sites
that would have entertainment listings...

pg



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 08:39:50 -0600
From: Matt Marchese <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica)Tokyo & Hawaii

Hi Peter,

There are several tiki bars/restaurants down by the Yokohama waterfront
district. You will need to go there by train from Tokyo which is about a
45-minute ride. Describing how to get to these places is quite problematic even
if you have an address since prefectures in Japan seldom have street signs and
the restaurants are often hidden away in basements! Your best bet in locating
clubs, rekkid stores, etc. is to get yourself a Japanese friend who's willing
to play Guide-san for a couple of days and shepherd you around. This usually
isn't too difficult since young Japanese are always looking for someone to
practice their English with. Don't be afraid to play the Baka Gaijin (Stupid
Barbarian). The Japanese expect you to be puzzled and lost in their
country...hell, they like it that way. Also be aware that you will pay TOP YEN
to visit exotic bars and clubs. I've been to one tiki bar in Yokohama called
Hawaiian Restaurant, but I found it accidentally and couldn't tell you how to
get back there to save my life. I've haven't been to the following tiki
restaurant, so I can't vouch for it's quality, but it sounds pretty cool. Plus,
there's an address:

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Fuji/2185/yokohama.html

If you want to stay put in the Tokyo area, you can always count on Trader Vic's
at the New Otani Hotel to be your tiki home away from home. Again, very
expensive.

For vinyl and pop culture:

There's a place I know
where the Tokyo hipsters go
called Shibuya!
Twitch, twitch

I highly recommend that you hang out there on a Friday or Saturday night so you
can experience the feeling of being one tiny ant in an vast anthill of wacky
oriental youth culture. Throngs of Japanese surfer kids wearing baggies and
flipflops and sporting fake orange tans will surround you. Girls with green
hair (on their head AND on their legs) wearing silver miniskirts and 12-inch
platforms will stumble by, trip and break their ankles, then get put in an
ambulance before your eyes. Don't miss it!

I've found the following website to be one of the best online resources for
Tokyo entertainment. For some truly hilarious insights into Japanese culture,
make sure that you read the Rant & Rave section.

Have fun and write us a 5-page report when you get back!

- --
Matt Marchese
"I've been havin' this nightmare.  A real swinger of a
nightmare, too." -Frank Sinatra (The Manchurian Candidate)
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*




# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 08:33:21 -0700
From: Trevor Rigler <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) mini phonographs

m.ace wrote:
"...Califone is apparently still making those tempting little classroom
record players..."

Just a couple months ago at the biannual (semiannual?, twice yearly?)
record convention here, I saw a crowd of young hipsters in a corner,
huddled around one of these things, auditioning prospective purchases.

It'd be great to fashion a sort of reverse backpack, torso-mounted mini
phonograph for checking out records at these things (and at thrift
stores, too). Perhaps two little speakers could be attached to some sort
of baseball cap, a la the 2-beer+straw hats seen on football fans.

Nothing like a poorly-lit rented hall or thrift store to make visual
grading a challenge!

- ---Trevor



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 07:37:16 -0800
From: "Basic Hip" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) new Califone record players (was: CD vs LP)

Those classroom portables are great and I've noticed the prices coming down
on ebay - a year ago, they were pretty hot.

Other manufacturers are Audiotronics, Newcomb Audio - I recall a Hamilton
model too.  I had a phase were I went nuts for them and bought three within
60 days.  I sold the Audiotronics to Will @ Show and Tell and am down to the
Newcomb and my "dance model" Califone with detachable speakers.  Great fun
playing records on these workhorse machines.

Now I'm after a mod little 60's model battery operated player to tote to
record stores :)

As far as this LP vs CD discussion goes, I'm missed much of it - I would
think members of this list would need both.  CD's for brilliant reissues
like the Raymond Scotts Manhattan Research and LP's for all the great
recordings that have not - and probably will never be - reissued on a CD.

You are better off experiencing Subliminal Sounds or White Goddess (even
with ittle surface noise) rather than not hearing them at all, don't cha
think?






# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 12:11:10 -0500
From: cheryl <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) new Califone record players (was: CD vs LP)

Basic Hip wrote:

> Now I'm after a mod little 60's model battery operated player to tote to
> record stores :)

Dusty Groove has the "Vinyl Killer" battery-operated player back in
stock (and they even have a picture of it on their web site now!)

No, I don't work for them - I just send them all my money, and they send
me music in return ;-) (or at least it seems like that sometimes...)

cheryl


# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 13:48:11 -0500
From: alan  zweig <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) CD vs LP

At 10:12 AM 12/13/00 +0100, Moritz R wrote:

. It was like saying "after more than a hundred times of going to
>the moon it becomes a bit boring". As if he had ever tried.

So Mo, are you saying that you don't have any records that (you think)
you've played more than a hundred times?
If you really think you don't, I'm not questioning you.  I'm just surprised
you're so adamant about it.  I wouldn't have much trouble saying that
myself - except for the records I had when I was a teenager - but I'm
surprised to hear your apparent assumption that we're all like that.
I think you're wrong.  More importantly, I HOPE you're wrong.  And I don't
think you have to be crazy to play a record more than a hundred times.
In fact I actually kind of envy people who play individual records again
and again.
I feel like I've sort of become the opposite of that and I wish I could get
back to that place where I loved a record so much I played it again and
again.  Rather than going "Wow that was great.  Now let's put it away for a
couple of years until we someday stumble upon it and try to remember what
it is".
Somebody on this list used the term "neophilia" to describe the phenomenon
- - or the disease - of always needing to hear something new.
(Or maybe that meant always having to keep up with what was new.  In which
case, that's one disease I've been cured of...)
I think my impatience with individual records - and CD's - is partly about
the eclecticism of my taste and the fact that there's so much I want to
hear (and sometimes own).
But I have to believe it also has something to do with the quality of the
stuff I'm chasing.
I don't think this stuff is worth a hundred listenings.
I loved Command records when I first heard them.  But I did tire of them.
I think it's hard to enjoy the playful ping ponginess of persuasive
percussion after a couple dozen times.
I don't think they warrant a hundred listenings.
And that's also true of the groovy sitar laden go-go club soundtracky stuff
I chase these days.
I think the reason I'm always looking for more is because I love the sound
and feeling of this kind of stuff but the actual pieces of music aren't
substantial enough to warrant repeated listening.  There's a shock of
pleasure when you find the piece.  "Eureka, it's more of that stuff I like!"
But that's really all it is.  More of that stuff.
And then it leaves your system and you need more.

AZ



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 20:53:43 +0100
From: Moritz R <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) into something radioshow

this show is running for years and never let me down. connected to the
compost records label.

on air every wednesday
22.00 to 00.00 cet (n.y 4.00 p.m., l.a. 1.00 p.m., tokyo 06.00 a.m.
thursday) . livestream @ radio M94,5  munich ( http://www.afk.de )
into somethin' radioshow
by florian keller & theo th=F6nnessen.

Mo



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 21:03:23 +0100
From: Moritz R <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) CD vs LP

alan zweig wrote:

> So Mo, are you saying that you don't have any records that (you think)
> you've played more than a hundred times?
> Somebody on this list used the term "neophilia" to describe the phenomenon
> - or the disease - of always needing to hear something new.

No, it's not that... it's really like I said it is: after 45 times or less I
just can't listen to something anymore. It's over, it's painful, it's of no more
interest. Maybe there are one or two cassettes I own, that I might have listened
to a bit more often, maybe 60 times. Like my favorite cassette of all times,
"Sven's Favorite Rockabilly and Western Drama", but they are the big exceptions.
Or maybe I have listened to single songs more often, especially when I had to
mix them in the studio, but they don't count. So you think I'm sick... I may
have ADHD, a rare concentration disability, but what do you think of people in
the 19th century in pre-recording days? They have heard much of the music that
they knew just once in their lives! How precious these experiences must have
been to them!

Mo



# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 13:46:25 -0800 (PST)
From: chuck <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica)Thrift Stores Horrors

Hi Vern

Thanks for the info. I called goodwill here and they don't hold a
big sale of any sort on books or records.  They further stated that
donated books and records don't go back to the main office from all
stores.  Some stores yes, others keep the books & lps that are
donated in that particular store.  The particular store's I know
well that keep their donated lps, in fact the one I got the Elvises
at, when the box comes in the box goes out, (After it has gone to
the back for "personel lp inspection")

I am also concerned that most thrift store lps I see do not have
the inner paper sleeve.  Someone has even stolen those!

I am assuming it is just good ole New Orleans banana republic
style.

Your explanation makes sense.  Iwish there were book/lp sales here.

Thanks
Chuck
- --- [e-mail] wrote:
>When a single store collects donated items, those items are not
placed immediately in the store - instead they are trucked to a
central facility where all items are sorted.
>
> At this location, volunteers will inspect every record - and
> those without visible scratches would be set aside for the annual
used book/record sale. Also set aside were records with known
collector value.  At this> location, ALL Elvis Presley and Beatle
records were set aside, regardless of> physical condition.  Those
which were common or had some scratches were> set aside in a
> different area, where they would be taken back to the individual
> thrifts where they are generally sold for $1 each.  Thus, you may
donate a> whole box of Elvis> or James Brown records at a certain
thrift store - but the record> may never be> sold at that location
... it might eventually be sold for $1 at a
> location 40
> miles away.
>
> The records set aside for the big sale are priced by people who
> are
> knowledgable about records - and several price guides are always
> nearby to
> assist them. When these record sales are held, record dealers are
> among the
> people who show up.  They know that they can still get a good
> price on a
> record, and that it won't be trashed or overly scratched. They
> don't mind
> paying $5-10 for a record if they know they can sell it at a
> higher price in
> their store.
>
>


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/


# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to [e-mail].
# To post, email [e-mail]; replies go to original sender.

------------------------------

End of exotica-digest V2 #851
*****************************