See end...
From: "Ken Fritz" <[log in to unmask]>

>     Posting  to this list  puts me in the class of being "Out Of My  
> League."   I'm one of those 68  years old guys that hears a classical  
> work  and wonders if my kids will ever hear  and enjoy the many   
> compositions I enjoy and own. Many  times I hear a composition and  
> forget the name of  what I'm listening to; I can follow  every note  
> in my mind  but that is no consolation.
>   The following will be bullet thoughts aimed at the original  
> posting. Reply if you wish.
>     1952,  I lived next to the sister's convent at St. Augustine's  
> Catholic  church in Milwaukee, I was in 4'th grade. Sister Mary  
> Sarita told my mom  that the school needed a clarinet player in the  
> grade  school orchestra. The music lessons would cost $1 a week--  
> case closed as nobody crossed a SSND , check out the Blues Brothers  
> Movie.
>   I learned  not only to play a clarinet but to enjoy music. Most of  
> my friends  were in the band or orchestra and it  was fun.
>   While in high school,  I  kept up my interest in music  by  
> recording  local bands on  my Ampex.   Kids  interested in music   
> were abound and willing to let  anyone record them that wanted to.  A  
> good friend of mine who I addicted to audio followed his dream . He  
> ended up buying RCA's  Chicago studio  and now has a mastering studio  
> in Nashville.
>   Flash forward. How  many kids play an instrument  in a high school  
> band  or orchestra nowadays?-- that doesn't run on 110 vac?
>   I'm beginning to appreciate music  that isn't on a master tape or  
> LP  but contains the musical genius that I feel is not in todays  
> musical generation. I regret  that I don't have the time or  
> opportunity  to find or listen to it.
>     FWIW, I visit my family in Milwaukee  a few times each year.  
> Downtown Books is listed in the phone book but not under Vinyl. They  
> buy book collections from the kids of the blue bloods  that die off  
> in the midwest.  The vinyl collections go along for the ride as  
> their  kids are in the digital age. The first time I visited them and  
> walked into the vinyl room and felt as if I was a  wolf  that just  
> caught his lunch and looked around to see if another wolf  was  
> looking to steal it; visit  them if you can. Each time I visit  
> Milwaukee I  send a crate that holds 880 LPs  to the Fed Ex terminal.  
> I rent a PT Cruiser  that holds the crate perfectly. Their  selection  
> is fantastic.
>   To sum it up; The Government copyright laws are doing  what  
> society is doing  just as efficiently. Play an Ipod and not an  
> instrument. If you do  choose to play an instrument it  better run on  
> 110 VAC.
>   What type of responses would the original posting get in another  
> ten years?
>   Here I sit with great analog recording gear and skill, admittedly  
> in the learning  stage, and nobody to record. I remember George  
> Goeble who said, "I feel like a tuxedo  with a pair of brown shoes"
>   Gldnears made a recording a few days ago. I sure  would like to  
> hear it  If he or I wouldn't  violate the copyright laws.
>
I was always a fan of blues harmonica...back c. 1946 Jimmy Reed
often was heard on radio. In 1945-6 I used to listen to my dad's
78's on our huge RAC Victor radio-phonograph (I knew many
by heart!). Around 1958 I found one could buy 78's quite cheaply
at Goodwill and other thrift stores...and started buying them! c.
1959 I started buying singles (45's) quite cheap from jukebox
operators...I accumulated several hundred (a collection my drunk
younger brother would eventually destroy!).  Shortly thereafter, I
discovered WLAC (Nashville TN) which played blues after sunset!

In 1967, I found out my Base Exchange (I was in the USAF) sold
Marine Band harps for $2.50...so I bought a couple. I taught myself
(trial & error) how to play blues harp...and "sat in" with available
bands whenever I could! I "put my harps away" after I came back
"stateside" in 1970; then discovered "open stage jams" in late
1982 and started playing again!

In 1986, I was offered the chance to host a blues jam (for VERLY
little pay!). I did that until 3/1987...then started my own blues band
(me on harp/vocals). I did this until 3/1989...and then scored regular
gigs for several years, until I moved to Oshawa, Ont'o. in late 1997.
I played fairly regularly out here until 2-3 years ago...when blues
"fell out of style" here! Back in 1999, a local chap who knew of my
skill at writing blues tunes asked me to write ten tunes, which he
would then record and release (this saved him royalties?!). AFAIK
he still sells the resulting CD?!

Now that my financial position is getting better, I hope to attend
more jams/sit-ins...and attempt to re-start my "musical career?!"

Steven C. Barr

(actually, one of the tunes I cut was taken from a "party record"
78 I own! It is on the WHIZ label, titled only "Garbage Man!" It
is actually lifted from Luis Russell's "Call Of the Freaks"...it is
basically "Stick out your can, here comes the garbage man"
but with a few risque verses added...?!)