A great day indeed–the lead in the Associated Press story said it all: NEW YORK – Thanks to Bob Dylan, rock ‘n’ roll has finally broken through the Pulitzer wall. Dylan, the most acclaimed and influential songwriter of the past half century, who more than anyone brought rock from the streets to the lecture hall, […]
I love reading contemporary accounts of the birth of rock–I find it fascinating to see what people (and “critics”) thought about the bands and the music as it was happening. In that light, these pages from the August, 1967 issue of Mojo Navigator Rock & Roll News are particularly interesting. Mojo Navigator was arguably the […]
I love little ephemeral pieces of paper that look like nothing important, but that chronicle a historic moment–in this case, one where there was no turning back. Here’s an article torn from the October 26, 1969 issue of the New York Times, about a “bootleg Bob Dylan record with an unmarked white cover and blank […]
Al who ? Al Aronowitz, that’s who. Aronowitz was a critic for many New York and national newspapers and magazines, and at the center of so many scenes in the 60’s. He was the first manager of the Velvet Underground. He famously introduced The Beatles to Bob Dylan (and brought the joint to their meeting […]
Happy new year everyone ! Sorry I’ve been slow on the posts, but here are some photos that will hopefully make up for it. These are one-of-a-kind Polaroids of the Rolling Stones and their founder, Brian Jones, that came from the collection of Linda Keith. Linda Keith was a girlfriend of both Jones and Keith […]
As the year comes to an end, I thought I’d write about a couple of my favorite musical moments from the past 12 months. First, “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon,” the new album from Devendra Banhart. For my money, Devendra is quite simply the most interesting young artist making music today. His previous album, “Cripple […]
Sorry I haven’t posted anything in some time–it’s been crazy around here–so to make up for it, I tried to pick something really interesting for this installment of the virtual museum. These are Johnny Rotten’s (John Lydon) original handwritten lyrics for the Sex Pistols classic “God Save The Queen.” These had been on exhibit at […]
We’ve removed the post we previously had here–but the item can still be found at Recordmecca. Visit our rare record & music collectibles website Recordmecca
Here’s a fascinating touchstone in the Bob Dylan story–Bonnie Beecher’s personal copy of the 10″ Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee album “Get On Board” on Folkways. This was one of the records Beecher played for her paramour, Bob Zimmerman in 1960. As documented in Clinton Heylin’s book “Behind The Shades Revisited,” Beecher was “Dylan’s original […]
I’ve always loved set lists–those ephemeral pieces of paper with a list of the songs to be played at a particular concert, usually written out by an artist or band member before the show. These days, they’re often typed out on a computer, printed out, and taped on the ground in front of each band […]
Here’s something that truly qualifies as American history–a letter from Sis Cunningham, founder of folk song magazine BROADSIDE, to Ralph J. Gleason, legendary music critic, dated November 5, 1964. In it, Cunningham responds to questions Gleason has asked about the origins of the topical song movement. Cunningham also relates the most recent Dylan news, and […]
(click on photos to enlarge) People seemed to enjoy the George Harrison lyrics posted here last week (under the title “The Virtual Museum,”) so I’m going to try to make this a regular feature of the blog, and post more ultra rare goodies that may be of interest to collectors and others interested in artifacts […]
(click on photos to enlarge) Sometimes, even after 36 years of buying, selling and collecting rare records and music memorabilia, I get a REALLY special package in the mail–something that just blows me away, that leaves me shaking my head, muttering “unbelievable, just unbelievable” to myself (I know–it’s not a pretty picture.) And the humble, […]
(click on the image above to enlarge) As Dylan fanatics know, in 1964 Columbia Records planned to release a live album titled “Bob Dylan In Concert” (see July 28 post here for more on this mythic LP.) For reasons previously unknown, the album was pulled from Columbia’s schedule and remains unreleased. Recently I’ve had the […]
(click on photo to enlarge) One area I’ve been researching extensively is the UK concert posters made in the 1960’s by Osiris, especially those designed by Hapshash & The Coloured Coat (Michael English and Nigel Weymouth.) A few years back “newly discovered” copies of some of these came to the market in significant numbers—one story […]
Though I’m in my 36th year of collecting records and music memorabilia, the subject still fascinates me and occupies most of my waking hours (ok, some of that is because of my website, Recordmecca, where I sell high-end rare records and music memorabilia– but I still spend altogether too much time thinking about this stuff […]