Tosh Berman on Tom Recchion's "Japanese Cassette

 

Tosh Berman on Tom Recchion's "Japanese Cassette"

Scott Becker Option Magazine on Tea With Tosh

Scott Becker was the publisher and editor of a really interesting magazine, OPTION, that came out six times a year. They focused exclusively on independent or underground music. Not only rock but experimental and jazz as well.  I find this show interesting because of my interest in music, the music world, and publishing.  The fact that this show was taped in 1986, it's funny that the issues of publication are still with us, for instance making zines.  OPTION was tailored made for the adventuresome music lover.  I miss the nature of music publications like OPTION.  Come to think of it, the review section in WIRE reminds me very much of OPTION.   A classic Tea With Tosh episode!  Oh, and forgive some of the visuals/sound toward the end of the show.  We did the best we can, but even tape gets old.  - Tosh Berman

Tom Recchion Composer LAFMS on Tea With Tosh

My second post for "Tea With Tosh."  I did this show in 1986. My guest for this episode is Tom Recchion.   A composer, visual artist, and the man who designed the graphics for most of my TamTam Books.  Before that happened, I had him on my show.  Here we have the Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS) roots, as well as Los Angeles art in this show.  Watching it now, I'm so proud of having Tom participate in my program.   It's basically a snapshot of a specific time and place - but alas, I feel very tied to Tom's world personally.  It was a magnificent time with a wonderful person, that is Tom .  - Tosh Berman

"Vinyl Freak : Love Letters to a Dying Medium" by John Corbett (Duke)

ISBN: 978-0-8223-6366-8 Duke University Press

Perhaps it's due to my mood at the moment, but "Vinyl Freak" is the best book I have read on record collecting, or to be more specific, for the love of vinyl and music discovery. First of all, I read this book due to my friend Amber Noé, who suggested to me at a bookstore. She doesn't (at the moment) share my love for the vinyl world, but still, it was sweet of her to find this book for me. Second, I may only know eight albums here that the author John Corbett writes about. All, are obscure Jazz or experimental music albums. To say that they are obscure is like saying the night is dark. I never heard of these artists or their music. So, what is the purpose of someone like me reading a book on someone's collection that is mostly, if not all, entirely unknown?

Corbett recognizes the importance of sharing one's love of a collection and showing it to someone else. He not only shows this body of work but also explains what and where they came from. It's a geek book of course, but a very generous one, where the reader doesn't feel left out of the information or more importantly, the passion of such a collection.

The book is beautifully designed in that every album he writes about we can see the record cover as well. All entries listed here are not on CD or streaming, as of the publication's date. If you're a music collector, all this will do is make one keep a list to check out later. Corbett also writes an essay on the issues of collecting and his history of his passion. There is also an excellent piece at the end of the book regarding his over-the-top passion: Sun Ra. I sense there will be a separate detailed account of that subject matter in another book by Corbett. Nevertheless, this has been a total fun read for me and made me re-think what I do with my music blog regarding my collection. Learn from the master!

Karlheinz Stockhausen -- Mikrophonie I / Mikrophonie II

Lately, I  have been listening to a lot of classical/electronic/musique concrete music from the 1950s & 1960s.  It puts me in a good headspace, with respect how the world is behaving these days.  Stockhausen is a composer that I know very little of his music, but his name of course.  For the next year or so, I plan to go into the rabbit hole that is Stockhausen's world.