More of San Fran/Networks

This city is truly incredible. My friend Michelle and I decided to crash a housing co-operative potluck mid-western style: We made tater-tot hot dish. We both thought that we'd receive funny, "how-typically mid-west" looks from these San Franciscans, but no one knew what hot dish was! I'll do my best to graphically describe it for those not in the know:


(chili powder)
cream of mushroom soup+milk
tater tots tater tots tater tots
tater tots tater tots tots tater tots

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\/
frozen veggies

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hamburger+onions (cooked)

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\/
| |
|__________________________| <-----casserole pan


I think by the time we left after stuffing ourselves with salad (made with greens in the back yard), apricot crisp, rice pudding with dates, homemade tortilla chips, salsa and black bean dip, entertaining ourselves with games of "psychiatrist," "mafia," and "big booty", and testing out the youtube superstition of setting corn kernels a-poppin' by mooching off four cell phones' incoming signals (Abi swore it worked), they stopped calling our dish "hot-hot" or "hot-pot."

In other news, people who sent me an address for the Homemade Album Art Historical Preservation Society should keep an eye on their mailboxes in the next few days. I sent out some stuff yesterday. I also sent Jason Trachtenberg a cordial message inviting him to check out the KELP stuff, in case whoever posted that youtube link is interested. If he emails me back, I'll be sure to post it!

I claimed I would continue to write on this issue of the folk, so here goes. The last post basically outlined the people who come in contact with homemade covers in the hopes of gaining new insight into The Great Big Question of why people do this. To review, these people are, and are not limited to:

• Historians
• The Do It ('it' meaning everything) Yourself people
• Designers
• Record store personnel
• FFF (Fans: Family, Friends)
• Record label personnel
• Collectors
• Average Joe

I then mentioned after briefly discussing each character in the process that a network begins to reveal itself. This is the fun part, because we now get to speculate "why" and form hypotheses that can be later tested and retested.

But first, I want to introduce an idea that a co-conspirator brought up: The idea of the album cover as a house. In order to reproduce music on a massive scale, it makes logical sense to standardize the medium that allows for the music to be re-heard. In order to avoid confusion over which identical shellacked disc produces what sound, it would follow that a labeling device be utilized. Another issue here is keeping the fine grooves from becoming wrecked. From a purely functional point of view, some sort of cover to facilitate filing and to protect the object is necessary.

So why the "artwork" then? One could propose all sorts of reasons; to sell an image, to create a visual extension of the sonic idea, etc., but let's return to the idea of the album cover as a house. The possible reasons for making these things is endless, but I'm going to offer up the hypothesis from a scholarly point of view, and for the sake of my correspondents, that the homemade album cover represents this house of people involved in the production of such an item and invites others in to that house. The homemade album covers demonstrate a network of people and organizations and invites the consumer to become more than just a passive participant and to become active in such a process. The house is there; the door is open so to speak–it's just a matter of letting one's self in.

Seeing as this is just a hypothesis, this is just one way of looking at this phenomena and a possible answer to The Great Big Question; it is by no means THE answer. However, after speaking with people in that network, a few things generally point to it. Jon doesn't solicit other musicians for his record label, Lost Sound Tapes–he usually is contacted by them after seeing his work. Phil claims that the homemade records he owns represent a certain community. Sean K. works at a record label because he believes in getting others' music out there. Numerous other people have told me record labels and distribution networks usually get started because someone wants to help some people out. A few trusty record store employees tell me that small-edition runs of records (100-300) usually get sold or given away to family and friends and typically don't sell in the store.

I'm not entirely convinced of this argument as of yet, but it's a starting point. I believe its good to think through these things and the possibilities it has to offer.

My battery is just about out on my computer, so two things before it dies before my eyes:
1) Sean, give me your address, you deadbeat!
2) Since I'm trying to be as responsive as possible to your comments, the next blog may just be a transcribed interview with yours truly on his reasons for making album covers! Yippee!

Until then,
James