Photographer Eilon Paz and editor Sheila Burgel collaborated on a book about obsessive vinyl fans; the L.A. Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela team up for a Beethoven marathon; can TiVo's new device make a dent in the market?
'Dust & Grooves': One-on-one with the world's most obsessive record collectors
Hypothetical situation: it's 2008, you're a professional photographer who's just moved to the U.S., and you can't find a job. Oh, and you also love vinyl. What do you do?
When faced with that situation, Eilon Paz started a blog dedicated to obsessive record collectors and their collections. His blog, Dust & Grooves, gained so much support that in 2012 Paz was able to crowdfund a trip around the world, vastly expanding the scope of his project.
That project's now been turned into a book, "Dust & Grooves: Adventures in Record Collecting," compiled by Paz and edited by Sheila Burgel, who was also featured in the book with her vinyl collection.
When Paz and Burgel joined us on The Frame, they talked about the origins of this world-spanning project, the reasons behind their love of vinyl, and whether or not it's cheating to use eBay to find elusive records.
Interview Highlights:
Eilon, how did this project get started?
Paz: I moved to the U.S. from Israel in 2008, which wasn't such a good year financially. I just found myself killing time, looking for jobs, but nothing happened. And I found myself in record stores, just enjoying what America has to offer, and its amount and variety of records.
At a certain point, I thought, I need to do something productive with my time. And I guess being around records, I was really inspired by what's going on — I was seeing records everywhere, people selling them in the streets, lots of record stores, and lots of stuff I couldn't find in Israel. That probably inspired me, and this is how I started to realize that I should start documenting record collectors.
And did you envision this to be a book and that you'd travel around the world to do it?
Paz: Not at all. I didn't want to feel guilty about moving to the U.S. and doing nothing while spending all my money on records. So it was just a personal project.
(Editor/record collector Sheila Burgel. Courtesy of Eilon Paz/Dust & Grooves)
How did you meet Sheila Burgel?
Paz: I think it was maybe after two years in the process of publishing stories on the web.
Burgel: I had started reading his blog, Dust & Grooves, and thought, I should be on that site! There was a section where you could put yourself forward, and I also noticed that there weren't that many female collectors. And because I've been collecting for 20 years now, I thought I could really contribute.
So I sent Eilon an email: I have this many 45's, this many LPs, I've been collecting for this many years, and this is what I collect, which is 1960s female-fronted artists from all over the world, specifically Japan, the U.S., UK, and France. And we discovered that we actually live five blocks from each other. Then we set up a photo shoot and the rest is history.
How did you get started collecting?
Burgel: I moved to London when I was 18, and I had a really good friend who was a serious record collector. I remember going over to his house, we were just hanging out, and he brought out a pile of EPs by a '60s artist named France Gall.
The EP sleeves are beautiful, the colors and the texture really stand out, and he just put them in front of me and I just looked at my France Gall CD and I thought, There's no comparison here! I can't do CDs anymore, I need to dedicate myself to finding these records. So it started when I was 18 and I haven't stopped since. That was 20 years ago.
(Editor/record collector Sheila Burgel. Courtesy of Eilon Paz/Dust & Grooves)
One of the great pieces in the book is Cut Chemist, the DJ here in Los Angeles. Eilon, tell us what he converted for his collection.
Paz: He has part of his immediate collection in his house itself, but then we walked out and he [said], "Well, let me show you the stable." It's a pretty cool room.
So how many times along the way of researching this book did you say, "Oh my god"?
Paz: When I started the project, it was more like that — I'd see a huge collection and I'd go, Wow, this is amazing. But after a while, once I got more serious about it and started looking for specific things, size didn't really matter. I was actually trying to avoid big collections. At a certain point, people would say, "Oh, listen, I've got 30,000 records," and I'd be like, "Okay, well let me get your number. I might call you later." [laughs]
But people were obsessed with specific things, like there's a kid in Philly that collects only Sesame Street records. That was pretty amazing. And there was a guy who only collects The Beatles' "White Album." Or a guy in Italy that holds a Guinness World Record for most colored vinyl in the world. Stuff like that.
(Dante Candelora only collects Sesame Street records. Courtesy of Eilon Paz/Dust & Grooves)
Sheila, I have to take exception to something you said in the book. When Eilon asked where you buy vinyl these days, you said that you have eBay to thank for many impossible-to-find records. That's cheating.
Burgel: That's not cheating! So many people buy their greatest records on eBay.
But there's nothing like the thrill of digging and finding it!
Burgel: Oh, I'm so with you, but as a very experienced collector, before eBay even existed I spent years at record fairs and I found so much stuff — most of my collection is from those years. But then it gets to a point where there are certain records you really want and you know you're never going to find them. So eBay's the way. Otherwise I'll be digging forever and they'll never come up. [laughs]
Can TiVo stay relevant in today's TV-watching (and streaming) marketplace?
The war for our attention in the TV space has just gotten even more crowded. And no, we're not talking about how there's too much TV these days.
Remember TiVo? The premium device was once so coveted that in the movie “Tropic Thunder,” Matthew McConaughey’s talent agent character got one for his client as a perk.
Well, when that movie was released in 2008, TiVo may have been a necessity, but since then the TV ecosystem has radically changed. Now, TiVo has released its new model — called The Bolt — and the company hopes to get back into living rooms by being both your digital video recorder and your streaming device.
But in an era of cord-cutting and stand-alone streaming platforms, what’s the need for a DVR?
For more on this we called L.A. Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik, to ask about the DVR’s role in today’s TV-watching marketplace.
For the LA Philharmonic's Beethoven cycle, one orchestra is not enough
This week the Los Angeles Philharmonic continues the classical music blitz it’s calling “Immortal Beethoven": Nine symphonies all performed multiple times in 11 day — a daunting task to be certain. But luckily for the L.A. Phil musicians, they’ll have help from the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.
During a recent rehearsal, conductor Gustavo Dudamel gave directions to the musicians, but his notes weren’t in English and the musicians weren’t his usual charges from the L.A. Philharmonic.
Dudamel may head the L.A. Phil, but he’s not a talent exclusive to Los Angeles.
“I know Gustavo since I was eight years old,” says Alejandro Carreño, the concertmaster for the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela — Dudamel’s other orchestra.
Carreño says Dudamel and most members of the Bolívar Orchestra met at a young age. “That makes no separation between the podium and the stands,” he says.
Kenneth Jones also plays violin with the Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.
“This orchestra in particular, you feel like you’re part of a family,” Jones says. “You’re part of something that is bigger.”
And you might say that big orchestra family extends from Venezuela to Los Angeles. Carreño says the Bolívar Orchestra shares not only its conductor with the L.A. Phil, but also its technique.
The combined forces of the L.A. Phil and the Bolívar Orchestra (Photo Credit: Greg Grudt)
“It’s very clear that both orchestras are from the same conductor,” Carreño says. “You can feel that, even though it’s different orchestras from different places, but we play in his way.”
For this demanding marathon, the two orchestras are playing all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies. Dudamel is conducting an astounding 12 performances over 11 days. Each orchestra is performing four symphonies, and they’re combining forces on Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
Cellist Gabriela Jiménez says performing Beethoven is tough.
“We enjoy a lot doing this music, but I think that Beethoven’s music is very, very difficult,” Jiménez says.
Playing back-to-back Beethoven for two weeks straight does seem like finger-busting work. But Carreño says they’re accustomed to it: “Of course it’s a lot of work, but we have the muscle already for that."
Luckily, the musicians do take some time to decompress. Jones says they spend time together not only when they are practicing, but also after work — parties, shopping, sightseeing and the like.
But the musicians are very serious when it comes to Beethoven.
“It’s very special to play, always, Beethoven,” Carreño says. “It’s so powerful — the message of pure beauty.”
Carreño believes there’s more to performing Beethoven than just hitting the notes. “To try to touch the genius of Beethoven, that’s another thing,” he says.
Touching the genius of Beethoven is admittedly a strenuous task. So what’s next after the Beethoven endurance run has ended?
“We will rest for two weeks," Carreño says. "Finally.”