Look on the bright side. If we British (And the Canadians) hadn't burned the White House down in 1814 it would still be a dirty grey colour instead of having been painted a spectacular white to hide the soot!
I agree with Alex (Kirtley). We don't seem to have anything like the phono fairs you have in the USA. The only ones I have seen have been a few poor neglected gramophones in a draughty village hall.yankmycrank wrote:Roger, it IS amazing! Come on over to the USA for a visit--we're willing to forgive and forget the War of 1812. As for the minor gripes about the show, pricing, etc. I'll just say that it's NIRVANA compared to the old (mid-1990s) phonograph shows. No show promoter chasing people out of the pre-show parking lot sale, no 6AM opening rush, it's far more civilized. The machine prices seemed very reasonable, certainly compared with prices of ten or fifteen years ago. I hauled home three large crates of records, about half acquired in the parking lot sale, the balance from show day. Best of all, I had a wonderful opportunity to meet up with many old friends in the hobby. Strangely, I only noticed one additional radio-selling vendor at this show (besides Bruce from Waves and a fellow who sells mainly cathedral sets)--and this new vendor had one of THE great early radio rarities for sale, an Atwater Kent Model 5. I'd only seen an AK5 in pictures, never in the flesh (and never at various radio meets over the years.)
Regards,
Alistair.