The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

This is worthy of a new thread.
From http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =2&t=16557

De Soto Frank wrote:

phonogfp wrote:I was impressed with the number of young people at this show. I'm not exaggerating when I say there must have been at least two dozen attendees in their teens and twenties. Most of these youngsters were strangers to me, and they seemed to be having a good time.

Coincidentally, when I arrived back home this evening there was an email for me from the Director of the City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society. I quote part of it:

"While it is easy to write off the collection of early machines and records as an anachronism which will disappear as people who can remember their daily usage drop off the perch, there seems to be an emerging interest from younger people and we should be ready to meet their needs. In some cases this comes from a revival of vinyl, but there is also a new interest in early 20th century things over here which spreads into things with horns."


Evidently, the Wayne show this weekend was not an anomaly in its attraction for a significant number of young people. The Brits are seeing it as well. Whether this age group continues to grow in number at the shows remains to be seen, but it's certainly nice to see.

George P.

Plus there seems to be an interest in "period bands" such as Vince Giordano and the Night-HawKs, Max Raabe & the Palast Orchester, Bratislava Hot Serenaders, Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, and so-on... while not strictly talking-machine related, there are some young folks "diggin' " the music of the Talking Machine Era, and I think that leads some of them into actually experiencing "the real thing"...

or maybe it's just the latest Hipster trend...

These type of parties have been popping up for some time...
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 14&t=16535

Gatsby themed parties...
https://www.google.com/search?q=Gatsby+ ... 17&bih=750

Boardwalk Empire is another hot draw into this realm.

Many will get connected to the past in this way and some get the bug.

In 2010, I posted this to a resounding thud...
http://victrolagramophones.proboards.co ... shout-more
The photos are now gone, but he continues in 2014...
http://michaelcumella.com/phonographdj/
and another entrepreneur...
http://austinphonographcompany.com/

James.

Excellent timing for this thread based on the recent discussion about the younger crown being interested in this time in our history.

A few of the video games out there actually use songs from the 1920"s and other older songs for backdrop sound.
I have a portable Montgomery Ward model 1928 brown stripe and played an older record for my two teenage sons, and they both knew the song from a game! Regards, Johnny

We in the CLPGS are well aware of the need to encourage the young, many of whom are fascinated by the ability to record and reproduce sound by purely mechanical means.

Although there are many of us still left who remember 78's in regular everyday use, the same cannot be said for cylinders, yet interest in cylinders remains undiminished.

The harbingers of doom who regularly tell us that our hobby is in terminal decline are not only wrong, but are doing the hobby a great disservice.

Well said Roger and, like most things in life, interest in all spheres of human activity tends to be cyclical. It will always remain the responsibility of the older generations to encourage and foster the introduction of younger people.

But where do you plug in the ear buds? and will it fit in my back pack? Where is the selection screen? How many songs will it store? does it mean the more you crank the more songs it holds?
Half asleep and kidding sort of
Dwight

Only in the States.....

One thing I have noticed here from time to time I would like to gently caution against. Some seem to have a tendency to want to lump all young people into a stereotyped box and, in effect, dismiss them. I don't know of a better way to drive them from our hobby. It is just as irritating as young people who stereotype older people. I would hope we can guard against that in the future. It is counterproductive.

Clay

Like George I was pleasantly surprised by not only the number of young people at the Wayne show, but also that I saw several of them selling and trading with good merchandise and lots of know how. Like in the past there will only be a small percentage of people who find this matter interesting, but we also had most people in the past throw machines and records out on the curb or into the trash. We only need a percent of a percent to keep the hobby thriving. And like in many other areas in live, there is going to be the usual generational change taking place with all it's little aches and pains. To come back to the previous discussion, the difference will be how we all help with the transition and enable new and/or young collectors gain knowledge and experience. The contributions here show me that many are already doing a lot in that perspective.

Thanks
Andreas

A timely little story from GB relating to this topic.

http://video.ft.com/3449648941001/A-new ... torschoice

There is a commercial at the beginning, but it's short.

Clay