In 2007 the Lou Curtiss Sound Library Digitization Project
began with a grant to work on the first 420 reels (sound recordings in the old
reel-to-reel format) in the library, which included material recorded at the
first nine San Diego State Folk Festivals (1967-1975). Also included were
concerts put together or co-sponsored by Lou Curtiss at Folk Arts Rare Records,
the Heritage and other coffeehouses, field recordings done by Lou Curtiss at
other festivals (Sweets Mill, Fresno, etc), plus some rare transcription
recordings and miscellaneous stuff worthy of presentation. Also preserved were
50 reels of material from the late Sam Hinton's collection going back to the
mid '50s and concert material from the Sign of the Sun bookstore in the early
1960s. The funds from that grant are now depleted but the work of the
digitization project has only just begun. Yet to be worked on are nearly 2,000
reels and video tapes that should be in this collection.
Now, what
is being done with this material? Well, copies are going to the Library of
Congress to a special "Lou Curtiss Sound Collection" that will be set up (the
first 420 reels are already on their way). Copies will also go to the
Department of Ethnomusicology at UCLA, which will be setting up a digital sound
library downloadable to the public. Copies of the digital library will remain
in San Diego for now with me and hopefully something will be done about
preserving the collection locally. We have applied for a second Grammy grant
for 200 more reels and we'll know sometime in March whether that is
forthcoming. Meanwhile, the whole project is stalled while we wait to see if
the money comes in. That's what I want to talk to you about. We need HELP!
Currently,
the digitization is being done by Russ Hamm and myself and that is pretty much
covered when there is grant money to take time from our jobs and do this work,
but the problem is always money. The non-profit group San Diego Folk Heritage
has been our money handlers and for that we are grateful but this time between
grant money is time we should be spending on the project and we just can't.
What we need is additional funding and someone to work on fund raising for us.
Concerts could be organized and donations to San Diego Folk Heritage: Lou
Curtiss Sound Library could be made. I know there are so many causes worthwhile
to donate to these days, but I've spent over 40 years putting together shows
for San Diego audiences and I had what I figured was the good sense to tape an
awful lot of those shows along the way. I figure those shows deserve to be
preserved.
So, what
still needs to be copied? Well, start with the rest of the San Diego State Folk
Festivals (1975-1987), the San Diego Blues Festivals in 1977, 1979, 1980, and
1995, The remaining concerts were held at Folk Arts Rare Records and their
continuing series at Orango's Natural Foods, Hand of God Pottery, Normal
Heights United Methodist Church, and other locations. Starting in 1994 we
started video taping large portions of the Adams Avenue Roots Festival and the
Adams Avenue Street Fair as well as some of the early San Diego Folk Heritage
Festivals. The tapes go up through the portions of those festivals' histories
that I worked on. Also, since word got out about the first grant, several
people have come forward with their own tapes from some of those events that
will fill significant holes in places we had not thought were covered.
Particularly I'm talking about the late Ted Theodore's tapes of interviews and
portions of workshops at various San Diego State Folk Festivals and the late Ed
Cormier who always put up musicians for us and then taped them at late night
jam sessions and informal picking (giving us a perspective we might not have
had). Others have come forth with material we had thought lost forever. All of
this needs to be gone over and added to the digital library where appropriate.
Other
material is out there and some of it may yet show up. Wouldn't it be wonderful
if we could find recordings of that mid-1940s folk festival in San Diego that
Leadbelly played at or late 1930s recordings of Woody Guthrie and Lefty Lou
over one of the Tijuana border stations or other significant parts of San Diego
and Southern California's musical history? One of Los Madrugadores's radio
shows would be wonderful, or maybe something recorded at Joe Liggens' Night
Club. Not only do we need folks to work on fund raising, we also need folks to
do field work, talk to people who remember the musical scene here, and discover
what else is around that I haven't gotten to. Collectors have things that they
often are reluctant to share. I know of a collector that has a bunch of
transcriptions of Stuart Hamblen's late '30s radio broadcasts and I've never
been able to get him to let me copy them. I have a 16-inch transcription
turntable and I can copy this stuff. The digital copies should be part of this
collection! If you have anything on transcription discs that you have questions
about, drop by my store and we'll check them out. I'm at 2881 Adams Ave. and
I'm usually here 9am to 5pm weekdays (10am to 5pm weekends).
I'd maybe
like to start a monthly meeting where we could get together and listen to some
of this stuff, talk about it, learn it (if you want), and pass it on. I've
picked up a fair knowledge of things about old time music and I know other
people who know a fair amount too. Most of them (including me) are more than
willing to bend your ear about it. It'd be nice if someplace more or less close
to my shop opened up to having a Lou Curtiss Sound Library: Musical Listening
Place once a month. What do you all think? Let me know. It'd be nice if it was
at a coffeehouse.
One of the
ideas I had for a "Lou Curtiss Sound Library" fund raiser was an ethnic band
concert. I already talked to Yale Strom (leader of fine klezmer music in San
Diego) and the San Diego Cajun Playboys in the affirmative. I talked to Claudia
Russell who was going to look into getting us the hall at City College and
that's as far as it's gotten. I'd love to get a good Irish Ceili (maybe Siamsa
Gael), a Mexican band (maybe Los Alacranes), and another group from either
Chinese, Japanese, or other far eastern origin, or maybe African (what ideas do
you have?). At any rate, we really need somebody to take over the planning of
these things and get going on them as soon as possible.
So that's
the story. I feel like I'm part of an exciting adventure novel with the last
three or four chapters missing and I want to write them myself but I just can't
do it. Bless Russ Hamm for coming along when he did and, over the years,
Richard Schurch, Bob Pillow, Ken Kramer, Ted Theodore, and all the others who
taped stuff for me. The work goes on and San Diego's musical legacy will be
organized so that coming generations can listen to it. Please help if you can.
Recordially,
Lou Curtiss