London!

The end of June marked the moving past half-way point in the shooting of "78rpm."  Took a visit up to Victrola Repair Service in Vermont.  Was very nice to see the place after years of sending motors up there to be worked on and springs to be replaced.  Some other enjoyable shoots included bellydancing and music on 78 record with Kaoru and MAC at Bizarre in Bushwick; an interview with Denny Daniel of the Museum of Interesting Things; roving with the camera amid the shelves of 78s at the Rogers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound; and a fun time creating a Georges Melies inspired sequence with Professor Adam Smasher!

A good feeling to be more than half done with the shooting on the film.  Several more shoots planned out for August and September in the New York area, but July is mostly devoted to doing interviews and gathering footage in the UK.

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A fascinating vintage culture scene here in London and elsewhere in the UK.  On Sunday was doing some shooting of the Shellac Sisters at the Henley Festival, spinning 78s on portable gramophones.

Picked up some records at the flea market, and also at the Tony Tunes record shop.  Was looking for examples of the "local flavor" of the place -- English music hall examples and such (found a few nice ones) -- but also interesting to see how much the American cultural influence spread itself to the rest of the world: with stacks and stacks of Bing Crosby and the like.  Passed on those.  But did pick up a little Mickey Katz, and British pressings of the California Ramblers, and Louis Armstrong, just because I couldn't resist.

Visited The City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society, where a presentation on the Blue Amberol cylinder took place.

Coming up, shooting some film at The Black Cotton Club and a visit to DJ78 in Norwich.  You can read this very nice interview with him here.

"That's all."