Around 3AM one late night last November, I had just finished reading Wired, noting a cool piece on Steven Soderbergh loving ‘mash-ups’ as a cultural concept when my mind flipped to the mammoth Herculean task undertaken these last 3-4 months - catelogueing my 35,000+ CD collection.

Kate, who initiated this project has been truly unbelievable, the backbone, with her calm persistence, consistent chipping away and tight supervising of the whole operation.

Other team member shouts must go to Craig, Jahan & Holly to name but a few. I didn’t ever think it would take such a short time to achieve so much. Throughout, a re-occurring memory cloud had been hanging, one of my earliest, gently haunting me in a surreal not scary way:-

Aged about 5 or 6 in the US, in a San Francisco bookstore, I spent some time tidying up the shelves and the bookstore manager gave me a book for my obsessive (!) efforts. A cool book if I remember well, interactive, with things like a furry tail to carress and scratch & sniff pages. Anyway, that’s it, how I see much of my 'Modus Operandi' as an edit process - re-arranging, tidying, filing, collecting, amassing, ,archiving, purging, pruning, shedding etc..

Back to the process of the Herculean task. It started about 18 months ago when sorting thru loads of crates from storage. Vinyl was pruned off, selling it, if I had the same CD. Some of the vinyl of course was kept for emotional, memory reasons (or if it was unmixed/bonus track on there etc.!!!) but generally if there was a digital copy, it stayed. Most of this vinyl was taken to Record & Tape Exchange (‘Church’).

So after getting rid of the vinyl, catelogueing began late August 2005. I researched some software companies and zoned in on Collectorz. Their Flic-Barcode reader sounded cool, you beep the barcodes and hey presto up comes the data, after searching Amazon & CDDB/Gracenote etc. Alas, it was too good to be true, so many CDs didn’t scan and it looked like we were going to have to do this the hardcore way i.e. put each CD in the drive, let the drive read the CD, gather the data from the site, spit the CD out and repeat ad. nauseam.

Kate had been doing this for several weeks, time permitting whilst simultaneously checking e-mails, watching TV and web-surfing. Similarly Craig was on it whilst checking his e-mail, the web, watching DVDs, having lovely meals cooked and ploughing thru those CDs, loading them in 1 by one (limb by limb - dibee dibee dibee!!!). This threw up loads of double copies - further trips to 'Church'.

A slight panic early on when CDDB/Gracenote withdrew its licence from Collectorz and for a split-second I thought we may have to abandon or re-start however via the very quick & helpful Collectorz.com Forum with the likes of 'Old Geek' and even being able to speak to the guys who created the Collectorz software, we carried on, using freedb instead of CDDB/Gracenote.

Craig’s 'Modus Operandi' was ‘very methodical’ as he described it, wasting not one second in between the CD drive spitting out a CD and him having the next instantly ready to go in, balanced with biscuits and DVD viewing.

After the 'first pass', a big pile of ‘computer says no’ CDs came to light, which basically meant they had no data submitted on sites so most of the details from these were inputted manually.

About 2 weeks into doing this solely on my office computer, we realised we’d need another couple of laptops for multiple people to tackle the databasing on an ongoing basis. This would also need Wi-Fi/Wireless as the internet databases like CDDB and Freedb need to be accessed. Wi-Fi/Wireless, the irony, more wires & cables. Couple of technical problems with the router but Mr. Smooth Operator, Jahan was always on hand to get us back on course, an efficient tech-pilot ready for take-off & landing.

As the task neared its end, I used the anology of driving past a building site for a few weeks seeing no progress and then suddenly one day, a whole housing estate or block of flats has sprung up in front of you just like that. The CDs did this to me just before Xmas, when the main room and over half the ‘Wall of doom’ (an approximate 6 columns by 4 rows, 3 deep) was complete.

Holly, another invaluable member of the team, hammered away, unlike Craig, wanting no food, no music, no TV, just loading up the CD-drives one by one - Hardcore!!! Amazed that the drives never packed up by now, only a couple of times did CDs get stuck and a one-off occasional memory glitch.

The collection is deep, some have called it 'Art', others total obsessive madness. I'd calmly defend that calling it passion providing happyness, something Oxford dons once discovered and researched as 'Flow Experience', a trance-like state of happiness.

I don't see much difference in the time/energy put into record collecting as compared to the religious football nut who goes to watch his team play live every week, the gym freak working out to that rigid schedule, the person who must play the lottery every week, maybe with the same numbers each week, attending church every Sunday etc. etc. - all beehaviour patterns that have a repetitive element, that's all.

One friend suggested I enter the CD collection & myself into the Turner Prize. As for how & why I've collected all this, well that's another lengthy chapter though here's a little insight into the 'Collector's Mentality', summed up beautifully from the 'Lust' edition of a recent 'Colors Magazine':

......of 2005 goes to my moody (only joking!) old mate, 'Mave The Rave', aka Mavis, aka Julian Segal. Gotta big him up for his excellent Dave Gorman-esque 'Greeting The 500' challenge which is still running tings for about another 3 weeks and just won one of Yahoo's 2005 web site 'Finds Of The Year' (See Mave in ITN action here).

Fall back even further!!! Mave coined "Big up your c*ck!" (c) + other silly in-joke lingo that's done the rounds over the years for those in the know; SKEECH!!!!

Apparently, Bin Laden's recent recommendation of this book saw it rocket up Amazon's hourly-updated top-sellers.

Did Osama order it 'Used & New' from Amazon?

Does he have an Amazon 'Wish List'?

If so, it must be easy (via Amazon) to find out which P.O Box Cave he's dwelling in....

From February 2006's Record Collector.
Check Kieran's quote (and his site's pretty cool too):

We get many such e-mails as below and yes, unfortunately due to copyright clearance, the MTV Megamixes never saw the light of DVD day and continue gathering dust on my digi beta shelf and MTV's. Time & permitting, we may try to clear some for this web site but in the meantime, try BitTorrent, Soulseek etc. or watch/tape late night MTV and MTV Dance in the hope of the odd random play.

One of the first Video Megamixes James Hyman created was in 1992, a collaboration with Coldcut which simultaneously aired on MTV & French TV station, 'Canal Plus' for the 'L'Oeil Du Cyclone' programme, so if you're really super-sleuthin', hit 'Canal Plus'.

Complete MTV Megamix & BBC Mix tracklistings here.

-----Original Message-----
From: Paddy [mailto: dublin********@gmail.com]
Sent: 16 January 2006 22:52
To: James Hyman

Paddy

'Click Fraud', a growing 'cyber-scam' explained pictorially below and further here in Wired or this Guardian piece.....

....It's not just GLC's Maggot, tearing up this year's Celeb BB.
You've got DJ Moneyshot, criminally under-rated DJ who I've been airing a lot of on Xfm's Rinse of late, simply because he's the dogz.

Equally, Soundhog (whose latest mix aired on 'The Rinse' Xmas eve) is to Mash-Ups & Bastard Pop, what Scorcese is to the Oscars; highly knowledgeable/talented guy + awesome body of work that never gets enough recognition by the masses, only by those really in the know.

And finally, from Autumn's Stool Pigeon (love its newspaper format), this dude, Ninjah:

Rescued cutting from The Guardian (16.6.05) after a post-xmas desk clearout.
Incredibly subversive, it's next level Jerky Boyz.......!

I hope I don't get addicted to watching this year's Celeb-BB, never have been so far, though the fabulous freak-show cast could get me right royally hooked. It's certainly & potentially the most glam-sleazy, tabloid (Faria), grimey (Maggot/GLC & Preston/Ordinary Boys), cross-dressing (Pete Burns/Dennis Rodman) and catty (Jodie Marsh vs. Traci Bingham) line-up to date.

Hilarious comments on GLC's web site to big up/support Maggot, my money could be on him doing what Bez did best last year - win! As for Barrymore, been having some heated discussions with mates, one of whom finds him a disgrace and is appalled at TV glamourizing fallen celebs. I do have some sympathy for the man; we do not know the full story behind the whole swimming pool incident. Without wanting to get too, er, deep, surely, aged 31 Stuart Lubbock was a responsible adult, aware of the sex/drugs/rock & roll dangers lurking in the glitzy/glamour world of showbiz?

Celeb BB's competitiveness levels seem pretty high too, it's Roman Gladiators for the 21st century, may the best man/woman win.......

From the latest WaxPoetics - hilarious anecdotes and dust-off detail from (ebay) dealer 'Funkyou!', aka Jason Koenig.

BUSINESS WEEK - 9 JANUARY 2006

Thanks to Claire & Matthew for last night's soiree - fine food, great company, top tunes etc.

I've had this (pictured above) back(b)log of bytes & pieces, built up over the month from things that have caught my eye as inspiration, references etc. - enjoy the digital digest & Happy New Year, may all your dreams come true etc.

DAZED & CONFUSED MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 05
Woody Allen talks 'Luck' to Rob Sharp:

Big up C3P0's c*ck! The 'before' & 'after' shots; read more on this old skool Star Wars urban myth here.

THE TIMES - 27 JULY 05
ESKI! ESKI! as Wiley would cry, Stuntman Eskil Ronningsbakken performs a handstand while cycling naked across a tightrope between 2 peaks in western Norway - no safety net, pure rude boy!!

Also back from July 05 & another bonkers performance artist, Mark McGowan. Stunts include trying to catapult a pensioner into space, walking backwards for 11 miles with a 27lb turkey on his head whilst shouting at fat people, scratching 50 cars with his keys & photographing the 'evidence'.
Last July he 'ran on empty', leaving a tap running for a year.
This Guardian piece gives the whole story - tearing!!!
____________________________________

RECORD COLLECTOR - CHRISTMAS 2005
Props to Matthew Hodgkinson, obsessively hunting down the 142 singles from John Peel's hallowed wooden record box:

VICE MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2005
Sticking with the OCD tip, check this nut-nut:

SUNDAY SPORT
One of Bez's hilarious columns, not sure if he still writes it as I'm not a regular Sport
reader as much as I used to be (!)

UNCUT - SEPTEMBER 2005
For the 100th issue, the magazine got 100 Rock/Movie icons to choose
Music & Films that changed their world. All were pretty interesting selections, though Mark E Smith bigging up Bo Diddley and Brian Eno doing the same for Chris Morris & Brass Eye sincerely stood out by a mile:

PET SHOP BOYS VERSUS AMERICA
A BOOK BY CHRIS HEATH

Boy, I could rant on about the PSB's for yonks, how their music shaped much of my adolescence etc. This book fuelled more love for Neil/Chris and their body of work with Chris Heath's sharp, dry & deadpan on-tour diary, a style perfectly suited to the PSBs themselves. Some choice quotes:

"The next station is called Y-100 and there they are greeted by a man called Al Chio.
'Are both of you into Motown?' asks Al.
'Why are you asking?' says Chris defensively. 'It's a loaded question.'
'When I was growing up,' answers Neil, 'it was the Beatles and Motown. I used to like the Supremes.'
'Chicken Supreme, I like', says Chris.
As at most radio stations, they are asked to do loads of station ID's whereby they introduce each of the station's DJs and various local campaigns. One of today's is 'Hi! This is Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe urging you to participate in recycling - everyone's help counts.'
'I did that one already for Japan,' says Neil.
'They should have recycled it, saved the tape,' says Chris.
____________________________________

Neil and I go shopping in downtown Minneapolis. He buys cassettes of the new records by REM and Joni Mitchell, this week's New Yorker and a copy of the academic journal Partisan Review because it includes an article comparing the crimes of Lenin, Stalin and Hitler.
'That's two magazines I'll never read and two tapes I'll never listen to,' he says, 'but I enjoyed buying them.'
____________________________________

ROLLING STONE - 8 SEPTEMBER 2005

More Pop stars, keeping it real, Jack White, total respect!
He came off equally sincere for Channel 4's November show on 'John Peel's Record Box'.

HOTEL CALIFORNIA:
SINGER-SONGWRITERS & COCAINE COWBOYS IN THE LA CANYONS, 1967-76

Superb book, summed up excellently in this edited extract from Nigel Williamson's review in December 05's Uncut Magazine:

"It's a tale full of so many back-stories that each could make a book in itself, as Hoskyns weaves his way through the careers of not only the Eagles, Browne, Mitchell & CSNY but also James Taylor, Carole King, Little Feat and others who were attracted to the denim-clad, coke-fuelled scene that coalesced in the canyons in the hills above Sunset Strip.

Hoskyns' own conclusion is even darker, for he sees not merely personal tragedy in the holes in the souls of a few decadent, damaged rock stars, but the pernicious roots of a cancer that has eaten into the very heart of our society. In selling themselves for fame and riches, the singers and songwriters of the '60s and '70s, who we followed in the belief that they were soundtracking an alternative and better way to live, actually helped to incubate the disease of celebrity that plagues modern culture, and have contributed to the creation of "a world where passive consumerism has replaced emotional engagement and political commitment."

RES MAGAZINE
From 'DIY Issue', love Prellinger's stance on media, archiving, copyright & remix culture: