Association for Recorded Sound Collections Conference Convenes in New Orleans May 19-22

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2010

Association for Recorded Sound Collections Conference Convenes in New Orleans May 19-22
Highlights include a pre-conference workshop on Disaster Planning and Recovery for Audio Materials and presentations on local music topics

WHAT: Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Annual Conference

WHERE: Chateau Bourbon Hotel

WHEN: May 19-22, 2010

DETAILS:
Record collectors, music and jazz historians, audio engineers and preservationists, discographers, and representations from the nation’s foremost sound archives will convene in New Orleans for the 44th Annual ARSC conference May 19-22. The Chateau Bourbon will host this four-day event, which includes lectures, exhibits, tours and other special events. Other local hosts include the Historic New Orleans Collection, the Louisiana State Museum and Tulane University's Hogan Jazz Archive.

More than 200 attendees will meet to share information on a diverse range of issues, including many topics of local interest:

· Building Cajun & Creole Music Collection at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
· The Buddy Bolden Cylinder Meltdown: Presaging the Jazz Band on Record
· New Orleans Veteran Record Makers Panel
· New Orleans First Record Label: Louis “Bebe” Vasnier & the Louisiana Phonograph Company
· The Search for Recordings of Pioneering Jazz Guitarist Eddie “Snoozer” Quinn
· The Influence of New Orleans on the Performance Style of Gospel Singer Mahalia Jackson
· Dr. James F. Roach, “Song of the Crocodile,” and the First Recording of a Cajun Folksong
· The Circulation of Mardi Gras Indian Music in New Orleans
· Record Makers and Breakers: New Orleans & South Louisiana, 1940s-1960s
· Fifty Years of Catching the Sounds of Southwest Louisiana
· Louis Armstrong and the Fleischmann Radio Recordings
· Phantoms of the Opera: The New Orleans Opera Tapes
· Louisiana Rocks: The True Genesis of Rock & Roll
· The Audio Odyssey of Avant-Garde Composer and New Orleans Jazz Revivalist William Russell
· I’ll be Glad When You’re Dead: Louis Armstrong’s SmackDown With White Authority, 1930-1932
· Preserving the Grateful Dead's Audio Collection and Making It Accessible
· How the Beatles Conquered the World
· Preserving the Benny Carter and Benny Goodman Collections

In addition, audio preservationists will also be addressing topics ranging from metadata, digital audio preservation and workflow management to copyright reform and the forthcoming Library of Congress National Recorded Sound Preservation Plan.

ARSC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings―in all genres of music and speech, in all formats and from all periods. ARSC is unique in bringing together private individuals and institutional professionals―everyone with a serious interest in recorded sound.

WEBSITE: The full preliminary conference schedule and session abstracts can be viewed at:
http://www.arsc-audio.org/conference/

SPECIAL EVENTS:
· Wed, May 19: Pre-conference Workshop on Disaster Planning and Recovery for Audio Materials, Chateau Bourbon Hotel, Holmes A, 8:30 a.m.; The all-day workshop, intended for curators of audio collections including private collectors, will address the following topics:

o Disaster Recovery after Hurricane Katrina
o Vendors and Barcodes: Keeping Track of Your Collection
o Administrators vs. Archivists: A Mock Debate on Funding for Disaster Preparedness and Recovery
o Hands-on for Disaster Recovery—What To Do After the Disaster!

· Fri, May 21: Louisiana Music Factory, Louisiana Music Factory, 210 Decatur St, 5:30-7:30 p.m.; Special CD release party at the Louisiana Music Factory for Cabaret Echoes: New Orleans Jazzers at Work, 1918-1927, a new project co-produced by Doug Benson and David Sager and issued by Off the Record. The CD features a collection of early New Orleans jazz bands and oral history excerpts drawn from the collections at Tulane University's Hogan Jazz Archives. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

· Fri, May 21: ARSC’s Annual Collectors’ Roundtable, Chateau Bourbon, Holmes A, 8-10 p.m.; An informal discussion forum for record collectors, providing an opportunity for collectors to meet and share stories and information about topics of mutual interest, and also provides an opportunity for local record collectors to learn more about ARSC. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

· Sat, May 22: Discount Registration Day, Chateau Bourbon, Dauphine B, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; ARSC is offering a discounted one-day registration fee of $25. Presentations include sessions on Louis Armstrong and Southwestern Louisiana Music by experts Dan Morgenstern (Rutgers Jazz Archive) and Chris Strachwitz (Arhoolie Records), as well as sessions noted above on New Orleans opera, Mardi Gras Indians and William Russell, among others.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
ARSC: Tim Brooks (program chair), tim@timbrooks.net; Brenda Nelson-Strauss, 812-855-7530, bnelsons@indiana.edu; Kurt Nauck, 281-288-7826, Nauck@78rpm.com 
New Orleans CVB: Tara Letort, 504-566-5048, tletort@neworleanscvb.com; Kelly Schulz, 504-421-0962, kschulz@neworleanscvb.com

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