Alphabetization: The Horace Silver Quintet

In My Humble Opinion
1

I alphabetize my music by last name for individuals and by band name otherwise, skipping a leading ‘The’ if present. (Excepting Mississippi John Hurt, who is filed under M.)

How do I alphabetize The Horace Silver Quintet? Under H or S?

I know, I know – insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But important nonetheless.

And, to make it interesting, should I put Loreena McKennit at the beginning of the Ms or just after Madonna?

How about other name prefixes, like el- or bin-? When is it part of the last name?

Is there a regulatory body on alphabetization?

2
  1. S
    1.a Yes, very important, indeed.
  2. After Madonna
  3. Always
  4. Yes, there is. It’s called the OCD Society
3
  1. No, H. Bands don’t have last names, only people do.
  2. Mc always goes between Ma and Me. There is no letter “Mc” in the alphabet.
  3. Always. Ignore spaces and punctuation.
  4. Just ask c_carol.
4
  1. S (just like the Wynton Marsalis Quintet is under M for Marsalis)
  2. Between Ma and Me – I prefer straigh alpahabetization (so and so MacPherson would thus go before Madonna)
  3. Always
  4. No – you just pick a system and stay with it. Some go by words before alphabetization, but I find that confusing. (Whitford’s Top 40 book does this, for instance, and it always takes me about twice as long as it needs to to find something: they do all the “I” titles, then all the “I’d” titles, then all the “I’ll” titles, etc., before going to I-c words, I-d words, etc. I would not use that system, but de gustibus non disputandum est.
5

How do I alphabetize The Horace Silver Quintet? Under H or S?
H, depending (see note)

I know, I know – insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But important nonetheless.
Incredibly important

And, to make it interesting, should I put Loreena McKennit at the beginning of the Ms or just after Madonna?
Just after madonna

How about other name prefixes, like el- or bin-? When is it part of the last name?
Always!

Is there a regulatory body on alphabetization? **
[/QUOTE]

Me

Note: if using a “proper” name, file by last word (Eubie Blake IS a “B”)
If using a “made up” name file by first word (King Crimson is a “K”)

unclviny

6

It’s reassuring to know there are several self-proclaimed authorities on the SDMB. One supposes there’s at least one for any topic.

MacLachlan, Madonna, McKennit is good; someone should talk to the folks that write the phone books. Or have they changed that since the last time I used a dead-tree phone book?

Everyone agrees on el- and bin- prefixes, but I think I was misleading by including a hyphen (judging from c_carol’s comment on ignoring punctuation). What if the prefix has no joining punctuation? bin Joe, or du Poisson, for example. How do I know if it’s a prefix or a middle name? Do prefixes consistently lack capitalization?

There seems to be some division on the question of the band named after the primary, a la Horace Silver Quintet or Dave Matthews Band. I guess it comes down to the question of whether “Horace Silver Quintet” is the band name or a possessive of Horace Silver. I’d consider it a band name myself, but I recognize that the practice will separate Horace Silver, solo, from Horace Silver Quintet and Horace Silver and the Dominos.

Finally, unclivy, Marylin Manson is a “made up” name for Brian Warner. You propose filing him under Mar rather than Man? Do I have to research all names to find out if they’re made up? Do I file BB King under B or K, given that his birth name is King but his nickname is Blues Boy?

7

Yes, because Marylin Manson (a lame ziggy stardust ripoff who shops at wal-mart) is a band name (I apologize for the dig but I can not stand that guy/thing, it makes me laugh but it pisses me off very fast).
BB King would be filed as a “b” (judgement call!) because he is BB! (it helps to be a legend).

This was much easier before the proliferation of computers, and i have problem bands/artists too:
Brian Eno
Brian Eno & David Byrne
Robert fripp & Brian Eno, etc.

unclviny

8

Wow, i’m the worst poster ever, good luck reading that mess!

unclviny

9

The Horace Silver Quintet should be filed under “H” with a notecard in the “S”-s to cross-reference it. That way you never get confused.
-Rue. (oh yeah, I do this)

10

Which Horace Silver Quintet? Are you going to put the famous one from the early '60s with Blue Mitchell on trumpet and Junior Cook on tenor in one place, and a more recent configuration somewhere else? What about an album with Silver soloing, or with a trio?

Put all your Horace Silver in with the esses. That’s what I do.

11

unclivy, you’re making it difficult for me – now I have to refile Marylin Monroe too! This will be made easier by the fact that I don’t have anything by her, but the point is there: how do I know if it’s a given name or a taken name?

Rue DeDay, that’s a good strategy but notecards don’t fit in the CD rack.

Ukelele Ike, where do I put my single for Under Pressure, by Queen and David Bowie? Q? B? (Or is David Bowie a stage name, in which case I file it under S for Stardust?) What I’m getting at is that there may be more than one “lead” in a group, and I can’t arbitrarily choose which one to file against. Worst-case scenario: to whom do I give the honour when filing Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young? Young, because I have him solo but don’t own any of the others? I’d argue that I have to file it under Crosby, not because it’s the last name of the first person in the band but because the band name is “Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young”.

Does anyone have a link to the OCD Society? I need a new gross of soap bars for to wash my hands.

12

Some time over winter break, I’m going to organize my CD’s the way my MP3’s are organized. All are by first letter, e.g. Dylan goes under B. I just drop the The off of all bands except The The. :smiley:

Makes things much simpler, and I don’t have to wonder whether I decided that Sawyer Brown was a band name and filed under S last time I reorganized.