Well, at least one of my other geekery threads seemed to be of interest to folks, so I thought I would try another. Personally, I find it interesting to get an “inside glimpse” into areas I know nothing about but realize that some folks are extremely passionate about - I hope you do, too, and that this type of question thread leads to that…
So - what is an example of “Teamwork Nirvana” in your area of geekery? Where folks who share your passion work together and do something extremely cool. Please remember - the explanation is MORE important than the example itself!
What is so cool about achieving this within your area of geekery?
Why does a team have to do it vs. an individual?
What does a team have to do well to get it done?
Could be preparing a meal, organizing and pulling off a Civil War re-enactment or maybe sewing a quilt together - I hope you get the idea…
Here’s mine - and sure enough, it is about guitar and my band:
We added a few songs last night, like Roam by the B-52’s and Social Distortion’s version of Ring of Fire – very fun. We had tried to add Tears of a Clown previously – could there be a more perfect pop song? – and it didn’t work; we couldn’t make it pop and so it sounded like, well, tired Motown. So this time we went for the English Beat’s ska version. Started off cool, like it has possibilities, but in the end, there are simply too many layers in the mix to replicate it with our set up. Here’s where it got cool – we didn’t say die and instead came up with our own arrangement – kind of a punked-up version with a bit of ska in the rhythm (and a full-on reggae break in a middle-8 section we added!) but with more drive and suitable for both our instrumentation and our crowd. It was one of those cool band moments – where we refused to let it go, and kept noodling together until we found bits that worked, with everyone contributing ideas and opinions, to build our own unique version of the song. Incredibly satisfying and fun…
I’ve been involved over the past 7 years with a few dozen 78rpm-era record collectors who are burning and exchanging everything they own that a) is not available as reissues and b) can be organized into a “complete” multi-disc set (around one artist) or anthology (various artists).
That’s about all I can say; the project thrives on confidentiality, because this is the stuff that’s out of the public’s living memory, but not quite “historic” music. Most of it is the intellectual property of Big Media, who have zero incentive to make it available - and indeed, might see it as a potential source of lawsuit revenue.
so, in your case, the teamwork means getting to a place where you were all willing to do this burn-and-exchange - is that right? How tough was it to get to that place? Were some folks you interact with not interested? Was there a moment where you stopped and realized “oh cool - this can really happen?”
Also - you collect the records, but the b-and-e is about the music - how do folks in your area of geekery differentiate? Meaning: do some folks care more about the collectibility of the actual records vs. the music? Is that differentiation a big deal amongst collectors? With guitars that is a bright line - there are clearly collectors who care more about hanging the “right” guitars on their walls and NOT playing them - which drives players absolutely to fits of rage…