Re: Transparency, Michael Shepard, Lost Reel Collection, and Me
Re: Transparency, Michael Shepard, Lost Reel Collection, and Me
Thank you for bringing up the subject of Transparency, Stephen, and thank you, Gary, for so quickly coming to Michael's defense.
I, too, have had only good experiences when dealing with Michael and Transparency. Though he sometimes takes some time to deliver the goods, he has always sent the promised cds/dvds. He normally gives me a price considerably lower than I can find elsewhere and charges a very reasonable shipping fee.
I have to say that when I first heard some of the Transparency releases (and watched the dvds), I was disappointed by the quality. After collecting more Ra, however, I believe that his releases are in no way inferior to many that Ra released himself. I don't worry about the sound quality so much anymore - I'm simply glad to have a chance to weave these threads into the Sun Ra tapestry.
I think his Myspace page is a pretty clear indication that the Transparency releases are an act of passion and love rather than a get rich scheme. I rather enjoy the idea of supporting someone who seems to be piecing these releases together on his living room floor. Sure, I'd LOVE to hear some of these remastered or remixed using the latest technology - maybe if Michael gets enough support, he would be in a better position to do so. I don't know him personally so I'm merely speculating.
Let me say, too, that I love the Lost Reel Collection (THANK YOU, STEPHEN!!!). Consider those and the mind-boggling 28 cd Detroit Residency collection, the Horse Shoe Tavern collection, and the Slugs set... certainly everyone must agree that these are extremely valuable additions to the list of available Ra releases.
The other side of the coin, of course, is Art Yard. How lucky are we that they can remaster, repackage, and re-release these amazing albums? I wish all of my Ra collection could sound as lush and detailed as the Art Yard albums. ESP is also doing a fine job in this area. Although my wallet definitely feels the difference between a Transparency purchase and an Art Yard or ESP purchase, in the long run I don't care. A year or two from now I won't care a bit about the prices I've paid for any of it - I'll just be happy to keep listening.
So much for my 2 cents. -john
On Sat, Sep 18, 2010 at 9:04 AM, Gary Lawrence Murphy garym@teledyn.comwrote:
All of my dealings with Michael have been completely positive, he certainly seems sincere in his plan, and having observed some of the financial growing pains of his business, I wouldn't say he's in this to get rich (if that were the case, there are 10,000 other bootlegs that would be far more profitable)
so what is the deal. I live out on the edge of the Known World, to my left is a vast expanse of forests, rock and tundra, to my right somewhere far far away is Philadelphia and New York, so I can't possibly know the unspoken, but why are people so hesitant to work with Transparency? I'm just curious, email me privately if you don't want to make things public, but I am concerned that the only complaints I have ever heard about Michael always begin with "People like him usually ..." and that is not a logical supposition, that is profiling and it's uninformative. Nor is taking some unclaimed publically available free thing and bundling it for resale immoral or illegal (people sell water fer crissakes) and, superficially, it strikes me as a good thing that someone is making these recordings, many of the very precious, available to the audience who, like me, live far from the centres of culture and bandwidth.
again, I'm just curious. I tried to help Michael best I could from this distance, and as I say, my experience was completely positive.
On Sat, Sep 18, 2010 at 8:48 AM, Stephen Antonelli <theant99@yahoo.com
wrote:
Transparency ....... I haven't posted here for quite a while, but this morning, I have something to say.....
His name is Michael Shepard. He runs Transparency as many of you know. He has been selling Sun Ra materials for I would say the past 5 years or so. Many of you question his approach and ethics, as I do. For a record company, you would think that they would have a web site to sell and promote the music. Googling will not bring you to a Transparency home page. Sure, you will find many links, mostly to distributors of Transparency's releases. I think this is a telling sign of what this company is all about.
What I don't like about Michael is that he takes material that is floating around the trading circles and sells it as his own. In some cases, he has had to buy music that is not available anywhere else like the Lost Reel Collection, for instance. He then produces the CD's. I am ok with those situations. But overall, he is a loose cannon.
Yes, I am the person who was fortunate enough to pay for the Lost Reels. I then had the music transferred to digital form with help from others. I wanted the music to be heard by all, and I wanted to recoup my personal investment. I sought out some reputable people in the record business, but there were no takers. I was later contacted by Michael, and he and I worked out a deal where I was able to break even, and he was able to produce the CD's for that collection. It was important to me that I did not profit from this. I worked it out so that the money I got back equalled the money I had to pay to get the reels in the first place.
The reels were truly lost for about 10 years. They were stored in a record store in the Philadelphia area. I know for fact that members of the Arkestra sold the reels to that record store in the mid 90's. I never inquired as to who those members were, and I really did not want to know. My intent was always to preserve the reels, and keep them together as a collection. I think I have accomplished that.
There were friends of mine (at the time) who were very upset that I made a deal with Transparency. As a result, friendships were lost. To me, unless they had invested thier own money in this venture (which they did not), they have no right to judge what I did. You know who you are.
There was never a guarrantee to me that the reels actually contained music. As it turned out, they did! I have no regrets for how this all played out, except that I would have been better served if I was able to work with someone other than Michael. But what's done is done, and I sincerely hope that all of you have enjoyed the Lost Reel Collection.
Steve Antonelli theant99@yahoo.com
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