Date:         Sun, 7 Sep 2008 12:40:40 -0700
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         John Ross <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Riverside Race Car Records
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At  9/7/2008 11:39 AM, Tom Fine wrote:
>Apparently, Bill Gauer, Keepnews' partner at Riverside, was a racing 
>car nut and was very into making these "environmental audio" recordings.

This raises a question I've always wondered about: Who bought all 
those Riverside sports car records? They still show up in secondhand 
record bins, so SOMEBODY must have bought them new, but did they sell 
enough to break even, let alone make money, or were they just an 
excuse for Grauer to talk his way into the pits at races with his microphone?

I suppose they didn't cost much to produce. No studio time, no 
royalties or performers' fees. Could they have been a profitable 
sideline like the Elektra sound effects records?

There's a Riverside comedy record by a standup comic whose name I 
have forgotten in which the comic muses about a phone call:
         "Riverside Records, can I help you?"
         "Yes, Bill Grauer please."
         "I'm sorry, he's under a Porsche, taking a level."

John Ross