From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2012 #1501 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe:mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website:http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Friday, September 28 2012 Volume 2012 : Number 1501 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: New Library item: 'Girls Like Us' circling femme leads [Michael Flahe] Sam The Record Man founder Sam Sniderman dies at 92 - sjc [Catherine McK] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2012 09:09:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Flaherty Subject: Re: New Library item: 'Girls Like Us' circling femme leads >I can just see Jessica Pare aka Megan Draper from tv's "Mad Men" playing the role of Carly Simon singing "As you walked into the party, Zoo Be Zoo Be Zoo" LOL Jimmy Where's the "like" button? ;) What a great idea! Michael F. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 05:37:38 -0700 (PDT) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Sam The Record Man founder Sam Sniderman dies at 92 - sjc Joni mention, paragraph 9. http://www.thestar.com/news/obituary/article/1261272--sam-the-record-man-founder-sam-sniderman-dies-at-92 - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sam The Record Man founder Sam Sniderman dies at 92 Graham Slaughter Staff Reporter Sam bThe Record Manb Sniderman, whose name graced Torontobs Mecca for music lovers and who helped unknown Canadian musicians make their marks in music history, died Sunday. He was 92. Sniderman was best known for his family business, Sam The Record Man, which thrived at 347 Yonge St. for four decades and spawned 130 other retail locations across Canada. A landmark in downtown Toronto, the storebs neon glow and graffiti-crusted walls became things of lore in the Toronto music scene when the company shut down in 2007. Snidermanbs passion for spreading Canadian music started in his youth; he began selling records out of his brotherbs radio shop in 1937 at the age of 17. Snidermanbs family fostered the young manbs love for music, eventually changing the name of their College St. store, Snider Radio Sales, to Sam The Record Man in the mid 1950s. In 1961, Sam The Record Man moved to its iconic Yonge St. location. It was there that the legendary music vault became a musiciansb hangout. It was the place to be on Boxing Day, with a multitude of gimmicks and giveaways, and for midnight record releases. Indeed, the 40,000 square foot library of LPs, 45s, reel-to-reels, eight-tracks, cassettes and CDs quickly became one of Torontobs defining landmarks. But his knowledge of obscure records, the self-financed ones recorded in basements and garages by unknown bands, were The Record Manbs mark of expertise. Sniderman could dig up even the strangest album out of 400,000 titles for a diehard fan who walked into his shop. bSometimes I got stumped. But more often than not, you could ask me for the most obscure record on the planet and I would disappear for a few minutes and come back with it in my hands,b Sniderman told the Star in 2001. bSomebody once tried to catch me by asking for a recording of war music played by U-Boat crews in attack mode during World War II. I found it.b Besides running a national chain of music stores, Sniderman may be best known for lobbying to create a stronger Canadian music scene in the 1960s, when he tried to establish an all-Canadian recording company. Sometimes called the Godfather of Canadian Music, Sniderman helped kick-start the careers of many Canadian music greats, including The Guess Who, Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot. At one time or another, they all took refuge on the cushy sofa in Snidermanbs office. There, they shared their fears; Sniderman listened. bEverybody sat there at some point,b Sniderman said. bThe Guess Who were there when they couldnbt get a record made. Anne Murray sat there saying: bSam, if this record doesnbt work, Ibm going back to Nova Scotia to be a gym teacherb.b Sniderman always gave his expert advice, and often money out of his own pocket, to help emerging Canadian artists catch their first big break. bHe was a mentor to literally hundreds of Canadian artists and musicians, and the Yonge St. record store and Sambs presence there was the centre of the Canadian music industrybs universe for over three decades,b said Brian Robertson, a close family friend and chairman emeritus of the Canadian Recording Industry Association. Declining CD sales, competition from stores like HMV and Wal-Mart, and Internet downloads gradually skewed the rules of the music industry in the 1990s. Sales withered. Sniderman had to file for bankruptcy and closed the store in December of 2001. bIt is no fun at all these days. Itbs really not,b Sniderman said of the music industry at the time. bIf I was going to sell something, it might as well be refrigerators. The business has changed; the excitement just isnbt there.b In 2002, his sons Bobby and Jason re-opened the store, but the losses kept adding up. In 2007, they sold Sam The Record Man in Toronto to Ryerson University. The building was levelled and will be replaced with a new student centre in years to come. The Sam The Record Man sign, two enormous LPs made of 800 neon lights, was last lit at a Nuit Blanche installation in 2008. Ryerson University paid $150,000 to have the sign dismantled piece by piece before the sitebs demolition. To remember the iconic store and its big-hearted Record Man, the sign will hang again in the Ryerson building once it is completed. Snidermanbs achievements earned him the Order of Canada 1976. He was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997. Sniderman was born in 1920 in Toronto and lived in Kensington Market. He attended Harbord Collegiate. His family said a service will be held Tuesday. With files from Debra Black, Vidya Kauri, Mitch Potter and The Canadian Press ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2012 #1501 ****************************** ------- To post messages to the list, sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------