[QuadList] Quad Videotape Group News and Pictures--Summer/Fall 2010 edition--Section 7--Beyond AMIA

Tue Nov 16 10:41:52 CST 2010

The Joint IASA/AMIA Conference ended in Philadelphia closed on  
Saturday night, but there was one last gasp for attendees who had  
registered for a tour of the Library of Congress Culpeper Campus.

QuadList member Tom Bernier from the Alberta Archives was one of the  
archivists who had registered for the tour...

but needed to get to Washington, DC to overnight and catch the bus for  
the tour... or end up in Culpeper by other means.  I was heading there  
for other business, so we decided to share the trip.

After organizing and loading equipment—which took much of Sunday—Tom  
and I headed south from Philadelphia about 3 p.m.

The density of population and traffic along I-95 made it quite a trip  
for Tom. The Philadelphia Eagles were playing at home when we drove  
past the stadium. Tom kept his iPhone busy taking stills and video as  
we drove along. I got in the act doing V/O and on-camera Tour Guide.

We stopped in Our Nation's Capital to take some pictures of Our  
Nation's Capitol.

Advice... don't go driving round the area with a cargo trailer.  You  
definitely get attention!
And are watched as you go from place to place :)

If you don't have a tripod, the dual parking meters we found make a  
useful tripod proxy for shots like these, accomplished by sticking  
your lens between the meter heads and using it like a saddle.
Hold your breath and squeeze gently <g>

We did end up in Culpeper just fine.

People on the AMIA/IASA tour saw the film labs, Recorded Sound work  
spaces and a wide range of equipment the NAVCC uses to recover and  
transfer multiple forms of media to digital files.

On my previous trip to the NAVCC, my timing has been out of kilter  
with the schedule for film presentations in the wonderfully equipped  
theater.

We were fortunate, this time.

Tom and I enjoyed the opportunity to see a restored silent film— 
considered lost—until it was found in New Zealand archives.  The film  
was Fox's 1927 John Ford picture, "Upstream," one of 75 American films  
repatriated to the US from NZ.  Click the word "Ustream" to see actual  
strips from the nitrate print the restoration was made from.

The LOC presented the picture with live Wurlitzer Theatre Organ  
accompaniment on Monday, Nov. 8, just the third showing including the  
restoration's premiere last month in Los Angeles.

The organ rises from a lift in the center of the stage.

Here's a clip of Organist Andrew Simpson in a previous appearance,  
leading into the screening of Universal's 1928 Horror/Melodrama "The  
Man Who Laughs":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flwE-8Cs2gY

Simpson did a marvelous—and ad-lib—job of creating a musical setting  
that complimented "Upstream", which was hand-tinted in sections.  He  
told us after the film that he'd only seen the first ten minutes...  
and winged most of the show, composing as he went for 50 minutes.

If you're planning to be in the Culpeper area, check the schedule to  
see what else is going on at the theater.
http://www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/schedule.html

If you're in Washington, DC, the Library's Pickford Theater is hosting  
a number of interesting films this month, including a Beatles Film Fest:
http://www.loc.gov/loc/events/#eventlist9

Tuesday, Tom took the train to sight-see in Washington, DC while I  
took care of some business in several places.

After Tom got back, we met up with James Snyder at one of his favorite  
places in Fredericksburg, the Fredericksburg Pub  which has an  
extensive selection of beers... almost larger than the number of caps  
that have to be shotgunned in an AVR-2.

So, we drove back to Culpeper and soon were fast asleep.

At 2 a.m., this little bugger in the hotel room ceiling starts  
chirping every 15 seconds or so.  Grrr.

Call the manager. "Nobody here to fix it."

"Do you have a battery?"  He brought one over, and after adjustments  
to the AC power connector dangling from the ceiling, we managed to  
have quiet by 3:30 a.m.  Didn't get much sleep, though.

We did get a break on the room rate for the inconvenience.

Put Tom on the train in the morning. He took Amtrak to Union Station  
in Washington, DC, then the Acela Express—First Class—to  
Philadelphia's 30th St. Station, and then the local light rail to the  
airport to catch a plane for home.

I headed north toward Philadelphia, and stopped to see clients. Saw  
more Quads—but didn't take pictures of them.

In College Park, MD, Tim Bono's Bonofilm has a trio of AVR-2's—one  
working and two on-deck.

At Colorlab in Rockville, MD, owner Russ Suniewick has Charlie Brewer  
keeping an Merlin Ultrafurbed Ampex VR-2000 humming with Quad tape  
recovery. The Merlinized machine is equipped with the NEC NTC10  
digital TBC, among other wizardry.  QuadList member Ken Zin's comment  
when I mentioned this to him tonight: "Oh, yeah! I sold him the  
machine!"

I'm orbiting in Princeton, NJ waiting for a flashscanHD to clear US  
Customs so I can install it and train its new owners at Tailor-Made  
Transfers in NE suburb of Feasterville.

Did go out and take some pix of the fall colors in Princeton, on Sunday.

There's a lot of color in the home of the Princeton Tigers...  
seemingly color-coordinated with the flora.

Here's a pix I call "Red Leaf Monster attempts to be-head a column."

I've got an invite to see the Quad Collection at George Blood Audio /  
Safe Sound Archive, and hope to shoot pix there.

NYC after that... and then homeward via Covington, KY and our QuadList  
member John Walko at SceneSavers, Chicago, Columbia, MO and then  
California.

Is there a Quad Videotape Group gathering somewhere along the way? Let  
me know.

Mark your calendars for our next two Annual events:

Fourth Annual Quad Videotape Group Tuesday Lunch at NAB:
12:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Location somewhere in or near Lower South Hall.

Fourth Annual Quad Videotape Group Dinner at AMIA
Tuesday, Nov. 15, Austin TX.
Time and location to be determined. Suggestions welcome.

Two more sections to appear:  Sections 2 and 3 with more about the  
Library of Congress Quad and other VTRs.

And that's the EOT for now.

Ted

Ted Langdell
Secretary

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