It depends on what you mean.There is quite a bit of Caedmon,and Spoken Arts stuff out there.But I must admit most of this stuff is on the same level of private- issued psychedelic,punk,and garage,except fewer people are interested in it. Spoken word is not exactly a hot collector's genre,so you're not going to see lovingly produced import CD reissues on the stuff,like you would for The Flat Earth Society,or private issue 70s funk 45s.
I don't know how many private pressing,or small press run records of readings,or speeches The LOC still has.Has anyone done a good inventory/cataolguing of all their holdings?They may have dumped them,either in the landfill,or at a government auction,back in The Reagan Administration.
If anybody were truly interested in preserving these records,and getting them out where anybody can hear them,whenever they want,I would suggest you spend the next few years,gathering the records together,making the best digitizations you can,and then putting them all up on a well organized ".org" website.
Because the LOC,and nobody else is going to do it.
Roger
Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: The part about the LOC is so true! At taxpayer expense, hundreds if not thousands of hours of poetry
and lectures were recorded and issued on LPs (hence there are probably master tapes if not
proof-laquers somewhere). This stuff is moldering somewhere, not available online and I was told by
LOC staff there are no plans to ever make it available. So if you don't have a scratchy LP bought at
some library cast-off sale, you are SOL. This stuff the LOC produced belongs to US, it was paid for
by US, it should be available to US, forever (for a reasonable
production/media/duping/packaging/shipping fee, of course).
-- Tom Fine
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