Record Breaking

Special thanks to The New York Times for introducing me to the Calliope Author Readings this morning.  In the early 1960s, Harry and Lynne Sharon Schwartz along with Howard Kahn, readers and entrepreneurs, tackled a project to give authors their voice on 33 1/3 rpm vinyl for the value price of $1.95.  As one might imagine, while this project managed to break even (thanks to the help of Kahn's parents), it wasn't a storming success.  [And to be fair, this was a tough era to compete for vinyl dollars with The Rolling Stones and well, The Beatles.]

The story of the onset of the original project is fascinating and the author's list is quite notable:  James Jones, Phillip Roth, and John Updike are highlights.  The series will be released for a second time in a two-volume set; the authors' recordings are between 14 and 24 minutes.  I cannot wait to hear it.