http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/Jim%20Warner-FTR.mp3
MP3 players, Zunes, i-Pods and Droids can hold thousands of hours of digital stereo music right in your hip-pocket. But what those little wafers of technology can't do is give the listener the visceral experience of cranking up a musty old gramophone.
"I think early recordings are a time machine," says Jim Warner. His Traverse City home looks like a museum filled with 100-year-old music machines and records.
First Heard Gramophone in Grandparents' Home
Warner lives in the home where his grandparents used to live. It's where he heard his first gramophone, which today sits against the same wall it did when he first heard it.
Console phonographs, juke boxes, old TV sets and racks of recordings force one to walk sideways from room to room. Jim has been collecting recording equipment for more than half a century. His parents weren't thrilled by all the "junk" he was bringing into the house. His father once suggested his son collect individual grains of sand, and store them in one bottle.
Warner owns a Berliner Gramophone. It's the machine that's famous for appearing in the Victor advertisement with Nipper the dog. That was after Victor bought out Berliner.
The "Race Records"
Warner has a particular interest in race records. They're cylinders or discs that feature African-Americans performers or, in most cases, white performers doing exaggerated impersonations of black characters. In the 20s and 30s, a blackface act called the Two Black Crows was among the most famous in show business. Warner has everything the Two Black Crows ever recorded.
Full House
One characteristic that usually marks enthusiasts of old recording machines is a love of the search for rare items. But Warner says he's not particularly interested in combing the world's antique shops for an elusive rare cylinder, or finding a machine that was owned by someone famous. He's happy with what he's got.
Which is a lot.
"My sons are in deep trouble when it comes time to clean all this out," he teases.
About twice a year, Warner demonstrates his machines and recordings at the Grand Traverse Heritage Society.
Play the audio story above for a taste of Warner's old-time recordings.