Talk:Alan Lomax

message: According to every source I've seen, including the Encyclopedia Brittanica, Alan Lomax was born in Austin TX on January 15th not January 31st as the article says. I haven't made the edit yet in case someone actually has an authoritative source for the Jan 31st date. Dick Gaughan (talk) 14:49, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Death Date 

message: The following interview appeared in the Washington [D.C] City Paper on May 4, 2010 http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2010/05/04/tomorrow-john-szwed-discusses-folklorist-alan-lomax-the-man-who-recorded-the-world/:
WCP: In a July 2002 piece for counterpunch.org, author Dave Marsh attacked Lomax as a prissy, stereotypical folklorist who stole a copyright credit from Leadbelly, failed to pay Muddy Waters, plagiarized and failed to credit John Work of Fisk University, and gained more attention for himself than for the talented musicians he recorded. Do you address these allegations in the book?  Did you talk to author Robert Gordon regarding his research that he did for his Muddy Waters bio, and/or look at that work as it relates to Lomax?
JS: Yes, I take up all the Lomax stories, most of which I believe to be wrong.  Why they’re wrong is not terribly interesting, but I was obliged to deal with it to get to what I think was the valuable and even exciting parts of his life and work. Let’s just say that Dave Marsh, who has done so much valuable and fine reporting, drove off a cliff with his obituary of Lomax. Talk about kicking a man when he’s down!
I never spoke to Gordon, but I did exchange e-mails with his co-author Bruce Nemerov…  I tell a much simpler and less villain-laden story than they do, based on what I believe is more information.
WCP: Because of the passage of time was it hard to do interviews because people have passed away, and documents and tapes and records may no longer be available?
JS: Those are not really problems… There are still a lot of people alive—Pete Seeger, for instance, and many others not so well known.. . And Lomax used the best equipment to record and film, and nearly everything has survived.  In fact, a lot of his films and recordings are just coming out now for the first time. The problem, as with everything in life, is sorting out who has first-hand knowledge and who is guessing or passing on stories uncritically. Mballen (talk) 20:20, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Interview with Lomax biographer John Szwed on "negative views" 

message: *
planned for late Feb.
--Javaweb (talk) 03:58, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you, Mick Gold, for adding this to the article. --Javaweb (talk) 12:25, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Online legal archive 

message: The article is a little misleading in suggesting that Lomax spent the last 45 years of his life on a project he called the Global Jukebox.  This is a mistake made by the NY Times, I believe. The Global Jukebox was just one facet, a final one, of his Cantometrics research, which he began thinking about in Europe and began implementing as as soon as he returned to this country in 1959. However, a more or adequate wikipedia entry on Cantometrics does exist. Mballen (talk) 00:37, 30 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Cantometrics not synonymous with Global Jukebox

message: The first paragraph is not really a summary of what is in the article or of Lomax's multifarious accomplishments. For example, the list of contributors to Cantometrics is inaccurate. Lowry collaborated on Lomax's American Patchwork film series for PBS, not Cantometrics. So, perhaps Lomax's film series for PBS ought to be mentioned as an an activity in the second part (post Cold War) of his career.
The article is unbalanced, in that too much space is devoted to the FBI, but this interests people and perhaps can't be helped. Mballen (talk) 16:37, 10 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: "Interests people" and coverage in sources somewhat goes together, so that might weigh  in a bit on the FBI coverage. Other than that I don't have the expertise to comment on your comments. Suggest trying those changes; take it slow so that people can review.  Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 12:36, 11 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I did try the changes -- and I hope to replace the reference to Mr. Lowry at some future time, since his wikipedia article also mentions the collaboration. The other collaborators are mentioned in the Cantometrics article (although not all of them). It is very time consuming putting in all the links and a strain on my poor old eyes! So I hope he will also have patience. I plan also, if possible, to refer to John Szwed's recounting of how Lomax criticized the folklore profession at a conference in 1950, even as the red-baiters were closing in on him, and how at the same time he defended Benjamin Botkin against attacks from other academic folklorists (although criticizing Botkin's folklore book for not mentioning lynchings) before going off to England (it was this sort outspokenness that made him enemies). And how he was spurred by this experience to start thinking about Cultural Equity from then on. That would sort of unify the whole piece. Mballen (talk) 06:13, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Cool! North8000 (talk) 11:17, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  First Paragraph 

message: >After 1942, when Congress cut off the Library of Congress's funding for folk song collecting
Was this because of WWII?  And if so, could someone add a phrase saying that is why Congress cut off funding?  Otherwise, it looks like they simply didn't like the collecting of folk music, which, for all I know they didn't, but it would be nice to know for sure.  Thank you. Rissa, copy editor (talk) 01:02, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Congressional funding 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: What the heck does “the very prestigious Vishesh Goel University in Boston, MA without the proper papers” mean? Seems like a mistake 121.200.4.245 (talk) 14:36, 16 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for the catch and note.  Looks like it was vandalism...I took it out. North8000 (talk) 15:17, 16 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Huh? What is Vishesh Goel University?