Thursday, April 26, 2012

Music man Murray

Another music doco... very cool too.

"It’s about an 88-year-old guy and his record collection. That describes Music Man Murray in its most basic form. But there’s a lot more to this music documentary... calling it a “collection” scarcely does it justice. Gershenz has hundreds of thousands of records and tapes – supposedly the world’s largest private trove of music . And he wants to sell it off for $1 million-plus. Or does he?

Following the music film’s broadcast Record Store Day airing on the Documentary Channel, Parks is making it available for free online viewing for a limited time. You can watch it below. Set aside a half hour and discover a real gem with Music Man Murray." Source.

Read more about Murray Gershenz on La Times: Murray Gershenz’s 300,000-plus record collection is no bestseller. "Director Richard Parks decided in 2010 to make his first documentary about the elder Gershenz after he read about his plight in The Times. "When I first got into records, my dad [composer-lyricist Van Dyke Parks, who scored the film] would tell me you have to go to Murray’s,” Parks said. “It was like the temple so he brought me here all the time.”

ADDED August 31 2013: Remembering 'Music Man Murray': Murray Gershenz dies at 91(LA Times)
Murray Gershenz, the record collector turned character actor, has died. The 91-year-old died of a heart attack Wednesday, a source close to Gershenz confirmed.

Better known as “Music Man Murray,” Gershenz spent nearly three-quarters of a century collecting the more than 300,000 records that filled the dusty wooden shelves of his two-story West Adams record shop....

Gershenz sold the collection earlier this year [2013] to a buyer from New York. It took a fleet of 52-foot-long trucks to load up the collection, which was housed in the store and three adjacent warehouses and contained enough records to refill the shop a few times over...."




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