In memoriam, Bobby Palkovic

[Fran604g]

A proud addition for the entrance to the audio room. As many may surely recall, Merlin speakers were among some of the most highly praised sound reproduction systems in the world. They were produced right next door in the old Hemlock High School for over 20 years, by Bobby Palkovic and Bill Hooper.

Sadly Bobby very suddenly left us in August 2015 when he took his own life. His memory now also resides in our home.😍

RIP Bobby, I hope you're rockin' it hard in the afterlife...

 

[FloriduhBoy]

A proud addition for the entrance to the audio room. As many may surely recall, Merlin speakers were among some of the most highly praised sound reproduction systems in the world. They were produced right next door in the old Hemlock High School for over 20 years, by Bobby Palkovic and Bill Hooper.

Sadly Bobby very suddenly left us in August 2015 when he took his own life. His memory now also resides in our home.😍

RIP Bobby, I hope you're rockin' it hard in the afterlife...
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Is this a home or a museum? 😉

 

[Fran604g]

Is this a home or a museum? 😉

We ask ourselves that frequently.😂

 

[JoeThePop]

We ask ourselves that frequently.😂

Still one of my favorite rooms on this site.

 

[Kpatch]

OMG!! Is that a ...BANJO???

 

[Fran604g]

Still one of my favorite rooms on this site.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.🤗

 

[Fran604g]

OMG!! Is that a ...BANJO???

Yes it is. One of 2 or 3 (or 4?) I've owned since around 1978ish. I used to play until I messed up my left hand in 2003 in a work accident and my index finger no longer works correctly but, it's very good at getting in the way of the other fingers.😖

The one you see is a relatively recent acquisition, a c.1900 "Apollo" sold by the Mackie Music Co., Rochester, NY. The store was located at 82 (then 100, later) State Street before urban renewal destroyed most of our Rochester history.

It was a 6 floor musical emporium for over 8 decades, and was a father (William S., founded 1840) and later son (Henry S., until 1911) operation, once Henry returned home from fighting in the American Civil War. By historical accounts, Mackie's was the area's earliest dealer in Edison Phonographs, including the earliest exhibition in the area of a "Tin-Foil" Phonograph in the fall of 1878 (A World of Antique Phonographs - Fabrizio & Paul, 2007; Schiffer Publishing. Both authors of whom I am a close friend).






The centerpiece of this interesting collection-within-a-collection, is a Thomas A. Edison Co. Model A "Standard' Phonograph, one of only 2 machines known to exist with the distinctive "Mackie Music Co." celluloid dealer tag. Both machines (the other a friend's Model A "Home") were sold by Mackie Music Co. in the same time period as the banjo.

We also have a violin from the same purveyor c.1888 that was my wife's great-grandmother's or great-grandfather's.



I've obsessed with this iconic brand for years and have expanded the sub-collection to include a great number of ephemera and other artifacts including a store-branded early 2-minute "brown wax" Mackie record box, of which there are only 3 known in existence.


Interestingly, Mackie employed a man named Samuel Levis who was the Vice-president of the company having advanced from sales clerk years earlier. Locals will remember the 2 Levis Music Stores that were located in Rochester, from 1903 until the 1970s. His 1st store was on West Main St., the 2nd across from the Eastman Theater.

In the collection are also many Levis Music artifacts including one of the last Edison Diamond Disc Phonographs he would sell; a c.1927 Edisonic "Schubert" model. The Edison Phonograph (Entertainment) Division closed its doors forever in late Oct. 1929, and this machine would've been a very difficult sale for Levis, as radio and electronic machines had completely supplanted acoustic phonographs years earlier.



Somewhat, and oddly fortuitous, we have another of my wife's family heirlooms that fits into the collection: a Levis Music branded trumpet that was Sharon's mother's in high school (Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women, Brighton, NY; mid-late c.1940s, likely), and her music spiral notebook - also from Levis.


I probably own the largest of any such collection, anywhere. That and a dollar might get me a gumball.

 

[Kpatch]

I probably own the largest of any such collection, anywhere. That and a dollar might get me a gumball.

Wow! Very cool historical collection. It would fetch quite a few gum balls as well as the respect of Havenites. (I wondered what the banjo was doing amongst the phonographs and now I know.) About 30 years ago I did some cooperative grant work with the Belcher Sound Lab and Archive at Syracuse and was able to spend some time in the archive. A very fun project and time well spent. I also spent some time with the Rochester Atwater family working with a book collection.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Fran604g]

Wow! Very cool historical collection. It would fetch quite a few gum balls as well as the respect of Havenites. (I wondered what the banjo was doing amongst the phonographs and now I know.) About 30 years ago I did some cooperative grant work with the Belcher Sound Lab and Archive at Syracuse and was able to spend some time in the archive. A very fun project and time well spent. I also spent some time with the Rochester Atwater family working with a book collection.

Thanks for sharing!

My pleasure.

That's really interesting! Do you know of a relationship with the letter's recipient, by chance?

 

[Kpatch]

My pleasure.

That's really interesting! Do you know of a relationship with the letter's recipient, by chance?

Quite possibly. The family was regional. I’ll PM you some info.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Yes it is. One of 2 or 3 (or 4?) I've owned since around 1978ish. I used to play until I messed up my left hand in 2003 in a work accident and my index finger no longer works correctly but, it's very good at getting in the way of the other fingers.😖

The one you see is a relatively recent acquisition, a c.1900 "Apollo" sold by the Mackie Music Co., Rochester, NY. The store was located at 82 (then 100, later) State Street before urban renewal destroyed most of our Rochester history.

It was a 6 floor musical emporium for over 8 decades, and was a father (William S., founded 1840) and later son (Henry S., until 1911) operation, once Henry returned home from fighting in the American Civil War. By historical accounts, Mackie's was the area's earliest dealer in Edison Phonographs, including the earliest exhibition in the area of a "Tin-Foil" Phonograph in the fall of 1878 (A World of Antique Phonographs - Fabrizio & Paul, 2007; Schiffer Publishing. Both authors of whom I am a close friend).
View attachment 66848
View attachment 66849

View attachment 66839
View attachment 66851

The centerpiece of this interesting collection-within-a-collection, is a Thomas A. Edison Co. Model A "Standard' Phonograph, one of only 2 machines known to exist with the distinctive "Mackie Music Co." celluloid dealer tag. Both machines (the other a friend's Model A "Home") were sold by Mackie Music Co. in the same time period as the banjo.
View attachment 66841
We also have a violin from the same purveyor c.1888 that was my wife's great-grandmother's or great-grandfather's.
View attachment 66842
View attachment 66840

I've obsessed with this iconic brand for years and have expanded the sub-collection to include a great number of ephemera and other artifacts including a store-branded early 2-minute "brown wax" Mackie record box, of which there are only 3 known in existence.
View attachment 66854

Interestingly, Mackie employed a man named Samuel Levis who was the Vice-president of the company having advanced from sales clerk years earlier. Locals will remember the 2 Levis Music Stores that were located in Rochester, from 1903 until the 1970s. His 1st store was on West Main St., the 2nd across from the Eastman Theater.

In the collection are also many Levis Music artifacts including one of the last Edison Diamond Disc Phonographs he would sell; a c.1927 Edisonic "Schubert" model. The Edison Phonograph (Entertainment) Division closed its doors forever in late Oct. 1929, and this machine would've been a very difficult sale for Levis, as radio and electronic machines had completely supplanted acoustic phonographs years earlier.
View attachment 66852View attachment 66853
View attachment 66844View attachment 66845

Somewhat, and oddly fortuitous, we have another of my wife's family heirlooms that fits into the collection: a Levis Music branded trumpet that was Sharon's mother's in high school (Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women, Brighton, NY; mid-late c.1940s, likely), and her music spiral notebook - also from Levis.
View attachment 66846View attachment 66847

I probably own the largest of any such collection, anywhere. That and a dollar might get me a gumball.

The addressing on those envelopes is fascinating. No street name or house # at all, just the recipient's name, their town or city, and in the case of Middleville, add Herkimer County which is both very large and to this day rather rural. Somehow the letter carrier for the USPS knew how to deliver that.

Canadagiua would have been far less off the beaten track, so including Ontario County in the addressing was apparently unnecessary, but still no street name or house #, and forget about zip codes, not a thing back then. Somehow the local postmaster knew everyone's name in every household, and how to deliver mail to them.

 

[Fran604g]

The addressing on those envelopes is fascinating. No street name or house # at all, just the recipient's name, their town or city, and in the case of Middleville, add Herkimer County which is both very large and to this day rather rural. Somehow the letter carrier for the USPS knew how to deliver that.

Canadagiua would have been far less off the beaten track, so including Ontario County in the addressing was apparently unnecessary, but still no street name or house #, and forget about zip codes, not a thing back then. Somehow the local postmaster knew everyone's name in every household, and how to deliver mail to them.

When my wife and I moved here in 1982, the house had no obvious address because it had been occupied by the same 2-generation family for 100 years. When I attempted to put the utilities in my name, I had a helluva time tracking down an address that was recognized by any of the companies involved. There were 3 or 4 different street names used for the road, and at least a couple that didn't use a house number. No mailbox (still) because the small post office was directly across the street.

The only thing the postmaster told me was "it's Bessie Dunn's house." After a couple of weeks I succeeded in straightening out the accounts, but ended up with different addresses for each utility including only a PO Box for mail. It still causes some confusion after 41 years because the various Postmasters we've had over the years have never been able to establish something the USPS requires. Hence, we still use a PO Box for our mail delivery. I gave up on that bureaucracy years ago.

About 10 years ago NYS decided to divide our "Main St." into north and south Main St. So it's anyone's guess which of any possible choices our address is to the uninitiated. Might take an act of Congress to straighten it out for whomever occupies this home after we're dead.😂

 

[Fran604g]

The "Merlin Room" recently acquired an addition to the Mackie Music Co. collection. The mandolin has substantial damage but the price-point was too attractive to ignore. Now we have an instrumental trio, although the mandolin needs a luthier and the instruments need musicians.