Valpomag

Alumni’s Work Nominated for Grammy Awards

Patrick Feaster ’93

Patrick Feaster ’93 and Meagan Hennessey ’94 each were nominated for 2008 Grammy Awards for their work in connection with "Actionable Offenses: Indecent Phonograph Recordings From The 1890s."

Feaster, an instructor at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., co-wrote the album notes, which were nominated in the category "Best Album Notes." Hennessey is one of the producers of the album, which was nominated for "Best Historical Album."

Although neither won this year, in 2006, Hennessey was a member of the production team that won a Grammy for "Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry."

"We have long thought of the phonograph as something that simply reproduced music," Feaster says. "But early uses of the phonograph were incredibly experimental. People were trying pretty much everything, trying to figure out what they could put on these recordings to make a buck, everything from hymns and prayers at one extreme to obscenity on the other end."

"Actionable Offenses" is the newest release from Archeophone, a small label devoted to early sound recordings. It includes recordings made in professional studios and commercially released in the late 19th century, which mix obscene language and sexual farce with topical references to Grover Cleveland and the Spanish-American War. The album also features a collection of recordings made at home by an amateur who delighted in reciting obscene jokes and stories.

In 1899 a new law was enacted, promising stiff fines and lengthy prison terms for purveyors of phonographic profanity. The scarcity of these types of recordings today is in part explained by this legal crusade.

The recordings languished unheard for at least 50 years in the vaults of the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, N.J., one of the world’s largest repositories of early recordings. Retrieved from the vaults, the recordings on "Actionable Offenses" are presented in their uncut and uncensored entirety.

Editor’s Note: CD Details: Catalogue No.: ARCH 1007, UPC: 778632900509, Running length: 59:16 / 19 cylinders—43 tracks, Booklet: 60 page larger format booklet, Tracks recorded: ca. 1892 - 1900, Contains racially derogatory language, Parental Advisory: Contains explicit language.