18 March 2008

Gear sales on eBay

Me @ Industrial Records Studio 1980
I've been getting concerned emails and comments on the interweb about my 'gear sales' on eBay.
Basically saying: "are you mad?, why?, please don't, are you short of cash?, they should be in a museum, keep them, don't sell them" and so on and so on. I'm sure you get the drift.
They are all valid points, and yes I can absolutely see where these concerns are coming from and no I'm not doing it for the cash, well not at the moment at least. I have kept back some 'unique'ish' TG items: the Gristleizers, some other hand-made fx units, a Bolex movie camera, a 'blood-stained' microphone and a couple of battered TG flight-cases. But I have a history of 'off-loading gear and moving on' every 5-10 years or so and previously I'd sold (my personal) TG and C&C gear to private collectors and through specialist auction houses. This time it's through eBay and it's generated a certain amount of interest and forum chatter. I'm not going to attempt to justify what I'm doing, I don't need to but I will explain my reasoning.
Well, apart from (the not inconsiderable) space considerations, I just don't use some of this gear anymore and I'd like other musicians to 'take up the mantel', so to speak and carry on using it while it all still works (and hopefully in new and interesting ways). One of the main reasons I started selling my old gear 10-15 years ago was that much of it was failing, malfunctioning or broken and I was spending a small fortune trying to keep it all going. So I sold it to buyers who could afford to repair, cherish and use it to make music for a few years more, as it deserved. I'm not the only member of TG who's passed on 'retired' gear so that others can get something else out of owning it either.
Also one of my morbid fears is that Cosey and I (or even all TG) will die in a plane crash and our TG and C&C archive, which even apart from the gear is MASSIVE (it literally fills a whole room in our old 'school' house) will be dumped in a land-fill never to be seen or used by anyone ever again. Irrational and possibly quite improbable I know... but hey! that's me.
Now... if someone from a museum or gallery wants to take this lot off my hand's I'm sure we could come to some arrangement but they'd better hurry.

11 March 2008

Chemistry Lessons update

Chemistry Lessons R&D
I recently posted a Chemistry Lessons update:
HERE

01 March 2008

eBay woes


I mentioned last month that I was intending to put my unsold gear (below) on eBay but try as I may I've yet to creat a 'Seller' account. I must admit that a year ago I was very anti eBay, as I'd been ripped-off (twice) some years ago. But I gradually got drawn back in during 2007 and ended up with some really good buys last year, mainly effects units and pedals.
But here I am still trying to set up a Seller account but ebay won't play ball (after 4 weeks!). Various eBay technical departments have tried to reassure me that there shouldn't be a problem setting up my account to sell stuff BUT it basically boils down to this: they are aware of a problem, they don't know why there is a problem and they don't currently know how to fix the problem.
So in leu of finally (if ever) setting up an eBay Seller account I am putting ads in various places with a link to my 'Gear Sale' page and a PayPal 'Buy Now' button.

UPDATE:
OK I've managed to set up a temporary eBay account that will let me sell stuff for the time being: this is the link.
I've also added a few more items for sale.

Illness

ebay
Some of you may already have heard, or not, but Cosey has been very ill since the begining of the year. This meant the majority of our upcoming projects and all our current activities were rescheduled or put on hold. Cosey's health has improved somewhat in the last week, although she still has a way to go before a full recovery, but we are now in a position where we can attempt to slowly begin catching up with our most pressing or outstanding work.
Number one on our 'to-do' list has been starting our Feral Vapours film, which will now be released on DVD much (much) later in 2008 than we originally planned. We have also completed contributions for a number of compilations and collaborations that will be released in the coming months (details when we have them). We will definitely be playing some Carter Tutti shows in Europe this year but are waiting on final confirmations before we make any announcements, which will be soon. In a couple of weeks we will also begin preparations for a few European Throbbing Gristle shows this Summer.