Back in July, we reported that blues artist Nick Moss and his band the Flip Tops had their van and all their gear stolen from the parking lot of their hotel near Montreal, Canada. The parking area was supposed to be under surveillance, but the film in the camera had not been replaced, so no photos of the crime are available to police. Although the van was later recovered, it was severely damaged, and the band's instruments are still missing.

A "blues benefit" has been organized for September 7, 2008 at the Milwaukee Ale House in Milwaukee WI to help raise funds for the band to buy some new gear. Moss and the Flip Tops will perform, of course, along with friends like Rev. Raven & the Chain Smokin' Alter Boys, Perry Weber & the DeVilles, Billy Flynn, Jim Liban, and other special guests.

Moss and the Flip Tops aren't the only musicians targeted by these ignorant thieves – Sonic Youth, the Stooges, and Dinosaur Jr. have all had gear stolen in the area recently. A PDF file listing the blues band's stolen equipment is available for download courtesy of That Devil Music. Anybody that has any information about this crime is urged to contact Moss either through the artist's website or through Blue Bella Records.

Photo courtesy Mark Pucci Media

Here's something that should be of interest to every old-school blues music aficionado. Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk has this story of collector Cliff Bolling and his amazing library of vintage 78rpm vinyl (well, shellac, actually). Bolling has spent better than five years converting his collection to digital mp3 files, and he has set up a website with 3,739 vintage songs that are available for listening.

Bolling has converted his 78s to mp3 files with no sound enhancement, and no tinkering of any kind…the pops and scratches that you hear are from the original recordings, pretty much exactly as you'd hear them if you were playing them at home. The website has a veritable treasure trove of antique sounds dating from the 1930s until the demise of the 78rpm record during the late-50s. During just a few minutes, I discovered 1950s-era recordings from Little Walter, Nappy Brown, and James Cotton, as well as older sides from Brownie McGhee and jazz-blues boppers like Kid Orly and Cootie Williams.

The site also includes a wealth of classic R&B (Johnny Otis, Booker T & the MGs), big band (Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey), old-school jazz (Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday), and even "hillbilly" hits (Roy Acuff, Spade Cooley)…and these names barely scratch the surface. Check out Cliff Bolling's 78rpm Archive and I'm certain that you'll find something there to tickle your ears.