...or 'The world in his mailbox'.

I don't really know much about music. I don't know much about its history or its theory. All I know is what sounds good or pretty to my ears out of what I stumble across. However, sometimes I also chance across things that are like 'missing links' in my overall picture of the sphere of music and its place in the modern world.

One such thing (or person, I should really say) that I have just encountered, rather belatedly, online is Tony Schwartz, who died three weeks ago. The more media-savvy among you will know his name and the quote I used as the title for this thread is how none other than Marshall McLuhan described him. This blog entry, on WFMU, gives a brief overview of his life and how - whether we may now be aware of it or not - he shaped our world through his ground-breaking manipulation of broadcast media.

I've placed this thread in music, though, since he was an avid collector of music from around the world and seemed a keen exponent - possibly an originator - of the 'tape/CD exchange club' that we briefly experimented with, here on OTF ...only 40+ years ago! As a sufferer from agoraphobia, it seems that this version of collecting musical 'field recordings' was almost his window on a world he was otherwise denied.

It looks like his collection of recordings is to eventually be made available (online?) by the Library of Congress, which may be something to look out for.