Nick Perls

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J. Nicholas Perls (4/4/1942 - 7/22/1987)

Founder and owner of Yazoo Records and Blue Goose Records

"Nick" Perls was one of a handful of serious east coast collectors of 78-rpm country blues recordings during the 1960s. As a young man, he made two trips through the deep south, knocking on doors and acquiring old blues records. He also was a frequent patron of antique shops throughout the New York area, always searching for rare blues sides. Perls then began re-recording the sides in his collection, using high tech equipment in his home, and issuing critically acclaimed 33-rpm record albums. These releases generally contained 14 blues tunes each, and often included highly informative liner notes by fellow collector Steve Calt. This enterprise was Yazoo Records, (the catalogue was later acquired by Shanachie Records). Perls operated Yazoo out of his home in New York City's West Village until just before his death, in the 1980s, from AIDS.

As a recording engineer, Perls' most renowned talent was his ability to ride a phonograph needle along the grooves of an old record much like a bobsled through an obstacle course, moving left, right, up or down to avoid as many scratches and gouges as possible. Yazoo releases were always derived directly from 78-rpm vinyl. By collecting and re-releasing such forgotten blues recordings, Perls managed to preserve many classic blues performances (and later, those in related musical forms like ragtime) that otherwise might have been lost to the ages.

Along the way, Perls began Blue Goose Records as a side project, using that label to release music by a variety of live performers that Perls recorded himself, often right in his West Village living room. Many of these newer recordings are also critically acclaimed, due largely to the fact that Perls had an exceptional ear for musical talent and authenticity. Perls was also himself a talented finger-pick guitarist but would only play the guitar socially, and strictly in imitation of one or another 1930s blues master. Stylisticly, his playing ethos was summed up when he stated that the phrase "too choppy" is a contradiction in terms. His one foray as a recording artist can be heard in a single duet that is part of his Blue Goose recording of bluesman Larry Johnson.

Perls operated his business mostly by himself, occasionally employing assistants. The two labels stayed small and rarely caught very much public attention beyond the hardcore blues devotees who clamored for each new release. One notable exception may have been Perls' three Blue Goose albums of R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders. These were enormously entertaining recordings by the legendary cartoonist (and fellow collector) and several of Crumb's California friends. Perls rarely broke even, financially, on any of his business endeavors. He would state that the pop bigtime did not appeal to him. He was doggedly independent and was already independently wealthy from his grandmother's art dealings at New York City's Perls Gallery.

On a personal level, Perls was a verbose New Yorker who strived to be "outrageous", an adjective that he loved attributing to himself. For instance, for several years he made a habit of wearing different colored checkered socks, (such as green and yellow on one foot, red and white on the other), which he cited as evidence of insanity. Further, Perls encouraged business acquaintances to refer to him as a "faggot", for the pure shock value. As explanation of this awkward request, Perls would claim that the term "homo"-sexual did not literally apply to him. The objects of his affections, young, effeminate black men, were not the same as him, rather literally "hetero" from him. Perls saw himself as a politically conservative, Jewish business man. In contrast, his personal lifestyle was built around "cruising" New York's 7th Avenue and picking up such individuals, leading to numerous short, intense relationships. Perls greatly enjoyed being seen in public arm in arm with his latest find, emphasizing the shock value of their intimacy.

All in all, it can well be said that Nick Perls epitomized the bombast and social experimentation of 1970s New York City. (Contents of this article written by Nick Perls' 1974 assistant).

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