Lawrence
Brown
A
Friend of the Phonograph
In Memory of Lawrence
Brown, November 22, 2006
By Doug Boilesen
Lawrence (LB) Brown was an member of
the Berkeley/Oakland/Emeryville, California branch of Friends of
the Phonograph. In the history of the annual phonograph Friends
of the Phonograph birthday parties, this was the most creative
group of friends I ever had. LB was a charter member of that society
and I don't remember a phonograph party on Fremont Street that he
ever missed. The picture above is LB at the 1986 Phonograph Birthday
Party.
Birthday "presents" were often
given at the Phonograph's Birthday to celebrate its legacy and my
favorite birthday present from Lawrence and his wife Brenda was a
Crackerjack prize he placed under a small plastic cover glued onto
a ceramic tile. The Crackerjack prize was "The New Magic Window."
By placing the Magic Window (blue plastic) over the special text,
the "Answer" would be revealed:
Q. "Who invented
motion pictures? Who invented the phonograph?"
A. Thomas A.
Edison invented both.
For ten years Lawrence and I played
poker on Tuesday night and ate the gourmet squeeze burgers and Cheetos,
made many trips to the Black Rock Desert, and in general shared many
other good times. He had his moods and his eccentricities like all
of us but he was a good friend and his unique sense of humor made
him an unforgettable member of Friends of the Phonograph.
For history buffs of our Black Rock
Desert Golf Classic it should be a remembered footnote that the original
trophy for that golf tournament featured a mounted Crackerjack's box
on a pedestal making it an additional Six Degrees of Separation memorial
to LB via his second Crackerjacks connection with Friends of the
Phonograph.
Phonograph Birthday Party, 1989
