Tom Lehrer: "Songs by Tom Lehrer" NM & SIGNED to Boston DJ Robert J Lurtsema
$
125
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Description
A VERY RARE PIECE!
Album comes from the personal collection of Robert J Lurtsema, influential DJ at WGBH in Boston and editor of 1960s folk music magazine “Sing Out”. Obtained from estate sale in Westfield, NY when his wife passed away in November, 2016.
More about Robert J Lurtsema can be found here:
https://www.wgbhalumni.org/profiles/l/lurtsema-robert-j/
The following was from the WGBH website:
Robert J Remembered
The winter of 1963
I was managing The Unicorn Coffee House, a popular folk music venue in Boston’s Back Bay. It was on Boylston Street, across from the Prudential Center, down stairs, under a furniture store, now an Apple Store.
The Unicorn booked in acts Ian and Sylvia, The Clancy Brothers, Tom Rush, The Jim Kwiskin Jug Band. I was 23 year old BU journalist dropout, now deep into the folk music scene. I produced and hosted a folk music show on WBCN (Boston Concert Network) and got to introduced the acts from the Unicorn’s stage.
Among the Unicorn regulars was Robert J Lurtsema, known simply as Robert J. He was a spark-plug of a man who made up for his shortness by an over inflated ego, but he was gregarious, with an Encyclopedic mind and a great voice. He sold Encyclopedia Britannicas door to door for a living.
After his rounds of Boston suburbs convincing parents that their kids would never make into an Ivy League university without a set of Encyclopedias in their book case, he’d drop into The Unicorn Coffee House, just in time for the last act and to hold court.
He always make an entrance, brushing aside the chap collecting the cover charge, assuming the role as one of the insiders—which he was. Robert J dressed all in white: white shoes, white suit, white vest, white tie, and a while fedora. He even drove a white, early 50s, Cadillac convertible, with fins. You couldn’t miss him.
That spring, I came up two ideas. One, a late night interview and talk radio show and solid the idea to WCRB. It would be hoisted at The Unicorn. The show was based on The Casper Citron Show from the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan, carried live on WQXR. Citron interviewed show people, artists, producers, musicians.
The other idea: to spend the summer on Martha’s Vineyard building and running another folk music venue, The Moon Cusser Coffee House. I couldn’t do both, so I picked the one that would be the most fun. The radio show? I had just got it started, worked out the technical when it was time to head to the Vineyard.
I asked Robert J if he’d be interested in taking over my show for the summer. He was almost euphoric. He produced and hosted the show all that summer. When I returned to Boston that fall, he wouldn’t give up the mic. From then on Robert J became a familiar voice on Boston and New England radio.
What I found interesting about Robert J was his curiosity about music, all kinds of music: folk, classical, jazz, contemporary. He allow New Englanders to awaken, slowly, to the sound birds. I implored him to dispense with his first news cast of the day, which followed immediately after the bird sounds. It was like a jolt of hot black coffee.
Robert J was a character, and one I still miss.
David H. Lyman
Camden, Maine
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