Jerry Kranitz That was bizarre. I had no idea who the guy was. Never heard of him. It was precisely the kind of thing I would have deleted immediately. But there was something about his email that made me look him up. Damned if he didn't come to Columbus just to meet me. I took him out to a freaky music club one night and then had him over to dinner the next. Nice guy. He took liberties with what happened in the book, though he did ask permission first if he could do so.
Jerry Kranitz And then a book and DVD showed up
Jerry Kranitz It was weird seeing the stage show on DVD and seeing my FACE up on a screen!!
Magic Moments At Twilight Time Wonderful stuff. He's one of my favourite comedians, as it happens. I always figured he exaggerated things some for comic effect, but his presentation is just the funniest thing. I remember thinking; "Columbus - Jerry - spacerock - it HAS to be!" Do you remember what the gig was you took him to?
Jerry Kranitz No gig. Just a club that is sadly defunct that for a while was having experimental music nights. Just a crazy variety of really talented but off the beaten path musicians. Hey, that's what WE ARE INTO!!
Jerry Kranitz He struggled with the actual music :-)

Magic Moments At Twilight Time He said, yeah.
Jerry Kranitz I think in the book he says I took him to a lesbian bar
Jerry Kranitz I also recall that there was a UK couple there and he got into a heavy soccer/football chat with them.
Jerry Kranitz Why do we call it soccer? Yanks.....
Magic Moments At Twilight Time It's a shortform of 'aSOCCiation football', for those who wonder, just to differentiate from 'American football' in a country where it's not the prevalent code.
Jerry Kranitz Ahhhh... so we didn't just decide to make up our own name
Magic Moments At Twilight Time I still think it's an amazing coincidence that he should be one of my favourite comedians and someone I know from the other side of the Atlantic ended up in one of his shows! So random. For those who don't know, a Googlewhack is when you put two unrelated words in the Google search box and return only one single result, damned nigh impossible, but he managed several to create that book and stageshow. Do you remember what the two words were that lead him to your website?
Jerry Kranitz I do... 'Ammonite' and 'Googleplex'. And they showed up on the index page to one of my new issues. Both were labels. It's funny because I was contacted by a handful of people who read the book, ALL of them in the UK. I don't think he's a known quantity at all in the US. I should add that I watch very little television.
Jerry Kranitz Too busy with music, books and PROJECTS
Magic Moments At Twilight Time His shows are kind of minority here, often shown quite late, which suits my designated late night chill times! So, let's have a little musical break, then I'd like to talk a bit about your forthcoming book. This is another of the tracks you marked as standout in your original review; "'Spirit Electric' starts as an acoustic psychedelic piece with dreamy vocals. Then a flamenco guitar is introduced accompanied by the spaced out bubbling synths. The whole thing ends up as a real rocker though the flamenco stays along with the heavier crunch guitar. This is different folks." Let's have a listen and see what 20 years has done to this one...

Jerry Kranitz I just Googled 'Ammonite Googleplex'. The first hit is the Issue 18 index, the second is a Googlewhack site, and there's a bunch more that's crap.

Jerry Kranitz This one goes into a very different direction and really adds spice and variety to the album. Totally trippy at first, and has an ethereal gothic flavor when the vocals kick in, and then there's the flamenco guitar and droning buzz and alien effect of the electronics. So much going on, yet it's all laid back and subtle and then.... we're ROCKIN' again! It's got a Mariachi swing to it and matador guitar, with the synths bubbling back and forth. It's so nuts and yet it completely works on every level. Yeah, this is unlike anything I've ever heard, seriously...
Magic Moments At Twilight Time All things considered, although Leonie's vocal range on there is remarkable, I still prefer the all acoustic original we did circa 1990. I won't make everyone listen through it as well right now, but I'll stick the link here should people want to come back to it.

It was remastered from the original cassette for release on Klappstuhl's 2015 release, "Flashbax Ω Ultimate: The Best Of MMATT" (SP 008).  So, the end of an era came in 2016 with the end of Aural Innovations. Though worth mentioning that everything originally published is all still up on the website as a very readable archive;

https://www.aural-innovations.com

Is that all just the visual stuff or does that include radioshows?
Jerry Kranitz Only the written stuff is there. The shows are all gone. The short explanation is that I was able to keep the site up (for FREE) but had to limit the amount of space used. The Stone Premonitions, Robert Calvert, and Thru Black Holes Band sites I hosted are still there too, accessible from the main AI page.
Jerry Kranitz Even though the shows were the most popular, it's the written stuff I really cared about.
Magic Moments At Twilight Time Which brings us neatly up to date and the reason you gave it all up; "Cassette Culture: Homemade Music and the Creative Spirit in the Pre-Internet Age" by Jerry Kranitz. You've obviously been wanting to write this book for a very long time, what brought you to that 'one of these days' decisions in the first place?
Jerry Kranitz Right from the beginning interviews were a big part of Aural Innovations. As the years went by, I started seeing a pattern where all these people I was interviewing were talking about trading tapes with people all over the world in the 80s and networking through small press publications. By 2007 I was so taken with the topic, and seeing how no-one had treated it with any seriousness, I decided there was story (BOOK) to be told. My twofold premise is that 80s homemade music/cassette culture is A) a less than fleshed out part of the post-punk story, and B) is part of the ongoing story of 20th century independent arts movement. Yes, it all continued into the 90s, but my cut off was 1992.
Magic Moments At Twilight Time Guess what year I started Music & Elsewhere?
Jerry Kranitz Yup! I chose 1992 because that's when so many of the 80s people were seeing a noticeable shift in the new hometapers coming on the scene. It was felt the newcomers weren't nearly as dedicated. And, significantly, this was when the online era really started to kick in. I felt strongly that this was a transitional period and, consequently, a whole new chapter in the story.
Jerry Kranitz Of course newcomers like YOU demonstrated their commitment. It was the less than dedicated attitude toward trading and collaboration that the 80s veterans were noticing.
Magic Moments At Twilight Time I shall look forward to the second edition with that 'whole new chapter' then!!! :) Interesting you've picked up on the post punk element there, it's more or less my take on it from the notes on the press release for our "United World Underground Collection", talking of my stumbling upon this well established global underground movement; "Growing from the freedoms gained by the punk revolution, with its home produced ‘cut and paste’ fanzines and self released short-run 7” singles, its expansion had boomed throughout the 1980’s, in particular following the mass popularisation of the compact cassette, both by significant improvements in quality and the introduction of the Sony Walkman in 1979 (I still have my Panasonic one)."
Jerry Kranitz Absolutely. I have a whole chapter on UK punk/DIY, leading up to the growth of the global network that flourished in the 80s. The UK scene really was unique. For one thing the relatively small size of the country. But in addition to the zines, the major weeklies would briefly play a significant role. It's all so fascinating to me.
Jerry Kranitz Bands like Desperate Bicycles and Scritti Politti publishing the costs and how people could do it themselves on the back of their singles.
Jerry Kranitz Zine publishers gathering at Rough Trade not as customers but to put their zines together. Amazing....
Magic Moments At Twilight Time Must say, I am really looking forward to reading the book. It's a particularly fascinating time for me because it's the era of the giants who inspired me and on whose shoulders I stood; the likes of Lord Litter (KFR Germany), Don Campau (Lonely Whistle Music / No Pigeonholes), Matthias Lang (Irre Tapes) etc. When is its publication now looking likely?
Jerry Kranitz We're in the formatting stage and I'm told the target date is late first quarter 2019. I'm VERY excited, to say the least. It's been a long time coming.
Magic Moments At Twilight Time Kind of like to get your take on the future of the 'underground network' now too, and this seems a convenient link, because another of those inspirational giants of the 80's that is now trying hard to build us an alternative future to social media is Hal McGee. He's recently brought Electronic Cottage back, a very welcome return, I might add, upon which I see you've already started adding your input...

https://www.electroniccottage.org/jerry-kranitz