Chapter One

In The Beginning, Before Buch Spieler (BBS)…

(written by Fred Wilber, October 1999)

The germ of an idea that would become Buch Spieler infected me sometime in the summer of 1972, give or take a season. It was an idea born out of the desire to live my self-supporting, adult life in Central Vermont, where still existed a humane respect for the importance and vitality of community.

1972 was my third year at Goddard College in nearby Plainfield, Vermont and graduation with a BA in the liberal arts would, perhaps, benefit entry into some graduate school, but that was not my calling. I wanted to stay here.

It was at about this time when George Martin (unfortunately not of The Beatles fame) and I realized we had to figure out how the hell we were going to support ourselves in Central Vermont without working for the state, a bank, a bar or some insurance company.

George was my best friend from high school and had recently transferred to Goddard from some uninspiring college in West Virginia. He had business skills and entrepreneurial drive. I had the desire to be my own boss with time to play music. Together we could be outrageously creative (a film we made together for high school English was banned - it showed a burning American flag and dead Vietnamese children - and still we got an A for it). We figured that was the basic requirement for starting a business (that, youthful naivete, idealism, determination and start up capital - more on that later).

Because my intuitive skills are musical, it was only natural, and perhaps a bit selfish, that I suggested a music store. After lots of exploration and discussion, we decided that music it would be with the possibility of maybe books, too.

We had the idea. Now we needed a name for it.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

History
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7