Kickstarter

Austin Phonograph Company specializes in live entertainment featuring hand cranked phonograph record players from the early 1900s. Experts in vintage audio elegance, the two operators, Reese Gray and Amelia Foxtrot, dress in 1930s clothes, crank the phonograph records, and demonstrate the machines to curious patrons. It's an unforgettable visual, educational, and musical experience.

The music we play ranges from 1920s hot jazz to Classical to Texas Swing. All music is played on 78RPM record format, and the phonographs do not run on electricity. Watch as the operators change the needles, flip the records, and crank the machines.

Austin Phonograph Company is a unique and memorable listener experience. We want to play private parties, weddings, corporate events, in-store promotions, educational presentations, holiday parties, dances, gallery openings, happy hours, picnics and everything else!

We are raising funds to buy a second antique phonograph player, a Victor Monarch originally from Portugal, which costs $1,400. We are printing up postcards to promote our services. We are also paying a local photographer, the very talented John Leach (http://www.johnleachphoto.com/) to immortalize us in film to help with promotion.

Your donation helps us to get this project cranking, so to speak!

Reese Gray is a talented stride pianist who has played with The Squirrel Nut Zippers, Asylum Street Spankers, and currently plays with The White Ghost Shivers and The East Side Dandies in Austin. In his spare time, Reese repairs old phonograph players, works on turn-of-the-century engines, and plays the musical saw and ukulele.

Amelia Foxtrot owns a vegan ice cream parlor in Austin. She is the co-creator of Vintage Vivant, a monthly celebration of the Jazz Age (www.vintagevivantcom). She is also a certified teacher with expertise in teaching gifted and talented students. An avid collector of everything 1920s & 30s, her fashion blog, www.old-fashioned-way.org, showcases refurbished phonographs, neo-flapper style, and adventures with her four chickens.