I wanted to share this email I got from Ed Johnson.  He is the person
responsible for all of the fine Stokowski releases from CALA.  Please
do what you can to help.  Not only will you help the Leopold Stokowski
Society, you will also get what is arguably the finest Scheherazade ever.

   Hi Bob - One thing I thought I'd tell you: whenever we release
   a new CD on Cala we go into the largest record shop in London
   and put it at the front of the browser racks!  Recently we
   went there to do this with the new Sche.  Now, it's true that
   there must have been up to 20 different versions already
   there, from Beecham and Reiner onwards, through to Gergiev
   and Mackerras and all the rest, and at budget to full price.

   No sign however of our new Stokowski Sche.  So I asked the
   assistant why it wasn't in stock.  She called it up on her
   computer screen, agreed that it was listed there, but said
   it hadn't been ordered by the shop buyer nor was it likely
   to be on the grounds, she said, that "we don't think it would
   sell enough copies".

   So despite the rave reviews, Joe Public won't (it seems) have
   a chance even to see it, let alone buy it in his local record
   shop. It's true that the CD classical market continues to
   be in the doldrums and that there's less interest in long-dead
   conductors than there is in singers and pianists.  Even so,
   if you ever get the chance to ask the Yahoo Groups folk to
   support our releases either by ordering them through the shops
   or direct from Cala (www.calarecords.com) it will help to
   ensure the continuation of the series.  We have some very
   exciting plans lined up for 2004/5 so I hope these are
   fulfilled, but if there's too little demand and too little
   in the way of sales to cover even just the production costs,
   I shall begin to fear the worst.

   Ed

Stumpf