The World’s Second Only Eight Track Museum is now seconds only from its extinction … but only in its current iteration. The Eight Track Museum in Roxbury announced today that it is closing on Sunday July 13th to initiate a much anticipated expansion program.
Rumors have abounded concerning the relocation of this august Catskills institution to a major East Coast metropolitan hipster mecca or to exotic foreign locales but the fact of the matter is that it will stay in Roxbury where it belongs. The new museum will be resituated in another wing of the Roxbury Corner Store and will be scheduled for reopening in the spring of 2015.
The museum opened in the fall of 2012 and the highlights of its storied existence heretofore include the gala extravaganza with Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth joining founder James “Big Bucks” Burnett to celebrate its opening, the first public exhibition of the Sinatra – the rarest eight track in the world, the moving tribute to Lou Reed shortly after his death in late 2013, and Music for Films, an exhibit of motion picture soundtracks in conjunction with the Catskill Mountains Film Festival.
The “newest of Catskill oddities” was received with excitement and astonishment by a procession of visitors from the Catskills and Hudson Valley area, and from travelers to the region from Ithaca to Utica, Toronto to Toledo, San Juan to Santa Fe, and Jamaica to Australia. Mr. Burnett described the widespread acclaim of this satellite to his Dallas brainchild thus: “Not all viruses are bad.”
During the closure period there will be a small exhibit of tracks, players and related ephemera in Exit … the Gift Shop, connected to the Orphic Gallery. “The Eight Track Museum in Roxbury will not disavow its educational purpose and cultural mission during this expansion process.” declared Curator Phillip Lenihan. The Roxbury Corner Store is a Monument to Obsolete Technology and will remain so well into the indefinite future.
Music lovers are encouraged to visit the museum on this final weekend during its normal business hours from 12 pm to 5 pm. The Eight Track Museum is located at the Roxbury Corner Store at 53525 State Highway 30 in Roxbury at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets- where art and music collide.
