Creating the IN DEEP MUSIC ARCHIVE Porto - Phase 3

The dream is alive and living in boxes - for now. Phase 3 for the moving and setting up of the In Deep Music Archive starts today. Our task is to move it from storage in Wells, Somerset, England to Porto in Portugal where we have the premises ready after generous donations allowed us to renovate, including painting, cleaning, plumbing and electricity issues (which still need some work) and ongoing fixes. You can see in the Phase 2 video below how it looked and where we are now with Phase 3 – we were black and white, and now we are in colour.

So now we are at the point where we have to move, and we have to do it now for a couple of reasons. Storage in England is killing us and the long-time manager of the place, who has been there for years and keeps the prices way less than they should be, is leaving. With him gone, it will double in price. Also, the lease is running out for the storage company and this site may not even be here in 18 months. The other reason is we have to move in the early spring when it isn’t too hot for a fragile cargo. The most obvious of reasons is that we have the premises in Portugal and the records in storage in England, we have to get everything in one place.

We want to get the move booked for March, the move itself will cost about €15,600, and then we have to look at fees when they arrive in the country and hope as this is all personal belongings, that they don’t want to hit us with too many customs charges, so our goal is €20,000 to cover that and the costs in Portugal as we transfer everything into the space. Our street is too small for a big truck, so we will have to go to a storage place in Porto first, offload and then transfer everything by smaller vehicle.

What’s the end game, you may ask? Well, we intend to have this important library of music on vinyl, CD and cassette (and a few 8-tracks) preserved for posterity and for the listening pleasure of whoever wants to come by. We could have album launches here, small live acoustic shows, but most of all, we'd like to continue to collect and preserve. This includes concert tickets, music magazines, posters, and any other memorabilia that we can find.

I would like to thank everyone in advance of the project and to everyone who has contributed to this project in the past. In 2024, this project will be one of many projects that I am working on, including productions, album releases, collaborations and sessioneering. The In Deep Music Archive settled in place in Porto will be a dream come true and allow me to get on with the creative projects, drawing inspiration for them from this magnificent collection that I started in the late sixties - I still have my original copy of See Emily Play!

If you are interested in making a bid on the midnight blue Rickenbacker 12-string as shown in the video and above, please get in touch with us via the www.martywillson-piper.com/contact page for details.

Obrigadíssimo!

Marty & Olivia

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Throwback to Phase 2 (renovating the premises in Porto, Portugal):

Throwback to Phase 1 (moving out of Penzance and into storage):

Throwback to what The Archive used to look like in Penzance, England: