CONGRESS, Richard 1943-

PERSONAL: Born November 24, 1943, in Indianapolis, IN; son of Robert (in business) and Helen (a homemaker; maiden name, Miller) Congress; married Helen Schiff, May 31, 1991. Ethnicity: "Jewish." Education: Attended Indiana University, 1961-62; State University of New York, B.A., 1988; Hunter College of the City University of New York, M.A., 1990. Politics: "Sort of Nadarite and Chomskyian." Hobbies and other interests: Photography, linguistics, skiing.

ADDRESSES: Home—20 East Ninth St., Apt. 15B, New York, NY 10003. Office—Random Chance Records, Box 208, 61 East Eighth St., New York, NY 10003; fax: 212-460-5850. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: City University of New York System, New York, NY, teacher of English as a second language at various schools, including Bronx Community College and LaGuardia Community College, 1988-93; Random Chance Records, New York, NY, owner, 1999—. Member of Recording Academy, Blues Foundation, and Freedom from Religion Foundation.

MEMBER: Association for Independent Music, American Civil Liberties Union.

AWARDS, HONORS: Finalist in category of discography and history, Association for Recorded Sound Collections, 2002, for Blues Mandolin Man.

WRITINGS:

Blues Mandolin Man, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2001.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Research on the history of science and the refutation of "creation science."

SIDELIGHTS: Richard Congress told CA: "Writing has been one part of the activities that have absorbed my attention over the years. As a 'sixties person' who dove into civil rights and anti-Vietnam war and campus activism, I also wrote—leaflets, tracts, articles for student and other publications. My first book-length project was a standard coming-of-age story about growing up in the fifties and sixties. It's currently gathering dust.

"My one published book is Blues Mandolin Man, a biography of James 'Yank' Rachell, a one-of-a-kind blues mandolin player who died in 1997 at the age of eighty-seven. As a lifelong blues and jazz fan, I felt it was important to preserve and pass on the life stories of Yank's generation of early country blues players."