What good news that Mickey Zekley founder of Lark in the Morning has now taken it back and is once again in charge at Lark.
In the 1980’s the Lark catalogue was full of wonderful world musical instruments and was the envy of many musical outlets,
heres hoping will soon be again.
The catalogue was ok, but Mickey’s business ethics left a lot to be desired.
I’ve known Mickey for over 30 years and have never known him to do anything unethical.
He’s a sweet man and good musician and I’ve always regarded him as a friend.
That being said, it was sad the way the the nature of Lark In The Morning changed over the years.
When I first met Mickie, at his Lark booth at a California event in the 70s, Lark primarily carried high-end antique instruments and the very best handmade instruments from current makers. Did Mickie put a heavy markup on things? Yes indeed. But he carried quality instruments.
For many years I played an original c1850 Rudall & Rose flute I bought from Mickie, and later an original c1860 Koehler (London) flute.
Gradually over the years the nature of the instruments Lark carried changed, away from top quality instruments by the best makers to mass-produced cheap instrument from Pakistan etc.
I would guess that Mickie might say that he was forced to change due to market forces, the appearance of the internet, etc. But it was sad to me, and by the 1990s the Lark booth had little that interested me.
About the hefty Lark markup, this story might give some perspective: Back in the 80s, at the Lark booth at our So Cal Dulcimer Festival, I played one of the finest Irish flutes I’ve ever played, a new Dave Williams flute. (Blackwood with four keys.) It was absolutely fabulous, every note full and rich and right in tune throughout its range. I think Mickie wanted $1300 for it. I knew, however, that I could buy the same flute directly from Dave for $800, as I had corresponded with him (yes by real letters with stamps on them).
So like an eejit I passed up buying the finest flute I’d ever had the opportunity to buy.
I dragged my feet and never got round to ordering a flute directly from Dave. Then he died.
Many years later an identical-looking flute came up for sale online. I bought it, even driving 7 hours up to Berkely to get it, hoping against hope that I could cheat fate, that this might be the very same flute I had tried at the Lark booth years before. Alas, no, this flute didn’t play anything like the other one, though they looked absolutely identical.
So… had I been smart I would have happily paid the Lark markup!
His store didn’t get the nickname ‘Shark in the Morning’ by accident. Mickey left a lot of customers and vendors feeling bruised.
Mickey is a good friend to some of the trad players here in San Diego from the 70s, so I probably have a more balanced view, having heard of both the good and the bad from them.
My own Lark story: Back in the early 80s when I ran the acoustic music dept. at Sam Ash in NY as the go-to guy for weird folk instruments, I set up Lark in the Morning as a supplier - a win-win arrangement for both of us. But the potentially lucrative deal was nearly scuttled when Mickey refused to waive the $5 fee for a copy of the newsprint Lark catalog. Not exactly unethical, and I think things worked out in the end. But he did embarrass me in front of my boss, and left me with a certain impression …
Perhaps now, having survived both the years and mixed health, Mickey and Lark 3.0 will avoid past problems.
I have to say that by and large my transactions with LITM were quite satisfactory so long as my ignorance about product standards wasn’t too much in play. However, due to my confidence in their track record with me so far at the time, I found myself emboldened to shell out grand spondulics for a set of Scottish smallpipes - I chose the mouthblown over the bellows option strictly on the basis of cost alone and nothing else; that alone should tell you what an eejit I was - and in the course of my calls, I asked in passing who the maker was (that detail not being in print). The salesperson told me that that information could not be divulged (!). Maybe she was just as ignorant as I and was just blowing smoke up my arse, but either way it didn’t matter; the deal being already done and with a no-return policy for such instruments, I took possession of what more knowledgeable people deemed a definitely substandard set, and that was pretty much the end of my dealings with LITM, although I might still hit 'em up some day for things like a theremin or a bodhrán endtable or shaker fruit, for example.
If things are changing for the better, I applaud it.
Back in 1999 I had sent some whistles to Lark in the Morning for evaluation. I have no idea who I spoke to, but the guy on the phone played a scale on one of my brass low whistles and claimed he had perfect pitch and that the whistle was out tune. Since this guy didn’t realize that whistles have to warm-up first, he seemed to act as a know it all - was not impressed at all by his behavior, I decided not to establish any ties with them. I never bought anything from them thereafter as well.
Like I said, I have no idea who I spoke two.
I hope the management change will be for the better.
Yes I’m sure it was a horrid Pakistani set.
Lark began turning downhill fast after Mickie’s trip to Pakistan. He travelled about Sialkot visiting various instrument makers there and set up suppliers.
Soon the Lark catalogue, once a who’s who of the best makers, was flooded with Pakistani tat.
Nevertheless, Mickie himself is a great guy and a fine player of the whistle, Irish flute, guitar, and harp.
“In a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time then thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer.” - Plutarch
“Yes. It’s called Minnesota.” - Nano
Sure is true in Mound. l haven’t heard a word uttered outside since mid November… So where are you? PM me if you wish.
I’m gonna start a thread over in the Pub about how I respond to people who say they have perfect pitch. I don’t want to drift this thread.
My only experience with Lark in the Morning was to get a catalog in the mail when I first found out about the whistle. After I was done with the catalog, I passed it around to my friends. We knew nothing about folk instruments and were amazed.
There’s some pretty cool and obscure as well as downright fun stuff in there, and you have to hand it to LITM for its catalog’s success at being a tempting read; I pored through it avidly every time I got one even though not that much ever changed, and though I knew I wouldn’t be buying anything.
ack! bloody window shopper! 
Sure, and tell me you didn’t want a playable, cast bronze, authentic archaeological replica of an ancient Irish horn for yourself. Yeah, and you know I mean the big, really expensive coolest-looking one. Go ahead. Tell me. 
wall hangings
Well I do know a guy who makes his living playing music that uses one of those regularly at his gigs…
Some wags (Denny? Denny? Are you there? 
) might suggest that a plain old didgeridoo would get you there just as well, but that’s hardly the point, is it.
It’s a good example of the unquestionable fact that LITM has some very legit stuff. But you have to know what you’re going for; for example, where else do you go to get a Burmese freakin’ harp? But if you’re not looking for a mere décor item for your gazebo or whatever and intend to play it, how do you know that that harp is a decent one? One clue as to whether you can dare to take the gamble (if you’ve the money to throw away): it’s not that much an in-demand instrument that some sweatshop in Sialkot city is going to be pumping out knockoffs alongside the bagpipes and flutes. OTOH, by Burmese standards maybe it’s only a beginner-level harp, if there is such a beast. The problem is that you won’t find that kind of knowledge among the staff, or anyway get the necessary information.
That would do well to change, IMO. And it doesn’t require personal expertise on the part of the salespeople one bit; all it takes is a go-to info sheet or the like. I entirely doubt that relevatory info is going to hurt the company at all; on the contrary, I wager it would do much to raise - and repair - customer trust. That alone might spur increased sales to a degree.
nope…I’m ignorin’ 'im!
I’ve played some crap horns in me life, ain’t fightin’ with 'em no more.
Well, bearing in mind that 1) we’re not talkin’ trombones, here, Irish horns in the bronze age being much simpler and different from the hifalutin’ things we have now, 2) the Irish horn replica is a product of legitimate archaeological study, and 3) cast bronze, of all things: all that doesn’t exactly point to knockoffs from Joe’s garage where cutting corners reigns supreme. Just sayin’…
fine then 
And by the way: research, trial and error on muckin’ around with those jobbies suggests very strongly that they weren’t played as trumpet approximants; the greatest probability appears to be that they were most likely used very much as, of all things, the didgeridoo is played nowadays (hence my comment above).
Another can o’ worms for your session to wrestle with.