CV: CURRICULUM VITAEPublished on July 30, 2013
I don't really have a resume and I am not looking for a job, but I have been asked to summarize some of my life projects recently, and I thought my Facebook Friends might like to know more about my history. As I look back on it, it is not too bad for someone who never went to college or even finished high school. I was too much in a hurry to get out in the world and do things. I am going to talk about myself, so you have been warned.
"Michael Erlewine is an award winning archivist of popular culture, having made major contributions to music, film, video games, concert posters, and astrology. Erlewine has won scores of online awards, including the coveted Yahoo Life Award and many others. Michael Erlewine also has received many awards for astrology including awards from the PIA (Professional Astrologers Incorporated,), the American Federation of Astrologers and the Regulus Award (United Astrology Conference), not to mention dozens of online awards.
The Heart Center Astrological Library is not the only collection Michael Erlewine has created. Here is a brief summary of some of his work:
ALL-MUSIC GUIDE
Michael Erlewine founded the All-Music Guide (allmusic.com) which is internationally recognized as the largest and most complete collection of music data, reviews, biographies, sound samples, and discographies in the world. The All-Music Guide exists as a massive reference site on the Internet, but also serves to drive music-related sales all over the world. It is used by iTunes, Zune, eMusic, AOL, Yahoo!, Amazon, Microsoft, and scores of other companies. AllMusic.com draws millions of unique visitors a month.
The All-Music Guide covers 3 million album releases and 30 million tracks worldwide – from popular hits and cult favorites to minor works and classical masterpieces.
Unlike most music data offerings, the All-Music Guide goes beyond basic music descriptions to include editorial data, such as biographies, reviews, and related content. Michael Erlewine also created a large library of music books that is now housed at All-Music Guide headquarters.
AMG MUSIC CD Collection
Michael Erlewine's personal collection of music CDs is now housed in a warehouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Today it numbers over 600,000 CDs, perhaps the largest collection of its kind in the world.
ALL-MOVIE GUIDE
The All-Movie Guide (allmovie.com) was founded by Michael Erlewine, archivist of popular culture. The All-Movie Guide is one of the two largest movie and film guides that exist today, the other being the IMDB (Internet Movie Database).
The All-Movie Guide contains almost every movie and film known to exist, including a plot summary and a complete list of cast, characters, and crew. Michael Erlewine collected a large library of books on movies and film, which is now housed at AMG headquarters in Ann Arbor Michigan.
The data collection covers more than 300,000 movies, including details on over 200,000 DVDs, with detailed plot synopses, editorial reviews, more than 2.6 million casts and credits, 20,000 movie trailers, plus celebrity images and profiles, and award winners and nominees.
Michael Erlewine also helped to start the popular Netflix service, which used the All-Movie Guide data for their first few years.
ALL-GAME GUIDE
The All-Game Guide (allgame.com) was founded by Michael Erlewine and today is one of the most comprehensive video games database on the planet. This video games database provides comprehensive information on more than 65,000 video games and includes detailed video games descriptions, genre and style classifications, in-depth editorial reviews, video game cover images and screen shots, themes, trailers, accessory support and relevant links to similar video games.
More than 100 platforms and over 250 games styles are featured, including game specification by number of players, peripherals supported, controls, credits, links and documentation.
The breadth and depth of the games data also include biographies of characters, developers, artists, writers, publishers, executives, and celebrities who appear in video games – providing an informative and exciting experience for both novice and expert gamers.
Classic Posters
Michael Erlewine single-handedly founded and built one of the largest collections of images and data on collectible rock concert posters in existence, Classic Posters.
Classic Posters (ClassicPosters.com) contains information and hi-res images on over 30,000 rare and collectible rock & roll concert posters, including a database of poster measurements, rarity, value, and history. Erlewine has personally published some 200 articles and books on collectible posters.
In addition to the live Internet site, Michael Erlewine donated all of his images, data, and detailed notes to the University of Michigan, where they are now permanently housed in the prestigious Bentley Historical Library.
Heart Center Astrology Library
The Heart Center Astrological Library is probably the largest astrological library in the world, and certainly the largest collection of astrological periodicals in complete (or near complete) sets. Requested by the Library of Congress, Erlewine decided to donate the entire collection to the University of Illinois to become part of their permanent collection. The University of Illinois Library is the third largest library in the world. This collection is being moved in September of 2013 by the University of Illinois.
Internationally known astrologer/author Noel Tyl (author of 34 astrology books) says this about award-winning astrologer Michael Erlewine:
"Michael Erlewine is the giant influence whose creativity is forever imprinted on all astrologers' work since the beginning of the Computer era! He is the man who single-handedly applied computer technology to astrological measurement, research, and interpretation. He founded Matrix Software long ago, and from crucial algorithms to interpretation zenith, Erlewine has been the formative and leading light of astrology's modern growth. After inventing the technological applications, Erlewine humanized it all, adding perception and incisive practical analyses to modern, computerized astrology. Now, for a second generation of astrologers and their public, Erlewine's genius continues with StarTypes… and it's simply amazing!"
Michael Erlewine states: "The Heart Center Astrological Library is a special project that I have worked on for the last 35 years. I have put great effort and spared no expense to gather not only most astrological books, but also all major astrological periodicals into one place.
Books tend to stay around, but everyone know that magazines, journals, and other periodicals decay rapidly and often are soon lost to recovery. The Heart Center Astrological Library has the largest collection of magazines and other periodicals that I am aware of.
By donating this collection of periodicals to the University of Illinois, it is hoped that scholars and other researchers will have permanent access to the collection."
Well that's an overview.