News in brief for April 19

A Chicago man’s 10,000 concerts on tape are becoming digital history

(NYT) — For the past two years, friends of Aadam Jacobs have diligently been at work uploading his more than 10,000 concert recordings to the Internet Archive, a digital repository.

Jacobs, 59, is a Chicago institution. Beginning in the mid-1980s, he was a regular at concerts in the city, hanging out near the soundboard and taping shows. In that time, he recorded all kinds of acts, ranging from forgotten bands who were together for only a couple of months to Nirvana, before they were famous. In 1994, the Chicago Tribune wrote that Jacobs was: “A) A tireless audio documentarian. B) An eccentric but harmless mascot to the local indie rock scene. C) A freeloading pest.” (The article strongly hinted that he was, in fact, “D) All of the above.”)

After the release of a 2023 documentary on Jacobs, volunteers from the Internet Archive reached out to ask him if he would consider digitizing and uploading his collection of tapes.

The archive, known as the Aadam Jacobs Collection, now has thousands of Jacobs’ concert recordings, and a team of about 10 volunteers is working to upload more every day. The process will take years. But the early results present an extraordinary snapshot of how the Chicago music scene evolved over four decades.

There are concerts from indie acts in their prime, like Ben Folds Five in 1999, a Phish show from 1990, a Reggie Watts show from 2013, a 1986 show by the Replacements and a 1985 Depeche Mode performance, all available for listening, for free, one click away.

In an interview, Jacobs acknowledged that he had “mixed feelings” about the project.

“It took a lot of, I guess, soul-searching, for lack of a better term — inner strength — to allow this to happen, because this is my life’s work,” he said. “This is why people might talk about me after I’m gone, right?”

Brian Emerick of Des Plaines, Illinois, one of the volunteers, said that he saw the archive as a “preservation of history.”

“A lot of these bands, some of them don’t even have an album they ever put out,” he said. “This is the only recording known of them.”

Remains linked to submerged car solve 1958 mystery

(NYT) — In 1958, an Oregon family of five took off in their red-and-white Ford station wagon to find greenery to use as Christmas decorations. They never returned home.

More than 65 years later, thanks to a diver and DNA testing, authorities have pieced together what happened to the family and confirmed the identities of the remains of three of them, officials said Thursday.

The Martin family — Kenneth, 54; Barbara, 48; Barbara (Barbie), 14; Virginia, 13; and Sue, 11 — of Portland, Oregon, headed out on Dec. 7, 1958, briefly stopping for gas near Cascade Locks, Oregon, on the banks of the Columbia River, authorities said.

Shortly after the family’s disappearance, authorities speculated that their car might have gone over a cliff near Cascade Locks, which is about 43 miles east of Portland, and plunged into the Columbia River in an isolated area, The Associated Press reported at the time.

In 1959, the bodies of Virginia and Sue were found 25 miles apart in the Columbia River, authorities said. The family also had a son, Donald Martin, who was serving in the U.S. Navy in New York at the time of their disappearance.

The case went cold until 2024, when a diver located a vehicle in the river, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Thursday.

In 2025, the sheriff’s office hired a crane to pull the vehicle out, authorities said.

The crane was only successful in pulling the undercarriage off the rusted vehicle, leaving the passenger cabin upside down underwater, according to Othram, a company specializing in solving cold cases with DNA analysis and genealogical comparisons.

Only the frame and a few other pieces were retrieved, but it was enough to lead the sheriff’s office to determine that the car belonged to the Martin family.

The diver, Archer Mayo, continued to explore the wreckage and in August 2025, he found human remains in the river.

Only one DNA profile was usable, and when it was compared to relatives of the Martin family, it was determined the remains belonged to Kenneth.

Life jacket used by Titanic survivor sells for $900K

LONDON (TNS) — A life jacket worn by a survivor of the Titanic disaster has sold for 670,000 pounds ($906,108) at auction.

First class passenger Laura Mabel Francatelli wore the vest aboard lifeboat number one and it is signed by eight fellow survivors, including firemen Charles Hendrickson and George Taylor, and able seaman James Horswill.

A watch recovered from the body of wealthy businessman who drowned in the sinking went for 180,000 pounds ($243,432) at the same sale.

Meanwhile, a seat cushion from one of the lifeboats, which features an original Titanic lifeboat plaque in the form of a White Star burgee, sold for 390,000 pounds ($527,436).

Its buyer was the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri, and the seat is to go on exhibition, the auctioneer said.

Saturday’s auction at Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, included 344 lots and the final sale prices include the buyer’s premium.