RIP Curt Vendel

[Albert]

3 minutes ago, Fred_M said:

No worries! This is on facebook:

 

Marty Goldberg
Yes I'm aware. Jason had already made a copy over there and I'm working on a replacement site that will launch soon.

 

Marty Goldberg
Michael I appreciate it I’ve got it taken care of. I should have it up within a week

Replacement site?  Will it not be using the same domain name?

 

 ..Al

[Fred_M]

Just now, Albert said:

Replacement site?  Will it not be using the same domain name?

 

 ..Al

 

I don't know. But I am guessing (when I read the messages on FB) that he will be using the same domain to publish an updated version of the site.

[+kheller2]

I was actually going to scrape this site early this year but forgot to.  I only have some very old version from many years ago.

[ijor]

1 hour ago, mclemore said:

As a side note, it hasn't been very public knowledge, but a decent amount of photos pictured on the site are of artifacts in our collection for many years.  Most of our items are in our hands, however, 3 key pieces loaned to Curt for research have not been found and returned yet. We have been working with Curt's family on this. Related, to make a long story short, at time of Curt's passing there were a lot less items there than most people think there would have been.  I was personally astonished to learn the 'state of the nation'.

 

 

Hope everything is recovered. Do you (or anyone else) have any idea about the chip photoplots? He claimed at some point he acquired a collection of photoplots for almost every single Atari custom chip. Invaluable material, hope it is not lost.

[abbotkinneydude]

I actually do own www.atari-museum.com (and a bunch more), I will redirect to the .org version above until Marty has the new site up.

Edited August 13, 2021 by abbotkinneydude
URL

[mclemore]

re: chipplots - Before his passing, he passed a number of these to us.  Additionally, the Strong Museum in Rochester NY obtained some from him.   In both cases, I'm talking about game related plots.  I'm not sure where any computer related plots are.

 

re: site: Thanks. 

 

BTW: I've tried to reach out to Marty in the past but have not been successful.

[+Mitch]

I had a few things on loan to Curt as well. I have not received a response from Marty yet either.

 

Mitch

[Fred_M]

The latest update about atarimuseum.com on Facebook:

 

Quote

 

Atari Museum
Marty Goldberg 

 

Just an update, a secondary domain for the Atari Museum has been purchased until the original is changed over. I am in the process of moving the content to a more modern CMS format and updating the site to support our book and several other initiatives. Please be advised that I am the ONLY other person besides Curt authorized to represent the Atari Museum and it's initiatives, including the website and this facebook group. Greg McLemore and anyone working with him have zero authority for anything, and frankly someone that was threatening lawsuits and federal investigations against Curt and his grieving family (and referring to his death as "spectacularly amazing timing")  literally days after his death will not be involved in any capacity.

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

Quote

I'm not sure who the "we" Greg is referring to, but Greg has no authorization. And frankly, someone who was threatening lawsuits against Curt and his family right after his death will not be involved in any of this unless he's trying to strong-arm that as well.

Sounds like the family and Marty need some help and support in this.

[abbotkinneydude]

4 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Sounds like the family and Marty need some help and support in this.

We're here with all of our technical wizardry and historical knowledge.

 

I'm sure we can help when the time is right.

 

For now, I am redirecting atari-museum.com to the facebook page of the ATARI Museum.

[Retro Rogue]

Looks like my post from the Atari Museum facebook group (which I'm also in charge of) already made it over. To make it clear, as Curt's partner in the Atari Museum I have the efforts to relaunch, maintain, and update the site for the future under control. Nobody else has any authorization. Look for it in the coming weeks. That being said, it's never stopped anyone from wholesale copying the site or it's material in the past and Curt just usually ignored it because frankly it wasn't worth the effort. Likewise any claims of working with the family or me ducking someone refusing to work with them are false. Point blank when Curt died, within a day or so both myself and Curt's family were inundated with threatening emails from Mr. McLemore threatening lawsuits, federal investigations and other "big stick" tactics. I and the family have copies of everything. He is lying when he claims he's "been working with them". His wife is still grieving heavily and facing huge financial issues left behind and his wife as an infectious disease specialist is still very busy with Covid issues in New York. When Curt first died I posted a status that I would be going in at some point to go through everything and doing my best to try and get things back to people that Curt was either working on or had borrowed. Yet Mr. McLemore continued to harass with hyper-aggressive threats in his emails. Per my talks with the family I chose not to respond because frankly once he escalated things to those types of legal threats it's out of my hands. He continued and I blocked him on Facebook and elsewhere. I also made sure copies of all those emails were distributed just in case claims like these were to be made in the future. His current efforts now with the site also seem to be based on the same quick rush in strong arm tactic than anything genuine, like he's looking at this as just another thing to try and take over for something he feels he's owed.

For everyone else, I will still be going in to help the family out with items people are owed. My trip last October was delayed due to the covid upsurge. The plan is to go in soon, assess everything there overall, separate the items people are owed and arrange to ship them out (which I'll probably be paying out of pocket). The Atari Museum website (the official one) will be relaunching again soon in an updated format along with sections for our book and other initiatives that will involved other people lined up to be involved with the site as well.

[SlidellMan]

It really is saddening considering that the anniversary of his death is coming up, and here's hoping that his successors and family continue his work, research, and dedication.

[_The Doctor__]

@Retro Rogue

Your mail box is full, or turned off

[Retro Rogue]

26 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

@Retro Rogue

Your mail box is full, or turned off

Full. For like six years now. I always keep old conversations for reference purposes, my gmail goes back to like 2005 (all my correspondence with Curt, Ralph Baer, Ted Dabney, etc. etc.). Feel free to reach out to me on facebook if you need to talk privately. 

[Faicuai]

2 hours ago, Retro Rogue said:

Mr. McLemore

The same one from post #206?

[+Mitch]

I would have no problem paying shipping to get my items back.

 

Mitch

[Mclaneinc]

 

Wow, I looked in here just to see if everything was ok, and clearly it's not.

 

Shocked to see what looks like unwarranted infighting by outside forces looking to claim ownership over the Museum. I feel so sorry for the family, not only have they lost a father and a husband, but now they are getting legal challenges. I can understand people wanting any lent gear back, and I'm sure that will happen, but do we know what reason this other guy has to make claim on the Museum etc?

 

If it's private business, then ignore that question.

 

Just a shame it's rumbling on..

[Tempest]

3 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

 

Wow, I looked in here just to see if everything was ok, and clearly it's not.

 

Shocked to see what looks like unwarranted infighting by outside forces looking to claim ownership over the Museum. I feel so sorry for the family, not only have they lost a father and a husband, but now they are getting legal challenges. I can understand people wanting any lent gear back, and I'm sure that will happen, but do we know what reason this other guy has to make claim on the Museum etc?

 

If it's private business, then ignore that question.

 

Just a shame it's rumbling on..

I'm sure there's more going on here than Marty can talk about (especially if there's legal action going on).  Some days I just can't believe where this hobby has gone in the last 10 or so years. 

 

I'm still not over Curt's death.  It really hit me hard.  It's one of the reasons I've gone into semi-retirement over the last year.

[_The Doctor__]

1 hour ago, Tempest said:

I'm sure there's more going on here than Marty can talk about (especially if there's legal action going on).  Some days I just can't believe where this hobby has gone in the last 10 or so years. 

 

I'm still not over Curt's death.  It really hit me hard.  It's one of the reasons I've gone into semi-retirement over the last year.

this. It's good to know others realize it and feel the same.

[Mclaneinc]

1 hour ago, Tempest said:

I'm sure there's more going on here than Marty can talk about (especially if there's legal action going on).  Some days I just can't believe where this hobby has gone in the last 10 or so years. 

 

I'm still not over Curt's death.  It really hit me hard.  It's one of the reasons I've gone into semi-retirement over the last year.

Sorry to hear, Curt was a loved and respected man who oozed Atari from every pore..

 

After I posted the question I felt bad and thought it sounded trashy but it was never meant to be, I sincerely just wanted to try and understand why someone was making a claim on stuff, it wasn't a case of just being nosey. I hope it all can be sorted with the least effect on the family and friends.

 

Paul..

[Tempest]

13 minutes ago, Mclaneinc said:

Sorry to hear, Curt was a loved and respected man who oozed Atari from every pore..

 

After I posted the question I felt bad and thought it sounded trashy but it was never meant to be, I sincerely just wanted to try and understand why someone was making a claim on stuff, it wasn't a case of just being nosey. I hope it all can be sorted with the least effect on the family and friends.

 

Paul..

I'm curious as to what's going on myself.  I just hope it all works out well in the end.

 

Curt was one of the first people I met in the hobby back in 96/97 due to us both being interested in prototypes.  We were good friends from the start, but we never really got to see each other due to living in different parts of the country.  I actually had a chance to go see him at VCF East a year before he died, but I passed because it was so close to another convention I was just at.  I really wish I had now, but then who knew he would die so suddenly?  I knew about his heart issues, but I thought that he had finally gotten over that.   I think the last thing we ever spoke about was how he was going to put an XM unit aside for me when they were finished.  

 

After all that happened I decided that my heart just really wasn't in the hobby anymore (well not to the extent it once was) so I kind of withdrew.  I'm still around and doing website updates now and then, but my passion just isn't there now.  Real life has a way of doing that.

 

Enough of me rambling and derailing this thread.  Carry on.

[Mclaneinc]

 

We all have had "If only" moments, I hope you heart gets back around to it all again, I'm sure Curt would have wanted that, but I'm sure he would have wanted you to be yourself first and foremost..

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

In your heart you know Curt would want everyone to enjoy their retro/Atari to the fullest. While it may be hard to get that full over the top fulfillment at times of discovery without such energy and enthusiasm from him pumping you to do so for now, just realize the last thing I'd bet he'd want is for any of us to lose heart over his not being there. How about we take hold of his spirit and enthusiasm and work to polish up on whatever it was he was doing. This would be the best way to honor his memory (by creating new ones from what was started and venturing to start new projects from there)

[Fred_M]

The copied site at atarimuseum.org was taken down a few hours after the complaints. So hopefully everything is fine now.

 

According to Marty on FB the update for the site is going well ? 

 

Quote

The update for the Atari Museum site is going well. Keeping the look and feel that Curt originally created (Karl Morris, who created the original graphic work for the site is helping out), but bringing everything more modern from a UX/UI and infrastructure perspective. As soon as all this framework is done I'll be transferring the long history of content, as well as launching new areas to the site as well including a memorial page for Curt.

 

[joeventura]

You know what's ironic,

Of all of you I knew Curt the longest.

I met Curt in the early 1980's he and I both ran BBS' (he in staten island) and me in brooklyn.

Curt ran a real advanced Atari BBS on Atari equipment. I ran a TBBS system,

He sold me my first IBM PC that may have fallen off a truck.  

 

I actually sent him a message letting him know about some stuff he would have been interested in last week.

This week I found out he was gone.

 

You all got it right, he was a generous, sharing and helpful guy!

We had a decade long joke that he was going to find the Corvus Newell board for me "next week"  

I sold my Corvus 8 years ago LOL

 

He was one of a kind and i hope his hardware collection stays intact. Someone should buy it and send his kids to college.