GRAILS THAT YOU COULDA HAD BUT MISSED LIKE A DUMMY
Phill_Most
4,594 Posts
I know damn near everybody's had this experience... you're at a shop or a show and you're diggin' through some crates and somebody pulls MAJOR GRAILLERY (translation: a rare record that you covet or just some schitt that's worth $$$) out of a crate right next to where you're digging or even worse a crate that you passed over or skimmed through nonchalantly. It's happened to me a number of times but I always remember the time at the record show in NYC (what is it, 57th st.? been so long since I been there I don't even remember anymore)when I skipped around in this dude's crates without checking thoroughly, then another cat I know comes up with a Skull Snaps lp from those same crates for 10 bucks. This was back in the pre-internet days when Skull Snaps was still a pretty big deal and was near the top of my wantlist. I still to this day do not own an original copy (no, don't offer to sell me one for $200... if I don't find one for $10 I just don't care about it).Had the same thing happen with the Roy Ayers "He's Coming" record at another show. There have been others but I'm old and forgetful so I can't really recall them. What are some that YOU coulda had but missed like a dummy in the same manner as the ones I missed like a dummy? Talk about it... it's Sunday, you have nothing better to do (watching the World Cup does not count). 
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Guess what... the record was gone on the next morning. Some random Funk Jazz customer watched me putting the record into a crate on the floor. He must have bought it. He kept watching me pulling out records ever since. I hate that guy! It must have been him.
A friend of mine is kinda lucky. He doesn't know much, but whenever he goes to a store, he finds sth nice. At least, his finds are better than mine... it's really annoying sometimes.
I was at a store who's stock generally dissapoints. I had grown really cautious about dropping money at this place after going there for years and only coming out with bad condition records.
So one day I had made my way to the comedy section where it looked like some stocking was in progress and pulled Aguabella's "Hard Hands". I had no idea what it was, but the cover looked interesting. I looked at the date of '77 for the recording, the front price of $10, and put it right back. Too much money to spend at this place to try a record out, or so I thought.
I went back a month later when I found out what it was, to no avail. Congrats to whoever managed to grab that.
Now, by this time I already owned the "Strung Out"/"Sign Of The Zodiac" single, so I knew how good those two songs were, but then I peeped that cover and naturally thought the rest of it would be a bit more loungey, so I left it right where it was.
Not that I'm losing sleep over it, but I was just rereading the "Motown 1969-75: What's Good" thread, and it reminded me of this.
then later on in the crates he had passed up i pulled symposium selah hill and bob azzam for 5 though so it was all good...
also the one that pisses me off is when i found a copy of funk inc superfunk for 10 and left it that was about 99 i think...i still don't have that record...i know it's not hard to find but i've never been able to get a copy for cheap.
Saw the first two Meters LPs in a store in Canada, passed on them because I only had so much Canadian $$$ on me and took the Incredible Bongo Band 1st LP instead.
Found the Alice Clark LP in Cambridge, MA. Looked at it for a really, reaaaalllly long time, but ended up passing on it.
Found the Billy Brooks LP in Oakland, CA for $45. Passed on it because that was when I only spent $40 on a record! Called up O-dub about it and he glady came down and bought it!
Anyway, One day at the Roosevelt show, at John Carraro's table was a UK dealer with a small box of Funk 45's. I was standing next to the one and only Pete Rock (and no I don't know the dude) while I pulled out a Mint Hank Carbo "Hot Pants" 45 for $20 from that box. Pete saw what I pulled and tried to get me to come off of it. Of course I didnt because I've been looking for that 45 for awhile. But I could tell he was kicking himself for not looking through that box first.
And recently I went digging with fellow strutter (The Non) in Rochester, NY. And a box that I failed to look through because it appeared to be filled with Tom Jones LP's He pulled a stone mint copy of The Meters "Struttin" LP for $25. I still feel sad when I think about that missed score.
Some homies and I are digging in the back of an antique store. To set the ambience, I suppose, the store owners had glued 45s to the walls and thumbtacked LPs to the ceiling (through the center hole, not through the actual vinyl). One record on the ceiling catches my eye--white vinyl with little flecks of color in it. I think, "That's a cool-looking record," and then bury my nose back in the crate I'm flipping through. Less than a minute later, my homie says, "Oh shit!" and takes the white vinyl off the ceiling. It's a "Frisco Disco" 12. $2 Doh!
My personal worst pass was from around '92 when I didnt pull the trigger on a Belgrave Gemini II and Impeach the Prez at $20 per. The guy told me I'd never see another of either on the west coast and he has been right so far. But whatever, I've always preferred finding my raers in the field on the cheap. So what.
$20's not cheap enough for ya?
I'd also like flag this whole thread as
Ask anybody, records should all cost $1. Unless I'm selling them.
But the lamest mistake was not picking up THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN OST (with foldout) for $20 at a local store around 1990. I'd never spent that much on a record before so it seemed out of my league. Made up for it somewhat by picking up The Smoke (US) LP on Sidewalk for $6 five years later at the same place. The spot hasn't had any records near that good since.
in 1996...not spending $20 for ian carrs belladonna, so i told my boy to buy it!
passing on the baron lp for $ 1.99 then going back to get it, only to have my boy who got the belladonna
snatch it...instead of re-living these moments...
not to thread jack phil, but...
to make up for these moments where we regret this shit, i try to think of these times.
trading pharcyde other fish 12"+ a.d.o.r lp for=
allessandro alessandroni + le corps o.s.t !!! ???? dude had to be out of his mind!
i know, i couldnt believe it myself !!
or brian bennett bruton(you know the shitty lp with one track) for=
a mint copy of weldon irvines 1st lp
im sure yall have some stories like these to share.
I doubt it... John was gone from the Roosevelt by the time I started setting up shop (I think I started in 1994). I could've possibly had a copy but if I so I was probably selling it for somebody else. I don't remember having one, though.
mike got butt hurt and said to larry "i gave you that box out of kindness so after you go through those records, give me the go-backs" and walked away huffypuffy. i chose to stay and watched larry stack the pharoah sanders in his go-back pile, so i picked it up, paid $3, and walked away.
then mike went back to larry, asked where the sanders was, larry pointed toward me, and mike came at me like "man, that should have been mine!". i knew that the record was rare, but didn't know how much monitarily. being the nice guy that i am, i was gonna give it to him for the $3 i paid for but he offered me $20 for it and i took it. got home, checked popsike, the sanders is in the neighborhood of 2 bills. fuck.
fast forward 6 months later, i wake up late for another show and when i get there mike pulls an og lee fields-let's talk it over for $8 from larry. fuck.
the king of DC diggers. period.
Very dumb mistake.
SG
Someone else pulled a beat copy of Whatnauts "On the Rocks" that same week from a different seller.
3 Months ago I'm digging through some crates when a dude pulls up right next to me, literally elbow to elbow on the crate I was moving on to and pulls Chollo Rivera and the Latin Soul Drives, Chuito and the Latin Uniques, Joe Bataan Riot and Singing Some Soul, Harvey Averne Dozen S/T, Brootherhood and Viva Soul, all for $5 a pop. I pulled a copy of Lebron Brothers Psychadelic Goes Latin with the wrong record inside the sleeve, I almost threw up. Two weeks later I got the Harvey Avernes and Singing Some Soul from a different seller. I already had Riot and Singing Some Soul, but haven't seen Chuito or Chollo for under $100.