Great story PT......I can't tell you how many times I have discussed a rare LP and then found it within 24 hours.
I've had this happen a few times too, great feeling.
LOL it's called channeling of the mind what u think visualize and it materializes.
It's not common to find 2 sealed copies of donald austin crazy legs/ beginning of the end - funky nassau /9th creation falling in love / poison - one our way to number 1 /rhythm makers - soul on your side/ tribe - dedication for 2 dollar each turn up the middle of the night on a local website. ultimate digging in your drawers experience.
If u'r lucky such collections may split up deeper or more titles. the good stuff is always at 1 source. i don't expect to find 1000 usd grails in the netherlands tho, not in the soul funk genre.. but u never know where things end up..
Another experience was a large collection online and 1/5th visable the album from lafeyette afro rock band - malik
i drove there went to at least 4000 records twice but i couldn't find it anymore. i ended up buying mirror - daybreak for 2 dollar which i found out later is a private pressing.
I love this thread so much. It really needs to be compiled into a book. Has anyone taken a stab at it?
I have a rather modest story of my own. I don't have the deep pockets (or the luck) to clean out a forgotten hoard of records but I still enjoy digging whenever I can. I think an issue for me is that I just got in the game too late.
I used to spend my summers (and the occasional week or two in the winter) in Korea. I would always check out the usual spots (written about in other posts) and I was semi-confident I knew some good spots not already completely cleaned out by serious diggers. But after a while, I would only find the same records. There would be some good ones, too, but I got sick of buying the same semi-decent records just because they were too cheap to pass up. By this time, all the good Shin Jung Hyun-related records were long gone. Every record store owner would tell me the same thing: Japanese record collectors had long since bought up all the really good records (early Shin Jung Hyun, SJH-produced girl groups, group sound, etc). Then came the Europeans, who focused mostly on obscure psych/fuzz/prog rock.
I heard one particular story several times: a while back (80s? 90s?) a Japanese guy who didn't speak any Korean picked up a SJH record. The seller (who didn't speak Japanese) stuck out two fingers to signal the (equivalent) price of $20. The buyer misinterpreted it and, without any hesitation, handed the seller not $20 but $200. Both the seller and buyer were happy. That's when people started realizing that some of these records were sought after by foreigners. Almost all the sellers conceded some regret that most of the truly collectible Korean records were now outside of Korea. (But, I bet they felt no qualms about selling the records to foreigners for mad loot back in the day.)
I almost felt foolish asking if they had the more collectible records, since we all knew the answer would be No. And if, by chance, they had the record, it would be way too expensive for me. I don't know how many times I got a false positive response due to all the (stupid expensive) REISSUES of Kim Jung Mi, SJH, He 6, etc.
So by this time (3-5 years ago), good 60s and early 70s stuff was pretty much impossible to come by. But other decent records were still plentiful and cheap (especially late-70s, early-80s stuff). I remember coming across my first copy of "Hometown of the Stars" (usually called "Hometown Hero" on eBay for some reason). Anyone who saw the original cover of the girl apparently getting raped (there were at least 3 different covers + minor variations) knew it had to be good. That and "It Rained Yesterday" were my first two good Korean discoveries (personally speaking). Every single place had at least one or two copies of that. As recently as about 1-2 years ago, those were $10 records. I hoarded that stuff, just because it was so cheap and I thought no one else knew about it. Then they started showing up on eBay and selling for $200+ a pop (they have since come down to the $150 range). Just about a year or two ago, all the San Ul Lim records sold for about $1-3 bucks each, and they were EVERYWHERE. I would get pissed off because there were so many of them. They were like pop vocal records in the States.
But the last time I was in Korea (about 6 months ago), Hometown and Rained were all gone. Places that had them were now selling them for $100-200. Even crappy San Ul Lim (vols 6 and up) were starting at $20-30. The records had jumped at least 10 TIMES in price within one year! I asked what the hell was going on. They all said the same thing: about a year or two ago, younger "American" kids started buying them up. In fact, ALL older records have gone up by about that much, just in the last year.
I have really digressed. Sorry. But it all provides context.
Okay, so about a year and a half ago, I was checking out some record stores but I kept finding the usual stuff. I was almost digging more for other Strutters. (A few years back, I posted some pics of Korea so some Strutters PMed me, asking me to look for stuff for them the next time I was in Korea.) It was almost time to go because that day happened to be my birthday and my girlfriend had arranged a nice dinner for us. I had about 10 minutes left before I had to go. I went to a different area not known for records but I just had that feeling. I don't get that Spidey Sense often.... I went into a tiny store that looked more like a stereo repair shop. I saw he had some records so I asked if I could look. He was cool. He asked what I was looking for. Since I only had 10 minutes, I didn't have time to go through the whole store myself. I had to just ask him if he had this or that record. I didn't want to start by asking for a grail I knew he wouldn't have so I asked for a fairly common Ham Jung A record that for some reason had been eluding me. "Of course," he said and pulled it right out. Cool.
"What else are you looking for?"
"Uh... early Pearl Sisters (SJH productions with heavy drums)?"
Then he pulls out every single one that I'm missing, and not the second issues, either. He had the first pressings with the gatefold covers.
(moving up the chain): "Do you have any early Kim Choo Ja (more SJH-produced drummy goodness)?"
Yup. Original gatefold.
By then I start to sweat. "You wouldn't happen to have, Kim Jung Mi, would you?"
"Yes."
He had SEVERAL. He asked what my favorite track was. I told him. He pulls the record right out and plays it full freaking blast. Those dirty, basement drums never sounded so good!
He said he was surprised that someone (relatively) young like me would even be looking for these. He seemed to get a kick out of playing/talking about these records.
He said, "If you like Kim Jung Mi, then you might like this Shin Jung Hyun record," and pulls out SJH Sound Vol. 1!! By the way, all the records were in beautiful condition.
He kept asking what I wanted. I would tell him. He would have it. This ridiculous sequence continued for about 10-15 minutes. After a while, I couldn't even think of stuff to ask for. I just told him honestly that he had the best Korean record collection that I had ever seen. He said this is all his personal collection. He bought all of these records himself when they first came out. I could tell he hadn't listened to them in years. He seemed to be having fun reminiscing.
It was time for me to go and there was a ridiculous stack of some of the best Korean records (at least by my own personal tastes) right in front of me. Unfortunately, I could only afford to buy a few of them. He didn't seem to mind at all. He was just happy to talk about these records.
When I met my girlfriend for dinner, I told her the story. She laughed: "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" (I had told her that I used to have dreams, literally, about this scenario.) I pulled out some of the records as proof. Since then, she has always jokingly referred to that store as the "dream store."
Fast forward one year (this would be about 6 months ago). I was back in Korea. I wanted to prove to my girlfriend that the place really existed so I took her along. With only a little difficulty, I found the place again. And all the records I left behind were STILL THERE! My girlfriend saw all of them for herself. I think I still have photos of the place.
Like I said in the beginning, I don't have fat stacks of cash for records so I had to leave MOST of those records behind. He had almost everything I wanted, but the records were a bit pricy (but reasonable). So it was bittersweet. I experienced the thrill of finding great stuff, but I could only afford to buy a few records. (I bought a few more the second time I went.) But still, there's a chance some of the records will still be there next time. Maybe I can buy a few records each time I visit. If someone else finds the place, I wouldn't feel so bad because the seller was so friendly and I want him to have some good business. And at least I got to dig out and listen to all those great records. I feel like the guy at the end of Charade who returns the "item" without hesitation because he had the joy of having owned it, if even for a moment.
Been reading through all this for the past couple nights, and this is the most entertaining stuff I've read in a long time. Just wanted to say thanks to you guys for sharing the stories.
This is not my tale, and is not even about records, but is the ultimate all-time score story. You will get that chill in the back of your neck reading it. Comic collectors might know it (hi Dante).
Back in around 1990 I found this record warehouse right in the middle of Manhattan, where I lived (and still do). It was called Dayton's Record Exchange and it was in a building on 11the street and 4th ave on the 4th floor. There was no way to know it was there unless you knew about it. I forgot how I found out about it, maybe the phone book (this was obviously pre-internet). Anyway, the owner, whose name I think was Joe, was this classic Brooklyn guy. He told me he used to have an actual store on the street downtown but he closed it years earlier and was basically liquidating his stock. I showed up one day and it was three large rooms with those metal warehouse shelves stocked fully with thousands of LPs. Tons of funk, soul jazz & soundtracks. I spent a couple of hours there and brought about a stack 0f 30 records to the counter. Joe just counted them and charged me $3 a record. One of them was a JBs LP which he looked at for a second and said, "I used to have these in a cutout bin in my old store a few years ago, I couldn't give them away." After that day, I went there twice a week for months, scoring loads of Prestige and Blue Note funk jazz, and lots of soul records, some still sealed. I probably passed up some gems without realizing it. Joe told me he had a lots of records stored upstate that he was going to bring down one day. Eventually, this placed closed, but he did do a one day sale in an empty storefront on 10th street. Every record was going to be $2 and all the record fiends were lined up outside waiting for the place to open. When it did, we all rushed in and scattered to different bins. I ended up flipping thru a bin next to Dreadlock Bob (NYers know who I mean) and lo and behold, I pulled out a copy of the Skullsnaps LP, which Bob immediately offered me $50 for. I kept it.
one of my local thrift stores recently moved and I hadn't had a chance to check out the new location yet, so I went down there to have a look. I'm going through a box of the usual crap (that should have been sent straight to cratediggers for recycling) when the lady behind the counter tells me that they have other 'good' records, but that they don't put them out because people steal them! so she comes out from the back pushing a trolley with a box of the 'good stuff' on it. Now I have never really turned anything up at the previous store, so my expectations are not high. But upon starting to dig I realize that they are not nearly low enough. I'm finding gems like Acker Bilk, Perry Como (starting at $6.50), Jim Reeves and the ubiquitous (in Australia) Kamahl - but the top pick is a copy of Shirley Bassey 'Hey Big Spender' for $16!!!!!!
I hate leaving empty handed so I pick up a Patsy Cline and when I check the vinyl, it's got the wrong LP in it (the correct platter presumably stolen).
If these records are being nicked, there must be some very nimble fingered grandmothers in my neighbourhood.
(I 'spose all the facemelters could have been pinched before I got there)
looked at a collection this weekend stored inside an RV. it must of been 130 degrees in there. i didn't find anything and the owners dogs name was Farrakhan
Not for nothing, dude, but between the generic sleeves and crates, that looks like the garage where shitty 90s-00s DJ pool promo terds go to die. But best of luck.
Not for nothing, dude, but between the generic sleeves and crates, that looks like the garage where shitty 90s-00s DJ pool promo terds go to die. But best of luck.
Yeah he's a DJ friend of mine with mostly 12' singles but he does have some old soul, jazz, rock and misc stuff in other crates.
A few weeks back three board members and I took off for a day of digging in the Waco/Temple area. We had a couple of leads that sounded promising and a couple of spots to just hit at random. The first spot was like an episode of Hoarders. We went to a makeshift storage warehouse where two of the tennants had vinyl. The first guy had some decent 12"'s and we each pulled 5-10 records. The second dude was acting a little cagey and wasn't real eager to open up his unit which he said held 15,000 LP's. When he finally did it appeared that he had spent years just piling up junk and while there were LP's, they were not easy to get to. After an hour or so of moving crap, climbing on crap, and wading through crap we came to the conclusion that his records were nothing more than crap. We each pulled a couple of things, were thoroughly soaked in sweat and were definitely ready to move onto the next spot.
Next stop was a guy's house who had advertised on Craigslist and while he was a very pleasant and welcoming older gentleman, his records sucked and we left with nothing leaving behind gems like a G- ? & The Mysterians LP. It was mid-afternoon and was time to do some scrambling. We stopped at a Goodwill and they had no records....stopped at another and it was chud heaven. We had a spot to hit by 4:00 so we drove around looking for anything interesting. We stopped at a ReSale Shop and were told they had no records. I asked the dude running the place if he knew anyplace with vinyl and he said "Try Hastings". We explained we were looking for used vinyl and he said "Yeah, check the Gift Shop around the corner, the owners husband was a DJ".
We went to the Gift Shop and saw 1,000+ LP's when we walked in and were greeted by the owner. We explained we were looking for records and she said she would have to get her husband. She called him and he appeared in less than a minute. He said the LP's in the store were not for sale but that he had some in the back we could look at. He took us to a back room and it had a couple of thousand more LP's. He told us two crates were off limits(we spied a Joe Quarterman LP in one of them) but everything else was fair game. As we were digging he was telling us stories about how he was a buyer for a large vinyl chain store in Dallas back in the 70's and showed us pictures of him and acts as diverse as Sting and Alabama. He told tales of partying and drug use which he eventually kicked by moving to Waco. ReRog found a CD of a local rap artist who turned out to be the guy's son. We found a small stack of LP's and when it was time to pay I apparently offered too much $$$ and he said my offer would cover everyone's records which we ignored and shoved cash in his hand with the prospect of coming back sometime and going through the rest of the stuff.
While we were getting ready to leave I saw what looked like a "Boxing" style poster and when I picked them up our host said "Oh, No those aren't for sale". I asked if I could look at them and he said sure. Out of a plastic bag I pulled out three identical posters with one of them being in real nice shape and the other two not so much. ReRog and I both said out loud how cool it would be to have one and our host asked "Well, if I did sell you one what would you pay?" I honestly told him that I would be happy to hand over a $100 bill for one of the lesser ones but I had no idea if that was a fair offer or not. We agreed that we would do some research and come back to see him.
A few weeks later, newly transplanted Texan, Behemoth was in the area, stopped in and bought the posters for ReRog and I. We got the two lesser ones and the third, better condition copy, will be displayed in the near future at the Negro League Baseball Hall Of Fame in Kansas City. Some research has revealed that this poster is from 1947 and was part of a "Barnstorming" series of games that these two teams played in the Southwest part of the country. Mine is being framed and will have a special spot on my living room wall. Best find for me in years....or maybe ever.
About 3 years ago I responded to a listing on the local news classified page. The ad had no photos and wasn't very revealing as to what in the collection contained, only that there were 15,000 or more records.
I immediately responded to the ad. After I spoke to the guy over the phone, he kept saying "You'll just have to see it." It was in the middle of the work day when I saw the ad and I could hardly wait to get off and see what this was all about
I drove up to the area, where I had passed by a lot times previously. I meet with the guy and we walk next door to an unkept small house. It almost looked like it had been abandoned. The paint was peeling, the fence was falling down and there some old lawn mores or something on the lawn.
We walk in the door and the guy shows me around the living room and bedroom were most of the records are. He mentioned there were more in the basement but they were really hard to get to. I start going through the collection. The first record i see is an unopened copy of the Velvet Underground banana cover. He says he found some Beatles and Stones and things like that.
I don't remember if i had a portable the first time I looked but I remember walking out with almost 75 records the first go. Some records that i was really surprised to find were...
Eddie Gale Ghetto Music
Ernie Hines - Sealed
The Flasher OST - Sealed
Sooo many others.
There were unopened boxes with the return address of Stax Records and other companies with the receipt and invoice inside. Bags straight from the record stores with the receipt in them, records sealed. The guy was a hoarder and had stacked the whole house full of crap. Old beer, antiques, porn, newspapers, lunchboxes etc. He had an affinity for records which made it especially nice.
The house was so full of stuff that there was only a small trail to walk through from room to room.
I went back about 5-10 times a lot of which I was helping move crap out of the house and into the dumpster so that I could get to the records.
It turned out that the owner of the house had gotten trapped one day when a tower of newspaper fell on him. His neighbor had noticed that the guy was MIA for a few days and walked over the house and found him. He didn't know the extent of what this guy had. In the end the city made him clean it up and the guy who posted the listing was helping him sell things off and clean out the house.
I gave the guy a hint and told him to sell the Velvet Underground on ebay. He sold it for like $800 or something like that. I was pulling SO much good stuff, mostly sealed, that I felt like I was taking advantage of him. I have photos of a lot of it. No one in the finds thread believed me when I was posting all these sealed record on here.
Anyways, this collection exposed me to so much music and it turned out to be a lot more that 15,000!!
Here's a "cool shit found in record sleeves" story. Nothing epic but i was digging for anything and i came across some 50's polynesian/exotic/tiki records which i collect on the side along with other oddball sounds. I stumbled upon the Arthur Lyman record "Love for Sale" which i didn't have so i snagged it ($1.50). I took my stash home and started to spin what i had found. I looked inside Arthur's record sleeve and pulled out this gem. A signed trifold thingy from the Shell Bar circa 1957-60 something. He wrote " Aloha Louise. Arthur Lyman ". Totally made my day on an otherwise busted ass dig.
I love this thread so much. It really needs to be compiled into a book. Has anyone taken a stab at it?
I have a rather modest story of my own. I don't have the deep pockets (or the luck) to clean out a forgotten hoard of records but I still enjoy digging whenever I can. I think an issue for me is that I just got in the game too late.
I used to spend my summers (and the occasional week or two in the winter) in Korea. I would always check out the usual spots (written about in other posts) and I was semi-confident I knew some good spots not already completely cleaned out by serious diggers. But after a while, I would only find the same records. There would be some good ones, too, but I got sick of buying the same semi-decent records just because they were too cheap to pass up. By this time, all the good Shin Jung Hyun-related records were long gone. Every record store owner would tell me the same thing: Japanese record collectors had long since bought up all the really good records (early Shin Jung Hyun, SJH-produced girl groups, group sound, etc). Then came the Europeans, who focused mostly on obscure psych/fuzz/prog rock.
I heard one particular story several times: a while back (80s? 90s?) a Japanese guy who didn't speak any Korean picked up a SJH record. The seller (who didn't speak Japanese) stuck out two fingers to signal the (equivalent) price of $20. The buyer misinterpreted it and, without any hesitation, handed the seller not $20 but $200. Both the seller and buyer were happy. That's when people started realizing that some of these records were sought after by foreigners. Almost all the sellers conceded some regret that most of the truly collectible Korean records were now outside of Korea. (But, I bet they felt no qualms about selling the records to foreigners for mad loot back in the day.)
I almost felt foolish asking if they had the more collectible records, since we all knew the answer would be No. And if, by chance, they had the record, it would be way too expensive for me. I don't know how many times I got a false positive response due to all the (stupid expensive) REISSUES of Kim Jung Mi, SJH, He 6, etc.
So by this time (3-5 years ago), good 60s and early 70s stuff was pretty much impossible to come by. But other decent records were still plentiful and cheap (especially late-70s, early-80s stuff). I remember coming across my first copy of "Hometown of the Stars" (usually called "Hometown Hero" on eBay for some reason). Anyone who saw the original cover of the girl apparently getting raped (there were at least 3 different covers + minor variations) knew it had to be good. That and "It Rained Yesterday" were my first two good Korean discoveries (personally speaking). Every single place had at least one or two copies of that. As recently as about 1-2 years ago, those were $10 records. I hoarded that stuff, just because it was so cheap and I thought no one else knew about it. Then they started showing up on eBay and selling for $200+ a pop (they have since come down to the $150 range). Just about a year or two ago, all the San Ul Lim records sold for about $1-3 bucks each, and they were EVERYWHERE. I would get pissed off because there were so many of them. They were like pop vocal records in the States.
But the last time I was in Korea (about 6 months ago), Hometown and Rained were all gone. Places that had them were now selling them for $100-200. Even crappy San Ul Lim (vols 6 and up) were starting at $20-30. The records had jumped at least 10 TIMES in price within one year! I asked what the hell was going on. They all said the same thing: about a year or two ago, younger "American" kids started buying them up. In fact, ALL older records have gone up by about that much, just in the last year.
I have really digressed. Sorry. But it all provides context.
Okay, so about a year and a half ago, I was checking out some record stores but I kept finding the usual stuff. I was almost digging more for other Strutters. (A few years back, I posted some pics of Korea so some Strutters PMed me, asking me to look for stuff for them the next time I was in Korea.) It was almost time to go because that day happened to be my birthday and my girlfriend had arranged a nice dinner for us. I had about 10 minutes left before I had to go. I went to a different area not known for records but I just had that feeling. I don't get that Spidey Sense often.... I went into a tiny store that looked more like a stereo repair shop. I saw he had some records so I asked if I could look. He was cool. He asked what I was looking for. Since I only had 10 minutes, I didn't have time to go through the whole store myself. I had to just ask him if he had this or that record. I didn't want to start by asking for a grail I knew he wouldn't have so I asked for a fairly common Ham Jung A record that for some reason had been eluding me. "Of course," he said and pulled it right out. Cool.
"What else are you looking for?"
"Uh... early Pearl Sisters (SJH productions with heavy drums)?"
Then he pulls out every single one that I'm missing, and not the second issues, either. He had the first pressings with the gatefold covers.
(moving up the chain): "Do you have any early Kim Choo Ja (more SJH-produced drummy goodness)?"
Yup. Original gatefold.
By then I start to sweat. "You wouldn't happen to have, Kim Jung Mi, would you?"
"Yes."
He had SEVERAL. He asked what my favorite track was. I told him. He pulls the record right out and plays it full freaking blast. Those dirty, basement drums never sounded so good!
He said he was surprised that someone (relatively) young like me would even be looking for these. He seemed to get a kick out of playing/talking about these records.
He said, "If you like Kim Jung Mi, then you might like this Shin Jung Hyun record," and pulls out SJH Sound Vol. 1!! By the way, all the records were in beautiful condition.
He kept asking what I wanted. I would tell him. He would have it. This ridiculous sequence continued for about 10-15 minutes. After a while, I couldn't even think of stuff to ask for. I just told him honestly that he had the best Korean record collection that I had ever seen. He said this is all his personal collection. He bought all of these records himself when they first came out. I could tell he hadn't listened to them in years. He seemed to be having fun reminiscing.
It was time for me to go and there was a ridiculous stack of some of the best Korean records (at least by my own personal tastes) right in front of me. Unfortunately, I could only afford to buy a few of them. He didn't seem to mind at all. He was just happy to talk about these records.
When I met my girlfriend for dinner, I told her the story. She laughed: "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" (I had told her that I used to have dreams, literally, about this scenario.) I pulled out some of the records as proof. Since then, she has always jokingly referred to that store as the "dream store."
Fast forward one year (this would be about 6 months ago). I was back in Korea. I wanted to prove to my girlfriend that the place really existed so I took her along. With only a little difficulty, I found the place again. And all the records I left behind were STILL THERE! My girlfriend saw all of them for herself. I think I still have photos of the place.
Like I said in the beginning, I don't have fat stacks of cash for records so I had to leave MOST of those records behind. He had almost everything I wanted, but the records were a bit pricy (but reasonable). So it was bittersweet. I experienced the thrill of finding great stuff, but I could only afford to buy a few records. (I bought a few more the second time I went.) But still, there's a chance some of the records will still be there next time. Maybe I can buy a few records each time I visit. If someone else finds the place, I wouldn't feel so bad because the seller was so friendly and I want him to have some good business. And at least I got to dig out and listen to all those great records. I feel like the guy at the end of Charade who returns the "item" without hesitation because he had the joy of having owned it, if even for a moment.
fun story, some dope stuff id never find anywhere.. then again i dont get out of texas much :/
The summer in between Sophomore/Junior year of undergrad at Temple, me and three friends rented a house about 4 blocks off of campus. We decided to throw a party to ring in the new semester which resulted in your usual drunken shenanigans, loud music, cops arriving to bust up the party, etc. I'm the first person up the next day, and I get right to picking up the beer cans littering our backyard/parking area. I'm running on about 2 hours of sleep and am definitely feeling the effects of last nights debauchery. As I reach down to pick up a half empty beer can, likely of the off brand, light variety, I hear a voice yell "hey you! you wanna buys some reckids!?". I write it off as my brain misfiring, and continue to pick up cans. Again, "Hey you! Interested in these reckids!?". At the end of the drive way, a man with roughly half of his teeth missing is standing next to a shopping cart filled with 45s. I respond with a light, "Yeah..?? Yeah, I'm interested???". He introduces himself as "Oz Picasso", one of the better fake monikers I've encountered, and I invite him in (in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have invited this dude into my house). I start going through the stacks. Some of the 45s are sleeveless, and in pretty rough shape, but most of them are in makeshift paper sleeves (no hole in the middle) and are in great shape. The words "THE DEMON OF SOUL" are written on every single one of them. Oz tells me that he, in fact, is THE DEMON OF SOUL, and these are his records. It's an instant collection of classics. "It's My thing", "Razor Blade", " I Know You Got Soul"??? all in great shape. I ended up snagging about 100 or so 45s, gave the dude $20 and the last 6 beers in the fridge.
I've been silently visiting the site for a little while, and I've finally decided to join in. This doesn't quite compare to some of the stories on here, but this was one of my better digs, so I thought I'd share.
A few weeks before Christmas, I got a call from a record dealer at the flea market in my hometown. He had been putting together a box of soul 45s and was checking to see if I would be coming back for the holidays. At the time, I wasn't sure when I was going to be in town and what kind of fun money I was going to have, so I didn't call him back.
The Friday before Christmas, I made it back home, and after dinner, my parents wanted to celebrate my birthday (which is four days after Christmas). I immediately recognized what was surely an album, but I didn't want to make it seem like I didn't care about the other gifts, so I saved that for last. A few pairs of jeans, a sweater, and a record collection jigsaw puzzle (from my wife), I opened up the album. And, ta-da! it was Lawrence Welk's Christmas album. I thought at first that it was a gag gift from my sister, but I realized it was too light. There was no record in the sleeve, but instead, my parents put 30 dollar bills (for my 30th birthday) inside "for vinyl." After thanking everyone for the gifts, I excused myself, and called my record guy back to let him know I would be there first thing the next morning.
I woke up early, and left the house at 7:30 with my 30 bills in hand. I got to the flea market shortly before they opened. When the doors were unlocked, I was the first one in... through the front door. Apparently, those in the know can get in the back before they flea market opens. There were already 8-10 record collectors digging through his boxes! Luckily for me, most of his clientele is looking for rock, psych and punk, etc. LPs, and unless I let him know ahead of time that I'm coming, he doesn't usually bring many 45s.
As soon as I walked in, my man saw me, and pointed me to the "soul box". He also had two milk crates overflowing with 45s and his box of "priced" 45s. Having limited funds, I made my way to the soul box, and started flipping through. The first record in the box... James and Bobby Purify "I'm Your Puppet." Check that off my want list. Aside from the "priced box", all of the rest of his 45s and $1, plus he cuts me a deal the more I buy. I continued to pick out stuff, some I had been looking for for a while, some I took a bet on. There were dozens of records I could have grabbed, had my bank roll been a little bigger. I didn't even make it through the two milk crates.
I pulled a couple of records out of his "priced box", but with my discount, I was still able to pick up thirty-one 45s for $30. These may not be the greatest finds where some of you live, but for the smallish cities in Wisconsin and Illinois where I usually dig, I was overjoyed with what I pulled:
James & Bobby Purify - I'm Your Puppet/Everybody Needs Somebody, Sphere Sound
The Five Du-Tones - Shake a Tail Feather/Divorce Court, One-der-ful!
Tony Fox - I've Got To (Do It To It)/E.S.P., Calla
Dee Clark - Crossfire Time/I'm Going Home, Constellation
Etta James & Sugarpie DeSanto - In The Basement/pt.2, Cadet (finally!)
Dynamic Tints - Rosemarie/Be My Lady, Twinight
Jerry-O - Funky Boo-Ga-Loo/Push Push, Shout
J.J. Barnes - I Think I Found A Love/Please Let Me In, Ric-Tic
Alvin Cash - Funky Bag/Whip It On Me, Toddlin' Town
Junior Parker - I'm So Satisfied/Ain't Gon' Be No Cutting Aloose, Blue Rock
Wilmer and The Dukes - Get It/Give Me One More Chance, Aphrodisiac
Bobby Williams - Funky Superfly/pt.2, MTVH
Toussaint McCall - The Toussaint Shuffle/I'll Do It For You, Ronn
The Blue-Belles - I Sold My Heart To The Junkman/Itty Bitty Twist, Newtown
Al Greene - Don't Leave Me/Back Up Train, Hot Line Music Journal
The Mar-Keys - You Got It/Whot's Happenin'!, Stax
Sugarpie DeSanto - Jump In My Chest/Mama Didn't Raise No Fools, Checker
Gloria Taylor - You Got To Pay The Price/Loving You and Being Loved By You, Silver Fox
Cassius Clay - I Am The Greatest/Stand By Me, Columbia
Don Covay - Take This Hurt Off Me/Please Don't Let Me Know, Rosemary
Alvin Cash & The Crawlers - The Barracuda/Do It One More Time, Mar-V-Lus
Jr. Walker & The All Stars - Right On Brother, Right On Sister/Take Me Girl, I'm Ready, Soul
Barbara & The Browns - Big Party/You Belong To Her, Stax
Sims Twins - That's Where It's At/Movin' and A'Groovin', SAR
Willie Parker - You Got Your Finger In My Eye/I Live The Life I Love, M-Pac!
Dyke & The Blazers - City Dump/You Are My Sunshine, Original Sound
Edwin Starr - Stop Her On Sight (S.O.S.)/I Have Faith In You, Ric-Tic
Bobby Bland - In The Ghetto/Can We Make Love Tonight, Malaco
Margie Joseph - Stop! In The Name of Love/Make Me Believe You'll Stay, Volt
The Southwind Soul Unit - Good Soul Woman/Woman's Kinda Thinkin', UA
Don Covay & The Goodtimers - Snake In The Grass/I Stole Some Love, Atlantic
I had a feeling it might be the day I would finally find Cecil Garrett & The Fascinations "Bearcat", but no such luck.
When I was about to leave, he told me to let him know when I'd be back. He just bought a big collection, including 15,000 45s. I'll be heading back soon!
Well, I'm still young (19) so I've been not much time into collecting records, so, 2 years ago I went to a little shop in my island in Spain (there are only two record shops). For that time the owner didn't check prices on the internet, so, that day I picked up a copy of "Los Mismos - Jefe Ironside" for 2,5???, well it's really cheap for that 45. But after a long search all over the shop I told the owner: "Are there any other record stash in the shop? Although they might be a little bit more expensive". So, he tooked a chair, grabed some 45's and began showing me every record he had, until I saw my personal objective of that time, I just wanted to get two copies of one of my personal favourite spanish funk 45. So, he showed me TWO original copies of the killer "The President's - It's My Thing", both with cover and almost unplayed. I began trembling and asked for the price. 4??? each, no kidding. This may not be the most impresive story, but it was my better diggin' day ever.
I stumbled across this site the other day while doing research, happened to check out this thread and was immediately hooked. I spent the better part of the day reading these stories and enjoying the hell out of them???there are some real jaw-droppers here! I started thinking about my own record hunting experiences but, being a real amateur compared with most of the storytellers here, I didn???t immediately recall anything all that exciting or interesting. And then some memories suddenly rose to the surface???
I???ll start with some background. I had a deep interest in music from a young age, thanks mostly to my father, who???s a musician and had a pretty eclectic record collection when I was a kid. My first real music obsession, as is the case for many white suburban boys, was the Beatles, starting around age 13 (so this is 1993/94). The obsession with their music turned into a desire for their records???I wanted that connection to the past, the format in which people originally consumed the music. My mother helped me dig out her old Beatles (and other) records from her mother???s basement, and I was HOOKED???I wanted more.
One day mom???s mom (Granny) says she???ll take me to this record shop she???s seen down on Lindley Street in Bridgeport (CT). Those who are familiar with Bridgeport know it has some dicey areas, and the Lindley St. area is in one of them. Not that I was a stranger to B-port???Granny (and my mom) grew up there and still worked as secretary for my cousin???s construction company deep in the heart of the city, and we used to visit her and other relatives down there frequently. Still, my first time going to this record shop???the name was Platters Plus???I thought, yikes, not the greatest neighborhood.
But ya can???t judge a book by its cover and inside the store???which was like a little garage building next to a big, kinda run-down, three-story, multi-family home???was a pretty awesome selection of stuff. By ???94 CDs had pretty much already taken over so a store almost completely devoted to vinyl was an eye-opener for me. And there wasn???t just vinyl but a bunch of cool, music-related stuff all over the place. The proprietor was a short, soft-spoken, white bespectacled dude with long hair, who was a wealth of knowledge and introduced me to my first Beatles bootlegs and picture sleeves. Sadly, this is also where my dad ended up selling most (I did rescue a few things) of his record collection.
So for a time I was going down there with Granny with some frequency, but after a year or two the Beatles obsession faded as I got into other artists, and though I was still very much into music my interest in record hunting began to wane. I went to college in Maine???not what many would consider ideal digging territory, unless you???re REALLY into Pat Benatar???but thanks to a roommate who really got me into jazz and a few surprisingly good record stores my interest in vinyl made a small comeback. I still prize the very clean OG copy of Horace Silver???s ???The Jody Grind??? that I scored up there for just a few bucks, the highlight of my very limited Maine record hunting. Sorry to admit I was buying lots of Cds back in those days.
After college my interest in records went almost completely dormant for a few years, but then around ???05-???06 I had an R&B/Soul/Motown epiphany. Thanks to websites like soul-sides.com and Funky16corners, mixes like Impalaville and the original Soul Boulders, and the fact that I was getting bored with my usual listening fare led to a new obsession with soul music. After listening to most of the obvious classic stuff at a furious pace it didn???t take me long to realize that all the true soul/funk/R&B nerds were vinyl hounds, and that record hunting was the path to more exciting, uncharted musical territory.
So???trust me I???m going somewhere with this???I started digging, mostly for 45s, wherever I could: mostly at the local Sunday morning flea market and at the (very) few record shops here in CT. It was really hit-or-miss (finding black music here beyond the Supremes and 5th Dimension can really be a challenge), and I didn???t have much knowledge but I was learning and having fun. And then one day???I think it was October ???08--as I???m driving not too far from Bridgeport it occurs to me, maybe I should check out that place Granny used to take me when I was a kid???could it still be in business?
I shoot down the rt. 25 connector to the Lindley St. exit and find the place by instinct???it???s exactly as I remember it, the little garage building with the big sign still on the roof. The neighborhood hadn???t gotten any better in the 12-13 years since I had been there and despite being quite a bit older with lots more urban experience under my belt I still had the feeling of being obviously not from around these parts. I get out of the car and before I even get to the shop door my heart sinks???I can see through the dingy windows that this place is nearly empty and definitely no longer in business. I put my face up to the glass for a better look???there???s the old counter where the register sat, a few mostly empty racks, some packing boxes and random junk scattered around, and a dusty old late-50s era jukebox sitting askew away from one of the walls. Brought back a flood of memories just to look through the windows but sadly it was clear I was not going to find any records here.
Then just as I???m about to open my car door and get out of there, the back door of the big three-story house opens and out walks the shop owner???he looks a little older, with more gray in his hair, but I immediately recognize the guy.
???Did you come here looking for records???? he asks me sheepishly.
???Yeah, I used to come here a long time ago and I was hoping you???d still be in business. What???s the story???? I ask.
With a disappointed tone he tells me that there???s a family squabble over the property and that he has to get out or risk losing all his records. I don???t quite understand the situation but I don???t question him on the details. He asks what I???m looking for and I tell him: 45s. I was surprised by what he said next:
???Well, as you can see the shop???and all the LPs--are pretty much packed up, but I???m not quite done packing up what???s upstairs in the house. 45s from I thru Z are still alphabetized on the shelves up there if you???d like to take a look.???
Of course I say yes, absolutely, and he leads me through the back door of this rambling, run down old house complete with creaking floorboards and stairs, peeling paint, etc??? and takes me up to the third floor where the ceilings slope with the roof. It???s a chilly, overcast fall day and I can tell there are windows open up here. From what I can see, at least on the third floor, the house looks pretty abandoned. The guy shows me into what was probably once a bedroom where to my left the wall is lined with empty shelves and to the right the wall is lined with the same, homemade shelves FULL of organized 45s. In the center of the floor is a morass of garbage???old lamps, magazines, all sorts of crap (I distinctly remember there being feathers blowing around in there) and a few boxes full of even more 45s. Aside from those organized shelves the room is a disaster. By now I???m thinking this is kind of weird and not at ALL how I expected to be shopping for records.
???So what kinda stuff are you looking for???? he asks.
???Mostly R&B, soul, Motown, that kinda thing,??? I reply.
He says something along the lines of: ???Yeah???seems to be what they???re all looking for these days. Couple years ago the Brits came in here and cleaned out a lot of the rarities. They???d come in saying ???Oy mate, d???ya have [uber-rare song] by [obscure artist] on [no-name label]? I???ll give ya $300 for that one!??? Just offering crazy money, it was unbelievable. They went through everything just like that.??? He proceeded to rattle off a bunch of titles I had never heard of and the approximate prices said Brits offered. (Side note: about two years later I heard almost EXACTLY the same story from the owner of a record shop in Orange, CA. As he put it, ???all the stuff that never quite made it???the Brits and Japanese cleaned it out years ago??????)
I probably said something like ???Well, I???m not really looking for anything quite that rare.??? Which was true???I probably didn???t have the knowledge at that point to even know when a $50 45 was staring me in the face. He told me take my time looking around???he???d be in the house for awhile???and to just holler downstairs when I was ready to buy anything.
???Oh, and by the way,??? he adds, ???if you really want to look at some of the boxes I???ve packed I can open them for you.???
???How much do you have???? I ask. I forget the figure he tells me but it???s in the tens of thousands. He quickly brings me down to the end of the third floor hall and opens the door to another former bedroom absolutely jam-packed with boxes. I???m completely overwhelmed and tell him I???ll probably just stick to what???s out on the shelves. It???s cold up there, I???ve been talking to the guy for probably over 15 minutes and I haven???t even started digging yet. So I get down to business???
And it???s a shame I didn???t know more back then because, even if the Brits had cleaned out all the true heat right away I could tell there was some very good stuff on those shelves. And it was all PRISTINE, despite the feathers, garbage, peeling paint and all. I don???t think I pulled anything off those shelves that wasn???t NM or damn close. I can???t remember everything that ended up in my stack but it included beautiful copies of Syl Johnson???s ???Different Strokes,??? J.J. Jackson???s ???But It???s Alright,??? and a few from the Impressions. Nothing outrageous but all stuff I???d be hard pressed to turn up at my local flea market, especially in that condition. And this was just me going directly to those artists in the alphabet because it would have taken me hours to go through it all. After finding about a dozen records???not a lot, I know, but remember I don???t know how much these are gonna cost, it???s weird and creepy up there and my hands are getting numb from going through records in the cold???I holler for the guy, he comes up and quickly shuffles through the stack.
???How???s 20 bucks sound????
???Sure,??? I say, knowing that???s pretty fair and pulling out my wallet. All I???ve got are a few small bills and a hundred. I ask if he???s got change for the hondo and he says no, but you can change it at the bodega across the street. So I hustle across the street into the kinda place where Omar would buy a pack of Newpo???s and look for something to buy. Being a white boy from the suburbs I???m a little self-conscious about whipping out a hundred in this place but I buy a bottled drink, they change the bill no problem and I hurry back over to the big house and pay the man.
He thanks me and I ask him what he thinks will happen with his store and all the records. He sighs and replies, ???I really don???t know???it depends on what happens to this property?????? and I can tell he doesn???t expect a good outcome. And I honestly can???t remember this 100% but he may have said something like ???check back in a few months, or give a call if you???re looking for more.??? I thank him again the unexpected shopping opportunity and hit the road.
Now I can???t explain why, I don???t have a good excuse, but I never go back or call the guy. I travel a lot for my job???maybe I got really busy at work, was on a long business trip and just forgot about it? Maybe I had the feeling I had intercepted the guy right before he disappeared from that place for good? Maybe I just wasn???t a serious enough collector at that point to put in such legwork? I don???t know, but time marched on and in my mind I wrote the place off as a dead end. In fact up until reading this thread I hadn???t thought about this whole episode in a long, long time.
Epilogue: A few days after this thread brought the whole story to mind, an errand brought me just a few miles away from Platters Plus, so I couldn???t resist the urge to check it out. Unfortunately the sign is now gone from the shop building, and the house truly looks abandoned. There???s still an old faded sign for the store on the front porch that lists the phone number, but it???s out of service. Weirdly enough the place is still listed in bunches of internet directories with the non-working phone number, and there???s even an old picture of the shop exterior on merchantcircle.com. I have to wonder what happened to the poor guy and all those thousands of records. Any strutters ever hit this store up back in the day? Heard of it? Not that I???m necessarily interested in tracking him down, but it kinda haunts me and I???m curious.
I was walked down to a basement by a female homeowner on a work related inspection.
I noticed on the wall on three work bench tables. 6 card board boxes full of lps.
I asked after the inspection if I could look at them, and she said yeah they were
husband's collection. She walked back upstairs and waited for me until I was done
with my inspection and flipping thru the collection.
All your rock classics from the 1970's in pristine conditon. Lots of minty Hendrix, Cream,
Grateful Dead, Zepplin and the Beatles. Stuff I was going to sell or trade because they were
super clean, except the Hendrix. Anyways I brought a stack of records upstairs to
her to see if I could buy them from her. She took a look at them, and told some
random stories about her husband and their love of music.
She told me she had a daughter, and she was interested in keeping some of the records and selling the rest.
She told me she was going to see her daughter today. Ok I said, let me know, here is my phone number.
She then told me that she was going to meet her daughter at the cemetary, because today was the anniversary
of her husbands death. Ouch. I never heard from her, I probably should had never looked at those records. I felt bad
that I did.
Greetings fellow record junkies. First time poster here. I was inspired by these awesome stories and felt compelled to share one of my own from a recent weekend.
As a soul collector, living in Chicago is particularly convenient (and dangerous), since it's so easy to feed my record buying habit. I haven't been buying much vinyl lately, because I'm saving money for my wedding in a couple months. But while I was out on the North Side of the city taking my tuxedo to the tailor, I decided to take a detour on the way home and stop into a new store I had passed a few times. The store in the suburbs wasn't solely a record store ??? it also carries books and other media. But I know from experience that sometimes these places have better (translated: less picked-over) stashes than the typical record shops.
I walked in and greeted the owner, who was an extremely nice guy. Then, I immediately gravitated toward the soul 45s section. The owner saw me digging and offered a stool for me to sit on, which I gladly accepted. I started pulling some things as I flipped ??? mostly more common records on Motown and Brunswick. Then I moved to a section that was unsorted. The owner saw me looking and warned me that none of the records had been priced or categorized, but it was OK to look. When I said I didn't mind the lack of organization, he said "I've got a few more boxes in the back I haven't gone through yet. You're welcome to take a look. You might see some Curtis Mayfield records next to some old Kenny Rogers ones."
Well, of course I didn't mind. I finished up in the racks and moved on to the three boxes he brought out. After flipping for a bit, I realized I had stumbled onto something special. The label names popped out at me: Loma, Veep, Port. All DJ promos. I put them aside. I went through the other boxes and found a few more choice records, and by the time I was done, I had a stack of about two dozen 45s. Meanwhile, the owner put some on the turntable and played them over the soundsystem (he said he was getting sick of the bubblegum stuff that was playing). Clearly, he was enjoying the soul sounds as much as I was.
Most of the records I had pulled he priced at $1. But he knew the white labels could be something valuable. Of course, they were ??? I knew that. After checking some prices online, he still gave me an awesome deal. For records that regularly sell for hundreds of dollars apiece, he priced them at a small fraction of those typical listings ??? $10 to $20. Only one ended up being out of my price range (I'm trying to pay for a wedding, after all). I put most of the cheapies back and spend my hard eared cash on the rarer ones.
I went home a very happy man with:
Charles Thomas - "The Man With the Golden Touch / Looking for Love" on Loma (promo)
The Marvellos - "Something's Burnin / We go Together" on Loma (promo)
Rose St. John and The Wonderettes - "Fool Don't Laugh / I Know the Meaning" on Veep (promo)
King Coleman - "Get on Board / When the Fighting's Over" on Port (promo)
The Peps - "Detroit, Michigan / You Never Had It so Good" on D-Town
The Dynamics - "Ain't no Sun (Since You've Been Gone) / Murder in the First Degree" on Cotillion
Big_Stacks"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
Hey Guys,
I have hesitated to post in this thread, thinking I may not have record digging stories as novel and interesting as those that have been posted. I guess, I'll describe some highlights of my collecting expeditions over the years:
1. One that sticks out in my mind is going to some lady's house that my roomates knew when I lived in Akron, OH. They said she was into music, and that she might have some records she didn't want. We were listening to music at first, and she played a funky joint by Odell Brown and the Organizers. While listening to music, I told her that I collect music, to which she replied "that's cool." She goes on to say that she wants to get rid of her LPs, and suggested that I go through her records and pick what I want. What? I said how much does she want for them, to which she replied, "Nothing, just take them." Wow!!! So, I went through and picked out joints like:
-"Games, Dames, and Guitar Thangs"-Eddie Hazel.
-"Let's Take it to the Stage"-Funkadelic.
-"Cosmic Slop"-Funkadelic.
-"Everything I Play is Gonna Be Funky"-Lou Donaldson.
-"Black Drops"-Charles Earland.
-"S/T"-Archie Shepp.
-"Evolution"-Wilbert Longmire.
-"Thembi"-Pharaoah Sanders.
2. I used to work in the old schoolhouse building off of Exchange St. in Akron. In the building, there was a bookstore, Grumpy's Books and Records that I used to hit up during my lunch break. I became rather cool with the owner, who used to give me serious price breaks on the stuff I would pick up. I would come up in a major way in there, scoring minty copies of LPs on the ultra cheap such as:
-"S/T"-Eddie Fisher & the First 100 Years.
-"Right On"-Phil Moore, Jr.
-"Running Water"-Clarence Reid.
-"S/T"-The Sons of Champlin.
-"A Taste of ..."-The Younghearts.
-"Ain't too B-A-D Bad"-The Bobby Bryant Sextet.
-"Man on the Inside"-Johnny Sayles.
-"Construction #1"-Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan.
-"Watch Out"-Rene McLean Sextet.
3. My brother William, his buddy Charles, and I went to Dorton Arena in Raleigh, NC where this guy would sell records on the weekend. The seller looked like an extra from a Blaxploitation film, complete with afro, rayon shirts, floppy Ivy-Leaguer hat, and polyester pants. He had a gang of records, and the three of us were going through the bins. I had what I thought of as the 'misfortune' of being third in line going through the bins, after William and Charles. I was in my late teens at the time, so I was still a little wet-behind-the-ears in my collecting. As I followed them through the bins, I came up on LPs, on the cheap-cheap, like:
-"S/T"-Ripple.
-"S/T"-Shades of Brown.
-"Investigation #1"-Carl 'Sherlock' Holmes.
-"Out Here on My Own"-Lamont Dozier.
-"Disinhairited"-Rado, Ragni, & McDermott.
-"Just Outside of Town"-Mandrill.
-"Express Yourself"-Charles Wright and the 103rd Street Rhythm Band.
-"S/T"-Cymande.
"Dawn of a New Day"-O'Donel Levy.
4. In 1981, my uncles (pop's brothers) stopped running their disco down in rural NC. As part of this process, they asked my brother and I did we want their disco records. Of course, we said "yes." So, they gave us a grip of disco 12"s including such joints as:
-"Reaching Out (For Your Love)"-Lee Moore.
-"Beyond the Clouds"-Quartz.
-"You Make Me Hot"-Jimmy 'Bo' Horne.
-"Wear it Out"-Stargard.
-"Freakin's Fine"-Mandre.
-"Get Up and Boogie"-Freddie James.
-"Bout Time I Funk U"-Maurice Starr.
-"Dancing"-Grey & Hanks.
5. While I was down in Orlando, FL for a research conference, I ventured out to some record store downtown. I was picking up a grip of soul LPs, when some lady shopping in there had the store owner play a 45. It was "He Don't Really Love You" by The Delfonics, which is a beautiful joint (and featured on my "Slow and Funky" mix on the 'Strut). I was all shook thinking the lady was going to purchase this beautiful 45. Lucky me, she said she didn't want it after it finished playing, so I bolted up to the front counter and told the dealer to place the 45 on my stack. Phew, that one almost got away!!!
6. I used to hit up Lotusland Records (big up, Tom Nobles) when I lived in Milwaukee. After going to the store a number of times, I finally earned 'back room' status. Except in this case, the 'back room' meant a 2nd, separate storage unit across the street. In this treasure trove of back stock, he stored the unmarked heat. He encouraged me to go through and pick out some stuff I want. Out of this haul, I found such treats as:
-"The Better Part of Me"-Cillford Coulter.
-"Blood Brothers"-Gene Redding.
-"S/T"-Maxayn.
-"Say My Friend"-The Rance Allen Group.
-"Judgment Day"-The Fabulous Luckett Brothers.
7. Some other highlights include picking up most of the Funkadelic Westbound LPs, "S/T" and "Songs" by Rotary Connection, on the cheap at "Muzik Hut" in the Flea Market Mall in Fayetteville, NC (big up Bob Smyntek, if you're out there). I would pick out such heat there, and the nice thing is that he would set aside stuff for me on a weekly basis. I got the "A Group Called Smith" joint there, pretty much most of my Eddie Harris LPs, "Soul Machine" by Richard Barbary, "Evolution" (mono) by The Hollies, and so on. That was one of my favorite spots.
I also used to do damage at Nice Price Books and Reader's Corner in Raleigh before the days of the Internet, when great LPs filled the bins untouched. My those were the good ole' days. I can't forget my neighbor's bucket of 45s (kept out in their storage shed of all places!) they let me have that contained "Tramp" by Lowell Fulsom, "Don't Make Hurtin' Me a Habit" by The Marvalettes, "Easiest Way to Fall" by Freda Payne, "Am I the Same Girl" by Barbara Acklin (the latter two of which I sampled on one of my demos), and so on. I remember being overwhelmed by the mere volume of stock at Great Lakes Music (in Milwaukee) and Alamo Records and Sheet Music in San Antonio (man, it was hot there in August on the 3rd floor of a building without central air conditioning). Maybe in a another installment, I'll talk about my trips abroad and the finds these travels netted.
Comments
LOL it's called channeling of the mind what u think visualize and it materializes.
It's not common to find 2 sealed copies of donald austin crazy legs/ beginning of the end - funky nassau /9th creation falling in love / poison - one our way to number 1 /rhythm makers - soul on your side/ tribe - dedication for 2 dollar each turn up the middle of the night on a local website. ultimate digging in your drawers experience.
If u'r lucky such collections may split up deeper or more titles. the good stuff is always at 1 source. i don't expect to find 1000 usd grails in the netherlands tho, not in the soul funk genre.. but u never know where things end up..
Another experience was a large collection online and 1/5th visable the album from lafeyette afro rock band - malik
i drove there went to at least 4000 records twice but i couldn't find it anymore. i ended up buying mirror - daybreak for 2 dollar which i found out later is a private pressing.
I have a rather modest story of my own. I don't have the deep pockets (or the luck) to clean out a forgotten hoard of records but I still enjoy digging whenever I can. I think an issue for me is that I just got in the game too late.
I used to spend my summers (and the occasional week or two in the winter) in Korea. I would always check out the usual spots (written about in other posts) and I was semi-confident I knew some good spots not already completely cleaned out by serious diggers. But after a while, I would only find the same records. There would be some good ones, too, but I got sick of buying the same semi-decent records just because they were too cheap to pass up. By this time, all the good Shin Jung Hyun-related records were long gone. Every record store owner would tell me the same thing: Japanese record collectors had long since bought up all the really good records (early Shin Jung Hyun, SJH-produced girl groups, group sound, etc). Then came the Europeans, who focused mostly on obscure psych/fuzz/prog rock.
I heard one particular story several times: a while back (80s? 90s?) a Japanese guy who didn't speak any Korean picked up a SJH record. The seller (who didn't speak Japanese) stuck out two fingers to signal the (equivalent) price of $20. The buyer misinterpreted it and, without any hesitation, handed the seller not $20 but $200. Both the seller and buyer were happy. That's when people started realizing that some of these records were sought after by foreigners. Almost all the sellers conceded some regret that most of the truly collectible Korean records were now outside of Korea. (But, I bet they felt no qualms about selling the records to foreigners for mad loot back in the day.)
I almost felt foolish asking if they had the more collectible records, since we all knew the answer would be No. And if, by chance, they had the record, it would be way too expensive for me. I don't know how many times I got a false positive response due to all the (stupid expensive) REISSUES of Kim Jung Mi, SJH, He 6, etc.
So by this time (3-5 years ago), good 60s and early 70s stuff was pretty much impossible to come by. But other decent records were still plentiful and cheap (especially late-70s, early-80s stuff). I remember coming across my first copy of "Hometown of the Stars" (usually called "Hometown Hero" on eBay for some reason). Anyone who saw the original cover of the girl apparently getting raped (there were at least 3 different covers + minor variations) knew it had to be good. That and "It Rained Yesterday" were my first two good Korean discoveries (personally speaking). Every single place had at least one or two copies of that. As recently as about 1-2 years ago, those were $10 records. I hoarded that stuff, just because it was so cheap and I thought no one else knew about it. Then they started showing up on eBay and selling for $200+ a pop (they have since come down to the $150 range). Just about a year or two ago, all the San Ul Lim records sold for about $1-3 bucks each, and they were EVERYWHERE. I would get pissed off because there were so many of them. They were like pop vocal records in the States.
But the last time I was in Korea (about 6 months ago), Hometown and Rained were all gone. Places that had them were now selling them for $100-200. Even crappy San Ul Lim (vols 6 and up) were starting at $20-30. The records had jumped at least 10 TIMES in price within one year! I asked what the hell was going on. They all said the same thing: about a year or two ago, younger "American" kids started buying them up. In fact, ALL older records have gone up by about that much, just in the last year.
I have really digressed. Sorry. But it all provides context.
Okay, so about a year and a half ago, I was checking out some record stores but I kept finding the usual stuff. I was almost digging more for other Strutters. (A few years back, I posted some pics of Korea so some Strutters PMed me, asking me to look for stuff for them the next time I was in Korea.) It was almost time to go because that day happened to be my birthday and my girlfriend had arranged a nice dinner for us. I had about 10 minutes left before I had to go. I went to a different area not known for records but I just had that feeling. I don't get that Spidey Sense often.... I went into a tiny store that looked more like a stereo repair shop. I saw he had some records so I asked if I could look. He was cool. He asked what I was looking for. Since I only had 10 minutes, I didn't have time to go through the whole store myself. I had to just ask him if he had this or that record. I didn't want to start by asking for a grail I knew he wouldn't have so I asked for a fairly common Ham Jung A record that for some reason had been eluding me. "Of course," he said and pulled it right out. Cool.
"What else are you looking for?"
"Uh... early Pearl Sisters (SJH productions with heavy drums)?"
Then he pulls out every single one that I'm missing, and not the second issues, either. He had the first pressings with the gatefold covers.
(moving up the chain): "Do you have any early Kim Choo Ja (more SJH-produced drummy goodness)?"
Yup. Original gatefold.
By then I start to sweat. "You wouldn't happen to have, Kim Jung Mi, would you?"
"Yes."
He had SEVERAL. He asked what my favorite track was. I told him. He pulls the record right out and plays it full freaking blast. Those dirty, basement drums never sounded so good!
He said he was surprised that someone (relatively) young like me would even be looking for these. He seemed to get a kick out of playing/talking about these records.
He said, "If you like Kim Jung Mi, then you might like this Shin Jung Hyun record," and pulls out SJH Sound Vol. 1!! By the way, all the records were in beautiful condition.
He kept asking what I wanted. I would tell him. He would have it. This ridiculous sequence continued for about 10-15 minutes. After a while, I couldn't even think of stuff to ask for. I just told him honestly that he had the best Korean record collection that I had ever seen. He said this is all his personal collection. He bought all of these records himself when they first came out. I could tell he hadn't listened to them in years. He seemed to be having fun reminiscing.
It was time for me to go and there was a ridiculous stack of some of the best Korean records (at least by my own personal tastes) right in front of me. Unfortunately, I could only afford to buy a few of them. He didn't seem to mind at all. He was just happy to talk about these records.
When I met my girlfriend for dinner, I told her the story. She laughed: "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" (I had told her that I used to have dreams, literally, about this scenario.) I pulled out some of the records as proof. Since then, she has always jokingly referred to that store as the "dream store."
Fast forward one year (this would be about 6 months ago). I was back in Korea. I wanted to prove to my girlfriend that the place really existed so I took her along. With only a little difficulty, I found the place again. And all the records I left behind were STILL THERE! My girlfriend saw all of them for herself. I think I still have photos of the place.
Like I said in the beginning, I don't have fat stacks of cash for records so I had to leave MOST of those records behind. He had almost everything I wanted, but the records were a bit pricy (but reasonable). So it was bittersweet. I experienced the thrill of finding great stuff, but I could only afford to buy a few records. (I bought a few more the second time I went.) But still, there's a chance some of the records will still be there next time. Maybe I can buy a few records each time I visit. If someone else finds the place, I wouldn't feel so bad because the seller was so friendly and I want him to have some good business. And at least I got to dig out and listen to all those great records. I feel like the guy at the end of Charade who returns the "item" without hesitation because he had the joy of having owned it, if even for a moment.
http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg12.html
Actually, the final comics from the original Mile High/Edgar Church collection are going up for auction in November (Heritage Auctions).
Any more stories, anyone?
I hate leaving empty handed so I pick up a Patsy Cline and when I check the vinyl, it's got the wrong LP in it (the correct platter presumably stolen).
If these records are being nicked, there must be some very nimble fingered grandmothers in my neighbourhood.
(I 'spose all the facemelters could have been pinched before I got there)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/185386_10150767620845576_577380575_20206995_8195118_n.jpg
Not for nothing, dude, but between the generic sleeves and crates, that looks like the garage where shitty 90s-00s DJ pool promo terds go to die. But best of luck.
Yeah he's a DJ friend of mine with mostly 12' singles but he does have some old soul, jazz, rock and misc stuff in other crates.
Next stop was a guy's house who had advertised on Craigslist and while he was a very pleasant and welcoming older gentleman, his records sucked and we left with nothing leaving behind gems like a G- ? & The Mysterians LP. It was mid-afternoon and was time to do some scrambling. We stopped at a Goodwill and they had no records....stopped at another and it was chud heaven. We had a spot to hit by 4:00 so we drove around looking for anything interesting. We stopped at a ReSale Shop and were told they had no records. I asked the dude running the place if he knew anyplace with vinyl and he said "Try Hastings". We explained we were looking for used vinyl and he said "Yeah, check the Gift Shop around the corner, the owners husband was a DJ".
We went to the Gift Shop and saw 1,000+ LP's when we walked in and were greeted by the owner. We explained we were looking for records and she said she would have to get her husband. She called him and he appeared in less than a minute. He said the LP's in the store were not for sale but that he had some in the back we could look at. He took us to a back room and it had a couple of thousand more LP's. He told us two crates were off limits(we spied a Joe Quarterman LP in one of them) but everything else was fair game. As we were digging he was telling us stories about how he was a buyer for a large vinyl chain store in Dallas back in the 70's and showed us pictures of him and acts as diverse as Sting and Alabama. He told tales of partying and drug use which he eventually kicked by moving to Waco. ReRog found a CD of a local rap artist who turned out to be the guy's son. We found a small stack of LP's and when it was time to pay I apparently offered too much $$$ and he said my offer would cover everyone's records which we ignored and shoved cash in his hand with the prospect of coming back sometime and going through the rest of the stuff.
While we were getting ready to leave I saw what looked like a "Boxing" style poster and when I picked them up our host said "Oh, No those aren't for sale". I asked if I could look at them and he said sure. Out of a plastic bag I pulled out three identical posters with one of them being in real nice shape and the other two not so much. ReRog and I both said out loud how cool it would be to have one and our host asked "Well, if I did sell you one what would you pay?" I honestly told him that I would be happy to hand over a $100 bill for one of the lesser ones but I had no idea if that was a fair offer or not. We agreed that we would do some research and come back to see him.
A few weeks later, newly transplanted Texan, Behemoth was in the area, stopped in and bought the posters for ReRog and I. We got the two lesser ones and the third, better condition copy, will be displayed in the near future at the Negro League Baseball Hall Of Fame in Kansas City. Some research has revealed that this poster is from 1947 and was part of a "Barnstorming" series of games that these two teams played in the Southwest part of the country. Mine is being framed and will have a special spot on my living room wall. Best find for me in years....or maybe ever.
About 3 years ago I responded to a listing on the local news classified page. The ad had no photos and wasn't very revealing as to what in the collection contained, only that there were 15,000 or more records.
I immediately responded to the ad. After I spoke to the guy over the phone, he kept saying "You'll just have to see it." It was in the middle of the work day when I saw the ad and I could hardly wait to get off and see what this was all about
I drove up to the area, where I had passed by a lot times previously. I meet with the guy and we walk next door to an unkept small house. It almost looked like it had been abandoned. The paint was peeling, the fence was falling down and there some old lawn mores or something on the lawn.
We walk in the door and the guy shows me around the living room and bedroom were most of the records are. He mentioned there were more in the basement but they were really hard to get to. I start going through the collection. The first record i see is an unopened copy of the Velvet Underground banana cover. He says he found some Beatles and Stones and things like that.
I don't remember if i had a portable the first time I looked but I remember walking out with almost 75 records the first go. Some records that i was really surprised to find were...
Eddie Gale Ghetto Music
Ernie Hines - Sealed
The Flasher OST - Sealed
Sooo many others.
There were unopened boxes with the return address of Stax Records and other companies with the receipt and invoice inside. Bags straight from the record stores with the receipt in them, records sealed. The guy was a hoarder and had stacked the whole house full of crap. Old beer, antiques, porn, newspapers, lunchboxes etc. He had an affinity for records which made it especially nice.
The house was so full of stuff that there was only a small trail to walk through from room to room.
I went back about 5-10 times a lot of which I was helping move crap out of the house and into the dumpster so that I could get to the records.
It turned out that the owner of the house had gotten trapped one day when a tower of newspaper fell on him. His neighbor had noticed that the guy was MIA for a few days and walked over the house and found him. He didn't know the extent of what this guy had. In the end the city made him clean it up and the guy who posted the listing was helping him sell things off and clean out the house.
I gave the guy a hint and told him to sell the Velvet Underground on ebay. He sold it for like $800 or something like that. I was pulling SO much good stuff, mostly sealed, that I felt like I was taking advantage of him. I have photos of a lot of it. No one in the finds thread believed me when I was posting all these sealed record on here.
Anyways, this collection exposed me to so much music and it turned out to be a lot more that 15,000!!
fun story, some dope stuff id never find anywhere.. then again i dont get out of texas much :/
More to come...
Two Big Thumbs Up!
A few weeks before Christmas, I got a call from a record dealer at the flea market in my hometown. He had been putting together a box of soul 45s and was checking to see if I would be coming back for the holidays. At the time, I wasn't sure when I was going to be in town and what kind of fun money I was going to have, so I didn't call him back.
The Friday before Christmas, I made it back home, and after dinner, my parents wanted to celebrate my birthday (which is four days after Christmas). I immediately recognized what was surely an album, but I didn't want to make it seem like I didn't care about the other gifts, so I saved that for last. A few pairs of jeans, a sweater, and a record collection jigsaw puzzle (from my wife), I opened up the album. And, ta-da! it was Lawrence Welk's Christmas album. I thought at first that it was a gag gift from my sister, but I realized it was too light. There was no record in the sleeve, but instead, my parents put 30 dollar bills (for my 30th birthday) inside "for vinyl." After thanking everyone for the gifts, I excused myself, and called my record guy back to let him know I would be there first thing the next morning.
I woke up early, and left the house at 7:30 with my 30 bills in hand. I got to the flea market shortly before they opened. When the doors were unlocked, I was the first one in... through the front door. Apparently, those in the know can get in the back before they flea market opens. There were already 8-10 record collectors digging through his boxes! Luckily for me, most of his clientele is looking for rock, psych and punk, etc. LPs, and unless I let him know ahead of time that I'm coming, he doesn't usually bring many 45s.
As soon as I walked in, my man saw me, and pointed me to the "soul box". He also had two milk crates overflowing with 45s and his box of "priced" 45s. Having limited funds, I made my way to the soul box, and started flipping through. The first record in the box... James and Bobby Purify "I'm Your Puppet." Check that off my want list. Aside from the "priced box", all of the rest of his 45s and $1, plus he cuts me a deal the more I buy. I continued to pick out stuff, some I had been looking for for a while, some I took a bet on. There were dozens of records I could have grabbed, had my bank roll been a little bigger. I didn't even make it through the two milk crates.
I pulled a couple of records out of his "priced box", but with my discount, I was still able to pick up thirty-one 45s for $30. These may not be the greatest finds where some of you live, but for the smallish cities in Wisconsin and Illinois where I usually dig, I was overjoyed with what I pulled:
James & Bobby Purify - I'm Your Puppet/Everybody Needs Somebody, Sphere Sound
The Five Du-Tones - Shake a Tail Feather/Divorce Court, One-der-ful!
Tony Fox - I've Got To (Do It To It)/E.S.P., Calla
Dee Clark - Crossfire Time/I'm Going Home, Constellation
Etta James & Sugarpie DeSanto - In The Basement/pt.2, Cadet (finally!)
Dynamic Tints - Rosemarie/Be My Lady, Twinight
Jerry-O - Funky Boo-Ga-Loo/Push Push, Shout
J.J. Barnes - I Think I Found A Love/Please Let Me In, Ric-Tic
Alvin Cash - Funky Bag/Whip It On Me, Toddlin' Town
Junior Parker - I'm So Satisfied/Ain't Gon' Be No Cutting Aloose, Blue Rock
Wilmer and The Dukes - Get It/Give Me One More Chance, Aphrodisiac
Bobby Williams - Funky Superfly/pt.2, MTVH
Toussaint McCall - The Toussaint Shuffle/I'll Do It For You, Ronn
The Blue-Belles - I Sold My Heart To The Junkman/Itty Bitty Twist, Newtown
Al Greene - Don't Leave Me/Back Up Train, Hot Line Music Journal
The Mar-Keys - You Got It/Whot's Happenin'!, Stax
Sugarpie DeSanto - Jump In My Chest/Mama Didn't Raise No Fools, Checker
Gloria Taylor - You Got To Pay The Price/Loving You and Being Loved By You, Silver Fox
Cassius Clay - I Am The Greatest/Stand By Me, Columbia
Don Covay - Take This Hurt Off Me/Please Don't Let Me Know, Rosemary
Alvin Cash & The Crawlers - The Barracuda/Do It One More Time, Mar-V-Lus
Jr. Walker & The All Stars - Right On Brother, Right On Sister/Take Me Girl, I'm Ready, Soul
Barbara & The Browns - Big Party/You Belong To Her, Stax
Sims Twins - That's Where It's At/Movin' and A'Groovin', SAR
Willie Parker - You Got Your Finger In My Eye/I Live The Life I Love, M-Pac!
Dyke & The Blazers - City Dump/You Are My Sunshine, Original Sound
Edwin Starr - Stop Her On Sight (S.O.S.)/I Have Faith In You, Ric-Tic
Bobby Bland - In The Ghetto/Can We Make Love Tonight, Malaco
Margie Joseph - Stop! In The Name of Love/Make Me Believe You'll Stay, Volt
The Southwind Soul Unit - Good Soul Woman/Woman's Kinda Thinkin', UA
Don Covay & The Goodtimers - Snake In The Grass/I Stole Some Love, Atlantic
I had a feeling it might be the day I would finally find Cecil Garrett & The Fascinations "Bearcat", but no such luck.
When I was about to leave, he told me to let him know when I'd be back. He just bought a big collection, including 15,000 45s. I'll be heading back soon!
I???ll start with some background. I had a deep interest in music from a young age, thanks mostly to my father, who???s a musician and had a pretty eclectic record collection when I was a kid. My first real music obsession, as is the case for many white suburban boys, was the Beatles, starting around age 13 (so this is 1993/94). The obsession with their music turned into a desire for their records???I wanted that connection to the past, the format in which people originally consumed the music. My mother helped me dig out her old Beatles (and other) records from her mother???s basement, and I was HOOKED???I wanted more.
One day mom???s mom (Granny) says she???ll take me to this record shop she???s seen down on Lindley Street in Bridgeport (CT). Those who are familiar with Bridgeport know it has some dicey areas, and the Lindley St. area is in one of them. Not that I was a stranger to B-port???Granny (and my mom) grew up there and still worked as secretary for my cousin???s construction company deep in the heart of the city, and we used to visit her and other relatives down there frequently. Still, my first time going to this record shop???the name was Platters Plus???I thought, yikes, not the greatest neighborhood.
But ya can???t judge a book by its cover and inside the store???which was like a little garage building next to a big, kinda run-down, three-story, multi-family home???was a pretty awesome selection of stuff. By ???94 CDs had pretty much already taken over so a store almost completely devoted to vinyl was an eye-opener for me. And there wasn???t just vinyl but a bunch of cool, music-related stuff all over the place. The proprietor was a short, soft-spoken, white bespectacled dude with long hair, who was a wealth of knowledge and introduced me to my first Beatles bootlegs and picture sleeves. Sadly, this is also where my dad ended up selling most (I did rescue a few things) of his record collection.
So for a time I was going down there with Granny with some frequency, but after a year or two the Beatles obsession faded as I got into other artists, and though I was still very much into music my interest in record hunting began to wane. I went to college in Maine???not what many would consider ideal digging territory, unless you???re REALLY into Pat Benatar???but thanks to a roommate who really got me into jazz and a few surprisingly good record stores my interest in vinyl made a small comeback. I still prize the very clean OG copy of Horace Silver???s ???The Jody Grind??? that I scored up there for just a few bucks, the highlight of my very limited Maine record hunting. Sorry to admit I was buying lots of Cds back in those days.
After college my interest in records went almost completely dormant for a few years, but then around ???05-???06 I had an R&B/Soul/Motown epiphany. Thanks to websites like soul-sides.com and Funky16corners, mixes like Impalaville and the original Soul Boulders, and the fact that I was getting bored with my usual listening fare led to a new obsession with soul music. After listening to most of the obvious classic stuff at a furious pace it didn???t take me long to realize that all the true soul/funk/R&B nerds were vinyl hounds, and that record hunting was the path to more exciting, uncharted musical territory.
So???trust me I???m going somewhere with this???I started digging, mostly for 45s, wherever I could: mostly at the local Sunday morning flea market and at the (very) few record shops here in CT. It was really hit-or-miss (finding black music here beyond the Supremes and 5th Dimension can really be a challenge), and I didn???t have much knowledge but I was learning and having fun. And then one day???I think it was October ???08--as I???m driving not too far from Bridgeport it occurs to me, maybe I should check out that place Granny used to take me when I was a kid???could it still be in business?
I shoot down the rt. 25 connector to the Lindley St. exit and find the place by instinct???it???s exactly as I remember it, the little garage building with the big sign still on the roof. The neighborhood hadn???t gotten any better in the 12-13 years since I had been there and despite being quite a bit older with lots more urban experience under my belt I still had the feeling of being obviously not from around these parts. I get out of the car and before I even get to the shop door my heart sinks???I can see through the dingy windows that this place is nearly empty and definitely no longer in business. I put my face up to the glass for a better look???there???s the old counter where the register sat, a few mostly empty racks, some packing boxes and random junk scattered around, and a dusty old late-50s era jukebox sitting askew away from one of the walls. Brought back a flood of memories just to look through the windows but sadly it was clear I was not going to find any records here.
Then just as I???m about to open my car door and get out of there, the back door of the big three-story house opens and out walks the shop owner???he looks a little older, with more gray in his hair, but I immediately recognize the guy.
???Did you come here looking for records???? he asks me sheepishly.
???Yeah, I used to come here a long time ago and I was hoping you???d still be in business. What???s the story???? I ask.
With a disappointed tone he tells me that there???s a family squabble over the property and that he has to get out or risk losing all his records. I don???t quite understand the situation but I don???t question him on the details. He asks what I???m looking for and I tell him: 45s. I was surprised by what he said next:
???Well, as you can see the shop???and all the LPs--are pretty much packed up, but I???m not quite done packing up what???s upstairs in the house. 45s from I thru Z are still alphabetized on the shelves up there if you???d like to take a look.???
Of course I say yes, absolutely, and he leads me through the back door of this rambling, run down old house complete with creaking floorboards and stairs, peeling paint, etc??? and takes me up to the third floor where the ceilings slope with the roof. It???s a chilly, overcast fall day and I can tell there are windows open up here. From what I can see, at least on the third floor, the house looks pretty abandoned. The guy shows me into what was probably once a bedroom where to my left the wall is lined with empty shelves and to the right the wall is lined with the same, homemade shelves FULL of organized 45s. In the center of the floor is a morass of garbage???old lamps, magazines, all sorts of crap (I distinctly remember there being feathers blowing around in there) and a few boxes full of even more 45s. Aside from those organized shelves the room is a disaster. By now I???m thinking this is kind of weird and not at ALL how I expected to be shopping for records.
???So what kinda stuff are you looking for???? he asks.
???Mostly R&B, soul, Motown, that kinda thing,??? I reply.
He says something along the lines of: ???Yeah???seems to be what they???re all looking for these days. Couple years ago the Brits came in here and cleaned out a lot of the rarities. They???d come in saying ???Oy mate, d???ya have [uber-rare song] by [obscure artist] on [no-name label]? I???ll give ya $300 for that one!??? Just offering crazy money, it was unbelievable. They went through everything just like that.??? He proceeded to rattle off a bunch of titles I had never heard of and the approximate prices said Brits offered. (Side note: about two years later I heard almost EXACTLY the same story from the owner of a record shop in Orange, CA. As he put it, ???all the stuff that never quite made it???the Brits and Japanese cleaned it out years ago??????)
I probably said something like ???Well, I???m not really looking for anything quite that rare.??? Which was true???I probably didn???t have the knowledge at that point to even know when a $50 45 was staring me in the face. He told me take my time looking around???he???d be in the house for awhile???and to just holler downstairs when I was ready to buy anything.
???Oh, and by the way,??? he adds, ???if you really want to look at some of the boxes I???ve packed I can open them for you.???
???How much do you have???? I ask. I forget the figure he tells me but it???s in the tens of thousands. He quickly brings me down to the end of the third floor hall and opens the door to another former bedroom absolutely jam-packed with boxes. I???m completely overwhelmed and tell him I???ll probably just stick to what???s out on the shelves. It???s cold up there, I???ve been talking to the guy for probably over 15 minutes and I haven???t even started digging yet. So I get down to business???
And it???s a shame I didn???t know more back then because, even if the Brits had cleaned out all the true heat right away I could tell there was some very good stuff on those shelves. And it was all PRISTINE, despite the feathers, garbage, peeling paint and all. I don???t think I pulled anything off those shelves that wasn???t NM or damn close. I can???t remember everything that ended up in my stack but it included beautiful copies of Syl Johnson???s ???Different Strokes,??? J.J. Jackson???s ???But It???s Alright,??? and a few from the Impressions. Nothing outrageous but all stuff I???d be hard pressed to turn up at my local flea market, especially in that condition. And this was just me going directly to those artists in the alphabet because it would have taken me hours to go through it all. After finding about a dozen records???not a lot, I know, but remember I don???t know how much these are gonna cost, it???s weird and creepy up there and my hands are getting numb from going through records in the cold???I holler for the guy, he comes up and quickly shuffles through the stack.
???How???s 20 bucks sound????
???Sure,??? I say, knowing that???s pretty fair and pulling out my wallet. All I???ve got are a few small bills and a hundred. I ask if he???s got change for the hondo and he says no, but you can change it at the bodega across the street. So I hustle across the street into the kinda place where Omar would buy a pack of Newpo???s and look for something to buy. Being a white boy from the suburbs I???m a little self-conscious about whipping out a hundred in this place but I buy a bottled drink, they change the bill no problem and I hurry back over to the big house and pay the man.
He thanks me and I ask him what he thinks will happen with his store and all the records. He sighs and replies, ???I really don???t know???it depends on what happens to this property?????? and I can tell he doesn???t expect a good outcome. And I honestly can???t remember this 100% but he may have said something like ???check back in a few months, or give a call if you???re looking for more.??? I thank him again the unexpected shopping opportunity and hit the road.
Now I can???t explain why, I don???t have a good excuse, but I never go back or call the guy. I travel a lot for my job???maybe I got really busy at work, was on a long business trip and just forgot about it? Maybe I had the feeling I had intercepted the guy right before he disappeared from that place for good? Maybe I just wasn???t a serious enough collector at that point to put in such legwork? I don???t know, but time marched on and in my mind I wrote the place off as a dead end. In fact up until reading this thread I hadn???t thought about this whole episode in a long, long time.
Epilogue: A few days after this thread brought the whole story to mind, an errand brought me just a few miles away from Platters Plus, so I couldn???t resist the urge to check it out. Unfortunately the sign is now gone from the shop building, and the house truly looks abandoned. There???s still an old faded sign for the store on the front porch that lists the phone number, but it???s out of service. Weirdly enough the place is still listed in bunches of internet directories with the non-working phone number, and there???s even an old picture of the shop exterior on merchantcircle.com. I have to wonder what happened to the poor guy and all those thousands of records. Any strutters ever hit this store up back in the day? Heard of it? Not that I???m necessarily interested in tracking him down, but it kinda haunts me and I???m curious.
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/10193792-421/out-of-the-past-records-a-vinyl-destination.html
I was walked down to a basement by a female homeowner on a work related inspection.
I noticed on the wall on three work bench tables. 6 card board boxes full of lps.
I asked after the inspection if I could look at them, and she said yeah they were
husband's collection. She walked back upstairs and waited for me until I was done
with my inspection and flipping thru the collection.
All your rock classics from the 1970's in pristine conditon. Lots of minty Hendrix, Cream,
Grateful Dead, Zepplin and the Beatles. Stuff I was going to sell or trade because they were
super clean, except the Hendrix. Anyways I brought a stack of records upstairs to
her to see if I could buy them from her. She took a look at them, and told some
random stories about her husband and their love of music.
She told me she had a daughter, and she was interested in keeping some of the records and selling the rest.
She told me she was going to see her daughter today. Ok I said, let me know, here is my phone number.
She then told me that she was going to meet her daughter at the cemetary, because today was the anniversary
of her husbands death. Ouch. I never heard from her, I probably should had never looked at those records. I felt bad
that I did.
As a soul collector, living in Chicago is particularly convenient (and dangerous), since it's so easy to feed my record buying habit. I haven't been buying much vinyl lately, because I'm saving money for my wedding in a couple months. But while I was out on the North Side of the city taking my tuxedo to the tailor, I decided to take a detour on the way home and stop into a new store I had passed a few times. The store in the suburbs wasn't solely a record store ??? it also carries books and other media. But I know from experience that sometimes these places have better (translated: less picked-over) stashes than the typical record shops.
I walked in and greeted the owner, who was an extremely nice guy. Then, I immediately gravitated toward the soul 45s section. The owner saw me digging and offered a stool for me to sit on, which I gladly accepted. I started pulling some things as I flipped ??? mostly more common records on Motown and Brunswick. Then I moved to a section that was unsorted. The owner saw me looking and warned me that none of the records had been priced or categorized, but it was OK to look. When I said I didn't mind the lack of organization, he said "I've got a few more boxes in the back I haven't gone through yet. You're welcome to take a look. You might see some Curtis Mayfield records next to some old Kenny Rogers ones."
Well, of course I didn't mind. I finished up in the racks and moved on to the three boxes he brought out. After flipping for a bit, I realized I had stumbled onto something special. The label names popped out at me: Loma, Veep, Port. All DJ promos. I put them aside. I went through the other boxes and found a few more choice records, and by the time I was done, I had a stack of about two dozen 45s. Meanwhile, the owner put some on the turntable and played them over the soundsystem (he said he was getting sick of the bubblegum stuff that was playing). Clearly, he was enjoying the soul sounds as much as I was.
Most of the records I had pulled he priced at $1. But he knew the white labels could be something valuable. Of course, they were ??? I knew that. After checking some prices online, he still gave me an awesome deal. For records that regularly sell for hundreds of dollars apiece, he priced them at a small fraction of those typical listings ??? $10 to $20. Only one ended up being out of my price range (I'm trying to pay for a wedding, after all). I put most of the cheapies back and spend my hard eared cash on the rarer ones.
I went home a very happy man with:
Charles Thomas - "The Man With the Golden Touch / Looking for Love" on Loma (promo)
The Marvellos - "Something's Burnin / We go Together" on Loma (promo)
Rose St. John and The Wonderettes - "Fool Don't Laugh / I Know the Meaning" on Veep (promo)
King Coleman - "Get on Board / When the Fighting's Over" on Port (promo)
The Peps - "Detroit, Michigan / You Never Had It so Good" on D-Town
The Dynamics - "Ain't no Sun (Since You've Been Gone) / Murder in the First Degree" on Cotillion
I have hesitated to post in this thread, thinking I may not have record digging stories as novel and interesting as those that have been posted. I guess, I'll describe some highlights of my collecting expeditions over the years:
1. One that sticks out in my mind is going to some lady's house that my roomates knew when I lived in Akron, OH. They said she was into music, and that she might have some records she didn't want. We were listening to music at first, and she played a funky joint by Odell Brown and the Organizers. While listening to music, I told her that I collect music, to which she replied "that's cool." She goes on to say that she wants to get rid of her LPs, and suggested that I go through her records and pick what I want. What? I said how much does she want for them, to which she replied, "Nothing, just take them." Wow!!! So, I went through and picked out joints like:
-"Games, Dames, and Guitar Thangs"-Eddie Hazel.
-"Let's Take it to the Stage"-Funkadelic.
-"Cosmic Slop"-Funkadelic.
-"Everything I Play is Gonna Be Funky"-Lou Donaldson.
-"Black Drops"-Charles Earland.
-"S/T"-Archie Shepp.
-"Evolution"-Wilbert Longmire.
-"Thembi"-Pharaoah Sanders.
2. I used to work in the old schoolhouse building off of Exchange St. in Akron. In the building, there was a bookstore, Grumpy's Books and Records that I used to hit up during my lunch break. I became rather cool with the owner, who used to give me serious price breaks on the stuff I would pick up. I would come up in a major way in there, scoring minty copies of LPs on the ultra cheap such as:
-"S/T"-Eddie Fisher & the First 100 Years.
-"Right On"-Phil Moore, Jr.
-"Running Water"-Clarence Reid.
-"S/T"-The Sons of Champlin.
-"A Taste of ..."-The Younghearts.
-"Ain't too B-A-D Bad"-The Bobby Bryant Sextet.
-"Man on the Inside"-Johnny Sayles.
-"Construction #1"-Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan.
-"Watch Out"-Rene McLean Sextet.
3. My brother William, his buddy Charles, and I went to Dorton Arena in Raleigh, NC where this guy would sell records on the weekend. The seller looked like an extra from a Blaxploitation film, complete with afro, rayon shirts, floppy Ivy-Leaguer hat, and polyester pants. He had a gang of records, and the three of us were going through the bins. I had what I thought of as the 'misfortune' of being third in line going through the bins, after William and Charles. I was in my late teens at the time, so I was still a little wet-behind-the-ears in my collecting. As I followed them through the bins, I came up on LPs, on the cheap-cheap, like:
-"S/T"-Ripple.
-"S/T"-Shades of Brown.
-"Investigation #1"-Carl 'Sherlock' Holmes.
-"Out Here on My Own"-Lamont Dozier.
-"Disinhairited"-Rado, Ragni, & McDermott.
-"Just Outside of Town"-Mandrill.
-"Express Yourself"-Charles Wright and the 103rd Street Rhythm Band.
-"S/T"-Cymande.
"Dawn of a New Day"-O'Donel Levy.
4. In 1981, my uncles (pop's brothers) stopped running their disco down in rural NC. As part of this process, they asked my brother and I did we want their disco records. Of course, we said "yes." So, they gave us a grip of disco 12"s including such joints as:
-"Reaching Out (For Your Love)"-Lee Moore.
-"Beyond the Clouds"-Quartz.
-"You Make Me Hot"-Jimmy 'Bo' Horne.
-"Wear it Out"-Stargard.
-"Freakin's Fine"-Mandre.
-"Get Up and Boogie"-Freddie James.
-"Bout Time I Funk U"-Maurice Starr.
-"Dancing"-Grey & Hanks.
5. While I was down in Orlando, FL for a research conference, I ventured out to some record store downtown. I was picking up a grip of soul LPs, when some lady shopping in there had the store owner play a 45. It was "He Don't Really Love You" by The Delfonics, which is a beautiful joint (and featured on my "Slow and Funky" mix on the 'Strut). I was all shook thinking the lady was going to purchase this beautiful 45. Lucky me, she said she didn't want it after it finished playing, so I bolted up to the front counter and told the dealer to place the 45 on my stack. Phew, that one almost got away!!!
6. I used to hit up Lotusland Records (big up, Tom Nobles) when I lived in Milwaukee. After going to the store a number of times, I finally earned 'back room' status. Except in this case, the 'back room' meant a 2nd, separate storage unit across the street. In this treasure trove of back stock, he stored the unmarked heat. He encouraged me to go through and pick out some stuff I want. Out of this haul, I found such treats as:
-"The Better Part of Me"-Cillford Coulter.
-"Blood Brothers"-Gene Redding.
-"S/T"-Maxayn.
-"Say My Friend"-The Rance Allen Group.
-"Judgment Day"-The Fabulous Luckett Brothers.
7. Some other highlights include picking up most of the Funkadelic Westbound LPs, "S/T" and "Songs" by Rotary Connection, on the cheap at "Muzik Hut" in the Flea Market Mall in Fayetteville, NC (big up Bob Smyntek, if you're out there). I would pick out such heat there, and the nice thing is that he would set aside stuff for me on a weekly basis. I got the "A Group Called Smith" joint there, pretty much most of my Eddie Harris LPs, "Soul Machine" by Richard Barbary, "Evolution" (mono) by The Hollies, and so on. That was one of my favorite spots.
I also used to do damage at Nice Price Books and Reader's Corner in Raleigh before the days of the Internet, when great LPs filled the bins untouched. My those were the good ole' days. I can't forget my neighbor's bucket of 45s (kept out in their storage shed of all places!) they let me have that contained "Tramp" by Lowell Fulsom, "Don't Make Hurtin' Me a Habit" by The Marvalettes, "Easiest Way to Fall" by Freda Payne, "Am I the Same Girl" by Barbara Acklin (the latter two of which I sampled on one of my demos), and so on. I remember being overwhelmed by the mere volume of stock at Great Lakes Music (in Milwaukee) and Alamo Records and Sheet Music in San Antonio (man, it was hot there in August on the 3rd floor of a building without central air conditioning). Maybe in a another installment, I'll talk about my trips abroad and the finds these travels netted.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak