January 20

Since I’ve begun this endeavor I have picked up several dozen “new” used records. I tend to haunt the bottom of the vinyl barrel, thrift stores, junk shops, estate sales and the like. The thrill of finding a halfway decent copy of a record I actually want is a huge thrill! Mostly, I pick up stuff that I’m unfamiliar with, as long as it seems to be in good condition. I’ll clean it up, play it a time or two and either keep it or pass it along.

Recently I scored a big lot of new (to me) records. I was in a warehouse space that specializes in buying leftover estates, storage lockers and the like called Triple R Auctions. I had been here before and had not seen any vinyl. On this visit it was just me and Mr. RRR and he said “We have a lot of junk out back if you are interested”. Music to my ears, Hell yeah I’m interested!

There in the back of the shop’s unheated space was a rack of several hundred vinyl records.

I started flipping through the top shelf… Mantovani, Mantovani, oh cool! 101 Strings! I was obviously back “in the back” too long because Mr. RRR came looking for me. “Hey, you’re interested in those records, huh?”, he said. “I’ll make you a great deal!”. What deal, you might ask. Mr. RRR offered that if I filled a cardboard box with vinyl, my tab would be $5.00. At this point, I wasn’t sure I’d even find one record I was interested in, but, with a deal like that I needed to look.

I found a A.E. (After Elvis) 6 record box set RCA collection of the king, a five record box of Dean Martin, some Frank Sinatra… and then, there it was:

A stack of two dozen or so brand new, still sealed in their shrink-wrap, vinyl records! Now granted, they are mostly un-coveted 1970s/80s country records… but they are unopened!

I mean, come on, who wouldn’t like to have a mint copy of a 1975 Wayne Newton record?!?

Anyhow, I box up all this aforementioned stuff, and I still have room in my box. So I dig, and I dig… I turn up a few jazz records, some familiar names, some mint Korean records (?) and a few other gems. I pays my five bucks and I’m headed home to clean some records and give ’em a listen. I plan on trying to trade the unopened vinyl to my local record store for store credit (Led Zeppelin Remasters, I’m-a-comin’ for ya!). Much of the other stuff too, but a few items I want to listen to first, see if I would ever listen to it again (i.e. add to the collection), or do I pass it down the road in order to get something I really covet?

You’ll find out soon!