Hot Ptah

That has also been my consistent experience in a variety of used music stores in several cities. The vast majority of the customers are always highly attractive younger women.

Which store, if I might ask? I don't have any vinyl I'm trying to unload -- just curious. I unloaded them for store credit at two stores, Vinyl Renaissance and Zebedees. Each store wanted some of them and not others.

Very true. In fact, the only reason that my local used music store would give me anything for my used rock albums is that I am a good, steady customer and they didn't want to alienate me. In fact, they gave me a store credit. They would not give me any cash. They knew that I would use the store credit on esoteric jazz CDs that they would never sell otherwise.

When I got rid of some of my old rock records, and some blues, country and soul too, I called the local office of the Disabled American Veterans and asked if there was a shut-in veteran, perhaps someone disabled, who would like a free music collection on vinyl. I talked to three different people, and they all sounded like they thought I was crazy. They definitely did not want the albums, not even for free, and knew of no veteran who would want them.

It might not be so easy to get rid of them on ebay, or even at a local used music store. Unless the vinyl is in really good condition, few will buy them. In my experience, used music stores are now looking for the rare collectors items in 1960s vinyl, such as Beatles mono albums, Beatles or Dylan albums with certain wording on the center label of the record, Aretha Franklin albums with purple and brown on the center label, stuff like that. To just bring in a bunch of Stones and Dead, you may get $1 an album at a used music store today, or less. Of course, specific cities and stores may differ, but you will have a hard time selling them unless you kept your vinyl in "pristine condition", to use a phrase that has been shot back at me when I tried to sell mine. That means not a nick or smudge anywhere on the record. A scratch is fatal. Who kept their vinyl like that when these records were being released? I know that I didn't, and as a young person I would have probably sneered at anyone who told me to treat each record like a delicate porcelain doll. So you might as well keep them, unless you have "Blonde on Blonde" with the prized nine photos on the inside cover instead of the usual seven photos, or something like that. To sell vinyl on ebay, you have to examine each record and grade it according to condition, using the standard grading scale. If you sell something as Excellent when it has a small scratch on it, you will get negative feedback from the buyer and then you will have trouble selling to anyone. It's a hassle selling a quantity of vinyl on ebay. Did that help? In my experience, most older vinyl seems to get dumped for free at thrift stores these days, when no one working at the thrift store is looking and is able to stop you from leaving it behind--unless you have that all-important "pristine condition" going for you.

Are these CDs or vinyl? Is it worth driving from St Louis for this? I'm really not interested in acquiring a lot of vinyl as I lack safe storage space. Thanks. Jeff T aka Blue Trane It's all vinyl, and all full length LPs. The CDs were all sold earlier. The jazz CDs were all sold in the store's moving sale, and the rest of the CDs were sold in private sales. Also, the store's massive collection of 45s and 78s (reportedly one of the largest collections in the world) was sold to a private collector.

72 more $1 albums on Saturday at the Music Exchange liquidation sale, including Ray Bryant, Joanne Brackeen (several), Woody Herman, Earl Hines (several), Jack Teagarden, Hal Galper, Lionel Hampton, Shelly Manne (several), Amina Claudine Myers, Dick Wellstood, Tommy Flanagan, Terje Rypdal, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Anthony Braxton, Richie Cole, Jimmy Witherspoon, Dizzy Gillespie, Gato Barbieri, Larry Coryell, Larry Coryell and Phillip Catherine, Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, Monty Alexander, Jean-Luc Ponty, Harry James (several), Frank Foster, Mulgrew Miller, Dexter Gordon, Benny Goodman, Scott Hamilton, Dave Frishberg, Bud Freeman, Ruby Braff, Double Image, Johnny Hodges, Stan Getz, Dick Hyman, John Handy, Stanley Cowell, Jimmy Forrest, Dave Liebman, Mundell Lowe, Machito, and many others I can't remember now. The liquidation sale organizers told me that there are still 100,000 albums that have not even been placed on the floor yet. A great many boxes remain full on the floor. As there are only 4 more days left of the sale (Wednesday through Saturday) they are contemplating how to get rid of everything. One idea they are seriously thinking about is lowering the price to $1 per box on Saturday. As I can get about 80 albums into one of their boxes (which they graciously let you cart away if you buy a lot of albums), that would be close to 1 cent per album!

It's fun, but the amount of chaff that one must flip through to find the kernels of wheat is amazing. It's really bad chaff, too. It's not just a lot of rock albums. There are many thousands of albums that even a thrift store would be sorry to take in. Strange as it sounds I actually enjoy that as much as finding a bargain! I have pretty varied tastes and take great pleasure in finding curios cheap. For example I was rooting through a few boxes of vinyl in a little tin shack in Manchester not long ago and found a British band doing versions of Jelly Roll songs originally conceived for a ballet that had to be played almost perfectly to the original record. I won't listen to it a million times (it is good though) but I like hearing something with a story. I also picked up a 10" of Motorhead Girlschool, a strange trade off of songs between two 80s metal acts with a duet on the flip. Lots of fun. If I can find one thing similar to this (as well, of course, as the things I'm REALLY looking for) then rooting through 5000 records has been worth while. Multiply your story by 200 (in terms of both volume and weirdness), add in oppressive heat, stagnant air, and dirt, and a $1 price for every album, and you have the Music Exchange sale.

It's fun, but the amount of chaff that one must flip through to find the kernels of wheat is amazing. It's really bad chaff, too. It's not just a lot of rock albums. There are many thousands of albums that even a thrift store would be sorry to take in.

I want the chance to buy thousands of LPs for $1 each.

Rotary Connection was an amazing group, in general. Thanks for posting this.

40 more $1 LPs at the Music Exchange liquidation sale in Kansas City, including more Count Basie on Pablo and Verve, Ellis Larkins, Amina Claudine Myers, Ran Blake, Clare Fischer Big Band, Pete Candoli, Conte Candoli, Pete and Conte Candoli together, a 3 LP boxed set of Commodore Records highlights (still only $1), Edmond Hall, Louis Armstrong, Earl Coleman, Teddy Wilson, Bruce Forman, and others I will remember after I post this. After flipping through many thousands of unsorted LPs in a hot, unventilated old warehouse, as sweat literally drips from the brow and the fingers turn black, my mind is not as sharp as it can be. Today the sale was highlighted not only by the unbearable heat and the stagnant air, but also by very loud people shouting out across the aisles of boxes with their helpful guidance for the rest of us. So as one was struggling to breathe and going through yet another hundred albums by 101 Strings in the hope of finding a Pablo gem, suddenly the silence was shattered by a sceam: "HEY! Does anyone want Bob Seger! Lots of Bob Seger here!" Or "I just found some Simon and Garfunkel over here! Simon and Garfunkel!" Two guys shouted at each other for several minutes about who Ahmad Jamal is. One guy knew and was urging everyone else to rush over and grab Jamal albums, the other guy had no idea who he was and had numerous questions about him--this guy obviously had never heard any jazz in his life. As the guy next to me said, as he started his second immense pile of $1 albums he was buying, "this is just like Christmas."

85 one dollar LPs at the Music Exchange's liquidation sale in Kansas City. This includes albums by Jo Jones, Count Basie (many Pablos), Jimmie Lunceford, Bunny Berrigan, Art Hodes, Richie Beirach, Duke Ellington, Richie Cole, Teddy Wilson, Joe Pass, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis with Ruth Brown, Carla Bley, Jan Garbarek, Gary Peacock, Buddy Collette (several 1950s albums), Oscar Peterson/Clark Terry duet, Oscar Peterson/Joe Pass duet, James Williams, Terry Gibbs and Buddy DeFranco, Steve Swallow, Chick Corea, Ahmad Jamal, Dave Brubeck, Kenny Drew, Stanley Turrentine, Boyd Raeburn, and many others I can't remember right now.

What a beautiful baby! This is fantastic.