Good morning everyone from soggy New York City. I just received word that the WFMU Record Fair, scheduled for this weekend, has been cancelled. There is still no power in the area, subways and Path trains are down, and still no planes flying into New York City. It’s really a mess. The organizers are promising to refund everyone’s money, unless he or she would like to apply it to the 2013 fair.
The annual WFMU Record Fair is coming up, for those of you in the New York Metro area or planning to visit the New York area. The dates of the show are October 28, 29 and 30 at the usual location, The Metropolitan Pavilion on West 19th Street. I’ve gone to this show for many years, sometimes as a dealer, and it’s definitely one of the better record shows anywhere, certainly the best in New York. You get jazz dealers from all over the country and they always bring some good stuff because they know there will be a lot of other dealers there, particularly some of the dealers from overseas. Last year I brought several original Blue Notes and Prestiges, doubles from my collection, and they were pretty much sold before the official opening of the show on Friday evening. If you’re going to go and if you’re really seeking the heavy duty records you should
So, after more than an hour of live rock music blasting in my ears, I decided to bag it at the WFMU Record Fair after Saturday, so I packed my records, loaded them in my Prius and drove them home. But what was I to do with them next? There were a dozen boxes of records, probably 700 altogether, plus another 500 or 600 records already in the house or in storage that are to be sold. I’ve bought three collections in the past year, and I have at least that many duplicates or reissues or records I simply don’t want. Previously, I’ve been selling records on eBay, but my real work has gotten quite busy and I’m not doing that anymore, so it seemed I was facing the prospect of just putting all of these records in storage and waiting another year for the next WFMU Record Fair so I could sell 100 of them while getting bombarded with close range music of mass destruction.
It is at times like this when I wish I had a record store.
Then, on Sunday morning at 6 a.m., on what would have been Day Three of the WFMU Record Fair, I woke up startled with a clear revelation. I would
I mentioned that my table was towards the back at the WFMU Record Fair this weekend. There were some clear disadvantages to this location. For one, the front of the room was mobbed and there was a lot of jazz at almost every table, so by the time people made it to my side of the room – if, indeed, they did make it at all – they were pretty jazzed out, and perhaps even all spent out with no more cash in their wallets. The second disadvantage to my location was the unfortunate reality that it was close to where the WFMU people had set up their live broadcast, which meant there was loud music and gab incessantly in my ears from 10 in the morning through the day. All of which was pretty bad.
And then it got worse.
Sometime in the later afternoon, perhaps 3 p.m. or so, they decided to have live music: Yes a rock band, followed by another rock band, each one trying to out-noise the other. Or so it seemed to these delicate, jazz-oriented ears. Loud doesn’t begin to describe what it was like at my table. The Read more
So yesterday was Day One of the WFMU Record Fair in New York City and I purchased a dealer table to sell of duplicates from my collection and other odds and ends and this was my experience.
There was a time, when I was an compulsive buyer of records – as opposed to now, when I am merely an obsessive buyer of records – when I would purchase a dealer’s table at a record show just so that I could show up early and look at the other dealers’ records before anyone else. I’d get there and hover while dealers of jazz records would be unpacking their wares and I could get first shot at their offerings. Don’t laugh – I got some mighty nice records this way.
Now, however, I am more serene about it. I didn’t get there yesterday until 3:30 and the show opened at four to early arrivals so I barely had time to even look. In fact, I convinced myself that the only reason I was looking at all was so that I could write about it here at Jazz Collector. I even made certain that I would not be buying either compulsively or obsessively or both: I only brought $100.
So at 3:30 I began roaming the floor with my $100. What struck me was that just about every table had jazz records: Some a box or two, some had many, many boxes. And it was a lot of the stuff
For the past few weeks I have been cleaning and packing and pricing records in anticipation of the WFMU Record Fair, which will begin next Friday at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York. I’ve had a table at this fair a couple of times before. I’m not a dealer, but I have hundreds of duplicates so I use this as a way to get rid of records that I either don’t want to sell on eBay or, more likely, don’t have time to sell on eBay. If you are in the New York area next weekend it’s definitely worth a visit. I’ve always found nice jazz there — usually I buy more than I sell but, hey, I am a Jazz Collector, right? I’ll also have some nice items to sell as well because I’ve bought a couple of collections in the past year and I haven’t been selling on eBay in months, so it will all be fresh new inventory no one has ever seen. Perhaps even a couple of original Blue Notes. The fair starts with early admission on Friday at 4 p.m. and goes through Sunday evening. And if you’re there, you better come say hi, right?
So I did go to the WFMU Record Fair on Sunday. I’ve attached a picture to prove it. I didn’t buy any records. My goal with Record Shows has traditionally been to find bargains. You often get dealers who don’t know anything about jazz vinyl, and sometimes they under-price the records, and sometimes they are just trying to get rid of records, and sometimes they are happy to bargain so they don’t have to take the records home. There have also been many times where I’ve met collectors who really didn’t know the value of their records, and they underpriced everything that they had. I’ve written here about the guy who had a bunch of original Blue Notes and Prestiges and just priced everything at $5, including a mint copy of
Just a reminder, the WFMU Record Fair starts today in New York and extends through Sunday. If you are in the area, it’s definitely worth checking out. If you are attending and would like to share your experiences with your fellow Jazz Collectors, please feel free to comment on this post, or send me an email at al@jazzcollector.com and I can give you your own post. As for me, I’m heading out of town today but will be back in time to attend the Record Fair on Sunday. I won’t have a table, but I’ll be roaming around looking at records, and maybe even buying a few as well. I’ll write a report on my findings sometime after the weekend.
Someone asked on a recent post if we will be attending the WFMU Record Fair this year. The Record Fair, which is the top record show in the New York Metropolitan area, is coming up in less than two weeks: It begins on Friday, October 23 and ends on Sunday, October 25. It’s definitely worth attending: There are generally bargains to be found and also some nice collectibles at collectible prices. For the past couple of years we’ve taken a table but this year we will find ourselves in Washington DC for personal business on Friday and Saturday. Our plan is to show up on Sunday morning to do some shopping and socializing, with the expectation that anything worth purchasing will be long gone by the time we show up. Still, we’ll be there and we’ll certainly feel the rush of adrenaline our body automatically pumps in the presence of so much jazz and other vinyl.
Mark your calendars for October 23, 24 and 25. Those are the dates for the WFMU Record Fair in New York. This is probably the top record show in the New York Metropolitan area, attracting dealers from all over the country. We’ve been known to occasionally take a table: Actually we’ve done it twice, including last year for just one day. We haven’t decided about this year as a seller, but we’ll probably be there in some capacity and will keep you posted. If you’re a seller and want to reserve a table, our advice is to do so fairly soon, since the room has a tendency to fill to capacity, particularly on the second day of the event. If you want more information, or are interested in signing up, you can just click here for a link to the WFMU web site.
