Saturdays are always a good day for me. I get to go digging. Sometimes with my wife, sometimes not. She is really good at sniffing out records and doesn’t mind waiting while I dig/ listen. She also hates getting up early though, so today I went at it alone, but met my 45 Session compadre Jack the Ripper and his friend Glen. I knew that my record guy had some stuff for me, so since it was the butt crack of dawn, we went straight to him. I was able to dig out some good finds, which of course I’ll list at the end of the post. I wanted to speak on a few more of the characters I deal with, and today we’ll focus on a guy who tries to keep up with the big boys, but can’t, and ends up half assing it all the way. After my Stinkie Steve fiasco last week, I’ve decided not to get any more records from him for a while, because he thinks guys like me are below dealers, and don’t deserve to find good records. He was just pissed that someone got good records before he did. You gotta get up early to really beat me to the vinyl, I’m just saying. At any rate, we have a guy we call Mario Brothers. He’s a short, chunky Italian guy who looks like either one of the Mario Brothers from the Nintendo game. He’s been selling for a few years, but I can honestly say the best thing I ever bought from him was a Black Heat record. Most of his stuff is straight up garbage, 45s without sleeves, totally rinked or scratched up, and every now and again he gets something worthwhile. For the most part he’s selling scratched up Doo Wop and Jazz, and whatever mangey photos, audio equipment, movie posters, and stuff he picked from the garbage. He always ends his sentences with: “I have some original Beatles records, they’re authentic.” The man is no record dealer, however, the sun shine’s on a dog’s ass every once in a while. Last week was just that occasion. He had a copy of the Soul Tornadoes “Funky Thang” on Burt. When I asked him how much, he said: “Not For Sale. I have to do research on it.” I offered him 20 bucks on the spot (which was probably a bit high, but I wanted the record. I went home to research it as well, mint it only goes for no more than $20. His copy was probably VG.) He said another guy wanted it, but whoever came to him first he would sell it to. Fair enough. When I came back today, he was like, here’s your record, it’s $20 bucks. I said “the $20 offer was last week. Did you research it? ” He replied: “You’re doing bad business, I held the record for you.” I said, “No, you held the record to see if you could get more money from anyone. I know what the record is worth, and it’s not worth 20 bucks.” I do admit I got a bit loud, which is always fun at the Flea Market, because seriously, we’re buying junk. It burns me up though, because you would think that these guys were selling me a copy of “Hercules” by Aaron Neville. I just hate guys who think that E Bay is an excuse to inflate record prices, especially when they have no business selling them in the first place. I did get reasonable with him (and bought a few other records), but not after I said my piece, which was basically don’t advertise if your not selling. I think I got my point across.
The next guy, who isn’t a dealer, but is a guy who claims to have over 20,000 records (Mostly Funk, Soul, and Jazz), and is, according to his story, an old boy from the music scene. We call him POW Record Guy. He totally bullshitted DJ Prime into thinking he was gonna sell him records, which lead to me getting bullshitted as well. I finally put two and two together one winter morning, while I was freezing, and digging. I knew he had no idea what he was talking about when we were sifting through crates side by side and I picked out a Curtis Mayfield “Live!” record and he was like: “Is that good?” He’s also claimed he was a POW in Iran and Iraq for 10 years. He doesn’t really walk around, nor does he wheel around in a wheel chair. He’s got this kind of walker/ bench thing with wheels that he pushes backwards while sitting down. Half of the flea market is dirt! I have no idea how he makes it from table to table. Well, there you have it: two of the characters I deal with on a weekly basis. They are sometimes the source of my frustration, although these days it’s more like my entertainment. I’ll be back early in the week with a review of one of my new finds. Until then, here’s a list of some of the records I dug up:
Mongo Santamaria - Feelin’ Alright b/w I Can’t Get Next Tou You/ Atlantic
The Broadways - Goin’ Goin’ Gone/ MGM
Larry Williams - Wake Up/ Venture
Pucho & Latin Soul Bros. - Freddie’s Dead/ Zanzee
The Fans - Ballad of Dr. J/ Gold
The Hesitations - Is This A Way To Treat A Girl/ GWP
Soul Tornadoes - Funky Thang/ Burt
The Winstons - Amen Brother/ Metromedia
Toussant McCall - The Touissant Shuffle/ Ronn
The Politicians - Free Your Mind/ Hot Wax
The Gaslight - I’m Only A Man/ Grand Junction
Gene Burks - You Got It/ Calla
Rose Davis - Yes I’ve Been Crying/ Excello
Chris Clark - I Want To Go Back There Again/ V.I.P.
Unlimited Four - Walk Away Lover/ Chanson
Judy Clay - You Busted My Mind/ Scepter
James Brown - Soul Power/ King
The Chevelles - The Gallop/ Flaming Arrow
Deodato - Watusi Strut/ MCA
Charles Wright - You Threw It All Away/ Dunhill
Ernie Andrews and the Fuzzy Kane Trio - Something/ Phil L.A. of Soul
Johnny K. - I Got Bills To Pay/ Buddah
The Van Dykes - You’re Shakin’ Me Up/ Mala
**PS: Tomorrow is the vinyl swap at Asbury Lanes from Noon til 5. There will be a bunch of us there, so if you can make it, there’s some good records to be dug up. See you there.
