Danny Don't Rapp Wrote:
What kind of stuff shows up at these? Mostly beat-up vintage 50s/60s/70s stuff, or newer non-mainstream stuff as well? There's one here in April, but I've never even considered going before. I may show up this time.
I'm sure it depends where you go, but this one is a pretty wide range, although it is geared toward older stuff for sure, by nature of most stuff being used. I did pick up some Mogwai and a couple other more recent things one time. It just depends who rents tables at a given time. This one there are usually at least a couple tables where they are selling "new" stuff, but that's usually fancy reissues of older stuff and maybe a few newer titles tossed in. I don't really even look there since if I wanna pay retail price for a new record I got record stores I can go to any time and don't need to wait for these guys.
The used tables run the range from guys with a small stock of highly collectible stuff in mint condition priced accordingly to guys trying to unload a dozen boxes of crappy 12" singles that some DJs trashed, to an old lady with half a dozen boxes of records for a buck or two each. There's also always someone selling t-shirts and a guy who sells live DVD bootlegs. If you like 80s music, that stuff is almost always cheap, outside the punk records which rarely show up.
You gotta be ready to dig, but if you like any older styles of music, you can get some decent deals as long as you don't hit the collectors tables or the new reissues. Not that those guys rip you off, but you'll pay full value for stuff that way. Hit the tables with shit priced at a couple bucks per disc and you usually do OK, and often can grab stuff that other folks are charging lots more for. And yeah, lots of freak watching can be enjoyed and losers abound. Don't expect a bastion of coolness.
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