Vinyl, USA

09.19.05

Once a year an unusually large amount of bespectacled age 50+ male eccentrics converge upon Allentown, Pennsylvania to wheel and deal in the glamorous trade of the 45 rpm record. Women tend to steer clear of these vinyl-centric events, unless of course your record-obsessed husband has dragged you along for the ride, or if your name happens to be Layla, Jaime, Cassandra, or Sheila. In which case you wake up at a ridiculous hour of the morning (after a night of wine + tequila shots at the Debutantes Ball in Brooklyn), withdraw ridiculous amounts of cash from the ATM, and drive two hours into Pennsylvania to join the strange and unusual breed of humankind. All for the love of the 45, man. In my ten years of collecting records, I have never met one female record collector, and all of a sudden I encounter Layla, Jamie, and Cassandra- soul and freakbeat fiends, DJs, and all-round fabulous girls. And all under 40. Amazing! A car full of female record collectors sounds something like this- "Oh my god, you have the PIC SLEEVE?" "That record has been on my want list for over eight years!" "Yeah, the British version from '68 is so much better than the American original." I was smiling from departure to arrival, feeling so f**king happy that I FINALLY get to talk records with my own kind. I mean, the only time I get to gush about records is during my annual trips to London, so I really have to raise a glass to the person above for putting me in touch with these local ladies.

Luck was on my side on Saturday, when after hitting up a not-so-great dealer, I meet Dennis West, who has just about every record on my want list- April Young "To Be Loved By You," Andrea Carroll "Miss Happiness," The Honeys' "The One You Can't Have" (this is where most of my cash went), The Cannon Sisters "Second Best," Dee Dee Warwick on Tiger, and a KILLER Renee St. Clair record called "Look What I Got" on Jubilee. He hands me his card (name, address, e-mail, and a photo of glass jars with the heading "Wanted Old Canning Jars") and promises to hook me up with more goodies via e-mail. SCORE! We could've stayed until closing, but by 3 pm I had made three trips to the ATM, and the other gals were broke and ready to go as well.

Strangely enough, as I was returning the car to the rental place, this young couple walk in with old 45 boxes, a portable Vestex, and stacks of 45s. When I ask if they had just returned from the record fair, they said yes and that they had seen me there. And then they proceed to tell me that they throw DJ nights two blocks from my apartment. Firstly, what an odd coincidence! And second, how jealous am I that these lovebirds are going to a record fair together- the girl looking for funk, the boy searching for soul- sharing the thrill of finding a rare 45. Ahhh..... how perfectly romantic.

Sheila

photo (left to right): Sheila, Layla, Cassandra, Jaime

Posted by Sheila at 05:47 PM