Garage Sale [Pleasant Prarie WI]

Had a horrible 5am on site starttime in Kenosha for a job that could not have gone anymore badly.  Worse yet, it was finally rescheduled for completion weeks later and I could not go as I was elsewhere.  My colleague went in my stead and screwed things up so royally that he had to return the following day to make amends.  Despite all this madness, I came up relatively big at a local garage sale!

This was probably the most records I've ever seen at a garage sale.  I came up on a number of scores and had a chat with the proprietor.  He told me a few times that this was just the 'junk' from his collection (and much if it did indeed qualify as that).  I ended up buying four records.  Two of them were worth it, the other two I sort of blew it on.

Narada Michael Walden - Garden Of Love Light 
I knew Mr. Narada from his work with Mahivishnu Orchestra (in their later years, not the early albums I already own).  I knew this couldn't be very bad and I was right, it is some solid fusion.

Genesis - Seconds Out
This is a 2xLP live album.  The jacket is super water damaged and chewed up but the records look good.  The owner actually jumped from his lawn chair when he saw me with it, thinking an album had mistakenly gotten mixed up with the 'junk'.  When he saw the condition he said it was a double.  But I blew it because I thought this was early work from the group with Peter Gabriel on vocals based on the track list.  But indeed it is Phil Collins on the mic.

Anita Baker - Rapture
My mom had this on cassette when I was growing up and she listened to it a lot on a boom box.  I hated it then but this is some solid R&B and this was well worth my money.  Already ran through it quite a bit.

Unknown Artist - Music From The Motion Picture FM
If I had seen on discogs that this was credited to 'unknown artist' I would have known better but in my haste I grabbed it.  Yes indeed, it is some random musicians cranking through the setlist, including the Steely Dan title cut.  The vocalist on that one is an odd bird, it is hard to define what he was going for but it is not true to the original.  Great cover art though.

I should have grabbed this! I took a pic because the cover is outrageous (back cover is just as good),
but now I see I already own 10 albums with Mr. Baretto's performances!
Worse yet this record even seems to have some small value.  Damn!

I think he wanted $10 for the 4 records.  I offered him a $20 and told him to keep the change.  I offered that he let me inside to see his larger collection for 10 minutes.  If I found anything I wanted, he picks the price, if he doesn't want to sell it, then we let it be.  He wouldn't budge.

The below photos were taken from gsalr.com and uploaded by the seller and seem to perhaps evidence his hoarder behaviors.

Garage Sale, Belvidere IL

Rubbermaid totes and laundry baskets are the earmarks for a solid junk sale.  I found this one via my old amigo gsalr.com on a Friday afternoon, way out in this rural area of NW Illinois.  As I perused the crap I could hear rifle report way in the distance, somewhere beyond the seemingly infinite cornfields all around me.  As the gsalr.com ad states above, this place was filled with crap that must have taken the guy days to haul out and roughly arrange.  Luckily the records were prominently placed on a rusty old cart, with the lower shelf holding two tool boxes with 45s banging around inside, most sans paper sleeves.  I found another cardboard box just behind that held more empty loot.  I got the standard offer to buy them all which is ironic given I actually bought nothing.

Garage Sale, Addison

Nothing better than waking up Saturday morning and checking your phone in bed and seeing on gsalr.com that there is a garage sale with records you can bike to that morning.

Unless it's raining.

And you have to suddenly go to work.

When all that was done I drove over there and found some major confusion on the map regarding the location, as this street starts and stops in a couple different towns.  After many episodes of pulling over and checking the map, I finally saw the rain soaked sign and knew I was close.

The garage was packed with stuff, laid out on tables and I saw the records in the back.  They were crammed in a couple boxes and a bunch had been damaged as a result of leaning on each other, I don't see this happen to this degree even in thrift stores very often.  Some others were tragically water damaged.  Almost grabbed a nice 70s comp but passed.  Finally settled on a mid 80s reissue in really nice condition, which was even more remarkable considering how tore up many of these were.  This may be one of the last garage sales of the year so I'm glad I came across such interesting stuff and was able to scoop something.

This gem was even autographed - three copies have sold for over $40 on discogs, should have grabbed it.

Garage Sale, Franklin Park

I was about to go postal at work and the stress was starting to crush me.  So I cleaned up what I had in front of me so I could sneak away for a bit.  I sped off to FP to check out a sale I found on gsalr.com, as always.

I was just around the corner and suddenly it all made sense.  This wasn't deja vu - I had been to this garage sale before.  If there was any doubt left in my mind, one look at the little old lady organizing her things cleared my mind.  There was no two ways about it - I had been here, and I had seen this records.  It had been over two years, but I was back.

In fact, I remember right off the top of my head what I bought. It was an odd organ record that called to me with the photo of the fellow on the cover playing it, and the sounds contained therein can only be described as ghostly.  I presume the stuff was intended to be 'relaxing' music but it is quite spooky.  That strange record has survived a couple purges as well, when I loaded up a crate to take down to St. Vincent to lighten my load - I just can't seem to part with it.  And now I never will. (I also noticed the runout etching and learned that Rudy Van Gelder not only mastered but also engineered the recording, he was uncredited on discogs.  I also found the mono version, which I added myself).

As I walked up, a quiet light rain was beginning and this nice old lady was gathering her things to bring them back into the garage.  She already had a tarp covering a clothing rack.  I already knew what records to expect - there wasn't much two years ago and I had bought the best stuff.  But I knew I had to make an appearance once I pulled up.  I began to help her bring her things in, I don't know how old this lady is but she was quite spry and not afraid of the exertion to haul stuff around.  I guess she must set up regularly, perhaps every weekend.  She kindly scolded me (if there is such a thing) a few times when I put things back in the wrong place, as I soon learned that everything in that garage fit together like a puzzle.

I went through the motions of glancing at the records: first the crate under the table, near the door, then she reminded me there were more towards the back, 10' away.  There I did find some early Marion Lush work, including an alternate cover of one album which I quickly photographed and added to the database later.

It was a treat to hang out with my old acquaintance again for a spell.  I hope I see her again sometime.

Garage Sale, Wood Dale

I've had some serious garage sale guilt for not hitting more sales this year but things are finally picking up.  I hit 8 in 2015 I believe so not sure if I'll keep the pace but I am surely trying.  gsalr.com revealed this one a scant 3 mile round trip from my work.  I snuck away on a Friday afternoon via bike and was pleasantly surprised.

Don't let the musical number up front in the crate fool you - there was some nice classic rock era stuff in here.  I left behind a truly intriguing record by a French-Moroccan rock group that still has me thinking.  But I did walk away with the debut from a group who's follow up I already have and enjoy.  The propreitor tried to fleece me at $5 for the thing.  I accepted the $4 I offered and he should be glad to get it.  Already spun through both sides and it was pleasant background as I did some work around the house.  I snagged something for my girl and I'm still not sure if she had it already or not.  If its a dupe, she can give it to her mom who will definitely accept and enjoy it.  Hope I can hit more quick sales like this before the snow starts to fall.

Rummage Sale, Elmhurst

As there was no garage on site, and the goods were displayed in the church, I think this is better defined as a 'rummage sale'.  So I headed down to rummage around a bit.

Had a hell of a time finding the place (no pun intended), the address is actually 130, not 30.  They had the standard junk and amongst, my jackpot of crusty old vinyl.

Only an idiot would bike 6.6 miles to look at about 10 records in a church, but I have always been a man obsessed.  At least it was a nice day for a ride.

Garage Sale, Elmhurst

On a rainy Saturday afternoon, I was very pleased to find that of the 3 garage sales that had the word 'records' in their descriptions on gsalr.com, one of them was just a couple blocks from my girlfriends house. (the other two were 10-20 miles away).  So I sped over on my bike through the increasing rain fall.

I wandered up the driveway to find a round older man with a cane, sitting in a lawn chair just inside his garage which was quite filled with junk.  The driveway was littered with wares, most of them soaked and probably had been out since the night before.  A couple other junk pickers were doing what they do as I peered about for the vinyl.  I wasted little time before approaching the proprietor to inquire and he mumbled something then got up.  Apparently, it was intended that I follow him.

He walked onto the deck and opened the back door.  As he had still not given me any verbal instructions I figured I should be polite and I asked if I should follow him inside.  He replied that I should 'if I want to see the records!', with a distinct note of rancor in his throat.  Meekly, I followed.

Through the kitchen and into the living room he led; there I found 4 large red bins stuffed with vinyl.  Scores!!!

The Top Ten Barbershop Quartets Of 1969 - Of course I have this already, I distinctly remember getting it at Savers a while back.  The orange and black theme cover always reminds me that this is the year Mark IV won.  If you asked me who won in 69, I'd have to guess.  But if you show me that cover with the text obscured, I'd know right away.

Now I saw it and knew I had it, but I hoped perhaps it was the mono version.  It was not - it was something better! It was a reissue on MCA from 1973! I had no idea that MCA reissued any of these Decca albums but now I must assume there are more.  I knew they reissued the world's most famous barbershop comp but I didn't know they dabbled in the annual releases as well.  I will have to keep my eyes peeled for more.

Breakfast At Tiffany's - one of my all time favorite movies, I've seen this soundtrack a few times but it was always beat to hell.  This one is pretty clean so I scooped it.  I have one other Henry Mancini album I got from a deceased relative long ago, I'm building quite the collection!

Polka Party - I recently donated about 30 albums to the local St. V's.  Since then, I had been thinking I need to dump my handful of Lil' Wally records so I can focus on Big Ed. (No, not him).  But I just couldn't resist this one.  If I keep grabbing both, I'll need a new home for just my polka collection.

The Best Of Berlin In Barbershop - This one was just staggering.  I already have it, but I got it on ebay and I've only seen that one copy on there ever after checking followed searches 100s and 100s of times.  This one is in crazy mint condition too - no way I was going to pass it up, even if it was a duplicate.

He kind of wandered in and out of the house while I was searching.  When I was done, he was sitting on the stairs waiting for me.  He asked to see what I had and I worried he was going to try and pull some Antiques Road Show type pricing on me but he just asked for $8.  $2/each is fair but I threw the old guy a tenner and told him we'd call it even.  He shook my hand and asked my name, and asked if I lived around the area.  When we parted ways, I distinctly thought I'd miss him.  What a nice guy.

Bad Garage Sale and Imminent Redemption

Easily one of the most awkward record transactions I have ever attempted to take part in.  Had to run to the store and scoped this spot above on gsalr.com and it was basically on the way so we swung through.  In fact, there were only two sales on the site which listed records in the description this entire weekend and the other was far, far away.  So we arrived, took a glance around - no vinyl.  So I asked - as I always do - 'so I heard you had some records?'.  They both kind of looked at me and I mentioned that I had seen it online advertised that way.  The husband immediately responded that they did not advertise online.  I just kind of stared at him....you can be damn sure that someone had advertised! His wife quickly copped to it so he admitted that he did have some vinyl, but it was in the house.  I had that happen to me once long ago however those people were so warm and inviting and had tons of great vinyl - none of that applies here.  He didn't invite me in to look but that's fair so I waited for him to return.  In the meantime his wife commented that 'those records are his', apparently meaning that she didn't care about them and worse yet had possibly listed them for sale on the internet without his permission.

He came back with the most pitiful stack of records ever, less than 10 and I think 6 were from UFO.  Now I am almost kicking myself as the live album seen below was likely a German import - it was never released in the USA at all and in the UK only on some really small and unknown labels.  And the one on the left....just wow.

I tried to be polite and commented 'wow you must really like UFO' as I handed the stack back to him.  He said that he had them all on CD now so he didn't need the vinyl.  Sad, but reasonable.  I want to be clear however that I don't dislike the guy because of his taste in music - to drag me out to your home, invite me to look at records when a) you only have 8 of them, and b) they aren't really for sale is a bit unfair.  Total waste of time.  My girlfriend made a $5 offer on some kind of $10 children's craft kit and the wife immediately said 'I cant take less than $8'.  Well enjoy bringing all your old junk back in the house tomorrow.

                                 

So needless to say, I was bummed.  We headed back and my girl recommended that we stop at Goodwill Elmhurst.  I hate this place...its so bombed out and the records never seem to turn at all.  But I gave in and we headed in.

Well suffice to say, I scored big time and had some close calls that still tantalize me.  I found my fourth (hey, its one of my favorite albums of all time) copy of the 'Red Album', this one with a cool promo sticker on the front.  No real promos exist for these old Parrot LPs but this is cool enough for me and the jacket and vinyl look great.  But that would have barely qualified to be more than a consolation prize...there was more in store.

Barbershop mania! There was a 5th as well - which I purchased!

Brighten The Corner (Where You Are) - pre-1970 quartets don't interest me much, and pre-1965 (or so) even less.  But I might have grabbed this anyway if the record was in the jacket! I even went through the entire bin a second time looking for 'naked' records and came up with nothing.

Together! With The Buffalo Bills - I was all over this one - but the vinyl was also MIA! This is a live album...I added the promo version to the discogs DB a while back and this almost never comes up even on ebay.  This isn't the promo (just added that too) and I am still disturbed wondering where that poor record ended up...

Barber Shop! Featuring The Buffalo Bills With Banjo - easily one of the most popular barbershop albums of all time, but it holds no interest for me.  Still cool to see another piece of what is obviously someone's collection here.

The Top Ten Barbershop Quartets of 1960 - This is a huge find, except I already have it. I was eagerly scanning my collection online hoping I needed this one but apparently I got it about 6 months ago.  I have upwards of ten 'top ten' albums and its too much to memorize.  If the Town & Country Four have an LP, I've still never found evidence of it despite my massive research.  So this will be a keen score for someone else, one of only 5 appearances ever for that quartet.

The Suntones - Keep America Singing - I now have 3 of 9 LPs from what is probably the world's most famous quartet.  I can do without this patriotic subject material (not a political slant - just that the singular angle gets a bit tiring) but the harmonies are there.  I still find it strange that the guys would release an album on another label halfway through their discography (all the others are on their own label) and the mystery will abound for sometime. Even stranger is that on the rear jacket someone has made a small notation with pen:

Did they know Bill? He died back in 2004 (RIP). There is otherwise no credits anywhere on the album or anyway to know who the members were unless you can recognize them facially.  Interesting...

I also found a local barbershop chorus record I've seen before.  Someone had a nice collection! I remain quite happy with my two scores and it was a hell of a way to come back after a dreadful garage sale.  To find all this barbershop in a store I normally disdain is a good reminder to leave no stone unturned!

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Shook my hangover and headed out to greet the day Sunday morning. gsalr.com had only two sales anywhere in the area with records and they were in opposite directions.  Not being ambitious enough to try and hit both, I chose one on the north side and headed out around 10am.

Just a bunch of the usual suspects (Mantovani, etc) save one disco record I almost scooped. 

On the way over, I had seen some signs for an estate sale around Foster and Harlem.  I headed back first to the grocery store at that same intersection.  I ate a chicken salad sandwich and drank a bottle of watermelon/pineapple juice under the shade of a tree.  I thought about the awesome flea market at this same intersection on a very hot day long ago.  Then I found that sign and headed up to the estate sale.

Of course I had no idea if there would be any records at all but alas there were.  Exclusively symphonic/classical stuff - no interest at all.  I leafed through it all anyway and glanced at the other wares then headed out.

At this point I started to head home and when I got to Lawrence Ave I was stricken with inspiration and decided to jaunt all the way over to the other garage sale with records.  I knew it was at least 10 miles away but it was still early and wasn't very hot.  So off I went.

I don't know if '100s' of records was quite accurate and anyway most were really old 78s without any jackets at all.  The LPs were junk too besides one I grabbed for my girlfriend, or myself if she had it (I wasn't sure at the time; she does not have it I have since confirmed so her's it is).  I continued my trek through some really bad roads (potholes) and bad neighboorhoods (Maywood) as I took the Prarie Path back to 1st Ave for my journey home.  Been having some trouble with my GPS logging app so I was only able to successfully log the trip above (10 miles) but I estimate I did over 20.  And when I got home I rested for a moment, then switched bikes and headed out to grab groceries so I could cook/eat/cook/eat/repeat then nap.  An intense morning and a Sunday well spent!

Garage Sale, Elmhurst

There is truly nothing better than an impromptu garage sale on a Sunday morning, and one so close you can ride your bike there.  The weather was perfect and I did not even have a hangover as I was so tired the night before I only made it through about three beers.  I did make it through probably two pounds of homemade nachos though and I slept in a near comatose state.  So after a couple cups of coffee, we decided to head out even without breakfast.  It was only a couple miles and we were rewarded greatly not just by our finds, but by the experience.

After kicking out the stands on our bikes in the driveway (behind a dilipadated but intact - and also for sale) Jaguar we headed towards the garage.  I knew the records were not out there and I then saw a sign inviting us into the home itself.

                                             

As soon as I walked in my eyes caught sight of a Crate half stack, a smaller Marshall combo and a couple guitars on the floor, all for sale.  But the records I had come for were actually behind me, nestled inside of an old but clean (and very large) entertainment center.

It was totally out of place and made no sense, but amongst the ancient classical music boxsets was a jazz fusion record I was more than glad to get my hands on.  I tend to feel like McLaughlin's group (and that's really all it is after the first album, which I've had for ages) doesn't have much to offer me as their discography goes on.  This album sort of backs that up, having now given it a good listening to but it is still chaotic and wild enough to warrant being owned, especially for a buck.  Someone really like jazz violin as I saw a solo release from the groups replacement on that instrument in there also.  Besides those two, my girl found one which was right up her alley so she was satisfied.

We toyed around with some of the other stuff for sale while a woman sat on a stool and monitored us (fair enough, we were hanging out in her living room) and presumably her daughter was frying some eggs in the kitchen.  A grand piano lurked in the background ominously along with a giant library of books on microbiology.  Back outside in the garage where we paid a young man evidence of someone who owned a Chinese restaurant were abound.  We squared up with the cashier and headed out, vinyl in tow on the vintage basket (on vintage bike) of my girlfriend's bike.  Which was of course, expertly reconditioned, by me.

From my obstructed view, I thought this was a coonskin cap.  When I saw it was a cat I almost shrieked.  Why is it so odd looking? Or so expensive? Yikes!