Goodwill [Charleston WV]

So I left on a Sunday from Chicago bound for Kentucky.  I spent 4 nights there then drove to North Carolina.  Charleston was about 1/2 way so it was a prime stop for lunch and a quick chance to look for vinyls.  First up was the old standby: Goodwill.  

I had a brief discussion was an old timer who hand an armful of VHS tapes (as you can see they are right behind me to my left).  I told him to give me a nudge if I was in his way and he politely said that I wasn't.  Then he commented that he was buying some movies he had once owned but borrowed out.  I joked that perhaps the people he borrowed them to eventually gave them to Goodwill and he was buying back his own stuff.  He gave me a chortle and went on his way, and me on mine.

I found a copy of an 80s rock classic, a debut in fact.  The jacket is a bit beat but the vinyl is very clean which is odd given the condition of its wrapper.  No matter to me, I've already given it a spin and enjoyed even the songs I never heard before.  I hesitated for just a few seconds and I'm glad I didn't hesitate for too long to add this to my collection.

West Virginia makes 23 states now - very thrilling to check it off the list! Stay tuned, loyal readers......

Goodwill, Addison

I have had pretty good luck at Goodwill Addison over the years and I try to stop by once every 4-6 weeks to look for new scores.  I stopped by on a lazy Sunday afternoon and I was about 1/3rd of my way through the bin when I was fighting for room with someone else who wanted to dig.  No problem - it's only fair, you can't expect to be left alone even if you often are.

But then this person had someone else come by, and then the two of them were just kind of casually flipping through the second half of the bin, preventing me from completing my dig.  So I stepped out of the way to let them have at it.  But they just kind of goofed off and told jokes and wasted time.

So I got more and more perturbed so I finally gave up.  There probably wasn't anything in there anyway, right? I walked over to the old sofas and such and took a seat and relaxed.  Soon, even more members of the family strolled over and they were having a full blown party at the record bin.  My girlfriend told me to just go over there and say 'excuse me' and get back at it but I wasn't having it, I guess I was having a pity party of my own.

So she went over there and said that there were actually some polka records but that it was 'orchestra polka'.  Of course, many polka groups used the word 'orchestra' in their name, it was mostly meaningless.  Well this got me interested again and the family that wasted my time was gone.  So I ran back over and found the record she was talking about.  It was probably 30 years old and still in the shrink and looked like it had been played once or twice.  Can you believe that after all this I left it behind? Well I did.  Weirder still was that there was a seemingly arbitrary newspaper clipping inside the jacket.

Well all of this drove me crazy.  So I went back a week later in the hopes of scooping it up.  I had to let it go because you deserve to have it disappear pulling childish stunts like this.  Not only was it not gone, there was a sweet jazz compilation in there also! So I grabbed both.  Not sure what the lesson is here, I was lucky it was still waiting there and I really didn't even deserve it.

Traderbakers Flea Market [Carrolton KY]

This place sold itself as a 'flea market' but by my definition it was an antique mall.  We can argue about the actual goods and whether they qualify as 'antiques' or not but the biggest thing was that the items here were on consignment and a flea market to me has to involve interaction with the seller.  I found enough time to stop in here and on a 9 night/10 day/1800 mile trip this was the highlight.  I just KNEW there would be some records in there and my experience proved to have educated my intuition.

There were only two booths that had records - when I found the first one, there was a fellow digger already hard at work so I immediately departed the scene to let him be.  Those situation are tough but the cubicles are small and I wouldn't want to have someone infringe on my personal space when I am deep in the game.  Plus I have to make myself believe that the other person has tastes that are totally dissimilar from my own and if they did indeed walk away with a giant stack, I had nothing to worry about because it was nothing I wanted.  This is what I tell myself so I don't have a conniption fit while I pace in circles just outside their view.  Luckily I did not have to do it for long.



I jumped in there and got to work, didn't find anything besides some strangely bundled piles of LPs for sale at bulk rates (see below).  Finally in the 45s I found a bizarre import picture sleeve from Spain - no way I was passing this up.  Great track and easy to pack away on my long journey from which I would not be returning home for a long time.

                          

I found a second stop a short time later with some more vinyls in crates - not much here.  I ran into my buddy who I waited on earlier and asked if he found anything else, he confirmed that just the two spots had records.

                              

Later, I proved this wrong by finding a handful of other booths that had just a small pile or a single crate.

I love antique malls when they are quiet like this one and you can slowly just kind of root around in the place.  They had one booth full of laundry detergent in 5 gallon buckets, concocted from some kind of concentrate.  The seller even left the MSDS sheets but they were speared by a peg on a pegboard.  I've seen this in flea markets before (which again, this place wasn't by my measurement), must be a real side business the world over.  They had all types of junk in here, my colleague bought a belt buckle and some chocolate covered pretzels.  They have it all at Traderbakers!

Yikes!

Pawsibilities Thrift Shop [Fort Mill SC]

I was down in NC yet again and procured a vehicle - with my new found freedom I took advantage of the fact that South Carolina was only about 30 minutes away! My geography skills are quite lacking it seems but no matter - with wheels beneath me I set out to see what I could find in these new lands!

Pawsibilities is an animal charity as the name implies, I did call to make sure they had records before I came out and after a short wait on hold, my dreams were confirmed.  The place was actually packed and I had to park on the street as the lot was full.

Unfortunately, my short trip was nothing doing; just some muddled old junk piled in a heap.  Still, I'd have made the trip even if I had been warned of such a possibility.  For this is the life I have chosen, and share with you here.

The only release worthy of note and one of my favorite covers ever.

This is state #22 for those of you counting.  I have already hit two more east coast states since this visit and I have two more on deck for a trip (not business related for once) in the coming weeks.  This won't leave much except for the 5 states between Kentucky and Texas - no idea when I'll be able to hit any of those but my time will come no doubt!

Goodwill [Huntersville NC]

My company is headquartered in North Carolina and I've been down there a handful of times over the years.  This time, I was actually visiting a customer in nearby Mount Holly and had some spare time so I stopped by the HQ to powwow with some of my contacts there.  I was walking out of my hotel one day and I spied with my little eye...a Goodwill just across the street! What luck!

Well my luck was actually not so good.  Nothing worthy of note here and definitely nothing worth buying.  I did however organize the records because I am a nice guy and I have a low level case of OCD.  Looks much better now.