CHIRP: Chicago Independent Radio Project

Posted by Dustin D. on September 22, 2008 around 4pm

If you’ve ever seen the movie Ghost World, then you know that hard core record collectors are an interesting breed of individuals. I’d like to think that I have a smidge more social grace than your average Folk & Blues 78′ collector, but maybe I’m kidding myself. Last week, a friend of mine forwarded me a listing for an event at the Chicago Public Library. It was a media liquidation sale; over 10,000 LPs all for $1 each. I stared at the email in disbelief. It wasn’t my birthday for another few months, yet here was exactly what I always pray for! For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve got a pretty bad record habit, and this was akin to throwing me a gigantic bag of cocaine and saying “have at it ya junkie”.

©Columbia

I called to the library to find which branch was holding this event and was told that the sale would begin at 10am at the Harold Washington Library downtown. And thus my journey began…

In a move of pure genius (which later proved to be a truly, truly bad decision), I decided to take the EL train to the sale so i wouldn’t get stuck finding a parking spot. I arrived to the sale a little after 9:40. There were already quite a few people ahead of me, and the Library allowed us to go in a bit early. The hard core 78 collectors raced to the small cadre of boxes containing those oh so delicate relics, while everyone else spanned out across the room. The energy was frantic, and you could see people bouncing and weaving; anxious to get a peek at what was in each of the magical boxes before them. I hedged my bets and went straight to the World/Folk section and quickly started to amass quite a pile of Brazillian, African, Asian and many Smithsonian Folkways releases. Of the three boxes worth of records, I ended up snagging an entire box to myself, which I then placed on the floor beneath the table. A swarm of no less than 4 people decended upon my box and I had to remind all of them at least once that those were items I was already claiming. “All of them?” they questioned. Hell yes! After clearing the World Section, I moved down to the kids, holiday and spoken word sections. At this point my pile was getting a bit unwieldy, so the nice folks from the Library offered to take the records from me and begin counting them.

It was at this point that I realized my folly. I was alone, and had planned to carry back a single box of records with me on the EL. My haul was pretty massive. I had a decision to make. Either continue to purchase things and take a cab, or just call it a day with what I had at that moment. My time was a bit short, as I had somewhere to be later that afternoon, so i decided that I could live with what I had already pulled out of the piles. All total, I ended up with about 130 records, which were exceptionally cumbersome to carry, so much so that three days later, i’m still in pain. Was it worth it? Oh, I’d say yes, but then again, i’m not exactly normal.

So in true nerd style…here’s my bragging list of what I got at the sale (items listed twice mean I bought a duplicate)

*screen capture from the movie Ghost World
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Folkways
Spanish & Mexican folk music of new mexico (with booklet) JD Robb!!
Russian Poetry and Prose - Vladimir Markov (with booklet)
Russian Poetry and Prose - Vladimir Markov (with booklet)
Chinese poems of the Tang and Sung Dynasties (with booklet)
American game and activity songs for children sung by pete seeger (with booklet) *slight rip on front cover
Ella Jenkins “Little Johnny Brown” (no booklet) * top seam split, sticker stains on front cover
Ella jenkins, Brother John Sellers, Joseph Brewer “Along Time” (with booklet) *sticker damage to front cover
Ella Jenkins “Songs for singing” (with booklet) *top seam split
Doris Jones “Children’s Activities to Music (with booklet)
Winners & losers - campaign songs from the critical elections Vol. 2 (with booklet)
Traditional folk dances of japan (with booklet)
Traditional folk dances of japan (no booklet)
Yemenite and other Israel folk songs (no booklet)
Sounds and the ultra-sounds of the bottle nose dolphin (with booklet)
Sounds and the ultra-sounds of the bottle nose dolphin (with booklet)
Sounds of a tropical rain forest in America (with booklet)
Folk Music in India (with booklet)
Classic Arabic music (with booklet)
Folk and traditional music of Turkey (with booklet)
Yoga music of India Vol. 1 (with booklet)
Music of South Asia (no booklet)
Music of South Asia (no booklet)
Songs of Assam, Utttar Pradesh and the Andamans (no booklet)
Folk and Classical Music of Korea (no booklet)
The Ragas of India (with booklet)
Gene Bluestein “Songs of the High Holidays” (with booklet)
The cajun Swing (no booklet)
Alan Mills “Canada’s Story in song” (box set with booklet)
Italian Folk Music (no booklet - Alan Lomax)
Sounds of the sea Vol. 1 (no book)
Sounds of the sea Vol. 2 (wrong cover)
Solidarity “songs from the new polish labour movement” (with booklet)
Irish Rebellion Album (with booklet)
Irish Rebellion Album (no booklet)
Music of South Arabia (with booklet)
Folk music of Rumania (no booklet) *bottom seam split
Folk Music USA 2 records set (with booklet - BASCOM!!!) *cover split in two
Indian Music of the southwest recorded by Laura Boulton (with booklet) *tape on both seams
Music of Southeast Asia compiled by harold courlander (with booklet)
Peru (no booklet) *tape on both spines, small split
The Country gentleman “Sing & Play Folks Songs & Bluegrass” (with booklet)
Cajun Fiddle “Old & New” (no booklet)
Traditional Cajun Fiddle (with booklet)
George Sawaya Trio and female chorus “Arabic Songs of Lebanon and Egypt” (with booklet)
Traditional folks songs of Japana (2 record box set, no booklet, yellow vinyl)
Handwriting Analysis (with booklet) *tear on front cover from check out card
Sounds of a South African Homestead - Zulu (no booklet)
Who goes First? uien Va Primero “Children’s Counting-out rhymes in English and Spanish (no booklet)
Who goes First? uien Va Primero “Children’s Counting-out rhymes in English and Spanish (with booklet)
Camodia Traditional Music Vol. 2 (with booklet)

Folkways 10″
Cantorals for the High Holidays
Israel Dances (with booklet)
Israel Dances (with booklet) *cover split
Israel Dances (with booklet) *top seam split
Israeli Songs for children in Hebrew
Israeli Songs for children in Hebrew *cover damage, heavily taped
Folk songs of Hungary (no booklet) *bottom seam split
This land is my land - American Folks songs *cover split and slightly ripped
Dutch folk songs (with booklet)
Haitian folk songs (with booklet) *small tear on front cover
War of 1812 sung bby Wallace House with lute (box with booklet) *edges of box taped
Songs of israel (with booklet)

Other
Sapodilla Punch “Steel Soul” (Philips)
London Symphony Orchestra “Music from the galaxies”
The best of Caruso
Cal Tjader “Along comes Cal”
Lithuanian sons and dances (monitor)
Folktales from the Picture Parade book (Weston Woods)
Sesame Street - The Count Counts
Sesame Street - The Count Counts *damage to front cover
Tales of witches ghosts and Goblins told by vincent price *top and bottom of cover taped - record pretty beat (caedmon)
Dr. Suess “Happy Birthday to You!” *top and bottom of cover taped - record pretty trashed
Feelin’ Free by Hap Palmer “A personalized approach to vocabulary & language devolopment”
Japan its music and its people (Desto)
Sound effect library - sounds in an amusement park (offbeat records)
Sound of Sound (Omega records)
Indonesia its music and its people (Desto)
Indonesia its music and its people (Desto)
Trick or Treat Halloween celebrated in story and song by Oscar Brand and his young friends (caedmon)
Bayanihan Phillipine dance company ” Bayanihan sings!” (monitor) *small split at top seam
India National Sitar Ensemble “Sitar sounds of India” (Olympic Records)
The essential Odetta (Vanguard)
Music with sound time series 2000 demonstration record
Living Presence Orchestra “Neapolitan Nights” (Fontana)
K.V. Narapayanswamy “Music of South India” (World Pacific)
Hap Palmer “folk song carnival” (educational activities inc)
Guy Waren Sounds “Thems for African drums” (RCA)
Guy warren & his talking drums “African Rhythms” (Decca)
Pervasive Percussion (Omega)
Walter Wanderley “Sambaso” (World Pacific)
Menescal “Soul Beat Brazil” (Kapp)
The Carribeanas “Limbo” (Diplomat)
Hank Madigian Sextet “Oriental delight” (Forum)
Ray Barretto “Viva Watusi” (United Artists)
Clyde Borly & His Percussions “Music in 5 dimensions” (Atco)
Astrud Gilberto “Look to the Rainbow” (Verve)
Willie Rosario & His Orchestra “Boogaloo & Guaguanco” (Atco)
Pierre Legendre Lush Strings “I Remember Paris” (Custom)
Jose Melis “Latin American Stylings” (Mercury)
Geri Galian and his Carribean Rhythm Boys “Rhapsody in Rhythm” (X - a produce of RCA)
Zaccarias and his Orchestra “Dance the Bossa nova” (RCA Camden)
The Fortune tellers “Songs of the nairobi trio” (Kapp Medallion)
Rene Bloch & His Orchestra “The Latin Discotheque” (clarion)
The Midas Touch (Decca)
Patria Music from Honduras and nicaragua (lyrichord)
Rene Paulo Trio “black Coral” (liberty)
Manny Delgado “Arpa Y Trompetas” (Philips)
Bossa Rio “Alegria” (Blue Thumb)
Cymanfa Ganu Cwmtawe (Gaelic Hyms)
Music of North Africa (Olympic Records)
The voices and drums of Africa (monitor) *This record looks AWESOME!!
The voices and drums of Africa (monitor) *slightly beat copy, split seam on cover
holloween Horrors *trashed
Holloween Horrors *split seam
A journey into stereo sound (london)
Karate for beginners Vol. 2
Koleda Czech Christmas Carols (Apon)
Monitor presents songs & dances of Vietnam (monitor)