D.O.C Record Fair

(My first post. Doing it bloggy style!)

A couple of years ago I went along to a little record fair at D.O.C bar on Krd. I think I picked up a Dr John record for 10 bucks. Can’t remember what else I got, but the whole event was soo different to other record fairs I had been to in the past. It was just regular folk making the chop on their collections. No record nerd pretention, no forced price negotiations, no condescension. I decided then and there that this would be the best way to part with records if I ever had to do so.

Recently, I was reacquainted with many records that had been in storage for some time. After the back braking car boot scraping favour taking dramas of transporting them from one part of the country to another, it became apparent something needed to be done to address the issues around mobility, storage and quantity.

I planned that after i had sorted all the records (using a similar method to $1 Pies i.e. can I listen to this record in its entirety and enjoy it? Has it got at least one song that is soo bangin’ it justifies its existence?), I would contact the people who organised the last D.O.C record fair and see if they would want to do it again. But, as chance would have it, before I even got around to making contact, they had put up an add for another record fair. I insisted I had to sell at the fair (the perfectly timed opportunity) and they kindly allowed me to do so. It was meant to be.

I filled four crates to part with, and arranged them in price. Whipped up some signs $10, $10, $5, $2 (and half prices on the flip). I wanted to have prices on them, because in my record fair experiences I hated digging through un-priced boxes, pulling out something you really want like a Joe Tex LP and the guy being like “ahhh… hhmmm... I don’t know if I want to part with that, maybe for $40”. Anyway, I was surprised at how many people commented in appreciation on me having the prices stated, expressing the same annoyance I found from record fairs.

It was fun times! The other sellers were real nice people. I managed to accumulate about half the amount of which I sold, totally defeating the purpose, annnd I came home with less sold than I would’ve liked. Now I have to store them for the next record fair.

I picked up a few classic hip hop “12s + two LPs including Reflection Eternal – Train of Thought (everyone’s on serato now). I also got a Cameo LP, and a Lakeside LP (a lil too crackly though) which I traded for a Donovan LP (“wear you love like heaven...”).

Surprisingly, the highlights were the 45s I picked up from a box labelled “soul”. Looking through, none of them fitted with what I’d personally describe as soul. In previous times this may have disappointed me, but now, all them dorky song titles and 1980s dates appealed greatly. I picked out as many as I could afford, and those that had the closest dates to 1985. I paid $10 for 5, and just as I was walking away the seller stopped me and gave me $2 back saying “I can’t charge you that much for those!” I think (this is presumptuous), he guiltily thought I was suckered by the misleading ‘soul’ title on the box, and I was naively buying his 80s garbage. But as this blog may soon reveal, I love 80s garbage!

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