Whakatane Record Fair

When the bro text me to say there was a record fair on in Whakatane I thought he was joking. But after a few back and forward texts we figured out it was for real and he was picking me up on Labour Day to go check it out.

So many questions: Will anyone turn up? Will I be picking up score after score as I'm the only one there? Are people in Whakatane sitting on vinyl that they want to get rid of? Who is organising this thing?

After walking through the door it was instantly recognisable what was going on. On one side there was a guy selling beat up copies of everything. Going through the racks I found that I had about 80% of the records. Either I was holding on to them, or had them in my chuck out pile or had given them back to Sallies. Whats more they were selling for $10 or more. Am I sitting on a gold mine?

There were a few good records in there but way too expensive for someone who is used to paying 50c to $1 for records. Hell, even $2 makes me think twice. I did find something I've been looking for for a while. Truth be told I could have it any time I wanted, if I felt like paying $10 on Trademe. It was unpriced so I asked the guy how much? $20. OK then, I'll think about it (code for: if there's nothing else good here and I can talk you down, we're good).

The thing about this guys stall was he had two crates of brand new releases (Jakey Jake got the SBTRKT album for $35!) and a bunch of CDs, so it was obvious the guy ran a shop and was traveling around selling records and making a buck. Big shout to DS Des who asked shocked "You want $100 for this?!!?".
"Yes," the guy replied, "it's very rare.".
To which Des muttered under his breath "Great because I have doubles of this at home". Classic.

On the other side was another guy with, truth be told, pretty good records. Good quality. Prices pretty high for me but not out of this world. Was pretty weird seeing stuff I've drawn all over or am using as a mouse pad going for $50. Anyways, he had a few crates of unpriced records which I figured out is the way to go. Because, you can say "how much?" and when you hear the answer you can do the old whistling while sucking in noise. Pretty steep bro. I found two 'nice-to-haves' with no prices so held on to them. As I made my way to the crates I was saving til last (the $2 each or 6 for $5 crates) I found two records I was pretty stoked with:

Found one of the records for Focus 3 by Focus. I used to have a Focus record and it was bananas but I had lost it. I knew this was going to be good going so I slapped down the $2 with confidence. Some great Dutch pysch-rock shit. Makes me feel like Margaret when I play it.

Neketini Brass. I'd heard about this record but never had the fortune of coming across it. When I saw it I had to stop myself going "AWWWWW YEAH!!!", lest the guy say "oh sorry, that was sposed to be in the $1m crate". Herb Alpert style brass arangements of Trad Maori songs. This is my cup of Dilmah with a side plate of Lamingtons. Lamingtons with a capital letter even!
(This is probably a dime a dozen up your guys ways).

This next one, you guys probably already have. I've always wanted it but never really thought I would come across it. Apart from something like this fair where there are seven copies floating around. But I mean, I have this on mp3 so I was happy not to have it. I found an unpriced copy and asked the guy "How much?". $7.50 he reckons. Fair enough, I would probably pay that, except that I saw the exact same record in another one of your crates for $5. So, I'll take the$5 copy. On some, that's what you get but also some "Don't try to play me like I got a flower pot head, son" - (c) Ghostface. T

Another unpriced one I wanted was this amazing looking Gospel album on a label I'd never heard of out of Philly but with 7 globe-sized afros on the cover. I can imagine it was going to be a banger and should've kept my mouth shut as the guy clicked straight away this was something I was very interested in. $7.50 for that one too. I had to let it go. I'll see you in my dreams, sweet record.

Finally, there was a guy from Whakatane, who I've seen around and thought he must've been some old rocker or something. He had a crate full of pretty cool rock records but most of them I have, or am not interested in or are probably on my way to being inherited in 30 years. But what I did notice was that he had a spreadsheet with all the records written on them and a bunch of them had been rubbed out. I was thinking there must have been a big rush before I got there or something because he'd done real well selling. Maybe I should have a stall next time.


So, after that I felt $9 was a pretty good effort as I'd come to the place with $40 in my back burner. Pretty happy I was, strolling down Domain Road when I thought "hang on a second, I've got that pile of records I've been building since doing the Four Crates series. Why don't I gather them up and take them back down, see if I can make some money?". So, that's what I did.

An interesting thing happened. I had planned on taking down my Elvis, Beatles, La Gloria and Apple Records 45 collection as well. But I forgot it. But no worries. One guy ended up picking up a bunch of 80's 45s I've been holding on to (Roxette, Bon Jovi) and was like "How much?". I guess, I dunno, maybe I'm new to this, maybe I'm not doing it right or maybe I just did it for the love of not having a whole pile of shit I don't even care about, but I said "aaaaaah, $15?". Quick as a flash the dude opened his wallet and paid up. I thought "Dam, shoulda said $50", but then, they'd probably be out there writing a blog post about me.

The other guy picked out a bunch of stuff and said "Grab whatever you want out of the crates". Now, at the time I was gutted because a) I was hoping for dinner money and b) I knew there was hardly anything I wanted in there. In fact, today I thought of something I saw in there and didn't get and it's going to piss me off for weeks. Either way, I picked out two records. In my mind I was like "Were my records worth the two $10 records I'm going to try and get?" but then reasoned that the $10 records I was getting weren't worth $10 in the first place - so it all evens out, right?

Right?

Am I a novice or too much of a softie? Dunno.

I saw this and, really, got it for the cover and the potential that it would be some throwdown in Harmonica town. Turns out it is. Daniel would love this shit to pieces. Real happy with it.

I got this. It's pretty good. Female Blues. I was indoctrinated with a distinct hatred towards Blues when I was growing up but I can't lie, I'm feeling this. Pretty bad ass if you ask me.

So in the end I got three great records, two $10 records, my money back and made $4 for ice creams for the way home. Not bad, I thought.


So here's what I learnt: The records seemed to be secondary to the experience of going to a record fair and FULLY nerding it out with those guys about records. The stories, the "Oh yeah bro, my Wife tells me to get rid of records too. Hurr hurr hurrrr". I mean, if I was a Rugby head, it would be the equivalent of going down the pub to watch the game and meeting someone who you could talk about the fine intricacies of the game with. It was something I've never experienced outside of sly boasting with my fellow Dollar Branders. I was hooked straight away. I was happy to give away my records for possibly cheap. I was happy to pay more than I would for stuff I probably don't need - all because I got to have that experience of being in true record nerdburger heaven.



Sidebar 1: One of the guys was pulling out records he had bought from the Whakatane guy, including a UK pressing of 'Dark Side of The Moon' with the original posters and postcards in it. Faaaarking hell. Not to mention all the other ridiculous scores he got off this guy. I hate to think what he paid him for them.

Sidebar 2: One of the guys put one of my records he'd bought into his 'New Arrivals' crate. One part of me wanted to go over to the rack and be like "How much for this?". Well let's see, I bought it for $2 and so that'll be $15 thanks. I think I'm going to have a Wingman to help me run that scam next time. Then go patchmember crazy on that ass.

Sidebar 3: Met a really nice guy from Wellington who played some pretty hilarious music and played a Theramin. Absolutely bonkers/cool. Well done.

Sidebar 4: I'm thinking of writing a movie based on Record Fairs. This would require me to go to more than one, but shit, I've already got the characters and story arc doooooown after this weekend. Hilarious times.

Sidebar 5: If either of the guys are reading this, no hard feelings.


BONUS Mix:

1) Koko Taylor - Voodoo Woman
2) Nick Nicholson & The Neketini Brass - Pokarekare Ana
3) Big Walter Horton - I Hate To See The Sun Go Down
4) Focus - Round Goes The Gossip
5) The Ramsey Lewis Trio - And I Love Her