As a hobby and to simply
get rid of a ton of vinyl that I don't need and will probably never listen to
again, I've been selling albums on line under the name BadCatRecords (www.BadCatRecords.com)
for about ten years.
I'm guessing I've
sold between 4,000 - 5,000 LPs during that timeframe. I've sold vinyl to hundreds, if not thousands
of customers, including folks living in 40 + countries. And like any other activities that involves
dealing with other people, you run into some folks who stand out from the
crowd.
Sometimes they stand out
for their obnoxiousness:
- The nameless band member
who threatened to sue me for selling one of his band's records.
- The nameless son of a
deceased band member who threatened to sue me for selling one of his father's
records.
- The band that threatened
to sue me for selling bootleg copies of their CD, even though I don't sell
bootlegs and I don't sell CDs.
- The customer who bought
an album and wanted a refund because it included the original poster (I
suggested he could simply throw the poster away). Curiously I never heard back from this
customer.
Sometimes they stand out
because they're so nice and trusting:
- The German buyer who
mailed $800 in cash for six albums.
- The Japanese buyer who
spent $900 on a single LP that I'd largely slammed in an on-line review.
- The band member who
thanked me for a nice review by sending me an autographed copy of a rare
poster.
- The electrician who was doing some work on my home and casually mentioned he'd been in an obscure '60s band. I gave him a copy of the band's LP and he gave me a massive discount on the work he was doing. Amazingly, he'd never told his children he'd been in a band.
- The grandmother who'd been in a duo that recorded for Columbia and was looking for a copy of her album to give to her grandchildren.
- The electrician who was doing some work on my home and casually mentioned he'd been in an obscure '60s band. I gave him a copy of the band's LP and he gave me a massive discount on the work he was doing. Amazingly, he'd never told his children he'd been in a band.
- The grandmother who'd been in a duo that recorded for Columbia and was looking for a copy of her album to give to her grandchildren.
And then there are folks
who are simply amazing in their encyclopedic knowledge of obscure music.
I've always thought I knew
quite a bit about obscure bands ... and
then I ran into Ben Blake Mitchner.
(I'll simply refer to him as BBM from here on out.) I actually met BBM through his father. The dad was buying BBM a Christmas gift and
plunked down some decent money for an obscure psych LP. I remember thinking that was actually a
pretty cool thing for a father to do. As
interesting as the dad was, he’s got absolutely nothing on BBM. BBM's spent what has to be a fortune buying and
selling high end LPs. (In the interests of full disclosure, I've been the
recipient of more than my share of BBM's money.) BBM has no interest in popular
stuff. That's not to say he doesn't have a keen knowledge of contemporary music
- he can discourse at length about Coldplay, Katy Perry, or the latest boy
band. That said, his meat and potatoes; his raison d'êtres, are those truly
obscure '60s, '70s, and '80s bands that 99.9% of the world, including music
collectors, have never heard of - The Affection Collection, Czar, The Organ
Grinders, Shape of the Rain ... BBM's knowledge and insight into this world of
forgotten and lost bands is simply dumbfounding. BBM seems to have single
handedly memorized every fact and figure known to mankind in the realm of
obscure rock bands. He can reel off band member names, including when they
joined, when they left, what they played, what songs they wrote, where they
recorded, where they toured, etc. etc. Add to that, BBM has excellent tastes in
music. He can give you song-by-song play lists, including his thoughts on the
caliber of each performance. His insight into this musical realm is simply
stunning. While I don't often follow BBM's suggestions (his collecting tastes
run to the expense end of the investment spectrum while I tend to shop
downscale), but on those rare occasions where I've purchased something he's
gushed about, the purchase has always proved worthwhile.
