A friend of ours (my fiancee and I) invited us over for breakfast and a crazy trip to this insanely huge rummage sale and Rotary auction on Bainbridge Island, WA. I instantly thought “wow, I wonder what I could find on vinyl there?” as our friend describe the insanity of this event. To say this rummage sale and auction was “big” is an understatement. The whole thing went down in a middle school. There was stuff in all of the parking lots, class rooms, and gym!
I was delighted to see big signs for “Records and Tapes” in the gym. I went over there and saw about 8-9 large boxes stuffed full of vinyl records in their cases. My joy quickly turned to curiosity and only *slight* disappointment as I found scores of religious music, sermons, chior, and loads of Christmas music. There were the occasional off beat jazz, blues, and contemporary rock albums in there but nothing that really grabbed me.
I did, however, find the following gems in digging through ALL of the stockpile (you never can be sure what you will miss, right?)
Steve Martin - “Let’s Get Small” :: The condition on this one is ‘poor’ but listenable. I found in a stack that had no slips, and it is pretty beat up but I wanted it for sampling purposes. Classic!
Derek and the Dominos - “Layla - and other assorted love songs” :: Good quality, no cover.
Various Artists - Swingin’ Sound :: Impulse buy. Dave Brubeck, Ray Conniff, Miles Davis, Duke Ellinton, etc. I enjoyed the record quite a bit, and the potential for mixing/sampling is certainly there.
The Dell Trio - “Cocktail Time” :: Impulse buy. I bought it for the name and cover art in hopes of some good jazzy/loungy stuff. It is certainly NOT what I was hoping for, but funky/different enough to remain in the collection for now. The music is that of… nearly elevator style… is the best way I can put it. It’s straight out of 1949.
Now those are the first batch. The next ones are of special interest by me and considered to be the real ’score’ of the trip!
A Winter’s Solstice :: Yep. I’m a sucker for this stuff. All of that Christmas music from my younger life will stick with me, and I was elated to find this one as another patron was sifting through the records in the box next to mine. Sweet!
George Benson - Breezin’ :: It was the only George Benson record in there, and I nabbed it! How can you go wrong putting on this one for some relaxing times? ;)
I managed to pluck out an EXCELLENT (in cover, slip, and record) 1984 print of Mannheim Steamroller’s “Christmas” (!!!!!!). I was shocked to see it and couldn’t imagine how anyone would let that go from their collection (no matter how small). It brings back memories from growing up listening to this on reel to reel, tape, and CD over the years of Christmas.
The beauty of it all: Each record was only $0.50!!
