Carpe Weekend: A side of vinyl
By Jason Freeman jfreeman@southtownstar.com September 12, 2012 4:44PM
Record dealer Jonas Grigola (in tie-dyed shirt) talks with collectors during a recent Record Collectors Show. | Supplied Photo
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Information on the Record Collectors Show is with Larry O’Connell at (773) 585-6254.
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Updated: October 14, 2012 12:26PM
A high-end MP3 player with 160 gigabytes of memory can store about 30,000 songs inside a device the size of a deck of playing cards and just as easily portable.
Tell that to someone who’s been in a coma since 1972 and my guess is he or she would die of shock on the spot.
Albums back in those days had an average track listing of about 10 songs, which means your modern MP3 player contains the equivalent of about 3,000 old vinyl records.
I’m no physicist, but I’m pretty sure it would be next to impossible to fit that many albums in your back pocket.
Yet despite their bulky size and limited storage capacity, vinyl records still are popular, and not just with technophobes who stopped listening to popular music decades ago.
“The sound quality can be argued as better,” record collector Larry O’Connell said.
“The artwork and the liner notes, even the inner sleeve advertising other record albums issued by that company, are interesting. It’s something you won’t see ever again.”
That is unless you stop by the Record Collectors Show, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 15 in the ballroom at Georgios Comfort Inn, 8800 W. 159th St., Orland Hills.
O’Connell, who has hosted the show since the mid-1980s, said vinyl record aficionados will be able to peruse 40 tables filled with thousands of albums in genres as diverse as country, jazz, rock and easy listening.
“There’s a lot of subcategories like glam rock and punk and progressive, but a lot of dealers just lump them in together and say, ‘It’s all just rock ’n’ roll’ and throw them into boxes alphabetically from A to Z,” O’Connell said.
Also for sale will be memorabilia, phonograph needles, cassettes, CDs, posters and archival supplies such as plastic protective sleeves and inner sleeve replacements.
The show costs $3 for general admission and is free for ages 12 and younger.
If you’re worried about going into debt to further expand your Black Sabbath record collection, you can relax.
O’Connell said about 70 percent of the records will cost only $5 to $10 each.
“It’s virtually the same price they were issued at as when new,” he said. “But people get personal enjoyment out of the music, so it’s usually not about the dollar amount.”
It’s also not about which band or artist is better, O’Connell said.
“One of the appeals of this is that you don’t have to have an attitude,” he said.
“You can like everyone from Ted Nugent on one end of the spectrum to Madonna on the other end. Nobody’s really going to care.”
Sure, you’d probably be able to fit most of the albums at the sale into your back pocket using a modern MP3 player, but where’s the fun in that?
