Last night late night I got a call from a vinyl collector friend who said he just got a collection in his possession. The photos he sent me were of about 500+ records in boxes (a welcome sight), but then he started sending me photos of the actual jazz LPs in it. I was blown away. Not just any jazz LPs, but hard to get, pricey jazz LPs. A run of Dave Pike records, as well as holy grails on anyone’s list. He asked me to come over, but I was in for the night. As much as I wanted to dig through all of these boxes with him, I wanted him to relish in this newly acquired collection himself. I will get over to check it out soon enough. It got me thinking, and I wanted to pose this question to you, the readers:

How do you feel when you dig and whoever is with you turns up a holy grail or get really good records?

Personally speaking, in the past when ever I went out to dig in the field with friends, we always split up crates (front or back?), took turns going first, or just split up piles of records that we would both end up going through eventually. Out of all of my digging mates, we never once have had a squabble about records. In fact, I remember once while digging someone grabbed a copy I had just flipped and I gave it to them. If a record is really that emotional to someone, then it should go to them. After all, we are friends. The time spent getting dirty, dusty, and discovering uncharted territories is supposed to be enjoyable. It’s a great feeling not just finding a record you don’t have, but when a friend or mentor gives you the heads up on a particular piece of black crack that you were unaware of. That’s why record shows and fairs are always sensory overload to me. There is way too much and I end up buying nothing. I need that intimacy of a few friends or alone to properly dig, listen, and decide what I want to add to the record bag (even if I don’t turn up a holy grail). But back to the topic at hand, I am personally happy when one of my buddies comes into a good collection or digs up something that is special. That’s what record collecting is all about, discovery, new records, and the music. Perhaps your friend finding a new record or getting a whole collection might make some people jealous or envious. Remember, records are meant to come to you. If some come to your friends, then you benefit from the knowledge you will gain from them, effectively making you more aware of good records in the future. So with that in mind, what do you say FleaMarket Funk faithful, how do you feel about this topic? Let’s get a dialogue going below. Remember, Vinyl Records Rule, even if you don’t get the holy grails all the time. Your time will come, be patient, diligent, and lastly, humble. We can’t get every record even though we wish we could.

Keep Diggin’!