Thursday, November 02, 2006

WFMU Record Fair

I'm no longer a record collector, & I don't need to feed the endlessly hungry maw of a weekly radio show. So I'm able to go to the incredible WFMU Record & CD Fair this weekend at Metropolitan Pavilion with an attitude of detached interest, as much or more for the social occasion than for the merchandise. Maintaining this detachment is difficult. The hundreds of dealer tables are like museum displays. I give myself only about two hours to browse & schmooze before taking up a post at the WFMU El Cheapo tables - everything one dolla - on Sunday afternoon for the final 3 hours of the three day event. I get to wear an official name tag & act venerable.

Entering the Pavilion lobby, a maze of velvet ropes brings you to the ticket sellers. These volunteers are invariably very nice, sociable people but their job is a lonely one since everyone is in a hurry to get inside. You go through another door - where your ticket will be examined by an amiable but no nonsense person. Once inside the Fair, the first tables you see are the WFMU tchotzke display for tee shirts & other "authorized" merchandise, run by people with proven ability to add & subtract. Then the WFMU all-prices record & CD tables, staffed by knowledgable DJs you can actually consult with on your purchases. This is where you're most likely to find WFMU's music director when he has a few moments to hang out. You also pass the WFMU "Wheel of Fate" game & the information table with all the handouts & flyers, the chairs behind this table are usually occupied by a male & a female selected for their congenial dispositions. If you want to pull the station manager's coat, lay in wait for him here. Then you wander the aisles & aisles of dealers however you want. The El Cheapo area is generally the last stop for people on their way out of the record fair. It's like the dusty souvenir shop or funky little arcade at the end of the boardwalk. You arrived with a certain amount of money to spend, & you spent nearly all of it, but you still got 5 or 10 bucks to blow. Almost all of the CDs for sale are complete mysteries to me. The compilations are the best gambles. There are good records, though. Nothing valuable or mint, but if you love music, you'll probably find something. & it's easy for me: 6 items, that'll be, ah, 6 bucks.

Comments:
What happens Patrick demands you take him, heh heh. It's probably in his genes.
 
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