Amazing street find: oh, vinyl.

I finally went through the crate of records I found on the street. Actually it was two crates of records, put out with the piles of trash that are always on the sidewalk in front of (between?) the Williamsburg Projects near where I teach (surrounding where I teach, really). I consolidated them into one crate and hauled them two blocks to school and up a flight of stairs, where they've sat under my desk for the past three weeks. But I went through them yesterday, and lugged a bunch home today. YAY! A lot of them are just the vinyl with no sleeve, tragically scratched up, but so far they're playing...

Here is the list of ones I've listened to and made choices about, to be annotated further as I keep listening.

in the YAY pile
the afro house of Irma--"Afrodesia" vol. 2 (2 discs, AWESOME)
Culture Class in New York City: Experiments in Latin Music 1970-77 (some amazing, some a little too experimental for me, 2 disc set and I'm sad to only have one of them, but happy to have one of them, especially acquired this way!)

transferred from "not listened to" to "YAY"
something that I finally figured out must be this by putting the song titles into google because the label is ripped up [I'm so not a DJ]
and another Crib Remixes with a ripped label (???)
Disco Dave & the Force of the Five MCS (one song, 1980, Label "Mix Master Mike and Disco Dave Records") This starts out almost cringingly old school but gets better--again learned, some interesting stuff through google (here)

in the "no" pile
Tambi--"The House Music Anthem" (single)
Attitude--"We Got the Juice" (1983)

transferred from "not listened to" to "no" (also known as "don't really need it"--I'm about to move cross country again, after all)
Tyrone Brunson--"I Need Love" b/w "The Smurf" (single)


not listened to yet, but moving to another pile eventually, possibly with annotation:
Ursula 1000--"Beatbox Cha Cha E.P."
Rick James--"Street Songs"
Bad Boys featuring K Love--"Bad Boys" single
Norman Connors--"You Are My Starship"
Just.Ice--"Put That Record Back On" (single)
C-Bank--"One More Shot" (single)
Eric B. & Rakim "Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em" (single)
Special Request--"Salsa Smurph" single
"'Disco-fied' Rhythm Heritage"
Angela Bofill--"Angel of the Night
Soulmate--Summerland (single)
Sugarhill Gang--"Rapper's Delight"
DTrain "You're the One for Me" which I took because of the amazing cover, front and back--even though someone colored DTrain's teeth in with a blue ballpoint pen... (see pristine cover above)


and...
lots more that I don't have the time to write out now, but maybe while I'm listening to more I will continue the list... Obviously I know a lot of these records/songs/artists already, the question is whether they play and whether I need the vinyl. Oh, acquisitions. ARGH. Even those things acquired without expense--maybe especially these "amazing finds"--are more possessions to agonize over. And have I mentioned the impending move?!?!

...

This is the third large stash of records I've gotten in an interesting, random way. One day I was walking through my neighborhood and this huge old factory/warehouse on Dean had the doors open wide; some guy was selling the contents. I spent hours poking through hundreds of records, digging through junk... I culled and culled in order to only take as many as I could carry home [not to mention afford--but I paid hardly anything for all the vinyl I got that day]. I bought a lot of records clearly marked by "Linda as Smilie" and "Frances as Pinky" in ballpoint pen, proclaiming their love for Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones ("Hot Rocks 1964-1971" is masking-taped up and labeled "Linda Martinez {I got it in 1971}"), and Michael in all his manifestations from The Jacksons' eponymous 1976 release ("Keep on Dancing" and "Think Happy") through "Thriller." I also got some great salsa records in that warehouse: so much Celia, two by La Lupe, and "The Greatest of the Lebron Brothers," (with an amazing cartoon image of them posing as a basketball team--I couldn't find the image online anywhere) among others, as well as some random lovely stuff I still haven't learned enough about ("Los Grandes Exitos de Amalia Mendoza, 'La Tariacuri,'" and "Tonia La Negra interpreta a Augustin Lara," for instance). I imagine them as belonging to three generations: Linda, her mom (the salsa), and grandma (Amalia and Tonia La Negra). One of the best parts of things found is the stories, of course.

And we know I walked by that warehouse countless times after that, with more cash in my pocket, hoping for more records, and never saw those doors open ever again.

The last major acquisition was all the Ghanaian highlife records I bought in one fell swoop at the Salvation Army at Quincy and Nostrand: "A.B. Crentsil and the Super Sweet Talks, Int.," "Kunadu's Band," and a bunch more. I put back the pants I'd gone to the thrift store looking for, and just spent all my money on records, unheard--never regretted it.


Yeah, yeah. I know. Things I'll miss about Brooklyn.