With only gsalr.com to guide me, I embarked from my girlfriend’s house on a Saturday morn in search of vinyl. I started out by going a bit out of my way to get to the Prarie Path bike trail which I took a few miles west to Villa Park. I got off at Villa Ave and took that further south to the first of what would become a number of stops on this very long journey.
I found a scant two boxes filled with vinyl….quickly, I located what I can only presume is near first pressing (based on the age of the rest of the records) of a late 60s psyche jam…but alas the sleeve held nothing, the platter somewhere misplaced. A Pickwick compilation of dubious sources (I left this behind as I believe it to be orchestral ‘pops’ versions of the songs listed, not the originals) caught my eye then was quickly forgotten. The country classic shown below was tantalizing for a moment, but it passed quickly, as it so often does with garage sale fodder of fleeting desirability.
Lastly however was a truly odd ‘documentary album‘ of boot camp. The packaging was very nice and odder still was the stencil someone had used for something….the font harkens military themes and I could not figure out if it was a strange bonus with the album? What were its origins? I will never know – I threw it back and left with nothing.
Next I set out on a much longer journey, from Villa Park all the way to Schiller Park. I arrived only to be told that the approximately ‘2000 45s’ and ‘1000 LPs’ were all purchased at once by someone else. They did have a very large amount of cassettes, CDs and even 8-tracks so I almost believed those wild numbers, but not quite. Either way, there was nothing there for me so I moved on.
I stopped at 7-11 to refuel after my 15 miles plus already covered and plot my next move. Unsatisfied with one bad gar(b)age sale and another devoid of vinyl in general, I went back to gsalr.com. I found another sale with vinyl in the general vicinity of my home. It would only add a couple miles to my trip home and would also allow me to stop at the grocery store. So I headed east on Irving Park with my fingers crossed.
I was firmly excited to find three large totes of records and motherlode of solid rock records – no ‘documentary albums’ here. I grabbed an early VH album for myself, as well as the mate to a fusion album I grabbed at a pawn shop a couple months ago. (Both albums have proven to be so good….one of my best musical discoveries in the past year or more). In the last bin I found a huge stash of Engelbert albums – almost all post-Parrot years. I picked up my favorite of the bunch for my girl (I already have them all). I chatted briefly with the owner then grabbed some taco makings and went home. With now twenty miles under my belt, I was exhausted. I ate some tacos and hydrated before a very brief nap and gloated in the fun of the day. Don’t give up kids – the best bins are just around the corner.
