By Darren Johnson
Campus News
Music lovers are invited to Greenwich on Saturday June 1st from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM for a pop-up record fair at 99 Main Street. Off-Track Records of Saratoga Springs, Owl Pen Books of Greenwich, Sweet Side Records of Glens Falls, and record fair purveyor Roundabout Records will all be on hand to sell vinyl LPs of all genres. DJs will spin soul, rock, punk and more.
Here is my Q&A with organizer Jason Planitzer:
Music lovers are invited to Greenwich on Saturday June 1st from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM for a pop-up record fair at 99 Main Street. Off-Track Records of Saratoga Springs, Owl Pen Books of Greenwich, Sweet Side Records of Glens Falls, and record fair purveyor Roundabout Records will all be on hand to sell vinyl LPs of all genres. DJs will spin soul, rock, punk and more.
Here is my Q&A with organizer Jason Planitzer:
What can people expect if they stop by the Record Fair on June 1?
In addition to Off-Track Records and Owl Pen Books, we’ll have other area vendors including Sweet Side Records from Glens Falls and Roundabout Records from Round Lake, and our friend Sean’s bringing some great stuff, too. We’ve all got different records we’ve accumulated from different and diverse collections. OTR has some newer indie, classic punk, and plenty of classic rock. Owl Pen’s always got a good selection of rock, blues and soul. Sweet Side has everything from AC/DC to Coltrane to Taylor Swift. And Ross Marvin from Roundabout has always got an interesting variety of jazz, rock, soul and some pretty rad exotica, too. He also just acquired some good 70’s/80’s post punk, new wave and goth! So there’ll be a little bit of everything, and plenty of staples like Hendrix, The Doors, Grateful Dead, etc. We’ve got some DJs for the record fair as well, playing everything from obscure and classic soul and punk to electro-funk and boogie, so you might hear something that makes you say “I need to have this!”
I see you tied the event into other events happening that day. Is that on purpose? Please expand.
Oh, 100%. With the grand opening of Clutch happening just a few doors down we anticipated that many Greenwich residents might be out and about on Saturday, and maybe putting something together like this would attract some visitors and give the community some fun things to do on Main Street in lieu of Whipple City. I’m thrilled to see there have been some other efforts within Greenwich to get people out for several weekends in June, because that’s what summer is all about!
What got you into this business?
Well, it started as a hobby and then it became something more. I started collecting records over 20 years ago when I just kind of took all of my dad’s haha. Once I started buying entire collections the last few years I lived in Brooklyn, I thought about selling as a kind of side hustle, but when visiting my in-laws one weekend in Saratoga Springs I thought it might just be the time and place to have a small shop. Saratoga hadn’t had a record store for almost ten years, and interest in vinyl records had really grown during the pandemic when people were devoting a lot more time into starting and maintaining new hobbies, so it’s all just been a case of right place right time for me.
Eric Kufs, owner of Owl Pen Books in Greenwich, has his own answer. As a musician and avid vinyl listener, adding a used record section felt like a natural addition to the 60 year-old book store for him.
Would you say you have more supply or demand at this point?
Thankfully I feel I always have a steady inventory of new things coming in, and a few distributors I work with to keep new releases and popular titles in stock. But the demand has definitely grown. And I’m a small operation, so I’ll only have a handful of copies of the new Beyoncé or Vampire Weekend, and once they sell it might take a week or so before it’s back in stock. Or sometimes a record everyone wants ends up on backorder and I’ve got to wait a while before it’s available again. The Chappell Roan “Midwest Princess” album, or the first few Gorillaz albums, both being recent examples, I’m still waiting to get more. With used records, when I’m cycling in some new additions from a collection I’ve just sourced, I can always tell what’s going to be gone within a few days. Like if I put out a nice, clean copy of Led Zeppelin’s “IV” or Talking Heads’ “Speaking in Tongues” or Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures” I know it’ll sell in a matter of days. But that’s my favorite thing about used records. It all comes back around. And I have no idea what I’ll have two months from now, or six months from now. It’s as much a surprise to me as it is to anyone digging through the crates!
How would people know if they have any valuable albums in their collection?
The more time you spend in used record stores, scouring the bins and flipping through thousands and thousands of records, the more you tend to absorb. Especially if you’re spending several hours a day several days a week doing so, you just naturally notice things and remember things. But most people aren’t doing that for several hours after work every day. Maybe they’ve got a few boxes down in the basement they haven’t touched in 30 years and one day they’re doing some spring cleaning and decide today is the day to pick the hobby back up. Or maybe you’ve got a bunch of records you took from your dad, and you’ve been building a collection from things you’ve found at shops and estate sales and thrift stores over the years : ) Many people might look on eBay to see what the records they have are selling for, and once they see a Simon & Garfunkel record listed for $300.00 they think they’re sitting on a goldmine. That’s generally not the case. eBay is particularly misleading, because you’re seeing what someone is asking for something, not necessarily what it’s worth. Odds are your James Taylor and Seals & Crofts and Joan Baez records aren’t going to fetch much. Now maybe you’ve got some less common things in that stack of LPs. Bands you’ve never heard of with some far out psychedelic album covers. Jazz records from the 1960’s on the Blue Note or Prestige or Riverside labels. Get to know Discogs, and if the records are in good condition, you can get a better idea of the median value. Condition is key, though, as is the exact edition. Is it an original or a reissue. It takes time and practice to recognize, but those are most important in determining the value of a record.
Have you ever bought a huge lot of records and found a gem within? What was it and what is it worth?
That does happen from time to time, like maybe it’s a situation like a storage unit filled with records and someone has a certain price they’re looking for, and I’ll have to determine if there’s enough good, sellable records in there to recoup the expenses. There might not be a lot of time to thoroughly go through fifty boxes, so you hope you’ll stumble on a gem or two. A situation like this recently produced an original UK pressing of The Pretty Things’ “S.F. Sorrow,” which I kept haha. That one’s only like four or five hundred bucks, but a record I recommend if you like The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” and want something in that vein that’s nowhere near as ubiquitous.
Still looking for that sealed Beatles “Yesterday and Today” first state baby butcher cover waiting for me in the middle of a towering wall of mostly dime a dozen showtunes and novelty records…
Why do you think there’s increasing interest in vinyl records?
I think it’s a combination of things. Digital media and streaming services simply don’t offer the physical, tangible object. You can’t hold the artwork and lyrics and liner notes in your hand when you listen to Spotify. Vinyl has also always been the most collectible format that retains its value, certainly more so than CDs and 8 tracks. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing quite like dropping the needle into the groove. It adds this tactile element to the experience of listening to an album, and it enhances that experience because of it. It makes you an active part of that experience. You are part of the process, you have to get up and flip the record to keep that start-to-finish experience of an album going.
How can people find you if they can’t attend the event?
Off-Track Records is located in the lower level of 480 Broadway in Saratoga Springs, next to City Hall. Catch me there Wednesday thru Sunday, usually 12PM to 5PM. I tend to add new records to the 3,500 plus we have in the shop every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and you can check our instagram for sneak peaks @otrsaratoga .
The Owl Pen is at 166 Riddle Road, over the river and through the woods in Greenwich. They’re open 11AM to 5PM Wednesday thu Sunday. www.owlpenboooks.com or @owlpenbooks on instagram.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Don’t use a Crosley, you can find other better and more reliable record players for under $250. We recommend Audio-Technica or U-Turn turntables.
Also, records can warp in the heat. It’s summer. Remember, don’t leave your records in the car!
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