Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Selling my Vinyl

It came about suddenly, but apparently I'm flying to New York tomorrow. On a mission. It's time to clear away years of groovy accumulation in our old apartment. That is to say, I gotta sell my record and CD collection, all my books about monster movies and electronic music, and my bong too. Our sublettors have been stepping around this hipster detritus for too long, so now everything must go! Should be fun. Purging is great! Yeah.


For most male homo sapiens, the phrase "selling my vinyl" is a euphemism for "growing up." For me, it's like letting go of a central tenet of my psycho-pathology. What will I do without my white-marble vinyl copy of the Stranglers' Men in Black? Can I really part with my copy of Mudhoney's "Touch Me, I'm Sick" seven inch? Who will I be if I don't have my little treasures to fondle and cherish?

The danger is that I will walk into our old place, look around and immediately start sorting and organizing and plunging right back into my disease: hoarding. No, I won't do it. I will be brutal. I will clear and cut and even throw away my old journals. Yes. I must be strong and at last, edit myself. Or at least, edit my stuff.

Of course, I won't sell my stamp collection. That would be nuts.

8 comments:

C N Heidelberg said...

Journals?? I could never part with those! (I'm a fellow hoarder, though, so you might do well to not listen to me.)
Good luck getting rid of your stuff!

Ed Ward said...

Never been a better time to sell collectable vinyl, though; it's back in style and not being made anymore. Just check prices on eBay, and, if you can't deal with that yourself, find someone to broker it for you. Contact me back-channel; I might be able to find someone for you in NYC.

And keep the journals but lose the bong.

Snooker said...

Don't get rid of the journals. Even if you have no Earthly use for them, consider anyone else who might one day be interested enough to read what you were thinking. Come on... you're a blogger! It is just another journal. Are you going to one day simply trash it? If they take up too much space scan them and at least save them electronically.

Anonymous said...

Trash it all! Journals, vinyl, all of it!

The purge is a sign of good mental health (and a continuing marriage).

Tell Brent the experience changed your life (and increased your virility or something).

pat said...

Alright, alright already. The people have spoken and I have heards them: I didn't get rid of the journals. And you're right Ed: I brought much of my music collection to a street fair and sold lots of vinyl and not very many CDs. I don't know if the purge increased my virility, but it felt somehow definitive.
Now I'm free.
To start collecting it all over again!

Anonymous said...

Definitive? That's all you're going to give me? Definitive?

Pat, Pat, Pat...

Anonymous said...

Your blog stirred me to my soul! My very identity is rooted in my Gang of Four 45 "At Home He Feels Like a Tourist" and my Jam "When You're Young."

Or is it?

I'm in the process of purging this week as well (vintage clothes, unlistened to American Music Club CDs) but I am (for sure) keeping a handful of singles. They are such beautiful objects and they connect me to something passionate and past. --Donna R

pat said...

Welcome, Donna! Um, how much do you want for that Jam single?