With all of the madness going on in the world today, being a collector or lover of something really helps to balance out all of the craziness across the globe. Collecting or having hobbies really keeps that happiness and positivity flowing not only internally but within a community of people who share those same hobbies and passions. Keyword being community which is exactly what it takes to help scenes thrive, from the smallest underground level to the larger more mainstream, it’s all about getting your healthy fix for physical content and media. As a collector, I’ve spent this last year spending more time out in the field, hitting collector shows of all types and buying direct from dealers that I’ve built relationships with and much less time buying from online sources like eBay or Discogs. Of course I’m not anti online shopping and yes some things are just right there for the picking but I’ve come a point in my life, age and collector status where I no longer chase items for my collection. Record or collector karma is a real thing and once I stopped chasing records, things started falling in my lap, and at the right price too. I equate a lot of that to having way too many interests and things on the want list so something is always bound to make the rounds but it also a part of just having good energy flowing through your small circle or scene.
Life is good, of course it can always be better but as long as there’s shit out there that we’re digging, we’ll always find a way to keep a healthy balance of joy pumping through our veins.
Shit We’re Digging….
Carrying on tradition
Sometimes social gets overwhelming with nonsense and you find yourself doom scrolling to no end which I’ve tried to limit, delete and unfollow pages and people that aren’t of benefit to my joy. As a record collector, there are a bunch of fellow collectors and DJ’s that I follow and then there are two daily pages that I look forward to, @ricojewelz and @soulie_94. As an older DJ and collector, I’m always questioning who will carry the torch of digging deep and preserving that culture of not just playing the basics but having the ear, knowledge and collection to take things further and that’s definitely where these two young future OG’s to the next generation comes in. When we talk about carrying on a lineage and preserving culture, they do that with the utmost care possible. Having extremely deep crates not to flex for social status but for an actual appreciation of cultural significance, these guys are cut from a cloth that’s become more rare than the records themselves.
Dig for yours
Local shows are you best bet for filling your collection with pieces at the right price. This last year I went to at least two shows a month across the states in search of records, comic books and vintage toys and it is without a doubt, one of the most satisfying years of collecting for me. One thing that I’ve learned over the years is regionality within collecting and what may be found in one place may not be found in another but also what may be cheap in one place may be more expensive in the other. It’s that digging and hitting shows across the board that have really filled in the holes in my collection.
John Woo
Since the early 1990’s, fans of Hong Kong action cinema flicks by John Woo have had to view them on VHS (originally bootlegs) and DVD’s which were usually cut or edited but with the serious explosion of physical media especially companies releasing once out of print or first time in a new format movies, John Woo is back in business! Over the last few months, new prints on Blu-ray and 4K UHD of Woo’s classic films The Killer, Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow and others have gotten a new cinematic life. Although viewing them on my old VHS tapes feels very nostalgic, seeing them nice and crisp makes all the difference in the viewing experience.