The TKR Collection

I have to say this up front - I'm not a record collector in the strictest sense of the word; that is, i'm not collecting for the investment or just because something is hard to find. I just love music. Although recently I Have actually started finally purchasing some of my "holy grail" 45's list, because I want them for my SOTD writings and such. And sometimes because I just find a really good deal.

Case in point - I had found a dealer online selling Mike Curb's "Bandstand Theme" for $30. I had recently done a Subject:CINEMA podcast about American Bandstand and wanted to find that song because I hadn't known it had ever been released and was stunned to find it. I came thisclose to purchasing it. Then, I found it from another dealer who had a copy and who I ended up purchasing it from for just $8 with postage included. And I had it TWO DAYS later - wow!

I'm usually hesitant to spend more than a couple bucks on a single - I grew up in an era where singles were 99 cents or less, and spending more than that, even on out of print 45s, is not something I usually do. However, now that TKR is back and going online, I am investing a little more in songs that I've always wanted but have never been able to find, and it's a really cool feeling to have them in my possession.

I remember when cut-outs were the thing. When I was little, you could sometimes get little bags of six 45s for 99 cents. Sure they were old records, but most of them were pretty cool, and I still own most of those records. I remember purchasing huge quantities of LP cutouts as well over the years, and CD cutouts too. Now, you can't find cutouts anywhere...except maybe eBay...

Anyway, I will have pictures of my collections up one of these days. It doesn't look that big, but combining LPs, 45s, Cassettes, CDs and MP3s together, I have over 100,000 tracks at my disposal. I'm working on digitizing a good deal of my library - especially the hard to find tracks - and hope to present them online in various forms over the next few years.

I may actually print a complete inventory when I get one done - i'm working on it, but with over 1000 albums, 1000 cassettes, 3000 cds and 2500 45s to go through, it can be slow work indeed. And that doesn't even include the close to 50,000 MP3 tracks i've got in my library that are NOT a part of my other collections.

One thing that I am actively collecting is radio shows on vinyl or CD. I'm not talking oldtime radio, but syndicated music radio shows, and most of the ones i'm looking for are pretty obscure or older and hard to find. To find out what i'm looking for, see the TKR Want list!