On May 28th and May 29th, 2016, the first record sale of 2016 occurred at our premises in Brampton, Ontario. This was a test sale for our newly added LP category, which tops 5,000 in number. It was a great success, as record collectors from the Greater Toronto Area, and from Montreal and Michigan converged. Here are some photographs from that event.
Hidden away in the town of Gravenhurst, Ontario is one of the most unique record stores I have ever come across, Currie’s Music And Antiques. Located in the heart of the town on Muskoka Rd. North, the store was originally an old movie theatre that was converted into a place to find records of all speeds, guitars, a recording studio, and many antiques. We took the trip north to this one-of -a-kind store on Saturday, June 13, 2015, and were amazed. There are well over 2,000 78’s in the record room, 45’s galore, and for vinyl lovers, a good selection of all types of music. A history of this store has been copied from their website, with the permission of the owners.
Described by many travelling musicians as “my favourite store, ever,” Currie’s Music & Antiques is choc-o-block with some of the most interesting old guitars and stringed instruments you will find anywhere, as well as drum kits, vintage amps, cowboy boots and western shirts and stacks of hand-picked vinyl.
The son of long-time antique dealers: Ted and Suzanne Currie, Andrew fell in love with the business of buying, repairing and selling vintage guitars as a teenager. A business that began with tiny booths set up at antique markets and trade shows turned into over six rooms of vintage and pre-loved musical instruments, and a name that is known by players far and wide.
A careful expert when it comes to repairing and rebuilding classic instruments, Andrew has brought many an old Gibson, Harmony, S.S. Stewart or Kay guitar back from to life after years of neglect, and made it sing.
With a discerning ear, Andrew began working as a live-sound engineer in High School and to this date has controlled the sound board for over 3000 performances at venues such as Peter’s Players, The Gravenhurst Opera House, The Kee to Bala and many concert halls around central Ontario for acts as well known as Johnny Winter, Big Sugar, The Yardbirds, The Tragically Hip, 54-40 and Taj Mahal. Andrew acted as Technical Director for four of Muskoka’s best-loved concert venues for several years.
All of this aside, Andrew is first and foremost a musician – and boy can he play. Let him pluck the strings of your favourite guitar in the shop, or hear him rip it up as a bass player of drummer on a local stage and you will see for yourself where the passion begins.
The extensive vinyl selection in Currie’s Music is cared for by Rob Currie – another extremely talented musician, and recorded-sound aficionado. More about Rob can be found on the “studio” page.
The photographs below show that a trip to this store can be very exciting for record collector’s.
Still loading a ton of 78’s into the shed for my big sale on July 5th in Brampton, Ontario. Most of it is ready to go, so here are some updated photographs I would like to share with you.
Don Keele is a legendary record dealer, and after 42 years of business, he decided to sell his record stock, sleeves, shelves, and transcriptions. So, as of today, your editor has purchased his inventory, and will be taking a leap into selling 78’s directly, and on auction. The photographs below were taken at his warehouse located in the west end of Toronto, Ontario. Your editor is the one with the Jazz T-shirt.
The hunt for 78 rpm records was on early today, left Brampton, Ontario and headed west on Highway 401 to exit 299, or the Brock Rd. North. We arrived shortly at Aberfoyle shortly after 9:00 a.m. and the parking lot was already full. After parking some distance away, we found our way into the second largest antique show in Ontario. The largest is held at the Christie Conservation area in May and September. Guess where I am heading in two weeks? Needless to say, I was amazed to find 78 rpm records and brought home over 300. Here are some photographs of the day to share with you. The one rare item is the Electra label, produced by The Marsh laboratories in Chicago.
Unless you have lots of money at your fingertips, your record room will seem to be very ordinary. I like to think of it as something else-my own personal venture into the past, like being in an after hours club full of Jazz musicians jamming together. My personal dream, which I hope to become a reality in the near future, is to have framed records hanging on the walls, along with a trombone, saxophone, cornet, trumpet, and clarinet. A few street signs that name famous Jazz landmarks in New York, Chicago, and New Orleans, would be a nice touch. There will be shelving from one end of the room to the next, to hold 30,000 78’s. A bookshelf to hold discographies, and reference books will be added, along with chairs and a table, for guests to relax, and enjoy the music. Eventually, I want to acquire a couple of gramophones to make the room look nostalgic. What does your record room look like? Send me your pictures, and details, and I will post them.
On March 19th, I uploaded some photographs from my personal 78 RPM record collection. Today, I invite you to take a second look at some of the records I have acquired over the past few years.
Five years ago I got back to collecting 78’s after a long gap dating back to the 1980’s. At that time I had amassed a collection of 500 78’s before I disposed of them in a sale to another collector. I now have about 3000 78’s and am gearing up for this year’s “hunt for records”, as I call it. I’d like to share with you a few pics of the records, and hope you enjoy them.
I take pride in my record collection of just over 3000 78’s, and as such made sure that they were properly kept in sleeves, and in an upright position, to prevent possible cracks. Here below, is a look at my record cabinets and how the records are stored. 
Every so often I look through the garage sale listings on one of the many online sites to see who is selling 78’s, and for my girlfriend, 45 RPM records. This time we found an ad for one that sold both, which was on Saturday, August 17th, on a farm, just west of Maryhill, Ontario.
For those of you who don’t know, the town of Maryhill is located northwest of Guelph, Ontario. The sale was to commence at 8:00 a.m. so we made sure we left Brampton, Ontario by 6:30 a.m. to give us enough time to get there before all the other collector’s arrived. Why travel there you ask? The records, in most cases, were being sold at 10 cents each, some at $1-$2.00.
We were the first to arrive on the scene, and ran to the garage where a large table had been set up, where four stacks of 78’s and 6 rows of 45’s were. Most of the 78’s were from the 1940’s and 1950’s, which disappointed me. There were only two 78’s I found, a Canadian Crown, 81424, and a Via Tonal Columbia, 2344D. As usual, my girlfriend found more records than I did. Maybe I should have her hunt for 78’s the next time!
We then headed over to St. Jacobs to check out the three Antique shops. The first store had 78’s, but they were either pre 1920’s or 1940’s and 1950’s stuff. The second and third stores had nothing but late 1950’s 78’s
Although the trip failed to yield better results, the Sun and the hot weather made it an enjoyable outing all in all. We intend to make a couple more trips before the cold weather settles in, to look for records.
My Interview with John Wilby, March 2nd, 2013
The interview is in PDF format. Please click on the above link to open.
From a Leamington, Ontario Newpaper, 1927.
the78rpmrecordspins 