Have a good time collecting - Listen, Play, Sing and Enjoy!
8800 W 159th Street
Orland Park, IL
60462
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Many would agree that“Pubs” not only served beverages but were a social gathering place to eat, entertain, or have business meetings at. Whether in England, Ireland, or another part of Europe they served dual purposes which has continued through the ages. I started this show at a place called “The Unicorn” Tavern back in 1985 at 65th and Pulaski, they had a small stage, live music on weekends, and a DJ who took requests. It also had an adjacent seating area for an occasional buffet. All of this just down my block which I occasionally visited after my day job at the National Archives and Records Center on South Pulaski road. An Irishman owned this establishment at the time named “Chris” and a place for Irish lads and lasses to practice dance once in a while.
I should interject here that I was given a drum set for a Christmas present at age 13 in 1967. Now giving a teenager a drum set is asking for trouble, ha ha, but my Mother stated, “please don’t ask for records, you have the radio and can play/learn along with that”. Hence my LP collection maybe amounted to 10 LP’s not including my sisters “Monkee” collection by the time I was 18. I had a few drum lessons but never played, aside from inside a few garage’s, before an audience. My Grandmother was also encouraging giving me a copy of, “Hi, I’m Hal Blaine, Let’s Play Drums”, a sessions drummer on hundreds of recordings. I attended college and tried but realized a Music 101 class would not help me out and quickly dropped it. On my Father’s side of the family, (they had divorced when I was very young), I belatedly found out I had a 2nd cousin whom was a composer of classical music and was the Professor Emeritus of Music at a Midwestern College, though if your waiting for an inspiration none of that actually rubbed off on me and I continued to entertain only myself when I drummed along with the radio up in our attic space with a radio and very long cord.
It didn’t take long to realize many people wanted what the DJ was playing so I started bring in first one then two small boxes of 45’s. This also was another way to pay for my drinks. I printed a few flyers and got a few other South Side dealers interested to sit down and bring a few items with them to sell. After a very casual first show I decided to rent some really good videos, like , “Ready, Steady, Go” which were from Great Britain and personally had never seen before and have that as background shown on their very big wide screen TV. I went further by paying the DJ for a few hours work and some bar snacks. It was very casual, no admission charge and today there are actually a few bars whom have vinyl sales events in their establishments. I had at least 2 shows there and did the graphic art and design for flyers, something I would do for every show thereafter. I should add I met a neighbor whom had a garage and basement full of albums whom upon retirement enjoyed going to garage sales and scooping up hundreds of records before this became popular with the growing number of vinyl collectors we know today. I was set for my own source of records now and was like a kid in the candy store.
Well I had dealers asking when the next one would be and realizing the tavern was a good start but I needed a larger show area looked at then booked the Midway Holiday Inn on Cicero Ave. Four shows were done there in 1986 and were so busy I needed to hire a security guard! As the year ended I looked for another location and realized a bigger place was needed and on the S.W. Side. Someone suggested another Holiday Inn this one on 127th Street, west of Cicero Ave. in Alsip. I went there with my DJ friend from the tavern and upon much discussion gave them a call to line shows up for 1987. I held at least 6 shows a year there I had my DJ, “Gary” along to spin records and hold an occasional “Auction” of records for a couple of year’s in the beginning and we had a fun time with our show attendees, many of whom enjoyed his play list. As it turned out no other Record Show had an auction or a Disc Jockey while a show was going on, I was the first in the area!
