If you want to see what that many records, both 45s and LPs, looks like, Sidney Ratliff will be glad to show them to you and sell you some or all. Lawley is between Centreville and Clanton. Sidney is retired but you should still call before you make a trip. You can call him at 334-366-2793.

If you're in the Albany GA area and need to search for some vinyl, check out Good Old Days Antiques at 202 West Broad Avenue. Ron Westbrook was a DJ back in the day and his 2nd Floor is loaded with vinyl LPs, 45s and 78s and the great thing about it is, the air conditioning is much better on the 2nd floor--important for this time of year.

I'm looking for collections of rock, R& B, soul, jazz, blues 45s and LPs in and around Birmingham, Alabama. I want records mostly from the period 1950-1975, in clean but not necessarily perfect condition. LPs or albums should have jackets. Not necessary for the 45s to have sleeves. I do have contacts that buy 78s and classical records also. Call Joe at 205-655-3108 or heyjoe1357@aol.com.

ARCA will have its 26th annual record and CD show Friday April 13 and Saturday April 14 at the Bessemer Civic Center. Hours are 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm Friday and 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturday. BRC members are admitted FREE by showing BRC membership card. Earlybird admission available for $10 to non-ARCA members at 2:00 pm Friday. Regular admission is $3.

Hello, just want to let everyone know about a great website where you can find all types of display frames for your records. The site is www.hobbyframes.com and they have a large selection of frames for vinyls & covers. They also have display frames for other types of collectibles. Prices are good and they ship fast.

Hi all, this is an announcement of a site I just launched. I built http://squirl.info to house my own collection of 3,000 45s, and I would really love to see more record collectors on the site. Here's an example of what a Squirl record collection looks like:

http://squirl.info/collection/show/2

Here's our standard spiel:

The Spring 2006 Austin Record Convention was held last weekend. The University Star has a recap in an article titled Tables turned on record collecting at Austin Record Convention. There was also early coverage from Kilgore News Herald and News 8 Austin.

Here's some (five to be exact) interesting record collecting related articles that I've come across in the last few weeks.

• Every record collection has its roots in a moment of complicated joy. We hear a song, and it makes us happy. We want to hear it again; we want to feel the same feeling as the first time we heard it. The easy solution is to acquire a copy of the song, so we can bring back that feeling or something like that feeling whenever we want. (The feeling is never exactly the same. Sometimes it degrades, at one rate or another, over time and repeated experience. But sometimes it stays very similar.) Read the full article from Seattle Weekly.

Here are a some articles that I've recently come across involving record collecting.

1) The News Journal interviews Michael Ace, host of WVUD's "Cruisin' America," in a story called "Passion spins at 45 rpm: The soundtrack of his youth thrums a steady backbeat to Newark collector's life."

2) In an interview published back in December, Asbury Park Press talks with Garry Tallent of the E Street Band about his record collecting history and a few of his prized possessions. "I set out a long time ago to try to collect all five Buddy Holly Deccas and all five Elvis Suns. 45s. I like 78s, but they just are so breakable. I had four of 'em for the longest time and getting that last one was just hard to find." The full story is still available online here.

3) From The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, "Music collection connection" covers a local record collectors convention.

A friend of mine who does record shows in Europe told me that dealers there can never leave their tables even for a short while because of theft. He was amazed that dealers at our shows can visit with each other and leave their tables with little risk. But there is risk anywhere there is something of value left unattended.

I did an out of town show last year and a buddy of mine went with me. He took four 45s he wanted to sell and we put them in my box. They were all local records that were worth about $50 each. One dealer who has been at shows in Birmingham showed some interest. I'll call this dealer Scum. He asked if he could take one of the records back to his table and listen to it. My buddy, who I'll call Phil, said OK. He walked off with what looked like one record to play. At the end of the show, there were two records missing. We checked all the boxes and finally confronted Scum, who said he only took one and brought it back. His word against ours, right? So he got away with $100 worth of records. But that's not the whole story. Scum sometimes travels with another dealer I'll call Dundee. We told Dundee what happened and he said he couldn't vouch for Scum, that Scum lived close to the edge all the time. Dundee said he would keep his eyes open. And when Dundee and Scum got back home, Scum starts shopping these 2 45s aroung town. One of them was in a sleeve with some distinctive writing on it. Scum wasn't even smart enough to switch sleeves. Dundee, being a stand-up, honest dealer got the records back to Phil in a short while and said Scum would not be traveling with him anymore.