definitely not in the mood

Laura's book is now officially out, and she sold a bunch of them at a comics fair in South Melbourne today - very impressive. More about this anon. In the meantime I went to (amongst other errands and Perry walks) a record fair being held at Northcote Theatre. 

Firstly, it was basically a secret record fair. I don't know how I found about it (facebook advertising I think) but there was absolutely no signage in the street or even once inside the doors - I just followed the sound of people prognosticating about surface wear and making jokes about Michael Jackson. Once inside, I just didn't feel it, one bit. Everything was highly priced (of course in some instances this is essentially justified - I don't mean in terms of 'collectability' but just in terms of - good records should cost more) aside from the David Dundas album I bought which was a sensible $5 and in the scheme of things not a bad purchase though it is a bit scratchy, but I can't be angry about that. 

I guess ultimately I'm just pissed off that there is a collector world.

You know, about five years ago I sold off a large swathe of my record collection to make money to record a record with my friend Art Rush and to be clear I have precisely no regrets about that. I am so glad I did it, because Art is no longer with us (if you don't know the story, well, it's a long story, but he didn't die) and we captured his real genius right at the appropriate moment. The point is, making art/music is more important - to the degree that it's about a thousand times more important, even if it's bad art which this wasn't - than fucking collecting. I mean it's nice to curate, and it's nice to own books and records and even art and there's no shame in it, but collecting with a view to acquiring something monetarily valuable, should be a crime. Maybe I should simmer down a bit because there's obviously something I'm not remembering about the real world. 

PS I bought: David Dundas Jeans On; Slapp Happy and Henry Cow; ELP; The Ritz A Diamond as Big as the Ritz; a Bikini Kill album as I am reading Kathleen Hanna's book; a Bryan Ferry solo album I can't remember which one and I'm too lazy to get up and check, sorry, but who cares really? and a compilation of Mouse and the Traps.  I really wanted to find some Captain Beefheart albums or Supremes records but yeah nah.