Vintage Vinyl sale set for annual spin

It's that time again when record collectors' hearts start to beat a little faster.

The annual Vintage Vinyl record sale, which features thousands of used records, tapes, CDs and used stereo equipment, is fast approaching. The sale takes place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 17 at Lincoln Square Village in Urbana. However, an admission fee of $5 will be charged from 8 to 11 a.m., with free admission from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The sale closes for one hour then is open from 4 to 6 p.m. with everything at half price.

Like last year's sale, this year's Vintage Vinyl benefits WILL's Illinois Radio Reader, a service that provides news and information to blind and print-handicapped audiences in East Central Illinois.

According to Deane Geiken, director of Illinois Radio Reader, vinyl fans who know what they want will be able to get a jump on the crowds by paying the entrance fee.

"We started with all new stuff this year. None of this was left from last year's sale," he says in a news release.

This year's sale includes a collection of hundreds of 45 rpm records dating from the late '50s to early '70s from a local disc jockey; a collection of Decca 45s, including Louis Armstrong and Count Basie; and a number of Decca 78 rpm records in the blues and jazz genres, according to Matt Kessler, a record collector who is pricing special items for the sale.

Kessler says the sale includes the infamous Leonard Nimoy album, "Outer Space/Inner Mind," almost every Beatles album, most of the Rolling Stones' albums and lots of Jimi Hendrix albums.

"And there's a spoken-word album autographed by the punk singer Jello Biafra," he adds. "It was an amazing thing to find. He's one of the top three American punk singers."

In addition, John Frayne, who is sorting classical records for the sale and is a music reviewer for The News-Gazette, said the classical selection is excellent this year.

"There's a complete French LP pressing of the Patrice Chereau-directed, Pierre Boulez-conducted Wagner Ring set from Bayreuth," Frayne says. "Another gem is a seven-LP set of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing Hug Wolf Lieder. It's in mint condition on German Electrola pressings."

WILL is no longer accepting used records or other donated items for the sale.

"Save them for next year," Geiken says.

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