Avid Vinyl Fans Descend on Hastings for Record Riot
The Record Riot brought plenty of LPs to Hastings-on-Hudson, which already has its very own record store for vinyl lovers
by Kris DiLorenzo
Hastings-on-Hudson — The Rivertowns haven’t been the scene of any political unrest lately, but a riot — the Hastings Record Riot — did take place in the Zinsser Commuter Lot on Sunday, May 19.
From 9 a.m.-5 p.m., 18 dealers of albums, CDs, and other items displayed their wares on 30 tables, while customers cruised the record bins, searching for elusive rarities, collecting hit records, and snatching up $5 bargains. The free event offered approximately 20,000 records representing several decades, encompassing rock, soul, jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, rap, and more.
Some sellers were more organized than others; their records were categorized by genre and decades: ‘60s-‘70s rock; jazz; ‘80s rock and pop. Some cartons were alphabetized according to artist, other records were sold as lots, and some — not for the faint-hearted explorer — contained random albums in no particular order.
Since 1997, Marc Carfi, from Fort Montgomery in Orange County, has been making the rounds selling records. He brought 2,500 albums to the Riot, and has such a large inventory that he rents a storage unit to house them. Rock music is his biggest seller, but he also had some unusual albums.
“Some rare records are hard to sell,” Carfi pointed out. “It depends on who the artist is, most of the time.” He showed an example: “'Round Harvard Square,” a 1959 album by several folk artists, debuted Joan Baez before she recorded her first album. One customer exclaimed over a Mother’s Finest album sporting cover artwork he’d never seen on the funk-rock group’s albums. Also for sale ($85) and pressed on red vinyl in Taiwan was the 1966 “Portrait,” the second album by the American pop group The Walker Brothers, a sensation in Britain.
Justin Cohen of Studebaker Hawk has been in business for 17 years; he obtains stock from rock critics, former record label employees, radio stations, and stores going out of business. “I buy hundreds of thousands at once,” he reported.
Cohen brought 2,500 albums to the Riot, priced from $5-$100, depending on their condition and online prices — but not eBay prices, which are often a seller’s wishful thinking. “eBay’s the Wild West,” he commented. Like many dealers, Cohen researches records on Discogs.com, a massive database. One of his rarities, selling for approximately $100, was a Lester Young album from the 1950s.
Living part-time in Guadalajara, Mexico, Cohen has gone to extreme lengths to purchase albums. A local record seller once offered him items from “a store full of records,” supposedly near the area flea market where both men sold records. When the two men rendezvoused there, the seller informed Cohen that the “store” was outside town, so they’d have to drive — in his dilapidated van “with no seats in the back,” Cohen noted. “I said, ‘I’m not getting in a van.’ But he said he had to drive to where the records were. I said, ‘I’ll get an Uber.’”
After some exchanges in Spanish, Cohen sent his wife a photo of the man’s ID, then climbed into the van. As they traveled, he continued sending messages, letting her know his location. The van made one stop, where a young man joined them. “I’m having flashbacks of a friend of mine who was in a similar situation and did get jumped while looking for records,” Cohen related. “I was like, ‘This is going to be bad, this is a mistake, why did I do this?’”
The ”store” was actually a storage unit so stuffed with records that Cohen couldn’t even enter. The seller set up a chair and large umbrella in the street, and sent the younger man in to bring out piles of records; Cohen eventually bought a suitcase full. “So it turned out to be fine,” he concluded, “but it felt like it could’ve been a kidnapping.”
The Record Riot attracted an eclectic clientele. Evaristo Gonzales had been buying records for at least 30 years, but donated them to his niece when he joined the military in the 1980s. Returning to civilian life, he started from scratch, and has amassed 1,400 records. “When I first started rebuilding my collection, most albums were $2,” he remarked. “Now I see them for $10.” At Cohen’s table, he bought an Earth, Wind and Fire album he’d been wanting.
Selecting records could easily have been a buyer’s all-day affair. One seller touted bins of $5 records, and a special: buy 10, get one free. Other choices included Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Live 1975-1985 album, Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell,” Elton John’s “Yellow Brick Road,” Jefferson Airplane’s “Thirty Seconds Over Winterland” (their second live album, released in 1973), and “The Rolling Stones Play Chuck Berry,” a $150 German LP marked down 50 percent.
Crista Garcia of Tarrytown was toting a plastic grocery bag full of records: The Beatles, Talking Heads, Marvin Gaye, the Human League, Tom Tom Club, the Police, Madonna, and New Order. She explained her wide-ranging choices.
“My Dad had us grow up listening to music a lot, and he was in a band, so I definitely know all the oldies,” Garcia said. “I really do love music; it’s one of my favorite things ever. I do listen to a lot of New Wave, I would say a lot of what I have here is New Wave, more like ‘80s stuff. We were listening to a lot of stuff and broadening my taste.”
Her sister Sarah had a very specific focus: her bag held a stash of Deep Purple albums. “But I also like ‘Close to the Edge,’ by Yes, and I have a few Dylan singles,” she added.
Stephen Gritzan and John Bastone have been holding Record Riots since 2008, starting in Brooklyn; this year they’re producing events in the tri-state area, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland, with more to come. This year, Bastone is presenting 25 Record Riots, Gritzan will produce 35. Bastone, who has 10,000 albums at home, told the Rivertowns Current that pricing records is complicated. “The guys that are selling are collectors themselves; they’ve been doing this for years,” Bastone declared. “They know the difference between the pressings. We don’t know everything; we have to research, also. Guys who do this for a living spend all week grading and pricing records, then go out on weekends to buy.”
He elaborated, “If it’s something I sell every day, like ‘Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits,’ I know the pricing. But if it’s a record by an old jazz or blues artist, I have to figure out if it was printed originally in the 1950s when the record first came out, or if it’s a reprint from the ‘60s, ‘70s, or ‘80s, or a more modern one. Each has a different value. Mono ones are worth more.”
Bastone recalled two of the most expensive records he’s sold: a Sun Ra album for $1,500, and a Rolling Stones boxed set, for somewhere between $1,700-$1,800.
By far the best-selling category at the Riot was classic rock. “There’s a reason why they call it ‘classic rock’,” Bastone emphasized, “because it never dies. Pink Floyd, the Beatles, Queen — I could sell those now, or in 10 years; they never go out of style.”
He pointed out the music he doesn’t sell: opera, big band, show tunes, and pop vocals (e.g. Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand), saying, “You can go into any Goodwill in America and find those records for a dollar or two.”
According to Bastone, the event was so popular that people were still arriving at 4:45. “Just about everyone leaving the event said they’ll be back for the next one,” he affirmed.
The next Hastings Record Riot is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 15, with a rain date of Sunday, Sept. 29.
Vinyl fans in the Rivertowns don’t have to limit themselves to the Record Riot to buy records locally. Hastings-on-Hudson is also home to Clockwork Records, which is open 5 days a week (Wednesday - Sunday) and carries a selection of albums from a wide range of genres, including punk, hardcore, metal, ska, jazz, prog, and more.
Looking for another way to support Rivertowns Current?