The Most Miserable Record Dealer

[ricticman]

this is a great thread - I've been laughing thro' most of it

has anyone been to the Greenwich Village NYC 2nd hand shop [ just off Bleeker I think ], and been in the place where the guy upstairs speaks to the guy downstairs [ where all the vinyl is stored ] and if they've got your artist choice it comes back up on an old style pulley / waiter's / hatch affair.......and you can hardly breathe with the tension about what they might or might not dredge up ?......

.......Or feel like bringing up based on whether they can be arsed.

Anyway, I think he's lacking somewhat in manners !

Also, and for real bad temper, got Mick Smith once at Luton [ I think ] just after we'd [ mufc ] battered them ( Charlton ).............that wasn't perferct customer relations either!

But to be fair, he's normally, of course, a real complete sweetie.

pete lyster

Edited March 10, 2011 by ricticman

[Guest the fifer]

These people you talk of are mere novices in the 'Miserable Record Dealer' stakes...

...the hands-down winner in this category will always be the late Phil Cording, former proprietor of Cheapo Cheapo Records in Rupert Street and a man who was just as unpleasant to his members of staff as he was to his customers.

If ever there was a man less suited to interacting with the public on a daily basis, I've yet to meet him...

You're not wrong there Tony. Just made picking up bargains from there more of a pleasure. Mind you he did let me go upstairs and rifle through the lp's a couple of times, not quite sure how i managed that!

Derek

[scotchmartin]

I remember sending an A4 stamped-addressed-envelope to Richard Domar once and he returned it, in another envelope, empty. His explanation...I didn't specify what I wanted. I'd have thought a maybe a 'record list' might have been worth a stab in the dark.

[scotchmartin]

YES! Yes i know that place.. the Vintage Museum or something. That bloke drove me bananas. I asked him where the vinyl was, he said it was through the back. Me, expecting to get shown through attempted to go around the side of the counter and I thought he was going to pull a piece. He was well pissed off. I was told to make a list...some list that would have been. I left shortly after that and went to Strider, nice bloke, same bizarre high-security vinyl deal - make a list.

[Ric-tic]

im not sure if this is right people lining up on richard domar, i understand what everybody is saying as ive been there myself,but we never really know whats going on in another persons life.......

[Wiganer1]

richards gr8 when u get to know him...we fell out many times but ive always bought from him and hes benn helpful to me as well_..

[Blake H]

The guy in Beanos in Croydon, the one with long hair and looked like Lemmy You had to ask to look at the rarer items in boxes behind the counter, each box was delivered with much grunting and groaning and a ten minute wait between boxes even if he was doing nothing.

BH

[Eddie Hubbard]

There's a miserable record dealer from Walsall who keeps his records under blankets ,and won't even let you look at them unless you tell him exactly what you're after .Met him a few times at record fairs ,anyone know his name ..cos I haven't asked ...Cheers ,Eddie

[Pete S]

There's a miserable record dealer from Walsall who keeps his records under blankets ,and won't even let you look at them unless you tell him exactly what you're after .Met him a few times at record fairs ,anyone know his name ..cos I haven't asked ...Cheers ,Eddie

He's not a mod type guy is he - lots of soul and reggae at very high prices? Met a guy like that at one fair, he mentioned he sold on Ebay, I asked him user name and he refused to tell me saying it was a secret

[Wiggyflat]

Michael Lashmar.........formerly of Dead Sea Fruit.Found him pleasant myself down to the end of the shop shutting down.i

[Blake H]

No not David, who as you say was quite helpful, this was one of the shop assistants in the singles dept, he worked there for years in the old shop in Surrey St. Saw David recentley in the series on TV about shops in different decades. No this guy had hair down his back and looked like an old rocker. Right misery

BH

[Wilxy]

There's a miserable record dealer from Walsall who keeps his records under blankets ,and won't even let you look at them unless you tell him exactly what you're after .Met him a few times at record fairs ,anyone know his name ..cos I haven't asked ...Cheers ,Eddie

I know the fella you're on about Eddie, he does the Cheltenham fairs, I always expect him to pull a couple of rabbits from under those blankets, or something more perverse

[Guest TONY ROUNCE]

No not David, who as you say was quite helpful, this was one of the shop assistants in the singles dept, he worked there for years in the old shop in Surrey St. Saw David recentley in the series on TV about shops in different decades. No this guy had hair down his back and looked like an old rocker. Right misery

BH

Barry, his name was, as I recall.

I always found him easy to deal with, although he didn't suffer fools gladly and I've seen him get the right nark with people if they didn't start piling up 45s after the first couple of boxes had been brought down.

Perhaps that was where you went wrong, Blake!

Edited March 11, 2011 by TONY ROUNCE

[Constellation161]

Went to the one in Greenwich Village in1989 as mentioned by Pete, a most unpleasant couple of hours. Guy upstairs had what I think was Psoriosis. However did get to meet Juggy Jones in there looking for an album by someone he had produced ( name escapes me) on Sue. He also offered me a lift ,didn't say where to as I had to decline ,can only look back now to think of what I may have missed ? Found Val Shivley to be the perfect gent. Mick Perrins

[Guest the fifer]

Barry, his name was, as I recall.

I always found him easy to deal with, although he didn't suffer fools gladly and I've seen him get the right nark with people if they didn't start piling up 45s after the first couple of boxes had been brought down.

Perhaps that was where you went wrong, Blake!

The guy's name was Ray absolutely hated all soul music.

Derek

[Ezzie Brown]

i reckon the customers are as bad as the sellers myself dealt in a small way with most of the above mentioned , and yep some are a bit eccentric.....but so are we.. .....and most of us keep going back............. we got the cash..........they got the vinyl, ...simple really ............cheers ezzie

[Guest FunKPunK]

I used to deal with Domar as well when I was a young soulie in the making. Would go through his lists and high light anything that sounded good. On conversations with the man I found we had similar tastes in old horror movies. So as I had a shit load of movies unavailable at the time on VHS struck a deal with him for something like £800 swaps. The first load of two movies on each of the 40! cassettes went well and I got my stuff. On sending the second batch of the same - he called me up saying he didn't like some of the quality and stiffed me for the rest!!! The fekker - though I did get the Chandlers Your Love Make Me Lonely in the first batch for £40 and I think George Tindley - Aint Gonna Worry - which alas has since been stolen.... but that's another story lol

[Guest Eddies]

Just thought I'd add that if you played by his rules,Domar was a good dealer...bought loads off him for good prices...still a funny bugger tho'

[Pete S]

I used to deal with Domar as well when I was a young soulie in the making. Would go through his lists and high light anything that sounded good. On conversations with the man I found we had similar tastes in old horror movies. So as I had a shit load of movies unavailable at the time on VHS struck a deal with him for something like £800 swaps. The first load of two movies on each of the 40! cassettes went well and I got my stuff. On sending the second batch of the same - he called me up saying he didn't like some of the quality and stiffed me for the rest!!! The fekker - though I did get the Chandlers Your Love Make Me Lonely in the first batch for £40 and I think George Tindley - Aint Gonna Worry - which alas has since been stolen.... but that's another story lol

I bet I ended up with all of those films!

[Wiggyflat]

If I knew he was into horror I may have got on with him better........hes probably got a good collection of pre cert vids.Anyway NO CALLS BEFORE 2PM AND NONE AFTER 7PM.Anyone fancy ringing him?

[Guest FunKPunK]

He did indeed...

I bet I ended up with all of those films!

[Agentsmith]

well, having scanned all these posts, i think you have virtually, unanimously, confirmed it amongst yourselves...that mr. rchard domar takes the crown and, i can tell you, i have been regaled of many tales by none other than tim brown, about all aspects of this "howard hughes" recluse!! . ive even been there to buy tunes as well and...ive never had a problem with him, despite his excentricities.

......HOWEVER, i have to relate to a dealer who was much worse...and here's the conundrum...i cant remember his name or what his shop was called but he was the embodiment of alex guiness's scrooge ...perhapes SWOZ, LITTLE SCOTTY or MICK HOLDSWORTH enlighten me and everyone else on just who this character was. all i know is the building was a wooden shack that stood on the cannock road, outside wolverhampton city centre. lps blocked out any view in the front window and the interior was very dimmly lit i actually remember going in there on a saturday afternoon with eddie and he had to bribe the guy with chocolate, ciggy's and all manner of enticements just to look at a box off the shelves, which were absolutely crammed full of single releases.

i think when the guy passed away, the entire portfolio was auctioned but cant say for sure....maybe the express & star has something in their archives about that...the building was demolished some time later.

[ChrisOD1964]

Richard Domar has got to be one....wouldn't sell you records if you hadn't sent off your order on an A4 sheet of paper

or if you rang to early

chris

[trevorq]

+1 for Domar - Sorry to point the finger @ anyone - but several words not suitable before 9pm come to mind ! only asked about the price of a record !

[Mark68]

I used to buy from Richard Domar in the 8ts and I never had a problem with him.

I was told by a friend at the time that Richard can be a bit odd and never to call him during Coronation Street as that pisses him off.

That was the rule I stuck by, no problems and I got some great records from him.

[Guest Lobster Madras]

I used to buy from Richard Domar in the 8ts and I never had a problem with him.

I was told by a friend at the time that Richard can be a bit odd and never to call him during Coronation Street as that pisses him off.

That was the rule I stuck by, no problems and I got some great records from him.

Ditto;

Play by Richard's rules and good records at fair prices will come your way.

Be careful not to mention football ( he often watches multiple matches at the same time ) or comics (another Domar passion) .. resulting one - way phone conversations can run into the hours ..

I too have always got on OK with Richard for a very long time, compared to that bitter, miserable man at D&J records in PA who is my personal candidate , he is a bundle of joy !

[Guest Lobster Madras]

Haha great idea for a thread

Owner of D&J in Carnegie outside of Pittsburgh has terrible terrible attitude, found him even more annoying than Rich Rosen and that's saying something. At least you get to eat at the fabled Chat'n'Chew Diner nearby when you go there as a consolation (cheers for that tip Matt)

I spent a few hours silently/politely looking through this man's average overpriced stock years ago finding a couple of alright pieces against a backing track of intros of doo wop records and swearing, cursing , misery and general negative rubbish..

I never even bother with his ebay listings either , even looking at his stuff online is depressing

Edited March 12, 2011 by Lobster Madras

[Tricky]

The thing is with DJ records and Georges song shop although they have always been miserable bastards you got to look at stuff upstairs,downstairs and in back rooms.Cleared them out of nice stuff on numerous occasions.However Manship as much as i like him fucked it up for us all.

[Guest martyn]

Post in error

Edited March 13, 2011 by martyn

[Guest martyn]

Yes might as well end the thread here

BOB THE COUNT TAKES IT HANDS DOWN.

Thats mans a complete fruit cake , I came second on one of his auctions (cant remember the record) . So, he emails me saying he's got another copy I can have at the same price as the 1st copy went for . I emailed him back saying no thanks .if I'd have wanted to pay that price I would have out bid the winner .Five days go past & I get another email saying "LOOK DO YOU WANT IT OR NOT ? JUST SEND ME THE F****** MONEY !" .........I didnt reply , so the next day I got another email saying "JUST SEND THE MONEY"...............I just ignored the loon after that

[theboyfromxtown]

Did anyone go to a place in North London, near Caledonian Road. It was called Vintage Record Centre I was real happy to find it, so I went in, waited until the guy was free and asked if there was any Motown. He just turned away and ignored me.

The guy in Cheapo Cheap was another guy with attitude but he was more vocal to customers and just obnoxious. He calmed down over the years....and was actually quite friendly to me once.

There's a Northampton based record dealer who used to put on Motown acts that still owes me £400+ . He still sellsl records so I aint mentionig his name and giving him any publicity.

[Guest]

If I knew he was into horror I may have got on with him better........hes probably got a good collection of pre cert vids.Anyway NO CALLS BEFORE 2PM AND NONE AFTER 7PM.Anyone fancy ringing him?

I once rang at 6:55 PM ........ enough said

Malc

[Gene-r]

Did anyone go to a place in North London, near Caledonian Road. It was called Vintage Record Centre I was real happy to find it, so I went in, waited until the guy was free and asked if there was any Motown. He just turned away and ignored me.

Vintage was a regular haunt for me between 1979 and 1985 - think they closed down after that. The owners, Pete Dickerson and Mike Gordon, weren't the most friendliest people in the world, but they were very helpful, albeit very straight-laced and serious. Every time they heard me talking about a record I was after, one of them would look for it in their boxes. If they had it, out it came and on to the turntable - hint hint!

Although nothing to do with soul, in the early '80s they had a selection of EPs on Philips & Fontana by Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, The Four Pennies, Manfred Mann and the Walker Brothers in massive quantity, all unplayed and for 75p each!

The last time I visited, I went through their 50p bargain bin and turned up VG+ copies of "Fannie Mae" by Buster Brown and "Yum Yum Yum" by Joe Tex, both on UK Sue.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Gene-R

[Pomonkey]

A few years ago the guy at D&J got hit with an IRS tax audit, needless to say it made a miserable sod even more miserable

[cloth ears]

no-1 for me is rich rosen, what a w##ker!!!!! in shop with girlfriend and he told her not to touch the records , so she stood in between racks getting bad looks from him.

i whispered to her its only for a shot time etc, after all i may get a bargain!

next thing she took her bottle of water out for a drink , before it got to her lips hes shouting at her not get any on the records or else!

more whispering in her ear, calmed her a seond time.

f#ck me 10 minutes later she sneezed into her hankey and he went ape sh#t!!!!!! shouting and ranting going red, bargains or not i told him where he could stick f#cking records !!!!!!!!!!!

dave

[Guest Dave Turner]

A page of reviews for Rosen

https://www.insiderpa...s-inc-las-vegas

I was beginning to believe my missus when she calls me a miserable bastard

I feel positively chipper now

Edited March 14, 2011 by Dave Turner

[Paul McKay]

No not David, who as you say was quite helpful, this was one of the shop assistants in the singles dept, he worked there for years in the old shop in Surrey St. Saw David recentley in the series on TV about shops in different decades. No this guy had hair down his back and looked like an old rocker. Right misery

BH

That guy's name was Ray Blake. You obviously didn't spend enough mate LOL!

[Blake H]

I think it must have been the northern accent Paul, I always pulled a couple of cheapies out so I didn't look like a time waster I spent a small fortune in Beanos when I lived in Worcester Park, not many weeks I didn't pay a visit......happy days . Ray was still a misery.

[Pete S]

Can't believe nobody's mentioned this seller.

I got a Marv Johnson record off him and it hissed for the first 20 seconds, when I asked about it he told me "what do you expect with a 40 year old record"...

his track record speak for itself, look at the way he talks to his customers

https://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=thuds&Dirn=Received+by&ref=home

[Ady Potts]

That guy's name was Ray Blake. You obviously didn't spend enough mate LOL!

Ray was a great bloke if you got on with him. If not, he was a right moody git. I found a way to his heart, phone cards, he collected the bloody things.

I know you had a few bits from there Paul. Didn't you get a James Phelps on Apache?

Ray used to keep back copies of Timi Yuro for me. Then they got that computer that sat on the sales counter. One day I walked in & said to Ray 'haven't you found me another Timi Yuro yet?" not noticing the computer. He typed it in & by chance there was one on ebay ending that day & it was sat at over £400 ! doh ! he'd let me have one the month before for £60, still I'd had about 3 copies before that out of him

Edited March 16, 2011 by pottsy

[boba]

"thuds" always had the funniest grading scale, it goes from VG (destroyed) to VG++++++++++++++++++++++ (still beat up)

[Eddie Hubbard]

He was really expensive Pete ,Ben E.King " Forgive this fool " Red Atlantic £30 , Willie Tee on Mojo £20 ..etc ...weedy looking bloke ....

[Godzilla]

Can't believe nobody's mentioned this seller.

I got a Marv Johnson record off him and it hissed for the first 20 seconds, when I asked about it he told me "what do you expect with a 40 year old record"...

his track record speak for itself, look at the way he talks to his customers

https://toolhaus.org/...ved+by&ref=home

Some really= funny stuff in there. This was my favourite:

"Totally Dishonest -Didnt have item he listed, never bothered to contact me 2 say"

Reply by thuds (Jan-04-09 05:54):

INCREDIBLE NEWBIE NONSENSE !! i am looking for 45 - ebay has to change rules

So now you know. Pay for a record and this idiot will start looking for a copy for you. eBay really should change its rules

[Guest enchantedrythm]

He's changed his tune in recent decades, he has to kiss a lot more Brit ass these days since the doo wops dried up. I actually preferred him when he was grumpy and considered all soul fans tossers. Despite that we got on well until one day he accused me of nicking records after I'd been going there for ten years and thought we had a decent relationship. He had a hissy fit and I was very close to cracking him one, I had Jimmy Andrews 'Big City Playboy' in my pile for $3 though so decided against it. I didn't bother going back though.

Ady

had the bloody same thing myself after all the money i'd spent with him-when i approached him he said Chris King not Chris Fletcher

similar situation in Ft lauderdale-cant recall his name but in that modern precinct - Dave greet told me years after that he'd said CF had nicked loads of records and the contents out of the till??? wasnt me-dont think it was chris obrien-must have been the local soul dude we picked up on a miami street corner and offered a couple of days work showing us around the addresses we had to find. the guy was a serious weed dealer- and big shot here shared a puff or two with him-then two of those seriously strong thick sludge caffeine hits in a paper cup the size of a thimble-one qualude (mandrax) and 3 reds- believe you me for a time i couldnt see anyrthing that wasnt blurred out of all existence - then couldn't sit still for two days- and bought 50-yes 50 copies of joel christie thinking that it had to be the joe mathews cover of the day- then bought about 8 copies of syl johnson- do you know what love is thinking that also was joe mathews- i dont like to loose, and there must be 3 or even 4 versions now. Reds, qualudes and weed were acceptable (just) but the caffeine hit from two tiny cups of thick black sludge was mindbending and having been greedy and drinking-eating-two of the said beverages suprised even our guide-so i never in fact saw a till or records and sure CK had to read out titles-

when approached years after he was also saying val shiveley had the same thing happen to him from a dave greet and pete widdowson - strange

anyway- henry atkinson is very grumpy-or is it me+

[pikeys dog]

anyway- henry atkinson is very grumpy-or is it me+

it's not just you.

[Guest moggy]

Thats mans a complete fruit cake , I came second on one of his auctions (cant remember the record) . So, he emails me saying he's got another copy I can have at the same price as the 1st copy went for . I emailed him back saying no thanks .if I'd have wanted to pay that price I would have out bid the winner .Five days go past & I get another email saying "LOOK DO YOU WANT IT OR NOT ? JUST SEND ME THE F****** MONEY !" .........I didnt reply , so the next day I got another email saying "JUST SEND THE MONEY"...............I just ignored the loon after that

That was funny

My choice has to go to Keith Minshull, I dont think he knew what the word barter meant

many years ago at Wigan I made an offer on Tommy Sands the Statue, I think he wanted £10 and I offered £7 as you do

he replied "Your fuckin jokin aint ya"

I replied "No Im quite fuckin serious"

needless to say we never done a deal then or ever again

Another occassionI actualy got barred from Reddingtons in Birmingham

I walked in a spotted an Inferno pressing of Chairman of the Board ep about a £1 at the time on the scene maybe 50p Im not sure

anyway this guy has a copy on the wall priced at feckkin £5

I said "Yer Jokin arent you"

he said " no ? I sell loads of em for that"After laffin at him for a minute or so I offered to get him 10 copies at £2 the next day or more if he wanted, I think he got the hump told me to fook off "Ya Barred"

Pat Brady could be a grumpy git at times especialy if you ever questioned his grading remember he had a copy of the De-lites Lover in a box at Keele, graded at VG + it was just about VG IMHO and all I said was "Thats a bit rough Pat at that price" £350

fookin hell talk about snarl, "It'll sell" he said but the venom in his voice and the screw face pulled at me I thought what have I done

[Guest soulwaxusa]

Just saw this great thread! Being from the USA I guess the Count and Rich Rosen have to be at the top of the list although I never really had any real problem with Rich although I've heard all the stories and there are pleny of them. My pick may have to be this NYC dealer known as Bobby Dreadlocks. He mostly sells albums but sometimes he gets 45's. Anyway I have had numerous run-ins with him over the years but the straw that broke the camels back was at the WFMU record fair. I bought 2 R&B 45's from him at $50 each. I asked him the price and paid him, didn't even ask for a discount. They were probably worth about $75 each. Anyhow a buddy comes over and asks me what I got and I show him and he goes, "that's nice." I walk away frrom the table and 10 seconds later Mr Dreadlocks is chasing me down asking for his records back, saying I ripped him off and trying to give me my money back. Having had enough of this a-hole through the years, I told him no way. He gets real agressive in my face, I was gonna hit the guy but did not want to get banded from the show. I then go and look for the promoter to tell him to get this guy out of my face. Bobby goes to my table where I was selling and grabs a handfull of 45's out of a box and tells my better half to go see him if I want my records back. Well she stopped him dead in his tracks and said he better put them back that he doesn't know who he is dealing with. Anyway the head guy of the show put him in his place. Haven't dealt with the a-hole ever since then.

Edited March 22, 2011 by soulwaxusa

[Steve G]

no-1 for me is rich rosen, what a w##ker!!!!! in shop with girlfriend and he told her not to touch the records , so she stood in between racks getting bad looks from him.

i whispered to her its only for a shot time etc, after all i may get a bargain!

next thing she took her bottle of water out for a drink , before it got to her lips hes shouting at her not get any on the records or else!

more whispering in her ear, calmed her a seond time.

f#ck me 10 minutes later she sneezed into her hankey and he went ape sh#t!!!!!! shouting and ranting going red, bargains or not i told him where he could stick f#cking records !!!!!!!!!!!

dave

Good for you Dave. Must admit "Bargains" and "Rosen" are not normally words I normally see in the same sentance

First time I went there he rang the UK's most prominent rare soul DJ to make sure I was "Kosher" Only after the all clear was I allowed relatively free reign.

All these stories are hilarious. I mean we are talking about records, there are loads of frigging records. Records come, records go. There are still always more records. The way some people behave you'd think the ones they had were the only records left in the world......

Edited March 22, 2011 by Steve G

[Docfish]

Just recieved a record from Les Harris in Texas, graded VG. It looks like a tube of superglue has hit the playing surface, afterwards it was sandpapered and cleaned with sharp knifes and hydrochloric acid. Useless to say, that it's unplayable...

Here is what he answered after my complain:

"This is a grading dispute> These records made almost 40 years ago were not made to be played on modern stereo equipment I play graded it and it played with equal amount surface noise and music which is what VG means R"

He gets my vote for now and if someone wants to avoid this jerk on ebay his new id is: rpg_0915

[Ralf Mehnert]

Richard Domar?

Never had any problems with him...because he liked german football and a chat about our clubs.

Once I ordered a c/u sales tape from him and there were lots of obscure sounds on the C60 tape. Fell in love with two of the sounds. One was 75 - the other 100 quid. A fortune in those days for me. Always short of money I just ordered the 75 pounds record...and believe it or not...after the record arrived I found out the offered 100 pound record from the tape was the b-side of the 75er...strange!!!

btw: It was the Five Chances on Finch...