https://www.discogs.com/release/4301772-Tony-Schwartz-If-He-Asks-You-Was-I-Laughing
A serious New York City blues collector had been seeking an extremely rare record made by legendary field recording specialist Tony Schwartz. Perhaps a private press 10” made just for Tony by Folkways Records, currently there are no vinyl rips or youtube copies online… So rare that the only way to hear it is to actually play a copy. There is very little info about these recordings anywhere. After searching record stores for over a decade, The Record Concierge was finally put on the case. Contacting as many record stores and blues specialists as possible, the trail remained dead. Four people on Discogs claimed to own a copy, but both of the “public” accounts were unwilling to sell. And then one day a listing showed up on, of all places, Ebay. Multiple snipes were set up for redundancy and six days later The Record Concierge was the highest bidder. Ben can finally listen in the comfort of his own home. Incidentally, the final bid price was actually less than half of what he was willing to pay.
Showtime launch event for Black Monday series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(TV_series)
Showtime decided that they wanted to recreate 1986 for the launch party of the show Black Monday, which was set in the year leading up to the Black Monday stock market crash of October 19, 1987. Decor and furniture was all 1986, the drinks were all 1986, the drink and food prices were all set to 1986 prices. Naturally, they needed all music that would be played on a Mew York City bar/nightclub in 1986. Their originally brief was for an “80’s DJ,” but upon consultation with The Record Concierge we were able to convince them that the true authentic experience was best represented by DJs not just spinning vinyl,but only spinning vinyl actual pressed before 1987. Two knowledgable East Coast collectors with extensive collections were engaged and the wheels were set in motion. Six weeks later, after much spreadsheet editing and discussion (and after picking up a few last-minute holes in the collections) the deejays showed up with fifteen milkcrates (probably 1200 records… only overkill by, oh, about 1000 records) and ready for just about everything for their 7-hour set. A set which featured everything from 2 Live Crew to Madonna, 45 King to Vitamin Z, Slayer to Beastie Boys, Lil Louis to Q Lazzarus. And plenty of room for requests (as long as they were for music released before October 1987, naturally.)
whiskey/vinyl/lathe cut record event at Williamsburg hotel
A high-end whiskey brand coordinated an exclusive listening and tasting event for 25 uber-VIPs at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We brought in a a nice old tube amp and vintage speakers for the main listening room, and set up 10 listening stations. These were all Technics 1200’s with cartridges from Brooklyn’s own Grado Labs set up through various high-end 60’s and 70’s solid state amps. Each booth had 2 pairs of Grado Labs headphones for a private listening experience. The brand wanted a classic lineup, so we brought in mint first pressings of Kind Of Blue, A Love Supreme, Pet Sounds, What’s Going On, and Carole King’s Tapestry. The listening booths were rounded out with the self-titled Jimmy Cliff record, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Astral Weeks, Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush, and Paul’s Boutique.
Negative Approach 7” w/ sticker
This one was relatively straightforward. An NYC record store posted on Instagram that they were putting this rare (and expensive) single on the wall. No holds, no internet sales. An out-of-state collector contacted us and we were at the record store within an hour. We negotiated a lower price (and the collector also picked up another almost as-rare punk single off the wall at a discount as well), and coordinated shipping the records the following day.
Dylan first press discography
A client’s husband was going to be celebrating a milestone birthday the following year. The husband, a huge Bob Dylan fan, travels to see him every tour, has posters framed, etc. A plan was hatched to source promo first US pressings of every LP, plus any important variants (mono vs stereo, multiple back covers of Blood On The Tracks, sleeve revisions of Blonde On Blonde AND purported superior mixes/mastering, the Broadside records with “Blind Boy Grunt” tracks (Dylan recording under an alias,) and a few choice bootlegs from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.) We had eight months to put together the collection, which proved to be plenty of time to source copies of the difficult to obtain early records at not-exorbitant prices (or at least not at the peak of the range they are known to sell within.)