The Cambridge Record Fair set up shop in the bottom floor of the Education First building on Saturday, separating thousands of vinyl junkies from their hard-earned dollars with the promise of the perfect groove.
The event, hosted by Recordville, featured more than 50 tables of merchandise, duly mustered into battle formation by 28 vendors eager for their inventory to outshine the rest.
If you wanted rare records, you got them.
If you wanted cheap records, you got them.
But if you wanted records that were rare and cheap, that was more of a challenge – and veteran crate diggers love a good challenge.
Oldhead vinyl aficionados descended on the inventory like wolves pouncing on a fresh kill, taking their sweet pleasure in separating the meat from the bone. If you paid an extra $5 at the door, you were granted early entry to increase your odds of beating others to the best deals. But none of the elite-level diggers I saw needed any added advantage to find what they were looking for. In fact, they might have regarded it as bad sportsmanship.
The remaining shoppers, myself included, were amateurs by comparison, content to chase after whatever happened to catch our eye.
Oddities were everywhere. A sizable stack of soundtracks for old Italian “giallo” horror films from the ’70s. A table full of French “yé-yé” from the ’60s, so-called because the derivative genre aped American pop, rock and jazz to the point of larding lyrics with idiomatic American expressions (like “yeah, yeah!”) whether they made sense in French or not. A few crates of records simply marked “Weird Stuff.”
While the “weird stuff” caught the eye, the real meat and potatoes of the record fair were the more conventional offerings in rock, pop, soul, jazz, funk, world, punk, metal, hip-hop, psych, blues, folk, reggae, R&B, dub, techno, bossa nova, classical and beyond.
I have to confess: The breadth and depth of the inventory was a little intimidating. Where to start?
I started where I finished: in the $1 bargain bins. There was value not to be ignored in the “80s FM radio hits” 7-inch selection. Prepare yourself for my “Madonna Power Hour” (subtitle: “A Journey Through Madge”), coming soon to a Sunday Spins at the Toad near you.
Hit this
Friday: Class President (Warehouse XI, Somerville)
Power pop trio Class President celebrates the release of its debut LP “Kids These Days.” The video for its lead single “I’ll Come Around” opens on a companywide Zoom meeting with the boss telling everyone that there’ll be no promotions or pay raises this year due to fiscal belt-tightening for the second or third decade in a row. Sounds like the “kids” are grown up enough to be navigating the obscenities of working life in America. Good luck to them! A stacked lineup with Megan From Work, Impossible Dog and Shiver. makes for an indie rock smorgasbord.
Saturday: “Something Strange: A Nightmare Before Christmas Tribute” (Crystal Ballroom, Somerville)
The 10th anniversary … and farewell show? Walter Sickert and The Army of Broken Toys have delivered its live music and burlesque tribute to the Tim Burton classic for a decade. And there’s no better troupe of carnivalesque comrades to do it. Imagine Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band mixed with Kiss. Expect gothic aesthetics, holiday cheer, a little skin and booming musical numbers to bring you back into the magic and mystery of Jack Skellington discovering the true meaning of Christmas. Catch it now or miss this production forever. Fun for the whole family? Depends on your family.
Nov. 28: Homecoming ft. Clark D (Sonia, Cambridge)
“What’s a home to a nomad?” Rapper Clark D asks in the first line of the song “Home.” The life of a performing artist is truly nomadic, always seeking out the next stage in the next town. But even a six-time Grammy-nominated nomad needs a stomping ground, and the rapper, sound engineer and mixer has described himself as “Bostonmade” for as long as anyone can remember. Come out for his “homecoming” at the former T.T. the Bear’s Place, joined by a collection of top-tier hip-hop talent including Kei, Malik Elija, Ajary and Dav.
Live: Christine Fawson Quartet at the Mad Monkfish
The holiday season hasn’t truly arrived until you hear a warm peal of brass on a brisk night while sipping stiff spirits from a glass tumbler. Or maybe that’s just the jazz talking?
The jazz spoke volumes last weekend in Central Square, where vocalist and trumpeter Christine Fawson held court in the packed Jazz Baroness Room of The Mad Monkfish. A swank room full of swank sushi lovers, squeezed in elbow to elbow for a night of classic sounds, including a particularly bracing rendition of “Second Time Around.”
The song was written for Bing Crosby and enjoyed a second – arguably superior – life in the hands of other artists: Bill Evans, Etta James and more, who discovered layers to the song beyond its crooner origins.
Fawson delivers a mainstream standard such as “Second Time Around” with gusto. She leaned into the coziness of the old favorite, wowing the crowd with her switch-hitting virtuosity, trading between vocal and trumpet lines on the fly.
The quartet was completed by pianist Jane Potter, who stood above the keys like an uncorked Jerry Lee Lewis, Bruce Gertz on bass, and Mike Coffey on drums. All rowed in the same direction as Fawson, toward a jazz shore that’s inviting on account of, not despite, its familiarity.
Michael Gutierrez is an author, educator, activist and editor-in-chief at Hump Day News.
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