If You Think Your Collection Is Too Big

[Brad]

The following was posted in Mike Fitzgerald's Hard Bop Group (and you thought your collection was too big ):

Collector owns stacks and stacks of tracks

BY DAVID HACKETT

VENICE -- Ever wonder what happened to vinyl records?

A lot of them, it turns out, ended up in Joe Nigro's blue, wood-framed house east of Venice. Nigro has amassed a mountain of music -- more than a quarter of a million records.

These days, his home on Havana Road is stacked with so many records that, he says, "Me, you, my wife and a couple of other people could listen every second for the rest of our lives and still never hear it all."

Nigro, who turns 62 next month, has been collecting 33s, 45s and 78s since he was a teenager in Brooklyn.

Some of the records are valued at more than $3,000, others at just a few bucks. He has no idea how much the collection is worth, but he estimates that he has spent thousands of dollars and many thousands of hours acquiring it.

Exactly how many records Nigro possesses is also a mystery, one that his erratic filing system is not quite up to solving. About 15 years ago, he and his wife, Frubes, measured the stacks, calculating 50 records for every 7 inches.

"We were in excess of 250,000 records then," he said. "How many do I have now? God only knows."

Vinyl records, of course, have gone the way of the typewriter and rotary telephone. But for a collector such as Nigro, the market is still bountiful.

His 1990 Dodge Ram van has signs on the windows beckoning, "I buy old records" and listing his telephone number. He also scouts garage sales, flea markets and estate sales several times a week.

Nigro's favorite music is doo wop and country, but he has all styles, including jazz and classical. He has more than a thousand records by Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

Even though he disdains Frank Sinatra, he has 400 Sinatra records, including duplicates. "I'm a collector, and a true collector doesn't just collect things he likes," Nigro explains.

He also has hundreds of records by musicians who have long faded from memory, if indeed they were ever known.

Ever heard Felix Slatkin's version of "Theme from the Sundowners"? How about "Hula Love" by Buddy Knox? Or "Tiamo" by Howard Carpendale?

Among his most valuable records are three of Elvis Presley's first 45s, released on the Sun label. They are in frames on his wall and he says they're worth $2,000 each.

For Nigro, collecting records is foremost a hobby, but it has also become a business. He works as a disc jockey for parties and other events. His niche is quantity -- he has song boards that he sets up near the dance floor with up to 15,000 songs from which guests can select.

"It takes Frubes" -- his wife; her real name is Frances -- "and me an hour just to load the music we bring to these parties," he said. "Our playlist is unbelievable."

Nigro also finds and sells rare records, using the persistence and skills he learned during his main job the past 19 years as a licensed private investigator.

"People come to me wanting that song they used to play when they were kissing their girl 40 years ago," he said. "Sometimes, they can't even remember the artist. But I'll always look and I don't give up until I find it."

Growing up, Nigro dreamed of being the next Elvis Presley. But he soon discovered he was just another "frustrated guy who can play three chords on the guitar."

Still, music ran through his veins. His hero was the rock promoter and disc jockey Alan Freed. Nigro never missed a show Freed put on in New York City. Once, he and his buddies drove to Philadelphia and talked their way onto Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

In the late 1960s, Nigro said, he was a rising star selling vacuum cleaners for Sears on Long Island.

"I was the No. 1 salesman in the nation in the suck and blow department," he said. "I made nearly $25,000 in 1969, which was a lot of money back then."

But he and Frubes didn't see much future in department store sales, so they moved to Florida, buying the place on Havana Road and becoming goat farmers.

"We had 48 head and sold goat milk, cheese, everything," he said. "You ever had lasagna made with goat mozzarella? It's unbelievably light."

Through it all, Nigro never lost his passion for music, particularly nostalgia for the doo wop era of the 1950s. In his living room, he has a 1953 Rockola jukebox he converted into a liquor cabinet. It plays rock and roll.

"I call it the Nigro Liquola," he said. "It's my own invention."

The Nigros have been busy lately preparing to move out of the house on Havana Road, where they have lived since 1972. The stacks of records won't be coming with them to their new house in the Southwood subdivision in South Venice.

"I've got to build a second house just to keep all my stuff out of the rain," he said.

[Shrdlu]

With all those goats, he won't ever have to endure Ron's remastering!

[Jazzmoose]

Even though he disdains Frank Sinatra, he has 400 Sinatra records, including duplicates. "I'm a collector, and a true collector doesn't just collect things he likes," Nigro explains.

Call me a spoilsport, but after reading this, I think this guy's a goofball. He's not a collector, he's an accumulator. I have never in my life met a collector of anything who would go along with this statement.

But then I don't get out much anymore....

[Guest Chaney]

Even though he disdains Frank Sinatra, he has 400 Sinatra records, including duplicates. "I'm a collector, and a true collector doesn't just collect things he likes," Nigro explains.

HEY BUDDY! I'm sure Frank would disdain you also!

[Dmitry]

Looks like a couple of Russians in a semi will be visiting Mr.Nirgo's house next time he's DJ'ing at the monthly Venice Jewish Singles Party.

[Guest Chaney]

Be careful Dmitry. Joe and Frubes probably have thirty cats.

Better watch where your step.

B)

Edited September 8, 2003 by Chaney

[Jazzmoose]

Be careful Dmitry. Joe and Frubes probably have thirty cats.

Better watch where you step.

B)

Nah, only twenty-nine. The other one's mine, looking for another Three Sounds disc...

[Jim R]

"His niche is quantity"

NO SHIT???

I agree with Mark, and from some of the other little tidbits of information (like the part about turning an old Rockola into a liquor cabinet), I'm sure I wouldn't want to hang out with this guy...