Goodwill: A Classic Rock Treasure Chest

Sometimes, I go to Goodwill just to see what treasures I might find... Other times, I'll go because I get a sudden urge to go, like a calling. I've learned to obey that feeling, and there is always something amazing waiting just for me. It has proven true several times now, and it happened again today!

No sooner had I arrived I was loading my cart full of adorable vintage cups, an interesting metal container marked West Germany, an Italian marbleized terracotta pot, a few small vintage decorative plates, a set of awesome blue vintage ceramic containers (4 of'em, tiered in size - for bathroom accessories or sugar/flour/rice in the kitchen), a carved silver Indian vase with matching goblets and a brass dish with a camel and man on it! Ooooheeee!!

After finding all of that treasure, I was absolutely convinced that my "feeling" was once again true and my trip to the store well worth it... But, just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I kept walking past the brass section onto the area with all the baskets (and miscellaneous junk) right before the shelves full of books, tapes and records. As if habit, I stood and let my ~~terminator~~ shopper vision sweep the shelves, all the while wondering why I bothered to look since I rarely found anything good in that section. And with that thought, and thinking I had already found enough, I turned on my heel to leave. As I turned, I caught something in the corner of my eye that I could barely believe. I did a double take, gasped and nervously looked around, as if someone had just heard my gasp and spotted the same thing, and that I might have to make a dive for it. Hahaha, I know, I'm silly. So, I ~~pounced~~ dashed over to the bottom shelf of that bookcase full of records and there, sticking out of a humongous stack of old records, all by its singled-out self was none other than the Jimi Hendrix album Axis: Bold As Love! Yes, yes, yes! Yes, it's true. I could barely believe it. I'd know that vibrant psychedelic cover art anywhere because Jimi is my favorite artist of all time, him and The Beatles... and led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doors, and, well... you get the point. I was excited.

When I knelt down and pushed the records apart on either side of that Hendrix album I found four more Hendrix albums: Second Time Around, War Heroes, The Essential Jimi Hendrix Vol. II and an Otis Redding/Jimi Hendrix live festival performance album. I also found two Fleetwood Mac albums, four Santana albums (including a duplicate that I got for my mom), one Elton John album, one Eric Clapton album, and the Rod Stewart album with Maggie May on it! A few of the record sleeves were a bit roughed up, but I don't care, for a dollar each you can't go wrong, I'm not after mint condition.

A few years ago, while cleaning out my grandmother's garage for a garage sale, I found a box of records that belonged to a combination of my mom, my aunt and my cousins when they were teenagers... Among them were records by Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Iron Butterfly and The Doors. Ever since then I have displayed those albums in my apartments and incorporated them into my decor. I've always wanted to frame them, but wanted to wait until I could collect more albums from my favorite artists. In comes Jimi Hendrix. I love him, he is amazing, he left us too soon, but his music lives on forever. Oh, his music. That man could really play guitar, and his incredible talent and passion for music continues to move me every time I hear any one of his songs. His music makes me feel alive and free. And soooo, I have always wanted to find a Hendrix record album at a garage sale or Goodwill. You know, the thrill of the chase? Or would it be the pleasure of the hunt? I think the latter. I roam eBay for certain things, and I know they have tons of Hendrix records, but I wanted to just find one. I wanted the shock and excitement of unexpectedly stumbling upon a great classic rock record album. And you know what? I did, and it was awesome, like a successful treasure hunt.

Okay okay, so maybe I'm being dorkishly enthusiastic, but you see, my hopes of finding a Jimi Hendrix record album at a Goodwill, let alone four, died a long time ago! After finding those great classic rock albums in my grandmother's garage, I added the record section to my store route routine. But after finding nothing but opera, salsa, jazz, country and musical classics, I gave up. I figured nobody in their right mind would ever donate any album that I was interested in, so I stopped looking.

With that said, I can't help but think that my story of finding these records is pretty great. Between my little shopping feeling and the album sticking out of the stack, it was meant to be, wouldn't you say? Thank you to the amazing person who carelessly left that Jimi Hendrix record sticking out of the stack, though the fact that you didn't buy it is beyond me! I hit the musical jackpot! I'm already planning to frame some of them, I can't wait to have a whole wall of art with a music theme. You can see my Beatles art and guitar art walls from previous apartments in this post, this post, this post and this post. But apart from their wonderful potential for art, these old records motivate me to get a record player. Sure, I can listen to Jimi Hendrix and any of those other groups on Pandora or Grooveshark any time I want, but I want the thrill of playing them. Just like I wanted the thrill of finding them in the first place. They're all in great shape, so we'll see.

While we're on the topic of music, I want to say that although she has gone through several rough years, I am shocked that Whitney Houston has passed away. Another great artist has left us too soon, it's sad. I hope she rests in peace.

I'll be back soon with another post on all of the other goodies that I found today. First I have to clean off all of the dust and grime from everything and photograph it, then I'll share it with you.