Review: 2014 Chirp Record Fair & Other Delights

As the warm air filled the Chicago area on Saturday afternoon, I hung out at the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union location (1340 W Washington Blvd) for the 2014 Chirp Record Fair & Other Delights. The fair is in its 12th year and it truly is a delight for any music collector. 

I arrived around 11:15am and paid $5.00 to get in (with my flyer otherwise it was $7.00). The place was packed with active and excited music enthusiasts like me! If you are a real die-hard music fan, they even had early bird admission from 8am to 10am for an entry fee of $25.00. There were about 50 music dealers there and some organizations as well like Girls Rock Chicago and CIMM Fest. I walked in and am always overwhelmed by all the boxes of vinyl and never know where to start. 

My son quickly saw the poster guy and ended going through piles of posters to find the right Kiss poster. Besides posters, there were rows and rows of vinyl, 45s, 78s, movies, music and movie memorabilia, photography art, postcards, an Elvis doll, cds, box sets, even cassettes! I checked out Record Wonderland’s bins and saw one bin called Odd, I definitely needed to see what was in there. Lots of comedy, poetry, and spoken word records in there, I picked out the Comedy Caravan record which features Andy Griffith on it. I can’t wait to listen to it.  

I passed by a table that all sorts of movies on sale and even a cool Gilda Radner t-shirts to purchase. They had this silver DJ Record Box with a handle on it for $10.00, kicking myself for not getting that! Other items I saw were a Kiss Motion lamp, a vinyl record box set of Jesus and The Mary Chain for 32.00,  handmade record crates for $50.00 by Paperish Mess, and Mooo Matts (turntable matts) for $60.00, a tall stand full of 45’s like The Smashing Pumpkins ‘The Celestials’ for $15.00, and a Antoine “Fats” Domino cd box set for $25.00.  

There were Chirp DJ’s on the stage featuring a wide genre of music. They even included song choices from all the record dealers who were there. There was a vast array of genres of music in the record bins so the varied sounds by the DJ’s complemented the record fair. It certainly took time to go thru all the different dealers as there were boxes not only on the tables but on the ground as well. Some records were in top condition while others were quite worn and beat. Buyer beware, you can view the vinyl for scratches and any warped surfaces.  Most dealers were good about negotiating a price if you asked.  

I’ve been going to this record fair for years and have always enjoyed it. Parking is free, good location, clean facility, and the food was provided by Big Star (there even was a Girl Scout cookie table in the hallway, sweet!). Chirp stands for Chicago Independent Radio Project, they are a volunteer based online community radio group, listen to them at www.chirpradio.org.  

Don’t forget to tune into WXAV (88.3fm or @ www.wxav.com) every Wednesday night from 7pm to 9pm for Alternative Sounds For Your Head with host radioruta. Alternative, indie, new wave, punk, electronic music and more!!  Also, Music While U Work Thursday mornings 9am to 11am.