As a pre-teen skateboarder in 1980s Long Island Ray discovered a love for new wave on WLIR 92.7 FM, hardcore punk and hip hop all around the same time. He abandoned comic books for records and spent his paper route money building a collection that’s only grown since far beyond the original flavors that hooked him.
Beyond collecting & selling, he dj’s and hosts an eclectic radio show on WUSB 90.1 FM called ‘A Visual Sound’ that is heavy on jazz, funk, soul but some days will meander into reggae, left field sonics, industrial & goth music.
His crates will be full of solid rock, Jazz, funk & soul with a bit of everything else as it represents his wide appreciation for music. Stop by his table and odds are he will nerd out with you about something you’re checking out.
Featured Collector @rayknives
Photo credits @femmesole & @ziggystarsuck
Happy anniversary to my love @femmesole . 11 years married. I’ve hunted for treasure since I was a small boy and by far she’s the best find of my lifetime ❤️
Very impulsive last moment trip to the banks today to skate them with close friends I’ve had for decades. Probably close to 30 years since I did one of these there. As soon as that whiff of Banks urine crawled up my nostrils it was like smelling salts & woke me up in 1995. This space holds such unexplainable magic for skaters of my era worldwide. 2nd slide is some footage from 95 my friend Adam & I shot on 16mm that never made it to Big Brother. Last slide is one of the maybe 2 tricks filmed of me down there. We rarely a camera in the city back then.
After Jello had a stroke a few weeks ago I was thinking why have I not tracked down a copy of Frankenchrist with the original banned HR Giger poster? I’ve had my original record since 1987 when I was 12 but it was without the poster & had some xerox pages explaining what happened. The raid on Jello’s loft, the court case and so on. My friend Geoff & I split it. Records came out to $8.59 with tax & we would pick something out & kick in $4.30 each. Every week we’d swap the records back & forth. This one ended up permanently with me, some others with him. This is one of the most important records in my life. Besides it just being musically different & amazing for the time (and forever) the lyrics & the information in the extra sheets of paper spoke to me. I was already not a part of everything else a jr high kid should be into. I didn’t like what everyone else did. I told jocks off when they harassed me. I was already running from police because I skateboarded. One of the inserts said the Coors family gave heaps of money to the PMRC who attacked arts & freedom of speech. My dad drank Coors & I told him they funded censorship organizations & he stopped buying it. He agreed everyone has the right to freedom of speech. Shout out to @vinylrescue for this treasure.
Long time want. Thrasher June 1983 with Andy Kessler street styling on the cover. Articles on the East Coast and on street skating. This is two years after Thrasher started & two years before I rolled on a skateboard for the first time (and got my first issue of the mag). It’s crazy the condition is as if it time traveled straight from High Speed in 1983.
