It’s Saturday morning, maybe 11 a.m., and I’ve criss-crossed the floor of VinylCon at least a couple times already. This is the second time I’ve passed Ohm Records, who specialize in vintage Jamaican music, and I’m curious to see what they have, but, I don’t know where to start digging. I listen to ska and rocksteady and reggae and dub, but don’t collect these records and don’t feel all that knowledgeable on the subjects. I look around and notice two boxes of 45s priced at $5. I guess I should head there first. Almost instantly, I’m overwhelmed by the amount of music I don’t instantly recognize. 

Last weekend, VinylCon, which has already had shows in Philadelphia and Denver, made its debut in Los Angeles with a two-day record fair at California Market Center. The event brought together dozens of vendors, whose collections varied from new and vintage rock to Latin American music to global dance to hip-hop. There was a lot to take in and, over the course of nearly two hours, I barely scratched the surface of what was inside VinylCon. While Random Internet Dude might think I should have spent more time perusing the bins, my budget said otherwise. Random Internet Dude will probably also side-eye my purchases. There was nothing rare in my haul. No grail records or undiscovered heat. It wasn’t even really a haul. In total, I bought five records. But, I’m not writing this for bragging rights.