Welcome to the Lil Edit Yard Sale and thanks for subscribing. Buy my stuff?

An explainer, and introduction, from writer, editor, DJ, music freak and object unloader Randall Roberts

I stopped writing in the first-person about fifteen years ago and have never started a piece of published writing in the first-person singular. With the opening “I” of the previous sentence, that’s obviously changed for this Substack. Here, Mr. Roberts – I mean I – will focus on history both public and personal, most of it involving music and much of it in service of selling off some of the prizes, knick knacks, stickers, records, posters, pinbacks, whatnot, that I’ve accumulated along the way.

The reasons why I’m selling now aren’t so complicated, nor is my desire to commit to doing some of it here. I’ve moved a lot this stuff about ten times in the past fifteen years, each time wondering why I was spending time and money saving mementos that, while important to my own story about a life in music, weren’t at all necessary to the day-to-day living. What was I going to do with all this (amazing) crap? Somewhere along the way I also realized that I didn’t want to be a man who decorated his home with a bunch of music posters, which seemed a little much, what with the records consuming whole walls. I’m not a one-trick-pony. I like striking, eye-popping art-art on the walls and music and musicians on the sound system.

As time passed, my collection cured. What I thought was cool detritus was becoming something else. Each item had started generating a different kind of energy, and this energy was being propelled, like all historical objects, by fascinating stories. Also, time tends to weed out mediocrity. Due to my remarkable, spot-on, enviable, always-correct aesthetic and distinguished, undeniable influence on underground culture writ large harhar, a lot of the stuff I’d saved was from artists whose work has withstood the test of time. New generations are caring about this shit, basically. When the kids start caring, demand skyrockets.

I think I know one reason why prices for music memorabilia — and CDs — are rising. Like the still-sealed “vinyls” that young fans buy (and are currently unloading at a shocking clip, if Reddit is any gauge) to express fandom while listening to the music itself on YouTube or Spotify, memorabilia serves a similar purpose. Instead of spending $40 on a Walmart exclusive variant of the Frogs’ self-titled debut (if only), an original Frogs poster conveys the same message – and is arguably a more impressive and displayable expression of fandom.

So I’m selling stuff starting Monday, May 15.

Here’s how this sale will work, at least for now. I’ll be offering the majority* of the memorabilia and records on Instagram first. Follow the sale here to buy. It won’t be an auction. I’ll offer each item at a set price. If you want it, DM me. First come, first served. I’ll be only accepting two payment platforms: Zelle and Venmo. Shipping is worked into the sale price. Once I get paid, I’ll change the caption in the post to “sold.” (If you want to see my inspiration, follow YetiSale and CapturedEphemera.)

My plan is to post one or two items a day.

*Here’s where this Substack comes in:

Some of the most covetable items come with a personal backstory, or at least information I’d like to put out there. For example, a Sonic Youth item was procured when my young, starstruck ass interviewed the band live on the radio (KCOU) from a record store during the 1986 Evol tour. After the interview, they signed the recently published issue of Forced Exposure with them on the cover. I’d like to tell that story in full and include images, audio, etc. because it was quite the adventure, and I’ve got documentation to prove it.

I won’t bullshit: My strategy here is driven by a desire to lure potential buyers to this Substack who have no idea who I am, where some of them might appreciate these longer excursions and recollections (and feed my ego). I’ll be using this platform as a carrot by exclusively posting some sale items here first, where readers will get dibs at buying, if only for a few hours. Which is to say, if you’re in it for the merch, you might want to subscribe.

But I’m not going to limit this Yard Sale’s focus to just selling stuff. My archive (is using the word “archive” presumptuously self-important? Abso-lutely!) includes a ton of recorded materials I’ve maintained over the years. In between sale posts I’ll be resurrecting old stories I’ve written, uploading Big Pink Brains, Sovereign Glory and Lil Edit mixes, unveiling previously buried vintage recordings and recorded interview tidbits (Joanna Newsom saying “Spotify is the banana of the music industry,” anyone?) and exploring my cultural obsessions.

Mixcloud: Lil Edit’s UnShazamble Underground 45s from the 1990s

At some point I might start charging a very small fee, but I’m too insecure to think about that right now and have a lot of proving to do before taking that step.

Historically, I’ve had a tough time writing things without knowing that some sort of non-me platform would be amplifying it, which is a bummer to admit. Writing for myself? For pleasure and self-expression? There was always a seed of that in my writing for the LA Times and LA Weekly, sure, but mostly my drive has been in feeding a beast not of my own making, earning a steady income, accruing stature points and sating my sense of self-worth and self-identity as A Music Person.

Which is to say, I’ve learned a ton about writing and editing in my career, but have a lot to learn about creative self-expression and overcoming the notion that there’s way too much “content” in the world already for me to presume mine is worth your precious attention.

For symmetry’s sake, I’ll leave this post with one last I.