If you don’t know what you’re doing this Sunday, Michael Maloney has just made your plans for you. The vinyl obsessive is bringing his famous Essendon Record and CD Fair back to Melbourne’s Ukrainian House.
As The Herald Sun reports, Maloney is a music fan’s music fan, who started buying singles before he even had something to play them on. The 63-year-old rushed out to buy his first vinyl, a Manfred Mann single, when he was 12.
He put his first LP on lay-by soon afterwards, taking every dollar he earned mowing lawns straight to the store to pay off his $5.50 debt. “I thought they might sell it (the record) if I didn’t pay a bit off every week,” he said.
“Little did I know that there was probably more than one copy in the shop.” Fifty years on from that first single and Maloney’s love of wax has not dulled. In fact, he’s made it his life. His popular record fair draws hundreds of collectors from across the country.
The fair, which he hosts twice yearly, has been held at Ukrainian House in Russell St for the past 18 years, growing from humble beginnings to now feature some 90 stalls offering an incredible 70,000 records from the 1950s onwards, as well as 10,000 CDs and music memorabilia.
“We have all styles, all eras… we cater for everyone,” the Craigieburn resident told The Herald Sun. “Even if people don’t buy, they can enjoy the trip down memory lane and stallholders just love talking music.”
This year’s fair will see a first, with Maloney set to run a behind-the-scenes tour of Ukrainian House, which was formerly a music venue frequented by the likes of Bon Scott and other rock notables of the day, including Broderick Smith and Spectrum.
According to Maloney, the three-level building has hardly changed since it was known as Benjamins in the 1970s, with the original stage, dressing rooms, and upstairs private lounge perfectly preserved, offering a time portal back to the heyday of Aussie rock and roll.
The Essendon Record and CD Fair goes down this Sunday, 31st May at 3 Russell St from 9.30am- 5pm, with the tour to run at noon and again later in the afternoon if there is demand. Entry is just $4. For further details call 9308 1729 or head to the Essendon 2nd Hand website.
