INDEPENDENT record seller Brian “Frog” Harris loves animals – particularly his three pet frogs – so when he hosts a massive sale of second-hand vinyl, cassettes, CDs, DVDs and VHS videos this weekend, all the money will be handed over to the RSPCA.
“We’ve done this twice before, but this one is going to be the biggest,” says Brian, owner of Weston Creek’s Songland Records.
“We’ve asked the general public to donate any of their unwanted music and movies and it’s been really successful, just through word of mouth in the community. People really like to give their old collections away to someone who wants them, especially when the money goes to the animals.”
The second-hand sale is being held outside Songland between 9am and 5pm on Saturday and from 10am till 4pm on Sunday.
By midway through last week, more than 500 cassette tapes and over 2300 pieces of vinyl had already been donated along with CDs, DVDs and VHS video tapes.
“Frog” has already found some gems among the huge pile of pre-loved recordings, including a Beatles box set that sold last week for $250, getting the RSPCA fundraising off to a good start.
He says there are plenty of bargains among the vinyl for collectors – or anyone looking to start a vinyl collection – as well as plenty of cassettes for those who, like himself, still enjoy listening to them in the car.
“We’ve got about 140-odd brand new copies of ‘Star Trek’ VHS videos here, and for ‘Star Trek’ fans that’s actually quite a big deal,” he adds.
“They were donated by a good mate, Larry Appley from 2CA, who’s a big ‘Star Trek’ fan and a huge animal fan as well.
“I’ll be organising a price for the whole lot and individual prices, but everything is going to be really cheap, anyway.
“We’ve got hundreds and hundreds of classical records; they’ll probably go for about 50c each, and all the non-classical albums for somewhere around a dollar each.”
Representatives from the RSPCA will also attend the sale, including some with fur and feathers.
“We’re going to have Gerald the cockatoo down here; he’s a bit of a character, and he lives at the RSPCA,” says Brian.
“We might also have a bunny and some cats, and there’ll be some people from the RSPCA too, so you can have a yarn to them about what they do and what their services are.”
The animal-loving “Frog” has three pet green tree frogs at home, who recently turned 14 on Australia Day.
“Their names are Bender, Hank and Banjo,” he explains. “I hand feed them, they sit and watch TV with me and they do their laps in the bathtub; they’re my children.”
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