From the April Fools' Dept...



It is now official.



The entire vinyl collection of one of the greatest DJs of our time is going on sale today at Amoeba Hollywood. Internationally known DJ, Cut Chemist, decided to sell his entire record collection a few weeks back to Amoeba Hollywood. The collection is approximately 40 thousand LPs, 12s, 45s and acetates, which has been hidden in the Amoeba warehouse underneath stacks of clearance DVD's so that no employees would get to them before the public. Also, as part of the agreement that Amoeba has with Cut Chemist, we agreed that would keep the sale of his collection a secret until today. This was done at Cut's request, so that everyone would get an equal chance at buying these records with no special preferences given to employees, famous DJs or private collectors.

As you can imagine, the collection is immense, with every record you could ever want from any genre you can name. Rare funk 45s, first edition Reggae and Hip-Hop records, obscure private press Free Jazz and folk LPs, International records from Africa, Brazil and Colombia, with every great Salsa, Cumbia and Afro-Beat record ever made. Also many first edition punk/post punk and goth records (which I didn't know he collected) and every collectible soundtrack, prog and psyche LPs that one could ever want. About seventy five percent of these records that I saw would go for hundreds of dollars on E-Bay, and this is just the first few crates into this incredible collection!

Amoeba vinyl pricer Chadwick W.D. says that he has never seen a collection "so dense with great LPs" and that "even some of these records are so rare that even with wear and tear that a DJ put on them would still go for top dollar on the internet" For that reason, Amoeba will temporarily take down the display posters off the walls to make room for more collectible LP wall item displays. Special 45 boxes that will be marked, "From the Cut Chemist Collection" will be placed at various spots around the store. The rest of the LPs with be in bins on the Amoeba stage, where the discount DVDs are usually placed.

The question that may be on your mind is why would Cut Chemist sell a collection that has taken a lifetime to acquire? All those hours spent in record stores, dusty thrift stores, basements full of mold and stagnant water and bug-infested garages of the private collector just to sell them now?

"I've gotten heavily into juicing and serious about raw foods and meditation." He said over an interview via e-mail. "Through this journey I've decided that my material belongings were stopping me from moving forward so I decided to take the plunge and do the big purge. It's been an exciting analog ride for 30 plus years but now I'm going completely digital and loving every mp3 of it. I offer back to the world what it gave to me."

I couldn't believe that he could sell his entire collection and as it turns out, I was right. After repeated questioning, he admitted that he held on to his collection of Disco-Rap 12", which he replied, "As much as I'm letting go, I couldn't part with those just yet."

Cut Chemist added this last bit, "Anyone who finds the Mulatu picture sleeve 45 with his business card should be really happy..."