“In My Tribe” by 10,000 Maniacs 💜✨ This record was a find!
While in San Diego last month, we spent the bulk of a Saturday at the swap meet. For those of you unfamiliar with that scene, picture hundreds of booths/tents set up in a stadium parking lot with everything under the sun for sale … from jewelry to clothes to candy to kitchen gadgets … I could go on! Local friends, think Covered Bridge Mansfield on steroids. … While Sophie hunted vintage clothes and jewelry, I focused my efforts on vinyl and found at least four booths full of records. After securing several albums, I thought I was done for the day. That was until I came to the final vinyl booth and saw THIS album.
I was (still am) a huge 10,000 Maniacs and Natalie Merchant fan. But when I was a fan in the very early 90s, cassette tapes and CDs were the medium of choice. “Our Time in Eden” and MTV Unplugged are still two of my most treasured CDs. “In My Tribe” came out in 1987, hence why it’s on vinyl.
Back to the swap meet, when I spotted this gem I grabbed it immediately. And then I heard the words I dreaded: “We don’t take Venmo. Only cash.” 😭 … my dollars were gone, but I couldn’t let go of this album. I even thought about asking others to buy it for me and I’d Venmo them the money. But, I didn’t want to get kicked out of the booth so I rethought that plan. Someone mentioned there was an ATM at the other side of the parking lot. So, for the sake of the music, I found the ATM, withdrew $20 (the album was less than that), incurred the non-branch ATM fees and hurried back to booth … all the while praying there wasn’t some other GenXer who loved 10,000 Maniacs and had also been coveting the album.
These songs sound as good to me today as they did in early years. I’m proud of this score and grateful Sophie suggested the swap meet for our last San Diego adventure.