Honoring the Life of a Music Collector

by Brett in Honoring Lives

His goal was to have one copy of every album released, and he came closer to it than most of us could ever dream of. Today, we would like to honor the life of a man who’s commitment to music is itself undying, and whose generosity in recycling his used CDs and Records at Princeton Record Exchange will not be forgotten.

Written by Cliff Ziff

My father was born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1944. It was not the Williamsburg of the 70’s, nor the one you might be familiar with today. It was a tight knit community of Polish, Romanian, and Russians, with a sprinkle of Italians. He, Barry Ziff, was the perfect age to be influenced by the rock music (which exploded in 1955).

He bought his first record in 1959 (according to him). He grew up fast, traveling daily to school in Manhattan’s east village and attending Stuyvesant HS. It was clear that he was proficient in manipulating numbers and he realized he had a photographic memory. His obsession to collect records was born in high school and continued through the 60’s. as he grew-up he transformed from short hair, glass wearing nerd, to long hair, bead selling, activist. In 1964 he avoided the draft, by telling the draft officer (according to him) “he had no problem looking at man’s privates in the shower”. Of course I say that for entertainment purposes, it was a funny story, but seriously, he was anti-war. At that time the government allowed you to skip (dodge) the draft for those simple reasons. Unsurprisingly, later in the draft, those values did not fly.

In the late 60’s, he began working at the Post Office. It was then that he had enough money to start going to rock shows – everyday. He met his first wife in the late sixties. They lived on 1st Ave and 67th St in a $310 per month rent controlled studio; the walls were covered with records. Sadly, his wife passed away of a drug overdose. But that didn’t stop the partying and collecting, and he attended Woodstock in 1969 and in 1970, remarried, and subsequently had his first son.

He gave up alcohol, drugs, meat, and gambling. But not records and concerts. He would never give up music. He worked for the post office at Gracie Station, and held the 6am to 3pm shift which was perfect for his passion. He would sleep until midnight, go to a show until 4am, schlep home, wash and repeat.

His favorite bands of in the 70’s were the NY Dolls, the Ramones, Van Morrison, and Jackson Browne.

He divorced in 1973; he would travel into Brooklyn every weekend in his yellow Volkswagen Beetle to record shop and exercise his visitation rights. It was the late 70’s when he met Kenny Burke- probably the most influential person in his life.

Kenny had contacts with most of the writers in NY. They would get promo records, direct from the labels. They would give Kenny the records, and in turn Kenny would sell them to used record shops (like Sounds on ST Marks). Kenny was (as I remember) 6’4, 350lb, had a lazy eye and overall in terrible health. Barry would pick Kenny up and they would travel all around the city picking up and selling records together. For his services Kenny would give him first choice of all the promos, then sell them to him at $2 and $3 a record. It was in the 80’s that he amassed 25k to 30k records. He could listen to punk, disco, or any other genre. Nothing was off limits.

In the late 80’s he lost his job with post office, moved to queens, and remarried. He had two more children the new responsibility, required to give up more things he loved. He stopped going to shows. But he still collected music, and never in his life time did he stop. His photographic memory and knack for numbers allowed him to track down all his new releases without buying doubles. In his entire collection he probably had less than 100 duplicates.

Cassettes became popular in the late 80’s and eventually CDs in the 90’s. He drove a cab for most of the 90’s. This allowed him to work and record shop. He dabbled in cassettes as records became scarce. He amassed over 10k cassettes. And finally in the 1999 he bought his first cd. (He hated cds)

Barry Ziff believed that music was for young people, and that he was always at heart. He collected everything: from Eric B, to Tribe. Guns and Roses, to Nirvana. Bloc Party to Miley Cirus. Britney, next to Morning Wood. His room consisted of a pull out couch and 13,000 CDs. The entire collection was in order. An order only he knew. I could ask for Christmas music and the next day 100 CDs would be sitting on the staircase waiting for me to listen to. He would always break the hottest new music and loved listening to all genres. He was obsessed with music. He owned every Billboard Magazine, Goldmine and Rolling Stone since 1970. You’d never guess the hippy was also a big fan of the Real World and even Beverly Hills 90210. At 63 years old, he was still a kid.

He never went to the doctor, he refused for 30 years. On February 29th 2008, after a month of battling illness, he succumbed to pneumonia brought on by severe untreated diabetes. In the preceding weeks, we were lucky enough to meet another music obsessed individual who happened to have the same name, Barry. You know him as the owner of Princeton Record Exchange, one of the largest music stores on the east coast. Barry was gracious enough to take a trip to Queens; after two tuna sandwiches and 5 hours of loading the van, he was on his way back to NJ, where he would put this incredible collection on his shelves.

To all and any who love music – please enjoy. My father would have wanted it that way, and I am sure that you will give these gems a great new home.