April 14, 2026 – Sunday afternoon at the Music Collector’s Show/What I got

A flyer found by the door at Homer’s Music the other week led me to spend my Sunday afternoon at my first Omaha Music Collector’s Show. The event was hosted at the Firefighters Union Hall, but I quickly discovered that I shouldn’t be deceived by the relatively small size of the event space. Lots of music merch can be packed in small spaces, as I’ve learned over the years by visiting record and media stores around the country. I spent over 2.5 hours browsing, flipping, and even chatting a little.

I’ve learned it’s a good idea to pace yourself at these types of events and to not be too rash when picking out a record or CD. You may think you’ve found a great deal at one vendor, only to find the same record of equal quality at an even better price at the next one. The bulk of the record offerings were what I would expect to find: copious amounts of rock/pop, with the occasional box devoted to blues or country, and plenty of boxes full of $1 records. There’s also always at least one vendor whose focus is largely heavy metal or core 60s bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

One thing I love about these music flea markets is that you can find copies of big albums for way better deals than you normally would. Of course, with it being a flea market after all, just about everyone’s willing to make a bargain. The first vendor that stood out to me had the single biggest collection of Japanese-grade vinyl I’ve personally seen, boxes and boxes of them. I only brought so much cash, and Japanese vinyl is more pricey, but I did manage to find a few that worked within the budget!

First I got my personal favorite Springsteen album, The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle. I consider that to be Bruce’s “proggiest” record, because it sounds so unlike anything else he’s released, with tons of extended jams involving organs, piano, and saxophones. Really, the intro to “New York City Serenade” gives me the vibes of “Take a Pebble” by ELP.

Anyway, next I got Asia’s second album, Alpha, since I knew I already had their debut album. Plus, I don’t think Alpha gets the love it deserves. I know their first album was a hard act to follow, but it’s got some really great songs on it, like “The Heat Goes On” and “Don’t Cry.”

The third Japanese copy I picked up was that of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. Not so much for the music, I confess, but rather, for the artwork. I’ve always loved the animation and artwork created for the album and film. The colors are so vibrant!

They are not pictured here, but I also took home vinyl copies of Saturday Night Fever, Piano Man by Billy Joel, Pearl by Janis Joplin, and Black and Blue by the Rolling Stones.

And yes, I looked for Marillion merch everywhere I stopped, but sadly found nothing.

I made some good conversation with the next vendor I visited with, since he had a good selection of prog rock records available. Our discussion led him to recommend to me the album Medusa by a band called Trapeze. The imaginary bingo board in my head said I should look to buy an album recommended by a vendor, so I added it to my basket, along with another recommended title: a 1989 US pressing of The Seeds of Love by Tears for Fears. I was also struck by the artwork for both records I haven’t listened to these albums yet, but they are on deck to be spun soon.

I also came across a table full of “rare DVDs,” but upon further inspection, realized that the bulk of them were bootlegs, so I didn’t bother buying any. My experience with bootlegs is that they can be hit or miss, especially older ones.

And then on the way out, about half an hour before the scheduled finish time, vendors began packing up, and I knew this was a fine time to do a last minute peruse of the event space for any last minute sales as vendors tried to get rid of as much as they could. That led me to find the closest thing I could to something Marillion-related: a limited edition of Fish’s 1997 solo album, Sunsets on Empire. I only had $11 left and the price sticker said $15. I hadn’t been brave enough to try bargaining with the other vendors but decided to try it here. I walked up to the guy offering it, and sheepishly said I was willing to take it, but only had $11. The guy shrugged, and said, “Sure! That’ll work!” and the CD was mine. There doesn’t appear to be a ton of difference between this edition and the original release, although I was surprised to find Steven Wilson in the credits for the bulk of the songs, as well as for the production. I couldn’t help but laugh at the Parental Guidance advisory in the corner of the cover, because I question how many kids are bothering to give the music of Fish their time of day. Who knows? Maybe it’s more than I realize.