MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR: Goshen man shows off his The Beatles album collection
A phonophile is preparing to offload his collection. Mark Miller has a collection of vinyls spanning the decades, most impressively assemblage consisting of 377 records from The Beatles.
“I collect records for a hobby and I thought, ‘The Beatles, they’re one of the most re-marketable,’” he said. “I’ve got mono version, stereo version, mistake vinyl, interview vinyl.” A retired flight attendant of 34 years with Northwest Orient & Delta Airlines, Miller has traveled the world amassing an assortment of vinyl records from all variety of production styles, misprints, bootlegs, and international versions.
“I spent most of my time, 20 days a month, in Asia — Singapore, Tokyo, Guangzhou, Beijing, Osaka, Nagoya. I could buy The Beatles everywhere, not just in the United States. My buying arena was everywhere,” he said. He’s got albums from European countries too, including the U.K., France, Netherlands, and also Brazil, and Canada.
Last week, Miller said President & CEO of the Honeywell Foundation Theater in Wabash Tod Minnich and former Capitol Records General Manager & VP Larry Mattera came to his home in Goshen to view the collection and discuss the possibility of buying it and putting it on display.
“I’ve been wanting to display it anywhere for years so that other people can see it,” Miller said. “I don’t want it just sitting on a shelf because it does no good. You just can’t walk into a store and see this many Beatle records. It’s not that it’s the coolest thing in the world. It’s just the product of lots of work. I’ve probably physically walked into 500 or 600 stores — walking in, saying hi, and going through their stuff. It was a labor of love. I loved doing it."
Source: DANI MESSICK THE GOSHEN NEWS
