Apr 21, 2012 Movielife - 40 Hour Train

There's an interesting story to this record. A story that I think I should wait to tell till I have more information. Let's just call this part 1, I guess. Part 2 will hopefully be told soon. Let us begin about 3 weeks ago. I was sitting at my desk and my friend Brian sent me an email telling me about a whole bunch of test presses being auctioned on ebay. 2 of which were of Movielife releases. Movielife is one of my most favorite bands. There's not many bands out there that can release 2 demo tapes that I love, then proceed to release 3 full lengths and an a couple EPs that I love as well. The 2 tests were 40 Hour Train Ride Back to Penn and Has a Gambling Problem. Now here's some background info. 40 Hour was released on 2 colors. Green marble and white marble. Green marble goes for about 30 bucks or so. Sometimes as much as 45. But the white is extremely rare. I believe it's out of 100, and I've only seen one for sale in my lifetime and I bought it. It cost me $99 and it was a buy it now. As soon as it went up I bought it. Maybe within 6 hours. I think it was worth more than $99. I probably would have paid $150. So when I saw this test I thought for sure it would hit $250. Has a Gambling Problem on the other hand was released on numbered clear vinyl out of 1000. No cover, just an insert in a clear sleeve. This goes for a bit more than the green 40 Hour now a days because it's rarer. Maybe 40-60. But I didn't think the test was worth more than the 40 Hour test because I had paid 100 for the white marble. Logic dictates that the test is usually worth more than the rarest color.

So let me set the scene for you. Both these auctions had about 2 days in between them and 40 Hour was ending first. There was about 5 hours left and 40 Hour was at about 50 bucks with a couple of bids I think. Gambling Problem started at 59.99 and had 1 bid. I decided well before the ending of the 40 Hour test that I wasn't going to win this, but I would bid on it. Anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows that I always bid, even if I don't think I can win. I've won so many great records on the cheap because I didn't give up without bidding. Now for my max bid. I don't mind saying it because it actually matters to the full story. I bid $155. But let me remind you, I had thought this record would go for $250. The interesting thing? I won it for $100. This is why I always say bid, even if you believe you can't win. The reason is because no one does that. They think they can't win, and decide not to waste their time. Or they forget about the auction cause they're not excited enough to win it, because they don't think they can win. It's strange, I know, but it's true. I think that's what happened here. There were only 6 bidders, and only 8 bids! One of them being me. Think about that. Only 8 bids. Movielife vinyl is crazy collectable. People gave up on this one. There's just no doubt in my mind.

So I won that one, and I was damn happy about it. This was the one I was most excited about cause it's my favorite album. Plus I have the Green and white, so this completes the set. Now what about Has a Gambling Problem. Well once again I was not setting out to win this record. Even less so then I was for the 40 Hour test. But I had to bid. This time I put in a bid of 135 and lost by 2.50. So one bid beat me. There were 7 bidders and 10 bids, including mine. The story doesn't end there, but I think I'm going to stop. This is Part 1 and Part 2 is still developing. It will end with me looking like a jackass or a genius. I hope genius! But either way, I think it will end interesting.