I've spent the majority of my time on earth collecting things. It's in the blood and I decided early on not to fight it. If you're reading this, you may know exactly what I'm talking about. It quite possibly is an illness, however, the enjoyment I get when I find that elusive 45 or rare Star Wars figure is worth it.
thee collector
When I started collecting in my late teens, I used to buy complete collections of records and toys. The plan was to keep what I wanted and sell the rest to folks who needed them, thereby getting what I needed and funding my next purchase. Things haven't changed much over the years. I'm still collecting and still selling what doesn't fit my collection.
1993 - I opened The Cubbyhole Record Shop in the lobby of an apartment building...I was 20
1994 - I started my first WYSIWYG Web Site for "Go Toys" and started selling and trading toys across the world. This was the days of Money Orders. Online payments had not been invented yet.
1998 - PakRatz Toys was born and was an influental collectibles shop in Ontario for the next few years. It started out as a partnership with a fellow dealer and friend, however, we parted ways around the turn of the century and I re-opened PakRatz right downtown Hamilton.
2004 - I started working for "the man" and began a 15 year career in IT that came to an end in December 2019. The whole time I still kept up with both the Vinyl and Vintage Toy scenes.... both collecting AND selling
2019 - NOW - It's a new decade and time to shift my focus back to my original passion, bringing 30 years of experience to a business I started back in 1993 in the lobby of an apartment building.
thee dealer
In this digital age, people generally don't need to look far for music as long as they have their phone and internet service. However, I prefer the old days where you needed to go out and find the good music. For those of us who collect and spin vinyl, this method never went out of style. In fact, I think it's getting more and more popular.
I call myself The 45 Selector because I only spin vinyl 45s at my gigs and I don't do fancy turntable tricks or cut quickly in and out of songs... As a Selector, my goal is to take you, the listener, on a musical journey and as a Collector, I try to make sure I'm spinning all original pressings. At the end of the day, my goal is to provide a fantastic musical experience but in a way that makes use of my collecting hobby and differentiates me from today's Serato & Macbook DJ's.
Currently I have three regular parties:
Ram Jam (all 60's Soul & Reggae)
Right On! (All 70's)
Outer Limits (All 60's)
These are all gigs at Hamilton's Casbah Lounge.
If you're interested in booking me for a gig, or would like to collaborate on a night, please email
