Black Market Item Found At Utica Estate Sale

In the world of recorded music, there are the albums the artists want you to hear. They record them, master them and then send them to the record labels to determine if they want to promote and sell the work to the end consumer. Everyone gets paid and all is above board.

But, lurking in the shadows, are a group of people who circumvent this system. They attend a concert not as a fan, but as someone who intends to do something illegal. Something so untoward that they could be kicked out of the show if they are caught red handed. They attend these shows for the purpose of recording the show and making their recording available to people.

Get our free mobile app

Now in the era of Youtube, everyone with a phone is now a bootlegger. They happily no longer sell the recordings. They just upload them to the massive servers and then the bands can monetize them. But long ago, this was not the case. In my searches for secondhand greatness, I have come across a relic of a different time.

When I saw this beautiful recordable 8-Track Cartridge still in the original box, I knew it was coming home with me. But then I flipped it over and saw the whole story. Someone had snuck recording equipment into a concert and recorded the Canadian Holy Trio known the world over as Rush and bootlegged a show. Then they took the result of their illicit activity and transferred its contents to this innocent looking RCA time capsule and forever immortalized the sounds of Geddy lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart to the very tape you see above. Even a modicum of artwork was added to give it that something extra.

As a huge Rush fan, there was certainly no way I was leaving this behind for anyone else. I only have one problem; Does anyone have an 8 Track Player?