Interview with Riemer ten Brink

[ Conducted in August 2003 ]

Riemer was up there as one of the biggest collectors out there a few years ago, he then mysteriously left, but it's 2003 and now he's back in action.

Let's begin with the usual stats on yourself (age, location, occupation, etc)

I'm Riemer ten Brink, age 21 and I live in Groningen which is in the very northern of the Netherlands. I work in a computerstore for 2 years now, and that's going very well, I think I wanna keep that job for some time. In 1998 I took the nickname Pannenkoeken as in the line "And when I'm in Holland I eat the pannenkoeken" from Super Disco Breakin'.

OK, So what is "pannenkoeken"?

Basically they are dutch pancakes, but they're a lot thinner and the size of a 10" sometimes even 12" and we can eat them with jelly, sirup, bacon, cheese, onions you name it. My favorite combo: Cheese, Bacon and onions.

You were quite active in the Beastie Boys trading scene a few years ago and then you just vanished. What happened?

That would've been like 3 years or so back. I spent a lot of money on records, and then I had to move out of my parents' house, I had to work for a living, and didn't have a lot of money left to buy records.

You were selling a lot of your collection (under the name Funkyness) just before you went into hibernation. Did you get rid of everything? Any regrets now?

Wow! you have a good memory I almost forget about Funkyness. No, fortunately I did not get rid of everything, I only sold a few. A couple of the items I regret to have sold: Aglio E Olio 2x7", Root Down Blue vinyl 12", Get it Together Green vinyl 7" and of course my Sabotage Skatedeck, that was by far the most stupid thing I ever did in my life ;-) If any of y'all have one of these items CONTACT ME!
Not selling everything was a BIG motivation to start collecting again.

Do you know if you ended up losing money or making a profit when you sold your collection?

Well, I think I would have made some profit when I sold everything. I sold some rare stuff that I paid a lot for and got "a lot" for it, but I never calculated how much profit/loss I made.

At one stage you were starting up a Mo'Wax collection, how is that progressing?

Well, just as my Beastie Boys collection I stopped collecting Mo'Wax 3 years ago, but I'm starting that again as well, I didn't sell anything of that, so that's a good start, I sure need a lot of Mo' Wax items though.

You were collecting both vinyl and CDs before - why are you concentrating on vinyl now?

I think I find vinyl to be more special as a lot of people don't have turntables these days anymore. I will put up a new site with my collection soon, and there I will put the cd's up for sale. I used to have a lot from the Licensed to Ill era, but I sold everything from that, except for the Fight for Your Right to Party Test Pressing 12".

What started you off with collecting Beastie Boys records originally?

I believe it was the intergalactic singles that got me started, first cd's then vinyl as well, the intergalactic 7" was I believe the first Beastie Boys vinyl I ever bought. Don't think it was only then that I was getting to know the Beastie Boys as a band. In 1989 I bought Paul's Boutique I was only 8 years old then!

What are some of your favourite items?

Difficult question, I really like 'em all, but the things I like most, I guess are the 10"s & the 7"s and I just LOVE colored stuff ;-)

Are there any items you really want that you have been searching for?

Like I said before, I regret selling some things they are:
Aglio E Olio 2x7"
Root Down Blue vinyl 12"
Get it Together green vinyl 7"
Sabotage Skatedeck
And off course a lot more, I will be putting a LARGE want list on my website soon.

How big was your collection before you sold it? How does it compare now?

I think it was about 80 vinyl 100 cd's or so, and now 60/60 or so. So I have a lot to get again. But as you said I'm only to concentrate on the vinyl.

Do you track your collection with a database or any other tools?

Not yet, I will do so (MSaccess) and I will use it to connect on my site.

Your top 3 favourite places to get records from?

1. Trading
2. Platenworm (local vinylshop)
3. Ebay (but it's too damn pricey sometimes)

What are your thoughts on ebay? A help or a hindrance to collecting?

Basically ebay is quite cool for alot of things, but a real load of poop also appears there, homemade shit and such. Like the lightswitch covers and some of the mousemats. And in the beginning of my collection, ebay wasn't that well known, and prices didn't run up as much as they do now.

Do you consider the discographies available now to the collectors out there as a goal or a deterant (scaring off potential collectors).

Well the discography here on Beastiemania.com is VERY large so I think for some people it will be demotivating. If I didn't have this collection already I don't think I would've started now. But for me, I only have good things to say about the Beastiemania Discography - it's fresh!

Thanks for your time!