"I told em 'yeah I got couple of those.' They said 'Can we buy em?' So I sold them to the kids for $20 each thinking I'd gotten a really good score, but they must've felt guilty about what they paid for them because they were offering to give me some other records on top of what they paid me."
"Not that anyone was really rushing to tell him. Especially not the internet-savvy young fans of his obscure, '80s power pop band the Earwigs that followed him to his present day gigs as a singer-songwriter begging for copies of "She's So Naive" pressed on 45s for a mere $20 each. To Ubaldini, 61, it (naively) appeared like he was getting the better end of the bargain."
Michael Ubaldini's 1970s power-pop band the Earwigs built an underground cult following through radio play and bootleg cassettes despite never officially releasing their 1981 debut. Original 45s, including the single "She's So Naive," have become sought-after collectors' items, with listings fetching hundreds of dollars. Ubaldini, who still performs in Orange County and Nashville, unknowingly sold some original 45s for $20 apiece before discovering their market value online. The band is staging a long-delayed album release party in Huntington Beach to mark a limited-edition vinyl pressing, and Ubaldini later attempted to sell additional records himself.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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