Is it collecting, or is it hoarding? That is the question a YouTube host put to a Connecticut man whose house is stuffed with vintage concert shirts, sealed hip-hop records, rare hats and every cassette mixtape he ever made. After a long tour of the stacks, his answer was perfect: he says he is in a 12 step hoarding program, and he is at step three.

The man is Dave Schneider, a local legend in southern Connecticut. He is a founding member of the hockey rock band The Zambonies and of the Hanukkah rock band The Levies. He is also the third generation of his family to run a clothing store that has been open for more than a century, which helps explain the sheer volume of vintage clothing in his home.

The tour comes from the collector channel Killer Carp, whose host promised to decide by the end which side of the “fine line” between collecting and hoarding Dave falls on.

A Closet Full of Concert Shirts

Dave says records are his main focus, and he adds that music has been his life. The garage alone is lined with them, including a stack of 12-inch hip-hop singles. He even has a Sony Watchman that went to college with him.

The shirt closet is where things get serious. Dave points out vintage shirts from the Rolling Stones, the Clash, Bob Dylan, R.E.M., the Pogues, Television, the Specials and a long list of other bands. There is a Bruce Springsteen Australian tour shirt, a Ramones last tour shirt, an Austin Powers promo shirt and a Peewee’s Playhouse shirt from 1996.

One shirt is from Secret Sounds, a record store in Black Rock, Connecticut. Dave says it is the original shirt, and that Dave Grohl wore the same shirt on a live Nirvana record. He also has a rookie-era LeBron James shirt with its tags still attached, from Adidas and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

That shirt leads to a story. Dave says his family store used to be on Nike’s list, and the company flew them out to meetings. At one meeting in 2002, he says, he asked the new young star why he was wearing Timberland boots if he worked for Nike. Later that night, according to Dave, the future superstar got his revenge with a very rude prank at dinner. He still laughs about it.

Sealed Records and a Mixtape Library

Dave’s office is, in his words, another fantasy room of hoarding. It holds an original, sealed copy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers, a pile of limited-edition hats and more hip-hop vinyl, including a Beastie Boys first single and records from A Tribe Called Quest.

The basement is his dream room. There is a signed Talking Heads record, and he explains that the Zambonies named their second album after a Talking Heads title, with hockey in the mix. He also owns Reverend Howard Finster cover art, and he runs through his five all-time favorite records, starting with the Clash’s London Calling and a Miracle Legion album he loves.

One of his proudest possessions is a library card catalog. Inside, every drawer is filled with the cassettes he has made over the years, including a Nirvana tape from Rome, Italy, in 1992. He also has a mail-away cassette he got through a box of Frosted Mini-Wheats, which was a mail-away offer through the cereal.

He also showed off the newest record from The Levies. It is not actually vinyl, he says, but pressed from recycled plastic bottles, and the big question for the band was which side should be applesauce and which should be sour cream, because both are what you put on a latke. The applesauce side is the A side.

Hats, Guitars and a Hockey Band’s Rehearsal Room

The basement is also the rehearsal home of The Zambonies, and Dave says it is a great room for creating hockey music. A set of goalie pads sits next to the kick drum, mid-century chairs are scattered around, and the walls are crowded with gear.

Among the instruments are a Gibson SG that Dave carved himself, with a friend helping to paint it so the bottom looks like a whale, a 1965 Epiphone Coronet, a Gibson ES-335 and a little Yamaha keyboard. He also loves Casio.

The hat wall has Simpsons hats from American Needle, a Whalers hat and a classic Nordiques logo cap. There is also a wall of jerseys, and more vintage shirts in boxes from the store, including Looney Tunes, a Bart Simpson shirt, a David Bowie Serious Moonlight tour shirt and a Lou Reed shirt the host called a beauty.

A Family Store That Has Lasted Since 1920

The store is called Jimmy’s Army and Navy, and it is still in operation in downtown Bridgeport. Dave says his grandfather started it in 1920, his father took it over in 1958 or 1959, and he joined around 1986 or 1987. That makes the shop more than 100 years old.

One story he tells shows the kind of music life he has lived. Dave says his brother booked shows at a Providence club called The Living Room, and one weekend his mother cooked dinner for the bands. At the table, Michael Stipe asked if there was meat in the sauce, since he was a strict vegetarian. Dave asked his mother twice. The first time she said no, and the second time she said “a little.”

Letting Go, One Zelda Map at a Time

Dave says he has been letting go of some of his stuff over the past few years, and the host was allowed to make a modest stack of his own. He walked away with Nintendo games including Stinger and Mighty Bomb Jack, along with a Zelda map and a Game Pro tips and tricks book.

The real prize was two records. The host got a first pressing of R.E.M.’s Murmur, which Dave says is mint, and a mint copy of Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters. Dave’s price for the pair was $100, which the host called an amazing deal.

So, Collector or Hoarder?

At the end, the host asked Dave to pick a side. Dave says he is in a 12 step program of hoarding and is obviously at step three. The host’s own take is that all collectors have a bit of the hoarding gene, because we love our stuff and the memories it brings, and when you stack it all up, it tells you who you are.

If you have a closet, a basement or a garage like Dave’s, there is a lesson in his story. Keep what you love, sell what you no longer need, and treat your collection as a story you are telling, rather than a pile you are keeping.

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