Ian's Irreplaceable Records Need Your Help

On Friday, December 6th, our dear friend and local Twin Cities DJ, Ian Babineau, wrapped up a DJ performance at The Walker Art Center. Later that night, while away from his vehicle, Ian’s passenger window was smashed in, and someone stole Ian’s precious vinyl bags–which were filled with a curated and beloved swath of Ian’s lifelong vinyl record collection.

Ian had meticulously searched and dug for these cherished records his whole adult life. He received some of them as gifts from friends and owned many of them for nearly ten years. Ian has been so gracious and generous with sharing his vinyl too, as he has constantly been playing these records out in public with the community—whether at intimate house parties or planned local events open to the public.

Ian is a phenomenal human, and knowing that this has happened to our dear friend around the holidays is cause to come together. Let’s see if we can help him replenish some of his prized records suddenly taken from him.

After Ian exhausted all of his insurance options, filed a police report, and contacted all the local vinyl shops to no avail, we (Hardy and Paul) worked with Ian and calculated the rough value of the stolen records using the reputable Discogs collection value calculator to come up with our $1,500 goal. Ian will only use this money to “buy back” some of his lost collection.

We all own cherished “heirloom” and beloved items, and these records were exactly that for Ian. The theft was a big gut punch, but let’s try to come together and help our friend. Hopefully, we will continue to dance to some great music with Ian behind the decks in the future!

Anything helps! See you on the dance floor.