There are some things which, on the face of it, make perfect sense. There are other things which, on the face of it, make little sense until you start to dig into what’s really going on. And then there’s Danny Tenaglia’s decision to auction off a vast swathe of his old music-making equipment.

The auction was first announced a few weeks ago amidst Tenaglia’s recent battle with cancer. After six weeks of treatment – which included daily radiation and chemotherapy – he claimed things were going in the right direction. Since then, he’s also resumed gigs – although perhaps understandably, one or two have had to be postponed following medical advice.

A source within the New York club scene describes Tenaglia as “being a fighter throughout this experience. He’s been determined to beat cancer from the moment he found out about it, but there’s no doubt he’s a little shell shocked by what’s been happening. The love and support his loyal fans have shown him are really helping.”.

And now, Tenaglia has teamed up with Amplifyd – described on their LinkedIn page as a “premier auction house for influential artists and music brands to sell their collections”. Not much is known about the company, other than they’re two years old – and a quick search of Whois suggests they’re based in the US state of Georgia.

Amongst the items on sale in “The Danny Tenaglia Collection” include a Roland TR-909, a Juno 106 synthesiser from the same company, and an EMU SP-1200 – understood to be the drum machine of choice by Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez when working on swathes of Masters At Work material in the 1990s.

At the time of writing this article, bidding on the 909 stood at $4000. Taking out Amplifyd’s 10% cut and a 6% cut for payment processing company Stripe, that leaves just under $3400 for Tenaglia – and that’s simply for one item. A second auction involving Tenaglia’s extensive record collection is understood to be in planning – but is unlikely to appear before the New Year.

So why is Tenaglia selling his collection of equipment? Well, he says “I honestly have been thinking for quite some time now that these items (and eventually the record collection too) might be better served in the hands of others who will continue to love and appreciate them just as much as I have.”.

We do, of course, have to take his word on this – although it’s worth pointing out that Tenaglia isn’t the first producer to take this step. A few years ago, Chicago’s Derrick Carter announced he was selling his equipment – Ears To The House understands that Carter made the decision at least partially for financial reasons related to the pandemic.

Nonetheless, amusing queries can be seen on social media, including from some of Tenaglia’s own peers, asking why the equipment can’t be bought or donated and put into a museum of some kind. Tenaglia hasn’t responded to those suggestions at the time of publication…