I began collecting 45 records in 1969 and continued until the demise of the 45 in the early 90's. Needless to say, I (still) have a lot of vinyl!
 |
| Me and Janice - about 1972. |
Before getting hired, I wrote down every song on the CHUM chart posted about the 45's in the store. I noted the label and distributor - thus the start of become a teen Top 40 musicologist. It began at Sam's.
There aren't too many things I regret in life and those which I have are small, and probably silly to anyone but me. One of them is the night Elton John played in Toronto. It was a Monday night; I had to work at Sam's. It was the "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" show. At the time, even as "Bennie and the Jets" played on the radio, I wasn't sorry about missing the show. But over time, as GYBR became a fixture in 70's music, and remains my all-time favourite album to this day, (with Ziggy Stardust being a close number two), I so wish I had been at that show. Haha - the 12-inch platform shoes, the Liberace-type glasses. "Oh Candy and Robby have you seen them, yet..." Ahhhhhh.
Janice and I would make many trips to Sam's main store on Yonge Street. We'd take the Cummer bus to the subway, then subway to Bloor. From Bloor, we'd walk south on Yonge Street, going in every poster and t-shirt store, with the final destination being Sam The Record Man where I would load up on "oldies".
Sam's was a hot spot for rock stars, too. Elton John was one of the many rock stars who shopped after hours, and then signed the wall. Sam put a frame over all the rock star autographs.
It was the only part-time job I had, before radio. Good job, great musical benefits. And $1.10 an hour.
hi folks, my name is marv. i was actually a math teacher in the high school near sam's where scott worked and was a student at the high school. i never taught scott but met him at sams when i was buying records for my budding d.j. business, which i ran for 15 years as Marvellous Marvin. scott and i became very fast friends (we are only 10 years apart). turned out scott was also a party d.j. back then, so we had lots to talk about. my favorite memory of scott was the night that he and i d.j.'ed together at a school dance and fed off each other's energy ... it was a fun night. over the years after scott became a strong christian, he worried about losing my friendship, but no way was that ever gonna happen. unfortunately, scott and i lost contact over the years ... but fortunately, scott said hi to my son on facebook and as a result we have reconnected!!! yay!!! scott, i look so forward to seeing you and janice again :-))) god bless you and your families, scott, i'll see you real soon!!!
ReplyDelete