413. Working in New York City Record Stores in the 70's

Watching my newly arrived DVDs of the first three seasons of Saturday Night Live, I come across the February 25, 1978 show, hosted by O.J. Simpson. Yeah, wow.

With musical guest, Ashford & Simpson. (Something wrong with the tense here.)

Which drew my mind back to the days in the early 70's when I supported myself by working for minimum wage in record stores (I recall around $2/hour) ...

My first job was at Colony Records on 49th & Broadway.

The store was huge. It was also filthy; dust absolutely everywhere! Racks of sheet music as far as the eye could see.

One of my tasks was to fetch 45's from a section behind the main sales counter.

One day this tall black guy walks in and everyone is whispering and trying not to be obvious about the way they are pointing at him -- it was Nick Ashford (passed away several years ago). He bought a lot of 45's. I didn't know who he was because I wasn't really into that type of music.