LIFE BEAT:   Open Door Policy

By Scott Quinn        

Sometimes, all you need to do is muster the courage to walk through the open door…. There I was, unemployed, not a dollar to spare to my name, and a newborn on the way. So, one day, my bride and I were on the way to the bank to pay some bills. And right next to the bank is this new music store that just opened. My bride sees the store and encourages me to go in it whilst she paid the bills. I remember refusing at first, muttering something about if I go in there, I’ll want to buy something we can’t afford. So I go inside to this music store, seemingly filled with just clarinet reeds and sheet music. I look around and see this tiny acoustic guitar on the wall. I pick it up and start to play. The owner of the shop comes over to me and says, “Wow you play nice.   So do you teach guitar?” I said, “Well no, I never thought of it.” He says, “Do you wanna teach here?” I say, “Well, OK.” And he says, “Great!  Come back in an hour as I have four, half hour students for you back to back!” So my bride comes round and I say, “I just got a job teaching guitar!” From that humble beginning I ended up managing the store full time. In a matter of a few short years, we turned it from a small clarinet reed/sheet music store into the major rock ‘n’ roll center of the Jersey shore!

That store’s open door was the portal for my rock’n’roll journey! During my time there, I developed relationships with major music companies and their reps! We got pretty creative in the advertising and promotions department too! In ‘81-82, I remember selling Gibson Les Pauls, “Buy One Get One Free!” We even started a “Buy One Get One Free Club” filled with strings and other items that created a major buzz around the entire state with ALL the musicians! Man, did that get the other music stores scratching their heads trying to keep up! Back then, hip companies like Jackson/Charvel and Kramer ruled, and budding companies like Chandler, EMG, Groove Tubes, PRS, Seymour Duncan, ESP and others were reshaping the rock’n’roll industry. We followed and defined our own new trends in the industry. This allowed us to build a music store that carried all the cool, hip new stuff I could never afford!

But the store also allowed me to meet and work with many local unknowns who went on to fame and fortune! We hired Paul Unkert (the Van Halen guitar builder from Kramer Guitars) and started a custom guitar building section in the shop.  A young sixteen-year-old guitarist from Jackson, NJ used to come into the store and I would teach him McLaughlin/DiMeola runs. Still to this day, 1981’s Friday Night in San Francisco is his favorite guitar album! That guitarist went on to get the Ozzy gig! Zakk Wylde was his new name! (More on him in future columns!) I remember telling him that one day his face was going to be on the cover of Guitar World Magazine.  Little did I know how true that would be. We also worked with the Bon Jovi band, the Skid Row guys, and a bunch of other local bands that went on to do great! A secret I learned early on was to honestly treat each musician who came into the store as if he was the next big thing and that his music mattered.

We all have those rock’n’roll dreams, and we can be successful at achieving them in ways we sometimes don’t imagine! Sometimes, all it takes is just listening to your bride and walking through an open door! So, LISTEN to the Bride of your youth, and always treat each other with respect, the way you want to be treated. We never know who will be the next great musician or whatever! Heck, he or she could be standing right next to you! Till next time, keep those rock’n’roll dreams alive and keep looking for, and walking through, those open doors!