The ten minute ‘coffee break’ is an American work place tradition and   you  just never know who might just be passing by when you step outside the door on to west 48th street in New York City, music row……..

A favorite break area for most of the employees is outside to the right of the front door. The large parking garage there provides plenty of room to hang out .   Also their is a strict ‘no smoking’ policy in the store so as you might imagine, the out door area is very popular with my fellow workers.

Just a few days a go I was out there when I spotted my ‘main man’ Flavor Flav hanging out down the street in front of the drum store.  He being one the most popular cast members of the ‘The Serial Life’ reality series & his own ‘Flavor of Love’ series, caused quite a stir on music row !

Later that day while on my way to pick up some

(what else?) coffee for my staff, I see “Kyan” the grooming expert from  the cable TV show ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’.  I was on 7th avenue and  west 48th street when he cut right in front of me while heading towards a waiting black SUV.  “Hey Kyan,” I shouted. “My wife & I love the show best of luck!”. He smiled back at me and said ‘Great enjoy’!   At dinner that night I causally mentioned to my wife my ‘Queer Eye encounter’ I had earlier that day.  She looked at me and commented, “You mean to tell me, you did not ask him to make you over while you had the chance?”  ( I guess her response was in reference to me holding on to, for dear life, my ‘hair band – heavy metal style’ of my youth! )

Since reality TV is all the rage these days , one of the sillier shows on the air is “The Gastineau Girls” staring

Lisa Gastineau the former wife of the former football great Mark Gastineau.   Mark’s was a member of the Jets defensive line nic’named the ‘SACK EXCHANGE’ and  foot ball fans all remember his famous ‘sack dance’ when he would tackle the opposing teams quarter back.   It seems Lisa and her daughter Brittany do not have a great interest in rock n roll since I have never personally seen them on music row, but years ago the former NY Jet all pro defensive line man made an appearance.  There he was  standing in the acoustic guitar section.   He and a friend of his were guitar shopping.  I knew I just had to get an autograph for my collection.

As I moved closer realized   just how big the guy was!

I introduced myself to him, “Hey Mark I am Steve    one of the managers here ,anything I can do for ya?”  To my surprise he was very friendly and was more then willing to talk to me while his friend tried some nice Martin acoustic guitars.  Finally when I thought the moment was right I said,”By the way would you mind signing an autograph for me?”  His reply caught me off guard, “Do you have a dollar bill’?  ‘Yes ” I said while reaching into my pocket and handing him a dollar.  He then took my dollar and  to my amazement ripped it in half!  He then signed one side and then handed it back to me!  At that moment I thought to myself,”is Mark Gastineau autograph really worth one dollar?

One morning I noticed a limousine that had just double  parked across the street from the store.  As I said before, “you never know who you might see on music row”.  So I decided to stop a moment and check out who was getting picked up. Then all of a sudden emerging from ‘Right Track’ recording studio (which is located across the street) was the one and only Keith Richards!    There he was the living  legend guitarist of the ‘Rolling Stones’.  Looking like he had another rough night behind him ,I flashed him the ‘thumbs up’ sign as he disappeared in to the waiting car.  The funny thing that I remembered thinking that morning was that,

I was just heading ‘into work’ – while he was just finishing up !    Now that’s what I call  ‘rock star hours’!

My assistant Eddie and I were standing in front of the store next to the parking lot one afternoon. He was on one of his many daily cigarette breaks and I was keeping him company. We were just shooting the breeze when all at once I noticed a black two  door convertible Mercedes racing down the block. “Look out Eddie”, I screamed as the car sped into the parking garage driveway passing Eddie in a blink of an eye. The driver  was a attractive blonde woman with very long wild hair. She was dressed completely in black to match the Mercedes or so it seemed. She then jumps out of the car and takes off towards 6th avenue!  I must say I never saw a woman run that fast in high heels before!  She was in such a rush that  I recalled she even left the car door open and the engine running . I remember thinking to myself, “I know her from somewhere?”  But at the time I couldn’t quite place her, so I forgot about the whole thing. I few months later I was home watching the A&E channel on cable TV when there on the screen appeared a promo for a new ‘TV reality series’ “GROWING UP GOTTI” starring the vivacious Victoria Gotti and her sons.   Then it ‘hit me’ -the long haired  blond that raced down ‘music row’ that afternoon was Victoria!   Looking back I am glad that we got the hell out of the way of her Mercedes convertible, (which by the way   was also in the promo on TV!) or I might have been in one of the ‘hit’ episodes!

Sometimes you have to be very ‘heads up’ while on ‘famous west 48th street’. For those of you that have not paid a visit   to music row  as of yet. The company I work for ‘Sam Ash Music’ is one of the largest in the world. Over the years Sam Ash has expanded its presence on the street and now has 5 specialty stores located there.  During the course of our busy sales day   , the staff and myself included are constantly running back and forth across the street from store to store.  I am amazed after 24 years I have not had a traffic incident, after all the odds are against me by this time!  To compound the heavy traffic flow the busy parking garage as you might remember is located right next store. So their you have it   , employee’s running back & forth with heavy traffic and the parking garage all at once. A recipe for disaster!  Every time I head across the street I try to remember what my mom always told me when I was a kid, “slow down and look both ways!”  Well good thing I ‘slowed down’ one day  this spring. That day as I stepped out of the store my mind was pre-occupied with a shipping problem I was working on. As I began to cross the street all of a sudden my mom’s advice popped into my head, “slow down and look both ways”.

I stopped right there and glanced to my right. At that moment Heraldo Rivera (the famous TV newscaster) came barreling out of the parking garage riding a killer vintage motorcycle wearing a ‘old style’ German world war II looking helmet!  I am glad I did not have the ‘pleasure’ of meeting him right at that time!

Remember ‘Right Track’ recording studio located across the street from my store? Well a few years ago there was a buzz on the street. Could it be true? The heavy metal icons ‘METALLICA’ are recording in ’Right Track’ studios?  Yes is was true and of course during that week the band members were in and out of the stores on music row!  We even sold the bassist at the time ’Jason Newsted’ a new ‘Spector Bass’, but as luck would have it-he returned  it  a few days later.  There goes my commision again!

From ‘Metallica’ to ‘Motely Crew’:

Back in the summer of ’85 on a extremely hot afternoon, I mean it was so hot  you could melt a ‘wha-wha’ pedal on the sidewalk of 48th street!   The manager of the store says to me as he returned from his break,” I just saw this crazy guy dressed in complete in a complete black leather outfit in the parking lot outside!” I    then replied to him, “in this weather??” “No way!  At that moment with my curiosity peeked, I just had to see for my self.  I stepped outside and glanced to my right and who do you think I saw?  Mick Mars   the guitarist of Motley Crew, currently one of the hottest bands at the time. Mick was wearing his ‘Motley’ attire, that is to say    he had on his black biker boots and black leather pants and even a short black matching leather jacket . The jacket was the short style type that ends in the waist. “Now that’s  what I call rock and roll wearing that outfit in this heat!” I remember thinking at the time.   Being the metal fan that I was  ,I stopped for a second an then ran back into the store and picked up a guitar magazine that I remembered having an article about Mick and ‘Motely Crew’ inside. I headed back outside, hoping to catch him still in the parking garage. To my good fortune was still there. “Hey Mick”, I yelled out.  ‘Huge Crew fan here, can you sign the magazine cover for me?”  “Sure , NO SWEAT” , he said while standing there head to toe in complete black leather in the 90 plus degree heat!

Fast forward six months later…..I stepped out to the corner deli thinking to myself   how good a hot cup of tea will be on such a freezing cold day. Guess who I see in the parking lot? Mick Mars wearing?  You guessed it the same black outfit!

From ‘Metallica’ to ‘Motely Crew’ to ‘McCartney’ :

I wish I had a free set of guitar strings every time I have heard this said to me, “Steve, taking my break see ya in 10 minutes.”  One afternoon last summer, Julius a salesman in the store (who by the way was a bit on the unstable side anyway) steps out on his break. “Stevie I’ll be back in 10 minutes” was the last I heard.  About    forty minutes later in walks Julius with a very weird expression across his face. “I just saw Paul McCartney  right  across  the street!!!  “Repeat that!”.  I said knowing Julius might be a bit confused as usual. “I just saw the man himself Paul McCartney strolling down west 48th street heading towards 6th avenue .” “How long ago Dude?” , I asked as I began thinking this might be my one and only golden opportunity to meet the legend! “Just a few minutes ago”, he answered still with a dazed look across his face. “What, just a couple of minutes ago?” ,I yelled as I raced out the door with a “Sam Ash Music” shirt to give as a gift. What  a cool way to meet the former Beatle with a gift in hand!  I scanned the sidewalks of music row as I made my way towards 6th avenue.  As I approached the corner I spotted Paul at the entrance door way to ‘FOX NEWS’. I flew across the street  all the while thinking , “I am going to meet PAUL McCARTNEY!”  I pushed the door to enter the building and to my horror , the doors were automatically locked from inside. The place had the look of a maximum-security prison! I tried the door again and again while clutching Paul’s gift tee shirt.  Finally Paul must of   heard the racket because at that moment he turned around and stared at me through the glass door. I was startled and froze for what felt like a lifetime.  Then I held up the tee shirt. Paul glanced at it and turned around and made his way inside the news building.  Meeting the great Paul McCartney  was an opportunity of a lifetime and I missed it! Come to think of it, that was probably the closest I’ll ever get to him –(too bad I didn’t take MY BREAK five minutes earlier!)