27 years

Long time.

80's music was still around. Bad haircuts were ahead. Life was moving along.

I started in home video in 1983 at a store called VIDEO WONDERLAND in Ardmore PA. Great little store, run by two guys who hated each other.

I caught my first bootlegger there, I saw my bosses wife fail at trying to do Michael Jacksons Moonwalk, I saw an x-rated video game for Atari, which involved a guy on top of a builiding whacking off while ladies of the night ran back and forth trying to catch it with open mouths.

I wrote for Video industry publications (Video Insider anyone) and am proud of the work that I did with VSDA, an industry trade association. I met Fred Rogers, Frank Zappa, Shari Lewis, Raffi, and Itzhak Perlman during this period for interviews.

I loved the place but not the drama of the two partners. Partners will become a touchstone of my life as you will see, for better or worse . They finally sold to the first version of West Coast Video, a debacle because both sides where not honest. They shortcutted every chance they could get.

I move to Movie World, for what is now my second longest tenure . At one point, we had five stores; we didn't need five stores, but my boss needed five hiding places for his daliances.

Despite that, I built those stores into a very respected video retailing powerhouse. At their peak, there were no other stores on the East Coat that could rival them, especially not my future employers.

However, after 8 years, libido beat common sense and the boss lost the place. I'll tell a seperate story late about Lana, the doberman pinscher who got caught up in all this. I hope my ex-boaa is selling real estate in hell right about now, if only for what happened to the dog.

So all this time, and still at square one, because of loyalty and stupidity, I had opportunities to move on, but felt that I had made a promise, and whiel I may not do much right, living up to my word is my shining moment.

So, five stores became one in Conshohocken, sold to a guy who should never have owned a store, He was not prepared. Ultimate Video in Conshohocken. 2 and a half years later, they were gone.

I worked Borders CD department in Bryn Mawr for 6 months over the 1997 Christmas holidays.
Then I got an offer to open a new style store from WEST COAST VIDEO (no longer so evil) and 15th and Walnut, and go into direct competition with my future heartbreak TLA Video.

This was a great time, becuase people listened and I built an amazing, forward looking store that had a great selection of titles, staff that knew their shit, and a great attitude, we out TLA'd TLA.

I built this store from scratch, and it is still my crowning glory because when it started, the people believed in me. Tresure that feeling, because it is rare anymore,

Well, let's call this Part One, because Part Two comes next, and that is with TLA Video, my greatest joy and saddest disappointment, mostly because the TLA that I signed on for may have been a case of mistaken identity.