Thorold Music
Ah! So much personal history...
I will say this one thing...Al Moretti (his name was Elio but, to us teenagers, he was Al) opened the store in 1964 in Thorold, a small industrial (at the time) town in Niagara. It is where I grew up. My first guitar was a Kent (-o-caster, as we liked to think of it as) and through much teenaged angst and abuse, it was in rather delicate shape the day I brought it into the store. Al (who played guitar in the store but, was missing a few fingers, of which hand, I can't quite remember) took the neck of my Kent and snapped it with very little effort. I remenber he laughed and told me to go downstairs (basement) and get another one. In the basement were boxes of guitar parts...bodies, necks, pick boards...I chose a Ferrari red body and matching silver steel pick board. When I came upstairs, Al did not charge me a penny and away I went.
Here is the moral of the story: Maybe a year or so later, our band was playing a local gig and I had the idea to cap the show off with a Pete Townsend-like guitar smashing. I went to Thorold Music and told Al I needed a guitar. In the basement I went and came up with something. In our talk, he asked if I was going to use it for a smash-em-up. When I said yes, he snatched the thing back and soundly redressed me down! "That guitar could be for some other young kid!" Well, something to that effect...a lesson I never, ever forgot!
Oh btw, same store location (former bank), different owner.
Created for the Hypothetical Awards' Come See The Music challenge.
My musical suggestion is: 'For the Love of God' - Steve Vai
...one of my all-time fav guitar pieces! So good!
Thorold Music
Ah! So much personal history...
I will say this one thing...Al Moretti (his name was Elio but, to us teenagers, he was Al) opened the store in 1964 in Thorold, a small industrial (at the time) town in Niagara. It is where I grew up. My first guitar was a Kent (-o-caster, as we liked to think of it as) and through much teenaged angst and abuse, it was in rather delicate shape the day I brought it into the store. Al (who played guitar in the store but, was missing a few fingers, of which hand, I can't quite remember) took the neck of my Kent and snapped it with very little effort. I remenber he laughed and told me to go downstairs (basement) and get another one. In the basement were boxes of guitar parts...bodies, necks, pick boards...I chose a Ferrari red body and matching silver steel pick board. When I came upstairs, Al did not charge me a penny and away I went.
Here is the moral of the story: Maybe a year or so later, our band was playing a local gig and I had the idea to cap the show off with a Pete Townsend-like guitar smashing. I went to Thorold Music and told Al I needed a guitar. In the basement I went and came up with something. In our talk, he asked if I was going to use it for a smash-em-up. When I said yes, he snatched the thing back and soundly redressed me down! "That guitar could be for some other young kid!" Well, something to that effect...a lesson I never, ever forgot!
Oh btw, same store location (former bank), different owner.
Created for the Hypothetical Awards' Come See The Music challenge.
My musical suggestion is: 'For the Love of God' - Steve Vai
...one of my all-time fav guitar pieces! So good!