RECORD STORE TALES Part 293:  Glen and Gord

Perhaps the two most legendary customers in the entire history of the record store were Glen and Gord. With their long coifed locks and rocker hair, the Brothers wore their musical tastes on their sleeves. Rock! All rock, nothing but! It was hard to miss them, as the Brothers are both over six feet tall. Add the hair in and I lose track.

You could never miss them at a concert. I remember seeing Alice Cooper in 2006. I was in the second row. Before the show I turned around and saw the Brothers halfway across the theater. Besides their height and hair, one reason you’d never miss the Brothers at a concert is that they attended pretty much every one. If there was a decent rock band in town, the Brothers were there. You could count on it.

I believe it was T-Rev who first encountered Gord, in his store. Gord had spent some time in Europe, and was selling off some really rare rock CDs he got there. One such CD is still in my personal collection – the single for “Stand” by Poison, featuring a rare bonus track called “Whip Comes Down”. This being Poison with Richie Kotzen rather than the original band, this song is valuable to collectors. By the sounds of it, aspects of the song were used in “Stay Alive”, which did make it onto the album Native Tongue.

Seeing that the Brothers and I had similar taste in music, sometimes we clashed. For example, one of my customers sold me three W.A.S.P. remasters in beautiful digipacks, which I still have. Gord saw them on my “hold” pile and begged me for them; I refused to budge. He still remembers that to this day:

“Of course Mike…You were THE guy I went to go see when you worked at the [record store]. You knew your music and we would always have these lengthy discussions. It was cool…except when you cut me off because I forgot to pick up my orders I had on hold or had ordered in!”

Ahh yes. Cutting him off. I remember that. It wasn’t my call, personally, but I did have to enforce it. Gord had ordered in a bunch of discs, but hadn’t picked them in weeks. We allowed two weeks for pickups. One important thing to know is, I didn’t make any money off these special orders. When we ordered in a used CD for a customer from another location, that location was credited for the sale. For my sales margins, I had to send the discs back if they weren’t picked up. According to Gord:

“That was not nice, you jerk! But you finally reinstated the privilege. Its all good, I forgave you.”

I am glad I have his forgiveness! I’d hate to have a guy of Gord’s size hold a grudge!