Things were good... actually GREAT. I ate, drank , lived and slept in PARADISE.
I worked the store 7 days a week. No girlfriends, no boyfriends - it was about building the store.

Disco, rap and r&b were not easily available in retail music stores where I lived, - so I was successful. I had the d.j. set up in the store, we had all the records available for in-store play. I broke many new releases. Plus I was fortunate to be on the same vibe as THE PARADISE GARAGE, in the sense that I had come up with the D.J. name back in 1978 or so, I was also feeling the Larry Levan Vibe (R.I.P.).

Believe me, I was out there, doing parties, battling other DJ's in the public parks, and having lots of fun. This was back in the days when you could take your set out and play publicly on a hot summer day and no one would fuck with you. I remember playing in Wyndanch Park many a time... rolling up on some non D.J., blasting his system out as I played the same exact record at the same spot and moving the crowd to my side! It was fun! I was young and crazy. There was so much respect and appreciation. No fights. In fact I would get lines of cold ass COLT 45's, OLOC ENGLISH and Cheeb from the well wishers to keep the party goin'! I loved that shit. Drank, smoked and KFC'ed all of it. What a blast! I wanna just mention my D.J. influences in da beginning. It was D.J. Roy Thode and Bobby "D.J." Guitarro. The ONE club that moved me, and started the frenzy was GALAXY 21 !! Walter Gibbons was the man who worked those wheels of steel.

I must give a shout out to 2 d.j.s out in Long Island who were super talented. They were D.J. Pleasure, who helped me by advising gear for the start of my career, and my Latino brotha, D.J. Nelson P.R. Both of these guys were awesome. I was definitely influenced by them. Also back then, FOR THE RECORD Record pool started. Judy Weinstein was someone to recognize as well as for her efforts in starting a great pool. The entire dance music scene was booming, it was a great time to have started my business. I was doing very well, though encountering some challenges. A friend of mine, named DJ Anne tipped me on a new store location in a strip mall. It sounded like a good idea to get more traffic. I then moved to 147 Bayshore Road. This location ended up being a gold mine for me! People from all over starting coming in. I had created a niche market, specializing in 12"vinyl. I had a huge D.J. clientele. On Fridays I offered wine, cheese and crackers to my customers...(we puffed a little too!). I had yearly customer appreciation, and anniversary parties...(the pictures prove how much fun we had!) I never took the success for granted, I started the biz at 19. I was doing so well that BILLBOARD asked me to be a reporter to their new 12 inch singles sales chart. I was invited to the party they had to launch it. After that I was receiving promos, invitations to artist release parties for Stephanie, Mills, Carolyn Townes, Colonel Abrams, Pattie LaBelle,.... Everybody - all the time. WHAT FUN!

Anyways, let me wind this all down. Biz was great. It was a wonderful experience. Now you may ask - what happened?...well, as with all parties, they do eventually end, (THINK STUDIO 54). I was really young and well, as savvy as I was, it was my first business venture. Made some mistakes...plus music was changing back in 1986. Later on, my interests changed. I wanted to MAKE THE MUSIC. So my little brotha Alex was groomed to take over. I passed the the PARADISE RECORDS banner, scepter & crown to him. "YO LITTLE BROTHA" did very well. I decided to "GET MY EDUCATION" and go to Five Towns College in Seaford and earn my degree in AUDIO RECORDING and BUSINESS MANAGEMENT. Alex took care of biz, as I went off to enter the next stage of my becoming. This is where the foundation for MISS GIRL RECORDS and stuff would start. I wanna give shout outs to the best employees I had who helped me make PARADISE RECORDS such a success - William Wright, Eric Ward, Mike Ward, Thomas LaBird,Christine Rehill, Donovan Lee and William McCoy. Some of us, at the start, were not even 18 yrs of age...but we worked really hard. We created a great business a fun place to work and shop. My SINCEREST THANKS TO ALL OF YOU. MISS THE HELL OUTTA ALL OF YA!

PARADISE RECORDS opened its doors in 1979 and kept having the cops come and tell me to lower the music 'til 1997!!!."HOW DO YOU KEEP THE MUSIC PLAYING?!?!"

"Looking for a classic disco, or r&b cut on vinyl?' Email me and I'll see if we have it available, okay?"