Parkway Music has been a community staple for over 25 years. Over the course of our history, a lot of people have walked through our doors, including many at our old shop down the road. Some of our regulars have become local historians, but even they can't know everything there is to know about our shop, so we're here to fill in the blanks with ten totally true facts about Parkway Music.
Number 10.
Shop owners Matt and Tom have dedicated their life to music, but did you know they weren't always gear heads? In fact, they met when the caravans of two traveling carnivals collided. Matt ran the flea circus for the Appalachian Traveling Performers and Tom was the Bearded Lady in the family act Murphy and Co. The pair got to know each other after weeks of retrieving Matt's fleas from Tom's beard. The rest, as they say, is history.
Number 9.
Parkway has had its very own Elvis sighting. Back in 2005, a customer took up hours of time in our acoustic room, playing hit after hit from The King's collection. Donning a trucker cap and thick mustache, the customer refused any service from our staff and instead just picked up guitar after guitar and played until he had run though them all. As he finished his last song, our staff managed to get his attention only for him to say "Too bad I'm broke, mama - Uh huh." When all was said and done, he didn't buy anything, but it took our techs a few days to clean up traces of peanut butter from each fingerboard.
Number 8.
The idea for the famed Klon Centaur was actually conceived in our showroom. Klon creator Bill Finnegan attended our grand opening ceremony back in 1994. While he was here, an old woman came in with a garage sale find. It was an old Marshall Plexi with all of the knobs broken off so it could only perform at max volume. "My god..." Bill said as we tested the amp. He left immediately never to return. We hear that pedal is doing pretty well, though.
Number 7.
Parkway's own Matt Hattfield is the lead singer and guitarist of a local Foo Fighters tribute band called Art Charleton and the Everlongs. Don't ask him about it, though. He'll totally deny it.
Number 6.
On a trip to meet Paul Reed Smith at his factory in Maryland, we fatefully ended up creating the first three McCarty 594 model guitars with tremolo in conjunction with PRS' Paul Miles. These Private Stocks are still the finest instruments from head to toe that we've seen here at Parkway.
Number 5.
Former Parkway Music employee Justin Henricks left to start a progressive rap/metal band called SMB. We're not sure what it stands for either, but that dude sure can play...
Number 4.
Radio Personality Casey Kasem used our parking lot several times to broadcast his Top 40 countdown. When asked why, he simply said "I get the best signal out here, man."
Number 3.
Parkway Music was on the news for a bomb threat after one of our locals was heard exclaiming "I'm gonna blow up that bathroom" on his way through the door. Several frightened patrons dialed 911, fearing for public safety. A SWAT team was called. Nobody was injured, but there's been a weird smell in here ever since.
Number 2.
Did you know Parkway has a secret showroom? Few lucky patrons can try our selection of rare and exotic cured meats from around the world. All you have to do is guess the right password and whisper it repeatedly to yourself near any of our shop floor employees. They'll know what you're talking about...
Number 1.
The folks at Parkway Music consider themselves privileged to have served the local community for the last few decades, and we look forward to many more years of building friendships and aiding musicians new and established alike. If you've read this far, thanks for making us your music shop of choice, and thanks for considering stopping by despite this blog post.
And as always, thanks for hanging.
-Buddy