“10,000 Hours, Makes You An Expert”
Mr. Zer0’s Article #131 Jan 2022
By: RL Schwinden aka; MrZerr0
So it’s the year 2022. I was thinking back to how my career in the music biz all started. So let’s start at the very beginning. I was born on the Westside of Sioux City, when I was a toddler, just learning how to stand up, my Aunt Debby used to play Dave Clark 5 and Beatles 45 singles on her record player for me to dance to. There is some 8mm footage of this very event. A very short time later I discovered The Monkees on TV, I typically watched this show for the music, (my Mom documented this in my “Baby Book”) I didn’t much care for the slapstick comedy. So to recap, the first 3 bands I was into were Dave Clark 5, The Beatles and The Monkees. A few years after that my (Step) Dad Bill had a 1968 white VW Beetle with red interior and a 8-Track Player, however he only had 3 different 8-Tracks; Steppenwolf “7” Savoy Brown “Lookin In” and the factory 8-Track that came with the stereo. Oddly enough both tapes had skulls on the cover. I Loved the Steppenwolf tape, I still do. Now my Mom’s brother and sisters were very close to, in the same age as myself, I used to hang out in their bedrooms listening to their record collection, this is where I found bands like the; The Partridge Family, The Osmonds and Black Sabbath and much later, Rush, Foghat, Slade etc. My Uncle Jeff S. gave me my 1st guitar when I was 8, it was an Egmund Acoustic, in the corner of our basement my Dad had a music area, his Japanese Gold Sparkle drum kit, as he used to play the Twin Cities music scene in 1961- 62, along side of The Trashmen.
Then we moved to Jackson (Brandon) Mississippi where there were really only 2 rock/pop stations. It was 1976 when my neighbor Jimmy S. played KISS’ “Destroyer” album for me (through the window of his bedroom) I was blown away by Gene Simmons voice on “Sweet Pain”. It was in 1977, I started buying other peoples records, they no longer wanted and trying to resell them. While I heard some songs on the radio I liked from other bands, there weren’t too many bands that really grabbed me like KISS did. Until we moved back to Iowa, then I really got into Rush, Journey and Van Halen. Then I met my lifelong friend Westside Mikey, who has been a Pro-Musician since he was 10 years old in Nashville. I helped him put together a band just out of H.S. with Jeff P. and Brett R. (eventually I was kicked out because I wasn’t any good) we played mostly Beatles and Rolling Stones and Steppenwolf and Mikey wrote his own songs too. Then I met my neighbor Eric D. he had a band “Palace Guard” he let me join that in about 1982 (until I was kicked out for usually missing practice) until Eric helped me get a job with a local Sioux City concert promoter mid 1982 I worked for him about 1 year, until I hit the road with “High Fever” I toured the midwest with them, until the excesses of the road life took its toll on me and I quit. I lived in MN. for a short time in 1983, then I moved to Des Moines in 1984, to join Brett’s band but he moved as I got there. In 1985 I played in a Local original band “Scepter” for about a year, then I put together a KISS Tribute band “Black Diamond” which limped along for about 2 years until 1988. So I had to get a “Real” job. I worked at a Stereo and Camera store for a few years; in fact in Sept. ’85 I had to take a Class on the New “Compact Disc” that would be replacing Vinyl Records, that year. And then I got my dream job “RecordShop” out of Golden Valley, MN.
It was Summer of 1986, Marc H. hired me, at Valley West Mall in W. Des Moines, IA. and it happened to be at the height of The Monkees 20th Anniversary Reunion, what a great time for me, working in the Record Biz during the 2nd coming of The Monkees. Now a little information for you “Music Collectors” out there, the 8-Track came to an end in the Spring of 1983, so about Summer 1984 Cassettes took over for the buying public to about Summer 1991, and in September 1987, in the USA, NARM and the 6 major labels unanimously agreed to stop carrying Vinyl “In-Stores” in January 1988, and a to a complete end of Vinyl Records in October 1989. (other countries still produced some very small quantities). The Summer of 1991 Sony Electronics dropped the price on CD Players immensely to drive the public to switch from Cassettes to CDs, as Vinyl virtually ended several years earlier. I was with RecordShop from 1986 to 1993 when they were purchased by WhereHouse Ent. I also worked for Archives, in a Very Limited capacity from 1987 to 1994, when they were also purchased by WhereHouse Ent. Unfortunately, they went bankrupt and were eventually purchased by Trans World Ent. like everyone else was. I went to Best Buy from 1995 to 1998, after being grossly under-appreciated I moved on to (Wax Works) DiscJockey in 1998 until 2000, when they were also purchased by Trans World Ent. I lasted with them until 2005 when I was pushed out due to seniority and a few other reasons, I am told. Overall I have work in Iowa, Minnesota, Arizona, Missouri, California, Kentucky and New York. In 2005 I left the corporate world to go Inde with DiscLand out of Bloomington, there I learned a whole lot about the other side of the “Used Business” from there I was told “To move on and open your own store” so … in 2009 myself and about 12 other partners opened Mr. Zer0’s Inc. which is where I am sitting right now!
I read somewhere that 10,000 hours of doing any job makes you an expert, well, I have roughly put in 72,000 hours in the “Music Biz” as Full Time Employment, so I should be an expert 7 times over. Here’s a breakdown.
RecordShop: 1986 – 1993; 14,000 Hours
WhereHouse: 1993- 1995; 4000 Hours
Best Buy: 1995 -1998; 6000 Hours
DiscJockey: 1998 -2000; 4000 Hours
fye: 2000 -2005; 10,000 Hours
DiscLand: 2005 -2009; 8000 Hours
Mr. Zero’s: 2009 -Present; 26,000 Hours
a rough total of 72,000 Hours
The other side of the biz
In 2009 I was asked to sit in with my long time friend Chirs’ band “7 Hells” in Iowa, so I did a couple times, sometime in 2010 the band “Jesus Chrysler” asked me to jam with them. I started to get “the bug”. In 2010 I met Mitch, Dave and Zach, so we put together a “Deep Covers” band “MrZERo” (it was Dave that thought we should go by this), we lasted from 2012 to 2015, when Dave left to join another band. Mitch and I formed “NeVeR sAy Die” a Black Sabbath Tribute, and Zach and I kept “MrZERo’ going a while longer. Then in April 2013 I met Greg C. who convinced me to form a KISS Tribute Band, which “KISSin Time” is still going today (our 1st gig of this year is 12 March in North Branch an Tailgators). Sometime in 2015 I started a Paul Stanley: KISS Solo Tribute Band “StarChild” which is also still going on (our next gig is 20 Feb in N. St. Paul at the VFW) as StarChild I have sat in on many occasions with the bands: ACK (Ace Frehley Tribute), Girls, Girls, Girls (Motley Crue Tribute), RoughHouse, Hollywood Blvd. Rock Godz & Mad Mike’s Funhouse, performing anywhere from 1 song to 30 min. during their sets.
In April 2010, I was asked by the “St. Cloud BUZZ” to write a monthly music column for their local publication which I did until about 2016. In June 2013 I was asked to write a monthly music column for Roseville Patch.Com. And then in September of 2021 I was asked to write a weekly column for Twin Cities Buzz.com.
In August 2012 I was asked by a customer DJ Liberty to guest on her KFAI radio show “The Pop Shop” with DJ Izzy I made 7 guest appearances from 2012 to 2017. This led to my own radio show on WDGY starting in April 2017 I have just completed Episode #216. In October 2018 I was asked to guest on the Local Morning Show on the Local Station WFNU, 1 morning and sometimes 2 mornings a week. Then in January 2019 I was asked to guest host on the “Hits And History Show” once a month also on WFNU for 17 months, where I played lesser known “BillBoard Hits” from the Top 100. Which eventually led to me creating “MrZeros: Evolation Show” for 32 programs where I took 1 band and played songs by the band, solo songs by the members and cover songs of the band too, until it was canceled in 2021.So In January 2021 I created the “Cover Up Show”, which is about 10 different artists performing songs by a specific artist, in hopes to get it aired on the Local Station WVIC, so far it is only on our website www.MrZeroS.Com.
So there you have an overview of my 40 years in the “Music Biz” Check in next time. MrZerr0
Mr. Zer0’s
*Est. 2009
1744 Lexington Ave. N.
Roseville, MN. 55113
Where “Nerd Is The Word”
Classic Music,
Retro Toys,
Vintage Video Games
and Movies too …
And THAT’s IT!
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