![]() Lanning: I remember Brad's car almost getting stolen from behind the first store. Said he'd been watching the place, robbed the register, and took the ticket money and a bunch of other shit. I’d stop by while waiting for the bus and say hello to whoever was working. ![]() Pawlicki: When I was managing the Zia on store and living off Indian School Road, I’d catch the bus near the. looked over at me and goes “This is Kip, he's our warehouse guy.” And Hank turns to me and says, "Hi warehouse guy!" So I became warehouse guy. One time, Brad walked in with Henry Rollins and I was sitting in the store. Kip Dean, former Zia employee: I worked at the warehouse for Impact Music but would also fill in at the stores. And I said, “I did.” He goes, “That is awesome!” He was fired up by it. Afterward, Brad comes barreling into the store and was like, “Who did all that?” Everybody froze. I was like, “Why?” I ran out and bought bright-colored butcher paper and lined the windows at the bottom and put a bunch of posters above that. And from the street you could see the backs of these crappy wooden racks, you could see all the dead flies. We had these waterfall racks in the windows at the 19th Avenue store. Kimber Lanning, former Zia employee/current owner of Stinkweeds Records: When I worked at Zia, Brad appreciated when I took care of his stores. He then got on the radio ads for those local concerts where they’d say, “Tickets available at all Zia Record locations.” It was just another service Brad could offer his customers. It wasn’t necessarily to make money it was really more about getting people through the door than some profit-making thing. There weren't many concerts at first, just stuff at and whatever was doing at the time. John Dixon, Arizona music historian: Brad started selling tickets at Zia, which was a big deal. We never, just helping Brad out, and, of course, free cassettes. I wasn’t a track star but could run like a son of a bitch back then, and my friend and I would be paid in cassettes for running down shoplifters. I thought it was funny.ĭapper Gatsby, early Zia customer: I knew about since I went to St. I didn't like them, but I was fucking with another guy working at Zia who was obsessed with them. One time, I worked all day with coat hangers covering my head because I thought it would get better reception from the psychic temple because it was right around when came out. I could also be trouble and did some loony things. ![]() Brad saw something in me that was right, and made me a manager in a few years, which I appreciated. Michael Pawlicki, early Zia employee/current owner of Ghost of Eastside Records: Brad spotted unusual people and brought them in to work for him. I remember looking at the clerks like they were gods. Back in the early '80s, if you were a punk, New Wave, or whatever, it was huge. Walking in there, for a kid music junkie, it was just magic. I was probably 13 and had enough to buy one record every week. We were addicted to getting new music and would go to Zia. The Early Days at Zia’s First Locations Bobby Lerma, early Zia customer/drummer, The Father Figures: We used to take the bus over to the, me and my fellow punk-rock rugrat friends from Sunnyslope. It’s akin a compilation of B-sides, outtakes, and rarities that’s not unlike Dead Kennedy’s Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death, and filled with a wealth of memorable material. Hence the following supplementary piece, which includes many anecdotes and memories about Zia and Singer that were (regretfully) left on the cutting room floor. So plentiful were these stories that we couldn’t fit them all into a single article. Many of these stories centered on the late Brad Singer, the chain’s larger-than-life founder, who was well-known for his generous nature, love of music, and sense of humor. Local musicians, longtime patrons, and current and former employees spun vivid yarns about Zia’s impact and influence since its debut in 1980. Phoenix New Times heard a lot of these tales while putting together our recent cover story on the history of the iconic local independent record store chain. When a local institution has been around as long as Zia Records has – 40 years, to be exact – there are countless stories about the place that have built up over the decades.
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