Joseph Demeo:  

Life well it's been a pretty interesting life so far...after high school i went to work for my dad in the construction business...he was able to get me into just about any trade union as an apprentice so i tried them all....carpenter..electrictian...plumber...laborer...you name it i did it...it was perfect..work for a while make good money and then have free time to spend it. during the summer of 1970 i was hanging out at my apt. in sayerville. every day a guy would drive into the parking lot in a 69 mgb. after a few weeks i struck up a conversation with him...he had a mail bag over his shoulder and i asked him " what you got in the bag " ?..that statement changed my life forever ! in the bag were kilos of red columbian pot !! he was using one of the apts to do his thing :) we became friends instantly. as the summer "rolled" on i met a friend of his on a "delivery" one afternoon....we arrived at this apt in plainfield, inside music was playing loud...records were stacked all over the place and laying on the couch was a guy smoking a joint on the phone reading off numbers ? i said to myself " what is this guy doing" ..well he was "working" at his job as a record salesman..and as it turend out he was dating a gal from sphs so we had a lot to talk about..music..pot and girls ! that year we went to lots of concerts and had lots of parties..the next summer we took that 69' mg on a cross country tour..from nj to colorodo..then down the continental divide..accross the south west..down to key west and back to n.j..oh my god ! the stories that came from that trip were unbelieveble in the winter of 72' everyone started moving west..my "pot" friend and i insulated a little ford van's walls with kilos of pot and headed to colorodo..the record sales guy took his girlfriend and moved to s.f..we made it safely to colorodo..although i don't know how..i had $500 and a small bag of clothes with me..colorodo was just too cold ...so i headed out to s.f. with a friend who was passing thru ft collins from grand island ne...(we met him on the cross country bash the summer before). he was on his way to join a "new age" group so i tagged along :) that turned out to be a blast !! the folks were number one quality and practiced a good way of life that rubbed off on me..i worked selling magiznes and health insurance door to door..it was fine with me beacuse it had me outside in the beautiful weather..and i did pretty good for myself. mr santoro (the sphs guidance counsler) told my mother that i would make a good salesman and he was right about that :))...i got a job in 1974 with a very successfull jewelery designer in s.f. that wanted to expand her business around the country. so armed with sample cases and an american express card i took off to just about any place that i felt like going..her customers were very high end botiques and museum shops..so i had a great time along the way. on a "business" trip to hawaii i met a gal from seattle..that winter she invited me up to seattle for the 75' holidays..i never went back to s.f. !! as it turned out my friend the record salesman had just relocated to seattle and in early 1976 he offerd me a job... selling records of all things. i stayed in seattle and learned the record business during one of the most amazing times the music industry had ever seen..the first record i sold was "saturday night feaver".. in 1988 polygram records moved me bc to n.y.c. to be the director of national sales..in 1990 i moved to island records in n.y.c. as v.p of sales working with u-2.. and other amazing acts..in 1996 i moved back west to los angeles and have enjoyed continued success in the music business and a wonderfull life in the city of angels. my "record bizz" friend is now a sr vp at universal music group in nyc..our "pot" friend moved to hawaii in the early 80's..imagine that..and became a very famous photographer.."as joe walsh once said "life's been good to me so far"..and i trust it's been good to you too !!!! added 2/17/12 well it's time for a little up date. believe it or not i'm still working in the music business ...at kirtland records / kirtlandrecords.com for the past 7 years... in spite of all the doom and gloom you might have heard about the music bizz over the past few years..i still enjoy it as much as ever and i'm learning new ways of marketing and selling music everyday..how cool is that .!! my auto restoration hobby has continued to grow as has my reputation in the concours show world. i have a car of my own (1964 fiat 1600 s osca) that is being considered for this years pebble beach concours..doesn't get any better than that for a car collector / restorer..keep your fingers crossed they announce the choices in early april..for the august event. i just turned 61..and for all intensive purposes i'm in excellent health....still trim and with a reasonable amount of hair !!! everything works just fine and no need for additives of any kind..mabey an alka seltzer or an advil from time to time but thats about it..so far so good.:) i've been single since early 2010..after a 7 year relationship. ..people change..what can i say. we shared a few gifts between us along the way that we are both very greatfull for..one being a love of animals. we had to split up the family and i ended up with 2 poms and 3 kittys..i love them like crazy..they keep me pretty busy..it's like i'm here to be at their service..it's their house i just get a room..don't mistakenly think it's at all a zoo or messy..i have a great house keeper that makes the place shine..in spite of how messy i can be !!! i met a lovely california born and raised italian gal from palm springs late last year and we a...Expand for more