Greetings fellow Norfolk natives and others. In the most iconic years of the 1980’s music scene, I was working at the premiere Tidewater Record Store – Tracks at Wards Corner right where the parking lot is for Harris Teeter. Hired the same month MTV was launched, it was a pivotal time for music…and art, as music and art (video) mixed like never before.
Some 40 years later, I have created an “1980’s Art Exhibit” featuring those years at my Art’s Up Gallery @ Pembroke Mall. I think it would be a treat to the Wards Corner populace to visit the free exhibit. A special treat is a photo I took of Tracks in 1984, arguably the most vivid year of the ‘80’s music scene (Madonna, Prince, Springsteen, etc) from a rooftop at the corner of where K & K Square is now.
100% proceeds from a number of these prints that are signed and numbered (limited edition of 1984) will help support the Norfolk TCC music department, whose band “Blue Moon Jazz Ensemble” performed at the most recent art opening. This promotion is local, charitable, and put on by me – a Norfolk son, grandson of Norfolk’s original tough copper, and son of Army parents.
– Larry Estes
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Wards Corner Civic League 
Thanks for posting Scott! 11” x 14” signed, numbered prints (Limited Edition of 1984) are avail. @ Art’s Up Gallery @ Pembroke Mall (next to Cool and Eclectic). Proceeds from a number of theses prints will go to TCC Norfolk music department. Prints are $25 each while supplies last.
Very cool!!
Thanks Erin. I think a lot of local homeowners would love having a copy of this photo of the premiere record shop – Tracks – of the “Times Square of the South” (Wards Corner). I took the photo from a rooftop. If locals knew about the photo, they’d say “Very Cool” too.
Wow! I worked at Tracks from late summer ’84 until spring of ’85. So young, between babies! But I had my job for a short time and loved it! CDs were a brand new thing and the store adopted the name “Tracks Music and Video” while I worked there, with a nod to the VHS/Betamax videotape options new to the inventory. I remember some of my co-workers…and Matt, the store manager. I was so excited to be hired…there had been a mob of applicants. Such fun. I sold concert and other event tickets while running the cash register. I remember some of the music blasting so loud in there, and how the customers just loved the place, some audiophiles lingering for hours, pouring over the extensive collections.
A friend just posted about Tower Records, which got me thinking about Tracks, and I found this post! I lived down West Ocean View Ave., in a beach apartment. Talk about memories! Norfolk…what a trip. That’s a great photo: amazing to step back in time for a spell.