This past weekend I was watching the Sanford and Son marathon on TV Land. I have always been a fan of the show and Redd Foxx (whose real name is John Sanford) was a brilliant and dynamic presence. My wife also pointed out to me that Demond Wilson’s contribution to the show has been grossly underrated. Something that was painfully obvious in the Sanford and Son spin-off Sanford (1980-1981).
One of my favorite comedic bits that Redd Foxx did, besides having the fake heart attacks and insulting Aunt Esther (LaWanda Page), was singing The Ink Spots’ song If I Didnt Care, or as Fred Sanford liked to call it "The Anthem" (His best rendition was on the Hawaiian episode). He always sang the line, "And would I be sure that this is love beyond compare? Would all this be true if I didn't care for you?" Redd Foxx was a huge fan of the '30s vocal group but the network would not pay the expensive royalties. Out of his love for the group Redd Foxx paid the royalties out of his own pocket.
My dad is also a big Ink Spots fan as well as a Sanford and Son fan. When I was visiting my family in Orlando, my brother wanted to check out this new Virgin Megastore. He was told that this was the greatest music store in the world and it was so big that you could find any music you could ever want there.
When my dad saw the inside of the store he knew that amongst the thousands of CDs, he could find The Ink Spots. Normally when you are at a Virgin Megastore you can go to one of many computer terminals and look up a song or an artist. Of course when we are there the computer system was down so we had to look for it on our own. Being guys we didn’t need to ask for help. We started with the Oldies section, where there were hundreds of CDs, but no Ink Spots. We went to the Classics section, again hundreds of CDs, but no Ink Spots. We went to the Black Artist’s section, again hundreds of CDs, but no Ink Spots. After dedicating all this time looking though thousands of CDs, we broke down and went to ask for help.
![The Ink Spots - The Greatest Hits [MCA]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41GDXQKC89L._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - John - Twenty Something Employeee Who Prides Himself On His Vast Musical Knowledge
The Virgin Megastore Orlando does not have an "oldies", a "black artists", nor a "vintage" section. We also do not have lockable cabinets beneath the bins where we store cds.
We're also not new. We've been here since 1997.
For future reference, the Ink Spots CDs are kept in the Popular Vocals section and we currently have Time Waits for No One and the Millenium Collection in stock.
You did get the part right about us being the greatest music store in the world, however. At least, we like to think so.
-John
2 - Tony Figueroa
With all due respect John,
This really happened in May of 1999.
There was a "vintage" section and no of had heard of The Ink Spots.
It is a great store.
3 - John, again.
Ah... all those folks we fired after the "Who are the Ink Spots?" incident and have been replaced by a staff that knows everything about everything. Especially the Ink Spots.
Thanks for the clarification!
-John