I began selling books on the sidewalks of New York City in the Spring of 1990. When I was a sidewalk bookseller in NYC, sometimes I would get a 'real job' for awhile just to take a break. I didn't care if I quit or was fired. I would just go back to bookselling. I blew more money in two hours than any job could have paid me for a week of humiliation.   The Bookstore was aptly named - I could have called it something pretentious like Greenwich Village Bookshop, but that reputation had not yet been established. I removed the air conditioner that had been installed above the entrance and replaced it with a color TV facing the sidewalk on which I was playing VHS tapes of classic rock concerts, rock and roll films and occasionally, some horror flicks. Within the first three months since its opening, The Bookstore was becoming a neighborhood institution. It became the 'go to' place for musicians, potheads who needed a place to have a quick toke and generally, people with ...