J. Michael Diehl saw two stories from his past get attention this week — one regarding Bruce Springsteen, another regarding Donald Trump.
Apparently, the man who rented Bruce Springsteen his first guitar six decades ago also claims to have had a bad business encounter with Donald Trump.
J. Michael Diehl, the longtime owner of a Freehold music store, saw both moments from his past get attention this week.
First, Diehl wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post claiming he sold Trump $100,000 worth of pianos in 1989 for the Taj Mahal, the new casino the real estate mogul was opening in Atlantic City.
But Diehl recalled in the piece that Trump's company "hemmed and hawed" and said the casino was "short on funds."
Opinion: I sold Trump $100K worth of pianos. Then he stiffed me.
"They would pay 70 percent of what they owed me," he wrote. "There was no negotiating. I didn't know what to do -- I couldn't afford to sue the Trump corporation, and I needed money to pay my piano suppliers. So I took the $70,000."
The op-ed ran shortly after Monday's first presidential debate between Trump, now the Republican nominee, and Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. In the debate, Clinton accused Trump of repeatedly stiffing contractors over the years.
Diehl said he wrote the piece to shed light on his experience in the matter.
Meanwhile, Springsteen this week released his new autobiography, called "Born to Run," this week.
And a few people noticed that Diehl, the man from the Trump story, was mentioned in the pages.
Reading Born to Run & just realized that the guy Trump stiffed here was also Bruce Springsteen's 1st guitar teacher. https://t.co/ReEu4a59fo
-- Andrew Romano (@AndrewRomano) September 29, 2016
Wow. @springsteen's first (lame) guitar teacher was the same Mike Diehl who Trump stiffed in Atlantic City. https://t.co/Lq72JfHpUl pic.twitter.com/PGVxwb8bXV
-- Matt Spence (@mattspencedc) September 29, 2016
In the book, Springsteen, a Freehold native, recalled renting his first guitar at Diehl's store in town.
"I held it in my arms, ran my fingers over its strings, held the real tortoiseshell guitar pick in between my teeth, tasted it, took a few weeks of music lessons... and quit," Springsteen wrote. "It was TOO F***N' HARD! Mike Diehl, guitarist and owner of Diehl's Music, didn't have any idea how to teach whatever Elvis was doing to a young shouter who wanted to sing the elementary school blues."