After Elekta opened it's offices and studio on La Cienega I found myself coming to California for ever longer stays and I asked Russ if I could work in the Sunset Blvd. store as a salesperson on Saturdays to get the feel of the people, their taste and electricity of the place.
It was so much fun to shut up and listen to the committed fans who had strong opinions and made what we did possible. Russ and I would have "follow-up" conversations and we became close. At one point, accompanied by the vice-Chariman of Warner Communication Marty Payson. we visited Russ to sound him out on an idea we had in mind..
We knew that Russ was in financial difficulty and we hated to lose something as valuable as Tower, so we offered offer to buy the buy a controlling interest in the company, with Russ running but with certain safeguards built into the deal.. Russ was happy to sell us the troubled assets and keep the profitable units (mostly Japan and selected stores). For us it was a controlling interest that let us safeguard our investment.
Many years late, while I was visiting Russ at his Sacramento home- with music and books stacked in piles and totally commanding the attention in his living room, he offered me a drink, slid into his most comfortable chair and said. "I should have taken your deal. We'd still be alive."
And perhaps, together, we could have nursed his dream to a happier ending.
Jac Holzman
________________________________________
It was at Tower on Sunset that I ran into a radio program director with whom I'd interviewed earlier in the week... It hadn't gone well. Later he mentioned it was THAT day, running into me at Tower Records, and the candid conversation about music in the record store, that turned him around and made him decide to offer me a gig...
I also got chills reading Gary Theroux's memory of John Belushi.
Valerie Geller
________________________________________
Tower Records was church. Growing up in north Jersey, we rode our skateboards to indie record shops to pick up the latest new wave and punk imports and as a general rule favored locally owned shops. Until one day my dad took me to Tower Records and everything slowed down. We'd spend hours scouring thru the bins, going the listening stations. Thats back in the days when listening to music was an activity. No distractions. No smartphones. The Tower on West 4th and Broadway was the ultimate meeting spot and melting pot. Everyone from celebrities to gutter punks hung out there. After college, my band (The Booda Velvets), got a record deal on a small indie label with major label distribution which meant our album was in EVERY TOWER RECORDS IN THE COUNTRY!!! That was HUGE. On tour, we'd visit local Tower Records and pull our album to the front of the bin. Seeing our record in the bins at Tower made us feel that we'd made it.
Thanks for bringing me back.
Cheers,
Adam Lerner
________________________________________
I started working at Tower in the DC burbs around 2004, just in time before it was too late to get the experience. I had grown up shopping there and when I got hired felt like I 'made it' in life. For $6.25 an hour it sure made me feel rich!
I came in pretty late for my shift on the day after Thanksgiving (before I knew what Black Friday was) and the manager told me he was letting me go. I didn't understand why, I just wanted to know if I could still come in and shop. He said OK and that's what I did until one day the sign on the front door said "TOWER EST MORT."
RIP, Tower!
Brian Howell
________________________________________
I first met Russ Soloman in Sept. 1990 in Tower's Sacramento
headquarters. I was there to introduce our MUZE computer system that
allowed customers to search for recordings by artist, song title etc.
Russ was running late because of a flight delay, the meeting was well
underway when he arrived in a flurry, first thing I thought was he's
Santa Clause on LSD. The meeting lasted another 30 minutes, we shook
hands on a test installation in NYC and if it went well he would
install our systems in all Tower stores. The hand shake was all that
was needed, he was very supportive and did what he promised, Muze was
in business.
Paul Zullo
________________________________________
I bought the Steely Dan Aja album cover billboard when they took it down.
Neil Lasher
________________________________________
Hey, hey, hey....let's not forget the Tower Records' northern store.....no, not store, happening in San Francisco on the corner of Bay & Columbus! I worked there in 1973-4 while going to Cal Berkeley, before working for Tom Donahue at KSAN. I loved the Saturday night shift because that's when all the real music lovers would come in. Tower Records had soul, was a place to be, no copycat could ever come close to Tower's profound impact in the City. Oh and the monthly new album covers on the outside wall always drew a huge crowd.
Cristie Marcus
________________________________________
Thanks for bringing it alive so eloquently. I used to travel from Lonon
to LA regularly and arrived off the flight at about 6pm on a Sunday. No
matter how tired I felt Tower on Sunset was always my first stop. I
didnt feel I'd arrived until I'd been to the store. It was the smell of
the vinls that I can remember as if it was yesterday.
I still miss the ours of browsing and the deep dive into that world.
David Ravden
London
________________________________________
I'm an old guy, pushing 60, and I've always loved music, and records - but I never liked record stores. I'd always walk out in a crappy mood - even after I found and bought for what I was looking for. And it took me a long time to figure out why - it's because there were so many records I could never own. Because you can't buy EVERYTHING. I wanted to hear it all! Funny/strange...but true.
Jeff C.
Central PA
________________________________________
I keep hearing chat about the staff at Tower Sunset being aloof, uninterested or whatever the case may have been.
Truth be told the consumer whom frequented said location, held as much if not more knowledge of the mainstream or inherently obscure songs patrons where in search of. It was a two way street. I found Mr. Epp and the Calculation.
Thanks You Bob,
Mark Adkins
________________________________________
Beautiful memories, of such a wonderful man. Tower Sunset, among others, has so many memories. Who can forget the Artist appearances to sign records?!
In the early 90's, the usual was when you had so many fans lined up out the back, through the parking lot, and up the side street, it caused traffic jams on Sunset, a California Highway, and the CHP would close the event due to safety concerns. The Publicity Departments loved that, and it made good ink. For the Artist's it meant not being able to see their fans.
We at Virgin Records, had an In-store for Boy George at that time. George had fans from 8 to 80, and I literally took him to every station format, except classical and country, and he had legions of fans show up at each station. At the in-store at Tower Sunset, we had a huge crowd, and typically they were going to shut us down. In one of my crazier ideas, I plucked a Boy George fan, about 15, who actually looked like George, out of the crowd.
I introduced him to George, and he agreed to the plan. We pulled the limo up to the front door. The crowd nervously watched, thinking he was about leave. I was nervously at the door with a couple of yellow jackets, and at the right moment, we grabbed the kid and hustled him into the limo, and took off! One of the security guys accidentally jumped in with us! The crowd rushed the car, and probably two-thirds of the crowd left. Those that stayed, were able to meet George over the next four hours. He chatted with each one, looked through their scrapbooks, and signed autographs. That young man was taken to The Virgin offices and we piled him with CDs. He had quite a story!
Joyce Castagnola, our Regional Sales, was delighted! And through her, I met Russ many times and always had his name on our guest lists. As most, I miss those days at Tower Records on the Sunset Strip. God Bless you Russ!
Regards Bob,
Bob Frymire
________________________________________
Tower Records in Yonkers NY was a suburban Mecca. One of my best memories was hearing the song "Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms" on WFUV while driving over the tappan zee bridge, having never even heard of Leon Russell before, I knew that if I didnt go then and there I was going to forget this name. I knew I was going to be late for work but I high tailed it to tower and bought Leon's anthology, then took a chance on Sly and the Family Stone on an employees recommendation, two records that changed my life. I bought more albums there the morning they were released, CDs in Longboxes.
Right when Ten was released , Pearl Jam did an instore appearance in Yonkers and I MISSED IT. Life regret.
I did meet all of Phish for instore at the Greenwich Village Location, and Gregg Allman too! I saw Lenny Kravitz browsing the aisles at Lincoln Center. But truly, in New York City, the low key place where you'd see more famous musicians doing their shopping was J&R Music World by city hall, another defunct institution which was no frills but you could also find ANYTHING, and the staff truly knew all.
Greg McLoughlin
________________________________________
When my late partner Ed Cobb ( writer Tainted love/my Partner and Co Producer "Dirty Water") and I were told our product was in Tower Records we said we have arrived"
When I met him at A NARM convention and told him how we felt he laughed and wished me more luck..Russ was a Visionary...it was sad when he closed down.
I wish he would have seen that the new e-Distribution was on the horizon.
Ray Harris
CEO
Snailworx Music
________________________________________
I'm pretty sure you know, but many of your readers may not know, that the original Tower Records was in Sacramento. It was right next to the Tower Theater, which is how it got its name. The theater is still there and was shown briefly in a montage in "Lady Bird." After growing up in L.A., playing in bands and hanging at the Troubadour and McCabe's through the late 60s and early 70s, I suffered extreme culture shock when I landed in Sacramento in 1974 for three years of law school. Tower Records (the original) was my savior: my go-to place to recharge, peruse all the new releases and remind myself of the cultural/musical world back home that I so dearly missed.
Doug Knoll, Santa Monica
________________________________________
As a Gen-X guy who was a high-school and college radio DJ, Tower was my home away from home in cities from DC to NYC, to London and beyond. The only other record store that even came close was Newbury Comics, but that's a distraction. To really tell you how I felt about Tower, in those young years, my bedroom walls were filled with three things: a few band posters, a number of cutout long boxes from favorite CDs, and a number of Tower bags from exotic locations I had been fortune enough to visit. Yes, those empty yellow bags became wall art for me.
Twenty years ago, I couldn't have been happier to have a grocery store in my Upper West Side neighborhood closed, especially once Tower opened in that location.
A few years ago, I was happy to take my daughter to the Amoeba in Downtown LA, if only so she might know what Tower once felt like, sorta.
This fellow Russ was a legend, and if I could tell you what I loved the most: Russ made the best record store ever, rode hard and put up wet. But those happy memories and appreciations will live as long as I do.
Best,
-Brendan H.
________________________________________
I worked at Tower Records/Video when I was in high school. It was the BEST job to have! Even though it was long hours - taking up much of my weekend - for a high school kid, it was a thrill!
Also, it was retail, so it could be super boring. However, I had a lot of freedom and could sometimes do weird things and get away with it, like once I wore a black scarf over my entire face while checking people out at the register. None of the customers blinked. LOL!!
It being a small town on the east coast, probably the hippest people in town worked there or hung out there. I seem to remember a number of the managers relocated to open our store, so they were DEFINITELY the coolest people in town. Many of them had funky hairdos and dressed however. Again, our little conservative town was ... I don't know HOW they decided to open a store there.
I mean, the managers at Tower knew what the next big music act was gonna be be. They seemed to have a direct line to the "cool" things in LA and NYC and SanFran, and knew about the happening shit in Seattle .... it was the early 90s.
But, the cherry on top was my manager - a 30-something African American gay woman, btw, who told me about Pearl Jam before ANYONE in our tiny town had heard of them - encouraged me to apply for a college scholarship that I was eligible for as an employee of a "video store."
When I GOT the scholarship, Russ flew me, and my mom and dad to Las Vegas to receive the award and meet us. It was Vegas because that's where the scholarship sponsor, a trade association - "Video Software Dealership Association", I think it was called - was gathering.
I just remember feeling like I was meeting Jerry Garcia - Russ, to me, looked a lot like the Grateful Dead icon. Haha!
He seemed genuinely proud that some distant entry-level employee was getting $6k to put toward college. But, Russ had rockstar status in his own right, because he was responsible for one of the coolest things to ever arrive in our little town.
So RIP Russ! And, thank you!!
Sarah Fridrich
________________________________________
Been reading your columns now for many years and enjoy your old school musical reflections and personalized geographic locations when hearing a memorable song. We all remember where we were when we first heard Sgt. Pepper, Purple Haze, Light My Fire, Satisfaction, etc.
I worked in the record biz in the SF Bay area from 1970 through 1982. Started in retail and then got hired by a brand new distribution company, Warner Elektra Atlantic in 1973. Our office at 680 Beach St. was two blocks away from Columbus and Bay, the legendary location of Tower Records, the "largest record store in the known world" as the sign proclaimed. Bill Graham Presents was doing shows at about 6 venues in the SF Bay Area and most of the acts that played here all went to Tower. We did many in store promos with artists from our labels. They were all pretty impressed with the "staggering amount of albums in the store."
I did a lot of inventories at Tower Records right after I started. My boss at WEA, Bill Perasso, had us inventory all of our "catalog" as about 40% of the records that Tower sold were on WEA's vast roster of artists. I remember meeting Stan Goman, the manager at the Columbus and Bay store in 1974. I was trying to talk him into ordering copies of the entire catalog of Nonesuch Records, a great eclectic world music label. He said, "I will if you can tell me the album number of Scott Joplin Piano Rags, Volume 1 right now." Well, when you do as many inventories as I did you memorize the numbers of the top selling albums; I immediately answered Nonesuch 71248. He went to the bin, got a copy and said "shit, you're right. I'll take a box of each"! Only at Tower.
Over the years I worked my way up in sales and eventually got 3 Tower Records stores as my accounts. Pretty much made my monthly billings alone. You didn't just drop in and take an order at Tower, you did a full day of inventories, took out the manager, ass't. manager, employees, etc. to dinner that night, got up the next day and did the order when the manager came in. I used to sit for hours in a bar next door to Tower, Watt Avenue in Sacramento and do all my orders with Kenny Sokolov, the store manager.
I remember tasting wine with Russ Solomon at the Broadway store in Sacramento. Russ loved good white wine and I'd drop off different types of California Chardonnays and French Sauvingon Blanc's for him every so often. Six months later I'd see him in one of the stores and he'd say, "I loved that wine, thanks." Easy man to talk to and so dedicated to music. They broke the mold when he was born.
A true legend and pioneer in the glory days of Vinyl. Here's to you Russ Cheers
Paul Nichols
________________________________________
Kinda crazy how I was up late tonight, reading through story after story about Russ & Tower. My Tower (I was a consumer, never an employee) was a location in Ann Arbor, opened during the CD boom. It all came back to me, the main reason I have been reading your e-mails, opinions, and these stories all these years was because I used to make that monthly pilgrimage there to Ann Arbor to get that new issue of Pulse!, that featured your work. A big, glossy, well-written sales circular, that ALWAYS had an artist on the cover that had a HUGE album coming out soon (way before "surprise new releases", new albums were talked about and often mythical and mysterious before release day). I even subscribed to it (a free magazine), just so it would show up on my doorstep. I used to go to midnight sales there, driving from some miles away, when you couldn't wait till Tuesday morning to get your hands, and ears, on the new stuff! I always remembered they had the best magazines, as well. As the years have gone by, my buying habits have changed, but I still love my CD's, books, mags and movies, and still buy them all the time. Like all great things, there'll never be another Tower or Russ.
Warmest Regards, Brian Friel
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