2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

Send us a Text Message.On Friday, August 9th, Charles R. Cross passed away from natural causes. For those who knew Charley in the Pacific Northwest music community, the Springsteen community and in real life, it was a shock. Charley was only 67 years old and was in the middle of working on his 10th book. Back in October 2023 Charley sat down with us and discussed Tower, Seattle, Music and a ton of other subjects. I first met Charley in 1984, the old fashioned way...by writing him a letter. I had seen his fanzine "Backstreets Magazine" and was stunned at the quality of the publication. I was going into my Senior year of college and I sent along articles I had written. He encouraged me to contribute whatever I wanted. Surprisingly he began printing my articles and photographs. When I moved to Seattle in 1990 I knew two people; my boss Rob Bruce and Charley. Both showed me the lay of the land in Seattle. While I knew Charley as the Publisher and Editor of "Backstreets" what I quickly found out was the influence of his "day job" publisher and editor of "The Rocket" an incredible chronicle of the Northwest Music scene long before I got there and after I left. As Springsteen's popularity ebbed and Seattle's was on the rise, Charley had a front row seat and shared it with his readers. We're rerunning our Episode with Charles R. Cross today. Give it a listen. 

Send us a Text Message.When Greg Wallis was hired at Tower Tacoma by Dave Coker, Greg had never heard of Tower Records. It was simply the big, new record store to move into his town. When Coker left to open and run the Seattle U District store, Rob Bruce came up from Anaheim CA to be General Manager. By this time, Greg was the buyer for all sections of music except for Classical Music. Soon after, Assistant Manger Bob Akin went to Sacramento to join the Advertising Department and Greg was promoted to Assistant Manager. Stints in Hawaii, the opening of the Boston store, working countless A-Teams until Clark Street Chicago opened and his promotion to Midwest/Southeast Regional Manager were all a part of Greg's Tower experiences. Greg touches on the excitement of the Blues scene in Chicago as well as the challenges of running a record store off the mainland where timely deliveries are essential to success.But something about his time in Boston made for some memorable stories. On this episode, Greg recounts the tales of Morris Levy, whom he and his crew dealt with around the opening and first year of operations in Boston. Also, if you've never heard the story of Greg's instore with Robyn Hitchcock and Hitchcock's ridiculous behavior beforehand, Greg recounts it from his perspective. The fact that Hitchcock continues to write about it on his Facebook page, decades later, proves Greg acted appropriately at such childish shenanigans. And….this is our 100th episode. Following our conversation with Greg Wallis, we take a moment to celebrate this occasion!

Send us a Text Message.Melissa Greene-Anderson grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Since high school she was a part of her family's music business; Gotham Distribution, Collectables Records, and the direct-to-consumer website Oldies.com. Melissa's father started in a record store in Times Square NYC. At a very young age, Jerry Greene bought the rights to The Capri's “There's A Moon Out Tonight” which was released in 1959 and didn't chart. He re-released it in 1961 and it went to #3 on the Billboard Charts. With that money, Jerry Greene moved to Philadelphia and opened up a chain of record stores called The Record Museum. As straight as they come, he knew the business and made a killing on selling paraphernalia in the Philadelphia area, which often led to visits from Grace Slick and Jerry Garcia. After spending thousands of dollars on one visit, Jerry Garcia got busted crossing a bridge from Philadelphia to New Jersey with his haul. Melissa was the Executive Vice President of Gotham Distribution and started selling to Tower Records. At one point, she even hired the singles buyer from the brand new Washington DC store to help run their singles business. Licensing songs from labels and making albums and eventually CDs in conjunction with Oldies radio stations helped launch the Collectables album and CD part of the business. Eventually, Melissa got the go-ahead to rack the Tower stores with vinyl singles as cassingles and CD singles were taking over. Remember those bright gold 45 sleeves that got shipped back to send new product? Melissa worked with each store on an individual basis to make sure the program worked. She talks about a humiliating experience with a Tower Manager who refused to deal with her on their rollout. But most of her memories are good ones. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation about music, family, Philadelphia restaurants, and Tower Records. 

Send us a Text Message.“Son, never trust us lawyers because we're going to fuck you every time.” In 1991, how did Freddi Szilagi find himself face to face, hand-delivering a $10,000 check to Edwin Edwards at the Hotel Monteleone? In short, because of Russ Solomon and Tower Records. For a more detailed explanation, you can hear our guest this week break it all down for you. Before he was enmeshed in the world of state politics, Freddi Szilagi grew up poor on the Upper East Side of New York City. His mother was an aspiring Opera singer who moved from one bedroom apartment to another with four kids, two dogs, and a grand piano. Having a father who was a piano prodigy, who blew off his scholarship to Julliard, you could safely say that Freddi grew up with music in the house. When a friend set up an interview for Freddi to work at the new Tower Records at 4th and Broadway, it set in motion a 17-year career taking him from NYC to working an A-Team project at the new store that had opened in New Orleans. Meeting the woman who would become his wife while opening the store, Freddi moved down to New Orleans working under Dan Shepard. Eventually, Dan left New Orleans, Freddi became the General Manager and he immediately set about highlighting the tremendous music that was coming out of the city of New Orleans. A large part of that was becoming a part of the fabric of the New Orleans Jazzfest. Freddi finished his Tower career at the Washington DC store, leaving after receiving an offer from a member of his kid's school PTA, who worked for Time-Life music. Make sure to check out this week's episode with Freddi recalling buying kid's music from the Mafia, profanity-filled conversations with Dr. John, and a whole lot more. 

Send us a Text Message.Just a quick check in with everybody on this hot & beautiful 4th of July week. Find out about some upcoming events and episodes, including an "Ask Me Anything" episode where you can ask any question about the Tower Records Podcast by sending an email to . We'd love to hear from youCheers!

Send us a Text Message.When Kat Gavin was born, her mother was only 18 years old. And as a result, Kat's crib was right next to the stereo. So to say Kat grew up “with music” would be an understatement. After a stint working record retail in the malls of Northeast Philadelphia, Kat made her way into Center City Philadelphia and got a job at Tower Records South Street. It was there she met, worked, and bonded with so many of “her people”. It was there she met her former husband, Geoff Gavin, and raised a family with him. At South Street Kat did it all; sales clerk, cashier, buyer, Supervisor, Key Holder, Administrative Assistant…And then there were the In Stores; The Cramps, G Love & Special Sauce, The Roots, Morrissey, and a host of others. Kat especially remembers the South Street store's 10th Anniversary Party when she had to help the Phillie Phanatic get dressed and Hall & Oates took over the staff break room for hours, not letting anybody in. When the Tower Avenue of the Arts store opened up in 1999, Kat moved to the new digs and proved to be an invaluable part of the team. A completely new group of people and yet it was still Tower Records. But being in Center City, there were always odd goings on. The morning Kat opened the door at 7:30am to be met near the front of the store by a homeless man who had been locked in overnight, begging her not to call the Police. Kat also recollects the John Mayer in-store when, after an acoustic performance, Mayer stopped signing autographs and walked out of the store to the consternation of hundreds of girls and their mothers. Kat wraps things up by telling us about visiting the Ave of the Arts store a couple of years ago, the weird feelings she felt, and the need to get the hell out of there. Join us for this jawn. You'll be glad you did. 

Send us a Text Message.“A month before my 12th birthday, I turned on the TV on a Sunday night and there were these guys calling themselves The Beatles…And after that, everything was different for people of my age. After that, music was our art form.”Like many of that time and after, Paul asked his mother to buy him a guitar. He started with an acoustic. And then he got a cheap Japanese electric guitar. But it was a friend in his building playing records by Classical guitarists that really caught Paul's attention. Paul went back to college as a music major and studied music theory at Brooklyn College.Riding on the subway one day, a customer across from Paul was reading the New York Times. The side Paul could see had a full-page ad that said “World's Largest Record Store”. Intrigued Paul ended up visiting 4th & Broadway and checked out the brand-new Tower Records. A couple of months later, looking for a job, Paul applied at Tower, got interviewed and got the job. Starting as a clerk in #125's Classical Department to being promoted to Supervisor and then Classical cassette buyer, Paul was on his way to a Tower career. He recounts his unforgettable “new employee” meeting with Store Manager Matthew Koenig and Matthew's parting advice to the assembled group. Lincoln Center, Nanuet and Yonkers came next and then Paul called it a day for his Tower career. He ended up doing all of the Classical buying for the 3 Virgin Megastores in New York City before leaving music retail altogether and working on the label side at New World Records. Before wrapping up with us, Paul recounts three of his favorite Tower Record stories of all time. Join us for a lively, fun conversation with Paul Herzman. 

Send us a Text Message.Richard Leibowitz grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York to a father who listened to pre-1960s jazz and a mother who was more into folk music. Neither held much sway for young Richard, so he set out on his own and like a million other kids his age, KISS was the starting point for his music obsessions. Before working at Tower Records, Richard started working for Musicland while in college. Talking to a former bandmate who had signed on with Tower, Richard applied for and got the position of Store Artist in the Nanuet Store. Richard eventually moved up to the position of Record Sales Manager, a position he held both in Nanuet and in Carle Place. But Richard's time at Tower was something of a mixed bag. He got to attend one of the Tower Annual Conferences but what he remembers most is getting busted by Stan Goman for not attending a mandatory Human Resources meeting because he was hungover. He held the position of Record Sales Manager, but when he applied for that position in other, larger stores he didn't land those gigs. He eventually left the company, sick of 3-hour commutes and all that came with it. But thinking back on it, Richard met some. pretty cool people. He met Neil Young in a zombie-like state from smoking David Crosby's weed. He had lunch with the classic YES lineup complete with Rick Wakeman bowing down to him and other Tower employees. And do you want to know the connection a white guy from the suburbs has to Biggie and Tupac? You'll have to listen to this week's episode to find out. 

Serge Bielanko was one of the leading forces behind the Philadelphia-based rock & roll band Marah. Part Replacements, part Van Morrison, part Phil Spector, part Rod Stewart & The Faces, part Philly & Motown soul, for years they were poised for success as the “next big rock & roll band”. Marah was a critic's darling and counted some famous folks (Jason Isbell, Steve Earle, Bruce Springsteen, and several authors)as part of their fan base. Another fan, many listeners of this podcast know, is the late Kevin Cassidy who caught on to them late, but made up for lost time with a real passion for the band. Nick Hornby, author of “High Fidelity” in the NY Times March 2004“ '20,000 Streets Under the Sky'' is [Marah's] fourth album, and they're by no means famous yet, as the passing of the hat in the Fiddler's Elbow indicates. But what I love about them is that I can hear everything I ever loved about rock music in their recordings and in their live shows. Indeed, in the shows you can often hear their love for the rock canon uninflected -- they play covers of the Replacements' ''Can't Hardly Wait,'' or the Jam's ''In the City,'' and they usually end with a riffed-up version of the O'Jays' ''Love Train.'' They play an original called ''The Catfisherman'' with a great big Bo Diddley beat, and they quote the Beatles' ''Tomorrow Never Knows'' and the Who's ''Magic Bus.'' And they do this not because they're a bar band and people expect cover versions, but because they are unafraid of showing where their music comes from, and unafraid of the comparisons that will ensue -- just as Bruce Springsteen (who really did play ''Little Latin Lupe Lu'' for an encore, sometimes) was unafraid.” Stephen King, author of a million great horror novels, Entertainment Weekly 2006“If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry-Marah. An apt enough title, when you consider that this is probably the best rock band in America that nobody knows. Am I being an elitist here, trying to one-up my audience? Nope. Marah is great in the scat, bop, and jive way Springsteen was great on The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. One listen to songs like ”The Closer” and ”Fat Boy” on this amazing record and I think you'll agree. These guys are either the American U2 or close enough for government work.” In March 2000, shortly after the opening of Tower Records on the Ave of the Arts in Philadelphia, they dropped their magnum opus “Kids In Philly”. Opening with a blaring foghorn, sounding an alarm, “Kids in Philly” quickly sets about a musical tour de force of their city, Philadelphia, complete with the sounds of present and past. Tower Records Avenue of the Arts hosted Marah for their “Kids in Philly” day-of-release in-store. As the years passed Tower Philadelphia and Lincoln Center hosted Marah for 4 in-stores in 5 years. With their follow-up album, Marah took a sharp left turn with an album produced by Owen Morris, best known for his work with Oasis, The Verve, and Kaiser Chiefs. The album landed with a thud, leaving Marah's base of supporters befuddled and not picking up any new fans. From there the band went back to a more familiar style and continued to work their way back. Despite releasing a total of 9 albums, drama never seemed too far from the band. Throughout the years various musicians rotated in and out of Marah until Serge ultimately quit the band to pursue other interests including writing a weekly column called “Thunder Pie” https://sergebielanko.substack.com.Join us for an epic conversation about the ups, downs, ins & outs of rock and roll in the 20th & 21st century with Serge Bielanko. 

Growing up in a small town 50 miles outside of Los Angeles, Denise McDonald has a very clear memory of getting her first library card at the age of five. For most of her life, Denise has been a dedicated bibliophile. In this week's episode, Denise tells us all about working book product at Tower. From friends at Sacramento State helping her to secure the job at the Sunrise bookstore, the various positions she held there, the move to Tower Advertising and chasing publishers for co-op advertising funds, the big personalities in the Advertising department she encountered, and her eventual move to the Tower Product Team the last three years of the company. Almost 22 years with Tower, Denise had some pretty cool face time with some of the country's most celebrated authors as well as some of her personal favorites. And thanks to the Linda Hoffman Make-A-Wish Foundation, Denise was able to meet Paul McCartney whom she had seen in concert 8 times. Join us for an interesting look at another side of the company with Denise McDonald. 

“I remember standing on the sidewalk, talking to Rick [Briare] and telling him I was interested in going [to the new San Diego store] and he basically said ‘Well we don't hire girls'. “Thus began Jennifer Birner's journey, leaving the Watt Avenue Bookstore to help open a new Tower Records location in San Diego where, for a time, she would be the only female employee. Helping open the store, laying tile, and screwing together racks, Jennifer got pneumonia and ended up in the hospital for 5 days. She was released on the day the store opened. Jennifer marched down to the store and then worked a shift until midnight. Jennifer spent 5 years in San Diego, surviving a Steve Miller Band instore fiasco (wait until you hear that one) and then running stores in Anaheim and West Covina before taking the position of Regional Manager. Wanting to get back to Sacramento, Jennifer took the position of GM of Tower Broadway. From there she moved to the Corporate Office first as Vice President of Video Operations and ultimately to Vice President of Training and Education. Join us for an episode that encompasses 30 years of a career to be celebrated with Jennifer Birner Hegji. 

“ ‘There's a place called Tower Records' and the way that he described it, it was a supermarket of music! It's got two stories. I was like, wow…I've gotta go there!” Not only did Pete Pataro *go* there, he had a 15-year career - starting in that Washington DC store, assistant managing in the brand new Annapolis store, and eventually running Cherry Hill, NJ for 10 years. Along the way, Pete was a sponge, learning about genres, bands, sidemen, and all facets of music, the music business, and retail in general. While in Washington DC, a store that had a lot of turnover due to being directly across the street from George Washington University, Pete was tasked with assisting in the interviewing and hiring of staff. He hired several people who would go on to be General Managers in the company. Pete also lays claim to having hired one Dave Grohl. By our esitmation, that's the fourth Store #130 employee laying claim to Grohl's illustrious 6-week career. It was in Cherry Hill New Jersey that Pete found his groove. Located right next to one of the busiest (at that time) malls in America  Cherry Hill was the perfect “suburban” Tower Records location. Strong in metal, alternative and hits, it would explode each Christmas, outperforming other stores of a similar size and weekly gross. Pete had a strong supporting cast and talked about some who worked alongside him. No Tower Records/Pete Pataro conversation would be complete without Pete telling us about the time actor Joe Pesci (“Goodfellas”, “Casino”, “My Cousin Vinny”) called Russ Solomon, without Pete's knowledge, to intervene because of Pete's suspension by his Regional Manager. 

Kevin Winnick was working in Washington DC for a small chain of pop culture/entertainment-themed stores called Another Universe when he got a call from a headhunter saying a large company was looking to hire someone who could identify trends and had experience as a buyer. Though content where he was, Kevin took the interview and before long found himself dressed  in a nice shirt and tie while George Scarlett sat at his desk, bare feet plopped on his desk. From the moment Kevin joined Tower he felt like an outsider. From the get-go he was ordering and shipping products to the stores he thought were on board, but was often met with resistance. Initially, Kevin was brought in as a “trend spotter”, but as the years passed it appeared Kevin was in charge of it, if it wasn't audio, video, or a book. The Sidelines department eventually grew to include blank tape, accessories, electronics, candy, and soda…you name it, he ordered it for the store. And yes, those “Planet of the Apes” cookie jars. In this week's episode, we discuss Kevin's somewhat tumultuous journey at Tower and hear in detail about what he was proud of and what could have gone better. 

Megan Jasper grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts an industrial town, just an hour outside of Boston. Megan remembers it as a tough place to grow up. As a young girl, her family would travel to Boston and she and her sister would hit Newbury Comics when there was only one store. As a teen, she traveled to Boston for punk rock shows. Attending UMass, she was friends with J Mascis, a fellow student. When Dinosaur Jr toured Massachusetts in the early days Megan served as a roadie for the band. During a 1989 tour, they stopped in Seattle and that's when she decided she wanted to make it her home.After landing in Seattle, she made her way to the Sub Pop offices. Megan started as a receptionist there, when the label was a tiny operation, constantly teetering on the brink of financial disaster. She took a job with Caroline Distribution and called all the Tower Records stores in the Pacific Northwest.When Nirvana led the music explosion of the early 90's, the New York Times came calling to do a feature on the music culture of Seattle. Interviewing Jonathan Poneman, he referred the Times to Megan, now working for Caroline Records. The Times was looking for slang expressions Seattle kids used around the city. Megan made up a series of “grunge terms” she didn't think the Times would believe were real. They did, they didn't fact check and they ran it as a “Lexicon of Grunge”.After a time working for ADA Distribution, Megan went back to Sub Pop in a variety of roles (Marketing & Distribution) and worked her way up to the role of CEO where she resides today. Bright, quick, smart, and funny, you'll enjoy our conversation with Sub Pop's Megan Jasper.

“He [George Scarlett] said that someone had suggested me for the position [Administrative Assistant] because I looked so intense when I worked. I don't know what that really means. I guess it's a good thing” And thus, another Tower career was born. Renee Tyler spent 12 years working as George Scarlett's Administrative Assistant in Record Division. When she came to work at Tower's corporate office Renee didn't know what Tower Records was about. Like many before her Renee started in Sales Audit. She eventually moved to billing in the Advertising Department. It was working in the Record Division with George and all the women (Sunita, Karen, Wendy) that the Tower world opened up for Renee. In this week's episode, Renee tells us about working for a mover and shaker like George Scarlett, her musical evolution, fun times at Tower's Annual Conference, large cardboard cutouts of Canadian men, leaving her position working for George, and a whole lot more. 

While Chris Hopson was putting together Tower Records' in-house advertising agency, in a parallel universe, or at least somewhere else in California, Steve Nikkel was doing the same for a small independent chain of record stores called Eucalyptus Records, based out of Fairfield, California. When an opening became available,  due to Mike Farrace starting up PULSE! Magazine and Terri Ball heading to New York City, Jim Swindel set up an interview between Nikkel and Hopson and Steve became a Tower-lifer. Join us this week as we walk through Steve Nikkel's Tower career, his appearance in the Tower Documentary “All Things Must Pass”, his attending some truly historic concerts, and the task of managing the Tower Advertising Department. 

Joy Slusarek Proft spent 15 years working for Universal Music Distribution. Like many before her, she started as an FMR (Field Marketing Rep), and like few, she ended up as the Vice President of Sales located in Los Angeles. While calling on stores in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska, Joy found herself with a new band called Weezer in her car, taking them to visit mid-west indie accounts. In true 90's fashion, Joy ended the day by taking Weezer to see “Pulp Fiction” shortly after it opened. From 1996-2001, Joy was a Sales Rep in Philadelphia calling on Tower Records, The Wall, HMV and National Record Mart in Pittsburgh. After finishing her career with Universal calling on Circuit City in Richmond VA and as Vice President of Sales in Los Angeles, Joy headed for a quiet part of the country in the great state of Vermont. There she found herself back at WEQX radio, where she had spent some time previously. Joy currently has the mid-day slot at WEQX and enjoys turning her audience on to new music, as well as hosting the Retro Lunch, spinning “alternative oldies” each weekday between 12noon - 12:30pm. Spend an hour with a woman who lives and breathes music. 

Matt Lavelle used to listen to music with his grandfather. No talking. No commentary. At a very young age, Matt simply observed how the music moved his grandfather and it had quite an impression on him. As he got older, after making regular visits to the Jazz Department at Tower 4th & Broadway, Matt took a job in Nanuet under Store Manager Bill Duffy. Years later Matt moved into the city and worked at Tower Lincoln Center eventually working up to the position of Head of Receiving, but his heart was always in the Jazz Department. Eventually, Matt was both the Jazz Buyer and Floor Manager of the largest Tower Records location in the US. Working with a cast of characters to rival modern-day comedy, Matt had his work cut out for him. Throw in a declining CD customer, filing for bankruptcy and the changing music retail landscape and Matt had to be resourceful. He put together a weekly live Jazz series in his jazz room, drawing customers into the store. These days Matt lives in the 6th borough (Philadelphia) and is an active musician with his project The 12 Houses. Join us for a conversation about Matt LaVelle's time at Tower Records.

Fuzzy Swing never worked for Tower Records, but he worked at Tower Records in San Francisco as an inventory rep and sales associate on behalf of RCA. In addition to Tower, he had several mom & pop independent stores in the Bay Area. In later years Fuzzy was promoted to sales covering the Sacramento area stores Tower Broadway, Tower Citrus Heights, Tower K Street, Tower Stockton, Tower Chico, and Tower Fresno as well as calling on Tower International and working with the team at Corporate. Fuzzy eventually moved over to CEMA, later EMD holding the position of Regional Director where he came into contact with many more Tower stores nationally. Not bad for a guy who started his retail career in North Carolina in 1970, working for several indie record stores, focusing as a singles buyer, and managing the rock and roll band Frog Level. On this week's episode, Fuzzy walks us through all of this and more. We talk about his visits to Tower Annual Conferences, the annual Halloween parties CEMA threw at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle, Fuzzy's interactions with Russ Solomon and his famous nephew Adam Lambert of American Idol and Queen fame. And as we mentioned at the top, though Fuzzy never worked at Tower, he ended up marrying Tower...he'll explain it all to you in this episode. 

On Friday February 16th, Kevin Cassidy passed away. We are rerunning our episode from September of 2022 featuring Kevin, along with a short introduction. Once we receive information about a Memorial Service for Kevin, we will post it on the "2500 DelMonte Street" Instagram and Facebook pages. 

Long before she became the face and voice of NPR Music, Ann Powers was just a Catholic school girl and new wave music fan who in 1979 was guided on a musical journey by Chris, an influential Tower Mercer Street clerk. Chris regularly assisted and turned Ann on to some great groups and albums at Tower  Seattle's  landmark location.On today's episode Ann tells us about her roots in writing about music and culture, the amazing local Seattle scene of the late 70's and early 80's, Catholic folk masses featuring little known Elton John songs, the joy of being a Beatles fan in the early 1970's, why straight up indie stores like the iconic Celophane Square initially scared Ann, perusing the Tower racks for British music magazines, getting a job at the Columbus and Bay Tower Records store in San Francisco while attending college in the mid 1980's and how her writing career took off while in San Francisco.In addition to working for NPR Music, Ann writes about music and culture for the Los Angeles Times. Previously Ann wrote for Seattle's The Rocket, The New York Times, Blender Magazine and The Village Voice. Ann has authored five books. Her last one was “Good Booty: Love & Sex, Black & White, Body & Soul in American Music”. On June 11th her new book “Travelling: On The Path of Joni Mitchell” will be released.Join us for a fun, informative conversation with Ann Powers. 

“I remember thinking, if the light turns red, I'm turning in the parking lot and I'm going to do a bagcheck. If it's green I'm going to sail on through and I'm going home. And sure as heck, it was red and I turned in [to the lot] and I'm going to do the bag check”It's in moments like these that you make your mark. Only five days earlier, Carl was sitting in Bud Martin's office listening to him go on about the financial bleeding of the Tower Outlet store and the need to find out what was going on internally. As a result of that bag check and the recovery that took place, Carl made an immediate impression upon Bud and the members of the Sac Loss Prevention team. Carl went on to be Loss Prevention Manager in Hawaii. But paradise isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Island fever took hold and Carl made his way back to Sacramento as Loss Prevention Manager. He ultimately became Regional Loss Prevention Manager and Territorial Loss Prevention Manager. Carl tells us abou this time at Tower, his first encounter with Regional Manager Randy Mendonsa, working with Matthew Koenig & Wayne Ennes, meetings with Bud Martin asking for more resources and then trying to hold onto the resources he already had, helping to plan and coordinate Tower Marathons and Metallica In Stores and a whole lot more. 

MTSNot the company, the man. Michael T Solomon sits down with “2500 DelMonte Street” to discuss it all;  his time with Russ & Doris, Tower Records, Bud Martin, Sunday school with Stan Goman, chauffeuring The Rolling Stones around town before their show in Sacramento, starting out at the Tower Drug Store, working at Watt Ave, Columbus & Bay and Berkeley, working as Tower legal counsel, presentations at the Tower Annual Conference, taking on the CEO position, scouting locations in Russia, South America, Canada, the end at Tower and the legacy as portrayed in “2500 DelMonte Street” documentary. It's all here, this week on “2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records”

Darrin Roberts grew up in Southern California with a “Kevin Arnold-Wonder Years” type upbringing. After a neighbor suggested his mother take her 3 year old to a recently released “war movie”, he became obsessed with all things cinema. After getting his degree at USC's School of Cinematic Arts he began working on a series of music film projects as both a camera operator and a film editor. In May of 2014 an Oscar winning producer suggested he meet with Colin Hanks and Sean Stuart regarding a documentary about the rise and fall of Tower Records, a film the two had spent several years making. As a customer of the El Toro Tower Records, it was a dream job. On today's episode Darrin walks us through much of his process working on “All Things Must Pass” and gives us some insights as to what made the film, what didn't make it and why, the relationship between a film editor and a director, how much film and audio he waded through to cut the “Tower Doc” down to a tight, cohesive 95 minute film, the aftermath and the opportunities presented to him since completing that project. We also spend a nice chunk of time talking about Darrin's latest project “Thriller 40”, a documentary he edited with famed music critic Nelson George directing. “Thriller 40” sheds all of Michael Jackson's personal baggage (hard to do) and focuses on the early to mid-80's when Michael and Quincy Jones were at the top of their creative powers. An interesting through line to the film is the Grammy Awards virtual snub of “Off The Wall” and how it drove Michael Jackson to create “Thriller”. Like “All Things Must Pass”, “Thriller 40” is a tight 90 minute story that tells a fascinating behind the scenes story of a cultural zeitgeist, the likes of which we may never see again. 

“I knew quite a bit about [Tower]. I knew Sunset was the mecca. So I just popped in one day and that's how it all started” says this week's guest Marty Bender Sobolweski. From his earliest memory of his grandmother pulling out a record player to his mother coming home from her temp job at Capitol Records in Cleveland with a box of free records, Marty has been a life long music fanatic. An early record store job at Ohio's Audio Buff Records (which sold a lot more than its narrow exterior suggested) to becoming the Midwest Promotions and Marketing Director for Peaches Records, prepared Marty for the bright lights of Hollywood. But nothing could prepare him for a constantly crowded store featuring the likes of Andy Kaufman, John Belushi, Robin Williams and a very inebriated Tom Waits wanting to shop after closing time. Covering charts reporting for a vacationing employee led to Marty being hired by Cashbox Magazine, Billboard Magazine's prime compeition. Marty takes us through the process of putting together a chart with detailed chart information (see our Instagram account), how albums gained or lost a bullet and what led to so many pages of ad buys in a music magazine. From there Marty set out to the world of radio, working simultaneously at KROQ and KNAC before moving back to the Midwest as on-air talent, Music Director and Program Director for a number of stations. It was in Cleveland that Marty tells us he conceived of the “Classic Rock” format of radio and all that followed. Join us for a wide ranging conversation about music, record stores, music mags and radio with our guest Mary Bender Sololweski. 

Our guest this week, Cathi Ronnenburg, remembers being on the phone with the Manager of a neighboring location when men in black suits swarmed her store. No, it wasn't a Tower Records she was running at the time, but being busted by the FBI for the bootleg albums she and her company were selling is a pretty exciting start to record retail and Cathi's professional story in general. Cathi followed that up working for Strawberries, owned by the infamous Morris Levy and run for a short time by the now departed Jose Menendez. Cathi said Tower felt like home when she got there and after the shenanigans of her previous workplaces, Tower must have felt like a walk in the park. Ronnenburg started at Tower Records Cherry Hill NJ after moving to the area for a personal relationship. When the opportunity arose she became Head of Receiving for Ted Putman, who often took her to label lunches so Cathi could both eat and pay her rent each month. Besides her career with Tower, Cathi tells us some incredible stories about following bands on the road using AAA's trip ticks (remember those) and what happens when you end up having breakfast with one of your musical heroes on the road. Join us for a wide ranging interview that you'll be sure to enjoy!

Not many people are “One Degree of Separation” from Kevin Bacon, but this week's guest, Jason Sumney is. Growing up in Pittsburgh, PA, the son of a rabid record collector, Jason started his retail music career while in HIgh School at National Record Mart, a locally based, national chain that at its peak had 175 stores in 30 states. Knowing all of the latest releases and the camaraderie he felt with his fellow employees made working in a record store the perfect job for Jason. It was after meeting someone who loved Prince's “Lovesexy” album as much as he did, that Jason made the move to Manhattan. Hired by Tim Devin, Jason got a job at the Tower Records at 4th and Broadway, which set off a ten year stint with Tower, all in Manhattan. Throughout our conversation Jason talks about many of the well known New York Tower folks; Steve Harman, Hedi Kim, Ryan Bland, Suzanne Barnett, Mark Yarabino, Arnie Lewis and many, many others. After working in the store for a spell, Jason moved into the unique position of 4th & Broadway's Payroll and Human Resources clerk, making sure hundreds got paid correctly every other week and assisting the managment team with the myriad of Human Resource issues that would arise. A stint in Steve Harman's Regional Office, followed by time working at Tower Lincoln Center took place before settling back in the Regional Office again with Tim Devin. Jason tells us about his happy, jovial Robert Smith encounter, an invite only Madonna performance, Joan Osbourne in “writing mode”, helping Shock G of Digital Underground (Humpty Hump) find records, staring at Paul Simon going down an escalator and mailing director John Waters his lost credit card to an address in Baltimore, Maryland. Join us for a wonderful episode about Tower life in the 90's and beyond. 

Rob Chapman likes The Rolling Stones. Wait…check that. Rob Chapman loooooves The Rolling Stones. Not only that, but he regularly corresponds with a couple of the guys in the band. Several years ago Rob wrote a book about a very interesting period in the band's history, Ron Wood and Keith Richards' side project The New Barbarians. Rob went deep on this project and the result is the book “New Barbarians: Outlaws, Gunslingers and Guitars”. So what does this have to do with Tower Records, you're asking?It just so happens that Rob Chapman called on many of the Sacramento  and South Bay area stores as a rep for Navarre and then MCA Records from 1993-1997. Rob quickly learned to pop into Sacramento's main office to get to know the players there and to make himself known to the people who can help rally support behind a project. This week's episode covers alot of the daily goings on of working the Sacramento market, the feeling of coming into Sacramento as an outsider, being taken in by Watt Avenue's Mike Jerrick only to experience his passing away as Rob was leaving the area and the many trials and tribulations of being a Sales Rep calling on the Tower accounts. Rob also takes behind us behind the scenes and into the world of Ron Wood and Keith Richards while he worked on his New Barbarians book. We discuss actual riots in the midwest when suggested “friends” like Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger didn't show up to play with Ron & Keith. The book comes with a live CD of New Barbarians performances from the 70's. Rob explains why some songs made the cut and others didn't. We loved talking to Rob and think that you'll enjoy this episode immensely. 

Bob worked for Tower Records 18.5 years. Washington DC, Seattle, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia and Lincoln Center NYC. He loved working for Tower so much, he made a podcast about it. After multiple requests, he's being interviewed for his story today. Our guest host/interviewer needs no introduction; that's why we're not going to tell you who it is unless you listen. In keeping with previous, lengthy Thanksgiving week episodes, today's podcast is as long as the Taylor Swift movie, with just as many costume changes and half the entertainment value. We still hope you listen. 

“The goal was to work at a record store and then everybody eventually wanted to work for a label. I envied the label guys and then I went and married one.” If the name Betsy Altomare sounds a bit familiar, there's a reason for that. Back on episode number 33 we interviewed her husband Keith Altomare, who told us how he and Betsy met while she was the Night Manager at Tower Records Sunset in Los Angeles. Today we get to hear Betsy's side of this story. Before signing on at Tower, Betsy previously worked at three LA record stores and a courier service that dealt primarily within the music industry. So when she applied and was hired under Bob Delanoy, Betsy came to the job armed with a lot of knowledge. Working at Store #131 she worked with veterans Joel Abrahmson, Howard Krumholtz, Store Managers Debbie Pollay and later Dennis Lefler. Oh yeah, she also worked with one guy named Axl and one guy named Slash. More on that in the podcast. Betsy tells us about some of her memorable customers including Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Bruce Springsteen and Rick James. Now the owner of a movie theatre in Orgeon, Betsy tells us about some of the similarities and differences between both businesses. 

Mike Pompei grew up in a big Italian family just outside of Buffalo NY. His family was very musical and it seemed to rub off on Mike, who currently plays wineries and breweries throughout Sacramento. At the age of 12, just as his generation of pop music was becoming a priority, the Pompei family moved to the sunny enviorns of Sacramento, California. Following in his older brother's footsteps, Mike eventually went on to work at Tower Records Watt Avenue where Ken Sockolov was the Store Manager. Alternating between working at Tower Records locations and Tower Posters, Mike found his niche. Running the Tower Posters store on the 3rd floor of the Westwood (L.A.) location, Mike received a call one day from Dick Harris, the Division Manager for Posters. Told to “shut it all down” and ship the posters product back to Sacramento, Mike wasn't told what his future was. It was then that Westwood Store Manager Chris Hopson told Mike to stay and work with him. When Chris Hopson left Westwood to start up Tower Advertising in Sacramento he took Pompei with him, where Mike worked for 18 years. On this episode Mike Pompei tells us the various roles he assumed in Tower Advertising, the stress of meeting deadlines, dealing with newspapers and radio stations, his travels visiting stores and media markets, meeting face to face with record label brass at NARM and a hilarous enccounter with a member of Aerosmith at one of the Tower Annual Conferences. 

Christina Sharpe grew up in New York City, mostly on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Growing up in a household where music was always being played and appreciated, Christina took her love of jazz and soul music and added twists of Duran Duran, Level 42 and early 80's East Coast Hip Hop to her repertoire.Christina started her Tower career at the 85th & 3rd Avenue location with General Manager Mike Tannen. From there she worked at 4th & Broadway and ultimately finished her time with Tower at the Lincoln Center store in 2006.During her time at Lincoln Center every day was an adventure. There was the night she oversaw the filming of the Hugh Grant/ Drew Barrymore film “Music & Lyrics”, being recruited by Tower's then-CEO E. Allen Rodriguez to represent Tower Records on the ABC Eventing News, encountering her musical hero Roberta Flack who was shopping for an as yet unreleased track by The Beatles and one of the largest instores of the time, Kanye West's day of release instore for “Late Registration” in 2005.But most important to Christina's daily experiences were her relationships to the Tower staff. Throughout our conversation she regularly talks about the people who made Tower run; those who are still with us and those who have passed on.Join us for a refreshing conversation this week with Christina Sharpe. 

When The Beatles hit America, it came at about the perfect time for Joe Medwick. Just months earlier, when he was 7 years old, his father had passed away, a crushing moment in young Joe's life. But it wasn't as though The Beatles were his introduction to music. Joe had older brothers and sisters with album collections he borrowed and pored over. Joe says he felt like music being a central part of his life was preordained. Playing in bands at a very young age and listening to a diverse Top 40 radio (both US and Canadian based stations) helped build Joe's music knowledge and tastes as he set out into the world. Attending San Francisco State University, Joe did a short stint at Rainbow Records before getting hired at the Columbus & Bay Tower Records in 1980. Like many before him, Joe remembers the key players and personalities of that store at a particularly memorable time. Joe started making moves in his Tower career on the Video side, first transferring to the Sherman Oaks store as an Assistant Manager and then to Concord as the Video Store Manager. In the mid 80's taking on the position of Video Store Manager for NYC's Lincoln Center store and then as Regional Manager for Tower's East Coast stores filled up Joe's professional time, while catching shows at legendary music haunts like The Lone Star Cafe took up his evenings and early mornings. All the while, Joe was also writing for PULSE! magazine when the assignment hit him. A move to West Sacramento to as head of the Video Division and running TVID started out well, but ultimately it didn't fulfill Joe. Listening to offers from LA-based headhunters, Joe took positions at a varitey of southern California entertainment companies and publications. The people Joe worked with or ran into during the time were quite different than the familial Tower vibe he was used to. These days Joe Medwick concetrates on his music career. His two most recent releases are available to listen at joemedwick.com. You can also find upcoming tour dates there, too. Join us for an entertaining, exhaustive look into the career of Joe Medwick.   

In the middle of a very long shift, working to get the brand new Dallas, TX store open, Rob Tolleson had no idea why Kevin Cassidy wanted to go out for coffee with him. “I thought I was in trouble” was his first thought. When Cassidy asked if Rob had ever considered working in management, Tolleson told him that he had not for the simple fact that he hadn't been on the sales floor in years. Cassidy responded that he had seen that Rob could work with everybody in the store, which was the most important component of management, and that the company could get him up to speed on how to handle the nuts and bolts of being a Manager. Thus began the Rob Tolleson's management career with Tower Records. Born and raised in New Orleans, at the age of 10 Rob was adopted by the guitarist of a local/national band who had married his mother. From an early age music was a part of Rob's life. Nonetheless, he had no idea what Tower Records was until one of his mother's friends brought by a promo of Van Halen's OU812. The same friend got him an interview with Record Sales Manager, Freddi Szilagi. In this week's episode, Rob Tolleson tells us about growing up a fan of Classic Rock, starting out alphabetizing Jazz cassettes, moving to Supervisor, and then receiving. From there Rob became a bit of a fixture on the A team circuit, helping to open brand new stores for Tower Records. He also takes an outsider into some of the inner workings of how Tower navigated the city's Jazzfest, where Mondays were often $100,000 days, beating the store's Christmas business. Rob also remembers, after it all closed down, the TV show “Treme” taking a shot at Tower Records during one of its first season episodes. 

Charles R. Cross isn't our typical guest on 2500 DelMonte Street. He never ran a Tower store…never worked in a Tower store. But he had a lot of business and personal relationships with Tower Records, as well as being a steady customer. In the parking lot of the Tower Records at 5th & Mercer in Seattle, weeks before the release date, Charley first heard Nirvana's “Nevermind” given to him on a Maxell XL II 90 by the store's GM. Ten years later Charley would write and release what many consider to be the definitive biography of Kurt Cobain, “Heavier Than Heaven: A Kurt Cobain Biography”.Growing up in several cities before landing in Seattle to go to college, Charley was a passionate music fan at an early age. Some people pick up a guitar, Charley pecked on a typewriter to express his feelings about music. Some takes landed and some missed. But through it all Charley looked for a way to connect with readers who, like him, understood the joy that the best music could bring into a person's life. In this week's episode, we talk about the music and performances that Charley still remembers from his years of listening. Unbelievably there was a time when Springsteen fans couldn't find enough to read about their musical hero and in October 1980 that changed as Charley launched Backstreets Magazine, which he owned and operated until 1998 and which continued to publish, mostly electronically until early in 2023. Charley's years at The Rocket, Seattle's premier music and arts newspaper gave him a front-row seat and a strong part in the formation of the Seattle music scene of the 80's & 90's. There's a reason Courtney Love said on a recent podcast “Charley is an honorary Cobain”. Do we talk about Tower Records in this episode? Yes, we do. Not as much as on others. But if you want a glimpse into early 1990s Seattle, this episode is a great place to start. 

Jim Barber had a 19-year career with Tower Records. Starting in 1987, Jim worked in the Classical Department in Washington DC with Rob Bruce as the store's General Manager. After only a year on the job, Tower decided to open a location in Tyson's Corner VA and Jim was one of three employees to transfer to help get the new suburban location and its first-time General Manager, George Scarlett, up and running. Jim remembers his interview for Tyson's Corner taking place outside the store, in the hallways of The Shops at 2000 Pennsylvania.After leaving the company briefly, Jim found his way back to Tower in Northeast Philadelphia, not far from where he grew up. Twelve years in Store #176 with its unusual layout, Jim ultimately became General Manager of the King of Prussia store from 2002-2004. His career with Tower concluded back where he spent most of his professional life, in North East Philadelphia until it closed in 2006. Jim had the distinction of being the only employee to be in the Northeast Philadelphia store the day it opened as well as its last day of business.  Through it all, Jim remembers his co-workers, Regional Managers, his living situation starting out at a “Tower house” in Washington DC, navigating a post-Tower Records world and lots of other details that made Tower a great place to work. 

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago and a fan of female pop vocalists, Miguel Ortuno made his way to the then-new Tower Records store in Bloomingdale, IL to purchase his very first CD, “The Bodyguard” soundtrack featuring his favorite female singer, Whitney Houston. It wasn't long after that Miguel applied for a job, was hired, and worked at the Bloomingdale location. Running the register, helping customers, and putting away product was a regular part of the job. But Miguel saw other opportunities at Tower. He became a Supervisor and helped out on some “A-Team” projects opening stores around the country. When the position of North Central Events Coordinator opened up, he applied and got the job where he worked for Robert Stapleton, Phil Myers, and Bill Duffy. And despite his heavy Tower Records workload, Miguel also found the time to run a very popular area nightclub on weekends. Join us for a fun, quick conversation with Miguel Ortuno

Geoff Mayfield has had a long and illustrious career in the music business. Starting as an Editor for a Columbus, OH music magazine called “Focus”, it wasn't long before Geoff found himself behind the microphone at WBBY jazz radio. Geoff's background in both music journalism and radio stood out to an executive at Camelot Music, the mall-based music retailer based out of Canton, OH, and soon he found himself working at Camelot's corporate offices. It was at Camelot that Geoff first became aware of Tower Records as executives talked about Tower Records going into Manhattan. Also, reading a profile of Russ Solomon in Rolling Stone magazine sparked Geoff's interest in the West Coast-based company. A speech about Tipper Gore's PMRC record labeling, written for Camelot's CEO led to both an “Atta Boy” from Russ Solomon and indirectly led to Geoff's being hired by Billboard Magazine as their Music & Video Retail Editor. During Geoff's time with Billboard, both as Retail Editor and then as Director of Charts, he was able to build relationships with many at Tower. Even after Tower's demise, Geoff kept in close contact with many and played a significant role in both their life and in some cases, the celebration of lives well lived. Geoff still stays active as he's been teaching at the Los Angeles College of Music for the last 7 years as well as still contributing to both Variety and Billboard. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation about how music used to be purchased and beyond. 

With a father who was primarily a jazz drummer, but would play all kinds of local pickup gigs (and still plays today at 87 years young) music came naturally to a blooming Mike Redmond. So it's no surprise an early career in music retail came naturally to young Mike. Starting in Sherman Oaks under the tutelage of Dave Montes, Redmond found himself early on working for Craig Martin in Marina Del Rey. Working in a Supervisor role, then Video Sales Manager, and ultimately Record Sales Manager Mike was promoted to the position of General Manager at the Dublin, CA Tower Records. As expansion continued into the late 90's Mike found himself heading up the store in Stamford CT, best known as a suburban hub for all the CEOs of record labels and media companies, similar to Paramus NJ. It was in Stamford that young Redmond would pepper the GM of the new store on Ave of the Arts Philadelphia regarding sales and other metrics. Duty called and Redmond took over the Washington DC store for close to four years. He finished his time with Tower in Rockville, MD where he worked until the company was sold at auction to the Great American Liquidators. On his way out the door, he threw the (former) GM of that Philadelphia store a lifeline. Join us for a conversation about the joys of working for the world's greatest record store chain. 

“My interactions with the ‘higher ups' after I moved to Annapolis largely consisted of [them saying] ‘When are you going to stop doing this?' and me saying ‘You hired me to do the job, either fire me or shut the hell up ' ” Scott Edward Phelps had an interesting journey at Tower Records. Moving to Nashville with his bandmates to strike out for a career in music, Scott concentrated on songwriting when half the band left Nashville when fame and fortune didn't materialize. Though Scott had songs recorded and released, he always had a day gig somewhere. Scott was hired at the Nashville store by Tom Rule to work nights initially. Several years older than the average Tower Records employee, Scott worked his way up as a Supervisor and then became the Record Sales Manager. In Nashville, every day seemed like an adventure based on who was going to stop in the store. Later, Scott applied for and got the position of General Manager of Tower Records Annapolis. On this episode of “2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records” join us as we speak with songwriter, podcaster, radio personality, and former Tower employee Scott Edward Phelps. 

If you worked in a Tower Records store or at the corporate offices in Sacramento and had issues with a computer, chances are you probably talked to our guest this week, John Correa. Leaving his life as a member of a local Break Dance crew, John started working for Tower at the TVID warehouse in 1988. John's first professional endeavor working a tech job was when he started doing data entry at TVID in 1990. From there, John's landlord told him about a new department starting up to help stores with Registers and main office personnel with computer issues. This was the beginning of Support Services and John Correa was among the inaugural  5-6 employees of the department. John wasn't just answering phones and asking if everything was plugged in correctly. In the early 1990s, as Tower rolled out its ISP program and new registers, John was traveling, installing, and teaching how to use the programs and registers, often to a roomful of people who had no interest in upgrading to a tech-based inventory system. Join us as John recalls his time in Store Services, some of his favorite work trips across the county, and ending his career at Tower's 24/7 on-site presence at the fabled inception of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

This week's episode takes us away from the coasts and back into the heartland. Jen Gies is originally from Chicago and it was at Tower Records on Clark Street where she began her career with the company, hired in as a Holiday temp employee. As luck would have it, her first day working at Tower happened to be the same her favorite band was doing an in-store launch for their second album. Starting in the classical department, she moved into the Jazz Department when a spot opened.It was in the Jazz department that Jen discovered Bela Fleck & The Flecktones which became a musical obsession for her. This led to Jen's education into bluegrass music and when the Country, Folk & Bluegrass buyer position opened up, it went to Jen. One of the more fascinating stories involved Jen's search for a little-known album that turned out to be miscoded in the New Age section. Jen began to buy box lots, feature it on listening stations, and talk it up to her customers. Jen sent sales reports of this little-known recording to the President of the record label and what followed next tells you everything you need to know about the music business in the 90's. Deciding to move to Nashville, it took a year before a position at the West End Tower store opened up. It was there that Jen got to experience the Nashville scene and all its glory. Jen talks about the many drop-ins from the Nashville recording elite, many before they became famous, and some country royalty that came in to shop with her assistance.Join us for an exciting look into the Tower career of Jen Gies and the goings-on at two of Tower's best-known stores.

Don Erwin started with Tower in 1972 and was a Manager for Tower Posters from 1973-1978. He worked for Dick Harris whose MTS Inc's employee number was 1. Dick, Don and MTS eventually got smart and spun off Tower Posters' success by becoming California Posters, later CP Rock, one of the country's premier distributors of counterculture posters. At one point California Posters sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of poster merchandise to most of Tower's competition.And the paraphernalia business was like printing cash. Being flown to NYC and attending parties by High Times magazine sounds like a scene out of a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. But nothing can be that easy, can it? The rise of paraphernalia laws in California led to Sacramento law enforcement targeting Tower Poster stores. Don Erwin tells us about the comically tragic trial that Tower won, only to be told by law enforcement that they wouldn't back off from coming after Tower Poster stores.Don Erwin's job titles at California Posters were Grand Pubah and Grand Wazoo which translated to National Sales Manager. When Don was told in 1985 that Tower was shutting down California Posters/CP Rock and he was being let go, Don took the generous severance package. He ventured into the poster business. Shortly thereafter Don was sued by MTS Inc.But this story had a happy ending; many years later Don Erwin ran into Russ Solomon at a trade show and thanked Russ for launching his licensed merchandise career.Join us for an informative look behind the operations of the company very few people know about; Tower Posters.

Travis Michael Anderson grew up in Yakima, WA more than 2 hours from Seattle. A classical brass player, Travis moved to the Bellevue WA area and applied to Tower Records Bellevue. He was turned down because he didn't have enough retail experience. For the same reason he was turned down at Barnes & Noble and ended up working for Wherehouse Records. After dealing with Wherehouse's bankruptcy horrors and now having experience under his belt, he was hired at Barnes & Noble in Bellevue to work in their music department.A move to Austin TX with his partner who was going to graduate school led to Travis applying to Tower Records. He washired almost immediately. Travis was a Night Supervisor and eventually the Classical Buyer among several other sections. Moving back to Seattle, a transfer was worked out and Travis spent the next several years at both Tower locations in Queen Anne.During our conversation Travis touches on the work cultures of Tower, Wherehouse and Barnes & Noble, the differences between the Austin and Seattle stores and music scenes, building the first Tower Records pop up store at Seattle's fabled Bumbershoot Festival and working with a group of Tower All Stars at the inaugural Bonnaroo Music festival.

When Tim Wessman started working at Tower, it was never previously on his radar. Tim was immediately impressed by the level of devotion his co-workers had for music. He felt an immediate fit when he started working for Tower.  With no portfolio he interviewed for the Artist position at the Berkley Video store and he was hired by Sue Peterson on the strength of his interview. At the end of 1990, Tim took a weekend trip to NYC and loved it so much that two months later he transferred to the NYC Village store #125. Working with a slew of artists at the Tower Art Loft at 4th & Lafayette, Tim was pulled aside by the Art Director and told to slow down as he was making the other artists look bad. Tim tells us about eventually taking over the role of Art Director and the highs and lows of working art and displays at the number one store in the US. Dealing with foam core full of bullet holes, artists who showed up to work to nap, the infamous Green Day in store where the Village store was torn to shreds, in stores with Lenny Kravitz, The Ramones, The Go Go's and Kate Bush's rare in store signing and being let down by the Prince in store and a whole lot more. The day after a Eurythmics Madison Square Garden reunion show, Tim flew back to the West Coast and started working at the Tower store in the Castro District, which was a completely different experience than what he had become used to. Tim finished his career with Tower as the Singles buyer. 

“College Boy” Greg Harrington started working at Tower Records Burlington MA and did so well on his first day of register, they threw him back in receiving to do pricing. Not the usual path to working in the receiving department, but our guest this week didn't have a conventional career at Tower Records.Burlington MA, the big store on Boston's Newbury Street and the Cambridge store were all part of Greg Harrington's Tower journey. But in between all of that were stints at The Boston Phoenix, the Virgin Megastore and when Tower shut down, a considerable stint at FYE.Through it all Greg Harrington handled his Tower gigs with a positive outlook, a keen sense of humor and a pair of Oakley sunglasses wrapped around his head.On this week's episode of “2500 DelMonte Street” Greg Harrington, a Star Wars nerd, recalls ringing up Natalie Portman in Cambridge, an incident of a never solved, inside job robbery at the Newbury St. store, visits from New York Yankee coach Willie Randolph, regular visits to all three locations from Boston legend Peter Wolf, once with Van Morrison in tow and a whole lot more.Join us for a hilarious conversation with Greg Harrington on this week's episode of “2500 DelMonte Street: the Oral History of Tower Records”. 

Pam Hopson first began working for Tower Records/MTS Inc. in 1976. But unlike many, Pam had to pay to get the job. One of the employment agencies Russ Solomon used back in the early days charged the employee and not just a little bit. Pam paid $400 in 1976 ($2,137 in 2023 dollars) to get a job doing what she did best at the time; running business machines, particularly a 10-key. Starting in the office with just 24 other employees Pam started in Sales Audit and then transferred to the Payroll Department.As Payroll Manager, Pam oversaw 3,000 employees paid weekly (a $14 million dollar annual payroll). Pam lobbied to have payroll moved to a bi-weekly system but Russ and Bud were concerned that the company's employees would struggle with the adjustment and that idea was shot down.At the time, the Payroll Department was taking on an increasing amount of insurance claims as well as calls from store employees who had grievances about things occurring in their stores, as well as the need to get that payroll out each week. Pam Hopson and Shauna Pompei lobbied for a separate Personnel Department formed. Bud Martin finally agreed and Personnel, later Human Resources was born at Tower Records.Pam also talks about meeting her future husband Chris Hopson. She also talks about his subsequent need to personally deliver the Advertising Department's payroll to Pam personally.This is part one of a conversation with Pam Hopson regarding her Tower Records experience. Later in the summer Pam and her family will pay tribute to the late Chris Hopson. They will tell us more about her husband and their father and his place in the Tower Records story.

As a 13 year old from Southern California Russ Eisenman listened to KROQ, stole quarters from his step-father's nightstand and went to Tower Records in Campbell to buy cassettes recommended to him by one of the store's clerks. This opened up Russ' depth and knowledge of popular music.Many years later Russ Eisenman started with Tower Records working at Tower.com . By 2002 Russ was Tower's Chief Marketing Officer. And that clerk from the Campbell store? He rose to Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Universal Music Group, as Russ learned from a chance meeting years later.But back to Russ Eisenman…how does a guy who started off studying psychology, finished with a Masters Degree in Sports Management end up as Chief Marketing Officer for Tower Records? “Stalking Russ and Michael Solomon” is one answer. A background in one of the pioneering internet businesses of the 1990's (“before Google, before Expedia”) certainly helped. A drive and resolve after being diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma as a college student (he got through his treatments listening to The Smashing Pumpkins' “Siamese Dream” repeatedly) might have been a factor.Starting with Tower.com in 1999 under Mark Bressler, Russ worked alongside Jon Fiedner and Mike Farrace. Behind the scenes trying to get Retail Ops to embrace the Tower.com brand in the stores was an uphill battle.In this episode Russ Eisenman takes us behind the scenes of those heady and eventually turbulent days of Tower Records. He describes what he and his team contributed and what he witnessed during that time.

Bill Duffy was from a particular generation of Tower Store Managers; started in the mid 80's to early 90's, spent 15-20 years with the company and was still looked upon as a “newbie”. But Bill broke that mold big time to both the joy and concern of the seasoned and hardened Tower Managers and Regionals. Bill was a General Manager for only 6 years before being promoted into a Regional Manager capacity; light speed in Tower's culture. And two years later to be promoted to Vice President of North American Operations? What did this guy have, to move at warp speed through the Tower Records ecosystem? Bill will tell us how he remembers it all. From his time working for a South New Jersey indie record chain to Assistant Manager under Eric Wood at Cherry Hill NJ. After a couple years running his first store in Nanuet NY, Bill came back to the Philadelphia area running the iconic store on South Street in Philadelphia. From there Bill was based out of Texas, a move he initially resisted. His final four years with the company, as VP of North American Ops were the final four years of the company. Through it all, despite circumstances seemingly limiting the opportunity for innovation, Bill brought a sense of possible renewal to the way Tower Records ran its stores until the clock finally ran out. Join us on the first episode of our 2nd year as we discuss the impact Tower had on the management style and continuing evolution of Bill Duffy.