2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

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On this episode we welcome back our old friend Kevin Ertell, who is releasing a book today entitled “The Strategy Trap”. From Amazon.com;

“In The Strategy Trap, veteran operator and former Nike executive Kevin Ertell delivers a no-nonsense guide to solving the problem every leader faces: why great plans so often go nowhere.

Drawing on 30+ years of experience leading execution at global brands like Nike, Sur La Table, Borders, and Tower Records, Ertell shares the hard-won lessons that separate companies that move from vision to results—and those that don’t. You’ll learn how to avoid the traps that derail even the smartest strategies and how to build the systems, habits, and leadership practices that bring ideas to life.

At the core of the book is Ertell’s practical, field-tested framework: the Six Cs of Execution—Co-creation, Clarity, Capacity, Communication, Coordination, and Coaching. Whether you lead a small team or a global enterprise, these principles will help you align people, eliminate confusion, and build lasting momentum.

This is not a book about how to craft a strategy. It’s about how to actually make one happen.”

After talking to Kevin about his book, why he wrote it, and who it is meant for, we have our very first roundtable discussion with Bill Duffy, Dalia Goldgor and Jayson Munyon. The five of us talk about what we learned working at Tower Records and how it served us in our current careers. 

Join us for a great conversation and a lot of laughs. 

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We just became aware of the recent passing of our old friend John Fonvielle. Please enjoy this repeat episode with one of the sharpest, funniest people I ever had the pleasure of working with at Tower Records. 

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John Fonvielle grew up on the mean streets of North Carolina. Actually it wasn’t mean at all. It was idyllic. But then he moved to Washington DC in the mid 1980’s. Now those streets could be mean.

At a young age, looking up to his older brother - a world-renowned Beatles collector - John never listened to the radio much. He was obsessed with The Beatles' "Revolver" and The Band's "Music From Big Pink" when others listened to Top 40 radio. And though he was in the middle of North Carolina a lot of artists from the early 70’s played in or near where John lived.

When John moved to Washington DC to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, he had never heard of Tower Records. His cousin, a stockbroker, told him “On your way home, stop at Tower Records.” John couldn’t figure out why he was saying that at 11pm, but soon found out after visiting the store at 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue.

On this week’s episode John and I discuss some of the characters that made that DC store so special. And while more than a dozen people who worked at the DC store claim to have been Dave Grohl’s boss, John, who was then the “Rock Floor Manager”, was actually the guy overseeing Dave and his small group of followers (yes, even in 1989). John left the DC store to pursue greater management opportunities in the New York/New Jersey markets. Making the opposite commute of living in NYC and working in Paramus NJ, John was privy to some very special concerts and industry events that he tells us about.

It was during John’s tenure running the Paramus NJ store that he dealt with a situation so incredibly bizarre you might not believe some of the things he had to endure.

Join us for a fascinating conversation about Tower Records in the 80s & 90’s. 

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Growing up in Seattle, Washington, this week’s guest, Peter Ames Carlin, has a distinct memory of the hubub surrounding the release of The Beatles “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band” even though he was only 4 years old at the time. “I have very vivid memories of “Sgt Pepper” being the new record…and then “The White Album” and puzzling through that stuff when I was very young”

Spending most of his life as a writer, for newspapers, People Magazine and co-authoring a few books, Peter turned to writing about his passion, music, with the release of his book “Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson”. 

Books about Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Warner Brothers Records and R.E.M. followed, almost all to rave reviews. Some books were written with exclusive interviews for his subjects and others without that cooperation. 

Tuesday August 5th sees the release of “Tonight In Jungleland: The Making of Born To Run”, a second Springsteen book in the Springsteen universe. This time Carlin focuses on a very specific late 1973-late 1975 time frame to chronicle the process of Springsteen writing and recording and dealing with the aftermath of his make or brake third album which is celebrating its 50th anniversary on August 25th, 2025.   

Join us for a conversation about reading, writing and rocking with Peter Ames Carlin

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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. 

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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!

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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. 

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“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. 

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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 you

Cheers!

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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. 

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“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.