2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

Send us Fan Mail

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.

Send us Fan Mail

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. 

Send us Fan Mail

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. 

Send us Fan Mail

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. 

Send us Fan Mail

“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. 

Send us Fan Mail

MTS

Not 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”

Send us Fan Mail

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. 

Send us Fan Mail

“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. 

Send us Fan Mail

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!

Send us Fan Mail

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.