"Director Colin Hanks on the Rise and Fall of Tower Records" (recent article)

Post by g***@gmail.com
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/director-colin-hanks-rise-and-fall-tower-records/?utm_source=/story/104191-what-it-about-beethoven/&utm_medium=treatment&utm_campaign=morelikethis

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.

dk

Lawrence Chalmers

2015-10-25 17:22:04 UTC

I was an employee of Tower at the San Francisco before the separate classical annex was added across the street. Also before cds came upon the scene. But I was doing most of the classical buying until I left. Great memories! Their exchange policy was so liberal it was a wonder that Tower kept going. If a returned item wasn't defective it went to the sealing machine we had in the back. That Tower (no.2) was in a property that once housed a supermarket (if memory serves me correctly). The all night physical inventory was my worst memory (in spite of the fact that we had plenty of 'coffee' to keep us going). We opened at 9am and closed at 11pm. Staff and management was great. I saw parts of this film and it was achingly nostalgic. Russ solomon said he was going to open stores all over the world and I thought he was delusional! I don't think there will be a San Francisco showing so I hope it becomes available on dvd.

We're lucky in SF to have an Amoeba store. That property once was a bowling alley...

Willem Orange

2015-10-25 18:11:15 UTC

Post by Lawrence Chalmers

I was an employee of Tower at the San Francisco before the separate classical annex was added across the street. Also before cds came upon the scene. But I was doing most of the classical buying until I left. Great memories! Their exchange policy was so liberal it was a wonder that Tower kept going. If a returned item wasn't defective it went to the sealing machine we had in the back. That Tower (no.2) was in a property that once housed a supermarket (if memory serves me correctly). The all night physical inventory was my worst memory (in spite of the fact that we had plenty of 'coffee' to keep us going). We opened at 9am and closed at 11pm. Staff and management was great. I saw parts of this film and it was achingly nostalgic. Russ solomon said he was going to open stores all over the world and I thought he was delusional! I don't think there will be a San Francisco showing so I hope it becomes available on dvd.
We're lucky in SF to have an Amoeba store. That property once was a bowling alley...

The personal service was great - I would call the New York store they would pull the album from the shelf and prepare to ship - god ole days

r***@gmail.com

2015-10-25 23:39:09 UTC

Post by Lawrence Chalmers

I was an employee of Tower at the San Francisco before the separate classical annex was added across the street. Also before cds came upon the scene. But I was doing most of the classical buying until I left. Great memories! Their exchange policy was so liberal it was a wonder that Tower kept going. If a returned item wasn't defective it went to the sealing machine we had in the back. That Tower (no.2) was in a property that once housed a supermarket (if memory serves me correctly). The all night physical inventory was my worst memory (in spite of the fact that we had plenty of 'coffee' to keep us going). We opened at 9am and closed at 11pm. Staff and management was great. I saw parts of this film and it was achingly nostalgic. Russ solomon said he was going to open stores all over the world and I thought he was delusional! I don't think there will be a San Francisco showing so I hope it becomes available on dvd.
We're lucky in SF to have an Amoeba store. That property once was a bowling alley...

I was a Stanford student and SFSO Wednesday night concertgoer from 1973-7. A trip to Tower after the concert was a frequent occurrence, more so after the Classical Annex came into being. Tower was more expensive than shops closer to campus though- the Wherehouse in Mountain View was closer and frequently much cheaper: the Decca London Haydn series on sale for $1.29 per disc, for instance, and catalog sales on full price LPs for 2.99. Tower was $5.88
When we moved to NJ in 1977 I found the J&R Classical shop, in an alley off Park Row. That was a really amazing place, and cheaper than sales at Tower or the Wherehouse all the time.
The Tower Annex on 4th and Lafayette was great while it lasted too.
It was all very different from the shops in Birmingham or Oxford (UK for both) which seemed to mostly be small shops whose owner's enthusiasms guided the stock. However, I first became acquainted with Schnabel's Beethoven in deleted COLH pressings there, and the Blom notes were amazing.
There's nowhere to browse actual products in person now- google does the looking but you never discover something new to you that way. Groups like this one help to fill the gap.

Lionel Tacchini

2015-10-26 07:31:00 UTC

Post by r***@gmail.com
There's nowhere to browse actual products in person now- google does
the looking but you never discover something new to you that way.

A most ineffective and expensive way of discovering things. Reading
about composers on Wikipedia or browsing online reviews is better.

--
Lionel Tacchini

r***@verizon.net

2015-10-25 20:33:57 UTC

The Tower at Broadway and W. 4th was a frequent haunt and wallet emptier when I was a college student. I was new to classical music and learned so much from talking with salespeople and fellow shoppers who were always more than ready to render an opinion on a particular performance. It was there that I first became aware of the "cult of the conductor". Until then I had no clue that views on a printed score could be so divergent, varied, and controversial. I was hooked and still am.

The only downsides were the frequent awkward and unwelcome advances from old men which made me very uncomfortable. I got hit on a lot. "Hey son, I see you're a Toscanini fan. I have a huge collection of Toscanini bootlegs and my apartment is just a short walk from here. Would you like to come over for some private listening?"

How things have changed. I think today the bait would more likely be the promise of free booze and drugs and not the 1940 Toscanini Missa Solemnis.

Herman

2015-10-25 20:36:57 UTC

Post by r***@verizon.net
The only downsides were the frequent awkward and unwelcome advances from old men which made me very uncomfortable. I got hit on a lot. "Hey son, I see you're a Toscanini fan. I have a huge collection of Toscanini bootlegs and my apartment is just a short walk from here. Would you like to come over for some private listening?"

Just don't do any Toscanini.

Simple.

r***@verizon.net

2015-10-25 20:41:01 UTC

Post by Herman

Just don't do any Toscanini.
Simple.

Offers weren't limited to Toscanini. It was whatever performer's bin I was standing in front of at the time.

furrybear57

2015-10-26 04:09:01 UTC

Post by r***@verizon.net
The Tower at Broadway and W. 4th was a frequent haunt and wallet emptier when I was a college student. I was new to classical music and learned so much from talking with salespeople and fellow shoppers who were always more than ready to render an opinion on a particular performance. It was there that I first became aware of the "cult of the conductor". Until then I had no clue that views on a printed score could be so divergent, varied, and controversial. I was hooked and still am.
The only downsides were the frequent awkward and unwelcome advances from old men which made me very uncomfortable. I got hit on a lot. "Hey son, I see you're a Toscanini fan. I have a huge collection of Toscanini bootlegs and my apartment is just a short walk from here. Would you like to come over for some private listening?"
How things have changed. I think today the bait would more likely be the promise of free booze and drugs and not the 1940 Toscanini Missa Solemnis.

I don't know about you, but meeting a younger person as interested in classical music as I am would be a huge relief. To talk to someone who knows the difference between a Mozart and a Beethoven symphony, who is familiar with the ten canonical operas of Wagner, has read the story of Verdi, etc. Who would tell me, "your music collection is like a candy store for me". What a boon that would be....i'd finally have someone I can leave my collection to - and it would be appreciated and enjoyed, rather than scattered to the four winds after I'm gone.

Gerard

2015-10-26 17:16:17 UTC

wrote in message news:62272199-e415-4253-84d1-***@googlegroups.com...

The only downsides were the frequent awkward and unwelcome advances from old
men which made me very uncomfortable. I got hit on a lot. "Hey son, I see
you're a Toscanini fan. I have a huge collection of Toscanini bootlegs and
my apartment is just a short walk from here. Would you like to come over for
some private listening?"

How things have changed.
======================

Right. Old men don't do Toscanini bootlegs any more.

furrybear57

2015-10-26 04:00:42 UTC

I used to frequent the location on Lemmon Avenue and Welborn Street when I lived in Dallas. The classical section was in their basement (everything else was on the first floor). I not only bought my music there but my all my Gramophones, Fanfares, Am Record Guides, and Opera News (I preferred to purchase by the month rather than come up with a lump sum for a subscription.)

I remember when DG issued the Mozart Coronation Mass conducted by Karajan at the Vatican and the album cover had a photo of Herbert and Pope John Paul II greeting each other. I was holding a copy trying to decide if I wanted it when the salesman, who knew me well, came up to me, tapped the album cover with this forefinger and queried, "So, who's blessing who?".

Those were the days, my friends.

Lionel Tacchini

2015-10-26 07:36:35 UTC

Post by furrybear57
Those were the days, my friends.

Days of scarcity, of limited offer. I do not regret record stores.

--
Lionel Tacchini

Willem Orange

2015-10-26 11:59:57 UTC

Post by furrybear57
Those were the days, my friends.

Days of scarcity, of limited offer. I do not regret record stores.
--
Lionel Tacchini

Of course you don't - you are like a ghost that points a finger and sneers at everything others hold dear or nostalgic

Roland van Gaalen

2015-10-26 13:11:46 UTC

Post by furrybear57
Those were the days, my friends.

Days of scarcity, of limited offer. I do not regret record stores.
--
Lionel Tacchini

I do. Browsing at Tower was fun.

In the 1980s the suburban "Peninsula" south of San Francisco was a social and cultural desert, despite its material wealth and the Stanford campus. Stores such as Printers' Inc (a wonderful book shop on California Avenue in Palo Alto) and Tower Records (on El Camino Real in Mountain View) were oases.
--
Roland van Gaalen
Amsterdam

Lionel Tacchini

2015-10-26 13:45:40 UTC

Post by Roland van Gaalen
I do. Browsing at Tower was fun.

Yes, the starving enjoy digging the dirt for something edible. That's
very much the way it felt sometime.

Post by Roland van Gaalen
In the 1980s the suburban "Peninsula" south of San Francisco was a
social and cultural desert,

I never met anyone in a record shop. Never saw people talking to each
other either. I never see people talking to each other in stores
anywhere. Maybe it's a US thing

In specialised stores, there would be a couple of youngsters babbling
the latest fashion or the sacred cows to customers. They weren't worth
more than the average fool here.

--
Lionel Tacchini

Willem Orange

2015-10-26 21:18:41 UTC

Post by Roland van Gaalen
I do. Browsing at Tower was fun.

Yes, the starving enjoy digging the dirt for something edible. That's
very much the way it felt sometime.

Post by Roland van Gaalen
In the 1980s the suburban "Peninsula" south of San Francisco was a
social and cultural desert,

I never met anyone in a record shop. Never saw people talking to each
other either. I never see people talking to each other in stores
anywhere. Maybe it's a US thing
In specialised stores, there would be a couple of youngsters babbling
the latest fashion or the sacred cows to customers. They weren't worth
more than the average fool here.
--
Lionel Tacchini

More likely when you walked into he store everyone else shut up to avoid having an interaction with you and being bored to death

r***@gmail.com

2015-10-26 17:31:23 UTC

Post by furrybear57
Those were the days, my friends.

Days of scarcity, of limited offer. I do not regret record stores.
--
Lionel Tacchini

I do. Browsing at Tower was fun.
In the 1980s the suburban "Peninsula" south of San Francisco was a social and cultural desert, despite its material wealth and the Stanford campus. Stores such as Printers' Inc (a wonderful book shop on California Avenue in Palo Alto) and Tower Records (on El Camino Real in Mountain View) were oases.
--
Roland van Gaalen
Amsterdam

You were there later than me. There was no Tower in Mountain View, though there was one in San Jose. Tower may have taken over the Wherehouse location following their bankruptcy.
There are concerts at Stanford- I ushered at them- with fairly well known artists. I saw and heard David Munrow and his Consort (whose verbal introductions to the works were very well done), Graffman, . . .
There were also the San Jose SO and the OaklandSO in the mid70s, where I heard Milstein do the Bach Sonatas and Partitas. In some ways the most ear-opening concert I went to was the Harry Partch Ensemble- completely new to me.

Frank Berger

2015-10-26 17:40:20 UTC

Post by r***@gmail.com

Post by furrybear57
Those were the days, my friends.

Days of scarcity, of limited offer. I do not regret record stores.
--
Lionel Tacchini

I do. Browsing at Tower was fun.
In the 1980s the suburban "Peninsula" south of San Francisco was a social and cultural desert, despite its material wealth and the Stanford campus. Stores such as Printers' Inc (a wonderful book shop on California Avenue in Palo Alto) and Tower Records (on El Camino Real in Mountain View) were oases.
--
Roland van Gaalen
Amsterdam

I used to browse a lot too. But a slight curvature of the
spine causes my neck to start hurting after a few minutes of
look down. I don't have that problem browsing on-line.

John Wiser

2015-10-26 17:48:02 UTC

Post by r***@gmail.com

Post by furrybear57
Those were the days, my friends.

Days of scarcity, of limited offer. I do not regret record stores.
--
Lionel Tacchini

I do. Browsing at Tower was fun.
In the 1980s the suburban "Peninsula" south of San Francisco was a social and cultural desert,
despite its material wealth and the Stanford campus. Stores such as Printers' Inc (a wonderful
book shop on California Avenue in Palo Alto) and Tower Records (on El Camino Real in Mountain
View) were oases.
--
Roland van Gaalen
Amsterdam

You were there later than me. There was no Tower in Mountain View, though there was one in San
Jose. Tower may have taken over the Wherehouse location following their bankruptcy.
There are concerts at Stanford- I ushered at them- with fairly well known artists. I saw and
heard David Munrow and his Consort (whose verbal introductions to the works were very well done),
Graffman, . . .
There were also the San Jose SO and the OaklandSO in the mid70s, where I heard Milstein do the
Bach Sonatas and Partitas. In some ways the most ear-opening concert I went to was the Harry
Partch Ensemble- completely new to me.

I used to browse a lot too. But a slight curvature of the spine causes my neck to start hurting
after a few minutes of look down. I don't have that problem browsing on-line.

And you can still look down on everyone.

jdw

Roland van Gaalen

2015-10-26 19:24:01 UTC

Post by r***@gmail.com

Post by furrybear57
Those were the days, my friends.

Days of scarcity, of limited offer. I do not regret record stores.
--
Lionel Tacchini

I do. Browsing at Tower was fun.
In the 1980s the suburban "Peninsula" south of San Francisco was a social and cultural desert, despite its material wealth and the Stanford campus. Stores such as Printers' Inc (a wonderful book shop on California Avenue in Palo Alto) and Tower Records (on El Camino Real in Mountain View) were oases.

You were there later than me. There was no Tower in Mountain View, though there was one in San
Jose. Tower may have taken over the Wherehouse location following their bankruptcy.
There are concerts at Stanford- I ushered at them- with fairly well known artists. I saw and heard
David Munrow and his Consort (whose verbal introductions to the works were very well done),
Graffman, . . .
There were also the San Jose SO and the OaklandSO in the mid70s, where I heard Milstein do the
Bach Sonatas and Partitas. In some ways the most ear-opening concert I went to was the Harry
Partch Ensemble- completely new to me.

I remember classical concerts at Stanford, too.

By the way, here's a quote from yesterday's New York Times:

"Confusing one's own youth with the youth of the world is a common human affliction, but California has been changing so fast for so long that every new generation gets to experience both a fresh version of the California dream and, typically by late middle-age, its painful death."

The whole article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/opinion/sunday/my-dark-california-dream.html?_r=0

Roland van Gaalen
Amsterdam

Al Eisner

2015-10-27 20:06:33 UTC

Post by Roland van Gaalen
In the 1980s the suburban "Peninsula" south of San Francisco was a
social and cultural desert, despite its material wealth and the
Stanford campus. Stores such as Printers' Inc (a wonderful book shop
on California Avenue in Palo Alto) and Tower Records (on El Camino
Real in Mountain View) were oases.

A bit OT, but: Printers Inc. was indeed a good place to browse,
although never quite as good as Kepler's in Menlo Park. Printers Inc.
is long gone (only the cafe remains), but Kepler's is still in
business, albeit with reduced inventory compared to its best days.

There's nothing anywhere nearby which replaces Tower. A branch of
Rasputin occupied the space for a few years, and one could sometimes
find some good classical inventory (especially used), but it
dwindled, and when that branch moved farther south in Mountain View
it seems to have entirely abandoned classical. (The branch in
Campbell still has a limited classical stock, but that's not very
close.)

--
Al Eisner

Randy Lane

2015-10-27 20:54:29 UTC

And then there was the classical only store in Menlo - Classical Wax. Remember that place?

Is the Musical Offering in Berkeley still open? When I left the Bay Area two years ago the longtime manager of the classical "room" in Mountain View, Barry, was working mpart time for the Musical Offering.

I miss the days when I could visit Tower in Berkeley or SF and run it into industry figures like Robert von Bahr (of BIS fame) or Fred Maroth (Music and Arts).

Al Eisner

2015-10-28 20:48:49 UTC

Post by Randy Lane
And then there was the classical only store in Menlo - Classical Wax. Remember that place?
Is the Musical Offering in Berkeley still open? When I left the Bay Area two years ago the longtime manager of the classical "room" in Mountain View, Barry, was working mpart time for the Musical Offering.
I miss the days when I could visit Tower in Berkeley or SF and run it into industry figures like Robert von Bahr (of BIS fame) or Fred Maroth (Music and Arts).

I believe Musical Offering is still open, but more specialized. I have
to admit that I've never gone to Berkeley to buy recordings, however.
Perhaps someone else here has better information.

--
Al Eisner
San Mateo Co., CA

g***@begos.ca

2015-10-27 21:15:23 UTC

My feelings exactly, I never could afford what I wanted to listen to, had to make constant hard choices. With qobuz and Spotify streaming there is more than I can consume.

Those were the bad days.

g***@begos.ca

2015-10-27 21:17:32 UTC

My feelings exactly, I never could afford what I wanted to listen to, had to make constant hard choices. With qobuz and Spotify streaming there is more than I can consume.

Those were the bad days.

g***@gmail.com

2015-10-26 18:20:19 UTC

Following Tower, bookstores?:

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/top-shelf/2015/10/barnes-noble-closing-its-last-non-college-store.html

r***@gmail.com

2015-10-26 23:19:20 UTC

Post by g***@gmail.com

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/top-shelf/2015/10/barnes-noble-closing-its-last-non-college-store.html

Perhaps not too surprising. The book buying population is more likely to shop in the many shopping centres along the Beltway.

g***@gmail.com

2018-03-17 21:40:33 UTC