Founder of Tower Records dies at 92 while drinking whiskey and watching the Oscars

Sacramento Bee ^ | March 5, 2018 | DALE KASLER AND BOB SHALLIT

[AppyPappy]

I have a Technics turntable and my son bought a Luxman receiver at a yardsale. Friend gave me a pair of Klipsch KG-4’s. Both my wife and I kept our albums.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

Yep, there are still some stores in So Cal (Rhino’s in Claremont, Poo- Bah in Pasadena, etc.)...but Amoeba is the best.

[printhead]

try this: https://www.needledoctor.com/

[Kickaha]

Either the dress goes or I do!

[libstripper]

FTA:

"Ironically, he was giving his opinion of what someone was wearing that he thought was ugly, then asked (his wife) Patti to refill his whiskey," Solomon said. When she returned, he had died.

WOw!! Made it all the way to 92 and cashed out in the best way imaginable. Congrats. to him, Democrat or not.

[Thank You Rush]

I remember the large Tower Record store on Broadway in Sacramento many years ago but I had no idea how or who started it.

[SamAdams76]

I used to go to the Tower Records all the time. They are partly responsible for me losing weight because instead of buying lunch, I'd walk to their store at lunchtime and buy a CD instead. I eventually had a collection of over 1,000 CDs.

Kind of a waste of money because today, I have everything on MP3 or streaming and my CDs are all in cardboard boxes in the basement, hopefully not getting wet.

[x]

The original store was in Sacramento.

Tom Hank's son Colin made a documentary about the chain and its closing.

There may still be Tower Records stores in Japan and other countries that were spun off by the American chain before it went bust.

[21twelve]

My wife and son were watching “Louder with Crowder” - a conservative webcast as Crowder was watching the Oscars, but mainly just making a lot of comments. Every time a certain word came up they had to take a drink. Of course it was beer, and not whiskey. They were still pretty drunk at the end.

[Calvin Locke]

I met a guy, a musician that worked at a tube-amp company in the Boston area. Don't remember the name. It was about twenty years ago. Even then, it was a niche market.

I have a piece of software that I bought for real-time processing of SW reception, but it really was designed to work on digital files. It has options for processing through emulated tube amplifiers. Can't remember all the choices, let alone all the tweaks for each classic amplifier.

[Intolerant in NJ]

You can find every bit of recorded music you could ever want in a snap these days on Amazon, but there was something extra special about spending hours just browsing through the bins at Tower Records to see what kinds of unexpected treasures you might come up with - thanks, Mr. Solomon......

[wally_bert]

I’ve uncovered a vintage RCA phonograph in its cabinet.

It’s a hand cranked one. No sign of the handle. The cabinet is in excellent condition. A few minor nicks.

There were a lot of opera records and some loose needles. The turntable still rotates some.

[willyd]

you can use a cactus needle

[T-Bone Texan]

"...Not me - I still spin the vinyl discs...."

I have milk crates to sell you, FRiend!

[T-Bone Texan]

I used to ride my bike several miles to the Tower records in El Toro.

It was a big day when we went there.

[T-Bone Texan]

I have a ton of old vacuum tubes, some new in box.

Think some millennial will be naïve enough to buy them?

Some are even for military use, from the 60s.

[Psalm 73]

"...a ton of old vacuum tubes, some new in box."

I would hold on to them - I don't know if any American companies make them, (Red China does, but, well, China).

Also, have culled my albums down to about 100, mainly folk, blues and jazz.
Gave all of the dark stuff away - like Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones. Kept the Dylan, Allman Brothers, and Herbie Hancock stuff.