Opening around the country is a documentary on Tower Records. For those of you that remember the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s, you will recall how Tower Records had hundreds of stores across the nation, in many other countries and was the place to go for videos, new LPs, singles, posters, music magazines and t-shirts.
For teenagers it was one of the few places that would hire you if you were a long-haired hippy, dressed punk, goth, or hip-hop. Tower saw you as a genre expert and if you worked hard, were detail-oriented and knew your stuff you could work up to becoming a music buyer and/or manager. If you moved around, you could transfer easily to a Tower in your new town or get hired based on your experience.
It was a great gig. Didn’t pay a lot, but you would get promo CDs, tickets to concerts, get to listen to music on your shift and as long as you got your work done you could act as goofy as you wanted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBfnQChA9XM
It was one of my favorite places to work as a late teen and early 20’s – I worked at the stores in Berkeley, Las Vegas and Austin, TX. I kept trying to get a transfer to the Japan store but managers in Berkeley and Vegas kept sitting on my application. My life would have been very different. Le sigh.
They are also raising money for Sacramento to have a museum, archive and perhaps even a traveling exhibit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sj1J0cT5pc
It’s playing in Austin at the Regal Arbor (November 6th)
Release dates elsewhere can be found here: