Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 6 March 2018

Founder of transformative Tower Records chain dies at 92

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE terview about his business
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) expansion.
— Russell Solomon, founder Those risks are part of what
of the Tower Records chain made it difficult for Tower
that became a global phe- Records to survive when
nomenon and changed technology began to dras-
the way people consumed tically change the music
music, has died. He was 92. business in the late 1990s
Solomon died Sunday night and early 2000s. Consum-
of an apparent heart at- ers began to shift to the
tack while drinking whiskey internet to download mu-
and watching the Oscars, sic or to buy it from retail-
said his son, Michael Solo- ers such as Walmart, who
mon. offered lower prices in ex-
Russell Solomon first began change for a less intimate
selling music in 1941, at age customer experience than
16, out of his father's Sac- what Tower provided. Rus-
ramento drug store inside sell Solomon said in inter-
the historic Tower Theater views years later than the
building. debt from earlier expan-
The makeshift record shop sions helped lead to the
officially became Tower company's downfall, the
Records in 1960. Solomon, Bee reported.
who preferred jazz, coun- Michael Solomon took over
try and classical music, In this undated file photo, Tower Records founder Russ Solomon poses for a picture at the com- the business in 1998, with
offered something other pany's corporate headquarters in West Sacramento, Calif. Russell remaining chairman
stores didn't: A place to Associated Press of the board. The financial
sift through every genre of pressures eventually be-
music in one place, with hours, and control by lo- mon said. ing to the Sacramento Bee. came too great in 2004,
the help of employees who cal managers about art- Solomon and Tower Re- He delighted in the chal- when Tower Records first
loved music even more. ists and records each indi- cords were the subject of a lenges of expanding his filed for bankruptcy before
Solomon expanded to San vidual store should stock. 2015 documentary by ac- business worldwide, to Eng- closing its doors in 2006.
Francisco in 1968, then to The company's more than tor Colin Hanks that exam- land, Japan and beyond. But Russell Solomon had
Los Angeles and eventually 8,000 employees were mu- ined its iconic role in mu- In 1985, he nearly went to always resisted retiring
all across the world, with sic lovers who wore their sic in the 1970s and 1980s, jail after opening his store — “What would I do if I
Tower Records operating clothes and hair however with stars like Elton John in London on Sundays, not retire?” he said in 1988 —
271 stores and selling $1 bil- they wanted and showed and Bruce Springsteen talk- knowing labor laws prohib- and wasn’t yet done with
lion worth of records at its up to work because they ing about their love of the ited it. music. He re-entered the
height in the 1990s. loved music as much as store. "It's like climbing up a music business just months
Michael Solomon said his Solomon did. Solomon, who never grad- mountain. It's a little bit after Tower Records fold-
father's theories about "I'm sure he'll go down in uated high school, eventu- dangerous to do; a lot dan- ed, opening another music
what a music store should history as having the great- ally rose to be number 335 gerous. But risk is part of the store in the original drug-
be were simple: Large in- est record store chain in on the Forbes' list of the 400 adventure," he told The As- store location. It lasted only
ventories, long and late the world," Michael Solo- richest Americans, accord- sociated Press in a 1988 in- three years.q

San Francisco will remove

pioneer statue some call racist

By JANIE HAR ment cluster that depicts started the removal pro-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A the founding of California. cess in October after dem-
19th century statue that People in the audience onstrators clashed over the
some say is degrading to who had lobbied for the removal of a Confederate
Native Americans will be re- statue's removal cheered statue in Charlottesville, Vir-
moved from its touristy pub- at the vote. ginia, last August.
lic spot near San Francisco's "It definitely feels like a long San Francisco's Historic
City Hall, joining a growing time coming," said Barbara Preservation Commission This Friday, March 2, 2018 photo shows a statue of a Native
list of historic markers being Mumby, an arts commis- agreed in February to the American, bottom, with Sir Francis Drake, top left, and Father
ousted under pressure from sion employee who is de- statue's removal with the Junipero Serra in San Francisco.
the public.The San Francis- scended from Native tribes condition that a plaque Associated Press
co Arts Commission voted in California and New York. be placed to explain why it
unanimously Monday to "I think some people may was removed. en out by Spanish settlers. right thing to do,” he said.
remove the "Early Days" not understand how big Critics of removal say the Tom DeCaigny, who over- “I think we heard loud and
sculpture, which depicts of a symbol it is to be able public shouldn't erase what sees the arts commission clear from the community
a Native American at the to take this down."The is- happened, even if the his- as the city's cultural affairs and from diverse stake-
feet of a Spanish cowboy sue has been percolating tory is ugly. The Ohlone in- director, said the commis- holders that this was not a
and Catholic missionary. It for decades but the San habited the San Francisco sion wasn't trying to forget monument that reflected
is part of the Pioneer Monu- Francisco Arts Commission area before they were driv- or revise history. “It’s the San Francisco’s values.”q