When it was announced recently that Tower Records would be closing I diddn’t give it much thought. Tower will always hold a special place in my life but it had been years since I had been a regular customer. I still listen to as much music as ever but I have been getting it from a variety of other sources including the internet and trading copied cd’s with my music-fanatic friends.
In Sacramento I used to hit all three Tower stores on Saturday afternoon. The Broadway store always had the best import singles, the Watt Ave branch had the best Japanese pressings and you just had to check out the Sunrise location in case something special was stashed away in the cutout bin.
The Import section played a huge part in getting music from the late 70’s British punk bands into the hands of American fans. The first Clash album was released in the UK in three years before it was available in the US and when it was finally made available here, the American label took the liberty of replacing some of the original songs. Elvis Costello’s “My Aim Is True” could be bought at Tower three months before it was issued in this country. His next two albums were available in much different forms as imports and could always be found in the Import bins at Tower.
I had forgotten exactly what made Tower so special and why it will be so deeply missed. This weekend I had an experience that brought the message home to me in an amazing and wonderful way.
I don’t buy music the way most people do. I have rarely listened to the radio to find out about music and I’ve never had MTV or VH1. Most of my musical research has been done by reading. When I read Greil Marcus’s Mystery Train, which is a critical history of American music, I began seeking out the artists he explored in the book. This is how I first came to listen to the music of Robert Johnson, The Band and the Sun Sessions by Elvis among others. I have frequently bought albums by an artist without having heard a single note of their music.
It was also not unusual for me to wander the aisles of the store with absolutely no idea of what I was looking for. Just hunting for something to find. I’ve discovered some amazing music this way including something I came across in Tower Saturday.
I was browsing through the blues section when I saw a cd that intrigued me. On the cover was a blurry, black and white photo of a figure dressed all in white, walking with a guitar. The name on the cd was “The Legendary Marvin Pontiac” and the album said it was his Greatest Hits. I’d never heard of the guy, but I noticed a series of endorsements from famous musicians.
“Marvin would kick your ass for nothing. A true genius, a pure original.”- Iggy Pop
“The innovation and possibility in this music leaves me speechless.”- Beck
“A dazzling collection. It strikes me that Pontiac was so uncontainable prescient that one might think that these tracks had been assembled today.”- David Bowie
“This record changed my life.”- John Lurie
I couldn’t figure out why I’d never heard of the guy. On the back of the cd was a small bio of Pontiac that claimed he had lived in a mental institution and been killed by a bus. How could I have missed something like this? I was hooked though, and bought the cd (along with a copy of Ry Cooder’s Chavez Ravine).
I threw the disc into the cd player as soon as we got home and and was floored by what I heard. Clearly, this was not what it appeared to be. The music was beautiful and weird but it was also quite obviously not the work of a long dead bluesman. The singer is a strange mix between Tom Waits, Robbie Robertson and Captain Beefheart. The music is equally eclectic, part delta blues, part free jazz and some hilarious lyrics like “I’m a doggie/I stink when I’m wet/cause I’m a doggie.”
A quick google search revealed that “Marvin Pontiac” is the alter ego of John Lurie, best known for his work with the Lounge Lizards and as both an actor and musician in Jim Jarmusch films like Mystery Train and Stranger Than Paradise.
Lurie also directed and starred in a series of films called “Fishing With John” that spoof the old “American Sportsman” show which would take celebrities on hunting and fishing trips. Lurie’s version teams him with friends like Matt Dillon, Tom Waits, Jarmusch and Willam Defoe. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. So convincing that it wasn’t until I saw the director’s commentary that I realized the whole thing was a prank.
I had been had by a master and couldn’t be happier about it. The album is one of those rare pieces of music that I just can’t stop listening to. It’s on the Strange and Beautiful Music label and that’s a perfect description of what’s found on the cd.
This is a cd that could never be found in the other music outlets in a town like Fresno. There’s no way it’s going to show up in Best Buy or Circuit City and since we don’t really have any independent stores that means it wouldn’t exist.
It’s a perfect example of what Tower records brought to society. And it’s a perfect example of what will be missing when it goes.
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