Here's one for ED

[Drunk Monk]

Colin Hanks’ Tower Records film opens S.F. DocFest
By G. Allen Johnson Published 7:13 pm, Wednesday, June 3, 2015


FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2004 file photo, a pedestrian walks through the parking lot of Tower Records in Los Angeles. "All Things Must Pass," a documentary by Colin Hanks about Tower Records, the retail store that dominated for decades before filing for bankruptcy in 2006, earned at standing ovation at the South by Southwest festival on Tuesday, March 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Ric Francis, File)

Although he would eventually go into the family business, music was a lot more important than film for Colin Hanks when he was growing up in Sacramento.

“I just found that I had a much deeper personal relationship with music,” said Hanks, an actor (TV’s “Fargo”) and the son of Tom Hanks. “I identified myself through music much earlier in my life than I did with films.

“I spent quite a lot of money at Tower Records, both as a kid and as a young adult. I didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, so I didn’t spend any of my money on candy. Spent all my money on music.”

Tower Records was an iconic worldwide presence that began in Sacramento in 1960 and went bust in 2006. It was a huge part of Colin Hanks’ life, and now he has made a documentary about it. “All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records” opens the 14th San Francisco Documentary Festival (DocFest) at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 4, at the Brava Theater in the Mission District.

The film, which gives larger-than-life founder Russ Solomon his proper due and includes interviews with Elton John and Bruce Springsteen, is part of a strong music-based lineup in the two-week festival, which also plays at the Roxie and Vogue theaters.

There are also films about the psychedelic alt-rock band the Flaming Lips (“Fearless Freaks”); the gospel group the Blind Boys of Alabama (“How Sweet the Sound”); the first female Japanese country singer, Tomi Fujimaya (“Made in Japan”); the role Danny Fields played in rock history working with the Doors, Lou Reed and the Ramones (“Danny Says”); Thor front man Jon Mikl Thor’s comeback attempt (“I Am Thor”); hip-hop artist Che “Rhymefest” Smith trying to raise his family in his childhood home (“In My Father’s House”); and rock and TV history as seen through the career of a singer, songwriter and actor (“Michael Des Barres: Who Do You Want to Be?”).

Although “All Things Must Pass” features John, who believes he spent more money at Tower Records than anyone else in history, and Springsteen, the star of the film is the irrepressible Solomon. He began the record store as part of an extension of his father’s Sacramento drugstore, Tower Drugs. By the late 1960s, Tower Records had opened a store in San Francisco (at Columbus and Bay streets) and one on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Eventually it expanded all over the world.

Solomon became a celebrity himself, a friend of rock bands and record companies, and an enthusiast for the kind of intense after-hours partying that was common in the 1970s.

“He’s going to have his 90th birthday in September,” Hanks said. “He can drink you and talk you under the table, that’s for sure. He’s vibrant and as quick as ever.”

Hanks says he would like to have a career as a filmmaker, and he has made another documentary with Bay Area ties. The 12-minute short “The Anti-Mascot,” about the 1980s San Francisco Giants mascot Crazy Crab, debuted last month on Grantland.com and ESPN.com, part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” online shorts series.

As for “All Things Must Pass,” Hanks, who is planning on attending DocFest, said his most gratifying moment came when he screened it in Sacramento.

“We did a screening at the Tower Theatre,” Hanks said. “And the film starts at the Tower Theatre, in that same building. We were screening it for about 150 former Tower employees … and basically it was as close to a ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ screening as you can get for a documentary. That was a lot of fun.”

G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:ajohnson@sfchronicle.com">ajohnson@sfchronicle.com</a><!-- e --> Twitter: @BRfilmsAllen

If you go

DocFest: The 14th San Francisco Documentary Film Festival runs Thursday, June 4, through June 18 at the Roxie, Brava and Vogue theaters. <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.sfindie.com">www.sfindie.com</a><!-- w -->.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Colin-Hanks-Tower-Records-film-opens-S-F-6305730.php">http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Co ... 305730.php</a><!-- m -->

[El Dingo]

This is kind of ironic reflecting the death of Tower Records.

Did anyone contact me for Tower Records video footage? No. (I have a ton).

Did Tower Records take me seriously in 1997 when I set up meetings to explain why online sales and MP3s were a serious threat to brick-and-mortar stores? No - I was told MP3s were for geeks and called an 'opportunist' and sent home.

Russ Solomon is an awesome individual and I love him a lot, but the people he surrounded himself with were major-label lackeys that could not see why folks would not want to buy CDs at $18.99 a pop and computers were stupid.

[Drunk Monk]

...you should make your own doc. ;-)

[thatguy]

I wonder if they talk about their bookstores (or video stores) in the doc.

--tg

[thatguy]

To ED's point...here's the new ad for Apfel Music announced today at EEDC. At around the 1min mark, somebody walks by an out of business Tower Records store:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/8/8748105/apple-music-commercial-music-history-wwdc-2015">http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/8/874810 ... -wwdc-2015</a><!-- m -->

--tg

[thatguy]

And the trailer for the movie:

[youtube]-sj1J0cT5pc[/youtube]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/08/watch-the-trailer-for-tower-records-documentary-all-things-must-pass/">http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/08/w ... must-pass/</a><!-- m -->

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Tower Records store on LA's Sunset Strip returns to life, one night only



Like a zombie rising from the dead for Halloween, the iconic record store returns to life for the launch of Tower Records documentary 'All Things Must Pass'

Once upon a time in Los Angeles, the Tower Records store on the Sunset Strip was a sacred hotspot for rock and roll culture. Since the store closed, a victim of the internet as then reported, there have been threats of demolition and battles that kept it standing. Now, the store they just can't kill returns for a one-night-only bash to celebrate a documentary about the West Hollywood landmark, and the iconic brand it represented.

From Frontiers Media:

Colin Hanks’ All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records is a new documentary exploring the history and legacy of Tower Records, which began in California in 1960 and expanded nationwide, with international franchises, before going bankrupt in 2006.

The documentary is out in theaters this Friday, October 16th, but is celebrating its premiere the day before with a party at none other than the old Tower Records site on Sunset, with a special performance from Eagles of Death Metal, a side project of Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme.

Here's the film trailer. I'm looking forward to seeing it.


Yes, Colin Hanks is Tom Hanks' son. No, not that son. The other one.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://boingboing.net/2015/10/13/las-late-sunset-strip-tower.html">http://boingboing.net/2015/10/13/las-la ... tower.html</a><!-- m -->

[thatguy]

I only glanced at the subject line: "We passed this last night"...I thought it was going to be a picture of a kidney stone or something...

--tg