Ep. 95 Richard Leibowitz (Nanuet, Carle Place, Paramus)

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

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Richard Leibowitz grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York to a father who listened to pre-1960s jazz and a mother who was more into folk music. Neither held much sway for young Richard, so he set out on his own and like a million other kids his age, KISS was the starting point for his music obsessions.

Before working at Tower Records, Richard started working for Musicland while in college. Talking to a former bandmate who had signed on with Tower, Richard applied for and got the position of Store Artist in the Nanuet Store. Richard eventually moved up to the position of Record Sales Manager, a position he held both in Nanuet and in Carle Place.

But Richard’s time at Tower was something of a mixed bag. He got to attend one of the Tower Annual Conferences but what he remembers most is getting busted by Stan Goman for not attending a mandatory Human Resources meeting because he was hungover. He held the position of Record Sales Manager, but when he applied for that position in other, larger stores he didn’t land those gigs. He eventually left the company, sick of 3-hour commutes and all that came with it.

But thinking back on it, Richard met some. pretty cool people. He met Neil Young in a zombie-like state from smoking David Crosby’s weed. He had lunch with the classic YES lineup complete with Rick Wakeman bowing down to him and other Tower employees. And do you want to know the connection a white guy from the suburbs has to Biggie and Tupac? You’ll have to listen to this week’s episode to find out.