{"title":"July 2026","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"no-music-no-life-tee","title":"No Music No Life Tee","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eORDERS OPEN: 7\/16\/26\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eORDERS CLOSE: 7\/20\/26\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTO PRINT: 7\/20\/26\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePRINTED ON LAA GD1801 GOLDEN YELLOW TEES.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eALL ITEMS TAKE BETWEEN 3-4 WEEKS TO PRODUCE AFTER THE ORDER PERIOD ENDS. You will always receive your item unless otherwise contacted. All items are final sale. We are not responsible for lost, stolen, or misplaced packages.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLong before paid music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, record superstores like Tower Records dominated the retail half of the recorded music industry. But after its second bankruptcy and liquidation in 2006, Tower Records in America is no more. Russ Solomon was born in Sacramento, CA in 1925. As a thirteen-year-old, he worked in his father’s drug store in the Tower Theater building in Sacramento. Soloman’s father began selling records in the drug store in 1941, soon expanding to an empty room adjacent to the drug store that they called “Tower Record Mart.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/77abf9ff-c6b2-43a9-9cee-6adea9e8cf42_799x358_d93bde9e-0fda-48f1-a232-6dafe1a8ba76.webp?v=1756738338\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSolomon began pressuring his father to expand the business. Instead, Solomon ended up buying Tower Record Mart from his father in 1952 to expand on his own, but the business was undercapitalized and ended up being liquidated by his distributors. In 1960, Solomon reopened his business and then created Tower North as a second location—financed with a $5,000 loan from his father. Around this time, he rebranded Tower Record Mart to Tower Records—with a new logo and a Shell Oil Company-themed red and yellow color scheme. In 1968, Solomon spotted the building for his future Tower Records San Francisco location while having a post-hangover brunch across the street with a woman he was partying with the previous night. He transformed the property—a 6,000 square foot former Chinese grocery store—into a record store that was gigantic by the standards of the day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/atmp_pr_09_wide-3a2515a9f800f573d832b9654e5b9796147b40a6.webp?v=1756738351\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTower Records opened its first Los Angeles location in 1970 on Sunset Boulevard. The location was not far from many famous recording artists and record labels, making it the preferred hangout for many of the music industry’s tastemakers. The Sunset location was giant: the 1974 Guinness Book of Records listed it as the largest record store in the world. In 1979, Tower first turned to international expansion by establishing a wildly successful footprint in Japan. Tower’s success in Japan would whet Solomon’s appetite for international expansion. Later on, in an interview, Solomon reflected that they tragically “weren’t really successful in any of the other countries [they] went into.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/Screenshot-2020-11-19-at-15.29.351.png?v=1756738362\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1990, Russ Solomon made Forbes Magazine list of the 400 wealthiest Americans at #335, pegging his net worth at $310 million based on an estimate of Tower Records’ parent company’s private market valuation. In June 1995, Tower Records launched the first online music store on AOL, registering nearly $200,000 in sales that December. A year later, they launched the music store tower.com. CNNMoney—in a November 2000 piece—even described tower.com as once being a dotcom IPO candidate. Despite these forward-looking moves, Solomon seemingly never believed that physical CD sales were threatened and never made serious investments into a digital-first music world. In 1998, Tower pursued a plan that would eventually contribute to its undoing: they borrowed $110 million in bonds to finance aggressive international expansion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/cdn.kpbs.jpg?v=1756738375\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1999, Tower was forced by its creditors to pay off debt by selling its profitable Japanese stores. Tower’s revenue that year had reached a peak of around $1 billion dollars. Sales had continually grown since Tower’s founding in 1960 but finally began to flatten around 2000. In September 2002, Tower was one of the defendants that agreed to a $143 million price-fixing settlement with 41 US states and three US commonwealths. The settlement was part of a two-year investigation into “minimum advertised price” schemes where music distributors agree to pay for retailers’ advertising costs for CDs in exchange for retailers not advertising discounts on those CDs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/1_GjjUcTNtfcvBc-ZT6W_VDA.jpg?v=1756738385\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2004, Tower filed for bankruptcy partially because they could not make a $5.2 million payment on the $110 million they borrowed. Bondholders forgave millions of dollars in debt in exchange for an 85% stake in the company, leaving Russ Solomon and his family with the remainder. By 2005, Tower’s revenue had fallen from $1 billion a year to $430 million per year. In August 2006, Tower filed for bankruptcy for a second time. The retail liquidation firm Great American Group won a two-day bankruptcy auction in October 2006 with a bid of $134.3 million, announcing its plan to liquidate all Tower Records assets to pay off creditors who were owed about $210 million in total. All inventory was to be sold and all US stores were to be closed. Solomon emailed his staff, “The fat lady has sung. … She was off-key. Thank you, Thank you, Thank You.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/13813449623b6c31f24bf25c287e01eb.jpg?v=1756738402\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rise and fall happened so quickly both Solomon and fans of Tower had whiplash. Fans and diehards were on top of the world and falling with Tower simultaneously. Today, Tower Records’ Japanese stores continue to live on. Because they were sold in 1999, they were not on the liquidation chopping block in 2006. Furthermore, there continues to be a brisk demand for physical media in the Japanese music market.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Enter the Night Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Small","offer_id":43145616326862,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Medium","offer_id":43145616359630,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Large","offer_id":43145616392398,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"XL","offer_id":43145616425166,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"XXL","offer_id":43145616457934,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/towerteefront.png?v=1756738019"},{"product_id":"love-is-the-drug-god-help-me-stickers","title":"Love is the Drug \/ God Help Me Stickers","description":"\u003cp\u003e10x3in. bumper stickers\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShip immediately if bought without clothes, or ship when clothes do if purchased with clothes. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGlossy finish\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Enter the Night Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Love is the Drug","offer_id":43338479042766,"sku":null,"price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"God Help Me","offer_id":43338479075534,"sku":null,"price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/stickerstile.png?v=1768155337"},{"product_id":"silence-bumper-sticker","title":"Silence Bumper Sticker","description":"\u003cp\u003e10x3in. bumper stickers\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShip immediately if bought without clothes, or ship when clothes do if purchased with clothes. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGlossy finish\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Enter the Night Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43366164988110,"sku":null,"price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/standdarktile.png?v=1769801280"},{"product_id":"spiritual-crisis-trini-stickers","title":"Spiritual Crisis \u0026 Trini Stickers","description":"\u003cp\u003e10x3in. bumper stickers\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShip immediately if bought without clothes, or ship when clothes do if purchased with clothes. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGlossy finish\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Enter the Night Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Crisis","offer_id":43422863163598,"sku":null,"price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Trini","offer_id":43422863196366,"sku":null,"price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/Artboard6_9e128348-cf17-46f8-8020-bc5b6f6775d5.png?v=1773594356"},{"product_id":"can-of-whoopass-coming-april-30","title":"Can of Whoopass","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first release by artist Eric Deines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLooking at ghosts and empties of buffgold yellowbelly ice cold rocky river waters piled goodness gracious god almighty high like you wouldn’t believe. 40,000 cans of whoopass metabolized through sloppy impulsive behaviors. Scribbles, scrapes and splatterings of the hand and of the heart — and a caravan of overturned applecarts stretching all the way back to Bum Fuck Egypt. Where the Heartland flatlines you gotta double the heartbeats of the heart of the average man. Comedy equals tragedy at twice the speed you see. Yes, incredible comic timing like 8-hours of AA crudeoil coffee in the west side discount tire shop waiting room. Like attending a funeral on your birthday and then dipping to catch the last song of a Steely Dan gig. Like a 3AM wheels-up tepid coffee slog in a midsized airport. Like losing touch with dear friends again and again for a decade stretches then hitting them with a text of a sketch of a boiling angel at some wretched hour. For I too am 3 AM. You gotta learn to love the empty feeling when the night loops become the autistic predawn morning void. My life’s so common it disappears. Only love, a sense of humor and a real good mantra can save your little ass now. The Om is in the margins.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e198 pgs. Full color. Edition of 125. Art by Eric Deines. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDesigned by John Louis Williamson, Amanda Killian \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eand Josh Zoerner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAvailable at enterthenightgallery.com on April 30th and in-person at \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca class=\"x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n x18oe1m7 x1sy0etr xstzfhl x972fbf x10w94by x1qhh985 x14e42zd x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 x3ct3a4 xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak xexx8yu xyri2b x18d9i69 x1c1uobl x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz notranslate _a6hd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kiosk.chi\/\" role=\"link\" tabindex=\"0\"\u003e@kiosk.chi\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e on May 2nd.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Enter the Night Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43498383540430,"sku":null,"price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/Instagrampost-2_1.png?v=1776875864"},{"product_id":"tuck-them-in-sticker","title":"Tuck Them In Sticker","description":"\u003cp\u003e10x3in. bumper stickers\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShip immediately if bought without clothes, or ship when clothes do if purchased with clothes. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGlossy finish\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Enter the Night Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43518240096462,"sku":null,"price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/sticker.png?v=1778446173"},{"product_id":"waiting-sticker","title":"Waiting Sticker","description":"\u003cp\u003e10x3in. bumper stickers\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShip immediately if bought without clothes, or ship when clothes do if purchased with clothes. \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGlossy finish\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Enter the Night Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43570105581774,"sku":null,"price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0571\/2802\/6318\/files\/tgod.png?v=1781619920"}],"url":"https:\/\/enterthenightgallery.com\/collections\/july-2026.oembed","provider":"Night Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}