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Rick Dorsey is a 20 year Tower Records veteran. Starting his career in West Covina in 1986, Dorsey also worked at, and then in May of 1992 (the first day of the LA riots) ran, the Westwood, Los Angeles store until 1995. Rick ultimately went back to West Covina where he worked until 2006 when Tower Records went out of business.

But long before he worked for Tower, Rick had the bug of being a major music fan. His older sister brought home records by The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Ramones and she turned Rick onto music greater than what was being played on radio. Music became his main identity as a teenager as he snuck into local clubs to see some of the great LA bands of the time; Oingo Boingo, The Stray Cats, X, Agent Orange and others.

In this episode Rick tells us about the managerial influence of Bob Feterl and Anita Bonds, why shopping visits from Michael Jackson were so stressful, conversations he had with George Harrison, what R&B song Al Cowlings and OJ Simpson were looking for the day before the low speed White Bronco chase, why Anita Baker stopped her show at the Greek Theatre to shout out Westwood’s Jazz Buyer and why Russ Solomon’s style guided his managerial outlook.

Ep. 11 Rick Dorsey (LA: West Covina, Westwood) 01:09:31 Share

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

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Ep. 11 Rick Dorsey (LA: West Covina, Westwood)