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When you're a carpenter and it's getting into the rainy/cold season, what do you do for employment? If you're Keith Cahoon, you apply for a job at Tower Records, which you expect to last for a total of 3 months.

Working at Tower, then leaving, then getting hired back and then leaving again was a regular occurrence for Keith. Staying with Tower Records provided Keith an opportunity of a lifetime, though he didn't know it right away.

Keiths first seven years with Tower were in the US. Seemingly out of nowhere, Keith was asked to run Tower Record's Asian Operations when there were only 3 stores. When Keith left Tower Asia had grown to 62 stores with over $500 million a year in sales, eclipsing the US operation.

In this first of two parts, Keith Cahoon talks about the role music had in his life as a child & teen, his early years as a carpenter, as a Tower employee, as a Blues buyer, as someone who helped Earl Martis put TRIP together and how he ultimately got the surprise phone call from Russ Solomon asking him to go to Japan.

Ep. 12 Keith Cahoon Pt. 1 (Tower Japan) 44:52 Share

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

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Ep. 12 Keith Cahoon Pt. 1 (Tower Japan)