Ep. 101 Remembering Charles R. Cross (Author, Editor, Customer)

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

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On Friday, August 9th, Charles R. Cross passed away from natural causes. For those who knew Charley in the Pacific Northwest music community, the Springsteen community and in real life, it was a shock. Charley was only 67 years old and was in the middle of working on his 10th book.
Back in October 2023 Charley sat down with us and discussed Tower, Seattle, Music and a ton of other subjects.
I first met Charley in 1984, the old fashioned way...by writing him a letter. I had seen his fanzine "Backstreets Magazine" and was stunned at the quality of the publication. I was going into my Senior year of college and I sent along articles I had written. He encouraged me to contribute whatever I wanted. Surprisingly he began printing my articles and photographs.
When I moved to Seattle in 1990 I knew two people; my boss Rob Bruce and Charley. Both showed me the lay of the land in Seattle. While I knew Charley as the Publisher and Editor of "Backstreets" what I quickly found out was the influence of his "day job" publisher and editor of "The Rocket" an incredible chronicle of the Northwest Music scene long before I got there and after I left. As Springsteen's popularity ebbed and Seattle's was on the rise, Charley had a front row seat and shared it with his readers.
We're rerunning our Episode with Charles R. Cross today. Give it a listen.