It's been a year since legendary music man Russ Solomon held a grand opening for his newest venture, R5 Records.

How's business? "It could be better," says the founder of Sacramento's former Tower Records chain, which launched almost 50 years ago, became an international icon but eventually fell victim to the Internet's competition.

The new business isn't yet profitable. But Russ is upbeat as always. Despite the ailing economy, he says, "We're still here."

To celebrate, he's holding a "music festival" this weekend, outside the mural-bedecked former Tower location at Broadway and 16th Street.

Local bands will play in the parking lot, starting at 11 a.m. today and at noon Sunday. There'll be free hot dogs and goodie bags.

"It will be as much razzle-dazzle as we can put together," says the 82-year-old Solomon, who will host the party.

What's ahead for R5? Solomon's team is investing in the same medium that caused Tower so much heartache.

R5's Web site, (www.r5records.com), will be renovated to create a home for videos of local bands, along with blogs and other interactive features.

The intended formula: Showcase up-and-coming groups. Sell some CDs.

"It's really a case of us marrying up with the local music community," Solomon says of the Web initiative. "We're saying, 'We really believe in you and we want to help you.' "

Making a move: One of the area's more unusual work spaces is for lease.

The eclectic Elvas Avenue offices of advertising and public relations firm Astone/Crocker/Flanagan will be available Jan. 1, now that the company is moving to new digs downtown.

The two-level, 9,000-square-foot space near Sacramento State has a split personality facade – brick with fire station doors on one half, a shingled Cape Cod look on the other.

Inside is lots of open space with unusual elements, including old London lampposts, Grecian columns, exposed rough-sawn timber and ornate staircases. (For a look, go to commercial broker Cornish & Carey's Web page: http://198.63.59.3/ Elvas/.

"This has been my home away from home," says a slightly melancholy Scot Crocker, president of the company's 13-employee Sacramento division and the building's owner.

But he says Mark Astone, who last year acquired the firm from Crocker and his partner David Flanagan, "loves being downtown ... and I completely understand that."

The parent company recently made similar moves with its Fresno and San Diego offices, going from suburban to downtown locations, Crocker says.

Write stuff: Brown bags are great for hauling groceries. And launching businesses.

So says Linda Begbie of RDL enterprises.

She founded the conference-planning company in 1988, with two pals, after they met at a Central Coast beach to map out a business plan.

"Here we were, three women who wanted to start an events-planning company, sitting on the beach in Cambria," Begbie recalls, "and we realized we hadn't brought any paper."

They dashed over to a supermarket, returned with a bunch of grocery bags, affixed them to boulders and then used markers to write out their concepts.

The Sacramento company, now with 10 employees and about $1 million in annual sales, celebrates its 20th anniversary on Sept. 25 with a "hoedown" in its midtown parking lot.

At each table: Paper bags. Guests can use them as notepads for their own entrepreneurial dreams.

Reach Bob Shallit at (916) 321-1049. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit