Mailbag

haha, dude, i kill probly 5 to 8 gophers every summer here in michigan at my studio....varmint rifle .17 cal, shotgun or pellet gun do the trick! or- they're so dumb that if you just put a trap in front of one of their holes and cover the front of it with grass, dirt and leaves they will walk right in!! if you would rather not shoot em that is ---- big problem by my studio in horse country, cuz horses can step in holes and break a leg....plus they will destroy your barn or garage with their tunnels! cute little fuckers, but the meat is not too tasty! you can also buy an automatic airsoft machine gun that shoots plastic pellets, won't harm em too bad and a fucking blast to shoot! legal in Cali as well! if ya can't beat em, have some fun with em!

robert ritchie - kid rock

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Hey Bob, I've been reading you a long time. I never respond. But I have to thank you for your latest, Woman Of Heart And Mind. Wonderful and true. I once asked "John L." his recipe for writing hits. "Write your truth and make it rhyme" he told me. "just gimme some". Thanks Bob

Jack Douglas

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Hi Bob,

just a quick note to thank you for your recent blog.

"Feed the people, not the machine"........is brilliant..!!!

We've been independent artists since we released 'I'm Too Sexy' in 1991. All the points you cover we've tried to raise with successive labels and media partners for the last few years, 99% of which are in denial or time-locked in 1995.

We've recently hooked up with ChannelFlip who definitely DO GET IT and are a breath of fresh air.

Thanks again and more power to you.

Fred Fairbrass

Right Said Fred

www.rightsaidfred.com

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Hey Bob,

Thanks for all the great things said in your blog about Joni Mitchell.

Joni was signed to Warner's by a dear friend, Andrew Wickham; one of the best and most brilliant A&R men I've known.

We are great friends and I look forward to seeing him every time I visit London. He's not on the internet, he doesn't even have a cellphone, but I can assure you he's still got amazing ears. Another one of his big signings was Norwegian band Aha and for many years he lived in Nashville opening up Warner's country division there. Andrew also started in the business working side by side with Andrew Loog Oldham for the Rolling Stones. In between that and joining Warners, he worked for Lou Adler, one of the great and true moguls in our business. There's almost nothing relative to music that Lou didn't do. I'm sure Andrew would appreciate everyone's kind words about Joni. Hopefully he will drop you a line. I'm sending him those blogs.

Should have written you sooner about Mickie Most. I had the pleasure of knowing him, his wife Chris and his brother David, one of the UK's top promotion men back in the day.

I believe Mickie Most was one of the most influential people in British music in the 1960's and 70's. He worked with such a variety of artists, from Donovan, The Animals, Jeff Beck, Herman's Hermits, LuLu, The Yardbirds and later on RAK, Hot Chocolate, Kim Wilde, Suzi Quatro, Mud and so many others. He should definitely be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Love is Blue" the instrumental, he recorded with Jeff Beck is an amazing track. Spoke about it several months back with Jeff's manager, Harvey Goldsmith suggesting he record an entire instrumental album. Most also worked with blues great Alexis Korner and even with Mary Hopkin after her big hit on Apple. His wife Chris is a great lady, I last saw her when she hosted a memorial service for Ken East, the Australian record man who ran EMI in the UK during its greatest period in the late 1960's and early 70's.

Bob, thanks for the memories.

All the best,

Seymour Stein

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bob

one slight correction to rick nowels' email---it was jeff beck who played on donovan's barabajagal---actually the entire jeff beck group not just solo jeff

definitely not jimmy page---he and bonham were on hurdy gurdy man however

i know, picky picky, but there was/is no one like beck so let the record (sic) be clear

frank brandon

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Hi Bob -

My name is Mikey Wax. I'm a songwriter and singer from Oyster Bay, LI. I've been following your column for a while now, and felt it was an appropriate time to reach out and tell you my story as an up-coming indie aritst. I hope you will read through.

About 3 years ago I put out my first record - "Change Again" - recorded in the basement studio of a local engineer/producer Bob Stander. Having just graduated college at the time and before facebook became overly saturated with marketing, I was lucky enough to catch a wave of buzz online. My record in the first 3 months, with minimal promo sold over 2,000 copies from word-of-mouth, and hit #47 on the iTunes pop chart. That summer, I was also lucky enough to have my music video for the first single - "In Case I Go Again" - receive a main feature on the homepage of YouTube (YouTube has since stopped this type of feature). Overnight, I received nearly half a million views, thousands of single downloads and a couple hundred additional album sales. I was invited to go on the road and support a national act - Howie Day. Together, we played nearly 25 cities through which I was able to work on my live show, plus sell a good amount of merch. The "Change Again" record has since sold over 7,000 copies between digital and shows.

Here's the part I think you will enjoy the most....When I returned home from the tour, I had a falling out with my first booking agent (long story involving being ripped off). He told me at the time I would never play another venue show again...I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew I loved being on the road and performing. I decided to put the word out to my fans about doing private living room concerts. I told fans that if they could gather 25 or more friends/family and I could drive to them on one tank of gas, I would come perform in their living room for the cost of gas and hotel (Very cheap - around $100- $150). The response was outstanding. I received nearly 300 house concert requests form, and I booked 60 straight shows of house concerts across the country. The amazing thing about these intimate shows was I ended up making more money than the venue shows! I believe the connection at these performances created more life-long fans, who purchased all my merch at the shows, and have since continued to support every record and come out to every venue show. The tour was successful. I completed a 2nd house concert tour last summer of 50 shows, and will most likely do a 3rd this Fall.

Since I had a draw in several cities from the house concerts, I was able to get back in venues without a booking agent (though I am still looking). This past summer, I was invited to open up on tour for an artist named Jon McLaughlin. Together, we sold out venues in Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Boston, VA Beach, Philly, and NYC's Gramercy Theatre. I was amazed how many of my fans from the house concerts were at each show.

The past month of my career has been very exciting. My brother is my manager - Jonathan. We were able to pitch my song "Counting On You" for the elimination song on the hit Fox TV show "So You Think You Can Dance", and it was selected! The exposure from this show has been awesome in helping me to further grow my fan base. I just passed over 40,000 followers on twitter, and about 23,000 fans on facebook (links below). I will be hitting the road again this Fall. The past month I have been back in the basement studio where it all began with Bob Stander. We are recording a Holiday EP to be released in early Nov. The EP has 3 original songs and 3 covers. It is near completion and I would love to send you the songs if interested. I'm very excited about this EP!

Thanks for reading through, and thank you for your insightful posts. Hope this finds you well.

Sincerely,

Mikey Wax

http://twitter.com/mikeywax
http://facebook.com/mikeywax
http://mikeywax.com


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