I told myself I was going to spend all day reading, but I got hooked on these BBC documentaries, which I recommend.
The first is on Roxy Music.
Unfortunately, the second half, after the band reforms, is paint by numbers. But the first half, about the formation of the band, the motivation, is educational and inspirational.
It was the opposite of today. There was a lot of thinking involved. Bryan Ferry had definite concepts he wanted to get across. And who else could write "In Every Dream Home A Heartache," about a lonely man in a beautiful house who has a relationship with a blowup doll...
"I blew up your body
But you blew my mind"
The tidbits are fascinating. From Eno joining and leaving to the piece de resistance, wherein Bob Clearmountain claims he gets more feedback about mixing "Avalon" than any other project he's been involved in:
"It's amazing how many people love that record. I've gotten more comments on that record than anything I've done in my career, by far, you know more than Springsteen, or anything... you mention 'Avalon' and people...'oh, I love that record...my children were conceived to that record.'"
I discovered Roxy Music almost by accident. I was in London that summer of '72 and all the newspapers were buzzing about it (multiple weekly music newspapers...I was in heaven!) I purchased the debut, which of course came without shrinkwrap and was sans "Virginia Plain," which was stripped into the American version. My favorite song is "If There Is Something."
And I purchased the follow-ups religiously, but it wasn't until "Love Is The Drug" that they had any impact upon America.
As for "Avalon"...it was so different from what came before that at first I didn't get it, then it became the make love classic. Yup, that's what you did in the 80's, put "Avalon" on the turntable and had a go at it. And you had to be fast, this was before CDs and the endless loop...although my Technics turntable would repeat a side.
And if we're going to the later era, I've got to mention "Oh Yeah" from "Flesh+Blood."
Almost completely forgotten, "Oh Yeah" is the quintessence of our musical fandom. We didn't care if it wasn't on the radio, we didn't care if nobody else knew it, we just wanted to escape into our favorite tracks, they made our lives complete.
____________________
The second BBC documentary I watched is entitled: "Sweet Home Alabama - The Southern Rock Saga."
I'd like to tell you I learned a lot, but I didn't. But if you're too young to know or remember, it's a good primer.
But the reason everybody should watch it is the visuals. Beginning with the footage of Martin Luther King's assassination. Especially listen to Gregg Allman's song about it, "God Rest His Soul." Not only is it great, and fitting, Gregg delineates perfectly how songs write themselves. It doesn't happen all the time, but when you're inspired, the song channels itself through you.
And then there's Duane... Who's utterly arrogant! He thinks he's the best and he wants no one to tell him what to do! What a difference from today, where everybody wants to cave to the whim of labels and producers and if they're arrogant about their talent, they've got nothing to back it up. But Duane could just plug in his Les Paul and prove it instantly. His solo on Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude" was his first recording at FAME...and a breakthrough for a soul record.
And the Allmans played 306 gigs in a year. Before they made it, trying to make it.
Can you imagine?
Might sound glamorous, but this was before plush buses, and despite some drugs and dames, the best two hours of your day were on stage, the rest was utter drudgery. But that's what it took to make it. And there was no guarantee you would.
But everybody tried.
That's the difference from yesterday and today. The money. That's why everybody wanted to be a rock star, that and the girls. But now the money's been taken away, not by Napster but tech in general. There's much more money in tech and banking and therefore not everybody is playing music, mostly only the young and dumb, and what results is poor and most people don't care.
Music used to rule the world! That's the way the message got out. And they're playing music today, but we lived through the Renaissance in the sixties and seventies, just watch these documentaries for edification.
P.S. Unlike VH1's "Behind The Music," which became an instant cliche, the BBC is not interested in story arc and ratings so much as getting the facts right. We can't do this in America. Oh, that's right, they've got socialist TV in the U.K.
P.P.S. It's great to hear Nile Rodgers tell how Chic was inspired by Roxy Music, right down to the album cover. And then how Roxy/Ferry was inspired by them!
P.P.P.S. For eons, my favorite cuts on "Avalon" were the opener, "More Than This," and the second side slow burner, "To Turn You On." Then, suddenly, I flipped for the second side opener, "The Main Thing." It's rock, it's dance, it's industrial, it's otherworldly! Whatever the essence of the track is, it's not contained in movies, televisions or books, it's something you feel, as if you've being injected with a serum that inspires you and alters your perception of the world. And no drugs are required! Be sure to listen to not only the original, but the now readily available seven and a half minute remix: http://spoti.fi/QcdpP7
P.P.P.P.S. "Now the party's over..." I've heard these introductory lyrics to "Avalon" to the point they're in my DNA, but they rang true in another way watching this video... The party is truly over, rock is dead. I know the Who sang "Long Live Rock," but watching these documentaries you can see how we were all caught up in music, making our statement, trends coming and going quickly...those days are through.
"The Roxy Music Story": http://youtu.be/1Ba5Z8Dy-j4
"Sweet Home Alabama - The Southern Rock Saga": http://youtu.be/IRHN5so_Ijo
"God Rest His Soul": http://bit.ly/MlhSzD
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Saturday 8 September 2012
Clinton vs. the VMAs
What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where a 66 year old ex-President trumps the younger generation in buzz?
One in which one person knows it's about ideas, and the other thinks it's about money.
I didn't watch either. I've got the VMAs on my DVR just in case. As for the election, my vote doesn't count. I live in California. Yup, the election only comes down to a handful of contested states. And the parties are fighting over money and truth and our country has gone in such a bad direction that I can't pay attention. I've got no kids, I'm not that worried about the future, I've given up.
Kids. The millennials.
My brother Roy Trakin posts a blog on hitsdailydouble.com every week. It's a bunch of ass-kissing until the very end, when he has his "Gripe Of The Week." It's one of the highlights of my Thursdays, when just before midnight my phone buzzes and I get to read what Trakin has to complain about. I identify. But for the past couple of weeks, he's turned his Gripe over to his daughter, a recent college graduate. This week she complained that she failed a job interview because she wasn't given the questions in advance. Huh? Is that the generation we're raising?
Yes, it is.
A generation that calls its mommy and daddy twelve times a day, to ask how to drive from here to there, how to run the washing machine. And instead of imploring their kids to figure it out on their own, these parents tear a new tucas to anybody who gets in their way. I can't imagine my parents calling the college administration to complain. But that's what baby boomers do today.
And today's kids have been brought up in a nation so commercial, so absent of values, that they believe money trumps ideas, that if you're rich your life works, that if I've got mine, who cares about you.
I cared about the future. Until the reporters became fans of the politicians. Before CEOs believed they were beholden to shareholders instead of workers, and should profit at the latter's expense. And I'm not saying everybody's bad, I'm just wondering when we're gonna have a correction factor, based on truth, based on values, based on all being in it together.
Whatever MTV was it no longer is. The "M" doesn't stand for music and it's run by bottom-feeding ignoramuses made in the mold of the corporate titans who run their business, Sumner Redstone and Philippe Dauman, who overcompensate themselves and add commercials to Nickelodeon when they can't figure out a way to sustain ratings and make money.
Once upon a time, the train-wreck value at the VMAs was secondary to the music. But that's back when music still counted, when it drove the culture, before Apple, a corporation, became more revered than anybody playing an instrument.
Music used to be about cutting edge ideas, about truth. Now, we get Taylor Swift crowdsurfing, as if that's a brand new idea, we get Rihanna kissing Chris Brown, and if you know about either of these "highlights" of the VMAs, you're either under twenty years old or in this business.
The ratings were halved. And I'm not saying the ratings for the Democratic National Convention were stratospheric, but that's all anybody's talking about, Bill Clinton's speech.
I was getting e-mail during it. I got a phone call from my mother about it. Even right wing pundits gave him credit. Last night on Bill Maher everybody was in awe, of someone who slayed the Republicans using arithmetic.
I just watched Clinton's speech. The buzz became too deafening, I had to see what everybody was talking about, I wanted to become a member of the club.
Remember this process? It's how we used to break music, how we used to get people to listen to the radio, buy records and purchase concert tickets. Because they needed to belong!
Hell, you can't even belong in the music business anymore, and no one wants to. The acts can't stop saying they're being ripped off and you can't get a good ticket to the show because someone richer has gobbled up the best and furthermore, the best were never available to you at any price, maybe you can overpay a broker to get inside.
Musicians are all about greed. They don't want to stop the war, rail against injustice, they just want the corporation to line their pocket. Do you think this is appealing to their theoretical fans, who truly support them?
Without fans you're nothing.
And it appears that despite the impeachment, despite the bashing, Bill Clinton's got tons.
It's never too late to triumph. If you double down on what made you successful and deliver like only you can.
Bill Clinton was so good, he blew Obama and Romney away. You could listen to him, your mind didn't wander, he made sense. In a nation that's full of nonsense. Not only cut taxes and the budget will balance, but overpay CEOs and it will help corporations. It's like the USA is in the depths of a fire sale, with the rich raping and pillaging and the poor afraid the security camera will put them in jail. Yup, bankers don't go to prison, but dopers do.
Clinton had a great act. He knew it was about a show. Not about him, but the audience. He held people in his hand. He manipulated them. He made them laugh, he made them cry. You know who also does this? Prince! That's why he can go on his endless victory lap tour, people saw him on the Super Bowl and were wowed.
And Clinton talked about working together, left and right. When do you ever hear about acts working with their fans, successful acts, acts that can make a difference? Oh, they pay lip service, but they fly private, stay in hotels under assumed names, do their best to put a huge gulf between them and those keeping them in business, all in the name of profits.
Hell, wanna know how politics is just like the music business? Acts refuse to deny the fiction that Ticketmaster is responsible for fees. So there can be no solution. Until acts are blamed for the fees, we can make no progress.
But you can't say anything negative about an act. Because the public won't allow it. The public's too dumb to see the truth.
And it might be because no one can explain it to them. Everybody's got an underlying agenda. If you think TV talking heads are about the truth, you've got no idea how they're getting paid and how much.
Bill Clinton demonstrated it was important to be smart, it was important to be educated and that you run on your record. Sure, you might have had a couple of stiffs, some miscues, but if you can't own your past, you're nowhere.
I don't care whether you're left or right. But it can't be denied that Bill Clinton owned the discussion this week. He dominated public discourse. And the music industry's number one vehicle fell flat, faded away and didn't radiate.
Everyone thinks it's about exposure.
No, it's what you do when you get the spotlight, where it happens, whether you can create virality.
The history of recorded music is sitting online. How do you get people to pay attention, check you out and spread the word? By being talented, by having something to say, by standing for something.
Don't worry about the people you're alienating, but the people you're saving. If you're putting the money first, you're doing it wrong. Bill Clinton is a sexagenarian, he's still in his prime. You want to peak before you're twenty, everything you say is stupid and fades away. Kinda like Justin Bieber, who thinks Michelangelo painted the "Sixteenth Chapel." Role model? Idiot!
Bill Clinton's speech (video halfway down the page): http://yhoo.it/RbLouX
"President Obama killed the VMA's": http://wapo.st/RkVkCs
"Trakin Care Of Business" (10. Tara's Gripe Of The Week): http://bit.ly/OZLaDr
"David Letterman Rips Justin Bieber for Ignorant Remark": http://bit.ly/NZRNYf
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One in which one person knows it's about ideas, and the other thinks it's about money.
I didn't watch either. I've got the VMAs on my DVR just in case. As for the election, my vote doesn't count. I live in California. Yup, the election only comes down to a handful of contested states. And the parties are fighting over money and truth and our country has gone in such a bad direction that I can't pay attention. I've got no kids, I'm not that worried about the future, I've given up.
Kids. The millennials.
My brother Roy Trakin posts a blog on hitsdailydouble.com every week. It's a bunch of ass-kissing until the very end, when he has his "Gripe Of The Week." It's one of the highlights of my Thursdays, when just before midnight my phone buzzes and I get to read what Trakin has to complain about. I identify. But for the past couple of weeks, he's turned his Gripe over to his daughter, a recent college graduate. This week she complained that she failed a job interview because she wasn't given the questions in advance. Huh? Is that the generation we're raising?
Yes, it is.
A generation that calls its mommy and daddy twelve times a day, to ask how to drive from here to there, how to run the washing machine. And instead of imploring their kids to figure it out on their own, these parents tear a new tucas to anybody who gets in their way. I can't imagine my parents calling the college administration to complain. But that's what baby boomers do today.
And today's kids have been brought up in a nation so commercial, so absent of values, that they believe money trumps ideas, that if you're rich your life works, that if I've got mine, who cares about you.
I cared about the future. Until the reporters became fans of the politicians. Before CEOs believed they were beholden to shareholders instead of workers, and should profit at the latter's expense. And I'm not saying everybody's bad, I'm just wondering when we're gonna have a correction factor, based on truth, based on values, based on all being in it together.
Whatever MTV was it no longer is. The "M" doesn't stand for music and it's run by bottom-feeding ignoramuses made in the mold of the corporate titans who run their business, Sumner Redstone and Philippe Dauman, who overcompensate themselves and add commercials to Nickelodeon when they can't figure out a way to sustain ratings and make money.
Once upon a time, the train-wreck value at the VMAs was secondary to the music. But that's back when music still counted, when it drove the culture, before Apple, a corporation, became more revered than anybody playing an instrument.
Music used to be about cutting edge ideas, about truth. Now, we get Taylor Swift crowdsurfing, as if that's a brand new idea, we get Rihanna kissing Chris Brown, and if you know about either of these "highlights" of the VMAs, you're either under twenty years old or in this business.
The ratings were halved. And I'm not saying the ratings for the Democratic National Convention were stratospheric, but that's all anybody's talking about, Bill Clinton's speech.
I was getting e-mail during it. I got a phone call from my mother about it. Even right wing pundits gave him credit. Last night on Bill Maher everybody was in awe, of someone who slayed the Republicans using arithmetic.
I just watched Clinton's speech. The buzz became too deafening, I had to see what everybody was talking about, I wanted to become a member of the club.
Remember this process? It's how we used to break music, how we used to get people to listen to the radio, buy records and purchase concert tickets. Because they needed to belong!
Hell, you can't even belong in the music business anymore, and no one wants to. The acts can't stop saying they're being ripped off and you can't get a good ticket to the show because someone richer has gobbled up the best and furthermore, the best were never available to you at any price, maybe you can overpay a broker to get inside.
Musicians are all about greed. They don't want to stop the war, rail against injustice, they just want the corporation to line their pocket. Do you think this is appealing to their theoretical fans, who truly support them?
Without fans you're nothing.
And it appears that despite the impeachment, despite the bashing, Bill Clinton's got tons.
It's never too late to triumph. If you double down on what made you successful and deliver like only you can.
Bill Clinton was so good, he blew Obama and Romney away. You could listen to him, your mind didn't wander, he made sense. In a nation that's full of nonsense. Not only cut taxes and the budget will balance, but overpay CEOs and it will help corporations. It's like the USA is in the depths of a fire sale, with the rich raping and pillaging and the poor afraid the security camera will put them in jail. Yup, bankers don't go to prison, but dopers do.
Clinton had a great act. He knew it was about a show. Not about him, but the audience. He held people in his hand. He manipulated them. He made them laugh, he made them cry. You know who also does this? Prince! That's why he can go on his endless victory lap tour, people saw him on the Super Bowl and were wowed.
And Clinton talked about working together, left and right. When do you ever hear about acts working with their fans, successful acts, acts that can make a difference? Oh, they pay lip service, but they fly private, stay in hotels under assumed names, do their best to put a huge gulf between them and those keeping them in business, all in the name of profits.
Hell, wanna know how politics is just like the music business? Acts refuse to deny the fiction that Ticketmaster is responsible for fees. So there can be no solution. Until acts are blamed for the fees, we can make no progress.
But you can't say anything negative about an act. Because the public won't allow it. The public's too dumb to see the truth.
And it might be because no one can explain it to them. Everybody's got an underlying agenda. If you think TV talking heads are about the truth, you've got no idea how they're getting paid and how much.
Bill Clinton demonstrated it was important to be smart, it was important to be educated and that you run on your record. Sure, you might have had a couple of stiffs, some miscues, but if you can't own your past, you're nowhere.
I don't care whether you're left or right. But it can't be denied that Bill Clinton owned the discussion this week. He dominated public discourse. And the music industry's number one vehicle fell flat, faded away and didn't radiate.
Everyone thinks it's about exposure.
No, it's what you do when you get the spotlight, where it happens, whether you can create virality.
The history of recorded music is sitting online. How do you get people to pay attention, check you out and spread the word? By being talented, by having something to say, by standing for something.
Don't worry about the people you're alienating, but the people you're saving. If you're putting the money first, you're doing it wrong. Bill Clinton is a sexagenarian, he's still in his prime. You want to peak before you're twenty, everything you say is stupid and fades away. Kinda like Justin Bieber, who thinks Michelangelo painted the "Sixteenth Chapel." Role model? Idiot!
Bill Clinton's speech (video halfway down the page): http://yhoo.it/RbLouX
"President Obama killed the VMA's": http://wapo.st/RkVkCs
"Trakin Care Of Business" (10. Tara's Gripe Of The Week): http://bit.ly/OZLaDr
"David Letterman Rips Justin Bieber for Ignorant Remark": http://bit.ly/NZRNYf
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Friday 7 September 2012
Does He Still Go To Lucy's El Adobe?
From: Richard Tafoya
Re: Carrots, Peppers & Onions
Burrito King is still alive on the east side. The governor just made
the pilgrimage for the beloved machaca burrito.
http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2012/08/gov-brown-takes-an-echo-park-burrito-break/
______
Warren Zevon goes to Burrito King: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6yVA5PHLn8&feature=player_embedded
"In Los Angeles, the Burrito Sometimes Bites Back": http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/18/national/18BURR.html?pagewanted=all
"What does Echo Park’s Citibank building have to do with Warren Zevon and Burrito King?": http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2011/03/what-does-echo-parks-citibank-building-have-to-do-with-warren-zevon-and-burrito-king/
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
And while I've got your attention...
__
Re: Carrots, Peppers & Onions
While I was in LA during the recording of "End Of The Century" with the Ramones and Phil Spector in May and June of '79, Los Tacos was a mandatory nightly stop.
It was Johnny's favorite joint in LA...
We recored at the legendary Gold Star Studio... an amazing time !
cheers ....
Ed Stasium
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Lucy's El Adobe:
http://www.seeing-stars.com/Dine2/Lucys.shtml
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Re: Carrots, Peppers & Onions
Burrito King is still alive on the east side. The governor just made
the pilgrimage for the beloved machaca burrito.
http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2012/08/gov-brown-takes-an-echo-park-burrito-break/
______
Warren Zevon goes to Burrito King: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6yVA5PHLn8&feature=player_embedded
"In Los Angeles, the Burrito Sometimes Bites Back": http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/18/national/18BURR.html?pagewanted=all
"What does Echo Park’s Citibank building have to do with Warren Zevon and Burrito King?": http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2011/03/what-does-echo-parks-citibank-building-have-to-do-with-warren-zevon-and-burrito-king/
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
And while I've got your attention...
__
Re: Carrots, Peppers & Onions
While I was in LA during the recording of "End Of The Century" with the Ramones and Phil Spector in May and June of '79, Los Tacos was a mandatory nightly stop.
It was Johnny's favorite joint in LA...
We recored at the legendary Gold Star Studio... an amazing time !
cheers ....
Ed Stasium
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Lucy's El Adobe:
http://www.seeing-stars.com/Dine2/Lucys.shtml
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Rhinofy-Emitt Rhodes
If only this was on Warner Brothers... Then Emitt Rhodes's Dunhill debut would have been considered a masterpiece, he'd be part of the firmament instead of living in the South Bay broke and disillusioned.
But that's the music business...the game is hard, even if you play to win, oftentimes you lose.
Sure, there were hits on Dunhill Records. Like Barry McGuire and the Mamas & the Papas... But the company could not make the transition to the album era, when singles were secondary and airplay on FM was all that mattered.
Furthermore, "Emitt Rhodes" was released before the age of irony, before people admitted they loved the Carpenters, before Axl Rose professed his love of Elton John. In 1971, Jethro Tull was taken seriously. Yes was breaking through. Music was heady and deep, whereas "Emitt Rhodes" was all sunny and bright, it skipped off the atmosphere, only a few people got it, but those who did...
"With My Face On The Floor"
A riff that's instantly memorable, that's only secondary to Emitt's pure voice... "With My Face On The Floor" has everything Paul McCartney was selling, but at the time it wasn't different enough to be given props, even though this album is better than most of Paul's solo stuff. It's got the changes of the Beatles' music, the harmonies... What's not to like? NOTHING!
"Somebody Made For Me"
Kind of like "Dear Prudence" follows "Back In The U.S.S.R." on the White Album, "Somebody Made For Me" is a bit slower, a bit quieter than "With My Face On The Floor," albeit without the haunting quality of "Dear Prudence"... Still, who doesn't dream of someone made for them? And there's even a bridge... Emitt studied, he knew what worked, you tell a kid about including a bridge today and they think it's got something to do with that Led Zeppelin song...
"She's Such A Beauty"
It's the keyboard that entrances. This sounds like a McCartney romp from the aforementioned White Album... An almost meaningless trifle which feels like the best spring morning, makes your problems fade away. And if you're keeping score, and you should, this is three winners in a row! Even in the album era, this was rare, despite all the backward-looking rewriting of history.
"Long Time No See"
This has got that haunting feel. And the sounds are exquisite, from the cymbal to the guitar, still it's Emitt's vocal that truly puts the song over the top. This was my favorite track on the album, because it was not made for the radio, but just for me, the at home listener, in front of the stereo, needing to have my life saved by music.
"Lullabye"
"Martha My Dear"? "Blackbird"? "Rocky Raccoon"?
This is the kind of song McCartney used to throw off effortlessly that now eludes him. Paul's now trying too hard, like with the originals on last year's "Kisses On The Bottom" album. Whereas he used to write not worried about being self-conscious, just like this.
"Fresh As A Daisy"
The piece de resistance! The track that made a bit of a dent, the one we played to try to enchant newcomers.
But either you were on the Emitt Rhodes train or you were not. Even back then, the masses were prisoners of the radio, and if it wasn't blasted over the airwaves, people didn't trust themselves to like something.
It's got the changes, the feel, and an anthemic quality!
You could do nothing but pick up the needle and drop it on the opening cut once again, to hear this masterpiece of a first side over and over again.
The second side is not quite as good...
But be sure to listen to "You Take The Dark Out Of The Night," with the guitar right off of "Beatles VI."
And "You Should Be Ashamed" has that same personal quality as "Long Time No See."
But the absolute winner on the second side is the opening cut, "Live Till You Die."
"I have to say the things I feel
I have to feel the things I say"
That's it. That's what being an artist is all about. A need to express yourself, honestly. It's why I decry the made by committee music of today. Because the artists don't feel the things they say. The late sixties and seventies were the apotheosis because the artists wrote and performed their own material, unfettered by labels. Yup, the label gave you the money, and then you just went off and did it your way. And success was such a big tent, there was little pressure to sound like everybody else, just to be good.
"You must live till you die
You must fight to survive"
And that's much harder than you think. To not check out, to not either commit suicide or become an automaton in a boring job just to get by. Life is a fight. No matter how rich or poor you might be. And it used to be that music helped us in that fight. Sure, the sound empowered us, but the words ran shotgun, kept us company.
I bought "Emitt Rhodes" because of the reviews. I don't do that anymore. Reviewing is no longer an art, but a way to fill up space in a publication. Or else it's so comprehensive, covering so many releases, that your eyes glaze over.
But in the heyday of "Rolling Stone," "Fusion" and "Crawdaddy," the reviewers were searching for truth, we followed them like beacons. And sometimes we discovered stuff like this.
You know what it's like to drop the needle on an album you've heard not a note of and become immediately enamored?
That's what it was like with "Emitt Rhodes."
Sure, he was in a band before, the Merry-Go-Round. But they never made it to the east coast.
And the similarity to McCartney and the lame label tarnished Emitt unfairly. As he moved forward, Emitt separated himself from Paul, on the follow-up, "Mirror," Emitt was definitely his own man.
But it was too late.
Singer-songwriters were making quiet music, akin to folk. Anybody who rocked a bit harder, like the Eagles, was looking to Nashville instead of London, country influences rather than the British Invasion.
I remember getting "Emitt Rhodes" in a box of albums from the Record Club of America. I remember spinning it incessantly that April. Singing the songs in my head as the fraternity tried to get me to join as I drank their Boone's Farm and ogled their girls, with no intention of signing up.
And all these years later, the album doesn't sound dated, kind of like the Beatles' music, it's forever.
Check it out. You'll love it!
P.S. Just like McCartney, Emitt Rhodes played all the instruments, engineered this album himself, producing with Harvey Bruce and assisted by mixdown engineers Keith Olsen and Curt Boettcher... Etched in the inner groove was "Recorded At Home"!
P.P.S. He was cute!
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/p6HcZ8
Previous Rhinofy playlists: http://www.rhinofy.com/lefsetz
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But that's the music business...the game is hard, even if you play to win, oftentimes you lose.
Sure, there were hits on Dunhill Records. Like Barry McGuire and the Mamas & the Papas... But the company could not make the transition to the album era, when singles were secondary and airplay on FM was all that mattered.
Furthermore, "Emitt Rhodes" was released before the age of irony, before people admitted they loved the Carpenters, before Axl Rose professed his love of Elton John. In 1971, Jethro Tull was taken seriously. Yes was breaking through. Music was heady and deep, whereas "Emitt Rhodes" was all sunny and bright, it skipped off the atmosphere, only a few people got it, but those who did...
"With My Face On The Floor"
A riff that's instantly memorable, that's only secondary to Emitt's pure voice... "With My Face On The Floor" has everything Paul McCartney was selling, but at the time it wasn't different enough to be given props, even though this album is better than most of Paul's solo stuff. It's got the changes of the Beatles' music, the harmonies... What's not to like? NOTHING!
"Somebody Made For Me"
Kind of like "Dear Prudence" follows "Back In The U.S.S.R." on the White Album, "Somebody Made For Me" is a bit slower, a bit quieter than "With My Face On The Floor," albeit without the haunting quality of "Dear Prudence"... Still, who doesn't dream of someone made for them? And there's even a bridge... Emitt studied, he knew what worked, you tell a kid about including a bridge today and they think it's got something to do with that Led Zeppelin song...
"She's Such A Beauty"
It's the keyboard that entrances. This sounds like a McCartney romp from the aforementioned White Album... An almost meaningless trifle which feels like the best spring morning, makes your problems fade away. And if you're keeping score, and you should, this is three winners in a row! Even in the album era, this was rare, despite all the backward-looking rewriting of history.
"Long Time No See"
This has got that haunting feel. And the sounds are exquisite, from the cymbal to the guitar, still it's Emitt's vocal that truly puts the song over the top. This was my favorite track on the album, because it was not made for the radio, but just for me, the at home listener, in front of the stereo, needing to have my life saved by music.
"Lullabye"
"Martha My Dear"? "Blackbird"? "Rocky Raccoon"?
This is the kind of song McCartney used to throw off effortlessly that now eludes him. Paul's now trying too hard, like with the originals on last year's "Kisses On The Bottom" album. Whereas he used to write not worried about being self-conscious, just like this.
"Fresh As A Daisy"
The piece de resistance! The track that made a bit of a dent, the one we played to try to enchant newcomers.
But either you were on the Emitt Rhodes train or you were not. Even back then, the masses were prisoners of the radio, and if it wasn't blasted over the airwaves, people didn't trust themselves to like something.
It's got the changes, the feel, and an anthemic quality!
You could do nothing but pick up the needle and drop it on the opening cut once again, to hear this masterpiece of a first side over and over again.
The second side is not quite as good...
But be sure to listen to "You Take The Dark Out Of The Night," with the guitar right off of "Beatles VI."
And "You Should Be Ashamed" has that same personal quality as "Long Time No See."
But the absolute winner on the second side is the opening cut, "Live Till You Die."
"I have to say the things I feel
I have to feel the things I say"
That's it. That's what being an artist is all about. A need to express yourself, honestly. It's why I decry the made by committee music of today. Because the artists don't feel the things they say. The late sixties and seventies were the apotheosis because the artists wrote and performed their own material, unfettered by labels. Yup, the label gave you the money, and then you just went off and did it your way. And success was such a big tent, there was little pressure to sound like everybody else, just to be good.
"You must live till you die
You must fight to survive"
And that's much harder than you think. To not check out, to not either commit suicide or become an automaton in a boring job just to get by. Life is a fight. No matter how rich or poor you might be. And it used to be that music helped us in that fight. Sure, the sound empowered us, but the words ran shotgun, kept us company.
I bought "Emitt Rhodes" because of the reviews. I don't do that anymore. Reviewing is no longer an art, but a way to fill up space in a publication. Or else it's so comprehensive, covering so many releases, that your eyes glaze over.
But in the heyday of "Rolling Stone," "Fusion" and "Crawdaddy," the reviewers were searching for truth, we followed them like beacons. And sometimes we discovered stuff like this.
You know what it's like to drop the needle on an album you've heard not a note of and become immediately enamored?
That's what it was like with "Emitt Rhodes."
Sure, he was in a band before, the Merry-Go-Round. But they never made it to the east coast.
And the similarity to McCartney and the lame label tarnished Emitt unfairly. As he moved forward, Emitt separated himself from Paul, on the follow-up, "Mirror," Emitt was definitely his own man.
But it was too late.
Singer-songwriters were making quiet music, akin to folk. Anybody who rocked a bit harder, like the Eagles, was looking to Nashville instead of London, country influences rather than the British Invasion.
I remember getting "Emitt Rhodes" in a box of albums from the Record Club of America. I remember spinning it incessantly that April. Singing the songs in my head as the fraternity tried to get me to join as I drank their Boone's Farm and ogled their girls, with no intention of signing up.
And all these years later, the album doesn't sound dated, kind of like the Beatles' music, it's forever.
Check it out. You'll love it!
P.S. Just like McCartney, Emitt Rhodes played all the instruments, engineered this album himself, producing with Harvey Bruce and assisted by mixdown engineers Keith Olsen and Curt Boettcher... Etched in the inner groove was "Recorded At Home"!
P.P.S. He was cute!
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/p6HcZ8
Previous Rhinofy playlists: http://www.rhinofy.com/lefsetz
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Thursday 6 September 2012
Carrots, Peppers & Onions
I'm gonna be in trouble tonight...
I had no idea what a burrito was. Never mind a taco. It was right there on the cover of "Burrito Deluxe," studded with rhinestones, but I was still clueless.
Until I got to L.A.
First you go to Tito's. Down on Washington Place. In Culver City. Where they keep the chips in garbage cans and you line up for food so cheap, so filling and very good...
Until you start experimenting and get a frame of reference.
There was a place back in the seventies. It's gone now, called Burrito King. They had this concoction called the "Machaca Burrito." With stringy beef and oozing sauce, it was delectable. Hell, that's when I learned what a burrito truly was, the difference between corn and flour tortillas.
And Burrito King was a stand. Painted orange. Never in a good neighborhood. And after eating there I realized...don't judge a Mexican place by its looks.
And there were detours to the Gardens of Taxco, where the waiters insisted on prix fixe and you felt ripped off.
And the legendary El Tepeyac, with its Manuel's Special, literally big enough to feed two. On Brooklyn Avenue, in the barrio.
And it was a seventies outing, going in search of the best Mexican food. You never went to Taco Bell, you didn't want anything that institutionalized, with hamburger meat in the pre-made shell....
But back in the eighties, someone decided to go upscale. A restaurant called La Salsa popped up in a strip center at Pico and Sepulveda and eventually morphed into a chain. It wasn't dirty and the salsa was plentiful and free.
The salsa...
That's one thing you devoured, with the chips. You rarely could finish your main course, having devoured bowls of chips, which when done right, were oily and sticky and hot and delicious...like at El Compadre on Sunset. You just couldn't stop.
But at La Salsa, there was a variety of salsas. A smorgasbord of salsas, not just the green and the red.
But then La Salsa was trumped by Baja Fresh. Yes, when La Salsa took its eye off the ball, was busy raking in the profits, a competitor emerged that was cleaner and healthier and... Emblazoned over the counter it states there are no freezers, can openers or microwaves...the food is truly fresh.
And so is the salsa.
That's where I just had lunch.
Now as one visits Los Angeles Mexican restaurants, one starts to encounter this bowl... Especially at stands. There may not be any salsa displayed, but there's a bowl of yellow peppers, which look like they've been there since the fifties. And I love all peppers. But if I eat these things that have been sitting in the hot sun, am I going to survive?
And at even more authentic stands, there's a bowl containing carrots and green peppers and white onions, and the whole stew is immersed in a liquid so milky, you think you need one of those purifying straws to consume. I usually avoid these bowls. It's like refusing a drink, or a joint, you want to, but...
But today at Baja Fresh, they'd just made a fresh batch of this brew. And it was settled in ice. There was no visual attrition. And the ratio was right, there were tons of carrots.
That's what you want, the carrots. When done right, they take on the spiciness of the peppers. They've got a bite. They're delicious. Everything you've always hated about carrots, the firmness, the bland taste, these will close you. Hell, they're oftentimes a bit soft, from having sat in the liquid.
So I'm waiting for them to serve up my fajitas, and I go over to the salsa bar and see this delectable carrot, pepper and onion concoction. I get one of the tiny cups, drop some in, spear a carrot with my fork, and I'm in heaven!
I can't stop eating. I'm standing there at the salsa bar. Consuming.
And when my food was finally ready, I poured this stuff on my plate. This was the Cadillac of concoctions, the Mercedes-Benz, the ratio was right, the carrots were crunchy yet peppery and there were even baby yellow peppers thrown in, which were just mild enough to savor.
Either you're clueless or you know exactly what I'm talking about.
P..S. I know, I know, I didn't mention El Cholo, where I seemingly spent every weekend in the seventies. No one knows if the food there is any good, because they're so messed up on margaritas.
P.P.S. Metamucil. Don't be ashamed. This is the best way to avoid the back end burn. Suck it down before you go to bed, you'll thank me.
P.P.P.S. If I spent the seventies at El Cholo, I spent the eighties at Los Tacos, around the corner from Freddy and Demi Moore's apartment. They would crisp the flour tortillas just right!
"Burrito Deluxe": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrito_Deluxe
http://titostacos.com
Burrito King. Turns out there a couple left. I've eaten at this one on Sunset, not as good as the one on Vermont used to be, still: http://www.yelp.com/biz/burrito-king-sunset-los-angeles
http://thegardensoftaxco.com
http://manuelseltepeyac.com
http://elcompadrerestaurant.com (The one across the street from Guitar Center.)
http://lasalsa.com
http://www.bajafresh.com
http://www.elcholo.com (You want to go to the original one, on Western Avenue.)
Los Tacos: http://www.yelp.com/biz/los-tacos-w-hollywood
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I had no idea what a burrito was. Never mind a taco. It was right there on the cover of "Burrito Deluxe," studded with rhinestones, but I was still clueless.
Until I got to L.A.
First you go to Tito's. Down on Washington Place. In Culver City. Where they keep the chips in garbage cans and you line up for food so cheap, so filling and very good...
Until you start experimenting and get a frame of reference.
There was a place back in the seventies. It's gone now, called Burrito King. They had this concoction called the "Machaca Burrito." With stringy beef and oozing sauce, it was delectable. Hell, that's when I learned what a burrito truly was, the difference between corn and flour tortillas.
And Burrito King was a stand. Painted orange. Never in a good neighborhood. And after eating there I realized...don't judge a Mexican place by its looks.
And there were detours to the Gardens of Taxco, where the waiters insisted on prix fixe and you felt ripped off.
And the legendary El Tepeyac, with its Manuel's Special, literally big enough to feed two. On Brooklyn Avenue, in the barrio.
And it was a seventies outing, going in search of the best Mexican food. You never went to Taco Bell, you didn't want anything that institutionalized, with hamburger meat in the pre-made shell....
But back in the eighties, someone decided to go upscale. A restaurant called La Salsa popped up in a strip center at Pico and Sepulveda and eventually morphed into a chain. It wasn't dirty and the salsa was plentiful and free.
The salsa...
That's one thing you devoured, with the chips. You rarely could finish your main course, having devoured bowls of chips, which when done right, were oily and sticky and hot and delicious...like at El Compadre on Sunset. You just couldn't stop.
But at La Salsa, there was a variety of salsas. A smorgasbord of salsas, not just the green and the red.
But then La Salsa was trumped by Baja Fresh. Yes, when La Salsa took its eye off the ball, was busy raking in the profits, a competitor emerged that was cleaner and healthier and... Emblazoned over the counter it states there are no freezers, can openers or microwaves...the food is truly fresh.
And so is the salsa.
That's where I just had lunch.
Now as one visits Los Angeles Mexican restaurants, one starts to encounter this bowl... Especially at stands. There may not be any salsa displayed, but there's a bowl of yellow peppers, which look like they've been there since the fifties. And I love all peppers. But if I eat these things that have been sitting in the hot sun, am I going to survive?
And at even more authentic stands, there's a bowl containing carrots and green peppers and white onions, and the whole stew is immersed in a liquid so milky, you think you need one of those purifying straws to consume. I usually avoid these bowls. It's like refusing a drink, or a joint, you want to, but...
But today at Baja Fresh, they'd just made a fresh batch of this brew. And it was settled in ice. There was no visual attrition. And the ratio was right, there were tons of carrots.
That's what you want, the carrots. When done right, they take on the spiciness of the peppers. They've got a bite. They're delicious. Everything you've always hated about carrots, the firmness, the bland taste, these will close you. Hell, they're oftentimes a bit soft, from having sat in the liquid.
So I'm waiting for them to serve up my fajitas, and I go over to the salsa bar and see this delectable carrot, pepper and onion concoction. I get one of the tiny cups, drop some in, spear a carrot with my fork, and I'm in heaven!
I can't stop eating. I'm standing there at the salsa bar. Consuming.
And when my food was finally ready, I poured this stuff on my plate. This was the Cadillac of concoctions, the Mercedes-Benz, the ratio was right, the carrots were crunchy yet peppery and there were even baby yellow peppers thrown in, which were just mild enough to savor.
Either you're clueless or you know exactly what I'm talking about.
P..S. I know, I know, I didn't mention El Cholo, where I seemingly spent every weekend in the seventies. No one knows if the food there is any good, because they're so messed up on margaritas.
P.P.S. Metamucil. Don't be ashamed. This is the best way to avoid the back end burn. Suck it down before you go to bed, you'll thank me.
P.P.P.S. If I spent the seventies at El Cholo, I spent the eighties at Los Tacos, around the corner from Freddy and Demi Moore's apartment. They would crisp the flour tortillas just right!
"Burrito Deluxe": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrito_Deluxe
http://titostacos.com
Burrito King. Turns out there a couple left. I've eaten at this one on Sunset, not as good as the one on Vermont used to be, still: http://www.yelp.com/biz/burrito-king-sunset-los-angeles
http://thegardensoftaxco.com
http://manuelseltepeyac.com
http://elcompadrerestaurant.com (The one across the street from Guitar Center.)
http://lasalsa.com
http://www.bajafresh.com
http://www.elcholo.com (You want to go to the original one, on Western Avenue.)
Los Tacos: http://www.yelp.com/biz/los-tacos-w-hollywood
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Lorne Michaels On Here's The Thing
"If you look around the room, and you're the smartest person in the room, then you're in the wrong room."
Whew!
First I listened to Alec's interview of Kathleen Turner. I'd like to say it's fascinating, but you don't really want to hear an actor interviewed, they go on about everybody else's work, the writer, the director... Actors are self-centered, better seen than heard. But at one point, Alec asked Kathleen if she ever burned out.
This is the secret. Do anything long enough and you go through periods where you don't want to do it anymore. Ms. Turner was so busy talking, she missed the question, so Alec asked it again. And she said she did not. But I do.
There was a moment in the 80's, after buying my Mac Plus, after starting my newsletter, that I thought of chucking it all and becoming a computer consultant. Progress was so slow and the music was no good.
It happens today. I'm inundated with so much mediocre stuff I want to move on to something more important. Then I go to a show or hear the right record and I'm reinvigorated.
Alec said the same thing... He wavers. It's a function of getting older, you gain some perspective, you ask yourself, is this it? Is this important enough, should I focus on this to the exclusion of everything else?
Then they referenced the wisdom of Lorne Michaels. Right there in the podcast. His aphorisms... Hell, the podcast is called "Here's The Thing" because that's what Lorne always says, before he drops words of wisdom.
And observe SNL and the penumbra of hype long enough and you come to hate Lorne Michaels. He's smug, above it all. But listen to this podcast and you'll be utterly intrigued.
He references Malcolm Gladwell, another Canadian, and his 10,000 hours theory...
Lorne is in L.A., working on a summer replacement series, doing twelve shows in ten weeks.
You've got no idea the amount of effort involved. And you can never ever get it exactly right.
But this is where Lorne broke through.
It's about the sheer effort.
Everybody's so busy getting it perfect today, that it's wrong. Whether it be artists in the studio or people making movies. That's one of the reasons TV is now so great, the constraints. Of both money and time. You've got to focus on the story, not the look... Anyway, people are seeing it on a small screen.
You should go into the studio with the people making Top Forty music. They're not trying to catch lightning in a bottle, they're busy sculpting Michelangelo's David. So busy getting it so right they sap all the soul from the endeavor. Whereas those great sixties hits still playing on the radio? They were cut quickly, some of them contain mistakes, easily identifiable, but their magic endures.
Then Lorne said "I really believe that if you're going to stay champ, you have to take fights."
What he means by this is you can't rest on your laurels. There's always someone younger and hungrier eager to take your job. He referenced the writers on SNL... Their offices were larger than their apartments. They didn't care about money, only the work.
That's what's wrong with the old farts. Especially in the music business. They're so busy resting on their laurels, they don't want to take a chance, they're eaten alive by youngsters experimenting in new forms, taking risks.
And Lorne goes on about loving L.A. and learning how to fire people, but what I loved most was the above quote.
It's hard to be around people smarter than you. Because you feel uncomfortable, you feel inadequate. We're wired to find comfort, to be accepted, but that doesn't lead to progress.
That's why people come to L.A. and New York. Now, with the Internet, you can make it from anywhere... But can you be stimulated enough to create great work? It's like going to an Ivy League college, discovering that even though you were the smartest person in your high school, you're positively middle of the road in your new environment.
And that's the secret to an elite college. It's not the professors, it's not what you learn in class, it's what you're exposed to in the student body. You learn how to interact. I grew up in the melting pot suburbs of Connecticut, I thought a doctor was rich, then I went to Middlebury. Eileen Rockefeller, Betsy Bass... The guy whose father ran Green Giant. I'm not telling you to impress you, but to tell you I learned how to interact with these people, such that when I'm with a rock star or world class manager I'm not a sycophant, but do my best to play on their level. That's a secret. Tell a rock star how great he is, go on about every time you've seen him, and you'll be brushed off and ignored. But relate to him as a person, and you've got a chance.
Everybody's so busy pooh-poohing the elite, the winners, that they're holding themselves back. If all you can do is criticize those who are on top, you're never gonna advance. Get to know them. Get to know how they got from there to here.
There's a story behind the story, always. Find the person who can tell it to you.
And know that if you're down the food chain you've got to earn entrance. Knocking on the door is not enough, it's closed to you. How can you open it? If you think persistence is the key, you're reading too many self-help books. What do you have that the person above you needs? A record exec is only interested in your music if it can make him money. Instantly. If it can't, if you just want kudos and encouragement, stay away. Money is always a good entrance point. But few have it. You've got to find your entrance point.
If you're hearing the same damn thing every day, having the same experiences, do something different. Take a risk. Take a class. Hell, I went to UCLA Extension not because I was gonna learn anything, and I didn't, but because I wanted to meet like-minded people, which I did... And it opened a few doors, but it taught me first and foremost that I could play.
Can you play?
Lorne Michaels learned he could play in Canada. But he found out it was a backwater, no matter how loyal to his homeland he wanted to be.
He agreed to do SNL live because that meant he didn't have to make a pilot, which he'd done before, which always failed and never made it to air.
And he learned if the audience for the rehearsal was too hot, the ultimate live performance sucked.
Hell, Lorne's full of insight. Listen to this podcast and see.
If only music was as smart.
"Here's The Thing," Episode 8, Lorne Michaels: http://wny.cc/w8PpjM
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Whew!
First I listened to Alec's interview of Kathleen Turner. I'd like to say it's fascinating, but you don't really want to hear an actor interviewed, they go on about everybody else's work, the writer, the director... Actors are self-centered, better seen than heard. But at one point, Alec asked Kathleen if she ever burned out.
This is the secret. Do anything long enough and you go through periods where you don't want to do it anymore. Ms. Turner was so busy talking, she missed the question, so Alec asked it again. And she said she did not. But I do.
There was a moment in the 80's, after buying my Mac Plus, after starting my newsletter, that I thought of chucking it all and becoming a computer consultant. Progress was so slow and the music was no good.
It happens today. I'm inundated with so much mediocre stuff I want to move on to something more important. Then I go to a show or hear the right record and I'm reinvigorated.
Alec said the same thing... He wavers. It's a function of getting older, you gain some perspective, you ask yourself, is this it? Is this important enough, should I focus on this to the exclusion of everything else?
Then they referenced the wisdom of Lorne Michaels. Right there in the podcast. His aphorisms... Hell, the podcast is called "Here's The Thing" because that's what Lorne always says, before he drops words of wisdom.
And observe SNL and the penumbra of hype long enough and you come to hate Lorne Michaels. He's smug, above it all. But listen to this podcast and you'll be utterly intrigued.
He references Malcolm Gladwell, another Canadian, and his 10,000 hours theory...
Lorne is in L.A., working on a summer replacement series, doing twelve shows in ten weeks.
You've got no idea the amount of effort involved. And you can never ever get it exactly right.
But this is where Lorne broke through.
It's about the sheer effort.
Everybody's so busy getting it perfect today, that it's wrong. Whether it be artists in the studio or people making movies. That's one of the reasons TV is now so great, the constraints. Of both money and time. You've got to focus on the story, not the look... Anyway, people are seeing it on a small screen.
You should go into the studio with the people making Top Forty music. They're not trying to catch lightning in a bottle, they're busy sculpting Michelangelo's David. So busy getting it so right they sap all the soul from the endeavor. Whereas those great sixties hits still playing on the radio? They were cut quickly, some of them contain mistakes, easily identifiable, but their magic endures.
Then Lorne said "I really believe that if you're going to stay champ, you have to take fights."
What he means by this is you can't rest on your laurels. There's always someone younger and hungrier eager to take your job. He referenced the writers on SNL... Their offices were larger than their apartments. They didn't care about money, only the work.
That's what's wrong with the old farts. Especially in the music business. They're so busy resting on their laurels, they don't want to take a chance, they're eaten alive by youngsters experimenting in new forms, taking risks.
And Lorne goes on about loving L.A. and learning how to fire people, but what I loved most was the above quote.
It's hard to be around people smarter than you. Because you feel uncomfortable, you feel inadequate. We're wired to find comfort, to be accepted, but that doesn't lead to progress.
That's why people come to L.A. and New York. Now, with the Internet, you can make it from anywhere... But can you be stimulated enough to create great work? It's like going to an Ivy League college, discovering that even though you were the smartest person in your high school, you're positively middle of the road in your new environment.
And that's the secret to an elite college. It's not the professors, it's not what you learn in class, it's what you're exposed to in the student body. You learn how to interact. I grew up in the melting pot suburbs of Connecticut, I thought a doctor was rich, then I went to Middlebury. Eileen Rockefeller, Betsy Bass... The guy whose father ran Green Giant. I'm not telling you to impress you, but to tell you I learned how to interact with these people, such that when I'm with a rock star or world class manager I'm not a sycophant, but do my best to play on their level. That's a secret. Tell a rock star how great he is, go on about every time you've seen him, and you'll be brushed off and ignored. But relate to him as a person, and you've got a chance.
Everybody's so busy pooh-poohing the elite, the winners, that they're holding themselves back. If all you can do is criticize those who are on top, you're never gonna advance. Get to know them. Get to know how they got from there to here.
There's a story behind the story, always. Find the person who can tell it to you.
And know that if you're down the food chain you've got to earn entrance. Knocking on the door is not enough, it's closed to you. How can you open it? If you think persistence is the key, you're reading too many self-help books. What do you have that the person above you needs? A record exec is only interested in your music if it can make him money. Instantly. If it can't, if you just want kudos and encouragement, stay away. Money is always a good entrance point. But few have it. You've got to find your entrance point.
If you're hearing the same damn thing every day, having the same experiences, do something different. Take a risk. Take a class. Hell, I went to UCLA Extension not because I was gonna learn anything, and I didn't, but because I wanted to meet like-minded people, which I did... And it opened a few doors, but it taught me first and foremost that I could play.
Can you play?
Lorne Michaels learned he could play in Canada. But he found out it was a backwater, no matter how loyal to his homeland he wanted to be.
He agreed to do SNL live because that meant he didn't have to make a pilot, which he'd done before, which always failed and never made it to air.
And he learned if the audience for the rehearsal was too hot, the ultimate live performance sucked.
Hell, Lorne's full of insight. Listen to this podcast and see.
If only music was as smart.
"Here's The Thing," Episode 8, Lorne Michaels: http://wny.cc/w8PpjM
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Wednesday 5 September 2012
Quote Of The Day
"Moderate giftedness has been made worthless by the printing press and radio and television and satellites and all that. A moderately gifted person who would have been a community treasure a thousand years ago has to give up, has to go into some other line of work, since modern communications put him or her into daily competition with nothing but world's champions."
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., novelist (1922-2007)
http://wordsmith.org/words/pugilist.html
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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., novelist (1922-2007)
http://wordsmith.org/words/pugilist.html
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Tuesday 4 September 2012
Re-Psy/Gangnam Style
Mr. Lefsetz,
I make my living as a director, cinematographer and editor of mid-to-low budget hip-hop videos, and when I first watched this PSY video a few weeks ago, my reaction was simple: perfect. This video is simply perfect.
Now I know that is a bold statement, so allow me to defend my opinion:
The video is what we would call an absurdist piece, a common genre in low-budget modern videos for artists that will never see more than 200,000 hits. Over-the-top vignettes and surrealist settings mixed with pop art characters. There's hundreds of those out there. However, the twist of originality in the PSY video is the high quality of production value.
Don't get it twisted, this is a very high-budget video for the current marketplace, but the big risk is using that big budget and playing the wild card - in this case, exploring the absurdist genre - and not playing it safe with the same stock performance video we've seen with the majority of Top 40 acts, or what we call the "trap video" in the hip-hop world (the artist and their crew in a run-down location looking hard, most likely with automatic firearms).
So that being said, the brilliance lies not solely within the concept of the video, but the gamble of using extensive resources and capital to execute the vision on a grand scale. Which yielded a product that can keep people's attention to the end of the song (less than 7% of music videos watched online are watched to within 15 seconds of the end).
I can go to CalArts and pluck 10 visual arts freshman to come up with a dozen even crazier, more absurd ideas than the scenes in the PSY video, but who the fuck is going to pay for it?? And which label executive - who has to sign the $150,000 check - is going to intellectually understand the concept of an absurdist, nonsensical visual piece that will most likely not lead to record sales?
Bravo for taking artistic risk on a big stage with a big budget. Bravo.
Long time reader,
Ron
P.S.: Many people inaccurately attribute smaller video budgets in the modern era as a result of declining record sales, which is partly true, but in reality the advances in digital video technology in the last 36 months alone have eliminated the need for half of the budget line items on a video made as recently as 7 years ago. Thanks.
Ron S. Radom
Ronnie West Media
www.ron-west.com
_________________________________________
in case you haven't seen the Oregon Duck version of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDpgzn7KuzE
Replicable indeed. And to delightful results I think. Even if not
exactly in the way you intended. I can't recall a "Friday" knockoff that
was as fun to watch and as fully realized as this Duck's tale. FWIW.
David B. Oshinsky
_________________________________________
Gagnam style actually is about something more. Don't think it will be just novelty...
"Gangnam Style: KPop Megahit Is Actually A Diss Track At South Korea's Opulent Lifestyle":
http://www.irealtytimes.com/articles/2729/20120823/gangnam-style-kpop-megahit-actually-diss-track.htm
_________________________________________
Not to re-open this can of worms (because I'm not an advocate either way), but it's interesting to note that Psy attended Berklee. I wonder if his success now is a result of his education there or it was inevitable.
Matt Pearson
_________________________________________
There's something more to Gangnam Style, its subversiveness. You should read the Atlantic's take on it. It's not just making fun of ourselves that contemporary artists can learn from Psy, it's how to subtly and intelligently make fun of the powerful, the rich, the gatekeepers. There was a great musical tradition in doing that at one time. Now, I can't think of one American artist that has been so deftly subversive as this in ages. We're too busy trying to join the club I guess.
Matthew Meschery
Oakland, CA
http://theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/08/gangnam-style-dissected-the-subversive-message-within-south-koreas-music-video-sensation/261462/
_________________________________________
One of the most amazing things about that video is that he not only produced the track himself, but also choreographed and directed the clip himself. It is off his 6th album, and he ditched his label to make it.
And as for comments that he is in on the joke - take this video clip of a PSY live show. http://youtu.be/rDh8vj2xPOQ
This is a 30 year old man dressed up as Lady Gaga + Beyonce, and dancing their moves to an hugely receptive crowd.
He is genuinely doing what he wants, and having a great time.
I love trashy pop music. Just because a song isn't brilliant/well written/made by machines/etc doesn't mean you can't have feelings towards it and enjoy it.
Cheers,
Jason Morrison
_________________________________________
Fuck me if I haven't been saying this about K-pop, humor and honesty in pop music since 2006 (when I lived in Seoul). Now Gangnam style is huge and finally the industry will listen because people like you are talking about it... seriously I've been saying this for YEARS. Also, this isn't Psy's first track or the first great dance track out of Korea. Psy has a Berklee music degree and the other producers on the Korean scene are at least on par with the guys in the US. The Korean producers' advantage is that they aren't beholden to a behemoth market. They incorporated dubstep and UK garage in 2008 after it had already broken through in the UK and they're open to ANYTHING, they drive the market rather than the market driving the product... and dubstep, it's just now truly taking off in the US. THE US IS A SLOW LUMBERING, BORING BEAST! So late to the game but so fully confident of its own superiority. We're falling behind in music and what's worse, we're falling behind alone because London, Berlin, Stockholm, etc....they're still forging new ground or at least pumping out undeniably good material. It's not even that Korea is ahead of the game... it's that they're willing to take a chance and that puts them ahead of the Americans.
Anyway, Korea is part of the future and you're right, cool is dead.
Matthew Smith
Imagem Music
_________________________________________
I've been waiting to see if you'd write about PSY/Gangnam Style. I just got back from spending the summer in Korea where I was CEO of the USA Pavilion (www.pavilion2012.org) at the World Expo...yep, World's Fairs/Expos are still huge everywhere else in the world. The Pavilion was a public/private partnership with the State Department and we had over 1 million visitors over three months! It was a combination of public diplomacy, education and exhibit design centered around the Expo's theme of the "Living Ocean and Coast" (more of a multi-media Disney/Universal type attraction than science museum). Lots of opportunities to channel the time I spent in the music/live event biz. It was an intense, unique and amazing experience.
Anyway, a key part of our team was a group of 40 university-aged American volunteers ("Student Ambassadors"). A really impressive group of young people from all over the US who speak both English and Korean, they welcomed the guests, helped run the Pavilion shows/films, etc. And many of them are obsessed with K-Pop. Obsessed to the point of sometimes waiting in line for twelve plus hours to get into the nightly K-Pop concerts at the Expo (for artists like Rain who was allowed to take time off from his mandatory military service to perform). K-Pop is definitely a part of the culture in Korea, anytime you turn on the TV there are singing/dance competition shows, stars doing advertisements, gossip, etc. There is also a real pride in K-Pop being homegrown (even though its roots are in Western hip-hop/pop/boy bands), similar to the national pride in the big Korean-conglomerate companies/brands such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai/Kia. And when Gangnam Style started to get noticed outside of Korea, there was a real buzz about...our Student Ambassadors couldn't contain their excitement that their peers who are not focused on Korea finally got a taste of Korean K-Pop culture. Many saw PSY perform the song at the Expo and would play it in our queue area while entertaining our waiting visitors by dancing along with the song. Anytime Korean media would speak with the Student Ambassadors they would always ask about their interest in K-Pop and how it is perceived by Americans.
You are so right...we do live in a global village, and YouTube does connect everyone. Whether it be Gangnam Style or Michel Telo's Ai Se Eu Te Pego or Moves Like Jagger, a lot of the same songs are being streamed online or played in clubs around the world. And speaking of Moves Like Jagger...while it was playing one day, one of our Student Ambassadors, a young woman from DC who attends a prestigious New England liberal arts college, said to me "I'm not sure if I know what he (Mick Jagger) looks like". I then asked her what band Mick Jagger is in...and I kid you not, she thought about it for a few minutes and I finally had to lead her by saying "The Rolling..." and then she shouted "The Rolling Stones!". Although college-aged kids have access to an archive of music on YouTube, what they don't know about iconic music can be pretty shocking.
Here is PSY performing Gangnam Style at the Expo in July, check out the crowd reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byUFg7pyBP4
And a few of our Student Ambassadors did a video at Expo for a flash mob dance routine contest of the Wonder Girls' "Like This" (another big K-Pop band): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jpZBBDat6M
Last...the energy in Korea is palpable, you can feel the entire country on the upswing, becoming a key player in Asia and one of the most important economies in the world. Seoul is a super vibrant city, very trendy and it has some of the best food anywhere. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever back in that part of the world.
Take Care,
Andrew Snowhite
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I make my living as a director, cinematographer and editor of mid-to-low budget hip-hop videos, and when I first watched this PSY video a few weeks ago, my reaction was simple: perfect. This video is simply perfect.
Now I know that is a bold statement, so allow me to defend my opinion:
The video is what we would call an absurdist piece, a common genre in low-budget modern videos for artists that will never see more than 200,000 hits. Over-the-top vignettes and surrealist settings mixed with pop art characters. There's hundreds of those out there. However, the twist of originality in the PSY video is the high quality of production value.
Don't get it twisted, this is a very high-budget video for the current marketplace, but the big risk is using that big budget and playing the wild card - in this case, exploring the absurdist genre - and not playing it safe with the same stock performance video we've seen with the majority of Top 40 acts, or what we call the "trap video" in the hip-hop world (the artist and their crew in a run-down location looking hard, most likely with automatic firearms).
So that being said, the brilliance lies not solely within the concept of the video, but the gamble of using extensive resources and capital to execute the vision on a grand scale. Which yielded a product that can keep people's attention to the end of the song (less than 7% of music videos watched online are watched to within 15 seconds of the end).
I can go to CalArts and pluck 10 visual arts freshman to come up with a dozen even crazier, more absurd ideas than the scenes in the PSY video, but who the fuck is going to pay for it?? And which label executive - who has to sign the $150,000 check - is going to intellectually understand the concept of an absurdist, nonsensical visual piece that will most likely not lead to record sales?
Bravo for taking artistic risk on a big stage with a big budget. Bravo.
Long time reader,
Ron
P.S.: Many people inaccurately attribute smaller video budgets in the modern era as a result of declining record sales, which is partly true, but in reality the advances in digital video technology in the last 36 months alone have eliminated the need for half of the budget line items on a video made as recently as 7 years ago. Thanks.
Ron S. Radom
Ronnie West Media
www.ron-west.com
_________________________________________
in case you haven't seen the Oregon Duck version of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDpgzn7KuzE
Replicable indeed. And to delightful results I think. Even if not
exactly in the way you intended. I can't recall a "Friday" knockoff that
was as fun to watch and as fully realized as this Duck's tale. FWIW.
David B. Oshinsky
_________________________________________
Gagnam style actually is about something more. Don't think it will be just novelty...
"Gangnam Style: KPop Megahit Is Actually A Diss Track At South Korea's Opulent Lifestyle":
http://www.irealtytimes.com/articles/2729/20120823/gangnam-style-kpop-megahit-actually-diss-track.htm
_________________________________________
Not to re-open this can of worms (because I'm not an advocate either way), but it's interesting to note that Psy attended Berklee. I wonder if his success now is a result of his education there or it was inevitable.
Matt Pearson
_________________________________________
There's something more to Gangnam Style, its subversiveness. You should read the Atlantic's take on it. It's not just making fun of ourselves that contemporary artists can learn from Psy, it's how to subtly and intelligently make fun of the powerful, the rich, the gatekeepers. There was a great musical tradition in doing that at one time. Now, I can't think of one American artist that has been so deftly subversive as this in ages. We're too busy trying to join the club I guess.
Matthew Meschery
Oakland, CA
http://theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/08/gangnam-style-dissected-the-subversive-message-within-south-koreas-music-video-sensation/261462/
_________________________________________
One of the most amazing things about that video is that he not only produced the track himself, but also choreographed and directed the clip himself. It is off his 6th album, and he ditched his label to make it.
And as for comments that he is in on the joke - take this video clip of a PSY live show. http://youtu.be/rDh8vj2xPOQ
This is a 30 year old man dressed up as Lady Gaga + Beyonce, and dancing their moves to an hugely receptive crowd.
He is genuinely doing what he wants, and having a great time.
I love trashy pop music. Just because a song isn't brilliant/well written/made by machines/etc doesn't mean you can't have feelings towards it and enjoy it.
Cheers,
Jason Morrison
_________________________________________
Fuck me if I haven't been saying this about K-pop, humor and honesty in pop music since 2006 (when I lived in Seoul). Now Gangnam style is huge and finally the industry will listen because people like you are talking about it... seriously I've been saying this for YEARS. Also, this isn't Psy's first track or the first great dance track out of Korea. Psy has a Berklee music degree and the other producers on the Korean scene are at least on par with the guys in the US. The Korean producers' advantage is that they aren't beholden to a behemoth market. They incorporated dubstep and UK garage in 2008 after it had already broken through in the UK and they're open to ANYTHING, they drive the market rather than the market driving the product... and dubstep, it's just now truly taking off in the US. THE US IS A SLOW LUMBERING, BORING BEAST! So late to the game but so fully confident of its own superiority. We're falling behind in music and what's worse, we're falling behind alone because London, Berlin, Stockholm, etc....they're still forging new ground or at least pumping out undeniably good material. It's not even that Korea is ahead of the game... it's that they're willing to take a chance and that puts them ahead of the Americans.
Anyway, Korea is part of the future and you're right, cool is dead.
Matthew Smith
Imagem Music
_________________________________________
I've been waiting to see if you'd write about PSY/Gangnam Style. I just got back from spending the summer in Korea where I was CEO of the USA Pavilion (www.pavilion2012.org) at the World Expo...yep, World's Fairs/Expos are still huge everywhere else in the world. The Pavilion was a public/private partnership with the State Department and we had over 1 million visitors over three months! It was a combination of public diplomacy, education and exhibit design centered around the Expo's theme of the "Living Ocean and Coast" (more of a multi-media Disney/Universal type attraction than science museum). Lots of opportunities to channel the time I spent in the music/live event biz. It was an intense, unique and amazing experience.
Anyway, a key part of our team was a group of 40 university-aged American volunteers ("Student Ambassadors"). A really impressive group of young people from all over the US who speak both English and Korean, they welcomed the guests, helped run the Pavilion shows/films, etc. And many of them are obsessed with K-Pop. Obsessed to the point of sometimes waiting in line for twelve plus hours to get into the nightly K-Pop concerts at the Expo (for artists like Rain who was allowed to take time off from his mandatory military service to perform). K-Pop is definitely a part of the culture in Korea, anytime you turn on the TV there are singing/dance competition shows, stars doing advertisements, gossip, etc. There is also a real pride in K-Pop being homegrown (even though its roots are in Western hip-hop/pop/boy bands), similar to the national pride in the big Korean-conglomerate companies/brands such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai/Kia. And when Gangnam Style started to get noticed outside of Korea, there was a real buzz about...our Student Ambassadors couldn't contain their excitement that their peers who are not focused on Korea finally got a taste of Korean K-Pop culture. Many saw PSY perform the song at the Expo and would play it in our queue area while entertaining our waiting visitors by dancing along with the song. Anytime Korean media would speak with the Student Ambassadors they would always ask about their interest in K-Pop and how it is perceived by Americans.
You are so right...we do live in a global village, and YouTube does connect everyone. Whether it be Gangnam Style or Michel Telo's Ai Se Eu Te Pego or Moves Like Jagger, a lot of the same songs are being streamed online or played in clubs around the world. And speaking of Moves Like Jagger...while it was playing one day, one of our Student Ambassadors, a young woman from DC who attends a prestigious New England liberal arts college, said to me "I'm not sure if I know what he (Mick Jagger) looks like". I then asked her what band Mick Jagger is in...and I kid you not, she thought about it for a few minutes and I finally had to lead her by saying "The Rolling..." and then she shouted "The Rolling Stones!". Although college-aged kids have access to an archive of music on YouTube, what they don't know about iconic music can be pretty shocking.
Here is PSY performing Gangnam Style at the Expo in July, check out the crowd reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byUFg7pyBP4
And a few of our Student Ambassadors did a video at Expo for a flash mob dance routine contest of the Wonder Girls' "Like This" (another big K-Pop band): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jpZBBDat6M
Last...the energy in Korea is palpable, you can feel the entire country on the upswing, becoming a key player in Asia and one of the most important economies in the world. Seoul is a super vibrant city, very trendy and it has some of the best food anywhere. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever back in that part of the world.
Take Care,
Andrew Snowhite
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Participation
It's less about winning than participating.
This is difficult for baby boomers to understand, they grew up in an era where domination was key. But their progeny are all about being a member of the group. And one of the ways you demonstrate your membership is by making a parody video, a tribute video, a lip-synch video...that's how you evidence ownership and inclusiveness.
This is remix culture. It's what rights holders have fought against for over a decade, believing it would dilute their copyrights. But it turns out that the best way to have a valuable copyright today is to allow the public to make it their own. That's when you know you've got something valuable, when the public embraces it, twists it, bounces it off its brethren.
This is a significant change from what came before. In the past, you were either a hero or a zero. Either the newscaster on TV or the nobody. But today, those newscasters are seen as bloviating helmet-haired automatons and if you've got an opinion you don't keep it to yourself, you express it on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. And your friends know all about it. Want to triumph in today's culture? Dig very deep.
There was a fascinating article in Sunday's "New York Times" stating that the mainstream reporters can no longer follow political campaigns, they're not sophisticated enough. The candidates do such deep data mining that they target micro-groups and ignore the mainstream. You may think what's on TV counts, but really it's what's in the Hadassah newsletter. And it's no different in entertainment. It's what's happening deep in the niche that defines not only today, but tomorrow.
Look at movies... Either they're blockbusters or stiffs, there's nothing in between. Either they're cultural touchstones or irrelevant. The movie business hasn't figure this out yet. That either they have to be in the blockbuster or niche business, there's nothing in between. Same thing in music. But when it gets interesting is when the niche flips and becomes the mainstream.
That's the story of "Gangnam Style." Suddenly, the marginal, brought to life by parody and tribute videos and word of mouth, becomes mainstream.
But don't equate mainstream with lasting. Hell, one can argue the day you become mainstream is the day you die, then no one will forward your work anymore, you live in a viral dead zone.
You're in bed with your audience. Not only do you have to communicate with your minions, you have to give them the tools to spread the word. That's why free music is so important. It allows your soldiers on the ground to build your career. If you think it's all about being on the radio, you're missing the point. No one takes seriously what's on the radio, real truth is off the radio, just like real truth is never on TV news. You've got to come down off your high horse and realize the only way to make a buck is not by selling tracks, never mind albums. Fans will give you all their money, if you just let them believe they own you.
Instead, hit artists are doing their best to keep fans at a distance. Flying private, hobnobbing with the rich and famous. Want to make a commotion? Fly public and tweet what flight you're on. Tweet where you're having dinner. Say you'll pay for the first hundred fans who show up at In-N-Out. This money is better spent than radio promotion. Because you own the fan whose dinner you purchased, you don't own anything on radio, if anything, they own you.
Now it's primarily about getting lucky. You've got no idea when you're going to go viral, just like an act isn't the best judge of what's going to be a hit. You provide music and stems for years, just waiting for that lucky moment. Hell, Psy was on his sixth album already!
You're waiting for someone to discover your fish. Meanwhile, they're not even aware of your pond. But if someone is, and you hand out free maps and a coupon for a free soda when people show up, you've got something.
We're all in it together. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you're on the road to success.
P.S. Music is already free. The dominant way teenagers listen is on YouTube. So stop arguing about Spotify payments, stop arguing about maintaining the album, embrace the new. Hell, if the majors had embraced Spotify two years earlier, kids would have cared, it would have burgeoned. Instead, they've become inured to YouTube.
"Why Campaign Reporters Are Behind The Curve": http://nyti.ms/OKhdZU
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This is difficult for baby boomers to understand, they grew up in an era where domination was key. But their progeny are all about being a member of the group. And one of the ways you demonstrate your membership is by making a parody video, a tribute video, a lip-synch video...that's how you evidence ownership and inclusiveness.
This is remix culture. It's what rights holders have fought against for over a decade, believing it would dilute their copyrights. But it turns out that the best way to have a valuable copyright today is to allow the public to make it their own. That's when you know you've got something valuable, when the public embraces it, twists it, bounces it off its brethren.
This is a significant change from what came before. In the past, you were either a hero or a zero. Either the newscaster on TV or the nobody. But today, those newscasters are seen as bloviating helmet-haired automatons and if you've got an opinion you don't keep it to yourself, you express it on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. And your friends know all about it. Want to triumph in today's culture? Dig very deep.
There was a fascinating article in Sunday's "New York Times" stating that the mainstream reporters can no longer follow political campaigns, they're not sophisticated enough. The candidates do such deep data mining that they target micro-groups and ignore the mainstream. You may think what's on TV counts, but really it's what's in the Hadassah newsletter. And it's no different in entertainment. It's what's happening deep in the niche that defines not only today, but tomorrow.
Look at movies... Either they're blockbusters or stiffs, there's nothing in between. Either they're cultural touchstones or irrelevant. The movie business hasn't figure this out yet. That either they have to be in the blockbuster or niche business, there's nothing in between. Same thing in music. But when it gets interesting is when the niche flips and becomes the mainstream.
That's the story of "Gangnam Style." Suddenly, the marginal, brought to life by parody and tribute videos and word of mouth, becomes mainstream.
But don't equate mainstream with lasting. Hell, one can argue the day you become mainstream is the day you die, then no one will forward your work anymore, you live in a viral dead zone.
You're in bed with your audience. Not only do you have to communicate with your minions, you have to give them the tools to spread the word. That's why free music is so important. It allows your soldiers on the ground to build your career. If you think it's all about being on the radio, you're missing the point. No one takes seriously what's on the radio, real truth is off the radio, just like real truth is never on TV news. You've got to come down off your high horse and realize the only way to make a buck is not by selling tracks, never mind albums. Fans will give you all their money, if you just let them believe they own you.
Instead, hit artists are doing their best to keep fans at a distance. Flying private, hobnobbing with the rich and famous. Want to make a commotion? Fly public and tweet what flight you're on. Tweet where you're having dinner. Say you'll pay for the first hundred fans who show up at In-N-Out. This money is better spent than radio promotion. Because you own the fan whose dinner you purchased, you don't own anything on radio, if anything, they own you.
Now it's primarily about getting lucky. You've got no idea when you're going to go viral, just like an act isn't the best judge of what's going to be a hit. You provide music and stems for years, just waiting for that lucky moment. Hell, Psy was on his sixth album already!
You're waiting for someone to discover your fish. Meanwhile, they're not even aware of your pond. But if someone is, and you hand out free maps and a coupon for a free soda when people show up, you've got something.
We're all in it together. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you're on the road to success.
P.S. Music is already free. The dominant way teenagers listen is on YouTube. So stop arguing about Spotify payments, stop arguing about maintaining the album, embrace the new. Hell, if the majors had embraced Spotify two years earlier, kids would have cared, it would have burgeoned. Instead, they've become inured to YouTube.
"Why Campaign Reporters Are Behind The Curve": http://nyti.ms/OKhdZU
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Gangnam Style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0
Is it the music or the video?
I went to Best Buy to scope out TV sets. I didn't bother looking at Sonys. For someone who grew up in the sixties and seventies, this is incredible. Sony was the BMW of its age. Only Sony charged a premium to be a member of the club.
But Sony missed the flat panel revolution.
And multiplayer Internet gaming.
Microsoft is not making any money with the Xbox, and Samsung is barely eking out any cash with TVs, but Samsung is the new Sony. Only hipper.
Yes, there was the loss to Apple. But Samsung will recover. It's just that their handsets won't look exactly like the iPhone.
You see it's a Samsung world. While we weren't looking, while we thought brands were forever, Samsung realized the game had changed and became number one. Just like with this Psy video.
Isn't it funny that all the Americans, salivating over the Asian market, dying to penetrate China while bitching all the while that music is free there, have been beaten at their own game by the Koreans. Because the Koreans realized it wasn't about money, it wasn't about connections, it was about art.
Just like a Samsung is skinnier than its competition, with a better picture, K-Pop has finally broken through not on the music, but by a video. Which demonstrates something that's been absent from mainstream American music for far too long...HUMOR!
Actually, the video walks a line. You're not sure whether Psy's taking himself seriously or not. But the longer you watch, you realize he's winking at the camera, Psy's in on the joke, and you become endeared to him.
He's not classically attractive or thin, he's the opposite of what Hollywood tells us to be. He hasn't been seen in all the right places. But he realizes musical success is about sound and the trappings. And he's got the trappings right.
This is bigger than Radiohead's "In Rainbows" name your own price promotion, because "Gangnam Style" is replicable.
Yes, we finally live in a global village. And it's not about relationships, it's not about any of the phoney-baloney business that keeps the downtrodden out. It's solely about art. Anybody can play. And you can play around the world.
Used to be stars were made by the machinery. By radio and television. But "Gangnam Style" was made by YouTube and the public. It went viral...
Today viral is oftentimes just part of the campaign, you can smell the manipulation, people want no part of it. But when you truly find something that is an outlier, something with no connections, something that's cool in its own right, you want to tell everybody about it. That's what the Internet is all about, sharing!
So Scooter Braun attaches his tag at the end. There's nothing wrong with that, but very little right. If only Scooter could have been there at the beginning, then I'd be impressed. Instead, he'll milk this for as much as he can, then he's done.
Yes, "Gangnam Style" is a novelty track. I'd be surprised if there's anything more, just like Rebecca Black with "Friday," it's one and done.
But what it represents...
This electronic sound is the music of the planet. It translates across borders. The language is not important. Just the way the music makes you feel.
In other words, the younger generation is remaking not only the music business, but the world!
That's what the older generation does not get. The older generation is all about money, whereas the younger generation knows the power is in the tools. The computer, the iPhone, YouTube, Twitter. The barrier to entry is essentially nonexistent. But there's tons of noise, tons of clutter. To rise above you have to get lucky or be really smart.
That's what "Gangnam Style" is...smart. We're not laughing at it, but with it. With its weird mashup of sex, style, spy and luxury living. Instead of feeling closed out, that you cannot play, "Gangnam Style" is weirdly inclusive, you believe everybody in the video is nice, that they'd let you play along, because everybody involved is so...normal.
Cool is dead. Because we've got too much information to believe you're cool. We've got your high school photos, we know who you dated, we know deep down inside you're just like us. And if you want to succeed big, you'll realize that. Stop being Jay-Z or the rest of those performers saying they're better than us, rather project the image that you're just like us!
"Gangnam Style" puts a smile on your face and flips your brain's creative switch. You tell yourself "I can do that!"
And you can.
Without Simon Cowell.
Without Lucian Grainge.
Without Doug Morris.
This is the old guard's worst nightmare. Because if the proletariat controls the means of production and distribution, the old guard is unnecessary, the old guard is dead.
The old guard can give you the illusion of success. Sign you to a contract, spend money. But if you truly want to make it today, look in the mirror. We're all on our own. Living on our wits. Worldwide success is only a heartbeat away... If you're human, if you're honest, if you play to everybody instead of the traditional gatekeepers.
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Is it the music or the video?
I went to Best Buy to scope out TV sets. I didn't bother looking at Sonys. For someone who grew up in the sixties and seventies, this is incredible. Sony was the BMW of its age. Only Sony charged a premium to be a member of the club.
But Sony missed the flat panel revolution.
And multiplayer Internet gaming.
Microsoft is not making any money with the Xbox, and Samsung is barely eking out any cash with TVs, but Samsung is the new Sony. Only hipper.
Yes, there was the loss to Apple. But Samsung will recover. It's just that their handsets won't look exactly like the iPhone.
You see it's a Samsung world. While we weren't looking, while we thought brands were forever, Samsung realized the game had changed and became number one. Just like with this Psy video.
Isn't it funny that all the Americans, salivating over the Asian market, dying to penetrate China while bitching all the while that music is free there, have been beaten at their own game by the Koreans. Because the Koreans realized it wasn't about money, it wasn't about connections, it was about art.
Just like a Samsung is skinnier than its competition, with a better picture, K-Pop has finally broken through not on the music, but by a video. Which demonstrates something that's been absent from mainstream American music for far too long...HUMOR!
Actually, the video walks a line. You're not sure whether Psy's taking himself seriously or not. But the longer you watch, you realize he's winking at the camera, Psy's in on the joke, and you become endeared to him.
He's not classically attractive or thin, he's the opposite of what Hollywood tells us to be. He hasn't been seen in all the right places. But he realizes musical success is about sound and the trappings. And he's got the trappings right.
This is bigger than Radiohead's "In Rainbows" name your own price promotion, because "Gangnam Style" is replicable.
Yes, we finally live in a global village. And it's not about relationships, it's not about any of the phoney-baloney business that keeps the downtrodden out. It's solely about art. Anybody can play. And you can play around the world.
Used to be stars were made by the machinery. By radio and television. But "Gangnam Style" was made by YouTube and the public. It went viral...
Today viral is oftentimes just part of the campaign, you can smell the manipulation, people want no part of it. But when you truly find something that is an outlier, something with no connections, something that's cool in its own right, you want to tell everybody about it. That's what the Internet is all about, sharing!
So Scooter Braun attaches his tag at the end. There's nothing wrong with that, but very little right. If only Scooter could have been there at the beginning, then I'd be impressed. Instead, he'll milk this for as much as he can, then he's done.
Yes, "Gangnam Style" is a novelty track. I'd be surprised if there's anything more, just like Rebecca Black with "Friday," it's one and done.
But what it represents...
This electronic sound is the music of the planet. It translates across borders. The language is not important. Just the way the music makes you feel.
In other words, the younger generation is remaking not only the music business, but the world!
That's what the older generation does not get. The older generation is all about money, whereas the younger generation knows the power is in the tools. The computer, the iPhone, YouTube, Twitter. The barrier to entry is essentially nonexistent. But there's tons of noise, tons of clutter. To rise above you have to get lucky or be really smart.
That's what "Gangnam Style" is...smart. We're not laughing at it, but with it. With its weird mashup of sex, style, spy and luxury living. Instead of feeling closed out, that you cannot play, "Gangnam Style" is weirdly inclusive, you believe everybody in the video is nice, that they'd let you play along, because everybody involved is so...normal.
Cool is dead. Because we've got too much information to believe you're cool. We've got your high school photos, we know who you dated, we know deep down inside you're just like us. And if you want to succeed big, you'll realize that. Stop being Jay-Z or the rest of those performers saying they're better than us, rather project the image that you're just like us!
"Gangnam Style" puts a smile on your face and flips your brain's creative switch. You tell yourself "I can do that!"
And you can.
Without Simon Cowell.
Without Lucian Grainge.
Without Doug Morris.
This is the old guard's worst nightmare. Because if the proletariat controls the means of production and distribution, the old guard is unnecessary, the old guard is dead.
The old guard can give you the illusion of success. Sign you to a contract, spend money. But if you truly want to make it today, look in the mirror. We're all on our own. Living on our wits. Worldwide success is only a heartbeat away... If you're human, if you're honest, if you play to everybody instead of the traditional gatekeepers.
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Monday 3 September 2012
This Is Where I Leave You
Last week Jonathan Tropper released his sixth book, "One Last Thing Before I Go"...it has not gotten good reviews.
I stumbled upon Tropper by combing the Amazon reviews. A book takes a long time to read, I don't want to waste my time. Something I read on the site convinced me to take a risk. And I ended up reading all of them. They were easy, I loved the sensibility, but they seemed to be movie scripts, you know, starving fiction writer tries to sell book to Hollywood to strike it rich.
Except for "This Is Where I Leave You." "This Is Where I Leave You" is a step beyond, it's like not having made it yet in Tinseltown, Tropper decided to write for himself.
And he succeeded.
I've recommended this book to many. If you like Tom Perrotta, when he was writing "Joe College" and "The Wishbones," before he tried to elevate himself to the rarefied air of "serious writer"...you'll like "This Is Where I Leave You."
But that's not why I'm writing about the book. Hell, few people read novels anymore, it takes too much time, it's too much work, even romps about relationships and family like "This Is Where I Leave You"... No, the reason I'm writing about "This Is Where I Leave You" is because this week, three years after it was released, "This Is Where I Leave You" is number 10 on the "New York Times" Fiction Combined Print and E-Book Best Sellers list. Hell, it's number 8 on the Fiction E-Book Best Sellers list. And that's important. You see it used to be books disappeared, there were winners and losers, and if your tome wasn't the former, it would be shipped back to the publisher and pulped, ultimately dropped from the list, it'd be like you didn't even write it.
But now, with electronic publishing, books can last forever.
In other words, after three years of percolation, "This Is Where I Leave You" is finally a hit. Deservedly so.
Now books are not like music. There's no radio. Only consumption. There's no airplay enticement. But could this be the future of music too?
In other words, if you do something truly great, could it eventually find its audience?
Don't think it was any different in music. Availability of anything but the hits in retail shops was always low, and every record collector knows about cut-outs, that's what makes records so rare.
But nothing's rare online.
Music is made for today. But what if it was made for tomorrow?
What I mean by that is, if instead of trying to crack the chart, go for immediate success, you woodshedded, slowly built a career of quality, maybe word of mouth could spread your music.
Now it's much easier to make music than write a book. Less effort is required. Then again, everybody's writing a book these days, and it doesn't take much to put it up on Amazon... But to write a great book is nigh near impossible. And you can't force someone to listen to a book, it's not a three minute affair, but an hours-long procedure...but if someone dedicates their time and loves what you've written, they tell everybody they know. It's kind of like going to summer camp, you can't forget it.
Just maybe we're going to see an end to this vapid era we're enveloped in. Hell, album sales are tanking, because no one expects a long player to be any good.
And the change is gonna come from the audience. The audience builds acts, spreads the word, supports you.
Too much music word of mouth reaches a dead end. Because the stuff that is recommended just doesn't work for the person receiving the information.
Then there are exceptions.
Are you one of the exceptions?
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I stumbled upon Tropper by combing the Amazon reviews. A book takes a long time to read, I don't want to waste my time. Something I read on the site convinced me to take a risk. And I ended up reading all of them. They were easy, I loved the sensibility, but they seemed to be movie scripts, you know, starving fiction writer tries to sell book to Hollywood to strike it rich.
Except for "This Is Where I Leave You." "This Is Where I Leave You" is a step beyond, it's like not having made it yet in Tinseltown, Tropper decided to write for himself.
And he succeeded.
I've recommended this book to many. If you like Tom Perrotta, when he was writing "Joe College" and "The Wishbones," before he tried to elevate himself to the rarefied air of "serious writer"...you'll like "This Is Where I Leave You."
But that's not why I'm writing about the book. Hell, few people read novels anymore, it takes too much time, it's too much work, even romps about relationships and family like "This Is Where I Leave You"... No, the reason I'm writing about "This Is Where I Leave You" is because this week, three years after it was released, "This Is Where I Leave You" is number 10 on the "New York Times" Fiction Combined Print and E-Book Best Sellers list. Hell, it's number 8 on the Fiction E-Book Best Sellers list. And that's important. You see it used to be books disappeared, there were winners and losers, and if your tome wasn't the former, it would be shipped back to the publisher and pulped, ultimately dropped from the list, it'd be like you didn't even write it.
But now, with electronic publishing, books can last forever.
In other words, after three years of percolation, "This Is Where I Leave You" is finally a hit. Deservedly so.
Now books are not like music. There's no radio. Only consumption. There's no airplay enticement. But could this be the future of music too?
In other words, if you do something truly great, could it eventually find its audience?
Don't think it was any different in music. Availability of anything but the hits in retail shops was always low, and every record collector knows about cut-outs, that's what makes records so rare.
But nothing's rare online.
Music is made for today. But what if it was made for tomorrow?
What I mean by that is, if instead of trying to crack the chart, go for immediate success, you woodshedded, slowly built a career of quality, maybe word of mouth could spread your music.
Now it's much easier to make music than write a book. Less effort is required. Then again, everybody's writing a book these days, and it doesn't take much to put it up on Amazon... But to write a great book is nigh near impossible. And you can't force someone to listen to a book, it's not a three minute affair, but an hours-long procedure...but if someone dedicates their time and loves what you've written, they tell everybody they know. It's kind of like going to summer camp, you can't forget it.
Just maybe we're going to see an end to this vapid era we're enveloped in. Hell, album sales are tanking, because no one expects a long player to be any good.
And the change is gonna come from the audience. The audience builds acts, spreads the word, supports you.
Too much music word of mouth reaches a dead end. Because the stuff that is recommended just doesn't work for the person receiving the information.
Then there are exceptions.
Are you one of the exceptions?
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