Mailbag

From: Mike Lane (and others)
Re: Constant Creation

fyi: Reese Witherspoon did come out and say she was drunk: "I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said. It was definitely a scary situation and I was frightened for my husband, but that is no excuse. I was disrespectful to the officer who was just doing his job. I have nothing but respect for the police and I'm very sorry for my behavior."

"Reese Witherspoon apologizes for drunken spat": http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/22/entertainment-us-usa-witherspoon-arrest-idUSBRE93K0GK20130422

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From: John Davidson
Subject: Record Store Day is only good for speculators on eBay

1. You have to wait in line for hours only to find out that a prize artifact was sold out immediately. To the staff or someone who got to the store at 6am.

2. All the best stuff will show up on eBay at scalper's prices

3. This is the thanks I get for buying literally thousands of albums from independent record stores?

Long lines anywhere doesn't indicate demand Bob. That's OLD SCHOOL. Long lines at 8am means that THERE WILL BE SCALPING.

Artists: stop treating your fans this way.

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From: Ryan Moore
Subject: RE: Scale

The 'comeback' of vinyl is all hype.......in the sense that what you now have is a LOT of people all putting out small vinyl runs so statistically the overall amounts seem to have risen, but you don't have anyone selling a lot of one title.... its great for niche record shops and vinyl pressing outfits though....
Take a look at vinyl pressing outfits online and you will see the special offers tend to be for amounts in the low 100's....
http://curvedpressings.com/

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From: Mo Seetubtim
Subject: Re: Twitter Music

Hi Bob,

Twitter doesn't want to solve music problems with their new feature. They just want to add a feather where brands (advertisers) can engage with the customers/consumer on a more involved level. And that...means...more money for them from ad revenue.

Cheers,
a Media Girl

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Subject: Re: Advice

Hey Bob,

Your line about "Celtics" reminded me of an incident in the 1970s when I happened to be drinking, in the lobby of London's Dorchester Hotel, with the actor Richard Burton. It's a long story...

But, anyway, a rude American tourist - they existed then - bowled up to us, turned to Richard, and said: "Mr Burton, is it true that you are a Celt?" He pronounced it "Selt", which puzzled me at the time. But Burton was unfazed...

"Yes sir, I am. And you are a Sunt."

I suspect that tourist is still trying to work out what was said to him, and what our howls of laughter were all about.

Cheers,

Bob Hart, Melbourne, Australia.

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From: Jacob Gluck
Subject: Re: Advice

You are so right about reading. I was an English major ("English major? What are you gonna do with that! Everyone asked/laughed in my face). But alas, I went to Wall Street right after college because the smart people look for a mind to meld, not a certification on a piece of paper. When they asked me why I was an English major, my response was simply, "I wanted to get as smart as possible, and learn as much as possible, and you do that by reading books." Needless to say that was all the answer I needed. If you ain't readin', you ain't even trying! is what I say.

PS - Why did I go to Wall Street anyways? Because I wanted to be with the smartest folks in the country, people who could teach me the most. I'm not in finance now, but what an education!

Jake

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From: Mike McCready
Subject: Re: Mailbag

"From: Eric
Subject: Re: Benji From PledgeMusic

Thanks for the reality check Bob....is this why MusicXray is raking in my dough with zero results, except to tell me to keep submitting?"

If this guy isn't getting a deal, he's not good enough and that's probably what we're telling him.

As far as results, damn straight he's getting results! Every single professional to whom he has submitted a song on Music Xray has listened to it and responded to him. That's a RESULT Eric could not have gotten any other way for ANYWHERE near the few bucks it's costing him on Xray - if he could get that result at all. I know lots of people who have been working for years in this business with huge rolodexes and who can't get that result!

I'll tell you what I'm sick of. It's artists who think they pay us to get them a deal and when they don't get one they slam Music Xray, forgetting they actually paid us to get their song heard by the professional/supervisor/A&R of their choice and to get a guaranteed reply. If they don't like the responses they get or don't get a deal, I fail to see how that's Music Xray's fault. It's their music's fault!

Sure, we tell them they can keep trying to land a deal via Music Xray, but we transparently tell them that other songs of similar strength didn't get a deal on Music Xray until the song's 40th submission (for example) - and by the time a deal is landed it might not be worth much. We tell them they can continue submitting but it should be with their eyes wide open.

We are not only truth tellers, we tell the artists hard how the road will be if they choose to continue pushing the rock up the hill (no pun intended). Many don't like to hear the truth and they take it out on us. Whatever. Music Xray is transparent and there are only two kinds of musicians on Music Xray, those who get deals and those who don't. The only variable is the music and the Artist's submission strategy.

..........................
Mike McCready
CEO & Co-founder
Music Xray

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From: Paul Natkin
Subject: Re: Neal Preston

Hey Bob,

A quick Neal Preston story. When Van Halen hired Sammy Hagar as their lead singer, it was a major story. So, I got a call from Neal telling me that People magazine had hired him to photograph the opening night of the
tour in Southern Wisconsin. He was flying in and out of Chicago and driving to
the show. He suggested that we should get together for lunch the morning after
the show, before he flew back home. I readily agreed, as I don?t see my friends
in the business very often, living in Chicago. The day before the show, I got a
call from Rolling Stone Magazine asking me to shoot the second day of the
tour, in Chicago. Synchronicity! We would have a lot to talk about. At about 11PM on the night of Neal?s show in Wisconsin, my phone rang. It was Neal, telling me that the band had offered him a horrible contract to sign (ironically
about the same as most large touring bands offer today) and he had told them what they could do with the contract, and that he would tell People to cancel the story.He was calling me from O'Hare, getting ready to get on a red-eye home.

So..armed with that info, I called Rolling Stone the next day and asked them to back me up the same way that People backed Neal up. I went out to the show, expecting to not sign the contract and go home, which is what I tried to do! As I was getting into my car, the road manager ran after me and said that Ed Leffler, the bands manager wanted to talk to me. So I went back inside and Ed asked me- "What?s wrong with the contract?" My answer
was- "All of it!"

So, after going through the whole contract and scratching out and initialing each scratched out paragraph, we came to the last paragraph, which said that photographers cannot use flash during the show. Although I don?t use flash when shooting, I wanted to make a clean sweep of the contract, so I told Ed that I had photographed VH and Sammy many times in the past with no no-flash rule. He said "Let's go and talk to Eddie." So we trooped down to a small dingy rehearsal room and walked in to Eddie VH practicing. Ed asked him about photographers using flash and Eddies response was "They can do anything
they want."

So we walked out of the room and Ed turned to me, ripped up the contract and threw it in a nearby garbage can and said "Do anything you
f___king want."

In closing, I think the question Neal needs to be asked is- How much is he shooting now, and isn?t it a shame that one of the most amazing photographers of our generation would not be allowed to photograph most of the major acts out there in 2013. I consider myself to be one of Neal's contemporaries, and my photography activity has been cut to about 10% of what it was ten years ago, because I took a lead from Neal Preston and Jim Marshall and stood up for the right to take GOOD pictures, not just pictures!

Paul Natkin
Www.natkin.net

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From: Jonathan Gross
Subject: Paul Anka

Bobby,

Thirty years ago I was the rock critic for the Toronto Sun dealing mostly in the punk and new wave beat. I was reluctantly sent to review a Paul Anka show at a summer shed and took the opportunity to invite my grandmother who was a serious Paul Anka fan well into her 80s. I had two tickets in the first row and backstage and parking passage so this make her grandson look okay in her eyes. We get to the show and since I had to file (one of those old modem briefcase dealies) to make the morning paper I could only catch about half the concert. I told my grandmother to come backstage after it was over. I think I even photographed the show and threw a couple of rolls into a cab.

Anyway, I file about twelve paragraphs tossing in some critical observations about the Canadian icon because I was such an expert. I was working in a 'green room' of sorts and when I came downstairs I found my grandmother sitting by the dressing room door with a bouquet of roses.

"Paul gave them to me. We're invited to his birthday party." At that point she looked about 18. Sure enough we went to a tent and there was a cake and my grandmother was right beside The Not So Lonely Boy as he blew out the candles. I will not forget that moment.

It gets better.

I get into the office the next day, sit down at my terminal and the phone rings.

'Hey Jonathan, it's Paul Anka. Just calling to personally thank you for coming to the show. I really enjoyed your review and I take your comments seriously."

I then thanked him for being so nice to my grandmother, a complete stranger and he was more than gracious.

I reviewed hundred of concerts back in the day. Paul Anka was the only artist who ever thanked me for showing up, let alone give a dozen roses to my grandmother, alev asholom.

Menschkite.

JG

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Subject: Re: Lefsetz Letter from yesterday.

Dear Bob,

As you know, from our past correspondence, I am a huge fan and follower of your work. Thank you for the mention in your current page of April 19th in conjunction with my dear and close buddy Jerry Weintraub. He is indeed all of that...and more! You can't know someone 55 years, as I do with him, and not know that he is the real deal! His support and many others recently have culminated with the news I received from the New York Times, where my book My Way, will enter at number 6 on the New York Times Bestseller List. My love for Jerry is well chronicled in the book. If you're interested, we will send you a copy. Again, thank you for all of your good work. Your solid assessments of this music business that's getting crazier by the day, unfortunately. But, in time, it will land on its feet and be bigger than ever because music is the magic link.

Respectfully yours,

Paul Anka


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