I keep my cars forever. I certainly don't lease, I don't need to look fashionable. I drove my first BMW for 180,000 miles, until it got totaled by a drunk driver on St. Patrick's Day. The second one exceeded 190,000. But I should have gotten rid of it sooner. I spent thousands trying to fix an electrical problem, more than the car was worth, I was just that attached.
And I fear buying stuff that much.
I'm afraid to make a mistake.
Republicans should have me running the government. I wouldn't spend a dime! Which engine should we get in the fighter jet? Drones? Do you buy a hundred or just one? I mean you want the volume discount, then again, if I give them all that money are they gonna cut corners?
You can see my dilemma.
But Felice is nothing like me. Which is why I believe in the Paula Abdul school of relationships. You know, OPPOSITES ATTRACT!
Felice doesn't need it perfect, and if it's not right, she throws it away and buys a new one. Last I checked, we don't live forever, so this is a good policy and I'm trying to learn.
But I'm teaching too. Felice never kept a car longer than three years. She was afraid it would break down! Huh? Cars last hundreds of thousands of miles today. So I convinced her to hang on to her 2002 Lexus GS300, hell it was PAID FOR!
Drove her image-conscious brother-in-law nuts. Hell, he drives an Aston Martin! You know Hollywood, it's what you look like, what you drive... As for your interior? It could be empty for all most people care.
But I'm a transplant. I remember the blue bloods. Who drove Ford Galaxies and wore Topsiders. They feigned poverty. It was a style. But now the blue bloods don't have the money of bankers and I live on the west coast and I'm caught between two worlds.
But even though Felice's Lexus only has 70,000 odd miles, could outlive her at this pace, recently it's developed niggling problems and she wants a new car. Mind you, I wouldn't. I'd be driving that thing forever. But when she opened the front door and it creaked, and wouldn't stay open to boot, Felice said IT'S TIME!
She decided on a BMW. She saw one on the street. You know women, they think cars are fashion items. How else to explain the rash of female SUV drivers? It's not like they're gonna go off-road. Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist, I know Danica Patrick could blow my doors off and probably beat me up, but what kind of world do we live in where you can't state the obvious?
So today we went to check out BMWs.
First and foremost, there are so many models, they don't have them on the lot, never mind the showroom floor. You're better off staying at home and surfing the web. The first guy we got seemed to be knowledgeable, but the most basic questions flummoxed him. The difference in price between a 3 and a 5. The different engines available. Oh, I know it's complicated. But it's his gig!
But then he threw us over to his associate, who was truly clueless. Nice, but clueless. And when we wanted to drive a 5, after waiting for twenty minutes for him to show up with the car, we walked over to the Audi dealership right next door.
Audi, have you been following this?
If you're of a certain age, you remember when Audi just about went out of business. Because of the unintended acceleration fiasco. Of course, it was driver error. Hell, did you read last week that the majority of breast implants are silicone again? We Americans love a controversy, we love to point fingers at others, we hate responsibility. Audi barely survived.
And then came the revolution.
Volkswagen, Audi's parent, declared it was going to become the world's largest carmaker by 2018.
Everybody laughed. This would be like Warner saying it was going to eclipse Universal's market share in less than a decade.
But VW's almost there.
As for Audi, it's the Mercedes-Benz of China, the top choice of the high-ranking politicos.
And even Mercedes-Benz is not Mercedes-Benz anymore. That's BMW.
But BMW is like CAA. Top dog, but arrogant.
And that just pissed people off.
Acura is too downscale.
Lexus is for grandparents, who remember that old Cadillac ride.
Infiniti got lost in the shuffle.
It's a battle between BMW, Mercedes and Audi, and right now, it looks like Audi is going to win.
Huh?
They started off with luxury at good prices. They upgraded the facilities and the help. Unlike BMW, they use wood instead of plastic. And if you don't need a BMW, you're gonna buy an Audi.
But please know more about the car than me!
After a test drive, we went into the office to check prices and specs.
The salesman pulled up the website.
I CAN DO THAT AT HOME!
Even the sales manager wasn't sure if you could get the B&O sound system without the supercharged engine.
But the real story is car buying has changed. Only marks get ripped off. Everybody else researches like hell, gets a "Consumer Report" report, calls a bunch of dealers, and gets a deal.
So how do you stand out?
Well, first and foremost someone's got to want your product.
I don't want an Audi, I want a BMW. I can handle the plastic, I want that road feel.
But most people are not like me. Otherwise, Chrysler would be out of business. Have you checked their reliability records recently?
Most people are emotional buyers. So it's about looks, comfort, and a good dealership experience.
Not like going to the gig.
Our whole nation has gone upscale.
But the concert experience is still stuck in the seventies. Maybe the eighties. With typically heinous food and uncomfortable seats, if there are any. Whereas even the cheapest cars now have power windows. If you don't think cars have gotten better, you haven't driven one.
So where does that leave Felice?
Probably buying an Audi.
Yup, the guy on the front line at BMW screwed it up. You don't want to keep customers waiting at a $50,000 price point. They go elsewhere, where they're wanted, where they're treated right.
Hell, the Audi salesman kept asking us if we wanted a drink. His answer was always yes instead of no.
It's the people on the front line who make the difference.
Unless your product is so outstanding it sells itself.
That's where Apple was. Far ahead of the competition.
That's not where it is today.
Audi is more than Samsung. It's a three-dimensional outfit.
And its competitors should be afraid, very afraid. Because what's hip today might become passe.
"Audi Races For Luxury Crown": http://on.wsj.com/10CY3IJ
"Continuum Redesigns Audi's Car Dealership Experience": http://buswk.co/YipqGs
"Once Banned, Silicone Breast Implants Make a Comeback": http://on.wsj.com/14Prd84
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Saturday 16 March 2013
Friday 15 March 2013
Mailbag
From: Terry Ellis
Subject: Alvin Lee
Bob,
When Alvin Lee walked on the stage of a small UK blues club in 1967 in his trademark clogs, blonde locks and dramatic good looks and began to play that red Gibson with the peace symbol sticker, fingers flying across the frets, you just knew you were in the presence of a star.
Ultimately millions agreed as Ten Years After stole the show at the UK's Sunbury Jazz and Blues Festival in 1968 and later, as, for many, Alvin became the face of Woodstock after the movie was released in 1970.
Alvin was a warm man, with a ready smile and an easy sense of humor to go with those flying fingers.
As an aspiring musician in England, Alvin entrusted his life and career to two recent University graduates, still wet behind the ears! In doing so, Alvin helped put in place the first building block of a business which became known as Chrysalis.
Chris Wright and I will always be grateful.
Alvin left us far too early and we will miss him,
Terry
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Clive's Book-1
In my humble opinion, the music business began to decline when the label executives tried to become as famous as the artists. To prove my point, I challenge anyone to remember who the chairman of Capitol Records was when they had the Beatles AND the Beach Boys. That, and when musicians began wearing tennis shoes in the studio. Ugh.
Bill Bentley
Vanguard Records
________________________________________________
From: Mike Pinder
Subject: Re: A Little More Moody Blues
It is interesting to hear musicians develop. I can hear the same thing in my boys' music that is inherent in all developing musicians. Raw talent that has to mature.
Too bad records companies don't take the time to mature artists like in days of old. From Love Me Do to Magical Mystery Tour. (I sang harmonies and played mouth organ on Walrus and Fool on the Hill) From Go Now to Nights in White Satin. And so on.
________________________________________________
Subject: Something happened
Hi Bob
I've been messing around in the music business for over 45 years and now at 67 despite my misgivings I am trying to help a young artist named Charlie Hole get started in the biz.
I want to share with you something that happened this weekend.
Charlie plays bars, clubs, little theaters and any place where he can to get his 10,000 hours.
He's only 19. He works most nights.
We have made a CD and its pretty good.
Most of the copies are in my garage and we need to get them heard. If no one hears it, we will never get anywhere. (it's on iTunes but that's not the point)
Now, on any given night he is playing to 50 plus people in a club and will ask them if they want to buy a CD after the show.. He has been selling 2 or 3 this way. The price is 10 pounds ($15)
This weekend he changed tactics.
He told them the CD was free.
Just pay whatever you think it's worth.
Don't worry if you don't have any money, it's free.
He sold 17 copies, an increase of of over 500%
Nobody took one for free.
Some people paid double.
Everyone wanted to help Charlie make a living because they got it.
They wanted to be involved. They felt good helping him on his way...
Amanda Palmer knows this.
Now I know it too.
Try giving your music away. Sharing has its own rewards.
It takes courage to do this but sometimes you make more money that way.
Even if you don't, your music is out there...listeners can become fans and fans are your lifeblood.
Bob, you have been talking about how the music business has changed.
This weekend an old boy like me saw it working first hand and I'm over the moon.
Keep the faith
All the best
Jim Cregan
London
________________________________________________
From: Mic Tienken
Subject: Re: Billy Joel At Vanderbilt
Bob, you rock. Just met your sister Wendy Friday night at a Dan Navarro show
in Minneapolis. She tells great stories and you are featured prominently.
Love your take on the biz, so fun to read. Phil Solem actually turned me on
to your newsletter and I'm ashamed to say I had not been hip to it prior.
I've been writing songs with Phil (the Rembrandts, Thrush) for over 30 years
now and I love me some good songwriters and I love great stories about the
biz, I could tell a few myself.
Phil tells me I need to meet you someday as he feels our tastes and opinions
are simpatico.
Whatever.
I enjoy your missives, keep 'em coming. Especially enjoyed the one about
virality (the Mila Kunis thing). I'm in violent agreement. I tell young
bands and musicians all the time that all that really matters is that they
kick ass.
You can print out flyers, post 'em on every telephone poll in town, send
thousands of emails, create an event on FaceBook, Tweet to everyone you
know, and if you do a really good job, maybe you get 50 people to come to
your gig. Play there the next night, nobody comes, because you suck.
Another band, doesn't do s**t, they play in a bar and the regulars are
there, maybe 10, 15 people. They rock the place, they are great, the next
night the bar is packed.
That's the way rock and roll works.
That's the way the world works.
________________________________________________
From: Andrew Oldham
Subject: Re: Instant Karma
bob;
hopefully tea in toronto.....
woman is the nigger of the world.....
i am to clive davis what hugo chavez was to george bush... at the UN....
f**k the sulphur,....
the very best book that was ever written about popdom is STONE FREE.
i managed to bridge over hustled waters... nobody else has
apart from chet baker, keith, edith piaf, miles davis, and john stanley donaldson.....
i thank myself, i bridged with privilege.
and i gave thanks for it....
albert grossman, brian epstein, chris & kit... you better move on...
johnny lennon did not care. he cared about the moment, the translation would be yours.
there was no way he wanted to be brian jones...
john would resonate, he would move on. he never relied upon you..
we loved him, he knew it.
bowie is a shop window, the store is empty...
we love you...
best, ALO. right now in huntington beach.....
________________________________________________
From: george drakoulias
Subject: RE: Instant Karma
Great song great record. In addition to drums, a lot of the excitement can be found in that distorted vocal. Lennon was too hot for the mic! In fact the drums are a simple shuffle, but run through tape slap. Spector went from the wall of sound, which was mass reverb and chamber and lots of players playing in a close room together, to a tape echo thing with Lennon. (Lennon loved "Elvis Echo") The whole record is run through echo. Piano, drums, vocals et al. It's also the sound of "Imagine" Add the "throw your drum set down the stairs" drum fills and you got pure joy. Spector's work with Harrison on "All Things
Must Pass" is more wall of sound. Listen to "What Is Life" for and you can hear the difference.
By the way looked it up "Instant Karma" on wikipedia learned this: "It ranks as one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history, recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios the same day it was written, and arriving in stores only ten days later. Lennon remarked to the press, he "wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we're putting it out for dinner."
________________________________________________
From: Shelley Germeaux
Subject: Instant Karma post
Hi Bob,
I interviewed Alan about Instant Karma and the other songs he did with John, a few years ago. That interview ended up at "Not So Modern Drummer" magazine so it's not on line...but thought I'd share with you what Alan told me.
About the drum part on IK, he acknowledged Spector's role in creating it. He said Lennon originally had that song as a "shuffle" and the song was just a rough bit that he'd just written. Alan thought it should be changed up a bit and talked to Spector about a different drum approach. "That's when we decided to use the Tom. We put a towel over it and played the tom like a cymbal. I did the drum breaks in a different meter..."
John liked it and said "keep doing that." Spector put a "slap echo" on the drum to make it sound like two.
So that's Alan's story about IK in case you're interested.
________________________________________________
From: Mary Catherine Sneed
Subject: Re: Clive's Book-2
Clive Davis was on Fallon last night. He took a moment to tell some story that was really "Clive discovered Justin Timberlake"...along with taking credit for so many others. unbelievable. I have been in radio since college. 1970. Since I was 19. One of the reasons Clive Davis had so much success was because of a man name Richard Palmese. He hired the best promo people for Arista. They would never give up on a song. Other labels had artists and music that was just as good as Arista but they gave up. The promo staff at Arista made u believe that if u didn't add their songs u would b depriving your audience of something special. Other labels did not do that. U never hear Clive Davis talk about any of these people. So I am!!!!
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Kelly & Clive
Love this line, "The octogenarian who's all over conventional media
but doesn't realize that's passe?"
We recently requested credentials to cover The Who tour when it swings
through the area, but were told by the publicist "only the local daily
and weekly papers in the market that preview the show are being
approved to cover The Who tour." I was tempted to retort "that makes
sense, because only the people who still read the local daily and
weekly papers seem to be buying tickets."
(if you post, please omit my info, else the publicist will freak-out)
________________________________________________
Subject: Twitter over Facebook for Music Marketing says CD Baby post
Hey, Bob,
I grabbed this off of today's CD Baby email newsletter. What do you think?
http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2013/02/4-reasons-why-twitter-is-better-than-facebook-for-music-marketing/
Larry Butler
________________________________________________
From: Rev. Bill
Subject: Re: Billy Joel At Vanderbilt
About 15 years ago, I was doing a magazine for musicians called GIG. Through a series of weird coincidences, i got hooked up with a guy named David Santos who wrote for the mag about being a working bass player for a couple of years. He went on to play with The Neville Bros, Julio Iglesias, John Fogerty and a bunch of others but at that time he had just gotten his big break playing with... Billy Joel.
The story of how he got the gig falls in lockstep with a lot of stuff you tell musicians (except that David was a sideman). He was living in New York, playing whatever gigs he could get. Got booked on a couple of high-end weddings where the sax player was Mark Rivera who has been with Billy forever. Mark dug David's energy and the fact that he did not just phone it in even though it was "just a wedding gig." Later that year, Mark goes out with Ringo Starr on on of the All-Starr Band tours. It was the year when Ringo's kid tragically died at home while Ringo was over here. When RIngo left, so did John Entwhistle and somehow it fell to Mark to bring in a drummer and bass player to finish the tour. Mark called Liberty DeVito who played with Billy up until a few years ago and he called David.
David goes out and finishes the tour. At the end, Liberty and Mark sit down with him and tell him that Billy is not currently touring but might again soon and would he be interested in the gig. He says "of course." And here is where it gets cool.
David decides to prepare for a call that may never come. He moves to Nashville because he feels he can work on learning better there. He sits down over a period of months and learns to play every single song from every single Billy Joel record ever recorded. Something like 150 songs.
The call comes. Kind of. Mark calls and tells David there is no tour but that Billy is doing VH-1 Storytellers. No rehearsal and they will probably just play a couple of songs but can he come to New York for a one-off TV gig. David goes. It is similar to the college gigs. Billy talks about the songs and interacts with the audience. David has barely met Billy. Audience member asks about a little-known gem of a song called "Summer Highland Falls." Billy says he really can't play it because there is a bass line that is crucial. David waves from the side of the stage. Billy sees him and asks, "Do you know it?" David says yes. Billy calls him out to the stage and they do the song. David ends up on stage for almost the entire show with Billy asking "Do you know this?" on every tune and getting a "yes" on every tune. At one point he comments tothe audience that he has just met this guy and never played with him and he "knows every song i've written."
David ended up playing with Billy for a long time including the Elton and Billy tours and the millenium concert at madison Square Garden. And the Billy gig led to every other thing he has done.
All because he DID THE WORK...
-b
________________________________________________
From: Jason Darling
Subject: Re: Billy Joel At Vanderbilt
When I was at Berklee (92) Billy Joel came and did this. I only went because my roommate was obsessed. It was extremely refreshing to hear someone who had succeeded in music lay out the hard truths about the business. He was honest and forthright and it was a very informative if you took his message to heart.
A year later my roommate did a BJ tribute and sent a recording and asked if Billy could listen and if he might critique it. To my surprise one afternoon I answered the phone in our crappy Boston apt. and it was Billy Joel calling for my roommate. They talked for 40 min. I thought "how cool is this guy to do that?!"
A few years after that I was on a gig in Montauk during the off season (some MTV thing being filmed in a empty seasonal resort) The drummer pointed out Billy Joel in the corner of an empty dinning room eating lunch all alone. He suggested we go over and ask him to sit in.
Even though we rudely interrupted his lobster lunch he was totally cool and cordial as we talked for a few minuets.
________________________________________________
From: Harvey Leeds
Subject: Re: Billy Joel At Vanderbilt
Small world-Michael Pollack is my cousin's roommate in college-the kid is a great song writer and has sent me some original material the is wonderful. Smal world-great viral clip! Bill Joel is a mensch!
P.S. "US music mogul looks for next big thing in Israel": http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Arts/Article.aspx?id=305419
________________________________________________
Re: Alvin Lee
Esther Ratner was my landlord! Although it was a few years after
your experience, I lived on the third floor, next door to Judy Collins'
brother, Denver. Esther's husband had since died, but I was aware that he
traveled through the south with Tennessee Williams, I believe creating a
series of paintings related to that adventure.
Although those were the days when I was afraid to go to sleep in fear of
missing something, I occasionally relented in that third floor walk-up on
Greenwich Street. I fared a little better than you did in Esther's home...
I think I even got my security deposit back!
Dan Beck
________________________________________________
From: Ryan Richards
Subject: Re: The Yahoo Kerfuffle
Oh boy, I bet your inbox is filling up with vitriolic responses to this one. The merit and productivity benefit of "Working at home"/"Telecommuting" or whatever you want to call it is one of those Silicon Valley sacred cows that people will defend to the ends of the Earth, and those people are working from home.
Ask anyone who isn't personally invested in this concept and they'll either tell you it's BS or they won't have any opinion at all, they're too busy working. I've worked in the Valley for 7 years. Everyone in the office knows who the 'work-at-home' people are, and oftentimes they're perceived as jokes. I'm not talking about new mothers, or temporary situations. I am talking about employees who are "out there", but no one knows what exactly they do and there's no accountability. And yes, it definitely has an effect on morale and productivity.
Put another way...why would successful companies like Apple and Google put the effort in creating their own private transit systems to shuttle people back and forth from San Francisco, Santa Cruz, etc, if everyone were so much more productive at home?
My favorite retort to Mayer's move was the claim that working at home is 'green' and asking people to do otherwise somehow makes her a polluting monster. Yes, working at home is green, but it's passively green. You could stop showering, that's green. Also you could stop breathing, less CO2 for the rest of us.
Thanks for writing Bob, keep it up.
- Ryan
As an aside, did you know traffic is significantly lighter in Santa Clara Valley on Fridays? I don't recall that being true in LA, or New York. What does that say about our culture here?
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: More Information
Nice piece Bob. As a fishing guide I've done the same thing for years. My website hypes the product (Finger Lakes fishing,) not me. Many of my clients spend years going through the site and content before contacting me for a trip.
It's a no BS site - if I go fishing or do a guided trip and don't catch anything, I post it. I also have no problem giving props to other competent guides.
Prospective clients also get to know my personality through my site. I'm on top or near the top of most search engines and I receive an average of 100 to 150 hits a day.
I don't partake in social networking like Facebook, but when clients have a good day, they'll often post info on those sites - so I get some publicity over there.
John Gaulke
www.fingerlakesanglingzone.com
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Women Of L.A.
The women of L.A. are just reacting to what they have been sold. The formula lie: be skinny and very attractive and smart and you can land any kind of guy you want who will worship you and marry you and have babies with you AAAAAND give you the huge diamond, and a villa in Italy and a nanny to look after your children. Withhold sex until you get a proper payday on the horizon. It's like the dowry thing.
It's like how the previous generation was told all you have to do is get a degree and then a high-paying job where you simply GET respect after graduation (like the AUTUMN after graduation) will knock on your door and hand you a life.
I was one of the women of L.A. until I hit 29. Starving myself to be thin, turning down anyone who didn't have a great job and working my way up the entertainment biz ladder. I found myself alone for a week in Las Vegas all expenses paid with a hot body and tons of sexy outfits and no one REAL to share it with - lame. It was then I realised I had to get out and go back to basics: be a WOMAN. One who knows how to cook, doesn't need stuff to be happy and wants a real man to look after her.
I met a wonderful normal man who lives in London, married him and moved there.
Do I miss L.A.? I miss Mexican food and occasionally the weather. But it's a lovely sunny day in London today and we have great Italian - something they NEVER had in L.A.
Angela Randall
________________________________________________
From: Marcus Sheridan
Subject: A quick thank you
Hi Bob, My name is Marcus Sheridan and you wrote about me in your newsletter last week. I thought your words were incredibly kind and so I wanted to thank you for taking the time to review what you reviewed and say what you said. Many people have emailed me about your words, and Mitch Joel even said: "I'm more impressed with you getting mentioned by Bob than by the New York Times!"
I thought that was funny, and quite the complement to you as well.
Again, thank you sir for the kind words, I hope your week is a great one.
Marcus
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
A photographer shooting a celebrity for a national magazine was given 3 hours. The retouching took 15 minutes.
NOW
A photographer shooting a celebrity for a national magazine is given 15 minutes. The retouching takes 3 hours.
Neal Preston
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
A parent was home raising the kids
NOW
Both parents have to work multiple jobs while kids are raised in day care or
by grandparents.
Dan Titcomb
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
College dorms were cinder block and linoleum military style cubicles, food was inedible and tuition was low enough for you eventually pay off your student loan.
NOW
Dorms are luxury hotel suites food is gourmet and tuition is so high you'll never pay it off.
Grooves Analogplanet
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
You bought music and water was free
NOW
You buy water and music is free
John Stix
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
There was one television in the house. Everyone crowded around the set to watch it most nights .
NOW
There's a TV in every room and everyone watches shows on their tablets, that aired a week ago.
Steve Leventhal
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN - At a friend's house you would flip through their record collection.
NOW - We fwd YouTube links to each other.
Greg Watermann
________________________________________________
Re: Wealth Inequality In America
Bob,
I worked at Interscope for ten years -- throughout all of my twenties. I made a great living doing something I loved doing with great people. It all collapsed five years ago. The music video departments shrunk once the budgets were slashed. Transitioning to another industry has been difficult and I've been homeless for three years now. If you saw me walking down the street, you would think I had a good job and was doing well. Most pople have no idea I live in the streets. I earn just enough money doing editing and odd jobs to feed myself and maintain my car. When you become homeless you start to realize how many of us are out there. You see where they sleep at night once you're one of them, and I'm not talking about the lifers who are chronically homeless -- but the people like me who fell on "hard times", don't have anywhere to go, and don't want to be a burden on friends.
,
Promoting new methods for job creation and new industries; sustainable energy solutions; raising minimum wages; universal health care; affordable college education... along with all the other issues that are supposed to make for a more perfect union is one of the most important things we can do in getting people to see that maybe there's a better way of doing things, and most importantly bring the nation closer to where the chart in the video says Americans want it to be. It requires people to stand up; take a look around, and start doing things for reasons other than their own selfish interests. As always, it will just take one person at the right place and the right time to start this whole thing. I'm searching for it again; we're just not there yet, people are caught up in there own little worlds. There's still too many sheep.
Morgan Hartmann
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Alvin Lee
Bob,
Back in High School I used to borrow (and sometimes give back) records from a friend who's Dad was a DJ at an Easy Listening station in Detroit; they had 1000s of 45s on shelves in the basement. One of the ones that I did give back was by Ten Years After on the Deram label: "The Sounds" was the A-side, a plodding, un-memorable exercise, but the B-side was a really beautiful track called "Portable People".. That one's a classic IMO. There are live versions on YouTube but the studio track is one that I highly recommend.
I still like the "Undead" album; the guys really sound like wanna-be Jazzers on that one, doing kind of an English, amped-up version of what they used to call "Soul Jazz", a la Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, et. al. The way Alvin would grab a riff and Repeat It and Repeat It and Repeat It and Repeat It, that was a very Jimmy Smith thing to do..
RIP Alvin Lee,
Marshall Crenshaw
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Monitor But Don't Respond
Taken out of context but your words in the article below........ "we're now all truly equal online."
Internet or not Bob, in reality we're NOT all equal.
I get what you're saying but we just aren't all equal and we're NEVER going to be. Fact.
Whoever wrote that was "working the room".
This device and the web doesn't make us equal. It gives more of us a voice but I'm not convinced that a congress made up of 50 million people is going to be any more effective than the lame bunch that walk the halls of D.C. right now.
I think humanity, led by this apparatus is spiraling into the great unknown. I'm suited up, let's go!
Have PC, Iphone, Galaxy, etc.
......I read your stuff and enjoy it whether I always agree or not.
We're going to wake up, sooner than later I'm afraid, to the stark realization that this cyber device owns and controls our world.
....it morphs into some kind of global, cyber dictator.
What if, while it's busy taking over and eating everything in it's path, we wake up to find that it has robbed us of a very basic "human dynamic"... .....one to one, real life, real time, live interaction ?
That's the ultimate show and the hot ticket that I'm throwing my money at.
I THINK that may be why we're here on this rock.
It can't be left up to the machine to sort out the fate of mankind.
It's just going to run the numbers, do a mindless, black and white assessment (sounds like a few major label execs, huh ? )...dress us all in gray and confine us to our quadrants....(did I just describe mainstream radio ?)
I'm as guilty as the next guy. I text. I seldom call.
I'm concerned that as we allow technology to "white out" basic human traits that we're going to wake up dehumanized and under the control of "THE MACHINE". That's a reality and it's coming at us fast.
.....first, it eats intellectual rights (music), putting people out of work, next it consumes the work place and puts millions out of work.....the solution is to re-tool people to service the machine which, in turn results in even more people left jobless. Music is an obvious victim but if we're focused on music then, you and a lot of cutting edge cyber surfers are being left behind. I don't have a solution so< I shouldn't be popping off but we should talk about this. The Cost of Livin's High and Going Up.
You should come to dinner if and when you're in this "neck of the woods".
I know you're a mainstream rock cat at heart but...I'll invite some engaging country and Western friends over.
I know some really fun Southern girls that LOVE to cook healthy food as much as we LOVE our music.
It's not all fried here in Tennessee.
Ronnie Dunn
________________________________________________
From: Andrew Mills
Subject: RE: Clive's Book-1
To your point:
http://www.nme.com/news/noel-gallagher/69067
March 7, 2013
Noel Gallagher criticises Muse drummer for smoking an electronic cigarette Former Oasis star unimpressed by his time at Brit Awards
Noel Gallagher has said that his experience of the Brit Awards was summed up by seeing a member of Muse smoking an electronic cigarette.
Gallagher was at the ceremony alongside Damon Albarn of Blur to award War Child with a special recognition award for their work in music and charity. However, he left unimpressed by the ceremony, which was also criticised by Kasabian this week. Speaking to Time Out Dubai about what he hated so much about the awards, Gallagher stated that everyone he saw was a "careerist" and that everybody is too nice.
"There are no characters left in the music business. When we first started going there was a healthy percentage of people, and we were all dirt-kickers from council estates, and we all couldn't believe our luck that we were at the Brits. You go in now and everybody is a careerist. It's very corporate, and you know what I've actually seen people doing at the Brits? Eating. I saw the drummer from Muse smoking an electronic cigarette. A cigarette with a battery in. I had to say to him: 'Really? Really? Is that where you are at? Do me a favour mate, either have a proper one outside, or don't have one.' It lit up green when he had a drag of it. Nonsense. He said that immortal line - 'Oh you know how it is mate'. And I said 'I'm sorry mate, I actually don't.'
Gallagher continued his outspoken views on the ceremony, calling the night "instantly forgettable" and rallying against young people who wear hats. "It was an instantly forgettable night," said Gallagher. "There was nothing going on at the Brits, there was nothing going on at the aftershow parties. There seemed to be a lot of young people in hats, with iPhones. They're either all involved in some massive video game that they're all hooked up to, or they're just texting each other saying 'Where are you, what are you doing?' And they've all got hats. Where did the hat come from? We're going back to some Dickensian nightmare. I don't understand it. People with hats and Blackberrys under the age of 30 should be shot. Or stoned to death."
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Subject: Alvin Lee
Bob,
When Alvin Lee walked on the stage of a small UK blues club in 1967 in his trademark clogs, blonde locks and dramatic good looks and began to play that red Gibson with the peace symbol sticker, fingers flying across the frets, you just knew you were in the presence of a star.
Ultimately millions agreed as Ten Years After stole the show at the UK's Sunbury Jazz and Blues Festival in 1968 and later, as, for many, Alvin became the face of Woodstock after the movie was released in 1970.
Alvin was a warm man, with a ready smile and an easy sense of humor to go with those flying fingers.
As an aspiring musician in England, Alvin entrusted his life and career to two recent University graduates, still wet behind the ears! In doing so, Alvin helped put in place the first building block of a business which became known as Chrysalis.
Chris Wright and I will always be grateful.
Alvin left us far too early and we will miss him,
Terry
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Clive's Book-1
In my humble opinion, the music business began to decline when the label executives tried to become as famous as the artists. To prove my point, I challenge anyone to remember who the chairman of Capitol Records was when they had the Beatles AND the Beach Boys. That, and when musicians began wearing tennis shoes in the studio. Ugh.
Bill Bentley
Vanguard Records
________________________________________________
From: Mike Pinder
Subject: Re: A Little More Moody Blues
It is interesting to hear musicians develop. I can hear the same thing in my boys' music that is inherent in all developing musicians. Raw talent that has to mature.
Too bad records companies don't take the time to mature artists like in days of old. From Love Me Do to Magical Mystery Tour. (I sang harmonies and played mouth organ on Walrus and Fool on the Hill) From Go Now to Nights in White Satin. And so on.
________________________________________________
Subject: Something happened
Hi Bob
I've been messing around in the music business for over 45 years and now at 67 despite my misgivings I am trying to help a young artist named Charlie Hole get started in the biz.
I want to share with you something that happened this weekend.
Charlie plays bars, clubs, little theaters and any place where he can to get his 10,000 hours.
He's only 19. He works most nights.
We have made a CD and its pretty good.
Most of the copies are in my garage and we need to get them heard. If no one hears it, we will never get anywhere. (it's on iTunes but that's not the point)
Now, on any given night he is playing to 50 plus people in a club and will ask them if they want to buy a CD after the show.. He has been selling 2 or 3 this way. The price is 10 pounds ($15)
This weekend he changed tactics.
He told them the CD was free.
Just pay whatever you think it's worth.
Don't worry if you don't have any money, it's free.
He sold 17 copies, an increase of of over 500%
Nobody took one for free.
Some people paid double.
Everyone wanted to help Charlie make a living because they got it.
They wanted to be involved. They felt good helping him on his way...
Amanda Palmer knows this.
Now I know it too.
Try giving your music away. Sharing has its own rewards.
It takes courage to do this but sometimes you make more money that way.
Even if you don't, your music is out there...listeners can become fans and fans are your lifeblood.
Bob, you have been talking about how the music business has changed.
This weekend an old boy like me saw it working first hand and I'm over the moon.
Keep the faith
All the best
Jim Cregan
London
________________________________________________
From: Mic Tienken
Subject: Re: Billy Joel At Vanderbilt
Bob, you rock. Just met your sister Wendy Friday night at a Dan Navarro show
in Minneapolis. She tells great stories and you are featured prominently.
Love your take on the biz, so fun to read. Phil Solem actually turned me on
to your newsletter and I'm ashamed to say I had not been hip to it prior.
I've been writing songs with Phil (the Rembrandts, Thrush) for over 30 years
now and I love me some good songwriters and I love great stories about the
biz, I could tell a few myself.
Phil tells me I need to meet you someday as he feels our tastes and opinions
are simpatico.
Whatever.
I enjoy your missives, keep 'em coming. Especially enjoyed the one about
virality (the Mila Kunis thing). I'm in violent agreement. I tell young
bands and musicians all the time that all that really matters is that they
kick ass.
You can print out flyers, post 'em on every telephone poll in town, send
thousands of emails, create an event on FaceBook, Tweet to everyone you
know, and if you do a really good job, maybe you get 50 people to come to
your gig. Play there the next night, nobody comes, because you suck.
Another band, doesn't do s**t, they play in a bar and the regulars are
there, maybe 10, 15 people. They rock the place, they are great, the next
night the bar is packed.
That's the way rock and roll works.
That's the way the world works.
________________________________________________
From: Andrew Oldham
Subject: Re: Instant Karma
bob;
hopefully tea in toronto.....
woman is the nigger of the world.....
i am to clive davis what hugo chavez was to george bush... at the UN....
f**k the sulphur,....
the very best book that was ever written about popdom is STONE FREE.
i managed to bridge over hustled waters... nobody else has
apart from chet baker, keith, edith piaf, miles davis, and john stanley donaldson.....
i thank myself, i bridged with privilege.
and i gave thanks for it....
albert grossman, brian epstein, chris & kit... you better move on...
johnny lennon did not care. he cared about the moment, the translation would be yours.
there was no way he wanted to be brian jones...
john would resonate, he would move on. he never relied upon you..
we loved him, he knew it.
bowie is a shop window, the store is empty...
we love you...
best, ALO. right now in huntington beach.....
________________________________________________
From: george drakoulias
Subject: RE: Instant Karma
Great song great record. In addition to drums, a lot of the excitement can be found in that distorted vocal. Lennon was too hot for the mic! In fact the drums are a simple shuffle, but run through tape slap. Spector went from the wall of sound, which was mass reverb and chamber and lots of players playing in a close room together, to a tape echo thing with Lennon. (Lennon loved "Elvis Echo") The whole record is run through echo. Piano, drums, vocals et al. It's also the sound of "Imagine" Add the "throw your drum set down the stairs" drum fills and you got pure joy. Spector's work with Harrison on "All Things
Must Pass" is more wall of sound. Listen to "What Is Life" for and you can hear the difference.
By the way looked it up "Instant Karma" on wikipedia learned this: "It ranks as one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history, recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios the same day it was written, and arriving in stores only ten days later. Lennon remarked to the press, he "wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we're putting it out for dinner."
________________________________________________
From: Shelley Germeaux
Subject: Instant Karma post
Hi Bob,
I interviewed Alan about Instant Karma and the other songs he did with John, a few years ago. That interview ended up at "Not So Modern Drummer" magazine so it's not on line...but thought I'd share with you what Alan told me.
About the drum part on IK, he acknowledged Spector's role in creating it. He said Lennon originally had that song as a "shuffle" and the song was just a rough bit that he'd just written. Alan thought it should be changed up a bit and talked to Spector about a different drum approach. "That's when we decided to use the Tom. We put a towel over it and played the tom like a cymbal. I did the drum breaks in a different meter..."
John liked it and said "keep doing that." Spector put a "slap echo" on the drum to make it sound like two.
So that's Alan's story about IK in case you're interested.
________________________________________________
From: Mary Catherine Sneed
Subject: Re: Clive's Book-2
Clive Davis was on Fallon last night. He took a moment to tell some story that was really "Clive discovered Justin Timberlake"...along with taking credit for so many others. unbelievable. I have been in radio since college. 1970. Since I was 19. One of the reasons Clive Davis had so much success was because of a man name Richard Palmese. He hired the best promo people for Arista. They would never give up on a song. Other labels had artists and music that was just as good as Arista but they gave up. The promo staff at Arista made u believe that if u didn't add their songs u would b depriving your audience of something special. Other labels did not do that. U never hear Clive Davis talk about any of these people. So I am!!!!
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Kelly & Clive
Love this line, "The octogenarian who's all over conventional media
but doesn't realize that's passe?"
We recently requested credentials to cover The Who tour when it swings
through the area, but were told by the publicist "only the local daily
and weekly papers in the market that preview the show are being
approved to cover The Who tour." I was tempted to retort "that makes
sense, because only the people who still read the local daily and
weekly papers seem to be buying tickets."
(if you post, please omit my info, else the publicist will freak-out)
________________________________________________
Subject: Twitter over Facebook for Music Marketing says CD Baby post
Hey, Bob,
I grabbed this off of today's CD Baby email newsletter. What do you think?
http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2013/02/4-reasons-why-twitter-is-better-than-facebook-for-music-marketing/
Larry Butler
________________________________________________
From: Rev. Bill
Subject: Re: Billy Joel At Vanderbilt
About 15 years ago, I was doing a magazine for musicians called GIG. Through a series of weird coincidences, i got hooked up with a guy named David Santos who wrote for the mag about being a working bass player for a couple of years. He went on to play with The Neville Bros, Julio Iglesias, John Fogerty and a bunch of others but at that time he had just gotten his big break playing with... Billy Joel.
The story of how he got the gig falls in lockstep with a lot of stuff you tell musicians (except that David was a sideman). He was living in New York, playing whatever gigs he could get. Got booked on a couple of high-end weddings where the sax player was Mark Rivera who has been with Billy forever. Mark dug David's energy and the fact that he did not just phone it in even though it was "just a wedding gig." Later that year, Mark goes out with Ringo Starr on on of the All-Starr Band tours. It was the year when Ringo's kid tragically died at home while Ringo was over here. When RIngo left, so did John Entwhistle and somehow it fell to Mark to bring in a drummer and bass player to finish the tour. Mark called Liberty DeVito who played with Billy up until a few years ago and he called David.
David goes out and finishes the tour. At the end, Liberty and Mark sit down with him and tell him that Billy is not currently touring but might again soon and would he be interested in the gig. He says "of course." And here is where it gets cool.
David decides to prepare for a call that may never come. He moves to Nashville because he feels he can work on learning better there. He sits down over a period of months and learns to play every single song from every single Billy Joel record ever recorded. Something like 150 songs.
The call comes. Kind of. Mark calls and tells David there is no tour but that Billy is doing VH-1 Storytellers. No rehearsal and they will probably just play a couple of songs but can he come to New York for a one-off TV gig. David goes. It is similar to the college gigs. Billy talks about the songs and interacts with the audience. David has barely met Billy. Audience member asks about a little-known gem of a song called "Summer Highland Falls." Billy says he really can't play it because there is a bass line that is crucial. David waves from the side of the stage. Billy sees him and asks, "Do you know it?" David says yes. Billy calls him out to the stage and they do the song. David ends up on stage for almost the entire show with Billy asking "Do you know this?" on every tune and getting a "yes" on every tune. At one point he comments tothe audience that he has just met this guy and never played with him and he "knows every song i've written."
David ended up playing with Billy for a long time including the Elton and Billy tours and the millenium concert at madison Square Garden. And the Billy gig led to every other thing he has done.
All because he DID THE WORK...
-b
________________________________________________
From: Jason Darling
Subject: Re: Billy Joel At Vanderbilt
When I was at Berklee (92) Billy Joel came and did this. I only went because my roommate was obsessed. It was extremely refreshing to hear someone who had succeeded in music lay out the hard truths about the business. He was honest and forthright and it was a very informative if you took his message to heart.
A year later my roommate did a BJ tribute and sent a recording and asked if Billy could listen and if he might critique it. To my surprise one afternoon I answered the phone in our crappy Boston apt. and it was Billy Joel calling for my roommate. They talked for 40 min. I thought "how cool is this guy to do that?!"
A few years after that I was on a gig in Montauk during the off season (some MTV thing being filmed in a empty seasonal resort) The drummer pointed out Billy Joel in the corner of an empty dinning room eating lunch all alone. He suggested we go over and ask him to sit in.
Even though we rudely interrupted his lobster lunch he was totally cool and cordial as we talked for a few minuets.
________________________________________________
From: Harvey Leeds
Subject: Re: Billy Joel At Vanderbilt
Small world-Michael Pollack is my cousin's roommate in college-the kid is a great song writer and has sent me some original material the is wonderful. Smal world-great viral clip! Bill Joel is a mensch!
P.S. "US music mogul looks for next big thing in Israel": http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Arts/Article.aspx?id=305419
________________________________________________
Re: Alvin Lee
Esther Ratner was my landlord! Although it was a few years after
your experience, I lived on the third floor, next door to Judy Collins'
brother, Denver. Esther's husband had since died, but I was aware that he
traveled through the south with Tennessee Williams, I believe creating a
series of paintings related to that adventure.
Although those were the days when I was afraid to go to sleep in fear of
missing something, I occasionally relented in that third floor walk-up on
Greenwich Street. I fared a little better than you did in Esther's home...
I think I even got my security deposit back!
Dan Beck
________________________________________________
From: Ryan Richards
Subject: Re: The Yahoo Kerfuffle
Oh boy, I bet your inbox is filling up with vitriolic responses to this one. The merit and productivity benefit of "Working at home"/"Telecommuting" or whatever you want to call it is one of those Silicon Valley sacred cows that people will defend to the ends of the Earth, and those people are working from home.
Ask anyone who isn't personally invested in this concept and they'll either tell you it's BS or they won't have any opinion at all, they're too busy working. I've worked in the Valley for 7 years. Everyone in the office knows who the 'work-at-home' people are, and oftentimes they're perceived as jokes. I'm not talking about new mothers, or temporary situations. I am talking about employees who are "out there", but no one knows what exactly they do and there's no accountability. And yes, it definitely has an effect on morale and productivity.
Put another way...why would successful companies like Apple and Google put the effort in creating their own private transit systems to shuttle people back and forth from San Francisco, Santa Cruz, etc, if everyone were so much more productive at home?
My favorite retort to Mayer's move was the claim that working at home is 'green' and asking people to do otherwise somehow makes her a polluting monster. Yes, working at home is green, but it's passively green. You could stop showering, that's green. Also you could stop breathing, less CO2 for the rest of us.
Thanks for writing Bob, keep it up.
- Ryan
As an aside, did you know traffic is significantly lighter in Santa Clara Valley on Fridays? I don't recall that being true in LA, or New York. What does that say about our culture here?
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: More Information
Nice piece Bob. As a fishing guide I've done the same thing for years. My website hypes the product (Finger Lakes fishing,) not me. Many of my clients spend years going through the site and content before contacting me for a trip.
It's a no BS site - if I go fishing or do a guided trip and don't catch anything, I post it. I also have no problem giving props to other competent guides.
Prospective clients also get to know my personality through my site. I'm on top or near the top of most search engines and I receive an average of 100 to 150 hits a day.
I don't partake in social networking like Facebook, but when clients have a good day, they'll often post info on those sites - so I get some publicity over there.
John Gaulke
www.fingerlakesanglingzone.com
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Women Of L.A.
The women of L.A. are just reacting to what they have been sold. The formula lie: be skinny and very attractive and smart and you can land any kind of guy you want who will worship you and marry you and have babies with you AAAAAND give you the huge diamond, and a villa in Italy and a nanny to look after your children. Withhold sex until you get a proper payday on the horizon. It's like the dowry thing.
It's like how the previous generation was told all you have to do is get a degree and then a high-paying job where you simply GET respect after graduation (like the AUTUMN after graduation) will knock on your door and hand you a life.
I was one of the women of L.A. until I hit 29. Starving myself to be thin, turning down anyone who didn't have a great job and working my way up the entertainment biz ladder. I found myself alone for a week in Las Vegas all expenses paid with a hot body and tons of sexy outfits and no one REAL to share it with - lame. It was then I realised I had to get out and go back to basics: be a WOMAN. One who knows how to cook, doesn't need stuff to be happy and wants a real man to look after her.
I met a wonderful normal man who lives in London, married him and moved there.
Do I miss L.A.? I miss Mexican food and occasionally the weather. But it's a lovely sunny day in London today and we have great Italian - something they NEVER had in L.A.
Angela Randall
________________________________________________
From: Marcus Sheridan
Subject: A quick thank you
Hi Bob, My name is Marcus Sheridan and you wrote about me in your newsletter last week. I thought your words were incredibly kind and so I wanted to thank you for taking the time to review what you reviewed and say what you said. Many people have emailed me about your words, and Mitch Joel even said: "I'm more impressed with you getting mentioned by Bob than by the New York Times!"
I thought that was funny, and quite the complement to you as well.
Again, thank you sir for the kind words, I hope your week is a great one.
Marcus
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
A photographer shooting a celebrity for a national magazine was given 3 hours. The retouching took 15 minutes.
NOW
A photographer shooting a celebrity for a national magazine is given 15 minutes. The retouching takes 3 hours.
Neal Preston
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
A parent was home raising the kids
NOW
Both parents have to work multiple jobs while kids are raised in day care or
by grandparents.
Dan Titcomb
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
College dorms were cinder block and linoleum military style cubicles, food was inedible and tuition was low enough for you eventually pay off your student loan.
NOW
Dorms are luxury hotel suites food is gourmet and tuition is so high you'll never pay it off.
Grooves Analogplanet
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
You bought music and water was free
NOW
You buy water and music is free
John Stix
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN
There was one television in the house. Everyone crowded around the set to watch it most nights .
NOW
There's a TV in every room and everyone watches shows on their tablets, that aired a week ago.
Steve Leventhal
________________________________________________
Re: Then/Now
THEN - At a friend's house you would flip through their record collection.
NOW - We fwd YouTube links to each other.
Greg Watermann
________________________________________________
Re: Wealth Inequality In America
Bob,
I worked at Interscope for ten years -- throughout all of my twenties. I made a great living doing something I loved doing with great people. It all collapsed five years ago. The music video departments shrunk once the budgets were slashed. Transitioning to another industry has been difficult and I've been homeless for three years now. If you saw me walking down the street, you would think I had a good job and was doing well. Most pople have no idea I live in the streets. I earn just enough money doing editing and odd jobs to feed myself and maintain my car. When you become homeless you start to realize how many of us are out there. You see where they sleep at night once you're one of them, and I'm not talking about the lifers who are chronically homeless -- but the people like me who fell on "hard times", don't have anywhere to go, and don't want to be a burden on friends.
,
Promoting new methods for job creation and new industries; sustainable energy solutions; raising minimum wages; universal health care; affordable college education... along with all the other issues that are supposed to make for a more perfect union is one of the most important things we can do in getting people to see that maybe there's a better way of doing things, and most importantly bring the nation closer to where the chart in the video says Americans want it to be. It requires people to stand up; take a look around, and start doing things for reasons other than their own selfish interests. As always, it will just take one person at the right place and the right time to start this whole thing. I'm searching for it again; we're just not there yet, people are caught up in there own little worlds. There's still too many sheep.
Morgan Hartmann
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Alvin Lee
Bob,
Back in High School I used to borrow (and sometimes give back) records from a friend who's Dad was a DJ at an Easy Listening station in Detroit; they had 1000s of 45s on shelves in the basement. One of the ones that I did give back was by Ten Years After on the Deram label: "The Sounds" was the A-side, a plodding, un-memorable exercise, but the B-side was a really beautiful track called "Portable People".. That one's a classic IMO. There are live versions on YouTube but the studio track is one that I highly recommend.
I still like the "Undead" album; the guys really sound like wanna-be Jazzers on that one, doing kind of an English, amped-up version of what they used to call "Soul Jazz", a la Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, et. al. The way Alvin would grab a riff and Repeat It and Repeat It and Repeat It and Repeat It, that was a very Jimmy Smith thing to do..
RIP Alvin Lee,
Marshall Crenshaw
________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Monitor But Don't Respond
Taken out of context but your words in the article below........ "we're now all truly equal online."
Internet or not Bob, in reality we're NOT all equal.
I get what you're saying but we just aren't all equal and we're NEVER going to be. Fact.
Whoever wrote that was "working the room".
This device and the web doesn't make us equal. It gives more of us a voice but I'm not convinced that a congress made up of 50 million people is going to be any more effective than the lame bunch that walk the halls of D.C. right now.
I think humanity, led by this apparatus is spiraling into the great unknown. I'm suited up, let's go!
Have PC, Iphone, Galaxy, etc.
......I read your stuff and enjoy it whether I always agree or not.
We're going to wake up, sooner than later I'm afraid, to the stark realization that this cyber device owns and controls our world.
....it morphs into some kind of global, cyber dictator.
What if, while it's busy taking over and eating everything in it's path, we wake up to find that it has robbed us of a very basic "human dynamic"... .....one to one, real life, real time, live interaction ?
That's the ultimate show and the hot ticket that I'm throwing my money at.
I THINK that may be why we're here on this rock.
It can't be left up to the machine to sort out the fate of mankind.
It's just going to run the numbers, do a mindless, black and white assessment (sounds like a few major label execs, huh ? )...dress us all in gray and confine us to our quadrants....(did I just describe mainstream radio ?)
I'm as guilty as the next guy. I text. I seldom call.
I'm concerned that as we allow technology to "white out" basic human traits that we're going to wake up dehumanized and under the control of "THE MACHINE". That's a reality and it's coming at us fast.
.....first, it eats intellectual rights (music), putting people out of work, next it consumes the work place and puts millions out of work.....the solution is to re-tool people to service the machine which, in turn results in even more people left jobless. Music is an obvious victim but if we're focused on music then, you and a lot of cutting edge cyber surfers are being left behind. I don't have a solution so< I shouldn't be popping off but we should talk about this. The Cost of Livin's High and Going Up.
You should come to dinner if and when you're in this "neck of the woods".
I know you're a mainstream rock cat at heart but...I'll invite some engaging country and Western friends over.
I know some really fun Southern girls that LOVE to cook healthy food as much as we LOVE our music.
It's not all fried here in Tennessee.
Ronnie Dunn
________________________________________________
From: Andrew Mills
Subject: RE: Clive's Book-1
To your point:
http://www.nme.com/news/noel-gallagher/69067
March 7, 2013
Noel Gallagher criticises Muse drummer for smoking an electronic cigarette Former Oasis star unimpressed by his time at Brit Awards
Noel Gallagher has said that his experience of the Brit Awards was summed up by seeing a member of Muse smoking an electronic cigarette.
Gallagher was at the ceremony alongside Damon Albarn of Blur to award War Child with a special recognition award for their work in music and charity. However, he left unimpressed by the ceremony, which was also criticised by Kasabian this week. Speaking to Time Out Dubai about what he hated so much about the awards, Gallagher stated that everyone he saw was a "careerist" and that everybody is too nice.
"There are no characters left in the music business. When we first started going there was a healthy percentage of people, and we were all dirt-kickers from council estates, and we all couldn't believe our luck that we were at the Brits. You go in now and everybody is a careerist. It's very corporate, and you know what I've actually seen people doing at the Brits? Eating. I saw the drummer from Muse smoking an electronic cigarette. A cigarette with a battery in. I had to say to him: 'Really? Really? Is that where you are at? Do me a favour mate, either have a proper one outside, or don't have one.' It lit up green when he had a drag of it. Nonsense. He said that immortal line - 'Oh you know how it is mate'. And I said 'I'm sorry mate, I actually don't.'
Gallagher continued his outspoken views on the ceremony, calling the night "instantly forgettable" and rallying against young people who wear hats. "It was an instantly forgettable night," said Gallagher. "There was nothing going on at the Brits, there was nothing going on at the aftershow parties. There seemed to be a lot of young people in hats, with iPhones. They're either all involved in some massive video game that they're all hooked up to, or they're just texting each other saying 'Where are you, what are you doing?' And they've all got hats. Where did the hat come from? We're going back to some Dickensian nightmare. I don't understand it. People with hats and Blackberrys under the age of 30 should be shot. Or stoned to death."
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Rhinofy-Some Kinks
Clive saved the Kinks.
Or should I say "Klive"?
Credit John Mendelsohn, who wrote the liner notes for "The Kink Kronikles," for getting the ball rolling. Although Mendelsohn may not have hurt Zeppelin's career with his negative review in "Rolling Stone," (yes, I know who it was, a true rock fan is all about the OBSCURITIES!), he burnished the Kinks' image when they were considered toast by most, by calling the almost totally unknown in the U.S. "Waterloo Sunset" "simply one of the four or five most beautiful songs of our age." Huh? Almost nobody purchased "The Kink Kronikles," but everybody who did insisted their buddies listen to "Waterloo Sunset," after quoting Mr. Mendelsohn. I know, it happened to me. And then I went on to purchase not only this double album compilation after my buddy Andy Munro spun it for me, but every RCA album thereafter.
Yes, the Kinks had switched to RCA. You know the joke, right? I won't repeat the whole thing, just let you know the punch line. At Disneyland, the son of the sheikh asks his dad to buy him a Mickey Mouse outfit. So the sheikh buys him RCA Records. Yup, it was just about that bad, only MCA was worse. Despite a hard core of diehard fans who purchased every album and went to see the yearly show, the core never increased.
And then Clive signed them to Arista.
The concept albums were done. "Sleepwalker" was a straight-ahead rock record. And it even exceeded the hopes and desires of the hard core.
Start with "Juke Box Music."
We can debate all day long who played guitar on those initial Kinks hits, but this is definitely Dave Davies and he's WAILING!
"There's a lady plays her favorite records
On the juke box every day
All day long she plays the same old songs
And she believes the things that they say"
The same damn records! Spinning on the turntable as we stared at them! We would have jumped in the hole if we could! They were our truth, our raison d'etre.
"Other ladies like to prance around
And flirt and dance the whole night through
But she just sits and listens to her juke box records
'Cause that's all that she wants to do"
Come on, if you're reading this you understand. Our records were everything! We weren't on the football team, we weren't cool in school, but at home, we were SUPERSTARS!
"She sings along with all the saddest songs
And she believes the stories are real
She lets the music dictate the way that she feels"
No one's ever said it better. That's why we loved Ray. Our moods matched our music. We knew it WASN'T only juke box music.
And then there was "Life Goes On"...
"A friend of mine just had a real bad time
You see his life was shattered and he lost his mind
His girl ran off along with his best friend
And through emotional stress he brought his life to an end
It was such a tragedy
But that's the way it's got to be
Life goes on"
It most surely does.
The first question after someone dies? WHAT'S FOR DINNER? Then, there's the fight over possessions. And then you're just a memory, that comes up ever more infrequently, because life goes on.
"My bank went broke and my well ran dry
It was almost enough to contemplate suicide
I turned on the gas, but I soon realized
I hadn't settled my bill so they cut off my supply"
Ah, the irony! But what we loved even more was the use of the English "settled" instead of "paid." Ray was willing to toss the concept albums over the transom, but he still insisted on being himself, English to the core.
Meanwhile, in the seventies it was all right to sing about being a loser, on the wrong side of life. Today everybody's a winner. Huh? Has human nature changed? Is life somehow different? NO! But people are afraid of the truth, they can't handle it, just like Jack Nicholson said.
"Misfits" was even better. It's the apotheosis of the Arista years. It's the last best thing Ray's done, just listen to "A Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy."
But although the band's audience was growing, there was no hit single, they were still a cult item.
But then, suddenly, the band started to get airplay. The albums veered towards the mainstream, but it was weird to hear the Kinks on the radio after an absence of almost a decade. First it was "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" and "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" from "Low Budget" and then it was "Destroyer," off "Give The People What They Want." And finally, in 1983, the band had a bona fide hit, with "Come Dancing." They were playing arenas. A deserved victory lap was taking place. It was a bit bittersweet, because the records were dumbed down, but the Arista years were rescued by one Dave Davies, with "Living On A Thin Line," from "Word Of Mouth."
We all are.
Especially mobsters. Like the Sopranos. Yup, "Living On A Thin Line" was featured in 2001's "University." It's got that seamy underbelly, New Jersey, life is dangerous and can end at any moment feel. You're worried about what's gonna happen. It's the SOUND that conveys this.
And then the Kinks took the money and absconded to MCA and never had another hit. But they wrote one! Yup, "Video Shop," from 1986's "Think Visual."
"The local factory's been pulled down
By an overseas corporation
Now all of my brothers are looking around
For alternative occupation"
Things were bleak in the mother country, but Englishmen are nothing if not industrious.
"I was sitting by the telly with my brother Kenny
When suddenly the penny dropped
While all of my brothers are sitting at home
I've got a bank loan and I've opened up my very own
Video shop
Video shop"
POSITIVELY BRILLIANT!
Seems quaint now, but in the mid-eighties we were all video crazy. A trip to the video shop eclipsed a journey to the record shop for many. We were catching up on the new flicks we'd missed in the theatres, and the classics.
"I've got a bootleg version of 'Citizen Kane'
A second-hand copy of 'Psycho'
I've taped them off the telly so you shouldn't complain"
BOOTLEG TAPES! This was before the Blockbusterization of video shops, the mom and pops were populated by illicit wares. And in the corner, behind a curtain, was the truly illicit stuff...
"If you want to escape, I can rent you a tape
To relieve your situation
If you feel a bit low, I got a good peep show
'Cause everybody knows almost anything goes
At my video shop
At my video shop"
I was sitting in my living room listening to "Video Shop" telling myself THIS IS A HIT!
But MCA didn't know what to do with it.
A smash on Arista, but it wasn't. Clive could recognize hits, you've got to give him that.
Yes, Clive gave Ray Davies and the Kinks their victory lap.
And the Arista years weren't the best, but they contained some gems.
But if you want to dig down deep, check out "Money Talks" from "Preservation Act 2," now that's TRULY genius!
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/p6HcZ8
Previous Rhinofy playlists: http://www.rhinofy.com/lefsetz
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--
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Or should I say "Klive"?
Credit John Mendelsohn, who wrote the liner notes for "The Kink Kronikles," for getting the ball rolling. Although Mendelsohn may not have hurt Zeppelin's career with his negative review in "Rolling Stone," (yes, I know who it was, a true rock fan is all about the OBSCURITIES!), he burnished the Kinks' image when they were considered toast by most, by calling the almost totally unknown in the U.S. "Waterloo Sunset" "simply one of the four or five most beautiful songs of our age." Huh? Almost nobody purchased "The Kink Kronikles," but everybody who did insisted their buddies listen to "Waterloo Sunset," after quoting Mr. Mendelsohn. I know, it happened to me. And then I went on to purchase not only this double album compilation after my buddy Andy Munro spun it for me, but every RCA album thereafter.
Yes, the Kinks had switched to RCA. You know the joke, right? I won't repeat the whole thing, just let you know the punch line. At Disneyland, the son of the sheikh asks his dad to buy him a Mickey Mouse outfit. So the sheikh buys him RCA Records. Yup, it was just about that bad, only MCA was worse. Despite a hard core of diehard fans who purchased every album and went to see the yearly show, the core never increased.
And then Clive signed them to Arista.
The concept albums were done. "Sleepwalker" was a straight-ahead rock record. And it even exceeded the hopes and desires of the hard core.
Start with "Juke Box Music."
We can debate all day long who played guitar on those initial Kinks hits, but this is definitely Dave Davies and he's WAILING!
"There's a lady plays her favorite records
On the juke box every day
All day long she plays the same old songs
And she believes the things that they say"
The same damn records! Spinning on the turntable as we stared at them! We would have jumped in the hole if we could! They were our truth, our raison d'etre.
"Other ladies like to prance around
And flirt and dance the whole night through
But she just sits and listens to her juke box records
'Cause that's all that she wants to do"
Come on, if you're reading this you understand. Our records were everything! We weren't on the football team, we weren't cool in school, but at home, we were SUPERSTARS!
"She sings along with all the saddest songs
And she believes the stories are real
She lets the music dictate the way that she feels"
No one's ever said it better. That's why we loved Ray. Our moods matched our music. We knew it WASN'T only juke box music.
And then there was "Life Goes On"...
"A friend of mine just had a real bad time
You see his life was shattered and he lost his mind
His girl ran off along with his best friend
And through emotional stress he brought his life to an end
It was such a tragedy
But that's the way it's got to be
Life goes on"
It most surely does.
The first question after someone dies? WHAT'S FOR DINNER? Then, there's the fight over possessions. And then you're just a memory, that comes up ever more infrequently, because life goes on.
"My bank went broke and my well ran dry
It was almost enough to contemplate suicide
I turned on the gas, but I soon realized
I hadn't settled my bill so they cut off my supply"
Ah, the irony! But what we loved even more was the use of the English "settled" instead of "paid." Ray was willing to toss the concept albums over the transom, but he still insisted on being himself, English to the core.
Meanwhile, in the seventies it was all right to sing about being a loser, on the wrong side of life. Today everybody's a winner. Huh? Has human nature changed? Is life somehow different? NO! But people are afraid of the truth, they can't handle it, just like Jack Nicholson said.
"Misfits" was even better. It's the apotheosis of the Arista years. It's the last best thing Ray's done, just listen to "A Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy."
But although the band's audience was growing, there was no hit single, they were still a cult item.
But then, suddenly, the band started to get airplay. The albums veered towards the mainstream, but it was weird to hear the Kinks on the radio after an absence of almost a decade. First it was "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" and "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" from "Low Budget" and then it was "Destroyer," off "Give The People What They Want." And finally, in 1983, the band had a bona fide hit, with "Come Dancing." They were playing arenas. A deserved victory lap was taking place. It was a bit bittersweet, because the records were dumbed down, but the Arista years were rescued by one Dave Davies, with "Living On A Thin Line," from "Word Of Mouth."
We all are.
Especially mobsters. Like the Sopranos. Yup, "Living On A Thin Line" was featured in 2001's "University." It's got that seamy underbelly, New Jersey, life is dangerous and can end at any moment feel. You're worried about what's gonna happen. It's the SOUND that conveys this.
And then the Kinks took the money and absconded to MCA and never had another hit. But they wrote one! Yup, "Video Shop," from 1986's "Think Visual."
"The local factory's been pulled down
By an overseas corporation
Now all of my brothers are looking around
For alternative occupation"
Things were bleak in the mother country, but Englishmen are nothing if not industrious.
"I was sitting by the telly with my brother Kenny
When suddenly the penny dropped
While all of my brothers are sitting at home
I've got a bank loan and I've opened up my very own
Video shop
Video shop"
POSITIVELY BRILLIANT!
Seems quaint now, but in the mid-eighties we were all video crazy. A trip to the video shop eclipsed a journey to the record shop for many. We were catching up on the new flicks we'd missed in the theatres, and the classics.
"I've got a bootleg version of 'Citizen Kane'
A second-hand copy of 'Psycho'
I've taped them off the telly so you shouldn't complain"
BOOTLEG TAPES! This was before the Blockbusterization of video shops, the mom and pops were populated by illicit wares. And in the corner, behind a curtain, was the truly illicit stuff...
"If you want to escape, I can rent you a tape
To relieve your situation
If you feel a bit low, I got a good peep show
'Cause everybody knows almost anything goes
At my video shop
At my video shop"
I was sitting in my living room listening to "Video Shop" telling myself THIS IS A HIT!
But MCA didn't know what to do with it.
A smash on Arista, but it wasn't. Clive could recognize hits, you've got to give him that.
Yes, Clive gave Ray Davies and the Kinks their victory lap.
And the Arista years weren't the best, but they contained some gems.
But if you want to dig down deep, check out "Money Talks" from "Preservation Act 2," now that's TRULY genius!
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/p6HcZ8
Previous Rhinofy playlists: http://www.rhinofy.com/lefsetz
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Thursday 14 March 2013
Then/Now
THEN
People had car trouble.
NOW
If someone tells you they're not coming because their car won't start, you don't believe them.
THEN
Your computer crashed, you feared the Blue Screen Of Death.
NOW
Your computer goes months without ever crashing, and you barely turn it on anyway, only for work, because you're addicted to your tablet and smartphone.
THEN
Superstars took a year to make an album and it sold for three years.
NOW
Superstars take a year to make an album, and they're essentially dead on arrival. The faithful buy them and then they're done. And everybody complains the business sucks and it ain't what it used to be when the truth is there are five hundred TV channels and YouTube and nothing gets the mindshare it did before.
THEN
Concert tickets were three, four and five dollars. The bands drove in station wagons and getting high and getting laid were the goal.
NOW
Concert tickets cost triple digits, the bands want to fly private and your money goes to buying houses and cars and other assets as the band tries to keep up with the truly rich, which they no longer are.
THEN
The goal was to work at a record label.
NOW
The goal is to work at Apple.
THEN
You bugged your parents for your own Princess phone in your bedroom.
NOW
You can't remember the last time you spoke on the phone.
THEN
Gas was pumped for you and you went inside to get maps.
NOW
You pump your own gas and maps are on your phone.
THEN
You went to the record store and plotted what albums you were going to buy in the future
NOW
You can listen to everything for free online and the thrill of new is gone, now it's solely about what is great. The concept of buying something and finding out it sucks is passe.
THEN
You were constantly returning records to the store for scratches, skips and warps.
NOW
There are no stores and there is no returning.
THEN
The deejay was the most trusted person in the music universe.
NOW
The deejay is a joke, sold out to the man with no personality, playing drivel that only ten year olds would sit through.
THEN
It was all about record sales.
NOW
It's all about tickets.
THEN
You could only buy the t-shirt at the gig, so you did, to appear special.
NOW
T-shirts are everywhere and not quite meaningless, but far from meaningful.
THEN
You sat down and listened to the music, in aural bliss, you only stood during the encore.
NOW
You stand throughout the gig, get jostled by your neighbors and get beer spilled upon you, all in the name of feeling the music.
THEN
You woke up early to wait in line to buy tickets.
NOW
You go on StubHub weeks after the on-sale to overpay for good seats.
THEN
You went to a show every month.
NOW
You go to a show once or twice a year.
THEN
There was live music in bars.
NOW
You listen to deejays in bars.
THEN
Mainstream media was clueless as to music.
NOW
Every publication covers the scene and tries to look hip.
THEN
Acts were unreachable.
NOW
If your favorite act isn't on Twitter and you don't think you have access, you're angry.
THEN
There was upward mobility in the music industry.
NOW
The baby boomers don't want to let you take their jobs.
THEN
The Beatles were the biggest act in the business.
NOW
Paul McCartney is the biggest act in the business.
THEN
The Rolling Stones couldn't sell a record.
NOW
The Rolling Stones can't sell a record.
THEN
Clive Davis was telling us how powerful he was.
NOW
Clive Davis is telling us how powerful he was.
THEN
The labels screwed the artists.
NOW
The labels screw the artists.
THEN
Acts were unsophisticated.
NOW
Everybody's an expert, they read Passman's book, they're savvy.
THEN
Security at the gig was like us, just beefier.
NOW
Security is the enemy.
THEN
You went to make the scene.
NOW
You go to make the scene at the electronic music show, it's too expensive to go to any other gig on a lark.
THEN
Arenas eclipsed theatres, the acts were just too big, demand was just too great.
NOW
Most acts can't sell out arenas, other than classic rock acts and the occasional superstar, acts play theatres.
THEN
You wanted to sleep with Stevie Nicks.
NOW
You don't want to sleep with Taylor Swift, she'll write a song about you.
THEN
We paid a fortune for hi-def sound systems.
NOW
We pay a middling sum to hear compressed versions of our favorites via earbuds.
THEN
Top Forty radio played the best of everything.
NOW
Top Forty radio...who listens to Top Forty radio, isn't that just a subset of urban with the occasional Mumford & Sons or Lumineers track?
THEN
FM was hip.
NOW
We don't even listen to AM, certainly not for music.
THEN
We learned computer dating didn't work, the matches sucked.
NOW
People flock to Pandora, even though the matches suck.
THEN
Auto sound sucked and home sound was great.
NOW
Auto sound is great and most people don't even own a home stereo.
THEN
You dreamed of being a rock star.
NOW
They call anybody rich a rock star. Whereas the rock stars of yore were about freedom, of both lifestyle and expression, we flocked to them. The only thing memorable about these new "rock stars" is their money.
THEN
You wore your street clothes on stage.
NOW
Fashion is a key element of show business, even though the richest people in America, the techies, wear hoodies and sneakers.
THEN
Acts took risks, artistic chances.
TODAY
Everybody plays it safe.
THEN
You wrote your own material, songs were straight from the heart of the writer/player/singer to the audience.
NOW
Every song is written by the same people, and personality is absent.
THEN
You had to be able to sing to make it.
NOW
You've got to be willing to whore yourself out to make it. And those with bad voices believe they're entitled to success.
THEN
Our best acts were on weekly TV, on "Ed Sullivan" and "In Concert."
NOW
Our worst acts are on TV, on "American Idol," "The Voice" and "X Factor."
THEN
Game shows were during the day.
NOW
Talent contests are at night.
THEN
You had to have talent to make it.
NOW
You have to have desire to make it.
THEN
You got your license at 16.
NOW
You can live without your driver's license.
THEN
Your parents were the enemy.
NOW
Your parents are your best friends.
THEN
Republicans were about personal freedom.
NOW
Republicans want to tell you how to live your life.
THEN
Democrats were about erecting a Great Society.
NOW
Democrats are pussies who are afraid of alienating their donors.
THEN
You wanted to be President.
NOW
Who'd want to be President?
THEN
Sports stars were just like us.
NOW
Sports stars are nothing like us. Hell, they're richer than musicians!
THEN
You rarely flew anywhere.
NOW
You'll fly halfway across the country for a concert.
THEN
Winter was endless and miserable.
NOW
You wear your shorts in the winter.
THEN
If you screwed up in school, your parents chewed you out.
NOW
If you screw up in school, your parents chew out the administration.
THEN
You went to college to learn.
NOW
You go to college to earn.
THEN
We were all in it together.
NOW
It's every man for himself.
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People had car trouble.
NOW
If someone tells you they're not coming because their car won't start, you don't believe them.
THEN
Your computer crashed, you feared the Blue Screen Of Death.
NOW
Your computer goes months without ever crashing, and you barely turn it on anyway, only for work, because you're addicted to your tablet and smartphone.
THEN
Superstars took a year to make an album and it sold for three years.
NOW
Superstars take a year to make an album, and they're essentially dead on arrival. The faithful buy them and then they're done. And everybody complains the business sucks and it ain't what it used to be when the truth is there are five hundred TV channels and YouTube and nothing gets the mindshare it did before.
THEN
Concert tickets were three, four and five dollars. The bands drove in station wagons and getting high and getting laid were the goal.
NOW
Concert tickets cost triple digits, the bands want to fly private and your money goes to buying houses and cars and other assets as the band tries to keep up with the truly rich, which they no longer are.
THEN
The goal was to work at a record label.
NOW
The goal is to work at Apple.
THEN
You bugged your parents for your own Princess phone in your bedroom.
NOW
You can't remember the last time you spoke on the phone.
THEN
Gas was pumped for you and you went inside to get maps.
NOW
You pump your own gas and maps are on your phone.
THEN
You went to the record store and plotted what albums you were going to buy in the future
NOW
You can listen to everything for free online and the thrill of new is gone, now it's solely about what is great. The concept of buying something and finding out it sucks is passe.
THEN
You were constantly returning records to the store for scratches, skips and warps.
NOW
There are no stores and there is no returning.
THEN
The deejay was the most trusted person in the music universe.
NOW
The deejay is a joke, sold out to the man with no personality, playing drivel that only ten year olds would sit through.
THEN
It was all about record sales.
NOW
It's all about tickets.
THEN
You could only buy the t-shirt at the gig, so you did, to appear special.
NOW
T-shirts are everywhere and not quite meaningless, but far from meaningful.
THEN
You sat down and listened to the music, in aural bliss, you only stood during the encore.
NOW
You stand throughout the gig, get jostled by your neighbors and get beer spilled upon you, all in the name of feeling the music.
THEN
You woke up early to wait in line to buy tickets.
NOW
You go on StubHub weeks after the on-sale to overpay for good seats.
THEN
You went to a show every month.
NOW
You go to a show once or twice a year.
THEN
There was live music in bars.
NOW
You listen to deejays in bars.
THEN
Mainstream media was clueless as to music.
NOW
Every publication covers the scene and tries to look hip.
THEN
Acts were unreachable.
NOW
If your favorite act isn't on Twitter and you don't think you have access, you're angry.
THEN
There was upward mobility in the music industry.
NOW
The baby boomers don't want to let you take their jobs.
THEN
The Beatles were the biggest act in the business.
NOW
Paul McCartney is the biggest act in the business.
THEN
The Rolling Stones couldn't sell a record.
NOW
The Rolling Stones can't sell a record.
THEN
Clive Davis was telling us how powerful he was.
NOW
Clive Davis is telling us how powerful he was.
THEN
The labels screwed the artists.
NOW
The labels screw the artists.
THEN
Acts were unsophisticated.
NOW
Everybody's an expert, they read Passman's book, they're savvy.
THEN
Security at the gig was like us, just beefier.
NOW
Security is the enemy.
THEN
You went to make the scene.
NOW
You go to make the scene at the electronic music show, it's too expensive to go to any other gig on a lark.
THEN
Arenas eclipsed theatres, the acts were just too big, demand was just too great.
NOW
Most acts can't sell out arenas, other than classic rock acts and the occasional superstar, acts play theatres.
THEN
You wanted to sleep with Stevie Nicks.
NOW
You don't want to sleep with Taylor Swift, she'll write a song about you.
THEN
We paid a fortune for hi-def sound systems.
NOW
We pay a middling sum to hear compressed versions of our favorites via earbuds.
THEN
Top Forty radio played the best of everything.
NOW
Top Forty radio...who listens to Top Forty radio, isn't that just a subset of urban with the occasional Mumford & Sons or Lumineers track?
THEN
FM was hip.
NOW
We don't even listen to AM, certainly not for music.
THEN
We learned computer dating didn't work, the matches sucked.
NOW
People flock to Pandora, even though the matches suck.
THEN
Auto sound sucked and home sound was great.
NOW
Auto sound is great and most people don't even own a home stereo.
THEN
You dreamed of being a rock star.
NOW
They call anybody rich a rock star. Whereas the rock stars of yore were about freedom, of both lifestyle and expression, we flocked to them. The only thing memorable about these new "rock stars" is their money.
THEN
You wore your street clothes on stage.
NOW
Fashion is a key element of show business, even though the richest people in America, the techies, wear hoodies and sneakers.
THEN
Acts took risks, artistic chances.
TODAY
Everybody plays it safe.
THEN
You wrote your own material, songs were straight from the heart of the writer/player/singer to the audience.
NOW
Every song is written by the same people, and personality is absent.
THEN
You had to be able to sing to make it.
NOW
You've got to be willing to whore yourself out to make it. And those with bad voices believe they're entitled to success.
THEN
Our best acts were on weekly TV, on "Ed Sullivan" and "In Concert."
NOW
Our worst acts are on TV, on "American Idol," "The Voice" and "X Factor."
THEN
Game shows were during the day.
NOW
Talent contests are at night.
THEN
You had to have talent to make it.
NOW
You have to have desire to make it.
THEN
You got your license at 16.
NOW
You can live without your driver's license.
THEN
Your parents were the enemy.
NOW
Your parents are your best friends.
THEN
Republicans were about personal freedom.
NOW
Republicans want to tell you how to live your life.
THEN
Democrats were about erecting a Great Society.
NOW
Democrats are pussies who are afraid of alienating their donors.
THEN
You wanted to be President.
NOW
Who'd want to be President?
THEN
Sports stars were just like us.
NOW
Sports stars are nothing like us. Hell, they're richer than musicians!
THEN
You rarely flew anywhere.
NOW
You'll fly halfway across the country for a concert.
THEN
Winter was endless and miserable.
NOW
You wear your shorts in the winter.
THEN
If you screwed up in school, your parents chewed you out.
NOW
If you screw up in school, your parents chew out the administration.
THEN
You went to college to learn.
NOW
You go to college to earn.
THEN
We were all in it together.
NOW
It's every man for himself.
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Leiweke Out
There's only one owner here.
That's what Rupert Murdoch told Barry Diller after Barry did the impossible, create a fourth television network. Barry believed he earned ownership. But Rupert felt otherwise.
You think you want a job, you think you want to sell out, but if you're not in charge of your life someone else is.
I really don't care if Phil Anschutz sells AEG or not. Hell, from the beginning it appeared he was asking too much, begging the question of whether he was seeking valuation or...
But one thing I'm categorically against is football in downtown L.A.
As my football fanatic friend Jeff says, we've now got it good, without a local team we get the best games on television. As opposed to being subjected to our local outfit on TV every Sunday, assuming they sell out and the game is not blacked-out.
Then again, true fans have the DirectTV package wherein they get every game.
As for going to the game... It's better on television. You can feel it at the stadium, but you just can't see it. Which is why attendance is faltering.
But this is kind of like the movie credit game. And the automobile factory game. Cities and states fall over themselves to give incentives to draw these enterprises, but the payback is minimal, the only people benefiting are the teams/companies themselves.
But ain't that America, where we rob from our brethren, argue amongst the hoi polloi, and the rich walk straight to the bank.
Tim Leiweke will say he too did the impossible. Revitalized downtown L.A., brought a hockey championship to the city. And I don't want to minimize his efforts, but Phil wasn't always on board with them, and Tim never realized he didn't own AEG. He acted like he did, but he didn't.
As for Farmers Field, you can't drive in L.A. to begin with. You're gonna make it worse?
Leiweke strong-armed the government.
But no one reads the newspaper and if they watch TV news, it's for the robberies and pet rescues.
It's good we've got AEG as a concert promoter. They counterbalance Live Nation.
And Staples Center is far better than the decrepit Forum, at least for now.
Then again, Staples is evidence of our country today. It's gigantic. There are three levels of skyboxes. The upper deck is so high and so far removed that almost no one can sell it out. Staples makes money, but it's a lousy place for events.
Whereas the Forum was intimate. After Dolan gets through revitalizing it, will it become the concert destination?
We'll see.
But know that billionaires rule the earth, and we're just pawns in their game.
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That's what Rupert Murdoch told Barry Diller after Barry did the impossible, create a fourth television network. Barry believed he earned ownership. But Rupert felt otherwise.
You think you want a job, you think you want to sell out, but if you're not in charge of your life someone else is.
I really don't care if Phil Anschutz sells AEG or not. Hell, from the beginning it appeared he was asking too much, begging the question of whether he was seeking valuation or...
But one thing I'm categorically against is football in downtown L.A.
As my football fanatic friend Jeff says, we've now got it good, without a local team we get the best games on television. As opposed to being subjected to our local outfit on TV every Sunday, assuming they sell out and the game is not blacked-out.
Then again, true fans have the DirectTV package wherein they get every game.
As for going to the game... It's better on television. You can feel it at the stadium, but you just can't see it. Which is why attendance is faltering.
But this is kind of like the movie credit game. And the automobile factory game. Cities and states fall over themselves to give incentives to draw these enterprises, but the payback is minimal, the only people benefiting are the teams/companies themselves.
But ain't that America, where we rob from our brethren, argue amongst the hoi polloi, and the rich walk straight to the bank.
Tim Leiweke will say he too did the impossible. Revitalized downtown L.A., brought a hockey championship to the city. And I don't want to minimize his efforts, but Phil wasn't always on board with them, and Tim never realized he didn't own AEG. He acted like he did, but he didn't.
As for Farmers Field, you can't drive in L.A. to begin with. You're gonna make it worse?
Leiweke strong-armed the government.
But no one reads the newspaper and if they watch TV news, it's for the robberies and pet rescues.
It's good we've got AEG as a concert promoter. They counterbalance Live Nation.
And Staples Center is far better than the decrepit Forum, at least for now.
Then again, Staples is evidence of our country today. It's gigantic. There are three levels of skyboxes. The upper deck is so high and so far removed that almost no one can sell it out. Staples makes money, but it's a lousy place for events.
Whereas the Forum was intimate. After Dolan gets through revitalizing it, will it become the concert destination?
We'll see.
But know that billionaires rule the earth, and we're just pawns in their game.
--
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Wednesday 13 March 2013
Instant Karma
You've got to strike when the iron is hot, when you're inspired.
Sure, there are artists who labor over their work, like those schmos who believe writing is rewriting. Sure, fix the mistakes, but if you're sharpening your pencils trying to get it right, chances are you never will. Don't eke it out, go to the movies, read a book, and when the moment of inspiration hits, RUN TO THE STUDIO! OR THE COMPUTER! OR WHATEVER MEDIUM YOU USE TO LAY DOWN YOUR ART!
I heard "Instant Karma" on the radio today. It's my favorite Lennon solo cut, because of the EXUBERANCE!
If you ain't got conviction, if you ain't giving it all you've got, if you're not willing to put yourself on the line, you're never gonna close a single listener, you're never going to make any fans. Stop apologizing, just DO IT!
Then again, everybody is not John Lennon. "Instant Karma" was not his initial work, rather it was recorded when the Beatles were already toast, when John knew his way around the studio, how he sounded good.
But Lennon did not make this record alone. He employed PHIL SPECTOR!
Now Spector may have ruined "Let It Be," but he made "Instant Karma" into a masterpiece.
It's the DRUMS!
Played by Alan White, eventually to be of Yes, I'd credit him, but I've never heard him play this sound since. Maybe Phil coached him. But really, I think it comes down to the way they're recorded. Usually, the drums are buried. They're way down in the mix. But here the drums are right up front, they're almost soloing. And they're not the fat drums of engineers who spend hours getting the tone right, it almost sounds like White is in his bedroom, whacking along to the track on pillows. He's so relaxed, there's so much joy, he's having FUN!
You remember fun, it's the one thing that money can't buy. And that's what you hear too much in today's music, the money, everybody's trying to get it exactly right, eliminating all humanity, all attraction from the cut. Come on, how often is the demo better than the finished product? But the acts won't put out the demo, for fear of looking less than. Like those idiot actresses who plump their lips, blanding out their look, in search of accolades from people who don't even care.
Now "Instant Karma" does not sound that good at home. Dial it up on YouTube or MOG, it's thin, but it sounded absolutely FANTASTIC on the radio!
We didn't know it was coming. Then one day we turned on the radio AND THERE IT WAS!
We couldn't dial it up on YouTube, we couldn't even buy it, we were just slaves to the radio, tuned in, waiting for another hit of the magic elixir, written and recorded in a single day, released to the world not even a fortnight later.
"Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You'd better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead"
Was John prescient?
OF COURSE NOT!
We're all gonna be dead. Sooner rather than later. If you're lucky, one day you wake up and you're old. And then you're gone, done and forgotten. Time slips by, very slowly when you're young, and incredibly quickly as you age. You can't do everything in life, but focus on a couple of important things, otherwise you're gonna have regrets.
"How in the world you gonna see
Laughing at fools like me
Who on earth do you think you are
A superstar, well right you are!"
Only a musician could write this. Combining confidence and ignorance in the same verse. Ignore John Lennon at your peril, then again, what does he know? He yields the floor to you, you're just as valid as he is, you're a superstar! We're all equal, we're all in this together. "Job creators" truly think they're the creator, better than the rest of us, god-like when we're all truly clueless, and we're best off listening to artists who are in it for nothing other than the truth, as opposed to rip-off industrialists. Who ran Goldman Sachs in 1970? I surely don't know, I bet most of the firm's present employees don't know, but we all know John Lennon.
"Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on earth are you there
When you're everywhere
Come and get your share"
The dirty little secret of aging... You're risk-averse, you're scared. You can't ski because you might break a leg, and then you might miss work, and then what? You're playing it safe, and missing out on all the joy, all the fun. Come and get your share, not of cash, not of fame, but of LIFE!
"Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Everyone, come on"
A deranged idiot cut down John Lennon. He gained fame, but it ruined his life. You think you want to be famous? Just look at Mark David Chapman. You're better off living in obscurity, doing good, having friends.
But one thing we know for sure, John Lennon shines on, decades later, and will continue to burn bright for future generations to learn from and enjoy.
And it's not only Lennon. McCartney's willing to leave in mistakes. And no one works faster than Bob Dylan. He wants to capture lightning in a bottle, and if he doesn't, he shrugs his shoulders and moves on, writes something new. Because it's not what you've done, but what you're doing.
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Sure, there are artists who labor over their work, like those schmos who believe writing is rewriting. Sure, fix the mistakes, but if you're sharpening your pencils trying to get it right, chances are you never will. Don't eke it out, go to the movies, read a book, and when the moment of inspiration hits, RUN TO THE STUDIO! OR THE COMPUTER! OR WHATEVER MEDIUM YOU USE TO LAY DOWN YOUR ART!
I heard "Instant Karma" on the radio today. It's my favorite Lennon solo cut, because of the EXUBERANCE!
If you ain't got conviction, if you ain't giving it all you've got, if you're not willing to put yourself on the line, you're never gonna close a single listener, you're never going to make any fans. Stop apologizing, just DO IT!
Then again, everybody is not John Lennon. "Instant Karma" was not his initial work, rather it was recorded when the Beatles were already toast, when John knew his way around the studio, how he sounded good.
But Lennon did not make this record alone. He employed PHIL SPECTOR!
Now Spector may have ruined "Let It Be," but he made "Instant Karma" into a masterpiece.
It's the DRUMS!
Played by Alan White, eventually to be of Yes, I'd credit him, but I've never heard him play this sound since. Maybe Phil coached him. But really, I think it comes down to the way they're recorded. Usually, the drums are buried. They're way down in the mix. But here the drums are right up front, they're almost soloing. And they're not the fat drums of engineers who spend hours getting the tone right, it almost sounds like White is in his bedroom, whacking along to the track on pillows. He's so relaxed, there's so much joy, he's having FUN!
You remember fun, it's the one thing that money can't buy. And that's what you hear too much in today's music, the money, everybody's trying to get it exactly right, eliminating all humanity, all attraction from the cut. Come on, how often is the demo better than the finished product? But the acts won't put out the demo, for fear of looking less than. Like those idiot actresses who plump their lips, blanding out their look, in search of accolades from people who don't even care.
Now "Instant Karma" does not sound that good at home. Dial it up on YouTube or MOG, it's thin, but it sounded absolutely FANTASTIC on the radio!
We didn't know it was coming. Then one day we turned on the radio AND THERE IT WAS!
We couldn't dial it up on YouTube, we couldn't even buy it, we were just slaves to the radio, tuned in, waiting for another hit of the magic elixir, written and recorded in a single day, released to the world not even a fortnight later.
"Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You'd better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead"
Was John prescient?
OF COURSE NOT!
We're all gonna be dead. Sooner rather than later. If you're lucky, one day you wake up and you're old. And then you're gone, done and forgotten. Time slips by, very slowly when you're young, and incredibly quickly as you age. You can't do everything in life, but focus on a couple of important things, otherwise you're gonna have regrets.
"How in the world you gonna see
Laughing at fools like me
Who on earth do you think you are
A superstar, well right you are!"
Only a musician could write this. Combining confidence and ignorance in the same verse. Ignore John Lennon at your peril, then again, what does he know? He yields the floor to you, you're just as valid as he is, you're a superstar! We're all equal, we're all in this together. "Job creators" truly think they're the creator, better than the rest of us, god-like when we're all truly clueless, and we're best off listening to artists who are in it for nothing other than the truth, as opposed to rip-off industrialists. Who ran Goldman Sachs in 1970? I surely don't know, I bet most of the firm's present employees don't know, but we all know John Lennon.
"Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on earth are you there
When you're everywhere
Come and get your share"
The dirty little secret of aging... You're risk-averse, you're scared. You can't ski because you might break a leg, and then you might miss work, and then what? You're playing it safe, and missing out on all the joy, all the fun. Come and get your share, not of cash, not of fame, but of LIFE!
"Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on
Everyone, come on"
A deranged idiot cut down John Lennon. He gained fame, but it ruined his life. You think you want to be famous? Just look at Mark David Chapman. You're better off living in obscurity, doing good, having friends.
But one thing we know for sure, John Lennon shines on, decades later, and will continue to burn bright for future generations to learn from and enjoy.
And it's not only Lennon. McCartney's willing to leave in mistakes. And no one works faster than Bob Dylan. He wants to capture lightning in a bottle, and if he doesn't, he shrugs his shoulders and moves on, writes something new. Because it's not what you've done, but what you're doing.
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Clive's Book-2
He takes so much credit!
Bruce Springsteen? The way he runs around the stage, uses all the space? That's CLIVE!
I don't expect you to believe that, and I certainly don't, but I barely knew Ahmet and he loved to tell stories, but he wasn't the punch line of each, they all didn't end with him winning.
As for the man with the golden ears... Hell, we've all got a little gilt around the edges. But don't we give the most credit to Mo Ostin? Who built the world's greatest record label essentially from scratch (with the help of Joe Smith, who does want the credit...)
Now Mo's the nicest of the bunch, he's the most civilized, but he's got sharp elbows too. That's what these guys were, businessmen. To recast them as artists, other than Ahmet, who actually wrote a song or two, is to rewrite the history of the music business. It's like saying Steve Jobs was responsible for the Apple II. Oops, he took a lot of credit! But really, that was Steve Wozniak's brilliant creation, Jobs just egged Woz on. But Jobs would be forgotten if that's all he'd done. And Malcolm Gladwell posits that in fifty years Steve Jobs will be a footnote, and I'm beginning to believe he's right. Gladwell said odds are better that Bill Gates will be the one people talk about, not because of Microsoft, but because of his charitable efforts.
Life is not about legacy, it's about being there. If you think you're gonna be remembered, you're sorely mistaken. And what's weirder is people who are giants during their era are forgotten, and those who were obscure are oftentimes held up high by future generations. All you've got is your stories.
And Clive's got plenty.
We've all got plenty, it's the nature of life.
But Clive interacted with a slew of famous people, who touched all our lives, like Neil Diamond.
Clive made a deal for Neil with David Braun. Talk about forgotten... Not only was Braun the most powerful lawyer of his era, he went on to head PolyGram. Now both are gone. Ask a kid what PolyGram is/was, and he'll scratch his head.
Anyway, Neil's still signed to MCA, but Clive poaches him. And hangs out with him. And Neil's got strong opinions. He likes to argue. About music. For hours.
Like my friend George Drakoulias recently told me, he used to get in fights about records!
That's not the kind of discussion we have now. You quote sales statistics, say something is good or it sucks, and you change topics. Part of this has to do with the music, a lot of it has to do with the people.
Neil and Clive were from Brooklyn.
Yes, there is a difference between east coast and west coast people. East coasters are more opinionated, they like to hash it out. West coasters are more about lifestyle. So that's your opinion, that's cool, I'm going surfing!
And on one hand that's liberating. East coasters browbeat you into submission. You're not from the right neighborhood, you didn't go to the right school.
And speaking of school, that's what we did my entire four years at Middlebury College. Argue out our opinions. Night after night. There was no cable TV, only the college radio station, all we had was ourselves.
Critical thinking, it's gone by the wayside.
As for today's students...it's all about being a member of the group. You don't want to be a loner today. You want to be part of the social network. Baby boomers are about individual excellence, youngsters don't want to stand out.
Youngsters date in a group. They applaud winners and losers.
And something's been lost in the process.
Go online, you'll find people yelling at each other. On TV too. I'm right, you're wrong. But there's rarely any analysis of the other person's position. Imagine Bill O'Reilly telling a left wing guest, YOU'VE GOT A POINT!
Never gonna happen. Because Bill's about bullying and winning, not truth.
Truth has gone by the wayside.
And the way you get to truth is by having strong opinions, expressing them, and digesting the response.
The thing people hate most about me?
I've got strong opinions.
Wait, there's something else. I'M TOO NEGATIVE!
Let me tell you a secret... There's no positive without negative. Life is a spectrum, and unless there's bad, you don't know what good is.
But you can't handle this. You want everybody to say your music is good, the same way you got a soccer trophy despite being unable to kick the ball.
Does this mean I'm always right?
OF COURSE NOT!
Only a fool feels he's infallible.
But by putting it out there, I get a response. Most of the time, I get black and white e-mail, you're a god, you're an idiot. Then there are people who express their opinion cogently and I'm made to think, my horizons are broadened, I'm affected, and sometimes I even change my mind.
That's what I hate about the whole Wall Street/banking thing. That these people can't be criticized because they're rich. You went to an Ivy League school and then got a gig at Goldman Sachs? Would you have taken the job if it topped out at 50k? OF COURSE NOT!
Everybody's pursuing cash, and trying to separate themselves from everybody else.
But cash is not the point. And we're all in it together.
And life is not about inert objects, like an electric sports car and a NetJet account, but interaction with other human beings. Life is a search for insight and truth.
They know that better on the east coast.
But even there, life has been skewed.
You're rich or you're poor.
You're good or you suck.
Trying to get people to explain why?
That's a whole different issue.
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Bruce Springsteen? The way he runs around the stage, uses all the space? That's CLIVE!
I don't expect you to believe that, and I certainly don't, but I barely knew Ahmet and he loved to tell stories, but he wasn't the punch line of each, they all didn't end with him winning.
As for the man with the golden ears... Hell, we've all got a little gilt around the edges. But don't we give the most credit to Mo Ostin? Who built the world's greatest record label essentially from scratch (with the help of Joe Smith, who does want the credit...)
Now Mo's the nicest of the bunch, he's the most civilized, but he's got sharp elbows too. That's what these guys were, businessmen. To recast them as artists, other than Ahmet, who actually wrote a song or two, is to rewrite the history of the music business. It's like saying Steve Jobs was responsible for the Apple II. Oops, he took a lot of credit! But really, that was Steve Wozniak's brilliant creation, Jobs just egged Woz on. But Jobs would be forgotten if that's all he'd done. And Malcolm Gladwell posits that in fifty years Steve Jobs will be a footnote, and I'm beginning to believe he's right. Gladwell said odds are better that Bill Gates will be the one people talk about, not because of Microsoft, but because of his charitable efforts.
Life is not about legacy, it's about being there. If you think you're gonna be remembered, you're sorely mistaken. And what's weirder is people who are giants during their era are forgotten, and those who were obscure are oftentimes held up high by future generations. All you've got is your stories.
And Clive's got plenty.
We've all got plenty, it's the nature of life.
But Clive interacted with a slew of famous people, who touched all our lives, like Neil Diamond.
Clive made a deal for Neil with David Braun. Talk about forgotten... Not only was Braun the most powerful lawyer of his era, he went on to head PolyGram. Now both are gone. Ask a kid what PolyGram is/was, and he'll scratch his head.
Anyway, Neil's still signed to MCA, but Clive poaches him. And hangs out with him. And Neil's got strong opinions. He likes to argue. About music. For hours.
Like my friend George Drakoulias recently told me, he used to get in fights about records!
That's not the kind of discussion we have now. You quote sales statistics, say something is good or it sucks, and you change topics. Part of this has to do with the music, a lot of it has to do with the people.
Neil and Clive were from Brooklyn.
Yes, there is a difference between east coast and west coast people. East coasters are more opinionated, they like to hash it out. West coasters are more about lifestyle. So that's your opinion, that's cool, I'm going surfing!
And on one hand that's liberating. East coasters browbeat you into submission. You're not from the right neighborhood, you didn't go to the right school.
And speaking of school, that's what we did my entire four years at Middlebury College. Argue out our opinions. Night after night. There was no cable TV, only the college radio station, all we had was ourselves.
Critical thinking, it's gone by the wayside.
As for today's students...it's all about being a member of the group. You don't want to be a loner today. You want to be part of the social network. Baby boomers are about individual excellence, youngsters don't want to stand out.
Youngsters date in a group. They applaud winners and losers.
And something's been lost in the process.
Go online, you'll find people yelling at each other. On TV too. I'm right, you're wrong. But there's rarely any analysis of the other person's position. Imagine Bill O'Reilly telling a left wing guest, YOU'VE GOT A POINT!
Never gonna happen. Because Bill's about bullying and winning, not truth.
Truth has gone by the wayside.
And the way you get to truth is by having strong opinions, expressing them, and digesting the response.
The thing people hate most about me?
I've got strong opinions.
Wait, there's something else. I'M TOO NEGATIVE!
Let me tell you a secret... There's no positive without negative. Life is a spectrum, and unless there's bad, you don't know what good is.
But you can't handle this. You want everybody to say your music is good, the same way you got a soccer trophy despite being unable to kick the ball.
Does this mean I'm always right?
OF COURSE NOT!
Only a fool feels he's infallible.
But by putting it out there, I get a response. Most of the time, I get black and white e-mail, you're a god, you're an idiot. Then there are people who express their opinion cogently and I'm made to think, my horizons are broadened, I'm affected, and sometimes I even change my mind.
That's what I hate about the whole Wall Street/banking thing. That these people can't be criticized because they're rich. You went to an Ivy League school and then got a gig at Goldman Sachs? Would you have taken the job if it topped out at 50k? OF COURSE NOT!
Everybody's pursuing cash, and trying to separate themselves from everybody else.
But cash is not the point. And we're all in it together.
And life is not about inert objects, like an electric sports car and a NetJet account, but interaction with other human beings. Life is a search for insight and truth.
They know that better on the east coast.
But even there, life has been skewed.
You're rich or you're poor.
You're good or you suck.
Trying to get people to explain why?
That's a whole different issue.
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Tuesday 12 March 2013
Rules Of Life
Why is everybody incompetent?
I leave town for a week, I hold my mail, and it never reappears. I ask the delivery person and it's a bad Freddie Prinze routine, EES NOT MY JOB! I'm the temp! When is the real person coming back? NEVER! They changed routes!
So they give you a phone number, and after you navigate the tree, you're on hold so long someone else is at the door.
And then you've got to schlep your ass down to the station, to try and argue with another person who doesn't care that your mail is on hold, and if they don't deliver it you can't pay your health insurance, your credit score's gonna take a hit, and who do I talk to to make sure the Post Office truly does go out of business, so I can rely on the Internet, I trust digits more than people!
So here goes:
1. Show Up
You can't make it if you don't arrive. In person is nice, but e-mail and social networking is cool. Just react. Or don't be surprised when you end up in your own private backwater, complaining that nobody cares.
2. Don't Be Late
Unless you want to piss people off. Sure, five or ten minutes is de rigueur in L.A., where traffic is hell and unpredictable, but if you're gonna go beyond this, SEND A TEXT! An e-mail, dial the phone! It's EASY! We understand if you make an effort. But if you don't...
3. Don't Send Form Letters
We're overloaded with spam, but you send one of those press releases, to come to your show even though I don't even know you, and you address it to yourself. Give me a break, you're just pissing me off.
4. Make It Personal
If you're going to bother to connect, make it a one-off. Ten personal e-mails are better than a hundred spam bcc's. If you address it to me, I'll read it, I'll pay attention, I know you've made an effort. But if it's to me and who knows who else, forget it.
5. Be Nice
I get it. You're pissed off you're not where you want to be. I sympathize. But if you're going to bother to interact with someone, especially if they're higher up on the business food chain, your only possibility of gaining traction is to be nice. It's just like your mama told you, flies are attracted to honey. You don't have to do it this way, you can fly solo and wow everybody. Be my guest, I love the left field success. But if you want to play the game, cordiality is key.
6. Do What You Say You're Gonna Do
No one ever does. So you'll stand out if you do.
7. Finish
Whether it be school or cleaning the house. It shows that you care, that you have pride in your work, that you can be counted on.
8. Spelling Counts
Not in texts, but if you're asking a favor. How hard is it to run spell-check? And while we're at it, do your best to employ good grammar.
9. Take A Shower
Show up in your basketball sweats, I don't care. But if you've got B.O. not only does it show disrespect, it makes your counterpart wonder what planet you're living on.
10. Don't Ask Before Giving
We abhor takers. But when someone gives, it's hard not to reciprocate. This is less about gifts and more about favors. Open the door, whether it be physical or metaphorical. Make life easier. We're all vulnerable to that.
11. Don't Be A Kiss-Ass
Sucking up never works, certainly not for long. Be respectful, but don't grovel, don't manipulate. It may not be discernible at first, but it comes out and people wince.
12. Don't Sell Until Ready
You rarely get two bites at the apple. Just because you have access, that doesn't mean you should sell. The pitch is secondary to the product. Only play when you're ready.
13. Know What's Important
Go to SXSW to schmooze with your buddies. Don't go to break through, they only want to take your money to play a showcase that no one will go to, or will talk throughout while drinking free alcohol. If you never say no, you will never get to yes.
14. Say Thank You
It's easy! A simple text or e-mail. It acknowledges that you're aware a favor has been done. We love doing favors, it makes us feel good. But when we don't get appreciation, we get pissed.
15. Listen
You might learn something. If you can't shut up, you're not going to go far. You already know what you know, you can learn from others, but only if you LISTEN!
16. Don't Be A Know-It-All
Nobody knows everything. And sometimes you're right, and the other person is wrong. But smart people know when to correct mistakes and when not to. If someone's going to drive off a bridge, or fly in the wrong direction, by all means speak up. But if they say coffee used to be a dime and you know it was a nickel, correcting the other person just makes you look like a jerk.
17. Be Open
Only politicians don't change their minds. You're not running for office. If you're not willing to admit you were wrong and do a 180, you're never going to swim upstream.
18. Famous Does Not Mean Rich, Never Mind Respected
You think it's about attention. No, it's about the work. And it's a very long haul. Paris Hilton is already a footnote, how long do you think it will be before Kim Kardashian is one too!
19. You Don't Have To Respect Your Elders
Just because someone's older than you and more experienced that does not mean they're right. But chances are you're not going to be able to convince them of this, you're going to have to go your own way, do it by yourself. Good luck!
20. Speak Coherently
Talking like you're from the street will not impress those who never go there.
21. Know What You Don't Know
Be a sponge, learn from everyone. The street sweeper to the CEO. They all have knowledge to impart. Be a receiver, not a seller.
22. Degrees Don't Count
Only in professions like health and law, doctors and lawyers. Otherwise, we're all flying by our wits. Don't tell us where you've been, especially if it's got nothing to do with where you're planning on going.
23. Don't Drop Names
This just makes you look anxious and foolish. If you have mutual friends, by all means mention them. But if you think we're impressed that you know so and so...you're wrong. Hell, if you're that big a player, why are you talking to me?
24. Don't Lie
The truth always outs. Lie to get a job, everybody does, trump up your experience. In other words, when the game is rigged, forget the rules. But in everyday life the currency is not money so much as credibility and trust. Remember that.
25. Stay Off Business In Social Situations
The exec talked business all day, he wants to relax. Focus on his hobbies or something in the news or... You get through to someone through their heart, not their brain. Someone who's all business all the time is very boring.
26. Stay On Point And Don't Waste Time
We don't want to know where you grew up and what you had for dinner and whether your car is running smoothly, unless all this takes less than sixty seconds. Get to the heart of the matter, no one's got time to waste.
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I leave town for a week, I hold my mail, and it never reappears. I ask the delivery person and it's a bad Freddie Prinze routine, EES NOT MY JOB! I'm the temp! When is the real person coming back? NEVER! They changed routes!
So they give you a phone number, and after you navigate the tree, you're on hold so long someone else is at the door.
And then you've got to schlep your ass down to the station, to try and argue with another person who doesn't care that your mail is on hold, and if they don't deliver it you can't pay your health insurance, your credit score's gonna take a hit, and who do I talk to to make sure the Post Office truly does go out of business, so I can rely on the Internet, I trust digits more than people!
So here goes:
1. Show Up
You can't make it if you don't arrive. In person is nice, but e-mail and social networking is cool. Just react. Or don't be surprised when you end up in your own private backwater, complaining that nobody cares.
2. Don't Be Late
Unless you want to piss people off. Sure, five or ten minutes is de rigueur in L.A., where traffic is hell and unpredictable, but if you're gonna go beyond this, SEND A TEXT! An e-mail, dial the phone! It's EASY! We understand if you make an effort. But if you don't...
3. Don't Send Form Letters
We're overloaded with spam, but you send one of those press releases, to come to your show even though I don't even know you, and you address it to yourself. Give me a break, you're just pissing me off.
4. Make It Personal
If you're going to bother to connect, make it a one-off. Ten personal e-mails are better than a hundred spam bcc's. If you address it to me, I'll read it, I'll pay attention, I know you've made an effort. But if it's to me and who knows who else, forget it.
5. Be Nice
I get it. You're pissed off you're not where you want to be. I sympathize. But if you're going to bother to interact with someone, especially if they're higher up on the business food chain, your only possibility of gaining traction is to be nice. It's just like your mama told you, flies are attracted to honey. You don't have to do it this way, you can fly solo and wow everybody. Be my guest, I love the left field success. But if you want to play the game, cordiality is key.
6. Do What You Say You're Gonna Do
No one ever does. So you'll stand out if you do.
7. Finish
Whether it be school or cleaning the house. It shows that you care, that you have pride in your work, that you can be counted on.
8. Spelling Counts
Not in texts, but if you're asking a favor. How hard is it to run spell-check? And while we're at it, do your best to employ good grammar.
9. Take A Shower
Show up in your basketball sweats, I don't care. But if you've got B.O. not only does it show disrespect, it makes your counterpart wonder what planet you're living on.
10. Don't Ask Before Giving
We abhor takers. But when someone gives, it's hard not to reciprocate. This is less about gifts and more about favors. Open the door, whether it be physical or metaphorical. Make life easier. We're all vulnerable to that.
11. Don't Be A Kiss-Ass
Sucking up never works, certainly not for long. Be respectful, but don't grovel, don't manipulate. It may not be discernible at first, but it comes out and people wince.
12. Don't Sell Until Ready
You rarely get two bites at the apple. Just because you have access, that doesn't mean you should sell. The pitch is secondary to the product. Only play when you're ready.
13. Know What's Important
Go to SXSW to schmooze with your buddies. Don't go to break through, they only want to take your money to play a showcase that no one will go to, or will talk throughout while drinking free alcohol. If you never say no, you will never get to yes.
14. Say Thank You
It's easy! A simple text or e-mail. It acknowledges that you're aware a favor has been done. We love doing favors, it makes us feel good. But when we don't get appreciation, we get pissed.
15. Listen
You might learn something. If you can't shut up, you're not going to go far. You already know what you know, you can learn from others, but only if you LISTEN!
16. Don't Be A Know-It-All
Nobody knows everything. And sometimes you're right, and the other person is wrong. But smart people know when to correct mistakes and when not to. If someone's going to drive off a bridge, or fly in the wrong direction, by all means speak up. But if they say coffee used to be a dime and you know it was a nickel, correcting the other person just makes you look like a jerk.
17. Be Open
Only politicians don't change their minds. You're not running for office. If you're not willing to admit you were wrong and do a 180, you're never going to swim upstream.
18. Famous Does Not Mean Rich, Never Mind Respected
You think it's about attention. No, it's about the work. And it's a very long haul. Paris Hilton is already a footnote, how long do you think it will be before Kim Kardashian is one too!
19. You Don't Have To Respect Your Elders
Just because someone's older than you and more experienced that does not mean they're right. But chances are you're not going to be able to convince them of this, you're going to have to go your own way, do it by yourself. Good luck!
20. Speak Coherently
Talking like you're from the street will not impress those who never go there.
21. Know What You Don't Know
Be a sponge, learn from everyone. The street sweeper to the CEO. They all have knowledge to impart. Be a receiver, not a seller.
22. Degrees Don't Count
Only in professions like health and law, doctors and lawyers. Otherwise, we're all flying by our wits. Don't tell us where you've been, especially if it's got nothing to do with where you're planning on going.
23. Don't Drop Names
This just makes you look anxious and foolish. If you have mutual friends, by all means mention them. But if you think we're impressed that you know so and so...you're wrong. Hell, if you're that big a player, why are you talking to me?
24. Don't Lie
The truth always outs. Lie to get a job, everybody does, trump up your experience. In other words, when the game is rigged, forget the rules. But in everyday life the currency is not money so much as credibility and trust. Remember that.
25. Stay Off Business In Social Situations
The exec talked business all day, he wants to relax. Focus on his hobbies or something in the news or... You get through to someone through their heart, not their brain. Someone who's all business all the time is very boring.
26. Stay On Point And Don't Waste Time
We don't want to know where you grew up and what you had for dinner and whether your car is running smoothly, unless all this takes less than sixty seconds. Get to the heart of the matter, no one's got time to waste.
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Billy Joel At Vanderbilt
"Okay."
You're supposed to say no. But the problem with excluding all comers is you forgo serendipity, you eliminate magic. Yes is risky, but it can blow your mind. Like it does in this clip of Billy Joel at Vanderbilt.
First you should watch the clip of Billy playing "Miami 2017" at the MSG Sandy show. Kinda reminds me of that old John Lennon comment, that the rich should just rattle their jewelry. Billy's got an entire band, he's firing on all cylinders...and the audience just doesn't care. They're self-satisfied, smiling because they're there. He's changing the lyrics, making them apropos, but you get no hoot of recognition, no excitement, but Billy soldiers on. He's playing to millions, but you believe he'd rather be home on the North Shore, watching TV, riding his motorcycle.
But at Vanderbilt...
Billy does these college shows. Where he tells his story. Can't make as much money as he does in an arena, but it's much more fulfilling, it's different. And at this small show, he knocks it so far out of the park you become a fan, even if you weren't one before.
Billy Joel... Wasn't he supposed to be a joke?
Don't pay attention to the press. Hang around long enough and you outlive the critics. Don't forget Led Zeppelin was panned by "Rolling Stone." And we can't even remember who wrote the review.
College kids are not supposed to care, they're not supposed to know. But listen to them ooh and ahh in this clip. That's what's great about being young, the moment is the most important. It's all about the now. Which is why we revere the youth, they're untainted by experience, they don't know what they don't know, and they can let go.
Like this Michael Pollack. Who has the chutzpah to ask if he can accompany Billy, play with him. Why not, you're never gonna get the chance again.
And this is not like those YouTube videos where someone gets up on stage and the moment is merely a brush with fame. Pollack can really play. As well as Billy. He didn't write it, which is the key, but boy can he play it.
But the true magic moment comes when Billy puts on his sunglasses. He's up to the challenge. He's gonna perform. He's gonna blow everybody AWAY!
That's what performers do. They grab the audience and lift them higher. That's why you go to the show. To hear songs you know by heart in a slightly different iteration and have the night of your life.
Listen to the roar when Billy dons his shades. This is not Madison Square Garden. The audience is not separated from each other by their income, they're all in it together.
"Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood
I'm takin' a Greyhound on the Hudson River line
I'm in a New York State Of Mind"
And the audience EXPLODES! This is a show!
And inspired by the reaction, Billy ups the ante, he takes it up a notch.
"I've seen all the movie stars in their fancy cars and their limousines
I been HIIIGHHH in the Rockies under the EVVERRGREEENNS"
It's a master at work.
Normally, "New York State Of Mind" is about poignancy. But in this case, it's like being at Yankee Stadium, Billy is truly playing to the last row, and he has each and every person in the palm of his hand.
And he does Sinatra and acknowledges it.
And the longer he goes on, the more you realize that Elton gets all the accolades, but his old piano-dueling partner is the one who's still got the pipes. You realize that Billy is an American, one of us.
And he's got a lumpy body, and has trouble walking, but when he opens his mouth you get it...this is music, this is art, this is rock and roll.
Everybody's playing to the media.
Play to the audience. Take risks. Capture magic in a bottle.
And your video will start bouncing around the Internet. Because when we uncover that little kernel of life, that indescribable something that touches us and makes us feel alive, we can't help but tell everybody we know.
"Billy Joel - Sings in the piano accompaniment of student": http://bit.ly/12KmnxA
"Miami 2017 (Sandy) - Billy Joel 121212 Concert at MSG": http://bit.ly/YiWDDg
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You're supposed to say no. But the problem with excluding all comers is you forgo serendipity, you eliminate magic. Yes is risky, but it can blow your mind. Like it does in this clip of Billy Joel at Vanderbilt.
First you should watch the clip of Billy playing "Miami 2017" at the MSG Sandy show. Kinda reminds me of that old John Lennon comment, that the rich should just rattle their jewelry. Billy's got an entire band, he's firing on all cylinders...and the audience just doesn't care. They're self-satisfied, smiling because they're there. He's changing the lyrics, making them apropos, but you get no hoot of recognition, no excitement, but Billy soldiers on. He's playing to millions, but you believe he'd rather be home on the North Shore, watching TV, riding his motorcycle.
But at Vanderbilt...
Billy does these college shows. Where he tells his story. Can't make as much money as he does in an arena, but it's much more fulfilling, it's different. And at this small show, he knocks it so far out of the park you become a fan, even if you weren't one before.
Billy Joel... Wasn't he supposed to be a joke?
Don't pay attention to the press. Hang around long enough and you outlive the critics. Don't forget Led Zeppelin was panned by "Rolling Stone." And we can't even remember who wrote the review.
College kids are not supposed to care, they're not supposed to know. But listen to them ooh and ahh in this clip. That's what's great about being young, the moment is the most important. It's all about the now. Which is why we revere the youth, they're untainted by experience, they don't know what they don't know, and they can let go.
Like this Michael Pollack. Who has the chutzpah to ask if he can accompany Billy, play with him. Why not, you're never gonna get the chance again.
And this is not like those YouTube videos where someone gets up on stage and the moment is merely a brush with fame. Pollack can really play. As well as Billy. He didn't write it, which is the key, but boy can he play it.
But the true magic moment comes when Billy puts on his sunglasses. He's up to the challenge. He's gonna perform. He's gonna blow everybody AWAY!
That's what performers do. They grab the audience and lift them higher. That's why you go to the show. To hear songs you know by heart in a slightly different iteration and have the night of your life.
Listen to the roar when Billy dons his shades. This is not Madison Square Garden. The audience is not separated from each other by their income, they're all in it together.
"Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood
I'm takin' a Greyhound on the Hudson River line
I'm in a New York State Of Mind"
And the audience EXPLODES! This is a show!
And inspired by the reaction, Billy ups the ante, he takes it up a notch.
"I've seen all the movie stars in their fancy cars and their limousines
I been HIIIGHHH in the Rockies under the EVVERRGREEENNS"
It's a master at work.
Normally, "New York State Of Mind" is about poignancy. But in this case, it's like being at Yankee Stadium, Billy is truly playing to the last row, and he has each and every person in the palm of his hand.
And he does Sinatra and acknowledges it.
And the longer he goes on, the more you realize that Elton gets all the accolades, but his old piano-dueling partner is the one who's still got the pipes. You realize that Billy is an American, one of us.
And he's got a lumpy body, and has trouble walking, but when he opens his mouth you get it...this is music, this is art, this is rock and roll.
Everybody's playing to the media.
Play to the audience. Take risks. Capture magic in a bottle.
And your video will start bouncing around the Internet. Because when we uncover that little kernel of life, that indescribable something that touches us and makes us feel alive, we can't help but tell everybody we know.
"Billy Joel - Sings in the piano accompaniment of student": http://bit.ly/12KmnxA
"Miami 2017 (Sandy) - Billy Joel 121212 Concert at MSG": http://bit.ly/YiWDDg
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Monday 11 March 2013
The Mila Kunis Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4Ezruu1oeQ
10,135,014 views.
And they say to go on late night TV...
Normalcy, it's the new rock star persona.
I mean what kind of crazy, f***ed up world do we live in where an actress is more honest and more real and delivers more personality than a musician?
One in which music is a second-class citizen. As it was way back when, before the classic rock artists made Warner stockholders rich by testing limits and being themselves.
One of the problems with today's media is the feedback loop. The mainstream says it's so, so that's the way it is, repeated endlessly by the big blowhards. But that's not the case at all. I didn't hear about this Mila Kunis interview via the mainstream, but via e-mail and social networks. That's what drove the view count up.
Virality.
Almost nothing you do has this. You mail your CD, speak to reporters, do what your publicist says and you get a blurb in the newspaper, everybody involved pats themselves on the back, yet there's nearly zero effect. You've got to get into the trenches and reveal the real you, if you want a chance at success.
This is why Howard Stern is so successful.
Ever notice the mainstream media never comments on Stern? Because he's not one of them! Not because he doesn't have an audience, hell, his is larger and more rabid than any late night television host's, but because he doesn't play the game. The gossip sites, RadarOnline, will post excerpts from his interviews every once in a while, but there's a blackout in the mainstream. Yet, Howard can help you more than anybody. Hell, if Clive Davis were on Howard Stern, his book would sustain on the chart.
But Clive doesn't get it.
No one in the mainstream gets it. That we're in the midst of a revolution.
Then again, the "Wall Street Journal" published an absolutely eye-popping article about self-publishing in Saturday's paper. Did you see it? The author has already made seven figures on Amazon, and refuses to give Simon & Schuster digital rights! The revolution has begun! The one the fat cats said would never happen, that they still say will never happen. Talk to Lucian Grainge and he'll tell you you need a major label, Doug Morris doesn't even know indies exist, he thinks he's the big kahuna. Then tell them you don't write Top Forty material... They won't want to make a deal, and if they do, it'll be for peanuts. And if you succeed, the man will make most of the money. But you'll be able to tell your mommy you're on Sony or Universal, like that means anything anymore.
We're all caught up with brand names, anything but the truth.
And art is truth. Lightning captured in a bottle. That's why the oldsters pooh-pooh today's music. It might be catchy, but it was written by some guy in Sweden and has got nothing to do with the "artist." Whereas when it comes straight from the heart...
That's what built Taylor Swift's career. Honesty. She's veered from that, that's why she's getting so much blowback now. She's playing the role of star as opposed to artist. Then you're a football. Whereas if they even bother to kick around Bob Dylan, he doesn't respond, he just doesn't give a sh*t.
And neither should you.
We live in an era that's person to person. Every man for himself. Woman too! You can make it if you really try, but you must cast aside the old rules and be out there, engaging the public, taking risks, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding. The packaged star went over the transom once Perez and TMZ got traction. Everybody's smoking dope and having sex. You're not clean and almost nobody's sober. You're better off owning it. Kind of like Janis Joplin swigging her Southern Comfort. If you try to hide it, then you're playing a game of GOTCHA, and you look bad.
Then again, there are no rules.
Other than you've got to have something to sell.
If your music can't stand alone, if it needs videos and hype, you're not going to last. No one in the world is waiting for PSY's next song. Hell, it wasn't about the song, it was about the video. Heard anything from...what was the name of that band on Capitol again..? OK Go recently? OF COURSE NOT! It was about the videos, not the music.
But videos are easy, music is very hard.
But everybody's looking for an easy way out. They think marketing will make them a star. Yeah, back in the MTV era.
Now you can be famous and a joke. Just ask Kim Kardashian. As for Kanye West, I wish he'd stop talking and just make music. Every time he opens his mouth and boasts he loses another fan. We get it Kanye, you're talented, now STFU!
But if you are going to speak. And you're somewhat famous.... Do it from the heart. That's your only chance of connecting. Because we live in a lonely alienated world where everybody's telling you you're inadequate and inferior and when someone famous comes down off their perch and speaks some truth, we immediately run to them, because it's so rare.
But it's the way of the future.
Hell, it's the way of the now.
"Sci-Fi's Underground Hit - Authors are snubbing publishers and insisting on keeping e-book rights. How one novelist made more than $1 million before his book hit stores.": http://on.wsj.com/ZjaeeF
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10,135,014 views.
And they say to go on late night TV...
Normalcy, it's the new rock star persona.
I mean what kind of crazy, f***ed up world do we live in where an actress is more honest and more real and delivers more personality than a musician?
One in which music is a second-class citizen. As it was way back when, before the classic rock artists made Warner stockholders rich by testing limits and being themselves.
One of the problems with today's media is the feedback loop. The mainstream says it's so, so that's the way it is, repeated endlessly by the big blowhards. But that's not the case at all. I didn't hear about this Mila Kunis interview via the mainstream, but via e-mail and social networks. That's what drove the view count up.
Virality.
Almost nothing you do has this. You mail your CD, speak to reporters, do what your publicist says and you get a blurb in the newspaper, everybody involved pats themselves on the back, yet there's nearly zero effect. You've got to get into the trenches and reveal the real you, if you want a chance at success.
This is why Howard Stern is so successful.
Ever notice the mainstream media never comments on Stern? Because he's not one of them! Not because he doesn't have an audience, hell, his is larger and more rabid than any late night television host's, but because he doesn't play the game. The gossip sites, RadarOnline, will post excerpts from his interviews every once in a while, but there's a blackout in the mainstream. Yet, Howard can help you more than anybody. Hell, if Clive Davis were on Howard Stern, his book would sustain on the chart.
But Clive doesn't get it.
No one in the mainstream gets it. That we're in the midst of a revolution.
Then again, the "Wall Street Journal" published an absolutely eye-popping article about self-publishing in Saturday's paper. Did you see it? The author has already made seven figures on Amazon, and refuses to give Simon & Schuster digital rights! The revolution has begun! The one the fat cats said would never happen, that they still say will never happen. Talk to Lucian Grainge and he'll tell you you need a major label, Doug Morris doesn't even know indies exist, he thinks he's the big kahuna. Then tell them you don't write Top Forty material... They won't want to make a deal, and if they do, it'll be for peanuts. And if you succeed, the man will make most of the money. But you'll be able to tell your mommy you're on Sony or Universal, like that means anything anymore.
We're all caught up with brand names, anything but the truth.
And art is truth. Lightning captured in a bottle. That's why the oldsters pooh-pooh today's music. It might be catchy, but it was written by some guy in Sweden and has got nothing to do with the "artist." Whereas when it comes straight from the heart...
That's what built Taylor Swift's career. Honesty. She's veered from that, that's why she's getting so much blowback now. She's playing the role of star as opposed to artist. Then you're a football. Whereas if they even bother to kick around Bob Dylan, he doesn't respond, he just doesn't give a sh*t.
And neither should you.
We live in an era that's person to person. Every man for himself. Woman too! You can make it if you really try, but you must cast aside the old rules and be out there, engaging the public, taking risks, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding. The packaged star went over the transom once Perez and TMZ got traction. Everybody's smoking dope and having sex. You're not clean and almost nobody's sober. You're better off owning it. Kind of like Janis Joplin swigging her Southern Comfort. If you try to hide it, then you're playing a game of GOTCHA, and you look bad.
Then again, there are no rules.
Other than you've got to have something to sell.
If your music can't stand alone, if it needs videos and hype, you're not going to last. No one in the world is waiting for PSY's next song. Hell, it wasn't about the song, it was about the video. Heard anything from...what was the name of that band on Capitol again..? OK Go recently? OF COURSE NOT! It was about the videos, not the music.
But videos are easy, music is very hard.
But everybody's looking for an easy way out. They think marketing will make them a star. Yeah, back in the MTV era.
Now you can be famous and a joke. Just ask Kim Kardashian. As for Kanye West, I wish he'd stop talking and just make music. Every time he opens his mouth and boasts he loses another fan. We get it Kanye, you're talented, now STFU!
But if you are going to speak. And you're somewhat famous.... Do it from the heart. That's your only chance of connecting. Because we live in a lonely alienated world where everybody's telling you you're inadequate and inferior and when someone famous comes down off their perch and speaks some truth, we immediately run to them, because it's so rare.
But it's the way of the future.
Hell, it's the way of the now.
"Sci-Fi's Underground Hit - Authors are snubbing publishers and insisting on keeping e-book rights. How one novelist made more than $1 million before his book hit stores.": http://on.wsj.com/ZjaeeF
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Clive's Book-1
Self-righteous mythologizing.
That's the problem with Clive Davis's book. It's like seeing the end of the tunnel, he wants to write his version of history, hoping it will become the one that sticks as decades pass. I liked the old Clive, the Columbia Clive, who became the head of CBS Records, warmed to the job, and went for a victory lap almost immediately. He was riding the horse back then, now he's in the grandstand, telling us he was the greatest ever, when that's not even the point. No one remembers the executives. Only the artists remain.
And some of the tales Clive tells are doozies.
But let's get back to Clive's story. Recently I listened to Jill Abramson on Alec Baldwin's "Here's The Thing" podcast. Despite having the most despicable voice in media, Jill stopped me in my tracks when she said what she was interested in was the story behind the story. That's my dad in a nutshell. He wanted to know the truth. And the public result, even what your friends tell you, usually is the result of a lot of backstory that is much more interesting than the end facts.
Like how did Clive really get this job?
He seems to say he fell into it.
But that never happens. Anybody who tells you they fell up the career ladder is lying. Because as you near the top, competition becomes fierce. Everybody wants that job. Obviously, Clive charmed his superiors, was incredibly cunning, but you don't find that in the book. You learn he was a good student who applied himself. Duh! That was what was fascinating about "The Social Network," despite it being fiction. What kind of person triumphs? Just going to Harvard is not enough. Did you read that obit of the guy who created the game Diplomacy? He went to Harvard, undergrad and law school (although he did drop out before finishing his graduate degree), and for decades he was a letter carrier!
So you won't learn how Clive got to where he was.
And Clive's got a weird way of twisting the knife in the backs of artists. He delineates their flaws, their poor choices, and then says they were one of the greatest of all time. Huh?
But Clive was there when it all blew up. When music took over the world. When it went from classical and show tunes to rock. And you couldn't tell the artists what to do.
You couldn't change Simon & Garfunkel's name.
You couldn't tell them what to record.
You quaked in your boots speaking of singles and edits.
Yup, Clive wanted a single version of Big Brother's "Piece Of My Heart," with one more iteration of the chorus. He was afraid of what Janis would say. Ultimately, she shrugged her shoulders, let the suit do what he wanted to do. She almost didn't care, AM radio was the plaything of charlatans, she'd let Clive have his fun. Hell, she died anyway.
Yup, artists back then were not the mercenary pricks of today. The uneducated followers who would do anything to make a buck. It was a different era, and that's just the point.
Did Bob Dylan have a motorcycle accident, or was it a story concocted to get the media off his back? After all, he was soon recording in a basement with the Band.
You just didn't know.
This is the vaunted mystery all the oldsters lament is gone from the music industry. But usually, they're talking about manufactured mystery. You're in the press, but there are holes, you keep the public guessing as you bob and weave. Dylan just disappeared.
So different from today's hypester culture. Yes, today you tell people how great you are, over and over again. You implore them to pay attention to your bowel movements. You want them to buy your perfume. You dun them into submission. No wonder acts fade. The public burns out on them! They're just waiting for your single to stiff and for you to disappear. So they can get some relief!
In the old days, the music came first. FM music. AM radio was a sideshow. It's the FM bands that lasted.
But it was such a different time. A rock star could be far richer than a banker. Could get laid every night. Could truly make his own choices. Today musicians are followers, not leaders.
And those days are never coming back. That's what bugs me about everybody who's still invested in the music industry. Like it could be 1968 all over again. Or even 1981, when MTV started up. Those days are through. And the only hope for a renaissance is with the artists. But their goals are screwed up. They believe it's about marketing and money as opposed to music. They don't want to make a statement, they want to make a buck!
Whereas in the sixties it was about excellence and good times. You relied on yourself. Hell, Dylan made a deal with no advance! He didn't want the pressure. He wanted to make no commitment. He wanted to follow his muse. Of course the record companies were ripping you off back then, but first and foremost music was an artistic endeavor.
And Clive delineates this well. As he rewrites history and claims he was only trying to save the company. Rescue CBS Records from death and destruction. Yet, he contradicts himself constantly. Says how bad thing were as he says how good they were.
But Clive was there.
Eventually I'll get to Ace of Base and Santana's comeback album, but those will just be stories. No one listens to that Santana album today. But "Abraxas"! That's a staple! Not because Carlos and the band were making a record for the ages, but for right now. And sometimes, right now is more important than your plan for world domination. Sometimes it's about what's right in front of your face as opposed to what's around the bend.
Everybody else tells their stories privately, late at night, around an overly expensive bottle of wine. Clive is letting you into his world. Despite its flaws, you can't put his book down, not if you lived through the era he's talking about, not if you remember when music changed the world.
P.S. I point you to Wayne Rosso's screed on the sales of Clive's book. It sold 11,348 copies in its first week. Yup, there was a huge ad in the "New York Times" with blurbs by people you don't respect, like Ryan Seacrest, as if the mainstream cares about "The Soundtrack Of My Life." It's a sham, it's a scam. The average person just doesn't care. Clive put his image all over TV and print in the past twenty years and the end result is a shoulder shrug. The only people who care are the core, those in the business. As usual, Clive is using mainstream media to get his message out. But that era is through. Clive would be better off going on a tour of college music business programs. Appearing on niche programming and websites that appeal to music junkies, who want to know the details of advances and commitments. But Clive missed the memo that times have changed. Which is why he sat so far back at the Grammys. Everybody has their time. Then it evaporates. Led Zeppelin might be forever, but you're not. You're just an observer, a pawn in the game, whose rules are constantly being rewritten. Unfortunately, most people don't care about what's happened since the classic rock era, ergo the failure of "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution." But they do care about what happened in the sixties. It was better back then.
http://bit.ly/ZdBTKF
"Here's The Thing"-Jill Abramson: http://wny.cc/12m4e7V
"Allan Calhamer Dies at 81; Invented Diplomacy Game": http://nyti.ms/14ydxhC
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That's the problem with Clive Davis's book. It's like seeing the end of the tunnel, he wants to write his version of history, hoping it will become the one that sticks as decades pass. I liked the old Clive, the Columbia Clive, who became the head of CBS Records, warmed to the job, and went for a victory lap almost immediately. He was riding the horse back then, now he's in the grandstand, telling us he was the greatest ever, when that's not even the point. No one remembers the executives. Only the artists remain.
And some of the tales Clive tells are doozies.
But let's get back to Clive's story. Recently I listened to Jill Abramson on Alec Baldwin's "Here's The Thing" podcast. Despite having the most despicable voice in media, Jill stopped me in my tracks when she said what she was interested in was the story behind the story. That's my dad in a nutshell. He wanted to know the truth. And the public result, even what your friends tell you, usually is the result of a lot of backstory that is much more interesting than the end facts.
Like how did Clive really get this job?
He seems to say he fell into it.
But that never happens. Anybody who tells you they fell up the career ladder is lying. Because as you near the top, competition becomes fierce. Everybody wants that job. Obviously, Clive charmed his superiors, was incredibly cunning, but you don't find that in the book. You learn he was a good student who applied himself. Duh! That was what was fascinating about "The Social Network," despite it being fiction. What kind of person triumphs? Just going to Harvard is not enough. Did you read that obit of the guy who created the game Diplomacy? He went to Harvard, undergrad and law school (although he did drop out before finishing his graduate degree), and for decades he was a letter carrier!
So you won't learn how Clive got to where he was.
And Clive's got a weird way of twisting the knife in the backs of artists. He delineates their flaws, their poor choices, and then says they were one of the greatest of all time. Huh?
But Clive was there when it all blew up. When music took over the world. When it went from classical and show tunes to rock. And you couldn't tell the artists what to do.
You couldn't change Simon & Garfunkel's name.
You couldn't tell them what to record.
You quaked in your boots speaking of singles and edits.
Yup, Clive wanted a single version of Big Brother's "Piece Of My Heart," with one more iteration of the chorus. He was afraid of what Janis would say. Ultimately, she shrugged her shoulders, let the suit do what he wanted to do. She almost didn't care, AM radio was the plaything of charlatans, she'd let Clive have his fun. Hell, she died anyway.
Yup, artists back then were not the mercenary pricks of today. The uneducated followers who would do anything to make a buck. It was a different era, and that's just the point.
Did Bob Dylan have a motorcycle accident, or was it a story concocted to get the media off his back? After all, he was soon recording in a basement with the Band.
You just didn't know.
This is the vaunted mystery all the oldsters lament is gone from the music industry. But usually, they're talking about manufactured mystery. You're in the press, but there are holes, you keep the public guessing as you bob and weave. Dylan just disappeared.
So different from today's hypester culture. Yes, today you tell people how great you are, over and over again. You implore them to pay attention to your bowel movements. You want them to buy your perfume. You dun them into submission. No wonder acts fade. The public burns out on them! They're just waiting for your single to stiff and for you to disappear. So they can get some relief!
In the old days, the music came first. FM music. AM radio was a sideshow. It's the FM bands that lasted.
But it was such a different time. A rock star could be far richer than a banker. Could get laid every night. Could truly make his own choices. Today musicians are followers, not leaders.
And those days are never coming back. That's what bugs me about everybody who's still invested in the music industry. Like it could be 1968 all over again. Or even 1981, when MTV started up. Those days are through. And the only hope for a renaissance is with the artists. But their goals are screwed up. They believe it's about marketing and money as opposed to music. They don't want to make a statement, they want to make a buck!
Whereas in the sixties it was about excellence and good times. You relied on yourself. Hell, Dylan made a deal with no advance! He didn't want the pressure. He wanted to make no commitment. He wanted to follow his muse. Of course the record companies were ripping you off back then, but first and foremost music was an artistic endeavor.
And Clive delineates this well. As he rewrites history and claims he was only trying to save the company. Rescue CBS Records from death and destruction. Yet, he contradicts himself constantly. Says how bad thing were as he says how good they were.
But Clive was there.
Eventually I'll get to Ace of Base and Santana's comeback album, but those will just be stories. No one listens to that Santana album today. But "Abraxas"! That's a staple! Not because Carlos and the band were making a record for the ages, but for right now. And sometimes, right now is more important than your plan for world domination. Sometimes it's about what's right in front of your face as opposed to what's around the bend.
Everybody else tells their stories privately, late at night, around an overly expensive bottle of wine. Clive is letting you into his world. Despite its flaws, you can't put his book down, not if you lived through the era he's talking about, not if you remember when music changed the world.
P.S. I point you to Wayne Rosso's screed on the sales of Clive's book. It sold 11,348 copies in its first week. Yup, there was a huge ad in the "New York Times" with blurbs by people you don't respect, like Ryan Seacrest, as if the mainstream cares about "The Soundtrack Of My Life." It's a sham, it's a scam. The average person just doesn't care. Clive put his image all over TV and print in the past twenty years and the end result is a shoulder shrug. The only people who care are the core, those in the business. As usual, Clive is using mainstream media to get his message out. But that era is through. Clive would be better off going on a tour of college music business programs. Appearing on niche programming and websites that appeal to music junkies, who want to know the details of advances and commitments. But Clive missed the memo that times have changed. Which is why he sat so far back at the Grammys. Everybody has their time. Then it evaporates. Led Zeppelin might be forever, but you're not. You're just an observer, a pawn in the game, whose rules are constantly being rewritten. Unfortunately, most people don't care about what's happened since the classic rock era, ergo the failure of "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution." But they do care about what happened in the sixties. It was better back then.
http://bit.ly/ZdBTKF
"Here's The Thing"-Jill Abramson: http://wny.cc/12m4e7V
"Allan Calhamer Dies at 81; Invented Diplomacy Game": http://nyti.ms/14ydxhC
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