Mailbag

From: Dan Reynolds
Subject: Re: St. Paul & The Broken Bones

Wow. I love this. I'm overseas right now in Chile missing my wife and 17 month old baby girl and have spent a good portion of my day wondering if I chose the right path (just one of those days). I've hardly spent 2 full months with my wife and baby in the last 2 years while on the road touring for Imagine Dragons. My Ma continually told me not to be a musician because it was too risky and didn't lend well for a good family life (just read that Chris Martin is getting divorced yesterday, there goes another marriage).

And it's true, I struggle everyday to keep my lonely wife happy and my baby girl remembering my face. No sob story, just missing the joys of regular life. Days at the park with family, and nights with good friends. Ive been touring straight for 5 years now and have lost most contact with friends and neglected my family quite a bit.

For what? For this. For the love of music. I'm just jotting you a quick note to thank you for sharing this.

Such passion for music like this reminds me why I'm doing what I do. It's because it makes people happy. And truly, it's magical. This man singing his guts and out and dancing fills me with joy on a dark depressing day in a hotel room by myself in Chile. I think I'll have a little more pep in my step tomorrow night on stage at The Lollapalooza Festival. I wish these guys were sharing the stage so I could let go and dance with that stud of a singer.

Thanks for the continued advice and passion for music Bob.

Dan Reynolds

Singer of Imagine Dragons

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From: Tom Freston
Subject: Re: Vice

Hi Bob,

I appreciate your faith in me. But when you see something as authentic and as smart as Vice, it's hard not to get excited or involved. Met them in 2005 and Shane had a vision then to do exactly what they're doing now, create amazing content for the web. They developed their voice, paid their dues, and got so good at it that they now even have that HBO show. It's sort of a movie trailer for all the work they do online.

Best,

Tom

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From: Mike Dreese
Subject: Re: Wu-Tang Album

For the past year Wu-Tang is our #3 selling music t-shirt both in stores and on Amazon,after Beatles and Led Zep. They just keep blowing out. Just re-ordered 1200 more yesterday -mike dreese, newbury comics

Sent from my iPhone

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From: John Hummer
Subject: RE: Courtside Seats

First time I played at the Forum, as a rookie with the Buffalo Braves, (now the LA Clippers) (wow, 40 some years ago), Gina Lollabrigida and Kim Novak were on the front row. You never forget that when you are 22 years old. :)

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From: Steve Lukather
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Al Kooper Primer

Al does not get enough love or respect !
They induct one hit wonders from 1956 into certain HOF's but NO Al ?? WTF?
Just the organ part in Like A Rolling Stone should get him in. The rest of his work is legendary and he was a starmaker as well as an A+R guy. Come on..

Al is also a really funny, good guy with endless wonderful stories when music was real and I am honored to know him and call him a friend.

Luke

PS I co -wrote and played on the Tubes hits 'Talk to ya later' and 'She's a Beauty' with Foster and Fee Waybill but I was a Tubes fan in '75 still in high school and love the ' classic years' and was honored to work with them.

PSS Al still rules.

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From: AL KOOPER
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Al Kooper Primer

So where do I send your monthlyPRcheque ????
Be careful
People will think we're dating.......

My mother-in-law sent a 70th birthday "cake" made out of her incomparable chopped liver with cracker sides,
Best present I got.

pic.twitter.com/uJ2fBryVD8

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From: BERTON AVERRE
Subject: Re: Pono

I love Neil Young: I revere his music and I respect the hell out of him as a guy. But laying the woeful current state of music at the feet of digitization is a serious stretch. Put simply, the reason we don't have an album like "After The Gold Rush" these days is because we don't have a Neil Young writing and recording songs like "When You Dance I Can Really Love", "Don't Let It Bring You Down", "Southern Man", "Cripple Creek Ferry"....Whether the delivery system is a vinyl disc or a sequence of ones and zeros matters very very little.

In the Eighties we had an explosion of instrument technology: synths, drum machines, sequencers and the like. It took a while for the musicians to learn how to utilize these tools to serve the songs, as opposed to vice versa. Danny Korchmar's terrific work on Henley's "Boys of Summer" may have been on a guitar synth, like I heard at the time, but the tune lives on because it's a great record. Or take a band like Toto, musical proficiency coming out of their ears, coming up with a song like "Africa" in the midst of the DX7 Era. Talent Trumps Technology.

By all means, improving the sound of digital files is a wonderful enterprise, have at it. Just don't try to sell me that a more realistic bass response is going to turn the vast wasteland into a riot of desert blooms. Maybe what we're really talking about here is it's apparently easier for techies to continue to re-invent the wheel than it is for tomorrow's musicians to learn how to play and write at a consistently high level. Hey! I just had a great idea: Talent Pono. What's Kickstarter's email address?

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From: Farley Flex
Subject: Re: St. Paul & The Broken Bones

Hey Bob I'd like your opinion on the following thought. If you listen to St. Paul and the Broken Bones doesn't it make you think that there are literally hundreds if not thousands of Black artists who sing and have been singing like this for decades that get no attention? I like what he does but I said it before and I'll say it again, Amy Winehouse, Nikki Yanofsky and others who receive accolades from musical pundits are average at best when positioned amongst the scores of Black artists that the industry determines are not as marketable because being a great Black singer is not a novelty. Just my thought.

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From: Andrew McNeice
Subject: Re: The Swedish Pop Phenomenon

Bob - I run www.MelodicRock.com - focussing on the classic rock bands still going and the new ones that have taken up the mantle....
Toto , Survivor, Journey, Foreigner, Night Ranger, Styx...

But the BIGGEST thing I cover is who's coming out of Sweden. Most of the band's that have real hype and a contemporary meets classic sound are Swedish. I don't know what they are doing over there - but it's working.

In fact, half the lineup for my MelodicRockFest 4 event in Chicago this year are coming from Sweden. The US fans LOVE these bands because they can play and they know how to write GREAT songs.

Here are a few of the best -
HEAT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f6D5qP9WAc
Work Of Art - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IVY-0AFU_U
WET - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COq2RouJ2tQ
Eclipse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOr_fMznk6E

Best Regards, Andrew. www.melodicrock.com

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Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Frank Zappa Primer

Bob-

I have been an avid reader of yours for a few years now. This is completely unrelated but for some reason my email system flagged your Zappa Primer as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WARNING: Your email security system has determined the message below may be a potential threat.

The sender may pose as an out-of-town breeder, offering pets for adoption.


I think Zappa himself maybe would have got a kick out of that. :)

Keep that truth coming!

-Josh Himmelsbach

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From: Rik Shafer
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Love Is Alive

Bob, Gary Wright was a killer piano player in high school in TenaflyNJ. He was a year older than me and a better player. His sister Lorna was real pretty and she sang for 20 minutes in a band i was on.Friends ran into Gary and hung out and said he was a pretty good guy. And he got famous and all that but I still remember him banging out Jerry lee Lewis tunes on piano and being knocked out. We weren't surprised when he got big.

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From: Annabelle Gauberti
Subject: Re: Business Rules

Hey Bob,

Thanks for that quote on lawyers, on which I totally agree.

But music people are soooo bad at paying lawyers, although they desperately need their skills: they just think that they should be entitled to free advice (or close to free advice).

I think that, by far, music people are the worse, in terms of opening their purse to pay lawyers: I do not have this issue with other clients who work in the creative industries (fashion, luxury, cinema, art, design).

Thank you for your enriching letters, it╒s always refreshing to read your stuff.

Annabelle Gauberti
Crefovi
Partner
Solicitor of England and Wales
Avocat au barreau de Paris

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From: Warren Klein
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Little Feat Primer
Re: Lowell George

Hi, Bob

Besides Lowell╒s considerable musical talent, he possessed great physical strength. When I played with him in the Factory (Lowell's first band), I would see him demonstrate this when the starter went out on his Morgan. He would put the car in reverse, open the door, & push the car backwards with his hand sufficiently fast to pop the clutch & start the car. Amazing!

Best,
Warren Klein

www.prehistoricmusic.net

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From: Timothy Thrasher
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Little Feat Primer

Yo Bob,
Fyi, Fat Man in the Bathtub is also another name for a clitoris. There I said it! Be well. From Vermont.

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From: Jeff Hillery
Subject: Re: Pono

Several things flashed in my mind at Neil's presentation and after a sales promo video played with one affluent rock star after another singing the praises of Pono. 1) Would Neil need Kickstarter if any of those rock stars put their money where their mouths were/are? 2) Why haven't Neil's rich rock star pals climbed on the bandwagon as investors?

Jeff Hillery
Austin, TX

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From: Thom Wolke
Subject: Jackson Browne Tribute

Bob,

Maybe you know about this but don't care. There's a tribute to Jackson Browne that was just released yesterday. Here's one of the first reviews out of the box (not lost on me that it's from 'Big Oil-friendly' Dallas newspaper):

http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/columnists/michael-granberry/20140328-review-jackson-browne-tribute-record-is-a-triumph-of-musical-panache.ece

Until someone can explain to me why everyone is okay with the fact that Kelcy Warren, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelcy_Warren), the CEO of ETP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Transfer_Partners), one of this country's largest producers (including a 'fracking' division) and transporters of natural gas, produced and financed this album, I must urge folks to boycott buying, playing, or reviewing this project.

I also find it more than interesting that even the reviewer above notes an "omission":

"I only have one minor quibble, and it's one of omission, not inclusion. While it's noble and perhaps appropriate in our divisive age to leave out political songs, activism and social commitment helped define Browne's life and career. While most of his fans may prefer his personal songs, as he once said to me in an interview, "What's more personal than your politics?"

We're talking about an artist (Jackson Browne), who has made his name in many ways as 'Mister Eco-Friendly Warrior Poet'.

And I get the point about Mr. Oil Man putting his money for good. I cannot help but wonder though, if all of the artists like Bonnie and Bruce, etc, all knew the entire story. Or were they not told the whole truth ? Were they approached with, "Hey, ya wanna contribute a song to an album we're doing for your good buddy Jackson ????"

I worry about the next time Mr. Oil Man's company runs afoul in some way with an environmental concern. Will he pull his brand newly minted album tribute to Mister Eco-Friendly out to play as a defense ?

How come there's none of Jackson's powerful socially conscious songs on the album? Too 'hot' a topic for Mr. Oil Ma ? I understand Jackson had no say in this album's production.

Did Jackson even know who/what was behind it's creation? Or is now Jackson stuck between a rock and a hard place?

These are the things I'd like to know.....


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