Mailbag

Subject: RE: Gotta Get To Know You

Hello Bob,

Thank you for putting this out there. I loved doing the track. It was kind of hypnotic. This is a song that I have wanted to add to our current set list. But you just never know what the fans want to hear. Unfortunately (or fortunately) they only want to hear our most well known songs. And, we have such a huge catalog after 43 years of playing. It is hard to choose.

This was a Bobby Blue Bland song. Dave and I were huge fans. And we got to sit in with him at Unganos in NYC back in the day. What a thrill to meet him. It was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales with Dave Edmunds.

Thanks again for remembering us. Twice!
We seriously appreciate it.

Keep on Rockin'

Roger Earl

www.foghat.net
www.facebook.com/foghat
www.twitter.com/foghat

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From: Billy F Gibbons
Subject: Fwd: Beards 'n' Beck! ZZ Top and Jeff Beck touring together this summer for the first time

Yo, B…

Thanks…! I agree, this'll be a good'un… Side-note for your amusement… Bass-guitarist, Tal Wilkenfeld, forwarded this YouTube link, (very entertaining), which is totally bogus in the fact that some crafty fellow, obviously with too much time on hand, re-cobbled together some 25TH Anniversary Rock 'n Roll Hall Of Fame Madison Square footage where I joined Jeff on the deck to perform a couple for the event. The outcome is also fantastic with a re-edit transforming "Foxey Lady" into Tennessee Ernie Ford's "16 Tons"…! I sent it over to Jeff who responded with, "Bloody Hell, We must learn it for a possible encore…!" It's actually not only marginally believable, it's just right for the extreme unexpected. Luv it.

YouTube link : 16 Tone - Billy Gibbons & Jeff Beck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2aqvKY6zLc

Speak wit'cha 'round th' corner... Dan Tana's, Palm, El Compadre, you name it, Chill time, fo' sho'…!

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From: Tom Rush
Subject: Re: WIMP/Urge For Going

Thanks for the nod, Bob! Joni took a LONG time putting out her version of
the song -- it first appeared as the B-side for her single "You Turn Me On,
I'm a Radio." Great song, and always will be, as long as the seasons turn.

TR
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From: Brian Ray
Subject: Re: Mailbag

Hi Bob,
Tell Berton that is the very excellent guitar work of Mike Campbell, not Kootch, on "Boys of Summer".
It's a track he played everything on and produced, first offered to and turned down by TP. Don says he wrote the lyric driving up PCH, while listening to the track..

probably on cassette :-)

B

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Subject: Re: Now

Hey bob...

I was at coachella for the first time, working with _____ _____, and it was an eye opener!!

We rocked the mojave tent both Fridays, but the general opinion was that this was a pale imitation of uk and indeed European festivals...

"See and be seen" as you say seems to be the demographic...the bands are great but you can't take a beer in and it's hard to get a vibe going. Lots of teens having a great time, but it's very clean and safe...almost like a film of a festival...at least at Glastonbury you can get lost at 4am and not surface for 2 days!!!

That said, the crowd for _____ _____, especially show 2 were outstanding...palpable buzz and kids rocking out even as they were passing through to the edm tent...

_____ ______,
Engineer, _____ _____

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Dear Bob,

Oh yes... Foghat... The champions of "Camaro Rock"...
I remember going with you to see Foghat at The House of Blues.. incredible...
Paul Fishkin was managing them and he asked me to arrange for them to do an
interview at KLOS. Jim Ladd said,"F__k Yes!".. The band came in and did the
unthinkable.. they played "unplugged"... It just worked!
The next day Lonesome Dave was so happy about the response he got the guys
into the studio and started a "Unplugged" album... They never finished it but I have a few of the tracks. The project was shelved until they had more material... later, Dave became ill and well you know the rest.
Foghat...Take Me to The River... unplugged..

https://soundcloud.com/laufdogpro/foghat-take-me-to-the-river-acoustic
enjoy..
Jeff Laufer

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Subject: Foghat et al

Very cool song, Bob. Thanks.

I clicked on a nearby link and came up with an amazing video: The BBC program on the 1977 Bearsville Records Picnic. Look 10 minutes in and there's a couple of wonderful performances by a VERY young Jesse Winchester.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNK4wRc4O8U

Here's the blurb from YouTube:
VIDEO TOUR OF BEARSVILLE'S ANNUAL PICNIC IN BEARSVILLE NEW YORK. PICNIC IS HELD AT THE BEARSVILLE THEATER, PERFORMANCES ARE AT THE STUDIO AND POSSIBLY OUTSIDE ON THE STUDIO GROUNDS. iNTERVIEWS WITH BEARSVILLE OWNER ALBERT GROSSMAN, JOHN SEBASTIAN, MICK RONSON PAUL BUTTERFIELD(SEEMS ANNOYED) JESSE WINCHESTER, TONY WILSON AND TODD RUNDGREN, PERFORMANCES BY FOGHAT, JESSE WINCHESTER, PAUL BUTTERFIELD, CORKY LAING, ELIZABETH BARRACLOUGH, TONY WILSON AND UTOPIA.

Rik Shafer
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Subject: Re: Pono vs. Wimp

Fantastic.

I'm a singer songwriter who is embracing streaming and seeing revenue rise.

I put acoustic performances on YouTube and encourage people to check out the full recording on spotify or iTunes if they still use it.

I'm small enough that people don't put my recordings on YouTube and when they have, I've sent them a polite message asking them to take it down and explain my reasons. They always do it without me having to get google involved. Although I'm partnered and I'd receive royalties from other people's uploads due to content ID match. (I've uploaded all my songs on unlisted videos to make sure this happens).

From my side of it, if people know you're a small business and you have the correct people skills then people respect it and honour your wishes.

I have small numbers on social networks, but they're consistent with each other, and I'm selling about 50% of the number of tickets to my tours as I have on my highest social network. (3100 tickets for my next uk tour of 13 dates in may vs. 6700 twitter followers and YouTube subscribers).

You're so right that trying to get heard in the noise is almost impossible. Old school marketing still is brilliant though. A personal tweet or message to someone on Facebook is more successful than bombarding people with statuses and tweets and it almost guarantees people seeing or responding to you. I'm not talking about spam. I'm talking about engagement. Speaking to the people who have clicked "like"or "follow". Sending them messages asking how they are and what they're up to. And when they respond and ask the same questions of you, you can tell them about your latest project. It's up to them if they really want to then support you.

Yes this is time consuming. But it does make it feasible to make a living from your music at a small level. If I get 2000 people spending £50 on me a year (a few gig tickets, tshirts, CDs/iTunes, other misc merch) and also watch my videos on YouTube and listen on spotify, then there's at least 100000 revenue. Yes there are expenses in that. But as one man with a guitar with a home studio set up, this is more than adequate to make me a living!

The thing that challenges me the most is to find the time to write songs and make content that keeps them interested when I have to do all the business/direct marketing. As you keep saying, an artist needs to be an artist.

I want to take more risks and be a better songwriter but do I have time? I'm not after fame or fortune, I'm after making a living, however humble from the years I've spent learning how to sing, play, perform and write. I'm doing this ok, and I guess as i keep doing it, hopefully more word of mouth things happen so I can stop the direct marketing and free up my time to write more frequently.

Anyway.

Thank you for continuing to challenge me to new ideas of business and art!

Dave Giles.

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Subject: An interesting story about IBM/Nazis and Oslo

My wife is half Norwegian

Her mum and grandparents live in Oslo

Her grandparents are 93 & 94 and still married. We visit them every summer

They were involved in the Norwegian resistance against the Nazis.

When we go over each summer he tells me stories about the 2nd World war, from when they were occupied by the Nazis

He worked in the office of statistics. The one IBM computer in the whole of Norway was stationed in their building. They used it to identify the students and the troublemakers (I am not sure how). One evening there was a large explosion at his building (probably by British secret agents who conducted missions is Norway).

The machine was damaged but not completely put out of action. It could be repaired but there was only one person in the company who could repair it, and by coincidence he was the only person at the company who was a German sympathiser, the rest hated the Germans.

On the next day, waiting at the bus stop the one person who could repair the computer was shot in the head.

It is amazing to speak to someone who was involved back then, he has so many stories. There is a wall in a central Oslo square that still has bullet holes in it where they lined up the students and shot them.

James


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