Mailbag

From: Phil Volk
Subject: Your Tribute to Paul Revere

Wow...Bob... Such a great article! I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry, or stand up and cheer. I know this story deserves a standing ovation. Absolutely! You, my friend, really understand what Paul Revere & the Raiders were all about, and you weren't afraid to say that we were "cool" – that our showmanship, our music, our comedy was all very cool to the kids back then. You skillfully let it be known in your article, that the Raiders were the real deal, that we had the "fire power" to take no prisoners. In short, you gave us credit for having the "goods" that justified our fame. It's great when someone, who was an eyewitness, tells the true story about our era, and how much impact we had on the kids in our culture. It wasn't just about the Beatles... Paul Revere And The Raiders – from America – also left a pretty good-sized "footprint" in the musical landscape back in the day, and it wasn't so easy when we were competing with bands like the Stones, the Beatles and the Beach
Boys. We had to carve out our own territory, so Dick Clark's "Where The Action Is" became the daily revolution of our existence. We stayed in touch with the whole nation every day. The kids knew that we were leading the charge against the British Invasion, and they took their cues for the youth movement in America from our TV show. It was the coolest thing happening on TV back then, hands down!

I'm glad Mr. Lefsetz that you recognized and acknowledged the fact that it would have been a pretty barren landscape without our TV show hitting the airwaves 5 days a week. And I repeat: NOTHING about that "ACTION" show was "uncool" or deserving of causing the Raiders to be shunned by the RRHOF. As little Stevie Van Zant said: "It's criminal that the Raiders have been passed over by the RRHOF." Oddly enough, now that Paul is gone, even Rolling Stone magazine writes a stirring tribute to Paul and his Raiders.

Hey - it's about time... it's about time that they start to realize that we "owned it" back then, we had it all – the teen mags couldn't print enough stuff on us – we had a good run for a while as the "monsters of the midway" back in the mid-60's, with our many hit records, over 750 TV performances, and our sell-out concert tours... Hey – Even the Rolling Stones were our opening act in Seattle in 1967. Yeah I know...I'm going on a rant because "media forgetfulness" only gets me upset, because so much of the media gets it wrong, and doesn't really know the true story of Paul Revere and his band of kick-ass rockers. I get pissed off when they get it wrong – when they don't tell the TRUE story of our real impact on the music scene back in the 1960's – and along with that, they don't give us the credit we deserve. Tell me, how much real good media coverage did Paul Revere's passing get? Not nearly enough. Fortunately, Bob Lefsetz got it right... He really nailed it to the wall
for all to see and read... I really appreciate him for that, and it also helps calm me down when the words ring true, and our legacy has a nice beacon of light shining on it like it should be... Paul Revere's passing is truly a very significant even in rock and roll history. It's an end of an era. Paul was one-of-a-kind.

Good journalism is almost spiritual. It should lift you up and shine the light on the TRUTH. Thank you, Mr. Bob Lefsetz! You spoke the truth, and got it right – Good work... For those who knew and loved Paul Revere, may he rest in peace, and may he be remembered as he surely should be: a true icon of rock...

Phil "Fang" Volk – Original Bass Player & Core Member of PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS

_____________________________________

From: Mark Lindsey
Subject: Re: Mailbag

How big were Paul Revere and the Raiders featuring Mark Lindsay back in the day?

My name is Mark Lindsey (I spell it "ey" and he spelled it "ay", Not a week passes by where I am not out traveling or out and about and someone asks me if I was with Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Mark "ey" Lindsey

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Subject: Leonard Lipton -- Re: Rhinofy-Peter, Paul and Mary Primer

Hello, Bob. The music industry may have forgotten Puff's creator Leonard Lipton, but as a physicist and hippie anarchist entrepreneur, he has made an indelible mark upon the world of 3D media, influencing everyone from Steve Jobs to James Cameron.

In the '80s and '90s, Lenny was a revered figure here in the SF Bay Area when he and his Marin County cohorts invented CrystalEyes, the stereoscopic eyeware that became a required accessory at every automotive and aerospace R&D center in the world. Most of us techno-geeks had no idea that Lenny was linked to a certain dragon.

Back then I was a recording industry journalist who had morphed into a digital media evangelist. But as a Jewish kid outta Brooklyn, I went to summer camp in the Berkshires, sang all those songs you cited, and got to see Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul, & Mary perform. Twenty years later, when a colleague convinced me that one of our own 3D CGI pioneers had penned Puff the Magic Dragon, I was blown away. (The Web, much less Google, hadn't been invented yet so you couldn't easily look these things up.)

Here's where Lenny tells the story behind Puff, little Jackie Paper and Honalee: http://lennylipton.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/thank-you-puff-the-magic-dragon/#more-201

Bob: Love your insights, your insults, your introspection. Thanks for taking the time to write it all down.

--Linda Jacobson, Berkeley

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From: Marty Winsch
Subject: Re: The Spotify Payments Fracas

The desire to quantity, monetize everything is a disease. It never existed and never will exist. This desire is a byproduct of ignorance, entitlement, misguided affluence, and a desire to avoid having to put in your 10,000 hours. We are in trouble as a society. I worry about our ability to deep think, problem solve, and how the majority of our best and brightest have headed for "greener" pastures as opposed to staying home within their hearts and fighting for real, productive, sustainable progress. It all makes me very sad.

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From: Michael Aiken
Subject: RE: Sticking Power (BONO)

Why is everybody criticizing U2? Now every musician in America has a right to hand them one of their demos! Anytime, anywhere.

M


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