"Rocky Mountain High"
John Denver
Love him or loathe him, if you're not enamored of this song you're not a friend of mine.
From the acoustic intro you're immediately transported to a place of fresh air where your troubles have been left behind.
We all want to be born again, we all want to find the key to every door, and despite having such a poignant message, what really makes this track soar is the sound and the indelible chorus, with the way it gets quiet just before the title words are sung.
"Rocky Mountain High" is one of those tracks you can never burn out on, that you never tire of hearing, that makes you go out and buy the album containing it just to hear it, just to be able to play it over and over again.
I did.
"Rocky Mountain Way"
Joe Walsh
It looked like he was toast, that leaving the James Gang was a decision akin to Shelley Long leaving "Cheers," his first album had "Turn To Stone," but it got little airplay, Joe was in a funk and then he dropped this.
"Spent the last year Rocky Mountain way"
People who'd never been higher than sea level could and did sing every word. On this track alone, Joe was back and bigger than ever. Never argue with the power of a hit.
Or a riff.
This was the first track to popularize the use of the voice box, but it would have been gigantic without it, talk about capturing magic in a bottle.
"Colorado"
Linda Ronstadt
This Rick Roberts penned tune was on Linda's first Asylum album, the one that was going to make her a star.
Alas, it did not happen, that didn't occur until the next LP, which came out on her old label Capitol.
The LP has a genius version of Neil Young's "I Believe In You," a complete misreading of Randy Newman's "Sail Away," another take on "Love Has No Pride," that Bonnie Raitt debuted, and one of the first covers of the Eagles' "Desperado," but I find this to be the most memorable track on the album.
"But I'm tired of that race
It was much too fast a pace
And I think I've found my place
Colorado, I want to come home"
This was still the seventies, pre Internet, pre airline deregulation, pre no cost long distance, Colorado was still off the grid, celebrities had not yet discovered Aspen, you could truly retreat to the Rocky Mountain state, slow down and live an alternative lifestyle.
"Boulder Skies"
Pure Prairie League
"Colorado canyon girl could set me free"
Never underestimate the power of Craig Fuller's voice. It closes you immediately. And many baby boomers know this song by heart, because it followed "Amie" on side two of Pure Prairie League's breakout album, "Bustin' Out."
It's all about the sound.
Especially in the fast-paced world of today, we want something that puts our mind on the back porch of life with a beer in our hand, reflecting on what has happened and is yet to be.
"
Boulder Skies" does this.
"Man Of Constant Sorrow"
"I'll say goodbye to Colorado
Where I was born and probably raised"
Covered by everybody from Bob Dylan to Dan Tyminski (who, alas, changes it to "Kentucky"), my favorite version of "Man Of Constant Sorrow" is contained on Rod Stewart's debut album.
This is not the prancing peacock of today, he was completely unknown in America when this album was released, and to drop the needle was a revelation, it was so intimate.
And who knew you pronounced it RAD instead of ROD.
I laughed at him, figured he was English and he didn't know. But the truth is everybody who lives in the state pronounces it his way.
"Rocky Mountain Breakdown"
Poco
Jim was gone and Richie too, the act had not yet switched to ABC and had hits, but this is pure Poco and fans know it and it's contained in Epic's superb Poco compilation, "The Forgotten Trail."
"Colorado Christmas"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Written by the long forgotten but undeservedly so Steve Goodman, this is a Christmas song you might have never heard, but should.
"But all along the Rockies you can feel it in the air
From Telluride to Boulder down below"
Makes you want to hop a plane to the mountains immediately!
"The Bitch Is Back"
Elton John
Huh?
Don't you remember, the album was named CARIBOU!
That's right, that was the cool place to cut your LP back in the early seventies, at James William Guercio's Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado. Walsh recorded there, Joe's producer Bill Szymczyk cut Rick Derringer's "Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo" there too, Supertramp did "Even In the Quietest Moments," and of course multiple Chicago LPs were constructed at that high altitude.
Meanwhile, this was a huge hit when I lived in the mountains. Albeit in the Wasatch, in Utah.
"Get Out Of Denver"
Made famous, of course, by Bob Seger, he and his manager are too ignorant to be on Spotify, so I'm including Dave Edmunds's glorious take.
"Grand Junction"
Poco
Was it metaphorical or was it really about the western Colorado burg? I'm not sure!
But it tears right along on Poco's fantastic initial LP.
"No More Buffalo"
James McMurtry
"We headed south across those Colorado plains
Just as empty as the day"
Not about the mountains, but the half of Colorado that's flat, that people forget about, this track elicits the feeling of that landscape.
"I Know You Rider"
Grateful Dead
Most famously on the live album "Europe '72," many people have cut it and it contains the line:
"I'd shine my light through cool Colorado rain"
"When It's Springtime In The Rockies"
Gene Autry
"When it's springtime in the Rockies
I'll be coming back to you
Little sweetheart of the mountains
With your bonnie eyes of blue"
Yes, Colorado and its topography have been inspiring songwriters for eons, even back to the Singing Cowboy. We all yearn for the simple life and the clean air.
And a multitude of acts have emanated from the state, from Lothar and the Hand People to the Samples to Big Head Todd to the Fray and...
I'm sure you've got your own favorites, but this is a start!
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1pT15Ea
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Friday 10 October 2014
Thursday 9 October 2014
Mailbag
From: Irving Azoff
Subject: re: Buffett "sell a plane" quote and the digital space
"Vanity Fair" wrote:
"Moderator Irving Azoff, the owner of Azoff MSG entertainment responded with a zinger for Buffett, whom he told to 'sell one of the planes.'"
In classic fashion, the press twisted words about getting paid by selling planes rather than focusing on how hard it is to actually get paid online as an artist. There's no rewards program for frequent streamer-miles yet....
The point I was trying to make was that guys my age and Jimmy Buffett's age need to be looking at digital services as the future, not the present road for real money. We might need to sell some tangible assets if we want to keep playing in the streaming music space because it's hard for today's legacy artists to make a real buck in the digital space vs the touring business. I don't think that's going to change in the near term.
_______________________________________
From: Dan Navarro
Subject: Re: The Jimmy Buffett Dustup
What I never see mentioned in any account of the economics of the music business is that labels recoup off the artists' share, not off the top.
That simple fact alone means that it is mathematically possible...even likely...that a record can be in profit, based on sales numbers and wholesale prices, but the artist remains unrecouped, which is then spun to imply that the label is not paid back for its investment.
It has also meant that managers go for the quick kill on the advance, since they know that, hit or not, they may never see another dime in
royalties.
I can't help but factor that into any opinion I have of the economics of the record business, and how much artists are paid. We're not trying to get rich, we're trying to get paid, accurately, fairly, in a timely manner.
_______________________________________
Re: Paul Revere
Thank You Bob
I am not good at saying goodbye! You did it for me. Of course I loved Paul and all the Raiders records!
Yes. Even us Brits got a taste of that fun band although we didn't see the TV show! Thank you for saying good bye so beautifully!
Peter Noone
_______________________________________
Dear Bob
In response to your piece ''Napster would kill creation '' etc.
I have been a record producer since 1966, so i can speak with the experience of history. In spite of all the stories and myths about how unfair and horrible record companies were prior to the ''new'' world of the internet and streaming ,the old model ,as flawed as it might have appeared was responsible for facilitating the entire history of recorded music. From Louis Armstrong to Michael Jackson, it was the structure of discovery and development that defined the record business. The pecking order that was in place during these years made us all better at what we did. If you were going to make it, you had to have your s___ together. It drove the most talented, the hardest working, the best and the brightest to achieve the results that now comprise the catalogues of the streaming services. Somehow in spite of the snakes and hustlers that sometimes ran the business, what was created was a body of work of great value and beauty. What has the ''new '' model Created.
Stewart Levine
Record Producer
_______________________________________
From: Paul Rappaport
Re: Paul Revere
Yes, they were the coolest, and a big part of the music culture. And, yes, we wanted to be like them.
One day in 1967 I decided to wear my band clothes to Downey High (California). I had black on brown paisley pants, a black turtle neck, and a green suede jacket, but the best part was my Paul Revere And The Raiders boots that I wore outside my pants that came up to my knees.
I think it was those boots that really got to the Vice Principle at the time. He spotted me and went into complete shock—he could hardly speak. "You,..you,…you can't wear those clothes to school! What do you think this is HOLLYWOOD HIGH?!!! GIVE ME THOSE BOOTS!!!" And, he began pulling them off me dragging me down the hallway as he kept yelling. "You can pick these up in my office after school!"
Well, I went to first period in stocking feet and got a detention slip for coming to class with no shoes (teacher wasn't interested in my story). Then I ran across campus to the gym to get my tennis shoes (looked awfully dumb with with white tennis and those skin tight paisley pants). The gym was far away from my next class, and so I was late for it by a minute—got another detention slip for being late to class (again, my Vice Principle story didn't matter).
Finally, at the end of the day I went to pick up my boots at the Vice Principle's office. He wasn't there, just a paper bag with my boots and stapled to the bag—another detention slip!
I had to go home and explain to my mom why I had to stay after school the next week on three separate days!
Paul Revere And The Raiders? LOVED 'EM.
Rap
_______________________________________
Re: Paul Revere
Hi, It's Muddy Waters from the getting deeper and darker past at Middlebury. Love reading your thoughts in the Lefsetz Letter. Today's post really hit home. The first concert I ever went to was Paul Revere and the Raiders in Buffalo. My memory is that David Parker (another Midd classmate) and his dad took me. I was humiliated that his father wore white socks to the concert because fashion was so important to an early teen. It was an exciting evening filled with teenage energy and parents shaking their heads at this new music. Time sure does fly. Thanks for bringing back that memory.
_______________________________________
From: Val Garay
Re: Paul Revere
"THE GREAT RIPOFF OF THE 60'S"!
The song that broke their career as we all know was "Just Like Me"!
The demo of that song was done by myself and Rick Day in Rick's garage in San Bruno. (N.Cal where we both grew up)
Rick did that strange airy vocal (which at the time I advised him against) and we sent the demo to Roger Hart (Ex DJay and now manager of the Raiders) and waited for a reply.
About 4-5 weeks later Rick got a call from Roger Hart saying that they loved the song and they wanted to do it but Roger needed to re-write the lyrics.
Being 20 years old and seeing this as a big opportunity, Rick said yes!
When the song finally came out not only was the lyric EXACTLY THE SAME but Mark copied Rick's vocal down to the very last breath and accent.
It was identical to the demo we did in his garage. IDENTICAL!!
Our first lesson in the music business.
Rick day and I then moved to LA and lived in the same house for 2 years at 1600 N. Sierra Bonita in Hollywood.
We started a now famous Hollywood band and signed to Lou Adlers new label distributed by CBS Records and Clive. Ode Records.
The band was called "The Giant Sunflower" and caused B. Mitchel Reid of KFRC fame to coin the phrase, "Flower Power"!
Myself, Rick Day, Fast Eddie Hoh (Mama's & Papa's and MFQ) and Terry Clements (who went on to become Gordon Lightfoot's Guitarist for 40 years passing from a stroke last year.)
_______________________________________
Re: Paul Revere
Hi Bob,
Thanks for that very evocative tribute to Paul Revere. Ironically, the stories of those who keep on going after the media stops paying attention are often more interesting then those of mega-celebrities. I watched Where The Action Is when I came home from high school on Long Island sometime in the afternoon and James Brown was a regular on that show as well as Paul Revere and The Raiders. I think everyone performed playback but they were dancing on the beach under the California Sun and it looked very inviting. I must have played Just Like Me in every high school band I was in because it was a great song and the chords were easy. We kind of had our own version of Action on the East Coast with The Clay Cole Show but I've heard all the tapes were recorded over to economize on the production. Little did they know!
In 1985, I seriously thought about giving it up, going straight (whatever that means) and become a lawyer. I went back to school to get my BA with plans for law school and took a job as a legal secretary for two years at the New York law firm of Pryor, Cashman, Sherman & Flynn. Most of the attorneys I worked with at the firm were younger then me and loved music and couldn't figure out what I was doing there. There was a big entertainment section and sometimes music biz clients would recognize me and ask what I was doing behind that desk typing. I worked for Don Zakarin who was a talented litigator (the song "Feelings" was one of our more celebrated cases and Don won) and he put up with me showing up late if I had a gig the night before. I learned more during those two years about the mechanics of the music business then during my stays as an artist on Polydor, RCA & Columbia the 12 years before. To this day, I prepare my licensing contracts myself and understand the prohibitive
expense of bringing anybody to court no matter how much in the right you may be if the stakes aren't high enough. That's one area where the playing field is definitely not even.
And then I started getting more and more offers to tour in Europe until my stay at the law firm became untenable. But they let me use their Telex (remember that?) to contact overseas promoters and I had great health care and I wrote a novel after hours on their computer and got my BA too. i think I went back into my music with more focus and determination then before and it was that job that did it.
Sometimes its good to see how the other side lives - not better not worse not even more secure (until you make partner) - before you actually make a choice of what path you want to take.
Regards from Paris,
Elliott Murphy
_______________________________________
From: Barry Lyons
Subject: Re: Paul Revere
My daughter goes to Paul Revere Middle School here in the Palisades.
The guy the school was named for dies - and they said nothing to the students. Talk about forgotten....
_______________________________________
From: Marty Winsch
Subject: Re: Myths
"Free music" is the biggest myth on the list. I have enjoyed hundreds if not thousands of songs over my lifetime without ever buying a single album, a concert ticket or a t shirt from said artist(s). Is it stealing or "free" if I happen to be able to sing along with an REO Speedwagon song even though I've never seen them in concert, bought one of their albums, or supported them directly in a financial capacity in any way, shape, or form?
_______________________________________
From: Robin Millar
Subject: RE: Hysteria
Hysteria, Mutt etc
A lot of that record was recorded at my studio Power Plant in London. I got to know Mutt very well. I don't think I've ever known a more committed and painstaking producer.
The vocal booth to studio 1 was near the staircase up to my office. I remember walking in around 11am and hearing Joe's muffled voice screaming one word 'pho-da-graph' over and over. When I went to lunch he was still doing it. When I went to supper he was still doing it.
The following day he wasn't there. Mutt spent the whole day on a 16 bar hi-hat intro they ended up scrapping. The next morning Joe reappeared wearing a scarf around his neck. He'd been to the throat doctor. Later that afternoon as I passed the booth again I could hear 'pho-da-graph' coming over and over.
And those heavy chords and riffs? Can you believe, they were recorded one string at a time. Yep, power guitar chords built up one string at a time. And even then he would often double the chords with the strings detuned then double them again with a capo to make a higher inversion. All to thicken the chords. The only way this worked was because he was so painstaking, dropping in each note over and over until they were so dead on time that they sounded like one hit on the guitar.
I can definitely say that I copied this idea in the studio with the Sade Band on the track 'Smooth Operator.' We worked all day on a perfect piano take for the track. Then we hooked up the Fender Rhodes electric piano and Andy played exactly the same part on top but so exactly, chord by chord, that it sounded like one instrument - but not quite like any instrument you could find. This was before midi interfaces when you could get keyboards to track eachother automatically.
So much of what makes Mutt unique is sheer hard work and endless patience. He did a 16 hour day, 7 days a week. Assistants flaked out time and again and had to be replaced. But Mutt has his weights and his veggie sausages in the studio and he kept right on going. And one of the nicest guys I ever met in the studio.
One final but very important thing I'd like to say. Hysteria, Maroon 5, Nickelback, Shania Twain - all these Mutt classics were mixed by the wonderful Mike Shipley. Mike died tragically and too young a year ago. He was a genius in his own right and he adopted Mutt's painstaking attention to detail. If you listen to the near-perfect 'Paper Airplane' by Alison Krauss, you will hear Mike on his own, at his best. He won two Grammies for that record.
And this really long article shows you in detail just what is involved in making a record that good. It's one of the best detailed pieces on recording I ever read, and very poignant as it was so close to his unexpected death.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul11/articles/it-0711.htm
cheers
Robin
_______________________________________
From: Oliver Wheeler
Subject: Apple watch success is assured, due to a story from 1904
Hi Bob,
I was interested to read your piece on the new Apple watch. It made me think of an interesting comparison. In 1904, the infamous French pilot Alberto Santos-Dumont asked his friend Louis Cartier to make him a wrist watch, as he was having trouble removing his pocket watch while flying. No doubt the Apple watch's inevitable success will follow the same principle of solving a similar problem. I thought it interesting that this problem was also solved a hundred and ten years ago!
Oliver
Excerpt from an interview with the Cartier chairman:
Bamberger continues: "He didn't know how he could control his beautiful aeroplane, this crazy machine, the Demoiselle. So one day he asked his friend Louis Cartier to make something different, because in those days there were only pocket watches. That's how Louis Cartier created the first wristwatch, which was named the Santos-Dumont watch in his honour." It was 1904 when Santos-Dumont talked to his friend Louis Cartier about his problem of using a pocket watch when flying. He was celebrating the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize, for the first flight from Parc Saint Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and back in less than thirty minutes, in a dirigible. His work on his pioneering aeroplane, the 14-bis (so-named because in tests, it was suspended under the dirigible number 14), came later, in 1906. But the Brazilian-born Santos-Dumont was a great personality in Paris, and he was nicknamed "le petit Santos." High society Parisians soon caught on to his eccentric dress style, including high-collared
shirts and a Panama hat. So he contributed a great deal to the popularity of the wristwatch, once Cartier had created a watch with a leather strap and a small buckle. Today, the Santos-Dumont watch is still part of the Cartier range, with many versions, including skeletonized and women's as well as the classic men's.
_______________________________________
Re: Rhinofy-American Beauty Primer
Bob,
Box of Rain was written and sung by Phil Lesh, not Bob Weir.
My company at the time, Alembic, was doing all the Dead's live recording, PA work, and a lot of innovative instrument modification and building for them. I was FOH mixer on quite a few tours in that era, and I helped design the Wall of Sound as well as building guitars and basses for them, CSN, the Airplane, etc.
My Best,
Rick Turner
_______________________________________
From: Devon
Re: Garth's Store
That video is posted by the last week tonight channel. Hbo hasn't issued a takedown notice because they put it there.
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Subject: re: Buffett "sell a plane" quote and the digital space
"Vanity Fair" wrote:
"Moderator Irving Azoff, the owner of Azoff MSG entertainment responded with a zinger for Buffett, whom he told to 'sell one of the planes.'"
In classic fashion, the press twisted words about getting paid by selling planes rather than focusing on how hard it is to actually get paid online as an artist. There's no rewards program for frequent streamer-miles yet....
The point I was trying to make was that guys my age and Jimmy Buffett's age need to be looking at digital services as the future, not the present road for real money. We might need to sell some tangible assets if we want to keep playing in the streaming music space because it's hard for today's legacy artists to make a real buck in the digital space vs the touring business. I don't think that's going to change in the near term.
_______________________________________
From: Dan Navarro
Subject: Re: The Jimmy Buffett Dustup
What I never see mentioned in any account of the economics of the music business is that labels recoup off the artists' share, not off the top.
That simple fact alone means that it is mathematically possible...even likely...that a record can be in profit, based on sales numbers and wholesale prices, but the artist remains unrecouped, which is then spun to imply that the label is not paid back for its investment.
It has also meant that managers go for the quick kill on the advance, since they know that, hit or not, they may never see another dime in
royalties.
I can't help but factor that into any opinion I have of the economics of the record business, and how much artists are paid. We're not trying to get rich, we're trying to get paid, accurately, fairly, in a timely manner.
_______________________________________
Re: Paul Revere
Thank You Bob
I am not good at saying goodbye! You did it for me. Of course I loved Paul and all the Raiders records!
Yes. Even us Brits got a taste of that fun band although we didn't see the TV show! Thank you for saying good bye so beautifully!
Peter Noone
_______________________________________
Dear Bob
In response to your piece ''Napster would kill creation '' etc.
I have been a record producer since 1966, so i can speak with the experience of history. In spite of all the stories and myths about how unfair and horrible record companies were prior to the ''new'' world of the internet and streaming ,the old model ,as flawed as it might have appeared was responsible for facilitating the entire history of recorded music. From Louis Armstrong to Michael Jackson, it was the structure of discovery and development that defined the record business. The pecking order that was in place during these years made us all better at what we did. If you were going to make it, you had to have your s___ together. It drove the most talented, the hardest working, the best and the brightest to achieve the results that now comprise the catalogues of the streaming services. Somehow in spite of the snakes and hustlers that sometimes ran the business, what was created was a body of work of great value and beauty. What has the ''new '' model Created.
Stewart Levine
Record Producer
_______________________________________
From: Paul Rappaport
Re: Paul Revere
Yes, they were the coolest, and a big part of the music culture. And, yes, we wanted to be like them.
One day in 1967 I decided to wear my band clothes to Downey High (California). I had black on brown paisley pants, a black turtle neck, and a green suede jacket, but the best part was my Paul Revere And The Raiders boots that I wore outside my pants that came up to my knees.
I think it was those boots that really got to the Vice Principle at the time. He spotted me and went into complete shock—he could hardly speak. "You,..you,…you can't wear those clothes to school! What do you think this is HOLLYWOOD HIGH?!!! GIVE ME THOSE BOOTS!!!" And, he began pulling them off me dragging me down the hallway as he kept yelling. "You can pick these up in my office after school!"
Well, I went to first period in stocking feet and got a detention slip for coming to class with no shoes (teacher wasn't interested in my story). Then I ran across campus to the gym to get my tennis shoes (looked awfully dumb with with white tennis and those skin tight paisley pants). The gym was far away from my next class, and so I was late for it by a minute—got another detention slip for being late to class (again, my Vice Principle story didn't matter).
Finally, at the end of the day I went to pick up my boots at the Vice Principle's office. He wasn't there, just a paper bag with my boots and stapled to the bag—another detention slip!
I had to go home and explain to my mom why I had to stay after school the next week on three separate days!
Paul Revere And The Raiders? LOVED 'EM.
Rap
_______________________________________
Re: Paul Revere
Hi, It's Muddy Waters from the getting deeper and darker past at Middlebury. Love reading your thoughts in the Lefsetz Letter. Today's post really hit home. The first concert I ever went to was Paul Revere and the Raiders in Buffalo. My memory is that David Parker (another Midd classmate) and his dad took me. I was humiliated that his father wore white socks to the concert because fashion was so important to an early teen. It was an exciting evening filled with teenage energy and parents shaking their heads at this new music. Time sure does fly. Thanks for bringing back that memory.
_______________________________________
From: Val Garay
Re: Paul Revere
"THE GREAT RIPOFF OF THE 60'S"!
The song that broke their career as we all know was "Just Like Me"!
The demo of that song was done by myself and Rick Day in Rick's garage in San Bruno. (N.Cal where we both grew up)
Rick did that strange airy vocal (which at the time I advised him against) and we sent the demo to Roger Hart (Ex DJay and now manager of the Raiders) and waited for a reply.
About 4-5 weeks later Rick got a call from Roger Hart saying that they loved the song and they wanted to do it but Roger needed to re-write the lyrics.
Being 20 years old and seeing this as a big opportunity, Rick said yes!
When the song finally came out not only was the lyric EXACTLY THE SAME but Mark copied Rick's vocal down to the very last breath and accent.
It was identical to the demo we did in his garage. IDENTICAL!!
Our first lesson in the music business.
Rick day and I then moved to LA and lived in the same house for 2 years at 1600 N. Sierra Bonita in Hollywood.
We started a now famous Hollywood band and signed to Lou Adlers new label distributed by CBS Records and Clive. Ode Records.
The band was called "The Giant Sunflower" and caused B. Mitchel Reid of KFRC fame to coin the phrase, "Flower Power"!
Myself, Rick Day, Fast Eddie Hoh (Mama's & Papa's and MFQ) and Terry Clements (who went on to become Gordon Lightfoot's Guitarist for 40 years passing from a stroke last year.)
_______________________________________
Re: Paul Revere
Hi Bob,
Thanks for that very evocative tribute to Paul Revere. Ironically, the stories of those who keep on going after the media stops paying attention are often more interesting then those of mega-celebrities. I watched Where The Action Is when I came home from high school on Long Island sometime in the afternoon and James Brown was a regular on that show as well as Paul Revere and The Raiders. I think everyone performed playback but they were dancing on the beach under the California Sun and it looked very inviting. I must have played Just Like Me in every high school band I was in because it was a great song and the chords were easy. We kind of had our own version of Action on the East Coast with The Clay Cole Show but I've heard all the tapes were recorded over to economize on the production. Little did they know!
In 1985, I seriously thought about giving it up, going straight (whatever that means) and become a lawyer. I went back to school to get my BA with plans for law school and took a job as a legal secretary for two years at the New York law firm of Pryor, Cashman, Sherman & Flynn. Most of the attorneys I worked with at the firm were younger then me and loved music and couldn't figure out what I was doing there. There was a big entertainment section and sometimes music biz clients would recognize me and ask what I was doing behind that desk typing. I worked for Don Zakarin who was a talented litigator (the song "Feelings" was one of our more celebrated cases and Don won) and he put up with me showing up late if I had a gig the night before. I learned more during those two years about the mechanics of the music business then during my stays as an artist on Polydor, RCA & Columbia the 12 years before. To this day, I prepare my licensing contracts myself and understand the prohibitive
expense of bringing anybody to court no matter how much in the right you may be if the stakes aren't high enough. That's one area where the playing field is definitely not even.
And then I started getting more and more offers to tour in Europe until my stay at the law firm became untenable. But they let me use their Telex (remember that?) to contact overseas promoters and I had great health care and I wrote a novel after hours on their computer and got my BA too. i think I went back into my music with more focus and determination then before and it was that job that did it.
Sometimes its good to see how the other side lives - not better not worse not even more secure (until you make partner) - before you actually make a choice of what path you want to take.
Regards from Paris,
Elliott Murphy
_______________________________________
From: Barry Lyons
Subject: Re: Paul Revere
My daughter goes to Paul Revere Middle School here in the Palisades.
The guy the school was named for dies - and they said nothing to the students. Talk about forgotten....
_______________________________________
From: Marty Winsch
Subject: Re: Myths
"Free music" is the biggest myth on the list. I have enjoyed hundreds if not thousands of songs over my lifetime without ever buying a single album, a concert ticket or a t shirt from said artist(s). Is it stealing or "free" if I happen to be able to sing along with an REO Speedwagon song even though I've never seen them in concert, bought one of their albums, or supported them directly in a financial capacity in any way, shape, or form?
_______________________________________
From: Robin Millar
Subject: RE: Hysteria
Hysteria, Mutt etc
A lot of that record was recorded at my studio Power Plant in London. I got to know Mutt very well. I don't think I've ever known a more committed and painstaking producer.
The vocal booth to studio 1 was near the staircase up to my office. I remember walking in around 11am and hearing Joe's muffled voice screaming one word 'pho-da-graph' over and over. When I went to lunch he was still doing it. When I went to supper he was still doing it.
The following day he wasn't there. Mutt spent the whole day on a 16 bar hi-hat intro they ended up scrapping. The next morning Joe reappeared wearing a scarf around his neck. He'd been to the throat doctor. Later that afternoon as I passed the booth again I could hear 'pho-da-graph' coming over and over.
And those heavy chords and riffs? Can you believe, they were recorded one string at a time. Yep, power guitar chords built up one string at a time. And even then he would often double the chords with the strings detuned then double them again with a capo to make a higher inversion. All to thicken the chords. The only way this worked was because he was so painstaking, dropping in each note over and over until they were so dead on time that they sounded like one hit on the guitar.
I can definitely say that I copied this idea in the studio with the Sade Band on the track 'Smooth Operator.' We worked all day on a perfect piano take for the track. Then we hooked up the Fender Rhodes electric piano and Andy played exactly the same part on top but so exactly, chord by chord, that it sounded like one instrument - but not quite like any instrument you could find. This was before midi interfaces when you could get keyboards to track eachother automatically.
So much of what makes Mutt unique is sheer hard work and endless patience. He did a 16 hour day, 7 days a week. Assistants flaked out time and again and had to be replaced. But Mutt has his weights and his veggie sausages in the studio and he kept right on going. And one of the nicest guys I ever met in the studio.
One final but very important thing I'd like to say. Hysteria, Maroon 5, Nickelback, Shania Twain - all these Mutt classics were mixed by the wonderful Mike Shipley. Mike died tragically and too young a year ago. He was a genius in his own right and he adopted Mutt's painstaking attention to detail. If you listen to the near-perfect 'Paper Airplane' by Alison Krauss, you will hear Mike on his own, at his best. He won two Grammies for that record.
And this really long article shows you in detail just what is involved in making a record that good. It's one of the best detailed pieces on recording I ever read, and very poignant as it was so close to his unexpected death.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul11/articles/it-0711.htm
cheers
Robin
_______________________________________
From: Oliver Wheeler
Subject: Apple watch success is assured, due to a story from 1904
Hi Bob,
I was interested to read your piece on the new Apple watch. It made me think of an interesting comparison. In 1904, the infamous French pilot Alberto Santos-Dumont asked his friend Louis Cartier to make him a wrist watch, as he was having trouble removing his pocket watch while flying. No doubt the Apple watch's inevitable success will follow the same principle of solving a similar problem. I thought it interesting that this problem was also solved a hundred and ten years ago!
Oliver
Excerpt from an interview with the Cartier chairman:
Bamberger continues: "He didn't know how he could control his beautiful aeroplane, this crazy machine, the Demoiselle. So one day he asked his friend Louis Cartier to make something different, because in those days there were only pocket watches. That's how Louis Cartier created the first wristwatch, which was named the Santos-Dumont watch in his honour." It was 1904 when Santos-Dumont talked to his friend Louis Cartier about his problem of using a pocket watch when flying. He was celebrating the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize, for the first flight from Parc Saint Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and back in less than thirty minutes, in a dirigible. His work on his pioneering aeroplane, the 14-bis (so-named because in tests, it was suspended under the dirigible number 14), came later, in 1906. But the Brazilian-born Santos-Dumont was a great personality in Paris, and he was nicknamed "le petit Santos." High society Parisians soon caught on to his eccentric dress style, including high-collared
shirts and a Panama hat. So he contributed a great deal to the popularity of the wristwatch, once Cartier had created a watch with a leather strap and a small buckle. Today, the Santos-Dumont watch is still part of the Cartier range, with many versions, including skeletonized and women's as well as the classic men's.
_______________________________________
Re: Rhinofy-American Beauty Primer
Bob,
Box of Rain was written and sung by Phil Lesh, not Bob Weir.
My company at the time, Alembic, was doing all the Dead's live recording, PA work, and a lot of innovative instrument modification and building for them. I was FOH mixer on quite a few tours in that era, and I helped design the Wall of Sound as well as building guitars and basses for them, CSN, the Airplane, etc.
My Best,
Rick Turner
_______________________________________
From: Devon
Re: Garth's Store
That video is posted by the last week tonight channel. Hbo hasn't issued a takedown notice because they put it there.
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The Jimmy Buffett Dustup
"On the one hand information wants to be expensive."
That's the first half of the Stewart Brand quote that everybody forgets but the news media has embraced. Used to be reporters asked hard questions and revealed their answers in their newspapers and magazines, now they've all emulated the music business and taken their show on the road, it's all about conferences baby, where the well-heeled overpay and the hoi polloi get crumbs from the people who can't write and leave the best parts out.
Yesterday Jimmy Buffett asked Daniel Ek for more money at the "Vanity Fair" conference in San Francisco. What, you didn't get an invitation? Of course not, because you don't count, it's a whole world of intelligentsia who are all about relationships and the only people you know are hanging at the bar.
And Jimmy Buffett stands up in all his glory and asks Daniel Ek for a raise. Why don't you try the same thing. Why don't you go into Lucian Grainge and talk about his pay and the money Universal is making and ask for a bonus. Even better, ask for a discount on the subway. Better yet, on your taxes. What Buffett is asking for is to throw out the rule of law, of contracts, and to have Spotify throw artists a few shekels out of the goodness of its corporate heart, although the last time I checked they didn't have one, no corporation does, Apple doesn't pay taxes and neither does U2. Everybody's in in for themselves but since Buffett makes art, he gets to evade the rules. Huh?
Even better, how about Jimmy kicking back some of that live dough to his label. Ticket prices have far exceeded inflation for years, doesn't Lucian Grainge get to dip down into the seaman's pocket for some of that?
Actually, they do that today, with a 360 deal. Which you don't have to sign.
You want the label to make you famous, you want it to employ its marketing power and relationships, and then you want to bitch that you're just not getting rich. No one said you had to do it their way!
Bitch about something you can change. Elect a different congressperson, fight to ensure gay marriage or abortion, take to the courts, because jawboning hardly ever works, check it, the President rarely employs it.
I expected more from Jimmy, who's a minor Gene Simmons, for all his affability Buffett is supremely confident, he thinks he knows everything. When his record sales started to tank he opened restaurants, put the pedal to the metal on merch, even got into the casino business. Once again, did he share a piece of this revenue with those who got him there? Of course not!
And no one beats up on Google, which started this problem, with YouTube, because Google is their friend, those guys are over forty, we all use Google every day, it's an institution in this short term memory society.
But the wisest words were spoken by Tom Freston, who declared that music no longer drove society, tech did. This is the same guy who said MTV was no longer gonna show videos, that they'd become an on demand item online. But the artists complained about MTV's U-turn until very recently, when they found out YouTube allows them to go directly to their audience whenever they want and get paid in the process. Come on, hear anybody bitching about the cable channel recently?
And they won't be bitching about streaming services either.
But the truth is artists are dumb. Trotted out for entertainment. Unaware of how business really works. U2 will not recover from the stink of the Apple cram down forever, the same way Metallica has never fully recovered from the Napster fiasco, because in both cases they could not read the landscape. Napster died and was replaced with worse and piracy reigned and then streaming services reined piracy in. And U2 is the poster boy for aging out of touch rock stars which tech companies will now keep at arm's length, because they're only about the money, only about the promotional value, do you really think Tim Cook is gonna listen to Jimmy Iovine now?
Streaming revenues will go up.
And if you create something as good as the iPhone you will not be bitching about your income.
That's right Jimmy, write a hit, you'll make money in ways you never thought of, and you can whore it out to the corporations you bitch about, licensing it to the beer company or TV show or movie du jour, never mind playing corporates for seven figures.
But that's much harder to do than complain.
"Jimmy Buffett Asks Spotify C.E.O. Daniel Ek for a Raise": http://vnty.fr/1CYoXhP
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That's the first half of the Stewart Brand quote that everybody forgets but the news media has embraced. Used to be reporters asked hard questions and revealed their answers in their newspapers and magazines, now they've all emulated the music business and taken their show on the road, it's all about conferences baby, where the well-heeled overpay and the hoi polloi get crumbs from the people who can't write and leave the best parts out.
Yesterday Jimmy Buffett asked Daniel Ek for more money at the "Vanity Fair" conference in San Francisco. What, you didn't get an invitation? Of course not, because you don't count, it's a whole world of intelligentsia who are all about relationships and the only people you know are hanging at the bar.
And Jimmy Buffett stands up in all his glory and asks Daniel Ek for a raise. Why don't you try the same thing. Why don't you go into Lucian Grainge and talk about his pay and the money Universal is making and ask for a bonus. Even better, ask for a discount on the subway. Better yet, on your taxes. What Buffett is asking for is to throw out the rule of law, of contracts, and to have Spotify throw artists a few shekels out of the goodness of its corporate heart, although the last time I checked they didn't have one, no corporation does, Apple doesn't pay taxes and neither does U2. Everybody's in in for themselves but since Buffett makes art, he gets to evade the rules. Huh?
Even better, how about Jimmy kicking back some of that live dough to his label. Ticket prices have far exceeded inflation for years, doesn't Lucian Grainge get to dip down into the seaman's pocket for some of that?
Actually, they do that today, with a 360 deal. Which you don't have to sign.
You want the label to make you famous, you want it to employ its marketing power and relationships, and then you want to bitch that you're just not getting rich. No one said you had to do it their way!
Bitch about something you can change. Elect a different congressperson, fight to ensure gay marriage or abortion, take to the courts, because jawboning hardly ever works, check it, the President rarely employs it.
I expected more from Jimmy, who's a minor Gene Simmons, for all his affability Buffett is supremely confident, he thinks he knows everything. When his record sales started to tank he opened restaurants, put the pedal to the metal on merch, even got into the casino business. Once again, did he share a piece of this revenue with those who got him there? Of course not!
And no one beats up on Google, which started this problem, with YouTube, because Google is their friend, those guys are over forty, we all use Google every day, it's an institution in this short term memory society.
But the wisest words were spoken by Tom Freston, who declared that music no longer drove society, tech did. This is the same guy who said MTV was no longer gonna show videos, that they'd become an on demand item online. But the artists complained about MTV's U-turn until very recently, when they found out YouTube allows them to go directly to their audience whenever they want and get paid in the process. Come on, hear anybody bitching about the cable channel recently?
And they won't be bitching about streaming services either.
But the truth is artists are dumb. Trotted out for entertainment. Unaware of how business really works. U2 will not recover from the stink of the Apple cram down forever, the same way Metallica has never fully recovered from the Napster fiasco, because in both cases they could not read the landscape. Napster died and was replaced with worse and piracy reigned and then streaming services reined piracy in. And U2 is the poster boy for aging out of touch rock stars which tech companies will now keep at arm's length, because they're only about the money, only about the promotional value, do you really think Tim Cook is gonna listen to Jimmy Iovine now?
Streaming revenues will go up.
And if you create something as good as the iPhone you will not be bitching about your income.
That's right Jimmy, write a hit, you'll make money in ways you never thought of, and you can whore it out to the corporations you bitch about, licensing it to the beer company or TV show or movie du jour, never mind playing corporates for seven figures.
But that's much harder to do than complain.
"Jimmy Buffett Asks Spotify C.E.O. Daniel Ek for a Raise": http://vnty.fr/1CYoXhP
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Wednesday 8 October 2014
Stern's Success
How did this happen?
They're fighting to be on Howard Stern's radio program. Today alone, he featured not only Chelsea Handler and Billy Idol, but Bill Murray, the ungettable get.
That's right. Bill doesn't even have an agent, he's elusive, but he wanted to be on Howard's show.
In an era where content providers are bitching everything's free, how did Howard Stern not only charge, but build an entire distribution network around him known as Sirius Radio?
1. Longevity
We're inundated with the work of the barely pubescent and the hype attendant thereto. But they're never on Stern's show, because they have nothing to SAY!
The truth is you get wiser as you get older, you learn from experience, and the only people who don't believe Howard is better than ever are those addicted to scatology with the desire to go back to the high school locker room.
Howard is more comfortable in his skin. He displays his neuroses but is no longer fighting to get ahead, no longer telling us how great he is, how much he's been slighted, he's reveling in his success and it shows. He's the comic book nerd uncomfortable in his skin who stayed in the game long enough to win.
2. Dedication
Howard prepares. Too many interview shows lack this element. And that is what is pushing Howard over the top, his interviews, his show is the go-to place to promote, because his audience is so loyal, and ultimately larger than that of the late night talk shows, despite the latter getting so much press. Howard really wants to know, the audience is eavesdropping, whereas on television the hosts are always playing to the network, always worried about their ratings and their contracts, whereas Howard knows he built Sirius and they don't want to screw with him.
Letterman did the same on TV, but that was decades ago, and his show was so trendsetting and successful that everybody imitated it, that's right, everybody on late night is doing Dave's show, which is ultimately comedy. Dave loves Howard, but Dave can no longer put in the hard work, Dave could triumph once again if he did, if he was just more Dave, embraced his edge, but Dave's tired. Being at the top of the heap for so long will do that to you, Howard's just ascended into the stratosphere.
3. Personality
Everybody rubs off the rough edges, they believe if they don't appeal to everybody, they're not going to appeal to anybody. But the truth is long term careers are based on being unique, trailblazing in your own world. There's an excellent article in Monday's "Los Angeles Times" how Becky G worked with Dr. Luke and ended up sounding just like everybody else, how she lost her edge, and that's what we've got in music, everybody sounds the same, except for those without enough talent. They're afraid to go their own way, afraid radio won't play them and the media won't feature them. But unless you have the confidence to woodshed in the wilderness until you're appealing to the masses you'll never become a legend.
4. Embrace The Taboo
Once upon a time it was Butt Bongo and strippers, now Howard has graduated to asking the questions we all want to know and have never even thought of. Like exactly how did David Crosby impregnate Melissa Etheridge's significant other? There are answers, and Howard elicits them, and what we learn is that so many of these celebrities are just like us, or even crazier than us, like Chelsea Handler peeing on the back of her boyfriend or Jason Biggs peeing upon her, never mind Stern employee Sal having a fascination with the urination fetish. We all have a fetish, you just don't want to talk about yours, but on the Stern Show there are no limits. And on one hand you feel inadequate, comparing yourself with Chelsea Handler's globetrotting lifestyle, on the other, the longer people talk the more screwed up you realize they are.
5. Time
Howard's got hours, and he'll go as long as you've got something interesting to say. This is not the pre-interview world of late night TV, wherein you distill a few stories and then tell them when the lights go on. When you're done listening to a Stern interview you're nearly exhausted, you feel tanked up, you've got as much information as you can handle in one day. It's kind of like ending a conversation with a best friend, you're burnt, for now it's enough. You can see the clock on television. On Stern there's enough time to delve into the nitty-gritty, and don't go on unless you want to.
6. Promotional Power
You might get publicity that you're hosting SNL, but no one bumps your product more than the Stern Show, which is why Neil Young is coming on to sell his new book. Howard's fans are loyal, they believe he's on their team, so they'll buy what he's selling, even if it's the Squatty Potty.
That's why almost all of these celebs go on these talk shows, to promote their latest projects. You can't get them otherwise, and it used to be that Howard could not get them at all. But word has gotten out of the power of his show and now everybody is clamoring to come on. Even Robert Downey, Jr. And for those into music, people who never appear on the late night shows, like Joe Perry, who wears his animosity towards Steven Tyler on his sleeve.
7. The Move To Sirius
In retrospect, it was too soon. Before both YouTube and podcasting blew up. It marginalized Stern. And I don't know how much his move was about money or freedom, but at this late date you have to say Howard was right about the freedom. It's not that he can use profanity and talk about sex, it's that he's not looking over his shoulder for the censor or the FCC, he's free. But only the hardest core moved over to satellite with him.
But this allowed him to refine his show in relative obscurity. The show today is different from the show yesterday. There's very little shock, and mostly family information/squabbles, i.e. the personalities and interactions of the staffers, and interviews. It wasn't that way in 2006, but now Howard knows what it is and has embraced it, he's found his way, he's like an old act that took three or four albums to find its voice and hit a groove.
And he garnered attention because of the "America's Got Talent" connection. A brilliant move, it helped Howard more than the show. The show is worthless, but the brain dead media lemmings had to comment upon his inclusion and then they started trumpeting the gossip Howard broke on his own show and over the last few years, it turns out everyone's listening to Stern.
That's right, if you say you can't afford it, if you say he's juvenile, the joke's on you. Because the movers and shakers listen to Howard, more than anything else. More than late night TV, more than the newspaper, more than sports, Stern is the epicenter, he's the water cooler conversation, when everybody went BuzzFeed, boiling it down to the nugget for the supposedly short attention span public, Howard went deep, because the truth is people have endless time for something great, and Howard is great.
If you want to lunch with the heavyweights, if you want something to say to the celebrity, listen to Stern, it's your number one outlet.
And all of this success is pissing off the hard core. Because they're worried Howard is no longer theirs, the same way they questioned Letterman's changes when he jumped from 12:35 to 11:35. Are you one of them or one of us?
Letterman's flaw was changing his show for a theoretical audience, betraying those who believed. Howard has not done this. But unlike Dave, Howard is basking in his acceptance, they like him, they really like him. And the show is still good, but average listeners are wondering, have we lost him, to the Hamptons and Palm Beach, never mind to the rich and famous...
But Howard Stern just cannot believe it. How an unaccomplished wannabe broadcaster whose father told him he was incompetent succeeded through hard work and hewing to his own vision, refusing to adjust to others' input.
That's what everybody does, adjust. The stars get boob jobs. The comedians tone it down. But Howard has remained himself. With a bit of the aforementioned evolution, but it's still certainly him, the guy who still wants to see boobies, who can still geek out on a superhero movie.
So he's the antidote, the complete opposite of our phony culture.
And now everybody wants a piece of what he's got.
It's an American story. It warms your heart.
But it's not easily replicated. Because life is about whittling down your personality, getting along. It takes incredible strength to maintain not only your identity, but your desire.
But the truth is that is exactly what we're looking for, someone who goes their own way, who appeals to us with honesty in a nation full of duplicity.
Pay attention, because Howard Stern is the number one promotion platform in America, and if you don't think the media runs on promotion, you've never turned on the TV, never mind clicked on the radio.
And yes, Howard is working in that antiquated medium. Proving once again, to paraphrase that old sage, it's not about the medium but the MESSAGE!
"Becky G: Another female caught in pop's cookie-cutter vortex": http://lat.ms/ZtpMR3
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They're fighting to be on Howard Stern's radio program. Today alone, he featured not only Chelsea Handler and Billy Idol, but Bill Murray, the ungettable get.
That's right. Bill doesn't even have an agent, he's elusive, but he wanted to be on Howard's show.
In an era where content providers are bitching everything's free, how did Howard Stern not only charge, but build an entire distribution network around him known as Sirius Radio?
1. Longevity
We're inundated with the work of the barely pubescent and the hype attendant thereto. But they're never on Stern's show, because they have nothing to SAY!
The truth is you get wiser as you get older, you learn from experience, and the only people who don't believe Howard is better than ever are those addicted to scatology with the desire to go back to the high school locker room.
Howard is more comfortable in his skin. He displays his neuroses but is no longer fighting to get ahead, no longer telling us how great he is, how much he's been slighted, he's reveling in his success and it shows. He's the comic book nerd uncomfortable in his skin who stayed in the game long enough to win.
2. Dedication
Howard prepares. Too many interview shows lack this element. And that is what is pushing Howard over the top, his interviews, his show is the go-to place to promote, because his audience is so loyal, and ultimately larger than that of the late night talk shows, despite the latter getting so much press. Howard really wants to know, the audience is eavesdropping, whereas on television the hosts are always playing to the network, always worried about their ratings and their contracts, whereas Howard knows he built Sirius and they don't want to screw with him.
Letterman did the same on TV, but that was decades ago, and his show was so trendsetting and successful that everybody imitated it, that's right, everybody on late night is doing Dave's show, which is ultimately comedy. Dave loves Howard, but Dave can no longer put in the hard work, Dave could triumph once again if he did, if he was just more Dave, embraced his edge, but Dave's tired. Being at the top of the heap for so long will do that to you, Howard's just ascended into the stratosphere.
3. Personality
Everybody rubs off the rough edges, they believe if they don't appeal to everybody, they're not going to appeal to anybody. But the truth is long term careers are based on being unique, trailblazing in your own world. There's an excellent article in Monday's "Los Angeles Times" how Becky G worked with Dr. Luke and ended up sounding just like everybody else, how she lost her edge, and that's what we've got in music, everybody sounds the same, except for those without enough talent. They're afraid to go their own way, afraid radio won't play them and the media won't feature them. But unless you have the confidence to woodshed in the wilderness until you're appealing to the masses you'll never become a legend.
4. Embrace The Taboo
Once upon a time it was Butt Bongo and strippers, now Howard has graduated to asking the questions we all want to know and have never even thought of. Like exactly how did David Crosby impregnate Melissa Etheridge's significant other? There are answers, and Howard elicits them, and what we learn is that so many of these celebrities are just like us, or even crazier than us, like Chelsea Handler peeing on the back of her boyfriend or Jason Biggs peeing upon her, never mind Stern employee Sal having a fascination with the urination fetish. We all have a fetish, you just don't want to talk about yours, but on the Stern Show there are no limits. And on one hand you feel inadequate, comparing yourself with Chelsea Handler's globetrotting lifestyle, on the other, the longer people talk the more screwed up you realize they are.
5. Time
Howard's got hours, and he'll go as long as you've got something interesting to say. This is not the pre-interview world of late night TV, wherein you distill a few stories and then tell them when the lights go on. When you're done listening to a Stern interview you're nearly exhausted, you feel tanked up, you've got as much information as you can handle in one day. It's kind of like ending a conversation with a best friend, you're burnt, for now it's enough. You can see the clock on television. On Stern there's enough time to delve into the nitty-gritty, and don't go on unless you want to.
6. Promotional Power
You might get publicity that you're hosting SNL, but no one bumps your product more than the Stern Show, which is why Neil Young is coming on to sell his new book. Howard's fans are loyal, they believe he's on their team, so they'll buy what he's selling, even if it's the Squatty Potty.
That's why almost all of these celebs go on these talk shows, to promote their latest projects. You can't get them otherwise, and it used to be that Howard could not get them at all. But word has gotten out of the power of his show and now everybody is clamoring to come on. Even Robert Downey, Jr. And for those into music, people who never appear on the late night shows, like Joe Perry, who wears his animosity towards Steven Tyler on his sleeve.
7. The Move To Sirius
In retrospect, it was too soon. Before both YouTube and podcasting blew up. It marginalized Stern. And I don't know how much his move was about money or freedom, but at this late date you have to say Howard was right about the freedom. It's not that he can use profanity and talk about sex, it's that he's not looking over his shoulder for the censor or the FCC, he's free. But only the hardest core moved over to satellite with him.
But this allowed him to refine his show in relative obscurity. The show today is different from the show yesterday. There's very little shock, and mostly family information/squabbles, i.e. the personalities and interactions of the staffers, and interviews. It wasn't that way in 2006, but now Howard knows what it is and has embraced it, he's found his way, he's like an old act that took three or four albums to find its voice and hit a groove.
And he garnered attention because of the "America's Got Talent" connection. A brilliant move, it helped Howard more than the show. The show is worthless, but the brain dead media lemmings had to comment upon his inclusion and then they started trumpeting the gossip Howard broke on his own show and over the last few years, it turns out everyone's listening to Stern.
That's right, if you say you can't afford it, if you say he's juvenile, the joke's on you. Because the movers and shakers listen to Howard, more than anything else. More than late night TV, more than the newspaper, more than sports, Stern is the epicenter, he's the water cooler conversation, when everybody went BuzzFeed, boiling it down to the nugget for the supposedly short attention span public, Howard went deep, because the truth is people have endless time for something great, and Howard is great.
If you want to lunch with the heavyweights, if you want something to say to the celebrity, listen to Stern, it's your number one outlet.
And all of this success is pissing off the hard core. Because they're worried Howard is no longer theirs, the same way they questioned Letterman's changes when he jumped from 12:35 to 11:35. Are you one of them or one of us?
Letterman's flaw was changing his show for a theoretical audience, betraying those who believed. Howard has not done this. But unlike Dave, Howard is basking in his acceptance, they like him, they really like him. And the show is still good, but average listeners are wondering, have we lost him, to the Hamptons and Palm Beach, never mind to the rich and famous...
But Howard Stern just cannot believe it. How an unaccomplished wannabe broadcaster whose father told him he was incompetent succeeded through hard work and hewing to his own vision, refusing to adjust to others' input.
That's what everybody does, adjust. The stars get boob jobs. The comedians tone it down. But Howard has remained himself. With a bit of the aforementioned evolution, but it's still certainly him, the guy who still wants to see boobies, who can still geek out on a superhero movie.
So he's the antidote, the complete opposite of our phony culture.
And now everybody wants a piece of what he's got.
It's an American story. It warms your heart.
But it's not easily replicated. Because life is about whittling down your personality, getting along. It takes incredible strength to maintain not only your identity, but your desire.
But the truth is that is exactly what we're looking for, someone who goes their own way, who appeals to us with honesty in a nation full of duplicity.
Pay attention, because Howard Stern is the number one promotion platform in America, and if you don't think the media runs on promotion, you've never turned on the TV, never mind clicked on the radio.
And yes, Howard is working in that antiquated medium. Proving once again, to paraphrase that old sage, it's not about the medium but the MESSAGE!
"Becky G: Another female caught in pop's cookie-cutter vortex": http://lat.ms/ZtpMR3
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Tuesday 7 October 2014
Charles Chavez
What a character!
Pitbull tweeted about me. Welcome to the twenty first century where your heroes, the celebrities you see on TMZ, are just a click away. And even though I rarely tweet, I'm addicted to the service, it provides a pulse, or a glimpse thereof.
And I like having the reach, but didn't think much about it until I emerged from "Gone Girl" to an e-mail from David Dorn, head of the iTunes Store, he just wanted to know, would I be interested in meeting Pitbull?
OF COURSE!
But it turns out I met his manager first. Today at Katsu-ya. I'm gonna go meet the Miami maestro on Friday at Staples.
So how did Charles Chavez get here?
By being a deejay and working at the radio station and...
Whoa, back me up, how did your family make a living?
Charles's father was in the military. They moved around, but by high school they were in Texas. There were five kids, if you wanted something, you had to work for it. So Charles got a paper route. And then started deejaying in the club. And then convinced the radio station to put him on the air, because of the synergy.
And even though he was in Texas, he was making a lot of money. His salary at the station and the grand a night for deejaying. Yes, there's a lot of money in the music business, assuming you don't compare yourself to the Wall Street and tech titans, who've skewed the game.
And seeing how Cash Money and the rest of the indies were making money, Charles decided to go into the record business, making hip-hop compilations, paying the acts $800 and ending up selling 250,000 copies, some out of his trunk, some through a distributor who always gave advances, but never paid Charles what he was owed, welcome to the music business.
And when some of the acts on his compilations ended up getting deals Charles felt left out, he decided to become a manager. But with his profile rising, he got a gig working promotion at Interscope, from Albuquerque to Miami, almost as far north as the Mason-Dixon line. This is the music business, where if you believe in sleep, you're never gonna make it.
And then one of his acts blew up. Yes, he was managing while he was promoting. Jimmy said it was cool, but then the act signed with Epic instead of Interscope and...
Charles ends up meeting Pitbull. Who's doing it himself. Who's got a deal with TVT. And they're just acquaintances until they run into each other at the Super Bowl a few years later and Charles wonders why Pitbull isn't bigger, so they throw in together.
You'd like to do it by yourself, but you never can.
And then Pit hears an international instrumental, he writes lyrics over it, they make a deal for the track and the rest is history.
And why is Pitbull so successful? Because he's WORKING! Lifestyle is a minor element. If Pit isn't on the road, he's in the studio, he's a bundle of energy.
Meanwhile, Charles knows hits aren't forever, so he's moving into TV. Pit has a deal with Endemol, they made a deal for him to host Fox's New Year's Eve show in Miami. But that's not the only thing.
And all we keep hearing is music is dead, that there's no money in it, it's no longer fun, but these guys are having the time of their lives, making money all the while.
Sure, Pitbull works with Dr. Luke, but Luke adds the spice and Charles makes sure that Pit doesn't lose his identity. There's only one Pitbull, that's the key, to find someone unique, and then make hits.
And these hits are playing around the world, and Pitbull has followed them there.
And the corporations have come calling. But Pit doesn't always say yes. If the money's not good enough, if the company doesn't understand, and it frequently does not, Pit walks away. But usually the company comes back, because there's no better way to reach the Latin market, they realize Pit and Charles know what they're talking about.
And I'm not gonna say I'm a big expert here. That's the modern world, where you might not align with the vertical. But I liked Charles, he was not jive, he did not know everything, he was willing to learn, he realized it was all about relationships, and he kept making them.
So the song remains the same. You can go to the music business school, but that won't make you successful. The music business is a land of hustlers and pimps, who would be successful at whatever their chosen field turned out to be, they just believe in music.
And that's where Charles remains. He wants a label on his terms. he combs Shazam for hits. He's driven by the tunes, not the wallet, unlike so many in this business who are so envious of the tech giants they're taking their eye off the chart.
So successful music entrepreneurs are not made so much as born. It's about their circumstances, being infected by music and believing they can do it their way. Charles believes in himself, he doesn't think another manager has anything on him.
And you need that confidence to play in the big top.
And one thing's for sure, music's a circus, a thrilling cornucopia of carney players we all want a glimpse of.
And right now, Charles Chavez is at the epicenter.
P.S. Charles also reps Magic!, which hit number one with "Rude."
P.P.S. Charles's wife does the books. Keep it in the family, there's no one else you can trust.
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Pitbull tweeted about me. Welcome to the twenty first century where your heroes, the celebrities you see on TMZ, are just a click away. And even though I rarely tweet, I'm addicted to the service, it provides a pulse, or a glimpse thereof.
And I like having the reach, but didn't think much about it until I emerged from "Gone Girl" to an e-mail from David Dorn, head of the iTunes Store, he just wanted to know, would I be interested in meeting Pitbull?
OF COURSE!
But it turns out I met his manager first. Today at Katsu-ya. I'm gonna go meet the Miami maestro on Friday at Staples.
So how did Charles Chavez get here?
By being a deejay and working at the radio station and...
Whoa, back me up, how did your family make a living?
Charles's father was in the military. They moved around, but by high school they were in Texas. There were five kids, if you wanted something, you had to work for it. So Charles got a paper route. And then started deejaying in the club. And then convinced the radio station to put him on the air, because of the synergy.
And even though he was in Texas, he was making a lot of money. His salary at the station and the grand a night for deejaying. Yes, there's a lot of money in the music business, assuming you don't compare yourself to the Wall Street and tech titans, who've skewed the game.
And seeing how Cash Money and the rest of the indies were making money, Charles decided to go into the record business, making hip-hop compilations, paying the acts $800 and ending up selling 250,000 copies, some out of his trunk, some through a distributor who always gave advances, but never paid Charles what he was owed, welcome to the music business.
And when some of the acts on his compilations ended up getting deals Charles felt left out, he decided to become a manager. But with his profile rising, he got a gig working promotion at Interscope, from Albuquerque to Miami, almost as far north as the Mason-Dixon line. This is the music business, where if you believe in sleep, you're never gonna make it.
And then one of his acts blew up. Yes, he was managing while he was promoting. Jimmy said it was cool, but then the act signed with Epic instead of Interscope and...
Charles ends up meeting Pitbull. Who's doing it himself. Who's got a deal with TVT. And they're just acquaintances until they run into each other at the Super Bowl a few years later and Charles wonders why Pitbull isn't bigger, so they throw in together.
You'd like to do it by yourself, but you never can.
And then Pit hears an international instrumental, he writes lyrics over it, they make a deal for the track and the rest is history.
And why is Pitbull so successful? Because he's WORKING! Lifestyle is a minor element. If Pit isn't on the road, he's in the studio, he's a bundle of energy.
Meanwhile, Charles knows hits aren't forever, so he's moving into TV. Pit has a deal with Endemol, they made a deal for him to host Fox's New Year's Eve show in Miami. But that's not the only thing.
And all we keep hearing is music is dead, that there's no money in it, it's no longer fun, but these guys are having the time of their lives, making money all the while.
Sure, Pitbull works with Dr. Luke, but Luke adds the spice and Charles makes sure that Pit doesn't lose his identity. There's only one Pitbull, that's the key, to find someone unique, and then make hits.
And these hits are playing around the world, and Pitbull has followed them there.
And the corporations have come calling. But Pit doesn't always say yes. If the money's not good enough, if the company doesn't understand, and it frequently does not, Pit walks away. But usually the company comes back, because there's no better way to reach the Latin market, they realize Pit and Charles know what they're talking about.
And I'm not gonna say I'm a big expert here. That's the modern world, where you might not align with the vertical. But I liked Charles, he was not jive, he did not know everything, he was willing to learn, he realized it was all about relationships, and he kept making them.
So the song remains the same. You can go to the music business school, but that won't make you successful. The music business is a land of hustlers and pimps, who would be successful at whatever their chosen field turned out to be, they just believe in music.
And that's where Charles remains. He wants a label on his terms. he combs Shazam for hits. He's driven by the tunes, not the wallet, unlike so many in this business who are so envious of the tech giants they're taking their eye off the chart.
So successful music entrepreneurs are not made so much as born. It's about their circumstances, being infected by music and believing they can do it their way. Charles believes in himself, he doesn't think another manager has anything on him.
And you need that confidence to play in the big top.
And one thing's for sure, music's a circus, a thrilling cornucopia of carney players we all want a glimpse of.
And right now, Charles Chavez is at the epicenter.
P.S. Charles also reps Magic!, which hit number one with "Rude."
P.P.S. Charles's wife does the books. Keep it in the family, there's no one else you can trust.
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Gold Dust Woman
"Well did she make you cry
Make you break down
Shatter your illusions of love
And is it over now
Do you know how
Pick up the pieces and go home"
Not at that point, the crying came later. Although she had disappeared, she hadn't told me it was over, but the silence seemed to say so. And I wasn't sure whether to respect it or to reach out. Because unlike seemingly every male in the news, I'm hesitant. You don't have to worry about saying no to me, I'm probably never even gonna touch you. I'm gonna wait until you say loud and clear that you want me.
Which makes it difficult to have a girlfriend. I've never quite understood the rules of courtship. I know the male should lead, I know I want to be close, but I'm afraid of imposing myself upon you more than I'm worried about rejection.
But we'd had a stimulating conversation. She'd talked about stuff no girl had ever mentioned before. I asked her on a date, she gave me an excuse which I wasn't sure whether to believe and just when I'd given up hope, she called me.
Then you know they're interested. That's a green light.
She asked me what I was doing that night. I told her I was going to the record store, to return discs, which was a regular behavior for a big consumer like myself back in the seventies. And she started to beg off, telling me it was okay that I was busy, but after convincing her this was not so, I invited her to go to the movies, to the revival house in Beverly Hills, to see a couple of old Cary Grant films.
She drove to my abode, she'd a bad experience with a male a few months before, she didn't want me stopping by.
I wasn't sure she enjoyed the ancient flicks. But when I showed up at school the next day she gave me the biggest hello I'd ever received.
And there ensued Kinks concerts and chocolate crepes and suddenly my life made sense.
But there were always bumps in the road, because she had not come to Los Angeles to get into a relationship, she'd come to study, and our interaction was getting in the way of that.
As for me, I didn't quite throw out my books, but I didn't crack them thereafter.
And then there was this hiatus. Within which I went to the movies and listened to records. I'd purchased the stereo of my dreams only months before. Something with enough power to blow up the building, but enough clarity to have you sitting in front of the speakers wowed. And now that it was March, I was spinning the new Fleetwood Mac album, "Rumours."
I never bought the previous album. Maybe I didn't have to. Jimmy had it on 8-track in Salt Lake.
And I'd seen them play my favorite, "Over My Head," at Anaheim Stadium the summer before.
I was primed. Even though I was not in love with the single on the radio, "Go Your Own Way."
But there was this one track on the second side, "Gold Dust Woman."
Christine was always my favorite, but this Nicks track was less witch and more rock, a groove that penetrated with a soul that resonated.
"Rock on gold dust woman
Take your silver spoon, dig your grave"
This was before regular people did coke, that came a few years later. I was struggling with giving up marijuana, which was now sensimilla and so strong that after I smoked it it weirded me out for 24 hours.
"Heartless challenge
Pick your path and I'll pray"
My path was completely unclear. Part of me wanted to be back banging the bumps in Utah. But it was the worst season ever and suddenly I was in love.
Do you know love? It's when nothing else matters, when you just can't stop thinking of the other person, when skin on skin is more important than anything else.
But she was gone.
But then she knocked on my door. And came inside. And I put on "Gold Dust Woman" and as Stevie sang and Mick banged and John held down the bottom, we embraced, I can still remember the taste of her lipstick. She was back to stay. For a very long time.
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Make you break down
Shatter your illusions of love
And is it over now
Do you know how
Pick up the pieces and go home"
Not at that point, the crying came later. Although she had disappeared, she hadn't told me it was over, but the silence seemed to say so. And I wasn't sure whether to respect it or to reach out. Because unlike seemingly every male in the news, I'm hesitant. You don't have to worry about saying no to me, I'm probably never even gonna touch you. I'm gonna wait until you say loud and clear that you want me.
Which makes it difficult to have a girlfriend. I've never quite understood the rules of courtship. I know the male should lead, I know I want to be close, but I'm afraid of imposing myself upon you more than I'm worried about rejection.
But we'd had a stimulating conversation. She'd talked about stuff no girl had ever mentioned before. I asked her on a date, she gave me an excuse which I wasn't sure whether to believe and just when I'd given up hope, she called me.
Then you know they're interested. That's a green light.
She asked me what I was doing that night. I told her I was going to the record store, to return discs, which was a regular behavior for a big consumer like myself back in the seventies. And she started to beg off, telling me it was okay that I was busy, but after convincing her this was not so, I invited her to go to the movies, to the revival house in Beverly Hills, to see a couple of old Cary Grant films.
She drove to my abode, she'd a bad experience with a male a few months before, she didn't want me stopping by.
I wasn't sure she enjoyed the ancient flicks. But when I showed up at school the next day she gave me the biggest hello I'd ever received.
And there ensued Kinks concerts and chocolate crepes and suddenly my life made sense.
But there were always bumps in the road, because she had not come to Los Angeles to get into a relationship, she'd come to study, and our interaction was getting in the way of that.
As for me, I didn't quite throw out my books, but I didn't crack them thereafter.
And then there was this hiatus. Within which I went to the movies and listened to records. I'd purchased the stereo of my dreams only months before. Something with enough power to blow up the building, but enough clarity to have you sitting in front of the speakers wowed. And now that it was March, I was spinning the new Fleetwood Mac album, "Rumours."
I never bought the previous album. Maybe I didn't have to. Jimmy had it on 8-track in Salt Lake.
And I'd seen them play my favorite, "Over My Head," at Anaheim Stadium the summer before.
I was primed. Even though I was not in love with the single on the radio, "Go Your Own Way."
But there was this one track on the second side, "Gold Dust Woman."
Christine was always my favorite, but this Nicks track was less witch and more rock, a groove that penetrated with a soul that resonated.
"Rock on gold dust woman
Take your silver spoon, dig your grave"
This was before regular people did coke, that came a few years later. I was struggling with giving up marijuana, which was now sensimilla and so strong that after I smoked it it weirded me out for 24 hours.
"Heartless challenge
Pick your path and I'll pray"
My path was completely unclear. Part of me wanted to be back banging the bumps in Utah. But it was the worst season ever and suddenly I was in love.
Do you know love? It's when nothing else matters, when you just can't stop thinking of the other person, when skin on skin is more important than anything else.
But she was gone.
But then she knocked on my door. And came inside. And I put on "Gold Dust Woman" and as Stevie sang and Mick banged and John held down the bottom, we embraced, I can still remember the taste of her lipstick. She was back to stay. For a very long time.
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Monday 6 October 2014
Paul Revere
They were the house band for "Where The Action Is," only half an hour long, but the MTV of its era.
Used to be summer was a sleepy season, when television was filled with nothing but reruns, in this pre-internet era young kids could actually be bored.
But the one thing they could never get enough of was the radio, the sound emanating from their transistor, the iPod of its day, but much cheaper, everybody had one, or two, and at first you listened to the baseball game but then you graduated to the top forty station in your neighborhood, which was the epicenter of the culture. We tuned in to know not only the tracks, but to be members of the club, the deejays were our older, hipper brothers, and we were all along for this wondrous ride when the Beatles came out of nowhere and turned this entire nation upside down.
Suddenly, the young took over the country, they revolted not only against their parents, but the entire nation, ultimately refusing to go to Vietnam and protesting our involvement therein. It was like there was something in the air that truly made everybody think different, and that was music.
So the Beatles revolutionize society before they even record a song with that title and then we're all rushing home at 2 PM to catch a black and white TV show featuring the heroes of the day in a season when there was no homework, when we could just ponder the wonders of life 24/7.
And at this point, Paul Revere & the Raiders had no hits, just a lame Columbia album of covers we saw in the bins that we could not afford and had never heard. But the band didn't seem to get the memo, they were having so much fun on the show. It was visuals like this that made me and so many of my generation want to move to California.
And then came "Just Like Me."
"It's just like me
To say to you
Love me do
And I'll be true"
And now this merry band of pranksters were cool! No one could deny "Just Like Me" rocked, from Mark Lindsay's attitude to Drake Levin's guitar solo, this was a smash. Paul Revere & the Raiders graduated!
The apotheosis was "Kicks," we were already jaded, we knew they kept on getting harder to find, but that did not mean we stopped searching.
"Kicks" is not "Born To Be Wild," but if you're writing the story of sixties American rock, the Raiders track would be included.
And almost as good were "Hungry" and "Good Thing."
And sure, the band ultimately had a hit with "Indian Reservation" in the seventies, but that was a coda, different players with a different sound, it was really about the sixties.
And Paul Revere rode that success all the way into the twenty first century, all the way until August of this year, when illness forced him from the road.
He was an American success story. Pluck and desire got him there. That was always the dream. That even if you were from godforsaken Idaho, if you wanted it enough, you could get it.
And Revere was not warm and fuzzy, he was not lovable, but he persevered and survived until Saturday, and for that he belongs in the rock and roll firmament, if not the Hall of Fame.
"Girl, I'm gonna have it all some day if you'll just hang on to my hand"
He needed her to fuel his desire.
"If I break some rules along the way, girl
You, you gotta understand"
That's right, today musicians bitch the techies are not playing straight, but once upon a time they wrote the book, they tested limits and stayed far from the corporations, selling out was anathema.
"It's my way of gettin' what I want now
'Cause I'm hungry"
That's how so many of us were, we wanted more. And we saw no ceiling, nothing in our way. We all had good public school educations, we could cogitate, we were all...
"Hungry for those good things, baby
Hungry through and through
Well, I'm hungry for that sweet life, baby
With a real fine girl like you"
That was the currency, even more than dollars...girls, sex. You picked up your axe, burnished your image, went on the road and...
They lined up to get close, to get a little of what you got.
The musicians were not nerds, they were the coolest.
Yes, even Paul Revere.
Jimmy Iovine may have all the money, but he's got a fraction of what Paul Revere and the rest of the players got. We were in thrall to the people on stage. They were our heroes. Blazing trails. Enlightening us and illuminating our lives.
Paul Revere won.
I know he's not resting in peace, but tickling the ivories on that celestial Vox Continental, creating a band to keep all the angels entertained. Because playing music is in the blood, you can never give up and go straight, work for dad or the company, you live on stage, it's the only place you're comfortable, the only place you want to be.
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Used to be summer was a sleepy season, when television was filled with nothing but reruns, in this pre-internet era young kids could actually be bored.
But the one thing they could never get enough of was the radio, the sound emanating from their transistor, the iPod of its day, but much cheaper, everybody had one, or two, and at first you listened to the baseball game but then you graduated to the top forty station in your neighborhood, which was the epicenter of the culture. We tuned in to know not only the tracks, but to be members of the club, the deejays were our older, hipper brothers, and we were all along for this wondrous ride when the Beatles came out of nowhere and turned this entire nation upside down.
Suddenly, the young took over the country, they revolted not only against their parents, but the entire nation, ultimately refusing to go to Vietnam and protesting our involvement therein. It was like there was something in the air that truly made everybody think different, and that was music.
So the Beatles revolutionize society before they even record a song with that title and then we're all rushing home at 2 PM to catch a black and white TV show featuring the heroes of the day in a season when there was no homework, when we could just ponder the wonders of life 24/7.
And at this point, Paul Revere & the Raiders had no hits, just a lame Columbia album of covers we saw in the bins that we could not afford and had never heard. But the band didn't seem to get the memo, they were having so much fun on the show. It was visuals like this that made me and so many of my generation want to move to California.
And then came "Just Like Me."
"It's just like me
To say to you
Love me do
And I'll be true"
And now this merry band of pranksters were cool! No one could deny "Just Like Me" rocked, from Mark Lindsay's attitude to Drake Levin's guitar solo, this was a smash. Paul Revere & the Raiders graduated!
The apotheosis was "Kicks," we were already jaded, we knew they kept on getting harder to find, but that did not mean we stopped searching.
"Kicks" is not "Born To Be Wild," but if you're writing the story of sixties American rock, the Raiders track would be included.
And almost as good were "Hungry" and "Good Thing."
And sure, the band ultimately had a hit with "Indian Reservation" in the seventies, but that was a coda, different players with a different sound, it was really about the sixties.
And Paul Revere rode that success all the way into the twenty first century, all the way until August of this year, when illness forced him from the road.
He was an American success story. Pluck and desire got him there. That was always the dream. That even if you were from godforsaken Idaho, if you wanted it enough, you could get it.
And Revere was not warm and fuzzy, he was not lovable, but he persevered and survived until Saturday, and for that he belongs in the rock and roll firmament, if not the Hall of Fame.
"Girl, I'm gonna have it all some day if you'll just hang on to my hand"
He needed her to fuel his desire.
"If I break some rules along the way, girl
You, you gotta understand"
That's right, today musicians bitch the techies are not playing straight, but once upon a time they wrote the book, they tested limits and stayed far from the corporations, selling out was anathema.
"It's my way of gettin' what I want now
'Cause I'm hungry"
That's how so many of us were, we wanted more. And we saw no ceiling, nothing in our way. We all had good public school educations, we could cogitate, we were all...
"Hungry for those good things, baby
Hungry through and through
Well, I'm hungry for that sweet life, baby
With a real fine girl like you"
That was the currency, even more than dollars...girls, sex. You picked up your axe, burnished your image, went on the road and...
They lined up to get close, to get a little of what you got.
The musicians were not nerds, they were the coolest.
Yes, even Paul Revere.
Jimmy Iovine may have all the money, but he's got a fraction of what Paul Revere and the rest of the players got. We were in thrall to the people on stage. They were our heroes. Blazing trails. Enlightening us and illuminating our lives.
Paul Revere won.
I know he's not resting in peace, but tickling the ivories on that celestial Vox Continental, creating a band to keep all the angels entertained. Because playing music is in the blood, you can never give up and go straight, work for dad or the company, you live on stage, it's the only place you're comfortable, the only place you want to be.
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Sunday 5 October 2014
The Gone Girl Movie
I loved the book and I love David Fincher but I did not love this movie.
The tone was wrong.
The book is a romp. A devilish delight that you cannot put down. You ride the plot twists like a roller coaster and forget about it when it's finished, just like your afternoon at the amusement park.
Fincher wanted to make a statement.
And he does pretty well re tabloid journalism. We live in a funny gotcha culture where if it bleeds it leads, even better, if it's ethically wrong, we want to parade it all day long, but if we want a moral tale we'll turn on Fox News.
What we want when we go to the movies is entertainment. And not so much the real truth as an aspirational truth.
Yes, marriage is hard, that's another theme of this movie. But we're not married to people who look like that and act like that and if you go to this movie and don't feel inadequate, you're rich, famous and beautiful.
That's why we're interested in the stars, who are often two-dimensional uneducated nitwits, they play these roles. And they live in these houses. And they have that sex. And why in the world can't it just be me!
If for some reason you haven't read the book, the whole story hinges on an unexpected twist. And if you consider that a spoiler, you lose points for not reading 2012's book of the summer, deservedly so, and for watching this film and not knowing something is up.
And the twist is based on the manipulation of Amy.
But we just don't believe Rosamund Pike in the role.
We believe Tyler Perry as the lawyer. I won't say he steals the movie, but his performance is so note perfect it makes you want to run out and see his flicks, because anybody who can get it this right deserves our attention.
And Carrie Coon as Ben Affleck's twin sister is also a revelation. She exudes inner attractiveness. She's the kind of girl you not only become friends with, but marry, despite not wearing any makeup.
But we're looking for Frances McDormand to be the cop, not Kim Dickens, Dickens radiates no intelligence, she's neither bigger than the story nor a pawn within it, she's just wooden, like the Dunnes fifth anniversary which kicks off this picture.
David Fincherized the story, ruining it in the process. The best director in the world may be wrong for your picture. Fincher gets the look down, you get enthralled by this world immediately, with the heavy Trent Reznor/Atticus Rose score and the dark cinematography. Only this is not "Zodiac," my favorite Fincher flick, an exploration of a true story wherein every twist and turn is pregnant with unknown factors that might scare you as well as being a revelation. "Gone Girl" is a Midwestern frolic.
But I went.
Because I'm in search of greatness. And sometimes Fincher delivers it.
Too many flicks are sold on the high concept, the comic book upon which they are based. I want something deeper, that touches my soul, and Fincher is able to do this, but he's not a writer, he can only work with other people's material.
Which proves once again that the writer is king.
That's why we revere these techies, they come up with this stuff.
And we used to revere our film creators and music makers for the same reason. They constantly wowed us. Listen to last week's Smokey Robinson interview on Howard Stern, when he tells how he wrote his hits your jaw drops and you pray they don't change the subject, you're privy to a genius at work.
But there's very little genius in the world today.
And most of our geniuses are not directors, or producers, but writers. The people who create this material to begin with.
Like Gillian Flynn. How did she come up with this stuff?
And Flynn does not look like Rosamund Pike, she's not movie star beautiful. But we're all looking for our Flynn, we're all looking for that person who surprises us, who utilizes their personality each and every day to make our lives interesting and exciting.
So I'll wait for her next book. Although I'm worried the eyes of the world and the resulting pressure will inhibit her. It's hard to receive the accolades and still produce. Which is why actors can continue to be successful, but writers not so much. To dig down deep inside and come up with fantastic material is so difficult.
But that's all we're interested in today, the fantastic.
Unfortunately, the "Gone Girl" movie is not.
P.S. This movie needed its Sharon Stone, the one who spread her legs in "Basic Instinct," who manipulated us and attracted us simultaneously. We wanted to know Catherine Tramell, despite being fearful of her sting. Stars draw us closer, the longer you watched Rosamund Pike in this picture not only did you realize why she had no friends, but you had no desire to hang with her, never mind sleep with her yourself, she radiated one note intelligence and almost no humor, and attractiveness is always more than skin deep, it's an alchemy behind the eyes that can be aided by beauty, but does not depend upon it.
P.P.S. Affleck jumps from genteel to manipulative when he's interviewed by Sela Ward, who's both enticing and despicable as a high class TV interviewer, Sela embodied what Pike aspired to, but for too much of the movie Affleck's a lunk, but not quite one we can believe has corn-fed roots but was still able to score this high class Harvard graduate.
P.P.P.S. David Clennon always delivers, but it's shocking to see the lines in the face of Miles Drentell, the evil advertiser of "thirtysomething." Aging is a bitch, but it happens to all of us, be sure to see the evolutionary pictures in today's "New York Times Magazine," they'll haunt in you in a way this flick aspires to but is unable to achieve: "Forty Portraits in Forty Years": http://nyti.ms/1nW2miS
Smokey on Stern - start at 24:20 and listen through "Tears of a Clown": http://bit.ly/1rQbxzE
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The tone was wrong.
The book is a romp. A devilish delight that you cannot put down. You ride the plot twists like a roller coaster and forget about it when it's finished, just like your afternoon at the amusement park.
Fincher wanted to make a statement.
And he does pretty well re tabloid journalism. We live in a funny gotcha culture where if it bleeds it leads, even better, if it's ethically wrong, we want to parade it all day long, but if we want a moral tale we'll turn on Fox News.
What we want when we go to the movies is entertainment. And not so much the real truth as an aspirational truth.
Yes, marriage is hard, that's another theme of this movie. But we're not married to people who look like that and act like that and if you go to this movie and don't feel inadequate, you're rich, famous and beautiful.
That's why we're interested in the stars, who are often two-dimensional uneducated nitwits, they play these roles. And they live in these houses. And they have that sex. And why in the world can't it just be me!
If for some reason you haven't read the book, the whole story hinges on an unexpected twist. And if you consider that a spoiler, you lose points for not reading 2012's book of the summer, deservedly so, and for watching this film and not knowing something is up.
And the twist is based on the manipulation of Amy.
But we just don't believe Rosamund Pike in the role.
We believe Tyler Perry as the lawyer. I won't say he steals the movie, but his performance is so note perfect it makes you want to run out and see his flicks, because anybody who can get it this right deserves our attention.
And Carrie Coon as Ben Affleck's twin sister is also a revelation. She exudes inner attractiveness. She's the kind of girl you not only become friends with, but marry, despite not wearing any makeup.
But we're looking for Frances McDormand to be the cop, not Kim Dickens, Dickens radiates no intelligence, she's neither bigger than the story nor a pawn within it, she's just wooden, like the Dunnes fifth anniversary which kicks off this picture.
David Fincherized the story, ruining it in the process. The best director in the world may be wrong for your picture. Fincher gets the look down, you get enthralled by this world immediately, with the heavy Trent Reznor/Atticus Rose score and the dark cinematography. Only this is not "Zodiac," my favorite Fincher flick, an exploration of a true story wherein every twist and turn is pregnant with unknown factors that might scare you as well as being a revelation. "Gone Girl" is a Midwestern frolic.
But I went.
Because I'm in search of greatness. And sometimes Fincher delivers it.
Too many flicks are sold on the high concept, the comic book upon which they are based. I want something deeper, that touches my soul, and Fincher is able to do this, but he's not a writer, he can only work with other people's material.
Which proves once again that the writer is king.
That's why we revere these techies, they come up with this stuff.
And we used to revere our film creators and music makers for the same reason. They constantly wowed us. Listen to last week's Smokey Robinson interview on Howard Stern, when he tells how he wrote his hits your jaw drops and you pray they don't change the subject, you're privy to a genius at work.
But there's very little genius in the world today.
And most of our geniuses are not directors, or producers, but writers. The people who create this material to begin with.
Like Gillian Flynn. How did she come up with this stuff?
And Flynn does not look like Rosamund Pike, she's not movie star beautiful. But we're all looking for our Flynn, we're all looking for that person who surprises us, who utilizes their personality each and every day to make our lives interesting and exciting.
So I'll wait for her next book. Although I'm worried the eyes of the world and the resulting pressure will inhibit her. It's hard to receive the accolades and still produce. Which is why actors can continue to be successful, but writers not so much. To dig down deep inside and come up with fantastic material is so difficult.
But that's all we're interested in today, the fantastic.
Unfortunately, the "Gone Girl" movie is not.
P.S. This movie needed its Sharon Stone, the one who spread her legs in "Basic Instinct," who manipulated us and attracted us simultaneously. We wanted to know Catherine Tramell, despite being fearful of her sting. Stars draw us closer, the longer you watched Rosamund Pike in this picture not only did you realize why she had no friends, but you had no desire to hang with her, never mind sleep with her yourself, she radiated one note intelligence and almost no humor, and attractiveness is always more than skin deep, it's an alchemy behind the eyes that can be aided by beauty, but does not depend upon it.
P.P.S. Affleck jumps from genteel to manipulative when he's interviewed by Sela Ward, who's both enticing and despicable as a high class TV interviewer, Sela embodied what Pike aspired to, but for too much of the movie Affleck's a lunk, but not quite one we can believe has corn-fed roots but was still able to score this high class Harvard graduate.
P.P.P.S. David Clennon always delivers, but it's shocking to see the lines in the face of Miles Drentell, the evil advertiser of "thirtysomething." Aging is a bitch, but it happens to all of us, be sure to see the evolutionary pictures in today's "New York Times Magazine," they'll haunt in you in a way this flick aspires to but is unable to achieve: "Forty Portraits in Forty Years": http://nyti.ms/1nW2miS
Smokey on Stern - start at 24:20 and listen through "Tears of a Clown": http://bit.ly/1rQbxzE
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The Pleasures Of An 18 Inning Baseball Game
My father was the least athletic person you'd ever meet.
But I loved baseball. And sports in general. Sure, I enjoyed sitting in front of the tube on Saturday afternoon at 5, watching "Wide World Of Sports," but even more I liked to participate. From baseball in the spring to football in the fall to sledding and tobogganing in the winter, my life was lived outside. My mother insisted on it. Don't ask me about daytime TV, I never saw it, it was illegal in my house.
And my mother was a big sportswoman. She lived to play golf. That's one of her great regrets, that she cannot hit the links today. A doctor promised her she could and she's never forgiven him, never inflate someone's hopes unnecessarily.
But my dad fed my addiction. He bought me equipment. He took me to the game. He never came to my games, but in retrospect I dig that, for sport could be my own, even when my Little League team won the town championship.
But I only made it through one year of Babe Ruth ball, and then it was hard to come up with enough people to play and my days on the diamond were through.
I was always one for a pickup game of softball. But then everybody got married and everybody who still played took it way too seriously. That's one thing I hate about the adult golfer, never mind team softball player, they're all about winning. When after all, at this age, we're never going to be professionals.
But we can watch.
But I never do.
Never mind that the Dodgers are only on Time Warner, I've got Time Warner, I'm paying, and I still don't turn them on.
Maybe because the Dodgers are losers. All the cred is back in Brooklyn. It's a fair weather team for a fair weather market.
And it's hard to love my Yanks, ever since the Steinbrenner era, when he paid to win. I liked them better when they lost, it was easier to separate the true fans from the wannabes.
And football is a turn-off. A game wherein the team is more important than the individual and the coach has too much power and brain damage is rampant and anything that rah-rah makes my blood boil. Nothing is more offensive than mindless support. Whether it be of a team or a country. If you're leaving your intellect at the door, I want no part of you or your shenanigans.
But baseball is a thinking man's game. With all the sabermetrics and Theo Epstein and Billy Beane. And it's slow. And what was once the national pastime is no longer. But every once in a while the sport comes up and surprises you.
Like tonight.
I keep saying I'll catch up on sports in the old age home, when I've got the time. I'm always stunned when people say they watched the game, who has that much time to invest? And the regular season is nearly irrelevant. And the post season is not the sudden death it once was, best of seven and that's it. The first week of October. Played during the daytime. Yearning to get home from school to catch the last couple of innings.
Yes, baseball shot itself in the foot. Beholden to the TV networks it's neither fish nor fowl.
But one good thing about baseball, they don't keep changing the rules.
There's beauty in that, the game remains the same. If you knew it once, you know it still. The players may change, but the basic precepts are immutable.
And it brings us together.
And there's very little that does.
We played once, however poorly. And at this late date our lives are drained of meaning, our hopes and dreams went unfulfilled and we're wandering in the wilderness trying to make sense of it all.
And then you're sitting on the porch and you hear that they're in the 18th inning of the playoff game and you jump up and say I'VE GOT TO SEE THIS!
So you park yourself on the couch and the drama unfolds. The tension is palpable. You wonder how the batter stays in the box, how he lets the ball go by, how he just doesn't flake.
And that's why these guys are our heroes. Kind of like the last minute of the NBA playoffs, but with people who are closer to our size. Who wear beards. Sure, some date models, but most are relatively faceless. But this is their profession and they take it very seriously. And when it comes to October, they play to win.
It started with the Royals. What a piss-poor baseball team Kansas City has been. That's what's wrong with baseball, the inequality. So when someone comes from nowhere, without the revenue-sharing that's leveled the field in the NFL, you root for them. And they go into extra innings and enter the next round.
And the Nationals are the favorites.
And San Francisco went ahead...
What did George Carlin say about baseball, that we don't know when it will end, that it could go on forever?
Tonight's bottom of the 18th was like the last minute of a basketball game, but without the time outs.
And the baby boomers in attendance were riveted to the screen, throwing out their appraisals, discussing Howard Stern interviews in between batters. Yes, there's very little that brings us together, anything that does is revered. It might not be on the front page, it might not make Buzzfeed, but these rallying points are sacred to us as we navigate the uncharted waters of our lives.
And I'm thinking how this is it. Being in a group of men who I'd have nothing to say to away from the game watching what once was and will always be.
Yes, they'll play baseball forever.
While the upper class that remains sends their kids to computer camp and the players are imported from Central America. It's getting harder and harder to relate to the personalities, but we understand the identities. They're athletes. They succeeded where we did not. They made play their lives.
And they do not choke.
And they're beholden to us.
And we have this power over almost no one else.
The government doesn't listen to us. Our spouses don't listen to us. But the players do, because they know without us they don't get paid, that we feed the monster. And that just like in America, there's a benefit to being on the team, but personal glory shines bright.
As Bob Costas says, sports are a metaphor for life.
Only in baseball can you come back at any time.
Only in baseball can you be made to play all night and have to hit the field the next day.
And only in baseball is it you against the world. One on one baby. No excuses.
So it's funny to find that all these years later I'm still the same person. You change, but not really. I would always marvel at the extra inning games I read about in the paper, that I heard about on telecasts. That seemed to go on forever. That could end in a moment, but never did.
We all walk that fine line. We want closure, but only if we're on the right side. But the truth is if you're on the wrong one, it's not terminal. It feels really bad, but you get to play another day.
I always wanted to play another day.
I wanted to put on my sneakers. Grab my glove. Go up to the diamond and see if anybody else felt the same way, if anybody else wanted to start a game.
And as hard as starting is, finishing is even more difficult. Everybody drops out. Everybody makes excuses.
So when you see the boys of summer keeping it going, half a day later, past midnight...
You smile. You think to yourself, ISN'T LIFE GRAND!
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But I loved baseball. And sports in general. Sure, I enjoyed sitting in front of the tube on Saturday afternoon at 5, watching "Wide World Of Sports," but even more I liked to participate. From baseball in the spring to football in the fall to sledding and tobogganing in the winter, my life was lived outside. My mother insisted on it. Don't ask me about daytime TV, I never saw it, it was illegal in my house.
And my mother was a big sportswoman. She lived to play golf. That's one of her great regrets, that she cannot hit the links today. A doctor promised her she could and she's never forgiven him, never inflate someone's hopes unnecessarily.
But my dad fed my addiction. He bought me equipment. He took me to the game. He never came to my games, but in retrospect I dig that, for sport could be my own, even when my Little League team won the town championship.
But I only made it through one year of Babe Ruth ball, and then it was hard to come up with enough people to play and my days on the diamond were through.
I was always one for a pickup game of softball. But then everybody got married and everybody who still played took it way too seriously. That's one thing I hate about the adult golfer, never mind team softball player, they're all about winning. When after all, at this age, we're never going to be professionals.
But we can watch.
But I never do.
Never mind that the Dodgers are only on Time Warner, I've got Time Warner, I'm paying, and I still don't turn them on.
Maybe because the Dodgers are losers. All the cred is back in Brooklyn. It's a fair weather team for a fair weather market.
And it's hard to love my Yanks, ever since the Steinbrenner era, when he paid to win. I liked them better when they lost, it was easier to separate the true fans from the wannabes.
And football is a turn-off. A game wherein the team is more important than the individual and the coach has too much power and brain damage is rampant and anything that rah-rah makes my blood boil. Nothing is more offensive than mindless support. Whether it be of a team or a country. If you're leaving your intellect at the door, I want no part of you or your shenanigans.
But baseball is a thinking man's game. With all the sabermetrics and Theo Epstein and Billy Beane. And it's slow. And what was once the national pastime is no longer. But every once in a while the sport comes up and surprises you.
Like tonight.
I keep saying I'll catch up on sports in the old age home, when I've got the time. I'm always stunned when people say they watched the game, who has that much time to invest? And the regular season is nearly irrelevant. And the post season is not the sudden death it once was, best of seven and that's it. The first week of October. Played during the daytime. Yearning to get home from school to catch the last couple of innings.
Yes, baseball shot itself in the foot. Beholden to the TV networks it's neither fish nor fowl.
But one good thing about baseball, they don't keep changing the rules.
There's beauty in that, the game remains the same. If you knew it once, you know it still. The players may change, but the basic precepts are immutable.
And it brings us together.
And there's very little that does.
We played once, however poorly. And at this late date our lives are drained of meaning, our hopes and dreams went unfulfilled and we're wandering in the wilderness trying to make sense of it all.
And then you're sitting on the porch and you hear that they're in the 18th inning of the playoff game and you jump up and say I'VE GOT TO SEE THIS!
So you park yourself on the couch and the drama unfolds. The tension is palpable. You wonder how the batter stays in the box, how he lets the ball go by, how he just doesn't flake.
And that's why these guys are our heroes. Kind of like the last minute of the NBA playoffs, but with people who are closer to our size. Who wear beards. Sure, some date models, but most are relatively faceless. But this is their profession and they take it very seriously. And when it comes to October, they play to win.
It started with the Royals. What a piss-poor baseball team Kansas City has been. That's what's wrong with baseball, the inequality. So when someone comes from nowhere, without the revenue-sharing that's leveled the field in the NFL, you root for them. And they go into extra innings and enter the next round.
And the Nationals are the favorites.
And San Francisco went ahead...
What did George Carlin say about baseball, that we don't know when it will end, that it could go on forever?
Tonight's bottom of the 18th was like the last minute of a basketball game, but without the time outs.
And the baby boomers in attendance were riveted to the screen, throwing out their appraisals, discussing Howard Stern interviews in between batters. Yes, there's very little that brings us together, anything that does is revered. It might not be on the front page, it might not make Buzzfeed, but these rallying points are sacred to us as we navigate the uncharted waters of our lives.
And I'm thinking how this is it. Being in a group of men who I'd have nothing to say to away from the game watching what once was and will always be.
Yes, they'll play baseball forever.
While the upper class that remains sends their kids to computer camp and the players are imported from Central America. It's getting harder and harder to relate to the personalities, but we understand the identities. They're athletes. They succeeded where we did not. They made play their lives.
And they do not choke.
And they're beholden to us.
And we have this power over almost no one else.
The government doesn't listen to us. Our spouses don't listen to us. But the players do, because they know without us they don't get paid, that we feed the monster. And that just like in America, there's a benefit to being on the team, but personal glory shines bright.
As Bob Costas says, sports are a metaphor for life.
Only in baseball can you come back at any time.
Only in baseball can you be made to play all night and have to hit the field the next day.
And only in baseball is it you against the world. One on one baby. No excuses.
So it's funny to find that all these years later I'm still the same person. You change, but not really. I would always marvel at the extra inning games I read about in the paper, that I heard about on telecasts. That seemed to go on forever. That could end in a moment, but never did.
We all walk that fine line. We want closure, but only if we're on the right side. But the truth is if you're on the wrong one, it's not terminal. It feels really bad, but you get to play another day.
I always wanted to play another day.
I wanted to put on my sneakers. Grab my glove. Go up to the diamond and see if anybody else felt the same way, if anybody else wanted to start a game.
And as hard as starting is, finishing is even more difficult. Everybody drops out. Everybody makes excuses.
So when you see the boys of summer keeping it going, half a day later, past midnight...
You smile. You think to yourself, ISN'T LIFE GRAND!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
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If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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