Hi Bob....Neil Giraldo here..not sure you will see this but in the event you do here you go......i read most of your email posts daily and really enjoy them....... amazed at how many you churn out!!!....every morning when i check emails there you are!!!!!.....
thx for the kind and powerful words you wrote in regards to my wonderful wife/partner Pat Benatar as well as our body of work......
you brought a glimpse of light into our day.....on a sad day... wakening up to find one of my guitar hero's BB King had passed.......as the steel bending heart surgeon of the blues ascents into the heavens.....the country mourns...guitarists everywhere mourn.. "Lucille" mourns.....
on a much happier note...here is a little something you might enjoy....for years i wanted to record a jump blues swing record....in 1989 the record company finally gave me the go ahead......i hired the Roomful of Blues horn section and their outstanding drummer John Rossi....also the great bassist Chuckie Damanico.....as i was collecting and writing songs for the record i thought Hmmm how about we cover "cost to be the boss"....i thought with a Female singing it could a fun twist...we recorded the whole album called "true love" in 12 days...and everyday during that time i would record "cost " because i wasnt getting the performance i was after....sometimes we played it too fast too slow etc...i thought we'd never get it!!!....well we finally did... on the last day of recording!!!....BB King did a radio interview some time later in that year with Bob Coburn and out of thin air he mentions our performance as one of his favorites along with a version Johnny Taylor did .....i was
shocked!!....
lastly.....in 1978 i joined Rick Derringer's band .....Patricia and i met in may of 1979...we made a deal then to be professional partners.....shortly after that meeting we recorded our first record "heat of the night" in just 28 days............then 6 months later lovers...(going on 36 years now!!!!)....crazy!!!!...
no one was to know anything about our personal AND professional arrangement except our inner circle....it had to be hidden from the public.......
i lived by the motto/mantra ....a Quote by Ronald Reagan ...politics aside......i'm paraphrasing here "you'll be surprised of what you can accomplish if you dont care about who gets the credit"....it worked beautifully.......i'd love to see more people... especially just starting out young musicians follow the same ideology because greatness is out there for all !!!!.....
thx again Bob
all the best
Neil Giraldo.....
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Oh, did I ever want to be Pat Benatar!! In the worst way :)
Hope you are well.
Vickie Strate
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I'm not going to debate who should or shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame - the induction process (to paraphrase Winston Churchill) is a "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" - but I thought your comment about Joan Jett was unnecessarily dismissive and way off the mark. Joan's the real deal, as an artist and as a person.
Jim Vallance
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Haven't read this yet, but I couldn't agree more with the first line!!!
Marc Reiter
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Hi Bob,
I finally got to meet Pat just last Friday night. She was performing at the Capitol Theatre In Port Chester NY. In a passing conversation a while back I mentioned to my publisher Rich Stumpf (Atlas MG) that Pat and I had never met. He was very surprised to hear this as are most people.
He emailed me asking if i could meet up with him Friday night. I knew that Pat was on tour but I had forgotten about the NY date.
We went backstage just before the show to meet Pat and Neil. They were both very gracious. I had brought along a blue vinyl 12" single of "Shadows" for her to autograph.
She actually opened the show with "Shadows"as well. It was quite a thrill!
Cheers,
D.L. Byron
(Shadows of the Night)
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You will appreciate this photo taken last week at Pat's performance (she
was great, BTW). The man in the middle is DL Byron, who wrote "Shadows of
the Night" for what was to be his release, but he was told by his label
that it wasn't a hit. It made its way to Pat, who made it a smash. This
pic represents the first time Pat and DL ever met. It was pretty cool to
be there!
Rich Stumpf
photo: https://twitter.com/Lefsetz/status/599359428505141249
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Bob: Some Canadian music trivia which I'm good at.
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" was written for Canadian singer Charity Brown (A&M Records) by a member of her band, Eddie Schwartz. It was turned down, I believe, by her manager. Schwartz used to be in a late '60s Canadian band Icarus (later called Dixie Rump Roast) managed by Michael Cohl and Bob Ezrin. Bob was the producer, and Michael was the day-to-day manager. Dixie Rump Roast was signed by ABC-Dunhill Records. Ezrin recorded their album but the label rejected it.
Larry LeBlanc
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I was 9 years old when Crimes of Passion came out and it was the first album I bought with my own money and it was all because of "Treat Me Right".
Why isn't she in the HoF? That's a crime.
Bobbo
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Hey Bob:
Thanks for the piece on Pat Benatar. I grew up on Long Island and started working in a bar called the Iron Horse in Babylon when I was 14 where the Good Rats, Twisted Sister and other great local bands would play.
My father was close with Harry Chapin who lived in Huntington and Harry invited us to come to his first Broadway play in 1975 which featured a young singer named Pat Benatar.
Apparently Harry had a big influence on getting her to sing with a harder rock edge and helped her develop the sound that we now know as the star PAT BENATAR.
Years later when I started promoting concerts I got to present her in several shows and she was always gracious and wonderful to work with.
Here's a clip of her singing Harry's "Shooting Star": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUx4JscN-5w
Joe Fletcher
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Thank you. About 10 years ago, I wrote liner notes for Sony on a never-released Pat Benatar Best Of, and was completely enthralled by her catalog, a re-appreciation that sticks with me still. And "If You Think You Know How To Love Me" is my favorite Pat Benatar song, so kudos on your good taste. But some of us wanted to be both Joan Jett AND Pat Benatar.
Margaret Moser
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Love this article on Pat and Neil.
We just released (Mailboat Records) the 35th Anniversary Concert Tour by Pat & Neil, on CD (Double) and a 90 minute DVD. It's really good, but people don't know it's available.
Thanks,
Harold Sulman
President, Mailboat Records
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and who can forget the line in Fast Times when Phoebe Cates tells Jennifer Jason Leigh how many Benatar lookalikes there were at Ridgemont High?
Ed Hannan
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I'm almost 50. I've been listening to pop music religiously since I was 9. My music collection is massive. Yet, somehow, inexplicably, I didn't know You Better Run was a Young Rascals song. But I'm listening to it now and it's killer. Thanks, Bob ... for your letter and for removing another blind spot in my pop music knowledge.
David Veitch
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If Joan Jett can be a Rock Roll Hall-of-Famer, what about Pat Benatar?
Ken Misch
Program Director
WDKB-FM
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Brilliant timing! Just lost my iPod and the only CD in my car for some reason is Benatar's Greatest Hits. I've been listening on repeat for a week. The songs are smart, tough, sexy, and complicated. The syncopation of the Heartbreaker chorus is almost like math rock. Her voice supple and nuanced as a female Freddie Mercury. Not easy stuff. You're completely right on about why she's not being lauded. Hope people pay attention.
-Brian King
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...and the world will not be right until Pat Benatar is inducted into the RRHOF
Billy Bass
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I enjoyed the column on Pat Benatar and agree with your main point that Pat and her husband guitarist Neil Giraldo are too often overlooked and yet are still working, putting on a very compelling live show with a ton of great songs in their set. While we are overlooking things, it might have been nice if you had mentioned some of the other songwriters who wrote hits for Pat Benatar. No mention of Holly Knight for "Shadows of the Night?" How about Australian songwriter/producer Kerryn Tolhurst for "All Fired Up?" No name drop for Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro for "We Belong?"
Full disclosure: Dan Navarro is a friend, and I know he reads your column as I have seen his comments here. My girlfriend and I are going to go see Dan live at McCabes in Santa Monica on June 6. Perhaps we will see you there. Dan usually closes with an amazing solo acoustic version of "We Belong" in remembrance of the late great Eric Lowen.
Best regards,
Bill Thomas
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Pat Benatar has many good songs. Joan Jett has 3, maybe 4. (My opinion) I saw Joan's show this past November in Austin, Tx. It was ok. There really isn't a comparison between the 2.
Nick Wegener
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Great piece on Pat, Bob! She is a powerhouse and deserves to be far more iconic. Funny, I've seen so many label pitch lists and have talked to many A&R people over the years who've referenced Pat Benatar as a template for "rock" female artists they were developing. However, whenever I've heard some of these other artists' songs and performances, they haven't even come close to Pat's fire, her natural rock and roll swagger. Instead, it just sounded like wandering corporate pop trying to be edgy - but falling short. You are right, Pat is the real deal - and that's something that can't be dreamed up during the Monday morning meeting.
Mark Nubar Donikian
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I have two young daughters I am always trying to musically educate and somehow I had forgotten about Benatar! She fucking rocked then and her music still does now. Will expose my girls to her on our morning drive to school. Thanks for this essential rock and roll reminder, Bob!
-Mike Barker
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Bob --
There is a chance the younger generations will find and fall in love with Pat Benatar's music. "We Belong" is covered in Pitch Perfect 2. It's a good entree for us 40-somethings to play good music for our teenaged kids.
As I did last night after we saw the movie. They loved the original.
There's hope!!
Robin Weinberg
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Yes she was and is SO hot and really a great singer....
Mick and Keith
Page and Plant
Tyler and Perry
Idol and Stevens
Benatar and Giraldo
There is something to that perfect guitar slinger star lead singer thing.
Stevie Salas
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I agree with everything you said about Pat Benatar, she is one of the greatest and has a voice of a goddess. What makes Pat and Neil even better they are both from Brooklyn!!!
Justin Long
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They seem to poke their finger in the eyes of true music fans every chance they get. 20 years for Linda to get in and it happens when she is too ill to even go. What a bunch of assholes. All you need to know about how substantial she was as a musician is contained in that great Eagles documentary. Good enough for me.
Forgot how many hits Pat had. JJett couldn't carry her brassiere. I'll take We Belong and Shadows anytime they come on Sirus.
John Brodey
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Great column! She's still doin' it, though! Check out this link to The Malibu Times Magazine, that features Pat and hubby, Neil, aka "Spyder" on the cover, with a great feature piece. According to the article, they went out on tour in April.
http://www.sopdigitaledition.com/malibumag/#/1/
Barbara Williams
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Yes, girls may have liked Pat Benetar, girls who thought it was empowering enough to have some man's attention...but women, however, liked Joan Jett, Cindy Bullens, Chrissie Hynde, Marshall Chapman...and dare I say, myself. Women who wanted change and respect, and to be seen as musicians on an equal level as men.
The screaming guitar solo...the bridge...the arrangements...and the songs you rave about were not Benetar's, but belonged to the men that surrounded her, and cobbled her persona. Because this formula challenged nothing, it was an easy sell in a male oriented business.
This is not to say that she wasn't a great singer...just that what she did was not remarkable, and did not represent the changes that were happening with women in the world at the time. Benetar, in her trademark spandex, invitingly bent over, was just more of the same; another cute chick singer who did not play or write, but more importantly did not challenge the male domain.
The rest of us who identified as musicians had trouble finding that record company niche. We were told that it did not exist....so we had to make one ourselves. Plugging in with a 1/4 inch guitar jack was seen as unacceptable and even threatening. We had to be twice as good as men in order to be taken seriously, and we found ourselves at the mercy of radio's prejudices. Two women being played in a row on a radio station was seen as "female segueing," therefore forbidden, so if some guy had a hard on for Pat, that left us plain out of luck....and unheard.
In the end, there was little room left for the rest of us that did not fit the male fantasy, or who refused to buy into it out of self respect. We may have had great tits, but we wanted to be known for our craft just as our male counterparts were.
Ironically, the reasons why Benetar rocketed to stardom became the very same reasons why her star did not remain in the sky beyond her late 30s, despite her undiminished abilities as a singer. Women are still objectified for their youth and sexuality...now it is even seen as empowering(?)...but once that has panned out, we are pretty much over as far as the industry is concerned. This is exactly the reason why some of us fought to be seen as something more than the sum of our body parts. We knew that in time our youthfulness would wither away, and we would have nothing left to be identified with. We wanted something to stand on - our musicianship.
Not much has changed for us. Not really.
Carolyne Mas
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Hi Bob - am headed to Texas at the moment - And Pat Benatar is playing the other stage - the main stage - at Wildflower outside Dallas tonight. Been singing her songs in my head all week. Rather go see her than hear myself again. Thanks for this tribute - she's still out there doing it!
Susan Werner
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