Re: Bobby Brooks
What Richard Griffiths left out of his, yes he was the manager, but he was also the tour manager...went on every date, loaded gear, settled shows... Bobby and I found the band driving home from a show in Philly, listening to Vin Scelsa at 2 am...when he played that song for the first time... Unfortunately no cell phones then, had to wait to the morning to call the station...power of a great song.
Rob Light
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From: Nathan East
Re: Bobby Brooks
Hi Bob,
I just wanted to reach out and say hello and how much I appreciate Rob's words about our beloved friend Bobby Brooks.
It's hard to imagine it's been 25 years, we sat together on the helicopter on the way to Alpine Valley and had a lovely chat to and from the night before as well. He was truly one of the good guys in our industry and gone too soon. I've lost touch with Barbara but hope she is okay.
Bless you sir….
Best from,
Nate
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Re: Bobby Brooks
Bobby Brooks is the reason I am at CAA and I can't tell you how much he met to me and I loved him!!!!! He was a great guy!!!!!
Rod Essig
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Re: Bobby Brooks
It was very touching to read about Bobby Brooks who was such a great guy; I was at the memorial service and remember how heartbreaking it was for all of us who loved Bobby, especially Barbara and his brothers and sisters at CAA. He had such great enthusiasm for life, loved being an agent and had a very unique sense of humor. It was my great fortune to have had many great times with Bobby and Barbara and he was taken much too soon and it is a reminder of how blessed we all are to have lived a full life. I was a young manager working with Ron Weisner managing Steve Winwood and other artists at CAA and Bobby was very generous with his wisdom and inside track of the industry. I thought of Bobby last month when I ran into Barbara and a smile thinking of him, what a great guy!
Regards,
Bill Diggins
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Re: Bobby Brooks
I went to Montclair High School (NJ) with Bobby, and I remember him as a wonderful person from that era. When I moved to Los Angeles to work at KROQ (after WBCN in Boston), I reconnected with him. I spoke to him fairly soon before this sad anniversary, and he and Barbara and I talked about getting together. I was heartbroken when I heard the news back then, and I feel the loss - for so many people - today.
LDG
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Re: Bobby Brooks
Bobby Brooks was definitely one of those unique individuals who treated everyone the same, irrespective of lot in life, with respect and love.
Thanks Bob and Rob for posting on this anniversary date.
My dear friend and colleague at BMI, Barbara Cane, Bobby's wife, embodies those same qualities.
Their love for each other was immeasurable, and they shared many wonderful times together.
Bobby, we think of you often. I told Barbara just today how I remember the playing of "Our House" at the New Jersey memorial. Y'all had more than a house, you had a home. May more people get to experience that.
Barbara, my family/friend/colleague (and Frances Preston protege), I love you, y'all were definitely made for each other!!!
Alison Smith
BMI NYC
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Re: Bobby Brooks
Thanks to Rob for his eloquent tribute to one terrific guy. A loss to the industry and I'm sure an irreplaceable friend to many. His personality was magnetic. He at CAA and me at ICM were just getting tuned into each other, I credit him being the likable force that attracted me to do business with him. We easily put together a co-headline tour with Stevie Ray and Jeff Beck. A total win/win. When Leslie West told me she had a couple of Clapton dates in the summer that would be perfect for Stevie, it was an easy call to make with Bobby, no headaches, no aggravation, no posturing, just "wouldn't that be a great show, let's make it happen." I went to the first night and hung out with Bobby all afternoon, bantering back and forth telling funny war stories about clients, managers, promoters etc. Later that night we watched Clapton together from the wings. He smiled the whole set, a genuine smile, the kind that emanates from within. At one point he leaned over and said "isn't this
incredible?" I asked him what he meant. "You and me, two kids from Jersey representing these these acts?" When I left that night I was beaming, yes about the show, that Stevie Ray was poised to move to the next level, that everything in the world seemed exactly as it was suppose to be, but also because I felt Bobby and I had a made one of life's rare connections. I'll never forget him.
Alex Kochan
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Re: Bobby Brooks
With Rob Light's heartfelt tribute to Bobby Brooks, I would like to add a piece of testimony to his remembrance. After reading the characterization that Rob provided, it would be fair to say that Rob Light drinks from that same fountain of kindness that Bobby Brooks did, and it's obvious he was a major influence on Bobby.
I was a member of one of Rob's CAA bands in the 80s and early 90s (G.Thorogood) and was on the receiving end of his generosity. I had just moved west to enjoy the fruits of the band's success and jolt my career forward, when after 8 years as a touring and recording member of the group I found myself unceremoniously out in the cold...without a job, and without the East coast support and friends that take you through difficult transitions.
With a small number of west coast contacts in my book, and a quick look down into my own personal abyss, I gave Rob a call at his Beverly Hills office. With no hesitation, Rob made me feel welcome, and subsequently invited me to meet with him on the following week at the Peninsula Hotel for breakfast. I was still dedicated to playing music, and wasn't looking for a position at CAA; I was just a journeyman reaching out for some advice going forward in the LA music world. It was not a business call, and I frankly had very little to offer an executive who handled the level of performer that Rob Light has masterfully dealt with over the years.
What I will say, is that the time he took and the support he showed me, gave just enough hope to continue the journey. There was no deal to be cut, or financial gain to be made, but in terms of emotional well being, it was priceless..
These are the mundane things that you rarely hear about..... but Rob Light, in his selfless way, left a large impression, and set the bar for all other music business executives and relationships that I've had over the years.... that to this day, remains unmatched by much lesser and more self absorbed people. Rob, you may have forgotten that moment, but I sure didn't.
Oh....and 2 words in 'caps' from Rob's email - HE CARED! Bout as simply powerful as you can get......
Steve Chrismar
Guitarist
G Thorogood 1985-1993
House of Blues 1994 -1997
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Re: Bobby Brooks
Bob as always thanks for what you do….
Rob
Thanks. I did not know Bobby, but his, life and personality, actions to others most certainly influenced you. You always have time for me and made me feel that what I said to you was important.
If I read what you wrote and did not know who it was about or who wrote it, it could have been about you.
I feel much the same as Bobby's words. When I got my first "gopher" or stage hand jobs at around 15, there was no where else I wanted to be. Its all I ever wanted to do.
The legacy of all the innovators you mentioned is what has guided me along. I knew many of them,
The story of Bobby Brooks is what I try very hard to live by. I spent so many years being hard on people and it held up my career. Being good at what you do is by no means enough.
My dear departed friend Patrick Stansfield once told me. Be a good guy, thats what people will remember, simple but true as is life.
I do my best to influence the next generation of roadies ( yes still roadies, a proud label to wear)
I would still do this for free, when I send an Artist out on stage and call house lights, man there is no bigger thrill. I bet I have called House lights go, 5000 times and every time I do,
its like the first kiss, Ice cream in the Summer, first snow in the winter..
We are all blessed to be able to "be here" I hope that we are all here for a while to come. More important we guide the next wave of roadies, agents, managers, promoters to honor this industry that brings so many happiness. Man I fucking love what I do.
Thanks Rob for being a good guy.
Bobby Schneider
Director of Touring Roc Nation.
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Re: Hitch A Ride
Delp's words were prophetic for those at the time who would come to choose the corporate life: "Now you're climbin' to the top of the corporate ladder/hope it doesn't take too long/can't you see there'll come a day when it won't matter/ come a day and you'll be gone"
I wrote those words to my dad. He read them and said, "Amen." He'd been a corporate man and then got canned, ended up owning his own business, which left an indelible mark on me: I've been self employed since I graduated from SMU. Great stuff, as always, Bob.
Rick Larson
Fort Worth
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Re: Hitch A Ride
Bob, I had the great pleasure of seeing Brad fronting the tribute band, Beatlejuice in Danvers, MA. What a phenomenal vocalist, singing both Lennon & McCartney parts flawlessly & in between sets, he made the rounds, talking to everyone there (the Holiday Inn. Big time rock star!) & he couldn't have been nicer. What a shock to hear not much later on that he'd taken his life. What a loss for his fans, but of course, the voice lives on.
Jeff Hayward
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Re: Hitch A Ride
I'm 28 years old (a musician) and I LOVED Boston growing up. Loved them. I have such great memories of listening to their first album with my dad. We always said we were going to go see them together.
When I went to college at Tufts, I worked as a barista at a Starbucks close to campus in Somerville, MA. There was a venue down the street called Johnny D's that was kind of a run-down restaurant with a small stage, leftover from the 80s. Once a month, Brad led a Beatles tribute night called Beatle Juice. The venue was strictly 21+ and I was devastated that as an 18-year-old (and kind of a goody-two-shoes at that - not one to have a fake ID), I had no way of seeing my idol in person. He was so close, yet so far. I was working a late shift at Starbucks when I found out that Brad Delp had died. His suicide note said, "J'ai une ame solitaire. I am a lonely soul." At the time, I didn't understand how someone with so many fans who seemed on the outside to be so adored and embraced by the world could feel so alone.
It's 10 years later. Brad Delp is dead, Johnny Ds is going out of business and my dad is in prison. All I want is to have my peace of mind.
Stephie Coplan
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Re: Hitch A Ride
Thanks for the reminding about this song. It's been too long and now I'm playing it over and over.
I was 19 years old. I had left the Harvard Coop after about 3 years in May of 1976 and began to work in the mail room at the CBS Records Boston branch. Our local Boston Epic promotion man Lenny Collins had given me an advance cassette of the Boston album sometime in early August.
I can remember it like it was yesterday..driving to Cape Cod with some high school pals as we'd rented a house on Craigville Beach. I can see it now, my car doors wide open sitting on the lawn of the beach house way past midnight with the album playing as loud as the car stereo would allow. Laying on beach chair soaking it all in..perfect.
Re-print if you'd like -
All best,
Jeff Jones
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Re: Hitch A Ride
"Hitch A Ride" is my favorite track on the album as well.
Back in my radio daze, I had an extremely rare opportunity to interview Tom Scholz. He cited his primary influences as Led Zeppelin and the Hollies! If you think about it for a sec, that's pretty much what Boston was originally - an unlikely melding of two disparate influences with the Beatles' melodic sensibilities thrown in.
I asked Tom about the Beatles influence, and he was quick to say that was all Brad Delp. Brad was a huge Beatles fan. You can hear it on this track, as well as "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" and the 2nd album's "Used To Bad News" (both of which Brad wrote).
Bob Levy
Branford, CT
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Re: Hitch A Ride
I will never forget the first time I heard the Boston record. It was at the Columbia Records convention in Century City in 1976. It was on the last night in the middle of a roaring party. Somebody put an acetate on and from the first note it grabbed me and I just sat there and listened to it.
Just an amazing record and so sad about Brad.
Phil Brown
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Re: Hitch A Ride
Great piece about "Hitch a Ride," Bob. What drove keyboard players like myself nuts at the time was that moment at the climax of the organ solo when Scholz holds a chord and it rises in pitch --
something every organist will tell you is impossible to do with a
real Hammond. Years later I learned that the trick was a bit of
studio wizardry, with Tom actually holding that chord as he recorded the solo and simultaneously using his other hand to put pressure on the one-inch tape spool on the recorder to slow down the recording. Later that same chord seemed to bend upward and take off at the perfect instant. It's a small idea, but sounded absolutely magical.
Nowadays that same effect can easily be achieved with a good Hammond sample and a pitch-bend wheel, but this was in the days before samplers. Clever little touch by Tom.
Chris White
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Re: Hitch A Ride
Hi Bob
I grew up with Boston on the radio and I was so excited when "Third Stage" was released. The quality of the songs is amazing - as you say perfect. The songs celebrate life.
Boston (along with Foreigner, Journey, REO Speedwagon...) are, like you say almost forgotten. If they are brought up in conversation the average younger person (and those pretending to be young) curls up their lip in disdain. Oh how that formula AOR pap is beneath contempt. The youth can only extol the virtues of YOR (Youth Oriented Rubbish) that hasn't the artistic power of a Boston outtake (well perhaps excluding that last Boston record).
Irony: Those same people who blood their knives on Boston or Chicago are only too happy to say how well crafted ABBA songs are. Sure ABBA were good, but so were Bucks Fizz (who everyone seems to want to deny existed). The t's are crossed and the i's dotted. Why is it that ABBA are good and Boston bad when Boston?
If ABBA are revered because they were such good craftsmen (yes I know two women too) then how is it that what we hear from the kids today is so far off well crafted and perfect? I don't care if the singer can't sing with the voice of an Angel but I do care that it lifts me up. That is the Art yet that seems to be what the modern audience shuns. I grew up with the idea that R&R was about expressing life. Why does it no longer do that?
:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
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Re: Hitch A Ride
Hey Bob,
What a nice piece man! Many people outside of Boston probably don't know that Brad had a Beatles Cover band called Beatlejuice that played all over eastern Mass. Almost every weekend he was playing in clubs and watering holes and packing them in! No frills or costumes just the songs. They always asked for the same reasonable guarantee, no backend or bonus %, always wanted the club to make money too.
As a young promoter I was fortunate to present them every 6-8 weeks for many years. Brad was so nice and personable and the first time I booked them we hung out, talked about life, the Universe and everything. I couldn't believe that I was just shooting the shit with one of my rock n roll heroes and that he would take the time to hang out with this wet behind the ears kid! I wore out his first album on cassette in high school and college and still get my rocks off every time I listen!
I found out from our hangouts at gigs that he made his bones prior to Boston both playing in and booking cover / general business bands, he handled much of the bookings and promo / management for Boston prior to them being signed and getting a real team... and he was just happy to be playing music every weekend in his Beatles Tribute. It was really all he wanted to do. Just play.
The greatest thing, from the moment I met him. He NEVER forgot my name. Thanked me from the stage a few times as well. I don't know if he just took a shine to me or if he was as nice and generous with his time to everyone, don't really care but for the nights he played and the fans that came to the shows, he was ours!
Just a genuine great guy and a truly unique talent. Yes Tom Sholz is a genius no doubt - I learned every lick if every song, but Brad really was the sweetness that glued that music together.
Thanks for this warm tribute!
Peace and Love,
Dan Millen
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Subject: Re: Today's Aphorisms
Bob
A few more that I use in my Intro to Music industry classes:
"Perception is Reality"
"Ask for everything, expect nothing"
And finally, "everything is negotiable, even if it's not negotiable."
These ideas relating to creating and controlling the reality that you want people to see, understanding that you don't get without asking and finally the power of leverage seem to be concepts that resonate with my students sometimes years after they have left my classroom...because they all suggest that you, the creator, can have the control of you really want it. The rest is noise.
Cheers,
Susan Dodes
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Subject: Mobile Network Performance in the US: A Special RootMetrics First Half 2015 Summary Report | RootMetrics
since you write about this stuff occasionally -
http://www.rootmetrics.com/us/blog/special-reports/2015-1h-national-us
ross hinkle
los angeles | nola
____________________________________
Subject: THANKS for "Blue Bandana"
Thanks for Blue Bandana!
I am a friend of CJ Solar and recommended him subscribe to your blog when he moved to town to attend Belmont College.
THANKS for your blog on the song as it is all three of the co-writers first major cut.
CJ and Ben are friends of mine, Ben was a roommate of mine for two summers as he attended U of Miami music school and was an intern with BMG in Nashville for those summers and is a great guy that loves writing songs and the music biz.
I met CJ Solar when he first moved to Nashville from Baton Rouge to attend Belmont. CJ has played 100+ shows the past 3 to 4 years with his band, while attending Belmont College.
His internships at Average Joe's label then Sea Gayle Music (who wisely signed him as a writer while he was a senior at Belmont) have done amazing things including his first major cut on a fast rising song. He will be a great success as an artist in the near future. his song, "Tall Boy" is already being played on a couple stations around the country. Kep an eye on CJ Solar!!
Both of these guys are great people - I do not personally know the 3rd writer and have only heard great things about him.
CJ and Ben first met at my house at an event I hosted for 9 and 1/2 years called 3rd Sunday at 3:00, that brought up to 100 songwriters to my home to eat, network and play their songs. The events ended three years ago when I moved to another home that will not work for the events.
It is great to see my friends have success YOUR BLOG about their song is really appreciated and a great part of the journey!
Doak Turner
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From: Leigh Lust
Subject: Re: The Billboard Kerfuffle
What a disappointment your headline was.
I was hoping you would blow the lid off of Billboard's shameless boasting that they had the largest crowds ever at the Jones Beach amphitheatre this weekend for their Billboard Hot 100 fest.
17,000 in attendance and from my investigation 10,000 or more FREE TICKETS were given away. How about the record set for papering a room??? Ask Cold War Kids how they felt playing to 150 in their "side stage." Betty Who fared only ever so slightly better.
A close friend who manages an artist who played told me Billboard was contemplating cancelling the event up to 5 days prior to Showtime.
PATHETIC!!!
Funny how the only outlet I saw crowing about the historic attendance was BILLBOARD themselves.
Oh how excited I was in the early 80's when my parents gifted me a years subscription to the "Music Industry Bible." My how times have changed.
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From: Gary Stockdale
Subject: Re: Penn Jillette On Here's The Thing
Hey Bob,
I was Penn and Teller's composer and music director for 20 years. I first did their 1990 NBC special "Don't Try This at Home," then music for their live shows, and TV projects.
After their 1985 off-Broadway smash run, they were the coolest guys around, reinventing magic for the Saturday Night Live generation, killing on that show in its heyday, and then going on Letterman's NBC show and knocking it out of the park. In those days, Letterman loved when the show got out of control, so after the first time they appeared, he told Penn, "I want you to 'hit' me as hard as you can, and don't tell me what you're going to do." So, on their next appearance, they pretended to do a lame rabbit-out-of-a-hat trick, but, instead, released a couple hundred sterile cockroaches on Dave's desk, right in front of him.
In 1998, we did one of the last "variety shows" ever on TV. It was called "Penn and Teller's Sin City Spectacular," an hour-long show, in front of a live Las Vegas audience, done in real time, like the Ed Sullivan show, with a live band. And, like Sullivan, we mixed it up: Davis Gaines singing a song from "Phantom" right after Todd Robbins hammering a real nail up his nose. Our motto was "There's only ONE showbiz: Lap dancer, ballet dancer, it's all the same." We did original musical numbers with guest stars, like French Stewart doing "Hooray Pornography" (with guest appearances by such porn legends as Ron Jeremy, Danni Ashe, Blade Thompson, and Jeanna Fine), and "Dreamgirls" Tony-winner Jennifer Holliday singing a secular gospel number against censoring the internet called "Freedom Dot Com," with a stage-sized computer keyboard, on whose keys our "Seven Deadly Sins" dancers jumped and typed out the First Amendment on to a gigantic computer screen. We got an Emmy nomination for that
song.
Later, they did the first TV show whose title was one of George Carlin's "Seven Words" you can't say on television, "Penn and Teller: BULLSHIT!" In that show, they exposed faith healers, psychics, and all manner of phonies and fakers, including a controversial episode exposing the Catholic Church.
They created for themselves the perfect showbiz job: their own self-contained show, no one telling them how to do what they did, they never had to kiss the ass of anyone to keep their job, and never tried to be anything other than who they were. In the meantime, they brought meaning and real content to a magic show, raising it to the level of art, which, up to that point, was almost unheard of. And they did it with sophisticated humor, never pandering or pulling their punches. They are outspoken atheists and skeptics, and their integrity is, and always has been, unassailable.
The greatest pleasure for me about writing music for them, and with them, as we wrote all the original songs for the variety show, was that they never tried to micro-manage my work as a composer. They hired me to write for them, and they gave me free-reign, trusting me to do what they hired me to do. And, as a result, I wrote some of the best music of my career for them, in just about every genre and style at my command. I never got "Couldn't you make it a little more (fill in the blank)?" They just trusted the people they worked with.
I was very lucky to have worked for such a team, and, after 40 years together, they're more popular than ever, selling out 42 weeks a year at the Rio in Vegas, in their own showroom.
Oh, and they didn't have to sell out to play Vegas either. Vegas changed, they didn't. Blue Man Group and Penn and Teller both began as avant-garde critical successes, and then breathed new life into Sin City.
Thanks,
Gary
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From: Bob Reynolds
Subject: Re: Today's Aphorisms
Hi Bob. I'm the first one featured in that photo essay in the Times.
Side note, I once sat next to you at a Bonnie Raitt concert at the Greek.
"YOU BUILD A FOLLOWING, THEN MONETIZE IT."
This is true. Most musicians just don't want to admit that that means more of the work now falls on their shoulders. The upside is you don't need that audience to be incredibly huge to make something happen.
Am I able to do that with instrumental jazz album sales alone? Hell to the no.
Touring? Nope. Not interested in going broke.
But I love teaching, building websites and video production. So I found my venn diagram, taught myself a lot of new skills, and worked my tail off for 5 years creating something valuable to others.
Oh, and now I can fund my recording habit sans record label or Kickstarter support.
Better than waiting for the phone to ring. ;)
Cheers,
Bob
____________________________________
From: Bob Ezrin
Subject: Can't WAIT to see what you write about the VMAs!
Dude, did you watch it??? Were you actually there live? I wonder how it came off in the room.
But watching out here in TV land I had an epiphany: the pop music business has officially become professional wrestling. It's like Vince McMahon and his smarmy family have taken over the industry - at least as it appears on MTV and in other national pop media.
We've got Faces and Heels. We've got A-teams and B-teams. Now there's an Angle or Feud for every pair of contenders leading to Revenge. We've got Main Events and Side Shows. Miley is a Repackage. The Weeknd is a Face. Nikki is a Tweener. Kanye is mostly a Heel. We've got Slow Burns - like between him and Taylor (which actually ended in a Payoff). We've got Mouthpieces and Money Marks. We've even got Invasion Storylines - crossing from one genre to another - and Swerves. Hell, we've got all the Heat you need to keep people screaming for blood. The one thing we have almost none of is class. I know it's MTV and not the Grammys. But it's kind of the way it is in the pop world now, isn't it?
One of my best friends as a kid was the son of a huge wrestling star. I learned all this stuff back then. But back then, wrestling was fake and music was real! Now?
After last night's show, all I wanted to do was Tap Out. I don't recognize my industry anymore. You seem to get it much more than I do o maybe you can help me understand. I joined when Bad Boys and Girls ruled supreme in pop and everywhere. But there were also activists, revolutionaries and prophets - oh, and amazing musicians too! A few days ago Jack Ponti sent the world a note announcing his retirement from the music business. I was kind of surprised, as in: Why should I care? And why tell everyone? But after last night, I kind of understand.
By the way, I think we should start a social media campaign to draft Kanye as Trump's running mate. You've got the platform. If we start now, who knows???
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