What if after a long bout of writer's block you put out an album nearly as good as your debut, but most people ignored it?
Then you'd have Karla Bonoff's 1988 LP "New World."
Produced by Mark Goldenberg of Cretones fame and released on Danny Goldberg's Gold Castle Records this gem sank like a stone...what chance do you have of your less than stellar work breaking through today's internet cacophony?
Not much.
Therefore people become disheartened and give up. Sometimes you need to stay the course, sometimes the public just hasn't caught up with you yet. And at least twenty-odd years later "New World" lives on online.
THE BEST PART OF YOU
My favorite track on the album, the one that went through my head as I just walked through the front door.
Friday has been my record shopping day for time immemorial. It's when life slowed down, obligations receded, and I could do what I wanted to. I'd get in my '63 Chevy and drive to Burlington to stock up at Artec, I'd drive to Westwood in my 2002 and shop at Grammy 'n Granny...the hipsters preferred Rhino, and I went there too, but the promo selection was better at the former, and the clerks didn't insult you.
But now music comes to you, in a tsunami. Scarceness is history, as is anticipation and the breaking of the shrinkwrap.
I've got a CD of "New World" at arm's length, I used to play it a lot, but now I can just click and hear it on Spotify, and you should too.
"I know they'll never fade
These memories we made
Sad times slip away
And I hold on to the best part of you"
We do. Look in the rearview mirror and reminisce about the good times that is.
"The Best Part Of You" evidences the synthesizer so prevalent on this LP, marking not only the era, but the fact this record was made on the cheap. Yet on "The Best Part Of You" the synth texture is part of the magic, it sets the mood.
Sure, there were hard times, "the hurt we thought we'd never face," but "The Best Part Of You" feels like that old Simon & Garfunkel song from "Bookends," "America." There's travel, there's a reference to this great country of ours, to youth, when we were full of drive, when opportunity was prevalent.
Pull this up late at night. You'll be set at ease and haunted at the same time.
If your mind ever drifts back to what once was and never more will be.
STILL GETTING OVER YOU
"When I finally find
I finally find
My love, I'll still be getting over you"
Whew!
We live in an instant culture, where we're supposed to instantly forget the past, the good times as well as the hurts. Society tells us no one wants to hear it, you've got to keep it to yourself, especially if you're a guy, you're supposed to buck up, put a smile on your face and be optimistic.
Hogwash. Breakups hurt. Live long enough and you know it's mutual, on both sides, both the leaver and the left feel bad. As for the breakup itself being mutual? Decided on by both? Anybody who tells you this is lying, someone always wants it more, the leaver feels guilty and the left doesn't want to be perceived to be a loser so neither tells the truth. But what goes on in your head cannot be suppressed.
They stay in our brain forever. The memories fade, but they never go completely away. The new person is not identical. They're better overall, but they don't have that certain something the old person did, which still haunts you.
Who's singing about all this?
Karla Bonoff!
ALL MY LIFE
We don't know how to love. If we're lucky, someone gives us some hints. But truly we learn through experience. Sometimes you're the teacher, sometimes you're the student.
"And I never really knew how to love
I just hoped somehow I'd see
Oh I asked for a little help from above
Send an angel down to me"
The beautiful might not understand, they may be overwhelmed with offers, from people who see the exterior but not the interior, but the rest of us...we pray, maybe not to God, but to someone above to help us, to deliver them to us and allow us to behave reasonably.
"I never thought I could feel a love so tender
I never thought I could let those feelings show
But now my heart is on my sleeve
And this love will never leave
I know I know"
This is the warmth, this is the essence of a relationship, not the sex, not the physical intimacy, but the sharing of information, it's what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. We have a unique desire to be known, to share our thoughts, not only our victories, but our dilemmas, our inadequacies. And when you're deep in love you feel safe opening up, you feel someone is finally open to you. That's what bonds you together.
Some people never take the risk.
Then there are others who overshare, who are so busy talking they don't listen.
And then there are those whose best self is drawn out by the other.
That's what Karla is singing about here.
GOODBYE MY FRIEND
The track I listened to on 9/11.
"Oh we never know where life will take us
We know it's just a ride on the wheel
And we never know when death will shake us
And we wonder how it will feel"
Ain't that the truth. You think you have it figured out, that you know where you're going, but that's patently untrue. Life is a pinball machine. Some become so frightened they take themselves out of the game and live lives of quiet desperation, the rest of us keep getting banged around, ending up in places we could never conceive. Are you doing the work you thought you'd be? You might have envisioned being married once with three biological children yet your second or third spouse who fits you like a glove comes with two adolescents you come to know and love as your own.
Life's a mystery.
And then it ends.
It most certainly will.
This is what I admire in the young, their belief that they're gonna live forever, healthily. But when the first person around you passes away you experience a loss so deep you could not previously fathom it. And then you get older and realize you're gonna go too, and except for those around you, no one's gonna care, that so much of what you've spent your time achieving is a waste.
TELL ME WHY
You can't break up. You know you should, but you can't.
"So won't you tell me why
I can't say goodbye
Won't you tell me why"
And then something happens. They two-time you, you find out something so horrifying you're stopped in your tracks.
"I'm walking on a real thin line
A fool in love with a fool that never cared"
This is a hard lesson to learn, that you're best off with people in love with you. You might be attracted to him or her, but if it's not mutual, you're headed for a plethora of pain.
Certain people are not relationship material, others just don't want you. The sooner you find out, the sooner you can escape and find someone who's right.
OH MARY
The rush is incredible.
But it fades.
Some become addicted to the high and jump from person to person.
"Oh Mary he takes my hand
He tells me that he understands
Oh I wanna know
Did that happen to you"
You don't broadcast it, yet some people can see it in your countenance, but you're eager to share the information, like the cat that ate the canary, you've fallen in love. Is yours unique, is this what everybody's been talking about, is it real?
"Love, or is it just a passing thing
Does time take away the gift it brings
Oh no Mary tell me will this love be true"
What they don't tell you is time pays dividends, the longer you stay together the better it gets. The rush is long gone, but the interconnectedness and the dependency endure. You can count on this person, and nothing feels so good.
WAY OF THE HEART
"We just fight all day
Not meaning anything we say
And now we're frozen
Afraid to let go"
I've been there, have you? It started out good, you dreamily looked into each other's eyes, and then...you never saw eye to eye again. Oh, you'd have a good night, but then it'd devolve into arguing and hard stares. You can't live with 'em and you can't live without 'em. How do you cope, what do you do?
When you find out, let me know.
HOW LONG
"You say you need someone to love
But when will you learn?
Whatever's done in this world
It's still gonna turn"
This is what we depend on our artists for, truth. Honest insight, delivered with emotion.
It's why music's in the crapper. Whatever truth is revealed is delivered with bluster. Most times the words are either tossed off indiscriminately or written by cynical old men who know more about craft than art.
But in the heyday of yore, when music blew up because the same people who wrote it performed it, we looked for something more, beneath the sheen we were looking for those nuggets of truth.
Yet "How Long" is a cover, it was written by David and Andrew Williams. Proving there are no rules, that a great song is a great song, if it's delivered well it will reach you.
"How long til you see that we're in this together?
How long?
How long?
That's the key. An understanding that you're more than a couple, you're a team. That you look out for each other, that you can be counted on.
Which reminds me of my favorite movie of the twenty first century, "You Can Count On Me."
No one could count on Mark Ruffalo, which is why his life was so hard. The more you're there for people, the richer your life becomes.
But how are you gonna learn how to behave, who's gonna help you through?
Hopefully your parents gave you a good start. After that... My generation looked to records.
I'd like to tell you that we're in this together. But even though we can communicate with the push of a button, I still feel alone so much of the time, while my brethren post about their fabulous lives on Instagram. But I know they're lying, it's the nature of being human, you've got ups and downs. How do you cope?
For my generation it's music. It not only crowded out the noise, it spoke to us, personally.
I'm thinking about all this on a Friday afternoon, which feels so much just as it did in the decades of yore, because as much as I've changed, I really haven't, I'm still the same person. I loved the thrill of not only buying the records, but the listening.
I'm listening to one now.
"New World" on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/1G3qBUT
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Friday 9 October 2015
Rhinofy-Karla Bonoff
SOMEONE TO LAY DOWN BESIDE ME
Linda Ronstadt was America's sweetheart, the coolest rock chick who owned the airwaves, she released her third smash in a row, "Hasten Down The Wind" and the killer track, which finished the LP, was "Someone To Lay Down Beside Me." The instrumentation was perfect, haunting, the sheen shone, and then we experienced the exquisite voice we all knew and loved.
Singing a song by someone we were completely unfamiliar with, one Karla Bonoff.
"Still you know that may be what I need
Is someone to lay down beside me
And even though it's not real
Just someone to lay down beside me
You're the story of my life"
A beautiful song sung by someone who seemed to own the world, the darkness was absent.
But when Karla sang the same song with the same arrangement...WHEW!
"Well morning is breaking, the street lights are off
The sun will soon share all the cost
Of a world that can be sort of heartless
Not like love that you feel in your heart"
Sung by an unknown, someone just like us, the words seemed so much more...BELIEVABLE! This was someone who was yearning for connection in a world that so rarely provides it, back before Match.com, never mind Tinder. When loneliness killed.
You heard Karla sing and you thought about yourself. And how the world really was kind of heartless, that's the key word in the song, the one you remember.
I CAN'T HOLD ON
"Oh baby, this time it's good-bye
And you can be sure that I won't cry
Our love is just a faded story
I'm walking down the road
And you've just got to let me go"
Have you read the Franzen book? There are moments in "Purity" that will make your eyes bug out, the stories of young love, when we're passionate and inexperienced and make choices we wince at years later. Back then we didn't know whether to double-down or RUN!
"I Can't Hold On" is upbeat as opposed to the dirgy "Someone To Lay Down Beside Me." It evidences the freedom of one who's thought about it a long time and has broken away and is now reveling in the power of her aloneness.
"'Cause I can't hold on
I can't hold on
I can't hold on anymore"
These are not the words of a fly-by-nighter. She tried, she's not the one who jumps from relationship to relationship, but she's finally reached her limit, she's done.
"And maybe next time you'll cry
When someone like me says good-bye
You'll wake up when she's gone and wonder
How you could let her go
But look at me, I'm going under..."
Come on, if you haven't said this to yourself, maybe even made the mistake of saying it to your ex, you're a leaver, not one of the left. You've given your all and it's still not enough. You want to scream and shout, but they're still playing games...
It's all here. This is the best post breakup song I know, I've sung it to myself many a time.
LOSE AGAIN
The opener on that Linda Ronstadt album. Yes, there were three Karla Bonoff songs on "Hasten Down The Wind."
"When the heart calls, the mind obeys
Oh, it knows better than me, baby"
Ain't that the truth. You know you should end it, but your heart won't let you, you go back for another go-round. I always thought this is the same person who was free in the previous song. She thought she was done and then...he pulled her back in.
"But you're keepin' me goin', I know it's insane
Because I love you and lose again"
Once again, I think you've lived this story...I certainly have.
HOME
Covered by Bonnie Raitt on her LP "Sweet Forgiveness."
"And home sings me of sweet things
My life there has its own wings"
I sing this song every time I go away, just before I come back...home.
FACES IN THE WIND
The side-closer, written by Craig Safan, it's the mood that gets you.
The remorse...
ISN'T IT ALWAYS LOVE
My favorite song on the album.
"Isn't it always love that makes you hang your head
And isn't it always love that makes you cry
But isn't it always love that takes the tears away
And you wouldn't have it other way"
That's what we're living for, money and status are a sideshow. And if you have those...how do you know your beloved is true? Life is a roller coaster, we're looking for that thrill of connection, that pitter-patter in our heart.
"When you find someone that's true to you
Some days are up and oh some days are blue
Just don't go and throw it all away
Wait a minute, you gotta hear what I say"
The rewards are in staying together, enduring the ups and downs, deepening the bond, knowing you can put the pieces back together and march on. Boomers grew up in the era of divorce, if things weren't right you were supposed to break up and find something better...but oftentimes that didn't happen.
IF HE'S EVER NEAR
The third and final Karla Bonoff song on "Hasten Down The Wind."
"They say just once in life
You find someone that's right
But the world looks so confused
I can't tell false from true
And love's so hard to find
In this state of mind
Oh, I hope I'll know him
I hope I'll know him
If he's ever near"
Definitive, the best words I know on this subject. In a country of 300 million, in a world of 3 billion...what does love look like, who is the right one for you?
"Well I know that in my time
I'll have it sweet and fine
But it won't add up to much
Unless I feel his touch
'Cause love's so hard to find
And I guess I'll just give up tryin'"
Don't. Those of you broke and busted on the side of the road, keep at it. Look inside yourself, work on your issues, because there's someone out there for you and you'll feel so much happier when you find them.
That's right. Those of you who just can't win at the game. That's because you don't know how to play. You can change, you can make it work, I know it.
FLYING HIGH
The other song on the album not written by Karla.
"She said now you're flying high
Tomorrow you might be low
The same thing that makes your baby cry
Might make him get up and go"
Happiness is followed by despair, and it seems inexplicable. You want to avoid the turmoil, but ups and downs are the story of life. Grab hold and don't let go!
Credit Steve Ferguson for the wisdom.
FALLING STAR
Positively creepy, positively brilliant.
"Oh, my heart aches deep inside me
Oh, how I miss you
Will you come back, oh, why'd you leave me
Oh, what can I do"
Inexplicable. They rarely tell you why they're gone. Was it something you did, something you can change? And if you're everything they say they want you to be...will it make any difference?
"'Cause every night I sit here by the phone
You know it rings a lot inside my head
I daydream you're home"
Oh, the telephone. Especially before answering machines. You'd stay home and wait, believing they'd call, but they didn't. Eventually they did but to assuage their own guilt, not because they'd reconsidered and wanted to come back. It's over and you don't want to believe it.
"But now I know that love can leave a scar"
Oh, to be young and inexperienced once again, to have a do-over and try other options. It's amazing how one person can have such an impact upon your life.
ROSE IN THE GARDEN
And now it's over.
So different from today's music, where the singers are winners and kick their significant others to the curb. You can tell Karla Bonoff's been hurt, she's been on the losing end of love, but now she's resigned to the loss, she's gonna let him go.
"I'm not telling any lies now
I need you
You know how
I think I can see how to let you grow
I've got to let you go"
EEGADS! This is the last thing you want to do!
"Though that's my face in the mirror
It's sometimes you that I see
'Cause we've been here for so long now
I see your soul in me"
You've merged. You've even started to look alike. The person closest to you, who knows all your secrets, is no longer there, and will ultimately be with someone else. It's soul-crushing.
"Karla Bonoff" was produced by Kenny Edwards. Bonoff's significant other, once. He's now gone. Bonoff is still here. You can hear her sing these songs live, she goes on the road. You'll be sitting in the audience reflecting upon what once was, all the turmoil when most of your life was still ahead of you instead of behind.
Or maybe you're in your twenties and eating life up.
Well, Karla's got some insight for you.
Seems like a long time ago, the seventies are deep in the rearview mirror, but life hasn't really changed, if you nailed it then the lessons still apply. And if you made great music it still satiates.
I plucked Karla Bonoff's debut from the promo bin, and then went back and bought every copy they had, so I could gift it to people. They needed to hear it. Back when we got our truth from music. When we were all conflicted and concerned about love, when communicating meant more than a text, when you had to be vulnerable to connect and it hurt so much to be rejected.
Actually, that last part is still true. Hook-up culture is more of a media fiction than reality. You've got to be yourself to get ahead, open your heart for someone to reach inside, but who's gonna help you, soothe you when you lose?
Karla Bonoff.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/1hpx9Se
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Linda Ronstadt was America's sweetheart, the coolest rock chick who owned the airwaves, she released her third smash in a row, "Hasten Down The Wind" and the killer track, which finished the LP, was "Someone To Lay Down Beside Me." The instrumentation was perfect, haunting, the sheen shone, and then we experienced the exquisite voice we all knew and loved.
Singing a song by someone we were completely unfamiliar with, one Karla Bonoff.
"Still you know that may be what I need
Is someone to lay down beside me
And even though it's not real
Just someone to lay down beside me
You're the story of my life"
A beautiful song sung by someone who seemed to own the world, the darkness was absent.
But when Karla sang the same song with the same arrangement...WHEW!
"Well morning is breaking, the street lights are off
The sun will soon share all the cost
Of a world that can be sort of heartless
Not like love that you feel in your heart"
Sung by an unknown, someone just like us, the words seemed so much more...BELIEVABLE! This was someone who was yearning for connection in a world that so rarely provides it, back before Match.com, never mind Tinder. When loneliness killed.
You heard Karla sing and you thought about yourself. And how the world really was kind of heartless, that's the key word in the song, the one you remember.
I CAN'T HOLD ON
"Oh baby, this time it's good-bye
And you can be sure that I won't cry
Our love is just a faded story
I'm walking down the road
And you've just got to let me go"
Have you read the Franzen book? There are moments in "Purity" that will make your eyes bug out, the stories of young love, when we're passionate and inexperienced and make choices we wince at years later. Back then we didn't know whether to double-down or RUN!
"I Can't Hold On" is upbeat as opposed to the dirgy "Someone To Lay Down Beside Me." It evidences the freedom of one who's thought about it a long time and has broken away and is now reveling in the power of her aloneness.
"'Cause I can't hold on
I can't hold on
I can't hold on anymore"
These are not the words of a fly-by-nighter. She tried, she's not the one who jumps from relationship to relationship, but she's finally reached her limit, she's done.
"And maybe next time you'll cry
When someone like me says good-bye
You'll wake up when she's gone and wonder
How you could let her go
But look at me, I'm going under..."
Come on, if you haven't said this to yourself, maybe even made the mistake of saying it to your ex, you're a leaver, not one of the left. You've given your all and it's still not enough. You want to scream and shout, but they're still playing games...
It's all here. This is the best post breakup song I know, I've sung it to myself many a time.
LOSE AGAIN
The opener on that Linda Ronstadt album. Yes, there were three Karla Bonoff songs on "Hasten Down The Wind."
"When the heart calls, the mind obeys
Oh, it knows better than me, baby"
Ain't that the truth. You know you should end it, but your heart won't let you, you go back for another go-round. I always thought this is the same person who was free in the previous song. She thought she was done and then...he pulled her back in.
"But you're keepin' me goin', I know it's insane
Because I love you and lose again"
Once again, I think you've lived this story...I certainly have.
HOME
Covered by Bonnie Raitt on her LP "Sweet Forgiveness."
"And home sings me of sweet things
My life there has its own wings"
I sing this song every time I go away, just before I come back...home.
FACES IN THE WIND
The side-closer, written by Craig Safan, it's the mood that gets you.
The remorse...
ISN'T IT ALWAYS LOVE
My favorite song on the album.
"Isn't it always love that makes you hang your head
And isn't it always love that makes you cry
But isn't it always love that takes the tears away
And you wouldn't have it other way"
That's what we're living for, money and status are a sideshow. And if you have those...how do you know your beloved is true? Life is a roller coaster, we're looking for that thrill of connection, that pitter-patter in our heart.
"When you find someone that's true to you
Some days are up and oh some days are blue
Just don't go and throw it all away
Wait a minute, you gotta hear what I say"
The rewards are in staying together, enduring the ups and downs, deepening the bond, knowing you can put the pieces back together and march on. Boomers grew up in the era of divorce, if things weren't right you were supposed to break up and find something better...but oftentimes that didn't happen.
IF HE'S EVER NEAR
The third and final Karla Bonoff song on "Hasten Down The Wind."
"They say just once in life
You find someone that's right
But the world looks so confused
I can't tell false from true
And love's so hard to find
In this state of mind
Oh, I hope I'll know him
I hope I'll know him
If he's ever near"
Definitive, the best words I know on this subject. In a country of 300 million, in a world of 3 billion...what does love look like, who is the right one for you?
"Well I know that in my time
I'll have it sweet and fine
But it won't add up to much
Unless I feel his touch
'Cause love's so hard to find
And I guess I'll just give up tryin'"
Don't. Those of you broke and busted on the side of the road, keep at it. Look inside yourself, work on your issues, because there's someone out there for you and you'll feel so much happier when you find them.
That's right. Those of you who just can't win at the game. That's because you don't know how to play. You can change, you can make it work, I know it.
FLYING HIGH
The other song on the album not written by Karla.
"She said now you're flying high
Tomorrow you might be low
The same thing that makes your baby cry
Might make him get up and go"
Happiness is followed by despair, and it seems inexplicable. You want to avoid the turmoil, but ups and downs are the story of life. Grab hold and don't let go!
Credit Steve Ferguson for the wisdom.
FALLING STAR
Positively creepy, positively brilliant.
"Oh, my heart aches deep inside me
Oh, how I miss you
Will you come back, oh, why'd you leave me
Oh, what can I do"
Inexplicable. They rarely tell you why they're gone. Was it something you did, something you can change? And if you're everything they say they want you to be...will it make any difference?
"'Cause every night I sit here by the phone
You know it rings a lot inside my head
I daydream you're home"
Oh, the telephone. Especially before answering machines. You'd stay home and wait, believing they'd call, but they didn't. Eventually they did but to assuage their own guilt, not because they'd reconsidered and wanted to come back. It's over and you don't want to believe it.
"But now I know that love can leave a scar"
Oh, to be young and inexperienced once again, to have a do-over and try other options. It's amazing how one person can have such an impact upon your life.
ROSE IN THE GARDEN
And now it's over.
So different from today's music, where the singers are winners and kick their significant others to the curb. You can tell Karla Bonoff's been hurt, she's been on the losing end of love, but now she's resigned to the loss, she's gonna let him go.
"I'm not telling any lies now
I need you
You know how
I think I can see how to let you grow
I've got to let you go"
EEGADS! This is the last thing you want to do!
"Though that's my face in the mirror
It's sometimes you that I see
'Cause we've been here for so long now
I see your soul in me"
You've merged. You've even started to look alike. The person closest to you, who knows all your secrets, is no longer there, and will ultimately be with someone else. It's soul-crushing.
"Karla Bonoff" was produced by Kenny Edwards. Bonoff's significant other, once. He's now gone. Bonoff is still here. You can hear her sing these songs live, she goes on the road. You'll be sitting in the audience reflecting upon what once was, all the turmoil when most of your life was still ahead of you instead of behind.
Or maybe you're in your twenties and eating life up.
Well, Karla's got some insight for you.
Seems like a long time ago, the seventies are deep in the rearview mirror, but life hasn't really changed, if you nailed it then the lessons still apply. And if you made great music it still satiates.
I plucked Karla Bonoff's debut from the promo bin, and then went back and bought every copy they had, so I could gift it to people. They needed to hear it. Back when we got our truth from music. When we were all conflicted and concerned about love, when communicating meant more than a text, when you had to be vulnerable to connect and it hurt so much to be rejected.
Actually, that last part is still true. Hook-up culture is more of a media fiction than reality. You've got to be yourself to get ahead, open your heart for someone to reach inside, but who's gonna help you, soothe you when you lose?
Karla Bonoff.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/1hpx9Se
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
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Thursday 8 October 2015
Jimmy Iovine At The Vanity Fair Conference
"Jimmy Iovine wants Apple to save the world from free music": http://bit.ly/1Ony0RR
It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
Or one can just say that every time Jimmy Iovine opens his mouth he digs his hole deeper.
Let's rewind the clock all the way back to 2004, January of that year, when Jimmy Iovine stumbled through a speech at CES, as he shilled for HP and its soon to be disgraced CEO Carly Fiorina, and complained, as he did yesterday, that free was killing the music business.
"HP Declares War On Sharing Culture": http://bit.ly/1R1O6OD
Jimmy references 50 Cent. If you know your history, Fitty took his newfound fame and ended up with a serious slice of Vitamin Water, generating more riches than any recording contract ever could.
As for Carly Fiorina extolling the virtues of digital rights management (DRM), this was already after the iTunes Music Store had launched and lock free files were swimming all over the web.
This was also the CES wherein Carly launched the HP iPod. And if you want to know how that turned out, how Jobs snookered Fiorina, read this:
"How Steve Jobs Fleeced Carly Fiorina": http://bit.ly/1MhiQHP
And this is the woman we want running our country?
Of course we don't. This is the woman selling newspapers and TV advertising, media loves her challenge to Trump. And I'll cede Carly her intelligence, but her business history is superseded by Andy Lack's tenure at Sony Music, wherein he put the rootkit on CDs and not only killed Neil Diamond's album, but helped put the CD business in its grave, all by alienating customers.
Now Jimmy is targeting Spotify and YouTube at "Vanity Fair," but really he's pointing his finger at you, the consumer. You don't pay for music. But you do overpay to see your favorites live who are "forced" to go on tour and make millions. How could he and Carly get it so wrong?
By having no experience.
Carly Fiorina knew little about tech and little about running a major tech corporation. It would be like putting a fantasy football champ in charge of the Patriots, because really Belichick is doing the job of an amateur, his wins are accidental.
Jimmy knows loads about signing talent and selling music.
Digital distribution of goods? HE'S CLUELESS!
What do we know about tech...
Excellence is key, the price goes down and scale is everything.
Is most of the music deserving of our attention?
OF COURSE NOT!
But now that everything's available people are gravitating to the few anointed artists. And that means that both the good and the marginal are left out. It's about listens. And all the listens are going to the hit artists. You're broke because of your content, not because Spotify and YouTube are screwing you.
As for YouTube...
It garnered most of the viewing/listening because Warner Music refused to license Spotify and therefore the service didn't launch in the U.S. until 2011. YouTube is much less of a factor in nations where Spotify launched earlier, like in Scandinavia in 2009. Timing is key. Hell, if Apple Music predated Spotify it might be in a triumphant position today.
As for the freemium tier... It was enabled to kill piracy. Does Jimmy really believe if freemium goes away that everybody will pay? He doesn't think it will just drive piracy underground again, via P2P and sneakernet? The book business declared war on Amazon, Bezos capitulated, prices were raised and sales went down. Or is Jimmy just out for himself, and if Apple Music can make money he doesn't really care about piracy... That'd be the self-centered music business way.
We've learned for the past fifteen years that the only way you win is by getting on the customer's side. If you're trying to shame people into compliance, corral them into seeing it your way, you're doomed. Remember when the RIAA sued file traders?
Furthermore, Jimmy is now playing defense. He doth protest too much. He got his ninety days free, he's responsible for a botched product. But suddenly it's Spotify and YouTube's fault?
And Jimmy tried to tilt the playing field. By making rightsholders end their Spotify freemium deal, by making them eradicate free music from YouTube. The end result? GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION! This is hilarious because back in 2004 Jimmy was begging for the government to get involved. Karma's a bitch. And everybody in tech knows you keep the government at bay, because D.C. is backwards and incompetent, and when you finally fly on the radar you hire lobbyists to educate and implore elected officials.
Ranting and raving just makes Jimmy laughable, marginalizes him.
He's making these statements at a fat cat confab. Try saying the same things in front of the public, rotten tomatoes would be flying, boos would drown him out. Can Jimmy really be that out of touch?
Yes.
We've hit bottom. Recorded music revenues are only going to go up. Streaming has won and will continue to rule, because we live in an on demand culture and that's what streaming is...you don't own it, you have the ability to access it. If you hate Spotify, you hate Netflix, you'd rather own DVDs. But good luck finding someplace to buy them, your brethren have moved on.
But the marginal, like Jimmy, yell loudest.
Ten percent are never going to pay. Forget about them.
As for the other ninety percent, they're looking for convenience, and advantages.
Did AT&T and Verizon put a gun to consumers' heads and force them to buy expensive data plans?
No, people wanted them, so they could play!
They paid for AOL.
They paid for broadband connections.
And now some have stopped paying for cable.
Cablevision got out. But before Dolan made the deal, he said how the value of cable in the future would be the internet, not TV.
If Jimmy wants Apple Music to win, he's got to provide a better experience. And he's got to realize we're in a transitional period. Music has been free for so long that most people have fallen out of the habit of paying for it, if they ever paid at all. But history is littered with stories of people adopting new habits, expensive ones at that.
But you've got the artists saying they're being screwed.
Billionaire Jimmy Iovine saying it's all unfair.
And everybody at home is struggling just to survive.
Jimmy can't rewrite the rules of business, of human behavior. How come he knows so much about selling good records and so little about selling streaming music?
Can you stream on Sonos without paying?
OF COURSE NOT! But Jimmy launched Apple Music without Sonos compatibility, not realizing these upscale sneezers would spread the word.
Is YouTube a good listening experience on the handset?
OF COURSE NOT!
Can you pick and choose the songs you want to hear on Spotify's mobile freemium tier?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
It pays to pay.
People just don't know it yet.
But do you get a date by insulting someone?
Don't we hook drug addicts by giving dope away for free?
Everybody needs to STFU. Streaming services just have to improve, become an indispensable business proposition, then people will pay.
And they will.
But never forget...
One service will have the lion's share of the paying customers, you go where your friends are, we live in a social world.
And just because you can play, that does not mean you can win.
And that goes for both wannabe artists and Jimmy Iovine.
Excellence rules. Word of mouth counts.
And if you're over fifty you're probably clueless.
Unless this is your area of expertise to begin with.
Kids don't own televisions, if they watch on their computers or handsets at all.
Jimmy would tell them to sit down in front of the big screen.
I'm saying we're in a good place. We've beaten back piracy and you can get all the goods in one place. Take that television, take that movies.
Happy days are here again, just you wait and see.
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It's like shooting fish in a barrel.
Or one can just say that every time Jimmy Iovine opens his mouth he digs his hole deeper.
Let's rewind the clock all the way back to 2004, January of that year, when Jimmy Iovine stumbled through a speech at CES, as he shilled for HP and its soon to be disgraced CEO Carly Fiorina, and complained, as he did yesterday, that free was killing the music business.
"HP Declares War On Sharing Culture": http://bit.ly/1R1O6OD
Jimmy references 50 Cent. If you know your history, Fitty took his newfound fame and ended up with a serious slice of Vitamin Water, generating more riches than any recording contract ever could.
As for Carly Fiorina extolling the virtues of digital rights management (DRM), this was already after the iTunes Music Store had launched and lock free files were swimming all over the web.
This was also the CES wherein Carly launched the HP iPod. And if you want to know how that turned out, how Jobs snookered Fiorina, read this:
"How Steve Jobs Fleeced Carly Fiorina": http://bit.ly/1MhiQHP
And this is the woman we want running our country?
Of course we don't. This is the woman selling newspapers and TV advertising, media loves her challenge to Trump. And I'll cede Carly her intelligence, but her business history is superseded by Andy Lack's tenure at Sony Music, wherein he put the rootkit on CDs and not only killed Neil Diamond's album, but helped put the CD business in its grave, all by alienating customers.
Now Jimmy is targeting Spotify and YouTube at "Vanity Fair," but really he's pointing his finger at you, the consumer. You don't pay for music. But you do overpay to see your favorites live who are "forced" to go on tour and make millions. How could he and Carly get it so wrong?
By having no experience.
Carly Fiorina knew little about tech and little about running a major tech corporation. It would be like putting a fantasy football champ in charge of the Patriots, because really Belichick is doing the job of an amateur, his wins are accidental.
Jimmy knows loads about signing talent and selling music.
Digital distribution of goods? HE'S CLUELESS!
What do we know about tech...
Excellence is key, the price goes down and scale is everything.
Is most of the music deserving of our attention?
OF COURSE NOT!
But now that everything's available people are gravitating to the few anointed artists. And that means that both the good and the marginal are left out. It's about listens. And all the listens are going to the hit artists. You're broke because of your content, not because Spotify and YouTube are screwing you.
As for YouTube...
It garnered most of the viewing/listening because Warner Music refused to license Spotify and therefore the service didn't launch in the U.S. until 2011. YouTube is much less of a factor in nations where Spotify launched earlier, like in Scandinavia in 2009. Timing is key. Hell, if Apple Music predated Spotify it might be in a triumphant position today.
As for the freemium tier... It was enabled to kill piracy. Does Jimmy really believe if freemium goes away that everybody will pay? He doesn't think it will just drive piracy underground again, via P2P and sneakernet? The book business declared war on Amazon, Bezos capitulated, prices were raised and sales went down. Or is Jimmy just out for himself, and if Apple Music can make money he doesn't really care about piracy... That'd be the self-centered music business way.
We've learned for the past fifteen years that the only way you win is by getting on the customer's side. If you're trying to shame people into compliance, corral them into seeing it your way, you're doomed. Remember when the RIAA sued file traders?
Furthermore, Jimmy is now playing defense. He doth protest too much. He got his ninety days free, he's responsible for a botched product. But suddenly it's Spotify and YouTube's fault?
And Jimmy tried to tilt the playing field. By making rightsholders end their Spotify freemium deal, by making them eradicate free music from YouTube. The end result? GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION! This is hilarious because back in 2004 Jimmy was begging for the government to get involved. Karma's a bitch. And everybody in tech knows you keep the government at bay, because D.C. is backwards and incompetent, and when you finally fly on the radar you hire lobbyists to educate and implore elected officials.
Ranting and raving just makes Jimmy laughable, marginalizes him.
He's making these statements at a fat cat confab. Try saying the same things in front of the public, rotten tomatoes would be flying, boos would drown him out. Can Jimmy really be that out of touch?
Yes.
We've hit bottom. Recorded music revenues are only going to go up. Streaming has won and will continue to rule, because we live in an on demand culture and that's what streaming is...you don't own it, you have the ability to access it. If you hate Spotify, you hate Netflix, you'd rather own DVDs. But good luck finding someplace to buy them, your brethren have moved on.
But the marginal, like Jimmy, yell loudest.
Ten percent are never going to pay. Forget about them.
As for the other ninety percent, they're looking for convenience, and advantages.
Did AT&T and Verizon put a gun to consumers' heads and force them to buy expensive data plans?
No, people wanted them, so they could play!
They paid for AOL.
They paid for broadband connections.
And now some have stopped paying for cable.
Cablevision got out. But before Dolan made the deal, he said how the value of cable in the future would be the internet, not TV.
If Jimmy wants Apple Music to win, he's got to provide a better experience. And he's got to realize we're in a transitional period. Music has been free for so long that most people have fallen out of the habit of paying for it, if they ever paid at all. But history is littered with stories of people adopting new habits, expensive ones at that.
But you've got the artists saying they're being screwed.
Billionaire Jimmy Iovine saying it's all unfair.
And everybody at home is struggling just to survive.
Jimmy can't rewrite the rules of business, of human behavior. How come he knows so much about selling good records and so little about selling streaming music?
Can you stream on Sonos without paying?
OF COURSE NOT! But Jimmy launched Apple Music without Sonos compatibility, not realizing these upscale sneezers would spread the word.
Is YouTube a good listening experience on the handset?
OF COURSE NOT!
Can you pick and choose the songs you want to hear on Spotify's mobile freemium tier?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
It pays to pay.
People just don't know it yet.
But do you get a date by insulting someone?
Don't we hook drug addicts by giving dope away for free?
Everybody needs to STFU. Streaming services just have to improve, become an indispensable business proposition, then people will pay.
And they will.
But never forget...
One service will have the lion's share of the paying customers, you go where your friends are, we live in a social world.
And just because you can play, that does not mean you can win.
And that goes for both wannabe artists and Jimmy Iovine.
Excellence rules. Word of mouth counts.
And if you're over fifty you're probably clueless.
Unless this is your area of expertise to begin with.
Kids don't own televisions, if they watch on their computers or handsets at all.
Jimmy would tell them to sit down in front of the big screen.
I'm saying we're in a good place. We've beaten back piracy and you can get all the goods in one place. Take that television, take that movies.
Happy days are here again, just you wait and see.
--
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Wednesday 7 October 2015
Kevin Cronin Weighs In
Hi Bob,
I love John Boylan.
His blog about the recording of "Roll With The Changes" and our 'Tuna Fish' album, and the genius of Paul Grupp, and the enduring support of Epic Records during those golden years of the music industry, and his complimentary comments about the REO band members were all cool, but he left out a huge part of the story: John Boylan.
He didn't mention the meeting that Gary Richrath and I had with him and some other Epic Brass up at the Black Rock in early 1978. Gary and I came in strong on the heels of our first gold album, 'Live, You Get What You Play For', and demanded, or begged depending on your outlook, that we self produce our next studio album. We felt we had the songs, and we didn't want to take any chances that an another outside producer would fail to understand us.
To our surprise Ron Alexemburg, the president of Epic at the time, actually said yes...with one condition: A member of the Epic A&R staff would sit in with us and make sure that with the inmates running the asylum things would stay relatively sane. We knew of John Boylan's artist friendly reputation and were big time hoping he was our guy.
After three weeks of recording at Sound City I was not thrilled with what I was hearing and felt like we needed to scrap those masters and go back to SIR for more rehearsal. This was a crazy fucking idea. Our first shot at producing and we are totally blowing it. This could not possibly be happening.
That is when I started to really get to know John Boylan. He had been sitting quietly in the control room, reading, watching, listening, observing our process, answering our occasional questions, and getting to know us. When I got up the nerve to share my doubts about the tracks I totally expected Boylan to tell me I was out of my mind. But instead something strange and wonderful happened...
John Boylan understood me. He saw my passion and devotion to those songs and he got how important it was to me that we get it right. It was do or die time, and his advice was a resounding: Do. That support emboldened me. It changed me forever. Up until then I had been developing a sense of faith in my instincts, but in that moment I locked into a firm trust in my gut and in letting the songs be my guide. Everything I have done musically since that day has been in total service of The Song. For me, that is the secret to producing records, and I learned it from John Boylan.
There is a post script/fairy tale ending to this story which adds to John's oxymoronic status as a legendary music business good guy. I feel compelled to share it...
A few months into our sessions at Sound City, John ran into a scheduling issue. Since pressing the figurative reset button, we had fallen horribly behind in our recording. Meanwhile, John had a overlapping commitment to produce Little River Band in Australia. By that time I guess he felt reasonably confident that with Grupp running the board and us getting into the flow of making the record, he could give us our wings. It was a huge vote of confidence, and off he flew to the land down under. But here is the amazing part..
John had been charged by Epic to be part of our production team, and be compensated accordingly. We understood there was a pie to be split up fairly among Gary, our drummer Alan Gratzer, John, and myself. Okay, the amazing part...
When John told me he had to leave for Australia, and that he trusted us to take charge, he also told me that he was giving us his production points...yes, you heard me right. John Boylan voluntarily gave us back his production points! 'You Can Tuna Piano, But You Can't Tune A Fish' went on to sell four million plus world wide and still counting, so those points have added up to some pretty groovy mailbox money.
Do any of you know anyone who on their own gives up points on a record which they spent months of their life involved in? To this day I know of only one...John Boylan.
I recently heard that John is healthy, nurturing young artists, and making new music...as it should be. My warmest, fuzziest thoughts go out through cyberspace and hopefully reach you John. Please say hi to our mad genius friend The Grupper, and thank you for all you have taught me.
Kevin Cronin, REO Speedwagon
PS. The songs from the Tuna Album continue to be "lighter/iPhone in the air" moments of every REO show, so you and Grupp are with us in spirit every night.
PPS. Yo Bob, I appreciated the straight shooting in your recent blog in the wake of my friend Gary Richrath's passing. I am totally cool with fair criticism balanced with credit where it is due. Keep telling it like it is bro.
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I love John Boylan.
His blog about the recording of "Roll With The Changes" and our 'Tuna Fish' album, and the genius of Paul Grupp, and the enduring support of Epic Records during those golden years of the music industry, and his complimentary comments about the REO band members were all cool, but he left out a huge part of the story: John Boylan.
He didn't mention the meeting that Gary Richrath and I had with him and some other Epic Brass up at the Black Rock in early 1978. Gary and I came in strong on the heels of our first gold album, 'Live, You Get What You Play For', and demanded, or begged depending on your outlook, that we self produce our next studio album. We felt we had the songs, and we didn't want to take any chances that an another outside producer would fail to understand us.
To our surprise Ron Alexemburg, the president of Epic at the time, actually said yes...with one condition: A member of the Epic A&R staff would sit in with us and make sure that with the inmates running the asylum things would stay relatively sane. We knew of John Boylan's artist friendly reputation and were big time hoping he was our guy.
After three weeks of recording at Sound City I was not thrilled with what I was hearing and felt like we needed to scrap those masters and go back to SIR for more rehearsal. This was a crazy fucking idea. Our first shot at producing and we are totally blowing it. This could not possibly be happening.
That is when I started to really get to know John Boylan. He had been sitting quietly in the control room, reading, watching, listening, observing our process, answering our occasional questions, and getting to know us. When I got up the nerve to share my doubts about the tracks I totally expected Boylan to tell me I was out of my mind. But instead something strange and wonderful happened...
John Boylan understood me. He saw my passion and devotion to those songs and he got how important it was to me that we get it right. It was do or die time, and his advice was a resounding: Do. That support emboldened me. It changed me forever. Up until then I had been developing a sense of faith in my instincts, but in that moment I locked into a firm trust in my gut and in letting the songs be my guide. Everything I have done musically since that day has been in total service of The Song. For me, that is the secret to producing records, and I learned it from John Boylan.
There is a post script/fairy tale ending to this story which adds to John's oxymoronic status as a legendary music business good guy. I feel compelled to share it...
A few months into our sessions at Sound City, John ran into a scheduling issue. Since pressing the figurative reset button, we had fallen horribly behind in our recording. Meanwhile, John had a overlapping commitment to produce Little River Band in Australia. By that time I guess he felt reasonably confident that with Grupp running the board and us getting into the flow of making the record, he could give us our wings. It was a huge vote of confidence, and off he flew to the land down under. But here is the amazing part..
John had been charged by Epic to be part of our production team, and be compensated accordingly. We understood there was a pie to be split up fairly among Gary, our drummer Alan Gratzer, John, and myself. Okay, the amazing part...
When John told me he had to leave for Australia, and that he trusted us to take charge, he also told me that he was giving us his production points...yes, you heard me right. John Boylan voluntarily gave us back his production points! 'You Can Tuna Piano, But You Can't Tune A Fish' went on to sell four million plus world wide and still counting, so those points have added up to some pretty groovy mailbox money.
Do any of you know anyone who on their own gives up points on a record which they spent months of their life involved in? To this day I know of only one...John Boylan.
I recently heard that John is healthy, nurturing young artists, and making new music...as it should be. My warmest, fuzziest thoughts go out through cyberspace and hopefully reach you John. Please say hi to our mad genius friend The Grupper, and thank you for all you have taught me.
Kevin Cronin, REO Speedwagon
PS. The songs from the Tuna Album continue to be "lighter/iPhone in the air" moments of every REO show, so you and Grupp are with us in spirit every night.
PPS. Yo Bob, I appreciated the straight shooting in your recent blog in the wake of my friend Gary Richrath's passing. I am totally cool with fair criticism balanced with credit where it is due. Keep telling it like it is bro.
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Tuesday 6 October 2015
The Bill Graham Exhibit
http://www.skirball.org/exhibitions/bill-graham-and-rock-roll-revolution
Music was our tech.
The only difference was the older generation pooh-poohed it, our parents were not our friends, and you had to leave your house to experience it. But over the course of a decade the entire younger generation was infected by the sounds made by a bunch of renegade players who weren't interested in getting rich so much as making a statement, living life as opposed to checking off boxes in some life equivalency test.
I almost didn't go. Not because I didn't want to, but because I didn't get around to it. The above exhibit closes this weekend, go if you can, if you're not in L.A. it'll come near you eventually, I think.
Not that it's about what you see so much as what you feel.
The sixties were fifty years ago. And walking through the exhibit it feels like it. A strange time in a faraway place...wait, it happened right here! On the Sunset Strip and up north in the Haight. Back when California was the epicenter of everything new and different, the Golden State was where limits were tested and culture was developed. Actually, it still is. Taxes might be high, but the economy is humming. The Texas Miracle has been revealed to be a sham, Florida is the home of crazies and revelers, and in California the bleeding edge is being explored. Not only in Silicon Valley, but Silicon Beach. California is where you come to make a difference. In D.C. you kowtow to the powers that be and do what's expedient, in California you ignore the rules as you invent a new game, it's not only the ancestral home of Steve Jobs, but the adopted home of Elon Musk.
But it's different. The exhibit blames Reagan, the legitimization of greed and the cutback of cash for social programs, the Gipper ripped apart the social fabric of our nation and we're still paying the price. Clinton may have erased the national debt, but income equality soared. But when the Fillmore East ruled tickets were three, four and five dollars.
The Fillmore East. They had one of the green football jerseys the staff wore. I've neither seen one nor thought of one in...half a century!
Some of the artifacts are positively mind-blowing.
They've got Bill's watch, you know, the one with two faces, for east coast and west coast time. It's legendary, but I've never even seen a picture of it, and here it is!
Grace Slick's Woodstock dress. It's not threadbare, but it's aged. It seems an ancient relic.
Kind of like Janis Joplin's stage outfit. Up close and personal not exotic, but from a distance... This was back when things were handmade and looked like it. When electric windows in automobiles were rare and broke, when you could still work on your own car, when there was a business in repair, before the replacement society took hold.
And Duane Allman's guitar from "Fillmore East."
And Pete Townshend's Gibson from the Metropolitan Opera House. It's just staggering, you've seen all the pictures...AND THERE IT IS!
The exhibit starts with history, like a typical museum, ancient stories told in black and white, Bill emigrating from Europe and ending up in America. Becoming infatuated with Latin dance, working in the Catskills. Talk about something else that's history, Grossinger's ruled, now it's been completely forgotten.
And then artifacts from the Mime Troupe era and...
The Mime Troupe. Kinda like the Occupy movement, but with an edge. Protest, questioning authority, they were de rigueur in the sixties. Today we argue over politically correct speech, worried about triggering bad thoughts of college students, all of us bending the rules so we can take our support animals on the plane. But back then we weren't out for ourselves, but EVERYBODY! And we tackled the big issues, racial inequality, war... Today everybody's supposed to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and no one can question the direction of the government...USA, USA!
And you see pics of the Charlatans and the Warlocks. I recognized Dan Hicks, you probably don't know who he is. But with his Hot Licks on Blue Thumb Records he cut a track entitled "I Scare Myself" with a violin solo by Sid Page that was transcendent. And then... There was nothing. I ran into Dan twenty years back, he was still good, but his dreams of returning to even greater success were dashed. You see it was a moment of opportunity, that was seized by outsiders, true artists, who looked at the world a different way. Today artists have been overrun by wannabes, believing their desire is enough for success, ain't that a laugh.
And there's the document declaring 1967 the "Summer of Love." I didn't even know it existed! For decades most people thought the Summer of Love was '68, after the assassinations, when most people knew who these bands were. But the truth is San Francisco was on the cutting edge and there was no internet to amplify the message, it took a long time for word to spread.
And then...
It was all about going to the show. Sure, you wanted to hang with the throng, but even more you wanted to connect with the music. The musicians were gods, who emanated seemingly from nowhere, who we followed to...Monterey, Woodstock and beyond. The last place you wanted to be was home, inside. Today, that's where all the action is. We commune online, used to be in person. And there was a lot of wasted time, and there was no delusion that everyone could be a leader, only the anointed few. But we wanted to participate, we joined the movement...against the war, instructed by music and those who played it.
Music was the culture.
It's not the culture today.
Grace Slick is a grandmother. She's got white hair and hasn't performed in eons. She's been replaced by two-dimensional queens whose sole desire is to be admired and become wealthy. Whereas Ms. Slick couldn't stop being a spanner in the works, making trouble. As for her band...Graham was pissed that whenever they got some cash they wanted to stay home and smoke dope, work went out the window.
And Pigpen was still alive, but if you weren't from San Francisco you had no idea who Ron McKernan was. The Deadhead phenomenon didn't arrive until the seventies. When the Fillmores were closed and rock went on a giant victory lap that lasted decades.
But now it's done.
We've got the trappings, but none of the soul.
And those times are not coming back.
But the truth is only the baby boomers lived through it. Young 'uns have no idea that festivals were a new thing, and security was so bad they all ended up being free, FOR YEARS!
We knew not only the tunes, but the players and the equipment. I saw a Kustom cabinet on stage.
And in the process, we lost not only Bill, but Janis, Jimi, Tim Buckley and so many more. Drugs were killers, but old age has taken so many more. Buddy Miles, John Cipollina, Scott McKenzie...
Dust in the wind.
There are so many things I like about 2015. I'm never bored and never lonely. And I endured extreme angst and aloneness for decades. The only time I felt connected was when I was at the gig with my tribe. We were all mesmerized by the musicians and the music.
Bill Graham facilitated that.
The way Andy Grove facilitated the computer revolution with Intel.
But chips are machines.
And rock depended on machines to make its point, but the truth is it emanated from human beings, imperfect, with ranging thoughts. We lionize Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos but they've got no soul. We're the heart of America, but we've punted, forgone all of our power, so busy paying fealty to the device and app makers.
It was a moment in time. We were all so young. Everybody went to the show the way everybody owns a smartphone. The introduction of the new iPhone is nothing compared to the release of a new Beatles album. Radio told us it was coming out, we bought it and spun it for months, everywhere, you could hear the sound coming out of windows across this great country of ours.
And if you went to San Francisco you put some flowers in your hair. You threw off convention and let the music flow through your brain. You set your mind free.
In the Golden State.
It all happened here.
Will it happen again?
If so, look for it to begin where you're so many time zones behind you can barely communicate with outsiders, where the populace is a rainbow of colors and we accept people of different ethnicities just like we embraced Carlos Santana. When he and his music were still dangerous.
I know so much of this stuff. I went to the Fillmore East, mere months after it opened, even though it seemed like years back then. I bought more albums than anybody I knew, the music saved my life.
But I'm stunned at what a long strange trip it's been.
And how far behind the past really is.
When record execs were faceless and sold the music as opposed to created it.
When radio was the tribal drum and the deejays were on our side.
When seemingly every week my generation was starting something new and testing limits.
When life was about opportunity.
When we gave without worrying so much about receiving.
When we all bought guitars so we could play along.
When we defeated a President, Johnson didn't run again and we thought we'd won.
What happened?
I'm still pondering it.
But one thing I know for sure...I WAS THERE!
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Music was our tech.
The only difference was the older generation pooh-poohed it, our parents were not our friends, and you had to leave your house to experience it. But over the course of a decade the entire younger generation was infected by the sounds made by a bunch of renegade players who weren't interested in getting rich so much as making a statement, living life as opposed to checking off boxes in some life equivalency test.
I almost didn't go. Not because I didn't want to, but because I didn't get around to it. The above exhibit closes this weekend, go if you can, if you're not in L.A. it'll come near you eventually, I think.
Not that it's about what you see so much as what you feel.
The sixties were fifty years ago. And walking through the exhibit it feels like it. A strange time in a faraway place...wait, it happened right here! On the Sunset Strip and up north in the Haight. Back when California was the epicenter of everything new and different, the Golden State was where limits were tested and culture was developed. Actually, it still is. Taxes might be high, but the economy is humming. The Texas Miracle has been revealed to be a sham, Florida is the home of crazies and revelers, and in California the bleeding edge is being explored. Not only in Silicon Valley, but Silicon Beach. California is where you come to make a difference. In D.C. you kowtow to the powers that be and do what's expedient, in California you ignore the rules as you invent a new game, it's not only the ancestral home of Steve Jobs, but the adopted home of Elon Musk.
But it's different. The exhibit blames Reagan, the legitimization of greed and the cutback of cash for social programs, the Gipper ripped apart the social fabric of our nation and we're still paying the price. Clinton may have erased the national debt, but income equality soared. But when the Fillmore East ruled tickets were three, four and five dollars.
The Fillmore East. They had one of the green football jerseys the staff wore. I've neither seen one nor thought of one in...half a century!
Some of the artifacts are positively mind-blowing.
They've got Bill's watch, you know, the one with two faces, for east coast and west coast time. It's legendary, but I've never even seen a picture of it, and here it is!
Grace Slick's Woodstock dress. It's not threadbare, but it's aged. It seems an ancient relic.
Kind of like Janis Joplin's stage outfit. Up close and personal not exotic, but from a distance... This was back when things were handmade and looked like it. When electric windows in automobiles were rare and broke, when you could still work on your own car, when there was a business in repair, before the replacement society took hold.
And Duane Allman's guitar from "Fillmore East."
And Pete Townshend's Gibson from the Metropolitan Opera House. It's just staggering, you've seen all the pictures...AND THERE IT IS!
The exhibit starts with history, like a typical museum, ancient stories told in black and white, Bill emigrating from Europe and ending up in America. Becoming infatuated with Latin dance, working in the Catskills. Talk about something else that's history, Grossinger's ruled, now it's been completely forgotten.
And then artifacts from the Mime Troupe era and...
The Mime Troupe. Kinda like the Occupy movement, but with an edge. Protest, questioning authority, they were de rigueur in the sixties. Today we argue over politically correct speech, worried about triggering bad thoughts of college students, all of us bending the rules so we can take our support animals on the plane. But back then we weren't out for ourselves, but EVERYBODY! And we tackled the big issues, racial inequality, war... Today everybody's supposed to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and no one can question the direction of the government...USA, USA!
And you see pics of the Charlatans and the Warlocks. I recognized Dan Hicks, you probably don't know who he is. But with his Hot Licks on Blue Thumb Records he cut a track entitled "I Scare Myself" with a violin solo by Sid Page that was transcendent. And then... There was nothing. I ran into Dan twenty years back, he was still good, but his dreams of returning to even greater success were dashed. You see it was a moment of opportunity, that was seized by outsiders, true artists, who looked at the world a different way. Today artists have been overrun by wannabes, believing their desire is enough for success, ain't that a laugh.
And there's the document declaring 1967 the "Summer of Love." I didn't even know it existed! For decades most people thought the Summer of Love was '68, after the assassinations, when most people knew who these bands were. But the truth is San Francisco was on the cutting edge and there was no internet to amplify the message, it took a long time for word to spread.
And then...
It was all about going to the show. Sure, you wanted to hang with the throng, but even more you wanted to connect with the music. The musicians were gods, who emanated seemingly from nowhere, who we followed to...Monterey, Woodstock and beyond. The last place you wanted to be was home, inside. Today, that's where all the action is. We commune online, used to be in person. And there was a lot of wasted time, and there was no delusion that everyone could be a leader, only the anointed few. But we wanted to participate, we joined the movement...against the war, instructed by music and those who played it.
Music was the culture.
It's not the culture today.
Grace Slick is a grandmother. She's got white hair and hasn't performed in eons. She's been replaced by two-dimensional queens whose sole desire is to be admired and become wealthy. Whereas Ms. Slick couldn't stop being a spanner in the works, making trouble. As for her band...Graham was pissed that whenever they got some cash they wanted to stay home and smoke dope, work went out the window.
And Pigpen was still alive, but if you weren't from San Francisco you had no idea who Ron McKernan was. The Deadhead phenomenon didn't arrive until the seventies. When the Fillmores were closed and rock went on a giant victory lap that lasted decades.
But now it's done.
We've got the trappings, but none of the soul.
And those times are not coming back.
But the truth is only the baby boomers lived through it. Young 'uns have no idea that festivals were a new thing, and security was so bad they all ended up being free, FOR YEARS!
We knew not only the tunes, but the players and the equipment. I saw a Kustom cabinet on stage.
And in the process, we lost not only Bill, but Janis, Jimi, Tim Buckley and so many more. Drugs were killers, but old age has taken so many more. Buddy Miles, John Cipollina, Scott McKenzie...
Dust in the wind.
There are so many things I like about 2015. I'm never bored and never lonely. And I endured extreme angst and aloneness for decades. The only time I felt connected was when I was at the gig with my tribe. We were all mesmerized by the musicians and the music.
Bill Graham facilitated that.
The way Andy Grove facilitated the computer revolution with Intel.
But chips are machines.
And rock depended on machines to make its point, but the truth is it emanated from human beings, imperfect, with ranging thoughts. We lionize Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos but they've got no soul. We're the heart of America, but we've punted, forgone all of our power, so busy paying fealty to the device and app makers.
It was a moment in time. We were all so young. Everybody went to the show the way everybody owns a smartphone. The introduction of the new iPhone is nothing compared to the release of a new Beatles album. Radio told us it was coming out, we bought it and spun it for months, everywhere, you could hear the sound coming out of windows across this great country of ours.
And if you went to San Francisco you put some flowers in your hair. You threw off convention and let the music flow through your brain. You set your mind free.
In the Golden State.
It all happened here.
Will it happen again?
If so, look for it to begin where you're so many time zones behind you can barely communicate with outsiders, where the populace is a rainbow of colors and we accept people of different ethnicities just like we embraced Carlos Santana. When he and his music were still dangerous.
I know so much of this stuff. I went to the Fillmore East, mere months after it opened, even though it seemed like years back then. I bought more albums than anybody I knew, the music saved my life.
But I'm stunned at what a long strange trip it's been.
And how far behind the past really is.
When record execs were faceless and sold the music as opposed to created it.
When radio was the tribal drum and the deejays were on our side.
When seemingly every week my generation was starting something new and testing limits.
When life was about opportunity.
When we gave without worrying so much about receiving.
When we all bought guitars so we could play along.
When we defeated a President, Johnson didn't run again and we thought we'd won.
What happened?
I'm still pondering it.
But one thing I know for sure...I WAS THERE!
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Monday 5 October 2015
Re-Loggins & Messina & more
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
Yea, it was nice being there to have a footprint in the success of many bands of that day!
Richie Furay
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
Hey Bob,
Nice to see some love for Loggins and Messina..!
As you mentioned, L+M came up in that amazing, golden era of FM Radio, that defied categories..and allowed brilliant 7-plus minute tracks onto their playlists..Kenny and Jim really did bring out the best in each other as musicians and writers..Appreciated you pointing out their brilliant band, as well..NGDB were fortunate to have Merle Bregante and Al Garth with us for a time in the late 70's..Terrific guys, and musicians..
We're proud to have cut some of Kenny's tunes, early on.."House At Pooh Corner", "Yukon Railroad", and "Prodigal's Return", all appeared on our "Uncle Charlie" LP..
And Jimmy was a friend from the Springfield/Poco days.
Pretty much blew our minds when we heard them together..
Great period in music..
Cheers,
Jeff Hanna
______________________________________
Subject: RE: Rhinofy-Sittin' In
A top 10 all time album for me. We had Kenny play here in Charleston back in March and he told this story about Winnie the Pooh. Fate is a beautiful thing.
... I wrote this song about Winnie the Pooh, but I was 17, and I didn't really have any awareness that I wasn't allowed to write a song about Winnie the Pooh, and that there were people who owned that copyright. In those days, as a songwriter, you'd go around to different parties, much like what's happening here in Nashville where you have writers in the round. Different songwriters would show up at parties, and we'd all take turns showing whatever we'd written that week. The parties kept me writing, so that I'd have something new to play at the next party. At this one party that I went to, there were a couple of guys from a band called the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They were an up-and-coming act, and they loved that song. They said, "We're looking for songs for our album. We want to record that."
I was really excited, and I'd never had a song recorded. About a month later, I got a phone call from John McEuen, who at the time seemed to be the leader of the Dirt Band. He says, "Kenny, I'm really sorry, but we won't be able to record that song. We've been inundated with phone calls from Disney lawyers for the last few weeks, telling us that we're not allowed to record a song about Winnie the Pooh."
I was going on a date that night, and I mentioned to my girlfriend, "I'm kinda bummed tonight because I thought I had my first song recorded, and it's not gonna happen. The Disney lawyers put the kibosh on it." She looked at me and says, "Disney lawyers? Let me to talk to Daddy about that." I did not know that I was dating the daughter of the CEO of the Disney corporation.
http://tnne.ws/1jaefk0
Steve Harry
______________________________________
Re: Rhinofy-Sittin' In
Hey Bob, Been waiting for you to get around to an artist/album I could really relate to. I was first tour manager for Loggins & Messina, wonderful memories of a great band with some of the best musicians. BTW Listen to a Country Song was covered by Lynn Anderson and went to #2 on the country charts. I was particularly pleased as I was in the late great Steve Popovich's office 13th flr. Black Bart with Steve & Al Gallico late one evening. Al asked Steve for a song suggestion for Lynn and Steve pointed to me. Prior to tour managing was was pitching songs for the publishing wing of Shiffman & Larson mgmt company. Thanks for recognizing one of the best rock n roll bands of the early 70's. Jimmy, Kenny,Al, Jon, Larry and Merel. All have hit track records before and after L&M.
Johnny Palazzotto
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
Bob, Great you are giving Jimmy, Kenny and the band this recognition. I saw thousand of guys and girls loving L&M back in the early 70's. One last note, Kenny, Jimmy and I went to the Whisky just before the first tour started to see Yes, we all agreed the Whisky wouldn't be one of the first venues L&M would play. IN the conversation I said to Kenny, "You don't do anything Mellow at the Whiskey, Johnny says You best take my advice" Kenny wrote this line speaking about Danny's Song probably not going over well amongst the Whisky crowd.
Thanks for the memories, Johnny Palazzotto
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
I recall "Kenny Loggins Band with Jim Messina" playing with The Allman Brothers Band at Hollywood Bowl in 1972. Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan were the openers. I show the program in my new ABB memorabilia book.
Willie Perkins
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
As a young guitar player in a few bands, I was told I was pretty good. Then when I saw Jimmy play without a pick I knew sucked. I went home and put all the picks in a drawer and never opened it up again. I practiced and tried hard to reach a style that emulated my pickless hero.
40 years later people again tell me I'm pretty good, but nothing compared to Mr. Messina. Thanks for that trip!
Will Eggleston
______________________________________
From: Jerry Greenberg
Subject: great jerry w story
Jerry was the promoter for all the Led Zep shows. There in LA and
a knock on Jerrys door at 2am from Bonzo, Zep's drummer who wants a limo to go downtown. At 10 am he's back and the limo guy makes Jerry come down and
look at the car. Bonzo wrecked the inside and says what are you going to do about it? Jerrys asked how much did you pay for the car. He said 18 thousand. Jerry goes back in hotel and comes out with 18k cash. Gives to the limo driver and says "Now It's My Car."
That's who Jerry Was
One of Many
JG
______________________________________
From: Mike Levin
Subject: Jerry Weintraub
Loved your letter about Jerry. One of the best things I have read about him since he passed.
I worked with Jerry on the Chabad Telethon from 2003-07. I produced the show, he was the Chairman of it. He could be tough but always fair. And he cared.
When people would ask about him, what he was like, I used to say that Jerry would give you shit to your face and say great things about you behind your back. I was constantly surprised at the compliments Jerry paid me to others. He wasn't always nice but he was ultimately very kind.
I had a falling out with the Rabbis following the 2007 telethon broadcast. Jerry was very close with Rabbi Cunin and I was not sure if he would take my call. Of course he did. And he always returned calls within 24 hours. He was loyal and he taught me to be the same.
Be well,
Mike
______________________________________
From: John Boylan
Subject: RE: Rhinofy-Roll With The Changes
Hi Bob,
"Roll With the Changes" was on REO's breakthrough studio album, "You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish." Some background: the album was recorded mostly at the legendary Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, engineered and co-produced by my longtime friend and frequent collaborator, Paul Grupp. "PG," as we called him, was a superior engineer noted for scrupulous attention to detail, and he should get lots of kudos for the sound of the record. Paul is still active today despite three bouts of cancer, all of which he beat with the same tenacity he brought to his studio work.
REO was a classic rock band, working their asses off on the road, building a fan base, and constantly improving their art and their craft. The combination of Kevin's writing, singing, and leadership, together with Gary's guitar and the masterful playing of Neal, Bruce, and Alan was one of those happy combinations that added up to wonderful rock and roll experience - blue-collar, Midwestern music at its best.
The REO story could never happen today. I was in the A&R Department at Epic Records during this time, and we nurtured this band through several albums before they finally broke through. No current record company would keep the faith for anywhere near that long, and that is the real tragedy of the 21st century music industry (or what's left of it).
Best,
John Boylan
______________________________________
From: Meribeth Fuqua
Subject: RE: Yogi Berra
Hi Bob:
I love this!
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Yogi when I worked for the Houston Astros. I was getting him coffee one day and asked if he wanted creamer in his coffee, he asked if we had any real milk. When I told him we didn't use milk because it soured too quickly, he responded with "you have to buy the ones with the expiration dates on them."
We all have such fond memories of him.
______________________________________
From: John Brodey
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Hitch A Ride
Thanks for the Boston testimonial. If you were on the radio in Boston when that song hit; it was a phenomenon. Radio access was a lot easier in those days. There were no barriers, we were embedded in the music community and in Boston there was some pretty great music. We knew the bands, they were our friends. Jonathan Richmond played on the station (BCN) softball team in the early days of the Modern Lovers. We played the Sidewinders (Billy Squier's band) with no thought as to whether a band was signed or not. We knew we were lucky and we played those demos like we did regular releases.
But I'll never forget the day 'More Than a Feeling' walked through the door and it weren't no demo, this was perfection. Paul Ahern was their cornerman/manager and he walked right in with a reel to reel of the track we carted it up immediately. I'm sorry but 'More Than A Feeling' just blew our minds. Unlike a lot of other really good stuff, it lit up the phones. People couldn't get enough. We all had to struggle with the risk of burning it out. Needless to say, Lennie Petze the local Columbia promo guy figured it out first, took it to his bosses in NY and got an A'nR gig out of it. Hitch a Ride is damn good as is Long Time etc. but 'More.." is iconic. It is one of the best rock songs of all time. Hard for me to get past that.
______________________________________
From: BERTON AVERRE
Subject: Re: Heathrow
I believe the reason the security works more efficiently in these other countries is, being less allergic to the idea of central government, they allocate the proper funds to pay the proper amount of skilled workers a proper salary. The federal government here has to squeeze every penny, and so we have three underpaid, underprepared workers doing the job of five skilled ones.
Back in '08 I was in Australia, and the Sydney airport was a stunning model of efficiency. We left our downtown hotel, walked across the street to Hyde Park, got on the tube, which dumped us out inside the airport terminal. Qantas had 12 check-in desks, open-floor plan. You passed through them and walked directly up to the X-ray. I was putting my shoes back on, after having gotten through the security checkpoint, literally 45 minutes after we'd walked out the door of the downtown Sheraton.
A bit later we were strolling through the shopping zone, and a bit of construction was going on in one bank of shops. They had the "pardon my dust" sign, apologizing and referring to the improvements as "your 800,000,000 dollars at work." So, a mere 8 years after the enormous makeover their airport got for the Olympics, they were spending close to another billion on improvements.
That's the kind of thing other countries do. Thank you, GOP. Thank you, Fox News.
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
Hi Bob....
I just want people to know a bit of the genius you glossed over to start your article and add some clarifications and info on the "Sittin' In Rinofy" and Jimmy Messina blog.....
Jimmy wasn't a "secondary character in a troubled band" when he was a "musician" with Buffalo Springfield. He was however the bands recording engineer and Producer- and in his own words - "I began working with Buffalo Springfield around 1966 as a recording engineer on the second album entitled "Buffalo Springfield Again." In 1967, I started on the third album entitled "Last Time Around" as an engineer. During the course of the production, I was asked by Ahmet Ertegun (Atlantic Records) and the group to produce the band. Shortly thereafter, I replaced Bruce Palmer, the bass player. I toured and recorded with the band up until completion and release of the record."
Jimmy wasn't in it for the "attention". He just happened to be the guy around the Buffalo Springfield camp that knew the Bass parts after toiling countless hours with those warring egotistical and troubled kooks in the studio.
As for Poco - "then he was in Poco"? How about - Then Jimmy and Richie Furay founded Poco and didn't have a hit single due to EVERY radio station in the country telling them they were either "too country for rock or too rock for country"! And they damn near went to every radio station personally to push the record. It's not that it didn't have a hit. Radio just didn't want to play it. Radio was petrified of offending listeners with this new California "Country/Rock". Jimmy was one of the inventors of this new genre bringing his Texas Telecaster twang to the beach. The Gods in the Eagles owe their entire careers to Jimmy and Richie......
Because of his professionalism and meticulous recordings, he was then offered a producing contract with his choice of Artists to work for. At that time Jimmy was THE hotshot producer honing his recording chops as the uncredited Assistant Engineer on countless albums and recordings by bands such as the Doors, Hendrix and an unknown little Canadian girl that David Crosby dragged Jimmy into the studio to secretly record her demo late in the evening ( yes, those tapes still exist ). Dan Fogelberg was one of the "new" Artists Jimmy was offered but Jimmy said "no" because Danny wanted to make a "Poco record" and Jimmy wanted to do something new..... Until a tall,skinny,hairy, shoeless hippy - that didn't even have a guitar mind you - showed up at Jimmy's door to "audition" some tunes.... Jimmy made him tacos and loaned him a beat up Nylon string guitar - (Yes, it's still at Jimmy's house) and the first song out of the gate was "Danny's Song" and the rest was history and yes, those tapes
still exist as well! Jimmy hired and then rehearsed the entire "Kenny Loggins Band" for ONE FULL YEAR, eight hours a day, 5 days a week before they even hit the studio and or stage! The band was in the pocket the second they stepped into the studio and Jimmy brought the record in so far under budget that the suits lost their damn minds! A side note -the label insisted that the band be called "Messina and Loggins" but Jimmy wanted Kenny's name first. Jimmy still owns two old Fender DeLuxe amps that say Messina and Loggins and we have some old road cases still marked that way..... The only reason why Jimmy's name was added to the album was for sales. Jimmy's name recognition would help the album sell..... which it actually didn't... "Sittin' In" tanked until their next album "Full Sail" slammed the charts with the songs "Lahaina" and "Love Song". Only then did 'Sittin In" explode in sales.
I have been Jimmy's Guitar Tech, Personal Assistant, Tour Manager and friend for many decades now. He still plays his ass off and is the King of Guitar Tone, as well as drives his own Prevost coach and has a garage full of tools and welding gear that makes Bob Villa look like a beginner. He still has all his hearing and can pull a frequency out of any mix and tell you exactly what it is to this day. To this day his band is smoking good when he does the occasional shows.... But, above all - he is one of the kindest and nicest people you'll ever meet. It has been my honor to work with Jimmy, Richie Furay, Rusty Young, Paul Cotton, and tour as Kenny Loggins Guitar Tech for too many years to count. Jimmy Messina was/is a visionary and pioneer. He stopped his career to watch his son Julian (a genius recording engineer in his own right!) grow in to becoming a wonderful young man and to work on his ranch with his dumb-ass donkeys.... To me - the L&M hits were crap. "Mama Don't Dance" was a
literal filler that they thought would do nothing, but they would be doomed to sing the rest of their lives... But, its the deep cuts that are visionary and still carry to this day....Merel Bergante is still the greatest drummer I've ever toured with and Jon Clarke, Al Garth, and Larry Sims were the best of the best.
There is NOTHING I love better then to play a deep cut Loggins and Messina song for one of my new Artists and have them say - "Is this NEW?? These guys are amazing!!" Then after I tell them what they're listening to I ask - will your music still be relevant in 45 years? Just give "Same Ol' Wine" a listen and tell me its not relevant still. Thanks for letting me fill you in Bob. The endless hours I've spent with both Jimmy and Kenny have been rewarding, crazy, wonderful and endlessly frustrating, but Jimmy is the real deal..... and best of all, he is my good friend. And for that, I am grateful. Travel Safe.......
--
John Mooy
Tour Manager
Guitar Technician - FOH
Artist Relations
Montecito Ca.
______________________________________
Subject: RE: A Little More Loggins & Messina
Bob:
Great piece on Loggins & Messina...forgotten among the embarrassment of musical riches that the early 70's were. Your remark about the latter really struck me and pushed me to do some research...and holy crap...JUST the top 10 albums of '71:
Zeppelin IV (Zoso), Who's Next, What's Goin' On, Hunky Dory, Sticky Fingers, Blue, Imagine
Live at Filmore East, Tapestry, & Meddle.
...and then there were Aqualung, Every Picture Tells a Story, Electric Warrior, Pearl, The Yes Album, Madman Across the Water, Nilsson Schmilsson, Killer, Tupelo Honey, Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, and way down at 84, Don McLean's American Pie...
Yes, I went broke $3.50 at a time that year...
Ted Doyle
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Yea, it was nice being there to have a footprint in the success of many bands of that day!
Richie Furay
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
Hey Bob,
Nice to see some love for Loggins and Messina..!
As you mentioned, L+M came up in that amazing, golden era of FM Radio, that defied categories..and allowed brilliant 7-plus minute tracks onto their playlists..Kenny and Jim really did bring out the best in each other as musicians and writers..Appreciated you pointing out their brilliant band, as well..NGDB were fortunate to have Merle Bregante and Al Garth with us for a time in the late 70's..Terrific guys, and musicians..
We're proud to have cut some of Kenny's tunes, early on.."House At Pooh Corner", "Yukon Railroad", and "Prodigal's Return", all appeared on our "Uncle Charlie" LP..
And Jimmy was a friend from the Springfield/Poco days.
Pretty much blew our minds when we heard them together..
Great period in music..
Cheers,
Jeff Hanna
______________________________________
Subject: RE: Rhinofy-Sittin' In
A top 10 all time album for me. We had Kenny play here in Charleston back in March and he told this story about Winnie the Pooh. Fate is a beautiful thing.
... I wrote this song about Winnie the Pooh, but I was 17, and I didn't really have any awareness that I wasn't allowed to write a song about Winnie the Pooh, and that there were people who owned that copyright. In those days, as a songwriter, you'd go around to different parties, much like what's happening here in Nashville where you have writers in the round. Different songwriters would show up at parties, and we'd all take turns showing whatever we'd written that week. The parties kept me writing, so that I'd have something new to play at the next party. At this one party that I went to, there were a couple of guys from a band called the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They were an up-and-coming act, and they loved that song. They said, "We're looking for songs for our album. We want to record that."
I was really excited, and I'd never had a song recorded. About a month later, I got a phone call from John McEuen, who at the time seemed to be the leader of the Dirt Band. He says, "Kenny, I'm really sorry, but we won't be able to record that song. We've been inundated with phone calls from Disney lawyers for the last few weeks, telling us that we're not allowed to record a song about Winnie the Pooh."
I was going on a date that night, and I mentioned to my girlfriend, "I'm kinda bummed tonight because I thought I had my first song recorded, and it's not gonna happen. The Disney lawyers put the kibosh on it." She looked at me and says, "Disney lawyers? Let me to talk to Daddy about that." I did not know that I was dating the daughter of the CEO of the Disney corporation.
http://tnne.ws/1jaefk0
Steve Harry
______________________________________
Re: Rhinofy-Sittin' In
Hey Bob, Been waiting for you to get around to an artist/album I could really relate to. I was first tour manager for Loggins & Messina, wonderful memories of a great band with some of the best musicians. BTW Listen to a Country Song was covered by Lynn Anderson and went to #2 on the country charts. I was particularly pleased as I was in the late great Steve Popovich's office 13th flr. Black Bart with Steve & Al Gallico late one evening. Al asked Steve for a song suggestion for Lynn and Steve pointed to me. Prior to tour managing was was pitching songs for the publishing wing of Shiffman & Larson mgmt company. Thanks for recognizing one of the best rock n roll bands of the early 70's. Jimmy, Kenny,Al, Jon, Larry and Merel. All have hit track records before and after L&M.
Johnny Palazzotto
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
Bob, Great you are giving Jimmy, Kenny and the band this recognition. I saw thousand of guys and girls loving L&M back in the early 70's. One last note, Kenny, Jimmy and I went to the Whisky just before the first tour started to see Yes, we all agreed the Whisky wouldn't be one of the first venues L&M would play. IN the conversation I said to Kenny, "You don't do anything Mellow at the Whiskey, Johnny says You best take my advice" Kenny wrote this line speaking about Danny's Song probably not going over well amongst the Whisky crowd.
Thanks for the memories, Johnny Palazzotto
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
I recall "Kenny Loggins Band with Jim Messina" playing with The Allman Brothers Band at Hollywood Bowl in 1972. Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan were the openers. I show the program in my new ABB memorabilia book.
Willie Perkins
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
As a young guitar player in a few bands, I was told I was pretty good. Then when I saw Jimmy play without a pick I knew sucked. I went home and put all the picks in a drawer and never opened it up again. I practiced and tried hard to reach a style that emulated my pickless hero.
40 years later people again tell me I'm pretty good, but nothing compared to Mr. Messina. Thanks for that trip!
Will Eggleston
______________________________________
From: Jerry Greenberg
Subject: great jerry w story
Jerry was the promoter for all the Led Zep shows. There in LA and
a knock on Jerrys door at 2am from Bonzo, Zep's drummer who wants a limo to go downtown. At 10 am he's back and the limo guy makes Jerry come down and
look at the car. Bonzo wrecked the inside and says what are you going to do about it? Jerrys asked how much did you pay for the car. He said 18 thousand. Jerry goes back in hotel and comes out with 18k cash. Gives to the limo driver and says "Now It's My Car."
That's who Jerry Was
One of Many
JG
______________________________________
From: Mike Levin
Subject: Jerry Weintraub
Loved your letter about Jerry. One of the best things I have read about him since he passed.
I worked with Jerry on the Chabad Telethon from 2003-07. I produced the show, he was the Chairman of it. He could be tough but always fair. And he cared.
When people would ask about him, what he was like, I used to say that Jerry would give you shit to your face and say great things about you behind your back. I was constantly surprised at the compliments Jerry paid me to others. He wasn't always nice but he was ultimately very kind.
I had a falling out with the Rabbis following the 2007 telethon broadcast. Jerry was very close with Rabbi Cunin and I was not sure if he would take my call. Of course he did. And he always returned calls within 24 hours. He was loyal and he taught me to be the same.
Be well,
Mike
______________________________________
From: John Boylan
Subject: RE: Rhinofy-Roll With The Changes
Hi Bob,
"Roll With the Changes" was on REO's breakthrough studio album, "You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish." Some background: the album was recorded mostly at the legendary Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, engineered and co-produced by my longtime friend and frequent collaborator, Paul Grupp. "PG," as we called him, was a superior engineer noted for scrupulous attention to detail, and he should get lots of kudos for the sound of the record. Paul is still active today despite three bouts of cancer, all of which he beat with the same tenacity he brought to his studio work.
REO was a classic rock band, working their asses off on the road, building a fan base, and constantly improving their art and their craft. The combination of Kevin's writing, singing, and leadership, together with Gary's guitar and the masterful playing of Neal, Bruce, and Alan was one of those happy combinations that added up to wonderful rock and roll experience - blue-collar, Midwestern music at its best.
The REO story could never happen today. I was in the A&R Department at Epic Records during this time, and we nurtured this band through several albums before they finally broke through. No current record company would keep the faith for anywhere near that long, and that is the real tragedy of the 21st century music industry (or what's left of it).
Best,
John Boylan
______________________________________
From: Meribeth Fuqua
Subject: RE: Yogi Berra
Hi Bob:
I love this!
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Yogi when I worked for the Houston Astros. I was getting him coffee one day and asked if he wanted creamer in his coffee, he asked if we had any real milk. When I told him we didn't use milk because it soured too quickly, he responded with "you have to buy the ones with the expiration dates on them."
We all have such fond memories of him.
______________________________________
From: John Brodey
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Hitch A Ride
Thanks for the Boston testimonial. If you were on the radio in Boston when that song hit; it was a phenomenon. Radio access was a lot easier in those days. There were no barriers, we were embedded in the music community and in Boston there was some pretty great music. We knew the bands, they were our friends. Jonathan Richmond played on the station (BCN) softball team in the early days of the Modern Lovers. We played the Sidewinders (Billy Squier's band) with no thought as to whether a band was signed or not. We knew we were lucky and we played those demos like we did regular releases.
But I'll never forget the day 'More Than a Feeling' walked through the door and it weren't no demo, this was perfection. Paul Ahern was their cornerman/manager and he walked right in with a reel to reel of the track we carted it up immediately. I'm sorry but 'More Than A Feeling' just blew our minds. Unlike a lot of other really good stuff, it lit up the phones. People couldn't get enough. We all had to struggle with the risk of burning it out. Needless to say, Lennie Petze the local Columbia promo guy figured it out first, took it to his bosses in NY and got an A'nR gig out of it. Hitch a Ride is damn good as is Long Time etc. but 'More.." is iconic. It is one of the best rock songs of all time. Hard for me to get past that.
______________________________________
From: BERTON AVERRE
Subject: Re: Heathrow
I believe the reason the security works more efficiently in these other countries is, being less allergic to the idea of central government, they allocate the proper funds to pay the proper amount of skilled workers a proper salary. The federal government here has to squeeze every penny, and so we have three underpaid, underprepared workers doing the job of five skilled ones.
Back in '08 I was in Australia, and the Sydney airport was a stunning model of efficiency. We left our downtown hotel, walked across the street to Hyde Park, got on the tube, which dumped us out inside the airport terminal. Qantas had 12 check-in desks, open-floor plan. You passed through them and walked directly up to the X-ray. I was putting my shoes back on, after having gotten through the security checkpoint, literally 45 minutes after we'd walked out the door of the downtown Sheraton.
A bit later we were strolling through the shopping zone, and a bit of construction was going on in one bank of shops. They had the "pardon my dust" sign, apologizing and referring to the improvements as "your 800,000,000 dollars at work." So, a mere 8 years after the enormous makeover their airport got for the Olympics, they were spending close to another billion on improvements.
That's the kind of thing other countries do. Thank you, GOP. Thank you, Fox News.
______________________________________
Re: A Little More Loggins & Messina
Hi Bob....
I just want people to know a bit of the genius you glossed over to start your article and add some clarifications and info on the "Sittin' In Rinofy" and Jimmy Messina blog.....
Jimmy wasn't a "secondary character in a troubled band" when he was a "musician" with Buffalo Springfield. He was however the bands recording engineer and Producer- and in his own words - "I began working with Buffalo Springfield around 1966 as a recording engineer on the second album entitled "Buffalo Springfield Again." In 1967, I started on the third album entitled "Last Time Around" as an engineer. During the course of the production, I was asked by Ahmet Ertegun (Atlantic Records) and the group to produce the band. Shortly thereafter, I replaced Bruce Palmer, the bass player. I toured and recorded with the band up until completion and release of the record."
Jimmy wasn't in it for the "attention". He just happened to be the guy around the Buffalo Springfield camp that knew the Bass parts after toiling countless hours with those warring egotistical and troubled kooks in the studio.
As for Poco - "then he was in Poco"? How about - Then Jimmy and Richie Furay founded Poco and didn't have a hit single due to EVERY radio station in the country telling them they were either "too country for rock or too rock for country"! And they damn near went to every radio station personally to push the record. It's not that it didn't have a hit. Radio just didn't want to play it. Radio was petrified of offending listeners with this new California "Country/Rock". Jimmy was one of the inventors of this new genre bringing his Texas Telecaster twang to the beach. The Gods in the Eagles owe their entire careers to Jimmy and Richie......
Because of his professionalism and meticulous recordings, he was then offered a producing contract with his choice of Artists to work for. At that time Jimmy was THE hotshot producer honing his recording chops as the uncredited Assistant Engineer on countless albums and recordings by bands such as the Doors, Hendrix and an unknown little Canadian girl that David Crosby dragged Jimmy into the studio to secretly record her demo late in the evening ( yes, those tapes still exist ). Dan Fogelberg was one of the "new" Artists Jimmy was offered but Jimmy said "no" because Danny wanted to make a "Poco record" and Jimmy wanted to do something new..... Until a tall,skinny,hairy, shoeless hippy - that didn't even have a guitar mind you - showed up at Jimmy's door to "audition" some tunes.... Jimmy made him tacos and loaned him a beat up Nylon string guitar - (Yes, it's still at Jimmy's house) and the first song out of the gate was "Danny's Song" and the rest was history and yes, those tapes
still exist as well! Jimmy hired and then rehearsed the entire "Kenny Loggins Band" for ONE FULL YEAR, eight hours a day, 5 days a week before they even hit the studio and or stage! The band was in the pocket the second they stepped into the studio and Jimmy brought the record in so far under budget that the suits lost their damn minds! A side note -the label insisted that the band be called "Messina and Loggins" but Jimmy wanted Kenny's name first. Jimmy still owns two old Fender DeLuxe amps that say Messina and Loggins and we have some old road cases still marked that way..... The only reason why Jimmy's name was added to the album was for sales. Jimmy's name recognition would help the album sell..... which it actually didn't... "Sittin' In" tanked until their next album "Full Sail" slammed the charts with the songs "Lahaina" and "Love Song". Only then did 'Sittin In" explode in sales.
I have been Jimmy's Guitar Tech, Personal Assistant, Tour Manager and friend for many decades now. He still plays his ass off and is the King of Guitar Tone, as well as drives his own Prevost coach and has a garage full of tools and welding gear that makes Bob Villa look like a beginner. He still has all his hearing and can pull a frequency out of any mix and tell you exactly what it is to this day. To this day his band is smoking good when he does the occasional shows.... But, above all - he is one of the kindest and nicest people you'll ever meet. It has been my honor to work with Jimmy, Richie Furay, Rusty Young, Paul Cotton, and tour as Kenny Loggins Guitar Tech for too many years to count. Jimmy Messina was/is a visionary and pioneer. He stopped his career to watch his son Julian (a genius recording engineer in his own right!) grow in to becoming a wonderful young man and to work on his ranch with his dumb-ass donkeys.... To me - the L&M hits were crap. "Mama Don't Dance" was a
literal filler that they thought would do nothing, but they would be doomed to sing the rest of their lives... But, its the deep cuts that are visionary and still carry to this day....Merel Bergante is still the greatest drummer I've ever toured with and Jon Clarke, Al Garth, and Larry Sims were the best of the best.
There is NOTHING I love better then to play a deep cut Loggins and Messina song for one of my new Artists and have them say - "Is this NEW?? These guys are amazing!!" Then after I tell them what they're listening to I ask - will your music still be relevant in 45 years? Just give "Same Ol' Wine" a listen and tell me its not relevant still. Thanks for letting me fill you in Bob. The endless hours I've spent with both Jimmy and Kenny have been rewarding, crazy, wonderful and endlessly frustrating, but Jimmy is the real deal..... and best of all, he is my good friend. And for that, I am grateful. Travel Safe.......
--
John Mooy
Tour Manager
Guitar Technician - FOH
Artist Relations
Montecito Ca.
______________________________________
Subject: RE: A Little More Loggins & Messina
Bob:
Great piece on Loggins & Messina...forgotten among the embarrassment of musical riches that the early 70's were. Your remark about the latter really struck me and pushed me to do some research...and holy crap...JUST the top 10 albums of '71:
Zeppelin IV (Zoso), Who's Next, What's Goin' On, Hunky Dory, Sticky Fingers, Blue, Imagine
Live at Filmore East, Tapestry, & Meddle.
...and then there were Aqualung, Every Picture Tells a Story, Electric Warrior, Pearl, The Yes Album, Madman Across the Water, Nilsson Schmilsson, Killer, Tupelo Honey, Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, and way down at 84, Don McLean's American Pie...
Yes, I went broke $3.50 at a time that year...
Ted Doyle
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Bernie Sanders
Could this be the future of the music business?
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
Oldsters lament the disappearance of this. Wherein labels subsidized the creativity of musicians. The term has been bastardized in the twenty first century, "artist development" means jetting an act from nowhere to stardom over a short period of time, usually in one album cycle. But the artist development of yore was based on seeing something nascent in the act that could shine in the future. It wasn't about having a hit on the first record, employing songwriters for hire to ensure this, but laying down the essence of the act's vision on wax and then going on the road and trying to develop a fanbase, one which would spread the word. Sure, radio was an integral element, but prior to the corporatization, classification and codification of FM in the midseventies, with the resulting tight playlists, the goal was to infect the audience and have it spread the word. Fans would beget more fans, and when the johnny-come-latelies came on board there was a treasure trove of material for them
to digest, illustrating how the act had gotten from there to here. There just weren't hits, but different sounds, different producers, experiments, one felt one was invested in a living, breathing entity, it was rewarding.
AUTHENTICITY
Which is another way to say "credibility." Used to be fans believed in the acts, which is why "Rolling Stone" burgeoned, not only did we want to get closer, we wanted to know what our heroes had to say. Now we're back to a "16" magazine formula. Which is information with no depth. But the truth is we all need someone to believe in. Unfortunately, that role has been usurped today by corporations, people fight about Android versus iOS more passionately than they do about any acts. If you don't stand for anything, you've got no Velcro to hook people's loops with. You start outside and then drag the center to you. Which is what Bernie Sanders is doing. He's focusing on the issue of income inequality, something none of the other candidates wants anything to do with. Oh, they pay lip service to it, but the truth is they depend on the fat cats for cash, they're not about to undermine their game. But Bernie Sanders has raised nearly as much as Hillary Clinton in the last cycle, $26 to her
$28 million. And he's done it through small donations from individuals. Corporations are no match for the wrath of individuals, never forget that. Individuals ruined the record business. Individuals can turn on a company or a creator in an instant if you don't treat people right, the news is filled with rip-off enterprises. Whereas if you spread your base wide, you can't be hurt by a few defections, your house is built upon a solid foundation.
AUTHENTICITY II
Don't be afraid to tackle the tough issues and don't be afraid to state unpopular positions. Ed Sheeran, one of the biggest acts in the world, has gone on record again and again about the virtues of Spotify. He's winning while those bitching about streaming are losing. The public doesn't care that someone moved your cheese, that you can't make the money you used to in the old paradigm. The public is living in the new world. Which is why all the vinyl comeback stories are irrelevant, as well as the "Billboard" chart. That chart is incomprehensible. Weighted for sales and track equivalent albums and streaming... They print these statistics in the antiquated press and the consumers completely ignore them. Give me something I can understand, obfuscation is for wimps. You know, those afraid to stand up for what they believe is right because someone might get pissed. And the left is as guilty as the right, with all its trigger notices and other politically correct b.s. If you're trying to
please everybody, you're ultimately pleasing nobody.
THE INTERNET
Reddit is the epicenter of the Bernie Sanders fundraising campaign. I bet you few in Washington know what it is, and if they do they don't go there. And Reddit is all about community. That's one of the reasons Apple Music failed, because Jimmy Iovine's been living in the bubble so long he doesn't know how the internet works. There aren't fan playlists on Apple Music, there's no sharing. People want to own the campaign and they want to own music. (Not "own" as in CDs or MP3s, if you can't read and comprehend you're lost in the new economy. Sign up for an English course, it'll do you good.) Once you exclude people, you're dead. You've got to welcome them inside, you've got to play on their level. Information spreads slow and fast. Usually the fast stuff is evanescent, here today gone tomorrow train-wreck stuff. Everything worth owning, worth paying attention to, takes a long time to gain traction. Don't cry if the media is not paying attention, this is the same media focusing on Trump
and Biden, both of whom have no chance of winning, they do it so they can sell papers/advertising, they're on to another story tomorrow. Bernie Sanders gets little press because his story is not sexy, he too can't win but he's not a buffoon and he doesn't come from an exalted place and the only people who care are his supporters. But he's got supporters! Turns out for all his press Scott Walker did not! Proving, once again, not to believe the press, statistics are everything. Data rules. And the data illustrates that Bernie Sanders has a dedicated fanbase which is working for free and ponying up dollars. Never dismiss an army of millions.
AGE DOESN'T MATTER
Bernie is 74, and his campaign is being driven forward by those a third his age. In music we want malleable, the younger the better, easier to impress the target demo of teenagers, with money and desire. Age is just a number if you're still cooking, still open to change, if you still care. How is it that Bernie Sanders is relevant at his age while most of his contemporaries are retired? Yet, people still pay beaucoup bucks to see the musicians of his vintage, like the Stones and the slightly less old Eagles. They built upon the above formula. Instead of criticizing the internet, Don Henley should be embracing it, mobilizing fans instead of alienating them. His new music works, it's just his marketing message that's all screwed up. The internet may have ruined the record business but it's also its savior. Maybe Don should go on Reddit. Maybe he should depend upon his diehard fans to market him as opposed to the traditional media. And I focus on Don because he's still vital, he's
still testing limits, as opposed to those who are afraid to put out new music or employ the hitmaker and cowriter du jour. You dig your own grave. Or climb out of it and keep marching forward.
Income inequality is the story of our age. People are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Yet no one with any power is doing anything to address this issue. Supposedly taxes are anathema, the government can't shoot straight and socialism is death. But Bernie Sanders is a socialist and his message is resonating with so many? Instead of running from what the bullies say can't be done, maybe you should run towards it! Deliver what the people want as opposed to what the institutions say you should deliver.
Hillary Clinton will probably win. And that's fine with me, she's a professional, unlike the leading Republican bozos. To elect Trump or Fiorina or Carson would be like asking Mark Zuckerberg to produce the new Metallica record. Yup, since he's rich he must know best. Used to be professionalism meant something in music, you honed your craft and paid your dues and you got a shot at the big time. That didn't mean you won, it just meant you got a chance. But today's wannabes believe the crap fed to them by the leeches selling services and the oldsters who can no longer make a buck and we don't stop hearing how music is broken and you can't get rich.
Come on, music ain't broken at all, it's there for the taking.
Bernie Sanders ain't good looking, and he's a member of the tribe to boot! Gays can get married, we've got a black President, and just because nincompoops keep asking for Obama's birth certificate that does not take away from the fact that he was elected twice and still rules.
That's the power of the people.
And that's what we're talking about here. The people will support you. Gatekeepers' influence is greatly diminished. You've got to get your hands dirty and wade into the vast wilderness known as the internet to find out if your message resonates, and if it does you've got to build a tribe one by one, like guerilla warfare. Isn't that why the Viet Cong won, they had the hearts and minds?
Those rules still apply. It's war out there. Just ask Mike Ovitz. Who ruled until the game changed.
And the game has changed across America today. We're looking for heroes in a link-bait world where duplicity rules and everybody's out for a buck.
But there's plenty of money out there if you resonate, like I said, Bernie Sanders just raised $26 million.
But you've got to know how to ask for it.
The revolution will not be televised. It will be streamed on the internet. Everybody clamoring for a return to the past is toast. CDs are history as is manufacturing in America. But that does not mean people don't want music and jobs! You've just got to thread the needle in a new way.
The audience is ready, willing and able.
Give 'em everything you've got.
And if you're not in it for the long haul, if you're not willing to drip some blood on both the saddle and the tracks, we're not interested. We're looking for a few good lifers, who believe in themselves and are willing to play to their fans as opposed to the institutions.
Are you ready?
I am.
Bernie's $26 million - "Bernie Sanders's Campaign, Hitting Fund-Raising Milestone, Broadens Focus": http://nyti.ms/1M6C9n4
"Young Grape Picker Gives Sanders a Cash Boost - Tech-savvy 23-year-old's Reddit group helps Democratic presidential candidate raise $26 million": http://on.wsj.com/1LY8fFW
I want you to listen to these two tracks from Henley's latest LP. They're not singles and they're at the very end of the album so they've been effectively buried, but I point them out to anyone who believes old people can't make good music that resonates, especially with their core audience. In a world where everybody old seems to want to be young, Henley sings "I like where I am now." Older is happier, statistics state this, data rules...if you're paying attention. Furthermore, "Train In The Distance" reminisces about the past without getting smarmily nostalgic. It's got that album cut feel baby boomers treasure. And through the magic of the internet, you can sample these wares without paying for them. Isn't this better than keeping the music locked up like in the past? If you like it, you can spread the word. You can pay and get a higher quality stream and pick and choose the songs you want to play on your mobile. This is the new world, everything is different now:
http://spoti.fi/1OS82Gc
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ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
Oldsters lament the disappearance of this. Wherein labels subsidized the creativity of musicians. The term has been bastardized in the twenty first century, "artist development" means jetting an act from nowhere to stardom over a short period of time, usually in one album cycle. But the artist development of yore was based on seeing something nascent in the act that could shine in the future. It wasn't about having a hit on the first record, employing songwriters for hire to ensure this, but laying down the essence of the act's vision on wax and then going on the road and trying to develop a fanbase, one which would spread the word. Sure, radio was an integral element, but prior to the corporatization, classification and codification of FM in the midseventies, with the resulting tight playlists, the goal was to infect the audience and have it spread the word. Fans would beget more fans, and when the johnny-come-latelies came on board there was a treasure trove of material for them
to digest, illustrating how the act had gotten from there to here. There just weren't hits, but different sounds, different producers, experiments, one felt one was invested in a living, breathing entity, it was rewarding.
AUTHENTICITY
Which is another way to say "credibility." Used to be fans believed in the acts, which is why "Rolling Stone" burgeoned, not only did we want to get closer, we wanted to know what our heroes had to say. Now we're back to a "16" magazine formula. Which is information with no depth. But the truth is we all need someone to believe in. Unfortunately, that role has been usurped today by corporations, people fight about Android versus iOS more passionately than they do about any acts. If you don't stand for anything, you've got no Velcro to hook people's loops with. You start outside and then drag the center to you. Which is what Bernie Sanders is doing. He's focusing on the issue of income inequality, something none of the other candidates wants anything to do with. Oh, they pay lip service to it, but the truth is they depend on the fat cats for cash, they're not about to undermine their game. But Bernie Sanders has raised nearly as much as Hillary Clinton in the last cycle, $26 to her
$28 million. And he's done it through small donations from individuals. Corporations are no match for the wrath of individuals, never forget that. Individuals ruined the record business. Individuals can turn on a company or a creator in an instant if you don't treat people right, the news is filled with rip-off enterprises. Whereas if you spread your base wide, you can't be hurt by a few defections, your house is built upon a solid foundation.
AUTHENTICITY II
Don't be afraid to tackle the tough issues and don't be afraid to state unpopular positions. Ed Sheeran, one of the biggest acts in the world, has gone on record again and again about the virtues of Spotify. He's winning while those bitching about streaming are losing. The public doesn't care that someone moved your cheese, that you can't make the money you used to in the old paradigm. The public is living in the new world. Which is why all the vinyl comeback stories are irrelevant, as well as the "Billboard" chart. That chart is incomprehensible. Weighted for sales and track equivalent albums and streaming... They print these statistics in the antiquated press and the consumers completely ignore them. Give me something I can understand, obfuscation is for wimps. You know, those afraid to stand up for what they believe is right because someone might get pissed. And the left is as guilty as the right, with all its trigger notices and other politically correct b.s. If you're trying to
please everybody, you're ultimately pleasing nobody.
THE INTERNET
Reddit is the epicenter of the Bernie Sanders fundraising campaign. I bet you few in Washington know what it is, and if they do they don't go there. And Reddit is all about community. That's one of the reasons Apple Music failed, because Jimmy Iovine's been living in the bubble so long he doesn't know how the internet works. There aren't fan playlists on Apple Music, there's no sharing. People want to own the campaign and they want to own music. (Not "own" as in CDs or MP3s, if you can't read and comprehend you're lost in the new economy. Sign up for an English course, it'll do you good.) Once you exclude people, you're dead. You've got to welcome them inside, you've got to play on their level. Information spreads slow and fast. Usually the fast stuff is evanescent, here today gone tomorrow train-wreck stuff. Everything worth owning, worth paying attention to, takes a long time to gain traction. Don't cry if the media is not paying attention, this is the same media focusing on Trump
and Biden, both of whom have no chance of winning, they do it so they can sell papers/advertising, they're on to another story tomorrow. Bernie Sanders gets little press because his story is not sexy, he too can't win but he's not a buffoon and he doesn't come from an exalted place and the only people who care are his supporters. But he's got supporters! Turns out for all his press Scott Walker did not! Proving, once again, not to believe the press, statistics are everything. Data rules. And the data illustrates that Bernie Sanders has a dedicated fanbase which is working for free and ponying up dollars. Never dismiss an army of millions.
AGE DOESN'T MATTER
Bernie is 74, and his campaign is being driven forward by those a third his age. In music we want malleable, the younger the better, easier to impress the target demo of teenagers, with money and desire. Age is just a number if you're still cooking, still open to change, if you still care. How is it that Bernie Sanders is relevant at his age while most of his contemporaries are retired? Yet, people still pay beaucoup bucks to see the musicians of his vintage, like the Stones and the slightly less old Eagles. They built upon the above formula. Instead of criticizing the internet, Don Henley should be embracing it, mobilizing fans instead of alienating them. His new music works, it's just his marketing message that's all screwed up. The internet may have ruined the record business but it's also its savior. Maybe Don should go on Reddit. Maybe he should depend upon his diehard fans to market him as opposed to the traditional media. And I focus on Don because he's still vital, he's
still testing limits, as opposed to those who are afraid to put out new music or employ the hitmaker and cowriter du jour. You dig your own grave. Or climb out of it and keep marching forward.
Income inequality is the story of our age. People are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Yet no one with any power is doing anything to address this issue. Supposedly taxes are anathema, the government can't shoot straight and socialism is death. But Bernie Sanders is a socialist and his message is resonating with so many? Instead of running from what the bullies say can't be done, maybe you should run towards it! Deliver what the people want as opposed to what the institutions say you should deliver.
Hillary Clinton will probably win. And that's fine with me, she's a professional, unlike the leading Republican bozos. To elect Trump or Fiorina or Carson would be like asking Mark Zuckerberg to produce the new Metallica record. Yup, since he's rich he must know best. Used to be professionalism meant something in music, you honed your craft and paid your dues and you got a shot at the big time. That didn't mean you won, it just meant you got a chance. But today's wannabes believe the crap fed to them by the leeches selling services and the oldsters who can no longer make a buck and we don't stop hearing how music is broken and you can't get rich.
Come on, music ain't broken at all, it's there for the taking.
Bernie Sanders ain't good looking, and he's a member of the tribe to boot! Gays can get married, we've got a black President, and just because nincompoops keep asking for Obama's birth certificate that does not take away from the fact that he was elected twice and still rules.
That's the power of the people.
And that's what we're talking about here. The people will support you. Gatekeepers' influence is greatly diminished. You've got to get your hands dirty and wade into the vast wilderness known as the internet to find out if your message resonates, and if it does you've got to build a tribe one by one, like guerilla warfare. Isn't that why the Viet Cong won, they had the hearts and minds?
Those rules still apply. It's war out there. Just ask Mike Ovitz. Who ruled until the game changed.
And the game has changed across America today. We're looking for heroes in a link-bait world where duplicity rules and everybody's out for a buck.
But there's plenty of money out there if you resonate, like I said, Bernie Sanders just raised $26 million.
But you've got to know how to ask for it.
The revolution will not be televised. It will be streamed on the internet. Everybody clamoring for a return to the past is toast. CDs are history as is manufacturing in America. But that does not mean people don't want music and jobs! You've just got to thread the needle in a new way.
The audience is ready, willing and able.
Give 'em everything you've got.
And if you're not in it for the long haul, if you're not willing to drip some blood on both the saddle and the tracks, we're not interested. We're looking for a few good lifers, who believe in themselves and are willing to play to their fans as opposed to the institutions.
Are you ready?
I am.
Bernie's $26 million - "Bernie Sanders's Campaign, Hitting Fund-Raising Milestone, Broadens Focus": http://nyti.ms/1M6C9n4
"Young Grape Picker Gives Sanders a Cash Boost - Tech-savvy 23-year-old's Reddit group helps Democratic presidential candidate raise $26 million": http://on.wsj.com/1LY8fFW
I want you to listen to these two tracks from Henley's latest LP. They're not singles and they're at the very end of the album so they've been effectively buried, but I point them out to anyone who believes old people can't make good music that resonates, especially with their core audience. In a world where everybody old seems to want to be young, Henley sings "I like where I am now." Older is happier, statistics state this, data rules...if you're paying attention. Furthermore, "Train In The Distance" reminisces about the past without getting smarmily nostalgic. It's got that album cut feel baby boomers treasure. And through the magic of the internet, you can sample these wares without paying for them. Isn't this better than keeping the music locked up like in the past? If you like it, you can spread the word. You can pay and get a higher quality stream and pick and choose the songs you want to play on your mobile. This is the new world, everything is different now:
http://spoti.fi/1OS82Gc
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