Mailbag

Subject: Re: Steve Martin On Howard Stern

Bob: As you may not recall my then partner, Kenny Fritz, and I were managing the Smothers Brothers andactually executive producing their show in the days when Steve Martin came on board to write and eventually do skits on the program. We had the title of "Co-Producers" because the "Executive Producer" title didn't really exist yet.

In any event, Tommy Smothers got the idea to create a "Bull Pen" of great young writers and got the Writers Guild to agree that we could have six young writers in that group and only pay them $150 a week each except that two got full writers pay on a rotating basis each week. Steve was initially part of that wonderful group.

Eventually Steve was a brilliant contributor to the show, not only as a writer but as a terrific performer, as almost all of our writers ultimately were a key part of the cast.

We were breaking new ground with the show and having writer/performers like Steve, Mason Williams, Rob Reiner, Bob Einstein, and several others was a major reason we were so successful and knocked the long time #1 show Bonanza out of the top spot.

As I got to know Steve Martin in those days I marveled at how unlike most comedians he was in that he outwardly showed none of the insecure personality traits that are common to comedians. On stage he was "A wild and crazy guy!" but off stage he was a quiet and seemingly normal human being.

On occasion Steve and I played chess and had regular conversations about non show business topics. I was so pleased to see the great career he has had long after our show was off the air. He's a real gem.

Ken Kragen

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Subject: RE: Bob Dylan Starter Kit

Hey Bob,

Listening to Bob Dylan constantly renews me, and at the same time takes me back to my days at Bard College in the fall of 1964. Dylan visited the campus quite often from Woodstock, just across the river, riding in that blue Ford station wagon, Victor Maymudes at the wheel, Bobby Neuwirth in the back seat. In one very vivid memory, I am sitting on the bed in my dorm room. My brother plays a song he has written and Dylan, sitting at the end of my brother's bed, nods approval. Then he takes the guitar and plays his new song, "It's Alright, Ma." Seven or eight other students are sitting on the floor, smoking, drinking wine, spellbound. As he finishes, Dylan hands me the guitar, nods at Victor, and they are gone.

I very much doubt if Bob Dylan is anything but uncomfortable about all the accolades he gets. One of my favorite pieces of his writing, from the liner notes to "Bringing It All Back Home," sums it up perfectly:

" the Great books've been written. the Great sayings have all been said/I am about t' sketch You a picture of what goes on around here sometimes."

Best,
John Boylan

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Subject: Re: Bob Dylan Starter Kit

I had the pleasure of working with Bob for many years while at Columbia. Every time he'd put an album out I'd send him a list of 20 things that he could do to help promote it - key interviews, radio and TV specials, etc., etc.. I think in all that time he did one, maybe two things (one key interview with Dave Herman from WNEW FM, and he once met some radio folks backstage).

He would always say the same thing to me, "I'm not comfortable promoting my music that way." It's not that he had anything against marketing, he just didn't want to tout his own stuff - preferred to let the music do the talking. When you're that great, truth is you don't have to tout your own stuff - you just are.

Once I was driving around listening to a blues gospel radio station. I can't remember what city I was in, but an incredible song came on sung by a great gospel/blues singer. It was a song about a black mother who had lost her child and the pain she was going through. I was so moved by this song I wanted to know more about it, I was convince it must have been an old gospel standard and probably listed as such. I googled it—written by Bob Dylan!!!

Paul Rappaport

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Subject: Re: Lively Up Yourself

Hey Bob-

I'm the cat that recorded Bob Marleys album Live, thank u for your kind comments. In the weeks leading up to the Lyceum show, I studied then-current live albums and discovered what was missing: the live experience. We had 4 mics dangling 10 feet above the heads of the audience, and we caught lightning in a bottle. The crowds' impromptu ovations, singing and celebration of Bob's long over-due arrival made for an electric live lp.

Best,
Danny Holloway

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From: Bob Ezrin
Subject: Re: Keith Urban's "Ripcord"

Keith Urban is one of the best rock guitarists in the world today...and I've had the privilege of working with a few of the other ones so I feel qualified to make this statement.

I've been aware of him for ages - since he worked with my friend John Shanks at Henson in LA when I was across the hall with Jane's Addiction and Dave Navarro, speaking of great rock guitarists.

But it wasn't until I attended the Grammies with my daughter Sarah (who's still waiting for her Yeezys by the way as are the rest of my kids! I mean, what kind of crazy fucked up world is it where you can't take Kanye at his word???) back in 2005 and they did a tribute to "Southern Rock" with a bevy of Rock Gods including young Keith Urban that I realized what a rockstar he was.

As I remember, he did a fine job singing one of Skynyrd's tunes but I couldn't take my eyes of off him as he hung back in the pack and played the absolute shit out of his guitar on everyone else's feature too. I was mesmerized by his facility with the instrument - his cellular connection to it - where every perfect note he was hearing in his head, his fingers automagically recreated. I watched and picked him out of the wall of sound. He didn't drop a note, play anything that wasn't exquisitely musical or produce a single clam. And it was pure rock!

I said to Sarah "that guy may think he's a country star but he's a total Rock Guitar God!"

I saw him again at All For The Hall and he'd gotten even batter than before. Just last year Jan and I were fortunate enough to see him do a small show in Nassau and he was better still. It may have been a show of country radio hits but it was a rock concert through and through - and that guy OWNED the instrument and the audience. I wrote and told him so.

I'm very glad to see him get "ink" here. He totally deserves it.

I wish that one day he would make his own "Frampton Comes Alive"...new rock songs recorded in concert where you can't really fake it. He'd blow people's minds.

B
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From: Scott McKain
Subject: Keith Urban

Bob --

Keith Urban's latest might not sound like country, but I am sure that HE is.

My best pals are in the Grammy-winning, six-time country vocal group of the year, Diamond Rio. We were hanging after the ACMs several years ago (when they were still in LA), and Rio's song "One More Day" was the hottest thing on the charts.

Right before the guys flew out of Nashville to LA, their guitar player, Jimmy Olander -- regarded as one of the best in country music -- got a call that their baby was on the way. Naturally, he stayed back home and the rest of the guys flew on.

With the band being urged to play at the jam session after the awards, we were hanging out when Keith walked up and said, "Why aren't you guys playing? You've got the biggest hit going right now!" When it was mentioned that Jimmy wasn't there, Keith said, "Well, I could play for him."

Lead singer Marty Roe asked, "What songs of ours do you know?" Keith replied, "Everything from 'Meet In the Middle' on..." As that was the very first song Rio recorded, he was saying he knew everything they've ever done. That's a guy who knows country music!

Keith played as a member of Diamond Rio that night -- and not only did he fill Jimmy's part -- he played perfectly...in Jimmy's style, not his own. The Rio guys performed their four songs...and we all stood there in slack-jawed amazement...not only at Keith's talent, but also at his mastery of his instrument and his willingness to sound like a member of the band and not try to take the stage as his own.

Keith -- along with Vince Gill -- jammed with Rio on "Meet in the Middle" several years later at the "All for the Hall" event. It's on YouTube and worth watching...

Scott

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From: Kia Kamran, Esq.
Subject: Re: Lively Up Yourself

I walked down the aisle to that particular live track. Atypical for a Persian Jewish wedding but it encapsulated pure joy for me. Marley is the most important Artist of our time; pure unadulterated greatness. Nuff respect.

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Subject: Re: My Echo

Bob,

It took Spotify a while to get to Echo. I'd had mine over a year before the service was available, which has only been in the last few months. I honestly assumed it was because Amazon was trying to get the early adopters to Amazon Prime and their related services initially, but I don't know if that's a fact.

It's been a huge boon for me in using Echo and it works great, once you navigate how "Alexa" likes to be spoken to.

To touch on what Al Kooper mentions: I was already a user of Amazon Music (storage cloud) before I had Echo.

Amazon Music has been riddled with issues and I honestly feel like Amazon is orphaning it and doing it's best not support and fix issues. The interface crashes out and is often slow and lumbering. I've had problems adding music and today was on with support via chat for an hour plus and the issue has still not been resolved.

I was always one of those people who carried a 120g iPod with me prior to streaming. There's still a large chunk of my collection not available on Spotify between a lot of live/bootleg recordings, obscure artists and out of print stuff and those that just won't stream (Prince, Bob Seger, etc.) so I still need a service like it. And its nice to think that a collection lives on somewhere, for me anyway. I wish Amazon Music was better than is.

Still, I do love Echo. The Echo Dot showed up last week and was immediately connected it to my vintage McIntosh system and it worked wonderfully with great sound. Quite a nice meeting of the new and the old.

Donny Kutzbach

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From: Thomas Kenny
Subject: Re: My Echo

That's funny Bob. The last time I called Apple I had a question about Logic. The response was, "we only support our own software."

I said, "Logic is your software."

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Subject: Re: False Hope

Even in her loss Ms Sandberg can only imagine what it would be like without her financial security. Certainly not minimizing her grief but she doesn't have to worry about a spouse's lost income, navigating the health insurance maze, finding a way to come up with the rent/mortgage, finding reliable and affordable childcare etc. But I'm sure many folks were able to draw some inspiration from her advice. After all, to paraphrase Homer Simpson "celebrities...is there anything they don't know".

Lorin Cole

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Subject: Ty Reynolds Honest Rocker?

Just a little correction on Mr. Reynolds comments and story. Steve Miller has no children so what ever story this guy was telling must he must have been confused with someone else. I was at the festival he mentioned but don't recall the support act he was referring to but he was not any kin to Mr. Miller I assure you and your readers.

Kenny Lee Lewis

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Subject: Re: Mailbag

Bob ... Steve has no children.

It is through guys like Ty Reynolds that myths get credibility.

Bud Miller

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From: Mary Rand
Subject: Re: Steve Martin On Howard Stern

Dear Bob,

I linked on to an article of yours referred to in a Barry Rithholtz newsletter a few days ago. I am 77 yrs. old and will probably never use some of the electronic gadgets you are so fond of, but I love reading about your interests. I spend a lot of time reading things on line. The computer is the best thing ever for the elderly and/or infirm. You are the most interesting of all. I look forward to that email: Bob Lefsetz. You are terrific at projecting a lively and engaged personality in your writing. How do you do it so often? I'm just amazed. Looking forward to reading you tomorrow.


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