https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyPJiey6vck
This makes me feel inadequate. It makes me realize I'm not a businessman. Because a businessman puts the money first, and will do whatever it takes to not only generate revenue, but put as much as possible into his own pocket. It also makes me realize I've been a victim of the press, of the penumbra, I'm an end consumer, whereas to know what's really going on you have to go to the heart of the matter.
Every successful artist needs a manager. Every artist needs a manager to be successful. A manager is a freewheeling character who believes rules are made to be broken, who sees the world as an opportunity, who is not fearful of standing up to anybody.
And that's not me.
The best managers function in uncharted territory. Don't limit yourself to music, this is the story of tech. It was for nerds in Silicon Valley, most people didn't pay attention until Apple went public. And then Gen-X'ers started computing whilst their baby boomer brethren saw no need for a box. But it's the children of the boomers who truly ran with tech, they saw the power of digits, they revolutionized society, and we just bask in the utility of Facebook and Uber and...
The same way boomers used to revel in the sounds of the Beatles.
We had no idea what made them successful. We thought we did, we hoovered up all the information we could, but we had no access to those pulling the strings, who were inventing it along the way.
This documentary starts with Colonel Parker. For this carny bloke it was all about the money. He smelled opportunity. That's what the unwashed don't understand about managers, they sniff well for talent. And the talent they're looking for is the ability to cause a reaction, that will get people to open their wallets. Every act does not deserve a manager. And although great acts are few and far between, managers focus not only on musical talent, but marketability, moldability... The Beatles were scruffy, Brian Epstein made them clean-cut.
No one knew there was that much money in music. Only outcasts were in the field. Gay men who knew what the little girls wanted. Wet behind the ears twentysomethings who could not get a leg up at the corporation. Scrappy free-thinkers.
Andrew Loog Oldham didn't stand by the stage self-satisfied when his proteges the Rolling Stones were doing their act, no, he went to the back of the hall and started screaming, to get the girls to do so too.
Simon Napier-Bell took Wham! to China for the publicity. A great manager is a manipulator, he sees the world as his stage, he makes way for the artists to create. As Bill Curbishley says, artists are defective, they're missing something, it's the manager's role to fill that hole.
So if you're good at math, well-adjusted, educated and your life is rife with opportunity...
You're probably not gonna make it in music.
But if you can't get up in the morning. If you're alternately smooth and awkward. If you have trouble with authority... You might be a star, if you catch the eye of a great manager who allows you to be you, full time.
That's the story of the modern music business. Not the acts eaten up by the public, they're just the product, like Barbie or the Pet Rock. Rather it's the people who foist them upon the world, who convince people to open their wallets, who are the engine of success.
You can go to music business college, you can read Don Passman's book, you can be a student of the game yet still be unsuccessful. Because it's not about what you know but who you are. Are you the kind of person who artists can trust, who will see you as their best friend, who can open doors for them, be fair to them and make headway?
Then you're on the road to success.
The greats can always get more artists. The greats are always pivoting. Maybe moving from management to promotion to comedy to...
And the greats are always standing up to institutions. Whether it be Peter Grant demanding 90% of the gross or Irving Azoff starting his own performing rights society.
Great managers don't know the word NO. And they don't focus on dreaming, on the impossible, but what they believe to be achievable. They may start small, manipulating sales reports, but then they go big. It's the only way to hold on to your client and survive.
Yes, fraud, manipulation, falsehood... They're ubiquitous in the music business. They're the grease that makes the engine hum. Sure, millennials are about honesty and transparency, but then why does Mark Zuckerberg keep changing the Facebook terms of service? Why does he keep changing the algorithms so you've got to pay to be seen?
Because he wants money and he wants to survive.
Kill or be killed.
That's how Helen Kushnick made Jay Leno famous. She was hated for it, but most managers are hated.
By the people they supersede, who are left behind, who don't have the vision and the cojones to make the world their oyster.
The doc moves on to Paul McGuinness. Turning the Irish band into a worldwide financial juggernaut.
But McGuinness got blown out when he couldn't adjust to the new world, driven by the internet.
That's how Scooter Braun became successful, finding Justin Bieber online.
But Braun is working in ancient territory. Creating desire in little girls who are not savvy to the world. Whereas the big money today is in creating convenience, in tech, allowing the public to become the star.
Not that there isn't money in music.
There's just a whole hell of a lot more elsewhere.
Which is why everybody in Hollywood has a tech play. Not because they love 0's and 1's, but because they love money, they love the action.
And at the center of the action you'll always find the same person. Who usually didn't go to college, frequently did not come from a rich family, who likes to tilt the playing field in his favor. The only difference is today the tech titans themselves are the stars. Evan Spiegel, Mr. Snapchat, or Daniel Ek of Spotify.
Because we need something to believe in. With people to believe in behind it. It's the nature of being alive, otherwise life is too empty.
And sure, music fills the hole. But the way it gets to us is through these scrappy entrepreneurs, they midwife success.
And if you don't know this you're destined to sit on the sidelines.
This documentary will open your eyes.
But it won't make you a manager.
Focus on what you do best. Wanting to play, wanting to be involved...that's no guarantee of success in a sphere where everybody wants in. Hell, you can't get a concert ticket because the hedge funders need to go and say there were there too.
But the hedge funders will give you their money, if you just figure out what they want.
That's what a manager does, figure out what people want and then sell it to them.
Are you a mark or a merchant?
Look yourself in the mirror and answer that question.
When you know who you are you can plot your course and reach the destination.
And if your terminus is international rock star, you need a manager. Not someone who's done it before so much as someone who can do it today. Who knows both the players and the marketplace. Who is even hungrier than you.
Don't buy the gloss, look for the special sauce.
By time it gets to you the story has been changed, spruced up, there's a patina of niceness to it. As bad as Peter Grant looked in the "Song Remains The Same," it was a smidge of his nastiness.
Nice is not a path to victory.
Unless there's someone being nasty behind the scenes, paving the way, keeping the vultures away, making you a desirable commodity.
Ponder that.
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Saturday 6 February 2016
Friday 5 February 2016
Bernie
What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where a 74 year old white-haired Jew from Vermont resonates with the millennial generation more than any entertainer?
One in which when the game is rigged an outspoken leader says the rules must be changed instead of preaching false hope.
My radar tells me it's going to be a Clinton/Rubio race, and that all the dissatisfaction expressed for the past year might go by the wayside, or will it?
The Occupy movement was marginalized by the press, and despite lionization by Aaron Sorkin in the "Newsroom," it was seen as an unfocused effort by slackers that was ultimately laughable.
That's what happens when the aged won't let go, they marginalize the efforts of the hungry newcomers. And in this case, the aged are baby boomers, who wrested power from their sleeping parents and refuse to let go.
Millennials run the bleeding edge tech companies.
Who runs entertainment?
If you don't think aged boomers run records and concerts, you don't know that Doug Morris is too old to be classified as a boomer, but the rest of the business is overrun with fifty and sixtysomethings who grew up in the sixties, seventies and eighties when entertainment was completely different, when it was all about promotion and the game was rigged, when it didn't matter what sold just as long as something did.
But that ain't gonna go on for long.
This is what's gonna happen. An incorruptible millennial is gonna revolutionize music. Not Scooter Braun, with his lame over-promotion of nitwits, but an act with talent that will be comfortable saying no. That won't work with usual suspect songwriters and producers and will specialize in touching people's hearts more than slickness.
That's what will make music healthy again, and it's coming.
This effort might be midwifed by young businesspeople with new values, who believe in transparency and honesty as opposed to duplicity. You can't get a good concert ticket at face value, you don't even know where to look for one. Do you think this is the preference of the millennial?
No, the millennial believes in fairness. The millennial will pay top buck for what they want. Just make it clear, cast aside obfuscation.
The millennials are fueling the Sanders campaign. Which is not about fixing the old car, but blowing it up and taking a Tesla or an Uber. For all the trumpeting of the Top Forty, the truth is never since the Beatles have hits meant less, have they had less penetration, have they had so little cultural impact. And true, there are competing sounds and messages, but greatness triumphs, assuming you create it.
The boomers fueled the campaign of Clean Gene McCarthy. Whose candidacy disintegrated and the result was Humphrey got nominated and Nixon got elected. Disillusionment reigned, and then Reagan legitimized greed and the boomers sold out.
But the millennials have no one to sell out to. There are no jobs, no opportunities. And this may be overstating the case, but with college debt hanging over your head and the lifestyles of the rich and famous paraded in front of you on every media outlet known to man it can get discouraging, not everyone can be a winner.
So if you want to triumph in the coming music world, know that your bond with your audience is everything. And even though nitwit youngsters will follow the popsters, it's college-aged audiences that trumpet the next big thing. And these students are looking for someone to treat them as an equal and to give them guidance, not tell them to overpay for empty products.
Hell, millennials aren't into assets anyway, they like experiences, which is why they go to the festival, to commune with their compatriots and post their efforts to Instagram. When you've got nothing, it's all about you.
Warner did a good thing to say it would share breakage with its acts, that the sale of Spotify stock would be divvied-up. The company gets it.
Expect Universal and Sony to do the same thing. Otherwise, they'll have a hard time signing acts.
And Kobalt is revolutionizing publishing transparency.
But subterfuge still reigns in the music business. The acts could clear it up, especially on the live side, but their greed is preventing them from doing this, they're hiding behind the front of Ticketmaster, taking no blame.
But millennials know it's all about responsibility. They want to know who made their clothes and they want answers. Want to win them over? Provide same.
So Bernie is a harbinger of what's to come. His importance may be greatest outside the political sphere. He has tapped into a well of disaffection deeper than any rapper has been able to. While Drake fights with Meek Mill, Bernie's talking about paying your bills, leveling the playing field.
There's something happening here.
And we'll call it the millennial moment. When power shifts from parents to children. When adults brought up in a different era realize they've lost touch with what's going on. Hillary Clinton uses Jamie Lee Curtis to promote herself, not knowing most millennials are clueless as to her identity.
But millennials know the Beatles and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. They remember when music stood for something, when it could move mountains, when a musician challenged power and said no.
We're looking for a few good leaders. Not those who have been self-promoting on social media incessantly. We want no makeup mavens, we want no video game players, we want artists. Not those on the "Voice," a boomer construct if there ever was one, a money-making effort with no artistry involved, but those who go their own way. Who've flown off the radar for years honing their chops as opposed to getting mommy and daddy to promote their lame thirteen year old efforts.
We've been shooting too low.
The audience is sophisticated, the audience is hungry.
It's time to feed them.
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One in which when the game is rigged an outspoken leader says the rules must be changed instead of preaching false hope.
My radar tells me it's going to be a Clinton/Rubio race, and that all the dissatisfaction expressed for the past year might go by the wayside, or will it?
The Occupy movement was marginalized by the press, and despite lionization by Aaron Sorkin in the "Newsroom," it was seen as an unfocused effort by slackers that was ultimately laughable.
That's what happens when the aged won't let go, they marginalize the efforts of the hungry newcomers. And in this case, the aged are baby boomers, who wrested power from their sleeping parents and refuse to let go.
Millennials run the bleeding edge tech companies.
Who runs entertainment?
If you don't think aged boomers run records and concerts, you don't know that Doug Morris is too old to be classified as a boomer, but the rest of the business is overrun with fifty and sixtysomethings who grew up in the sixties, seventies and eighties when entertainment was completely different, when it was all about promotion and the game was rigged, when it didn't matter what sold just as long as something did.
But that ain't gonna go on for long.
This is what's gonna happen. An incorruptible millennial is gonna revolutionize music. Not Scooter Braun, with his lame over-promotion of nitwits, but an act with talent that will be comfortable saying no. That won't work with usual suspect songwriters and producers and will specialize in touching people's hearts more than slickness.
That's what will make music healthy again, and it's coming.
This effort might be midwifed by young businesspeople with new values, who believe in transparency and honesty as opposed to duplicity. You can't get a good concert ticket at face value, you don't even know where to look for one. Do you think this is the preference of the millennial?
No, the millennial believes in fairness. The millennial will pay top buck for what they want. Just make it clear, cast aside obfuscation.
The millennials are fueling the Sanders campaign. Which is not about fixing the old car, but blowing it up and taking a Tesla or an Uber. For all the trumpeting of the Top Forty, the truth is never since the Beatles have hits meant less, have they had less penetration, have they had so little cultural impact. And true, there are competing sounds and messages, but greatness triumphs, assuming you create it.
The boomers fueled the campaign of Clean Gene McCarthy. Whose candidacy disintegrated and the result was Humphrey got nominated and Nixon got elected. Disillusionment reigned, and then Reagan legitimized greed and the boomers sold out.
But the millennials have no one to sell out to. There are no jobs, no opportunities. And this may be overstating the case, but with college debt hanging over your head and the lifestyles of the rich and famous paraded in front of you on every media outlet known to man it can get discouraging, not everyone can be a winner.
So if you want to triumph in the coming music world, know that your bond with your audience is everything. And even though nitwit youngsters will follow the popsters, it's college-aged audiences that trumpet the next big thing. And these students are looking for someone to treat them as an equal and to give them guidance, not tell them to overpay for empty products.
Hell, millennials aren't into assets anyway, they like experiences, which is why they go to the festival, to commune with their compatriots and post their efforts to Instagram. When you've got nothing, it's all about you.
Warner did a good thing to say it would share breakage with its acts, that the sale of Spotify stock would be divvied-up. The company gets it.
Expect Universal and Sony to do the same thing. Otherwise, they'll have a hard time signing acts.
And Kobalt is revolutionizing publishing transparency.
But subterfuge still reigns in the music business. The acts could clear it up, especially on the live side, but their greed is preventing them from doing this, they're hiding behind the front of Ticketmaster, taking no blame.
But millennials know it's all about responsibility. They want to know who made their clothes and they want answers. Want to win them over? Provide same.
So Bernie is a harbinger of what's to come. His importance may be greatest outside the political sphere. He has tapped into a well of disaffection deeper than any rapper has been able to. While Drake fights with Meek Mill, Bernie's talking about paying your bills, leveling the playing field.
There's something happening here.
And we'll call it the millennial moment. When power shifts from parents to children. When adults brought up in a different era realize they've lost touch with what's going on. Hillary Clinton uses Jamie Lee Curtis to promote herself, not knowing most millennials are clueless as to her identity.
But millennials know the Beatles and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. They remember when music stood for something, when it could move mountains, when a musician challenged power and said no.
We're looking for a few good leaders. Not those who have been self-promoting on social media incessantly. We want no makeup mavens, we want no video game players, we want artists. Not those on the "Voice," a boomer construct if there ever was one, a money-making effort with no artistry involved, but those who go their own way. Who've flown off the radar for years honing their chops as opposed to getting mommy and daddy to promote their lame thirteen year old efforts.
We've been shooting too low.
The audience is sophisticated, the audience is hungry.
It's time to feed them.
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Thursday 4 February 2016
More Life Lessons
You are the star of your own movie, it's as important as that of the billionaire and the celebrity, just don't expect anybody else to watch it or care about it.
Social media is where you connect and share with your friends, if you're doing it to brag and establish a career, you're doing it wrong.
Friends are everything. Build your crew. Share your ideas. Laugh. If your buds are unsatisfying, feel free to bring in new blood, or to graduate all together. But accolades without a posse to enjoy them are worthless.
Money is irrelevant. Not if you don't have enough, then that's unfortunate and it's all you can think about. But if you can pay for food, health and shelter, don't nickel and dime, at the end of your life you'll realize it's just not worth it. Give a few extra percentage points as a tip. Lend money and don't ask for it back. Pay the fee to put your bag underneath the plane as opposed to schlepping it on board. Being cheap only hurts yourself.
You're your own hero. The truth is everybody else is just as clueless as you. Don't look up to anyone else, just build your confidence, and know that everybody's unsure of the path.
Having said that, everyone has expertise in different areas, it's the nature of life. You'll find if you share your dilemmas with others they'll have loads of insight and will help you navigate what you find so challenging.
Your experience is all that matters, and when you're gone it evaporates with you.
The government can't protect you from the scam. Maybe after the fact it can help you claw some money back, but the truth is deception and even fraud are the cornerstones of even the biggest businesses. Just try to cancel a service... It's nearly impossible. Better yet, try to renegotiate your cable bill. You'll spend hours on the phone and only few will get a great deal. Buying a car has been democratized by the internet, but signing up, canceling and adjusting your cable bill is akin to the wild west.
Don't let the testosterone get you. Feel free to say no to the group. Get guys together and one will propose the outrageous and the others will be afraid to be labeled wimps and will go along with what might be dangerous. It takes a lot to say no, but if your insides tell you to, do so.
And just because your fellow travelers in estrogen tell you you're beautiful and rally around you when your romantic life is challenged, don't think they've got accurate insight into guys. Sure, there are cads, players and manipulators, never mind those who don't follow through. But the truth is most men are clueless and moldable. If there's a spark, feel free to text and call them, you're in the driver's seat...unless you place all your faith in testosterone and go where your man goes, but that might leave you in a bad place, just like the guys above.
Buy something if you're gonna use it, don't buy it to show it off. The truth is no one cares.
Tell your story. Women are good at this, men are bad at this, fearful of appearing weak. But once you tell somebody the way that you feel...you've got the opportunity for them to respond in a warm, understanding way and you'll feel connected, which is the ultimate desire of all people on this planet.
Life is a hassle. You'll lose and be hurt and despite having plenty of people to blame, you won't get compensation, or if you do it won't make up for your loss. Accept this. Plans will get broken, as will you. You can stay at home and never go out or you can enter the world and have unexpected, great experiences, but you'll be exposed to greater danger. Life is a risk. If you're playing it safe, it's pretty damn boring.
Work is about fulfillment more than money. Don't envy those who don't work, they're empty and unsatisfied at the core. Try to have a job you love, but don't assume just because you're passionate about it you'll get rich. But it's okay to have a mediocre job to support your hobbies. Just don't have a mediocre job and a mediocre life.
Change happens. The journey to the other side will be painful. But you'll always end up in a better spot, as long as you can let go of the past.
Don't be vindictive. Don't try to get even. No one is keeping score and the longer you try to settle scores the more time you're losing in life.
Relationships are not about love but commitment, never forget it.
Divorce may be necessary, but it will haunt you forever.
Children center your life, they give you something to live for, they give you purpose. But don't have them with someone who is unwilling to make themselves subservient to your progeny.
Most of what popular culture will tell you is important is not. Enjoy that movie, follow politics, but if you think it amounts to a hill of beans you're too deep in the weeds. Records and movies come and go. Who is President will affect you, via Supreme Court decisions if nothing else, but what's in the news every day is about selling advertising.
The older you get, the less you know. When someone is sure, they're usually young or insecure.
He who is famous today is forgotten tomorrow. If you're doing it to be remembered, you won't.
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Social media is where you connect and share with your friends, if you're doing it to brag and establish a career, you're doing it wrong.
Friends are everything. Build your crew. Share your ideas. Laugh. If your buds are unsatisfying, feel free to bring in new blood, or to graduate all together. But accolades without a posse to enjoy them are worthless.
Money is irrelevant. Not if you don't have enough, then that's unfortunate and it's all you can think about. But if you can pay for food, health and shelter, don't nickel and dime, at the end of your life you'll realize it's just not worth it. Give a few extra percentage points as a tip. Lend money and don't ask for it back. Pay the fee to put your bag underneath the plane as opposed to schlepping it on board. Being cheap only hurts yourself.
You're your own hero. The truth is everybody else is just as clueless as you. Don't look up to anyone else, just build your confidence, and know that everybody's unsure of the path.
Having said that, everyone has expertise in different areas, it's the nature of life. You'll find if you share your dilemmas with others they'll have loads of insight and will help you navigate what you find so challenging.
Your experience is all that matters, and when you're gone it evaporates with you.
The government can't protect you from the scam. Maybe after the fact it can help you claw some money back, but the truth is deception and even fraud are the cornerstones of even the biggest businesses. Just try to cancel a service... It's nearly impossible. Better yet, try to renegotiate your cable bill. You'll spend hours on the phone and only few will get a great deal. Buying a car has been democratized by the internet, but signing up, canceling and adjusting your cable bill is akin to the wild west.
Don't let the testosterone get you. Feel free to say no to the group. Get guys together and one will propose the outrageous and the others will be afraid to be labeled wimps and will go along with what might be dangerous. It takes a lot to say no, but if your insides tell you to, do so.
And just because your fellow travelers in estrogen tell you you're beautiful and rally around you when your romantic life is challenged, don't think they've got accurate insight into guys. Sure, there are cads, players and manipulators, never mind those who don't follow through. But the truth is most men are clueless and moldable. If there's a spark, feel free to text and call them, you're in the driver's seat...unless you place all your faith in testosterone and go where your man goes, but that might leave you in a bad place, just like the guys above.
Buy something if you're gonna use it, don't buy it to show it off. The truth is no one cares.
Tell your story. Women are good at this, men are bad at this, fearful of appearing weak. But once you tell somebody the way that you feel...you've got the opportunity for them to respond in a warm, understanding way and you'll feel connected, which is the ultimate desire of all people on this planet.
Life is a hassle. You'll lose and be hurt and despite having plenty of people to blame, you won't get compensation, or if you do it won't make up for your loss. Accept this. Plans will get broken, as will you. You can stay at home and never go out or you can enter the world and have unexpected, great experiences, but you'll be exposed to greater danger. Life is a risk. If you're playing it safe, it's pretty damn boring.
Work is about fulfillment more than money. Don't envy those who don't work, they're empty and unsatisfied at the core. Try to have a job you love, but don't assume just because you're passionate about it you'll get rich. But it's okay to have a mediocre job to support your hobbies. Just don't have a mediocre job and a mediocre life.
Change happens. The journey to the other side will be painful. But you'll always end up in a better spot, as long as you can let go of the past.
Don't be vindictive. Don't try to get even. No one is keeping score and the longer you try to settle scores the more time you're losing in life.
Relationships are not about love but commitment, never forget it.
Divorce may be necessary, but it will haunt you forever.
Children center your life, they give you something to live for, they give you purpose. But don't have them with someone who is unwilling to make themselves subservient to your progeny.
Most of what popular culture will tell you is important is not. Enjoy that movie, follow politics, but if you think it amounts to a hill of beans you're too deep in the weeds. Records and movies come and go. Who is President will affect you, via Supreme Court decisions if nothing else, but what's in the news every day is about selling advertising.
The older you get, the less you know. When someone is sure, they're usually young or insecure.
He who is famous today is forgotten tomorrow. If you're doing it to be remembered, you won't.
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Wednesday 3 February 2016
Ken Stabler
"Ken Stabler, Football Great, Had C.T.E.": http://nyti.ms/1R1Bbzk
Why are we so concerned about kids in Flint, but give NFL players a pass, why are we up in arms about Michigan's governor, but cry hosannas when a billionaire moves his football team to Los Angeles and Roger Goodell escapes unscathed?
It's time for Coldplay to pull out of the Super Bowl.
Forget black actors at the Oscars, this is a much bigger deal. When are artists going to say they're not going to participate in this barbaric enterprise where people are maimed for life?
Flint was about the money.
The NFL is about the money.
And playing the Super Bowl is about the money too. It not only raises your visibility/profile, it helps you sell tickets.
Is that the country we've evolved to be, one wherein money is everything? Isn't that why Bernie Sanders has made so much headway, because he's saying NO MAS to a land where the dollar trumps everything?
Football will be marginalized in your lifetime. They may still play it, but it won't grab ratings and will be the equivalent of boxing. How many boys and men will be harmed in the interim? How can we all just sit by as these behemoths brutalize each other?
Life used to be different. Sure, they played with fewer pads, the game was pretty violent, but artists stood outside the sporting world. They questioned authority, they stood up for what was right. Artists were the antidote. They had power beyond elected officials and billionaires. They stood up for what they believed in as opposed to what was expedient.
But that was when there was a middle class, and a successful artist was as rich as anybody in America. Before those who were educated left for business instead of going into the arts, before the artists woke up and wondered who'd moved their cheese and started bitching that they just could not get rich enough. Not anymore anyway. Not like the tech stars.
But the tech stars got so rich by pushing boundaries, by doing it their way, not worrying about what the establishment had to say.
And now artists keep playing to the establishment.
It makes your head spin.
The artists want corporate endorsements, not knowing they come with a price. You take the money and you're a tool of the man. Is everybody a tool of the man today?
What we know is change happens fast. iPhones replace BlackBerrys. Flip phones are in the rearview mirror. Your handheld device is for texting, not talking. The Kochs and their money are the story of political campaigning and then Bernie Sanders raises millions from individuals. Because individuals have power. And their minds can be changed very quickly.
Do you feel guilty when you watch football?
I do.
And that's an unpopular thing to say. Because the throng is always married to the past, to the status quo. Those on the bleeding edge are excoriated. Whether it be Shawn Fanning or Daniel Ek.
But the bleeding edge is where all the money is, and the public is the early adopter, not those inured to the old ways.
Vinyl might be an interesting curio but it will never be the primary listening medium. Physical is dead. On demand is everything. And if you don't think being paid forever via on demand streaming is a good thing, you don't know any broke, aged musicians.
Artistry used to be about humanity.
Who's the reporter who's gonna put the mic in front of Chris Martin and ask him his opinion about football. His ex-wife has no problem being herself, can't he?
Nope.
Because it's all about the money until it isn't.
The networks like the ratings, you like something to root for, advertisers like the exposure, is that reason enough to continue to support the game?
Nope.
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Why are we so concerned about kids in Flint, but give NFL players a pass, why are we up in arms about Michigan's governor, but cry hosannas when a billionaire moves his football team to Los Angeles and Roger Goodell escapes unscathed?
It's time for Coldplay to pull out of the Super Bowl.
Forget black actors at the Oscars, this is a much bigger deal. When are artists going to say they're not going to participate in this barbaric enterprise where people are maimed for life?
Flint was about the money.
The NFL is about the money.
And playing the Super Bowl is about the money too. It not only raises your visibility/profile, it helps you sell tickets.
Is that the country we've evolved to be, one wherein money is everything? Isn't that why Bernie Sanders has made so much headway, because he's saying NO MAS to a land where the dollar trumps everything?
Football will be marginalized in your lifetime. They may still play it, but it won't grab ratings and will be the equivalent of boxing. How many boys and men will be harmed in the interim? How can we all just sit by as these behemoths brutalize each other?
Life used to be different. Sure, they played with fewer pads, the game was pretty violent, but artists stood outside the sporting world. They questioned authority, they stood up for what was right. Artists were the antidote. They had power beyond elected officials and billionaires. They stood up for what they believed in as opposed to what was expedient.
But that was when there was a middle class, and a successful artist was as rich as anybody in America. Before those who were educated left for business instead of going into the arts, before the artists woke up and wondered who'd moved their cheese and started bitching that they just could not get rich enough. Not anymore anyway. Not like the tech stars.
But the tech stars got so rich by pushing boundaries, by doing it their way, not worrying about what the establishment had to say.
And now artists keep playing to the establishment.
It makes your head spin.
The artists want corporate endorsements, not knowing they come with a price. You take the money and you're a tool of the man. Is everybody a tool of the man today?
What we know is change happens fast. iPhones replace BlackBerrys. Flip phones are in the rearview mirror. Your handheld device is for texting, not talking. The Kochs and their money are the story of political campaigning and then Bernie Sanders raises millions from individuals. Because individuals have power. And their minds can be changed very quickly.
Do you feel guilty when you watch football?
I do.
And that's an unpopular thing to say. Because the throng is always married to the past, to the status quo. Those on the bleeding edge are excoriated. Whether it be Shawn Fanning or Daniel Ek.
But the bleeding edge is where all the money is, and the public is the early adopter, not those inured to the old ways.
Vinyl might be an interesting curio but it will never be the primary listening medium. Physical is dead. On demand is everything. And if you don't think being paid forever via on demand streaming is a good thing, you don't know any broke, aged musicians.
Artistry used to be about humanity.
Who's the reporter who's gonna put the mic in front of Chris Martin and ask him his opinion about football. His ex-wife has no problem being herself, can't he?
Nope.
Because it's all about the money until it isn't.
The networks like the ratings, you like something to root for, advertisers like the exposure, is that reason enough to continue to support the game?
Nope.
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Tuesday 2 February 2016
Trump
And they said the internet would kill big media.
Trump never had a chance. America might be angry, but it does not want a blowhard billionaire whose specialty is profitable bankruptcy and strategic licensing to run its country.
But that does not mean television and newspapers did not love telling his story, it injected excitement, it sold advertising, and in the era of big data it was all opinion all the time. True, there were polls showing Trump with significant traction, but the data pros said that at this point in the game polls are unusually inaccurate.
But don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
So what does this mean?
Are today's stars as big as we think they are?
Katy Perry sold as many TEAs (track equivalent albums) as Taylor Swift, but the latter is America's darling.
We keep hearing about the popsters, Rihanna and Demi and a slew of no-talents, Kanye West is seen as the biggest star in America, whilst entire genres get little press and no attention and as a result they fail. Just look at Chris Stapleton, zero to hero overnight. The album didn't change, it's just that the CMAs gave him a big award on television and the rest of the media glommed on. He went from soft numbers at clubs to you can't get a ticket overnight.
That's the power of media. That's the power to mold minds. That's the story of this decade, with a plethora of information he who grabs the microphone wins.
But not really.
Remember when Twitter was gonna save television?
And right now you'd think that Snapchat is the new "New York Times."
It's all scuttlebutt all the time. And those we used to consider experts have been revealed to be anything but. All the prognosticators bloviating on the opinion pages, on Fox and MSNBC and the inane CNN, never mind the networks. Just because you put someone in the anchor chair, after plastic surgery and world class makeup, that does not mean their opinion is worth a damn.
Meanwhile, the supposed most powerful man in news, Roger Ailes, has been revealed to be a paper tiger. If Donald Trump can beat Ailes, it shows that others can do, those with enough gumption to see that the entire media business is a facade of self-important people with little knowledge...
But a great deal of power.
Want to be successful today?
Own the media. Publicity is everything. The rise from the bottom to the top via internet virality is a paradigm that expired with the last decade. Now the airwaves are cluttered, there are too many messages, and in a Tower of Babel society we all focus on that which everybody else does. Forget the iconoclast championing the obscure, that's so sixties, the truth is we want points of discussion, and Trump provided one, just like Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift before him. And yes, there are some statistics in the music business, data indicating success, but if you think Adele's jumbo sales numbers for "25" would be as high if she didn't dominate entertainment news for a month you can actually sing more than one song from the album. As for keeping her music off streaming services, that's like doubling-down on the story of the little boy who kept his finger in the dike, you can't stop progress.
And the truth is we live in a disorganized nation. One in which the rich rule, but not as much as they think they do. They've got all the money, but the people have power. But the people are swayed by the nincompoops in the media, they like the story instead of what feels right.
Trump never felt like he could win. His ascension to the throne was as flimsy as a "Rocky" story, fiction.
So when it doesn't make sense, it doesn't.
How in the hell did an entire country think this guy had a chance?
How did our entire media system lead us astray?
In what other ways are they leading us astray?
Nate Silver had it right, Trump has too many unfavorables. Meanwhile, Silver started to blink, pull back from the brink, and was excoriated by those believing in Trump.
But Silver was right.
We hate the outliers, but they're the only ones who can tell us the truth.
And what Trump told us was the media was a carny game that could be manipulated.
He could not win the election, never mind the nomination, but he taught us a lesson.
Here's hoping more individuals who are unafraid of the media ignoramuses and bullies will challenge them too.
We'll be better off for it.
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Trump never had a chance. America might be angry, but it does not want a blowhard billionaire whose specialty is profitable bankruptcy and strategic licensing to run its country.
But that does not mean television and newspapers did not love telling his story, it injected excitement, it sold advertising, and in the era of big data it was all opinion all the time. True, there were polls showing Trump with significant traction, but the data pros said that at this point in the game polls are unusually inaccurate.
But don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
So what does this mean?
Are today's stars as big as we think they are?
Katy Perry sold as many TEAs (track equivalent albums) as Taylor Swift, but the latter is America's darling.
We keep hearing about the popsters, Rihanna and Demi and a slew of no-talents, Kanye West is seen as the biggest star in America, whilst entire genres get little press and no attention and as a result they fail. Just look at Chris Stapleton, zero to hero overnight. The album didn't change, it's just that the CMAs gave him a big award on television and the rest of the media glommed on. He went from soft numbers at clubs to you can't get a ticket overnight.
That's the power of media. That's the power to mold minds. That's the story of this decade, with a plethora of information he who grabs the microphone wins.
But not really.
Remember when Twitter was gonna save television?
And right now you'd think that Snapchat is the new "New York Times."
It's all scuttlebutt all the time. And those we used to consider experts have been revealed to be anything but. All the prognosticators bloviating on the opinion pages, on Fox and MSNBC and the inane CNN, never mind the networks. Just because you put someone in the anchor chair, after plastic surgery and world class makeup, that does not mean their opinion is worth a damn.
Meanwhile, the supposed most powerful man in news, Roger Ailes, has been revealed to be a paper tiger. If Donald Trump can beat Ailes, it shows that others can do, those with enough gumption to see that the entire media business is a facade of self-important people with little knowledge...
But a great deal of power.
Want to be successful today?
Own the media. Publicity is everything. The rise from the bottom to the top via internet virality is a paradigm that expired with the last decade. Now the airwaves are cluttered, there are too many messages, and in a Tower of Babel society we all focus on that which everybody else does. Forget the iconoclast championing the obscure, that's so sixties, the truth is we want points of discussion, and Trump provided one, just like Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift before him. And yes, there are some statistics in the music business, data indicating success, but if you think Adele's jumbo sales numbers for "25" would be as high if she didn't dominate entertainment news for a month you can actually sing more than one song from the album. As for keeping her music off streaming services, that's like doubling-down on the story of the little boy who kept his finger in the dike, you can't stop progress.
And the truth is we live in a disorganized nation. One in which the rich rule, but not as much as they think they do. They've got all the money, but the people have power. But the people are swayed by the nincompoops in the media, they like the story instead of what feels right.
Trump never felt like he could win. His ascension to the throne was as flimsy as a "Rocky" story, fiction.
So when it doesn't make sense, it doesn't.
How in the hell did an entire country think this guy had a chance?
How did our entire media system lead us astray?
In what other ways are they leading us astray?
Nate Silver had it right, Trump has too many unfavorables. Meanwhile, Silver started to blink, pull back from the brink, and was excoriated by those believing in Trump.
But Silver was right.
We hate the outliers, but they're the only ones who can tell us the truth.
And what Trump told us was the media was a carny game that could be manipulated.
He could not win the election, never mind the nomination, but he taught us a lesson.
Here's hoping more individuals who are unafraid of the media ignoramuses and bullies will challenge them too.
We'll be better off for it.
--
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Monday 1 February 2016
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
Wow Bob, I feel like I was in the car next to you reading this, detailed so well like your electric daisy story about the helicopters whipping past you last year, great writing dude.
Steiny
_________________________________
Great entry as usual Bob - For those not familiar, Heard It In A Love Song comes from a magnificent album. It's almost bubble gum when compared to the whole album. Carolina Dreams straddles Southern Rock with Cowboy Country and even solid blues. It grows on you.
Bernard Yin
_________________________________
Bob, welcome to Colorado. I live in Durango and if you give me a little lead time I would come up and help.
I will be back in SO CA the end of next week wand it would be "interesting" to have lunch. I probably see life more
positively than you do but we would both learn a lot.
Feel free to have an "escort" as you may a decision.
I love the topics and issues you bring up for the music industry. It is positive and well thought out. I am more interested in learning why you are so negative on life and our current state of affairs.
Marsh Bull
PS: My assumption is that I will not hear back from you so have a great weekend and trip back to So CA.
_________________________________
The roads to telluride scare me.
Jason Hirschhorn
_________________________________
My teeth were clinched the whole time I was reading this. Be careful out there Bob.
Kevin Weaver
_________________________________
PUNT...your asshole will pucker on the Million Dollar Highway...if it is open!
CR at the Base of Little Cottonwood Canyon, which was also sketchy today
Coby Reghr
_________________________________
Pack!!! To Hell U Ride is great! You are tough, you will make it.
Mike Busch
_________________________________
wow, nice work navigating. brings back memories of a college road trip from chicago to tempe, az to see the grateful dead....got caught in an insane blizzard in new mexico (as born and bred northerners we were puzzled as to why there would even be snow at all that far south) 40 West was shut down, so we decided to point south at 25 towards sunnier climes b/c we didn't want to miss the show. Didn't work out so well. soon it was dark and we were on 25 South in a full whiteout and heavy winds....but pulling over was not an option, you'd be hit from behind. Exiting was not an option b/c you couldn't see them and even if you could they were covered in a foot of snow. So we soldiered on. Periodically the driver would need to reach out and shake the ice off the wiper, so as the shotgun rider I'd hold the wheel. We did it probably a dozen times. Then the next time he reached out, the fucking thing snapped off. The entire wiper. FUCKED. We were a solid 3-4 hours from safety at that point so
it looked pretty fucking dire. For the next 4 hours I steered from the passenger seat (my wiper was still working) while my friend did the gas/brake at my command. Somehow just before daybreak we found the exit for 10 west and we made it to the show with a couple of hours to spare. The most vicious drive I've ever endured...and i've endured a whole bunch of them.
Great show though.
Glad you made it in one piece....at this point the worst case is stuck in Vail, so could be worse.
Don Bartlett
_________________________________
You don't know me, and I only know you from reading your letters. I do know this, the cost of a rental for even a few days is nowhere near as valuable as your health and well being. I've lived in Denver for 16 years and have spent a fair amount of time driving in all kinds of weather in the mountains. My unsolicited advice is please don't drive to Telluride in a storm. Please.
Claire Cocurullo
_________________________________
Could not pass this one up. PUNT.
The skiing in Vail will be incredible because no one will be able to get here. Haha
Go to Telluride on Sunday afternoon, they are going to get puked on till Tuesday.
Kevin Roach
_________________________________
Really vivid, harrowing storytelling, Bob. I was right there in the passenger seat with you.
Colman DeKay
_________________________________
Pack. Drive in daylight. If roads are open, you go. Otherwise you'll tear yourself apart for missing the top of the season in Telluride.
My $0.02.
Jim Rondinelli
_________________________________
BBBEEN THERE!! Vaya con dios!
Patrick J. Daly
_________________________________
50" ?????
YOU'VE GOT TO GO!!!
AND THEN YOU'VE GOT TO WRITE ABOUT IT!!!!!
HEEEELLL YEAH!!!
Thanks for the skiing stories every year. This build up is killing me!
Chris Johnson
_________________________________
Stay right where you are. No amount of car fees are worth your life, Bob!
Dave Bass
_________________________________
Take the sure thing. Ski vail! It will be awesome either way. I could never sleep in telluride. Too high and too dry. And I hated their chairlift system.
Irving Azoff
_________________________________
Bob you have such a memory for details. What a harrowing experience. I've had similar driving terrors in Utah. Be safe out there!
Grace Mosqueda
_________________________________
Ski Vail, of course. Glad you made it.
Sam Glaser
_________________________________
Nice play by play. Been there many times in Vermont and Colorado. Hope to all works out. Was supposed to go to Vail this weekend but cancelled for a few reasons. Kind of happy with my decision now. Yes, that means I'm getting old. But hey...hell of a season so far!
Danny Cooper
VP Promotion
RCA Records
_________________________________
Sounds dubious w/out 4wd. Please stay safe. DG
_________________________________
I think you're nuts. I would have gone to Miami.
James LaLumia
_________________________________
What's missing from this is that during your entire complicated drive (which might have included a serious accident) you also were trying to keep track of the details for writing in your blog. Like on some level you must have thought this anguish will make a fantastic post.
Firstname Lastname
_________________________________
Glad you made it in one piece.
Jeanne Buckley Peloso
_________________________________
Try surfing!
Harvey Leeds
_________________________________
Stay put. We need you. Pay the extra rental fee.
Lizzz Kritzer
_________________________________
I've lived in Colorado for almost 40 of the last 50 years.
Driven the mountain roads before freeways were carved into the Rockies.
Been down to Telluride maybe a half dozen times.
When we're in high snow alert, disregard what the GPS system says.
Not even a Jeep with V-8, a turbocharger, and off-road tires could make it from Vail to Telluride in under five hours.
And that assumes the driver is more experienced than some "flatlander" in for a ski week.
No offense intended, but most ski tourists believe that "four wheel drive" also means "four wheel stop."
The roadsides along I-70, on the road from Grand Junction to Ridgeway and from there to T'ride bear witness to those who've made the mistake.
Regards,
Bill Clarke
Denver and the Rockies.
_________________________________
Punt! After that dizzying episode where you managed to keep control in the most uncontrollable of situations, driving in snow, you will manage.
Patti Jones
_________________________________
Wait it out, Bob!
Will you remember the $170/day or the powder?
At least you're driving TO the snow. Last week I white-knuckled it down from Telluride to Montrose to come home. And that's far less rewarding.
Lars Murray
_________________________________
Bob - I've been reading you for years and I had to respond to this one. I laughed so hard! You captured snow driving so well! Reminds me (again, as I sit at the Denver Airport) how happy I am to live in San Francisco these days.
Thanks!
Hugs - Ursula Fritsch
_________________________________
I'd just enjoy the snow.
Joe Vitka
_________________________________
PUNT. It's the only way.
Leland Grant
_________________________________
Sitting here in Macon, GA where it will be 70 and sunny today it's hard to even conceive having to navigate in a blizzard, but I did it years ago when I was a tour manager. No more!!
Willie Perkins
_________________________________
I felt as if I was in the passenger's seat of your car while your were driving. That was an incredible piece of writing.
Eric Herz
_________________________________
My knuckles are white just reading this. I can't believe you had to go so far just to pick up the car. So have you decided to pack or punt? Whatever you do, stay safe!
You back by Thursday?
Amy Madnick
_________________________________
I hope I'm not the only person saying, "Don't go!"
It takes a strong person to make the most sensible decision, even (especially) when it means ignoring the testosterone-fueled choice
Jenny McCourt
_________________________________
High adventure, Bob.
Wolf Creek is east of Telluride and I'm excited about what's about to happen here.
Let me know if you get this far and need refuge.
Haz
_________________________________
Re: pack or punt...as a Wyoming resident that deals with this frequently, my best advice is to Park. Find a place to stay put until the storm clears and the plows get their work done. Safe travels.
Mike Geraci
_________________________________
Go surfing, Bob. Fewer logistical hurdles.
Stay safe.
smitty
Jim Smith, CTIE
_________________________________
My blood pressure rose as I read. Be safe.
You put me in mind of my own winter driving perils. I was going from CT to Middlebury in early Feb (after winter term). Connecticut? No worries. Mass? A little snow, but OK. Route 7 in VT just south of Brandon? We are stopped at a light (because, you know, Metropolitan Brandon needs a light). I realize that the car (a very old station wagon) is sliding backward on a slight incline. I manage to arrest the slide by steering into a snow bank. Some hours later, trucks salt the road and we creep north to Midd. Damnedest thing. I can still conjure the anxiety of moving backwards from a fixed position. Somewhere in there is a useful metaphor for something.
Best,
John
-----------------------------------------------
John Hyman
Director, College Writing Program
Department of Literature
College of Arts and Sciences
American University
_________________________________
I've done that drive from Beaver Creek to the Denver airport with my wife and kids in the 4 wheel drive. Kids throwing up in the back, white knuckles on steering wheel, normally passenger seat driving by my wife but instead you can hear a pin drop.
Be safe my man.
Andrew Schwartz
_________________________________
Hhhmmm. Let's see. The airport's closes. The Pass is closed. You're a skier. You're in Vail. There are 50 new inches of snow. You have your ski gear. Hhhhmmmm. What to do.
Bill Tenneson
_________________________________
Your post awakened memories of when my brother and I played in Chicago with Carl Carlton. We drove back to Detroit and hit lake effect snow. For over an hour I had to look out the window for guard rails as he drove blind. I thought that this could be the end.
Gary D. Strauss
_________________________________
That reminds me of the time I got caught in a whiteout on I-81 through PA. I was living on the far SW edge of Northern VA at the time and I can't remember if I was coming back from Lake Placid or Hartford. I used to take I-81 to avoid the traffic and tolls on I-95. But 81 goes through some pretty hilly and isolated areas. Usually I enjoyed the scenery and the ability to speed due to little traffic. But this time the snow was way heavier than I thought it would be. I really couldn't see much of anything and it was starting scare me. I know there are some pretty steep dropoffs on the other side of those guardrails. Fortunately, I was able to follow an 18-wheeler most of the way until the snow let up and I could see. I was white knuckling it though, for sure. Cursing myself half the time for not taking 95. I don't remember what music I was listening to that night. But I know it was what kept me calm, because that's how I am. I can't drive without music. Knowing me, it was probably the
Eagles.
Glad you made it back safe and sound.
Amy Primeaux
_________________________________
Wait it out, Bob! You could end up with the most epic skiing of all time!!!
Tim
Calgary
_________________________________
Don't pack, dig in for the adventure with good judgment, meaning don't get killed.
Stephen Marcussen
_________________________________
Great read, I know what you're going through. Godspeed Bob.
I'm up here in Aspen helping to run the Platinum Suites program for the X Games (you should come out next year!). Last night there was an accident in the roundabout on the way from Buttermilk into town and the free shuttle line snaked all the way into the vendor village.
Really hoping to get done today and get back to Denver before we get dumped on again tomorrow morning!
Best,
Kobi Waldfogel
_________________________________
Should Marshall Tucker be in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame?
OBTW, I'm from SOUTH CAROLINA : )
Doug Thompson
_________________________________
Stay...you went to ski right? Lotsa snow...it's an adventure. Like-minded souls are likely to hookup and laugh, even if your east coast buds don't make it. It's a memory in the making, either way.
Erik Scott
_________________________________
I know that road and the snow. Flo & Eddie and we neo-Turtles barely escaped Vail trying to get back to play the Troubadour on Christmas Eve in '74. Had to get thru the pass before it closed, the station wagon the band was in was following the equipment truck rental...the taillights... Every once in awhile you could glimpse the falloff 2000 feet on the right side...yup...I know the trip.
Congrats...you made it. Hang in...it'll be great.....
or...
Erik Scott
_________________________________
Ooops sorry...a final addendum to the Vail-in-a-snowstorm story. I know you probably won't read this...a social media giant
like yourself has little time for such nonsense...flotsam email from an old-timer. But I got to thinking about my own escape and travel down the Vail mountain in a snowstorm in '74. As I mentioned, Flo & Eddie and we Neo-Turtles had to get to the LA Troubadour to play Christmas Eve and Christmas night, snowstorm or no...so down the hill we went, following the equipment truck taillights...Flo (Mark) driving, and Howard knowing we were all going to die in a 2000 foot fall: "Un-identified beatniks found frozen" as he would put it..hell, as he did put it. But an interesting part, especially for a newly transplanted bass-playing rube from the midwest, were the shows at the Troubadour. On Christmas Eve, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Asher, Joni Mitchell and a crowd showed up to sing carols for the encore. The next night on Christmas, Keith Moon and Alice Cooper showed up and did the "Happy Together", and an interesting version of "Wooly Bully"…and I had a small adventure with
Moonie.
So you see, perhaps the snowstorm travel is but a prelude to great new memories for you during this week…..and then again,
no..for sure, good memories. and congrats for your survival. oorah
Erik Scott
(Note: I was at the Troubadour on Christmas Eve with my college buddy John Hughes, below.)
_________________________________
Thanks for this Bob. This reminds me of many adventures driving in Colorado and one of the things I miss about living in the Vail area, as weird as that sounds. I am a cover musician and lived and worked in the Vail and Beaver Creek resort hotels for almost 10 years. I bought a condo in Avon and skied every day at "The Beav" and then went to work in a bar/restaurant every night during the winters. Near the end of my life style in that valley I lived in Leadville and remember driving back to Leadville at 1am from my gig in Edwards in a blizzard with a Subaru with snow tires. Great vehicle for saving your ass in those situations.
My ears/eyes always perk up when you write about being in Vail. Now I live in San Jose (Silicon Valley) and miss the lifestyle of living and working in a ski resort! I married a tech "rockstar" and we follow her career.
I used to play bars, ski and travel around the San Juans. Telluride is still one of the most beautiful places for skiing in my mind and Wolf Creek always had a ton of snow. I hope you make it safe and thanks for all you share for the young musicians and oldsters like me who love staying up to date!
All the best,
Wil Mullen
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You're a little late on Marshall Tucker...
Chris Branson
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Go hit Wolf Creek! The back area is sick when there's fresh and then when you've had enough you can go hit the hot springs in pagosa springs! And wolf creek is a day area with no village and none of the touristy bullshit of all the other places you're thinking of hitting!
Or if you're up for it and feeling hardcore you could always try Silverton.
Have a blast Bob - but stay safe
Jarrett Sherman
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I hope you stayed in Vail. I lived in Steamboat for 2.5 years...3 winters...after college. Late '70's. Deferred grad school twice (I'd gotten into one of the better graduate school real estate programs in the country; University of Wisconsin, Madison. The third time I tried to defer they said, "nope...see 'ya." Then I figured I needed to get a life. But I'd followed my muse....powder skiing in the Rockies....it was heaven...and things have turned out ok).
And you know the Rockies in the winter, Bob, especially in big snow years like this one, don't you? Don't fuck with the mountains. They're like that margarine commercial from the '70's, "...you can't fool mother nature." No shit. You can't win in bad weather. Sure, you may survive. But the driving? You'll never forget it! It'll scare the shit out of you, if you've got half a brain. And driving in a Rocky Mountain white out? I've been in some Rocky Mountain winter storms where I couldn't see past the hood. Scared me to death. I remember those trips to this day. Vividly.
You can always ski another day. Can't do that when you're dead.
David Svikhart
Salt Lake City, UT
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"Finally I was in Edwards. Civilization".
You insulted everyone that lives in Wolcott!
Love that area and loved the story.
Kevin McCloskey
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I can't remember for sure if it was Geddy Lee or Neil Peart that once said "adventures suck while you're going through them". And you know not to put yourself in harms way over $130/day fees. Love your blow by blow accounting. Breathe deep my friend .....sooner or later it has to end.
Kevin
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Quite an adventure. I know that adrenaline driving feeling. Ugh.
That car rental fee has gotta hurt. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story. And it could be worse: 52 degrees here in Vermont today, and rain on the way.
- Greg Dennis
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so what happened next??!! the suspense is killing me!!! does sound like the music helped pull you through that first part, though. amazing what a difference it can make to have that one extra thing going on, which you'd think would distract you from the needed ultra-concentration, but somehow works the opposite way, and has a calming effect instead.
John Hughes
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Fantastic Bob, thanks for that. Nothing like a great Colorado snow storm.
Hope you drove--I think you would find once you got down onto the flats, you'd be fine, with only Dallas Divide and the drive up valley to deal with.
Enjoy your turns! David Knudsen
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And then...?
Lisa Battista
Red Light Management
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Steiny
_________________________________
Great entry as usual Bob - For those not familiar, Heard It In A Love Song comes from a magnificent album. It's almost bubble gum when compared to the whole album. Carolina Dreams straddles Southern Rock with Cowboy Country and even solid blues. It grows on you.
Bernard Yin
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Bob, welcome to Colorado. I live in Durango and if you give me a little lead time I would come up and help.
I will be back in SO CA the end of next week wand it would be "interesting" to have lunch. I probably see life more
positively than you do but we would both learn a lot.
Feel free to have an "escort" as you may a decision.
I love the topics and issues you bring up for the music industry. It is positive and well thought out. I am more interested in learning why you are so negative on life and our current state of affairs.
Marsh Bull
PS: My assumption is that I will not hear back from you so have a great weekend and trip back to So CA.
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The roads to telluride scare me.
Jason Hirschhorn
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My teeth were clinched the whole time I was reading this. Be careful out there Bob.
Kevin Weaver
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PUNT...your asshole will pucker on the Million Dollar Highway...if it is open!
CR at the Base of Little Cottonwood Canyon, which was also sketchy today
Coby Reghr
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Pack!!! To Hell U Ride is great! You are tough, you will make it.
Mike Busch
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wow, nice work navigating. brings back memories of a college road trip from chicago to tempe, az to see the grateful dead....got caught in an insane blizzard in new mexico (as born and bred northerners we were puzzled as to why there would even be snow at all that far south) 40 West was shut down, so we decided to point south at 25 towards sunnier climes b/c we didn't want to miss the show. Didn't work out so well. soon it was dark and we were on 25 South in a full whiteout and heavy winds....but pulling over was not an option, you'd be hit from behind. Exiting was not an option b/c you couldn't see them and even if you could they were covered in a foot of snow. So we soldiered on. Periodically the driver would need to reach out and shake the ice off the wiper, so as the shotgun rider I'd hold the wheel. We did it probably a dozen times. Then the next time he reached out, the fucking thing snapped off. The entire wiper. FUCKED. We were a solid 3-4 hours from safety at that point so
it looked pretty fucking dire. For the next 4 hours I steered from the passenger seat (my wiper was still working) while my friend did the gas/brake at my command. Somehow just before daybreak we found the exit for 10 west and we made it to the show with a couple of hours to spare. The most vicious drive I've ever endured...and i've endured a whole bunch of them.
Great show though.
Glad you made it in one piece....at this point the worst case is stuck in Vail, so could be worse.
Don Bartlett
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You don't know me, and I only know you from reading your letters. I do know this, the cost of a rental for even a few days is nowhere near as valuable as your health and well being. I've lived in Denver for 16 years and have spent a fair amount of time driving in all kinds of weather in the mountains. My unsolicited advice is please don't drive to Telluride in a storm. Please.
Claire Cocurullo
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Could not pass this one up. PUNT.
The skiing in Vail will be incredible because no one will be able to get here. Haha
Go to Telluride on Sunday afternoon, they are going to get puked on till Tuesday.
Kevin Roach
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Really vivid, harrowing storytelling, Bob. I was right there in the passenger seat with you.
Colman DeKay
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Pack. Drive in daylight. If roads are open, you go. Otherwise you'll tear yourself apart for missing the top of the season in Telluride.
My $0.02.
Jim Rondinelli
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BBBEEN THERE!! Vaya con dios!
Patrick J. Daly
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50" ?????
YOU'VE GOT TO GO!!!
AND THEN YOU'VE GOT TO WRITE ABOUT IT!!!!!
HEEEELLL YEAH!!!
Thanks for the skiing stories every year. This build up is killing me!
Chris Johnson
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Stay right where you are. No amount of car fees are worth your life, Bob!
Dave Bass
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Take the sure thing. Ski vail! It will be awesome either way. I could never sleep in telluride. Too high and too dry. And I hated their chairlift system.
Irving Azoff
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Bob you have such a memory for details. What a harrowing experience. I've had similar driving terrors in Utah. Be safe out there!
Grace Mosqueda
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Ski Vail, of course. Glad you made it.
Sam Glaser
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Nice play by play. Been there many times in Vermont and Colorado. Hope to all works out. Was supposed to go to Vail this weekend but cancelled for a few reasons. Kind of happy with my decision now. Yes, that means I'm getting old. But hey...hell of a season so far!
Danny Cooper
VP Promotion
RCA Records
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Sounds dubious w/out 4wd. Please stay safe. DG
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I think you're nuts. I would have gone to Miami.
James LaLumia
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What's missing from this is that during your entire complicated drive (which might have included a serious accident) you also were trying to keep track of the details for writing in your blog. Like on some level you must have thought this anguish will make a fantastic post.
Firstname Lastname
_________________________________
Glad you made it in one piece.
Jeanne Buckley Peloso
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Try surfing!
Harvey Leeds
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Stay put. We need you. Pay the extra rental fee.
Lizzz Kritzer
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I've lived in Colorado for almost 40 of the last 50 years.
Driven the mountain roads before freeways were carved into the Rockies.
Been down to Telluride maybe a half dozen times.
When we're in high snow alert, disregard what the GPS system says.
Not even a Jeep with V-8, a turbocharger, and off-road tires could make it from Vail to Telluride in under five hours.
And that assumes the driver is more experienced than some "flatlander" in for a ski week.
No offense intended, but most ski tourists believe that "four wheel drive" also means "four wheel stop."
The roadsides along I-70, on the road from Grand Junction to Ridgeway and from there to T'ride bear witness to those who've made the mistake.
Regards,
Bill Clarke
Denver and the Rockies.
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Punt! After that dizzying episode where you managed to keep control in the most uncontrollable of situations, driving in snow, you will manage.
Patti Jones
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Wait it out, Bob!
Will you remember the $170/day or the powder?
At least you're driving TO the snow. Last week I white-knuckled it down from Telluride to Montrose to come home. And that's far less rewarding.
Lars Murray
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Bob - I've been reading you for years and I had to respond to this one. I laughed so hard! You captured snow driving so well! Reminds me (again, as I sit at the Denver Airport) how happy I am to live in San Francisco these days.
Thanks!
Hugs - Ursula Fritsch
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I'd just enjoy the snow.
Joe Vitka
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PUNT. It's the only way.
Leland Grant
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Sitting here in Macon, GA where it will be 70 and sunny today it's hard to even conceive having to navigate in a blizzard, but I did it years ago when I was a tour manager. No more!!
Willie Perkins
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I felt as if I was in the passenger's seat of your car while your were driving. That was an incredible piece of writing.
Eric Herz
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My knuckles are white just reading this. I can't believe you had to go so far just to pick up the car. So have you decided to pack or punt? Whatever you do, stay safe!
You back by Thursday?
Amy Madnick
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I hope I'm not the only person saying, "Don't go!"
It takes a strong person to make the most sensible decision, even (especially) when it means ignoring the testosterone-fueled choice
Jenny McCourt
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High adventure, Bob.
Wolf Creek is east of Telluride and I'm excited about what's about to happen here.
Let me know if you get this far and need refuge.
Haz
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Re: pack or punt...as a Wyoming resident that deals with this frequently, my best advice is to Park. Find a place to stay put until the storm clears and the plows get their work done. Safe travels.
Mike Geraci
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Go surfing, Bob. Fewer logistical hurdles.
Stay safe.
smitty
Jim Smith, CTIE
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My blood pressure rose as I read. Be safe.
You put me in mind of my own winter driving perils. I was going from CT to Middlebury in early Feb (after winter term). Connecticut? No worries. Mass? A little snow, but OK. Route 7 in VT just south of Brandon? We are stopped at a light (because, you know, Metropolitan Brandon needs a light). I realize that the car (a very old station wagon) is sliding backward on a slight incline. I manage to arrest the slide by steering into a snow bank. Some hours later, trucks salt the road and we creep north to Midd. Damnedest thing. I can still conjure the anxiety of moving backwards from a fixed position. Somewhere in there is a useful metaphor for something.
Best,
John
-----------------------------------------------
John Hyman
Director, College Writing Program
Department of Literature
College of Arts and Sciences
American University
_________________________________
I've done that drive from Beaver Creek to the Denver airport with my wife and kids in the 4 wheel drive. Kids throwing up in the back, white knuckles on steering wheel, normally passenger seat driving by my wife but instead you can hear a pin drop.
Be safe my man.
Andrew Schwartz
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Hhhmmm. Let's see. The airport's closes. The Pass is closed. You're a skier. You're in Vail. There are 50 new inches of snow. You have your ski gear. Hhhhmmmm. What to do.
Bill Tenneson
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Your post awakened memories of when my brother and I played in Chicago with Carl Carlton. We drove back to Detroit and hit lake effect snow. For over an hour I had to look out the window for guard rails as he drove blind. I thought that this could be the end.
Gary D. Strauss
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That reminds me of the time I got caught in a whiteout on I-81 through PA. I was living on the far SW edge of Northern VA at the time and I can't remember if I was coming back from Lake Placid or Hartford. I used to take I-81 to avoid the traffic and tolls on I-95. But 81 goes through some pretty hilly and isolated areas. Usually I enjoyed the scenery and the ability to speed due to little traffic. But this time the snow was way heavier than I thought it would be. I really couldn't see much of anything and it was starting scare me. I know there are some pretty steep dropoffs on the other side of those guardrails. Fortunately, I was able to follow an 18-wheeler most of the way until the snow let up and I could see. I was white knuckling it though, for sure. Cursing myself half the time for not taking 95. I don't remember what music I was listening to that night. But I know it was what kept me calm, because that's how I am. I can't drive without music. Knowing me, it was probably the
Eagles.
Glad you made it back safe and sound.
Amy Primeaux
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Wait it out, Bob! You could end up with the most epic skiing of all time!!!
Tim
Calgary
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Don't pack, dig in for the adventure with good judgment, meaning don't get killed.
Stephen Marcussen
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Great read, I know what you're going through. Godspeed Bob.
I'm up here in Aspen helping to run the Platinum Suites program for the X Games (you should come out next year!). Last night there was an accident in the roundabout on the way from Buttermilk into town and the free shuttle line snaked all the way into the vendor village.
Really hoping to get done today and get back to Denver before we get dumped on again tomorrow morning!
Best,
Kobi Waldfogel
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Should Marshall Tucker be in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame?
OBTW, I'm from SOUTH CAROLINA : )
Doug Thompson
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Stay...you went to ski right? Lotsa snow...it's an adventure. Like-minded souls are likely to hookup and laugh, even if your east coast buds don't make it. It's a memory in the making, either way.
Erik Scott
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I know that road and the snow. Flo & Eddie and we neo-Turtles barely escaped Vail trying to get back to play the Troubadour on Christmas Eve in '74. Had to get thru the pass before it closed, the station wagon the band was in was following the equipment truck rental...the taillights... Every once in awhile you could glimpse the falloff 2000 feet on the right side...yup...I know the trip.
Congrats...you made it. Hang in...it'll be great.....
or...
Erik Scott
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Ooops sorry...a final addendum to the Vail-in-a-snowstorm story. I know you probably won't read this...a social media giant
like yourself has little time for such nonsense...flotsam email from an old-timer. But I got to thinking about my own escape and travel down the Vail mountain in a snowstorm in '74. As I mentioned, Flo & Eddie and we Neo-Turtles had to get to the LA Troubadour to play Christmas Eve and Christmas night, snowstorm or no...so down the hill we went, following the equipment truck taillights...Flo (Mark) driving, and Howard knowing we were all going to die in a 2000 foot fall: "Un-identified beatniks found frozen" as he would put it..hell, as he did put it. But an interesting part, especially for a newly transplanted bass-playing rube from the midwest, were the shows at the Troubadour. On Christmas Eve, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Asher, Joni Mitchell and a crowd showed up to sing carols for the encore. The next night on Christmas, Keith Moon and Alice Cooper showed up and did the "Happy Together", and an interesting version of "Wooly Bully"…and I had a small adventure with
Moonie.
So you see, perhaps the snowstorm travel is but a prelude to great new memories for you during this week…..and then again,
no..for sure, good memories. and congrats for your survival. oorah
Erik Scott
(Note: I was at the Troubadour on Christmas Eve with my college buddy John Hughes, below.)
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Thanks for this Bob. This reminds me of many adventures driving in Colorado and one of the things I miss about living in the Vail area, as weird as that sounds. I am a cover musician and lived and worked in the Vail and Beaver Creek resort hotels for almost 10 years. I bought a condo in Avon and skied every day at "The Beav" and then went to work in a bar/restaurant every night during the winters. Near the end of my life style in that valley I lived in Leadville and remember driving back to Leadville at 1am from my gig in Edwards in a blizzard with a Subaru with snow tires. Great vehicle for saving your ass in those situations.
My ears/eyes always perk up when you write about being in Vail. Now I live in San Jose (Silicon Valley) and miss the lifestyle of living and working in a ski resort! I married a tech "rockstar" and we follow her career.
I used to play bars, ski and travel around the San Juans. Telluride is still one of the most beautiful places for skiing in my mind and Wolf Creek always had a ton of snow. I hope you make it safe and thanks for all you share for the young musicians and oldsters like me who love staying up to date!
All the best,
Wil Mullen
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You're a little late on Marshall Tucker...
Chris Branson
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Go hit Wolf Creek! The back area is sick when there's fresh and then when you've had enough you can go hit the hot springs in pagosa springs! And wolf creek is a day area with no village and none of the touristy bullshit of all the other places you're thinking of hitting!
Or if you're up for it and feeling hardcore you could always try Silverton.
Have a blast Bob - but stay safe
Jarrett Sherman
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I hope you stayed in Vail. I lived in Steamboat for 2.5 years...3 winters...after college. Late '70's. Deferred grad school twice (I'd gotten into one of the better graduate school real estate programs in the country; University of Wisconsin, Madison. The third time I tried to defer they said, "nope...see 'ya." Then I figured I needed to get a life. But I'd followed my muse....powder skiing in the Rockies....it was heaven...and things have turned out ok).
And you know the Rockies in the winter, Bob, especially in big snow years like this one, don't you? Don't fuck with the mountains. They're like that margarine commercial from the '70's, "...you can't fool mother nature." No shit. You can't win in bad weather. Sure, you may survive. But the driving? You'll never forget it! It'll scare the shit out of you, if you've got half a brain. And driving in a Rocky Mountain white out? I've been in some Rocky Mountain winter storms where I couldn't see past the hood. Scared me to death. I remember those trips to this day. Vividly.
You can always ski another day. Can't do that when you're dead.
David Svikhart
Salt Lake City, UT
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"Finally I was in Edwards. Civilization".
You insulted everyone that lives in Wolcott!
Love that area and loved the story.
Kevin McCloskey
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I can't remember for sure if it was Geddy Lee or Neil Peart that once said "adventures suck while you're going through them". And you know not to put yourself in harms way over $130/day fees. Love your blow by blow accounting. Breathe deep my friend .....sooner or later it has to end.
Kevin
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Quite an adventure. I know that adrenaline driving feeling. Ugh.
That car rental fee has gotta hurt. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story. And it could be worse: 52 degrees here in Vermont today, and rain on the way.
- Greg Dennis
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so what happened next??!! the suspense is killing me!!! does sound like the music helped pull you through that first part, though. amazing what a difference it can make to have that one extra thing going on, which you'd think would distract you from the needed ultra-concentration, but somehow works the opposite way, and has a calming effect instead.
John Hughes
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Fantastic Bob, thanks for that. Nothing like a great Colorado snow storm.
Hope you drove--I think you would find once you got down onto the flats, you'd be fine, with only Dallas Divide and the drive up valley to deal with.
Enjoy your turns! David Knudsen
_________________________________
And then...?
Lisa Battista
Red Light Management
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