Mailbag

Re: Paul Rodgers

I have to say that Paul Rogers has what is probably the best ever voice for rock and blues rock, and has had that voice for 50 yrs! And one of the reasons is not only the physical gift of his vocal instrument , but the knowledge and, maybe most importantly, the feel for how to use it to its full advantage. It comes naturally to him.

We toured with a Bad Company in the 70's and in 2009 and it was a treat to listen to them educate the public on the gutsy simplicity and power required to be a true rock band.

My biggest regret is that Free was here and gone so fast. They took a phenomenal drummer in Simon Kirke, and simplistic but powerful bass player in Andy Fraser, and added Paul Kossof's incendiary guitar in both lead and rhythm and made the ideal group to back a singer like Paul. The tracks were simple and economically rich, lots of space, and they rocked like nobody else before or since! Besides the anthemic "Alright Now", which was everywhere in that period, songs like "I'll Be Creepin" told the true story of in your face rock power. You add in Paul's soulful voice and it was irresistible if you truly love rock on the gut level. It's moved you!

The fact that Paul isn't in the HOF is a travesty! And the music industry is crying out for real rock to re-emerge and drive today's playlists even if they don't know it. It's honest and it's real. No gimmicks, no fluff.

Tom Johnston

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From: Steve Lukather
Re: Paul Rodgers

In my opinion, one of the greatest voices of our generation !

I have had the honor of working with him back in 1994 live and on record. Just incredible and he is also a gentleman's- gentleman.
To hear THAT voice come out of the monitors in a hall ... then while playing the opening riff to All Right Now and turn and hear the REAL voice come out..?
Now was a childhood dream for me and that was a life changing song for me as a kid.. all of us as kids from my era.
One of the greatest riffs ever written in rock history and Paul and the guys have written so many classics! Historic stuff!

Who doesn't perk up when they hear that riff ?
Paul Kossoff -WOW- what guitar player!! That sound and touch. You just don't hear that anymore.. its golden!
What guitar player from my generation does not know that riff and that solo note for note?

Then all the great Bad Co music and all he has done.. hard to pick a favorite!

Paul has put gold into every thing he has ever done ( as did all the players on those classic records)

When you hear the opening vocal line to the song 'Bad Company'.. its goosebumps EVERY time. Never gets old !!
None of his/their music does and Paul's voice has never lost a step.

Luke

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From: Lionel Conway
Subject: Re: Paul Rodgers-This Week's Podcast

Bob. I'm glad you have some recognition out to Mick Ralph's. I was working with Chris Blackwell running island music back in early 60s , I had two bands Free and Mott the Hoople. The latter was all about Ian Hunter. He was the band. Mick was very frustrated and after several years decided he wanted out. He came to see me and said he had a couple of songs that he had written. But Ian wasn't interested. So he wanted to demo them and use them for either his own thing or another band. He played them for me and I was floored, he had languished for years without any recognition with Mott and from that demo session that I helped facilitate , out came. two iconic Rock standards. " feel like making love " and ' I can't get enough of your loving ". Kudos to paul Rogers for his great performance on both ,but Micks songs made the band.

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Re: Paul Rodgers

I'm through the Free bit and I am little bummed that you didn't spend more time on that:
1. Paul mentioned being in a band with Bruce Thomas and I believe Micky Moody. Moody is/was one of England's finest slide blues players. A charter member of the original Whitesnake, he, Coverdale and Bernie Marsden wrote Fool for your Lovin (recorded 2x)
2. More on Andy Fraser…he was 15 when he joined Free. Besides co-writing All Right now, he also co-wrote The Stealer and My Brother Jake
3. The final Free tour…the Heartbreaker record.. with Wishing Well…more on that would have been nice as well as the decision to use Del Richardson from Osibisa as the lead guitar on the tour. And bonus info is that Snuffy Walden played on the record. Look up his IMBD.

The Bad Co stuff…well…I would have like to hear more about the Swansong/Peter Grant stuff. I was part of meetings with LZ which discussed Swansong…

Peter Mensch
Q Prime

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Re: Paul Rodgers

In the 90's I was fortunate to record with Paul Rodgers for a few days and learned one of the more valuable lessons of my recording career.

He was on tour and in Indianapolis and needed a place to record. I can't remember who the drummer and bassist were but Neal Schon was playing guitar. Neal was so much fun.

Obviously, I was so excited about getting to record one of the great voices in rock history and one of rock's great guitarists too.

For Paul's vocal I set up my most expensive mic, one worth thousands of dollars that everyone loves and sounds great on almost every voice.

Paul sang through the song once and came into the control room. After listening all the way through the song he said "It sounds quite nice but I'd fancy 57. It's what we used on all of the Bad Company records"

A $100 Shure Sm57! I was in shock!

So I set up the Sm57 and when he starts to sing there it is ... the voice I've heard my whole life.

It was a great lesson ... the most expensive tool that you have is not always the right one. Every recording session since then its always in the back of my mind.

The second lesson was that he didn't just ask for the Sm57. He was open to a little experimentation ... the mark of a great artist.

I regularly meet with recording students from several colleges and recording schools as well as working with a lot of young bands ... this story is one I never fail to tell.

Paul was such a gentleman and a pleasure to work with. I was also fortunate to mix a couple of live radio broadcasts on the Bob and Tom Show with Paul and Bad Company and as a solo act ... always the Sm57.

Alan Johnson

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Subject: RE: Fauda-Season 2

When I started watching Season 2 of Fauda I realized that the dubbing was messed up. I couldn't handle five minutes of it, (apparently it was an issue for many). I decided to go on Lior Raz's (Doron) Instagram account and tell him that the dubbing was killing me and not representative of his incredible acting. He wrote back immediately and told me how to change my Netflix settings (Switch to Hebrew with English subtitles.)
I then binged all 12 episodes in less than 24 hours…AND went back to Season 1 to watch it again the next day.
That's how good this show is.
Bravo to every actor, director, photographer, costume designer, make-up artist…who contributed to Fauda. The show is one of the most brilliant ones out there. Great tv is alive and well!

Shari Siskind

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Subject: Re: The Kissing Booth

I watched this movie with my wife. She likes romantic comedies and I saw an ad for this somewhere and thought it would fit the bill. It did…sort of.

It's not a very good movie but then again, when Hollywood stops making rom-coms for the theaters so they can fill the screens with superhero movies, somebody will pick up the slack. And a mediocre effort's better than nothing in a vacuum.

For me, the strangest thing about the movie was the soundtrack. Pop rock songs, including several covers of 80's songs (Safety Dance, Right Here Right Now, Don't You Forget About Me). Almost no hip hop. Makes no sense as the soundtrack for the lives of teenagers today. But it made sense as the soundtrack for older adults watching the movie. I think they were hoping to expand their audience: draw in young people with the cast and pull in older types looking for a rom-com with the music.

BTW, the young actress playing the lead role, Joey King, was the best thing about the movie with quirky but attractive looks and an appealing personality. And who played the mother of the two brothers in the love triangle, who also gave Joey some advice on how to deal with teen angst in a high school rom com?

Molly Ringwald.

George Evanko

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Subject: Re: Mailbag-Kissing Booth/Triple Crown & MORE! (Even CHIPS!)

Bob, the girl was modern and of an achievable-degree of pulchritude, but both brothers were eye-frigging-popping. No brainer.

Makes a girl wanna say "Me, too!"

Regards,

Paula Franceschi

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From: Dee J
Subject: Re: The Kissing Booth

My daughter and I watched "The Kissing Booth" last weekend. She has watched all of the teen films I grew up watching (Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, etc.) and believes that today's theatrical releases are primarily super hero, action or horror films. She loves coming of age teen targeted films and series and Netflix delivers.

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From: Matt Colwell
Subject: Re: The Kissing Booth

I had a song ("Swimming In Stars") from one of my artists featured in the movie and since putting it up on DSPs 10 days ago it has been streamed 167,000 times on Spotify, 170k times on YouTube, and Shazamed 20k times. This is with no outside press or promo, all driven from the cult-fanbase of the film.

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From: Catalina Berretta
Subject: Re: The Kissing Booth

Hi Bob,
I'm a college student who watched The Kissing Booth with all my roommates. We love it because it's the most absurd, insane, stupid and fucking hilarious movie we've watched this year. Terrible acting, terrible plot, terrible characterization all add up to the most iconic, unaware Netflix film yet. In fact, since watching, we have referenced that movie at least once a day. I lost my breath so many times laughing about it with my roommates.
That said, so many pre-teens eat that shit up. I know I would've at 11-13 and they are all streaming. Just wanted to say that also now, they're part of the audience and they contribute to higher ratings even though their taste is unironic and terrible. But that's what being 11 is all about! - Catu, 21, Boston MA

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Subject: Re: The Kissing Booth

Admittedly it was a self-indulgent detour from my normal viewing habits and criteria,
but I'm 75 and I loved "The Kissing Booth." Don't think that won't give the Netflix AlgorhythMaster a severe case of hives!

Jesse McRae

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From: Will Ward
Subject: RE: The Kissing Booth

We rep Jacob. It's insane how this movie blew up.

William M. Ward, Jr.
Fourward
10250 Constellation Blvd., Suite 2710
Century City, California 90067


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