Huh?
Weren't we supposed to live in a word of mouth economy, where the cream rose to the top?
NO!
Actually, never forget that distribution is king. Did you read that NBC tied in with Netflix for the Olympics, with a two hour special? Millennials are cord-cutters, they don't even see NBC, but they all have Netflix accounts, even if they're courtesy of mommy and daddy, you've got to go where the eyeballs are.
But there's this illusion that content is king. A canard creators use to pat themselves on the back, to make themselves feel better, after Silicon Valley stole their thunder. Once you hear an artist say he's not getting paid enough, know that he or she does not have good representatives, or is not good enough period. Like that kerfuffle with Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams and the payment for reshoots on that movie. Mark just had a better agent, he used his leverage. Michelle's, not so much. Never mind that both agents were working at the same company, what are they calling it this week, "Endeavor"? They take one of the best brands of all time, the ESSENCE of agenting, i.e. "William Morris," and eradicate it. And we think Ari is gonna triumph with such a blind spot? What hubris!
So in the last decade, when everybody got broadband and the internet burgeoned, the landscape was still comprehensible, we could still find things, we could still notice. Now we're all overwhelmed. We stay in our own silos. And reaching us is damn near impossible. There are no more viral videos, whether they be of musicians or animals, we've seen that paradigm. And legends put out new music and it goes straight into the dumper. U2? Did they really put out an album? I know Jann Wenner put Bono on the cover of "Rolling Stone," who's next, Frankie Valli? No wonder the magazine crumpled, unlike MTV it never realized you mustn't age with your audience, but reinvent yourself and be hip, otherwise you're toast.
So today you make the product and nobody cares.
Which is why first and foremost you must know who your audience is. It's all about the data folks, you think your fans know you're playing in town, you think they know you've got new music, BUT THEY DON'T! They're too busy leading their own lives, they're overbooked. You post it on your website and issue a press release and think you've conquered, but the truth is you haven't done a thing. Which is why now, more than ever, you must be your own marketer.
Yes, you must know who your fans are and continue to seed them. Knowing the hard core will spread the word if you do something great. Or if you're over the hill and not doing something noteworthy at least they'll keep you alive. But if you've got something that will spread, that people will like if they experience it, then you must market it, you must sell it.
It was easy in the last century, all you had to do was get it on the radio or MTV! But at least with MTV there was only one station. You either won the derby or you were lost in the wilderness.
Now there's no platform of choice and we're all living in the forest.
Except for Tuma Basa with "Rap Caviar." Why Spotify has not established legends with playlists in other categories I don't know. They should be taking ads about John Marx, who they stole from SiriusXM, after he broke so many country records, some of them even unsigned. We don't trust celebrities as tastemakers, that's passe, they're all whored out and living in holes, no we want nobodies we believe in, who we exalt, like the legendary deejays of old.
So the question is, HOW DO YOU GET THE WORD OUT?
Because believe me, if you build it they will not come.
This was proven by Steven Soderbergh's last movie, which he released independently with half the marketing spend and then went straight to the dumper.
If you're big enough, you buy advertising. But it's best if the platform you're on hypes you. Which is why you want to be on Netflix instead of HBO, because people visit more frequently. Which is why you don't want to make an exclusive music streaming deal, so all services will feature you.
But the truth is no one is listening. Not anymore. This is what the media does not know and does not want to face. Whether it be mainstream or miniscule. They want to believe they're important, that they have impact and make a difference. But they don't.
The "New York Times" doesn't reach the Fox audience and there's nothing wrong with getting screen time, but it's just an element of your marketing, not the whole kahuna. Appear on late night TV and no one will know.
You've got to have traction. Starting from zero it's hard to become a hero. If people are not reacting to what you're doing, give up, really, or change direction. That's what they do in Silicon Valley, PIVOT, why can't you?
And then you must seed your hard core fans, who can never get enough, and then take every bite and explore every nook and cranny to try and get noticed. If we see your name here and there, multiple places, we're intrigued. As long as it's not the same damn story. When I read the same press release in multiple publications I laugh. And as long as you've got something worth selling. And now, more than ever, we want personal. If you're not willing to lay it on the line, shut up.
As for pissing off the naysayers...FUHGETTABOUTIT!
When everybody has a voice, they use it. They get angry that you're not paying attention. They're haters. It's deafening, all the responses, assuming you're getting any at all, but he or she who blinks is left out. They hate you until they love you. Or they love you until they hate you.
So concentrate on your product. In a world where Amazon reviews mean everything, if you ain't got 'em, you're toast. I won't read a book with a three star review, life's too short. You need at least a four to reach me. Sorry!
But once your product is set in stone... Then the challenge begins.
Which is why publishers are up in arms over Facebook's changes. That's where they do their marketing, turns out people don't want to go directly to the news site, they want it all put together.
Meanwhile, Apple's got one of the best news apps extant and no one knows or cares, because they're too busy apologizing for the revolutionary iPhone. Now naysayers say it must be hobbled, it's hastening the end of society. WRONG! It's your obligation to put this fantastic device down, not for them to cripple it. What next, cars with less horsepower that can only go 25 miles an hour? While we're at it, why don't we put a Pentium in your computer and get rid of browsers and multitasking!
All this is featured in the "New York Times" day after day, a reaction to the future. BUT YOU LIVE IN THE FUTURE! WE ALL DO! ACCEPT IT!
When you hear people railing against Spotify payments, ignore them, they've got too much time on their hands, they're probably not making any money anyway, or like Michelle Williams they have a bad representative and a bad deal.
We live in an era of winners and losers. If you're satiated with your niche, more power to you, if you're not...
No amount of bitching is gonna help you. You must sit and contemplate how to get the word out. Ten years ago it was Starbucks. Just recently it was Facebook. This is where the innovation comes in. Who can get their message heard?
That's your challenge.
"NBC is Using Netflix to advertise the 2018 Winter Olympics": http://bit.ly/2DevI57
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Thursday 18 January 2018
Wednesday 17 January 2018
Tony Hawk-This Week's Podcast
Skateboarding experienced a revolution in the seventies and then died. And then a renaissance. Then another death. Tony's sponsor went out of business. He bought a house with his earnings and had to sell it, eating ramen just to stay alive. And when his partners in Birdhouse told him that he was best skating instead of sitting behind a desk, he went out and competed and became the Tony Hawk you know today. Quite possibly the most famous athlete in the world. Musicians come and go through the TuneIn studio, but the staff needed Tony's autograph, they grew up playing his videogames!
And we hear that story here. Along with how Tony went from suburbanite to icon.
Not that he acts that way. But after having a stylist and doing awards shows he decided to be himself 24/7 and is much more comfortable, and still skating.
You see skateboarding is a culture. Jan & Dean popularized it in the sixties, but it wasn't until the midseventies that an equipment revolution blew the sport up.
And then came the injuries and the noise and the attitude and the closing of pools, curbs and parks, but the ethos could never be buried. Because skating is about being free. In a world where everybody's conforming. You don't think you are, but...
Now Tony's not an outlaw who went to jail. He comes from a middle class family, but he did fly to Japan to appear on TV in his teens. He did make more money than his teachers in high school and figured there was no point in going to college, since he already had a career. And Tony is SMART!
Funny how people get mic fright. Funny how people can't tell their story. Funny how inarticulate so many are. But not Tony! It's so weird talking to him, because he's just like you, only different. Someone you can relate to yet is world famous. Someone intrigued by the toys who can laugh at himself yet is devoted to raising his kids.
Tony made it work. Not that it was all laid out in front of him, it's just that he stayed the path and rode the wave, or in this case the street.
And he gives back.
And if you can find someone to say a bad word about Tony Hawk I haven't heard it.
So in this podcast we get his story. From an upbringing with two older siblings to his parents taking him to competitions to the X Games to the videogames. Hell, I think you'll be fascinated even if you've never ridden the wild asphalt!
So, once again, you can listen here:
TuneIn: http://tun.in/tiigPr
Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/id1316200737?mt=2&i=1000397753495
Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ijrpbkgbdxmjxc3netk434lpsv4
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bob-lefsetz/tonyhawk-6
Overcast: https://overcast.fm/+LBr9gZy0I
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And we hear that story here. Along with how Tony went from suburbanite to icon.
Not that he acts that way. But after having a stylist and doing awards shows he decided to be himself 24/7 and is much more comfortable, and still skating.
You see skateboarding is a culture. Jan & Dean popularized it in the sixties, but it wasn't until the midseventies that an equipment revolution blew the sport up.
And then came the injuries and the noise and the attitude and the closing of pools, curbs and parks, but the ethos could never be buried. Because skating is about being free. In a world where everybody's conforming. You don't think you are, but...
Now Tony's not an outlaw who went to jail. He comes from a middle class family, but he did fly to Japan to appear on TV in his teens. He did make more money than his teachers in high school and figured there was no point in going to college, since he already had a career. And Tony is SMART!
Funny how people get mic fright. Funny how people can't tell their story. Funny how inarticulate so many are. But not Tony! It's so weird talking to him, because he's just like you, only different. Someone you can relate to yet is world famous. Someone intrigued by the toys who can laugh at himself yet is devoted to raising his kids.
Tony made it work. Not that it was all laid out in front of him, it's just that he stayed the path and rode the wave, or in this case the street.
And he gives back.
And if you can find someone to say a bad word about Tony Hawk I haven't heard it.
So in this podcast we get his story. From an upbringing with two older siblings to his parents taking him to competitions to the X Games to the videogames. Hell, I think you'll be fascinated even if you've never ridden the wild asphalt!
So, once again, you can listen here:
TuneIn: http://tun.in/tiigPr
Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/id1316200737?mt=2&i=1000397753495
Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ijrpbkgbdxmjxc3netk434lpsv4
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bob-lefsetz/tonyhawk-6
Overcast: https://overcast.fm/+LBr9gZy0I
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What I Almost Was
http://spoti.fi/2riHrOp
"But I thank God I ain't what I almost was"
Maybe your parents were hands-off, maybe you wandered through life blindly. But then you weren't the child of Jewish parents, not the progeny of immigrants, who want to ensure their children are prepared.
And today it's even worse. The kids are smarter than the adults. They know the score. They know if you're not getting ahead you're falling behind. That you can't even get a job without a college degree, that you need graduate school to triumph. That life is hard and if you meander and get high and drift the joke is on you, you've got to move into your parents' basement while your old friends are making down payments and having babies.
So our country is divided between winners and losers. Haves and have-nots. It's every person for themselves, and as a result society is coarse, so we look to art for inspiration, to get us through. And what do we hear in music? Nonsense. Or how much better the performer's life is than ours. Hell, that's what social networks are built upon. No one puts a bad hair day on Instagram unless it's a joke, we're all worried about our image instead of our true identity. But then you hear something like Eric Church's "What I Almost Was" and you raise your fist in the air and a smile creeps over your face...
If you lead this life.
Reminds me of freshman year at Middlebury. A pre-med student was pissed he got a C when he always got A's. So he went to the teacher to bitch. Now I grade-grubbed in high school, we all did. But I was one point away from the next grade in Anthro 101 and I didn't bother to go to the teacher, after all I was in college, why did this guy do it I asked him... TO GET INTO A GOOD GRADUATE SCHOOL!
That's when I took the road not taken. Gave up. I couldn't be that person anymore. And this resulted not only in a mediocre GPA, at a college where no one got an A anyway, but outcast status. You were supposed to go to the library and study, not lead your life. You were supposed to jump through hoops. I was sick of that.
I did go to law school. A waste of time. But it was the worst snow year in Utah, there was no skiing, and I fell into my first real relationship and that carried me through, but I could have lived without going, because my life has been one of self-education, my own journey. Business people tell me I'm doing it wrong.
But it's right for me.
Which is why I grinned when I heard the live version of "What I Almost Was" from Eric Church's "61 Days In Church."
"It was my senior year
I just turned eighteen
I was a Friday night hero, with Division I dreams"
No platitudes here. Church drops " Division I," the big leagues of college sports. Institutions that have ceased being ones of higher learning. Pay the damn players, they're taking joke courses and the coaches make more than professors, isn't this a scourge upon society? I think so.
"I had an offer on the table
A four year ride
'Til that fourth and two and twenty four dive
I left on a stretcher, wound up on a crutch"
My father always told me to live by my mind. The physical comes and goes. Especially in sports. A chance of fate and your career is sidelined, like those guys in "Hoop Dreams."
"Walked on that next summer
Wound up getting cut
Flipped off that coach, left that school in the dust
For letting my dreams go bust"
Nothing feels worse than getting cut, from back when all males tried out for sports, when that list was posted in the gym and your name was not on it not only did your heart sink, it sank for days and weeks, you were not playing, you cleaned out your locker and lay on your bed depressed.
And we always hear it's about trying, that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. But that's patently untrue. He got cut, it was over.
As for flipping off the coach...
Forget the hotheads. They're out there making trouble for themselves. But are you too afraid to stand up for yourself? That's what being an artist is all about, lines in the sand you won't cross, things you won't do, the pushback.
"Yea, I moved on back home
And came awful close to being some son-in-law to some CEO"
You can picture it! He's got this opportunity, he can slide right into a role. It'll all work.
"Could have been a corner office, country club, suit and tie man
Answerin' to no one, but her and him"
You see these people at the country club, the legacies, people following in their parents' footsteps, doing what's expected of them, they've got the perks but they're dead on the inside.
"I ran out on his money, ran out on her love
At four in the morning I loaded my truck
I left my home town in a big cloud of dust
I just had to follow my gut
And thank God I ain't what I almost was"
He ESCAPED! Left in the middle of the night so no one would see him, no one would convince him otherwise. He was running on emotion instead of intellect. Had to go with what he was feeling. Even though this is harder than ever because of the aforementioned economics. Nobody picks up and moves, they can't afford to. But he did.
"In a guitar town I bought this old Epiphone"
Notice the Steve Earle reference? If not, stop reading this and immediately cue up his debut "Guitar Town" and get an education.
"Started stringin' chords and words into songs
I've been putting in time on 16th Avenue
Pouring out my heart for tips on a stool"
This ain't no fairy tale. He's paying his dues, for bupkes.
"I ain't making a killing, but then there's those nights
When the song comes together and hits 'em just right
The crowd's on their feet 'cause they can't get enough
Of this music I make and I love"
The moments. They're fulfilling, they're signposts. They make it all worth it. They make you believe you're on the right path.
"And I thank God I ain't, yea I thank God I ain't
Man I thank God ain't what I almost was"
BINGO!
I have doubts. All of us taking the path less taken do. There's no safety net, no guarantee. But the moments of triumph make it all worth it. This is what you were not only born to do, but decided to do.
This is why the music resonated with us. Because the artists took chances we didn't, had insight we didn't, they inspired us. Books and records charted the course of my life, I could not be denied, I tried to go straight, but it didn't work, that's for someone else.
Now there's a studio take of this song, it flew right by me a decade ago. But this solo acoustic number fits right into the canon of what once and forever shall be. Songs written and performed straight from the heart. Where it's less about the best voice or the ability to play than laying down your own personal truth that no one else can nail.
I've seen Church strut the stage with a cigar in his lips. I've seen him say no. I'm convinced this forty year old guy believes who he is, he's not veering from the path.
Not all of us can do this.
But we all want to.
And when we listen to "What I Almost Was"... Either we know we're on the right path or it's time to change.
It's never too late. Money isn't everything. Approval neither. It's about an inner mounting flame that makes you feel you're doing it right.
Pay attention to your inner beacon.
Get in touch with it by playing "What I Almost Was."
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"But I thank God I ain't what I almost was"
Maybe your parents were hands-off, maybe you wandered through life blindly. But then you weren't the child of Jewish parents, not the progeny of immigrants, who want to ensure their children are prepared.
And today it's even worse. The kids are smarter than the adults. They know the score. They know if you're not getting ahead you're falling behind. That you can't even get a job without a college degree, that you need graduate school to triumph. That life is hard and if you meander and get high and drift the joke is on you, you've got to move into your parents' basement while your old friends are making down payments and having babies.
So our country is divided between winners and losers. Haves and have-nots. It's every person for themselves, and as a result society is coarse, so we look to art for inspiration, to get us through. And what do we hear in music? Nonsense. Or how much better the performer's life is than ours. Hell, that's what social networks are built upon. No one puts a bad hair day on Instagram unless it's a joke, we're all worried about our image instead of our true identity. But then you hear something like Eric Church's "What I Almost Was" and you raise your fist in the air and a smile creeps over your face...
If you lead this life.
Reminds me of freshman year at Middlebury. A pre-med student was pissed he got a C when he always got A's. So he went to the teacher to bitch. Now I grade-grubbed in high school, we all did. But I was one point away from the next grade in Anthro 101 and I didn't bother to go to the teacher, after all I was in college, why did this guy do it I asked him... TO GET INTO A GOOD GRADUATE SCHOOL!
That's when I took the road not taken. Gave up. I couldn't be that person anymore. And this resulted not only in a mediocre GPA, at a college where no one got an A anyway, but outcast status. You were supposed to go to the library and study, not lead your life. You were supposed to jump through hoops. I was sick of that.
I did go to law school. A waste of time. But it was the worst snow year in Utah, there was no skiing, and I fell into my first real relationship and that carried me through, but I could have lived without going, because my life has been one of self-education, my own journey. Business people tell me I'm doing it wrong.
But it's right for me.
Which is why I grinned when I heard the live version of "What I Almost Was" from Eric Church's "61 Days In Church."
"It was my senior year
I just turned eighteen
I was a Friday night hero, with Division I dreams"
No platitudes here. Church drops " Division I," the big leagues of college sports. Institutions that have ceased being ones of higher learning. Pay the damn players, they're taking joke courses and the coaches make more than professors, isn't this a scourge upon society? I think so.
"I had an offer on the table
A four year ride
'Til that fourth and two and twenty four dive
I left on a stretcher, wound up on a crutch"
My father always told me to live by my mind. The physical comes and goes. Especially in sports. A chance of fate and your career is sidelined, like those guys in "Hoop Dreams."
"Walked on that next summer
Wound up getting cut
Flipped off that coach, left that school in the dust
For letting my dreams go bust"
Nothing feels worse than getting cut, from back when all males tried out for sports, when that list was posted in the gym and your name was not on it not only did your heart sink, it sank for days and weeks, you were not playing, you cleaned out your locker and lay on your bed depressed.
And we always hear it's about trying, that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. But that's patently untrue. He got cut, it was over.
As for flipping off the coach...
Forget the hotheads. They're out there making trouble for themselves. But are you too afraid to stand up for yourself? That's what being an artist is all about, lines in the sand you won't cross, things you won't do, the pushback.
"Yea, I moved on back home
And came awful close to being some son-in-law to some CEO"
You can picture it! He's got this opportunity, he can slide right into a role. It'll all work.
"Could have been a corner office, country club, suit and tie man
Answerin' to no one, but her and him"
You see these people at the country club, the legacies, people following in their parents' footsteps, doing what's expected of them, they've got the perks but they're dead on the inside.
"I ran out on his money, ran out on her love
At four in the morning I loaded my truck
I left my home town in a big cloud of dust
I just had to follow my gut
And thank God I ain't what I almost was"
He ESCAPED! Left in the middle of the night so no one would see him, no one would convince him otherwise. He was running on emotion instead of intellect. Had to go with what he was feeling. Even though this is harder than ever because of the aforementioned economics. Nobody picks up and moves, they can't afford to. But he did.
"In a guitar town I bought this old Epiphone"
Notice the Steve Earle reference? If not, stop reading this and immediately cue up his debut "Guitar Town" and get an education.
"Started stringin' chords and words into songs
I've been putting in time on 16th Avenue
Pouring out my heart for tips on a stool"
This ain't no fairy tale. He's paying his dues, for bupkes.
"I ain't making a killing, but then there's those nights
When the song comes together and hits 'em just right
The crowd's on their feet 'cause they can't get enough
Of this music I make and I love"
The moments. They're fulfilling, they're signposts. They make it all worth it. They make you believe you're on the right path.
"And I thank God I ain't, yea I thank God I ain't
Man I thank God ain't what I almost was"
BINGO!
I have doubts. All of us taking the path less taken do. There's no safety net, no guarantee. But the moments of triumph make it all worth it. This is what you were not only born to do, but decided to do.
This is why the music resonated with us. Because the artists took chances we didn't, had insight we didn't, they inspired us. Books and records charted the course of my life, I could not be denied, I tried to go straight, but it didn't work, that's for someone else.
Now there's a studio take of this song, it flew right by me a decade ago. But this solo acoustic number fits right into the canon of what once and forever shall be. Songs written and performed straight from the heart. Where it's less about the best voice or the ability to play than laying down your own personal truth that no one else can nail.
I've seen Church strut the stage with a cigar in his lips. I've seen him say no. I'm convinced this forty year old guy believes who he is, he's not veering from the path.
Not all of us can do this.
But we all want to.
And when we listen to "What I Almost Was"... Either we know we're on the right path or it's time to change.
It's never too late. Money isn't everything. Approval neither. It's about an inner mounting flame that makes you feel you're doing it right.
Pay attention to your inner beacon.
Get in touch with it by playing "What I Almost Was."
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61 Days In Church
http://spoti.fi/2DcjOIP
No one knows about this because it was exclusive to Apple Music for two weeks. Do this, and the rest of the streaming providers don't lift a finger, they'll add your music when they can, but they're not about to promote it.
How could Church's people be so stupid?
This is what happens when you enter the Apple alternate reality cloud, they suck you in and your thoughts are distorted thinking you're getting ahead when you're really falling behind. I'm a huge Church fan, I even know him and his management team, but I was unaware of this project, and it's FANTASTIC, GROUNDBREAKING!
You see Church is essentially bootlegging his own material.
Prior to the internet the model was one of scarcity. Limited product, dribbled out. Now everything is available for free on YouTube and live cuts mean little and pay even less. So why not put out your own live recordings on streaming services and get paid for it!
That's what Eric Church has done here. That's what all acts should do. Fans want more, GIVE IT TO THEM!
So there's a vinyl box costing nearly five hundred bucks for the diehards. And the thing is everybody's got diehard fans who will pop for this stuff. That's the model Patreon is built upon. Nobodies making a living on superfans.
But the average person can listen to the songs streaming and it's a REVELATION!
You see I was bouncing through my country favorites, and Church came across my mind and I searched on him in Spotify and I came up with these live compilations "61 Days In Church," and there are four volumes already, of 30 plus songs each! Can you imagine?
Assuming you're a fan. If you're not, you may not cotton to Church's nasal delivery. But the choice of material will wow you.
He plays my favorite from "Eat A Peach," the Allmans' "Ain't Wastin' Time No More." The Faces' "Ooh La La." John Anderson's "Seminole Wind." Marshall Tucker's "Heard It In A Love Song." "Chain Of Fools"? CHEVY VAN???
If this does not make you want to go to the show, you were never a fan to begin with.
If you are a fan, this project bonds you to him.
I'm gonna make a playlist of some of these covers. Click through 'em, crack up. This is a guy with roots and he's willing to evidence them. Isn't that what a musician does?
https://www.61daysinchurch.com
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No one knows about this because it was exclusive to Apple Music for two weeks. Do this, and the rest of the streaming providers don't lift a finger, they'll add your music when they can, but they're not about to promote it.
How could Church's people be so stupid?
This is what happens when you enter the Apple alternate reality cloud, they suck you in and your thoughts are distorted thinking you're getting ahead when you're really falling behind. I'm a huge Church fan, I even know him and his management team, but I was unaware of this project, and it's FANTASTIC, GROUNDBREAKING!
You see Church is essentially bootlegging his own material.
Prior to the internet the model was one of scarcity. Limited product, dribbled out. Now everything is available for free on YouTube and live cuts mean little and pay even less. So why not put out your own live recordings on streaming services and get paid for it!
That's what Eric Church has done here. That's what all acts should do. Fans want more, GIVE IT TO THEM!
So there's a vinyl box costing nearly five hundred bucks for the diehards. And the thing is everybody's got diehard fans who will pop for this stuff. That's the model Patreon is built upon. Nobodies making a living on superfans.
But the average person can listen to the songs streaming and it's a REVELATION!
You see I was bouncing through my country favorites, and Church came across my mind and I searched on him in Spotify and I came up with these live compilations "61 Days In Church," and there are four volumes already, of 30 plus songs each! Can you imagine?
Assuming you're a fan. If you're not, you may not cotton to Church's nasal delivery. But the choice of material will wow you.
He plays my favorite from "Eat A Peach," the Allmans' "Ain't Wastin' Time No More." The Faces' "Ooh La La." John Anderson's "Seminole Wind." Marshall Tucker's "Heard It In A Love Song." "Chain Of Fools"? CHEVY VAN???
If this does not make you want to go to the show, you were never a fan to begin with.
If you are a fan, this project bonds you to him.
I'm gonna make a playlist of some of these covers. Click through 'em, crack up. This is a guy with roots and he's willing to evidence them. Isn't that what a musician does?
https://www.61daysinchurch.com
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Tuesday 16 January 2018
Letterman On Netflix
It wasn't great.
Beware the disinformation campaign. HBO is very afraid. It's why Murdoch sold 21st Century Fox. Netflix is so far ahead of the game, with a strategy no one else employs, that not only will they continue to win, but they'll dominate in the future.
You do this by spending. Anathema to every company disrupted by the internet. They all tried to maintain their margins, by laying people off, by decreasing production, and in the process they marginalized themselves. When it comes to art, success is hard to predict, which is why you must be in the marketplace constantly. Which is why the record companies are almost as stupid as the book publishing companies. The publishers neutered electronic distribution to their detriment. They think they've won by raising prices and keeping physical books healthy. They've only postponed the great fall-off in the future, like Kodak, which never did have a workable digital strategy. Amazon was building a whole new business, based on mass distribution at a lower price, eliminating a plethora of costs, but the publishers thought their price point was inviolate, like the music business. I laugh at the rewriting of history, all the hosannas for the iTunes Store. Musicians HATED IT! It disintermediated the album and barely put a dent in piracy, if at all. Whereas once we went to streaming at one low price of $10 a month people hoovered the offer up, Spotify has 70 million subscribers, it doesn't pay to steal.
And now everybody puts their wares on streaming services and the labels cherry-pick the best and overlabor the production and the marketing thereof and think they're winning?
No, now is when the majors should be spending, exploring new avenues, doubling-down on what they did in the seventies, when they signed a plethora of new acts and nurtured them. There were left field successes, and not everything worked, but a healthy business was built. The biggest act in the world is Adele, but not a single label is trying to replicate this formula, finding a great singer with singable material with melody, they're all too busy chasing hip-hop tracks. But just a few of them with heinous deals. So now acts are going totally independent and the output of the majors is minimal, kinda like HBO and the movie studios.
Forget all the hoopla about there being too much TV. They're fighting for a distant destination, who will win in the end. Of course there's too much to watch now, but it won't be this way forever, just like there are four tech companies that dominate today, there will be a small number of TV/outlets in the future, and they'll dominate.
And Netflix and Amazon have a leg up because they're SPENDING!
Amazon is late to market, but it's got the power of Prime.
Netflix has first-mover advantage and it continues to innovate.
Traditional TV was so busy maintaining its traditional model that it missed the memo. Credit Jim Dolan, the New York City whipping boy, how smart is he? He blew out Cablevision before the crash. Channels are gonna drop like flies. Is anybody preparing for this?
Of course not.
Hulu was a bunt. Do I watch commercials or pay or what? Who can even understand the offer?
But at least they have a hit, "Handmaid's Tale" was the best thing that ever happened to the service.
But Netflix has many more, from "Narcos" to "Stranger Things" to reboots of "Full House" and "One Day At A Time." As for the failures, YOU FORGET ABOUT THEM!!!
Now Netflix is not a place to go to see old movies, its thrill is new production. HBO and Showtime and Starz and Cinemax think their ace in the hole is the airing of films. But we're gonna go day and date and where's that gonna leave them? Furthermore, Netflix is making movies! Hell, "Mudbound" not only got a ton of positive press, you can watch it every damn day on Netflix, you don't have to go to the theatre or remember as it works its way through distribution channels in the future. Distribution coinciding with publicity, WHAT A CONCEPT!
You can only eclipse the frontrunner if it stumbles and you have a better product. Netflix ain't stumbling and is Disney willing to markedly increase production, losing tons of dough, to make a run against it? OF COURSE NOT! IT WOULD HURT THE STOCK! They don't realize they're in a run for their life, they need to re-educate Wall Street, but that's not where their head is at.
As for HBO... They just don't have enough product. And too much of it fails. Remember "John from Cincinnati"? And there's no buzz on "Divorce," not from the first season anyway.
Which brings us to the curious case of David Letterman.
The dirty little secret is you learn as you go along. The first episode won't be as great as the tenth. They stunted with Obama, but they blew their chance. Because Obama ain't gonna be good entertainment, he's too guarded.
BUT DAVE IS PHENOMENAL!
For those oblivious, David Letterman, along with his old girlfriend Merrill Markoe, reinvented the late night format. It used to be serious with a little comedy, they flipped the script, and brought in shenanigans. And just when everybody's doing it his way, he's now doing it THE OLD WAY!
Letterman's show is serious. A lengthy interview not based on the guest delivering pre-screened jokes. He actually digs deep. And all that time in front of the camera has served him well, he's actually gotten good at it.
But it's the asides, the conversational responses that wow you. Letterman has an incredibly sharp wit, his comebacks will have you reeling.
But the highlight is when they go to the tape, outside the theatre, the package and interview with John Lewis is spectacular, what Vice News does but with more gravitas. Meanwhile, Dave does not wear a suit, he's in his street clothes in Alabama, and this normalizes the whole thing. This isn't shot for them, but US!
If Letterman was not famous, few would watch this.
But he is. And Netflix gave him so much money and such a commitment that he'll get better. More of these news interludes, more wit and interaction. Will it ever be great?
I'm not sure, but I'm gonna watch and see.
After I pull up the episodes of Seinfeld's "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" that I missed. I watched Bob Einstein, never could manage to get to Crackle, or wherever Jerry used to be, but now that the archive is on Netflix...
You want to be on Netflix. Forget HBO's b.s. about getting lost in the shuffle. Every time you log on to Netflix you get suggestions, you see where you were, HBO is a lame twentieth century outlet that you're supposed to sit down and watch as it plays out, WHO DOES THAT? As for the app... There's not enough new stuff you haven't seen, so you go to see what you remember, you're not just checking it out on the by and by.
Like you are with Netflix.
We want it all and we want it now. I ain't gonna wait for a series to play out over weeks. If I fall behind I just give up, this has happened multiple times with HBO, even with their vaunted show "Big Little Lies."
But when it comes to Netflix the entire series is lying in wait for when I'm ready. It remembers where I left off. And viewers are members of a secret club who love to discuss and exchange ideas. More people have e-mailed me about "Black Mirror" than any show on television. This is where hits are made, socially, not via mass market promotion.
Not everything works, but who woulda thought "The Keepers" would be such riveting television? Netflix is taking chances. It's risking. It's pushing the envelope.
Now that's truly American.
And it's exactly what we want.
P.S. "HBO to Talent: You Won't Get This Much Love at Netflix": http://on.wsj.com/2ELCoI6 This is publicity in the financial paper of record to try and spin a story, no different from politics. All the comedians jumped to Netflix, so HBO says stay home where nobody is for more notice. Which is kinda like staying on the indie when the majors offer you a better deal. Well, back before the internet blew up the music business anyway. When the big boys pay attention to the upstarts and gear up their publicity machine you know something is happening. Never forget to read between the lines.
Beware the disinformation campaign. HBO is very afraid. It's why Murdoch sold 21st Century Fox. Netflix is so far ahead of the game, with a strategy no one else employs, that not only will they continue to win, but they'll dominate in the future.
You do this by spending. Anathema to every company disrupted by the internet. They all tried to maintain their margins, by laying people off, by decreasing production, and in the process they marginalized themselves. When it comes to art, success is hard to predict, which is why you must be in the marketplace constantly. Which is why the record companies are almost as stupid as the book publishing companies. The publishers neutered electronic distribution to their detriment. They think they've won by raising prices and keeping physical books healthy. They've only postponed the great fall-off in the future, like Kodak, which never did have a workable digital strategy. Amazon was building a whole new business, based on mass distribution at a lower price, eliminating a plethora of costs, but the publishers thought their price point was inviolate, like the music business. I laugh at the rewriting of history, all the hosannas for the iTunes Store. Musicians HATED IT! It disintermediated the album and barely put a dent in piracy, if at all. Whereas once we went to streaming at one low price of $10 a month people hoovered the offer up, Spotify has 70 million subscribers, it doesn't pay to steal.
And now everybody puts their wares on streaming services and the labels cherry-pick the best and overlabor the production and the marketing thereof and think they're winning?
No, now is when the majors should be spending, exploring new avenues, doubling-down on what they did in the seventies, when they signed a plethora of new acts and nurtured them. There were left field successes, and not everything worked, but a healthy business was built. The biggest act in the world is Adele, but not a single label is trying to replicate this formula, finding a great singer with singable material with melody, they're all too busy chasing hip-hop tracks. But just a few of them with heinous deals. So now acts are going totally independent and the output of the majors is minimal, kinda like HBO and the movie studios.
Forget all the hoopla about there being too much TV. They're fighting for a distant destination, who will win in the end. Of course there's too much to watch now, but it won't be this way forever, just like there are four tech companies that dominate today, there will be a small number of TV/outlets in the future, and they'll dominate.
And Netflix and Amazon have a leg up because they're SPENDING!
Amazon is late to market, but it's got the power of Prime.
Netflix has first-mover advantage and it continues to innovate.
Traditional TV was so busy maintaining its traditional model that it missed the memo. Credit Jim Dolan, the New York City whipping boy, how smart is he? He blew out Cablevision before the crash. Channels are gonna drop like flies. Is anybody preparing for this?
Of course not.
Hulu was a bunt. Do I watch commercials or pay or what? Who can even understand the offer?
But at least they have a hit, "Handmaid's Tale" was the best thing that ever happened to the service.
But Netflix has many more, from "Narcos" to "Stranger Things" to reboots of "Full House" and "One Day At A Time." As for the failures, YOU FORGET ABOUT THEM!!!
Now Netflix is not a place to go to see old movies, its thrill is new production. HBO and Showtime and Starz and Cinemax think their ace in the hole is the airing of films. But we're gonna go day and date and where's that gonna leave them? Furthermore, Netflix is making movies! Hell, "Mudbound" not only got a ton of positive press, you can watch it every damn day on Netflix, you don't have to go to the theatre or remember as it works its way through distribution channels in the future. Distribution coinciding with publicity, WHAT A CONCEPT!
You can only eclipse the frontrunner if it stumbles and you have a better product. Netflix ain't stumbling and is Disney willing to markedly increase production, losing tons of dough, to make a run against it? OF COURSE NOT! IT WOULD HURT THE STOCK! They don't realize they're in a run for their life, they need to re-educate Wall Street, but that's not where their head is at.
As for HBO... They just don't have enough product. And too much of it fails. Remember "John from Cincinnati"? And there's no buzz on "Divorce," not from the first season anyway.
Which brings us to the curious case of David Letterman.
The dirty little secret is you learn as you go along. The first episode won't be as great as the tenth. They stunted with Obama, but they blew their chance. Because Obama ain't gonna be good entertainment, he's too guarded.
BUT DAVE IS PHENOMENAL!
For those oblivious, David Letterman, along with his old girlfriend Merrill Markoe, reinvented the late night format. It used to be serious with a little comedy, they flipped the script, and brought in shenanigans. And just when everybody's doing it his way, he's now doing it THE OLD WAY!
Letterman's show is serious. A lengthy interview not based on the guest delivering pre-screened jokes. He actually digs deep. And all that time in front of the camera has served him well, he's actually gotten good at it.
But it's the asides, the conversational responses that wow you. Letterman has an incredibly sharp wit, his comebacks will have you reeling.
But the highlight is when they go to the tape, outside the theatre, the package and interview with John Lewis is spectacular, what Vice News does but with more gravitas. Meanwhile, Dave does not wear a suit, he's in his street clothes in Alabama, and this normalizes the whole thing. This isn't shot for them, but US!
If Letterman was not famous, few would watch this.
But he is. And Netflix gave him so much money and such a commitment that he'll get better. More of these news interludes, more wit and interaction. Will it ever be great?
I'm not sure, but I'm gonna watch and see.
After I pull up the episodes of Seinfeld's "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" that I missed. I watched Bob Einstein, never could manage to get to Crackle, or wherever Jerry used to be, but now that the archive is on Netflix...
You want to be on Netflix. Forget HBO's b.s. about getting lost in the shuffle. Every time you log on to Netflix you get suggestions, you see where you were, HBO is a lame twentieth century outlet that you're supposed to sit down and watch as it plays out, WHO DOES THAT? As for the app... There's not enough new stuff you haven't seen, so you go to see what you remember, you're not just checking it out on the by and by.
Like you are with Netflix.
We want it all and we want it now. I ain't gonna wait for a series to play out over weeks. If I fall behind I just give up, this has happened multiple times with HBO, even with their vaunted show "Big Little Lies."
But when it comes to Netflix the entire series is lying in wait for when I'm ready. It remembers where I left off. And viewers are members of a secret club who love to discuss and exchange ideas. More people have e-mailed me about "Black Mirror" than any show on television. This is where hits are made, socially, not via mass market promotion.
Not everything works, but who woulda thought "The Keepers" would be such riveting television? Netflix is taking chances. It's risking. It's pushing the envelope.
Now that's truly American.
And it's exactly what we want.
P.S. "HBO to Talent: You Won't Get This Much Love at Netflix": http://on.wsj.com/2ELCoI6 This is publicity in the financial paper of record to try and spin a story, no different from politics. All the comedians jumped to Netflix, so HBO says stay home where nobody is for more notice. Which is kinda like staying on the indie when the majors offer you a better deal. Well, back before the internet blew up the music business anyway. When the big boys pay attention to the upstarts and gear up their publicity machine you know something is happening. Never forget to read between the lines.
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Save The Date-Music Media Summit-Santa Barbara-April 29-May 2
Troy Carter just confirmed.
In case you're a newbie or just missed out last year, I've started a conference with Jim Lewi entitled the Music Media Summit, and this will be our second year in Santa Barbara, only this year we're moving to the Four Seasons, at a vastly reduced rate, so even if you don't attend the meetings...
This was the highlight of my year last year, and I know that sounds like hype, but the ability to interview people and extract not only their history but insight into the present world was incredibly stimulating, and that's what I live for, even more than money, I love to pick apart the planks of life and understand why it plays out the way it does.
Last year Roger McNamee appeared. And you should read his "Washington Monthly" screed on Facebook, he's an investor, he's the one who convinced Zuckerberg not to sell out:
"How To Fix Facebook - Before It Fixes Us": http://bit.ly/2lXVKlA
Now since that article last week Facebook has pulled back from the brink, but have they? Zuck keeps talking about the social graph, but he's not as interested in that as cash, and are they really gonna give up being a portal for news? I don't think so! News outlets are being whiplashed, Facebook's stock has decreased, and what we've learned is the younger generation can turn the world topsy-turvy, but do they have any idea of the effect of their efforts? After all, Zuckerberg denied that Facebook had any effect on the election, that it wasn't "hacked" by Russians. Then he admitted it was!
Roger led us in singalongs in Santa Barbara last year. Yes, this is a social group with similar bona fides and our goal is to make it like summer camp, albeit only a handful of days. Even if you know nobody you'll feel like an insider, cliques are taboo, I know, I've felt left out before and it's ANATHEMA!
Also last year we had Chris Moore, producer of "Manchester By The Sea" and "Good Will Hunting." A combo good old boy and Harvard graduate, it was great to hear his story, working in sports, falling into an agency and becoming a producer. Chris wants to make movies that mean something, what a concept, especially when Laurence Fink at BlackRock says they're no longer investing in companies that don't have a social conscience, that only want to make money.
"BlackRock's Message: Contribute to Society, or Risk Losing Our Support": http://nyti.ms/2DgmRE0
And Eddie Rosenblatt talked about consoling Yoko Ono the night John Lennon died and...
I know, I know, that was last year. But we're cooking up some really good speakers this year, I just ain't gonna tell you until they're confirmed.
My goal is not to create the usual conference, where you're overcharged to hear hashed-over info. These people have had too much media training, they're not gonna break news unless they want to, and usually they don't, so my concentration is on who they are and how they got to their present destination and what it all means. First and foremost they're human beings, second they're business people.
Okay, enough selling.
Lewi does all the organizing. I do ALL the interviews. So, if you like my podcasts, expect more of that.
As for my health...
I should have sent this save the date e-mail earlier, but now I'm in recovery mode. I've still got spots, I still itch a bit, I'm still taking prednisone, but I'm over the hump, I haven't felt this good in months.
As for Santa Barbara, the freeway should be open in a week. And the hotel is not in the hills.
So, you can convince yourself this is not enough notice while you debate what to do tonight, never mind this weekend, or you can save the date and sign up when the website goes live, which should be soon.
I want to meet each and every one of you, discuss the issues, get into the nooks and crannies,
THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!
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In case you're a newbie or just missed out last year, I've started a conference with Jim Lewi entitled the Music Media Summit, and this will be our second year in Santa Barbara, only this year we're moving to the Four Seasons, at a vastly reduced rate, so even if you don't attend the meetings...
This was the highlight of my year last year, and I know that sounds like hype, but the ability to interview people and extract not only their history but insight into the present world was incredibly stimulating, and that's what I live for, even more than money, I love to pick apart the planks of life and understand why it plays out the way it does.
Last year Roger McNamee appeared. And you should read his "Washington Monthly" screed on Facebook, he's an investor, he's the one who convinced Zuckerberg not to sell out:
"How To Fix Facebook - Before It Fixes Us": http://bit.ly/2lXVKlA
Now since that article last week Facebook has pulled back from the brink, but have they? Zuck keeps talking about the social graph, but he's not as interested in that as cash, and are they really gonna give up being a portal for news? I don't think so! News outlets are being whiplashed, Facebook's stock has decreased, and what we've learned is the younger generation can turn the world topsy-turvy, but do they have any idea of the effect of their efforts? After all, Zuckerberg denied that Facebook had any effect on the election, that it wasn't "hacked" by Russians. Then he admitted it was!
Roger led us in singalongs in Santa Barbara last year. Yes, this is a social group with similar bona fides and our goal is to make it like summer camp, albeit only a handful of days. Even if you know nobody you'll feel like an insider, cliques are taboo, I know, I've felt left out before and it's ANATHEMA!
Also last year we had Chris Moore, producer of "Manchester By The Sea" and "Good Will Hunting." A combo good old boy and Harvard graduate, it was great to hear his story, working in sports, falling into an agency and becoming a producer. Chris wants to make movies that mean something, what a concept, especially when Laurence Fink at BlackRock says they're no longer investing in companies that don't have a social conscience, that only want to make money.
"BlackRock's Message: Contribute to Society, or Risk Losing Our Support": http://nyti.ms/2DgmRE0
And Eddie Rosenblatt talked about consoling Yoko Ono the night John Lennon died and...
I know, I know, that was last year. But we're cooking up some really good speakers this year, I just ain't gonna tell you until they're confirmed.
My goal is not to create the usual conference, where you're overcharged to hear hashed-over info. These people have had too much media training, they're not gonna break news unless they want to, and usually they don't, so my concentration is on who they are and how they got to their present destination and what it all means. First and foremost they're human beings, second they're business people.
Okay, enough selling.
Lewi does all the organizing. I do ALL the interviews. So, if you like my podcasts, expect more of that.
As for my health...
I should have sent this save the date e-mail earlier, but now I'm in recovery mode. I've still got spots, I still itch a bit, I'm still taking prednisone, but I'm over the hump, I haven't felt this good in months.
As for Santa Barbara, the freeway should be open in a week. And the hotel is not in the hills.
So, you can convince yourself this is not enough notice while you debate what to do tonight, never mind this weekend, or you can save the date and sign up when the website goes live, which should be soon.
I want to meet each and every one of you, discuss the issues, get into the nooks and crannies,
THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
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Mailbag
Subject: Re: Mick Jones & Lou Gramm Do "Urgent" With Billy Joel
Hi Bob,
I was booking and sort of managing Junior Walker at the time of Urgent. Junior was probably the most fiercely independent artist I ever worked with. I remember when the band reached out about Junior doing the sax solo on Urgent. His initial response was I never heard of them and how much cash money
I told Junior we should negotiate a royalty but he said no never heard of them cash money despite the fact I told him they they were already big. So we worked something out.
A while later me and Junior were sitting in a diner in Jersey and Casey Kasem was on.
He said and now the number one song in America Foreigners Urgent featuring Junior Walker.
I said to Junior that's great and without missing a beat he said to me "I made those boys famous did nt I." Anyways one of many great Junior memories I have.
Best
Bruce Solar
_______________________________________
Subject: Foreigner Reunion /Billy Joel
Hi Bob , I hope all is well with you . Stewart sent me your great Foreigner/Billy Joel article which I love , and I'm a huge fan of all your writing . I just wanted to clarify a few points . I'm the producer/film maker of the upcoming Foreigner Reunion Film Release, which we produced / filmed 2 shows in Oct with both incarnations of the band together . I orchestrated and produced the entire Billy Joel scenes both in the studio and the guest live performance at MSG which I produced and directed w 12 multi cameras exclusively for this film. That was the purpose this was done . My company Rock Fuel Media is producing the film that will be released in Cinemas worldwide in Fall 2018. This will be the most elaborate film Foreigner has ever released in the bands history with Trailer coming soon .
Thanks so much
Barry Summers
_______________________________________
Subject: Mick Jones & Lou Gramm Do "Urgent" With Billy Joel
Bob,
Thank you for recognizing this moment. I grew up in Hicksville, NY, the town where the legendary Mr. Joel spent his youth. I also had some growing up with Foreigner. They were my first job in the entertainment business. I was an intern at ESP Management, their manager Bud Prager's office. Back then they didn't really call us interns. We were gophers--"go for this, go for that". It was a dream job, my own little "Almost Famous". I watched, listened, observed and learned. It was the foundation for an opportunity that would later change my life.
I worked for Sue Steinberg who did PR for Foreigner and later went on to be the first Executive Producer for a start-up cable channel called MTV. Sue worked with Bob Pittman and wanted to recruit me. It would mean leaving a job with a band at the top of their game to take a job at an unfounded start-up. Not thinking this fledgling network would amount to much, I used her job offer as leverage to try and cajole a bigger job out of Bud. After I told Bud I could be rejoining Sue he asked me, "so who's running this MTV thing?" I said, "Bob Pittman". Without hesitation he said "TAKE the job! If Pittman's running it, it will be a success". I later learned Bob broke Foreigner when he was PD at WLS in Chicago and Bud thought Pittman walked on water.
Those two years at ESP Management were magical. My internship started as "Head Games" (with producer Roy Thomas Baker at the helm), was on the verge of release, but I lived through the entirety of the recording of "4".
ESP's NYC offices were housed in the penthouse of 1790 Broadway. Bud had the entire penthouse floor. To get there, you took the elevator as far as it could go and then walked up one flight to the penthouse. One day I was walking down that flight and waiting outside the elevator to go to lunch. The doors opened and out stepped a guy in jeans, a short-sleeved shirt, bushy blond hair and a thick accent which I couldn't quite make out, yet I could still understand his English. I'd never heard a South African accent before. "Excuse me mate. Can you tell me where ESP Management is?" I pointed to the stairs and told him I worked there. He smiled, stuck out his hand and said "Hi, I'm Mutt Lange, very excited to be working with the band." I froze. Sure he produced AC/DC, but I was more transfixed because he had just come off producing The Boomtown Rats album, "The Fine Art of Surfacing" and though it yielded a huge hit in "I Don't Like Mondays", I was really into the sound of the entire album.
From that day forward, I didn't see Mutt a lot. He was sequestered downtown in the bowels of Electric Lady making the record, but I used to go to the studio every other week to drop things off to the band. I was a gopher after all. I'd go into the control room and quietly stand in the back trying to blend into the woodwork. One time when I went down there and took my usual position in the back, Mutt turned and addressed me. I guess he felt my stare of awe watching the master at work. He turned, smiled and with a hand motion waved me towards him. With his South African accent he said, "Brian, come over here, sit down next to me. Ask me questions, anything you want". It was brief, but valuable exchange at the mile long sound board. I was pinching myself. He didn't have to do that. I never forgot it and it taught me a valuable lesson that it you have knowledge-- teach and pass it on.
As we all know Foreigner's "4" came out and was huge. For the remainder of my internship I was organizing press clippings. running the band's fan club, running for sandwiches and everything in-between. When the internship was over, they kept me on and I worked my way up to a full-time gig. Amongst my duties, I was being trained to be an assistant tour manager. As part of my training, Rick Nelson, the band's tour manager recruited me on short notice to take the band from NYC to Edmonton for a festival. Rick didn't want to fly from his home in L.A. to bring the band all the way back to northwestern Canada. I was a kid and scared shitless, but somehow through Rick's guidance, I pulled it off. Over the two years, I went through the usual good-natured ribbing and abuse from the band, but overall, Mick Jones, Lou Gramm, Rick Wills, Dennis Elliot, Al Greenwood, Ian MacDonald and later Mark Rivera and the late Bob Mayo were always very good to me. Some days I really did feel like William Miller.
I haven't seen anyone in Foreigner in quite some time. The last person in the group I saw was Mick Jones at my cousin's wedding over 20 years ago. Though much time had passed, it was a warm and welcoming reunion.
Thanks to Billy Joel for paying homage to Mick and Lou (leave it to a guy from Hicksville for making it happen :-) and thanks Bob for recognizing this great moment with Misters Jones and Gramm and for bringing me back to a great time in my life. My two years with Foreigner were many decades ago, but they will always hold a special place. Respect, Brian Diamond.
_______________________________________
Subject: Foreigner
Nice piece on Foreigner. In my days as a critic they were a true supergroup, much more fun than Toto and more durable than Asia. Live they could tear it up. Still no Journey though.
I will share one anecdote that relates. A baker's dozen years ago I went on a "mission" to Israel with members of my shul. A decent group and a relatively enjoyable mix of dinners, learning and touring. Every night the rabbi running the deal would bring a guest up to the hotel for some scotch and a little reflection. One night I was introduced to a Rabbi "Yaakov Sinclair" a greying gent with a very clipped London accent. My rabbi said, "You should know this guy". Wha? I hadn't been in Israel in over 30 years and I certainly didn't have him in my collection of Rabbi trading cards.
As it turns out Rav Sinclair used to be one John Sinclair who was once extremely goyishe and was an actor in the London production of Hair with one Richard O'Brien. They became friends and O'Brien asked Sinclair to help out with a weird little rock musical he was working on. In exchange he would let Sinclair administer the publising. That weird little musical was The Rocky Horror Show and, needless to say, Sinclair made out very nicely and built London's Sarm Studios with his sister the renowned Jill, the now deceased wife of one Trevor Horn. It was there that they took the first pass at the Foreigner debut which was eventually remixed at Atlantic. Sarm is still held by Horn's holding company. Sinclair remains the producer of record.
As for Sinclair's personal journey he had a revelation shortly thereafter, converted to Judaism and eventully became a rabbi with a Jerusalem Yeshiva known for this kind of thing - Ohr Sameach.
That night we had a brief conversation about the band and the session. Sinclair now had loftier things to talk about but I was a paying customer so he had briefly tolerate my musings. It was an unorthodox experience to say the least.
Life is a trip.
Best
Jonathan Gross
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Mick Jones & Lou Gramm Do "Urgent" With Billy Joel
I worked with Mick when we both played in Leslie West's band and he would knock on the door late at night to talk songwriting. Mick was ready to make records and did he ever!
Bud Prager believed. Mick and Lou's talent and sound, with Bud's determination was a rock bulldozer to number 1s that last.
2 Funny Facts:..."Waiting For A Girl Like You" held the Billboard record for longest time at #2!!! on the singles chart. Number 1 those weeks?..."Let's Get Physical"...
And for the Grammy best new artist in 1978 (Foreigner didn't win)... that went to Taste of Honey's "Boogie Oogie Oogie"....so much for songwriting in the Disco age.
RRHOF ....is still an obstacle and a petty one from the rumours. Thanks for celebrating great stuff Bob and keeping your eyes on these moments.
Marty Simon
Toronto
_______________________________________
Subject: RE: Don't Bring Me Down
Hi Bob -
You probably got at least couple dozen of the same responses but to my mind the first example of fuzz guitar on a record was Johnny Burnett Trios "Train Kept a Rolling" - courtesy of a loose tube on Paul Burlison's amp.
Bruce Berenson
_______________________________________
From: William Nollman
Subject: Re: Mailbag
No mention by A.L. Oldham of Jeff Beck's fuzz tone on The Yardbirds Heart
Full of Soul?
Recorded and released at virtually the same time as Satisfaction.
For CT garage bands, both songs were on everyone?s set lists in 1965.
_______________________________________
From: Bob Merlis
Subject: Fuzz? This one was at least a year before the Eddie Hodges 45 that ALO sites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WBBcH6OPU
That's Grady Martin backing Marty Robbins in '61.. and, of course, there's Link Wray's "Rumble" that dates to '58 but not sure it qualifies because the definition of fuzz is, yup.. fuzzy!
_______________________________________
From: Rick Sanjek
Subject: Grady Martin created fuzz tone in 1961
Bob –
It is common knowledge in Nashville that studio legend A-Teamer Grady Martin utilized a new fuzzy tone caused by a faulty preamplifier that distorted his guitar playing on the instrumental break on the 1961 Marty Robbins hit "Don't Worry". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WBBcH6OPU
Later that year he recorded an instrumental tune under his own name, using the same faulty preamp, "The Fuzz" On Decca records. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL6MNGHeEuI
Martin also played the acoustic guitar accompaniment to Robbins' vocals on "El Paso". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zBzZJd-nfw
A video montage of Grady's picking from vintage TV clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfKfo6mpD-Q
He finished his over-50-year career on the road with Willie Nelson.
_______________________________________
From: Mitchell Sussman
Subject: ALO alluded to the first record with fuzz tone by Eddie Hodges in 1962. Here it is. Terry Melcher and Jack Nitzsche
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpBcdiADZqY
P.S. Little Stevie (Van Zandt of the E Street Band etc) has mentioned that Eddie Hodges record may be the 2nd true instance of 'fuzztone" being used. The first was on Marty Robbins "Dont Worry" song, when a tube in their recording console blew and the bass played through it - creating that sound. Of all things, I've heard an early Ann Margaret (1961) song "I Just Don't Understand" also has fuzz, created by Red Rhodes with his new guitar pedal (inspired by the Robbins song) and played by Billy Strange. ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WBBcH6OPU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCSmwvJKMPQ
_______________________________________
From: Ron Farber
Subject: Note from Andrew Oldman about 'fuzz tone'
Actually, perhaps the first instances of the so-called 'fuzz-tone' effect used in recordings were:
1. Paul Burlison - Rock & Roll Trio
"Train Kept A Rollin" 1956
2. Delta Cats on "Rocket 88" 1951
Both were mistakes not planned.
and
3, on purpose in the top 5 Billboard Hot 100 country crossover of
"Don't Worry" by Marty Robbins in 1961.
All of these predated the songs that Mr. Oldham mentioned.
Thank you.
Hi Bob,
I was booking and sort of managing Junior Walker at the time of Urgent. Junior was probably the most fiercely independent artist I ever worked with. I remember when the band reached out about Junior doing the sax solo on Urgent. His initial response was I never heard of them and how much cash money
I told Junior we should negotiate a royalty but he said no never heard of them cash money despite the fact I told him they they were already big. So we worked something out.
A while later me and Junior were sitting in a diner in Jersey and Casey Kasem was on.
He said and now the number one song in America Foreigners Urgent featuring Junior Walker.
I said to Junior that's great and without missing a beat he said to me "I made those boys famous did nt I." Anyways one of many great Junior memories I have.
Best
Bruce Solar
_______________________________________
Subject: Foreigner Reunion /Billy Joel
Hi Bob , I hope all is well with you . Stewart sent me your great Foreigner/Billy Joel article which I love , and I'm a huge fan of all your writing . I just wanted to clarify a few points . I'm the producer/film maker of the upcoming Foreigner Reunion Film Release, which we produced / filmed 2 shows in Oct with both incarnations of the band together . I orchestrated and produced the entire Billy Joel scenes both in the studio and the guest live performance at MSG which I produced and directed w 12 multi cameras exclusively for this film. That was the purpose this was done . My company Rock Fuel Media is producing the film that will be released in Cinemas worldwide in Fall 2018. This will be the most elaborate film Foreigner has ever released in the bands history with Trailer coming soon .
Thanks so much
Barry Summers
_______________________________________
Subject: Mick Jones & Lou Gramm Do "Urgent" With Billy Joel
Bob,
Thank you for recognizing this moment. I grew up in Hicksville, NY, the town where the legendary Mr. Joel spent his youth. I also had some growing up with Foreigner. They were my first job in the entertainment business. I was an intern at ESP Management, their manager Bud Prager's office. Back then they didn't really call us interns. We were gophers--"go for this, go for that". It was a dream job, my own little "Almost Famous". I watched, listened, observed and learned. It was the foundation for an opportunity that would later change my life.
I worked for Sue Steinberg who did PR for Foreigner and later went on to be the first Executive Producer for a start-up cable channel called MTV. Sue worked with Bob Pittman and wanted to recruit me. It would mean leaving a job with a band at the top of their game to take a job at an unfounded start-up. Not thinking this fledgling network would amount to much, I used her job offer as leverage to try and cajole a bigger job out of Bud. After I told Bud I could be rejoining Sue he asked me, "so who's running this MTV thing?" I said, "Bob Pittman". Without hesitation he said "TAKE the job! If Pittman's running it, it will be a success". I later learned Bob broke Foreigner when he was PD at WLS in Chicago and Bud thought Pittman walked on water.
Those two years at ESP Management were magical. My internship started as "Head Games" (with producer Roy Thomas Baker at the helm), was on the verge of release, but I lived through the entirety of the recording of "4".
ESP's NYC offices were housed in the penthouse of 1790 Broadway. Bud had the entire penthouse floor. To get there, you took the elevator as far as it could go and then walked up one flight to the penthouse. One day I was walking down that flight and waiting outside the elevator to go to lunch. The doors opened and out stepped a guy in jeans, a short-sleeved shirt, bushy blond hair and a thick accent which I couldn't quite make out, yet I could still understand his English. I'd never heard a South African accent before. "Excuse me mate. Can you tell me where ESP Management is?" I pointed to the stairs and told him I worked there. He smiled, stuck out his hand and said "Hi, I'm Mutt Lange, very excited to be working with the band." I froze. Sure he produced AC/DC, but I was more transfixed because he had just come off producing The Boomtown Rats album, "The Fine Art of Surfacing" and though it yielded a huge hit in "I Don't Like Mondays", I was really into the sound of the entire album.
From that day forward, I didn't see Mutt a lot. He was sequestered downtown in the bowels of Electric Lady making the record, but I used to go to the studio every other week to drop things off to the band. I was a gopher after all. I'd go into the control room and quietly stand in the back trying to blend into the woodwork. One time when I went down there and took my usual position in the back, Mutt turned and addressed me. I guess he felt my stare of awe watching the master at work. He turned, smiled and with a hand motion waved me towards him. With his South African accent he said, "Brian, come over here, sit down next to me. Ask me questions, anything you want". It was brief, but valuable exchange at the mile long sound board. I was pinching myself. He didn't have to do that. I never forgot it and it taught me a valuable lesson that it you have knowledge-- teach and pass it on.
As we all know Foreigner's "4" came out and was huge. For the remainder of my internship I was organizing press clippings. running the band's fan club, running for sandwiches and everything in-between. When the internship was over, they kept me on and I worked my way up to a full-time gig. Amongst my duties, I was being trained to be an assistant tour manager. As part of my training, Rick Nelson, the band's tour manager recruited me on short notice to take the band from NYC to Edmonton for a festival. Rick didn't want to fly from his home in L.A. to bring the band all the way back to northwestern Canada. I was a kid and scared shitless, but somehow through Rick's guidance, I pulled it off. Over the two years, I went through the usual good-natured ribbing and abuse from the band, but overall, Mick Jones, Lou Gramm, Rick Wills, Dennis Elliot, Al Greenwood, Ian MacDonald and later Mark Rivera and the late Bob Mayo were always very good to me. Some days I really did feel like William Miller.
I haven't seen anyone in Foreigner in quite some time. The last person in the group I saw was Mick Jones at my cousin's wedding over 20 years ago. Though much time had passed, it was a warm and welcoming reunion.
Thanks to Billy Joel for paying homage to Mick and Lou (leave it to a guy from Hicksville for making it happen :-) and thanks Bob for recognizing this great moment with Misters Jones and Gramm and for bringing me back to a great time in my life. My two years with Foreigner were many decades ago, but they will always hold a special place. Respect, Brian Diamond.
_______________________________________
Subject: Foreigner
Nice piece on Foreigner. In my days as a critic they were a true supergroup, much more fun than Toto and more durable than Asia. Live they could tear it up. Still no Journey though.
I will share one anecdote that relates. A baker's dozen years ago I went on a "mission" to Israel with members of my shul. A decent group and a relatively enjoyable mix of dinners, learning and touring. Every night the rabbi running the deal would bring a guest up to the hotel for some scotch and a little reflection. One night I was introduced to a Rabbi "Yaakov Sinclair" a greying gent with a very clipped London accent. My rabbi said, "You should know this guy". Wha? I hadn't been in Israel in over 30 years and I certainly didn't have him in my collection of Rabbi trading cards.
As it turns out Rav Sinclair used to be one John Sinclair who was once extremely goyishe and was an actor in the London production of Hair with one Richard O'Brien. They became friends and O'Brien asked Sinclair to help out with a weird little rock musical he was working on. In exchange he would let Sinclair administer the publising. That weird little musical was The Rocky Horror Show and, needless to say, Sinclair made out very nicely and built London's Sarm Studios with his sister the renowned Jill, the now deceased wife of one Trevor Horn. It was there that they took the first pass at the Foreigner debut which was eventually remixed at Atlantic. Sarm is still held by Horn's holding company. Sinclair remains the producer of record.
As for Sinclair's personal journey he had a revelation shortly thereafter, converted to Judaism and eventully became a rabbi with a Jerusalem Yeshiva known for this kind of thing - Ohr Sameach.
That night we had a brief conversation about the band and the session. Sinclair now had loftier things to talk about but I was a paying customer so he had briefly tolerate my musings. It was an unorthodox experience to say the least.
Life is a trip.
Best
Jonathan Gross
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Mick Jones & Lou Gramm Do "Urgent" With Billy Joel
I worked with Mick when we both played in Leslie West's band and he would knock on the door late at night to talk songwriting. Mick was ready to make records and did he ever!
Bud Prager believed. Mick and Lou's talent and sound, with Bud's determination was a rock bulldozer to number 1s that last.
2 Funny Facts:..."Waiting For A Girl Like You" held the Billboard record for longest time at #2!!! on the singles chart. Number 1 those weeks?..."Let's Get Physical"...
And for the Grammy best new artist in 1978 (Foreigner didn't win)... that went to Taste of Honey's "Boogie Oogie Oogie"....so much for songwriting in the Disco age.
RRHOF ....is still an obstacle and a petty one from the rumours. Thanks for celebrating great stuff Bob and keeping your eyes on these moments.
Marty Simon
Toronto
_______________________________________
Subject: RE: Don't Bring Me Down
Hi Bob -
You probably got at least couple dozen of the same responses but to my mind the first example of fuzz guitar on a record was Johnny Burnett Trios "Train Kept a Rolling" - courtesy of a loose tube on Paul Burlison's amp.
Bruce Berenson
_______________________________________
From: William Nollman
Subject: Re: Mailbag
No mention by A.L. Oldham of Jeff Beck's fuzz tone on The Yardbirds Heart
Full of Soul?
Recorded and released at virtually the same time as Satisfaction.
For CT garage bands, both songs were on everyone?s set lists in 1965.
_______________________________________
From: Bob Merlis
Subject: Fuzz? This one was at least a year before the Eddie Hodges 45 that ALO sites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WBBcH6OPU
That's Grady Martin backing Marty Robbins in '61.. and, of course, there's Link Wray's "Rumble" that dates to '58 but not sure it qualifies because the definition of fuzz is, yup.. fuzzy!
_______________________________________
From: Rick Sanjek
Subject: Grady Martin created fuzz tone in 1961
Bob –
It is common knowledge in Nashville that studio legend A-Teamer Grady Martin utilized a new fuzzy tone caused by a faulty preamplifier that distorted his guitar playing on the instrumental break on the 1961 Marty Robbins hit "Don't Worry". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WBBcH6OPU
Later that year he recorded an instrumental tune under his own name, using the same faulty preamp, "The Fuzz" On Decca records. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL6MNGHeEuI
Martin also played the acoustic guitar accompaniment to Robbins' vocals on "El Paso". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zBzZJd-nfw
A video montage of Grady's picking from vintage TV clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfKfo6mpD-Q
He finished his over-50-year career on the road with Willie Nelson.
_______________________________________
From: Mitchell Sussman
Subject: ALO alluded to the first record with fuzz tone by Eddie Hodges in 1962. Here it is. Terry Melcher and Jack Nitzsche
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpBcdiADZqY
P.S. Little Stevie (Van Zandt of the E Street Band etc) has mentioned that Eddie Hodges record may be the 2nd true instance of 'fuzztone" being used. The first was on Marty Robbins "Dont Worry" song, when a tube in their recording console blew and the bass played through it - creating that sound. Of all things, I've heard an early Ann Margaret (1961) song "I Just Don't Understand" also has fuzz, created by Red Rhodes with his new guitar pedal (inspired by the Robbins song) and played by Billy Strange. ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WBBcH6OPU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCSmwvJKMPQ
_______________________________________
From: Ron Farber
Subject: Note from Andrew Oldman about 'fuzz tone'
Actually, perhaps the first instances of the so-called 'fuzz-tone' effect used in recordings were:
1. Paul Burlison - Rock & Roll Trio
"Train Kept A Rollin" 1956
2. Delta Cats on "Rocket 88" 1951
Both were mistakes not planned.
and
3, on purpose in the top 5 Billboard Hot 100 country crossover of
"Don't Worry" by Marty Robbins in 1961.
All of these predated the songs that Mr. Oldham mentioned.
Thank you.
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Monday 15 January 2018
Improvement
http://amzn.to/2mGWLjl
This book is about nobodies.
I listened to Scott Galloway on Barry Ritholtz's podcast "Masters In Business." You should too, Galloway's got his finger on the tech issues, the Frightful Four and how they impact our lives. Furthermore, he admits early in the podcast he was wrong about one of his predictions, no one ever does that, forget D.C., you're not running for election, want to endear yourself to people, admit your faults, nothing brings them closer to you. But Galloway's podcast is better than his book, where he doesn't shoot high enough, we want to know what we do not know and the truth is we all know so much and those who don't know anything should not be addressed, because they don't care, the world is no longer one of generalists, but those with deep knowledge in specific verticals, appeal to them.
And when Galloway's appearance was done I was at loose ends, I wanted more business, but no podcast appealed to me, so I pulled up Patti Smith on Alec Baldwin's "Here's The Thing." And Patti's got a terrible accent. And although I'm a fan of the initial Arista LP, I think the veneration of her musical output and impact is overrated, but damn if she didn't close me here, because brains are God-given, and she's got them, she's not just babbling like an idiotic star, she's got insight, and she too is honest, she's not concerned with looking good, which is a revelation. And she said she was never interested in a career, she just wanted to do something great.
Joan Silber's "Improvement" is great.
Prior to reading it I read a genre book, highly reviewed in the WSJ. That's about giving people what they want, mysteries, thrillers. They're all plotted out, the writing is secondary. But there's always an unacceptable twist, something that doesn't ring true. When it happens I wince, and I no longer want to read genre fiction again.
And Galloway recommended non-fiction in the podcast. Enough with the faux self-improvement. Last time I checked you were a human being. Best to improve your humanity rather than your checkbook. That's what's wrong with society, our values are all screwed up. Money is not the devil, and having little makes you think about it all the time, but there's no tally at the end of your life, no cashier in the check-out line in heaven determining your worth by your bank account. The truth is we're all just people, how do we get along, how do we survive, what are our lives about?
That's what "Improvement" is concerned with.
But first and foremost it is readable. That's one thing that's been cast aside. I have a steady inflow of new books at my house, people looking for a ride to riches and fame. And almost none of the authors can write. They think an idea is a book. They think if it's got covers they've made an achievement. Writing is an ability you hone, it's more than words, it's a feeling, a vibe, it's truth.
Joan Silber can write. She inhabits these characters, makes them real.
You spend your life in your head. At best you can connect with others occasionally. More often you're at skew lines. What goes on in your head? That's what I'm interested in. That's what Silber nails.
How do you feel? What choices did you make? How do you deal with conundrums?
Not everybody is a winner. Not everybody is on their way up. Some people fall through life. Some people have dead end jobs. Some people live to get high. Some are dreamers. Some are losers. It's a vast panoply of humanity, but it's rarely seen today. It's almost like we're hiding who we are, because if we find out we're meaningless, destined to be forgotten, we'll collapse.
Only we don't.
I'm loath to give you any details, but if I don't, you probably won't read the book.
Can you dump the father of your child before it is born?
Can you believe someone in prison may not be innocent, but is good?
Can you go leave the beaten path and find love, peace and happiness as an ex-pat?
Is there something that bonds you to all your exes such that if they track you down you're inexorably drawn to them, like an animal... And will it last?
Can you make the right choice, the one that's good for you intellectually as opposed to emotionally?
Can you make good choices at all? That's what life is about, jumping through the hoops and making good choices. I hope your parents taught you well, because that's the best way to learn. Friends will take you from the path. As for making your own mistakes, you'll make too many. When do you say no instead of yes? When do you excuse yourself from the group? One bad decision can foul your entire life, can end your life. And only those surrounding you will care. You won't be written up in the newspaper, you'll just fade away.
"Improvement" cuts like butter. It draws you in. You don't identify with the characters' lives, but you do with their emotions, their feelings, and that's the goal of art, not to put money in the coffers but to make the audience identify, feel less alone.
Don't pay $19.24 for a hardcover, that's way too much.
But right now the Kindle iteration is less than ten bucks, the way it should be.
I doubt Oprah will talk about "Improvement." It won't be on the tip of the tongue of everybody you meet. It's a personal thing. But when you read it, you'll be all-in, your mind won't drift, you'll think not only about the characters, but yourself. What would you do?
You want to improve yourself, those around you, but at what cost?
That's the question.
Scott Galloway on "Masters In Business": https://bloom.bg/2lnHZPZ
Patti Smith on "Here's The Thing": http://bit.ly/2DgfY5P
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This book is about nobodies.
I listened to Scott Galloway on Barry Ritholtz's podcast "Masters In Business." You should too, Galloway's got his finger on the tech issues, the Frightful Four and how they impact our lives. Furthermore, he admits early in the podcast he was wrong about one of his predictions, no one ever does that, forget D.C., you're not running for election, want to endear yourself to people, admit your faults, nothing brings them closer to you. But Galloway's podcast is better than his book, where he doesn't shoot high enough, we want to know what we do not know and the truth is we all know so much and those who don't know anything should not be addressed, because they don't care, the world is no longer one of generalists, but those with deep knowledge in specific verticals, appeal to them.
And when Galloway's appearance was done I was at loose ends, I wanted more business, but no podcast appealed to me, so I pulled up Patti Smith on Alec Baldwin's "Here's The Thing." And Patti's got a terrible accent. And although I'm a fan of the initial Arista LP, I think the veneration of her musical output and impact is overrated, but damn if she didn't close me here, because brains are God-given, and she's got them, she's not just babbling like an idiotic star, she's got insight, and she too is honest, she's not concerned with looking good, which is a revelation. And she said she was never interested in a career, she just wanted to do something great.
Joan Silber's "Improvement" is great.
Prior to reading it I read a genre book, highly reviewed in the WSJ. That's about giving people what they want, mysteries, thrillers. They're all plotted out, the writing is secondary. But there's always an unacceptable twist, something that doesn't ring true. When it happens I wince, and I no longer want to read genre fiction again.
And Galloway recommended non-fiction in the podcast. Enough with the faux self-improvement. Last time I checked you were a human being. Best to improve your humanity rather than your checkbook. That's what's wrong with society, our values are all screwed up. Money is not the devil, and having little makes you think about it all the time, but there's no tally at the end of your life, no cashier in the check-out line in heaven determining your worth by your bank account. The truth is we're all just people, how do we get along, how do we survive, what are our lives about?
That's what "Improvement" is concerned with.
But first and foremost it is readable. That's one thing that's been cast aside. I have a steady inflow of new books at my house, people looking for a ride to riches and fame. And almost none of the authors can write. They think an idea is a book. They think if it's got covers they've made an achievement. Writing is an ability you hone, it's more than words, it's a feeling, a vibe, it's truth.
Joan Silber can write. She inhabits these characters, makes them real.
You spend your life in your head. At best you can connect with others occasionally. More often you're at skew lines. What goes on in your head? That's what I'm interested in. That's what Silber nails.
How do you feel? What choices did you make? How do you deal with conundrums?
Not everybody is a winner. Not everybody is on their way up. Some people fall through life. Some people have dead end jobs. Some people live to get high. Some are dreamers. Some are losers. It's a vast panoply of humanity, but it's rarely seen today. It's almost like we're hiding who we are, because if we find out we're meaningless, destined to be forgotten, we'll collapse.
Only we don't.
I'm loath to give you any details, but if I don't, you probably won't read the book.
Can you dump the father of your child before it is born?
Can you believe someone in prison may not be innocent, but is good?
Can you go leave the beaten path and find love, peace and happiness as an ex-pat?
Is there something that bonds you to all your exes such that if they track you down you're inexorably drawn to them, like an animal... And will it last?
Can you make the right choice, the one that's good for you intellectually as opposed to emotionally?
Can you make good choices at all? That's what life is about, jumping through the hoops and making good choices. I hope your parents taught you well, because that's the best way to learn. Friends will take you from the path. As for making your own mistakes, you'll make too many. When do you say no instead of yes? When do you excuse yourself from the group? One bad decision can foul your entire life, can end your life. And only those surrounding you will care. You won't be written up in the newspaper, you'll just fade away.
"Improvement" cuts like butter. It draws you in. You don't identify with the characters' lives, but you do with their emotions, their feelings, and that's the goal of art, not to put money in the coffers but to make the audience identify, feel less alone.
Don't pay $19.24 for a hardcover, that's way too much.
But right now the Kindle iteration is less than ten bucks, the way it should be.
I doubt Oprah will talk about "Improvement." It won't be on the tip of the tongue of everybody you meet. It's a personal thing. But when you read it, you'll be all-in, your mind won't drift, you'll think not only about the characters, but yourself. What would you do?
You want to improve yourself, those around you, but at what cost?
That's the question.
Scott Galloway on "Masters In Business": https://bloom.bg/2lnHZPZ
Patti Smith on "Here's The Thing": http://bit.ly/2DgfY5P
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