https://bit.ly/2KdYIAF
One day Paul McCartney is gonna die.
And we're never gonna believe he was ever alive.
We thought rock and roll was forever. And then David Bowie passed. Glenn Frey. Prince and Tom Petty. You're getting the impression you'd better see your favorite classic act now, because they truly might not be around anymore.
Not that that's the essence.
The essence is the songs. The records. The singers. The players. HOW DID THEY DO THIS?
That's one thing we know for sure, we never could. It's different from being smart, it's different from learning a trade, it seems somehow these people channeled the gods and made concrete creations that not only infected our lives, but changed them.
Like the Beatles.
They were the internet of their day. Remember how you bought a computer just to play on AOL? In '64, everybody rushed out and bought a Beatles album. But the difference is, today you've got no use for that old Packard Bell or Dell, but those sweet sweet tunes sound just as fine.
And rock and roll is all about image.
But when you break that image...
That's right, in this clip Paul McCartney looks old. Nearly frail. It's still him, but he's a grandpa. Hip, but a bit crotchety when it comes to movement. And you're not turned off in the least, you want to will him to go on, to never die, to be here forever, because once he's gone, we're next.
And unlike seemingly everybody else, Paul McCartney won.
Not only is he still here, he's got children and grandchildren, upright citizens. How did that happen? When seemingly everybody else got caught up in drugs, and if they didn't o.d., made a mess of their lives.
And he never got cheesy. And never lost his fame.
That's the amazing thing here, the way the throngs appear, because it's HIM!
Hang out with a teen phenom of yesteryear, most people ignore them. They can shop like normal people, you and me, but not Paul McCartney.
He's led a charmed life. But the stunning thing is it's OUR LIFE!
We know those records by heart. When the assembled multitude starts singing along in the pub, everybody knows the words, young and old.
Kinda like that matron in the barber shop, on Penny Lane. She was young once. She remembers. When the Beatles were playing the Cavern Club, when they were coming up. She doesn't think about it every day, but she's instantly jetted back upon seeing Paul, the same way you are when seeing this clip.
And Corden is nice enough, but he's superfluous, flavor of the moment, Paul is forever, and he's the star.
He's sitting in the Range Rover and exuding a charisma and a complacency all at the same time, how does he do this? And when he starts pointing out landmarks...
Everybody faked a British accent. Liverpool was the most famous city in the world. They're driving around and it's like a kinescope to the past. A link between who you were and now are and forevermore shall be.
Paul actually lived there. Everything in the songs is real.
They go to the house he grew up in, Paul's first time back since he resided there, and...
It's living history. Paul talks about playing "She Loves You" for his dad the same way we talk about our parents. We're living through him, but we could never be him. It's EERIE!
And sure, he's promoting a new album.
And sure, his hair is not completely his natural color.
But it's most definitely him. With no artifice. Enjoying his fame. Still a musician at heart. You can take the boy out of Liverpool, but Liverpool's always in him.
He's richer than almost everybody else. But he's not flaunting it, he's comfortable in his role. You can only kick back and say to yourself you want to be him.
But you can't.
But you can listen to his music. Which he is still making.
But one day he'll be unable to. And he'll become a myth. Like John Lennon. He'll be cast in stone. His three dimensions will fall away. But for now...
He's still walking the earth. The biggest giant of the twentieth century. Bigger than any President, bigger than any astronaut, purveyor of the soundtrack to our victories and our losses. You can see he knows all this, it's there in his eyes.
But he keeps keepin' on, until the very end.
WHAT AN INSPIRATION!
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Friday 22 June 2018
Thursday 21 June 2018
Rival
It's based on facial recognition technology.
Ticketing is broken, can anybody fix it? Will anybody fix it?
That's what Nathan Hubbard has set out to do, the man who used to run Ticketmaster, he's raised double digit millions and...
I first saw a demonstration last September, when it was in stealth. But now, since it's public, I returned to the outfit to get an update. Rival used to be in a WeWork space. Now it's in an old Howard Hughes hangar in Playa Vista. Everybody's huddled over a MacBook Pro attached to a big screen, what are they doing?
Well, we've got a security problem in the events business. People may now be afraid to go. What if we knew everybody in attendance? You buy a ticket, scan a selfie, and then you gain entrance via facial recognition, a la iPhone X. But it's much more sophisticated than that. There's depth-analysis. To make sure you can't trick the system with a photo. And at every entrance there are cameras attached to the ubiquitous metal detectors, with an effective rate of essentially 100%, yes, the technology's just that good, and if there is a problem, since all your info is digitized, someone on site can help you out, you don't have to go to the box office, they can take care of you on the spot.
Sounds good, doesn't it? But what about minors?
You don't have to scan their faces if you don't want to. Their tickets can be attached to yours.
What about resale?
Well, that's at the whim of the artist, the event producer.
So let's continue to focus on the user experience.
When you get inside the building, you can get an offer to upgrade, via AI, i.e. artificial intelligence, you can see the viewpoint from that specific seat you're deciding whether to upgrade to. And other offers can be pushed to your phone, based on your frequency, ticket price, a whole host of data points.
Now you're worried about privacy. But are you willing to trade some for security and a better experience? And you already upload your photo to Facebook, and as for the data points re your face, those can't be reverse engineered, or so they tell me. And all the data will sit on Rival's computers and...
Well, actually Amazon Web Services. You see infrastructure begets innovation. Kinda like broadband, no YouTube without it.
Kinda like WeWork, it allows you to start small and upgrade.
But what about buying that ticket to begin with?
Well...
They've sent drones into the buildings. So you can see the viewpoint from every seat, every price point, right on your handset. And price points are unlimited, as opposed to the thirty two on Ticketmaster's system.
So, your face is the ticket.
However...
Rival realizes it's got to contend with a ticketing edifice.
So...
Rival can issue paper tickets if the promoter wants...
Let's now switch to the business side.
This is how it works. A venue makes an exclusive deal with a ticketing company, for an advance and a percentage of the ticketing fees. That's right, the fees don't all go to Ticketmaster, only the ignorant believe that.
But no one really knows who the ticketholder is, the primary site is not in control of transfer, it's a veritable madhouse.
Now right now, you can buy primary and secondary seats on Ticketmaster. The irony is that Ticketmaster makes more on secondary than primary, which is why you read that Taylor Swift shut down the secondary on Ticketmaster to clear out primary tickets, and that worked. You see all the money is in ticketing and...
Back to Rival.
Rival does have exclusive deals with venues. One of which will launch within a year. Household names. Others are presently locked up in exclusives, with expiration dates as far from now as five years or as close as a year and a half. Rival takes a percentage. It'll give an advance if that's what a building wants, but... Rival believes it can increase the gross. By upselling food and beverage, other perks. Imagine if you're a regular customer and got free entrance into the club, or a free drink, wouldn't you like that? It's all doable, right now, on the handset, I saw it in action.
So, once again, back to basics.
Right now, it takes weeks for humans to input ticketing info into the system.
That's instant on Rival.
And, Rival can plug into existing systems, like Ticketmaster. Rival can sell tickets itself, and also allow tickets to be sold on third party sites. Controlling everything from price point to change of access. That's right, the third party sites, like StubHub, will be tied into Rival's system. So, if someone sells their ticket, the new holder uploads his photo. And, the underlying promoter/artist can take a cut of the transaction.
Or, an artist can decide to artificially price tickets. I.e. sell to hardcore fans untransferable tickets for forty five bucks. Or give the best seats to hardcore fans. Or...
The options are unlimited.
So really, it's about security and customer satisfaction. We all want to be known, we all want to be respected.
And speaking of respect, on sales can be staggered, so you'll have time to pick your seat, look at the drone footage, see what you want, as opposed to now, when you take what you can get for a hot show.
The usual suspect players don't want change. But they can see how the lack of change is hurting them. And the primary players are utilizing antiquated systems, to truly solve the problems you've got to build from the ground up.
And if it all sounds complicated, on one hand it is.
But on the other it isn't.
You go online and pick your seat, just as you do now, but with much more information. You can see the viewpoint from the seat you're choosing. Truly, via drone footage, not that you need to know it was shot by a drone.
And you can take your time to choose your ticket.
And you can walk right into the venue without pulling out your wallet. You don't have to worry about forgetting your tickets, your face is the ticket.
And since the system knows who you are, you get treated better, especially if you're a regular customer.
And you can buy food and merch via your face.
And on the back end, promoters have much more flexibility, and many more options to make money. They know who the ticketholder is. They can treat them right.
Sound like a solution?
Seems like it to me!
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Ticketing is broken, can anybody fix it? Will anybody fix it?
That's what Nathan Hubbard has set out to do, the man who used to run Ticketmaster, he's raised double digit millions and...
I first saw a demonstration last September, when it was in stealth. But now, since it's public, I returned to the outfit to get an update. Rival used to be in a WeWork space. Now it's in an old Howard Hughes hangar in Playa Vista. Everybody's huddled over a MacBook Pro attached to a big screen, what are they doing?
Well, we've got a security problem in the events business. People may now be afraid to go. What if we knew everybody in attendance? You buy a ticket, scan a selfie, and then you gain entrance via facial recognition, a la iPhone X. But it's much more sophisticated than that. There's depth-analysis. To make sure you can't trick the system with a photo. And at every entrance there are cameras attached to the ubiquitous metal detectors, with an effective rate of essentially 100%, yes, the technology's just that good, and if there is a problem, since all your info is digitized, someone on site can help you out, you don't have to go to the box office, they can take care of you on the spot.
Sounds good, doesn't it? But what about minors?
You don't have to scan their faces if you don't want to. Their tickets can be attached to yours.
What about resale?
Well, that's at the whim of the artist, the event producer.
So let's continue to focus on the user experience.
When you get inside the building, you can get an offer to upgrade, via AI, i.e. artificial intelligence, you can see the viewpoint from that specific seat you're deciding whether to upgrade to. And other offers can be pushed to your phone, based on your frequency, ticket price, a whole host of data points.
Now you're worried about privacy. But are you willing to trade some for security and a better experience? And you already upload your photo to Facebook, and as for the data points re your face, those can't be reverse engineered, or so they tell me. And all the data will sit on Rival's computers and...
Well, actually Amazon Web Services. You see infrastructure begets innovation. Kinda like broadband, no YouTube without it.
Kinda like WeWork, it allows you to start small and upgrade.
But what about buying that ticket to begin with?
Well...
They've sent drones into the buildings. So you can see the viewpoint from every seat, every price point, right on your handset. And price points are unlimited, as opposed to the thirty two on Ticketmaster's system.
So, your face is the ticket.
However...
Rival realizes it's got to contend with a ticketing edifice.
So...
Rival can issue paper tickets if the promoter wants...
Let's now switch to the business side.
This is how it works. A venue makes an exclusive deal with a ticketing company, for an advance and a percentage of the ticketing fees. That's right, the fees don't all go to Ticketmaster, only the ignorant believe that.
But no one really knows who the ticketholder is, the primary site is not in control of transfer, it's a veritable madhouse.
Now right now, you can buy primary and secondary seats on Ticketmaster. The irony is that Ticketmaster makes more on secondary than primary, which is why you read that Taylor Swift shut down the secondary on Ticketmaster to clear out primary tickets, and that worked. You see all the money is in ticketing and...
Back to Rival.
Rival does have exclusive deals with venues. One of which will launch within a year. Household names. Others are presently locked up in exclusives, with expiration dates as far from now as five years or as close as a year and a half. Rival takes a percentage. It'll give an advance if that's what a building wants, but... Rival believes it can increase the gross. By upselling food and beverage, other perks. Imagine if you're a regular customer and got free entrance into the club, or a free drink, wouldn't you like that? It's all doable, right now, on the handset, I saw it in action.
So, once again, back to basics.
Right now, it takes weeks for humans to input ticketing info into the system.
That's instant on Rival.
And, Rival can plug into existing systems, like Ticketmaster. Rival can sell tickets itself, and also allow tickets to be sold on third party sites. Controlling everything from price point to change of access. That's right, the third party sites, like StubHub, will be tied into Rival's system. So, if someone sells their ticket, the new holder uploads his photo. And, the underlying promoter/artist can take a cut of the transaction.
Or, an artist can decide to artificially price tickets. I.e. sell to hardcore fans untransferable tickets for forty five bucks. Or give the best seats to hardcore fans. Or...
The options are unlimited.
So really, it's about security and customer satisfaction. We all want to be known, we all want to be respected.
And speaking of respect, on sales can be staggered, so you'll have time to pick your seat, look at the drone footage, see what you want, as opposed to now, when you take what you can get for a hot show.
The usual suspect players don't want change. But they can see how the lack of change is hurting them. And the primary players are utilizing antiquated systems, to truly solve the problems you've got to build from the ground up.
And if it all sounds complicated, on one hand it is.
But on the other it isn't.
You go online and pick your seat, just as you do now, but with much more information. You can see the viewpoint from the seat you're choosing. Truly, via drone footage, not that you need to know it was shot by a drone.
And you can take your time to choose your ticket.
And you can walk right into the venue without pulling out your wallet. You don't have to worry about forgetting your tickets, your face is the ticket.
And since the system knows who you are, you get treated better, especially if you're a regular customer.
And you can buy food and merch via your face.
And on the back end, promoters have much more flexibility, and many more options to make money. They know who the ticketholder is. They can treat them right.
Sound like a solution?
Seems like it to me!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-TuneIn: http://tunein.com/lefsetz
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Nanette
https://bit.ly/2ytW19D
You want to watch this.
No, you NEED to watch this.
But you probably won't, you probably won't log into Netflix, and when you hear the half-hour of soft-spoken lesbian jokes you'll be wondering, is that all there is? Is she even gonna get back to Nanette?
No and no.
I've had a weird day. I woke up early to go to the cancer ward, to get a rituxan infusion for my pemphigus. No, I don't need no sympathy, I'm doing quite better as a matter of fact, other than the fact that I'm still taking prednisone, albeit only 5mg, but it still might take me three or more months to get off it. You see you can't go cold turkey, you crash, they told me this, I didn't believe it, I dropped two milligrams...and I was climbing the walls. So now, the doctor wants me to alternate days, starting in two weeks, that's right 5mg one day, none the other, she wants to "wake up my adrenal glands." And I'm scared, I don't want to do it, even though I have to. I've got to get off this damn prednisone, it's messing me up, making me eat everything in sight.
So the Cedars-Sinai cancer infusion ward is at 9090 Wilshire. The southeast corner. You wouldn't recognize it from the outside. Looks like an office building, an expensive one. But you take the elevator to the second floor and...
There's a wide open space with about thirty to fifty chairs, I haven't counted them, and in each one sits a cancer patient, getting an infusion. They give you your own personalized TV, the seats are plush, but the experience..?
I can't speak for anybody else. I don't have cancer, except that I do, but not one that needs chemo, but first they start with the Benadryl, which puts you out while it simultaneously gives you restless leg while the medication drips into your arm and you want to be anywhere but there, physically, never mind emotionally. You're locked to your seat. Oh, you can go to the bathroom, you just take your tower of medication with you. But then it's back to the seat. It's an endurance test. And since I've endured it three times before, they make it faster, but still, you just grit your teeth. It's like having a baby, when it's done you forget about it, but during it...
And you're surrounded by all these people. Young ones, old ones, rich ones, poor ones...cancer doesn't care about your bank account. Some come with loved ones. The Big C is the greatest equalizer. That's right, rituxan is a lymphoma drug, but they get it much more often, every two weeks ad infinitum. I get more, but I only get it every two weeks every six months.
So...
I Ubered there and back. You can't drive yourself. And when I got back to the house I felt like crap. I normally go out for a celebratory meal, a hamburger, but there was no way I could drive, I held my head in my hands, Felice suggested I take a nap, I ultimately did, and when I woke up...
I ate a bag of potato chips. That's right, Garlic & Onion. After I finished off the bag of Ridges as well as the Salt & Vinegar one. Wise sent me a bunch, you can see them here: https://bit.ly/2MrxX9Z, and I can't resist. I've been through too much. I wanted to feel good, and food is my way to do it. My father always thought a good meal would help. I used to turn to alcohol, you can live without that, but food..?
And then we finished watching "Goliath," I don't recommend it. The first season was superb, Billy Bob Thornton was exquisite. But it should have ended there. Too many times they continue series they should not, then again, the second season of "Fauda" was better than the first, but I'm not sure they should have a third, what other storyline could they pursue? But this actress Nina Arianda, who plays Patty Solis-Papagian in "Goliath," she's a talent, she's a star, you can see it when... You can see Meryl Streep acting, you believe this person is the character. But it's more than that, she's a marvel. And the stunt casting gets in the way. My old friend Steven Bauer, he gets fifteen minutes. David Cross? Mark Duplass? Lou Diamond Phillips? Why? Are these actors that down on their luck, or did they believe this would enrich the story or..?
I don't know.
Now one perk of my gig is people make recommendations. Let me set you straight, when you send me your own stuff, forget about it. When you send me something with ten YouTube views, no. We live in a world if even the work is fantastic, I can't make it a hit. And almost nothing is fantastic. It's your job to get it noticed. Sorry, but that's the world we live in. Unless I trust you.
But I neither knew nor trusted the guy who recommended "Nanette."
But I did Google it. I was somewhat intrigued. A comedy special on Netflix. An Australian woman. And when "Goliath" finished, I pulled it up, I told Felice to humor me, give it a few minutes.
It was shot in the Sydney Opera House. I've never been inside. But amazing how great architecture can draw tourists, isn't that what you think about when you think about Sydney? Or the Frank Gehry Guggenheim Museum, in Bilbao?
And, like I said, the star of "Nanette," Hannah Gadsby, is a lesbian.
She describes herself as a fat, ugly lesbian, as a matter of fact. But she's done with the self-deprecatory comedy, she may be done with comedy all together, she keeps repeating that mantra.
They don't let you stretch. Garth Brooks tried to be a rocker and was rejected. But his shows are closer to KISS than Willie Nelson. But we don't allow people to change, we want them to be the same damn thing over and over again. We laugh at them when they experiment.
But when it resonates...
"Nanette" resonates.
So Hannah says she's afraid to give up comedy. Because all she's got is an art history degree, and that was nearly twenty years ago. What is she gonna do for a living?
That's the little voice in our head, that's what makes us sell out. At dinner last night I met a woman who started in finance, she gave it up to be in entertainment, she's very successful, although she moonlit for a while before she committed. She went to Duke. It's a path, they don't want you to color outside the lines, and if you do...
You may end up broke, or behind.
So Hannah Gadsby says she was accosted by a guy who thought she was hitting on his girlfriend. But when he realized at the bus stop that she was a girl, he stopped shoving her.
But much later, Hannah said this was untrue. He beat the crap out of her. And she didn't go to the police or the hospital because she was too ashamed. She's a self-hating homosexual, they taught her this in school, growing up in Tasmania, it's hard to get rid of your upbringing.
And when a man tells her to stop taking antidepressants for her art, Hannah disabuses him of the notion that Vincent Van Gogh was unmedicated, arguably that's why he painted such vivid yellows.
And suddenly, you're getting a survey course on art history. Hannah hates Picasso. Is down on cubism. And it's all because Picasso took advantage of a seventeen year old girl, while he was married, as a matter of fact.
And then there's a whole riff on celebrities, especially men, how we don't want to ruin their reputations, we must save their reputations, but how about those who were hurt?
And then back to Picasso, how cubism offered multiple perspectives. But where was Hannah's perspective, where is a woman's perspective?
And the lesbians think Hannah doesn't do enough lesbian jokes. And she doesn't want to jump around in the gay parade, she doesn't fit in there either. She's got to apologize for herself, make jokes, but tonight, tonight, she's gonna tell her real story.
And she reveals personal details that illustrate she knows what she's talking about, I ain't gonna ruin it by telling you those now. But she makes you realize, we're all just people, women have gotten a bad shake, but it's not only them, but all the oddballs. She just wants to connect with someone, feel a member of the group.
Just like me.
Like I said, you're gonna be disappointed at first. But then you're gonna be riveted, and what Hannah says will not leave you, it will be stuck in your brain, ain't that the power of art, when the work itself changes lives as opposed to the penumbra, the hype, the shenanigans.
This is powerful stuff. It changed me, it'll change you.
--
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--
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You want to watch this.
No, you NEED to watch this.
But you probably won't, you probably won't log into Netflix, and when you hear the half-hour of soft-spoken lesbian jokes you'll be wondering, is that all there is? Is she even gonna get back to Nanette?
No and no.
I've had a weird day. I woke up early to go to the cancer ward, to get a rituxan infusion for my pemphigus. No, I don't need no sympathy, I'm doing quite better as a matter of fact, other than the fact that I'm still taking prednisone, albeit only 5mg, but it still might take me three or more months to get off it. You see you can't go cold turkey, you crash, they told me this, I didn't believe it, I dropped two milligrams...and I was climbing the walls. So now, the doctor wants me to alternate days, starting in two weeks, that's right 5mg one day, none the other, she wants to "wake up my adrenal glands." And I'm scared, I don't want to do it, even though I have to. I've got to get off this damn prednisone, it's messing me up, making me eat everything in sight.
So the Cedars-Sinai cancer infusion ward is at 9090 Wilshire. The southeast corner. You wouldn't recognize it from the outside. Looks like an office building, an expensive one. But you take the elevator to the second floor and...
There's a wide open space with about thirty to fifty chairs, I haven't counted them, and in each one sits a cancer patient, getting an infusion. They give you your own personalized TV, the seats are plush, but the experience..?
I can't speak for anybody else. I don't have cancer, except that I do, but not one that needs chemo, but first they start with the Benadryl, which puts you out while it simultaneously gives you restless leg while the medication drips into your arm and you want to be anywhere but there, physically, never mind emotionally. You're locked to your seat. Oh, you can go to the bathroom, you just take your tower of medication with you. But then it's back to the seat. It's an endurance test. And since I've endured it three times before, they make it faster, but still, you just grit your teeth. It's like having a baby, when it's done you forget about it, but during it...
And you're surrounded by all these people. Young ones, old ones, rich ones, poor ones...cancer doesn't care about your bank account. Some come with loved ones. The Big C is the greatest equalizer. That's right, rituxan is a lymphoma drug, but they get it much more often, every two weeks ad infinitum. I get more, but I only get it every two weeks every six months.
So...
I Ubered there and back. You can't drive yourself. And when I got back to the house I felt like crap. I normally go out for a celebratory meal, a hamburger, but there was no way I could drive, I held my head in my hands, Felice suggested I take a nap, I ultimately did, and when I woke up...
I ate a bag of potato chips. That's right, Garlic & Onion. After I finished off the bag of Ridges as well as the Salt & Vinegar one. Wise sent me a bunch, you can see them here: https://bit.ly/2MrxX9Z, and I can't resist. I've been through too much. I wanted to feel good, and food is my way to do it. My father always thought a good meal would help. I used to turn to alcohol, you can live without that, but food..?
And then we finished watching "Goliath," I don't recommend it. The first season was superb, Billy Bob Thornton was exquisite. But it should have ended there. Too many times they continue series they should not, then again, the second season of "Fauda" was better than the first, but I'm not sure they should have a third, what other storyline could they pursue? But this actress Nina Arianda, who plays Patty Solis-Papagian in "Goliath," she's a talent, she's a star, you can see it when... You can see Meryl Streep acting, you believe this person is the character. But it's more than that, she's a marvel. And the stunt casting gets in the way. My old friend Steven Bauer, he gets fifteen minutes. David Cross? Mark Duplass? Lou Diamond Phillips? Why? Are these actors that down on their luck, or did they believe this would enrich the story or..?
I don't know.
Now one perk of my gig is people make recommendations. Let me set you straight, when you send me your own stuff, forget about it. When you send me something with ten YouTube views, no. We live in a world if even the work is fantastic, I can't make it a hit. And almost nothing is fantastic. It's your job to get it noticed. Sorry, but that's the world we live in. Unless I trust you.
But I neither knew nor trusted the guy who recommended "Nanette."
But I did Google it. I was somewhat intrigued. A comedy special on Netflix. An Australian woman. And when "Goliath" finished, I pulled it up, I told Felice to humor me, give it a few minutes.
It was shot in the Sydney Opera House. I've never been inside. But amazing how great architecture can draw tourists, isn't that what you think about when you think about Sydney? Or the Frank Gehry Guggenheim Museum, in Bilbao?
And, like I said, the star of "Nanette," Hannah Gadsby, is a lesbian.
She describes herself as a fat, ugly lesbian, as a matter of fact. But she's done with the self-deprecatory comedy, she may be done with comedy all together, she keeps repeating that mantra.
They don't let you stretch. Garth Brooks tried to be a rocker and was rejected. But his shows are closer to KISS than Willie Nelson. But we don't allow people to change, we want them to be the same damn thing over and over again. We laugh at them when they experiment.
But when it resonates...
"Nanette" resonates.
So Hannah says she's afraid to give up comedy. Because all she's got is an art history degree, and that was nearly twenty years ago. What is she gonna do for a living?
That's the little voice in our head, that's what makes us sell out. At dinner last night I met a woman who started in finance, she gave it up to be in entertainment, she's very successful, although she moonlit for a while before she committed. She went to Duke. It's a path, they don't want you to color outside the lines, and if you do...
You may end up broke, or behind.
So Hannah Gadsby says she was accosted by a guy who thought she was hitting on his girlfriend. But when he realized at the bus stop that she was a girl, he stopped shoving her.
But much later, Hannah said this was untrue. He beat the crap out of her. And she didn't go to the police or the hospital because she was too ashamed. She's a self-hating homosexual, they taught her this in school, growing up in Tasmania, it's hard to get rid of your upbringing.
And when a man tells her to stop taking antidepressants for her art, Hannah disabuses him of the notion that Vincent Van Gogh was unmedicated, arguably that's why he painted such vivid yellows.
And suddenly, you're getting a survey course on art history. Hannah hates Picasso. Is down on cubism. And it's all because Picasso took advantage of a seventeen year old girl, while he was married, as a matter of fact.
And then there's a whole riff on celebrities, especially men, how we don't want to ruin their reputations, we must save their reputations, but how about those who were hurt?
And then back to Picasso, how cubism offered multiple perspectives. But where was Hannah's perspective, where is a woman's perspective?
And the lesbians think Hannah doesn't do enough lesbian jokes. And she doesn't want to jump around in the gay parade, she doesn't fit in there either. She's got to apologize for herself, make jokes, but tonight, tonight, she's gonna tell her real story.
And she reveals personal details that illustrate she knows what she's talking about, I ain't gonna ruin it by telling you those now. But she makes you realize, we're all just people, women have gotten a bad shake, but it's not only them, but all the oddballs. She just wants to connect with someone, feel a member of the group.
Just like me.
Like I said, you're gonna be disappointed at first. But then you're gonna be riveted, and what Hannah says will not leave you, it will be stuck in your brain, ain't that the power of art, when the work itself changes lives as opposed to the penumbra, the hype, the shenanigans.
This is powerful stuff. It changed me, it'll change you.
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Wednesday 20 June 2018
Mailbag-Showman, "Africa," Free, Prince, Seymour, Budzik...-text
Subject: Two people who truly deserve the credit for "Showman"
Thank you for your coverage of the phenomenon that none of us predicted with "The Greatest Showman".
I produced and mixed the songs in the film and the album soundtrack along with Justin and Benj. We chased this music off the cliff for six months straight, and are humbled/overjoyed that it's received this kind of worldwide reaction. The soundtrack just broke Adele's record in the UK for most weeks at #1.
However, Hugh Jackman had been trying to make this movie for the past seven years. Director Michael Gracey insisted that Justin and Benj be the songwriters for the project, and this was before they had won an Oscar and had a huge hit on Broadway with "Dear Evan Hansen". Michael was in the room with them while they wrote, and for every three songs they wrote for the project, only one made it into the film.
Hiring me in the last year of the movie was also Michael's idea. He generously gave me carte blanche to use what had already been recorded and or to replace whatever I felt needed to change. Michael created an incredibly supportive work environment where we all had each other's back. Michael had the full support of Hugh, and despite never having directed a movie before, led with the greatest enthusiasm and passion which inspired all of us to bring out our best.
Everyone involved on camera and behind scenes gave it their all, but I wish Hugh and Michael got more credit for seeing their vision all the way through to such a glorious result. It was the best creative experience I've ever been a part of.
Greg Wells
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I work in the UK music industry but I think this quote from my better half sums it up perfectly.
She came back from seeing the film with our daughter and said that she thought she had heard every song in it before.
Frozen had one song. This has loads.
Warners can't believe their luck. Looking forward to the copycat rubbish from the other majors
Charlie Coleman
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From: Roger Lee Harrison
Subject: Re: More Greatest Showman
My little brother had seen the film three times when he took me to see it on a rainy afternoon in Tulsa. The film had been out for months. About halfway through I realized the songs had a delightful sweet low echo. A little later Tommy, my brother jabbed me in the side and pointed one row behind and about ten feet down were six little girls, standing up, dressed in gowns tiaras, and tutus singing along with the songs, in tune, alto, and soprano. When the show ended, I walked over and thanked them for the concert. They had all seen the movie six times and they sang a song for us.
The film will never stop running.
_______________________________________
From: John Robbie
The songs in Greatest Showman reminded me of the impact The Sound of Music did for popular music, from the 60's and still to this day.
I'm pretty sure most of the songs in The Sound of Music can be easily recognized, referenced, quoted, sung, and hummed.
Went to see the movie in February, with my 14 year old daughter, she loved it, I loved it.
No opening lines, straight into song. Remember the opening of The Sound of Music ?
As per the Frozen comments, I wonder if Disney would ever capitalize on Frozen character Olaf, as The Greatest Snowman. Or is that Frosty? (another musical)
JR Toronto
_______________________________________
From: Larry Stessel
Subject: Re: More Greatest Showman
There you have it. I said our industry is jaded. And maybe add that we are a bunch of snobs. Some of the negative comments point to The Greatest Showman songs as just average show tunes etc. The person who said that we all grew up on West Side Story and Oklahoma hit it right on the nose. Our industry is so caught up in being the person applauded for finding the "next big thing" that we have lost sight of the music that is popular and makes the masses feel good. That's why Taylor Swift is so successful. But try telling that to an executive obsessed with having his name printed in Hits for 5 minutes while his/her one hit wonder rises and falls. When I saw Earth, Wind and Fire at Bonnaroo 3 years ago, the promoters expected 5k people at the What stage. 50,000 stood in front and sang for 75 minutes to all of their monster hits. Ask Rob Light if he'd rather be the agent for Bob Jovi or some two hit wonder from 2015. I look through the New Releases on Spotify and it's hard to find much that is interesting not only to me, but to my twenty something kids. Look at the top 25 charts from the 70's and &0's and most of those artist are still selling tickets. My point is only that we need to look at what Kallman and his team did with this soundtrack and learn from it. A great song is what drove this business for the past 75 years and it needs to continue to drive this business going forward.
_______________________________________
Bob,
Here are some stats and data on The Greatest Showman Soundtrack that I thought you might find interesting.
The soundtrack is the No. 1 selling album of 2018 so far, in both the US and the UK. It's the #2 total consumption album of 2018 in the US, behind only Post Malone's Beer Bongs & Bentley's. Showman is well over 1 billion streams to date. On the "Billboard" 200, it has the most consecutive weeks in the top ten (23) for a any soundtrack since "Frozen" (2013), the most consecutive weeks in the top ten for a live-action theatrical film soundtrack since "Dirty Dancing" (1987), and the most weeks in the top five for a live-action theatrical film soundtrack since "Titanic" (1997). In the UK, it has topped the charts for a 19th non-consecutive week, surpassing Adele's "21" for the record of longest-running No. 1 album of the last 30 years. It became the first overseas No. 1 album in Japan since 2014, and in South Korea, it went to No. 1 for four weeks straight and generated more than 60M album streams. The album hit No. 1 in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand to name a few and has hit No. 1 on the iTunes charts in over 80 counties.
I'd like to acknowledge Atlantic's David Grant, who oversaw marketing on the project, and Torsten Luth and Nordia West, who handled the international marketing. I also want to note that Max Lousada activated this as a global marketing priority for WMG, which helped drive the album into every possible marketing and partner program available, and ultimately became a massive worldwide driver for the soundtrack and the film alike. Kudos to everyone at Atlantic and Warner Music Group for all of their efforts, from every department throughout the entire organization, contributing to the global success of the album.
Kevin Weaver
President, Atlantic Records | west coast
_______________________________________
From: george drakoulias
Subject: Re: More Greatest Showman
it's Weaver's world we just live in it
_______________________________________
From: lukedaddy
Subject: Re: Africa by Weezer
This whole thing is surreal.. but in a great way!
I'll take it.
The numbers are insane and it's been amazing for us.
It makes ME hanging in there for 40 years + thru the bad times all worth it.
I am laughing and shaking my head and WE get the last laugh after all these years later!
Wait till you hear OUR come back on a Weezer song!
It's in the works now!
It's gonna make people not only realize we GET the gag.. we are gonna kick ass and just when this dies down, OUR Weezer song comes and we parlay ..
Their fans have surprisingly embraced us.
We are no longer a ' guilty pleasure ' as the say. Never cared as long as people showed up and or listened. Closet Toto fans and all.
The fact a ' cool band' cuts our song ( as we are the most UN-cool band according to hipsters) and WE revive their 10 year lapse since they had a hit... rather 'Mandela effect ' worthy right? haha ( google if you don't GET that joke)
They have a new record and Africa AINT on it?
I think this thing blew up in Rivers face. You can Steve Porcaro was there at Kimmel when their manager gave Rivers the numbers and said you could visibly SEE Rivers realization he will have to play Toto songs forever. haha
His band mates LOVE us apparently , closet muso's who found our music way more difficult to play than it appears.
A 14 year old girl started this train rolling a year ago.. me on TV with Ringo thanking them.. ( my surprise guest )
It is really something to see thru MY eyes!
I am out on tour with Ringo in Europe right now. Great new version of the band with some new guys, Colin Hay and Graham Gouldman from 10 cc..
Toto hits the road USA 2 weeks after I get back and its selling out. Europe Guarantees have tripled.. etc etc..
Its all so insane but great! Who knew at 60 years old.. We are totally laughing and appreciative! haha
God Bless Weezer and their fans!
I am sure Jann Wenner is screaming " Now I know these are the end times" hahaha
His worst nightmare comes true. WE are more popular than ever, and the critic darlings made that happen.. actually a 14 year old girl did!
Funny part is this is their biggest single in 10 years and its NOT on their upcoming record.
One of our keyboard players made a cameo with Weezer on Kimmel the mother night..showing WE get the joke too. I think we played it very well.
Whats next?
At this point .. anything!
hey I know luck was on our side but we are getting a 2nd look I never thought we would get and a real young audience. It is nuts. The EDM and raper guys, the memes, the jokes, We are now being drawn as family Guy characters.. HAHAHAHA
Wow .. who knew right,. We could be the music story of the year. In our heads we already are.
Hope all is well.
Luke
PS My book has been pushed back again cause I went crazy these publishers didn't want to drop it for the whole world SAME day!
Its a good thing I manage myself and Toto at this point. ' Managers' usually fuck everything up. I have lived thru 3 of the biggest. THEY must be shitting as THEY never worked us. We were million dollar stipend to them. They went for the short money!
I didn't.
That is just insane in 2018. YOU know.. I read your opinions. You are right.
_______________________________________
From: Hugo Burnham
Subject: Re: Paul Rodgers Podcast
I wanted to write the moment I read this…but got busy.
Yes, that voice…that was so strong and mature, so young - and has stayed that way for decades. 'My Brother Jake' is still one of the saddest, loveliest songs ever. Chokes me up every time.
They were the second band I ever saw live (and on my own) at The Royal Albert Hall in 1972. I stood transfixed at the lip of the (quite low) stage. Paul wore a red flared-sleeve T-shirt…which took me an age to find to buy - in Kensington Market, eventually. There is SO much more than 'Alright Now' - they were still teenagers when they recorded 'Fire & Water', FFS.
Free was simply the biggest influence on G4. It killed us that the only damn label who didn't want to sign us in '78/'79 was Island Records…Heartbreak(er)ing for us. We covered 'Woman' in the early days; I copied Simon Kirke's whole sit-up playing style…the master (along with Charlie) of less-is-more playing. I met him at Wexler's memorial service in NY, and shook his hand. (Right after that I shook Bernard Purdie's hand. What a day!)
I still listen to Free all the time. Elemental, wonderful stuff.
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Prince's Vault
The strangest session of my life-and I'm 71-was when I was a mastering engineer at Warner Bros in the early 80s and Prince was the client. He walked in, handed me the tape, proceeded to stand in a corner of the very small mastering studio and stare at me. I put the tape up and started in, asking if he liked this or that, like the eye doctor does. And he just stares at me and doesn't say a word. For 3 hours. It was unnerving. In the end I cut a ref, handed it to him and he left, never having said a word. Very strange.
Phil Brown
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Seymour Stein's Book
Bob,
I have always enjoyed reading the Lefstez blog over the years and thought I would drop a line about Seymour Stein.
There is no-one like him!
I really mean it…I don't think I have ever had the pleasure to meet someone so committed to music than that man.
I worked for Creation Records in the early 1990s when Sire handled a number of our acts in the US including Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine and Ride.
I was introduced to Seymour by Alan McGee on my first business visit to New York from London as a young and enthusiastic A&R man.
Seymour and the rest of the team at Sire were the most accommodating and helpful and long term friendships began there and then.
Of course they didn't have the same money as many of the other Warner labels and were indeed treated like an indie within the group but they had the passion and who as an artist or a label wouldn't want to be on or associated to Sire Records.
As well as helping Alan, I ran a label called Infonet at Creation pioneering electronic music from Europe and the US nearly two decades before it made its mark in mainstream America.
As always Seymour was on it. Checking out all of the new music coming from this emerging genre.
I helped the late Rob Mitchell of Warp Records secure his deal for Apex Twin with Sire after a long meeting at Creation which undoubtedly benefited the future of Warp and always found Seymour happy to help and always there at a gig if he said he was going to attend. Something which other far junior A&R men could never seem to achieve.
In fact, there was a time when I had a tiny little club called Thunderground going in what was then, a very unfashionable part of London called Shoreditch, and who shows up at 1am to see the act…Seymour Stein.
I mean, what other American record label boss and music legend did that!
No-one does that now
It was all about the music.
It was all about the passion.
Finally, a few weeks ago my brother called me to say he was with Seymour in Manchester to see our new band The Blinders.
He put Seymour on the phone and we spoke for a little while and wished each other well.
That night after the gig Seymour said he would sign the band…and so it continues.
Long may he go on…there won't be anyone else like him.
Chris Abbot
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Seymour Stein's Book
Hi Bob,
Great review.
About 10 years ago I was at a WMG regional shindig in London accompanying the Israeli singer Geva Alon who was brought to showcase by Omri Dolev, the Israeli Warner affiliate. Seymour was there as usual. After the showcase the entire Warner crew went for dinner at the rooftop restaurant Duck and Waffle with its exquisite 34th story view. Geva and I sat with Seymour and we talked about Geva's songs. He liked them but said they were to depressing and sad. "People want to be happy .. not sad" he passionately declared. While Geva was crushed we both knew Seymour had that ability to cut to the chase with his outstanding sense of what worked and what people wanted to hear.
But then out of nowhere Seymour asked Geva if he ever went to Synagogue. Geva being a typical secular Israeli said not really. Seymour then told us about his Bar Mitzva, his love of the songs he sang as a child on the Sabbath and spontaneously broke into a three minute rendition of the Synagogue Hymns Ein Kelohaynu and Adon Olam. He had no less passion at that moment singing than listening to any other music he greatly loved. You could see it in his eyes. There we were with the man who discovered Madonna and the Ramones and a million others singing Ein Kelohaynu and Adon Olam together. Talk about surreal. That's a moment I will never forget.
Best,
Hillel Wachs
2b Vibes Music
Jerusalem - Tel Aviv
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Seymour Stein's Book
One of the best times I ever had was lunch with Seymour Stein when he was in town for a music conference, and we just talked about records we loved as kids. I mentioned the yiddish parody music of Mickey Katz, think of a borscht belt Weird Al, and we went down a major rabbit hole over that one. Of course, he topped me by telling me he'd just been at a birthday party for Jennifer Grey, whose grandfather was ... Mickey Katz! (His son was Joel "Cabaret" Grey, who got his start as part of his dad's act in the Catskills.) Of course we talked about Ramones, Talking Heads, Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, all Sire acts who shaped my existence, but it was fun watching him light up as he talked about those records he was spinning in his adolescence.
Stephen Cooke
Halifax, NS
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Same thing happened to me Bob. I wanted to apologize to a guy I had treated badly in college. I looked him up on FB and he had died a few years ago. Maybe he had long ago forgotten me or maybe it was still a source of pain, but now I'll never know. It really did a number on me. It's a bizarre feeling to know you're closer to the end of your life than the birth. "So it comes down to the personal. How we live our lives. How we treat one another."
Couldn't agree with you more.
Deborah Holland
_______________________________________
From: Will Eggleston
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Bob,
It's so true. My first real girlfriend, Kathy and I were so innocently in love at 16. We were inseparable. She came everywhere my band, The Hydrogen Jukebox played.
We held hands and sang over and over, The Byrds version of Dylan's "My Back Pages".
When I was making use of the internet a few months ago I fell upon her name and obituary from 2017. How bizarre she passed away on the same day the single was released March 13, (1967)
Life comes in circles.
Will
_______________________________________
From: Valarie Mulberry
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
You got me with this one. There was a boy in my 5th grade class that I had a crush on me. The feeling was not reciprocal. He wrote my name, in sharpie, all over his t-shirt. I mean ALL OVER it. And even spelled it correctly, which no one ever does. All the other kids thought it was funny and made fun of us. It always bothered me. In hind sight, it was a sweet innocent, uninhibited kid thing to do. Which would have been better if it was a boy I actually liked. When I was 30 years old I realized I was still holding a grudge toward this guy from when he was little boy. I had not seen him since about 7th grade. My friend from back home told me he died of some rare cancer in his mid-twenties and his sister did too. How embarrassing that I was still holding a grudge and Bobby Daniels was already dead for a few years. Smudge the grudge! Release thyself. Forgive yourself. Hopefully, Judy never held a grudge against you. It's a waste of energy. Lesson learned (Thanks Bobby!).
Sincerely,
Valarie Mulberry
Sunshine Rhythm & Blues Music
www.valariemulberry.com
_______________________________________
From: Ed Brown
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Hey Bob,
Your post from this morning caught my attention because, only yesterday, I went through the exact same thing. Her name was Deanna Bozung. For a number of years in Junior High and High School she and I were tight. Not romantically, but we had many common interests.
I was working yesterday and suddenly her name popped into my head. So I looked her up online and there it was... her funeral notice. She had passed away just a couple years ago.
Same thing happened earlier this year, when I thought about a childhood neighbor. Looked them up, only to discover they had just passed two weeks before. Eerie, right?
Ed
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Dude, i'm 32 and treated a girl I now love poorly at 29. Her name is Christine Fludd and I think of her much. Thank you for sharing.
Genuinely,
William T. Jolley, Esq.
_______________________________________
From: rob hegel
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
powerful piece - - thank you! and now all i can think about is Amy Barbato...........
_______________________________________
From: Rob Falk
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Wow Bob! That's a touching story in so many ways.
I just wanted to say that the apology/amends you wanted to make to Judy were exactly the 12-Step kind, and for exactly the 12-Step reason: "one of my great life regrets… remember exactly where it happened… because it continues to haunt me, 'til this day. I acted badly."
The 12-Steps work for a lot of things besides alcoholism. There are more than 100 12-step fellowships helping people with everything from alcohol and drug addiction, to gambling and overspending, to plain old relationship issues.
You've openly acknowledged a past wrong, stated regret, and an intention to no longer behave that way. I hope you feel at least some relief in having shone a light on that secret here. That's a 9th step action. Very cool.
This can also be done on a daily basis. The 10th step of any 12-step fellowship says we "continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. That helps us to not be "haunted" as we move ahead in our lives.
I always enjoy your posts. All the best to you and I hope you're feeling well.
Rob
_______________________________________
From: Robin Mitchell Joyce
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Six years ago I got a call from someone I hadn't spoken to for over 35 years. What a treat! How fun! We talked, reminisced and caught up for almost 2 hours. Then, as we were saying goodbye and promising to stay in touch, he told me he needed to apologise. He said he'd spent decades regretting that cruel thing he'd said to me at that party. He'd felt terrible the moment he said it and it had weighed on him all these years. A hundred times he'd wanted to find me and tell me how sorry he was, how immature he'd been. And he was so happy I'd given him the opportunity to make amends.
I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. I remembered the party. I remembered him at the party. But I had no recollection of him saying anything mean to me.
That's the thing about kind and sensitive people, Bob. They have no talent for meanness. Because kind and sensitive people immediately think about how they'd feel if someone were being mean to them...and then feel the hurt more profoundly than even the person they were mean to. It's a quality called Empathy. Hate can't grow where Empathy exists...and unfortunately, it's in dangerously short supply these days.
Thank you for your coverage of the phenomenon that none of us predicted with "The Greatest Showman".
I produced and mixed the songs in the film and the album soundtrack along with Justin and Benj. We chased this music off the cliff for six months straight, and are humbled/overjoyed that it's received this kind of worldwide reaction. The soundtrack just broke Adele's record in the UK for most weeks at #1.
However, Hugh Jackman had been trying to make this movie for the past seven years. Director Michael Gracey insisted that Justin and Benj be the songwriters for the project, and this was before they had won an Oscar and had a huge hit on Broadway with "Dear Evan Hansen". Michael was in the room with them while they wrote, and for every three songs they wrote for the project, only one made it into the film.
Hiring me in the last year of the movie was also Michael's idea. He generously gave me carte blanche to use what had already been recorded and or to replace whatever I felt needed to change. Michael created an incredibly supportive work environment where we all had each other's back. Michael had the full support of Hugh, and despite never having directed a movie before, led with the greatest enthusiasm and passion which inspired all of us to bring out our best.
Everyone involved on camera and behind scenes gave it their all, but I wish Hugh and Michael got more credit for seeing their vision all the way through to such a glorious result. It was the best creative experience I've ever been a part of.
Greg Wells
_______________________________________
I work in the UK music industry but I think this quote from my better half sums it up perfectly.
She came back from seeing the film with our daughter and said that she thought she had heard every song in it before.
Frozen had one song. This has loads.
Warners can't believe their luck. Looking forward to the copycat rubbish from the other majors
Charlie Coleman
_______________________________________
From: Roger Lee Harrison
Subject: Re: More Greatest Showman
My little brother had seen the film three times when he took me to see it on a rainy afternoon in Tulsa. The film had been out for months. About halfway through I realized the songs had a delightful sweet low echo. A little later Tommy, my brother jabbed me in the side and pointed one row behind and about ten feet down were six little girls, standing up, dressed in gowns tiaras, and tutus singing along with the songs, in tune, alto, and soprano. When the show ended, I walked over and thanked them for the concert. They had all seen the movie six times and they sang a song for us.
The film will never stop running.
_______________________________________
From: John Robbie
The songs in Greatest Showman reminded me of the impact The Sound of Music did for popular music, from the 60's and still to this day.
I'm pretty sure most of the songs in The Sound of Music can be easily recognized, referenced, quoted, sung, and hummed.
Went to see the movie in February, with my 14 year old daughter, she loved it, I loved it.
No opening lines, straight into song. Remember the opening of The Sound of Music ?
As per the Frozen comments, I wonder if Disney would ever capitalize on Frozen character Olaf, as The Greatest Snowman. Or is that Frosty? (another musical)
JR Toronto
_______________________________________
From: Larry Stessel
Subject: Re: More Greatest Showman
There you have it. I said our industry is jaded. And maybe add that we are a bunch of snobs. Some of the negative comments point to The Greatest Showman songs as just average show tunes etc. The person who said that we all grew up on West Side Story and Oklahoma hit it right on the nose. Our industry is so caught up in being the person applauded for finding the "next big thing" that we have lost sight of the music that is popular and makes the masses feel good. That's why Taylor Swift is so successful. But try telling that to an executive obsessed with having his name printed in Hits for 5 minutes while his/her one hit wonder rises and falls. When I saw Earth, Wind and Fire at Bonnaroo 3 years ago, the promoters expected 5k people at the What stage. 50,000 stood in front and sang for 75 minutes to all of their monster hits. Ask Rob Light if he'd rather be the agent for Bob Jovi or some two hit wonder from 2015. I look through the New Releases on Spotify and it's hard to find much that is interesting not only to me, but to my twenty something kids. Look at the top 25 charts from the 70's and &0's and most of those artist are still selling tickets. My point is only that we need to look at what Kallman and his team did with this soundtrack and learn from it. A great song is what drove this business for the past 75 years and it needs to continue to drive this business going forward.
_______________________________________
Bob,
Here are some stats and data on The Greatest Showman Soundtrack that I thought you might find interesting.
The soundtrack is the No. 1 selling album of 2018 so far, in both the US and the UK. It's the #2 total consumption album of 2018 in the US, behind only Post Malone's Beer Bongs & Bentley's. Showman is well over 1 billion streams to date. On the "Billboard" 200, it has the most consecutive weeks in the top ten (23) for a any soundtrack since "Frozen" (2013), the most consecutive weeks in the top ten for a live-action theatrical film soundtrack since "Dirty Dancing" (1987), and the most weeks in the top five for a live-action theatrical film soundtrack since "Titanic" (1997). In the UK, it has topped the charts for a 19th non-consecutive week, surpassing Adele's "21" for the record of longest-running No. 1 album of the last 30 years. It became the first overseas No. 1 album in Japan since 2014, and in South Korea, it went to No. 1 for four weeks straight and generated more than 60M album streams. The album hit No. 1 in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand to name a few and has hit No. 1 on the iTunes charts in over 80 counties.
I'd like to acknowledge Atlantic's David Grant, who oversaw marketing on the project, and Torsten Luth and Nordia West, who handled the international marketing. I also want to note that Max Lousada activated this as a global marketing priority for WMG, which helped drive the album into every possible marketing and partner program available, and ultimately became a massive worldwide driver for the soundtrack and the film alike. Kudos to everyone at Atlantic and Warner Music Group for all of their efforts, from every department throughout the entire organization, contributing to the global success of the album.
Kevin Weaver
President, Atlantic Records | west coast
_______________________________________
From: george drakoulias
Subject: Re: More Greatest Showman
it's Weaver's world we just live in it
_______________________________________
From: lukedaddy
Subject: Re: Africa by Weezer
This whole thing is surreal.. but in a great way!
I'll take it.
The numbers are insane and it's been amazing for us.
It makes ME hanging in there for 40 years + thru the bad times all worth it.
I am laughing and shaking my head and WE get the last laugh after all these years later!
Wait till you hear OUR come back on a Weezer song!
It's in the works now!
It's gonna make people not only realize we GET the gag.. we are gonna kick ass and just when this dies down, OUR Weezer song comes and we parlay ..
Their fans have surprisingly embraced us.
We are no longer a ' guilty pleasure ' as the say. Never cared as long as people showed up and or listened. Closet Toto fans and all.
The fact a ' cool band' cuts our song ( as we are the most UN-cool band according to hipsters) and WE revive their 10 year lapse since they had a hit... rather 'Mandela effect ' worthy right? haha ( google if you don't GET that joke)
They have a new record and Africa AINT on it?
I think this thing blew up in Rivers face. You can Steve Porcaro was there at Kimmel when their manager gave Rivers the numbers and said you could visibly SEE Rivers realization he will have to play Toto songs forever. haha
His band mates LOVE us apparently , closet muso's who found our music way more difficult to play than it appears.
A 14 year old girl started this train rolling a year ago.. me on TV with Ringo thanking them.. ( my surprise guest )
It is really something to see thru MY eyes!
I am out on tour with Ringo in Europe right now. Great new version of the band with some new guys, Colin Hay and Graham Gouldman from 10 cc..
Toto hits the road USA 2 weeks after I get back and its selling out. Europe Guarantees have tripled.. etc etc..
Its all so insane but great! Who knew at 60 years old.. We are totally laughing and appreciative! haha
God Bless Weezer and their fans!
I am sure Jann Wenner is screaming " Now I know these are the end times" hahaha
His worst nightmare comes true. WE are more popular than ever, and the critic darlings made that happen.. actually a 14 year old girl did!
Funny part is this is their biggest single in 10 years and its NOT on their upcoming record.
One of our keyboard players made a cameo with Weezer on Kimmel the mother night..showing WE get the joke too. I think we played it very well.
Whats next?
At this point .. anything!
hey I know luck was on our side but we are getting a 2nd look I never thought we would get and a real young audience. It is nuts. The EDM and raper guys, the memes, the jokes, We are now being drawn as family Guy characters.. HAHAHAHA
Wow .. who knew right,. We could be the music story of the year. In our heads we already are.
Hope all is well.
Luke
PS My book has been pushed back again cause I went crazy these publishers didn't want to drop it for the whole world SAME day!
Its a good thing I manage myself and Toto at this point. ' Managers' usually fuck everything up. I have lived thru 3 of the biggest. THEY must be shitting as THEY never worked us. We were million dollar stipend to them. They went for the short money!
I didn't.
That is just insane in 2018. YOU know.. I read your opinions. You are right.
_______________________________________
From: Hugo Burnham
Subject: Re: Paul Rodgers Podcast
I wanted to write the moment I read this…but got busy.
Yes, that voice…that was so strong and mature, so young - and has stayed that way for decades. 'My Brother Jake' is still one of the saddest, loveliest songs ever. Chokes me up every time.
They were the second band I ever saw live (and on my own) at The Royal Albert Hall in 1972. I stood transfixed at the lip of the (quite low) stage. Paul wore a red flared-sleeve T-shirt…which took me an age to find to buy - in Kensington Market, eventually. There is SO much more than 'Alright Now' - they were still teenagers when they recorded 'Fire & Water', FFS.
Free was simply the biggest influence on G4. It killed us that the only damn label who didn't want to sign us in '78/'79 was Island Records…Heartbreak(er)ing for us. We covered 'Woman' in the early days; I copied Simon Kirke's whole sit-up playing style…the master (along with Charlie) of less-is-more playing. I met him at Wexler's memorial service in NY, and shook his hand. (Right after that I shook Bernard Purdie's hand. What a day!)
I still listen to Free all the time. Elemental, wonderful stuff.
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Prince's Vault
The strangest session of my life-and I'm 71-was when I was a mastering engineer at Warner Bros in the early 80s and Prince was the client. He walked in, handed me the tape, proceeded to stand in a corner of the very small mastering studio and stare at me. I put the tape up and started in, asking if he liked this or that, like the eye doctor does. And he just stares at me and doesn't say a word. For 3 hours. It was unnerving. In the end I cut a ref, handed it to him and he left, never having said a word. Very strange.
Phil Brown
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Seymour Stein's Book
Bob,
I have always enjoyed reading the Lefstez blog over the years and thought I would drop a line about Seymour Stein.
There is no-one like him!
I really mean it…I don't think I have ever had the pleasure to meet someone so committed to music than that man.
I worked for Creation Records in the early 1990s when Sire handled a number of our acts in the US including Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine and Ride.
I was introduced to Seymour by Alan McGee on my first business visit to New York from London as a young and enthusiastic A&R man.
Seymour and the rest of the team at Sire were the most accommodating and helpful and long term friendships began there and then.
Of course they didn't have the same money as many of the other Warner labels and were indeed treated like an indie within the group but they had the passion and who as an artist or a label wouldn't want to be on or associated to Sire Records.
As well as helping Alan, I ran a label called Infonet at Creation pioneering electronic music from Europe and the US nearly two decades before it made its mark in mainstream America.
As always Seymour was on it. Checking out all of the new music coming from this emerging genre.
I helped the late Rob Mitchell of Warp Records secure his deal for Apex Twin with Sire after a long meeting at Creation which undoubtedly benefited the future of Warp and always found Seymour happy to help and always there at a gig if he said he was going to attend. Something which other far junior A&R men could never seem to achieve.
In fact, there was a time when I had a tiny little club called Thunderground going in what was then, a very unfashionable part of London called Shoreditch, and who shows up at 1am to see the act…Seymour Stein.
I mean, what other American record label boss and music legend did that!
No-one does that now
It was all about the music.
It was all about the passion.
Finally, a few weeks ago my brother called me to say he was with Seymour in Manchester to see our new band The Blinders.
He put Seymour on the phone and we spoke for a little while and wished each other well.
That night after the gig Seymour said he would sign the band…and so it continues.
Long may he go on…there won't be anyone else like him.
Chris Abbot
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Seymour Stein's Book
Hi Bob,
Great review.
About 10 years ago I was at a WMG regional shindig in London accompanying the Israeli singer Geva Alon who was brought to showcase by Omri Dolev, the Israeli Warner affiliate. Seymour was there as usual. After the showcase the entire Warner crew went for dinner at the rooftop restaurant Duck and Waffle with its exquisite 34th story view. Geva and I sat with Seymour and we talked about Geva's songs. He liked them but said they were to depressing and sad. "People want to be happy .. not sad" he passionately declared. While Geva was crushed we both knew Seymour had that ability to cut to the chase with his outstanding sense of what worked and what people wanted to hear.
But then out of nowhere Seymour asked Geva if he ever went to Synagogue. Geva being a typical secular Israeli said not really. Seymour then told us about his Bar Mitzva, his love of the songs he sang as a child on the Sabbath and spontaneously broke into a three minute rendition of the Synagogue Hymns Ein Kelohaynu and Adon Olam. He had no less passion at that moment singing than listening to any other music he greatly loved. You could see it in his eyes. There we were with the man who discovered Madonna and the Ramones and a million others singing Ein Kelohaynu and Adon Olam together. Talk about surreal. That's a moment I will never forget.
Best,
Hillel Wachs
2b Vibes Music
Jerusalem - Tel Aviv
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Seymour Stein's Book
One of the best times I ever had was lunch with Seymour Stein when he was in town for a music conference, and we just talked about records we loved as kids. I mentioned the yiddish parody music of Mickey Katz, think of a borscht belt Weird Al, and we went down a major rabbit hole over that one. Of course, he topped me by telling me he'd just been at a birthday party for Jennifer Grey, whose grandfather was ... Mickey Katz! (His son was Joel "Cabaret" Grey, who got his start as part of his dad's act in the Catskills.) Of course we talked about Ramones, Talking Heads, Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, all Sire acts who shaped my existence, but it was fun watching him light up as he talked about those records he was spinning in his adolescence.
Stephen Cooke
Halifax, NS
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Same thing happened to me Bob. I wanted to apologize to a guy I had treated badly in college. I looked him up on FB and he had died a few years ago. Maybe he had long ago forgotten me or maybe it was still a source of pain, but now I'll never know. It really did a number on me. It's a bizarre feeling to know you're closer to the end of your life than the birth. "So it comes down to the personal. How we live our lives. How we treat one another."
Couldn't agree with you more.
Deborah Holland
_______________________________________
From: Will Eggleston
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Bob,
It's so true. My first real girlfriend, Kathy and I were so innocently in love at 16. We were inseparable. She came everywhere my band, The Hydrogen Jukebox played.
We held hands and sang over and over, The Byrds version of Dylan's "My Back Pages".
When I was making use of the internet a few months ago I fell upon her name and obituary from 2017. How bizarre she passed away on the same day the single was released March 13, (1967)
Life comes in circles.
Will
_______________________________________
From: Valarie Mulberry
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
You got me with this one. There was a boy in my 5th grade class that I had a crush on me. The feeling was not reciprocal. He wrote my name, in sharpie, all over his t-shirt. I mean ALL OVER it. And even spelled it correctly, which no one ever does. All the other kids thought it was funny and made fun of us. It always bothered me. In hind sight, it was a sweet innocent, uninhibited kid thing to do. Which would have been better if it was a boy I actually liked. When I was 30 years old I realized I was still holding a grudge toward this guy from when he was little boy. I had not seen him since about 7th grade. My friend from back home told me he died of some rare cancer in his mid-twenties and his sister did too. How embarrassing that I was still holding a grudge and Bobby Daniels was already dead for a few years. Smudge the grudge! Release thyself. Forgive yourself. Hopefully, Judy never held a grudge against you. It's a waste of energy. Lesson learned (Thanks Bobby!).
Sincerely,
Valarie Mulberry
Sunshine Rhythm & Blues Music
www.valariemulberry.com
_______________________________________
From: Ed Brown
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Hey Bob,
Your post from this morning caught my attention because, only yesterday, I went through the exact same thing. Her name was Deanna Bozung. For a number of years in Junior High and High School she and I were tight. Not romantically, but we had many common interests.
I was working yesterday and suddenly her name popped into my head. So I looked her up online and there it was... her funeral notice. She had passed away just a couple years ago.
Same thing happened earlier this year, when I thought about a childhood neighbor. Looked them up, only to discover they had just passed two weeks before. Eerie, right?
Ed
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Dude, i'm 32 and treated a girl I now love poorly at 29. Her name is Christine Fludd and I think of her much. Thank you for sharing.
Genuinely,
William T. Jolley, Esq.
_______________________________________
From: rob hegel
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
powerful piece - - thank you! and now all i can think about is Amy Barbato...........
_______________________________________
From: Rob Falk
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Wow Bob! That's a touching story in so many ways.
I just wanted to say that the apology/amends you wanted to make to Judy were exactly the 12-Step kind, and for exactly the 12-Step reason: "one of my great life regrets… remember exactly where it happened… because it continues to haunt me, 'til this day. I acted badly."
The 12-Steps work for a lot of things besides alcoholism. There are more than 100 12-step fellowships helping people with everything from alcohol and drug addiction, to gambling and overspending, to plain old relationship issues.
You've openly acknowledged a past wrong, stated regret, and an intention to no longer behave that way. I hope you feel at least some relief in having shone a light on that secret here. That's a 9th step action. Very cool.
This can also be done on a daily basis. The 10th step of any 12-step fellowship says we "continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. That helps us to not be "haunted" as we move ahead in our lives.
I always enjoy your posts. All the best to you and I hope you're feeling well.
Rob
_______________________________________
From: Robin Mitchell Joyce
Subject: Re: Judy Budzik
Six years ago I got a call from someone I hadn't spoken to for over 35 years. What a treat! How fun! We talked, reminisced and caught up for almost 2 hours. Then, as we were saying goodbye and promising to stay in touch, he told me he needed to apologise. He said he'd spent decades regretting that cruel thing he'd said to me at that party. He'd felt terrible the moment he said it and it had weighed on him all these years. A hundred times he'd wanted to find me and tell me how sorry he was, how immature he'd been. And he was so happy I'd given him the opportunity to make amends.
I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. I remembered the party. I remembered him at the party. But I had no recollection of him saying anything mean to me.
That's the thing about kind and sensitive people, Bob. They have no talent for meanness. Because kind and sensitive people immediately think about how they'd feel if someone were being mean to them...and then feel the hurt more profoundly than even the person they were mean to. It's a quality called Empathy. Hate can't grow where Empathy exists...and unfortunately, it's in dangerously short supply these days.
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Judy Budzik
And now she's dead.
It's one of my great life regrets, I threw away the invitation to her birthday party. I remember exactly where it happened, dropping it through the grate during recess. I'm not sure she saw me do it. Maybe I blocked it. But somehow she knew, and we were friends.
This was second grade, maybe third. Back in the sixties, before it was de rigueur to invite your whole class to the festivities. You only invited friends. But you got to a certain age where you only wanted the same sex, before you got to that age when you wanted both sexes once again. And somehow, the boys in my class, decided they didn't want to go. So they threw away the invites, and I did too. Call it peer pressure, call it trying to look cool, but it's troubled me ever since.
I thought life would go on forever. That I'd ski at every ski area in the world. But time is running out of the hourglass, yet I still believe. Call it blind optimism, like someday I'm going to become rich and famous. You need that carrot in front of your eyes. But when the destination is pulled away...
I got into the internet early, for someone of my age. I got a free subscription to AOL before most people knew what it was. Not that I used it much. I did have a modem, 1200kbps. I had to buy the program "Microphone" to make it work. I printed out conversations on my dot matrix printer. This was too much effort. AOL was less effort, but it wasn't until a college student read what I wrote in "Pulse" and asked me if I had an e-mail address that I dove in deep. She told me she had a boyfriend. It turned out she'd never met him, he went to a college hundreds of miles away. This was when this was incomprehensible. I'd have experiences online and people would be dumbfounded, they had no idea what I was talking about.
And then I started to look up people I knew.
For a while there, I was the only person findable. An old college buddy, a summer camp friend, they saw me on the internet and made contact, it was groovy, it gave me a little thrill to make these connections, in the late nineties, long before Facebook, long before you realized you'd never lose touch with anybody you ever knew in your life. Oh, you could stop looking for them, but your digital breadcrumbs were searchable, findable, you could not hide.
And then, around the turn of the century, a little while thereafter, everybody started to pop up.
First I looked for old girlfriends. In some cases it took me years, a decade, to find every single one, because they get married and change their names. You've got no idea where they're living. I found my two Camp Laurelwood girlfriends. I found that woman I met on the train to Boston. I never made contact, never ever, I just liked feeling good that whatever we shared was still there in the ether.
And then Facebook hit and zealots started collecting friends, isn't that why I moved to California, to get away from all that? I hate the pecking order, I don't want to discuss my SATs, where I went to college was meaningless until they protested Charles Murray and it was all over the news last year. But I like it that way.
But I also like that all my old buddies are still out there, living their lives. I peek in on them from time to time.
My old ski girlfriend ended up very close to where I met her, in Southern Vermont. She's a teacher, moving from gig to gig.
I don't think I'd connect with any of them today, we'd relive the old times and lack further conversation. But, like I said, I like that they're still out there, chugging along.
But not Judy.
Judy was not prissy. Not a girly-girl. And when she finally popped up on the radar, it occurred to me she might be gay.
She didn't show up for years. There are certain people who live off the radar screen. They don't play online, whether it be by age or choice.
But there she was, in Aspen. Really? I've been to Aspen so many times!
At first I found out she planted flowers.
Hmm... What kind of job is that?
Then I read about her sports adventures, but there was no marriage record, no man involved.
And part of me wanted to apologize to her, not in some twelve step way, but because it continues to haunt me, 'til this day. I acted badly, AND I LIKED HER! She was NICE! She was COOL! She probably thinks I'm a jerk and I'm less worried about her perception of me than...wanting not to hurt anybody.
I don't want to hurt anybody. If you're a public figure, acting badly, it's fair game. But if you want to make fun of a friend, trick somebody, call them a bad name, that's happened to me too many times, I'm not gonna do it, and when I've done it, I've felt awful thereafter, like that letter we sent to Brad...
So, with these people who go through my brain, like I said, I check up on them. And I have no idea why Judy Budzik's name passed through me tonight, I decided to look her up on my phone.
And her name showed right up in the Google results. This had never happened before. Ah, there must be more information!
And I clicked through and found her obituary. I was shocked, she died at the end of 2016.
But the picture didn't look like her. I knew it was her, because they said she was from Fairfield, she went to Andrew Warde, but then I clicked through to the Connecticut obit and...
It was her. The same smile on her face.
It happened suddenly, she left behind a cat and her friend Kristin.
Now what?
And that's when I realized, it's happening, the tribe is being thinned, people are being cleaved off.
Robert took his own life. I think about how much he's missed. For ten years, I thought about him every damn day.
Chip got the Big C! He used to call me after midnight, he was convinced he was gonna beat it, but now he's dead too.
Sometime it will be my time. After all, Judy was only 63. And her birthday was only three days after mine.
So now it all doesn't matter. She's gone, the only person who might remember, and for all I know, she might have forgotten, even soon thereafter.
And I realized I could go that fast too, in Judy's case it was sudden.
But even more I realized life is not forever. It doesn't make sense. You're young and trying to get ahead, you think it's a game. Then you get old enough to know the joke is upon you, it's not about possessions and achievements. Sure, it's about meaning, but even more it's about family and friends, laughs and experiences. Which can't be toted up.
I know, I know, they're separating babies from their parents. I abhor this as much as you do. But this endless Trumpism has defeated me. We on the left keep crying foul and it makes no difference, and even if we win this one, we've lost on the big issues, and it doesn't look like we're ever gonna win.
So it comes down to the personal. How we live our lives. How we treat one another.
I treated Judy Budzik badly. It's haunted me for decades. Should it still?
I don't know.
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It's one of my great life regrets, I threw away the invitation to her birthday party. I remember exactly where it happened, dropping it through the grate during recess. I'm not sure she saw me do it. Maybe I blocked it. But somehow she knew, and we were friends.
This was second grade, maybe third. Back in the sixties, before it was de rigueur to invite your whole class to the festivities. You only invited friends. But you got to a certain age where you only wanted the same sex, before you got to that age when you wanted both sexes once again. And somehow, the boys in my class, decided they didn't want to go. So they threw away the invites, and I did too. Call it peer pressure, call it trying to look cool, but it's troubled me ever since.
I thought life would go on forever. That I'd ski at every ski area in the world. But time is running out of the hourglass, yet I still believe. Call it blind optimism, like someday I'm going to become rich and famous. You need that carrot in front of your eyes. But when the destination is pulled away...
I got into the internet early, for someone of my age. I got a free subscription to AOL before most people knew what it was. Not that I used it much. I did have a modem, 1200kbps. I had to buy the program "Microphone" to make it work. I printed out conversations on my dot matrix printer. This was too much effort. AOL was less effort, but it wasn't until a college student read what I wrote in "Pulse" and asked me if I had an e-mail address that I dove in deep. She told me she had a boyfriend. It turned out she'd never met him, he went to a college hundreds of miles away. This was when this was incomprehensible. I'd have experiences online and people would be dumbfounded, they had no idea what I was talking about.
And then I started to look up people I knew.
For a while there, I was the only person findable. An old college buddy, a summer camp friend, they saw me on the internet and made contact, it was groovy, it gave me a little thrill to make these connections, in the late nineties, long before Facebook, long before you realized you'd never lose touch with anybody you ever knew in your life. Oh, you could stop looking for them, but your digital breadcrumbs were searchable, findable, you could not hide.
And then, around the turn of the century, a little while thereafter, everybody started to pop up.
First I looked for old girlfriends. In some cases it took me years, a decade, to find every single one, because they get married and change their names. You've got no idea where they're living. I found my two Camp Laurelwood girlfriends. I found that woman I met on the train to Boston. I never made contact, never ever, I just liked feeling good that whatever we shared was still there in the ether.
And then Facebook hit and zealots started collecting friends, isn't that why I moved to California, to get away from all that? I hate the pecking order, I don't want to discuss my SATs, where I went to college was meaningless until they protested Charles Murray and it was all over the news last year. But I like it that way.
But I also like that all my old buddies are still out there, living their lives. I peek in on them from time to time.
My old ski girlfriend ended up very close to where I met her, in Southern Vermont. She's a teacher, moving from gig to gig.
I don't think I'd connect with any of them today, we'd relive the old times and lack further conversation. But, like I said, I like that they're still out there, chugging along.
But not Judy.
Judy was not prissy. Not a girly-girl. And when she finally popped up on the radar, it occurred to me she might be gay.
She didn't show up for years. There are certain people who live off the radar screen. They don't play online, whether it be by age or choice.
But there she was, in Aspen. Really? I've been to Aspen so many times!
At first I found out she planted flowers.
Hmm... What kind of job is that?
Then I read about her sports adventures, but there was no marriage record, no man involved.
And part of me wanted to apologize to her, not in some twelve step way, but because it continues to haunt me, 'til this day. I acted badly, AND I LIKED HER! She was NICE! She was COOL! She probably thinks I'm a jerk and I'm less worried about her perception of me than...wanting not to hurt anybody.
I don't want to hurt anybody. If you're a public figure, acting badly, it's fair game. But if you want to make fun of a friend, trick somebody, call them a bad name, that's happened to me too many times, I'm not gonna do it, and when I've done it, I've felt awful thereafter, like that letter we sent to Brad...
So, with these people who go through my brain, like I said, I check up on them. And I have no idea why Judy Budzik's name passed through me tonight, I decided to look her up on my phone.
And her name showed right up in the Google results. This had never happened before. Ah, there must be more information!
And I clicked through and found her obituary. I was shocked, she died at the end of 2016.
But the picture didn't look like her. I knew it was her, because they said she was from Fairfield, she went to Andrew Warde, but then I clicked through to the Connecticut obit and...
It was her. The same smile on her face.
It happened suddenly, she left behind a cat and her friend Kristin.
Now what?
And that's when I realized, it's happening, the tribe is being thinned, people are being cleaved off.
Robert took his own life. I think about how much he's missed. For ten years, I thought about him every damn day.
Chip got the Big C! He used to call me after midnight, he was convinced he was gonna beat it, but now he's dead too.
Sometime it will be my time. After all, Judy was only 63. And her birthday was only three days after mine.
So now it all doesn't matter. She's gone, the only person who might remember, and for all I know, she might have forgotten, even soon thereafter.
And I realized I could go that fast too, in Judy's case it was sudden.
But even more I realized life is not forever. It doesn't make sense. You're young and trying to get ahead, you think it's a game. Then you get old enough to know the joke is upon you, it's not about possessions and achievements. Sure, it's about meaning, but even more it's about family and friends, laughs and experiences. Which can't be toted up.
I know, I know, they're separating babies from their parents. I abhor this as much as you do. But this endless Trumpism has defeated me. We on the left keep crying foul and it makes no difference, and even if we win this one, we've lost on the big issues, and it doesn't look like we're ever gonna win.
So it comes down to the personal. How we live our lives. How we treat one another.
I treated Judy Budzik badly. It's haunted me for decades. Should it still?
I don't know.
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Tuesday 19 June 2018
Rob Glaser-This Week's Podcast
That's right, Mr. RealNetworks himself! You know, RealPlayer, the default audio and video player from the turn of the century, ultimately superseded by Windows Media and...there was a lawsuit over that, Microsoft lost, RealNetworks got paid.
Anyway, Rob grew up in NYC and went to Yale and from there was on the ground floor at Microsoft. He left the Redmond monolith and started RealNetworks, left to become a VC, and then returned. Along the way, there was not only RealPlayer, but purchase of the PBA (that's right, the PROFESSIONAL BOWLERS ASSOCIATION) a huge chunk of what is now Rhapsody/Napster and a passion for politics.
If you want to know what your life would have been like if you went into tech as opposed to music. If you want to know the vision of a player in the tech world. If you want to know what it's like playing in Asia, this is the podcast for you!
P.S. Recorded live, at the Music Media Summit in Santa Barbara.
Listen to Rob Glaser on...
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Anyway, Rob grew up in NYC and went to Yale and from there was on the ground floor at Microsoft. He left the Redmond monolith and started RealNetworks, left to become a VC, and then returned. Along the way, there was not only RealPlayer, but purchase of the PBA (that's right, the PROFESSIONAL BOWLERS ASSOCIATION) a huge chunk of what is now Rhapsody/Napster and a passion for politics.
If you want to know what your life would have been like if you went into tech as opposed to music. If you want to know the vision of a player in the tech world. If you want to know what it's like playing in Asia, this is the podcast for you!
P.S. Recorded live, at the Music Media Summit in Santa Barbara.
Listen to Rob Glaser on...
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Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bob-lefsetz/rob-glaser
Overcast: https://overcast.fm/+LBr_Ni-vc
Acast: https://www.acast.com/theboblefsetzpodcast/rob-glaser
Castbox: https://castbox.fm/vd/81306539
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More Greatest Showman
I brought Showman in to Atlantic and oversaw the project for us with help from Pete Ganbarg and Brandon Davis. It's been magical to watch how the world has responded to these songs and the film after the years of work which went into it. The album is nearing four million in worldwide sales and it has been an amazing project to be a part of.
Pasek and Paul are very special guys and incredibly talented songwriters and storytellers. We love having them as partners not only on The Greatest Showman, but also on Dear Evan Hansen, as well as our overall label deal together.
Pete Ganbarg and I are working with them on a Pop-covers version of the album, which will have new renditions of all of the songs. It will be from an eclectic line-up of artists and global superstars who have all been affected by the music. That album will be coming later in the year and will have some really fun new versions of the songs on it.
Thanks for the nice write up. I hope all is well.
Best,
Kevin
Kevin Weaver
President, Atlantic Records | west coast
____________________________________________
Sometimes we become too jaded and too artsy about our industry. The movie was great and the soundtrack even better. It's nice to watch a film and not have to overthink it. Certainly easier to understand than The Shape of Water.
Larry Stessel
____________________________________________
Many, many years ago - Josh Deutsch told me we'd all end up working for Craig Kallman.
So…there you go.
Hugo Burnham
P.S. In which language does "fritzdoddy" translate as misanthropic wanker?
Asking for a friend.
____________________________________________
I was lucky to work on TGS showman as a background actor in which the scenes in the big tent was filmed in Brooklyn.
The first week we learned Come Alive and This is Me on the spot and we knew we were working on something special. As a songwriter myself when they play backed Come Alive thru the speakers and that chorus came across the Gmajor7 chord, it sent chills thru me even tho I didn't know what chords were playing at the time.
And all knew This is Me right there and then that the Academy should recognize this for an Oscar. As it turned out the picture was completely ignored except for the song and still didn't even win the Oscar. Little did we realize tho that some of the crew including the songwriters and Assistant Director worked on La La Land, the most overrated film to be acknowledge for awards. That's right I said it. And I work in the business, lol.
Everyday Hugh Jackman thanked us for being there and for all of our hard work.
And yes I did get a chance to meet him on our last day and wish him good luck on Logan which was coming out at the time. Reach out his hand and said "Thank You Mate !"
Yes ladies, the will deal: tall and handsome and very down to earth. A real Class Act.
So far the best working experience I've had working in this business.
Thx Bob for acknowledging TGS.
Frank Ball
____________________________________________
If you had kids, you'd have known about the 6 months ago.
Joe Pinto
____________________________________________
My girlfriend had it on repeat for months, some classic tunes on there
Robert McTaggart
____________________________________________
I'm sorry....I don't get it....sounds like typical show songs....just because something goes viral doesn't necessarily make it good....
Dan Young
____________________________________________
?What??!!
How did you not hear about this, Bob? It's the biggest thing since Frozen!
Its songs have been littered on the Spotify charts around the world for the last 6 months!
Brett Alperowitz
Senior Vice President, A&R I Republic Records
General Manager I Casablanca Records
____________________________________________
I knew nothing of the movie other than that it was about P.T. Barnum. I set the dvd up for the wife and kids intending to go watch something on another tv. I watched the first 5 minutes and rolled my eyes when they broke into song as I despise musicals, but still found myself sitting there as the movie ended. Don't know if that makes it a good movie or not but I think it says something....
Eric Beck
____________________________________________
Who, among the Hardest of the Hardcore, did not first come to his or her music sensibilities via the family entertainment console stacked with "West Side Story", "The King and I", "South Pacific", and "Oklahoma"?
We already know the quiet history of very young, postwar, tea drinking, British laddies turning the crank on the machine and then setting the needle. She was Julia; he was John.
Bob: This: even better than the potato chips seminar---if that were possible.
Dennis Brent
____________________________________________
The Greatest Showman is not only was a feel good flick for my fam, the songs still bring a lump to my throat. Why? The human element. These songs resonate deeply because we route for the underdog. Okay, I take that back. In light of recent news and my news feed, "we" i.e "the people", have apparently abandoned the underdog. Especially when it comes to kids and the "familia" who is trying to better their lives.
If I ever write a song as good as half the songs from the sound track of this movie I will die well pleased.
Jeremiah Jones
____________________________________________
I thought it was worth mentioning that Greg Wells is the wonderful producer that helped make the soundtrack into a monster hit. Despite Greg having no prior film experience, Michael Gracey hired him to come in and shape the music to the visuals and story. Greg is a top-notch producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has worked with the likes of Adele, Pink, One Republic, Katy Perry, Celine Dion and Grace VanderWaal. His experience allowed him to bridge the classic and the contemporary, and approach the music in a way that truly helped bring the film to life. The Greatest Showman is a testament to the talents of all involved, including Greg whose recognition is well-deserved.
Best,
Carla Senft
____________________________________________
Hi Bob, I'm a sap for musicals and ventured into a nearby theater in Redlands, Ca, where The Greatest Showman was playing last year. Jered and I were seated in the front row of an overflowing afternoon showing. Thank God The theater had recently installed 'lazy boy' lounge chairs so we reclined and let the show begin. We were totally engaged and became emotionally involved in all . the performances. Shockingly, Zac Ephron blew us away as well as the bearded lady and Hugh Jackman. It's not a hip flick so when ever we talked about it our recipients lost interest. Glad you turned onto it. Delighted you dove in to discover its success. Guess there's a lot of us saps out there longing to be touched by a great tune on the big screen
Donna Loren & Jered Cargman
____________________________________________
You got through that without mentioning the epic centre-piece of the film 'Never Enough'. What a class act Showman is.
Don Jenkins
____________________________________________
Thanks Bob for giving The Greatest Showman some well deserved recognition. I work for the Feld organization and the film came out in December six months after we closed Ringling aka The Greatest Show On Earth. The film had personal resonance to a community of Circus performers, staff and management beyond the story telling and soundtrack. It was refreshing to see the genre used as a backdrop and still being appreciated. Everyone in the community acknowledges the music drives the film but the visuals and acting/singing were impressive and everything came together to make the magic work.
The sad thing is how the Hollywood elite seemed to ignore The Greatest Showman when the awards season came around. While this original work was ascending the box office, charts and playlists the elite were fixating over the usual quirky art films. Simply put The Greatest Showman was shunned, ignored and too lowbrow for the left coast film voting crowd. Oh yes they allowed This is Me to be played at the Oscars and it blew people away only to lose to Coco. Through it all the film made it on street credibility and good old fashioned word of mouth which is a testament to the creators and audience finding each other.
Bill Powell
____________________________________________
Thanks writing about this. I have had the same experience, via my granddaughter. I think we need to appreciate the deeper message in the film. A crucial and profound message, especially in our current environment of racism, deportations, hatred for the other. This film cries out for tolerance, love of our differences, and deep empathy for all of our fellow humans. What a great message to deliver to the very young (and their elders). I think this uplifting theme resonates with the kids, and is an important reason they love the film, even if they don't realize it.
David Rubinson
____________________________________________
Mawkish, embarrassing movie. Not only does it waste a potentially fascinating true story, the "Frozen" style music was cheesy and typical Hollywood. Plus the bearded lady grossed me out.
Paul Christy
____________________________________________
When a female student sang "this is me" at the fifth-grade talent show, I realized the power and impact of that song — as well as the film. I also talked to a parent who said their kids have watched the movie a dozen times. You can't get this info from Rotten Tomatoes or film reviews.
Mary Huhn
____________________________________________
The family friendly nature of The Greatest Showman has played a big role in its success. I took my 10 year old daughter to see the movie (after all of her friends were talking about it at school). I had zero interest in the movie but was hooked pretty much right away. I enjoyed the movie and the songs (I downloaded the soundtrack the night after seeing the movie), but it was also nice to have something to share with my daughter that I had absolutely zero issues with as a parent. Moana has a similar appeal. It's a fun movie with very catchy and 100% family friendly songs. That combination is going to drive downloads and streams as parents are fine with their kids accessing that content online and then enjoying it themselves as well.
I enjoy rap and hip-hop, but that's not something I can share with either of my pre-teen kids. (I'm sure they will hear it and reach their own conclusions, but it's not like I can pop in some Pusha T while we're driving to school.)
Thanks for the column,
Jon Humphrey
____________________________________________
Michael Gracey had me over to a loft on hollywood Blvd a few years ago to talk me through a PT Barnum movie he was putting together with Hugh Jackman. It did not start as a musical, but had turned into one. They didn't have a deal in place yet, the music was in demo form. They had been working on it over a few years at that point. He was working on his pitch to studios, and wanted feedback on the music.
He moved through the entire piece brick by brick over the next four hours, acting out the parts himself with key pieces of what ended up being the dialog, showing vision boards, artists renderings of sets, and video of possible choreography, and playing demos of those songs.
As good as the movie ended up, it did not compare to the presentation of the vision that was going on in Michael Gracey's head that I saw that night. I was stunned. Even just talking it down like he did, the piece had such heart. It felt as epic as "It's a Wonderful Life."
He had the vision, the focus, the clarity.
He is a low profile guy, so to see his name absent from your thread does not surprise me.
But it takes someone like Michael Gracey, a bit of a genius, who has a deep understand of the soul of the story and the perseverance to follow it through, in order to end up where this ended up.
Kim Bullard
____________________________________________
Love Love Love this song and this movie! Saw it Christmas Day! Perfect movie for us that are different and proud of it!!!
Thanks for writing!
Darlene Gorzela
____________________________________________
Bob - my three and a half year old daughter has been HARASSING us about watching this movie with her. All her neighborhood friends ask her if she's watched it and we keep letting her down! They sing the songs in front of her, her dance team did a performance to a song from the film. I'm totally in the dark - assumed it was another lame holiday cash grab.
I thought my "out of touch" dad phase was 10 years away - but in 2018, things move quickly.
Family movie night here we come.
Thanks as always for your words, my daughter will be happy.
Eli Chastain
____________________________________________
Could not agree more absolutely loved this. It's flat out amazing. Kudos to my sister Audrey for getting me turned on to it.
Peter Eichler
____________________________________________
My girlfriend saw it alone in the theatre back in January. I production manage the canyon in Santa Clarita...she knew she had to see it on big screen....I then suspiciously heard the entire album,every morning on Alexa in the kitchen while I woke up upstairs....ending with the song From now on....I finally saw it on our oversized tv about a month ago...the last time my body buzzed like this after a film was when I saw Brave Heart.
Ps.... I never knew she had seen the movie in a theatre till 2 minutes before we watched on our Tv...explains the morning ritual now.
Chris Kissinger
imageFactory productions.
____________________________________________
"This Is It" is this generation's "I Am What I Am" from La Cage aux Folles -- Jerry Herman's simple, joyous, powerful anthem for us gay kids growing up during the ugly Reagan Moral Majority 1980s and the AIDS crisis. We embraced & lived that song in NYC & LA. So appropriate for nowadays.
Thanks tons for sharing all of this.
RICK REIDY
____________________________________________
Bob I guess I missed your original post / blog about The Greatest Showman but I am sorry this sucks. And let's be honest if tweens and 10-year-olds like it it's sucks. Sorry but the Barney song sucks, the songs on high school musical sucks ( I should know I was a part of that ) and these songs suck. Also that singer sucks who was singing "this is me"
All of it sucks except for you of course. You're the best Bob
Cheers
Johnny Vieira
____________________________________________
Our 9 year old LOVES The Greatest Showman and the music.
Not as much as Hamilton though - she knows every line. In fact, I used Hamilton as one of our homeschool history lesson. She was hooked.
Sure - there is some swear words... BUT!! As a result, I am convinced that few 3rd graders in our circle know as much about the founding fathers as she does! (Pretty good trade off in my book)
The Greatest Showman is wonderful..but Hamilton is Genius.
It will go main stream as the Broadway Tour versions hits every major city in 2019.
Perhaps the world is still playing catch up?
With Gratitude,
Sandra Charamba
____________________________________________
Wow. Bob is really WRONG on this stupid fucking song.
Drek.
Kenn Kweder
____________________________________________
My kids - Ages 7, 6, 4 and 2 LOVE the soundtrack. The movie is historically inaccurate and overly simple, blah blah blah, but it's about dreaming big, self-acceptance, and following your heart. The songs are dramatic - it stirs something in them, unlocks a creative channel and gives them permission to express. The dances they improvise to it are pure joy to watch as a parent.
James Van Der Beek
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Pasek and Paul are very special guys and incredibly talented songwriters and storytellers. We love having them as partners not only on The Greatest Showman, but also on Dear Evan Hansen, as well as our overall label deal together.
Pete Ganbarg and I are working with them on a Pop-covers version of the album, which will have new renditions of all of the songs. It will be from an eclectic line-up of artists and global superstars who have all been affected by the music. That album will be coming later in the year and will have some really fun new versions of the songs on it.
Thanks for the nice write up. I hope all is well.
Best,
Kevin
Kevin Weaver
President, Atlantic Records | west coast
____________________________________________
Sometimes we become too jaded and too artsy about our industry. The movie was great and the soundtrack even better. It's nice to watch a film and not have to overthink it. Certainly easier to understand than The Shape of Water.
Larry Stessel
____________________________________________
Many, many years ago - Josh Deutsch told me we'd all end up working for Craig Kallman.
So…there you go.
Hugo Burnham
P.S. In which language does "fritzdoddy" translate as misanthropic wanker?
Asking for a friend.
____________________________________________
I was lucky to work on TGS showman as a background actor in which the scenes in the big tent was filmed in Brooklyn.
The first week we learned Come Alive and This is Me on the spot and we knew we were working on something special. As a songwriter myself when they play backed Come Alive thru the speakers and that chorus came across the Gmajor7 chord, it sent chills thru me even tho I didn't know what chords were playing at the time.
And all knew This is Me right there and then that the Academy should recognize this for an Oscar. As it turned out the picture was completely ignored except for the song and still didn't even win the Oscar. Little did we realize tho that some of the crew including the songwriters and Assistant Director worked on La La Land, the most overrated film to be acknowledge for awards. That's right I said it. And I work in the business, lol.
Everyday Hugh Jackman thanked us for being there and for all of our hard work.
And yes I did get a chance to meet him on our last day and wish him good luck on Logan which was coming out at the time. Reach out his hand and said "Thank You Mate !"
Yes ladies, the will deal: tall and handsome and very down to earth. A real Class Act.
So far the best working experience I've had working in this business.
Thx Bob for acknowledging TGS.
Frank Ball
____________________________________________
If you had kids, you'd have known about the 6 months ago.
Joe Pinto
____________________________________________
My girlfriend had it on repeat for months, some classic tunes on there
Robert McTaggart
____________________________________________
I'm sorry....I don't get it....sounds like typical show songs....just because something goes viral doesn't necessarily make it good....
Dan Young
____________________________________________
?What??!!
How did you not hear about this, Bob? It's the biggest thing since Frozen!
Its songs have been littered on the Spotify charts around the world for the last 6 months!
Brett Alperowitz
Senior Vice President, A&R I Republic Records
General Manager I Casablanca Records
____________________________________________
I knew nothing of the movie other than that it was about P.T. Barnum. I set the dvd up for the wife and kids intending to go watch something on another tv. I watched the first 5 minutes and rolled my eyes when they broke into song as I despise musicals, but still found myself sitting there as the movie ended. Don't know if that makes it a good movie or not but I think it says something....
Eric Beck
____________________________________________
Who, among the Hardest of the Hardcore, did not first come to his or her music sensibilities via the family entertainment console stacked with "West Side Story", "The King and I", "South Pacific", and "Oklahoma"?
We already know the quiet history of very young, postwar, tea drinking, British laddies turning the crank on the machine and then setting the needle. She was Julia; he was John.
Bob: This: even better than the potato chips seminar---if that were possible.
Dennis Brent
____________________________________________
The Greatest Showman is not only was a feel good flick for my fam, the songs still bring a lump to my throat. Why? The human element. These songs resonate deeply because we route for the underdog. Okay, I take that back. In light of recent news and my news feed, "we" i.e "the people", have apparently abandoned the underdog. Especially when it comes to kids and the "familia" who is trying to better their lives.
If I ever write a song as good as half the songs from the sound track of this movie I will die well pleased.
Jeremiah Jones
____________________________________________
I thought it was worth mentioning that Greg Wells is the wonderful producer that helped make the soundtrack into a monster hit. Despite Greg having no prior film experience, Michael Gracey hired him to come in and shape the music to the visuals and story. Greg is a top-notch producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has worked with the likes of Adele, Pink, One Republic, Katy Perry, Celine Dion and Grace VanderWaal. His experience allowed him to bridge the classic and the contemporary, and approach the music in a way that truly helped bring the film to life. The Greatest Showman is a testament to the talents of all involved, including Greg whose recognition is well-deserved.
Best,
Carla Senft
____________________________________________
Hi Bob, I'm a sap for musicals and ventured into a nearby theater in Redlands, Ca, where The Greatest Showman was playing last year. Jered and I were seated in the front row of an overflowing afternoon showing. Thank God The theater had recently installed 'lazy boy' lounge chairs so we reclined and let the show begin. We were totally engaged and became emotionally involved in all . the performances. Shockingly, Zac Ephron blew us away as well as the bearded lady and Hugh Jackman. It's not a hip flick so when ever we talked about it our recipients lost interest. Glad you turned onto it. Delighted you dove in to discover its success. Guess there's a lot of us saps out there longing to be touched by a great tune on the big screen
Donna Loren & Jered Cargman
____________________________________________
You got through that without mentioning the epic centre-piece of the film 'Never Enough'. What a class act Showman is.
Don Jenkins
____________________________________________
Thanks Bob for giving The Greatest Showman some well deserved recognition. I work for the Feld organization and the film came out in December six months after we closed Ringling aka The Greatest Show On Earth. The film had personal resonance to a community of Circus performers, staff and management beyond the story telling and soundtrack. It was refreshing to see the genre used as a backdrop and still being appreciated. Everyone in the community acknowledges the music drives the film but the visuals and acting/singing were impressive and everything came together to make the magic work.
The sad thing is how the Hollywood elite seemed to ignore The Greatest Showman when the awards season came around. While this original work was ascending the box office, charts and playlists the elite were fixating over the usual quirky art films. Simply put The Greatest Showman was shunned, ignored and too lowbrow for the left coast film voting crowd. Oh yes they allowed This is Me to be played at the Oscars and it blew people away only to lose to Coco. Through it all the film made it on street credibility and good old fashioned word of mouth which is a testament to the creators and audience finding each other.
Bill Powell
____________________________________________
Thanks writing about this. I have had the same experience, via my granddaughter. I think we need to appreciate the deeper message in the film. A crucial and profound message, especially in our current environment of racism, deportations, hatred for the other. This film cries out for tolerance, love of our differences, and deep empathy for all of our fellow humans. What a great message to deliver to the very young (and their elders). I think this uplifting theme resonates with the kids, and is an important reason they love the film, even if they don't realize it.
David Rubinson
____________________________________________
Mawkish, embarrassing movie. Not only does it waste a potentially fascinating true story, the "Frozen" style music was cheesy and typical Hollywood. Plus the bearded lady grossed me out.
Paul Christy
____________________________________________
When a female student sang "this is me" at the fifth-grade talent show, I realized the power and impact of that song — as well as the film. I also talked to a parent who said their kids have watched the movie a dozen times. You can't get this info from Rotten Tomatoes or film reviews.
Mary Huhn
____________________________________________
The family friendly nature of The Greatest Showman has played a big role in its success. I took my 10 year old daughter to see the movie (after all of her friends were talking about it at school). I had zero interest in the movie but was hooked pretty much right away. I enjoyed the movie and the songs (I downloaded the soundtrack the night after seeing the movie), but it was also nice to have something to share with my daughter that I had absolutely zero issues with as a parent. Moana has a similar appeal. It's a fun movie with very catchy and 100% family friendly songs. That combination is going to drive downloads and streams as parents are fine with their kids accessing that content online and then enjoying it themselves as well.
I enjoy rap and hip-hop, but that's not something I can share with either of my pre-teen kids. (I'm sure they will hear it and reach their own conclusions, but it's not like I can pop in some Pusha T while we're driving to school.)
Thanks for the column,
Jon Humphrey
____________________________________________
Michael Gracey had me over to a loft on hollywood Blvd a few years ago to talk me through a PT Barnum movie he was putting together with Hugh Jackman. It did not start as a musical, but had turned into one. They didn't have a deal in place yet, the music was in demo form. They had been working on it over a few years at that point. He was working on his pitch to studios, and wanted feedback on the music.
He moved through the entire piece brick by brick over the next four hours, acting out the parts himself with key pieces of what ended up being the dialog, showing vision boards, artists renderings of sets, and video of possible choreography, and playing demos of those songs.
As good as the movie ended up, it did not compare to the presentation of the vision that was going on in Michael Gracey's head that I saw that night. I was stunned. Even just talking it down like he did, the piece had such heart. It felt as epic as "It's a Wonderful Life."
He had the vision, the focus, the clarity.
He is a low profile guy, so to see his name absent from your thread does not surprise me.
But it takes someone like Michael Gracey, a bit of a genius, who has a deep understand of the soul of the story and the perseverance to follow it through, in order to end up where this ended up.
Kim Bullard
____________________________________________
Love Love Love this song and this movie! Saw it Christmas Day! Perfect movie for us that are different and proud of it!!!
Thanks for writing!
Darlene Gorzela
____________________________________________
Bob - my three and a half year old daughter has been HARASSING us about watching this movie with her. All her neighborhood friends ask her if she's watched it and we keep letting her down! They sing the songs in front of her, her dance team did a performance to a song from the film. I'm totally in the dark - assumed it was another lame holiday cash grab.
I thought my "out of touch" dad phase was 10 years away - but in 2018, things move quickly.
Family movie night here we come.
Thanks as always for your words, my daughter will be happy.
Eli Chastain
____________________________________________
Could not agree more absolutely loved this. It's flat out amazing. Kudos to my sister Audrey for getting me turned on to it.
Peter Eichler
____________________________________________
My girlfriend saw it alone in the theatre back in January. I production manage the canyon in Santa Clarita...she knew she had to see it on big screen....I then suspiciously heard the entire album,every morning on Alexa in the kitchen while I woke up upstairs....ending with the song From now on....I finally saw it on our oversized tv about a month ago...the last time my body buzzed like this after a film was when I saw Brave Heart.
Ps.... I never knew she had seen the movie in a theatre till 2 minutes before we watched on our Tv...explains the morning ritual now.
Chris Kissinger
imageFactory productions.
____________________________________________
"This Is It" is this generation's "I Am What I Am" from La Cage aux Folles -- Jerry Herman's simple, joyous, powerful anthem for us gay kids growing up during the ugly Reagan Moral Majority 1980s and the AIDS crisis. We embraced & lived that song in NYC & LA. So appropriate for nowadays.
Thanks tons for sharing all of this.
RICK REIDY
____________________________________________
Bob I guess I missed your original post / blog about The Greatest Showman but I am sorry this sucks. And let's be honest if tweens and 10-year-olds like it it's sucks. Sorry but the Barney song sucks, the songs on high school musical sucks ( I should know I was a part of that ) and these songs suck. Also that singer sucks who was singing "this is me"
All of it sucks except for you of course. You're the best Bob
Cheers
Johnny Vieira
____________________________________________
Our 9 year old LOVES The Greatest Showman and the music.
Not as much as Hamilton though - she knows every line. In fact, I used Hamilton as one of our homeschool history lesson. She was hooked.
Sure - there is some swear words... BUT!! As a result, I am convinced that few 3rd graders in our circle know as much about the founding fathers as she does! (Pretty good trade off in my book)
The Greatest Showman is wonderful..but Hamilton is Genius.
It will go main stream as the Broadway Tour versions hits every major city in 2019.
Perhaps the world is still playing catch up?
With Gratitude,
Sandra Charamba
____________________________________________
Wow. Bob is really WRONG on this stupid fucking song.
Drek.
Kenn Kweder
____________________________________________
My kids - Ages 7, 6, 4 and 2 LOVE the soundtrack. The movie is historically inaccurate and overly simple, blah blah blah, but it's about dreaming big, self-acceptance, and following your heart. The songs are dramatic - it stirs something in them, unlocks a creative channel and gives them permission to express. The dances they improvise to it are pure joy to watch as a parent.
James Van Der Beek
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Monday 18 June 2018
Re-The Greatest Showman
I love it and so do my kids.
Misha Guiffre
_____________________________________
I can't understand it either, but I'll tell you this. Teenage girls LOVE IT! My two daughters are 18 and 15 and they haven't STOPED playing it since the movie came out and when the song was played at their PROM, the dance floor ERUPTED…with girls. The boys were clueless (as teenage boys have always been). I was even skeptical about the movie until my youngest forced me to go see it when her Mom wasn't able to take her. And while the movie was a VERY sanitized version of the life of P.T. Barnum, it was entertaining, but the MUSIC was thrilling! As a 46 year-old man, I'm not in the target demo, but I was fully entertained and impressed. I'm glad you said something. I thought I was getting soft in my old age.
Thank You!!
BRIAN W. ROBERTS
_____________________________________
I weeped liked a child listening to "Never Enough". Uncontrollable emotion. I appreciate you.
Mike Miller
_____________________________________
Couldn't agree more! My kids and I LOVED the movie and it is THE ONLY album my teenagers have ever
asked me if they could buy! I mean, I work in the music biz and my kids could care less about albums, they only ever
want to download a song, each time they ask. This soundtrack is full of great music and the movie was so good, we bought
the blu-ray and have watched it, as a family, multiple times. Every parent I ask tells me the same thing, they bought the
full soundtrack, too, because their kids asked them to. And yet...no press on it! Go figure.
Melissa Dragich-Cordero
_____________________________________
Benj and Justin wrote "Dear Evan Hansen." FYI
Jim McCarthy
_____________________________________
my 8 year old daughter iris loves dancing to the showman soundtrack.
the under 10s are obsessed with it.
Ed Horrox
_____________________________________
Whatever Bob... I've heard both. The Greatest Showman mixes suck and Hamilton is pablum. It's gotta survive as just music and not rely on film or theater as a crutch.
LaLa Land should be renamed "Blah Blah Bland."
Middle school teenagers and wannabe theater folk are not the barometer by which I judge music.
fritzdoddy
_____________________________________
I never understood why it wasn't a bigger hit on radio here. Is it because she is not pretty enough? Not 16?
This video is pure joy. If it doesn't move you - you are dead.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XLFEvHWD_NE
Adam Lewis
_____________________________________
Bob, my kids (6 & 8) watch that movie at least once a week.
They know every word to every song.
So do all their friends at PS 39 in Brooklyn.
And my wife and I love it - we don't have to listen to Jojo Siwa and "I'm a Gummy Bear" on endless repeat anymore....
Cheers,
Jonny Langston
_____________________________________
Bob, I agree! That story and the sound track where as close to Rocky as anything in the last 30 years. I have watched it several times. Funny how La La Land did so well. A confused man who isn't sure of himself luck's into everything, versus man with a clear path and vision taking strings of opportunity and weaving a future. Is it a commentary on the loss of faith in the American dream? AF
_____________________________________
My 5 year old may be solely responsible for over 5,000 of those listens on Spotify.
Erich Ziegler
_____________________________________
Bob, where've you been?
The Greatest Showman absolutely killed it in the box office, earning almost half a billion worldwide. It was the only film my friends and I watched multiple times in the movie theater. When was the last time that occurred with a film released in recent years?
I remember the first time I watched it, I left the theater and needed to own the soundtrack immediately, but it was impossible to buy in stores. So I went online and streamed, downloaded, and played it in my car almost daily ever since. When was the last time that occurred with a soundtrack released in recent years?
Earlier this year, all the late night and day time talk shows had the film's stars on, performing skits, and singing the songs all together. When was the last time a film brought in a group of such talented (known and unknown) people from all walks of life like that in recent years?
Oh, and the Grammy's! Broadway veteran Keala's performance still brings tears to people's eyes and with five nominations but only one win, despite it outselling better than all the other nominees (as you pointed out in its statistics) and it's still climbing. But when was the last time this industry came close to getting it right (or getting it at all for that matter) in recent years?
Sarah Friedman, Esq.
NewWorld EntLaw
_____________________________________
You tied The Greatest Showman to Hamilton but there's more than one common denominator besides Atlantic: Alex Lacamoire, a producer and arranger of both soundtracks. He's the maestro behind the genius of both albums.
David Beame
_____________________________________
In case you haven't seen these two clips from the green-lighting run through, I'll share them. I enjoy them as much, maybe more than the final produced movie scenes.
For the first clip, the story is that Hugh Jackman had surgery to remove cancer in his nose right before the all-cast run through of the script/songs to get the green light from the Executives at the studio. He wasn't supposed to sing, but they couldn't tell that to anyone or else they wouldn't show up...
From Now On Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PluaPvhkIMU
Keala Settle Demo of This is Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLFEvHWD_NE
It's amazing how powerful the songs were, even in rehearsal.
These kind of moments in the run through are what it's about.
Joel Wilson
_____________________________________
I disagree Bob. It may be popular - and I appreciate you tracking that - but that does not make it good. Way too clever to be good. Typical Broadway anthem.
Matthew Conway Dunn
CONWAY REAL ESTATE SERVICES, INC.
_____________________________________
I think it might have just been those ignoring the genre that never heard of it. It was an awards season regular, there was tons of press!
Paul & Pasek also won a Tony and a Grammy for "Dear Evan Hansen" - easily the most innovative and important musical of our time, given its themes of depression, social media, teen suicide, and how easy it is to project to the world only the version of yourself you want known.
They have an amazing way of writing songs for musicals that serve the purpose of dialog and moving the story along, but also they're just good songs you'd want to listen to regardless.
I listen to their songs over most of the throw away music out there these days.
Trish Angelo
_____________________________________
It's catchy tunes and family oriented. Don't underestimate how many 4,5,6... yr olds are singing that soundtrack. I have two under 8 that have it in rotation.
Aaron
_____________________________________
Even my chihuahua loves this soundtrack!
Buffy Visick
_____________________________________
i have been hearing this is it for months on Beats1... Zane Lowe and Ebro are the real last dj's...
steve tipp
_____________________________________
Hi Bob!
Proving that "Show" business is very much alive!
Michael Des Barres.
_____________________________________
I watched it last night and it is amazing!
Ray Vaughn
_____________________________________
exactly!!!! Finally someone (you) takes notice of this amazing movie and soundtrack.
It is a phenomenon, has me hooked, listened to the soundtrack over and over (I wouldn't usually do that on a musical), told everyone I know to go see it -- most of my LA friends said it was so so, but my friends and family outside of jaded LA loved it ;)
Thanks for shouting it out!?
Andrea Young Co-Founder & Chief Playlisting Officer
Koral Young Group
_____________________________________
They also wrote and won a Tony for Dear Evan Hansen. They're great guys!
Stacey Sher
_____________________________________
I feel the same way. I happened to watch this movie on Friday night, after finding out that my God daughter was going to aerial camp because of Zendaya's character in "The Greatest Showman".
I found myself sitting straight up overly engaged at 1:30 in the morning. If you're wondering how, the beauty of Amazon and a jailbroken fire stick will allow you to lay your eyes on whatever you want. Please no judgement.
The songs are beautifully written, the choreography is fun and executed flawlessly. I've literally been talking about how fun this movie was to watch and how pleasantly surprised I was by it. I hope it's just a late hit, by cause it definitely deserves to be seen/heard.
Best,
Jazzy
_____________________________________
Get a teenager, Bob. My kid's a theater geek and knows all the words to Greatest Showman and sing it with all her friends. Hamilton, too.
Imagine that, making music with friends for fun!
Sam Pfeifl
_____________________________________
One of the writers - Justin Paul - is a Staples High kid. Westport roots!
Drew Angus
_____________________________________
This flick was huge in Australia probably because our boy Hugh is in it. We love it when an Aussie kid does well on the international stage and Hugh is a real talent. What makes this show great is the music. I was instantly awe struck by the tunes and how well produced they were. It's also a family show and my kids sing these songs over and over. They get the morality too but I never heard a show that had so many great tracks.
Cheers
Owen Hogan
_____________________________________
Greetings from West Sussex, England, UK.
Great newsletter re The Greatest Showman. I believe that ultimately, most people still want to be moved by music; to cry with joy or sorrow, with goosebumps all over.
Check out my artist Jennifer Owens - it's an interesting one as labels here aren't interested, but all of the TV shows want her. I know she will be able to move millions; TV people see it, labels don't.
This is an unlisted link as we haven't released it yet. It sounds like a love song, but it's about the
All the best,
Guy Gyngell
_____________________________________
Justin Paul is a Staples High School grad, and often returns to Westport to give back to the music and drama programs. He's a treasure.
Thomas Sladek
_____________________________________
Amen. The artist is Keala Settle.
You should see her perform.
Oscars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6GrbAJq7tM
Graham Norton - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BNRBgxiS2c
Biggest record of the year. And most of radio missed it. Most weeks at #1 for an album ever in Uk. 19 weeks. Beat Adele's record of 13.
Mark Beaven
_____________________________________
Totally agree...Had no idea what to expect till I had movie night at my house with a bunch of friends and they all wanted to see that flick..Really glad I did.I thought the music was outstanding...
Al Marks
_____________________________________
We saw the movie 5 times in theaters and own the DVD...which we've watched at least 5 more. It's the best movie I've watched in a long time: Great story, well acted, wonderful music, and a total escape. It's everything movies should be!
Welcome to the party!
Best,
Roop S. Virk BA
_____________________________________
the under 10's are all over this soundtrack, my 8 yo daughter and her class mates have been listening to the songs for months - its right up there with Slime videos
Cheers,
Alan Robertson
_____________________________________
The music in the film was outstanding. I worked on the film a few days in L.A.
for additional photography. It had a really good vibe. Hugh Jackman is such a class act. I saw the film in Connecticut with my mom and we both loved it. Hope you are well, Cinzia Zanetti
_____________________________________
Back at school after Xmas break, I always ask my students what movies they saw, and this was hands-down the one that everyone went to. Elementary school kids are a pretty good barometer of pop culture, I've found.
But Joseph and I watched this the other night... and it's already evaporated from my memory.
John Hughes
_____________________________________
My 6 year old daughter is obsessed.
Josh Millman
_____________________________________
"The Greatest Showman" didn't get great reviews, I suspect because it dissed reviewers (who are about as thin-skinned as they come). It's a wonderful, positive movie and everyone I've turned on to it has thanked me for doing so. Hugh Jackman carried that film but he was not the only star in that particular firmament.
The DVD has behind-the-scenes footage and commentary that will make you like it even more.
Craig Anderton
_____________________________________
https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/31/the-greatest-showman-success-film-story-of-the-year-hugh-jackman
Bob—My 12-year-old daughter turned me onto this after she saw it with some friends in the theater, shortly after its release. Amazing visuals, infectious music. I think they take liberties with the facts, but it's an entertaining musical. Thanks, as always.
Stuart Gunter
_____________________________________
Hey Bob,
Hope that you're well.
The impact of this film is quite extraordinary.
My two children (10 and 14 Y.O boys) would run a million miles away from any musicals and are generally disinterested in movies unless Marvel or The Rock are involved.
They LOVE this movie and have become obsessed with the soundtrack.
When they would normally listen to Drake, Post and songs by You Tubers (that phenomenon is just bizarre - Jake Paul etc) they will now listen to these songs over and over and over.
With their favourite songs from the OST this can be up to 10 times in a row - more than they would ever listen to any other song. It is amazing!
And not just listening, but singing along at the top of their voices.
These are very sporty, self conscious (you gotta be play it cool) and non flamboyant boys belting it out with Zac Efron and Hugh Jackman with joy and abandon.
It really is so interesting to see and a completely different reaction than any other music they have loved.
I think the additional emotional context of the music, and pairing it with the visuals/storyline has enhanced the connection in the way that brilliant soundtracks do?
Maybe they're just great songs?
Whatever is going on with this soundtrack, it is an amazing achievement that they have destroyed all kinds of demographic boundaries and made something that is usually pretty cheesy (show tunes) very cool and addictive
Also worth noting that they're not hearing any of these songs on radio (which is still the #1 influence in Australia) - it's all on demand streaming
Quite a phenomenon!
Jesse Flavell
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Misha Guiffre
_____________________________________
I can't understand it either, but I'll tell you this. Teenage girls LOVE IT! My two daughters are 18 and 15 and they haven't STOPED playing it since the movie came out and when the song was played at their PROM, the dance floor ERUPTED…with girls. The boys were clueless (as teenage boys have always been). I was even skeptical about the movie until my youngest forced me to go see it when her Mom wasn't able to take her. And while the movie was a VERY sanitized version of the life of P.T. Barnum, it was entertaining, but the MUSIC was thrilling! As a 46 year-old man, I'm not in the target demo, but I was fully entertained and impressed. I'm glad you said something. I thought I was getting soft in my old age.
Thank You!!
BRIAN W. ROBERTS
_____________________________________
I weeped liked a child listening to "Never Enough". Uncontrollable emotion. I appreciate you.
Mike Miller
_____________________________________
Couldn't agree more! My kids and I LOVED the movie and it is THE ONLY album my teenagers have ever
asked me if they could buy! I mean, I work in the music biz and my kids could care less about albums, they only ever
want to download a song, each time they ask. This soundtrack is full of great music and the movie was so good, we bought
the blu-ray and have watched it, as a family, multiple times. Every parent I ask tells me the same thing, they bought the
full soundtrack, too, because their kids asked them to. And yet...no press on it! Go figure.
Melissa Dragich-Cordero
_____________________________________
Benj and Justin wrote "Dear Evan Hansen." FYI
Jim McCarthy
_____________________________________
my 8 year old daughter iris loves dancing to the showman soundtrack.
the under 10s are obsessed with it.
Ed Horrox
_____________________________________
Whatever Bob... I've heard both. The Greatest Showman mixes suck and Hamilton is pablum. It's gotta survive as just music and not rely on film or theater as a crutch.
LaLa Land should be renamed "Blah Blah Bland."
Middle school teenagers and wannabe theater folk are not the barometer by which I judge music.
fritzdoddy
_____________________________________
I never understood why it wasn't a bigger hit on radio here. Is it because she is not pretty enough? Not 16?
This video is pure joy. If it doesn't move you - you are dead.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XLFEvHWD_NE
Adam Lewis
_____________________________________
Bob, my kids (6 & 8) watch that movie at least once a week.
They know every word to every song.
So do all their friends at PS 39 in Brooklyn.
And my wife and I love it - we don't have to listen to Jojo Siwa and "I'm a Gummy Bear" on endless repeat anymore....
Cheers,
Jonny Langston
_____________________________________
Bob, I agree! That story and the sound track where as close to Rocky as anything in the last 30 years. I have watched it several times. Funny how La La Land did so well. A confused man who isn't sure of himself luck's into everything, versus man with a clear path and vision taking strings of opportunity and weaving a future. Is it a commentary on the loss of faith in the American dream? AF
_____________________________________
My 5 year old may be solely responsible for over 5,000 of those listens on Spotify.
Erich Ziegler
_____________________________________
Bob, where've you been?
The Greatest Showman absolutely killed it in the box office, earning almost half a billion worldwide. It was the only film my friends and I watched multiple times in the movie theater. When was the last time that occurred with a film released in recent years?
I remember the first time I watched it, I left the theater and needed to own the soundtrack immediately, but it was impossible to buy in stores. So I went online and streamed, downloaded, and played it in my car almost daily ever since. When was the last time that occurred with a soundtrack released in recent years?
Earlier this year, all the late night and day time talk shows had the film's stars on, performing skits, and singing the songs all together. When was the last time a film brought in a group of such talented (known and unknown) people from all walks of life like that in recent years?
Oh, and the Grammy's! Broadway veteran Keala's performance still brings tears to people's eyes and with five nominations but only one win, despite it outselling better than all the other nominees (as you pointed out in its statistics) and it's still climbing. But when was the last time this industry came close to getting it right (or getting it at all for that matter) in recent years?
Sarah Friedman, Esq.
NewWorld EntLaw
_____________________________________
You tied The Greatest Showman to Hamilton but there's more than one common denominator besides Atlantic: Alex Lacamoire, a producer and arranger of both soundtracks. He's the maestro behind the genius of both albums.
David Beame
_____________________________________
In case you haven't seen these two clips from the green-lighting run through, I'll share them. I enjoy them as much, maybe more than the final produced movie scenes.
For the first clip, the story is that Hugh Jackman had surgery to remove cancer in his nose right before the all-cast run through of the script/songs to get the green light from the Executives at the studio. He wasn't supposed to sing, but they couldn't tell that to anyone or else they wouldn't show up...
From Now On Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PluaPvhkIMU
Keala Settle Demo of This is Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLFEvHWD_NE
It's amazing how powerful the songs were, even in rehearsal.
These kind of moments in the run through are what it's about.
Joel Wilson
_____________________________________
I disagree Bob. It may be popular - and I appreciate you tracking that - but that does not make it good. Way too clever to be good. Typical Broadway anthem.
Matthew Conway Dunn
CONWAY REAL ESTATE SERVICES, INC.
_____________________________________
I think it might have just been those ignoring the genre that never heard of it. It was an awards season regular, there was tons of press!
Paul & Pasek also won a Tony and a Grammy for "Dear Evan Hansen" - easily the most innovative and important musical of our time, given its themes of depression, social media, teen suicide, and how easy it is to project to the world only the version of yourself you want known.
They have an amazing way of writing songs for musicals that serve the purpose of dialog and moving the story along, but also they're just good songs you'd want to listen to regardless.
I listen to their songs over most of the throw away music out there these days.
Trish Angelo
_____________________________________
It's catchy tunes and family oriented. Don't underestimate how many 4,5,6... yr olds are singing that soundtrack. I have two under 8 that have it in rotation.
Aaron
_____________________________________
Even my chihuahua loves this soundtrack!
Buffy Visick
_____________________________________
i have been hearing this is it for months on Beats1... Zane Lowe and Ebro are the real last dj's...
steve tipp
_____________________________________
Hi Bob!
Proving that "Show" business is very much alive!
Michael Des Barres.
_____________________________________
I watched it last night and it is amazing!
Ray Vaughn
_____________________________________
exactly!!!! Finally someone (you) takes notice of this amazing movie and soundtrack.
It is a phenomenon, has me hooked, listened to the soundtrack over and over (I wouldn't usually do that on a musical), told everyone I know to go see it -- most of my LA friends said it was so so, but my friends and family outside of jaded LA loved it ;)
Thanks for shouting it out!?
Andrea Young Co-Founder & Chief Playlisting Officer
Koral Young Group
_____________________________________
They also wrote and won a Tony for Dear Evan Hansen. They're great guys!
Stacey Sher
_____________________________________
I feel the same way. I happened to watch this movie on Friday night, after finding out that my God daughter was going to aerial camp because of Zendaya's character in "The Greatest Showman".
I found myself sitting straight up overly engaged at 1:30 in the morning. If you're wondering how, the beauty of Amazon and a jailbroken fire stick will allow you to lay your eyes on whatever you want. Please no judgement.
The songs are beautifully written, the choreography is fun and executed flawlessly. I've literally been talking about how fun this movie was to watch and how pleasantly surprised I was by it. I hope it's just a late hit, by cause it definitely deserves to be seen/heard.
Best,
Jazzy
_____________________________________
Get a teenager, Bob. My kid's a theater geek and knows all the words to Greatest Showman and sing it with all her friends. Hamilton, too.
Imagine that, making music with friends for fun!
Sam Pfeifl
_____________________________________
One of the writers - Justin Paul - is a Staples High kid. Westport roots!
Drew Angus
_____________________________________
This flick was huge in Australia probably because our boy Hugh is in it. We love it when an Aussie kid does well on the international stage and Hugh is a real talent. What makes this show great is the music. I was instantly awe struck by the tunes and how well produced they were. It's also a family show and my kids sing these songs over and over. They get the morality too but I never heard a show that had so many great tracks.
Cheers
Owen Hogan
_____________________________________
Greetings from West Sussex, England, UK.
Great newsletter re The Greatest Showman. I believe that ultimately, most people still want to be moved by music; to cry with joy or sorrow, with goosebumps all over.
Check out my artist Jennifer Owens - it's an interesting one as labels here aren't interested, but all of the TV shows want her. I know she will be able to move millions; TV people see it, labels don't.
This is an unlisted link as we haven't released it yet. It sounds like a love song, but it's about the
All the best,
Guy Gyngell
_____________________________________
Justin Paul is a Staples High School grad, and often returns to Westport to give back to the music and drama programs. He's a treasure.
Thomas Sladek
_____________________________________
Amen. The artist is Keala Settle.
You should see her perform.
Oscars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6GrbAJq7tM
Graham Norton - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BNRBgxiS2c
Biggest record of the year. And most of radio missed it. Most weeks at #1 for an album ever in Uk. 19 weeks. Beat Adele's record of 13.
Mark Beaven
_____________________________________
Totally agree...Had no idea what to expect till I had movie night at my house with a bunch of friends and they all wanted to see that flick..Really glad I did.I thought the music was outstanding...
Al Marks
_____________________________________
We saw the movie 5 times in theaters and own the DVD...which we've watched at least 5 more. It's the best movie I've watched in a long time: Great story, well acted, wonderful music, and a total escape. It's everything movies should be!
Welcome to the party!
Best,
Roop S. Virk BA
_____________________________________
the under 10's are all over this soundtrack, my 8 yo daughter and her class mates have been listening to the songs for months - its right up there with Slime videos
Cheers,
Alan Robertson
_____________________________________
The music in the film was outstanding. I worked on the film a few days in L.A.
for additional photography. It had a really good vibe. Hugh Jackman is such a class act. I saw the film in Connecticut with my mom and we both loved it. Hope you are well, Cinzia Zanetti
_____________________________________
Back at school after Xmas break, I always ask my students what movies they saw, and this was hands-down the one that everyone went to. Elementary school kids are a pretty good barometer of pop culture, I've found.
But Joseph and I watched this the other night... and it's already evaporated from my memory.
John Hughes
_____________________________________
My 6 year old daughter is obsessed.
Josh Millman
_____________________________________
"The Greatest Showman" didn't get great reviews, I suspect because it dissed reviewers (who are about as thin-skinned as they come). It's a wonderful, positive movie and everyone I've turned on to it has thanked me for doing so. Hugh Jackman carried that film but he was not the only star in that particular firmament.
The DVD has behind-the-scenes footage and commentary that will make you like it even more.
Craig Anderton
_____________________________________
https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/31/the-greatest-showman-success-film-story-of-the-year-hugh-jackman
Bob—My 12-year-old daughter turned me onto this after she saw it with some friends in the theater, shortly after its release. Amazing visuals, infectious music. I think they take liberties with the facts, but it's an entertaining musical. Thanks, as always.
Stuart Gunter
_____________________________________
Hey Bob,
Hope that you're well.
The impact of this film is quite extraordinary.
My two children (10 and 14 Y.O boys) would run a million miles away from any musicals and are generally disinterested in movies unless Marvel or The Rock are involved.
They LOVE this movie and have become obsessed with the soundtrack.
When they would normally listen to Drake, Post and songs by You Tubers (that phenomenon is just bizarre - Jake Paul etc) they will now listen to these songs over and over and over.
With their favourite songs from the OST this can be up to 10 times in a row - more than they would ever listen to any other song. It is amazing!
And not just listening, but singing along at the top of their voices.
These are very sporty, self conscious (you gotta be play it cool) and non flamboyant boys belting it out with Zac Efron and Hugh Jackman with joy and abandon.
It really is so interesting to see and a completely different reaction than any other music they have loved.
I think the additional emotional context of the music, and pairing it with the visuals/storyline has enhanced the connection in the way that brilliant soundtracks do?
Maybe they're just great songs?
Whatever is going on with this soundtrack, it is an amazing achievement that they have destroyed all kinds of demographic boundaries and made something that is usually pretty cheesy (show tunes) very cool and addictive
Also worth noting that they're not hearing any of these songs on radio (which is still the #1 influence in Australia) - it's all on demand streaming
Quite a phenomenon!
Jesse Flavell
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The Greatest Showman
This could be the biggest act in the world.
I was clueless until my buddy Jeff Laufer hipped me to it, singling out the track "This Is Me," an empowering anthem straight out of the "Fame" playbook, why is this phenomenon getting no ink, despite hiding in plain sight for six months, the flick having been released back in December 2017.
This has been on my mind, because Jeff keeps e-mailing me and because Saturday night as I was hiking in Will Rogers Park they were screening it at Street Food Cinema (https://bit.ly/2mPogpe) and there were more attendees than I've ever seen for any screening there.
And then, today's "Record of the Day" informed me that in the U.K. the soundtrack was number one for the nineteenth time in twenty three weeks.
But we never hear about it!
Then again, the single "This Is Me" went to number three in the U.K. and only to number fifty eight in the U.S., could this be further proof that terrestrial radio in the U.S. has lost touch, that the U.S. is no longer the greatest country in the world?
Yes, if we want to make America great again, maybe we need to start playing the world's hits, not only "This Is Me," but "Human."
Now "The Greatest Showman" is bigger than "Hamilton," that's right, it's got more streams on Spotify, that's the power of film.
Five out of the eleven cuts on "Greatest Showman" have triple digit million streams on Spotify. And the remaining tracks are deep into double digits.
Not a single cut on "Hamilton" breaks triple digits.
Although both cast albums are released by Atlantic, does Craig Kallman know something the rest of the industry does not?
As for the iTunes Store, "The Greatest Showman" is number three right now.
So what we've learned is despite the lauding of hip-hop, it's not the only game in town.
But media loves a sexy story, which is why there's a dearth of info on "Greatest Showman."
And the barrier to entry in music is not as big as we think it is. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote "The Greatest Showman" songs, ever heard of them? I didn't think so. Then again, they're not complete unknowns they won an Oscar for their song for "La La Land," but mostly they're working off the pop radar, in stage, films and TV. Are they being unjustly ignored?
Seems so.
So everything we thought was kaput, training, dues, melody, it seems the public still has a hungering for all of it. We keep reading in "The New Yorker" and other august publications about beat makers, top-liners, and I'm not saying they're not successful, but they're not the only action deserving attention. All the popsters going urban, they'd be better off going "Showman!"
So, you sing along with the tracks to "Greatest Showman." You're not going to be offended, you're not going to want to take it off immediately, you might just get hooked.
But there's no associated lifestyle, there are no shenanigans featured on TMZ. All the trappings of today's success are missing, other than the LISTENING!
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I was clueless until my buddy Jeff Laufer hipped me to it, singling out the track "This Is Me," an empowering anthem straight out of the "Fame" playbook, why is this phenomenon getting no ink, despite hiding in plain sight for six months, the flick having been released back in December 2017.
This has been on my mind, because Jeff keeps e-mailing me and because Saturday night as I was hiking in Will Rogers Park they were screening it at Street Food Cinema (https://bit.ly/2mPogpe) and there were more attendees than I've ever seen for any screening there.
And then, today's "Record of the Day" informed me that in the U.K. the soundtrack was number one for the nineteenth time in twenty three weeks.
But we never hear about it!
Then again, the single "This Is Me" went to number three in the U.K. and only to number fifty eight in the U.S., could this be further proof that terrestrial radio in the U.S. has lost touch, that the U.S. is no longer the greatest country in the world?
Yes, if we want to make America great again, maybe we need to start playing the world's hits, not only "This Is Me," but "Human."
Now "The Greatest Showman" is bigger than "Hamilton," that's right, it's got more streams on Spotify, that's the power of film.
Five out of the eleven cuts on "Greatest Showman" have triple digit million streams on Spotify. And the remaining tracks are deep into double digits.
Not a single cut on "Hamilton" breaks triple digits.
Although both cast albums are released by Atlantic, does Craig Kallman know something the rest of the industry does not?
As for the iTunes Store, "The Greatest Showman" is number three right now.
So what we've learned is despite the lauding of hip-hop, it's not the only game in town.
But media loves a sexy story, which is why there's a dearth of info on "Greatest Showman."
And the barrier to entry in music is not as big as we think it is. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote "The Greatest Showman" songs, ever heard of them? I didn't think so. Then again, they're not complete unknowns they won an Oscar for their song for "La La Land," but mostly they're working off the pop radar, in stage, films and TV. Are they being unjustly ignored?
Seems so.
So everything we thought was kaput, training, dues, melody, it seems the public still has a hungering for all of it. We keep reading in "The New Yorker" and other august publications about beat makers, top-liners, and I'm not saying they're not successful, but they're not the only action deserving attention. All the popsters going urban, they'd be better off going "Showman!"
So, you sing along with the tracks to "Greatest Showman." You're not going to be offended, you're not going to want to take it off immediately, you might just get hooked.
But there's no associated lifestyle, there are no shenanigans featured on TMZ. All the trappings of today's success are missing, other than the LISTENING!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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Listen to the podcast:
-TuneIn: http://tunein.com/lefsetz
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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