2018-What We Learned-Part One

THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET POORER

This is what the internet has wrought, people flock to the popular. In a sea of chaos, you migrate to what is anointed. Therefore, Drake rules and your rock band is unknown.

For those not rich it's important to do an attitudinal reset. Try not to get rich, try not to be a household name, focus on your fanbase, extract cash from it and depend upon these fans to spread the word and grow your audience and career. Don't e-mail unsolicited songs to "tastemakers" and "gatekeepers," it's a complete waste of time. Don't hire a publicity person. Don't do anything but make music and post it online. And if you want to throw in some social media efforts to fan the flame of fandom, that's good too. Bond with your audience, know who your fans are, not only with an e-mail list, but saying hi at shows. Fans will be there and do anything for you, don't be afraid to ask. But don't be tempted into thinking you're just a step away from stardom, you're not. But there's plenty of money to be made. Instead of bitching about streaming payments, be thrilled that everybody can hear your music for free if they choose to. Chances are in the old, pre-internet era, you wouldn't have a career at all. Play live. This is where the money is made and the fan relationship is cemented. You can make a ton of money being a semi-known. And if trends turn, there's a chance it could be your turn for stardom, but don't count on it.

THE MONEY IS ON THE ROAD

You can make and distribute a record without Universal, but you can't tour without a promoter, most notably Live Nation and AEG. Michael Rapino and Jay Marciano are much more important than Lucian Grainge it's just that the media has not caught up with this fact. The story has been about the loss of recording revenue and the recent rebound as a result of streaming, meanwhile live has been burgeoning for decades. Furthermore, live is a one of a kind experience in a digitally replicated world, it's the difference between having sex with a significant other and masturbating to porn online. And, once you've made it, the promoter gives you all of the gate, whereas the label owns your recording, pays a low royalty and screws you on the payment thereof. Expect continued disruption in the recorded music space. The majors' power is in radio and TV and newspapers, all of which mean less than ever before and will continue to shrink in power. You do need a bank, you do need a team, but not necessarily the Big Three.

STREAMING IS HERE TO STAY

If you hear anybody bitching about Spotify, stop listening to them.

THE CHARTS ARE BROKEN

The only meaningful chart is the streaming one. The Nielsen chart in "Billboard" is a complete joke, factoring in sales, streams and album equivalents and... Future players will look at it like the incomprehensible Rosetta Stone. Then again, this ridiculous chart that counts ticket bundles serves the players, anybody can be number one for a week. But it's like winning a Grammy, people instantly forget, if they even know. We will go to a pure streaming chart, but not soon enough.

ALBUMS

What is it? A collection of songs? Up until the internet, the length of an album was determined by technology, it was limited. Now albums can be forever! Don't tell me about needing an LP for reviews, reviews are meaningless, across the board, in music, television and movies, even politics! It's about word of mouth. You want to satisfy two masters, yourself and your audience. You want to create enough to satisfy yourself and put out enough material to satisfy your audience. Fans want more material. Don't think about satiating potential fans, satiate the ones you've got. Keep in constant contact so they know when you've got a new release. Do live stuff on YouTube, Matt Nathanson put out an EP of Def Leppard covers. You may not know, you may not care, but his fans do. Take risks. But don't get locked into the old syndrome of ten tracks every other year.

HIP-HOP

It dominates, but it won't forever, it's just a matter of when. Hip-hop embraced streaming when rock rejected it. Hip-hop gave it away for free when rock was bitching it could not get paid. Hip-hop is today, rock is yesterday, but what is tomorrow? Know that melody and changes and a good voice never go out of style, NEVER! That's your easiest route to success if you're not a rapper. Do what you want to, what you feel inside, don't follow trends, that's for amateurs.

THIS BEAT IS KILLING COUNTRY MUSIC

Watch this video, all ten plus minutes of it. This evidences how lowest common denominator sounds are killing popular music. Grady Smith calls it "snaps." I call it an electronic sound that debuted in the eighties and was quickly superseded, kinda like synth solos, which Elton John and Keith Emerson employed and then abandoned, or maybe synth drums! This is what makes experienced listeners lament the quality of today's music.

https://bit.ly/2EHrxmR

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The Gingerbread House

I hate arts and craps.

That's what my sister Wendy called them, back when we all went to Camp JCC, in Stepney, CT.

When you're a six year old, riding the bus is a big thing. It picked us up in front of our house and escorted us upstate where at first our counselors were women, but when we got older men. Teenagers, in fact, but they seemed so old to us! And that's where I learned to swim, in the pee-infested kiddie pool, I remember the first step being the Dead Man's Float. I remember hovering in the water inside my mind, astounding I still do that today and I'm the same guy. And right after lunch...

We had arts and crafts.

I think I went once. But I didn't only avoid arts and crafts at camp, but in school too, I remember my third grade teacher, Mrs. Trainor, commenting on it. I just have no skill, no talent, I can't draw, I'm always amazed at those who can.

Like Ella. She was sitting next to us at the table. It was astounding to see her build her gingerbread house, you could see she had a future in the arts. But now, more than ever, it's a low-paying dead end, so she'll probably be a lawyer or a banker.

So I came in from skiing, and looking for hot chocolate, I stumbled upon a gingerbread house making activity. I entered the Cucina and watched the kids build and I said to myself "Felice has to see this."

I thought she'd resist, but I got her to come on down and...

She refused to build a house. She said I could. But I don't like to get my hands dirty.

Maybe that's one reason I resisted arts and crafts. And also it seemed pointless, creating something amateurish that even my mother wouldn't compliment.

But today, I decided to dive in.

Turns out the houses are pre-built. You've just got to decorate 'em. But how do you do this?

Well, there's pastry you squeeze out of a foil tube and various candies you can embed in the pastry and...

I was completely flummoxed, I didn't know how to start.

So I looked to the kids for inspiration.

Lexi had icicles hanging from under the eaves. I could never figure out how to do that.

Ella had built a snowman in the front yard.

Max's roof was embedded with candies symmetrically.

As for Seely... She was enjoying playing with the pastry, she was only six years old.

But they all had pastry on the edges, so I imitated that. Then I didn't know what to do next.

So Felice picked up the reins and created a treble clef.

That begat a conversation.

Seely's brother Max, two or three years older, told her she didn't know what it meant. But Seely did, she said MUSIC!

Ella turned out to play the guitar. And now keyboard. Funny how they no longer call it piano. She said she was in a band. The school teacher had exited the institution and started his own business and every Saturday they got together to play music. She picked up her phone, she's a ninth grader, and played me a song one of her friends wrote, and damn if it wasn't good. I mean one step away from commerciality.

Then Felice asked Ella what she listened to.

She said "The Killers."

And Lexi chimed in that she'd seen them live.

Did they like hip-hop?

NO!

Lexi's favorite band was Led Zeppelin.

Stifling my chuckle, I asked her her favorite track.

At first she couldn't come up with it, but then she took to Spotify, both Ella and Lexi have Spotify accounts, Ella testified about Discover Weekly, and then Lexi scrolled through her library and she found it...

D'YER MAKER!

I almost asked her if she knew what it meant, but then I thought better of it, especially since she wasn't old enough to understand anyway.

And Ella's house had a chunk taken out of the roof. She said it came that way, but she liked it, because it had CHARACTER! She knew more about art than the people spending millions to buy it. If you hang it symmetrically, I know you're ignorant. You've got to hang it so there's a tension between the art piece and the wall it's hanging upon. I learned this in college, Ella already knew it.

Meanwhile, the kids had used all the good candy, all that was left were stars and sparkles, and lord only knows how you got the sparkles to stick.

But Ella scrounged and gave us some of her rejects, and I installed some broken candy canes, and we were having a grand old time until...

The mothers came. That stifled the conversation. Suddenly, the kids weren't so talkative, they weren't revealing their inner thoughts, they were playing to their parents.

And I was worried if I kept up the conversation it wouldn't look good, so we all resorted to finishing our buildings.

Ella posted hers to Snapchat.

You can see ours here: https://bit.ly/2T2F6jC


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Misreading The Room

We're watching "Mrs. Maisel."

I know, I know, it won all those awards, but it's on Amazon, not Netflix or HBO, so there's just not the buzz, and the tone of the show goes from reality to farce and just when you're about to give up there's a moment of truth and your heart sighs.

Actually, I wanted to write about the first episode last night. The Lodge didn't have enough bandwidth for the big screen, so we ended up watching it side by side on the iPad, like Robin and John, that's Hickenlooper and I don't like to drop names but it's when we reveal our humanity that we bond to people, our insecurities, our peculiarities, our habits, we see ourselves in others' behavior, or we're just happy to know they're weird too.

Like Midge.

Actually, she's not that weird, she's just not doing what's expected of her. You grow up in a Jewish family and there are steps. You get good grades to get into a good college so you can become a professional so your parents don't have to worry about you. I know, I know, the gentiles read about the entertainers, the tech titans, but the rank and file Jew is looking for safety, then again, they're not boring in real life.

Like when the Weissmans checked into the Steiner Mountain Resort. They were bitching and talking over one another and that's exactly how it's always been in my life. Especially when my dad was alive, when we went on regular family vacations. Back before he passed in '92 and the estrogen trumped my testosterone. I can still whomp it up, but there's not room in the family, there are too many people talking, I just retreat into my own cocoon. That's where the books and records come in. "In My Room" is not one of my favorite Beach Boys songs, but I resonate with the sentiment. That's what I love about the internet, the stimulation at my fingertips. Those with enough action in their real lives abhor the internet, but for those of us a bit more introverted...

So in last night's episode, Midge spoke about the inspiration. Her husband leaving her. That's when she tried comedy. She spoke her truth, she was honest. And all the great work emanates from a similar place, someone with no place to go decides to press forward, because they just can't stay where they are. They don't worry about the consequences, they don't worry about the risk, they just act, in an unfiltered way. Which is why most people can't do it on a sustained basis. Once the rewards come in, they're inhibited, they're uncomfortable, except for legendarily irascible people like Van Morrison. That's the conundrum, you've got to be on the outside to make it on the inside, or to quote Bob Dylan, to live outside the law you must be honest, and Zimmy is coping by staying on the road, in his own personal fog, so he doesn't have to think too hard about his fame and his life, he just keeps playing, he's stripped it down to the essence.

And what draws people to "Mrs. Maisel" is story. It's king in America. We want to be taken on a journey, we want to forget about our troubles, we want to know how it all plays out.

And we want that honesty and truth, that's what we resonate with.

Like when Midge does her act at the wedding. At first there are laughs, then it's "Springtime For Hitler."

Jews know about this.

It's changing now, with intermarriage, but back when boomers were all told they had to marry within the faith, they went to shul, they went to summer camp, they spent most of their time with the tribe, and when they intersected with the goyim...

I remember working construction, however briefly, lifting I-beams did not mix well with my back and I put out my thumb and left home, but that's another story.

I took some rye bread and Hebrew National salami from the fridge and my co-worker criticized my meal, as he ate luncheon meat on Wonder Bread.

Sure, everybody's now into bagels, then again, bagels are not what they used to be, they've been homogenized, they're just circular bread as opposed to donuts that could break a tooth.

And you stick out on a regular basis growing up. You're with gentiles and you talk too much. Jews are not silent, they speak, they ask questions, they live for conversation, arguments, and when they do their act with outsiders...

It is not pretty.

Some learn as they get older.

Some never do. They never tone it down. They believe irreverence and being the life of the party is de rigueur, until it isn't.

So Midge is cracking jokes, putting people down, not understanding that she's misfiring. She's so caught up in who she is, what her experience has been, that she cannot see another perspective.

And it's uncomfortable.

Then again, being a Jew is oftentimes this way. Especially when people don't know you're Jewish, and they crack anti-Semitic comments. Happens all the time, and all the ignorant are not poor, seemingly the more pure-bred they are, the more racist they are, they believe their tribe is better.

But Jews were always outcasts, we're just trying to survive. The jokes are to keep us happy in sad situations. Seeing the humor in life allows you to keep on going.

But when you watch a show like "Mrs. Maisel," you both resonate and wince, you think about your family members, how they're smiling while watching too, but you're also thinking about outsiders... Sure, they recognize Yiddish, but does it all seem foreign to them, are they judging us, you see Jews don't want too high a profile, because they're afraid of the consequences.

But when you get them alone, with their tribe...

It's just like the show.


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Tricky Dick And The Man In Black

https://bit.ly/2PGdJ0R

This is utterly marvelous.

Then again, would you expect anything less from two time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple?

With cheap video equipment, today everybody is a documentarian, especially in the music sphere. But the result is oftentimes unwatchable, because of lack of talent.

But not "Tricky Dick And The Man In Black."

If you watch this, and I don't expect many youngsters to do so, you'll get what I talk about when I speak of the spirit of the sixties, of music having a voice, of having power.

Then again, back then most of the youth was on the same side. Whereas today, that's not the case. ROTC has come back to university campuses. Young Republicans have triumphed not only at Dartmouth, but so many other institutions.

Then again, none of them had to worry about getting their ass shot off.

So we see pictures of Johnny Cash's boyhood home, in Arkansas. We've had a recent President from Arkansas, but I doubt many people from the coasts have been there. And neither have I. The closest I got was the view across the river from my hotel room in Memphis. What makes people move to such a place?

Opportunity. That's what the government used to give people, a chance to start over, to get ahead.

But the Cash family didn't make much headway, and Johnny's father Ray kept putting his brooding, sensitive son down. Telling him he should have died in the farming accident, not his older brother.

And no matter Johnny's achievements, Ray never thought they were much. So Johnny kept at it, kept trying, to prove his worth to a man who would never acknowledge it.

This is the foundation of an artist.

It's not usually the foundation of an entertainer.

Today our scene is loaded with entertainers, thinking about the opportunity to become rich and famous, not that either of those have anything to do with art. But the internet tools have allowed everybody to play. And not only does mainstream media want to amplify the antics of these no or little talents, so do websites set up for just such a purpose.

It seems if you're an artist, you're a loser.

Cash went to Vietnam, he was learning, searching for truth. That's what an artist does, experience the world through their eyes and then feed what they see back to us. They give us insight into the world we inhabit, insight that we oftentimes don't have ourselves. This was not only the mission of rockers in the sixties, but rappers in the nineties.

Now, we've just got tattooed media properties. And just because you have a good voice, that does not mean you've got something to say. I've got nothing against Ariana Grande, but the media anoints her a new Joni Mitchell, as if she had gravitas, but she doesn't.

But Mitchell did. As did Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, all of whom appeared on Johnny Cash's TV show.

And Cash was for the war before he was against it.

You could change your mind in the sixties.

But not today.

So Nixon believes he can use Cash to shore up his southern base. He insists Johnny play "Okie From Muskogee" and "Welfare Cadillac" at the White House.

You may have never heard "Welfare Cadillac." It's exactly what you think it is, a guy with ten kids and a shack driving a Cadillac. He's a "taker." Some things never change.

Like truth.

Johnny refuses to sing Nixon's requests, instead he sings a new song about the youth wanting truth

Sound familiar today?

Nixon lied all the time. But usually about big things, like the war winding down as opposed to amping up. Trump lies about everything. To the point where there is no truth. And the Democrats are afraid of the millennials, afraid to run to the left, but if they don't, the millennials don't vote.

They call that the generation gap. It's still alive today. Baby boomers are always talking about the bad work habits of millennials. Then again, the millennials are all about supporting charities while they struggle to pay off their student loans.

But let's not argue about today. Because it's a no-win situation. Used to be we all got our news from Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather and John Chancellor. Now we're in our silos. And misinformation reigns.

And there's no hope.

We're beholden to Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple. Apple seems to be a bit more on our side, but you can't challenge these behemoths, loved by Wall Street for their wealth creation.

But back then...

Many were only one step removed from poverty. Some were still in poverty. And the President was not a buffoon, but a skilled man with flawed ideas.

Then again, Nixon opened China and Trump wants to close it.

And most of the population never lived through the sixties, never mind the seventies, they don't know that Nixon had to go because the Republican Senators told him he had to. It's gonna go down the same way today, if it happens at all.

But in the sixties, the youth, with their long hair and their music, were aligned against the establishment. And Johnny Cash aligned with them. He felt young people did not get an honest shot based on their appearance, never mind their ideas. But long hair was a statement, face tattoos are a fad.

So if you're a boomer, you've got to see this documentary, it'll remind you of who you were and maybe still are.

If you want to learn about history, if you want to be inspired, if you're a young 'un, you should view this too.

Then again, the youth always think they know everything. They don't need any lessons.

But back then the youth stood up and had impact, they stopped the war.

And their leaders were musicians.

"What Is Truth": https://bit.ly/2LsjieW

"Welfare Cadillac": https://bit.ly/2vtBewK


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Artist Of The Year

Ed Sheeran.

In a business that only cares about money, he triumphed. He grossed $432.4 million dollars, and an incredible percentage of that was net, because just like a comedian, it's just Ed on stage, albeit with a bit of production, and think, about that, in an era where it's all about the spectacle, one guy, on stage, enthralled millions. And he did it with SONGS!

They tell us it's beats.

But they're wrong, it's songs, with melodies, that you can sing along to.

Not that Ed gets a concomitant proportion of press. There's no story there. Hard-working man pays his dues and triumphs, there is no penumbra, just the music!

But insiders hate him, if for no other reason than he's got so much success.

So what does Ed do? He just keeps on singing, he rarely reacts.

Meanwhile, those much less successful are involved in online feuds, proving once again that music triumphs over all.

And the press is clueless.

The press is all over Taylor Swift. She grossed $345.1 million, and did it with 2,888,892 tickets sold, as opposed to Ed's 4,860,482. But let's see if Taylor can do these numbers the next time, I doubt it, not only because of the failure of "Reputation" in the marketplace (it was a dud with little mindshare, don't tell me about the late single's success), but because she charged what the market will bear.

I.e. slow ticketing.

What a bunch of hogwash. You don't see Metallica doing this. Metallica is only about their fans, they're trying to protect their fans, Taylor is doing battle with scalpers, who cares?

And if you really want to do battle with scalpers, go paperless, just don't raise prices.

Because it hurts you. That's the dirty little secret. People are pissed.

People are nowhere near as pissed when they can't get into a sold-out show, they pay the scalpers or shut up and get wiser next time.

But by going to slow ticketing, you're just illustrating your greed. Which is fine for the Stones, they've been mercenaries for decades, but if you're not on your retirement tour, it's a bad idea. Money flows through your fingers, you want to be able to make more, credibility and identity are everything.

And that's what Sheeran sold.

He was the only act to go clean in stadiums in the U.K. That's how hot the demand was.

And he's in the game, making new hit music. Hell, they had to change the U.K. charts to undercut his dominance.

So...

First you've got to pay your dues. The empty suits propped up on hype rarely last.

Second, you've got to put out a steady stream of material.

Third, what kind of material is that? Classic or evanescent.

Be true to yourself, don't follow trends, and don't react. This is why all the popsters failed, they added beats, they tried to be hip-hop when they were not. And once you start reacting... You're playing into their hands, playing their game, and you can never win, like Elizabeth Warren with her Native American heritage and Obama with his birth certificate.

You play your own game.

And you don't need extras.

Music is enough to get rich. Gig merch is enough...t-shirts, hats, stickers. Once you start endorsing products, selling water, you're no longer a musician, you're a brand, and brands fall out of favor.

But art is forever.

Expect to hear Ed Sheeran's songs at weddings in decades hence.

As for the rest of the Spotify Top 50?

I doubt it.


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Spending To Dominance

Everything is on Netflix. Not only the Boss and Tay-Tay, but all the comedians, if you're susceptible to hype, you're aware that Ellen DeGeneres is launching a comedy special. How did this happen?

THEY SPENT!

Just like Michael Rapino. Word in the business was that he was overpaying for assets, that the company didn't show a profit, now Live Nation dominates the concert business. How did this happen? Rapino SPENT!

When he first took the gig, Rapino tried to instill order, tried to get acts to take less. But that didn't work. Then he flipped the script, realizing if he didn't pay the acts, someone else would. So, he gave them all the ticket revenue and made it up on ancillaries, sponsorship, ticketing...

And now Live Nation is the dominant player.

Not that Rapino gets enough publicity. That's all saved for the recording side, supposedly flashier, supposedly driving the business. Then again, unless you're a superstar, you're not getting rich on streaming, all the income is from the road, and that's what Live Nation pays for. Record labels are always trying to teach the acts a lesson as they rip them off. I'm not saying every concert promoter is honest to a fault, but there's a lot less scuttlebutt about being ripped-off by the promoter than the label, the record label's business model is theft, and they own the masters to boot, do you think this will go on forever? NO!

And Netflix was supposed to be a repository for reruns. After it was supposed to be a DVD by mail service.

Netflix switches to streaming and there are howls!

But unlike the music business, Reed Hastings, et al, knew that it's about on demand, no one wants to wait for anything these days, you deliver it immediately, and people will pay for convenience.

Then Netflix started making its own shows. HBO and Showtime laughed, they were the kings of the marketplace. Meanwhile, it's nearly impossible to get a show made on HBO, they green-light very little. Whereas Netflix gave you a blank slate, they were the most artist-friendly company in the business. So all the artists went there.

And there are a limited number of artists.

The canard was that the internet was going to surface an untold number of overlooked artists, those who were rejected by the system, but were deserving of attention. That turned out to be untrue. To garner mass attention is a skill very few have. Therefore, you've got to pay for it. And in Hollywood, if you've got a track record, studios/outlets OVERPAY for it. Better to invest on unfavorable terms with a proven winner than an unknown. (This is what the unknowns are unaware of, opportunity cost, risk...if you've got no track record, it's an uphill battle.)

Meanwhile, we kept hearing that licenses for old shows were gonna run out.

That's why Netflix made new shows, that they controlled.

And Disney is behind the 8 ball. Just because it's Disney... Can you say SONY? Used to be you overpaid for Sony product, now you buy Samsung and forget about it. There's a first mover advantage in tech, usually the established players never equal the dominance of the upstarts.

Meanwhile, AT&T buys Time Warner and tries to instill order. This is the lesson of Steve Jobs, beware of bringing in adult supervision, John Sculley could balance the books, he just could not innovate and inspire.

And all the time Wall Street says no.

Until it says yes.

The Street is not wise, the Street is to be played.

The monolith in this paradigm is Amazon, which spent and spent and was excoriated by the Street until it ended up dominant. Furthermore, Amazon made mistakes, and paid for them. Never mind the Fire phone, how about the changes in distribution, the opening and closing of warehouses... Isn't it funny that corporations can waste money on their way to dominance, but if the government wastes one dollar taxpayers are up in arms.

You've got to invest. Which Netflix has done. It now owns comedy, HBO is an also-ran, it's got boxing.

And networks overpay for sports and live events, as ratings tumble, hoping advertisers will continue to pay highly for an ever smaller sliver of the population, upon the argument that this is the best way to reach mass.

And Netflix has no advertising at all. People hate ads. And they'll pay to get rid of them, this is the essence of Spotify Premium and Sirius XM music channels. Asking people to sit and wait in an on demand world is anathema.

But the bottom line is dominance pays dividends. In costs, in attention, in furtherance of your mission. You lose money until you rake it in. Not that every startup succeeds, then again, they are oftentimes undercapitalized with a suspect mission and they're not playing for all the marbles.

That's the essence of today, running the table, otherwise you're an also-ran. And it's gonna get worse. We've seen consolidation in tech platforms/companies, one movie wins every week, the long tail is for suckers, people living in backwaters trying to stay alive.

Oh, maybe you say you're happy in your backwater, but you're lying, everybody wants to reach more people, everybody wants to make more money, and in today's world, if you're not busy succeeding, you're failing.

So, Reed Hastings had the vision. And he raised the money. And he led the audience.

This applies across the board, this is why television is decimating film and music in mindshare and money. And it's why video games and esports are so big.

Then again, this world is one of winners and losers, and most are afraid to play the game.

Meanwhile, there are no jobs guaranteed for life and oftentimes you can't make it on your salary. So if you personally are not fighting to get ahead, you're falling behind.

That's America today.


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Bob Geldof Part 2-SiriusXM This Week

Recorded live in Dublin, Ireland.

Tune in romorrow, Tuesday December 18th, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive


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Mailbag

Hi Bob,
Long time since I've seen you.

This piece you have written here is right on. It is indeed incredible how there're posters and/or pictures & of course his music in almost every part of the world....some in countries (Nepal for one of many examples) where I wonder how did they 'connect' with him.

A year or so after his death, I went down to visit, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the Havasupi tribe , with Bob's
Mum to show her how her son was virtually worshipped by the 300 or so that were still left. She was so elated to see how they loved her son. She was his anchor.

I think this is the first time that you have written about him &
it's a great piece.

One love. Chris Blackwell

_____________________________________

Hi Bob,

Wicked review.

When Irv Azoff's camp asked me to help with Who Shot the Sherrif, I knew it would be great, since he was involved in the amazing 'History of the Eagles'.

Who Shot delves deep into the politics of the era and shows that Bob was way more than a musician, but a powerful political force that the Jamaican government, the CIA and the Cubans were afraid of.

Something not mentioned in the film is that Fidel Castro offered for Bob to come to Cuba after he was shot at his home in Kingston. Bob knew he would be safe in Cuba, but only decided to go to London instead when his wife Rita insisted that the entire family would be blacklisted in the USA for the rest of time.

Bob saw himself as an evangelist sent here to uplift the downtrodden and underprivileged with equal rights and justice. He said the music was just a means to get the message to the people. He helped us to see the world a little clearer.

Long live the Mighty Marley.

Native Wayne Jobson
St. Ann
Jamaica

_____________________________________

Subject: L and K" Zero.L.C" 0LC

We Loving Called the Union; The Leper and The Krab.
But Hector Morales was so well worth the effort..
But that was '69: Early Days

Chip Monck

_____________________________________

Thanks for writing about Nate and the Night Sweats. Very deserving of your kind and appropriate words.
I think you made a mistake not mentioning their great producer, Richard Swift—the late Richard Swift, who lost a battle with addiction this past summer. Look up Swift and all the great artists he's worked with. Certainly apropos given the piece on Todd Rundgren.
For those interested, Swift's family has set up the FUG YEP Soundation, to preserve his memory and artistic legacy (www.fugyep.org).
Swift was also a member of The Shins and The Black Keys, to say nothing of his most recent solo record, The Hex (his first solo record in years), which garnered a lot of critical praise.
Be well,
Matt Arnett

_____________________________________

Subject: Re: The Azoff Tape

I flew out to Champaign to see REO Speedwagon in 1970 and Irving met me at the airport.
He was managing REO and Dan Fogelberg at the time, and as we walked to
the Red Lion, he told me all the ambitious things he was going to achieve for himself and his acts in the next 6 months.
I thought to myself "Who does this guy think he is? Superman?" I signed REO to Epic, and after 6 months had passed, Irving
had accomplished everything he said he would -- and much, much more. I had to conclude that apparently he was indeed
Superman.

Tom Werman

_____________________________________

Subject: Re: Bohemian Chanukah

Well, the group started ~15 years ago when our director Mike and a few of his friends graduated from Binghamton University and moved to the Big Apple. The new-grads were looking for high-quality Jewish A Cappella, but the NY scene was flooded with "improv" Jewish groups who would find themselves at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs making up arrangements on the spot. That didn't cut it for them musically, so they decided to make their own group which was designed to be a cut above the standard NYC scene and to become more of a performance-based high-quality group. Over the years, members have come and gone to pursue medical, law, or other professional careers. Others "aged out" to spend more time with the growing families. Our director, Mike Boxer, though has been the rock of the group writing the vast majority of our original music and arrangements while raising 2 kids and holding a full time-job at J.P. Morgan.

As for the current group, we have a few full-time musicians teaching in various Jewish Day Schools, working at camps, running wedding bands and the like. Others have full-time jobs in sales, education, and finance. We all sang in various groups in college and were essentially recruited by Mike or other members in some capacity. I've personally been singing with some of the guys since early high-school, but only joined Six13 by invitation/audition after graduation from college in 2013. We like to unofficially call ourselves somewhat of a Jewish Post-Collegiate Super-group. Trust me, we know how little that means and how silly that sounds.

One of the most interesting things about the group, in my opinion, is that we have members who affiliate with pretty much every sect of Judaism: Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, and Orthodox. We have a member who's studying to be a Rabbi at a Modern Orthodox synagogue, one who worked Union for Reform Judaism, and others who have taught and teach in various schools and camps with ranging affiliation. To us, music has been a universal language that has helped soothe some intra-relgious rifts that have been plaguing American Jewry. We respect each other's interpretation of the religion and have become best friends with people whom we we may otherwise have avoided or even derided through a love of music.

We all make time to rehearse, travel, record, and perform because it's an important way for us to connect to our culture and religion. We all feel extremely lucky to have the opportunity to make music with some of our best friends and to share that with communities across the world. We've traveled to little-known Jewish communities in Omaha, NE to massive ones in LA, Chicago, NY, and even internationally to Vienna, Winnipeg and Berlin just to name a few.

We can't wait to see what this new influx of attention will do to increase the opportunity to bring our live and recorded to even more Jewish (and non-Jewish) communities across the world in the face of rising antisemitism to show the world that that being Jewish is something that we can and should be proud of. I hope that the exposure to our Jewish music can help bridge the gaps that are being created by the "othering" rhetoric and sentiment that has been gripping both our country and the world.

As for the music - we're going to keep making music that we like while having fun and being our typical goofball selves. After all, that's why the group was started in the first place.

Yup - we're on Spotify. Here are some of my favorites:
Gam Ki Eilech (2017)
Lecha Dodi (2005)
Shema (2013)
Al Hanisim (2007)
Ki L'olam Chasdo (2008)

Thanks again for the write-up. It means a lot to us.

Be well,
Josh Sauer

_____________________________________

I think you'd be interested to know that bass player Joe Osborn passed away yesterday. He was mostly a behind-the-scenes figure, but you can see him on YouTube in clips from the Ozzie and Harriet show; he got his start with Ricky Nelson, played on "Travelin' Man", "Hello Mary Lou", et. al.
Joe's tone and his groove were always impeccable, and even when he played on a Pop record, like with The Carpenters, the 5th Dimension, et. al., Joe always played like a Rock and Roller. You could say the he was present at the creation of Rock and Roll: before he played bass he was a great Rockabilly lead guitarist, played on some classic Dale Hawkins records during the '50s.

I played a gig tonight with The Smithereens; before the show we were talking about Joe, name-checking our favorite performances by him:

"I Saw Her Again", "Words Of Love", Mamas and Papas (he's on all their records)
"Poor Side Of Town", Johnny Rivers
"Ventura Highway", America
"Superstar", The Carpenters
"Everything That Touches You", The Association
"Bridge Over Troubled Water", Simon and Garfunkel
"Stoned Soul Picnic", The 5th Dimension (he's on all their records)

Anyway, he's one of those who's energy and creativity and singularity helped create the soundtrack of our lives. R.I.P. Joe Osborn

Marshall Crenshaw

_____________________________________

From: Lenny Ibizarre
Subject: Re: Missing The Mania

Heya Bob, how's tricks?
Hope all good.
Couldn't help laughing at your post on video gaming.
Fun fact: I have 23 tracks on the latest release of Gran Turismo Sport, the racing game.
I did all the menus, Lewis Hamilton did the steering wheel calibration.
In the first quarter of 2018, we sold over 3,5 million copies, meaning, I've sold over 80,000,000 songs in the first quarter.
That's 4 times more songs than Bruno Mars sold all last year, in one quarter; I song 16 times faster than him, and some 25,000,000 songs more than Ed did all last year.
Heres the fun facts:
1. I am, track-for-track, the HIGHEST selling artist on the planet right now.
2. Due to the rush of Xmas sales, I am also the FASTEST selling artist in the world right now.
3. But because it is a flat fee (video games O.M.) I am also, track-for-track, the LOWEST paid artist in the world right now.
4. And the fact that I had to tell you that makes me the most UNKNOWN and obscured artist in the world right now.
Those chuckles will keep me warm this winter, as I fly WAY below the radar...
Well, thought you'd have a laugh as well, eh?
Love and light to Felice and your good self.
Rebel Hearts Forever
Lenny

_____________________________________

Subject: Re: Capturing The Zeitgeist

hi Bob,

Nail on the head yet again.

One of the most amazing things about the beatles was they broke up at the height of the creativity/fame/impact/social importance. As a result the 'people' have spent the resulting 50 odd years devouring what they created, acknowledging how they shifted the goalposts creatively and socially and generally continuing to put them on the highest musical pedestal of all.

It was an unintended masterstroke to break up at the time - just as to a lesser extent it was for the sex pistols when they disintegrated after just one long player. Re SNL; the law of diminishing returns reared it ugly head many, many years ago. Its been stale, self-adulatory, repetitive and, thus, truly conservative. It should have been 'broken up' a long time ago. Nowadays it serves only to damage the thrilling, edge of the seat, hair raising work done in its early years for which it was rightly lauded and feared in equal measure.

somebody please terrorise us with your newness

fachtna o ceallaigh

_____________________________________

Subject: Warner Music, copyright disputes, and my meager Instagram following

Dear Bob,

Thanks to your critiques of the dinosaurs of the music industry over the past few years I was bemused, but not completely shocked, when Warner Music requested the removal of my year-old instagram video of the NYC marathon because "Eye of the Tiger" is audibly blaring off the public speakers (see attached screenshot).

I don't care to dispute the removal with Warner Music or Instagram (I stopped practicing law precisely to avoid that type of brain damage). I just don't understand why any record company interested in making money or staying relevant would devote resources to engaging in legal disputes with individuals in order to systematically remove clips of their own content from the public consciousness.

Anyway, I had a laugh, and I thought you might too.

All the best,
Tim Pistell

_____________________________________

From: Chris Florio
Subject: Re: Missing The Mania

Hi Bob,

You really do have your finger on the pulse of a number of things that are very important.
For entertainment spending, this was the first year that gaming ($116B) surpassed TV ($105B), box office ($41B) and music ($17B) for entertainment dollars.
It is significant because this gaming revenue is just the tip of the iceberg, the very beginning. Go and join one of these big name games even for a few minutes. Go take a look at the leaderboard in Fortnight, MobileStrike (last year), GTA (new), or any other top 50 "free" game the top players have spent thousands of dollars on the free game. I am not suggesting everyone can spend thousands on a game. But any player can buy magic beans in game, tonight, while drinking, when stuck home because of snow, not have to wait for Friday in line for the movie to come out, or the new season of TV series and its closer than my casino. Instant spend, instant gratification, thats America, obviously not everyone spends thousands but all the premium, needed stuff cost beans. Its free money for Apple and Google they wont complain if you want to be the level 100 top gun, instant purchases are great for them, they make it as easy as humanly possibly to press buy. Maybe you cant spend thousands but you can drop $5, $10, $20 or $50 or X. Games are very addictive, very social, very fun, and while the per player percentage who spends (penetration) is low currently it will change, subscriptions to better stuff, micro purchases, BoGo, if you can convert a small percentage of 200M players thats printing money or beans.

You touched on some other good stuff but just wanted get back to you on this for now.

Best
Chris

_____________________________________

From: mark jacob
Subject: Re: E-Mail Of The Day

Hi Bob,
Giant thanks for posting this spectacular letter.
You are doing a great service for your subscribers.
I am going to read this letter to my 13 year old tech whiz son who
does not have my obsession with cars. Only one car brand exists for
him and that is Tesla. I often say the following describing the difference in us:
I have "gas in my veins" and my son has "volts in his veins"
Only one thing in the materialistic world captures him and that is the smart phones.
When I explained to him the details of car ownership: registration, insurance, oil changes,
car washing, angst over door dings...etc - He has no desire to following my path.
Times are a changing and it is really evident when you spend time with generation Z.
All my best and thanks again for your work.
Cheers,
Mark

_____________________________________

Subject: Re: Re-Kid Rock/Joy Behar

Hi Bob,
In reading some of these emails one thing is clear to me... none of these people have been to a Kid Rock show lately.... or maybe never.
I went out on a few dates this summer to study his live audience as I was also studying the habits of his fan base online.

1. This guy kills it live, everybody has a great time! 10-15k plus fans per night? Not many "Rockers" are doing that these days.

2. MOST of his fans have been to multiple shows

3. He's got Some of the most loyal fans I've ever studied. I saw their faces, I've watched their live-streams. From Bikers, nurses, students, teachers, rockers, KIDS yes teens! all races all ages are standing on their chairs during his shows. This is a movement now. It's clear when you really study his fans.

4. His brand is expanding faster then ever before, and his fan base is growing .... again... his brand extensions are all succeeding and more to come. This train ain't stopping anytime soon

All based on unadulterated American Badass Rock and Roll FUN. Couldn't be more simple. everything he does is authentic, and people love that. He's the real thing. He loves his fans. We need more artists like him.

Brian Nelson

Ps. My 16 year old son and his snobby rap loving friends LOVE Kid Rock. Have you seen the millions of "Party memes?" With Kid Rock's face / lyric on them? Trust me he's on their playlists.

_____________________________________

From: Dave Wakeman
Subject: Re: GM

Bob-

Nice one!

I recognized the government's beef with Elon Musk as a play out of fear. The truth is that the current government couldn't care less about stock manipulation and protecting the public, they've shown it in every action they take.

They are specifically worried about protecting their own interests.

The biggest threat is that Tesla is the future and that is scary to all of these people that have a vested interest in fossil fuels and the old economies.

I just got a Tesla about a month ago and there is really no going back. It isn't just the best car I've ever had, it is designed to make you fall in love with it. I took two trips from DC to NYS in the first month I had the car and the autopilot technology is going to be a world beater.

And, having just come back from London, again, you are right...the Europeans have already lapped us on making wise environmental policy good for business. If you drive an electric car, you don't pay congestion pricing fees in London, you find free parking where you can charge your electric car, you get incentives for driving electric everywhere.

I'm preaching to the choir, but that's right...GM is just being wise, they know that the future is coming and that if you aren't creating it, you are a victim.

Rock on!

Dave

_____________________________________

From: Bernice Lewis
Subject: Re: The Luck Of The Draw

"We've de-emphasized songwriting."

Boy, have you got that right! I've been teaching songwriting and performing at Williams and as a visiting artist at a few other colleges for about 25 years and the change is so obvious. The stuff kids bring to me these last few years is almost formless, lacks strong story line, has significantly less poetic device, and often there are little or no chord changes. I often wonder if the form that I love so deeply and that has served us so well for so long is becoming obsolete because of the emphasis on electronic beats and pads, spoken word, collaborative creative efforts in the name of publishing royalties, the castration of the major labels and the corporatization of music distribution, etc. I ask my kids what they think they will take with them into their dotage? Where are their "Beatles, Joni, CSN&Y, Jackson, Paul Simon, etc?"

That isn't to say that I don't have success in pushing the more talented ones forward into writing songs with depth…several former students of mine (Darlingside, Caitlin Canty, Molly Ventor,) are doing quite well out there, which leads me to have a glimmer of hope that the song will come back around again, once we have moved past our cultural infatuation with computers and once again sit down with a guitar or piano, a cheap spiral notebook, a pen, and the time to process our thoughts, emotions, and experiences.

I am currently being called in to another college as a consultant an instructor. They want to build an MFA in songwriting…something that doesn't seem to exist. Since it's become pretty much impossible to get "cuts" in Nashville, to get discovered as a songwriter in LA, to sell our work in a way that allows us to support ourselves, I think it's possible that a program like this might fly. In the very least, it can create artist educators and help the next generation of troubadours to think for themselves.

Sorry for going on and on Bob…you touched a nerve for me on this one.

And I've always loved Bonnie. Every single album she's put out into the world.

_____________________________________

Subject: Re: Missing The Mania

Hi Bob,
You're right about songs!

Tonight I had dinner with my 80 yr old father Johnny Trudell in Detroit. We were talking about the importance of songs. He said the entire music business was built on good songs.

He played trumpet, arranged, contracted every important Motown recording made in Detroit....hundreds of hit songs. The man and his friends made history. He said back at Motown...Detroit....Berry Gordy provided the musicians with a lot of time in the studio to be creative. He said it was the key to their success of the songs....time allowed to play and adjust the songs. Constantly arranging the songs.

Johnny said, around '73 when Motown left Detroit and moved to Los Angeles the sessions became about studio time clocks, business...schedules...and money. The magic of songs made in Detroit was left behind. 50 years later what remain most popular are the Detroit Motown songs. 24 hours a day in every city in every country you can find a Motown song playing.

Unknown to the public there is a Motown musician recording of 15 original songs that exists. It remains unheard and unreleased. These important recordings are the last historical documentation of the Motown sound and songs made in Detroit.

Tonight my father and I listened to the first mix of one of those original songs, first time he's heard the Motown sound since he help invent it. He was smilin' and groovin' for 3 minutes and he said, that's a hit song!

Best, Steve Trudell

_____________________________________

Subject: Re: GM - check out the CFO

Great note. Couldn't agree more.

Mary Barra is showing some cojones. Did you see who her partner in crime is? Dhivya Suryadevara, a 39 year old Harvard MBA immigrant from Chennai, India. First woman CFO in company's 110 year history and GM is only the second company in Fortune 500 with a woman in top two jobs (Hershey being the other). This woman grew up in a single parent household after her father died when she was young.

Such an impressive young woman, such a great story, and yet another example of how America really is already great.

For sure she has been key to this new GM strategy to save the company.

I love this story especially because it is such a perfect example of how this country is so richly rewarded by immigrants, especially ones who come here dirt poor like this woman.

Imagine when Trump finds out about her and sees her name, then he'll really start tweeting.

In the meantime, God Bless America.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/14/meet-general-motors-new-39-year-old-cfo-dhivya-suryadevara.html

Edward Ryan

_____________________________________

From: amanda palmer
Subject: Re: Sideshow/Main Show

i've learned the span of peoples attention is now 3 days where it used to be 3 weeks. but i learned that a few years ago.

when you are a word-of-mouth sideshow artist in a social media world, you have to give people things they can share. real controversial or potentially upsetting art is hard for most average people to share: they don't want to offend aunt myra (or worse, their over-judgemental bitchy friend) on facebook.

speaking of facebook, the algorithms there have officially asphyxiated small artists and small businesses - we brought our fans, and then we trusted that the lines of communication would stay open. and we are getting disconnected unless we pay. every artist i know is confronting this right now and nobody knows what to do.
i don't do paid posts on moral grounds. (i am of the kurt cobain school). my posts now reach almost nobody where they used to reach hundreds of thousands of people.

i'm just working all the time and picking up my steady patreon check silently while the music industry cluelessly burns.

my album is out in march. i think it's fantastic. so will my fans. the mainstream media will probably ignore it. i won't care. i will expect nothing and keep working.

x

_____________________________________

Since you wrote about Matt Nathanson previously, thought you'd enjoy his homage to Def Leppard:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5OSOKMzAjzIs4PNwb1cqYK?si=zoublCiTSDaAX0o4423bpg

Rather than any commentary from me on its brilliance, here are some words from Joe Elliott:
https://twitter.com/DefLeppard/status/1005150854129897472

Much Peace,
Ayappa Biddanda

_____________________________________

Back in the days of Def Leppard's rise, I was an avid concert goer. Across many genres. All types of venues. When Def Leppard played in the round in Montreal... I don't think I've ever heard a louder audience to this day. Loudest crowd ever. In fact, if I recall correctly, a while later the band was interviewed in Metal Edge magazine, and had mentioned that Montreal show as one of the better crowds. For me? Loudest crowd I've ever heard to this day.

They deserve this. Let's celebrate. Then, let's get Iron Maiden into the RRHOF next.

Thanks for this great piece, Bob!
MITCH JOEL
Six Pixels Group

_____________________________________

Let the truth be told... the best Def Leppard album is "High N' Dry"! Ask any real fan like me.
At the time of the album's release Polygram Records was going through another reorganization. It was
ugly... lots of bands really got the shaft.... We were all lucky we still had jobs... at least I did..
The song that broke though and carried Def Leppard to "Pyromania" was the quintessential power ballad,
"Bringin' on the Heartache"... All the radio consultants claimed that the record was a smash... thank you Lee Abrams
and Jeff Pollack.. It spent months on the AOR airplay charts... It was like a cough you couldn't get rid of...

Kindest Cheers,

"Def" Laufer

_____________________________________

Interesting that any discussion about the Hall is more about who's still being snubbed and that's what makes it a worthless enterprise.
Def were made by Mutt but if you saw them live at their peak they delivered on every level. First act I ever saw who played in the round.

I went to Polygram to take the head of album promotion gig and doing my first stock taking of the new releases (thank you Brenda), there was the new Hysteria album. I thought if it was half as good as Pyromania, we still had a winner. It took barely a couple of needle drops to pinch myself at such an opportunity. To clarify, Hysteria was a blow out right out of the box at album radio, granted the singles did take a bit of time at Top40.

As for Todd, he has established his talent, versatility and genius over the years. The HofF needs him more than he needs them. He doesn't give a shit. I'll go see him anytime anyplace.

John Brodey

_____________________________________

I walked into the Sound Shop in Nashville, TN in the late Spring of 1983 and bought my first-ever cassette tapes - Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Def Leppard's "Pyromania." At that moment, the two most mind-blowing things in the world to me were MJ Moonwalking to "Billie Jean" on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special and the massive hook factory rock glory of "Photograph." Those two things were shaking culture at the time. Makes perfect sense to me that they'll share space in the Hall.

Cary Brothers

_____________________________________

I was a personality on a flamethrower CHR in 1980 something when I first played "Animal."
My God. The sound. And my station was the flagship for high end audio chain technology. We had invested something like $200,000 on a brand new audio chain. So when I dropped the laser on "Animal" it was like the threesome I always wanted.
I had heard "Pyromania" before and really liked "Photograph" but the album didn't hit me quite like "Hysteria" It was just bubbling with something I could never describe until today, after I read your post. Thanks Bob!
Keith Michaels

_____________________________________
great piece Bob....but for me, their first album On Through the Night is still the one I gravitate to. I was in a band in high school and we thought we were all that. but then here comes Def Leppard, these guys were my age at the time they released this album, and I so realized how far my own band had to go to sound like this....I mean seriously, think about these guys being 17-18 years old and delivering a sound and a record that explodes out of the speakers and punches you in the face like this does right from the first few chords of "Rock Brigade." This was Def Leppard before all the hits and slick production. this was a raw hard rock band with soaring harmonies that were doing this basically as kids
https://open.spotify.com/album/7AWItpp4bk6lA1wFtcfWRj
Mike Farley

_____________________________________

Amen Bob!

I've probably gone through 6 CD copies of Hysteria in my cars/suv's over the years. I crank it up everytime I wanna feel that Adrenaline again. That rush of youth that makes the hair on my arms stand up. EVERY TIME.

And yet I still had to tweet at my 24 hour news station yesterday for spelling their fucking name wrong.

Keep rockin brother.
Jay Michaels

The Rush with Ryan & Jay
Newstalk 1010 Toronto

_____________________________________

Yes Bob, Def Leppard do deserve it. 10 years ago, they were a strong theatre level band in the UK, now they are selling out arenas and doing the best business they have ever done - 130,000 tickets on the current tour and still counting, as well as headlining the 100,000 capacity Download Festival for the third time next year. Why? Because they never gave up and they give the audiences what they want.

Andy Copping

_____________________________________

There are two types of people: those that love Def Leppard and those that lie and say they do not.

The writing and production is unparalleled, unless of course it's from Mutt and another artist.

James Lucente

_____________________________________

Boy, did you hit the nail on the head with this one. My breakthrough band-and the track that launched me from Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Davis, Coltrane, and Muddy Waters into a musical world I would later know and appreciate more intimately.

"Photograph" was just scraping along under the radar in 1983 when I was a young music teacher at an all boys' prep school in the Midwest. Before and after rehearsals for our school musical, I let my freak flag fly and had the kids crank up "Photograph" on the big speakers in the massive auditorium Hallmark built. We stepped into sacrilegious and I loved it. That behavior should have cost me my job but I didn't care, the music was just too good on that sound system.

That spring, when Def Leppard came by our town opening for Billy Squire on the Pyromania Tour, in an act that would have maybe landed me in jail today, several of those boys scooped me up from my apartment one weekday night and took me to the show. We skipped Billy Squire, dashing to the Hyatt Regency so that we could meet the band in the lobby. I was their teacher but that night I was a 16 year old boy.

When the group came down to meet a few fans in the lobby, the kids threw me in front of the band and said "This is our music teacher." Joe Elliot stepped up and responded "Well, I'll bet you don't play music like ours." To which the kids responded, "Yes, she does and threw them the T shirt they had bought me which every band member signed, even the drummer who subsequently lost his arm in a motorcycle accident.

The next day we proudly wore our T shirts to school over our collared oxford shirts, the required uniform of the school. The headmaster ( who was paying me less than the men) couldn't prove I had been anywhere with anyone - and I flaunting my signed T shirt all over campus.

For years and years, I told the story about my breakthrough from the world of serious music to rock and roll because of "Photograph"..and how Def Leppard was my break through band, the band that convinced me that rock and roll was really not shit, it was as exuberant as any of the other genres I knew and taught. It offered a feeling of freedom, emotion and energy apart from the intellectual and more controlled emotions in classical music and jazz. It was well written, well executed and approached with a particular talent and exceptional skill. "Photograph" helped me to discover that ALL MUSIC was equally expressive, emotive, meaningful and artistic. I stopped looking in disdain at popular music and accepted that great music didn't only exist in the concert and recital halls.

And more importantly, from that point forward, I was able to listen in retrograde to popular music with an accepting and appreciate perspective, studying everything I had missed while in pursuit of "serious" music degrees.

When people from the "classical" music world ask me how I made the transition and how I could even accept working with popular music, I tell them that I learned to listen to music through the ears of a teenage boy and that is still how I listen to music. "Photograph" provided me an exit as a "musical snob." Several years later, I learned to appreciate that record even more with new professional ears when my record producer clients and colleagues pointed out how the intricacies in "Photograph" and other Mutt Lange tracks were masterful from a sonic perspective.

One afternoon, the story came full circle. When I was in meetings at Epic Records, I happened to be in the late, great Frankie La Rocka's office when Joe Elliot walked by. Frankie grabbed me and ran into the hall to say hello and to reintroduce me to him...and of course, I recounted the story of how I'd met him years earlier as a young teacher at that hotel in the Midwest during the Billy Squire tour with a bunch of boys who dragged me to the show.

How ironic and amazing life is!

To this day, I cannot resist it...even if it will blast out my ear drums in an enclosed car.....every time I hear "Photograph," I still crank the shit out of that song, roll down the window in blithering cold and pump my fist in the air. If I can do that with Beethoven's 7th, I can do that with "Photograph."

Congratulations, Def Leppard - you deserve it!!!

I wanna touch you...ooooh your photograph.

Patti Jones

_____________________________________

From: Ralph Simon

I sent Mutt Lange your Def Leppard piece. Here is his response FYI.

"Thanx Ralph , a true Mensch is Bob. Safe travels , luv Mutt"

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