Mailbag

From: "Greg R"
Subject: The Hairfarmers in Whistler.

Hello Mr. Lefsetz,

Greg here from The Hairfarmers. (the husky singer/conga player)

I've received a few emails this am from friends in the music business that get your "letter". One of them forwarded me the article about your day in Whistler yesterday.

I've done some reading up on you and have now subscribed to The Lefsetz Letter.

I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the mountain and had a good time at our show! We're honored that you mentioned us…much appreciated!

We have just returned from playing a private event in Sydney, Australia so we were amped up to be playing back on home turf.

The Hairfarmers have been playing together for 20 years. We still perform around 200 shows per year and yes, we still have big fun doing it!

Marcel has been a fan/friend for many years. He ALWAYS gets the party started and elevates the room.

Yes, the T-Swift song was meant to be pure parody…you got it! Haha! A few years ago someone bet us that we couldn't learn a Taylor Swift song and perform it at our show the next day. We did, and now fans request it once in a while. I'm not sure if that means we "won" that bet…lol.

Again, thank you for your kind words.

All the best…

Cheers,
Greg Reamsbottom
The Hairfarmers
www.thehairfarmers.com

________________________________________

From: Joanne Byrne | Presence PR
Subject: Re: Buble At Staples

Am in the lucky position that over the years working in PR I have met many
many well known people from the world of entertainment. I have a long list
of people who underwhelmed and only two that totally exceeded my
expectations. Steven Spielberg AND Michael Buble. That?s it.
Michael surrounds himself with people are simply good people. And that for
me is often the sign of what the person is and stands for. Met him at UK X
Factor and was invited into his winnebago with his team for a chat as he
did a short charity piece. He did it with humour, honesty and ensured that
everyone got what they needed.
He was a totally and utter gent. In a world where they are few and far
between.

Joanne Byrne
PS one of the best things I have seen ever is Michael in Aviva Stadium in
Dublin asking 50,000 plus crowd to all be quiet and he started to sing. NO
MIKE. NOTHING. Just his voice. And it travelled to every corner of the
ground.

________________________________________

From: TS
Subject: Re: Buble At Staples

When they use the second stage, the PA is reconfigured so as to make the "sound" come from where they are- rather than behind at the mainstage

It really is effective at making the feel right

Cool huh?

To my knowledge nobody else has done that-
Yet

________________________________________

Re: John Kilzer

Thank you, Bob, for writing such a nice piece on John Kilzer and his magical song "Memory In The Making." It was my first real job in the music business 30 years ago for Geffen Records doing local promotion in San Francisco, and this amazing song drops in my lap. I loved it so much and got all my radio guys to play it. It was John Kilzer's boyish and loveable charm that made everyone fall in love with him and root for him like an arena hero. I was a young guy in the business and was so happy to have a connection with a guy that made such magical music. I was so sad to hear he had left us on this earth...some how you think these magical artists will be with us forever. A song that connects with you is magic for life. It is a reminder we need to give thanks to all of those that touch us with great music...may they all live forever in our hearts and stereos.

Warren Christensen

________________________________________

Subject: Spotify is earning me $400 / month. It's great.

Hey Bob,

Artists should be truth tellers— not hustling entrepreneurs. And Spotify (mainly Discover Weekly) is making that possible for me.

I don't tour, I don't sell merch and I'm not on a label. I don't want to do that stuff. I just want to make music. Preferably in my evenings when I'm done work at my day job.

I wrote a post about how I earn $400 / month on Spotify and it kind of blew up on Hacker News and Reddit yesterday. Thought you might find it interesting. I'm obviously not getting rich with Spotify but I am making music for people who want to hear it. It's the best fucking thing ever. If you want to feel good about the internet in 2019, I suggest releasing music. People will bowl you over with their kindness and positivity.

Thank you for all your writing. It's sincerely re-oriented me many times when I lost sight of what really matters :)

- Steve Benjamins
stevebenjamins.com

________________________________________

From: Jerry Greenberg
Subject: Re: Waiting For A Girl Like You

Some info for you. Mick and Lou writing in a studio and a hot girl came into the control booth. That's where the title came from. Best. Jerry g

________________________________________

From: phil thornalley
Subject: hi bob

Hi Bob,

My friend Clyde Lieberman shared the warm piece you wrote about the TT's 'Hold Me Now'.
I was the engineer and mixer on that record.. so I was pleased to see you give it some retrospective glory.

The producer of the record, the late Alex Sadkin, was a beautiful man and a brilliant mixer who taught me most of my tricks.

I went onto enjoy most of my career as a producer and songwriter ( 'Torn', bryan adams, the cure, blah blah).

And, should you ever want to hear a record inspired by 70s Todd Rundgren, here it is.
iTunes: https://ljx.cc/AstralDriveiTunes

Shameless plug over.

Kind regards,

Phil

________________________________________

Subject: Re: Waiting For A Girl Like You

Bob,

I've been a fan of your letters for sometime now. It's so great to see you write about the Thompson Twins in this way. I recently toured with Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins as his bass player and playing 'Hold Me Now' was a special treat every night. The audience lit up when we did. It's amazing to see the power of a good song, a hit, transform people back to that place in time where it was so special. It's stood the test of time too; it was an honour to play it every night. Tom is also a really special person; an incredibly talented, kind soul.

Vicky Warwick

________________________________________

Subject: Tom Zutaut

Bob
I can't speak to all the back and forth on the Crue Movie…I thought it was a hoot, personally but I can comment on Tom Zutant. Tom was way more talented than he was portrayed in the film.
I think Alan and Tom pretty much summed up Tom's role in signing the Crue to Elektra but I want to add to that. In addition to Tom's role in signing Motley Crue, he and Alan were also involved in getting Dokken signed to Elektra and when Tom went off to Geffen, he signed Tesla and Guns. All 4 of those acts went Platinum (3 multi platinum - don't think Don and co ever did more than 1,000,000) and for those 12-15 years, I stack Tom's ears against anyone's. In an era of legendary A+R guys, Tom stood with the best.
One day, hopefully soon, some one will document what guys like Tom, John Kalodner, Gary Gersh did.
Best
Peter
Peter Mensch
Q Prime

________________________________________

From: Allan Arkush
Subject: Re: The Motley Crue Movie

As rock bios go, this one is in the bottom half. More exploitation of events than a dramatizing of them to get a better understanding of the music & musicians. After the first half hour it had all been said and the rest was more of the same. The tragedy's were treated superficially and you could see them coming 3 scenes away. That was where the real story was but the film makers weren't that interested. Sure they were wild men at the birth of a rock scene but as such it is not at all in the league of Alex Cox's Sid & Nancy. And Sid couldn't play worth shit. Yes, there were some scenes of RnR excitement and it captured the spirit of destruction and carnal joy that's part of the Rock legacy but paper thin. Not even as good as Bohemian Rhapsody which except for the songs and a great performance was a mediocre cop out.

Rock bios are a tough genre, I have made a couple and I watched this one with hopeful expectations. I read the book, an early script and was excited by the possibilities. But now I'm disappointed by what I saw. The movie is not as good as the band and the band is……………….not as good as ……………fill in the blank.

________________________________________

From: Andrew Lee
Subject: Re: Def Leppard On Howard Stern

For me it was the 80's . . . I would plug my Kramer Floyd Rose signature series (still have it) into my Peavey Backstage Plus (wish I still had it), put the amp on the window sill facing OUT of the house, dial everything way up and think about the whole block hearing me play along with Jimmy Page, Randy Rhoads, Kirk Hammett, Viv and Phil, and everything in between. My brother was (is) a bass player and he would do the same thing from his bedroom next door and we would jam together from our separate rooms. One day the kid who lived on the corner came by and turns out he was a drummer with a kit in his basement. Voila: the band was born, for what it was worth. Can that kind of magic happen on Instagram? :-(

________________________________________

From: martin elbourne
Subject: Re: Mailbag-Woodstock 50 & Lang

A few thoughts
In no particular order
Getting a good line up with sensible budget really difficult these days
Particularly for one one off event with poor history
And nothing like say glastonbury media coverage and history
Its not just oldsters like me who don't want to camp
Its youngsters
City based festivals growing
Camping based ones declining
Glasto exception
I wouldn't contemplate going to a one off event that involved camping
You know it will be shit
And all the non music stuff will be shit
That's what glasto famous for
It takes years of dedicated people creating cool stuff
You need to know the site the people
Audience need to know where they camp meet up etc etc
From this side of pond sounds like really bad idea
Michael lang might be nice person but no michael eavis
I could say more

P.S. And next year glasto 50th
But we will be good

________________________________________

From: Wade Hines
Subject: Re: Mailbag-Woodstock 50 & Lang


Lang is definitely full of shit. I was at Woodstock 94 and it was an drunken acid drenched frat boy affair. I saw rape and abuse happening all over the place and tried to stop it where I could. I remember watching Crosby Stills & Nash look down from the stage in dismay as drunken bozos were slamming dancing in a mosh while yelling "WOODSTOCK!!!" at the top of their lungs. I remember having to put out beautiful large artful ticket in a box when we entered (they didn't tear it or give us even a section of it) and then seeing 'Original Woodstock 94 Tickets' on sale on QVC for a large amount of money a couple of years later. The only thing that saved it from being a dark affair was Peter Gabriel showing up at the very end offering a glimmer of hope. Of course there was other good music sprinkled in both old & new at the time, but all in all it painted a grim picture of the future that would get worse by Woodstock 99. Woodstock 50 is a limp lame lineup and Lang cannot righteously posture himself out of that reality.

________________________________________

Subject: Re: Mailbag-Woodstock 50 & Lang

In the summer of '69, a bunch of us were hanging out on the boardwalk of Va. Beach, VA. It was like characters from a Springsteen song, or better yet, a Jacke Kerouac novel Crazy Mike showed up and started yelling about a free concert somewhere in upstate New York. He was always on acid so we had to vet the story ourselves - no Google in those days. A week later, we all gathered in the parking lot of Zero's sub shop. I hitched a ride with Dave the dealer. Yes, it was a Volkswagen bus, replete with flowers and a huge peace sign in place of the VW emblem. We were in hippie heaven. Water and food were shared. No one then could have imagined the concept of plastic-bottled water for sale. No one even sold Zig Zags.

It's difficult to explain Woodstock to the non-believers. The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Richie Havens, CSNY, Country Joe, et al were magical, and so were the mushrooms. We were dancing stoned, naked, mud-drenched, and in love with each other. There was a war raging and we were united against it and the government. Music and politics went hand in hand. This was our nation and we weren't giving it back. Or so we thought.

Coming down from Lemon Wafer, Orange Barrel, and other shapes and forms of acid, we witnessed Sunday morning and Jimi's Star Spangled Banner.

Months later, many of us attended the Atlanta Pop Festival for another dose of Jimi.

All these many years later it was, it is still like like Buffalo Springfield's "On the Way Home". Yeah, we were dreamers, young and idealistic. But for those few summer days, it was real. And we were all one.

If you weren't there, then you could never know. And I can't explain it all either.

But it can never be repeated.

Tom Cartwright

________________________________________

Subject: Nancy Pelosi at AIPAC

Bob,

I'm a long-time subscriber, generally focused on music not politics. However, in response to Rep. Omar's recent (and numerous) anti-Semitic comments, I attended my first AIPAC conference in DC this week. For the first time in my 50+ years in this great country, I'm feeling a little uneasy...

Nancy Pelosi was fairly convincing in her support for Jews and Israel, criticizing the anti-Semitic myth of dual loyalty, as well as the BDS movement (Rep. Omar quickly criticized Nancy for her anti-BDS comments). I don't think that Nancy=Corbyn though perhaps Omar=Corbyn. (Joan Ryan, who recently quit Corbyn's Labour Party came from the UK to warn us how that party is unrecognizable and "how things can change quickly.")

It's true that Pelosi could not get a resolution in the House to condemn only Omar and anti-Semitism, but AOC and others in the party (such as Bernie) were pushing back. And, as you may have seen with those NYU students who were accosting a pregnant Chelsea Clinton, some on the left believe that accusing Omar of anti-Semitism is, in turn, Islamophobia. It doesn't matter if the accusations are accurate.

The Republicans at AIPAC were very supportive of Israel (coincidentally, HAMAS were firing rockets at innocent civilians during the conference- do you think they are aiming for a 2-state solution?). Republicans were trying to use anti-Semitism as a wedge issue, but, by the same token, VP Pence, Pompeo, and Ambassador Friedman came across as genuine supporters of Israel and Jews.

Jews and Muslims should be natural allies in the fight against White supremacy and other causes. The Israel-Palestine conflict obviously complicates matters but the Omars of the world make that all the more difficult.

Regards,
Phil Tretiak

________________________________________

Subject: Mail re the Beach Boys

Bob,

I want to correct the email you received from Kenny Lewis (see below) claiming that he overdubbed new bass tracks on Beach Boys masters in 1981 and that's what the world has been hearing since then .I am certain that Lewis is mistaken. First of all the Beach Boys 3 and 4 track masters were not routinely destroyed by Capitol Records (most in fact are held by the Beach Boys) . I know because I have made digital transfers and remixed all of them including Surfin USA and Little (not"my") Honda. The original mix downs of the group's recordings are all still on file at the label and have been used for every reissue since they were first released .

There was never any lack of bass on the records, and since the backing tracks were all recorded in mono there was never an isolated bass track on the 3 or 4 tracks to turn up.

Given his claimed 1981 date I suspect that what Lewis may have played on was "The Beach Boys Medley" that was released that year and which combined sections of several of the group's songs into something similar to the "Stars on 45s" series. Clearly handclaps and/or percussion was added to help tie the tracks together and it is possible that bass was overdubbed as well tho I can't hear any additional bass on the released record, so maybe it was recorded but not used,

The medley can be found here…...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMb3iWUT8Rs

Lewis' story reminds me of drummer Bernard Purdie's claim that he replaced Ringo's drum parts on a bunch of early Beatles records , something that was also technically impossible since on those records the entire track including Ringo's drums was also recorded in mono.

Mark Linett
Engineer/ producer
The Beach Boys Archives

________________________________________

From: Mary Mullaney
Subject: Re: Better Things

So glad you are writing about BETTER THINGS. Season 1 was figuring itself out. Season 2 is the best TV out there. 3 is fumbling to figure out what it is without Louie, you can see that it's rebelling against the sitcom structure even more. It's truth.

As a single mom, once I saw the shot of her taking in the garbage cans alone in the pilot, I was in. If you've done it, you've done it and thought "nobody will ever give a shit that I'm doing all this hard shit alone." And no one does. But it's awesome that Pamela sprinkles that in, cause in the acknowledgement, we make a deep connection.

________________________________________

Subject: Re: The College Admission Crisis

It's funny you mention MBAs and Harvard... I attended a top graduate business school (UPENN Wharton... Ivy!) 8 years ago, and witnessed an entirely new level of admissions fraud to match this current scandal. In school, team projects were common, and involved final reports/papers, where each student would contribute a section. On one particular paper, as point person (aggregator) i came to realize that one of the S. Korean students in the group not only spoke really broken English, but wrote just as poorly. As i rewrote his entire section i began thinking about all the other students i knew from abroad in the MBA program whose English was lacking (mainly Asians), wondering how on earth they could have gotten high enough scores on the English and writing sample portions of the GMAT (admission test equiv to SAT, but for MBA biz school)...challenging even for native English speakers. After some discreet asking around it became apparent that it was common, especially in Asia, for these students (and/or their parents / sponsor companies) to hire other people to take these tests for them, as well as to write the requisite essays, fill out the application, etc. Even though my experience is anecdotal, with these top business schools possessing upwards of 40%+ international students, I imagine this is still a widespread practice (Harvard included!). Future leader fraud!

(but please keep anonymous if you print/include in newsletter, because I'd immediately become a pariah amongst all those colleagues/classmates!)

________________________________________

Subject: Re: Saturday Night At Craig's House

Bob:

This scenario just doesn't happen anymore….but pianos in living rooms are impossible to find in the 21st century, unless you go to your mom's house, if she's still alive.
When I was a kid in the 60's and 70's, my family gathered round the piano and sang at every family gathering and holiday. In fact, my mother was prescient enough to have recorded some of those "sessions" on an 8-track tape recorder (as in the cartridge/consumer type of 8-track) with crappy little plastic mics that came with the all-in-one Channel Master stereo my parents had. It was a family tradition, and I'm so very glad we have some of that preserved for posterity.

Fast forward to college….coming back to the dorm drunk at 2:30 am on a Friday night, there was a crappy, much abused grand piano in the dorm lounge just off the entrance and front desk area. I would sit down and start sloppily playing something….anything that felt good at the time, which was usually some Beatles or Motown, and I would suddenly become a magnet for (mostly girls) anyone walking through the lobby/lounge area…..and that piano would turn into Billy Joel's "carnival", and soon, we'd all be taking a ride down memory lane together, as one, singing so loud that campus security would have to break us up and send us back to our rooms. I got laid a LOT because of those "performances"….

But most importantly, for that time that we were all singing together, whether family or complete strangers, even drunkenly and sloppily, we were all conjoined and part of each other's history, immediately. Nothing instantly connects strangers, nothing binds people together more than singing. I can tell you dozens of stories of similar late nights in hotel piano bars, when the guy playing "Misty" and other such schmoozers let me sit down and start hammering out a Beatles or Elton John song, and suddenly the room came alive and I had 20 people gathered round, singing (badly) at the top of their lungs.

Because……MUSIC.
Maybe we wouldn't be so bitter and divided if we could just gather around a piano and sing some Billy Joel together once in a while…?
It certainly couldn't hurt.

Pete Kehoe

________________________________________

From: Sandra Lou Newman
Subject: Night at Craig's House

March 19, 2019

Dear Bob,

Craig was very excited to share your newsletter with us. My husband and I were on speaker phone as he explained the events of the gathering of music lovers at the Newman home this past Saturday night.

After he spoke I read the article aloud to my husband and, having stopped the reading several times, we were able to visualize the scene in the Newman music room…joy filled our hearts.

The portrait you painted of your experience with music was also very vivid to us. We were so very fortunate to have grown up in the 50's and 60's. We spent our money on 45 rpm records and "high fidelity" albums. We listened to Hy Lit ( a popular DJ on station WIBG in Philadelphia) on our transistor radios and, wow, did we learn a lot from him. I was a Beatlemaniac and saw them live in Atlantic City on August 30, 1964 and in Philadelphia on September 2, 1964. On our first date ( a blind date) my future husband and I talked about music, while dating we "made-out" to the songs Hy Lit played on the radio. We didn't go to Woodstock but we did attend the Atlantic City Pop Festival on August 3, 1969.

Having lost my father in 1962 the Beatles brought light back into my life. I listened to the albums, bought the magazines, and have sketchbooks filled with my drawings of them. I still turn to the Beatles for comfort, listening to them on my morning runs each day.

Although a great deal of my story is about the Beatles (how about the irony that Craig represents The Fab Four and Monique's company, Universal Music, has the Beatles catalogue), Rock and Roll…from the 50's on has been the soundtrack of our lives.
One of my favorite memories is waiting in the gas lines on Saturdays in 1979, with little Craig in his car seat playing my Beatles tapes and singing along.

Your article about music…listening, understanding, playing, and singing touched us to the core. Music is Joy. Music is Love.

With love,
Mom and Pops Newman

________________________________________

Subject: Re: Self-Promotion

Bob,
This fucking nails the world that I work in. I'm lucky Curb Your Enthusiasm broke when it did. It was a shared experience. It's now all niche. What I like, you don't know about What you like, maybe I've heard off but I surely haven't seen or heard it. Good luck breaking through and creating any kind of excitement. All that I'm in control of is the quality of work that I put out. I just do what I do and hope that someone digs it.
All My Best,
Jeff Garlin

________________________________________

From: Paul Lanning
Subject: RE: Self-Promotion

Hey Bob: When EMI took over Virgin, I started clocking "Talk is Cheap" at Manhattan retail. Keith's apartment was upstairs from Tower's Village store, he was around occasionally, was generally held in highest esteem by all, etc etc but that album didn't sell. Sat there in the bin. So did the bulk of the Stones' catalog when it finally came to us, even as the group's shows continued to sell out. Maybe the Abkco titles showed an occasional glimmer of life, but that was all.

Paul Lanning

________________________________________

Subject: Re: Self-Promotion

Suzanne Somers has written 26 books and 14 New York Times Bestsellers. Her 27th from S&S publishes this Fall.

All her books cover cutting edge health protocols your allopathic doctor has likely never heard of, lifestyle, cookbooks (she was headed to chefdom before Three's Company interrupt-us), auto biographies & relationships.

How did Chrissy Snow make the transition from America's Dumbest Blonde to prolific & respected author with 25 million books in print globally in many languages.

Promotion Promotion Promotion...
Lectures Lectures Lectures...
Appearances Appearances Appearances...

Suzanne has done up to 150-200 interviews and appearances for each book.
After spending a full year writing, she knows that if her constituency is aware of her new book, they will check it out. Without promotion,
Crickets.

In the 70's & 80's with only 3 networks, a couple of dozen appearances on national shows produced Best Sellers.
That is impossible today.

Pal Jerry Weintraub called me and said... "Make my book a best seller!"
I told him He could do it, but it was donkey work. "You have to put your head down and go for it. After the TV Nationals, satellite to the top 40 markets, talk radio, print and honor every request for an interview"
He did it and thanked me publicly.

I don't understand actors who spend miserable months in a trailer in the middle of a parking lot in Mexico eating crap and then say..."I act, I don't do promotion"
And these guys own back end!!!!
El Stupido!

Suzanne has 70-80 hours of FaceBookLive/IGTV shows on her FB Page.
She's now doing 2-3 hours a week.
Why?
She treasures & honors her constituency and this is a perfect way to communicate with them.
She takes every selfie and signs every autograph.
She is deeply interested in her ladies' lives.
Suzanne Gets It.
She is Them.

In March 1977, Suzanne went from a starving single Mom as an extra in movies to starring in ABC's number one show.
She went to Jay Bernstein, big time Hollywood publicist and said...
"I'll give you all my money from the 6 episodes of Three's Company if you make me famous enough to get work if the show is canceled."
Jay took the deal and did it.
Suzanne was on dozens of magazine covers, 60 minutes and every national show.
Promotion Promotion Promotion

Over the decades, Suzanne has made many friends in the media.
They deliver for her and she delivers ratings for them.
Same with Paparazzi. At red carpet events, she calls out their names & waves to the bank of dozens of flashing cameras.
Can someone tell me why Stars hate and hide from Paparazzi?
It's FREE PROMOTION!!

PARIS Hilton gets it.
The Kardashians get it
Empires were built on THEM.
Amazing!
Smart!

Craig's had the Emmys on TV screens during dinner.
Every time I looked, I didn't know one person; not one. Who are these people? My apologies to the famous who attended.

Sorry for the long rant, but I've witnessed too many really talented people simply disappear from view because they either refused to do promotion or didn't understand how it worked.

God Bless America!!

Alan Hamel

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