Mailbag

Re: Ken West

Bob,

Just had to tell you about my experience with Big Day Out because it was a game changer when I was invited to do skate demos there in 1996. It was the first time we - as skaters - were actually treated like "talent" and not some circus sideshow to a bigger event. We traveled WITH the bands (RATM, Porno For Pyros, Elastica, Rancid, etc), and given our own hotel rooms instead of sharing rooms like we were forced to do on every other tour. Skating front and center on a huge ramp while Rage chanted "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" with a sea of people between us and the stage is a memory that is seared into me.

In the years after, I tried to convince other festivals that live skating would be a solid addition to their entertainment with little success. It was so frustrating that I created my own tour (Boom Boom Huckjam) to fill the void, my experience Big Day Out being a major factor.

In 2012, I was invited back to BDO and treated even more like a rock star. This time we were ON the bill as a headlining "act" and the crowds were epic; they would come swarm us as Kasabian ended their set, and then we would skate our hardest until Soundgarden started. Ken West, his organizers and the promoters got it, and we are thankful to have been invited to the party alongside such talent.

-Tony Hawk

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Subject: Re: Ken West

Bob,
When I read the subject line, I thought the worst. As I continued to read, relieved and happy to see Ken's name in your letter.
Ken is a star. I first met Ken in 1990 when he and Vivian brought Debbie Harry to Australia for her first Australian solo tour. They had yet to start the Big Day Out but were quickly becoming serious "players" in a very competitive touring market. The tour was great fun and Ken and Vivian treated the whole touring party with the utmost respect. Ken is a unique individual and surrounded himself with serious characters. His local crew were some of the more interesting people I came across touring over the years. (RIP Speedy).
The tour, as I remember was a success and there are some stories that will not be soon forgotten. A Rave in Sydney, topless Bungee Jumping in Auckland, Lunch on a dealer's boat in Perth.
Thank you for writing about Ken. He's a great guy, as authentic as they come. I hope he told you the story about the Pouges tour that they promoted.
Ken, if you are reading this, a big hello from NYC.
Phil Schuster

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Subject: Re: Bill Curbishley-This Week's Podcast

Dear Bob

Back in the early 90s, Bill was a member of a swanky West London health club. I worked there as a fitness trainer. He and I would talk music while he pretended to work out. One day he told me he'd just signed Robert Plant who was due to go out on tour but wasn't quite at the peak of physical condition. Could I help lick him into shape? Of course I could, especially since our club protocol would involve me and Robert sitting in a small room, alone, for an hour while we went through a lifestyle assessment, some body measurements and a few physical tests. I'd had a poster of 'Percy' in his Led Zeppelin pomp on my bedroom wall when I was 14, and now here I was asking him about his medical history and how much alcohol he consumed and pinching his fatter parts with callipers. As surreal experiences go it's been difficult to beat. I also gave him a pair of my Asics running shoes which I like to think initiated the second coming of a svelte rock god.

All the best,

Stephen Ferns

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From: Allen Kovac
Subject: Re: Music Is Like Television

Great analogies. Independent labels have always been the leaders. From Ahmet we had the The Stones, The Who and Led Zeppelin. From Blackwell we had Marley and U2.

Today Beggars has given us Adele and Vampire Weekend. Glass Note, Mumford and Phoenix. Yes an indie label will lead the way. They always do. However, today there is no need to sell. If you have artists that are different and against the grain, they will tour. If they tour then DSP's will pay a label per month directly. A multiple is not as big as an iconic indie artists, branded on DSP's. No wonder Universal is for sale.

Generic artists pop and hip hop are transactional. Rock, country, and alt, are the soundtrack to our lives. Personal playlists are the way of the future for the indies. Just like FM and touring for Ahmet, and Blackwell. Personal playlists and artists that tour, are the key to indie labels success. That is the way to be the HBO and Netflix of the music world.

Don't drink the major labels instant gratification Kool Aid. It's not all about charts and playlists.

Allen

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From: Gary Helsinger
Subject: Re: Dr. Pimple Popper

Hey Bob

Peter Garrett is a one of kind musician, politician, activist, and all around stellar human. One of my most incredible rock star moments I ever had was when he played a song request for me at Universal Amphitheater on 6/20/1990. I had been a huge fan since their first US release (10, 9, 8…) and promptly bought their previous Australian releases (3 LPs, 2 EPs). I met the band on the Diesel & Dust tour, but since Peter was fighting a cold, it wasn't until they came back for the Blue Sky Mining tour that I got to meet him. Rob Hirst (Oil drummer/vocalist) told me that Peter was trying to get the out of print (at the time) Badfinger catalog on vinyl, so after their first of 2 Uni Amp shows, I went backstage and told him I had some for him. He flipped out and agreed to stop by my job at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd the next day to pick them up. When he came in, he tried to pay me, but I refused. He said "Gary, I make more money than you, how much are these?" I said, "you're my hero, and I don't want your money. But, I'd love to hear the song 'Hercules' at tonight's show". He said they hadn't played it on this tour, but he'll try. It's a fairly deep catalog song, so when they didn't play it during the set, I had written it off by the time they were in their 3rd encore. But then…they returned one more time…and Peter told the audience about meeting me and not taking his money…and they launched into Hercules!! So blown away. If you want to hear that actual moment at Universal Amphitheater….here it is! (ok to post/share). https://www.dropbox.com/s/rhhksg5919f91j3/Midnight%20Oil_Hercules%20%28live%29.mp3?dl=0 After the show they took me back to the Bel Age Hotel, and I hung out with them while they edited their live video album, and then sent me off with an autographed T-shirt. As a fan, it couldn't possibly have been better than that! They're still the best, and their recent reunion shows at the Wiltern and the Greek were incredible. The Power and the Passion! The Oils forever!

Best,

Gary

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From: Fred Mollin
Subject: Re: Toto-Africa Live at The Met in Philly (10-20-19)

Fred Mollin here. I'm going to dictate this and try to correct it later.

Matthew McCauley and I arrived in LA in June 1978, and our first LA sessions for the Jimmy Webb album, "Angel Heart", and the Gary Benson singles for Arista were both incredibly breathtaking. We were told to use a young kid, Steve Lukather. He blew us away. Luke is one of the greatest guitarists of all time. I mean one of the GREATEST of all time. David Paich played piano AND Jimmy Webb played second keyboard on the album. That's how good David was! We were all the same age. Kids. And we were all just so fucking passionate. But these motherfuckers were true virtuostic geniuses on their instruments, as well, as it turned out, in their song writing. And their performing.

It breaks my heart, that we lost Jeff and Mike. Beautiful human beings and brilliant beyond brilliant musicians..

I thank fate and science and God and love, that I got to work with these guys, and to this day, I still hold them close to my heart, no matter how far apart we are, as I know how deeply they resonate with the music of the world. I love Luke and Paich and Steve and Lenny and the great drummer (when I can get him for sessions in Nashville), Shannon Forrest, and all the other guys who have been up there, that I don't know. But I love Toto and I am honored to have had anything to do w these geniuses.

I believe they will be back. They are that important.

Love
f

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From: Warren Bernard Amster
Subject: Re: Toto-Africa Live at The Met in Philly (10-20-19)

Bob
This was the effect they had our national Falls Festival early this year they were amazing with these kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDOrshBgIhQ

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From: Russ Titelman
Subject: Re: More Ed Cherney

Ed was our engineer on the Rush Soundtrack which included the original recording of Tears in Heaven. We spent a couple of months in LA, Eric writing and then recording at The Village. For me it was a fantastic collaboration.. like having a co- producer. Ed's incredibly warm and reassuring presence made going to work every day a real pleasure. Everything just sounded so good and it all seemed so effortless.
I remember he almost lost it the night we did the vocals.

I only got to work with him that one time but I will never forget how incredibly kind and generous he was and how talented.

I loved seeing that big smile every time we'd see each other.

Hard to believe he's gone.

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From: Michael Solomon
Subject: Who musings...

Hey, Bob,

I'm lying in a hospital bed in Santa Monica after emergency surgery to remove my appendix. It's 5am, after they had to take my vitals and give me an IV of antibiotics and hydration.

I have nothing but the luxury of time...a rare commodity for me at age 69.

I just finished your writings on The Who. Love or hate your writing, I read you with interest. I'm always interested...

It took me back to 1984. I was doing sound for T Bone Burnett...for free. I had been working for RIchard Perry trying to help him launch Planet Records, his label partnership with Elektra Records. Prior to that, I had been a road manager and sound mixer for The Pointer Sisters. I met Rich when he signed them and we all traveled to Cannes to launch the label at The Cannes Music Festival. When we got back, he asked me if I wanted to be his assistant for $450 a week, more than I had been making for the past 9 years on the road with a number of bands. I was tired of the road and ready to try and move up in "the business." I rented a house in The Hollywood Hills for $500 a month and went to work at the record company offices on Sunset and Doheny, later to be Geffen Records, next door to the management company of Elliott Roberts and Tony Dimitriades.

But the real joy was spending my days and nights at Richard Perry's recording studio, Studio 55, on Melrose, adjacent to Paramount Pictures. So many drug-fueled days and nights watching Richard make records in his room there, alongside all the other great artists, producers, musicians, songwriters and engineers working in Studio B, like Jimmy Iovine, Bob Esty, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Shelly Yakus, Bill Schnee, Stephen Marcussen, Cher, Bob Dylan, Michael McDonald, Billy Steinberg, and so many others.

When RIchard sold the label to RCA, the entire staff was fired. I was tired. I had been busted for selling a gram of coke to an undercover cop and was on probation. I had lost my way and forgot what it was that I loved about music and the music business in the first place.

My friend, Mark Safan, was an artist and songwriter. Mark had been signed to Planet. He had introduced me to his friend Billy Steinberg. Billy was, at that time, an unknown artist/writer, from Thermal, CA, whom we also signed to the label, recording under the name of Billy Thermal.

Mark also introduced me to his friend, T Bone Burnett. T Bone was signed to Takoma Records. I was a big fan of T Bone's music and volunteered to mix sound for him at his local gigs. They were intimate and wonderful shows at small clubs like Madame Wong's, The Troubadour, Hop Singh's, etc. His band was David Minor on bass, David Kemper on drums and David Mansfield on multiple instruments. T Bone always asked me to introduce him as Thank You Bone Burnett. I never understood or asked why.

Out of the blue, there was a gig booked at an event during the 1984 Olympics at the LA Coliseum for T Bone to open for The Clash and The Who. I mixed sound for T Bone in front of 80,000 plus people and watched The Clash and The Who from the stage.

I found my way back to the music that day...

Michael Solomon

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From: paul clegg
Subject: PAJAMA TIPS / AUSTRALIAN BUS CRASHES

Bob

Here is a story about me that perfectly combines elements of both of your 'Oz' emails from PJ's on a plane to cultural impropriety of Aussie / US airport experiences!

Hot of the weekend buzz about My Chemical Romance getting back together, it is often forgotten that three years ago on October 13, 2016, Frank Iero from the band, his guitarist Evan Nestor and myself were down under on a solo tour when disaster struck. Whilst doing a Bob Lefsetz style, press junket all over town, we were lifting our guitars out of the back of our transport, when a City bus rammed into us.

The injuries as you can imagine were pretty horrific. The powers that be shut down the entire street. They flew surgeons in via helicopter to start triage prep in ambulances as traffic was gridlocked. It was chaos and in the midst of all this, when I looked at my right leg there was a not insignificant part of it (about the height of the rear bumper of our van and a third of the circumference of the leg) that was just gone, shark bite style……

The way you described Kate - not as an adrenaline junkie, or a wannabe hero or as a dollar highway opportunist is precisely the 'Australian' that I encountered around 4.00pm that fateful day and it resonated hard. A cycle cop in short shorts who was on jaywalking duty (honestly) saw the accident happen and was tending to me on the street, waiting for ambulances to arrive.

My man, made an executive decision on the street and said to me, pretty much verbatim….. 'You are going to be unconscious in a matter of minutes, as the blood is pissing out of you mate. Here is what I am going to do - first I am gonna try and save your life. If I get that far then I am going to try and save your leg'

He said it as casually as my wife asks me if I want cheese on my pasta. He wasn't trying to get a medal or his picture in the paper - he was just doing what was the right thing to do. His running interference saved both my life and my leg. He went back to writing tickets once we were gone, and came to visit me in the hospital on his day off.

(For the record Bob, you are 'Kate' to many of us.)

It seemed that the entire Australian music industry rallied around for us injured folk. Nigel Melder from Live Nation was a rock. Stu Harvey from Cooking Vinyl, Dave Batty - they all rallied to do what they could for us.

I had barely regained consciousness, post surgery when my first visitor arrived. Jeanine, the Sydney office manager for WME (we were on a Paradigm tour) was there bright and early on on a Saturday morning with treats, books and newspapers - but most importantly of all - Pajama's. Guitar techs upon hearing that all our phones and computers were smashed bought us burners, so the wives could call. We were down there for weeks, surrounded by strangers recovering from surgery and wondering if we could ever rebuild our lives but never at one point did I feel alone or isolated. The staff of St Vincents Hospital and the music industry in Australia saw to that.

The injuries and the medical apparatus that we had to wear for the trip home meant there was only one course of action pertaining to costume for the trek back and that was the WME PJ's and oversized crocs due to swollen feet and limbs. As we departed our hospital ward to the waiting white limo that was bumping trance music (at 6am) somewhere around 110db and featured a full on 'green or red' laser show inside (oh this isn't the party ride to the airport? - control must have got it mixed up - never mind - hop in fella's - AGAIN VERY AUSTRALIAN) we were resigned to the fact that whilst we were now the kind of people who showed up at airports and flew in mis-matched flannels and slip on plastic shoes, at least no-one would ever see us or ever know. At precisely that point, our friends in the band The Jezabels arrived looking effortlessly cool to check in for the same flight!

Leaving that hospital after surgery (that no doubt cost way more than my house is worth) I politely enquired to the matron if our insurance had taken care of everything and she replied don't worry sonny, you are Irish, the Australian government has got you covered'

We flew home under medivac accompaniment on Qantas. The staff / cabin crew could not have been nicer - from airport to landing, everyone was like 'these are the boys from the accident - make way for them etc etc' The pursers' daughter had actually had tickets to the show (that we had to cancel) and told us how she was crying with her daughter when they turned on the six o'clock news at dinner that night - she was tearing up as she told us about it. It was so genuine and so nice.

Upon arrival in Los Angeles for the stopover, we had to enter customs. The guy at the stamp desk didn't know how to deal with my work authorization card (I was on a probationary green card parole period) so they sent me to second questioning (at that point I had lived in NY for 12 years) as he had 'reason to believe' I was trying to enter the country illegally. I was in a wheel chair and had a negative pressure vacuum pump encasing my entire leg and a huge battery compressor to power it all, attached to me, so was being pushed by a nurse that was under strict orders by surgeons at both the hospital in Sydney and NYU (where I was going) to monitor me at all times.

They refused to let her accompany me into the interview and I had to wheel myself in, which was very very difficult with all of the apparatus. They also told me that all I could bring in was my card and passport. I asked if they needed the other documents I had and they said no. 30 seconds into the interview, a different guy was literally screaming at me about how 'effing stupid' I was for not having corroborating paper work with me. I then had to go get it and come back again.

After a 60 minute process, of being bullied by jack booted thugs, I reconvened at security with Frank and Evan to be wheeled through the metal detectors. As we were unable to walk they did the pat downs and the swab.

Guess what - the wheelchair tested positive for explosives. IT WAS AN LAX WHEELCHAIR!!!!!! We asked could we just be carried and leave the chair and they said no, we had to wait to be cleared by an explosives expert, who took an hour to show up. That's kinda scary right! A whole hour!

By this point we had delayed the plane.

The icing on the cake came later that night when we finally got to NYU to be told that there were no beds and to come back tomorrow. After weeks of thinking I would never see home again, I found myself back in my own bed (temporarily after a 30 hour ordeal of a journey) for the night and that was of course the night that my vacuum unit decided to malfunction and sound an alarm / stop working.

Anyway, this is all a very roundabout way to tell you that on every Qantas flight I have ever been on, when asked what size of PJ's I wear - I always reply 'would it be possible to get a ladies pair please as I would love to bring them home for my wife' Every single time they have always brought back a pair for Meghan AND a pair for me because they would like both of us to have a pair. It's not a hack or a scam, it's just decent people being decent - it always feels REALLY NICE and it always feels very Australian!

Cheers!

Paul

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Subject: Re: Cronulla Beach

Hey Bob,

I'm an American who moved to Sydney just under a year ago - I loved hearing your notes on your experience here and will be on the lookout for your articles.

I moved here from New York where I spent just about as much on concert tickets as I did on my rent. I was used to seeing live performances of all the big guys, as well as all the little guys. I went to gigs any night of the week, checking off the venues I had grown up reading about. It was heaven.

In Sydney, I had to get in to local Australian sounds real quick, not by choice but necessity. None of my up and comers we're doing world tours all the way over here - only the big acts can afford that. We managed to get Maggie Rogers and Kacey Musgraves a few months back, but they were playing at tiny theaters here while at home they were both respectively selling out Radio City.

At home I thought I knew everyone - there wasn't a band or performer you could get past me that I wasn't at least tangentially familiar with. My roommate here in Sydney is a 22 year old Australian - I had heard of maybe one of the performers in her vinyl collection.

Im always surprised by the influences that have made an impact here - my Aussie friend shows me photos of him at a Red Hot Chili Peppers show having the time of his life, but when I ask about The Strokes? Never heard of them.

Bands come up in the pubs here - where your dad could just as likely be there betting on the horse races as your loyal fans are there supporting you. People forget Australia is a similar geographic size to the States - Just because you're selling out pubs in Sydney doesn't mean people in Perth have ever heard of you. Im not going to say it's as cut throat competitive as the American music scene, but it's still tough out there.

And that's not to say that kids here don't love music, because of course they do. If you're good, the scouts will find you and you'll get air time. Sure the streaming world has made the tastes a little more international but I was blown away by how much people here are stake-your-life-on-it loyal to Australian artists. The radio station/festival production company Triple j is a religion and the Friday-released "like a version" performances are church. It's the first thing people check their phones for on Friday morning - local Australian acts performing a cover of any song they can think of. Sometimes they support other Australians, sometimes they choose international acts... but they are always cool. The creativity and genre-bending work that goes in to those performances is powerful. I hope you got to witness some of that while you were here.

My tiny college radio station is the only American channel I could ever find playing live festival sets on air, but triple j has festival performances playing all weekend. If you had asked me, radio was all about dead, but not here. Every Australian under 35 is streaming the station all day long, using it as their one source for new music discovery.

My Australian friends and I have started making shared Spotify playlists that we listen to while killing time at our office jobs. 50% is American music they've never heard of, 50% is Australian music I've never heard of. We like to joke we could probably solve all the world's issues this way.

To answer your question, moving across the world at 23 without a job is what I was willing to risk to be happy. It worked. Now I have double the amount of music to keep up with and it's alright by me.

Cheers,
Victoria

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Subject: Re: Dr. Pimple Popper

Ha! I actually had a fatty cyst a couple years ago. Googled what it was and who might be able to deal with it. Found Dr Pimple Popper and realized her practice is/was in Upland CA. Called and then went to a consultation with her. First of all she's an amazing hoot!! Full of authentic character and charm. She LOVES this stuff!! Long story short she told me what it was and IF I'd allow her to film the procedure for her social media it would literally be half price. I said yes and you can actually see my procedure in her archives on both IG and YouTube. "Grammy Award winning lipoma" lol... of course she didn't use my name, but there are/were some people who guessed who it was lying on the table.
I knew she could/would have a TV show and it would be just a matter of time.

I also realized that millions upon millions of people watch these videos!!

Claude McKnight

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