Friday 22 March 2019

Mailbag-Woodstock 50 & Lang

RE: MICHAEL LANG RESPONSE
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Ya know I was going to stay silent.

I went to Woodstock '99 and yeah I was statistic of rape. I never filed. I made peace with it. I was drunk. Passed out. and 18.

However along with the negligence of security it was also High way robbery. It was the hottest weekend I have ever experienced in any music festival. Water was $4 a bottle and food was expensive. On top of that the security wouldn't let us bring in alot of the food and liquid we had brought. Don't remember now why. The port a potties that were gross and also probably a health hazard.

Then there were the riots and the fires. and so on...

I have been to many music fests then.. ACL, Boston Calling, and Floyd Fest (which A friend of mine runs) . All never experienced the same horrid problems that I faced at good Old Woodstock 99.

So Lang. Your full of shit. Your Lineup is uninspiring and your 1969 hippie-dom turned those same exact Hippies to Yuppies. So "your power of music " crap is more "power of the mighty dollar"

Your in it for the buck too. Hold the righteous crap. Your zealot and looking for your last major buck . Cause Jay-Z is a businessman...Not hating on him ...but wha?t ..he's doin this at the kindness of his heart. Get the F out of here. I live in Queens. And I (nor my friends) will be forking over your new snake oil that is just upstate.

That era is gone Lang. and Bob pointed it out. You were a disappointment then Lang and still are, cause you are soppin' up your last nasty ass cold pea soup with years stale old bread. And it won't be me (or my friends) that sponsor it. Save it.

Thanks for all you Do Bob. Lang ..kiss my ass

Best,
Jessica Levin
Queens.

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Good response. Lefsetz is, and always has been, a cynic. Reminds me of a movie critic who wishes he was a director.
Michael is right on.

Ike Phillips

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I just love hearing JayZ and Miley preaching about an unfair society and telling me how to live MY life. Can't wait to go......Lol.

Marc Ellis

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Please. WTF is he talking about? God bless with your endeavor, but c'mon with this dithering.

David Rubin

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Amen!

Scott LeDuke

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The "legacy" of Woodstock from the guy that in 1999 charged $4 for a bottle of water in 100 degree heat then couldn't believe it when the kids burned it down. I was covering it for Rolling Stone and the tension was thick FRIDAY night before that clown Fred Durst really fucked it up on Saturday. I'll never forget Lang's blasé attitude when I tracked him down the next morning standing next to a mountain of garbage.

And as far as the Watkins Glen site, did he bother to talk to Richard Glasgow and the Phish camp about the Curveball disaster last summer? They can run a 50K camping festival in their sleep but not even Coran can control Mother Nature and the NY state permit goons.

The Superfly team are pros for sure, but 95% of patrons will have to camp/RV because there is NOTHING around there. In the most volatile time of year for weather, on a site that could potentially flood. No thanks.

Remind me, why does Lang get another shot to fuck it up again?

Matt Hendrickson

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This is a one off that's for sure does anyone care. Could anyone guess the event from the list of bands? Woodstock NY has less infrastructure than a 3rd world country, population 6000. Having an event there begs the question why. A 1 lane road in a town of 6000 it's not 1969. How many people could get hurt, miles away from decent care, hotels, food, water. A disaster waiting to happen with 2 previous disasters on record.

Best,
Chris Florio

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Yeah, Michael Lang got you big time. A lot of modern music out there doesn't speak to me, nor do I think the music is that inspirational, motivating, or stimulating for that matter. But, Mr. Lang's message of spreading the word on climate, equal everything, civil rights, etc., is most definitely worthy of building a festival around, and I'm backin it. If I lived in New York, or wherever it's happening, I would seriously consider going. But let's bring it back down to my level for a second. When I go out to a bar, club, or music venue, for live music, a dj, or just drinks at some dive, there is only one ingredient I could give a fuck about. Are there girls there. I am happy to sit through a really bad band if there are girls in the bar and/or dancing, because that's where the good energy comes from. Period. Good music and/or good times typically attract cute ladies. And that's where I want to be.

Chris Flesher

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I'm with you, Bob. And, your comments about this. He's living in the wrong world. Things have changed.

Ray Laskowitz

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W50 or WD-40?

Chris Lusher

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Michael Lang ..WORD!
John Brower
Woodstock alumni.

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This is a marketing response, approved his corporate overlords and not from the heart.

If he wanted this to be about more than just headliners, he wouldn't have just dropped a lineup card like everyone else...except Fyre that is...they may have been crooks with no idea on how to execute a festival, but they sure knew how to market one. VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO... if you want to cut through, you need a well-shared story that explains why you exist and gives potential fans a reason to believe in you.

Sure...Live Nation makes highlight video "trailers" for their EDM extravaganzas that all look the same with no discernible beginning or end, but FYRE has still done the best job to date of differentiating themselves from the competition with an aspirational video that fulfilled the unmet desires of our youth. Too bad the same brains that made the Fyre team great marketers also made them too cocky to listen to the logistical experts that told them to just host the festival on a ship...

Greg Lorenzo

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Lang's self-serving response reminds me of that album by Swamp Dogg called "I'm Not Selling Out/I'm Buying In!"

Dave Logan

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Bravo Michael Lang!
Justin Kolb

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"Many of our acts are heavily committed to Social Change (expanding their wallets)."

Angel Parisi

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Me thinks he read you wrong.
Ps I was there.
I was there until I left for Asbury Park on Saturday afternoon to see Led Zep open
up for Joe Cocker.

Janie Hoffman

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"...the rich fabric of the undercard" ? Looks like polyester to me. But I guess I'm not their audience. Not sure who is.

John Dlugosz

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Michael,
The poster with the artists has been published but the door seems closed, again. No ticket info other than in one month, April 22nd on sale date? No media contact. No info to volunteer, etc. The poster implies more acts to be announced. Can you comment on all this. Or do we have to wait another month.
I said to Bob.I want to see Woodstock 50 succeed. But the lack of information is hurting the cause.
John Kauchick

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Just re-read Lang's letter, is it just me or is there really no there,
there? "Many of our acts are heavily committed to Social Change." Why
not list a few with an examples of their commitments?
I was at Woodstock, it was very important experience in my life, but I
never thought about Michael Lang as someone who "made a difference."

Paul Zullo

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Very well said, and true...

Sacha Spindler

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This is a one off that's for sure does anyone care. Could anyone guess the event from the list of bands? Woodstock NY has less infrastructure than a 3rd world country, population 6000. Having an event there begs the question why. A 1 lane road in a town of 6000 it's not 1969. How many people could get hurt, miles away from decent care, hotels, food, water. A disaster waiting to happen with 2 previous disasters on record.

Chris Florio

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Kudos to Michael for having the stones to respond, and it's clear his heart and purpose are in the right place. If not us who? If not now when? Indeed.

Doesn't change the fact that this fest's musical lineup looks like all the rest.

And you're right about the most important aspect: Watkins Glen is a gorgeous facility in a beautiful locale - a beautiful locale that's at least 5 or 6 hours away from any major metropolis. And it's out in the middle of the forest, with few lodging options besides camping.

You should read the Comments where Brooklyn Vegan posted the lineup announcement on Facebook. Its target demo is scoffing at the lineup, while Rolling Stone's is dreading the experience.

The youngsters wont go, and the oldsters won't camp. Who's left?

We'll see. On social media, of course. I ain't goin' all the way up there.

Jon Langston
NYC

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Ha! I thought the poster was lame AF and if they are a festival about "way more than music" then where are the stamps/stickers/logos of Black Lives Matter, Youth Climate Strike, Washington is Broken, Trillion Dollar Bloody Wars are bad for all, corporations are evil, Surveillance Capitalism is unfair, why is our generation priced out of the American Dream" Nope none of this on the original flyer?

Let's keep it real! It's a cash grab!! They want to cash in on the 50th anniversary gig the same way that every artist does on their album anniversaries.

I'm disappointed that Jay Z, the most powerful artist in the world, allowed his name to be added into the blurry print here along with talented but not politically powerful entertainers of today.

I'm disappointed they missed the opportunity here to be radically political in today's issue from the initial announcement because they don't stand a chance from this inch until day of!

No this is not Woodstock. It's not the march on Washington. It's not the million man march. It's not the women's march. Nor is it Coachella in its prime, bonarroo in its prime, or AfroPunk in its prime.

No this is not a cultural event marking a place in history or moment in time. Sadly it will end up being a bunch of mid grade college kids and young professionals vaping and on Instagram just like the annual regional fests Gov Ball, Boston Calling, Made in America, etc

Way to fail and blow the game at your first move Pawn to King 4.

Best,
Ice
(Jeremiah Younossi)

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Michael Lang gives Bob L what for.

doncasale

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That was a pretty weak reply to you, Bob. Next.
Scott Hazlewood

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Hi Bob, I agree with you on many subjects but I will say this, it's pretty easy to stand back and judge. So many seem unhappy with the line up with many feeling Miley Cyrus and JayZ don't belong but the fact is this event is about everyone who wants to make a difference and many who want to have some fun. Is it that hard to all come in for the big win?

Sean D. Gilday
Blue Raven entertainment

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This is a brief response to Michael Lang's response to you expressing your opinion on his Woodstock 50 Festival. Social causes & campaigns are fine and have their place but the music should come 1st in my humble opinion. Michael sounded a little testy & I might be, too, if this was my baby and, more importantly, I was where the buck stops as far as the success of the show goes. It seems like he's preparing a defense for a possible failure of the festival by his playing of an " oh, your not for social justice?" card which is a slightly chicken shit way of a pre-CYA strategy. Dare ye not express an alternate opinion on this stuff!

Scott from San Antonio

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It's a noble crusade but will anyone who doesn't go be talking about it afterwards? Does anyone talk about the 25 year show? As you rightfully pointed out, Coachella is a bigger cultural event at this point. Nothing is big enough anymore to penetrate all of society.

Richard Young

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On paper
You may prove to be right
However, I am not a big fan of pre reviewing an event before it happens

For me both the
Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival
& Monterey Pop
were the Blueprints

And it seemed to take a long time to sortall that out

If Woodstock was going to be a regular thing like Coachella
I think what you're saying would definitely ring true
but just doing one more
One off event
I think it's going to do extremely well
Because a lot of people who may not be superfans
of most of the acts
Want to Spinal tap into that muddy history
One More Time

We'll soon see

Morley Bartnoff

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It'd probably do you some good to think a little younger and use your experience to look a little farther down the road. And maybe go to Woodstock50.

Randall Phillips

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I'm with Michael.....
Bob, you do keep it interesting...!
Jim Mason

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Michael's response is insightful. Let's just hope the audience has the same sentiment and the marauding mob scene from the past celebrations is absent this time around.

Best Regards,
Bob Tulipan

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LOVE YOUR THOUGHTS BOB…

BUT - MICHAEL'S RIGHT ON THIS ONE. THANKS FOR POSTING HIS RESPONSE :)

LONG LIVE INSPIRING MUSIC WHEREVER IT IS !!

Chuck Smith

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A little crow eating ? Just a smidgen, not a lot.

Doug Pomerantz

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Bravo Michael .. .. Bob, please don't be the jaded critic. Somewhere in you is a light that still burns for the power of music...

I think it is an awesome feat to pull this off in the social media age full of internet trolls living in their parents basements trashing everything and anything...

Your lineup is incredibly eclectic with the appropriate reverence to the original festival and many acts are the real music scene that essential to music becoming a force for change again..
I will go back to the Garden in Bethel to see the concert film played on the original field and then also to Watkins Glen to take in the entire scene.
I was 12when the first one happened. While I couldn't go, I got to watch the profound social changes that occurred with the lightening in a bottle that you caught.

I can't think of a better time for the music artists to ignite a social movement once again.

Congratulations for keeping the bird of peace flying!!

And special thanks for;
Santana
David Crosby
John Fogerty
Gary Clarke Jr
Brandi Carlisle
Halsey
And so many others !! How you will fit 25-30 performances each day seems daunting! Bring back your motorcycle.. Peace

George Romell
Rochester NY

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The first sentence in Michael Lang's note is precise and powerful.
For many of us who attended the original it was truly a life changer in many ways....for many days, years and decades!
How does one define a retired Hippie?
Anyway i am unimpressed with the wanna be's in the lineup at Watkins Glen. I counted 13 acts of interest but the balance might be good or just conflict with my musical time bubble.
However, the simpler downstate venue has promise and a bit more direct focus capability plus many acts are likely to perform in greater NY venues so the summer will likely offer lots of reminiscent opportunities.
Good beginnings for better memories, but quite uphill to make this rock a better place however, many remember how to stop a war, impeach a crook and cease nuke plants so....we can combine age and wisdom with youth and skill for RESULTS!
Always enjoy your stuff but felt compelled to pen this.

John Bennett

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Talk is cheap. When it's over, we'll all probably know if it was a success or not. The rest is just noise to me. Sorta like politics.

Simply my opinion.

David Fleischman

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OMG, Thank Goodness he responded. It at least had the effect of lowering my blood pressure after reading your cynical, jaded and yes PRIVILEGED
view of this upcoming event.
Also, and it has to be said, WTAF are you expecting?
At the very least, Michael Lang has ALL the credibility here and that's just from jump.
Stop, this time Bob, please STOP.

Ellyn Solis
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MORE WOODSTOCK 50
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I think the real question is why Watkins Glen? Beautiful city but the infrastructure to handle a festival is so small, the nearest airport ( Ithica ) has a few flights and they go to DCA and PHL, the nearest airports are 2 hours away. Hotel's up there are few and far between, so this means lots of traffic coming in to the show daily, unless you camp, but the artists are not going to camp, lol. So once they take all the hotels, guess what.
I am on another tour that has a show in Boston and need to fly there for one of my other artists and I am going to have to drive instead of fly because none of the 7 flights in and out will work time wise, also they are $1000 each way!

Please don't print my name if you use this. Thanks !!

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For the record, Robbie Robertson has said that The Band were at their best at Watkins Glen. I have three friends who will never stop talking about that weekend as long as we are above ground.

Jonathan Gross

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Thomas Wolfe told us in 1940: You Can't Go Home Again.

The magic only worked once.

Jim Charne

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This email you sent out about the Woodstock Festival is probably one of the best ones you've put out there for a while in my opinion because it addresses truly the modern-day way of the music business. When everybody went to the original Woodstock nobody knew what was going to happen from one minute to the next. It's what made it an incredible event during incredible times that the world will never see again...I wish them luck pulling this together and the one thing that I would say to the attendees is bring your credit card
Peace and Love Jason Miles

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Damn, Powder Ridge!!! My first kiss on the Middlefield Lift just after you cross over the top of the Bunny Slope and into the darkness. MJ's Rock With You was playing. I'm sure the kiss, much like Power Ridge wasn't nearly as great as I remember them both. To me though...

Marty Winsch

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I hear you on the comfort factor, we're probably about same though judging from dates you've posted in the past you're probably a little older than me (most folks I know are).

But if you want a full immersion experience where creature comforts are the rigor than you should go on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise ! It sells out before acts are announced because it's the experience that counts. And the cheapest rooms are something like $1,500 double occupancy.

It's a weeklong floating festival with five stages, interrupted with stops on islands or coastal towns. Some folks don't even bother going ashore!

And there's everything you could want on board. Nice rooms you can go back and unwind, private parties in some of the larger suites, and did I mention first rate acts.

Oh, these might not be mega-stars, but it's always a line-up of a mixture of veterans and the best of the new stuff.

Another small festival, and there are hundreds around North America every summer, that I love is the Great Hudson River Revival. Founded by the late Pete Seeger, this year's event in June will celebrate Pete's 100th birthday (May 3rd) and the 50th anniversary of the launching of the organization's flagship sloop, The Clearwater.

There's great stuff out there, and it doesn't require being in monstrous sized crowds. You just gotta seek it out.

Cheers
Thom Wolke

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The Coachella cruise (SS Coachella) was the greatest festival ever. Few attended (otherwise it would've had a repeat). But to travel on a boat with James Murphy, Grimes, and Pulps last shows ever? Incredible.

Alex Holz

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Bob, you nailed it!

This lineup might as well be Bonnaroo 2016. We've all seen this before. There is nothing unique or exciting to this lineup.

The promoters are just playing on emotions and trying to sell tickets by using the name Woodstock and the number 50 next to each other.

They are already selling shot glasses on their website. It's so corny https://store.woodstock.com/product/X3AMWO141/50th-anniversary-logo-shot-glass?cp=84224_104437

There is zero creativity here. It's gonna be a huge bust!

Dave Weisz

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i was at woodstock. it wasn't about the music. but you're right, the music aspired to expand the way we thought about not only music, but life. woodstock was about change. most everyone there was part of a movement. it wasn't a party, it was a convention. the mud and rain was not a disaster, it was a test. a test of our optimism. a test we passed. nothing was planned, because nothing needed to be planned. whatever happened was fine with us. we were just there to be amongst the believers, and trees. nothing like it can ever happen again, and today, 50 years later, not too many even get it anymore. woodstock 50 has nothing to do with woodstock.

Sandy McKnight

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TOUCHE, bob!

Wayne Forte

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Sooooo right on - cannot even add anything !!!! Carol Ross

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You nailed this!

Steve Gerardi

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Agree with you 1000%

Maria Hoppe

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This is either A) A joke (and a bad one at that) or B) an endurance contest that will get turned into a really awful TV show like TEMPTATION ISLAND or CHOPPED. "Oh, what a shame - you only made it as far as Maggie Rogers." And Miley Cyrus? She's what, The Bobby Sherman of of this one? And sorry, but having Country Joe, John Sebabstyian, Canned Heat & Melanie play for this crowd (if there is anything approaching a "crowd"), is likely to go over like showing off your Dad's "Pong" at the intro for iPhone 12 or something.

Barry Lyons / Rent A Label

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Woodstock '99 was a mess but I had a blast at '94. Great mix of current and past musicians at the time. I'm just talking as a concert goer but one of the best events of my life considering the friends I went with and the environment and fun attitude everybody had there. I still have the tickets and a bunch of other junk from it lol

Maury Wilks

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I really wanted to support the idea of another Woodstock. When I saw a major promoter wasn't involved, caution set in. Jan. 8th, the festival was announced. Then radio silence. That allowed speculation and rumors to take over. I've heard that the delay was due to bands and managers wanting full payment. So, it turns out they are all about the dollar, not the celebration? You are right that they did not get one act that caused us to say "I have to be there."
It's a heavy festival season. We have decisions to make with our time and money. Who's idea was it to make us wait another month to find out about ticket prices? And what bands are the "and more..."? Who is handling PR?
In the mean time, Lolapalooza announces. There is Life is Beautiful. I hope Woodstock is listening and responds to what is being said. In spite of the shortfalls, I really want to see it succeed. I'm keeping my reservation to see what developes. Then I will decide.
John Kauchick

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I saw some fledgling acts that are on the bill posting on their social about this. I was like "what there's a 50th" followed by my second thought of, "who's dumb enough to buy a ticket for this?"

James Lucente

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"Jimi Hendrix played "The Star Spangled Banner" to close Woodstock."

I think he closed his main set with "Villanova Junction" and then played an encore of "Hey Joe." The national anthem was a few songs from the end of the set.

hyperbolium

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the "I hate millennials" festival sounds like a must-go event to me.

Bob G

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Coachella is 20 years old. JazzFest is 50 years old.

As a musical experience and as an economic enterprise, JazzFest not only survived Hurricane Katrina, it has grown every year since.

I just don't understand why you always describe Coachella as the "granddaddy" of music festivals given that JazzFest was already 30 years old when Coachella was born.

What am I missing?

Mark McLaughlin

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I was at Woodstock. I was a musician but also worked for WABC radio, so I had an all access backstage pass. This allowed me to stay dryer (not totally dry) than most and to hang out in the pavilion with all sorts of legends. I used to do gigs with Arlo Guthrie and he was there. I stood on the scaffolding drinking champagne alongside Grace Slick (water was scare). Of course, she had no idea who I was. I helped hand out stew with Wavy Gravy and stood outside the tent where my (childhood sweetheart) Joan Baez was warming up.

I left the festival tired from lack of sleep and very grungy. But it was one of the high points of my life, especially where music is concerned.

WOODSTOCK WAS EVERYTHING LEGEND MAKES IT OUT TO HAVE BEEN.

Man, I miss the 60s!!!

Bill Dobbins

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It would be worth your while to check out hardly strictly bluegrass in San Francisco. 5 or 6 stages and upwards of 80 acts in Golden Gate Park. Totally free to attend so ticked sales to the masses isn't the driving force behind the booking, the music rides in the front seat.
It's Warren Helman's love letter to San Francisco, and probably the only festival of its kind in the US. The only one not marred by corporate sponsorships and VIP levels of access separating haves from have nots. Backstage there is a real vibe of artistic camaraderie and nobody, no matter who you are, gets more than a 10x10 for a quick change and maybe a bottle or two off your rider. Every artist hangs together in the common hospo area back of house, and the feeling of musical family is palpable.

Newport Folk also continues to buck the system. Being limited by their 10k capacity and with a guaranteed sell out every year, they also give the music a front seat and what they're doing to give back to the music community, and the way they engage the artists and bring them into the folk family fold is unrivaled.

It's not all bad news out there in festival world.

Jennifer Rieber

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JazzFest can suffer from extremely hot, humid weather. A friend went and it was so rainy she was unable to see Stevie Wonder.

David F.

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Hi Bob - I was at the 94' (second) Woodstock. And by like the 2nd band the johnnies on the spot were overflowing, the food had gotten scarce, the rains came and the this new breed of concert grower was born- mud people.

I was there for the Chili Peppers and Bob Dylan.

Fun fun!

Matt Volpe

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Thanks for talking me out the stupid idea of attending. I prefer music cruises now

Robin Grab

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Music festivals can be even more nefarious. Many of them have radius clauses in their contracts. Bands are not allowed to play within a certain radius of the festival for a certain period of time. So if you love a band and you want to see them in your town, there's a good chance you'll either have to brave the mud and crowds and the blitzed imbeciles, or catch them the next time they tour.

Festivals are awesome for people who like festivals. They suck for people who like music.

Dave Pell

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I could not agree more..I attended and worked building the stage and working in the crew at the first one.Spending most of the festival moving gear on and off the stage the experience of seeing the fantastic musicians captivate an audience as far as the eye could see was overwhelming.The music continued all day and night..The musicians backstage were amazed at the sprawling crowd and walked around in total disbelief at the quality of music they were experiencing all in one place at the same time.Musicians bonding with other musicians.Impromtu backstage jams.Things that will never be able to be replicated because we have become so used to these things that they are not unique anymore..The spirit of Woodstock is what will be missing.I will watch the Directors cut and remember the feeling I had when I heard Janis warning up before her performance and watching Alvin Lee come off the stage pouring sweat.

Al Marks

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Bob, the disruption you yearn for has been in full bloom since the 1970s, and is still expanding. It's rap.

Rap doesn't fit any previous definition of music. Singing, playing, melody, chords, dynamics etc. are either secondary or absent altogether. BUT...

When a conventional rock or R&B band invites a good rapper up to the stage for a mid-set guest shot, the energy level in the venue suddenly spikes. The audience goes wild, the place blows up.

Traditional rock, soul, or blues performers and songwriters continue to offer up highly entertaining shows and recordings. But these performers and writers simply have no new turf to explore, because by 1980. American pop music boundaries had been thoroughly demolished. Meanwhile, after nearly 50 years of development, rap is still a hotbed of innovation.

Paul Lanning

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You are such an old pessimistic sad sack.

Darryl DeLawder

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glad you said IT!!!!!

love,
marc brickman

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Watkins Glen, not so great? Totally unforgettable for this kid, Bob. Going to Woodstock at 12 was out of the question, but summer of '73 I live down the road in Ithaca, and my girlfriend Rachel and I buy our $10 Summer Jam tickets early. She gets sick and bails that Friday, so my buddy Hank and I hitch over to the racetrack, walk the last five miles through an ocean of parked cars, and find our way all the way up to the front. Friday night's sound checks are brilliant, the Dead play two sets with Bill Graham pacing the stage. Yeah, it rains on Saturday, it rains hard, but the sets are killer, the mud friendly, and right in the middle of The Band's dangerously wet set? Rachel shows up, like a mermaid. 600,000 people, and I'm still trying to figure out how she found us. Years later I heard Shelly and Jim cooked up Summer Jam after Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley and Jai Johansen played with Jerry and the boys at Dillon Stadium a year earlier. It was Dickey's first time playing in the band, and it was this lucky kid's first Dead show...

Steven Starr

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Didnt they learn anything from the chaos of wood$tock 99? Run The Jewels is the saving grace of hip hop and the future. Let them headline all three nights.
Mo Boyles

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Nail meet head.

Thanks Bob!

Cheers,

Dave Schools

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Nailed it, Bob. Nothing here, there (Woodstock).
Scott Hazlewood

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As a newly turned 46 year old I had a good laugh at your "old man yells at a cloud" email about Woodstock.

For the last four years I've been travelling the world to go to festivals.

I've been to one amazing festival already this year (Golden Plains, Meredith, Australia) and I'm attending three festivals (Shindig Weekender in Somerset UK, Primavera Sound in Barcelona Spain, and Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig) over three weeks in Europe this summer... And, providing I can arrange it, I'll be at more festivals in Australia and the UK for the next 12 months.

Sure, America is a fetid backwater, full of the worst kinds of humans imaginable, but don't think for a minute the Great American Failure of a Capitalist Dream has infected everywhere. Most people I've met at these festivals are fucking loving them, loving live, loving music, and show no signs of stopping attending.

Funky J

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That's why music cruises are taking off. I've been to all 5 Moody Blues cruises and one
Flower Power. You have a nice room, all the food you can eat, all the drinks you want,
most shows are indoors so if it rains, that's fine and as far as I'm concerned, if I was
paying $100 a concert and I get to go to 3-4 a day for 5 days, the cruise is free. And
you get to run into the bands in the cafeteria or just walking on the ship or getting on
an elevator. It is the perfect way to get that feeling of belonging and yet you can jump
in the hot tub or go back to your room if you get tired. After the first cruise I said it was
like Woodstock if Woodstock had showers, comfy beds and all the food you could eat!

I've seen great bands - including Roger Daltry, The Zombies, the Moodies and the
last cruise had Todd Rundgren who I really like.

Katie Bradford,
Portland, OR

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While I agree with your general just, it feels odd hearing Jay-Z described as being part of "today's music scene".

No teenagers are talking about anything he has put out in the last 10 years unless Kanye or his wife were involved.

Tidal has done damage to his legacy on the ground, it will be used as a case study for years to come. The number of people REALLY discovering his music has likely nosedived.

Andy Vale

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I live in Reading (UK), home of the festival. In the years I went nothing can top the iconic appearance of Nirvana. Standing in the mud and rain all day, wondering if the biggest band in the world would appear, after some well publicised difficulties. It felt special then , little did any one who was there realise just how important and iconic that performance would be. Then I went home to bed [ sod sitting in a tent when I lived less than a mile away with a warm bed and shower waitng!].

Once again

Thanks for your post.
Paul Mccolm

________________________________________

Love this article, so dead on! I have not wanted to sleep on the ground since I was a kid, even then it was overrated!

Jim Ryan

________________________________________

Yes. Best two lines, "Woodstock 50, oh I have to be there" and Jay Z, ""I'm a business, man!"

Steve Anderko

________________________________________

It's not just Southern California influencers shelling out the big bucks to sleep in overpriced cabins with lavish and excess who still enjoy festivals.

Agreed that it's more about the experience that the acts alone, but there's a thriving festival scene all over the US where the majority of folks still camp out and keep it rustic.

Miley Cyrus at Woodstock? - What a louse. Dead & Company, Santana, Cros, etc. can't bandaid stuff like that.

Regards,
Dylan Muhlberg

________________________________________

Great article. You wrote exactly what I was thinking. Thanks. Jeff Booth

________________________________________

They are defiantly not going back to the garden . . .

Perry/Chicago

________________________________________

"You may have little interest in the social impact of the Woodstock legacy, but anyone who was there will tell you it was about way more than just the music."

Look me in the face and tell me it was WAY more than just the music in 1999. Was it the $4 water, the lack of security or the nu metal acts that caused the riots that occured.

Fuck right off with that shit.

Brian Martin

________________________________________

SO RIGHT!!!!

Where's Billie Eilish? Where's Kpop? Where's Tool, Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Coldplay, RHCP?? Where THE FUCK IS EDM?!?!?!?

Fuck this shit. Woodstock is supposed to be a bookmarked celebration of a generation's music. I've seen Spotify playlists from teenagers better than this lineup.

I hope this festival ends in flames like the last one. It's a fucking dumpster fire.

Brian Martin

________________________________________

I grew up there near Watkins Glen NY, and my dad's best pal ran a liquor & beer store in the little downtown. When he heard about the potential size of the 1973 Summer Jam concert, he stocked up 4x everything, including a couple of shotguns. I was 15, and we all camped out in sleeping bags in his store those nasty rainy nights to keep "the hippies" from stealing merchandise. I think they were all too soaked & miserable (& stoned) to bother, nothing happened.

We were told -- local lore maybe, or not -- that Summer Jam turned out to the largest congregation of human beings ever anywhere up til then. 500,000 kids, most without tickets, showed up & tore down the fences. They had planned for 10,000 or so, including port-a-potties. It wasn't just mud they were rolling in up on that hill.

Our next door neighbor, a med student resident, volunteered at the Summer Jam first aid tent. He still talks about treating dozens of drunks, overdoses & broken bones. And the one DOA guy who tried to arrive so grandly by parachute but was carrying a lit flare that caught his strings on fire... ooops.

Some events are better not repeated!

RICK REIDY

________________________________________

The elephant in the room when it comes to your garden variety music festival, is TICKET PRICE and TEARED TICKETING.
People just want to easily buy one ticket at a reasonable price and get the service anyone would expect at a regular concert.

"you want VIP parking...that's extra...you want hot showers...that's extra....you want to camp beside your car...that's extra....oh you only want a single day ticket....call back 30 days before the show for prices...you want gourmet food with your ticket...that's extra"

It's become so costly and complicated to plan a show with friends, I'd rather just go to a tailgate at a sporting game or regular concert.

Case in point. Lange makes a big announcement about Woodstock50 ...and doesn't even release information on the COST of the tickets!!!.....WHAT!!! (insert head shake here)...that's the second thing people want to know.... (next to the info on the "lineup")

You gotta get deep into the weeds to buy a festival ticket these days and there are only so many dollars in the pocket of most broke millennials.

Chris Dragon from Toronto

________________________________________

Yes, it was not really about the specific performers, it was being immersed in the music and the culture around the music. And to be clear, that was not pop culture. Most attendees did not look camera ready at all, but then it was before the age of selfies.

I met Michael Lang, and I understand this new one in the usual way. He wanted to stage a Broadway musical, and that would probably work so perhaps this is a warmup but then many of the original acts are long gone.

Are these festivals today even about the music, or what it is trying to say? There was protest and a message in much of the music back during Woodstock time, but in general that has faded with the quest for even more money.

You keep pointing out great and good music abounds, and that is clearly true. It may not be at these events, and if attendees have a good experience so much the better, but it certainly is not that "feeling" we had.

thanks
Robert Heiblim

________________________________________

While the big festivals like Cochella chug along, there IS a disruption in the festival circuit and it's been gathering steam for years now: niche, smaller festivals. There are lots of these happening all over the US- Pickathon, Desert Stars, and many more. Small(er) crowds, varied accommodation options and tastefully curated lineups that include acts you know now, and ones you haven't heard yet but may soon become personal faves.

Kind of like the Spotify experience in a "manageable" live event.

Brian FitzGerald

________________________________________

Oh, hell, I'll never get through to you; but, I do enjoy reading most of your blog.

We're too tiny for you at 10,000; but, bet we have more grammy awards represented on our stage in a weekend than coachella has had last three combined.

After our 45th year, we're just competing with ourselves. It's amusing, though, to watch the big festivals make such GROUNDBREAKING revelations like using compostable straws. WOW. That's news? We've been doing that for over a decade.

And, we offset all travel to and from, best we can estimate from pretty thorough ticket sales evaluation; after a decade, still the only actually carbon neutral festival, though others make the claim.

And, we've sure put in our 10,000 hours.

Craig Ferguson (Telluride Bluegrass Festival)

________________________________________

Well done Bob.

I've been a fan for years, and I want to thank you for your emails.

Your completely right about festivals.

Last year my company TickPick sponsored Firefly as the official ticket marketplace.

I loved that there was a hotel to stay at; this made it possible for me to convince my wife to go (we are in our mid 30s with two young kids, so if we are going away, specially to a festival, there needs to be a hotel or an Airbnb).

As a sponsor, I got a Staff VIP wristband, which more or less let's you go anywhere. My wife got a "family band", which was the equivalent of their $2,500 Super VIP band. I met Ryan the CEO of Red Frog and Firefly, before AEG bought Firefly.

Ryan was awesome, he took us on stage (which was a first for me) and then drove us in his personal golf cart through their backroads to the next stage to see Marian Hill. After we split up from Ryan, I was later escorted out of the VIP area by security. Security was only doing their job.

Luckily afterwards, I was given a family band / Super VIP band.

For the first time ever (in an environment like this) I truly felt Super VIP. The coolest part was access to a system of golf carts that acted in the background.

The next day from the hotel, instead of walking 1.5 miles in 90+ degree heat, we got a golf cart ride. That night when the Killers were on the main stage, we got a quick ride two stages over where Portugal the Man was playing. Thirty minutes later we got a ride back to the main stage to see Eminem.

The entire experience was somewhat magical.

As a business man, I thought about how the $2,500 Super VIP customer and experience was so much more costly and challenging to execute on, compared to selling 8 GA tickets, or even 4 VIP tickets.

Nonetheless, if someone can figure out a way to give your general audience a taste of Super VIP, they will be incredibly successful.

The closest thing I've seen to this was at the Country Music Fan Festival. They have an ally, like a catwalk for fans in front of the first row on the floor. You can choose one artist and you are able to be in front of the stage for a couple songs (not sure if they still do this).

As you said it's about the experience and how it makes you feel.

I hope one day to get a chance to meet.

Brett Goldberg

________________________________________

I, too went to the original. That was home turf for me. My parents had a summer bungalow in White Lake.
2 miles from Max's farm.It's where we bought our dairy stuff and I played with cows. Max and my Dad would sometimes go fishing on Saturdays at Hunter Lake.
From 1953-1969. From Memorial Day to Labor Day we were there. Dad came up on weekends.
I could walk to the site thru the woods in 15 minutes. Slept in a bed. Ate Mom's food. I was 16.
If they say there were 400,000 on site, I say there was another 1/2 million stuck in the arteries(Route 17B, 42, 55) Arlo was wrong. They never closed the Thruway, Just Exit 16, leading to the site.
Like you, I worshipped at the Fillmore Altar, so I had seen 90% of the acts on the bill.
I was desperate to see one: Stephen Stills and Neil Young. Never saw the Springfield(Nor the Beatles).
3 weeks prior to that weekend I went into the city and saw Blind Faith, Led Zeppelin and Sly Stone. In a row.
I hated the 1st night(rain) and didn't care for some of the acts(Havens, Baez, etc..), so I left.
But the Who, Sly, killed it, the next night. Alvin Lee was great and so was Mountain. But the Band, while good was lethargic for that crowd.
Zep, and Blind Faith were on tour(?), Jeff Beck cancelled and Dylan never showed(rumor).
By the time Hendrix played(already seen him, Janis others 2X), we were tired.
I hitchhiked back to B'klyn on Tuesday and came back again on Friday with my Dad.
He was angry with me. Thought I was on drugs the whole time(yes, pot, LSD and uppers to stay awake).
I took him to the site to talk to the people left, and the Hog Farm was still cleaning up and the Dead were still there jamming for them.
It changed profoundly his attitude towards me. Best 2 weeks of our life together.
It was then I knew music was my future, so 3 years later I drove to LA, looking for Stephen, Neil and Laurel Cyn. I found Mo Ostin who changed my life.
Yes the music was so important, but it was all about the "hang". I've been told I hung with Laura Nyro all weekend. Don't remember.
I couldn't fathom under any circumstances doing that again.
Sorry for the length.

Stu Cohen

________________________________________

I read your emails almost religiously. Most of the time I appreciate the hardcore music aficionado attitude. I like that there are people (like you) out there who still give a shit.

But, I can't agree with this Woodstock 50 post. First, I don't have a dog in this fight. I have nothing to do with W50. That said, I wish I did. I really like what they are trying to do. I know a little something about music and the business that drives it. I was Publisher of SPIN (twice), helped launch the music pub BLENDER and now, on the cusp of turning 60 years old, I work on Rolling Stone. I've gone to more festivals than I want to admit. I've helped sponsor them and have watched many crash and burn. Most importantly, I still love going to them, and I suggest you get off the sofa and join us stomping around in the mud. It's fun.

You could not be more wrong about Bonnaroo. It is the musical cousin of Burning Man. It is as much a celebration of the best of humanity as it is great music. To the point, unless I've been too stoned, it sure looks like Superfly doesn't have an attendance problem. It always seems packed to me. And, I think you are short sheeting the millennials. The ones I meet at the festivals like Lockn, Fire Fly and Mountain Jam revel in the freedom of living outside.

As for Woodstock 50, I can't wait. The promoters have done a good job of sprinkling the infield with an eclectic mix of bands and artists. There's a little something there for everyone. But, judging it by the lineup still misses the point. At an event as epic as Woodstock 50, it's about the people and the continuation of a collective aspiration ... that as a society we need a good kick in the pants to remind us of what's important - the welfare of our brethren and the health of Mother Earth. I think Woodstock 50 is at least is trying.

I hope I see you there.

Thanks,

Malcolm Campbell

________________________________________

Bob,

I was 15. Living in Norfolk, Virginia. My best buddies had a hotel room for the Atlantic City Pop Festival, (two weeks before Woodstock). My single mom was not about to let me go to Atlantic City, unsupervised, in a hotel room, no less.
The next week, she came home from work telling me that a girl in her office was going with her boyfriend to a "small festival in Upstate New York. And that if I could earn the money for my own ticket, I could ride up with them as my "chaperones". I went over to this dude's house and he had a copy of Rampart's with this little ad about an exposition in Walkill. A cool lineup, too. If I remember correctly, the Moody Blues and Led Zeppelin were on the bill. But…it's been a lot of years.
Sold my album collection to a 13 year old that paid me with his father's 1880s-era silver dollar collection.
So, pockets laden with silver and a small quantity of low-grade marijuana, I rode up with this couple, both at least 18. On the Pennsylvania Turnpike, we encountered other freaks on the way and traded some ragweed for a couple of hits of blotter acid. The driver and I immediately dropped and it wasn't long before we we immersed an a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. Not just a traffic jam, but freaks EVERYWHERE. Walking. Panhandling for ticket money. Selling various wares to a captive audience in their automobiles.
That's when WE knew it was a cultural event. Before it even started.
We eventually parked, the dude, (tripping his ass off) and his lady headed off, arm in arm, in one direction and I took off in another.
Walked down this country road amazed at what I was seeing and experiencing. The road opened up on the top edge of the natural amphitheater and I was dumbstruck. More people than I'd ever seen in one place and they were still coming. Nary a fence. No ticket booth. I was in. Waded into the crowd, found a small piece of real estate and plopped down. Shortly thereafter, an announcement that it's a "free concert" emanated from the tiny, distant stage. Spent the day and afternoon soaking up the sun, listening to music, partaking in slugs of acid-dosed wine from bottles that endlessly circulated.
Went back to the car on Friday night, as it started drizzling and I was fried, checked in and went back to hear Arlo Guthrie. Came back to the car and crashed
The next morning, chaperones in one direction, me in another.
That was the last I ever saw of them. EVER. When I went to the car Saturday night, it wasn't there. I went back to the festival site and spent the weekend unencumbered and unmolested by anything or anybody. 15 years old and freer than I've ever been.
And I was taken care of. Fed. Body and mind. Sheltered when it rained, by strangers with tarps or sheets of plastic. I ran into a handful of people I knew from home and one, Russell Scarborough, took me under his 17 year-old wing. (Back home, I found out a bunch of friends had gone including our mutual friend Tom Cartwright.) We eventually hitched home together on Monday. Woke up in the mud to the weirdness that was She Na Na. The crowd around us had disappeared and the rest had moved closer to the stage. I thought switchblade-wielding Greasers had commandeered the stage, woke up Russell and suggested maybe we should leave. On the way out, maybe a mile or two away, we heard the sound of Hendrix's guitar wafting over the countryside. Russell asked if I wanted to go back. I said, "Nah. We can see Hendrix anytime. He plays at all of the festivals."

It, at the time, wasn't about the folks on the stage. Shit…we had no idea who would BE on the stage. I missed CSNY, as I was passed out in the mud. Couldn't wake up for Jefferson Airplane. Watched The Who at sunrise. Wondered at the spastic movements of this "Crocker" dude with the voice of a black man. Was impressed by CCR, (whom I regarded as an unhip Top 40 band). Had a drug-induced religious experience listening to the Band. Was too hip to engage in Sly Stone's call and response…even after he called me out.
Blown away by Blood, Sweat & Tears. But…those were asides. The show was us. WE caused the traffic jams. WE took care of each other. WE entertained each other during the interminable waits between the musical acts. WE made history. The bands were just the catalyst. The spark. WE were the fire, (however briefly, given Altamont). But WE are the reason Mr. Lang can, again, try to capitalize on US.
I'm not interested in W50 or whatever the fuck they call it. I'll likely be gigging. Doing a few of the songs that I heard on that weekend of freaks making history. Good luck to those who will attend, but don't be fooled into thinking something will be replicated. There is no chance. The diversity of the potential audience is destined to include meth heads; the opiate addicted; the weirdies that are the Children of the Internet Corn; kids that don't realize their modern music sucks and those who do; oldsters that succumbed to the evils of the Republican Party and Trumpism and, of course, ancient freaks that still believe in the Turn On, Tune in and Drop Out ethos that brought us all together on that kismet-laden weekend.

By the way, Powder Ridge wasn't cancelled. It was a scam by crooks that ran off with the advance ticket monies and a shitload of kids ended up partying anyway.
The last "decent" festival I attended was Wozniak's US Festival. Great music, but it wasn't really us.
But…thanks to Mr. Lang for #1 and good luck to him on his his latest venture. Personally, I think he should provide reparations to those of US who made his famous and successful.

Scott Sechman


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The Motley Crue Movie

It's stupid, but you can't turn it off.

There's a backlash against this flick. From people who weren't there the first time and wouldn't be there if this era ever came back, even though it can't.

You see the Sunset Strip was populated by castoffs, those not wanted, those who didn't fit in, not Ivy League graduates. It was a different era, your parents didn't bribe colleges to get you in, they expected you to leave the house after high school and stay gone. What you did...

Was your business.

It's hard to describe the power of rock and roll. It's something you feel, oftentimes in your genitalia. It's a power, it's a strength. With the guitars blazing and the singer screaming and the beat pounding so loud you can feel it in you bones you feel like...

The rest of the world doesn't matter, that you can conquer all. For that very moment you feel content and happy, in a world where that's oftentimes not the case.

That's right, the critics don't have a sense of humor. Of course it didn't go down the way it does in the flick. But that's one of the reasons you became a rock star, for the girls, for the sex. You can either be rich or famous, take your pick, otherwise you're gonna have a hard time getting laid.

And the women attracted to wealth and fame are willing.

That's what we can't discuss. Not women wrongly accusing abusers, but women who want to partake.

Groupies.

Originally it was famous people, they even wrote a book about them, Frank Zappa even concocted a band of them, Pamela Des Barres built a whole career on her behavior.

And then it was a zillion girls in every burg the band came through. They lined up. They wanted to touch the fame, when there was no Instagram and no influencers and very few people were famous and your chances of meeting someone...

Furthermore, you got a story, which you could treasure or laugh about for the rest of your life.

Of course this doesn't excuse the abusive behavior, notoriously of the English bands, but that was then and this was now, before smartphone cameras, when there was no proof and everything was underground.

That was part of the appeal. If you were on TV, you were bigger than life. And it wasn't only rock stars, it was also those who surrounded them. The original MTV VJs, most notably Martha Quinn... You just wanted to get closer.

We knew the label presidents. And the A&R guys. And Tom Zutaut is portrayed as goofy, but the truth is the A&R guys were the links to the labels, and without one, you just couldn't make it.

And Doc McGhee looks like your father. But the truth is he dealt dope to fuel his business.

There was a whole economy built around rock and roll. And if it worked...you were as rich as anybody in America, with much more freedom. You existed outside the system, yet owned it. That's why everybody wants to be a "rock star."

Now if you weren't around back then, and most people who'll view this movie weren't, you'll peer in on a past age that was not so exciting to live through but looks positively glorious from this distance. We had to leave the house, there was nothing to do and no way to meet people at home. So we'd go out to hear bands, even crappy bands, to be part of the scene, to interact.

And we all interacted. The educated and the dropouts. We were all there together, hooked by the music. There was no VIP unless you truly were one, you couldn't buy your way in. So you'd peer behind the rope and see rock stars and executives and say to yourself...I'm gonna be there one day.

There was that desire. And it's so hard to make it, and so hard to stay in it.

You practiced. You formed bands. The bands broke up and you formed new bands. You laughed, you fought, you got drunk and did drugs. And got laid.

The women would buy you meals, support you, they wanted in just that bad. Judge 'em all you want, but that's the way it was, ask any band that started out living in one room eating ramen.

And when you made it, you were certifiably BIG! Everybody in the demo knew you, because everybody was watching MTV, even those not in the demo. You were royalty.

And Tommy Lee married Heather Locklear and then Pamela Anderson. They wanted to be closer to the sound, to the scene. And Valerie Bertinelli married Eddie Van Halen. And oftentimes the famous women pursued the men.

And nobody was talking, still nobody is talking, it's the code of the road.

Jeff Bezos has a rendezvous with Patrick Whitesell's wife... Metallica went on an endless tour and the band members came home and all got divorced. This was not traditional business. It was every night another arena, an endless grind, of endless boredom, no wonder the musicians did drugs and trashed hotel rooms to cope.

But the critics were never there. They're like the uptight neighbors pooh-poohing the music. And the car salesmen. The BMW salesman wouldn't give Steve Lukather the time of day, until he came back with cash.

Believe me, Wall Street didn't revere the rockers like they do the techies, they were outcasts.

And then the whole thing flipped. The executives thought they were the stars, Napster killed sales and the internet flattened the scene, so there was no mystery and nobody was that big.

Which is why the younger generation is going to be intrigued by this flick, they not only want to know how it was, they envy it and want to re-enact it.

That's right "The Dirt" will be influential. Never underestimate the power of rock.

And it plays more like "Wayne's World" than drama. None of the characters are believable, the language is hokey, but the story remains.

And it's on Netflix. Remember when "Eddie and the Cruisers" failed in theatres and then soared on HBO? Same deal here. It's just a click away, just a click away.

Hell, I watched it, the hype got to me.

But you can't get me out to the theatre, no way. And when those movies hit the flat screen it's too late, the culture is on to something else, and it's impossible to stay current, never mind catch up.

So if you're an insider, it's a must-see, just to see how the truth in your mind was depicted, the old days.

And if you're a newbie... Sure, rappers shoot each other, get in trouble with the law, but rockers were more about getting drunk and getting laid and the truth is it can never be the way it was because of the aforementioned cameras, everyone's got one in their smartphone.

And #MeToo. Rock is politically incorrect. Almost all of it. Could Jimi Hendrix even record a song called "Foxey Lady"?

I doubt it.

And my favorite Aerosmith song is "Lord of the Thighs."

Nope, we've got to nix that one too.

But it didn't used to be that way.

And "The Dirt" gets it right.

SUCKAS!


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Thursday 21 March 2019

Grass Roots

Today it's from the bottom up, not the top down.

This is a complete one-eighty from the twentieth century. Used to be you aligned yourself with corporations which seeded media outlets for you to get traction. But this was back in a limited world with few slots, when entertainment was scarce, before Spotify, before Napster.

Now, that paradigm does not work.

Bernie Sanders raised $5.9 million on his first day of fundraising. Beto O'Rourke $6.1 million. All from individuals. If you're taking money from the corporation, you're gonna lose, just like Hillary.

The media missed Trump.

And it's missing what's going on in the music business. Conventional wisdom is it's the same as it ever was, hit acts played on the radio are the most important. But just like in the MTV era, the faster you make it, the quicker you lose it. But the real winners are not those hungering for playlists or radio spins or even a record deal, but those forging relationships with fans.

It's fan passion you want, not corporate indifference, where you're a cog in the wheel.

Corporations are not to be trusted, fat cats either, on either the right or left of the political spectrum. And conventional wisdom amongst music acolytes is today's hit acts haven't earned it, they've been propped up by the machine, there's nothing there. They're losers, just like Hillary, endorsed by the press, irrelevant to them.

If you've got something genuine, you've got to start outside the system. Otherwise you're going to be compromised by the system. You've got to use the new tech tools to establish a fan base and grow it. And the truth is your fans grow it, and radio is the icing on the cake, but there's a good chance radio isn't even gonna help you anymore, because your fans want to own you, although they can appreciate your broader success by saying they were there first.

That's the litmus test, whether you have fans. Other than your significant other, family and friends. Are those not connected closed? If so, they'll give you their time and money and work 24/7 as a marketing machine.

People don't personally know Bernie or Beto, but they're donating anyway.

Hillary went to corporate donors, who don't give the money away for free, she was inherently compromised.

You can't be compromised in the twenty first century.

Don't look at the acts that have the biggest grosses, but those who sell out. You feel a rush seeing your favorite act up close in a small venue that supersedes seeing the superstar in an arena or stadium. You remember this event for your entire life.

In other words, you're a star in your own world. Every act is a silo. There is no competition, other than with yourself. Is your fanbase growing, are your grosses growing? Do your fans want new music irrelevant of if it's too soon for radio?

And there are so many ways to monetize. But you've got to do it yourself. The personal touch is everything. You want to meet and greet your audience, be available online. Sure, eventually you might get too busy and too big to do this, but that means you're on your way.

Everything great starts from outside. But historically, you had to sell out to go big. Today, no one's that big, no one's ubiquitous. And just by aligning yourself with a major/corporation you're compromising yourself. Because their goals are not aligned with yours. They're about money, they're about short term, they're about what's expedient. You're willing to wait for money, delayed gratification is the way all the tech companies were built...have success, then charge. And you're in it for the long haul. You're fans first, not stockholders first.

And passionate fans will support you. And, once again, being around a long time pays dividends in today's cacophonous world. People don't want fly by night, they want to invest for years!


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Michael Lang Responds

Bob,

You may have little interest in the social impact of the Woodstock legacy, but anyone who was there will tell you it was about way more than just the music.

W50 is not music by the numbers and we are not Live Nation or AEG looking to own the Festival world. This one-time event will not be back next year. We are independent and happy to be so.

You can look at our lineup and dismiss the headliners because they are headliners and have been for some time, and that's because they make great music. Many of our acts are heavily committed to Social Change.

You can fail to look to the rich fabric of the undercard and you dismiss the incredible diversity and talent there as not worth a mention, But for you to ignore the power of music to once again move people to action is truly disappointing.

I think we are reliving some of the same issues we, (maybe not you), were passionate about back then. Civil rights, women's rights, equal opportunity for all, ending a war we felt unjust, and awareness of the fact that our planet needed care. We gained a voice and we made a difference. Through music and community, we hope to help engage young people in these and other challenges once again affecting all of our lives, to encourage them to step up and make their voices heard.

We have a growing list of NGO partners like HeadCount and Conservation International as well as NGO's coming from the likes of Miley Cyrus- Happy Hippies, JZ -REFORM, and Chance The Rapper's Social Works.

And btw the Dentsu guys sold me! They wanted in. They saw this event as an opportunity with a payoff of doing some real good in the World.

Where will we be if we don't all step up now ?

Best, Michael


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Wednesday 20 March 2019

Woodstock 50

It's just another festival. Albeit with a legendary brand name, which has been tarnished by two previous anniversary iterations.

The festival business has changed. Everything doesn't sell out. Some crater completely, like Pemberton in British Columbia. If you build it, there's a good chance they will not come. Even if they've come before, they might not again.

Like Bonnaroo. Started as a jam band festival, it expanded its brand to the point of near-extinction. Phish is returning this year, and some of the Phishheads unable to fathom missing a performance will attend, but Bonnaroo peaked years ago and is one bad year away from going away.

Because it's a lousy experience. In Tennessee in the near-summer with camping. It takes a special breed of person to want to do that, and there aren't that many of them. People want to be pampered, and it's about the audience, not the performers. That's why the Fyre Festival was so successful, people bought tickets because they wanted to hang with movers and shakers, up their cred, make connections. The fact that it ended up a fraud is secondary.

Coachella continues. Because it's the granddaddy and the first event of the festival season, taking place in April. But this is the year they switched formulas, from classic to contemporary. This may or may not work for them. Coachella may be Glastonbury, act-proof, but maybe not.

But the other mega-festivals in the U.S...

Are all located in cities. Lollapalooza in Chicago, ACL in Austin and Outside Lands in San Francisco. You've got to locate your festival in a metropolis, with infrastructure, people don't want to only hear music and they don't want to camp. This works for not only the three festivals stated above, but for JazzFest and Life Is Beautiful. Life is not beautiful sitting in the mud.

And speaking of mud, that's always an issue with east coast festivals, the weather. Seems every year a New York City festival has to cancel a day for weather, wreaking havoc with the economics.

And it used to be festivals were a one time only experience. Now, the headliners appear at multiple events, in your region, there's no need to travel, and if you don't go to the festival, you can see them at your local venue.

The original Woodstock was such a legendary event because no one thought it would be so. The mainstream press did not participate in the buildup, unlike today, where the announcement of the bill is all over the web.

The original Woodstock was a cultural event, but we did not know this until after the show was over. When we saw the power of youth. All going, all being safe, all enjoying classic music.

But shortly thereafter, Meredith Hunter was killed at Altamont. And the wannabe events promoted were canceled, like Powder Ridge. And then there was the original Watkins Glen concert, with three legendary acts. The Dead and the Allmans built their careers on their live shows, the records paled in comparison, you had to be there to experience it. I was, it was not so great, the best I can say is I was there. We slept in the car and it rained and I would not want to repeat the performance.

No baby boomer would.

And millennials are all about creature comforts, lifestyle. Why would they want to camp?

Certainly the music is not enough.

In all the grosses and live experience hogwash, no one admits the music does not have the power it used to. When the Killers are headlining you yawn. Their hits are behind them and they're not superstars to begin with.

As for Dead & Company... They play EVERYWHERE!

And Jay Z? He doesn't go clean. We can argue whether it's high ticket prices or demand...

The only act that seems to be somewhat about the music is Dead & Company. Didn't Jay Z say he was a brand, man? Maybe that was someone else, but that's everybody's goal these days. The musicians are not aspirational for their music, but their ability to leverage that fame in other ways to make money. It's hollow.

The acts of yore wrote their own material. Today's acts perform "songs" written by committee, or someone else entirely, it's not straight from the heart, but straight from the cash register.

Furthermore, in 1969, the music was exploring and exploding. It drove the culture. Jimi Hendrix played "The Star Spangled Banner" to close Woodstock. The innovation is limited today, we're not in a heyday.

But you might argue with me.

But I'll tell you it's just business. Promoters don't put up shows on a wing and a prayer, they look at the numbers, they make educated guesses, too many losses and they're out of business. If anything, give Michael Lang credit for snookering Dentsu to pay for this. And I'm sure he told them about sponsorships, movies, the penumbra... They all came after the original Woodstock, which initially was all about the music and nothing but the music.

No one is looking at the Woodstock 50 bill and saying...WHOA, I HAVE TO BE THERE!

That was Desert Trip, with truly legendary acts in a one time only show.

The only attractive thing is the brand name. And people believe in Apple, Netflix and Instagram more than they do in Woodstock these days.

If anything, all the innovation is happening on the fringes, in the small shows, the bubbling under stuff. We're hoping some of it blows up and inspires others thinking out of the box.

But Woodstock 50 is like a remake of "American Idol." Or bringing back a sixties or seventies TV show because the networks are out of ideas.

I'm yearning for some disruption.

And even those not on the cutting edge don't want to drive to nowhere to camp and see acts that won't change their lives.

If Michael Lang really wanted to have a modern festival it would focus on the attendees, not those on stage.

But that's a baby boomer, always locked in the past.

P.S. Jay Z said "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man." That's all you need to know about today's music scene.


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Tuesday 19 March 2019

The Theranos Movie

"You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one"

"Imagine"
John Lennon

People are full of shit.

But not everyone.

My father was a skeptic. If someone told a story too good to be true, he pointed it out. I'm my father's son. Where has that left me?

Oftentimes out of the loop.

One of the horrifying moments of this documentary, and there are many, is when the Theranos employees celebrate FDA approval of one of their tests. They're playing music, people are dancing and...it's scary. Because everybody's caught up in the mania. False mania in this case. And our world is now run by groupthink.

Yup, whether it be the anti-vaxxers or the right wingers or the anti-Israel/Semites, these people are part of a mob, they pump each other up, they believe that they're creating a bulldozer force that will run over every enemy.

But not one as strong as David Boies.

Legal intimidation. Most people are never put on the spot. But when you are...you first want to get out, your inclination is to sign anything to not be part of it, but then you start thinking...HOW MUCH MONEY IS THIS GONNA COST?

So Elizabeth Holmes was a dreamer. The experts told her it couldn't be done. But she went ahead and tried anyway. Kinda like the musicians who send you their demos and you tell them to give up. They don't believe you, they get angry, they double-down, they believe if they just work hard enough, they're gonna show you.

But they're not.

And let's not underestimate the power of an attractive young woman. She charmed dirty old men. That's right, we can talk all about the #MeToo movement, but biology never changes. Actually, we can't talk about it, because the groupthink mob allows no discussion, they think they're right and therefore there's no working out of a continuum of offense, what the penalty might be...instead, men go underground and talk only amongst themselves.

A woman told Holmes it couldn't happen. An MD, a professor at Stanford. She said her dream was good, but science wouldn't allow it.

This was actually one of Holmes's initial ideas. You see she wanted to get rich, she wanted to become a player, just like her idols Edison and Jobs. So she went in pursuit of it.

Was she a crook from the get-go?

Probably not. But when you're running out of money, you'll lie and cheat and do anything to survive. If someone's desperate...STAY AWAY!

And we could talk all about the fear at the company and... The truth is, the employees needed the jobs. That's what's lost in the discussion of these tech titans, that their enterprises run not only on money, but people. Those people aren't gonna quit without a new job. And they've drunk the kool-aid so it's hard to do a 180. And when everybody tells you you're wrong...

There's that groupthink thing again.

And you and me wouldn't lie to Walgreens, never mind investors. And you and me would ultimately admit our faults. But not Elizabeth, she's a modern American, a millennial through and through, deny, deny, deny. Truth is a passe concept. Ever since Clinton lied about the blow job. Trump lies seemingly each and every day. Who's gonna catch them?

The media. The print media. Which is also excoriated by Trump.

TV is talking heads, they do almost no reporting, other than fires and cat rescues. It's entertainment. How do we know this? When he was struggling, Tucker Carlson appeared on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show and said heinous things for ratings. Reporters don't do that, or if they do, they're fired.

So you've got a guy at the "Wall Street Journal" who gets a lead and follows it up.

Follow-through, that's something that's lacking in today's society. They say half of getting ahead is showing up. A lot of the rest is doing the job assigned.

But that's when David Boies comes in...

We laud people until the truth of their identity is revealed. Most people never get famous, are never in the spotlight, then again, think about all the people finding out their parents are not, as a result of biological testing.

If you've got money, you can bury the other side in paper. That's what the big firms do. But the press's job is to stand up to this. John Carreyrou of the "Wall Street Journal" did. I remember reading his stories in the paper, although at the time I knew nothing about Theranos other than its name.

But Carreyrou did his homework. There were pie charts. He just laid out the facts and it was clear that...

Theranos was a fraud.

And then we started hearing about Elizabeth Holmes. You think you want attention, but when you get it you'd better have your ducks lined up. Kinda like Olivia Jade, thinking she could get famous and rich by posting on Instagram featuring the products of sponsors. When there's nothing there, it'll be revealed.

And for over a week we've been inundated with stories about Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. Sure, they're offenders, but minor ones. I'd hate to see them behind bars, but that's where they've got to go to restore confidence in our government, make the little people believe in the system, especially after the sentence for Manafort.

But the truth is they're actresses. With almost no power. And relatively speaking, not that much money. Whereas the big boys...

And they usually are boys. Jump into the arena and be prepared. They're protecting what they've got.

Kinda like the labels during the Napster era. Their only problem was ignorance. They thought the law would solve all their problems, they did not know the power of the internet and the people.

It's gonna cost a lot to make it. Friendships, relationships. And when you get into the belly of the beast, you'll find deception and the aforementioned groupthink... It's not only Theranos, talk to anybody who has ever worked at a record label. Multiple offenses take place. From trying to game Spotify to lying about sales to...it's endless!

And when Zach Horowitz was the lawyer at MCA/Universal, the legal department was seen as a profit center. Think about that.

So what we've learned here is it takes a certain kind of person to be an entrepreneur. Just wanting to be one is not enough. And ideas are nothing without execution. Elizabeth Holmes had a great idea, it just couldn't be done. Furthermore, she's not that good of a Silicon Valley titan, because everybody knows when you hit a wall, you pivot!

We're inundated with stories of people who never gave up and made it.

But some people still win the lottery. Some people are struck by lightning.

You're probably good at something, think about what that is.

And know that life is long. Maybe if Elizabeth Holmes had stayed at Stanford, she might have learned some lessons that would have served her. We venerate the youth, but the old have experience. Young people think they know everything, older people know they do not.

But we keep hearing the mantras... Failure is a badge of honor. Fake it till you make it. It's like a religion, as bogus as the one with the little man in the sky.

But still, you watch this documentary and you come away with the same lesson you learned from the college crisis...the game is rigged, the odds are stacked against you. This is not "Boston Legal," "L.A. Law" or "Ally McBeal," David Boies is a real lawyer in a real situation and he's fighting harder and more intensely than anybody on television. Furthermore, this film says Theranos spent hundreds of millions on legal fees!

I'm gonna leave you with a line that will turn your stomach, just to show you how the world really works. Most males are watching Elizabeth Holmes and at the end they're debating...yes or no.

And you know what the question is about, not business, but sex.

But we can't talk about that.

We can't talk about so much in America because of the gotcha police.

Then again, almost everybody is ignorant. Holmes snookered investors and the government because they knew nothing about science. Every field requires expertise. And a lot of this knowledge is free, all you've got to do is read.

But people would rather fantasize, burnish their brand online.

And one day they wake up and find out the train has left the station, and no one has protected them, no one has given them a hand to get on board, that they're on their own, with no destination home.

Let this be a warning signal. Watch this documentary on HBO. Consider it an assignment more valuable than those business courses you take or took at school. Because this is how the real world works. And the sooner you learn that lesson...

The faster you'll get ahead.

https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/the-inventor-out-for-blood-in-silicon-valley


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Monday 18 March 2019

Who's Next-Name A Better Album-Sirius XM This Week

Tune in tomorrow, Tuesday March 19th, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863 

Twitter: @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

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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Saturday Night At Craig's House

1

We sang. Starting in the first grade. I don't remember singing in kindergarten, coulda happened, but my memory of that year is sketchy.

But the first grade classroom was right next door, we lined up outside, and the teacher was Mrs. Godfrey.

We had two recesses. The first one included milk, but no cookies. I never drank the milk, I don't remember EVER drinking white milk, but if you put enough Bosco in, I was down. And those brown boxes of Hershey's in the grocery store...I'd implore my mother to purchase them, sometimes she'd accede to my wishes.

And I don't have that many memories of first grade either, except for making a map with Mark Levy. That was the assignment, a map of our classroom. And I insisted that it needed red lines, roads, because I always saw them on my dad's maps. I drew one, from the bottom to the top of the heavy paper, and then Mark convinced me not to draw any more. I didn't, he was right.

And there was always music in school. Mr. McCann taught the junior high students, but we saw him too, at this point the elementary and junior high schools were still in the same building.

But in the afternoon, before the clock hit 2:30 and we exited, we'd sing with Mrs. Godfrey.

Now you've got to know, this was back before the boomers became parents and were overinvested in their children. Sure, we had some kids records, but our parents weren't enriching us, scheduling us 24/7, we went to nursery school, that's what they called it, what's up with "pre-school," and learned in the classroom, outside of it we played. As for watching TV...it was illegal in the daytime, at least in my house, you had to go outside, but at five we'd sit in the den, the three of us, my two sisters and myself, and eat buttered noodles and watch "The Mickey Mouse Club."

And in Mrs. Godfrey's class we sang "The Volga Boatmen." Funny thing about the internet, now I can listen to it on Spotify, but it's different, I remember it in my head at six.

2

We took piano lessons. I didn't know a house without a piano. Not that they were Steinways, mostly Knabes, compacts not grands. I started at six, a the Dranoffs' house. With five other people. Three of us on each piano. I learned to read music, we played "Hot Cross Buns," but then baseball interfered and practice was so boring and Mrs. Dranoff was a taskmaster and I stopped playing. For a while anyway, when the Beatles hit, I could play chords and did, occasionally.

3

We sang at summer camp. Mostly folk music. We had singdowns. That's where you have to come up with a song using the topic provided by the other team. That's right, you not only had to come up with it, you needed to SING IT! I remember faking "The Days of Wine and Roses" at Camp Laurelwood, but it got us over the hurdle.

And when I got to junior high, we had club period, I tried out for the Glee Club. One year they admitted me, the next I was cut. This was the sixties, when everybody did not get a trophy. I ended up being in the shop club, and ultimately didn't build anything.

And when the Beatles hit, everybody got a guitar. It was kind of like everybody buying a computer to be on AOL back in the nineties. Then again, today's college students may not have even been born in the nineties. I'm trying to think of something that ubiquitous. And instant. We all have smartphones, but it didn't happen overnight. Ah, I guess you had to be there.

And you'd take your guitar with you, and you'd sit in groups, and SING!

4

Most of my social life revolved around the Aspen crew, Jim Lewi's conference in Colorado. But a funny thing happened in the last twenty years. People lost their jobs. Labels became secondary to live. And now it's a whole different slew of people. Some of whom weren't even old enough to attend back in '96.

Used to be everywhere you went you had an Aspen friend. Show up at a gig, there they were. You got privileges. Institutions roll on, people do not.

But in the last few years, some new people have come into the family and when Marty said he was gonna be in L.A. last weekend, Craig reached out and said we were all invited for a party at his house.

I came late. I was doing my taxes. I was lucky I could get a Saturday appointment as it was, I booked it a month in advance.

And the atmosphere was festive, and Craig made Mexican food. And we were hearing about how Craig and Rick marry people. Craig's done ten, Rick eight, Craig's had one divorce, Rick two. And then...

I moved over to the couch where the women were talking. The women's conversation is much more interesting. It's not about cars and sports, but people and feelings. And then when we heard the singing from the other room, Felice asked why I wasn't joining them. I told her I was talking to Lewi. But when I was finished with Jim...

5

Craig Newman is an agent at APA. He came to L.A. and tried to make it as a performer, but that didn't take, he had to make a choice, and he did.

But the truth is your passions never leave you. You can suppress them, but they're still there.

So Craig has a music room. At one end of his living room. On the other side of the fireplace.

He's got a bunch of guitars. A Martin twelve string, a mellow-sounding Gibson. And bongos. And a snare drum.

And a piano.

Turns out Craig showed interest and his parents got him lessons at six, and when he purchased this house, they bought a piano for him, believing every house should have a piano, a twentieth century construct if there ever was one.

And when I got to the music room...Marty, Rick and Craig were preparing to do "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant."

HUH??

We never sang Billy Joel songs, and certainly not ones as complicated as this.

And the thing is, Craig hews to the record. He doesn't cut verses, he includes it all. And he's a maestro on the keys as well as the frets and off we went.

And suddenly I understood the story of Brenda and Eddie.

Oh, I've heard the song zillions of times, but when you're singing along to your smartphone...

At first I just sang from memory, but I didn't remember every word, so I dialed up the lyrics on my iPhone and...they made sense, they resonated, in a way they never have before. I could see Brenda and Eddie out on the Island, and I wondered where they were today. In their New York State of Mind.

"Some folks like to get away
Take a holiday from the neighborhood"

It was never a hit. But after 9/11, "New York State of Mind" really got traction. And if you grew up in New York or New England you get it.

It was eighty degrees in L.A. And I yearned for the change of seasons on the east coast.

And I thought what a marvelous song this was.

And now I was so energized I asked Craig if he knew "Summer, Highland Falls."

What closed me on Billy Joel was the album "Songs In The Attic," a live LP where he recut all his initial songs the way they should have been produced, after he started working with Phil Ramone. And "Summer, Highland Falls" is a keeper.

Craig explained the history, the war between right hand and left, AND THEN HE PLAYED IT!

No one else knew it, but Craig and I sang it at the top of our lungs, we felt so good.

And if you're singing Billy, you've got to sing Elton.

And now Jamie and Greg are in the music room. Andy and Amy. Felice. We're huddled around the piano singing the songs of our youth.

6

Now I'll be honest, I thought this was an impossibility with today's generation. The records don't usually have melody, but it's something more, back then music was everything, it drove the culture, we all knew the hits, people don't today.

And Craig's whipping out one after another.

And then we get to Simon & Garfunkel. He plays "Mrs. Robinson," which he used to open his sets with when he moved to L.A. and played the bars.

And we did "Homeward Bound."

"I'm sitting in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination..."

What exactly was that destination?

I never wanted kids, except for when I turned forty and my ex was living separately and ultimately rejected the idea.

I never wanted to be rich. I mean I didn't want to dedicate all my time in the pursuit of money.

I did want to go skiing, which I still do.

And I wanted to pursue feelings, explore my identity and art.

And "Homeward Bound" is wistful. The story is clear. The musician is on the road and he wants to get back to his love and his music and...he wants to feel comfortable, not out of sorts and lonely on the road.

And the truth is we all feel lonely a lot of the time. We go to the gigs of oldsters to assuage this feeling. We want to be connected. The music connected us. Sure, the players made money, but it was about feelings, setting your mind free primarily.

There was experimentation. There was always something new. New sounds, different styles.

And the thing was the music was made by the musicians, but it ultimately became ours, we own it.

And when you're singing along to the hits of yore, the songs you think you know by heart, you're brought back to who you once were, there's a thread from then to now, you're ten once again. You can see the old girlfriends, the teachers, the Little League games. It's all laid out before you, both the victories and the losses, the good memories and the bad.

And you never run out, there are always more songs to sing.

And I'm always the last to leave. I guess I don't want to be alone. But even more, I want that feeling, with the music in me, thinking of nothing else but the moment.

That's the power of rock and roll.


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