Mailbag

Subject: RE: You Can Close Your Eyes

Dear Bob,

A good one. And thank you remembering both the Apple version of "Carolina" and the album "Mud Slide Slim" so fondly. I shall try to recover from my deep depression upon learning that you prefer the Carole & Lou version of "You've Got a Friend" to the James & me version! There is an interesting story as to how they came to coexist.

Yes I agree that "Riding on a Railroad" and "You Can Close Your Eyes" are a couple of James' greatest songs and working with him on them was a privilege. And let us be sure to give Kootch full credit for the excellence of "Machine Gun Kelly"!

Peter

Peter Asher CBE
Remote Control Productions

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From: Brian Greenbaum
Subject: Re: You Can Close Your Eyes

James and Bonnie Raitt have been touring together for a few years and they sang this song together every night. I must have seen them do it 20 times in various cities and every time the hair on the back of my neck stood up!

Here is a link to them singing the song for the Harvey Can't Mess With Texas Benefit Show in Austin in 2017:

https://youtu.be/uncbcue4uDs

Enjoy!

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Subject: Re: You Can Close Your Eyes

That song is powerful. I got my start as a "roadie" working for James Taylor about 7 years ago. He brought that song back around when he started touring with Bonnie. It's great as a duet. Before that he might play it once and a while when Carol King would make an appearance or at Tanglewood. Always made me cry. Although I don't work with him anymore I still slow dance to that song with my girlfriend before leaving for any tour. Nobody is like James Taylor and I naively thought I would work in that camp forever. You don't always appreciate things fully until they're gone but I feel I appreciated every minute of work for him. It would really be a bummer to truly hate your job.

Best regards,
Luke Shea

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Subject: RE: You Can Close Your Eyes

Hey Bob,

Glad to see you're focusing on sound quality. Now, I'd like to make a suggestion:

1. Buy an inexpensive but pro quality audio interface for your Mac - for example, the MOTU M2 or Focusrite 2i2. Under $200. Plug it into a USB port - no setup needed except to make sure that it is selected as your audio output device. You can do that under System Preferences, Sound.

2. Hook a pair of powered speakers of your choice to the audio interface. You can use the quarter inch outputs or the headphone output. Use high end headphones if you want to really hear the difference.

3. Log onto www.prostudiomasters.com or www.hdtracks.com and buy one of your favorite albums that was originally recorded in analog. Buy the WAV or AIFF file, making sure it's 24-bit, 96k - no need to go to the 192k version. I'm suggesting "Graceland" or "Court and Spark" (available on either site) or "Kind of Blue" (only available on HDTracks) to get you going. Use the website's download app and let it install the file on your Mac. I signed up for both sites because they compete on price sometimes.

4. Get the free Vox Music Player for Mac.

5. Load the High Res digital files of the album you bought into a Vox playlist.

6. Put on the headphones, set the level and listen. You will hear detail you never heard before. Enjoy!

Best,
John Boylan

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Subject: Re: The Kathy Valentine Book

I work in a tech role for a company in the northeast that names all their conference rooms after Adirondack and Native American names and places. Chatham, sacandaga, Saratoga etc. One of the tech companies we deal with is based out of Austin, and they name their conference rooms after local musicians. When we have meetings, from their side, it's often in the Kathy Valentine room. I wonder if she even knows that?
Bob
Bobsville Studios

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Re: John Prine

this past December I was playing a club gig in Nashville with Pat McLaughlin, John's long time co writer. Pat told us the day of the gig that John was going to come and play 4 or 5 songs with us. John and Pat wrote Summer's End, one of my favorite songs of last year, and that was one of the songs we planned to play. So, we get about halfway thru the gig, and Pat calls John up to play. He comes out onstage and the whole place stands up before he plays a note. I mean, the people were WITH him. He just had this presence of greatness about him, and I remember thinking while I was playing, it just doesn't get any better than this. And it was truly magnificent. I know his music and lyrics were a gift to so many……

Kenny Greenberg

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Re: John Prine

I loved him and he always was wonderful and I hope a little proud of me.
The last time I spoke to him was at Rosanne's show at the Ryman last summer...
The last thing he said to me was , "I love you, Colin", and though I know I was hardly alone in this, it made me feel so good... like he knew his kindness really helped one kid's life.
Blessed to have known him, even a little... and doubly blessed to have gotten to know him again, and play with him a couple of times when I grew up" - Colin Linden (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings)

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Re: John Prine

I was lucky enough to meet my songwriting hero after his show at my Uptown Theatre in Napa 8 years ago. We had some laughs, And I thanked him for being the only songwriter who could make me laugh, cry, and think in just one song.

I told him two stories:

1) about my old girlfriend who had introduced me to his music and storytelling, then years later got sad and took her own life;

2) and about winning an elementary school talent show with my 11 year old daughter, Angelica....duetting on "Linda Goes to Mars".....explaining to
another parent that it wasn't my song, but rather one of John Prine's more obscure songs. John broke out laughing, and said....."yeah, I got a whole lot of those!"
He signed my old Martin..."To Bob and his Angels, Thank you, John Prine".

He has now joined them as another one of my Angels.

Rest In Peace, John.....after having your cocktail, vodka and ginger ale,

Bob Vogt

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Re: John Prine

Hi Bob - I finally met John Prine (after what I believe was his last show anywhere) in Paris just a few months ago when the world was still normal. Of course I knew, loved and respected him as any singer-songwriter must but we had a special bond as (along with Bruce Springsteen and Louden Wainwright) we were all part of the "new Dylan" club of the 1970s. The odd thing was that none of us sounded particularly like each other (or Bob Dylan for that matter) but each of us in our own way were pushing against the same lyrical boundaries that Bob had made irrelevant. Critics called the whole "new Dylan" thing a curse but what could be further from the truth? I call it a guarantee of lifetime employment. So when I met John in his dressing room at Café de la Dance this was the first thing we got into, laughed about; two of the new Dylan's, both now in their 70's, both still doing it. We talked about maybe doing some future shows together in Spain, a country that has supported my music for over 35 years, and a public I long to play for again when this dark age is behind us. John had been forced to cut his European tour short for an urgent hip replacement in Nashville but he still danced his way off the stage that night with help of cane and friends. The Paris audience gave him a standing ovation that would not end even if their understanding of his sublime plain-spoken lyrics was minimal. Parisians know legend when they see it. I asked John where he was staying and he replied at the George V hotel off Champs Elysee, a real palace. That's a nice place I said. "We figured what the hell and blew out the tour budget," he replied. John Prine went out in style, a style all his own, one that we won't see again...

From Paris,
Elliott Murphy

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Subject: Re: News Update-Day 33

Hi Bob,

My Mom (Alicia) is 90 years young, a proud and voting Trump supporter.
Until last week.

You see, she's paying attention everyday, reading and watching the news.
Yesterday she said to me, "I can now see that Trump is a liar, and a horrible person.
The proof is there that he dismissed this virus early on, and as a result, he let many people die,
including my boyfriend (Frank, age 94) who'd died last week of COVID-19.
He has lost my vote."

If this can change my mom's mind,
it can change many more.
This is the hope.

Damian Calcagne

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From: LaRhonda Tracy
Subject: Tyson

Dear Mr. Lefsetz

My husband is employed at Tyson in Joslin Illinois. They have 38 employees test positive for Covid-19. Yet no local media are reporting it and it remains in production.
I know you reach far and wide. I am kindly asking for your help. I think media wide attention may get this plant to hunker down for a couple weeks.
Thank you in advance.
LaRhonda T.

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