https://spoti.fi/3g0uj5n
Fleetwood Mac meant little in the U.S. Their singles did not burn up the chart, and in the incarnation that featured Peter Green, there was almost no underground FM radio other than in the metropolis, if that. In other words, getting into Fleetwood Mac was a secret process, via word of mouth, there was no big ad campaign, no media presence at all, but as a result of touring some people knew the band...but very few.
Whilst the Brits were embracing the blues, in America we were focused on folk. The blues legends walking in our midst didn't impress us, weren't exotic, the pop chart was filled with studio concoctions, like in that movie "The Idolmaker." It's not radically different today if you think about it. Fabian was a big star, his name was everywhere, ever hear anybody talk about him recently, even heard his music on the radio? Of course not, it was disposable.
But in the U.K., the blues records imported by sailors and embraced by the populous inspired teenagers to pick up the guitar. They were wailing while across the pond people were sleeping. The cultural consciousness in America was ruled by the Yankees, Mickey Mantle was a bigger star than any musician.
And then came the Beatles.
When the Beatles arrived in the U.S. they were fully-formed. It would be like getting version 3.0 of the software instead of the beta. They'd paid their dues on the road, they'd had radio success in the U.K. and when America saw them on Ed Sullivan...it wiped what had come before right off the map, instantly. You see there was a ready stable of acts to follow the Beatles in their invasion of the U.S. If it wasn't British, it wasn't cool. And Americans didn't reign again until the San Francisco sound, which started to make a dent in '67, three years later.
In the interim, Dylan went electric. Folk music disappeared, other than at singalongs at summer camps and houses of worship. And if you wanted to know which way the wind blew, you turned on the radio.
And at this point, most people were still buying singles. The album truly didn't become desirable until "Sgt. Pepper," and that was in '67. And sure, the Yardbirds had hit with "For Your Love" and to a lesser degree "Heart Full of Soul," but gunslingers, guitar gods, were not yet a thing. George Harrison was good enough for us. Until Jimi Hendrix. An American who had to fly across the pond to get recognized.
But the music Hendrix was making...they never played it on AM radio. It was an underground thing. But then along came Cream, and in the summer of '68, "Sunshine of Your Love" crossed over to AM radio and the hoi polloi, your regular American, was exposed to the album rock sound, something not made for AM radio, records that were embraced by AM for fear their audience would defect. Which eventually it did, but in most burgs it took until the seventies before FM, which was no longer underground and free-form, was a thing.
Now when an act hits, listeners go back to the catalog. Back before you were expected to have a hit the first time out, when you were trying to create a body of work, when it was about the music...and the money and the chicks...in that order. Brand? Endorsements? Privates? Sponsors? They weren't even a thing. If for no other reason than being a musician paid well enough, assuming your manager didn't rip you off, or you didn't blow all the money. There were no billionaires. If you were a star, you had plenty. And you didn't want to compromise the music, no way.
So, suddenly, starting in '67, Clapton became God. To a small cadre of listeners, members of the mainstream public didn't come along until Cream's final album "Goodbye." As for Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck...well, Beck was that guy in "Blow-Up," but that's all most people knew of him, if they knew him at all.
But they knew Clapton so they needed more, and they went back to the source, John Mayall's "Blues Breakers" album, with a young Eric on the cover. Older boomers were cottoning to the blues sound, they were moving away from AM, breaking their own trail, you didn't want to be a member of the group in the sixties, being unique was a badge of honor.
So, just like with the British Invasion following the Beatles, there was one that followed Hendrix and Clapton. Eventually, in '69, Led Zeppelin appeared, but that band didn't really hit until the fall of '70, with "Whole Lotta Love," they went from unknown to everywhere, but by this time, Peter Green had already left Fleetwood Mac.
Now a few fans of the "Blues Breakers" album stayed with Mayall and purchased the next LP, "A Hard Road," with Peter Green, but the star, the attraction to the previous LP, was Eric Clapton, and they followed E.C. and his work and some of the new bands who were less steeped in the blues, who injected more rock, which were coming to America in droves.
And in the fall of '69, assuming you were looking, assuming you went to a record shop as opposed to a discount store stocked by a rack jobber, you saw the Fleetwood Mac LP "Then Play On" in the bins, with its attractive cover, but once again, you had to buy it to hear it, and not hearing it on the radio, most people did not.
Now it was different in the U.K. Peter Green was a known quantity. As were Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. And the country was smaller and radio was more open and the band got airplay over there, but absolutely none in the U.S. Except for "Oh Well," which somehow made it to #55 on the "Billboard" chart, but this was pre-Soundscan, when the chart was manipulated, and in reality, anything below 40, really more like 20, wasn't played anyway. Yes, underground FM stations were playing it, but once again, there weren't that many of them and they had no chart...that would be offensive to the ethos of the format.
So I knew "Oh Well." From the radio. But I was lucky enough to be in the New York radio market.
But there were Fleetwood Mac fans. Primarily from the road work the band did. You hoped radio and the road went hand in hand, but prior to "Then Play On" Fleetwood Mac was on Blue Horizon, with little budget or impact, whereas "Then Play On" was on Reprise.
But then, Fleetwood Mac became known for its bizarre story as opposed to its music. Yes, by this time there was a rock press. And word was spread that Peter Green had left Fleetwood Mac because he was mentally ill, back when this had a huge stigma, when no one admitted it. Better to O.D. than to quit because you were hobbled by the problems in your brain.
The remaining members regrouped and recorded "Kiln House," and delivered a radio track, "Station Man," broadening its audience. But then Jeremy Spencer left the band mid-tour to join the Children of God, back when cults were new...you couldn't help wonder what inspired him, especially in an era were musicians were gods.
Meanwhile, Christine McVie joined the band...she was a known quantity in the U.K., but completely unknown in the U.S. Paul McCartney let his wife Linda sing and play, but that was considered a joke, but Christine came with a CV and her presence added an exotic element, as well as a new dimension to the sound.
And now, being part of the Warner family, there was album after album until... The band's manager, Clifford Davis, put a bogus version of the act on the road to fulfill dates and the story blew up, bigger than the music ever had. Could you get your money back if you bought a ticket? Who owned the name? How could he do this? The story was in the rock press for months.
And then the band comes back, astoundingly, because this looked like the end, yet now everybody knew their name and "Heroes are Hard to Find" was their biggest LP ever in the U.S. and then guitarist Bob Welch promptly quit.
This is where the rest of the public comes in, at this down and out moment Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham are asked to join the band, and the rest is history.
A long history. With multiple guitarists and sounds. And Peter Green was at the beginning, his story was mostly unknown.
But the fan base the band had remembered him, so when Stevie and Lindsey came on board...they had to play his songs. Lindsey could play "Oh Well" - both "Pt. 1" and "Pt. 2," they went together, the first raucous, the second slow and meaningful, kinda like "Layla" if you think about it, and "Green Manalishi" was often part of the set too.
But Lindsey didn't write them.
Today there are ten year olds who can shred like Jimmy Page.
But they can't write. And few can sing. As a matter of fact, even Jimmy Page can't sing. But Peter Green could do all three! And he was there at the beginning, he was inventing the sound, plowing the way.
Progenitors. They don't often get the acclaim they deserve. Or they get a victory lap or an award way down the line. But without them, history would be different.
Now by time the Stevie/Lindsey Fleetwood Mac became superstars, people hungered for more information, and the saga of Peter Green became more well-known. And eventually Green even re-emerged, a shadow of his former self, but he could still play.
And now he's dead.
The truth is Fleetwood Mac could never replace Peter Green. It was impossible. You see at this level, everybody's got a different style, a different tone, as for writing...
"Oh Well" wasn't Peter Green's only composition that lives on.
There's the aforementioned "Green Manalishi."
And "Albatross," a track that most boomers have heard, but being an instrumental many are unaware it's written and played by Peter Green, never mind Fleetwood Mac.
And, of course, "Black Magic Woman." The biggest hit Santana ever had, other than those on the ersatz comeback album of 1999, but I ask you, when was the last time you heard "Smooth," never mind "Maria Maria." You see those two tracks are commerce, "Black Magic Woman" is art, like it says in the title, MAGIC!
Now Carlos and his band did an incredible version of "Black Magic Woman," but the blueprint was right there in the original, which is more stripped-down, and has more soul.
And to this day, most people don't know "Black Magic Woman" was written by Peter Green, never mind that it's a Fleetwood Mac original.
So, what have we learned?
Not much about Peter Green the man, he's an enigma. Oh, when he was smoothed out in his later years, he gave some interviews, but that does not mean they contained the truth, never mind the whole story. A story wherein a teenager practices and practices for his opportunity, truly becomes world class, and not only reaches the pinnacle, playing with John Mayall, but then breaks away and leaves an indelible mark on rock history.
If he'd died in a plane crash, if as a result even AM radio played "Oh Well" and "Albatross," he'd have the name value of Ritchie Valens or the Big Bopper, who left much less of a footprint, or the rest of those who succumbed to tragedy in rock history.
But Peter Green lived on. He was hiding in plain sight, and now he's gone.
Kind of like the delta blues legends who inspired him and his cohorts to begin with.
It's been a long time. Over fifty years. Longer than it took for Robert Johnson to infect all these British legends. And in this case, all the recordings still exist, and they're not disposable crap, like the stuff on "Supernatural," they're pure, they're instruction manuals, they're easily accessible to everyone online.
So, the book closes on Peter Green. But in truth, the book closed on the sound he helped create long ago. It's not the sound the current iteration of Fleetwood Mac purveys, it's not what youngsters are exploring today, it's dormant. Oh, you can hear it on oldies stations, classic rock, but I haven't heard of any youngsters doing anything other than imitating guitar gods, if that, never mind being inspired to write something new, that pushes the envelope.
And speaking of writing... Got to give Jimmy Page credit, even if some of his great compositions were "inspired," or totally ripped-off from others. But as I said above, Page can't sing.
And neither can Jeff Beck, the best gunslinger of them all, he can't really even write.
And then there's Eric Clapton. Who has been able to do all three. But Duane Allman wrote and played the legendary riff on "Layla." And...oh, I don't need to bring Clapton down a notch, I'll just say that Peter Green was in his league. And years from now, when all these legends are gone, and we realize what's been lost, we'll study this era and only the music will remain, and Peter Green will ascend to his rightful place in the pantheon.
This is what happens when you practice, follow your muse, get inspired, lay it all down. Your streak might be very brief, but your mark will be left for ages to come.
Like Peter Green's.
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Saturday 25 July 2020
Friday 24 July 2020
AOC's Speech
https://bit.ly/32Thzty
What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where AOC is bigger than any rapper, rocker or country singer?
One in which there are a limited number of House seats and AOC knows truth resonates and if you're not pushing the envelope, you're getting no attention.
Virality. Doesn't happen in music anymore. Maybe on TikTok, but TikTok is a fad. What I mean by that is people want to make videos of themselves, but they don't necessarily need to do it on TikTok, and the story of the internet is once creators realize the attention is not worth the effort, they stop. In other words, everybody was gonna have a homepage, then everybody was gonna have a blog, then everybody was gonna live on Twitter and Facebook and...right now people are on Instagram and the aforementioned TikTok, but the views, unless you're a star, a known quantity, are low, and there are better uses of your time than to cut down a tree in a forest no one even knows exists. Yes, most of the promises of the internet didn't come true, or they exist with a twist. Single people believed by widening the pool, with internet dating, they'd be able to find the perfect person, not realizing the problem was within, that the reason they're not coupled is because of their own flaws. And we heard all this hogwash about the long tail, but the truth is most of the action is at the head of the tail, because people want context, they want to belong, and if you're a fan of somebody or something no one knows about, it's very lonely. And sure, the best stuff doesn't always gain attention, but generally speaking the quality at the head is much higher than it is at the tail.
So... In music, we've got no limit, everybody can play. The owners of the system profess otherwise, with their charts, organizing the game for consumption by...whom? The Top Forty of today is not like the Top Forty of yesteryear, when all genres existed side by side, rather today's Top Forty is narrow, and a great percentage of the public has no idea who those at the top of the chart are, never mind their music. And therefore, the music business diminishes itself every damn day, just like the local newspapers, who cut the newshole down to the point where there was nothing left anymore. People don't want the local newspaper, and they don't want a lot of what is pushed down their throat by the major labels and the sycophantic media lining up to trumpet its wares, without evaluating the story.
So, if AOC was a local representative, in New York State government, she could say the same things and it would be heard by few. There are just too many representatives in state government, you can't make sense of it. And many are ridiculed by John Oliver every week, they garner little respect, they're lucky no one is paying attention.
But AOC is one of 535 congresspeople. There are no more slots. Membership is inherently limited. And you can't get in via false hype. I'm not saying that everybody elected is worthy and trustworthy, I'm just saying there's some scrutiny, and you can buy all the ads you want, but if you're nobody from nowhere, good luck, even if you're somebody from somewhere you're gonna have trouble, like Mike Bloomberg.
Congress is a system. Where you pay your dues. Work your way up the ladder, to ultimately head committees, if you last that long. And if you upset the system, they don't like it. AOC decided to upset the system, she didn't worry about being labeled an upstart, she questioned the hierarchy, and although Congress pushed back, it turned out a big slice of the public was on her side, and elected people always pay attention to constituents, it's how they get elected, they read the polls. Which is another reason why AOC is so attractive news-wise, she doesn't seem to. She acts like she's powerful and she'll be there forever, like her endorsement counts.
AND SHE'S A WOMAN!
The music business argues how many women are on country radio, how many women run entities in the business. But, AOC won by taking charge, she knew she'd get blowback, but she didn't care, she was speaking from the heart, what's right. But the music business is one of a secret hierarchy, everybody is afraid they'll be canceled. And therefore it's not only women who are afraid to speak up, but men too. The boss doesn't like uppity people, he, and it's almost always a he, wants it his way. And if you don't kiss butt, if you make waves, maybe radio won't play your record. And you've got to kiss Spotify and Apple's ass to get playlisted and by time you start...you're already compromised. In an era where you can go directly to the public, our artists are hobbled by the insiders, they won't fight the system unless they aren't members of the system, like the same people with few followers who complain on Twitter...no one is seeing their tweets! Now I'm not saying women should "step up," but I am saying change comes from those who question the status quo, who grab the flag and run with it. And the Grammys hires someone like that, and then they fired Deborah Dugan, because she wanted change too quickly, the men circled the wagons and...never gave a good reason why Dugan needed to be canned, and handled the PR horribly, and the end result is the Grammys will never recover, they've got a permanent stain, they thought they won when they lost, the same way the labels and publishers breathed a sigh of relief when they killed Napster, not knowing it was only the beginning, and it was going to get worse. So, we're waiting for a few good men, and women, to challenge the system...but you could lose everything in the process. But AOC could lose everything, if she doesn't get re-elected, she'll be done in the public sector, the spotlight will not be upon her, but she continues to hang it all out there.
AND SHE SEIZED THE MOMENT!
This is what musicians do so poorly today. They wait for consensus. They don't take action immediately, they don't want to go first, they're like teens needing to be a member of the group. And if someone does lead, they won't follow, they don't want to hurt their "career." How did we get to this point? Where the most fluid and immediate art form takes a back seat?
AOC calls members of Congress to testify to abuse, and the record business wants everybody to post a black square online, come on.
But this is not AOC's only play. Nothing lasts today, you've got to take a stand each and every day, be in the public eye always. But then you get musicians making albums because THEY need to make a statement, but the public no longer consumes music this way. Artists tell me media won't review their work unless it's an album...so, you're placating media instead of the customer? And your album comes out and...then what? Unless you're in the Spotify Top 50, your effort is over in a week, it's like your work didn't come out at all. Quick, anybody talk to you about John Bolton's book this week? No, that's already old news, just like the album you spent years working on.
BUT PEOPLE HATE AOC!
Not everyone. If you're not willing to alienate some to bond to others, you've got no credibility, no sticking power.
And AOC is not in it for the money, but the message. But in music all we get is people bitching they can't make enough. It's about the message, the identity, it's about being uncompromised!
So now AOC's endorsement means more than that of senior congresspeople. She did this herself. She didn't ask, she took, because she knew she was right. If you're not acting from the heart, you're gonna get busted.
AND AOC IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY!
That's how it works in the U.S. It seems impossible, the issue has been raised for decades, and then seemingly overnight, the screw turns. Can you say gay marriage and legal marijuana? Polls say most people do believe black lives matter, they sympathize with the protesters. Of course not all citizens do, but if you want to placate everybody that means you can't play at all, you remove yourself from the discussion.
And the last I checked, more than half of the population is female. We've all got a mother, maybe sisters too. Abuse of women is something we encounter every day. So, what are we gonna do, mutter anti-woman epithets sotto voce? Well, Yoho tried this, even though he's trying to rewrite history, AOC heard his utterance. Yoho has been emboldened by Trump, believing you can say anything with no lasting effect, and that people are against AOC. But only SOME people. And in today's internet world, if you say the wrong thing, everybody, at least everybody who cares, soon knows.
So, in a world of cacophony, everybody knows who AOC is, when I guarantee you most people don't know who is #1 at Spotify, and don't care!
And AOC is not selling herself out, becoming a brand for the man.
Once again, the playbook AOC is employing is the one musicians used to own. The one Grace Slick used to make herself a star. But no, today you don't want to hurt your image.
This is about the message, not the woman. Don't make this about AOC, I don't care if you dislike her. But the truth is she is harnessing the zeitgeist and hammering it over and over again, not backing down, she's showing backbone...AND THAT'S WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR, IN 2020 MORE THAN EVER!
What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where AOC is bigger than any rapper, rocker or country singer?
One in which there are a limited number of House seats and AOC knows truth resonates and if you're not pushing the envelope, you're getting no attention.
Virality. Doesn't happen in music anymore. Maybe on TikTok, but TikTok is a fad. What I mean by that is people want to make videos of themselves, but they don't necessarily need to do it on TikTok, and the story of the internet is once creators realize the attention is not worth the effort, they stop. In other words, everybody was gonna have a homepage, then everybody was gonna have a blog, then everybody was gonna live on Twitter and Facebook and...right now people are on Instagram and the aforementioned TikTok, but the views, unless you're a star, a known quantity, are low, and there are better uses of your time than to cut down a tree in a forest no one even knows exists. Yes, most of the promises of the internet didn't come true, or they exist with a twist. Single people believed by widening the pool, with internet dating, they'd be able to find the perfect person, not realizing the problem was within, that the reason they're not coupled is because of their own flaws. And we heard all this hogwash about the long tail, but the truth is most of the action is at the head of the tail, because people want context, they want to belong, and if you're a fan of somebody or something no one knows about, it's very lonely. And sure, the best stuff doesn't always gain attention, but generally speaking the quality at the head is much higher than it is at the tail.
So... In music, we've got no limit, everybody can play. The owners of the system profess otherwise, with their charts, organizing the game for consumption by...whom? The Top Forty of today is not like the Top Forty of yesteryear, when all genres existed side by side, rather today's Top Forty is narrow, and a great percentage of the public has no idea who those at the top of the chart are, never mind their music. And therefore, the music business diminishes itself every damn day, just like the local newspapers, who cut the newshole down to the point where there was nothing left anymore. People don't want the local newspaper, and they don't want a lot of what is pushed down their throat by the major labels and the sycophantic media lining up to trumpet its wares, without evaluating the story.
So, if AOC was a local representative, in New York State government, she could say the same things and it would be heard by few. There are just too many representatives in state government, you can't make sense of it. And many are ridiculed by John Oliver every week, they garner little respect, they're lucky no one is paying attention.
But AOC is one of 535 congresspeople. There are no more slots. Membership is inherently limited. And you can't get in via false hype. I'm not saying that everybody elected is worthy and trustworthy, I'm just saying there's some scrutiny, and you can buy all the ads you want, but if you're nobody from nowhere, good luck, even if you're somebody from somewhere you're gonna have trouble, like Mike Bloomberg.
Congress is a system. Where you pay your dues. Work your way up the ladder, to ultimately head committees, if you last that long. And if you upset the system, they don't like it. AOC decided to upset the system, she didn't worry about being labeled an upstart, she questioned the hierarchy, and although Congress pushed back, it turned out a big slice of the public was on her side, and elected people always pay attention to constituents, it's how they get elected, they read the polls. Which is another reason why AOC is so attractive news-wise, she doesn't seem to. She acts like she's powerful and she'll be there forever, like her endorsement counts.
AND SHE'S A WOMAN!
The music business argues how many women are on country radio, how many women run entities in the business. But, AOC won by taking charge, she knew she'd get blowback, but she didn't care, she was speaking from the heart, what's right. But the music business is one of a secret hierarchy, everybody is afraid they'll be canceled. And therefore it's not only women who are afraid to speak up, but men too. The boss doesn't like uppity people, he, and it's almost always a he, wants it his way. And if you don't kiss butt, if you make waves, maybe radio won't play your record. And you've got to kiss Spotify and Apple's ass to get playlisted and by time you start...you're already compromised. In an era where you can go directly to the public, our artists are hobbled by the insiders, they won't fight the system unless they aren't members of the system, like the same people with few followers who complain on Twitter...no one is seeing their tweets! Now I'm not saying women should "step up," but I am saying change comes from those who question the status quo, who grab the flag and run with it. And the Grammys hires someone like that, and then they fired Deborah Dugan, because she wanted change too quickly, the men circled the wagons and...never gave a good reason why Dugan needed to be canned, and handled the PR horribly, and the end result is the Grammys will never recover, they've got a permanent stain, they thought they won when they lost, the same way the labels and publishers breathed a sigh of relief when they killed Napster, not knowing it was only the beginning, and it was going to get worse. So, we're waiting for a few good men, and women, to challenge the system...but you could lose everything in the process. But AOC could lose everything, if she doesn't get re-elected, she'll be done in the public sector, the spotlight will not be upon her, but she continues to hang it all out there.
AND SHE SEIZED THE MOMENT!
This is what musicians do so poorly today. They wait for consensus. They don't take action immediately, they don't want to go first, they're like teens needing to be a member of the group. And if someone does lead, they won't follow, they don't want to hurt their "career." How did we get to this point? Where the most fluid and immediate art form takes a back seat?
AOC calls members of Congress to testify to abuse, and the record business wants everybody to post a black square online, come on.
But this is not AOC's only play. Nothing lasts today, you've got to take a stand each and every day, be in the public eye always. But then you get musicians making albums because THEY need to make a statement, but the public no longer consumes music this way. Artists tell me media won't review their work unless it's an album...so, you're placating media instead of the customer? And your album comes out and...then what? Unless you're in the Spotify Top 50, your effort is over in a week, it's like your work didn't come out at all. Quick, anybody talk to you about John Bolton's book this week? No, that's already old news, just like the album you spent years working on.
BUT PEOPLE HATE AOC!
Not everyone. If you're not willing to alienate some to bond to others, you've got no credibility, no sticking power.
And AOC is not in it for the money, but the message. But in music all we get is people bitching they can't make enough. It's about the message, the identity, it's about being uncompromised!
So now AOC's endorsement means more than that of senior congresspeople. She did this herself. She didn't ask, she took, because she knew she was right. If you're not acting from the heart, you're gonna get busted.
AND AOC IS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY!
That's how it works in the U.S. It seems impossible, the issue has been raised for decades, and then seemingly overnight, the screw turns. Can you say gay marriage and legal marijuana? Polls say most people do believe black lives matter, they sympathize with the protesters. Of course not all citizens do, but if you want to placate everybody that means you can't play at all, you remove yourself from the discussion.
And the last I checked, more than half of the population is female. We've all got a mother, maybe sisters too. Abuse of women is something we encounter every day. So, what are we gonna do, mutter anti-woman epithets sotto voce? Well, Yoho tried this, even though he's trying to rewrite history, AOC heard his utterance. Yoho has been emboldened by Trump, believing you can say anything with no lasting effect, and that people are against AOC. But only SOME people. And in today's internet world, if you say the wrong thing, everybody, at least everybody who cares, soon knows.
So, in a world of cacophony, everybody knows who AOC is, when I guarantee you most people don't know who is #1 at Spotify, and don't care!
And AOC is not selling herself out, becoming a brand for the man.
Once again, the playbook AOC is employing is the one musicians used to own. The one Grace Slick used to make herself a star. But no, today you don't want to hurt your image.
This is about the message, not the woman. Don't make this about AOC, I don't care if you dislike her. But the truth is she is harnessing the zeitgeist and hammering it over and over again, not backing down, she's showing backbone...AND THAT'S WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR, IN 2020 MORE THAN EVER!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
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Thursday 23 July 2020
The Ballad Of Tommy LiPuma
https://amzn.to/30Erxwp
These books always suck. A friend, or the writer himself, believes someone with a foothold in the music business once upon a time, even a household name, deserves to have their story written and the result is...unreadable. First and foremost because the author can't write. And they don't understand one of the great rules of writing, that sometimes you have to leave the best stuff out, because it doesn't serve the story you're telling. The authors are so busy cramming their tomes with stories and facts that the end result is unreadable, and readability is the key. You want readers, and if they're turned off, your project is a failure. But at least once a week someone begs to send me their book, oftentimes self-published, believing if they just get a little publicity they'll have a best-seller, and they can smile in satisfaction while they make a bit of money.
But these books always fail.
So they pile up in my house until there's a day when I course through them, quickly, and put them in the discard pile. And today I had five. I allotted twenty minutes, that was more than enough, but I saved Ben Sidran's book on Tommy LiPuma for last, because Ben had written me a personal note and Ralph Simon had told me about it on the phone. I just had to convince myself it sucked, and then toss it, justified in my non-read, no matter how close a friend Ralph is. We're all overscheduled, we all have no time - to listen to someone's album, to read their book, to watch their movie or TV show is a huge commitment. Usually their friends do and say how great it is, so you can read the few reviews online, and the creator can believe they were a victim of the system, when nothing could be further from the truth.
So, I've scheduled this twenty minutes because I'm expecting a delivery, and there's not enough time to accomplish anything else.
So I started Ben Sidran's Tommy LiPuma book at 1:15 in the afternoon, and I just finished it at 7:30 tonight. I could not put it down. I blew off everything else, I watched the day fade away, I was engrossed.
I used to hear from Tommy LiPuma all the time, and unlike most of the oldsters, he did not e-mail me to correct me, or to tell me I did not have the complete story, as if I can write an encyclopedia on every subject. Tommy was always friendly and accessible, and informative at the same time. He dealt with me like an equal, which is rare, the music business is one of hierarchy, people look down on you, even if their success happened long ago, they want to send the message that you do not deserve entrance into their club.
And Tommy lived longer than so many of his compatriots. He would weigh in with tidbits when they passed. And then, suddenly, Tommy passed too. He wasn't supposed to. The longer you live, the longer you live. Statistically that's true. Think about it. And I have honestly felt his absence in my inbox for the past couple of years, but not so much I was gonna read a bad book about him.
"The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma" is different from all the dreck. You see it's a compendium of stories. That's the essence of the entertainment business. Sure, there are some stars, but they can only be on stage an hour or two every night. And it's a business of grifters and criminals...you need no CV to get into the music business, usually it's a hindrance, it comes down to who you are.
And Tommy LiPuma was the son of an immigrant barber. Living in Cleveland, cutting hair himself, eventually going on the road to play with a band and getting burned out by the one nighters, deciding to go straight. But he could only cut hair one day, and then he got a job schlepping boxes in the warehouse of a record distributor. How did he get this job? Via the contacts he made as a barber. Right place, right time. Tommy cut hair at the epicenter of radio in Cleveland. And Tommy's dad could not fathom this choice, making less than a barber shipping boxes, what kind of future was that?
Not the kind you get going to an Ivy League school, getting a graduate degree. you believe that education allows you to start...at least in the middle. But not in the music business, you've got to start at the bottom, pay your dues and earn your ascension. Working in the entertainment business is not a right, but a privilege, and to succeed you need to get along, know people and work your network, being good is not good enough.
So, eventually Tommy becomes a radio promotion man, first in L.A., then in New York, and then goes into publishing. You've got to do what's in your heart, what you're good at. Tommy tried to sell records, he was bad at it. He could do the promo gig, it's just that he wanted to be closer to the music. And from publishing Tommy went into record production and there begins a storied career.
So, when you get together with music people, it's all about their stories. Some are famous for it. Donald Tarlton has had me in stitches multiple times, talking about the night the Who got locked up in jail after a Montreal show. Donald got money from the mob, and when he went to bail them out, the members of the band had their hands on the bars and were singing "Don't Fence Me In." I'm not sure if that reads funny, but if you heard Donald tell it, the same way he told the story of his thirty minute disco at Expo 67, you'd never forget it. You see there are some facts, which you embellish, which you rearrange, and then you puff yourself up, pump the adrenaline, and do your best to be a great raconteur. Hell, Joe Smith was more famous as a toastmaster than as a record executive. Sure, I'm stretching the truth, but I can remember Joe telling me the story of "Workingman's Dead"...he signed the band, he kept begging them to make one for ME, and they finally did.
So, the intro to this book says it's based on stories Tommy told Ben. Oh, there are biographical elements, but then every event, recording the Sandpipers (who knew they were originally the "Grads"?), forming Blue Thumb with Bob Krasnow, cutting "Breezin'" is told as if you were sitting at Martoni's and Tommy sauntered in and sat down and told you what just happened. Most people are not famous, it's these stories that are the highlight of their lives.
As for the origin story...
I guess people today don't understand how those of yesteryear fell into the business. They loved music and they got an opportunity and they kept following that opportunity. Most got spit out, but some kept going and stayed in.
You can't quantify music. No way. Just because a track reaches #1 we all know that does not mean it's great. How do you create a great record, how do you capture that magic?
There are some tricks in this book, but I would not read it for that, in reality it's history. Anybody who survives from the golden years, who is still working at a label today, will tell you it's the same as it ever was, that today's acts are just as good, and if you don't think that way you're an old fart. But that's not what it says in this book. Tommy says when the bean counters came in, it was all over. Now it's all about priorities, there is no artist development. People tell me all the time of the story of artist development on an act, and it's always about ONE ALBUM! On Warner Brothers, they'd give you a chance to make four or five, to find yourself, to establish a base. Today, if you don't hit right away, you're done. And did you read Neil Shah's story in the "Wall Street Journal" today?
"From Rihanna to Kanye West: Why Music's Biggest Stars Aren't Focused on Actual Music - Between fashion collabs, music-competition shows and selling rosé, artists are choosing to follow the money - and the money isn't in albums": https://on.wsj.com/2CKIXzj
Everybody on the inside knows this, they've known it for years, but when it's printed in the financial paper of record...the investors know it, the same people who fund the music business (all three major labels are publicly traded, if not alone, as part of a larger conglomerate), and suddenly it's common knowledge. Yes, we've been selling the emperor's new clothes. Accept it.
And as this article proves, it's all about the money. Acts will do anything for money, even play for dictators. Credibility is secondary to income and lifestyle. So, if you're Tommy LiPuma who got into the business for the music, your stomach turns and you retire.
Actually, I think this article in the "Wall Street Journal" is a good thing. Maybe it can represent a turning point, getting back to the garden, making it about music, the most powerful elixir in life other than sex.
So, if you want to know how it used to be, read this book.
But the truth is most youngsters today don't care, the only thing they want to know about the past is what to sample.
But if you were there, these stories will resonate, and you'll learn new things. And unlike Clive's book and movie and...this is not hagiography, it's just the story of a life (and Tommy takes a swing at Clive too, he doesn't respect the music "Mr. Music" is responsible for, other than Whitney Houston, he thinks it's evanescent junk. But Clive is a master of promotion, and the dumb media plays along and we end up where we are today. Clive goes to the studio and his behavior makes Tommy wince.)
So "The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma" is readable. I can't believe Ben remembered all these stories, but in the intro he says they were good friends. And it demonstrates how nobody from nowhere can make it in music by sheer will and desire...and a passion for the music. And the truth is all those high-paying jobs, especially on Wall Street, they're essentially empty, there's no nourishment of the soul, workers just take this cash to buy front row seats, to use their connections to get screeners, because it's entertainment that rules this world.
And Tommy LiPuma knew how to create it. For every project he had a vision. And he cast his players accordingly. And he learned from Phil Spector to respect his players, and some of the best records were cut very quickly. Today they hammer these tracks trying to make them perfect, when the truth is you either catch lightning in a bottle, or you don't, it's just that simple.
My favorite story in the book is the recording of "Only You Know and I Know," the opening cut on Dave Mason's legendary "Alone Together."
"But what really made the song happen was Jim Gordon's drum part. 'The rhythm pattern he came up with,' says Tommy, "which was like a march, just opened the door to the song. When I heard it, even though it was just bass and drums (the initial recording), I knew I had the goods.'"
VOILA!
The record is fresh, timeless. Whenever I write about it people e-mail about the Delaney & Bonnie version, which came out first, which of course I own, demonstrating their "knowledge." But it's not about knowledge, it's about FEEL, it's something elusive, which is why even though you know the stats, you cannot work in the music business, why trained musicians usually fail in popular music.
I could never put my finger on it. Why I could never burn out on "Only You Know and I Know," what made it so endearing, to the point every time I hear it it seems brand new, today I found the missing link, now I can see the whole picture, it's the DRUMS! And Tommy goes on to say the drums are the one thing you've got to get right, you can wipe everything else, replace it, but if the drum track is not right, your recording will never be right.
"'Cause you know, that I mean what I say"
And what I say is if you're the audience for this book, you'll dig it.
I'll let you decide whether it was written for you.
--
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--
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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These books always suck. A friend, or the writer himself, believes someone with a foothold in the music business once upon a time, even a household name, deserves to have their story written and the result is...unreadable. First and foremost because the author can't write. And they don't understand one of the great rules of writing, that sometimes you have to leave the best stuff out, because it doesn't serve the story you're telling. The authors are so busy cramming their tomes with stories and facts that the end result is unreadable, and readability is the key. You want readers, and if they're turned off, your project is a failure. But at least once a week someone begs to send me their book, oftentimes self-published, believing if they just get a little publicity they'll have a best-seller, and they can smile in satisfaction while they make a bit of money.
But these books always fail.
So they pile up in my house until there's a day when I course through them, quickly, and put them in the discard pile. And today I had five. I allotted twenty minutes, that was more than enough, but I saved Ben Sidran's book on Tommy LiPuma for last, because Ben had written me a personal note and Ralph Simon had told me about it on the phone. I just had to convince myself it sucked, and then toss it, justified in my non-read, no matter how close a friend Ralph is. We're all overscheduled, we all have no time - to listen to someone's album, to read their book, to watch their movie or TV show is a huge commitment. Usually their friends do and say how great it is, so you can read the few reviews online, and the creator can believe they were a victim of the system, when nothing could be further from the truth.
So, I've scheduled this twenty minutes because I'm expecting a delivery, and there's not enough time to accomplish anything else.
So I started Ben Sidran's Tommy LiPuma book at 1:15 in the afternoon, and I just finished it at 7:30 tonight. I could not put it down. I blew off everything else, I watched the day fade away, I was engrossed.
I used to hear from Tommy LiPuma all the time, and unlike most of the oldsters, he did not e-mail me to correct me, or to tell me I did not have the complete story, as if I can write an encyclopedia on every subject. Tommy was always friendly and accessible, and informative at the same time. He dealt with me like an equal, which is rare, the music business is one of hierarchy, people look down on you, even if their success happened long ago, they want to send the message that you do not deserve entrance into their club.
And Tommy lived longer than so many of his compatriots. He would weigh in with tidbits when they passed. And then, suddenly, Tommy passed too. He wasn't supposed to. The longer you live, the longer you live. Statistically that's true. Think about it. And I have honestly felt his absence in my inbox for the past couple of years, but not so much I was gonna read a bad book about him.
"The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma" is different from all the dreck. You see it's a compendium of stories. That's the essence of the entertainment business. Sure, there are some stars, but they can only be on stage an hour or two every night. And it's a business of grifters and criminals...you need no CV to get into the music business, usually it's a hindrance, it comes down to who you are.
And Tommy LiPuma was the son of an immigrant barber. Living in Cleveland, cutting hair himself, eventually going on the road to play with a band and getting burned out by the one nighters, deciding to go straight. But he could only cut hair one day, and then he got a job schlepping boxes in the warehouse of a record distributor. How did he get this job? Via the contacts he made as a barber. Right place, right time. Tommy cut hair at the epicenter of radio in Cleveland. And Tommy's dad could not fathom this choice, making less than a barber shipping boxes, what kind of future was that?
Not the kind you get going to an Ivy League school, getting a graduate degree. you believe that education allows you to start...at least in the middle. But not in the music business, you've got to start at the bottom, pay your dues and earn your ascension. Working in the entertainment business is not a right, but a privilege, and to succeed you need to get along, know people and work your network, being good is not good enough.
So, eventually Tommy becomes a radio promotion man, first in L.A., then in New York, and then goes into publishing. You've got to do what's in your heart, what you're good at. Tommy tried to sell records, he was bad at it. He could do the promo gig, it's just that he wanted to be closer to the music. And from publishing Tommy went into record production and there begins a storied career.
So, when you get together with music people, it's all about their stories. Some are famous for it. Donald Tarlton has had me in stitches multiple times, talking about the night the Who got locked up in jail after a Montreal show. Donald got money from the mob, and when he went to bail them out, the members of the band had their hands on the bars and were singing "Don't Fence Me In." I'm not sure if that reads funny, but if you heard Donald tell it, the same way he told the story of his thirty minute disco at Expo 67, you'd never forget it. You see there are some facts, which you embellish, which you rearrange, and then you puff yourself up, pump the adrenaline, and do your best to be a great raconteur. Hell, Joe Smith was more famous as a toastmaster than as a record executive. Sure, I'm stretching the truth, but I can remember Joe telling me the story of "Workingman's Dead"...he signed the band, he kept begging them to make one for ME, and they finally did.
So, the intro to this book says it's based on stories Tommy told Ben. Oh, there are biographical elements, but then every event, recording the Sandpipers (who knew they were originally the "Grads"?), forming Blue Thumb with Bob Krasnow, cutting "Breezin'" is told as if you were sitting at Martoni's and Tommy sauntered in and sat down and told you what just happened. Most people are not famous, it's these stories that are the highlight of their lives.
As for the origin story...
I guess people today don't understand how those of yesteryear fell into the business. They loved music and they got an opportunity and they kept following that opportunity. Most got spit out, but some kept going and stayed in.
You can't quantify music. No way. Just because a track reaches #1 we all know that does not mean it's great. How do you create a great record, how do you capture that magic?
There are some tricks in this book, but I would not read it for that, in reality it's history. Anybody who survives from the golden years, who is still working at a label today, will tell you it's the same as it ever was, that today's acts are just as good, and if you don't think that way you're an old fart. But that's not what it says in this book. Tommy says when the bean counters came in, it was all over. Now it's all about priorities, there is no artist development. People tell me all the time of the story of artist development on an act, and it's always about ONE ALBUM! On Warner Brothers, they'd give you a chance to make four or five, to find yourself, to establish a base. Today, if you don't hit right away, you're done. And did you read Neil Shah's story in the "Wall Street Journal" today?
"From Rihanna to Kanye West: Why Music's Biggest Stars Aren't Focused on Actual Music - Between fashion collabs, music-competition shows and selling rosé, artists are choosing to follow the money - and the money isn't in albums": https://on.wsj.com/2CKIXzj
Everybody on the inside knows this, they've known it for years, but when it's printed in the financial paper of record...the investors know it, the same people who fund the music business (all three major labels are publicly traded, if not alone, as part of a larger conglomerate), and suddenly it's common knowledge. Yes, we've been selling the emperor's new clothes. Accept it.
And as this article proves, it's all about the money. Acts will do anything for money, even play for dictators. Credibility is secondary to income and lifestyle. So, if you're Tommy LiPuma who got into the business for the music, your stomach turns and you retire.
Actually, I think this article in the "Wall Street Journal" is a good thing. Maybe it can represent a turning point, getting back to the garden, making it about music, the most powerful elixir in life other than sex.
So, if you want to know how it used to be, read this book.
But the truth is most youngsters today don't care, the only thing they want to know about the past is what to sample.
But if you were there, these stories will resonate, and you'll learn new things. And unlike Clive's book and movie and...this is not hagiography, it's just the story of a life (and Tommy takes a swing at Clive too, he doesn't respect the music "Mr. Music" is responsible for, other than Whitney Houston, he thinks it's evanescent junk. But Clive is a master of promotion, and the dumb media plays along and we end up where we are today. Clive goes to the studio and his behavior makes Tommy wince.)
So "The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma" is readable. I can't believe Ben remembered all these stories, but in the intro he says they were good friends. And it demonstrates how nobody from nowhere can make it in music by sheer will and desire...and a passion for the music. And the truth is all those high-paying jobs, especially on Wall Street, they're essentially empty, there's no nourishment of the soul, workers just take this cash to buy front row seats, to use their connections to get screeners, because it's entertainment that rules this world.
And Tommy LiPuma knew how to create it. For every project he had a vision. And he cast his players accordingly. And he learned from Phil Spector to respect his players, and some of the best records were cut very quickly. Today they hammer these tracks trying to make them perfect, when the truth is you either catch lightning in a bottle, or you don't, it's just that simple.
My favorite story in the book is the recording of "Only You Know and I Know," the opening cut on Dave Mason's legendary "Alone Together."
"But what really made the song happen was Jim Gordon's drum part. 'The rhythm pattern he came up with,' says Tommy, "which was like a march, just opened the door to the song. When I heard it, even though it was just bass and drums (the initial recording), I knew I had the goods.'"
VOILA!
The record is fresh, timeless. Whenever I write about it people e-mail about the Delaney & Bonnie version, which came out first, which of course I own, demonstrating their "knowledge." But it's not about knowledge, it's about FEEL, it's something elusive, which is why even though you know the stats, you cannot work in the music business, why trained musicians usually fail in popular music.
I could never put my finger on it. Why I could never burn out on "Only You Know and I Know," what made it so endearing, to the point every time I hear it it seems brand new, today I found the missing link, now I can see the whole picture, it's the DRUMS! And Tommy goes on to say the drums are the one thing you've got to get right, you can wipe everything else, replace it, but if the drum track is not right, your recording will never be right.
"'Cause you know, that I mean what I say"
And what I say is if you're the audience for this book, you'll dig it.
I'll let you decide whether it was written for you.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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Harlan Coben-This Week's Podcast
Harlan Coben's latest book, "The Boy From The Woods," entered the "New York Times" best seller chart at #1 in April. His breakthrough, "Tell No One," was made into a Top Ten-listed film, and presently Coben has four successful series on Netflix: "The Five," "Safe," "The Stranger" and "The Woods." Listen as Coben lays down the truth of the writing life, and the long hard road to getting film and television projects into production. Despite spending his days writing, Coben is a great conversationalist whose words are laden with insight. Listen.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/harlan-coben/id1316200737?i=1000485816233
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1AeZoxZjkATnQzQQN01ob3
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=76389638
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--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/harlan-coben/id1316200737?i=1000485816233
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1AeZoxZjkATnQzQQN01ob3
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=76389638
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Wednesday 22 July 2020
The Twelve
What a show!
I screamed so loud Felice was more scared by me than what was on the screen!
Like I said, I base my viewing on recommendations. In this case Jim Urie recommended "The Twelve," and then just a couple of days later, so did Bob Pfeifer. Did I trust them?
I wasn't sure, so I went on RottenTomatoes and found...nothing.
This is kinda like the worldwide #1s, especially the hits in the U.K., not crossing over to the U.S. They're hiding in plain sight, there's even a playlist on Spotify, but so many records don't make the transition. It's curious. If anything it proves there's no longer any spontaneous combustion, nothing is so good that it blows itself up. It needs focus. Maybe by a label, with its publicity, marketing and promotion departments, maybe social media, with communities spreading the word.
But I heard nothing about "The Twelve."
It's Dutch. For all I know there could be a dubbed version, but I always employ subtitles, dubbing makes a show unbelievable, and you soon start to believe the actors are speaking in English anyway. Don't ask me to explain it, they're obviously speaking a foreign language, but you'd expect to run into them on the street and have them speak perfect English, with no accent.
So, the "Twelve" are the jury. Yup, it's one of those shows, what will the jury decide.
But that's not what makes it so interesting, it's the characters.
Of course we want to know who committed the crimes. And you're constantly changing your opinion, but...
For me the star was Arnold. A juror. His wife died and he can't get over it. He tries to be nice to people and they reject him. His coworkers make fun of him, as do his neighbors. You feel so bad for him. There are so many people like this in real life, especially elders. What they don't tell you is as you age you will have fewer friends. You won't hang out at bars, you'll find it's hard to get somebody out of their house. And if you're single, or your significant other dies, or you break up, you're totally screwed. If you're lucky, you'll have people who will allow you to be the fifth wheel, if not...you're alone, with only words and pictures to keep you company. Of course you can go online and try to find someone new, but even if you have the gumption, to get rejected at this age, to relive high school, to relive your adolescent anxieties, you'll too often find people just like you...hurt, damaged, looking for someone to save them. I know from experience, in the nineties I had a free subscription to AOL, I lived online, it consumed my life the rest of the decade. And you could meet people in chat rooms, or on Love@AOL, or when the web gained momentum, Match.com, to which I still have a free lifetime subscription, if I could ever remember the login and password. It's bad enough navigating these issues when you're young, you've got context, you see people every day in school, you've got commitments, your whole day is scheduled, but when you get old, you're lucky if you even have a job, and you can join the social groups but what you'll find is...members are much younger than you are, and you get sick of being labeled the oldster, or they're the same age or older than you, and half-dead already.
And then there's Delphine. With her jealous husband. Is it them, or is it you? I had a possessive girlfriend. I've never cheated on anybody in my life, I'm loyal, I'm committed, but she was not only jealous of other women, but my time. But there were positives, and you're always weighing whether it's worth the sacrifice, you've been together so long, they know all about you, can you handle the breakup?
That's another thing they don't tell you, how hard breakups are. The only person who really gets you you can't talk to anymore. And even if your friends listen at first, they burn out, they don't want to hear it anymore.
And twelve step programs... What does it take for people to jump the rails? I just read a fantastic book. On one hand I'm loath to recommend it, because it's short stories, and they leave you hanging, as if the typesetter forgot the ending. You turn the page and...there's a new story, how could this be? But the writing is great. Reading it made me aware that anybody can publish a book, but very few can write. Yes, people can lay out facts, even plot, but to have the words cut like butter, to create images in the reader's mind, to make the reader eager to read, to forget everything else in their life while they're consuming, that's really difficult. The book is called "Cool for America": https://amzn.to/3fTopTL It's very easy to read, but it's not for casual readers. If you just want information, this book is not for you. If you need everything tied up in a bow, this book is not for you. But if you've got more questions than answers, if you think about your choices, read it. The stories are about millennials. Not all of them are bankers, techies, living life in the fast lane, at least financially. Many went to college and are drifting, waiting for the world to reveal itself. And a lot of moral issues come up in "Cool for America," if the person is married...and do you stay clean and do you take a flyer?
And you think you know people by their exterior, even by what they say and do, but the truth is you don't really know them at all.
And people can be mean. And their priorities can be screwed up. And as a parent, to what degree should you get involved in your children's choices. When I was growing up, our parents knew little, but if you crossed the line there'd be hell to pay. Today, parents know everything about their kids, they're their best friends, make me puke, but they want to control them all the while. I went to college and my parents didn't care what I took, if I passed it was cool, same deal with law school. As far as telling me what courses to take, I was on my own.
And then there are the people who just cannot accept the inherent flaws of others, the baked-in stuff, that cannot be changed. It's screwing up their life. But if you can't accept others...
And then there's the issue of borderline personality disorder. Where they put you on a pedestal, and then tear you down and leave you when you least expect it. That's an element of this show, and I lived it in my real life, I'm not sure if I've recovered yet, it messes up your sense of trust.
And does everybody lie on the stand these days? Do the police manipulate evidence? It seems the richer you are, the less you're beholden to the rules. The regular folk have a sense of honor, at least more of them.
And then there's the tell-tale heart, yup, right out of Edgar Allan Poe. Can you commit a crime and get away with it and live with yourself? Can you cope, can you put one foot in front of another? Maybe only psychopaths and sociopaths can do this.
But at first "The Twelve" was not a recommendable show. It just seemed like a genre series. But as the episodes unspooled, the characters became three-dimensional, their identities came clear. The defense attorney bugged me, but over time I came to love him.
And very little is definitive, certainly when it comes to legal issues. The truth may just not be revealed, you're gonna have to live with the fact that...you might get it wrong. I'm not eager to put someone in jail for thirty years without the evidence being perfectly clear, and as I just said, it's usually not.
So, as the episodes unfold, you see people's flaws, their situations come clear to the point where you switch sympathies. And I don't think every jury would have this many issues, but maybe I just haven't lived enough, maybe I just don't know people.
And in this Covid-19 era... It's like "Groundhog Day," every day is the same. I'm lucky enough to be busy business-wise, but there are no concerts, no meetings, no get-togethers, and it can become oppressive. And people my age fall into two categories. One, those on complete lockdown, who don't want to see anybody. Two, those who say they're quarantining, but really are not, you question them and you find they've been to restaurants, they flew on planes, they took vacations, but they're healthy and they can't understand why you won't loosen up. Then you read about people, even young people, who feel this way and then...Covid-19 bites them in the ass.
So, when I find a show I can get into, and most I cannot, it's the highlight of my night. I don't see it as entertainment, but life. It's always strange when you see the same characters playing different roles, you thought you had them nailed and then you do not, like Thierry Godard, who is radically different in "Spiral" than "A French Village."
And "The Twelve" is not as good as either of them, it's not in the same league. But the more I watched it, the more I realized it was a cut above most of the dreck people tell me to watch.
So...kinda like with "Cool for America," you're on your own. If you're not willing to commit to "The Twelve," don't even bother, because unless you watch it to the end, you probably won't respect it.
I'm just pissed it's over.
https://www.netflix.com/title/81218903
The trailer at the above link is DUBBED! It horrified me, because the Dutch voices sound nothing like this. If you don't know how to turn on subtitles, watch this video: https://bit.ly/2ZSioBd
I screamed so loud Felice was more scared by me than what was on the screen!
Like I said, I base my viewing on recommendations. In this case Jim Urie recommended "The Twelve," and then just a couple of days later, so did Bob Pfeifer. Did I trust them?
I wasn't sure, so I went on RottenTomatoes and found...nothing.
This is kinda like the worldwide #1s, especially the hits in the U.K., not crossing over to the U.S. They're hiding in plain sight, there's even a playlist on Spotify, but so many records don't make the transition. It's curious. If anything it proves there's no longer any spontaneous combustion, nothing is so good that it blows itself up. It needs focus. Maybe by a label, with its publicity, marketing and promotion departments, maybe social media, with communities spreading the word.
But I heard nothing about "The Twelve."
It's Dutch. For all I know there could be a dubbed version, but I always employ subtitles, dubbing makes a show unbelievable, and you soon start to believe the actors are speaking in English anyway. Don't ask me to explain it, they're obviously speaking a foreign language, but you'd expect to run into them on the street and have them speak perfect English, with no accent.
So, the "Twelve" are the jury. Yup, it's one of those shows, what will the jury decide.
But that's not what makes it so interesting, it's the characters.
Of course we want to know who committed the crimes. And you're constantly changing your opinion, but...
For me the star was Arnold. A juror. His wife died and he can't get over it. He tries to be nice to people and they reject him. His coworkers make fun of him, as do his neighbors. You feel so bad for him. There are so many people like this in real life, especially elders. What they don't tell you is as you age you will have fewer friends. You won't hang out at bars, you'll find it's hard to get somebody out of their house. And if you're single, or your significant other dies, or you break up, you're totally screwed. If you're lucky, you'll have people who will allow you to be the fifth wheel, if not...you're alone, with only words and pictures to keep you company. Of course you can go online and try to find someone new, but even if you have the gumption, to get rejected at this age, to relive high school, to relive your adolescent anxieties, you'll too often find people just like you...hurt, damaged, looking for someone to save them. I know from experience, in the nineties I had a free subscription to AOL, I lived online, it consumed my life the rest of the decade. And you could meet people in chat rooms, or on Love@AOL, or when the web gained momentum, Match.com, to which I still have a free lifetime subscription, if I could ever remember the login and password. It's bad enough navigating these issues when you're young, you've got context, you see people every day in school, you've got commitments, your whole day is scheduled, but when you get old, you're lucky if you even have a job, and you can join the social groups but what you'll find is...members are much younger than you are, and you get sick of being labeled the oldster, or they're the same age or older than you, and half-dead already.
And then there's Delphine. With her jealous husband. Is it them, or is it you? I had a possessive girlfriend. I've never cheated on anybody in my life, I'm loyal, I'm committed, but she was not only jealous of other women, but my time. But there were positives, and you're always weighing whether it's worth the sacrifice, you've been together so long, they know all about you, can you handle the breakup?
That's another thing they don't tell you, how hard breakups are. The only person who really gets you you can't talk to anymore. And even if your friends listen at first, they burn out, they don't want to hear it anymore.
And twelve step programs... What does it take for people to jump the rails? I just read a fantastic book. On one hand I'm loath to recommend it, because it's short stories, and they leave you hanging, as if the typesetter forgot the ending. You turn the page and...there's a new story, how could this be? But the writing is great. Reading it made me aware that anybody can publish a book, but very few can write. Yes, people can lay out facts, even plot, but to have the words cut like butter, to create images in the reader's mind, to make the reader eager to read, to forget everything else in their life while they're consuming, that's really difficult. The book is called "Cool for America": https://amzn.to/3fTopTL It's very easy to read, but it's not for casual readers. If you just want information, this book is not for you. If you need everything tied up in a bow, this book is not for you. But if you've got more questions than answers, if you think about your choices, read it. The stories are about millennials. Not all of them are bankers, techies, living life in the fast lane, at least financially. Many went to college and are drifting, waiting for the world to reveal itself. And a lot of moral issues come up in "Cool for America," if the person is married...and do you stay clean and do you take a flyer?
And you think you know people by their exterior, even by what they say and do, but the truth is you don't really know them at all.
And people can be mean. And their priorities can be screwed up. And as a parent, to what degree should you get involved in your children's choices. When I was growing up, our parents knew little, but if you crossed the line there'd be hell to pay. Today, parents know everything about their kids, they're their best friends, make me puke, but they want to control them all the while. I went to college and my parents didn't care what I took, if I passed it was cool, same deal with law school. As far as telling me what courses to take, I was on my own.
And then there are the people who just cannot accept the inherent flaws of others, the baked-in stuff, that cannot be changed. It's screwing up their life. But if you can't accept others...
And then there's the issue of borderline personality disorder. Where they put you on a pedestal, and then tear you down and leave you when you least expect it. That's an element of this show, and I lived it in my real life, I'm not sure if I've recovered yet, it messes up your sense of trust.
And does everybody lie on the stand these days? Do the police manipulate evidence? It seems the richer you are, the less you're beholden to the rules. The regular folk have a sense of honor, at least more of them.
And then there's the tell-tale heart, yup, right out of Edgar Allan Poe. Can you commit a crime and get away with it and live with yourself? Can you cope, can you put one foot in front of another? Maybe only psychopaths and sociopaths can do this.
But at first "The Twelve" was not a recommendable show. It just seemed like a genre series. But as the episodes unspooled, the characters became three-dimensional, their identities came clear. The defense attorney bugged me, but over time I came to love him.
And very little is definitive, certainly when it comes to legal issues. The truth may just not be revealed, you're gonna have to live with the fact that...you might get it wrong. I'm not eager to put someone in jail for thirty years without the evidence being perfectly clear, and as I just said, it's usually not.
So, as the episodes unfold, you see people's flaws, their situations come clear to the point where you switch sympathies. And I don't think every jury would have this many issues, but maybe I just haven't lived enough, maybe I just don't know people.
And in this Covid-19 era... It's like "Groundhog Day," every day is the same. I'm lucky enough to be busy business-wise, but there are no concerts, no meetings, no get-togethers, and it can become oppressive. And people my age fall into two categories. One, those on complete lockdown, who don't want to see anybody. Two, those who say they're quarantining, but really are not, you question them and you find they've been to restaurants, they flew on planes, they took vacations, but they're healthy and they can't understand why you won't loosen up. Then you read about people, even young people, who feel this way and then...Covid-19 bites them in the ass.
So, when I find a show I can get into, and most I cannot, it's the highlight of my night. I don't see it as entertainment, but life. It's always strange when you see the same characters playing different roles, you thought you had them nailed and then you do not, like Thierry Godard, who is radically different in "Spiral" than "A French Village."
And "The Twelve" is not as good as either of them, it's not in the same league. But the more I watched it, the more I realized it was a cut above most of the dreck people tell me to watch.
So...kinda like with "Cool for America," you're on your own. If you're not willing to commit to "The Twelve," don't even bother, because unless you watch it to the end, you probably won't respect it.
I'm just pissed it's over.
https://www.netflix.com/title/81218903
The trailer at the above link is DUBBED! It horrified me, because the Dutch voices sound nothing like this. If you don't know how to turn on subtitles, watch this video: https://bit.ly/2ZSioBd
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--
Listen to the podcast:
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Monday 20 July 2020
The Poker Book
"The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win": https://amzn.to/2ZNa3P7
If you play poker, you must own this book. If not...there are a lot of psychological lessons which you'll find interesting, although they tend to interrupt the narrative of the book. Also, if you don't play poker, or are a newbie, at the end there is a glossary that will help you out, not that you need to know everything to understand the story.
So you've got a Ph.D. psychologist, Maria Konnikova, whose family is down on its luck, who decides to learn and play poker in order to write a book. She reaches out to Erik Seidel, a majordomo in the poker world, and he mentors her and...
She wins money.
Proving that all you amateur poker players out there have something to learn. I'd like to tell you about Konnikova's victories, but I don't want to ruin the book. Suffice to say there are the math whizzes, but they don't necessarily win.
Konnikova focuses on poker, Texas Hold'em, because it's the closest representation of regular life you can find. In chess, you can see everything, whereas in life, you never can. And in Texas Hold'em, the sky's the limit, you can bet as much as you want, begging the question...are you sure about that? Come on, you're spewing facts all day long, but if someone came along and said they'd bet 100k on it, would you be so convinced?
So the first lesson Seidel gives is...
"Less certainty. More inquiry."
He says this over and over again. That the game, the world, runs on information, and you want to gather as much as you can before you make a decision.
This was my father's mantra...ASK QUESTIONS!
Most of us, males especially, are worried about image, how we'll look. That's another thing covered in this book, if you're worried about others' perception, if they'll laugh at you, chide you, you're already a loser. That's one of the reasons Jason Flom is so successful, he'll ask anybody anything, he doesn't always profess to know, while so many elite players are afraid to say this, to their detriment.
So there are lessons about fakers, and bullies.
Konnikova is playing at the Golden Nugget, or maybe it's Planet Hollywood, and a guy says he's a newbie and knows nothing. A sham, he ends up taking everybody's money. Welcome to the real world, where you may not see this person ever again, where the factual rules aren't broken but the emotional ones are, but there's no court for emotional transgressions.
Seidel insists Konnikova start online. And when she ultimately goes to Vegas, to play in the secondary market. The big swinging dicks play at the Aria, you want to be prepared, not that everybody at the table at the Aria is. You see, they're distracted. Checking their phone, missing minor, yet critical, information.
The tells.
Konnikova says there are none. She thinks she can read people, but she finds out she's completely wrong, not to trust her instincts. She ultimately goes to the experts, scientists who've studied the game, and learns that the only tell is in people's hands! In other words, you're confident you know what a person is thinking based on their attire, their head movements, but you're totally wrong.
As for paying attention 24/7, it's the little things that pay dividends down the road. You see how someone acted previously, even if you weren't in on every hand.
And don't play every hand. Sure, there are some who are legendary aggressors who win, but most don't. You've got to choose your moment.
And beware of bullies. This truly resonated with me, especially in Hollywood. There are gonna be people who put you down and have you questioning yourself, that's their game, you put your tail between your legs and fold. You've got to be strong in your opinion, you've got to stand your ground, the bullies are not going to like it, but it's the only way you're going to win.
And if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the fire.
The first time Konnikova is in the World Series, she ends up catatonic in the bathroom. This is what those who've never competed at an elite level don't know. That skill is one thing, being able to demonstrate it when it counts, keeping yourself steady and together, is oh-so-hard.
But the biggest lesson is...
Konnikova has an incredible hand. But after going all in, she's loses to someone who has the only cards that could beat her. And Konnikova goes to the Aria, to tell Seidel her story, and he immediately holds up his hand and says...I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!
Don't we live for our stories, how we got unjustifiably screwed? But the truth is there's always chance, there are no guarantees, sometimes you're gonna give it your best effort, based on the best information available, and you're still gonna lose. The key is not to dwell on that, but to continue to march forward, keep your equilibrium and soldier on. That's so difficult. To keep an even keel. To not focus on the losses. But you need to acquire this skill to survive not only in poker, but in life. You lose your job...happens to everyone. Just start looking for another one!
Here are some quotes:
"I've let them get to me. I didn't want to be pushed around - but I wasn't comfortable doing the pushing around, either. And the result is this mess of a hand. I'm hopeless at this game. And apparently, I'm hopeless at life. A gutless female who wants to be liked more than she wants to win. Maybe I don't want to go to Vegas, after all. Maybe the WSOP (World Series of Poker) is better off without me."
You can only win if you want to, if you're willing to do what it takes, go on offense. You cannot win in life playing defense all the time, no way. And in a man's world, you cannot win by being demure and avoiding confrontation, you've got to have a backbone, stand up for what you believe in, what's right. Furthermore, the cascade of negatives can truly put you in a frame of mind where you can never win.
Oh yeah, one of the worst things that can happen is you win early, thinking it was your skill as opposed to your luck. So many times early winners fade away, because they didn't focus on the development of the skills they need to survive.
"And you learn best when you're playing every day."
That's how I got to be a great skier, going each and every day, whether it was raining, snowing or ten below zero. Forget the 10,000 hours I needed to achieve that skill, it's the 1% that makes all the difference. So when you're in a tight situation, you survive. Like skiing in France on a cat track in the shade, with no one in sight, and coming around a corner and finding sheer ice interspersed with dirt and rocks. To the right, a wall, to the left, a drop-off, and I'm going so fast there's no way I could stop, so...I just let the skis run, even though this put me in a situation where I was out of control...I just kept my cool and figured somewhere down the line the terrain would change and I could save myself, and I did.
It's about the fine edge, that's what makes the difference between a winner and a loser. Oh sure, a weekend warrior can ride the tram at Big Sky, and maybe even survive on the double blacks. But if things go wrong... But if you've skied every day, you can recover from a mistake.
And if you're not passionate about the pursuit to begin with...GIVE UP, or make peace with the fact you're an amateur.
"In an age of constant distraction and never-ending connectivity, we may be so busy we miss the signals that tell us to swerve before we're in the bad beat's path."
I'm into my iPhone, I love the digital age, but if you're not focused on what's important, you're gonna lose. No distractions during the game, antenna wide open, receiving signals. Furthermore, most people don't want to get in this zone, because they still might lose, they'd rather laugh and consider themselves an amateur, saying they could win if they wanted to, when the truth is they can't.
"But here's where something of the Dunning-Kruger effect creeps in. Yes, that one. The one that shows that the less competent you are in an area, the more likely you are to overestimate your degree of competence. That the less you know about a topic, the more you think you know - as long as you know just enough to start feeling a bit fluent in its vocabulary."
This happens to me all the time, people confront me with their truth when I know it's false. I used to correct them, now I never do, because they can't handle it, they usually just double-down on the falsehood.
Life is like an onion, you keep peeling back the layers. The winners get all the way to the nub, the losers peel back the first skin and think they know everything. Never take the first source as gospel. Keep questioning. It drives my compatriots mad, if it's important to me I'll research and ask the same damn questions over and over again, to see if I get the same response, I want to find out how sure the person is in their conviction.
"First dates are about dazzle. You play each hand, even when you'd rather fold and crawl back home admitting defeat."
First, you must take the risk, if you do not play, you cannot win, but you will never win every time, be prepared for rejection. And when you're trying to make a good impression, you can't lay back, the opposite of poker. You've got to be aggressive, lay it all out there, even if you're wincing inside, unsure if you're winning or losing.
"You can't control what will happen, so it makes no sense to try to guess at it. Chance is just chance: it is neither good nor bad nor personal."
In other words, you can give it your best and still lose. And you've just got to accept this and move on.
I'd love to tell you "The Biggest Bluff" is an easy read. But the narrative is interrupted by the psychology, as if Konnikova was proving to her publisher she was delivering on her pitch. I found the narrative more interesting than the lessons. More story, less insight. But just when you get bogged down in the lessons, Konnikova goes back to the narrative.
You can make millions in poker, but don't expect any respect:
"And he (Dan Harrington) tells me that those views may never change, no matter what I do. He recalls the moment he told his mother he won the World Series of Poker. 'Well, what do you think, Mom? I won a million dollars. I'm world champion of poker!' he remembers telling her. And she replies, 'Oh, that's great Danny. You know we have a cousin Pádraig Harrington. He's a golfer, and he just won eighty thousand dollars in the Spanish Open.' Dan persists. 'Mom, I won a million dollars. I'm world champion.' And she has one answer. 'Listen, Danny, he's doing well on the European tour.'"
I've got no patience for poker. Cards are not my thing. But having read this book I'm certainly convinced that winning is no accident, that it takes skill.
And if you truly want to fix your problems, go into therapy. But for some insight into how the world works, there's no better instruction manual than this book.
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If you play poker, you must own this book. If not...there are a lot of psychological lessons which you'll find interesting, although they tend to interrupt the narrative of the book. Also, if you don't play poker, or are a newbie, at the end there is a glossary that will help you out, not that you need to know everything to understand the story.
So you've got a Ph.D. psychologist, Maria Konnikova, whose family is down on its luck, who decides to learn and play poker in order to write a book. She reaches out to Erik Seidel, a majordomo in the poker world, and he mentors her and...
She wins money.
Proving that all you amateur poker players out there have something to learn. I'd like to tell you about Konnikova's victories, but I don't want to ruin the book. Suffice to say there are the math whizzes, but they don't necessarily win.
Konnikova focuses on poker, Texas Hold'em, because it's the closest representation of regular life you can find. In chess, you can see everything, whereas in life, you never can. And in Texas Hold'em, the sky's the limit, you can bet as much as you want, begging the question...are you sure about that? Come on, you're spewing facts all day long, but if someone came along and said they'd bet 100k on it, would you be so convinced?
So the first lesson Seidel gives is...
"Less certainty. More inquiry."
He says this over and over again. That the game, the world, runs on information, and you want to gather as much as you can before you make a decision.
This was my father's mantra...ASK QUESTIONS!
Most of us, males especially, are worried about image, how we'll look. That's another thing covered in this book, if you're worried about others' perception, if they'll laugh at you, chide you, you're already a loser. That's one of the reasons Jason Flom is so successful, he'll ask anybody anything, he doesn't always profess to know, while so many elite players are afraid to say this, to their detriment.
So there are lessons about fakers, and bullies.
Konnikova is playing at the Golden Nugget, or maybe it's Planet Hollywood, and a guy says he's a newbie and knows nothing. A sham, he ends up taking everybody's money. Welcome to the real world, where you may not see this person ever again, where the factual rules aren't broken but the emotional ones are, but there's no court for emotional transgressions.
Seidel insists Konnikova start online. And when she ultimately goes to Vegas, to play in the secondary market. The big swinging dicks play at the Aria, you want to be prepared, not that everybody at the table at the Aria is. You see, they're distracted. Checking their phone, missing minor, yet critical, information.
The tells.
Konnikova says there are none. She thinks she can read people, but she finds out she's completely wrong, not to trust her instincts. She ultimately goes to the experts, scientists who've studied the game, and learns that the only tell is in people's hands! In other words, you're confident you know what a person is thinking based on their attire, their head movements, but you're totally wrong.
As for paying attention 24/7, it's the little things that pay dividends down the road. You see how someone acted previously, even if you weren't in on every hand.
And don't play every hand. Sure, there are some who are legendary aggressors who win, but most don't. You've got to choose your moment.
And beware of bullies. This truly resonated with me, especially in Hollywood. There are gonna be people who put you down and have you questioning yourself, that's their game, you put your tail between your legs and fold. You've got to be strong in your opinion, you've got to stand your ground, the bullies are not going to like it, but it's the only way you're going to win.
And if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the fire.
The first time Konnikova is in the World Series, she ends up catatonic in the bathroom. This is what those who've never competed at an elite level don't know. That skill is one thing, being able to demonstrate it when it counts, keeping yourself steady and together, is oh-so-hard.
But the biggest lesson is...
Konnikova has an incredible hand. But after going all in, she's loses to someone who has the only cards that could beat her. And Konnikova goes to the Aria, to tell Seidel her story, and he immediately holds up his hand and says...I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!
Don't we live for our stories, how we got unjustifiably screwed? But the truth is there's always chance, there are no guarantees, sometimes you're gonna give it your best effort, based on the best information available, and you're still gonna lose. The key is not to dwell on that, but to continue to march forward, keep your equilibrium and soldier on. That's so difficult. To keep an even keel. To not focus on the losses. But you need to acquire this skill to survive not only in poker, but in life. You lose your job...happens to everyone. Just start looking for another one!
Here are some quotes:
"I've let them get to me. I didn't want to be pushed around - but I wasn't comfortable doing the pushing around, either. And the result is this mess of a hand. I'm hopeless at this game. And apparently, I'm hopeless at life. A gutless female who wants to be liked more than she wants to win. Maybe I don't want to go to Vegas, after all. Maybe the WSOP (World Series of Poker) is better off without me."
You can only win if you want to, if you're willing to do what it takes, go on offense. You cannot win in life playing defense all the time, no way. And in a man's world, you cannot win by being demure and avoiding confrontation, you've got to have a backbone, stand up for what you believe in, what's right. Furthermore, the cascade of negatives can truly put you in a frame of mind where you can never win.
Oh yeah, one of the worst things that can happen is you win early, thinking it was your skill as opposed to your luck. So many times early winners fade away, because they didn't focus on the development of the skills they need to survive.
"And you learn best when you're playing every day."
That's how I got to be a great skier, going each and every day, whether it was raining, snowing or ten below zero. Forget the 10,000 hours I needed to achieve that skill, it's the 1% that makes all the difference. So when you're in a tight situation, you survive. Like skiing in France on a cat track in the shade, with no one in sight, and coming around a corner and finding sheer ice interspersed with dirt and rocks. To the right, a wall, to the left, a drop-off, and I'm going so fast there's no way I could stop, so...I just let the skis run, even though this put me in a situation where I was out of control...I just kept my cool and figured somewhere down the line the terrain would change and I could save myself, and I did.
It's about the fine edge, that's what makes the difference between a winner and a loser. Oh sure, a weekend warrior can ride the tram at Big Sky, and maybe even survive on the double blacks. But if things go wrong... But if you've skied every day, you can recover from a mistake.
And if you're not passionate about the pursuit to begin with...GIVE UP, or make peace with the fact you're an amateur.
"In an age of constant distraction and never-ending connectivity, we may be so busy we miss the signals that tell us to swerve before we're in the bad beat's path."
I'm into my iPhone, I love the digital age, but if you're not focused on what's important, you're gonna lose. No distractions during the game, antenna wide open, receiving signals. Furthermore, most people don't want to get in this zone, because they still might lose, they'd rather laugh and consider themselves an amateur, saying they could win if they wanted to, when the truth is they can't.
"But here's where something of the Dunning-Kruger effect creeps in. Yes, that one. The one that shows that the less competent you are in an area, the more likely you are to overestimate your degree of competence. That the less you know about a topic, the more you think you know - as long as you know just enough to start feeling a bit fluent in its vocabulary."
This happens to me all the time, people confront me with their truth when I know it's false. I used to correct them, now I never do, because they can't handle it, they usually just double-down on the falsehood.
Life is like an onion, you keep peeling back the layers. The winners get all the way to the nub, the losers peel back the first skin and think they know everything. Never take the first source as gospel. Keep questioning. It drives my compatriots mad, if it's important to me I'll research and ask the same damn questions over and over again, to see if I get the same response, I want to find out how sure the person is in their conviction.
"First dates are about dazzle. You play each hand, even when you'd rather fold and crawl back home admitting defeat."
First, you must take the risk, if you do not play, you cannot win, but you will never win every time, be prepared for rejection. And when you're trying to make a good impression, you can't lay back, the opposite of poker. You've got to be aggressive, lay it all out there, even if you're wincing inside, unsure if you're winning or losing.
"You can't control what will happen, so it makes no sense to try to guess at it. Chance is just chance: it is neither good nor bad nor personal."
In other words, you can give it your best and still lose. And you've just got to accept this and move on.
I'd love to tell you "The Biggest Bluff" is an easy read. But the narrative is interrupted by the psychology, as if Konnikova was proving to her publisher she was delivering on her pitch. I found the narrative more interesting than the lessons. More story, less insight. But just when you get bogged down in the lessons, Konnikova goes back to the narrative.
You can make millions in poker, but don't expect any respect:
"And he (Dan Harrington) tells me that those views may never change, no matter what I do. He recalls the moment he told his mother he won the World Series of Poker. 'Well, what do you think, Mom? I won a million dollars. I'm world champion of poker!' he remembers telling her. And she replies, 'Oh, that's great Danny. You know we have a cousin Pádraig Harrington. He's a golfer, and he just won eighty thousand dollars in the Spanish Open.' Dan persists. 'Mom, I won a million dollars. I'm world champion.' And she has one answer. 'Listen, Danny, he's doing well on the European tour.'"
I've got no patience for poker. Cards are not my thing. But having read this book I'm certainly convinced that winning is no accident, that it takes skill.
And if you truly want to fix your problems, go into therapy. But for some insight into how the world works, there's no better instruction manual than this book.
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Re-The David Foster Documentary
Thanks for your recent coverage on my film, DAVID FOSTER: OFF THE RECORD. In a career including nearly 50 documentaries, I have never seen such a detailed and forensic look at film much less my film. David is very complex. Dissecting David is very complex. Making the film was very complex. Your review and essay did an extraordinary job in dealing with career and psyche and helped shed some light on things left on the cutting room floor. The thing most Americans do not know is that Canadians are born with a heavy dose of "insecurity DNA" as the both the media and their fellow patriots do not want us to ever be too successful. David, along with many other famous Canadians insulate themselves with a certain bravado and arrogance to help shield themselves from disappointment and critics. Regardless, my attempt was to try and expose the alchemy of talent and persistence with a dose of ego and arrogance.
Best Barry
Barry Avrich
Producer/Director
MEG
Melbar Entertainment Group
_____________________________________
David Foster is a genius - and you know I don't throw that word around lightly.
There have been many times in my life when I've been listening to music and just had to stop what I was doing and find out immediately who made it. One of those moments that is so vivid for me still was when I was driving home from the studio one late summer night in LA and St. Elmo's Fire came on the radio. It was such a powerful, smart and intensely musical record that I had to pull over to fully experience it. I did and it humbled me. It thrilled me and at the same time made me feel inadequate. It made me long to be that good. And it inspired me to sit up and work harder. The same thing happened to me with You're The Inspiration.
There have also been times when a perfect song has brought me to the edge of self control, has touched me so deeply that I was overwhelmed with emotion - because it reached into my soul and pulled up feelings long buried. The Prayer is one of those. It is perfect in every way, easily as moving and dramatic as the greatest ever show tunes, and I think it will live forever. There have been many Foster moments for me over the years.
I have also been in awe of David's ability to appear to serve many masters at once while actually being the one true master himself. But I can imagine that it must have sometimes left him feeling less than completely recognized for what he does. I think he deserves applause for all that he has done with his career - as much for the work of his foundation as for the music. With the former, he has literally saved lives and with the latter he has touched them. So when you're talking about him, keep that in mind. Sure the process is fascinating, but it truly is the result that counts in the end.
None but them can really know how noisy and crowded it is in the brain of a genius. But we can all see that genius exacts a toll. It's just the way it is. It does not foster serenity. It is interminably restless and yearning. And it cannot be contained.
I'm pretty sure it will erupt again in David sometime soon. I don't buy that he's retired, at least I hope he's not.
Bob Ezrin
_____________________________________
I saw the documentary and thought it was great. David is not afraid to speak the truth about himself or anybody else.
I had the pleasure of being in a band with him on a short concert tour with Evie Sands back in the 70s. He did the arrangements also. What you said about his mind going a million miles an hour , I thought to be true. You would be talking to him about something and you could see he was comprehending but also simultaneously thinking about 5 other things. It was easy to see that this cat was going places. He had talent, and he had BALLS!
In the 80's, when I was music director on the TV show STAR SEARCH, David was kind enough to recommend me to some TV projects as a music director&composer.
After that, I didn't see him for a long time until about eight years ago in Tokyo. I was there working on a project, and a promoter friend invited me to the David Foster and Friends concert. When David saw me at the after party he got excited , screamed my name, and seemed happy to see me again. It was a great honor as he's one of my favorite producer/composers of all times. If you have a chance you should check out his concert. Hit after hit after hit. And I'm not talking about someone who creates a hit record by just getting great sounds like an engineer/producer, or producing a record for a great band or solo artist who writes all their own material and play on the sessions. David does it all. He will compose the songs, do the arrangements for rhythm section and also horns and strings. He plays amazing keyboards on the session. He directs, coaches, encourages and challenges the artist and all musicians and backing singers to give their best performance. Quincy can't do what he does. George Martin can't do what he does. None of the engineer/producers types can do what he does. I believe he truly is a genius. Is he confident to the point of being cocky? Absolutely and rightfully so! He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. A fucking HIT MAN, indeed!
And if David Foster wants to challenge the last frontier for him ( Broadway) , I would bet the freaking farm that he will create a hit show!
Joey CARBONE
P. S. Oh, did I mention that he is also a great guy?
_____________________________________
All young artists should watch. Its about the song the artist and the producer .That's how Hits happen. I did the karate kid soundtrack with my brother bob and brooks arthur when I was President of MGM/UA that he wrote and produced. We won a academy award. He's a winner. Jerry G
Jerry Greenberg
_____________________________________
As a music editor and music supervisor, I worked with David on the underscore and/or songs for over half a dozen films, including Secret of My Success, Preacher's Wife, Quest for Camelot, and The Bodyguard. We were in the studio together with some of the best co-writers, arrangers, engineers, instrumentalists, and admired singers in the world, including Barbra, Boceli, Celine, Cetera, Dolly, Whitney, and many more. During that 10-year period, I learned just about everything I now know about music production. David was smart, talented, aware, and generous. Over 2 summers, my wife, kids, and I joined him and his family in Victoria for his annual David Foster Foundation fundraising weekend that brought together celebrities from the film, television, and sports worlds to raise millions of dollars for Canadian families with children needing transplants. Spending time with some of those families was more uplifting than words can possibly describe. I don't have one bad word to say about this guy, and I'm grateful and blessed to have worked with him and his circle of talented collaborators. As for the documentary, I thought one of the most meaningful aspects was David taking responsibility for his failed marriages, which had unhappy ramifications not only on his wives and kids, but on his friends. While not a tragedy, that part of his life is less than admirable, and he knows and owns it. I certainly hope that with Katharine, David is able to find the serenity he deserves.
Best wishes, and stay safe,
Dan Carlin
_____________________________________
One of our favorite nights last year was when my friend Randy Lennox took us to the premier of the Foster movie at TIFF . Randy is one of the producers. I loved the movie so much and was especially poignant watching it a few seats away from David, Katherine , his Mother and daughters. We marveled how they all adore him . David saw us walk up to the theatre and without missing a beat during an interview on the red carpet grabbed us and welcomed us in . He was like a hungry excited ambitious kid all night , even at the dinner .
You are right about Katherine .
I have sent notes to several colleagues and our Team that this movie is a must if you want to understand the rigor , intensity and just how difficult it is to produce hits for years and years.
I listen to Earth , Wind & Fire now and smile of how they cut those hits with David .
Daniel Glass
_____________________________________
Hey Bob I've known fellow Canadian David Foster since 1985 when he produced and conducted us in "Tears Are Not Enough". In LA he introduced me to Barbra Streisand and Josh Groban, and more recently in Palm Beach to Rod Stewart. Yes David is insane, but insanely passionate about music and has been insanely ambitious from the get go. He told me back when we both lived in Malibu that he "wanted it all…the fame, the money, the private jet, the women." It's no surprise that he needed five different wives for the many chapters of his insanely driven life and that he and Katharine McPhee now have their sights set on Broadway..bravo, great decision and let's wish them every success!!!
I was invited to the documentary premier in Toronto and thought the director did a fine job telling his story. David is brilliant, a genius, tough and focused, at times selfish, and of course could never have produced those mega hits without his complicated life and huge ego. He produced 'Anything for Love" for my friend and fellow Torontonian, Gordon Lightfoot, in 1986. He charged a fortune, and (sorry Gord and David) was absolutely awful! I'm sure he'd be the first to agree. David can't be Quincy or Lennon, but he's made beautiful music loved by millions and helped countless musicians along the way. He's a great guy, very philanthropic over the years and we are proud he is Canadian!
Foster and Dylan…yes!!! if only... but unfortunately for us they are total opposites.
xox,
Liona Boyd
_____________________________________
I have admired David over the years. I am a jazz pianist from NYC and have written songs for Josh Groban, Placido Domingo, Shawn Colvin ,, 'NSYNC Pop John II, Taylor Dayne, The Temptations, Clay Aiken, Rhys Lewis. I have accompanied Frank Sinatra , Sammy Davis Jr and grew up in Westport, CT.
In 2009 my father said you need to meet a guy named David Foster and he just saw his Hitman David Foster and Friends in PBS featuring Josh Groban, Celine Dion, Etc.... A week later my father died of a stroke at 85 and on the day before his Shiva I got a call from an artist named Shanna Crooks from Atlantic Records who I was writing with saying that she was having a meeting with David Foster the following day and wanted me to accompany her at the meeting. It was a tough decision because it was going to happen on the first day of the Shiva. I thought hard and realized that my father would want me to do it so I accepted. I met with David and his manager Marc Johnston and Pete Ganbarg from Atlantic Records. I explained to David that my father had passed away two days ago and he said that I had to meet David Foster a week before he died. He hugged me and couldn't have been nicer. He told me about his father's passing and realized why I liked him so much. Such an inspiration and when I worked with Arif Mardin on the Melissa Errico record (Never Saw Blue Like That composition) he told me David was amazing on Chaka Khan's What Cha Gonna Do For Me album and sight read every note with so much soul.
I'll never forget that day when I met David and it made me realize what a true master he is. He has inspired me to continue to be as creative and inventive every day.
My name is Jeff Franzel. www.jefffranzel.com
Thank you Bob.
_____________________________________
I'm a Chicago follower from the days when they were a politically-charged band regularly playing the Fillmore and ballroom circuits, and stuck with them when they went glossy with Foster in the 80s. It's not always an either/or with this band, and the parts of the Foster documentary discussing Chicago's years with him are a necessary angle to absorb after he and Peter Cetera were roasted in the "Chicago" documentary a few years ago. My recommendation? Watch them both on a double feature and see the big picture. There's always more than one side to every story - in this business, several sides.
Brian Martin
_____________________________________
Agreed Bob. A good documentary about a hugely talented guy who brought forth music people love.
I couldn't help thinking though...safe safe safe. Popular. Mainstream. MOR. Utterly inoffensive music.
What's left to do? The Dylan thing is sort of right. Venture outside the box. Maybe some dirty rocknroll.
Drums, bass, guitar, keyboards (one awesome synth). And a 16 track tape machine. That's it. Put it on Bandcamp. Done.
Michael Chadwick (Australia)
p.s I get the aversion to lifts! Claustrophobia and vertigo together. Nooooo!
_____________________________________
I read his autobio a few years ago and was overwhelmed with a desire to forget it ASAP. What a douchebag.
Paula Franceschi
_____________________________________
I've had the pleasure of working with David on a number of projects and he's always been a force of nature to be around. There are a few great stories but I'd like to share one particularly remarkable memory I'd like to share.
David was in Toronto to do a book signing and there was a piano set up so I'm case he wanted to play for fans during the Q&A session. Naturally he did. At one point an audience member stood up and asked if he had any advise for young composers. David asked if he was a composer and the guy said yes so David invited him up on stage to play an original piece. The guy sat down and played beautifully. David stood at the opposite end of the piano and listened intently. When the guy finished playing, the audience gave him a round of enthusiastic applause and then David said "That was great but can I make a suggestion?" Naturally the guy said yes and David sat down at the piano and, not having even watched the guys hands during the performance, played the beginning of the guys piece and said "This is what you played. And this is how I would play it" he then proceeded to astonish the composer and the crowd by playing a "pop" variation on what he had just heard. It was unforgettable.
Steve Waxman
_____________________________________
That wasn't a Documentary that was an EGOmentary!
Doug Pomerantz
_____________________________________
david foster---Tears Are Not Enough was the David Foster/Bryan Adam version of We Are The World---all canadien stars in the studio---telling moment when joni mithcell is singing and foster comes back to her to talk about the way she is hitting notes and maybe she could change slightly---she says "I think that's my style"....indicative of foster, wanting to change the way someone sings (and has built a career on) for his own purpose....
Frank
_____________________________________
Oh please, Dylan and Foster. Poet and Corporate. Foster is, hmmm, a machine, and in my opinion, lacks the humanity and self effacement of say, Lowell George or George Martin.
A lot of people like his production and music but then again a lot of people voted for DJT and look where that went.
Stephen Cross
_____________________________________
He ruined his legacy and came across as a self-absorbed cheesy dick that that level of success should afford you the wherewithal to not act like a knob head at his advanced years and subsequent stratospheric success.
Legacy soiled .
Eternally trapped in Canadian artistic soft focus waft !
Done some great shit though no doubt on a mercantile level !
All power time him (just don't be a bell-end)
NICK HANSON
DIRECTOR
Godlike & Electric
_____________________________________
Hey Bob I just watched the documentary about David Foster and before I got in the record business was in radio in Seattle C89 Seattle where I played his original version of After the love is gone.. from duo group he had called Airplay. That came out I think on RCA Records. I think you nailed this pretty much 100% of course he gets some respect for some of the stuff that he's done but no I do not want to see him with Van Morrison ever! So thanks for the great read appreciate your work as always
Frank Higginbotham
_____________________________________
Thankfully Van Morrison doesn't need the Svengali of Blandness to produce his records.
LJ Murphy
_____________________________________
I had no idea who he was, not my genres at all. So I watched to learn something.
Your right about everything, I agree with almost every point in your piece…and he still came off like a cunt! A little humility? He wasn't beaten by his father or the product of a frigid mother, in fact his father said "you think you can make a living at this? Then do it". Point being, why does he need so much love? Maybe he's just a narcissistic dick?.
Music is 100% subjective, fully admit it, and I hate almost all of the stuff he's done.
Full credit to him, he owns that lane, but ugh, it's full of soulless cars making boring, unmemorable noise.
I'm sure I'm in the minority. He knows how to make "art" that makes money.
- Darryl Estrine
_____________________________________
It was so great to see you'd written about the doc. I so enjoyed reading your take, however... Celine Dion's "All By Myself" is forever.
Best,
Pete Giambalvo
_____________________________________
As the guitarist in the LA HOB Sunset house band for several years when it opened, I had the opportunity to do a number of cavalcade benefit shows at the venue. Everyone was stopping by to either hang out or play and be a part of this 'new kid on the block'. People were looking for the new 'China Club', and there was a sniff of anticipation in the air as the music/movie community was holding
on to a certain sense of camaraderie.
I can remember one particular global network TV presentation that included David Foster, Jim Belushi, Dan Akyroyd, Sam Moore, Skunk Baxter, and Steve Cropper, among others.
David came in with his notation arranger who handed out sheet music that resembled a conductors score.....it took 2 music stands to hold it in place. He wanted the house band to play his compositional opening sequence for the Calgary Olympics....aided by 'tracks' of the orchestra etc. All I can remember of that moment is it felt incredibly stiff and mechanical.
Later in the evening and in stark contrast, Sam Moore got up and did a series of soulful Sam & Dave hits including 'When Something is Wrong with My Baby'. Preacher that he is, he was pacing the stage, working the crowd, and bringing the sound down to a whisper. The joy was infectious! I still can picture glancing over at David Foster on the keys, with a look in my eye that said.....'now isn't this really what it's all about!'
At the end of that set, I remember David, like a bolt of lightning, looking past everybody, left that stage running up to the Foundation Room, where I assumed he was engaged in some major deal making.
Jim and Dan, Sam Moore, Skunk Baxter and Steve Cropper, along with my campadre's in the HOB band, all contributed to an amazing night.
I don't think David even realized the moment that he missed.
I got a real personality dose of the cardboard cutouts that can thrive in that LA scene.
One last note. I remember distinctly....Sam Moore was wearing a shirt that said 'Less is More'
Amen.
Steve Chrismar
_____________________________________
Whew, lot of wind on the king of cheese.
Billy Chapin
_____________________________________
David Foster might be the WORST thing to ever happen to music.
Gary Poole
_____________________________________
Hello my name is RJ Cipriani aka Robin Hood 702.
I have some important info regarding the inaccuracies in this documentary.
Please call me at your earliest convenience.
_____________________________________
Jeez, Bob... Foster should hope to know half of what Dylan's forgotten.
Bill Mumy
_____________________________________
I have known David Foster for more than 40 years and worked with him numerous times. My experiences with him have been consistently terrific. He has even come and taught a number of times at my UCLA Career Class and was as good working with my students as anyone I have ever had as a guest. In fact, I'd have to say he was spectacular. I truly enjoyed the documentary as I felt he was wonderfully candid about his strengths and his weaknesses. I think he is a great talent and I don't agree at all with your judgement of the impact of what he has created over the years. Ken Kragen
_____________________________________
I had no idea why women would throw themselves at David Foster until I watched this documentary. I totally get it now.
Danielle Pike
Best Barry
Barry Avrich
Producer/Director
MEG
Melbar Entertainment Group
_____________________________________
David Foster is a genius - and you know I don't throw that word around lightly.
There have been many times in my life when I've been listening to music and just had to stop what I was doing and find out immediately who made it. One of those moments that is so vivid for me still was when I was driving home from the studio one late summer night in LA and St. Elmo's Fire came on the radio. It was such a powerful, smart and intensely musical record that I had to pull over to fully experience it. I did and it humbled me. It thrilled me and at the same time made me feel inadequate. It made me long to be that good. And it inspired me to sit up and work harder. The same thing happened to me with You're The Inspiration.
There have also been times when a perfect song has brought me to the edge of self control, has touched me so deeply that I was overwhelmed with emotion - because it reached into my soul and pulled up feelings long buried. The Prayer is one of those. It is perfect in every way, easily as moving and dramatic as the greatest ever show tunes, and I think it will live forever. There have been many Foster moments for me over the years.
I have also been in awe of David's ability to appear to serve many masters at once while actually being the one true master himself. But I can imagine that it must have sometimes left him feeling less than completely recognized for what he does. I think he deserves applause for all that he has done with his career - as much for the work of his foundation as for the music. With the former, he has literally saved lives and with the latter he has touched them. So when you're talking about him, keep that in mind. Sure the process is fascinating, but it truly is the result that counts in the end.
None but them can really know how noisy and crowded it is in the brain of a genius. But we can all see that genius exacts a toll. It's just the way it is. It does not foster serenity. It is interminably restless and yearning. And it cannot be contained.
I'm pretty sure it will erupt again in David sometime soon. I don't buy that he's retired, at least I hope he's not.
Bob Ezrin
_____________________________________
I saw the documentary and thought it was great. David is not afraid to speak the truth about himself or anybody else.
I had the pleasure of being in a band with him on a short concert tour with Evie Sands back in the 70s. He did the arrangements also. What you said about his mind going a million miles an hour , I thought to be true. You would be talking to him about something and you could see he was comprehending but also simultaneously thinking about 5 other things. It was easy to see that this cat was going places. He had talent, and he had BALLS!
In the 80's, when I was music director on the TV show STAR SEARCH, David was kind enough to recommend me to some TV projects as a music director&composer.
After that, I didn't see him for a long time until about eight years ago in Tokyo. I was there working on a project, and a promoter friend invited me to the David Foster and Friends concert. When David saw me at the after party he got excited , screamed my name, and seemed happy to see me again. It was a great honor as he's one of my favorite producer/composers of all times. If you have a chance you should check out his concert. Hit after hit after hit. And I'm not talking about someone who creates a hit record by just getting great sounds like an engineer/producer, or producing a record for a great band or solo artist who writes all their own material and play on the sessions. David does it all. He will compose the songs, do the arrangements for rhythm section and also horns and strings. He plays amazing keyboards on the session. He directs, coaches, encourages and challenges the artist and all musicians and backing singers to give their best performance. Quincy can't do what he does. George Martin can't do what he does. None of the engineer/producers types can do what he does. I believe he truly is a genius. Is he confident to the point of being cocky? Absolutely and rightfully so! He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. A fucking HIT MAN, indeed!
And if David Foster wants to challenge the last frontier for him ( Broadway) , I would bet the freaking farm that he will create a hit show!
Joey CARBONE
P. S. Oh, did I mention that he is also a great guy?
_____________________________________
All young artists should watch. Its about the song the artist and the producer .That's how Hits happen. I did the karate kid soundtrack with my brother bob and brooks arthur when I was President of MGM/UA that he wrote and produced. We won a academy award. He's a winner. Jerry G
Jerry Greenberg
_____________________________________
As a music editor and music supervisor, I worked with David on the underscore and/or songs for over half a dozen films, including Secret of My Success, Preacher's Wife, Quest for Camelot, and The Bodyguard. We were in the studio together with some of the best co-writers, arrangers, engineers, instrumentalists, and admired singers in the world, including Barbra, Boceli, Celine, Cetera, Dolly, Whitney, and many more. During that 10-year period, I learned just about everything I now know about music production. David was smart, talented, aware, and generous. Over 2 summers, my wife, kids, and I joined him and his family in Victoria for his annual David Foster Foundation fundraising weekend that brought together celebrities from the film, television, and sports worlds to raise millions of dollars for Canadian families with children needing transplants. Spending time with some of those families was more uplifting than words can possibly describe. I don't have one bad word to say about this guy, and I'm grateful and blessed to have worked with him and his circle of talented collaborators. As for the documentary, I thought one of the most meaningful aspects was David taking responsibility for his failed marriages, which had unhappy ramifications not only on his wives and kids, but on his friends. While not a tragedy, that part of his life is less than admirable, and he knows and owns it. I certainly hope that with Katharine, David is able to find the serenity he deserves.
Best wishes, and stay safe,
Dan Carlin
_____________________________________
One of our favorite nights last year was when my friend Randy Lennox took us to the premier of the Foster movie at TIFF . Randy is one of the producers. I loved the movie so much and was especially poignant watching it a few seats away from David, Katherine , his Mother and daughters. We marveled how they all adore him . David saw us walk up to the theatre and without missing a beat during an interview on the red carpet grabbed us and welcomed us in . He was like a hungry excited ambitious kid all night , even at the dinner .
You are right about Katherine .
I have sent notes to several colleagues and our Team that this movie is a must if you want to understand the rigor , intensity and just how difficult it is to produce hits for years and years.
I listen to Earth , Wind & Fire now and smile of how they cut those hits with David .
Daniel Glass
_____________________________________
Hey Bob I've known fellow Canadian David Foster since 1985 when he produced and conducted us in "Tears Are Not Enough". In LA he introduced me to Barbra Streisand and Josh Groban, and more recently in Palm Beach to Rod Stewart. Yes David is insane, but insanely passionate about music and has been insanely ambitious from the get go. He told me back when we both lived in Malibu that he "wanted it all…the fame, the money, the private jet, the women." It's no surprise that he needed five different wives for the many chapters of his insanely driven life and that he and Katharine McPhee now have their sights set on Broadway..bravo, great decision and let's wish them every success!!!
I was invited to the documentary premier in Toronto and thought the director did a fine job telling his story. David is brilliant, a genius, tough and focused, at times selfish, and of course could never have produced those mega hits without his complicated life and huge ego. He produced 'Anything for Love" for my friend and fellow Torontonian, Gordon Lightfoot, in 1986. He charged a fortune, and (sorry Gord and David) was absolutely awful! I'm sure he'd be the first to agree. David can't be Quincy or Lennon, but he's made beautiful music loved by millions and helped countless musicians along the way. He's a great guy, very philanthropic over the years and we are proud he is Canadian!
Foster and Dylan…yes!!! if only... but unfortunately for us they are total opposites.
xox,
Liona Boyd
_____________________________________
I have admired David over the years. I am a jazz pianist from NYC and have written songs for Josh Groban, Placido Domingo, Shawn Colvin ,, 'NSYNC Pop John II, Taylor Dayne, The Temptations, Clay Aiken, Rhys Lewis. I have accompanied Frank Sinatra , Sammy Davis Jr and grew up in Westport, CT.
In 2009 my father said you need to meet a guy named David Foster and he just saw his Hitman David Foster and Friends in PBS featuring Josh Groban, Celine Dion, Etc.... A week later my father died of a stroke at 85 and on the day before his Shiva I got a call from an artist named Shanna Crooks from Atlantic Records who I was writing with saying that she was having a meeting with David Foster the following day and wanted me to accompany her at the meeting. It was a tough decision because it was going to happen on the first day of the Shiva. I thought hard and realized that my father would want me to do it so I accepted. I met with David and his manager Marc Johnston and Pete Ganbarg from Atlantic Records. I explained to David that my father had passed away two days ago and he said that I had to meet David Foster a week before he died. He hugged me and couldn't have been nicer. He told me about his father's passing and realized why I liked him so much. Such an inspiration and when I worked with Arif Mardin on the Melissa Errico record (Never Saw Blue Like That composition) he told me David was amazing on Chaka Khan's What Cha Gonna Do For Me album and sight read every note with so much soul.
I'll never forget that day when I met David and it made me realize what a true master he is. He has inspired me to continue to be as creative and inventive every day.
My name is Jeff Franzel. www.jefffranzel.com
Thank you Bob.
_____________________________________
I'm a Chicago follower from the days when they were a politically-charged band regularly playing the Fillmore and ballroom circuits, and stuck with them when they went glossy with Foster in the 80s. It's not always an either/or with this band, and the parts of the Foster documentary discussing Chicago's years with him are a necessary angle to absorb after he and Peter Cetera were roasted in the "Chicago" documentary a few years ago. My recommendation? Watch them both on a double feature and see the big picture. There's always more than one side to every story - in this business, several sides.
Brian Martin
_____________________________________
Agreed Bob. A good documentary about a hugely talented guy who brought forth music people love.
I couldn't help thinking though...safe safe safe. Popular. Mainstream. MOR. Utterly inoffensive music.
What's left to do? The Dylan thing is sort of right. Venture outside the box. Maybe some dirty rocknroll.
Drums, bass, guitar, keyboards (one awesome synth). And a 16 track tape machine. That's it. Put it on Bandcamp. Done.
Michael Chadwick (Australia)
p.s I get the aversion to lifts! Claustrophobia and vertigo together. Nooooo!
_____________________________________
I read his autobio a few years ago and was overwhelmed with a desire to forget it ASAP. What a douchebag.
Paula Franceschi
_____________________________________
I've had the pleasure of working with David on a number of projects and he's always been a force of nature to be around. There are a few great stories but I'd like to share one particularly remarkable memory I'd like to share.
David was in Toronto to do a book signing and there was a piano set up so I'm case he wanted to play for fans during the Q&A session. Naturally he did. At one point an audience member stood up and asked if he had any advise for young composers. David asked if he was a composer and the guy said yes so David invited him up on stage to play an original piece. The guy sat down and played beautifully. David stood at the opposite end of the piano and listened intently. When the guy finished playing, the audience gave him a round of enthusiastic applause and then David said "That was great but can I make a suggestion?" Naturally the guy said yes and David sat down at the piano and, not having even watched the guys hands during the performance, played the beginning of the guys piece and said "This is what you played. And this is how I would play it" he then proceeded to astonish the composer and the crowd by playing a "pop" variation on what he had just heard. It was unforgettable.
Steve Waxman
_____________________________________
That wasn't a Documentary that was an EGOmentary!
Doug Pomerantz
_____________________________________
david foster---Tears Are Not Enough was the David Foster/Bryan Adam version of We Are The World---all canadien stars in the studio---telling moment when joni mithcell is singing and foster comes back to her to talk about the way she is hitting notes and maybe she could change slightly---she says "I think that's my style"....indicative of foster, wanting to change the way someone sings (and has built a career on) for his own purpose....
Frank
_____________________________________
Oh please, Dylan and Foster. Poet and Corporate. Foster is, hmmm, a machine, and in my opinion, lacks the humanity and self effacement of say, Lowell George or George Martin.
A lot of people like his production and music but then again a lot of people voted for DJT and look where that went.
Stephen Cross
_____________________________________
He ruined his legacy and came across as a self-absorbed cheesy dick that that level of success should afford you the wherewithal to not act like a knob head at his advanced years and subsequent stratospheric success.
Legacy soiled .
Eternally trapped in Canadian artistic soft focus waft !
Done some great shit though no doubt on a mercantile level !
All power time him (just don't be a bell-end)
NICK HANSON
DIRECTOR
Godlike & Electric
_____________________________________
Hey Bob I just watched the documentary about David Foster and before I got in the record business was in radio in Seattle C89 Seattle where I played his original version of After the love is gone.. from duo group he had called Airplay. That came out I think on RCA Records. I think you nailed this pretty much 100% of course he gets some respect for some of the stuff that he's done but no I do not want to see him with Van Morrison ever! So thanks for the great read appreciate your work as always
Frank Higginbotham
_____________________________________
Thankfully Van Morrison doesn't need the Svengali of Blandness to produce his records.
LJ Murphy
_____________________________________
I had no idea who he was, not my genres at all. So I watched to learn something.
Your right about everything, I agree with almost every point in your piece…and he still came off like a cunt! A little humility? He wasn't beaten by his father or the product of a frigid mother, in fact his father said "you think you can make a living at this? Then do it". Point being, why does he need so much love? Maybe he's just a narcissistic dick?.
Music is 100% subjective, fully admit it, and I hate almost all of the stuff he's done.
Full credit to him, he owns that lane, but ugh, it's full of soulless cars making boring, unmemorable noise.
I'm sure I'm in the minority. He knows how to make "art" that makes money.
- Darryl Estrine
_____________________________________
It was so great to see you'd written about the doc. I so enjoyed reading your take, however... Celine Dion's "All By Myself" is forever.
Best,
Pete Giambalvo
_____________________________________
As the guitarist in the LA HOB Sunset house band for several years when it opened, I had the opportunity to do a number of cavalcade benefit shows at the venue. Everyone was stopping by to either hang out or play and be a part of this 'new kid on the block'. People were looking for the new 'China Club', and there was a sniff of anticipation in the air as the music/movie community was holding
on to a certain sense of camaraderie.
I can remember one particular global network TV presentation that included David Foster, Jim Belushi, Dan Akyroyd, Sam Moore, Skunk Baxter, and Steve Cropper, among others.
David came in with his notation arranger who handed out sheet music that resembled a conductors score.....it took 2 music stands to hold it in place. He wanted the house band to play his compositional opening sequence for the Calgary Olympics....aided by 'tracks' of the orchestra etc. All I can remember of that moment is it felt incredibly stiff and mechanical.
Later in the evening and in stark contrast, Sam Moore got up and did a series of soulful Sam & Dave hits including 'When Something is Wrong with My Baby'. Preacher that he is, he was pacing the stage, working the crowd, and bringing the sound down to a whisper. The joy was infectious! I still can picture glancing over at David Foster on the keys, with a look in my eye that said.....'now isn't this really what it's all about!'
At the end of that set, I remember David, like a bolt of lightning, looking past everybody, left that stage running up to the Foundation Room, where I assumed he was engaged in some major deal making.
Jim and Dan, Sam Moore, Skunk Baxter and Steve Cropper, along with my campadre's in the HOB band, all contributed to an amazing night.
I don't think David even realized the moment that he missed.
I got a real personality dose of the cardboard cutouts that can thrive in that LA scene.
One last note. I remember distinctly....Sam Moore was wearing a shirt that said 'Less is More'
Amen.
Steve Chrismar
_____________________________________
Whew, lot of wind on the king of cheese.
Billy Chapin
_____________________________________
David Foster might be the WORST thing to ever happen to music.
Gary Poole
_____________________________________
Hello my name is RJ Cipriani aka Robin Hood 702.
I have some important info regarding the inaccuracies in this documentary.
Please call me at your earliest convenience.
_____________________________________
Jeez, Bob... Foster should hope to know half of what Dylan's forgotten.
Bill Mumy
_____________________________________
I have known David Foster for more than 40 years and worked with him numerous times. My experiences with him have been consistently terrific. He has even come and taught a number of times at my UCLA Career Class and was as good working with my students as anyone I have ever had as a guest. In fact, I'd have to say he was spectacular. I truly enjoyed the documentary as I felt he was wonderfully candid about his strengths and his weaknesses. I think he is a great talent and I don't agree at all with your judgement of the impact of what he has created over the years. Ken Kragen
_____________________________________
I had no idea why women would throw themselves at David Foster until I watched this documentary. I totally get it now.
Danielle Pike
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King Songs-Songs With "King" In The Title-SiriusXM This Week
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Sunday 19 July 2020
Emitt Rhodes
Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/32wnPYh
1
He was too good too soon in an era when giants walked the earth.
Today it's de rigueur to cut your album alone at home, you just fire up your computer and...
There were no computers back then. It was an analog world. You used tape. And studio time was expensive. And when the revolution the Beatles started began, you couldn't even touch the recording console, that was reserved for union engineers.
As time went by acts gained power, as a result of the massive profits they threw off. Music made more money than films, it built the Warner cable system, which is why record company executives were so handsomely compensated. Not that Dick Parsons remembered this when he blew out the labels at the advent of this century, with Napster and other file-trading services putting a huge dent in recorded music revenue. Then again, by this time, Mo and Lenny were gone. Joe Smith too. And Krasnow. Time Warner controlled the records, but those who made them, with their blood sweat and tears, had no control over the distribution and use of their work, never mind getting paid for it. Supposedly this is why Emitt Rhodes gave up, over business issues. Don't underestimate that, look at the members of Badfinger who committed suicide for the same reason, think of all that coin that should have rained down to Pete Ham and Tom Evans for "Without You," it was a smash twice, once with Harry Nilsson and then later with Mariah Carey, it's a standard, not that anyone remembers, if they ever knew, that it was written by these members of Badfinger.
So, in today's market-driven world, no one takes the long view. Warner Music just went public for a huge multiple of what Time Warner offloaded it for. It's all about stock price and bonus, and those who create the work are seen as fungible.
But they're not.
So, not only was it rare back in 1970 to have someone who could both play and record, but to add in the ability to play all the instruments too, that was unfathomable, unless you were Paul McCartney, who released his first solo LP the previous spring. Another strike against Emitt Rhodes was his voice sounded similar to Sir Paul's. Such that he was pooh-poohed. Furthermore, the album came out on a lame label, ABC/Dunhill, when that made a difference. Emitt Rhodes was not taken seriously, except by those who listened.
2
It's almost fifty years since I started college. That's a long time ago. I had no time for those who'd entered in 1920, why should today's students have time for me, in 2020?
They don't. Only in 1970, there was a generation gap, the old were seen as such, and they accepted it. Today boomers are friends with their progeny and still think they're hip, when the truth is there's a growing generation gap today, based on technology and income inequality.
So, if you went to college in the seventies in Middlebury, Vermont...
There was no FM radio, except for the lame college station, and if you'd grown up in the New York market, with WOR-FM and then WNEW-FM and WABC-FM, it was unlistenable. The students at my college were not hip. 45% of them went to prep school, the rest were grinds. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't. But by time I realized this, if I transferred I'd have had to go to college for a fifth year, and that was never gonna happen. So, if you wanted to know what was going on in the music world, you had to subscribe to the magazines, "Rolling Stone," "Fusion," "Crawdaddy"... And I did. I read them cover to cover. And the knowledge gained has paid more dividends than anything I learned in class.
So, when I went on vacation, I'd go to New York and buy seven or eight albums, the ones I'd read about, and then bring them back to college to listen and dissect them. And I was serious about it, I never bought a clunker, you didn't have to if you were informed. Same deal with watching a streaming show today, do the research and you will be rewarded. And coming back from spring vacation in April 1971 the three albums I remember buying were...
Emerson, Lake and Palmer's debut.
James Taylor's "Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon."
And "Emitt Rhodes."
I did buy "Tarkus," but then I gave up on ELP, Greg Lake had a phenomenal voice, and Keith Emerson was a virtuoso and Carl Palmer was no slouch, but they lacked great material.
"Mud Slide Slim" was only hobbled by following "Sweet Baby James." This is the album with the hit "You've Got a Friend," but more importantly it contains "You Can Close Your Eyes," "Riding on a Railroad" and "Machine Gun Kelly," the first of which is a classic, and the next two are as good as anything as James has ever done.
And then came the Emitt Rhodes LP.
3
A.
"Well I'm down with my face on the floor
Yes I got what I asked for and more
Well the moment she stepped through that door
I was down with my face on the floor"
It's all about the first track, if that doesn't grab you it's a bad sign. But as soon as you dropped the needle on Emitt Rhodes's solo debut you were immediately along for the ride, the theme park attendant pushed back the safety bar and the roller coaster took off like a shot.
"Well now she's gone away
Just took time to say 'I'll drop you a line' (drop you a line)
Well now she's gone away
Just took time to say, 'I'll see you sometime'"
Sure the lyrics are simple, but they're so right, you're infatuated, you connect and then she leaves.
But what makes "With My Face on the Floor" so magical is the simplicity, that piano hook, and Emitt Rhodes's mellifluous voice. If this exact same LP was dropped today there'd be hosannas, because we've completely lost this formula, used to be to compete you had to have a great voice, you had to write your own songs, and if you didn't...you didn't make it, unless maybe like Dylan you were the best lyricist ever, or Jeff Beck...then again, as great as Beck is, the best, his entire career has been a search for material equal to his ability to play his guitar.
B.
"Somewhere someone special just for me
Somewhere someone special must be"
Maybe you don't remember your teens, your twenties, the agony of loneliness, the dream of meeting your soul mate, back when you still thought that was possible.
"I've been searching all my life
Guess I've looked most everywhere
Many girls have caught my eye
But that special one's not there"
A bridge? This is not rocket science, but the formula seems to have been lost. A melodious song, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge. But today no one can do it. Not that everybody back then did it as well as Emitt Rhodes.
And "Somebody Made for Me" was guitar-based rather than featuring the piano of "With My Face on the Floor," it was slower and groovier, illustrating the chops of this cat, but for some reason the tastemakers just couldn't come down off the mountaintop to anoint him.
C.
"It's been a long time I remember you well
It's been a long time no see where you been keeping yourself"
"Long Time No See" sounds like it would fit nicely on the White Album. It's not made for the radio, it's made for headphones in your bedroom, it's not a ditty like what's come before, it's more of an album track, a mood-setter.
D.
"Tears that angels cry
And they darken all the sky
When the one you love says goodbye"
With just Emitt and his guitar, "Lullabye" does sound like McCartney, but it's not an imitation, and it's so heartfelt. This is what the listening experience used to be, before music was seen as background, grease for the party, the dance, gaming... "Lullabye" was made just for you, to make you feel human, part of something, to know someone else is on your wavelength, our musical heroes were not brands, they were artists, who did their best to reflect life back at us, so we could understand it.
E.
"Well if you come from heaven
You know that that's okay
Just as long as you're here to help me
It doesn't matter how long you stay
Talking 'bout you, baby
Don't you know you're fresh as a daisy, fresh as a daisy"
"Fresh as a Daisy" has a magical bridge too, this and "With My Face on the Floor" are the cuts that floated above the detritus, that got a bit of radio airplay, or so they tell me, I never heard Emitt Rhodes on the radio.
F.
"You must live till you die
You must fight to survive
You must live till you die
You must feel to be alive
You must live till you die"
The funny thing is so many of Rhodes's songs evidenced optimism, when he was notably depressed. Then again, when you're young and depressed you believe a change of scenery will fix everything, if you meet the right person, it's all situational, you have hope and then...when your dreams don't come true...you hide in your house and watch television and watch the rest of the world go by.
4
A.
In retrospect, Emitt's debut is a masterpiece.
But this was in an era of "Elton John" and "Tumbleweed Connection," "Stephen Stills" and "Sticky Fingers," never mind "Exile on Main Street." What did Joni Mitchell sing, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone"?
But Rhodes had made inroads. His fans had hope. Not that we connected. For years people have talked to me about Emitt's music, but I had to come to Los Angeles, get into the music business to find them. We could not connect on social media, we just listened and hoped there were like-minded people out there.
B.
"You don't have to be alone to feel alone
You can have someone and still feel alone"
It was a year later, Emitt released a second LP, "Mirror." I was no longer residing in Hepburn Hall with an assigned roommate, now I got to choose my living companion, who was not alienated by my music, which I could play every night as we fell asleep, never mind during the day.
"And there's a strong possibility
That we might often fail to see the better side of life"
Ain't that the truth. But this juxtaposition of alienation and optimism...there's Emitt's hope once again...and one thing is for sure, it bonded listeners to him, they embraced every word.
C.
"Every time I feel this way I pick up my guitar
And sing a song of faraway lands, ego and facade
I often feel like sailing but I always miss the boat
And every time I feel this way I pick up my guitar"
The closest analogue is James Taylor's "Me and my Guitar," from "Walking Man," but that was released three years later, in 1974!
D.
"When I needed someone
Tell me who came along
I was hoping you'd come
'Cause I really wanted you
Yes I really wanted you"
"Really Wanted You," the second side opener of "Mirror," is in the league of "With My Face on the Floor" and "Fresh as a Daisy," stone cold smashes. Then again, AM radio no longer played this sound, unless it came from McCartney himself, and FM wanted something heavier, something darker, Emitt Rhodes resided in no-man's land.
E.
And now comes the piece-de-resistance.
It's funny how all these love songs resonated so much when I was getting no love. Oh, I had crushes, but Middlebury was like a giant high school, relationships were rare, I had to move to L.A. to get a chance, but still... What ended earlier was still prominent in my heart, funny how these high school relationships resonate for so long.
"Love will stone you, but you'll come down"
Ain't that the truth!
5
A.
There was a third solo LP in '73, "Farewell to Paradise." I got it from the Record Club of America, but it was laden with surface noise, I returned it. No one was talking about Emitt Rhodes anymore, no one was listening to him, few outlets even stocked the LP, it was more of a rumor than a release.
And then...
Nothing.
I mean absolutely nothing. Which is strange, unless you get sick or die, this rarely happens.
But word was he was living in the South Bay, you could research Emitt once the web arrived, and fans coalesced.
And these fans rallied around Emitt's earlier work, with the Merry-Go-Round. Emitt had not emerged fully-formed, he'd paid his dues, still, the tastemakers of the seventies did not care. But there was a low rumbling online, very low...
And then came...
RAINBOW ENDS!
There's always a comeback album, and it's always disappointing, you've got to square your memories with the present. Usually the playing is cool, but the songs suck. And either the material sounds completely different from what came before, or it's a pale imitation of the originals.
But not "Rainbow Ends."
"Rainbow Ends" is my favorite album of the last five years. I don't know another record like it. The oldsters are still dealing with teenage subjects, but Emitt's singing from an adult perspective, and it's so soul-fulfilling!
B.
"'You ain't no good,' I hear her say
Under her breath as she turns away
'I'll take the car, I'll take the house
I'll take the kids and then I'll turn you out'"
Ever been divorced? You usually lose EVERYTHING!
This is not the Emitt of the seventies. First and foremost he no longer sounds like McCartney, his voice is deeper, maybe if he'd had this sound back in the seventies...nah.
And unlike "Emitt Rhodes," "Dog on a Chain" does not start on a tear. It's confessional, quiet, just Emitt and guitar, but then, fully forty five seconds into the song, the band comes in, lays down a groove and...
"She berates me, calls me crazy
Certifiably insane
Once she praised me, now she hates me
I can't see how I have changed"
BINGO!
You're the same person, but suddenly you're the ENEMY! Nothing you do is right. That seventies optimism, it's been eviscerated, Emitt's testifying, world-wearily, but the groove eliminates any trace of self-pity.
C.
"Whenever I'm worried and I'm feelin' alone
When problems are many and I'm all alone
When all the world's troubles are too much to bear
Well that's when I break down and I wish you were here"
WHEW! It's so hard to go from two to one.
"I'm still trying to please you even though you're not here
Still talking to you even though you can't hear
And the more I deny it the more that it's true
There's hardly a moment I'm not thinkin' of you"
The funny thing is it works both ways. The leaver and the leavee have these same thoughts. The person is in your life every day, and then suddenly they're gone, we're just animals at heart, but with brains, this separation is intolerable.
D.
"When you tell someone you care a lot
Prepare yourself for a broken heart
You think you're so strong, think you're so brave
You'll feel so small, be so afraid
Whoa, whoa"
Can you risk it, tell them how you feel?
I must admit I've thought about it for eons, but I usually can't take action, fearing the rejection.
"You like her so much it makes you sick
And you just can't make no sense of it"
Adult crushes are even worse than high school ones. At least in high school you see them on a regular basis, you've got a chance of interaction, to get your dreams fulfilled. But when you're home alone in your apartment...
Whoa.
E.
"Before you say I'm really very special
Then run to another's arms"
If they really felt that way about you, they would stay with you.
6
"I wanna be somewhere far away
Somewhere where I won't be afraid
I wanna be sheltered safe and warm
I wanna be somewhere far from harm"
Emitt's finally achieved his goal. Last night he died.
I could recite his personal history, what I've gleaned from the web, but I never met the man, even when he was coming back he shrank from the publicity. He canceled appearances, his record spoke for him.
And his recordings speak for him now. And forevermore.
And the funny thing is those who are remembered frequently weren't made for these times. Like Nick Drake. Others who fought their demons but had to die to be accepted.
Forget writing camps. Just give wannabe songmeisters an Emitt Rhodes LP, there's more instruction there than you'll find in a room of umpteen writers with credits today.
"I want to to be loved no matter what
Not just for now, 'til bad is gone
I want to be someone's only one
Not just for now, 'til better comes"
Isn't that what we're all looking for, love and acceptance?
You can be in a relationship, even married, and have neither.
Then you can have both for a while...but then it's over.
And life goes on and the wounds have healed and you don't want to risk being cut again, you want to stay out of danger, in your own small universe. The world has beaten you down, you give up.
But ain't that America, where no one comes to your rescue until you die. Where being rich and famous is everything, when the truth is if you've got one person you can call a friend, who gets you, who is there for you, you're wealthier than most of the people on the cover of the magazines, featured in the gossip columns.
Ultimately, Emitt Rhodes's story is a sad one. Could it have gone another way? If he were on Columbia or Warner Brothers, if he got good mental health treatment? I don't know. But I do know this world is made up of alienated people, who look to music to connect, make their lives whole, and Emitt Rhodes gets an A+ on that score. His music means a lot to me. I don't need to convince you. I wish I could have convinced him. But it's too late.
The older you get, the less you know, the more questions you've got.
Why does life work out for some, but not others? Why do some gain success, and not others? Why do some have happy relationships and they elude others completely? How can it be your genius hides in plain sight, unseen by the masses?
Emitt Rhodes is at the end of the rainbow now. Up in the clouds. His dreams are over, that's all she wrote. His eyes are closed, but if you listen to his music yours will open. And see the human condition in a world where everybody professes to be a winner, where everybody wants to deny their feelings.
But not Emitt Rhodes.
1
He was too good too soon in an era when giants walked the earth.
Today it's de rigueur to cut your album alone at home, you just fire up your computer and...
There were no computers back then. It was an analog world. You used tape. And studio time was expensive. And when the revolution the Beatles started began, you couldn't even touch the recording console, that was reserved for union engineers.
As time went by acts gained power, as a result of the massive profits they threw off. Music made more money than films, it built the Warner cable system, which is why record company executives were so handsomely compensated. Not that Dick Parsons remembered this when he blew out the labels at the advent of this century, with Napster and other file-trading services putting a huge dent in recorded music revenue. Then again, by this time, Mo and Lenny were gone. Joe Smith too. And Krasnow. Time Warner controlled the records, but those who made them, with their blood sweat and tears, had no control over the distribution and use of their work, never mind getting paid for it. Supposedly this is why Emitt Rhodes gave up, over business issues. Don't underestimate that, look at the members of Badfinger who committed suicide for the same reason, think of all that coin that should have rained down to Pete Ham and Tom Evans for "Without You," it was a smash twice, once with Harry Nilsson and then later with Mariah Carey, it's a standard, not that anyone remembers, if they ever knew, that it was written by these members of Badfinger.
So, in today's market-driven world, no one takes the long view. Warner Music just went public for a huge multiple of what Time Warner offloaded it for. It's all about stock price and bonus, and those who create the work are seen as fungible.
But they're not.
So, not only was it rare back in 1970 to have someone who could both play and record, but to add in the ability to play all the instruments too, that was unfathomable, unless you were Paul McCartney, who released his first solo LP the previous spring. Another strike against Emitt Rhodes was his voice sounded similar to Sir Paul's. Such that he was pooh-poohed. Furthermore, the album came out on a lame label, ABC/Dunhill, when that made a difference. Emitt Rhodes was not taken seriously, except by those who listened.
2
It's almost fifty years since I started college. That's a long time ago. I had no time for those who'd entered in 1920, why should today's students have time for me, in 2020?
They don't. Only in 1970, there was a generation gap, the old were seen as such, and they accepted it. Today boomers are friends with their progeny and still think they're hip, when the truth is there's a growing generation gap today, based on technology and income inequality.
So, if you went to college in the seventies in Middlebury, Vermont...
There was no FM radio, except for the lame college station, and if you'd grown up in the New York market, with WOR-FM and then WNEW-FM and WABC-FM, it was unlistenable. The students at my college were not hip. 45% of them went to prep school, the rest were grinds. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't. But by time I realized this, if I transferred I'd have had to go to college for a fifth year, and that was never gonna happen. So, if you wanted to know what was going on in the music world, you had to subscribe to the magazines, "Rolling Stone," "Fusion," "Crawdaddy"... And I did. I read them cover to cover. And the knowledge gained has paid more dividends than anything I learned in class.
So, when I went on vacation, I'd go to New York and buy seven or eight albums, the ones I'd read about, and then bring them back to college to listen and dissect them. And I was serious about it, I never bought a clunker, you didn't have to if you were informed. Same deal with watching a streaming show today, do the research and you will be rewarded. And coming back from spring vacation in April 1971 the three albums I remember buying were...
Emerson, Lake and Palmer's debut.
James Taylor's "Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon."
And "Emitt Rhodes."
I did buy "Tarkus," but then I gave up on ELP, Greg Lake had a phenomenal voice, and Keith Emerson was a virtuoso and Carl Palmer was no slouch, but they lacked great material.
"Mud Slide Slim" was only hobbled by following "Sweet Baby James." This is the album with the hit "You've Got a Friend," but more importantly it contains "You Can Close Your Eyes," "Riding on a Railroad" and "Machine Gun Kelly," the first of which is a classic, and the next two are as good as anything as James has ever done.
And then came the Emitt Rhodes LP.
3
A.
"Well I'm down with my face on the floor
Yes I got what I asked for and more
Well the moment she stepped through that door
I was down with my face on the floor"
It's all about the first track, if that doesn't grab you it's a bad sign. But as soon as you dropped the needle on Emitt Rhodes's solo debut you were immediately along for the ride, the theme park attendant pushed back the safety bar and the roller coaster took off like a shot.
"Well now she's gone away
Just took time to say 'I'll drop you a line' (drop you a line)
Well now she's gone away
Just took time to say, 'I'll see you sometime'"
Sure the lyrics are simple, but they're so right, you're infatuated, you connect and then she leaves.
But what makes "With My Face on the Floor" so magical is the simplicity, that piano hook, and Emitt Rhodes's mellifluous voice. If this exact same LP was dropped today there'd be hosannas, because we've completely lost this formula, used to be to compete you had to have a great voice, you had to write your own songs, and if you didn't...you didn't make it, unless maybe like Dylan you were the best lyricist ever, or Jeff Beck...then again, as great as Beck is, the best, his entire career has been a search for material equal to his ability to play his guitar.
B.
"Somewhere someone special just for me
Somewhere someone special must be"
Maybe you don't remember your teens, your twenties, the agony of loneliness, the dream of meeting your soul mate, back when you still thought that was possible.
"I've been searching all my life
Guess I've looked most everywhere
Many girls have caught my eye
But that special one's not there"
A bridge? This is not rocket science, but the formula seems to have been lost. A melodious song, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge. But today no one can do it. Not that everybody back then did it as well as Emitt Rhodes.
And "Somebody Made for Me" was guitar-based rather than featuring the piano of "With My Face on the Floor," it was slower and groovier, illustrating the chops of this cat, but for some reason the tastemakers just couldn't come down off the mountaintop to anoint him.
C.
"It's been a long time I remember you well
It's been a long time no see where you been keeping yourself"
"Long Time No See" sounds like it would fit nicely on the White Album. It's not made for the radio, it's made for headphones in your bedroom, it's not a ditty like what's come before, it's more of an album track, a mood-setter.
D.
"Tears that angels cry
And they darken all the sky
When the one you love says goodbye"
With just Emitt and his guitar, "Lullabye" does sound like McCartney, but it's not an imitation, and it's so heartfelt. This is what the listening experience used to be, before music was seen as background, grease for the party, the dance, gaming... "Lullabye" was made just for you, to make you feel human, part of something, to know someone else is on your wavelength, our musical heroes were not brands, they were artists, who did their best to reflect life back at us, so we could understand it.
E.
"Well if you come from heaven
You know that that's okay
Just as long as you're here to help me
It doesn't matter how long you stay
Talking 'bout you, baby
Don't you know you're fresh as a daisy, fresh as a daisy"
"Fresh as a Daisy" has a magical bridge too, this and "With My Face on the Floor" are the cuts that floated above the detritus, that got a bit of radio airplay, or so they tell me, I never heard Emitt Rhodes on the radio.
F.
"You must live till you die
You must fight to survive
You must live till you die
You must feel to be alive
You must live till you die"
The funny thing is so many of Rhodes's songs evidenced optimism, when he was notably depressed. Then again, when you're young and depressed you believe a change of scenery will fix everything, if you meet the right person, it's all situational, you have hope and then...when your dreams don't come true...you hide in your house and watch television and watch the rest of the world go by.
4
A.
In retrospect, Emitt's debut is a masterpiece.
But this was in an era of "Elton John" and "Tumbleweed Connection," "Stephen Stills" and "Sticky Fingers," never mind "Exile on Main Street." What did Joni Mitchell sing, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone"?
But Rhodes had made inroads. His fans had hope. Not that we connected. For years people have talked to me about Emitt's music, but I had to come to Los Angeles, get into the music business to find them. We could not connect on social media, we just listened and hoped there were like-minded people out there.
B.
"You don't have to be alone to feel alone
You can have someone and still feel alone"
It was a year later, Emitt released a second LP, "Mirror." I was no longer residing in Hepburn Hall with an assigned roommate, now I got to choose my living companion, who was not alienated by my music, which I could play every night as we fell asleep, never mind during the day.
"And there's a strong possibility
That we might often fail to see the better side of life"
Ain't that the truth. But this juxtaposition of alienation and optimism...there's Emitt's hope once again...and one thing is for sure, it bonded listeners to him, they embraced every word.
C.
"Every time I feel this way I pick up my guitar
And sing a song of faraway lands, ego and facade
I often feel like sailing but I always miss the boat
And every time I feel this way I pick up my guitar"
The closest analogue is James Taylor's "Me and my Guitar," from "Walking Man," but that was released three years later, in 1974!
D.
"When I needed someone
Tell me who came along
I was hoping you'd come
'Cause I really wanted you
Yes I really wanted you"
"Really Wanted You," the second side opener of "Mirror," is in the league of "With My Face on the Floor" and "Fresh as a Daisy," stone cold smashes. Then again, AM radio no longer played this sound, unless it came from McCartney himself, and FM wanted something heavier, something darker, Emitt Rhodes resided in no-man's land.
E.
And now comes the piece-de-resistance.
It's funny how all these love songs resonated so much when I was getting no love. Oh, I had crushes, but Middlebury was like a giant high school, relationships were rare, I had to move to L.A. to get a chance, but still... What ended earlier was still prominent in my heart, funny how these high school relationships resonate for so long.
"Love will stone you, but you'll come down"
Ain't that the truth!
5
A.
There was a third solo LP in '73, "Farewell to Paradise." I got it from the Record Club of America, but it was laden with surface noise, I returned it. No one was talking about Emitt Rhodes anymore, no one was listening to him, few outlets even stocked the LP, it was more of a rumor than a release.
And then...
Nothing.
I mean absolutely nothing. Which is strange, unless you get sick or die, this rarely happens.
But word was he was living in the South Bay, you could research Emitt once the web arrived, and fans coalesced.
And these fans rallied around Emitt's earlier work, with the Merry-Go-Round. Emitt had not emerged fully-formed, he'd paid his dues, still, the tastemakers of the seventies did not care. But there was a low rumbling online, very low...
And then came...
RAINBOW ENDS!
There's always a comeback album, and it's always disappointing, you've got to square your memories with the present. Usually the playing is cool, but the songs suck. And either the material sounds completely different from what came before, or it's a pale imitation of the originals.
But not "Rainbow Ends."
"Rainbow Ends" is my favorite album of the last five years. I don't know another record like it. The oldsters are still dealing with teenage subjects, but Emitt's singing from an adult perspective, and it's so soul-fulfilling!
B.
"'You ain't no good,' I hear her say
Under her breath as she turns away
'I'll take the car, I'll take the house
I'll take the kids and then I'll turn you out'"
Ever been divorced? You usually lose EVERYTHING!
This is not the Emitt of the seventies. First and foremost he no longer sounds like McCartney, his voice is deeper, maybe if he'd had this sound back in the seventies...nah.
And unlike "Emitt Rhodes," "Dog on a Chain" does not start on a tear. It's confessional, quiet, just Emitt and guitar, but then, fully forty five seconds into the song, the band comes in, lays down a groove and...
"She berates me, calls me crazy
Certifiably insane
Once she praised me, now she hates me
I can't see how I have changed"
BINGO!
You're the same person, but suddenly you're the ENEMY! Nothing you do is right. That seventies optimism, it's been eviscerated, Emitt's testifying, world-wearily, but the groove eliminates any trace of self-pity.
C.
"Whenever I'm worried and I'm feelin' alone
When problems are many and I'm all alone
When all the world's troubles are too much to bear
Well that's when I break down and I wish you were here"
WHEW! It's so hard to go from two to one.
"I'm still trying to please you even though you're not here
Still talking to you even though you can't hear
And the more I deny it the more that it's true
There's hardly a moment I'm not thinkin' of you"
The funny thing is it works both ways. The leaver and the leavee have these same thoughts. The person is in your life every day, and then suddenly they're gone, we're just animals at heart, but with brains, this separation is intolerable.
D.
"When you tell someone you care a lot
Prepare yourself for a broken heart
You think you're so strong, think you're so brave
You'll feel so small, be so afraid
Whoa, whoa"
Can you risk it, tell them how you feel?
I must admit I've thought about it for eons, but I usually can't take action, fearing the rejection.
"You like her so much it makes you sick
And you just can't make no sense of it"
Adult crushes are even worse than high school ones. At least in high school you see them on a regular basis, you've got a chance of interaction, to get your dreams fulfilled. But when you're home alone in your apartment...
Whoa.
E.
"Before you say I'm really very special
Then run to another's arms"
If they really felt that way about you, they would stay with you.
6
"I wanna be somewhere far away
Somewhere where I won't be afraid
I wanna be sheltered safe and warm
I wanna be somewhere far from harm"
Emitt's finally achieved his goal. Last night he died.
I could recite his personal history, what I've gleaned from the web, but I never met the man, even when he was coming back he shrank from the publicity. He canceled appearances, his record spoke for him.
And his recordings speak for him now. And forevermore.
And the funny thing is those who are remembered frequently weren't made for these times. Like Nick Drake. Others who fought their demons but had to die to be accepted.
Forget writing camps. Just give wannabe songmeisters an Emitt Rhodes LP, there's more instruction there than you'll find in a room of umpteen writers with credits today.
"I want to to be loved no matter what
Not just for now, 'til bad is gone
I want to be someone's only one
Not just for now, 'til better comes"
Isn't that what we're all looking for, love and acceptance?
You can be in a relationship, even married, and have neither.
Then you can have both for a while...but then it's over.
And life goes on and the wounds have healed and you don't want to risk being cut again, you want to stay out of danger, in your own small universe. The world has beaten you down, you give up.
But ain't that America, where no one comes to your rescue until you die. Where being rich and famous is everything, when the truth is if you've got one person you can call a friend, who gets you, who is there for you, you're wealthier than most of the people on the cover of the magazines, featured in the gossip columns.
Ultimately, Emitt Rhodes's story is a sad one. Could it have gone another way? If he were on Columbia or Warner Brothers, if he got good mental health treatment? I don't know. But I do know this world is made up of alienated people, who look to music to connect, make their lives whole, and Emitt Rhodes gets an A+ on that score. His music means a lot to me. I don't need to convince you. I wish I could have convinced him. But it's too late.
The older you get, the less you know, the more questions you've got.
Why does life work out for some, but not others? Why do some gain success, and not others? Why do some have happy relationships and they elude others completely? How can it be your genius hides in plain sight, unseen by the masses?
Emitt Rhodes is at the end of the rainbow now. Up in the clouds. His dreams are over, that's all she wrote. His eyes are closed, but if you listen to his music yours will open. And see the human condition in a world where everybody professes to be a winner, where everybody wants to deny their feelings.
But not Emitt Rhodes.
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