Re-Zach Bryan/All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster

Bob had only heard of Zach Bryan when you wrote the first article about his LA performance and upon your recommendation bought American heartbreak and holy s..t my 8 year old daughter knows most of the words to almost every song. She asks about the backstory for each song, sings along and I can't wait to take her to see him. Then he releases the live show and wow - you're spot on about the audience knowing every word - who doesn't like his lyrics?

Hal Kempson

________________________________________

I have never listened to Zach Bryan before. I knew he was becoming a big deal in the country world. Listened to the record because of all the hype/conversation/news (and a week off where I can actually just check something out). WOW. What a great record. Some rad songs here, and a loud crowd for a live record. Was just way better than I expected. 

Seems rare when a record is getting this kind of media attention that it actually is a great record underneath it. Hope a lot of people discover him for it. 

Stephen Chilton

________________________________________

Seems like you and Obama are the only people talking about Zach Bryan. I don't get this. He missed pretty much every major list. Why don't critics love him as much as the people clearly do. His music obviously resonates with folks in a very real way. What is everyone else missing?-- 

John N. Hamilton

________________________________________

I've been a fan for 3 years.  Watching the growth of ZB is something you will only witness once in a lifetime.  So raw.  So real.  He is a once in a lifetime artist.   

Thanks,
Dan Sheehan

________________________________________

It really hurts to see Zach and his rhetoric lately knowing how many promoters have emotionally invested time into his career the last 18 months only to feel like like we have a knife in our back. It hurts even more to see him tweeting about "Twitter fingers" when he's yet to entertain any in-person conversations with Ticketmaster on the issue. Instead he's chosen to weaponize his fans on issues they are uneducated in. Much like Taylor's master ownership debacle with Scooter

Look and see whose name is on most of the paychecks he will receive in 2023, that's all I'm saying….


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Taj Mahal-This Week's Podcast

The one and only! Taj is serving as the NYU/Americana Artist-in-Residence for 2022-23. Intelligent, feisty and as sharp as ever, Taj tells us about growing up, his adventures with major labels and independents, and how he has sustained his career all these years. Revered by his compatriots, this is a chance to experience the magic of the man himself!

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/taj-mahal-106560723/

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/taj-mahal/id1316200737?i=1000591575128

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sBvYyq51ZQXZGYiXobCLL?si=xf7uw5c3TIGN6UWlqojvLw

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/41488d9c-5825-43d6-bb2c-3a6c05c0955c/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-taj-mahal

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/taj-mahal-210354406


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All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster

https://spoti.fi/3WuSBK3

Set-up is history.

This is what the movie industry does not understand.

The studios and the usual suspect artists want theatrical releases, because of the attendant marketing. So when these flicks hit streaming services everybody is aware of them.

And that marketing is uber-expensive. Tens of millions of dollars. To promote a film that in most cases does uber-poorly at the box office. The execs and the creators are still lost in the twentieth century, as if we were all home watching Thursday night Must-See-TV, being spoon-fed film advertisements that will inspire us to rush out and see the movie blindly the coming weekend.

But we're not blind anymore. Critics don't matter, but the wisdom of the crowd does. Such that by Friday afternoon you can tell whether a film is a hit or not. Once RottenTomatoes ratings appear, the future box office of the film is predicted. Assuming there is any box office. Unless it's a sequel or a superhero movie, good luck.

And it's similar in the music business. You release an advance single to create awareness. You prime the public...

To have the exact same experience the movie business does. By the middle of Friday afternoon, the future of the major product is sealed. Word is out, all over the internet, as to whether the project is worth your time or not.

First and foremost, the set-up of yore was based on precepts that no longer apply. Radio is no longer king and sales are nearly nonexistent. It's about consumption. Does the audience listen over a period of time, racking up streams? First week numbers don't mean much, all they do is impress the fellow members of the old school network, like the newspaper.

And there's the creation of anticipation. News stories in advance, bringing the pot to a boil on Friday and... This is not how it works anymore. There's too much in the channel and no one cares, except the hard core.

Zach Bryan released a live album on Christmas Day. Used to be there wasn't even any new product in January, never mind over the holiday. Van Halen's "1984" came out on January 1st of that year and owned the airwaves for a month, there was no competition. The labels had focused on Christmas...

But just like the rest of the world, music is now a 24/7 business. Whether someone listens Christmas week or in the dead of January it makes no difference, but it does matter if people listen!

Now the flaw in most acts' thinking is believing people care. That there's a ready audience out there for their music. There's not. Everybody's got too much music, they don't need yours. You've got to think small, and see if the story grows.

I'm not saying NPR and "CBS Sunday Morning" and even SNL are going to hurt you, but they really don't mean much. It's all about targeted advertising/marketing today, that's why the online data is so valuable. Most people don't care and never will. How do you reach those who do?

Ultimately it comes down to the music, and the credibility, who the act is.

Forget the cartoons you see on the pop chart. They come and go. What about the bread and butter artists who are building careers, who are going to play music forever? That's where the focus should be.

And it hasn't been there for a very long time. Because labels are inured to the set-up, the system. They massage the product until they believe people will care, with more songwriters and features and mixes, and then they spend money, just like the movie studios, as if this will guarantee success...it won't.

In other words, we're returning to the days of yore. True A&R. Nothing is easy. How can you find an act that sells itself?

First and foremost you can believe in Zach Bryan. He's got credibility, he's his own man, he's not beholden to the system. And so far he's not selling out, there's no tie-in with the Fortune 500, no brand building with perfume, etc.

In other words, if you want to make money in the music business today, you've got to start small, you've got to be in it for the long haul. You've got to have patience, as an act and as a purveyor. If you want it all now, not only are you doing it wrong, you probably won't be a success.

And once you gain traction like Zach Bryan, you superserve your audience. He constantly releases new product, which is what fans want most. Especially today, people are not fans of the scene, they're fans of the act. And the fan bases might not even intersect. You may like BTS or Taylor Swift or Zach Bryan and nobody else. And nobody else cares about what you're into.

So this live album was recorded on November 3rd, at Red Rocks, America's second most famous outdoor venue (after the Hollywood Bowl). It snowed. But it was an experience, if you were there...memories are made of this.

But the project was released in less than two months. Everything moves fast these days. If you're spending time getting it right, you're wasting time.

And the live album was a surprise. There was no set-up, it was just dropped. And the fans and ultimately the media spread the word.

As for employing "Ticketmaster" in the moniker...

I won't get into the politics, but Ticketmaster is in trouble. Because it coasted too long, didn't work on its image, obviously didn't spend enough on its software. It's a bad look. The tech companies didn't used to have lobbyists in D.C., they didn't even advertise. But when you become big enough, you have to play the game, at least a little bit.

Ticketmaster is always playing defense. And I could delineate the truth, but that's the company's job. As a result of the recent brouhaha there might be change.

Anyway, like Radiohead's "In Rainbows," you can only use "Ticketmaster" in the name of your album once. No one cared about the acts that asked fans to name their own price after Radiohead, and no one will care about the acts that use "Ticketmaster" in the name of their album subsequently.

In other words, just like in tech, Zach Bryan has a first mover advantage. You've got to be nimble today, you've got to take chances.

But really it only comes down to the fans.

If you listen to the live album you'll be stunned by the rabidity of the audience. They're constantly singing the words. They're in it with Zach. This is not some show at the summer shed by an act that had hits years ago, or even a pop act with a few that made the chart recently. This is PASSION! People want to belong. They want to be able to own something. They want something to believe in. For far too long we've had to believe in tech companies and bros because the musical acts were such nincompoops, tools of the machine. But not Zach Bryan.

I wouldn't expect a year to go by before Zach puts out new music. Maybe not even a few months. You can't overload the system, because there is no system, everybody is cottage industry, making it up as they go.

Also, the audience is so hungry, that if they find something they like, that's great, they embrace it. That's the story of not only Zach Bryan, but Morgan Wallen. Most offerings are so mediocre, so overhyped, so emotionally hollow that people are stunned when something delivers, and they tell everybody they know about it. And listen to the tracks ad infinitum.

But it does come down to the material. Zach's tunes are catchy, there are changes, whereas they're lacking in the hit parade. And he says he wants to create honest country music. What a concept!

It doesn't matter if you hate Zach Bryan and his music, it doesn't matter if you never even listen to him. All of us being in it together, judging each other's taste? That's positively old school. It only matters if the fans like the music, that's it.

Can you create something so good that when it's over the listener needs to play it again? That's today's litmus test. You can try to force something on the public, but the odds of it connecting are miniscule.

Watch this space.


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The Hua Hsu Book

"Stay True": https://amzn.to/3WrXy6n

Part of me wants to tell you to read this book, and another wants to give a caveat.

If you've read my favorite book, "Anna Karenina," you know it is peppered with political diatribes. Some people skip right over those. And if you do you miss little plot. "Stay True" is a bit different. It is peppered with philosophy and other highfalutin' academic analysis that might fog your brain. But this philosophy does relate directly to the plot, and unlike "Anna Karenina," "Stay True" is not much of a commitment, it's only 198 pages.

And the reason I recommend "Stay True" is Hua Hsu is a music fan. He's in his mid-forties, so his peak era was in the early to mid nineties. And he's a perfect example of that era, the last in which rock ruled. Hsu reveres the bands, they inform his whole life. But he also embodies the rock and roll ethos, he does not want to be a member of the club. He's the other. And he dresses accordingly. He's not the life of the party, if he even goes to the party. And he hasn't been laid. In other words, he's hip but not mainstream. The music world has completely flipped in the twenty first century. Those who make it are extroverts, who might have been popular in high school. It's all about conforming, as opposed to thinking for yourself. It's about the group, not the individual.

But really, "Stay True" is not about today, but yesterday, so let's set the scene.

Hua is the son of Taiwanese immigrants. They came to America for the opportunity, to better themselves. And interestingly, while they were over here, all the action turned out to be over there, and Hua's father moves back to Taiwan, but Hua and his mother live in Cupertino, until the mother moves back to Taiwan too.

And a lot of the book is concerned with being Asian, being a minority, trying to fit in, wanting to be included. Hua's born in America, but he feels he's different. And for college, Hua goes to Berkeley, where 40% of the students are Asian. However some are more assimilated than others.

So besides the music, what makes "Stay True" great is the discussion of college. There are 8,000 students in Hua's class, so there is anonymity, unlike where I went to college, where the class was 450. And...

This is what's hard to square for me, the college experience. Hua talks about all this extracurricular reading, we didn't have time for that at Middlebury, and I had no desire to go any deeper into academic theory. I remember this philosophy class I had the first semester, with Mr. Andrews, nearly dead, one of the most boring classes I've ever had. I did well, but I never took another philosophy class. They didn't teach anything I was interested in at Middlebury College. And the only reason I went to college was because it was expected. And the reason I went to Middlebury is because it's beautiful, coed, in Vermont and has its own ski area. The latter being the most important.

As the years wore on I switched from English to Art History, and I studied less and was less satisfied and ultimately graduated, but I'm not sure exactly what the difference is, the age, the institution...because on an academic level I cannot relate to Hua. He cares. I used to laugh at the people who took the subjects seriously. These were the people who were grinds, who were just replicating their high school experience because...because that's what you did! Most of what I learned at Middlebury was outside the classroom, the people were very different from those I grew up with, 45% prep school graduates, few Jews, and all smart. The conversation was interesting and stimulating, that's what I miss. And I learned how to analyze. When I think about Middlebury I remember the first week of school, when the anthropology teacher told us we were never going to discuss the reading in class, if we couldn't understand the books we had bigger problems. And in law school all we talked about was the reading.

Now I'm too deep into my own experience, when I'm really talking about Hua's.

Hua ended up an academic. He got his doctorate at Harvard. He's a professor at Bard and he's on staff at "The New Yorker," America's most esteemed journal which Tom Wolfe legendarily excoriated. Unfortunately, Wolfe was right. "The New Yorker" is a club, with a style, and even though I've subscribed for decades one thing I know is true, these are not my people. My people threw off the constraints. Bucked the system. Refused to be a cog in the machine. That's why rock was so fascinating, they made it up as they went along. Woody Allen, now a pariah, but once a god, said he didn't want to be a member of any group that would have him. Elon Musk is a perfect example, he's got rough edges, he couldn't work for the company, he can only run the company, answering only to himself. Most of the legendary envelope-pushers are the same way. The most powerful people in the music industry couldn't work anywhere else, they'd get fired. As for your heroes... If you ever got to meet them you'd be stunned. In many cases they're narcissistic, and they can barely even engage socially.

Hua is a fan. And that's one thing we can all relate to. Believing in rock stars and creating an identity similar, yet different. You want to stand out, but usually you're not even noticed.

Now in truth "Stay True" is all about a specific event, which is delineated in each and every review of the book. I'm not going to detail it, I'll let you be surprised, just like Hua was.

But what we've got in "Stay True" is the story of Hua's college experience, his views on politics, love, academics... And he's not easily swayed from his positions. And he has a zine... Hua's college experience could not be replicated today. They talk about making a movie, but Hua says finding someone with a camera is a big hurdle. Today everybody has a camera!

So, "The New York Times" said "Stay True" was one of the ten best books of the year. And sans all the philosophy, I doubt they would have felt the same way. But truly it was the plot, the story, the experiences and what Hua felt about them that rang true for me. You won't care about the academics and philosophy, you'll care about the crushes, the friendships...

Hua writes in a very direct style. Except for the philosophy, it's highly readable. And Hua is ultimately very much like you and me.

I'll give you one quote...

"I found confident people suspicious."

This rings a bell with me. How could these people be so self-assured? I certainly was not, and still am not.

For those guys who only read nonfiction... This is your book. It's not giving any advice, but there's tons of insight.

And I'm not saying women won't like "Stay True"...

You'll have a hard time putting it down. You won't finish it and forget it.

But there will be some slow sections that you might find boring. Not extensive, but they're there.

You've been forewarned.

But still, you'd be missing something if you didn't read "Stay True." Really, you should. This is so many of our stories'. We're more similar than different.

Two thumbs up!

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Empty Glass

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3WYl0bx

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3YP95OX

"My life's a mess, I wait for you to pass
I stand here at the bar, I hold an empty glass"

That's when you know something is truly wrong, when you no longer go to the bar for conviviality, but the escape.

My father owned a liquor store, Bay Package, right off the Turnpike in one of Bridgeport's worst neighborhood. He and my mother had a drink every night, but although my sister Jill had parties where the stash was sampled, I only drank at Passover.

And then came marijuana.

It was illegal you know. Just like it took time for people to switch sides, to be against the war, it took time for people to smoke dope. And by time I graduated from high school, drinking was pooh-poohed, it was all about drugs. But when I was a freshman in college Vermont gave all rights to eighteen year olds, not only voting, but drinking, and we partook. We hung at the Alibi, down by Otter Creek, where beer was a quarter and the vibe was malt shop, it was one of the best things about Middlebury.

Our classic rockers were thinking people. They had something to say. They told us what they experienced so we could identify. Loneliness is cured by music, when done right. When the people making it are not the cheerleader or captain of the football team, when they're not being foisted upon us by their parents at an ungodly young age. You see rock is an independent pursuit. The other. Today you become a brand and part of the fabric, the continuum of techies and billionaires, they're all the same people. But they didn't used to be. Musicians were singular. Structure was abhorred. Get up when you want to, do the drugs you want to, have frequent premarital sex, not only throwing caution to the wind, but abandoning institutions. That's the problem with the Grammys, they're an institution. Rock was all about blowing up the institutions, searching for truth in a new way. Being the other and going down the road less taken.

If you don't know the first Pete Townshend solo album, "Who Came First," you should. For "Pure and Easy" if nothing else. And certainly "Nothing Is Everything (Let's See Action)."

After that came "Rough Mix," with Ronnie Lane, with the exquisite "Street in the City."

But most people consider, or think, 1980's "Empty Glass" is Pete's solo debut.

The Who were essentially played out. There were a couple of Warner Brothers albums yet to be released, but the decade had changed, MTV was nascent. You heard "Eminence Front" on the radio, but Townshend would trash the band members and Keith Moon was dead and Pete was invested in his solo career, doing it all himself, singing all the songs, forgetting Roger, with no battles, all from his head onto the tape, and it was tape, which is ever so much more difficult to employ.

And by this point, 1980, a year before MTV, radio, AOR radio, was king. You needed a single. It wasn't like ten years before, where the album was enough, you had to introduce the public to the sound. And "Rough Boys" burst out of the radio and got people to buy the album...and then there were people to whom the single was irrelevant, deep fans, who needed to hear what Pete Townshend had to say in its entirety, from the get-go.

And the best song on "Empty Glass" is in the middle of the second side. "A Little Is Enough" is one of the absolute best tracks Pete has ever done.

But then comes the title track.

"Why was I born today
Life is useless like Ecclesiastes say"

Alienation... A core building block of classic rock. These were not people who went to college first, it was not on their horizon, they knew they were different and they didn't care, although they wanted to show that they were worthwhile, and boy did they.

"I stand with my guitar
All I need is a mirror
Then I'm a star"

And unleashed from the institutions they could question the system, be depressed. We loved rock because it was 360. The musicians were gods. That's why there were groupies.

Alcohol's a funny thing. Smoke dope and recede, fall out, go to sleep. But alcohol? It revs you up before it depresses you. Alcohol is about possibilities, hopefully the best night of your life. Your inhibitions fade away, you think you're your best self. And then it gets the better of you. Because you keep chasing that peak experience and it's oh-so-rare.

I'm not talking about casual drinkers, I'm talking about people who get drunk, who sometimes can't remember what happened the night before, never mind where their car is parked.

And ultimately it gets sad.

And you find you're that guy at the bar.

But then comes the change.

"Don't worry, smile and dance
You just can't work life out
Don't let down moods entrance you
Take the wine and shout"

You want to be high all the time, positive, but that's not how life works, you can't have the peaks without the valleys, but when you have those peaks everything comes clear, it's just about the moment, now, the experience, live it. Life doesn't make sense. And the older you get the more you realize this. It's all b.s. and no one will be remembered. If you're doing anything to impress others stop right now, they really don't care, it's only about you. And this requires you to create your own precepts, your own boundaries, rock set us free, put us on the path, rode shotgun on the journey.

So Pete's down in the dumps, depressed, having poured down too many drinks. And then he feels his power, the power of a rock star, the belief he can climb any mountain, beat any challenge, conquer the world. He ultimately reaches a point of equilibrium, he's thrown off the shackles, he can see clearly now, he's in the moment, he's smiling, and then...

"My life's a mess I wait for you to pass
I stand here at the bar, I hold an empty glass"


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Justin Hayward-This Week's Podcast

Of the Moody Blues...

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/justin-hayward-106317763/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/justin-hayward/id1316200737?i=1000590974474

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7jn9I3oybHC0KYYglN78Se?si=gontWLrlS6ONMc0-P6OvKQ

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/243358e2-ed1c-4726-b325-fb2052f67ec4/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-justin-hayward

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/justin-hayward-210209025


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Book Recommendation

"Baker Towers": https://amzn.to/3WybUSq

1

This book is SO good...

I know this is the third missive of the day. But I didn't quite like the tone of the first two. I don't want to always come across angry. I am oftentimes indignant. I guess that's a result of feeling so powerless. In order to have power you must have position. And the way most people get that is via the organization, where you have to get along to move up the food chain. All that b.s. about doing what you love and the money following... Is just b.s. There's a skill to making money. And even though my father had it, I didn't. Because I wasn't him. Ultimately, to succeed you need to be a salesman. For me selling is anathema (I know I like this word). I don't want to foist anything upon anybody, I don't want to fake it to make it, I don't want to justify my actions by saying it's a dog eat dog world, or I'm just trying to feed my family. But it took me decades and a ton of psychotherapy to both learn how to get along enough to make money and to understand and own who I am.

To live outside the law you must be honest. That's me. I'm not hyping anything for pay, not taking a single dollar, even though people still think I do. All I've got is my identity and my thoughts and my ability to express them. I love doing the radio show and the podcast, but first and foremost I'm a writer. And when I think about it I was super into reading from a very young age. It's just about all there if you're willing to put in the effort, and it's so exciting!

I just learned that Sean Hannity never believed in the Big Lie. I was doing my back exercises as I was waiting for my Mac to update and I saw the headline in the "New York Times" and it changed my mood. That's what's strange about real life, you can feel so plugged in and so distant at the same time. You want to be part of the action but you find yourself outside. And then if you get close enough you realize that the main goal of so many on the inside is to keep you out, and to make you think they know something that you do not, which is patently untrue.

So, I wanted to write about being sick last night. But if I'd done so, I wouldn't have fallen asleep until the sun came up. Creative work is very different from traditional deskbound work or manual labor, which tire you out in a different way. Creative work not only wrings you dry, it leaves you on a high, which takes hours to come down from. Which is why rock stars do drugs, because they can't come down from the performance. Also, if you're not willing to let go, your creative juices will not flow. You can't do it by a clock. You've got to wait for the mood, for inspiration. I got too much e-mail about doing the work consistently, and I understand that, unless you've done a lot of work you can't lay down greatness... But the truly creative know what is great and what is not, and very little is. And today people are only interested in great.

I can be writing the second sentence and realize what I'm writing ain't great. I won't say it's excruciating, but it's very disappointing. I want to keep making it to the top of the mountain but it's so hard to do, can be done so rarely. However, I finish what I start, because you never know where it will take you. That's right, writing is fun and insightful, and if you're not finding it that way you're doing it wrong. Screw outlines, screw a ton of preparation, screw rewriting, all that's boring and usually sucks the soul out of your writing. When done right, writing is human. Forget the criteria proffered by the pooh-bahs, it's self=justification. Most can't write themselves, or are too afraid to walk into the wilderness and trust themselves. Which is why oftentimes what is vaunted by the critics is unreadable.

Not that the public should be trusted either.

Goodreads told me that "The Maid" was one of the best books of the year. Normally I don't read genre fiction, but with this kind of support...

The writing was stilted. But ever since "Gone Girl" you're waiting for the big change, the unexpected, when the book goes from black and white to color, when you're thrilled and mesmerized. But not "The Maid"... How could people read this dreck?

I haven't finished Susan Straight's "Mecca," about Southern California, it got amazing reviews but it's hard to plow through. You get riveted by the narrative and then it jumps and you find it hard to continue, at least I do. I'm looking for a book that calls out to me, like "Baker Towers."

2

I couldn't get off TikTok. The algorithm was showing me exotic car stories. Lord only knows what made it present them, but the first one was about a valet who told the owner of an exotic car that he owned one too. The story was lengthy, but good. And then there was another one about taking a cop for a 196 mile an hour ride in one of these exoticmobiles. And then the Ferrari that the speaker bought for 31k. T-Pain had given it to an up and comer and the electrics had been blown and it would cost 9k to fix it and the young rapper didn't have the bread.

Now I don't want an exotic car, and the whole field is becoming a sideshow in the era of electrics, but this rabbit hole was fascinating. Here were these regular guys, who owned fleets of exotic cars and were wheeling and dealing and... There was the story about the sap on the emblems every morning. Turned out someone was urinating on them.

It's a big wide world out there and we are exposed to so little of it. That's what makes TikTok interesting. All the people! Living their lives! We see such a very few in traditional entertainment, and the message is massaged, but raw unfiltered humanity? Thrilling! I'd like to go everywhere and meet everyone, everybody's got a story and I want to hear it. That's why I love doing the podcast, I love getting someone's story.

And "Baker Towers" is the story of a family in rural Pennsylvania, back during the Second World War and beyond.

Dirty little secret?

I haven't finished it. But I got the urge to write about it and I wasn't quite sure I'd be in the same mood tomorrow, when I finished it.

This is one of the reasons I love the nighttime The early risers have already put in their time, the day is mine. It's dark. My mind can percolate. There's a reason most creative work is done at night. When the phone calls, e-mail, texts, etc. quiet down. When people drink and smoke and become somnambulant in front of the TV...that's when I come alive.

You can't force creativity... Well, you can. But you can't force greatness. It surprises you. And then you have to capture lightning in a bottle. And if you realize what you're doing is great usually it stops being so. When you hear about people channeling an outside force, that's right. You feel it, you lay it down. You don't want to mess it up. Springsteen has gone on record that the feeling has left him, that he's not inspired. Now let me tell you, I'm sure the Boss can write songs, just not great ones, not without that inspiration. And if you do it long enough you only want to do great work. Forget the hype, acts saying their latest work is their greatest, that's salesmanship, not artistry. But at the core is artistry.

3

It started with "Mercy Street." One of the best books of the year.

I'd already read "Heat and Light," but I wasn't on the Jennifer Haigh train. After "Mercy Street" I was, I've gone back to her catalogue. Remember when you discovered an act and when back and bought all their previous albums? Well, today acts need to be successful out of the box. And if they become successful enough it's about brand extensions and enhancement, the work is not enough because there's not enough money in it and money is everything these days.

Which makes me wonder why Jennifer Haigh writes novels. Because there ain't that much money in it, only for a very few, and it's nowhere close to what even second-tier musicians make.

But publishers want to keep the business small. They don't want to turn it into the music industry, where the labels have lost control.

Music is down and dirty, education is irrelevant.

Publishing is all about your CV, where you went to college, and if you grew up on the east coast you know what I'm talking about. Your pedigree justifies your existence, makes your life complete, which is why parents clamor for their kids to go to the elite institutions, it rubs off on them as well as their kids! And if you graduated with an English degree, you don't want to get a doctorate, there are too few teaching jobs available, so many go into publishing. Of course there are exceptions, but... Salesmen, even A&R people don't feel superior in the music business, but in publishing...

Which is all to ask why Jennifer Haigh hasn't been anointed, this woman's writing is absolutely fantastic. Elizabeth Strout has broken through, and deservedly so. I wish Jennifer Haigh were lifted to the same level.

And even though Haigh went to the Iowa Workshop, in truth you need no CV, no education to be an accomplished author. The same thing with music. I hate to say this, but artists are born, not raised. Sure, many creative people fall by the wayside, but art is a calling, and either you've got the goods or you don't. Talk to all the boomers who tried to become rock stars. They might have thought they were good and then they encountered someone who was really good, and gave up and changed professions, maybe they went to work for the label or concert promoter. Only a very few truly have it.

And Strout didn't make it until she was relatively old. She was in her forties when "Amy and Isabelle" hit. At that age you're on the scrapheap in the music business. Yes, most of these authors suffer, a lot, before they make it. Then again, too many hacks talk about suffering when in truth they should just give up.

And if you think the HBO version of "Olive Kitteridge" supersedes your need to read the book...you couldn't be more wrong. That's what's so great about Strout's writing, the feel, the vibe, which cannot be captured on screen, as good as Frances McDormand is. I know, I tried.

I've only seen one movie that was better than the book, and that's Michael Chabon's "Wonder Boys." The film starring Michael Douglas with the original Bob Dylan song was superior.

4

I'd start with "Mrs. Kimble." And then go to "Faith."

I held off reading "Baker Towers," because it's my last unread one.

Writing is a skill, which the author of "The Maid" certainly does not have. And Haigh is light years beyond Susan Straight. Forget content, first and foremost a book must be readable, it must hook you, it must be inviting. And these are not the criteria focused on by most people. Same with music, I must want to listen to it. If I have to force myself...why? God, too many kids have had boring books foisted on them in school to the point where they no longer read. But if they were steered properly...

Once again, you can't be highbrow. Ever hang with a bunch of rock critics and discuss great albums? Their favorites are the Velvet Underground and Patti Smith, and although some of those acts' tunes are relatively accessible, playing the artists' albums would turn many listeners off of music completely. And if it's popular it must be bad. There's so much stuff that's great that the critics pooh-pooh. They hated Led Zeppelin and the Doors too. But that's some of the best stuff out there. And although Joni Mitchell is getting a victory lap, a lot of these critics were down on singer-songwriter music back in the say. Had to be edgy, had to be punk. Fine for them, but not for most people.

First and foremost "Baker Towers" is a story. Story is the essence of a book. Which is why so much literary fiction fails. The word choices work, but there's not enough story. Plot first.

You can see the family living in company housing in the coal town in western Pennsylvania.

Those towns have died, but they used to flourish. Live long enough and you see what you thought was bedrock die. Like landlines. Or cassette decks (don't buy the comeback hype, a sheer novelty, a bad format to begin with and nobody has a player anyway).

And another weird thing about growing up is what you thought was abundance is now meager. I grew up in a split level house too small for today's average family. They want three or four thousand square feet, and a yard and a pool. I remember sneaking in to see the in-ground pool on Barry Scott Drive, it was the only one in the neighborhood. And kids get cars when they turn 16. Life changes, accept it or be left behind and become irrelevant.

But humanity remains the same. Family obligations. Relationships amongst siblings. Choices. They're unpredictable, but we all experience them.

So it's Christmas. Want to learn about life? Want to feel connected?

Put down that nonfiction book you got as a present, the one by the self-professed expert, the rich person who is going to give you instructions. They don't know, and even if they do, it won't apply to you. No, the key is to broaden your inner life. That's where the rewards are. Both personal and societal. The more you understand people, interactions, the richer your life will become.

Is "Baker Towers" the best book I've ever read? Far from it. But I want to read it, it's fulfilling. And Jennifer Haigh has performed the trick more than once. Forget the statistics, Haigh is a winner, check her out.


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Today's News

"Ticketmaster's Dark History - A 40 year saga of kickbacks, threats, political maneuvering, and the humiliation of Pearl Jam": https://bit.ly/3Wf2ICE

This is what happens when reporters tell a story. They may get the facts right but they miss the essence.

And not all the facts are right.

This is a tale from thirty years ago, Fred Rosen has not run Ticketmaster for decades. And there's a lot of heinous info in this column but it misses the essence.

The acts and the fans are to blame.

WHAT????

Ticketmaster is a front for the acts. They take all the revenue, the promoter makes money on the fees, which all don't go to Ticketmaster. I could go deeper but it wouldn't matter. People just can't consider their heroes guilty. Did all those complaining Springsteen fans sell their tickets on the secondary market? Of course not. And Taylor Swift can't be criticized for putting all her stadium dates on sale on one day to generate a gigantic number for publicity. Sure, Ticketmaster said it could do it, but this had never been done before. (And once again, Ticketmaster can't say no to the acts, without the talent they've got no business, never mind profits.)

As for the fans... They want a ticket up front for cheap and want to scalp the extras they purchased on the on sale date as part of the mania.

Separate Ticketmaster from Live Nation and...

Ticketmaster is still going to have exclusive deals with buildings. No building exec is going to give up that cash. And is the government really going to outlaw this practice? And the deals have years to run. And even as a separate business Ticketmaster is entitled to a profit.

And are we going to get rid of pre-sales? And what about the scalpers?

Ticketmaster is doing exactly what it's paid to do here. Take all the heat for the artists. Want to go see Taylor Swift in a stadium? No problem, wait until the date when all the punters who bought extra tickets try to unload them for face value at best. They won't be the best seats in the house, but a lot of the best seats in the house weren't even available on the initial on sale date. Let's talk about tickets not on the manifest, holdbacks. Let's not. It's complicated and you think supply and demand doesn't apply to ticketing and that everything done for the first time should work perfectly.


Trump's Tax Returns

How do you lose a reputation? Very slowly and then all at once.

Few people really care about the details of Trump's tax returns, the "New York Times" printed the truth years ago. But the cumulative effect of all this bad news... There comes a time when people jump off the ship and that time is now. Trump's candidates lost and he no longer has his bully pulpit, there's no 24/7 news corps following him around.

The ship has sailed. It's over for Trump. Protest otherwise, that just means you missed the memo.

As for the nitwits in Congress, about to relitigate Afghanistan and...

They're out of touch with the rank and file. The rank and file care about bread basket issues, Afghanistan was years ago, in internet time, decades ago. Congress is clueless when it comes to Ticketmaster, it's also clueless as to the temperature of the public. Hell, there was no red wave. People are sick of Trump and sick of gridlock. The Republicans could gain an advantage by legislating, what a concept. But they'd rather fight past wars, which is akin to debating the flaws of Windows 95.

Today you don't want to lose touch, you want to be in touch.


Elon Musk/Tesla

"What Riding in a Self-Driving Tesla Tells Us About the Future of Autonomy": https://nyti.ms/3PKsuMC

It doesn't work. Tesla's charging for it, but self-driving cars are not only not here, Tesla's system is substandard, because it has no lidar.

We need heroes. Elon Musk became one. The details were irrelevant. In other words, Musk has clay feet like the rest of us. Not everything he does works, not everything he says comes into being. It's just that our usual heroes are so suspect, like the politicians and the musicians, that we need someone to put our faith in, someone who can get things done.

But now the tide has turned on Musk. Like Trump, he's only got himself to blame.

As for all the reporters talking about the hit to the stock price and image of Tesla... This was obvious months ago, I wrote about it and was castigated, how could these supposedly in-touch people be so blind?

Everybody's so focused on the now that they can't see tomorrow. They want to be part of the action. They pay attention to what the inside bloviators have to say and miss the point.

Tesla will never recover. Musk will have to sell his shares or at least step down or the entire company needs to be sold to another entity. The stock price has always been out of whack. And the company acted like it had a first mover advantage that could never evaporate or be squandered.

People want reliability, and they want to believe. It's very hard to believe in Elon Musk and Tesla today. Oh, forget the vocal right. They make a big noise but there just aren't enough of them, never mind not ponying up for Teslas to begin with.

This is what happens when cult of personality eclipses reality, i.e. truth.

As for his faux polls and stepping down at Twitter... This was what Musk said he was going to do months ago, big deal. In other words, he's playing the fanboys, and in many cases us.

But it's the best movie we've got, better than anything on Netflix, never mind in the theatre. This is why Hollywood misses, this is why the music business fails. We're looking for visceral. Edge. Something that demands we pay attention to it, that we can have an opinion on. You can read about SZA's new album, but do you have to listen to it? Being aware of it is enough.

"ChatGPT Wrote My AP English Essay. I Passed - Our columnist went back to high school, this time bringing an AI chatbot to complete her assignments": https://on.wsj.com/3WzGKdh

This is why you've got to stop teaching to the test. America has to make a great leap forward in creativity or...

This is the dividing line folks. The machines can do so much, but not everything. They say eventually they'll be able to create the new out of thin air, but I don't buy it, at least not yet. That's the one thing we rely on humans for.

Also, let this be a warning to the close-minded and dumb. It's only through a plethora of influences that you can widen your horizons, cogitate, make a difference. This has been happening for decades now. The machines are coming for your jobs. All that's left is low level service gigs. You want to hone your skills now, you don't want to bank on retraining. It's all about being able to think, but many people don't want you to. As for banning books... You can't ban them from ChatGPT. This is what blows my mind, these people think you can push minds into the ground when all the info is at one's fingertips online. Parental controls? Kids are savvy enough to evade them. As for your fear of porn, better than puritanical hypocrisy.


TikTok

Everybody wants it gone.

But the users.

You'd think it's fentanyl. If only the government focused as much on the drug killing not only Tom Petty, but the infamous and unknown. But just like with Ticketmaster, legislators don't understand the landscape and think they can hold back the future.

TikTok is everything today's mainstream entertainment is not. It oozes humanity and surprise, you never know what you'll get. It's like the internet in the late nineties, just surfing was enough.

To ban TikTok is like Xi having a zero-covid policy in China. The people won't stand for it. This is what happens when the government is steps behind the public. And this has been happening ever since the tech revolution. The people in D.C. don't understand it, never mind regulate it.

What is the solution here?

Certainly not shutting TikTok down. That's like Just Say No to drugs, or telling kids to save themselves for marriage. Might sound good on the surface, but...

China has the data. How big a deal is that? Not as big as those wanting to shut TikTok down think it is. However, measures can be taken. Servers in the U.S... Why is it western companies cave for China, like all the big tech companies self-censoring to do business there, but we can't get ByteDance to do the same thing? And if America is so damn great, how come nobody can replicate TikTok?

I don't want to get into the specifics, but if you believe they're going to shut down TikTok you probably watch C-SPAN.

And good way to get the public on your side. These TikTokkers are all voters, or will be soon. Don't alienate them, engage them.

The truth is despite surveillance, governments have less power over their constituents than ever before. There's just too much data in the system, too many ways to communicate, too many opportunities, too many blind spots. If Facebook missed TikTok, what are the odds some doofus in Congress is gonna see the technological future? The government has blown it again and again in tech.

But Lina Khan at antitrust... She wants the Microsoft/Activision deal neutered because of what's coming, because of cloud-computing, gaming in the future.

Interesting. A step beyond whether the acquisition violates antitrust laws on its surface today.

But all the business people are mad at Khan. But that's the power of the individual. Sure, Khan was appointed, but she's got history, experience in the field, she just wasn't a patronage appointee.

We need more individuals not beholden to money, who want to do the right thing. There can be no real change in ticketing because the monied interests control the Congresspeople, who can't pass laws to begin with.

If you want to know what is going on today read the newspaper. Learn how to analyze.

Oh, that's right, you didn't learn that being taught to the test and studying business at college.

Not only does the United States need a rethink, it needs to learn how to think! Now that's a national program I could get behind. Forget the Twitter polls, how about national quizzes, national discussions, a college bowl of analytics. But the truth is they don't want you to know, they don't want you to think, they want to keep you dumb, just like the acts want you to think they're innocent and it's all Ticketmaster's fault.

Experts can be wrong every day. But they're much more accurate than the self-appointed bloviators online, spewing falsehoods and hatred. Want to get a leg up? First start with the experts, sift through the info, learn how to analyze, because one thing is for sure, in America today you're on your own, best to develop the skills to survive and thrive. It's no longer about assets, it's about what's inside your brain. This is a huge shift. I don't want to underestimate the power of money, but the power of thought is always superior, just look at Lina Khan!


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Being Sick

1

I lost my voice. I don't remember having laryngitis since the sixties.

It was illegal to be sick growing up in my house. You see my mother's mother was a hypochondriac and as a result if we had a sniffle we went to school and we did not go to the doctor unless we were near death. Well, unless our symptoms were so bad immediate action was necessary.

Which is all to say I started getting sick ten days ago, on Sunday the 11th, and I tried to sleep it off, but otherwise I didn't change my behavior. I'm a big believer in the healing power of sleep. I don't know why people brag about little shut-eye, nor do I understand their need to brag about getting up early. True, the early bird does catch the worm, but are you eating worms? As for sleep... I hope you don't work at the factory, or as a butcher, because the less alert you are, the greater the chance of injury. Also, clear-headed thinking is needed for creative work and also to make the best decisions. I don't want a lawyer who was up all night, and I don't want a mechanic or doctor either. I want someone who is fresh, alert, who can make decisions on the fly, who is sharp. That's the scourge of America, dullness. People more interested in what they wear and how they appear than how they function cognitively.

Which is all to say that despite symptoms, I skied anyway. I see it as a job. This is what the 10,000 hours is all about. Doing it continuously, not just when you want to. It's about refining the edge, making efforts instinctual. Sure there are days I don't want to suit up and go out, but there always becomes a time when I'm out there that my mood changes and I'm thrilled to be there, in the great outdoors, usually by myself.

I'm in the process of getting a new pair of skis. That's another thing about aging, you learn not to hold back. I mean how many more years am I going to be able to do this? My friend Jack Binion is still skiing every day in his eighties, but I know others who can barely walk at that age, or are already dead. My old 95s don't hold on hard snow. I want something that does. So I'm demo'ing.

And first I tried the Stockli Stormrider 95s. Hand-built and four hundred dollars more than the competition. They're silky smooth, and they'll plow through anything, and there was a lot of crud. At first I said no way, I would never buy them, but by the end of the day I was at one with the skis. They gave me confidence. But they just weren't that quick. I like a playful ski.

So the next day I demoed the Blizzard Bonafides. Notoriously a truck, I hated them the last time I skied on them. But Billy said they'd changed. Billy is my expert. He's never steered me wrong on skis, and I've made a few mistakes. And lo and behold, the Bonafide had changed. It actually turned quicker than the Stockli, and the tail was a bit softer. I couldn't get excited about the Bonafide, but it was better in the bumps than the Stockli, and I like to go into the bumps.

And then the weather turned.

2

Not only was it snowing, it was blowing. But even worse a cloud had descended on top of the mountain. Which meant there was no depth perception, you couldn't see the bumps. It was the wild west, literally.

This is the weather I love. The more it blows and snows, the more alien it is, the more I enjoy it. By this point almost everybody had gone in. Yes, you can get out for first chair, but the snow is firm and if you're chasing powder...you're truly chasing it, it ceases to be fun, it's a race. You get one untracked run and then you hunt the least tracked spaces and... Vail is vast, unlike the Utah resorts it does not get completely tracked out in an hour and a half. You can ski crud for days. But not on the main slopes, you've got to go into the trees and... My preference is storm days, when most people are gone and the snow is piling up and the snow was piling up on Thursday afternoon and it felt like winter, how great.

But then I had to go from the top of 3 to the top of 2. It's a long ridge sans vegetation at the top of the mountain. And in these conditions they frequently put in lights, to guide the way. But not this day. There was a risk involved. That I'd ski over a bump and be thrown, maybe hurt, but I went slowly and eventually saw the top of 2 in the distance. And then I traversed over to Ledges and took one of my favorite last routes down. I've got a few. Ledges is like a ballroom, almost always empty, it's fun...you don't want to take the most challenging slope at the end of the day. That's weekend warrior stuff, that's how you get hurt. Ease into it.

So after hanging them up I eventually went to the shop for the Mindbender 99ti's. Billy said it was one of the three, the Stockli, Blizzard or K2, even though in the abstract I had no interest in any of these brands, I haven't skied a K2 since 1969, when I had two pairs of Comps that fell apart. I like French skis, not Austrian ones. As for German Volkls... The last pair I had, the only pair I had, were so stiff you could suspend them between two bumps, they wouldn't bend in between.

So Dirk gave me a freshly-tuned pair of Mindbenders, I took them back to the condo and then...

3

Friday I woke up really sick. I thought maybe I shouldn't have gone out on Thursday, but it was clear I couldn't go out on Friday, no way.

So I stayed inside and worked. Wrote, told you about my radio show on Saturday and then...

That's when my voice started to go. My throat was sore, speaking was hard. Yet, like in the circus, the show goes on. I planned to do my show.

But when I woke up Saturday, I could barely croak. I texted Billy, told him I hadn't used the K2s, asked him if he wanted them back, he did, so I delivered them, and when I handed them over...to say I sounded like a frog would be charitable.

I came home and canceled the radio show. Harvey Fierstein sounded better. But even worse I couldn't stop coughing. There was no choice. A rerun was necessary.

And then I got worse.

4

I've got antibodies. People ask me how I can leave the house, with my immune issues.

I won't detail every element, but...

The vaccine didn't work for me. Because of Rituxan, a drug that wipes out all my b-cells.

Then I got Regeneron in August of 2021, but it turned out those antibodies didn't work for Omicron.

And then I got Evusheld and Omicron was rampant and my immunologist said to stay home anyway, until it died down, and then the government said I needed double the dose. And I couldn't get it. So I flew to Vail and got it there, and skied 48 out of 50 days, March and April. You didn't know that, today you can be anywhere. I was the only person wearing a mask on the hill. As for the two days off... Wind...one day all the lifts were closed, the other day half.

So we were waiting for my b-cells to repopulate. It was supposed to take six months since my last Rituxan infusion, but now it was almost eighteen. I got the vaccine again the first day of June, 2022. Worked a bit. As for the second dose... Impossible to get, no one would give it to me. I told them the first two shots hadn't worked, that I needed two new full shots. But all I could get was a booster.

Which carried me through to the bivalent booster in September, which I got three days after it became available. I was tested. I have antibodies. I'd give you the numbers, but... Here's the bottom line, many people have more, but both my immunologist and my internist say I'm covered. As for t-cells... They can test those, they just don't know how many you have and what it means. But, the Rituxan does not affect t-cell production, so I'm now up to snuff on those and...

I can't believe you haven't gotten the new booster. You want to live, don't you?

Maybe not.

The news article that struck me most this week was this:

"Can politics kill you? Research says the answer increasingly is yes.": https://wapo.st/3G7NjP0

Yes, that's the "Washington Post" folks, which means almost half the country won't read it, never mind believe it, but you should:

"The study, published this month in the Lancet Regional Health-Americas, found that the more conservative the voting records of members of Congress and state legislators, the higher the age-adjusted covid mortality rates — even after taking into account the racial, education and income characteristics of each congressional district along with vaccination rates.

"Covid death rates were 11 percent higher in states with Republican-controlled governments and 26 percent higher in areas where voters lean conservative. Similar results emerged about hospital ICU capacity when the concentration of political power in a state was conservative."

This is a nonpartisan study.

I don't want to die. You have the personal responsibility to do so, but why? To prove you're a member of the team? As for being anti-vaccine... I won't even bother to address that issue, except to say that that's the world we now live in, where everything is up for grabs and nothing is true. And unless something can be proven 100% it is not to be banked on, never mind believed.

But this isn't about you, but me.

I got too isolated. I'm still not fully integrated yet. I spent two and a half years out of touch, at home. And you need socialization to survive. I hear from more people every day than anybody I know, but it's not like the real thing.

As for my immune condition... Once again, I take Rituxan for my pemphigus, that causes my immune condition. I do not have an underlying immune condition. But the Rituxan is a miracle drug for me. As the doctor told me when she diagnosed me...don't Google pemphigus foliaceus.

So really, I need another Rituxan infusion. But I don't want the cycle to repeat. So the doctor says to get three series of IVIG infusions. Which will wipe out the bad, pemphigus cells, which have returned, there's a test. Took them three weeks to get all the approvals and then it was going to cost me $7,000. I'd have paid, but who wants to? And then I was told that if I got the infusions at the hospital they'd be essentially free. Two months later, I'm finally scheduled. My symptoms have returned a bit, but... At least I'm better off than my friend Barry, who's got Parkinson's. You're gonna get something, be prepared, and you want to be able to throw everything you can at it. And the dirty little secret is many people can't afford this treatment, never mind not knowing how to navigate the corridors of the health system. This is where everybody is a Republican, you're on your own, it's all about personal responsibility, and that's a damn shame.

5

And my nose was running like a faucet. I went through box after box of kleenex. And my throat was so sore. And the only way I could sleep at night was by taking Tylenol. Yes, if your nose is running, it helps. Two extra strength tablets every two hours.

Covid?

I tested myself twice. My symptoms didn't align, I had no fever. My fatigue was minimal. But you never ever know.

And it's probably a virus, and I don't want to treat viruses with antibiotics, I don't want to be part of the problem, but I scrounged through my old kit bag and found a Z-pak. It expired in 2009, but in truth most of these drugs barely fade, never mind away.

You see I was getting scared. That's the flip side of my upbringing. You ignore the symptoms and then when they're too intense to do so you start catastrophizing.

And I'm sitting on the couch and you know how it is... You're thinking about breathing, and you never want to think about breathing, it should come naturally.

And the funny thing about illness is just when you think you can't tolerate it anymore, when you can't stand another sleepless night, the tide turns. Happened to me yesterday. My nose is not running 24/7. And when I cough it doesn't feel like I'm ripping out my insides. I'm on the road back. Could I have skied today? No way. This is the first day my head is somewhat clear, but there's still that feeling in my chest and my voice still has that sandpaper, anybody would notice, ask me what was going on.

6

So, that's what's happening. Your mileage may differ. If you're reading the news you know there's a bomb cyclone, in not only weather, but health! I got my flu shot, I hope you got yours. That's another thing I can't understand passing on. I got the flu once back in the nineties and I haven't missed a shot since.

And it pisses me off to miss all these ski days.

But they just closed Blue Sky Basin and the Bowls. Must be the wind.

And tomorrow is supposed to be atrocious.

And I want to get back out there, but like in that Clash song "The Call Up," I don't want to die.

And it's my decision. No one knows how you feel inside. It's a razor's edge I tell you, engaging with life. You can stay home, see nobody, take no risks, but how fulfilling is that? Never mind depressing. Or you can venture out your front door, into the unknown, where the stimulation and rewards are.

I wish there was someone who could tell me what do to in every circumstance. I'm not talking about false prophets, but gods. But they don't exist. You've got to take your internal temperature and make your own decisions, on the fly.

Which is why you want to get a good night's sleep.

And why you don't want to be a sheep.

Do what's right for you.

But let me tell you, it's a full time job. Pay attention, don't follow leaders and be sure to watch the parking meters.

As for your health being everything... Either you know this already or will learn this. It's life. You live, you die, but you don't want to do so prematurely.

Out.


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A Note From The Front

1

I've been sick as a dog. And there's nothing worse than being unable to ski whilst at a ski area. I could check myself, apologize somehow, for not only being in Vail but choosing to ski at all, but that's exactly the point. You think everybody is watching, you think everybody cares, when in truth almost nobody is or does. Even if you're world-famous you can ignore the haters. Because hating is an activity these flamethrowers love to engage in. It's their raison d'être.

In other words, we no longer live in a cohesive society. This is what Covid taught us. Nobody was in control. And it does not only apply to illness.

So last night we were watching this documentary on Netflix entitled "Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta?" I'd never heard of it, and you probably haven't either, but Jared Leto recommended it in the "Wall Street Journal":

"I recently binge-watched: 'The Alcàsser Murders.' It's a Spanish true-crime series. The other thing I recommend is 'Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta?'—about an Argentine murder. Trust me, watch it."

https://on.wsj.com/3PFaXFK

I made a note in the Notes app on my iPhone. I've got one for series and one for movies, but we barely ever watch movies. I guess that's my main point here, we are living through the eclipse of the baby boomers and they don't even realize it. Oldsters revere movies. Youngsters will watch anything that interests them, from a few seconds to many hours. And if it's good, they don't want it to end, they want it to last. Despite being labeled with short attention spans, they love to binge.

There's an hilarious story in today's "Hollywood Reporter" wherein Hollywood players lament the demise of the theatrical business and believe it will come back.

"Kim Masters on Hollywood's Year of Wishful Thinking - This year brought some big box office wins — never underestimate Tom Cruise — but mostly it was a time for film execs to stanch bleeding, rethink radical change and figure out how to get consumers to magically forget all about that whole direct-to-streaming thing.": https://bit.ly/3FH0hSh

Talk about living in a bubble...

Executives have short memories. The past is prologue, the music business was the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption and the main lesson that was learned is you never ever try to hold back the future, the customer is now in control, you satiate the customer, you don't alienate them, or else you die.

The issue was whether films going directly to streaming during Covid killed the theatrical business. There's a belief that just opening in theatres boosts a movie. But, I ask you, in this era where there's no network Must-See-TV, how do the studios plan to get the word out? The Netflix home page real estate is worth more than any advertising. As for advertising, it's anathema. Did you read today's "Wall Street Journal"?

"Netflix's Ad-Supported Tier Was Its Least Popular Plan, Analytics Firm Estimates - Streaming giant's ad-backed plan accounted for 9% of new signups in the U.S. in November, according to subscription-analytics firm Antenna": https://on.wsj.com/3HVv9kL

Here's a quote, just to make it perfectly clear:

"The plan accounted for 9% of new Netflix sign-ups in the U.S. during the month. Some 57% of subscribers to the ad-supported tier in the first month were people re-joining the service or signing up for the first time, while 43% downgraded from pricier plans, according to Antenna."

It's a disaster. Cannibalization at best, and de minimis to boot, but the Netflix brass listened to the Street, which only cares about money, and isn't so savvy to begin with, and wasted all this time and bread just to find out that people don't want to see ads, that the money is in the premium product, which Netflix used to be perceived as. The world's most valuable company is Apple, why did Netflix choose to be Android, with tons of market share but almost no profitability? Meanwhile, Apple's smartphone penetration in the U.S. keeps going up, it's over 50% today, and even the less wealthy will pony up for what they perceive is a premium product, for their self-image.

Anyway, back to "Maria Marta."

2

It's subtitled. Oops, there goes two-thirds of the audience. Be my guest, I don't care, the joke is on you. That's the beauty of streaming, product doesn't have to be for everyone, just someone, as long as I keep paying my monthly subscription fee.

Zaslav is getting all the ink, but he's running the Warner assets into the ground. The fight for streaming subscriptions is not over, not every company will survive, and the way you assure your continued existence is via enough product that you satiate your entire customer base, and more. I gave up on "Stranger Things" after the first season, but I didn't can Netflix because it's got such programs as "Dead End."

It's a six part Polish series. It could be remade in English to be a blockbuster. It's both drama and comedy, but I'd never call it a dramedy. A dramedy is a network show, funny but with fake gravitas. Whereas "Dead End"...

I read about it in the "New York Times," I think it was in the newspaper, but it was also included in its "Watching" newsletter. You should subscribe. The dirty little secret is most newsletters are worthless. If for no other reason than people can't write. You subscribe, skim, and then disconnect. Maybe you're going to do that right now with my newsletter! But the point is raw information is just not that interesting. It must be presented in a palatable way. And do not trust subscription numbers, if people don't cancel subscriptions they are paying for (there are constant articles how to review and cancel your digital subscriptions, even an app for that), lord knows they let free subscriptions continue. The issue is whether the newsletter has an effect on people, makes them think. Almost nothing does. And in a world where there are so many options...

But this paradigm affects all verticals. There's a myth that in this data-driven age that numbers are everything, but they're not, impact is. But impact is much harder to quantify. As is attachment. Do people need to read what is written? That's the issue. Also, he not busy being born is dying, if you keep doing the same thing people have seen the trick and burn out and move on. But then there are those who don't want you to ever change. But evolve or die. Bob Dylan taught us this.

So, "Maria Marta" is another one of those true-life documentaries about a death. I'm only halfway through, and there are only four episodes, but I'm riveted.

Oh, you can get confused, with not only the subtitles, but the Spanish names. However, you get a window into Argentinian life. Makes you want to go there. Then again, they ultimately reference the danger, but too many Americans think everybody else in the world lives a restricted, subpar life, whereas when you watch "Maria Marta" it is clear this is untrue.

But the reason I'm writing about "Maria Marta" is not the content...

Oh wait, I'll make one point. I don't expect any big revelation, I realize that ultimately "Maria Marta" is just about people, humanity, and that's what interests us most. I.e. the success of TikTok. We live for the gossip, what are other people thinking, their choices, we love to peek into their lives, and if you give them a view... This is what has been lost in too many art forms. In trying to be everything to everybody, the work ends up broad and no one can relate to it. Whereas the personal is what truly resonates.

Anyway, the real reason I bring up "Maria Marta" is... She died in 2002, and now it's twenty years later. Seems like only yesterday, but two decades have past.

3

Future shock. Baby boomers certainly have it. Gen-X'ers too. Even some millennials.

You see the kids in college today only know a broadband world. They expect everything to work right out of the box. They know that clothes are really expensive or really cheap. That a sandwich costs fifteen or twenty bucks.

It didn't used to be this way.

You keep trying to square today with yesterday and you can't, this is the mistake of the movie studios, time has moved on.

Digital means access and convenience, anything that undercuts these two elements will fail, unless it's a quaint one-off. No one is going to line up for concert tickets anymore, it's too much of a waste of time. You did it, but you also went to college with a typewriter without spellcheck.

So you can see how the people have aged in the twenty years since the death of Maria Marta. The prosecutor's hair turned white. Others filled out, got lines in their face. You're just moseying along, living your life, and you don't realize you're burning the candle down. You'll want all those hours back, but it's too late, no one can turn back the hands of time.

So, I got old. If you're lucky, it will happen to you. And as you do your vision of the landscape will disintegrate. So much you thought mattered will not. You'll wonder what you want to do with the time left. And you'll feel like nobody in the world is on your page.

You're older, you're smarter and wiser. You wouldn't do what Sam Bankman-Fried did.

But you do need something to believe in. Which is why you might be attached to your political position, but really that doesn't matter much either. I'm not saying elections don't have consequences, but like George Carlin claimed, the owners of this country want to give you the illusion of control, but you ain't really got it.

Do I want to get into politics?

If you read two articles this week, and I know you'll read neither...

First:

"How Trump jettisoned restraints at Mar-a-Lago and prompted legal peril - The inside story of how Trump transplanted the chaos and norm flouting of his White House into his post-presidential life, leading to a criminal investigation into his handling of classified documents that presents potential legal peril": https://wapo.st/3hBMCUN

Ignore the headline, even if you're a Trump diehard you should read this article, because ultimately it's about Trump's day to day life after the presidency. I'll make it clear, here's a quote:

"Trump is hardly the first ex-president to struggle with life as a private citizen after the heady experience of holding the world's most powerful job. Bill Clinton, for instance, filled hours in his first months after leaving office holed up at home in Chappaqua, N.Y., bingeing TV shows and movies he had missed as president on a TiVo gifted to him by the Hollywood director Steven Spielberg."

They're just like you and me! They lost their big job and don't know what to do with themselves! Just like a rock star after a world tour. They end up nearly alone in a room and at loose ends.
In other words, they're no different from you and me.

Second:

"Putin's War - A Times investigation based on interviews, intercepts, documents and secret battle plans shows how a 'walk in the park' became a catastrophe for Russia.": https://nyti.ms/3FJvLY6

Putin was clueless, in a bubble, operating on bluster, and we believed all of it. Yes, point to someone who knew Russia wouldn't immediately conquer Ukraine... I can't find anyone.

So the bottom line is... What else is untrue? What else is pure bluster?

Can you see the similarities to Elon Musk?

But my inbox is full of fanboys testifying. They don't realize they're expendable. Everybody's expendable but Musk and Trump themselves... Look at history, they survive, you don't. And once Wall Street woke up to Robinhood, the professionals won and the amateurs lost. Just like with crypto. In other words, information and experience are king, but everybody today thinks they can play at the top because they've got the digital tools. NO!

4

I could laud the "Post" and "Times" here, but it wouldn't make a difference to nearly half the country. They believe the spin, that the two are irrelevant, even though everybody telling them that reads them religiously.

Information is king, it's accessible at your fingertips, but people would rather accept spin.

You can't make sense of it. Impossible. So how do you live your life?

This is the question. You want to belong, you want to feel part of something, but you look at the landscape and see no home.

As for recommendations... I trust Jared Leto more than any critic, because he invested his own time, off the clock. Would those music critics listen to those records if they weren't being paid? No. So I'll listen to the hoi polloi. Well, not everybody, I've got my trusted sources, and so do you.

In other words, who is buying the party line?

There's this gross division between the institutions and the public.

And all the baby boomer parameters have evaporated.

Like scarcity. There's too much stuff, not barely enough.

Price. Some of the best stuff is incredibly cheap. And if it breaks, you just throw it away and buy a new one. Most people don't want to fix their devices. Old computer gear is nearly worthless, you've got at least two old computers in the garage.

And the boomer disinformation... Keep your old smartphone, get off of social media... These people are so lost in the past it's hilarious. And the funny thing is even though I lauded the "Times" above it's one of the worst offenders. Yes, the "Times" is a club, that's how the reporters make themselves feel good, by being members, feeling superior, when oftentimes they're clueless and lost in the past. But when it comes to world events, they're the best. Laugh all you want, Fox News does no reporting, it's only opinion. As for the website you follow...

Oh, now I'm entering the debate.

My point here is we are living in an age of loneliness and alienation, and everybody keeps telling us the way to solve our problems is to return to a past which is dead and buried.

Confused yet?

I certainly am.


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Re-Dino Danelli

Gene Cornish visits my friend Eric who has Cerebral Palsy…it was very sweet. Before Eric's condition deteriorated he was in a band with Brian Setzer's brother. His father was an RCA engineer.  He has been immobile for decades. Count your blessings…

https://youtu.be/h3CAWZR1NIU

Michael Fremer

_____________________________________

The first concert I ever went to on my own was The Young Rascals at the New Haven Arena in May 1966. My best friend and I went downtown but we didn't have tickets. It was a Saturday daytime show, they were doing a second show in the evening. We somehow convinced a security guard to let we very young teenagers in and it was insane inside. They played all their hits and I became a fan forever. 6 years later I had the pleasure of introducing The Rascals as MC at an outdoor concert at Brown U and 8 years after that I worked with Felix Cavaliere on his solo album Castles In The Air while at Epic. I still have all my vinyl of the early albums. RIP Dino. 

Dick Wingate

_____________________________________

Dino totally changed rock n' roll drumming. Before him it was the paradiddle musings on guys like Ron Wilson of The Surfaris or Sandy Nelson. Both great, but mainly driven by the snare heavy prominence of high school marching bands. Dino's twirling was great but his KICK changed everything.  Suddenly the ballsy kick heavy drummers from NJ, the Bronx and Long Island followed in his wake. Guys like Carmine Appice, John Barbata and Tom Scarpinato. If you were at any concerts at the NY State World's Fair in 1964-65 you saw the change. This time around the Brits followed us with heavy kick players like Bonham, Baker and the vastly underrated B.J. Wilson.
Every week it seems we are calling it the "end of an era", but Dino's passing truly is one. 
best,
John Zambetti
The Malibooz

_____________________________________

I really enjoyed your thoughts on Dino.
I remember Chip,  my older brother  taking me to meet Gene Cornish at a hotel,  before his show in Birmingham. Many years later, at the Library of Congress, featuring Legendary ASCAP Songwriters, I was in an all star band with Felix Cavaliere on the show.  I was on 2nd Keyboards and was one of the thrills of my life  to sing the Eddie Brigatti parts. We had a chance to hang out with Felix during downtime, he talked about how supportive everyone at Atlantic Records was to the Rascals, 
Thanks so Much!
John Lee Sanders

_____________________________________

In 1972 Dino and Gene stole our guitar player Eric Thorngren to play in Bulldog.
One of their first gigs was in Utica, and at the afterparty I sat on the floor with 
Dino for about an hour, smoking tons of dope and talking drumming - he even 
showed me some of the nuances of his stick-twirling. Best drum lesson I ever had!

Best regards,
Darryl Mattison

_____________________________________

Hey Bob,

Dino and the Rascals are my heroes.

Dino had the skill and style of a big band drummer.

I saw the Rascals twice in NYC in 2013 at the "Once Upon a Dream" show.

Beautiful band, beautiful body of songs.

Felix, Eddie, Gene and Dino.

Thank you guys!!

Rick Nowels

_____________________________________

Wow, I'll say! I saw them twenty some odd times, mostly in NYC clubs at The Phone Booth, Steve Paul's The Scene and concert venues around the country when our paths would cross. I first saw them at a school dance in November of 1965 at the Greenwich, CT Civic Center where Good Lovin' was unveiled. I had never seen anything like the force of those four and have not since. They took the roof off where ever they played with every song re-invented each set and, remarkably for the time, every show ending with the 17 minute instrumental "Cute" which is on the second disc of Freedom Suite. Sadly, there is no live footage of the band that I have ever seen except for TV appearances (Ed Sullivan, Hullabaloo, Shindig). The best filmed is "Glory, Glory" and "People Got to be Free" leading into "Oh, Happy Days" with Barbara McNair on her TV show from 1970 with Dino Danelli and the boys at full throttle. To have heard them play "People Get Ready" by the Impressions taking-off into a medley "picking-up passengers from coast to coast" was to be awakened. How fitting then, that the last song on the last Atlantic album (Search and Nearness) was the imploring "Glory, Glory". The 2013 Broadway revival was great fun for devotees like myself to crest once more upon a dream. 

Robbo Coleman

_____________________________________

One hell of a band up there.  

Dino was a favorite of mine.  I'm 75, still playing my kit but with headphones now and dreaming about old memories- 
We still all keep in touch but on FB.  
Dino was my idol- so tight, so cool. 
Oh the memories; and yes, we saw them live- we lived and enjoyed the great groups and lucky us got to play on the same stage with them sometimes.  
Love the late 60's 

Steve Hass

_____________________________________

Bob…Dino's playing on the fade-out of "What Is The Reason" was/is mind-blowing…growing up in the Bronx in the mid-60s, it was either the Rascals or the Spoonful (you dug the Blues Project for the "hipness factor")…I was firmly entrenched in the latter's camp but in my mind, I always felt a true New York City super group would've been made up of Dino on drums, Felix on organ/vocals, Sebastian on guitar/harmonica/vocals and Yanovsky (my hero) on lead guitar…Dino and Zal were the secret weapons of their respective groups — Matt Auerbach

_____________________________________

Being a young drummer during the 1960's and 1970's, I was fortunate to see and hear some of the most talented drummers of all time including Dino Danelli. Your post reminded me of another show at Fairfield University billed as "Sounds From England" on April 17, 1970. The bill included The Nice, Savoy Brown and Family. It was general seating so we got there early and sat in the front row. Unfortunately, The Nice cancelled at the last minute and were replaced by Troyka, a Canadian band. Despite this setback, Savoy Brown and Family delivered blistering sets featuring two more great drummers, Roger Earl and Rob Townsend. And this week, we lost Kim Simmonds, Savoy Brown founder / guitarist at age 75, along with Dino. We're losing the legends.

Bob Anderson
WPKN.org 
Bridgeport, CT

_____________________________________

Thanks so much for your wonderful piece on Dino Danelli.  Like you, I was there, and you expressed this Jersey boy's sentiments perfectly.  Thank you Bob, because if you didn't write this, one of the greatest rock and roll drummers would quietly pass into the night. 

Not only could Dino showboat and twirl his sticks like a magician, he was a drummer's drummer (I'm a drummer). Correct they didn't have click tracks then, but Dino was a human click track.  Even some of the great rock drummers like Ginger & Keith had issues with timing (speeding up).  Dino was like a metronome, absolutely perfect timing.  Listen to his precision work and perfect fill on the tune you mentioned, "Love is a Beautiful Thing" or the precise, crisp, clean, exacting eight count break on "Good Lovin" Just great stuff.

My dad, a pit musician on Broadway always told me about the little known musical greats of his day.  I always told my son about hidden artists like Dino, my son Zander, a Jimmy Iovine Interscope Artist and now lead singer with Mojave Grey turned me on to you.  And like you, I was there, and weren't we lucky!

Tom Z. Bleck 

_____________________________________

having spent a lot of time w dino and the band, 
gene, eddie, felix in 2012-2013, when stevie van zandt 
decided to make his dream come true, 
we produced a show that made it to broadway.

'dino and the band were my heroes also.. meeting your heroes sometimes,
doesnt work out.. this time is was BETTER THAN EVER!!!

the rascals touched everyone, i learned.
that deep connection w music is missing today.

we will never recover those times.

as stevie always said, 
"we were lucky, 
we lived in the golden age, 
the renaissance"

i know we all leave at some time,
but the moments we are here,
is the golden time, always.
without negative thoughts or fear!

i will miss dino, HE WAS THE GREATEST, 
and all my other friends, family, 
that have walked the path with me.

love,
marc brickman

_____________________________________

Thanks Bob, for those words about Dino. He WAS special. His drum tracks, groove and live performances were what inspired many drummers. My friend Corky Laing and I in Montreal late 60s watching Dino on Sullivan were  amazed at his confidence and showmanship. Couldn't  take our eyes off him!

Marty Simon
Toronto

_____________________________________

Thanks for the great write up on Dino Danelli. I first saw The Rascals in July of 67. Fantastic live band, but it was Dino who really blew me away. I had never really noticed a drummer before, but he was amazing. Twirled those stix yet never missed a beat. The Rascals were my favorite band for a long time and Dino was the glue that held it all together....

Jay Rosenberg

_____________________________________

Great column. Loved the Rascals, they played my older sisters senior prom in '66, can you imagine  I hung outside the gym just to listen.

Peter Roaman

_____________________________________

Thanks for that. 

Dino was an automaton you couldn't take your eyes off. 

Loved what you wrote. My paleolithic band opened for them twice, a fond memory. 

They were the most amazing live 4 piece imaginable.  Wow. 

Rik Shafer

_____________________________________

On the Underground Garage, Little Steven did a testimonial to the music event that changed his life and opened his eyes, the Rascals playing a gig in NYC back in the beginning.  He described what he saw and felt in such a personal and powerful way, it made me long for the chance to have done the same.

John Brodey

_____________________________________

Dino Danelli was the turbine in the engine that was the Rascals (especially the Young Rascals). His feel was always right on the front edge of the groove and he made everything just lean forward - but not enough to make the groove fall off the cliff, i.e. "Love is a Beautiful Thing".   With his head bobbin' on every beat and his sticks spinnin' in between, he was the man.  

Rick Neigher

_____________________________________

Saw Dino twirl those sticks of his as he drove the rockin' soul of Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul live onstage. Always cognizant of and respectful of his forebears, Steven did audiences around the world a real service in providing them the opportunity to experience the second act of this talented artist. I count myself fortunate to have been amongst those who bore witness.

Rick Alexander

_____________________________________

It was even special when I saw Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul in Nov. 1983 at the Palladium (former Academy of Music) that Dino played the Drums.
You focused on him!

Corey Bearak

_____________________________________

This news hit hard. I suppose every music lover in the tri-state area
considered the Young Rascals THEIR band. Early on, they played at tiny
Eckman Center in Old Greenwich, CT twice a summer, at local after prom
afterglow dances, at high schools and colleges. Like The Beatles, they
were mature, professional and had honed their craft playing hard work
gigs. I?ve seen most every band of their era excluding The Beatles and
Elvis and they had an energy that I?ve never seen surpassed. Long before I
started hitting the Fillmore East regularly, they began my musical
education. The Hammond B3 and Dino were the centerpiece but Gene?s comping
and Eddie?s tambourine and maracas workouts drove them to a maniacal pace.
Without a bass player other than Felix?s foot pedals. The soulful voices,
the loose dance steps and most of all Dino made them a visual experience
unlike any other. Ringo, Dino and Keith Moon were something to see and
Dino was my favorite of them all. RIP.

William Nollman
Silvermine, CT

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My first concert was definitely the Rascals, at Westchester Country Center, in White Plains, NY. I was a pre-teen and my mom drove me there.

They were thrilling. Full of moxie, musicality, unstoppable energy and joy.

Dino was not only a fantastic drummer, both flashy and supremely funky, but also a dead ringer for Paul McCartney, albeit filtered through an Italian/American lens. Several of the girls in my grade school class got a hold of his home number in Manhattan. All had mad crushes on him. When he'd answer, which he often did, they'd squeal, hyperventilate or just breathe over the phone line. He was patient and cool with them, asking their names and engaging with them, though they barely had the oxygen to converse with the man.

Along with many friends, I saw their reunion show at the Greek, in 2013. They played & sang their asses off, especially Dino, Felix & Gene. Felix's distinctive, soulful voice was undiminished, and Gene & Dino rocked hard. Dino still had all his twirling the sticks tricks and flash in abundance, but never lost the strong feel and engine for the songs. The Cavaliere/Brigati songwriting team has a rich & prolific catalogue and those songs hold up beautifully. You'd Better Run. Lonely Too Long, How Can I Be Sure, People Got To Be Free, on and on. Super writing, performed with maximum gusto.

I'll always deeply love the Rascals, and Dino held the hold shebang together. Much love and respect to Mr. Danelli upon his departure.

Fuzzbee Morse

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Thank you Bob....I so loved The Rascals or the Young Rascals as they were known...Felix,Dino,Eddie and Gene.....having grown up in the Northeast I was able to see them play several times back in 66-67 in NYC 
and most exciting they were the band that played my High School Prom...being so up close to them in the gym was magical..as you say the bands were everything then... like being in front of royalty...RIP Dino...

Peter Wassyng

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You're correct, as you get older you wonder how the end will come. I try not to think about it too much. 

Meanwhile, The Rascals. They had it all. Collections was probably my favorite. "Lonely Too Long" was so incredibly recorded. The pre delay on the lush echo chambers with the kick and the ghost hits on the snare SO F..KING IN THE POCKET! And was that a French horn also soaked in reverb, or just the perfect drawbar setting on Felix's Hammond?

On the flip side when you cue up "Land of a Thousand Dances, you'd think every mic preamp was set to stun and record head on the tape machine was melting. 

When I saw them live back in the 60s at the Capitol Theater in Bergenfield, NJ, I swear I had a hard time even seeing Dino behind what I thought was a 28" kick drum!

Too much!

And we all waited for the next Rascals album to come out. They went through a whole lot of changes. That's what the record companies wanted. The never disappointed until they just couldn't compete anymore. 

What a rush 15 or 20 years ago when I was flying back to Boston from Nashville and there was Felix sitting in coach on a near empty plane. I had to ask…..

And he didn't let me down. 

Neither did Dino. 

Rest in Peace. 

Will Eggleston

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I loved Dino so much as a kid. And later, when they got the band back together one more time on the Once Upon a Dream tour. Seeing them together as an adult was a dream come true to this kid. Felix still has the chops, singing better than ever with all his peaceful but firm bravado. Eddie and Gene were in great form too. 

The serious but beautiful face that belonged to Dino, twirling sticks, always  in the pocket! He never missed. 

Those early Rascals albums were and still are  my favourites. Those records taught me composition and drumming and how they worked together.

Dino was a lead instrument player like Ringo, Ginger, Bonzo and the great Danny Seraphine with Chicago. Not just drummers. 

I am sad that he had such a rough time at the end of his life. He deserved better. He made so many people happy, but life and death just don't care. It just happens. The great equalizer at work again. 

Take care of your health, Hug your family and friends this Christmas and listen to some Rascals music. 
It's Wonderful. 

Danny Zelisko

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Hi Bob, 

I love this so much. Thank you for this beautiful tribute to Dino Danelli. 

The Rascals were slightly before my time but I adored their songs, and one day years later I met Eddie Brigati at a songwriter's conference in the Bay Area. It was around 1990 I think. 
He presented a class where he described having to go to the Library Of Congress after not being paid by the record company, and having to make copies of copyright forms showing he (they) had written those songs so he could get paid. 

It was shocking.

After that class I was in the big room where I had my (first) CD for sale; where no one was biting or interested.  

Eddie saw me and we started talking. After he heard that I was a Buddhist, he shared another story with me. He said when he was so down, he decided to end it all, and a friend asked him to please try one last thing, chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo…

He did this and came back to fight for his life and came back with his career, thank goodness. Bringing us to where we were then. 

And then he picked up my CDs, handed me a pile of cash, and bought all of them. After that, he invited me to the after party for the "pros". And when I got there by his invitation they wouldn't let me in, cause I wasn't on the "pro" list. 

And then Eddie saw this, and he left that goddamn party - what a great guy. 

A real person. He also told me more of the history of the band. It was great. 

And no, I didn't leave with him, and no, I didn't sleep with him. Just two musicians, sharing stories. 
Thank you, Eddie, for encouraging a young songwriter, which I certainly was at that time. 
I'm forever grateful to him and everyone who came up to fight another day as an artist.

(ps- my new album is #35 on the jazz charts this week). I'm very grateful. 

Peace, Love & Blessings, 
Roberta Donnay
Singer/Composer/Producer 
robertadonnay.com 

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Bob – The Young Rascals were my first concert. Bushnell Memorial Auditorium in Hartford, CT. I was mesmerized by Dino. Everyone was. He put on an amazing show. The backbone of the band. They were so good!
 
A few years ago I ran into Felix after his show in Stamford. I told him they were my first concert. We chatted a bit then he said, "I remember Hartford because the show was running long and the promoter was worried about union overtime. He dropped the curtain on us in the middle of a song. We thought we were big shots. We learned." 
 
I still remember hearing Eddie's voice from behind the curtain saying, "Goodnight everybody," after the curtain fell on them. Quite a way to end my first concert experience.
 
RIP, Dino! What a showman! - t
 
Tony D'Amelio

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The Young Rascals ... great songs, great band ... Felix, Gene, Eddie and Dino true earliest of the "rock stars" that were the American dream. And they had Dino twirling those sticks the epitome of cool.
RIP Dino Danelli 
Charlie Brusco

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Well Bob, if you saw them live, you know they were far more powerful in person than the records ever indicated. We opened for them in Atlantic City. Until then I'd thought of the Rascals as a pop act, but live, they had power and authority. Not at all lightweights. (I'd put Procol Harum in the same category - no recording ever conveyed the depth of what they presented live.)

Once in New York, after a gig I ended up in the same restaurant/bar as Eddie. He had a fake moustache and with his different look, was intent on not being "Eddie Brigati." I didn't go over and say "hi" to avoid drawing attention to him. It was the first time I saw a musician having to wear a disguise in public...that made me think. 

Anyway, what made the Rascals special to me was the evenness of the band. Dino, of course, you know what he was about. Eddie was a frontman who didn't act like the world owed him something, it seemed he always thought he owed the fans something. Gene Cornish didn't do the guitarist-hogging-the-spotlight thing, but contributed to solid arrangements. Felix Cavailere - can't say enough about him. A band without a bass player?!? C'mon! That held note in "Lonely too Long," followed by the bass slide, was an epic moment in recording history. Well, at least to me. He sure knew how to massage that Hammond, and how to lay a powerful, soulful voice on top of it all. 

You're right, the era is over, everyone will be dead soon. But their music lives on, however imperfect the recordings. Worked for Beethoven, right? And all he had for his legacy was sheet music. We're here to contribute as best we can, and move on, hopefully leaving the world a better place than we found it.

Craig Anderton

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A sad loss.
My band auditioned for Sid Bernstein and though he didn't sign us, he told us we should go see the Rascals. We went to see them at the Phone Booth in NY. This was before they had any hits. They were amazing. Dino was so serious and so solid and the stick spinning thing was amazing. What knocked me out the most, though, was Felix. He was mesmerizing. At the time I was playing a Wurlitzer in my band (because I loved Rod Argent in the Zombies) and I immediately traded it in for a Hammond B-3.
--albhy galuten

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