Aaagh, just yesterday I subscribed with You Tube Premium instead of Spotify all because of Joe Rogan and then Daniel Ek pulls this out of the bag!!!!
That is a truly amazing reaction by Daniel Ek for which he should be praised, along with Neil Young.
Joe Rogan will no doubt whine about cancel culture, it's simply consequence culture which he and his $ 100M advance merely has to live with, unlike the many that listened to his show, didn't take the money, sorry vaccine and fatally caught Covid.
Regards
Robin Hill
____________________________________
This is a laughable response. Young is back because he has music to put out. Rogan complaining to Ek is 100% for people like you to say Neil won. Rogan is going nowhere and Young caved, which is exactly how all the young people and people with any sense will see it. To say Neil won sounds like MSM propaganda. In the end, no one cared if Young and his 70 year-old mates left. How many top performers of today left? None. How many really cared or thought Neil was even correct. None.
I love Neil's music but for the "common man" that sold his music to Blackstone, no love for his BS move with Rogan.
fredslink
____________________________________
Bob, did I NOT write you about this a year ago?? Spotify and TikTok should've been in bed already. Each time your song gets used for a video on TikTok, you should get a stream on Spotify. Maybe even each time that video gets played. NOW we start adding more revenue for artists and cooking with some gas.
Danny Jay
Shytown
____________________________________
There are a handful of truly great Neil Young songs, so this is good news. But what about Joni? In my opinion, her catalog is a treasure. Will it return to Spotify?
Keith Brown
____________________________________
Since on Spotify, the royalty amount paid per stream is dependent on the total revenues that Spotify receives, this seems like a ploy by the major labels to limit competition and increase their payout.
Spotify could face anti-trust lawsuits from the independent distribution companies.
If Spotify reduces the number of artists to 165,000 from the current 5.8 million and deletes millions of songs, I will be canceling my paid Spotify subscription.
Larry Green
____________________________________
1. I was never a big CSN/CSNY fan. Never bought an album. I liked the hits. I knew "Down By The River and "Long Time Gone", both basement jam staples. Late last night I started watching "Woodstock". "Long Time Gone" and "Wooden Ships" played early in the film. I started thinking; Wow. This is what it's all about. My tinnitus added a couple of new roars and hums over the past two years and I think my concert going days are over. But that CSNY reunion is one I would kill to see.
2. Re: 10k per month. So, if The Comsat Angels or The Pale Fountains put their full catalogs on Spotify and don't reach the 10k (quite possible), they'll be gone forever? Very depressing. Wait - Is the 10k line only for new acts?
Cheers,
Tom Quinn
____________________________________
No mention of YouTube Music / Google in all this? Where do you place the largest search engine / SEO machine in the scheme?
Luke Joerger
Hastings Digital Studios LL
____________________________________
I do hope you're slightly wrong about the Spotify changes.
I'm a verified artist on Spotify, but one with fewer than 10,000 listeners a month.
Nevertheless, between streaming, PRS and PPL I earn maybe £1500 a year from my music. Losing that, on an income that totals about £15,000 a year (yes, I'm below the poverty line) would be catastrophic.
Streaming has been a lifeline, and I've worked hard at wresting my rights back so I benefit at least as much as my utterly inactive label and publisher. It also gives me something to work with, to build my numbers, something I'm currently working on.
Plus, I mentor six young up and coming artists. Shutting off their access simply puts more power back into the hands of labels. The last thing any of us needs.
Best wishes
Paul Phillips
rosterartistdevelopment.com
____________________________________
So Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify because it was him or Rogan and now Neil is back and Rogan is still there? I love it that Neil is just a money whore like so many of the elites.
It would be nice to have competition for Ticketmaster, but in truth Spotify is going to make you pay more in order to have them as a resource. I didn't get the feeling tickets would be available via both outlets. Too bad, that is real competition for the consumer. One or the other firm being the only source for tickets is not a competitive situation for the ticket buyer.
Personally, I don't have a problem with scalpers. If I want to go to a show, I will pay more and go to fewer events. A lot of people feel this way about concerts, sporting events, etc.
Last, a CSNY reunion? Yeah I went to the last one in 1974 and it was just a money grab for four drugged out musicians who could barely get through their set. No thanks. Fool me once, shame on you. ........
Dennis Paulik
____________________________________
As for Neil Young he has clearly become the person he railed against in his more pure state. Thatl never be back.
jb
____________________________________
re: "you can put your track on Spotify, but if you don't have 10,000 streams in a month, your song is removed." - As a longtime Spotify subscriber, I use the platform voraciously in multiple genres. I surely hope this 10k caveat doesn't apply across the board. A LOT of back catalogue songs/music I listen to - some of it from the majors - have far less than 10,000 streams total, but that doesn't make the music irrelevant. Using the 10k a month criterion, a lot of really great records would be removed. Some genres would be eviscerated. It's not as though there aren't great Indian Classical Ragas that don't get a lot of streams, but I still prefer the music to remain up on the platform for when I do want it. I'll assume this policy would only apply to self-released artists, moving forward.
Greg Debonne
____________________________________
So, an artist can put a song up, but if it doesn't get fucking TEN MILLION STREAMS they take it down and blacklist the artist?
You need to rewrite that entire article as a HORROR STORY, which is what it sounds like from out here.
Vestra Atredies
____________________________________
Glad to hear Spotify and Daniel Ek are facing their issues, as you said.
Good to know Ek can find his way toward a compromise and make Spotify, first a music provider, and everything else second.
—budzenko
____________________________________
I understand you're probably too busy to respond, but from what I understand from your note is you have to have a song sustain 10K streams a month to stay on Spotify?
Ken Kelley
____________________________________
I saw your article about the potential changes at Spotify, where only songs with 10k in their first month will stay on the platform. I'd love to learn more, but googling the terms brings up too much info!
I haven't seen the main article that you heard or read this from. Would you please send it to me?
Caley Rose
____________________________________
The vaccines still don't work buddy
Mark N, Foley
____________________________________
Bob I'm sorry I used to like you but you're such a moron now it's almost embarrassing lol. And you're on the wrong side of everything but just too incredibly stupid or arrogant or both to realize it. Your Twitter probably has an upside down Ukrainian flag
Johnny Vieira
____________________________________
So as a songwriter, producer, publisher and musician who has always noted your prescience in matters of music industry, should I renew my Premium now, when Young is officially back on (not just because of being farm but because of the change in business mode changes Ek is making) or wait and vote with a renewed Premium at a later date, speaking with my consumer $$ as it were?
And should I do any new releases of music on TikTok first to market test and build a streaming base, or hurry and get my best single or an EP on Spotify before the 10,000 streams a month policy takes effect?
Not requesting any personal replay here, but a further letter with some clarity as you see it if you were me or serious and capable pro. As I may have mentioned in the past, my next releases, be it single or EP format this year features quite a few legendary session players as "the band" ala Steely Dan" concept of a band. Rolling the dice but perhaps but I am referring to Steve Cropper, Dave Hungate, Sklar, Kunkel, Waddy, several members of Prince's NPG, The Revolution, The Time, Soul Asylum, The Rembrandts, Toto, (but not Luke yet, he's thought about it but not committed), and Hall & Oates band. Over a dozen Grammy winners many of whom are also hit song writers and producers as well.
Its my money and risk but like any entrepreneur (who has some data from Soundcloud to indicate my hits and misses objectively by fan base), I'd like to back the right horse. Presently, Minneapolis based Cory Wong & the Wong Notes, with 6 former embers of NPG including co-front man Sonny T. are having a very successful tour and Sonny is one of my prime co-producers, co-writers, and session players for almost 30 years now.
Just curious how a well-informed artist, producer, or songwriter should proceed if you were them?
Best,
Zannman
____________________________________
Fuck Young and CSNY money grab. And fuck your stupid attempt to censor Rogan.
Derek Morris
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Friday 1 April 2022
Thursday 31 March 2022
Spotifty Changes
Neil Young is back!
You may have missed yesterday's Joe Rogan story:
"Joe Rogan Says He Will Quit If Podcast Becomes Place Where He Has to Walk On Eggshells": https://bit.ly/3LNQUlt
This is a result of the Young deal. There was a Zoom call with Daniel Ek, Young and Rogan wherein Ek told Rogan to cool it. You see Ek realizes his bread and butter is music, and that without music there is no Spotify. You have to know which side your bread is buttered on, and Ek finally got the message.
So Neil Young will be back this weekend, but here's the next surprise: his music will be in hi-def! Not Atmos, Young thinks that is b.s., but Young's songs will stream in beyond CD quality. Spotify has been behind on high definition audio, and this is a way for them to catch up. I've heard that Young has secretly been recording a track with David Crosby for release when he comes back to Spotify, but I'm not sure that's true. Yes, Young decided to bury the hatchet with everybody, and by recording with Crosby, he believes his image will be enhanced and...Live Nation and AEG are fighting over the CSNY reunion tour. No, it is not happening soon enough to be a benefit for Ukraine, but there will be a charity component, since Crosby's involved it's going to be opioid related. As for the tour, it's the end of the summer. The website will be up at the same time as Young's music on Spotify, so register early if you want tickets, there's going to be a lottery, a la the Grateful Dead. Only if you're registered will your letter be accepted. I know, it's complicated, but the belief is it's scalper proof, but I won't go into the details.
As for Ek... He's making further moves to solidify Spotify's position with the music community. He's appointed Tom Gray as an advisor. Not David Lowery, just Tom Gray. And Ek plans to also bring on éminence grise Doug Morris too. Daniel wants to build good will, and by courting the naysayers, he believes he will achieve this.
Ek is also going to stop challenging copyright payment amounts for songwriters. And, he's going to increase their payments. And, he's going to take it out of Spotify's end. Wall Street analysts are apoplectic, with Spotify's margins so thin to begin with, but Ek said without songwriters there is no music, and writers need to be compensated.
As for increasing the payment per stream, that is not going to happen. Giving more money to songwriters was enough, Ek doesn't want to bankrupt the company. So, if you don't have a hit, you still ain't gonna make s__t.
But there is the new bonus pool. For certain markers you get an additional payment. These start at ten million streams and go up to a billion. Because if you don't have ten million streams, you're not really in the recording business, even though you might think you are. This is addressing the wannabe problem. Just like Amazon no longer hosts all films for purchase, Spotify is closing the door on access. This is how it's going to work: you can put your track on Spotify, but if you don't have 10,000 streams in a month, your song is removed. So now "artists" will think twice about throwing up any old ditty, they'll work harder on each tune, at least that's the theory. And, if a song was taken down, it can never go back up, unless it reaches ten million views on TikTok.
That's right, at first Spotify was tied in with Facebook, but after that heinous story yesterday...did you see it?
"Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok - The firm, Targeted Victory, pushed local operatives across the country to boost messages calling TikTok a threat to American children. 'Dream would be to get stories with headlines like "From dances to danger," ' one campaign director said.": https://wapo.st/3qRBwfs
Spotify gets enough bad press, they don't want to be dragged down by Zuckerberg, who is flailing. Belief is "Meta" ain't gonna make it, virtual reality is not going to become a big thing soon, and the metaverse will be controlled by the crypto crowd, buying land in cyberspace. Yes, Zuckerberg was late, a crime in technology, he's been disrupted, karma's a bitch!
As for TikTok... Spotify is going to buy ten percent to draw heat away from the Chinese company.
And there will be synergies. Now the top TikTok tracks playlist will be featured on Spotify's homepage, permanently. TikTok delivers hits, and Spotify wants those hits streamed. Right now, they're talking exclusives, but Lucian Grainge is up in arms. Then again, how much power does the conventional record business have anymore, many of these TikTok tracks are originals. As for Apple and Amazon, are they really in the music business or is it just an afterthought? Like I said above, Ek wants to send the message that Spotify is a music company, and unlike Zuckerberg he's not going to change the name of the company to try to distract the public from the truth. Yes, Ek is owning the bad publicity and dealing with it, as opposed to obfuscating.
But the truth is all the money is now in live. Did you see Jay Penske, featured in last Sunday's "New York Times"?:
"You Don't Know Much About Jay Penske. And He's Fine With That. - A quiet Hollywood power broker with a famous name goes on a buying spree that has given him Rolling Stone, South by Southwest and a private island. What more does he want?": https://nyti.ms/3iTVUbE
Ek is not going to buy ancient individual assets, he's going straight to the source. That's right, Spotify is buying AEG Live, from Phil Anschutz. It's an all cash deal, it's not quite the number Phil wanted, but time is going by and Phil ain't gonna live forever and he's always thought the live events business was too risky, with concert promoters putting up all the money.
In truth, at first Daniel was negotiating with Irving Azoff and Tim Leiweke re the Oak View Group, but Ek wanted critical mass now. Also in truth, Oak View Group is going to be bought by Ek's AEG Live down the road anyway. That's the plan. I mean how many times has Irving Azoff sold the same assets? And what a victory lap it would be for Leiweke to be back in charge of AEG. Well, AEG Live, as for the rest of the operation, that's too big a pill for Spotify to swallow, and like I said, Ek's all about the music.
No one foresees any antitrust issues, there is no barrier to entry by third parties. And, Spotify is a great competitor to Ticketmaster re tickets. Yes, you're going to be able to buy your ducats directly from Spotify. And if you're not on Spotify, you're going to the back of the line. And all tickets will be digital, Spotify is fighting the scalpers, the company has no legacy relationships with them.
So this is quite a lot of change. Steps in the right direction. There will still be naysayers, but Daniel Ek has addressed everyone's concerns except for those living in the past, who still believe in the old model, that they should be entitled to make a living making music. More people are making more money via Spotify payouts, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. And streaming won. As for vinyl, Spotify ain't taking that step. Yes, Ek was planning to purchase presses, he's been advised by Jack White, and open physical stores to sell them, just like Warby Parker, having a storefront for your virtual business is the new thing, but then Amazon pulled back from retail and Ek cashiered his vinyl/retail plans. You see a techie is not beholden to the past, he (or she!) only looks to the future!
There are more ideas brewing, like a VC fund for acts, but Ek doesn't want to bite off more than he can chew, especially since Spotify is short-handed since contrary to conventional wisdom, Sweden was devastated by its Covid policies:
"Did Sweden beat the pandemic by refusing to lock down? No, its record is disastrous": https://lat.ms/373zamG
So other plans are on the back burner.
But for now, there's this Neil Young deal, which is consumer-facing. There'll be further changes down the pike, since Daniel Ek knows you evolve or you die, unlike the record companies, trading on their legacy assets, doing a piss-poor job on new music.
Spotify's changes may not impress you, but they will impress the majority of people, and the acquisition of AEG Live has Wall Street salivating, so...
The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!
You may have missed yesterday's Joe Rogan story:
"Joe Rogan Says He Will Quit If Podcast Becomes Place Where He Has to Walk On Eggshells": https://bit.ly/3LNQUlt
This is a result of the Young deal. There was a Zoom call with Daniel Ek, Young and Rogan wherein Ek told Rogan to cool it. You see Ek realizes his bread and butter is music, and that without music there is no Spotify. You have to know which side your bread is buttered on, and Ek finally got the message.
So Neil Young will be back this weekend, but here's the next surprise: his music will be in hi-def! Not Atmos, Young thinks that is b.s., but Young's songs will stream in beyond CD quality. Spotify has been behind on high definition audio, and this is a way for them to catch up. I've heard that Young has secretly been recording a track with David Crosby for release when he comes back to Spotify, but I'm not sure that's true. Yes, Young decided to bury the hatchet with everybody, and by recording with Crosby, he believes his image will be enhanced and...Live Nation and AEG are fighting over the CSNY reunion tour. No, it is not happening soon enough to be a benefit for Ukraine, but there will be a charity component, since Crosby's involved it's going to be opioid related. As for the tour, it's the end of the summer. The website will be up at the same time as Young's music on Spotify, so register early if you want tickets, there's going to be a lottery, a la the Grateful Dead. Only if you're registered will your letter be accepted. I know, it's complicated, but the belief is it's scalper proof, but I won't go into the details.
As for Ek... He's making further moves to solidify Spotify's position with the music community. He's appointed Tom Gray as an advisor. Not David Lowery, just Tom Gray. And Ek plans to also bring on éminence grise Doug Morris too. Daniel wants to build good will, and by courting the naysayers, he believes he will achieve this.
Ek is also going to stop challenging copyright payment amounts for songwriters. And, he's going to increase their payments. And, he's going to take it out of Spotify's end. Wall Street analysts are apoplectic, with Spotify's margins so thin to begin with, but Ek said without songwriters there is no music, and writers need to be compensated.
As for increasing the payment per stream, that is not going to happen. Giving more money to songwriters was enough, Ek doesn't want to bankrupt the company. So, if you don't have a hit, you still ain't gonna make s__t.
But there is the new bonus pool. For certain markers you get an additional payment. These start at ten million streams and go up to a billion. Because if you don't have ten million streams, you're not really in the recording business, even though you might think you are. This is addressing the wannabe problem. Just like Amazon no longer hosts all films for purchase, Spotify is closing the door on access. This is how it's going to work: you can put your track on Spotify, but if you don't have 10,000 streams in a month, your song is removed. So now "artists" will think twice about throwing up any old ditty, they'll work harder on each tune, at least that's the theory. And, if a song was taken down, it can never go back up, unless it reaches ten million views on TikTok.
That's right, at first Spotify was tied in with Facebook, but after that heinous story yesterday...did you see it?
"Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok - The firm, Targeted Victory, pushed local operatives across the country to boost messages calling TikTok a threat to American children. 'Dream would be to get stories with headlines like "From dances to danger," ' one campaign director said.": https://wapo.st/3qRBwfs
Spotify gets enough bad press, they don't want to be dragged down by Zuckerberg, who is flailing. Belief is "Meta" ain't gonna make it, virtual reality is not going to become a big thing soon, and the metaverse will be controlled by the crypto crowd, buying land in cyberspace. Yes, Zuckerberg was late, a crime in technology, he's been disrupted, karma's a bitch!
As for TikTok... Spotify is going to buy ten percent to draw heat away from the Chinese company.
And there will be synergies. Now the top TikTok tracks playlist will be featured on Spotify's homepage, permanently. TikTok delivers hits, and Spotify wants those hits streamed. Right now, they're talking exclusives, but Lucian Grainge is up in arms. Then again, how much power does the conventional record business have anymore, many of these TikTok tracks are originals. As for Apple and Amazon, are they really in the music business or is it just an afterthought? Like I said above, Ek wants to send the message that Spotify is a music company, and unlike Zuckerberg he's not going to change the name of the company to try to distract the public from the truth. Yes, Ek is owning the bad publicity and dealing with it, as opposed to obfuscating.
But the truth is all the money is now in live. Did you see Jay Penske, featured in last Sunday's "New York Times"?:
"You Don't Know Much About Jay Penske. And He's Fine With That. - A quiet Hollywood power broker with a famous name goes on a buying spree that has given him Rolling Stone, South by Southwest and a private island. What more does he want?": https://nyti.ms/3iTVUbE
Ek is not going to buy ancient individual assets, he's going straight to the source. That's right, Spotify is buying AEG Live, from Phil Anschutz. It's an all cash deal, it's not quite the number Phil wanted, but time is going by and Phil ain't gonna live forever and he's always thought the live events business was too risky, with concert promoters putting up all the money.
In truth, at first Daniel was negotiating with Irving Azoff and Tim Leiweke re the Oak View Group, but Ek wanted critical mass now. Also in truth, Oak View Group is going to be bought by Ek's AEG Live down the road anyway. That's the plan. I mean how many times has Irving Azoff sold the same assets? And what a victory lap it would be for Leiweke to be back in charge of AEG. Well, AEG Live, as for the rest of the operation, that's too big a pill for Spotify to swallow, and like I said, Ek's all about the music.
No one foresees any antitrust issues, there is no barrier to entry by third parties. And, Spotify is a great competitor to Ticketmaster re tickets. Yes, you're going to be able to buy your ducats directly from Spotify. And if you're not on Spotify, you're going to the back of the line. And all tickets will be digital, Spotify is fighting the scalpers, the company has no legacy relationships with them.
So this is quite a lot of change. Steps in the right direction. There will still be naysayers, but Daniel Ek has addressed everyone's concerns except for those living in the past, who still believe in the old model, that they should be entitled to make a living making music. More people are making more money via Spotify payouts, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. And streaming won. As for vinyl, Spotify ain't taking that step. Yes, Ek was planning to purchase presses, he's been advised by Jack White, and open physical stores to sell them, just like Warby Parker, having a storefront for your virtual business is the new thing, but then Amazon pulled back from retail and Ek cashiered his vinyl/retail plans. You see a techie is not beholden to the past, he (or she!) only looks to the future!
There are more ideas brewing, like a VC fund for acts, but Ek doesn't want to bite off more than he can chew, especially since Spotify is short-handed since contrary to conventional wisdom, Sweden was devastated by its Covid policies:
"Did Sweden beat the pandemic by refusing to lock down? No, its record is disastrous": https://lat.ms/373zamG
So other plans are on the back burner.
But for now, there's this Neil Young deal, which is consumer-facing. There'll be further changes down the pike, since Daniel Ek knows you evolve or you die, unlike the record companies, trading on their legacy assets, doing a piss-poor job on new music.
Spotify's changes may not impress you, but they will impress the majority of people, and the acquisition of AEG Live has Wall Street salivating, so...
The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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M. Shadows-This Week's Podcast
Matt Sanders, aka M. Shadows, is the lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold. We discuss the band, but most of our talk is about crypto and NFTs and the innovative way Avenged Sevenfold is employing them. This is not selling worthless art, this is about empowering the band's hard core fans to evangelize. You'll be fascinated, I guarantee it.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/m-shadows-94899476/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m-shadows/id1316200737?i=1000555811007
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7b2xsUbQ4G85UmF69BNnLg?si=uz1NVNBYS5uLu5y-vNtACg
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/c20852f0-c2f7-4024-be0b-19cb1ec3ad8b/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-m-shadows
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/m-shadows-201920025
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Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/m-shadows-94899476/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m-shadows/id1316200737?i=1000555811007
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7b2xsUbQ4G85UmF69BNnLg?si=uz1NVNBYS5uLu5y-vNtACg
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/c20852f0-c2f7-4024-be0b-19cb1ec3ad8b/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-m-shadows
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/m-shadows-201920025
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Wednesday 30 March 2022
Re-Bob Seger
Loved your take on Bob Seger! I've worked as a background, & session singer and percussion player with him for over 40 years…. He's one of the best tunesmiths of our time, still underrated, but I have to say that there wasn't a dry eye in the place on our last show on November 1, 2019! I can only say that we all were honored to have played with him all these years!!!
Thank you,
Shaun Murphy
https://shaunmurphyband.com
____________________________________
In 1972 when I was in the band Spirit, Bob opened shows for us. Although "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" had already done well, he was still traveling in a camper van. After a gig in Florida, we all plied in his van and hit a couple of bars. What a great friendly guy grinding it out on the road. Bob Seeger is a guy you're happy to see have the kind of success he had in the 70's and 80's that allows him to go on the road when he wants to. I was told that when "Like a Rock" became a year after year commercial for Chevrolet, the road was no longer a necessity. If so, good for him. He deserved it.
Al Staehely
____________________________________
Bob, your summary about Seger and your mom jumbled this memory loose in my head:
I once had a free tickets to see Seger at the Palace of Auburn Hills about 5 or 10 years ago. I called my mom, asked her if she wanted to go. She declined. "I already saw him." What? When!
She replied, with no hint of irony, "He played at my eighth grade graduation in the school gym."
Leave it to moms…
Mike Vial
____________________________________
Bob Seger was the first person I saw live on stage. December 9, 1974, my first rock concert at the Capital Centre in Largo, MD in the DC suburbs: Bachman-Turner Overdrive was the headliner, with Blue Oyster Cult as the middle act. The opener? Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. I didn't know any of his music except for Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, but I remembered the name and when Live Bullet came out in Spring 1976 I bought it as well as the follow-up Night Moves in Fall 1976. I have been a fan ever since. I have Live Bullet on my Sonos system now; it's still one of the best live albums!
Carl Nelson
Columbia (moved from Ellicott City), MD
____________________________________
Rambling Gamblin Man: my fave in 5th grade.
- Bruce Gow
____________________________________
The idea to meld Travelling Man and Beautiful Loser in live shows was his drummer's, Charlie Martin. They fit like a glove!
Great read.
- Dante Canil, Victoria, Canada
____________________________________
Great take on this, Bob. I sub for the regular guitarist in a Creedence/Seger tribute band occasionally and Travelin' Man/ Beautiful Loser is my favorite part of the show. All these years later, it still fires up an audience.
Michael Gregory
____________________________________
Hey Bob, I was in a band named Medusa that played a lot of clubs in Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit in the late 60's. We opened for Bob Seger Friday nights at the Sugar Shack in Columbus. It was Bob Seger and the Last Heard and they had a 45 single which was really popular on the OSU campus. You can hear the lyrical and delivery influences of Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues, with a Bo Diddley beat and a Ted Nugent/ Amboy Dukes pschedelic lead guitar. This song made me a Seger fan. XO, Shy Hood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEu5kTAvuFI
John Gunn
____________________________________
I was never a huge fan, but give me Seger over Bruce for "heartland rock" anytime. Even "Like A Rock" is a pretty good song, even though the commercial killed it. P.S. Fun fact – Seger played percussion on the last track of the last MC5 album, High Time!
Jeremy Shatan
____________________________________
Yes, the early seventies was a lonely time for those of us who were rabid fans of groups like Raspberries. Loved them even when I knew no one else except my siblings who felt the same way. Saw them with 150 others in August of '74 at the Municipal auditorium in Atlanta, a few months before they broke up. Didn't think to talk with those sitting around us about the group, they were strangers and really, there was no real opportunity to do so. Fast forward to their reunion tour 30 years later. We fans met online, became friends and by the time the concert series started, we entered the venues as validated co-fans. We validated each other - the loneliness was gone. A totally different experience.
David Thomson
____________________________________
Thank you for writing about Bob Seger, one of the great bar-band rock-&-rollers of all time. Some people did know about Leonard Cohen's book, "Beautiful Losers" when Seger's song came out. The book had been out for a decade, and another piece of music that arose from that book was Buffy Sainte-Marie's "God is alive, Magic is Afoot," on her 1969 Illuminations album, which I still have. That song was one of the most haunting of the late sixties, and takes its lyric from the final stream of consciousness chapter in "Beautiful Losers." Great artistic contributions, the songs and the book. Artists were artists in those days, and Leonard one of the greatest, inspiring so many others.
Rex Weyler
Mansons Landing, BC, Canada
____________________________________
I am a musician from Michigan and was there with the Seger/Stooges/MC-5's earliest beginnings. "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" opened with the coolest drum groove yet, and came out when the group was still called The Bob Seger System. I met and talked to Bob in a music store in Ann Arbor when I was 13 years old. I was so nervous. Then when we saw the MC-5 and the Stooges live, everything changed. In five years we went from "I Want To Hold Your Hand to "I Wanna Be Your Dog". And that MC-5 debut album is still at the top of the list for the best and most aggressive, raw energy live albums of all time. Growing up in that Detroit rock scene was amazing. Come on! "Let me be who I am... And let me kick out the jams".
Rich Nisbet
____________________________________
Bob: Sad that "Back in '72" LP by Bob Seger remains unavailable. Apparently, Bo and Punch Andrews were unhappy about its recording in Muscle Shoals. That there's a buzz on the LP which I never have been able to find. I still have my worn beat-up vinyl version. Seger played away from Detroit often early U.S. touring with Bachman-Turner Overdrive but I saw him earlier opening for Dr. Hook in London, Ontario and he was a known mythical figure to music fans in Ontario. He already had had a regional major hit with "Noah" in Toronto and Hamilton. And betcha didn't know that "Night Moves" was recorded in Toronto at Nimbus 9 Studio with mostly Toronto musicians and produced by the Guess Who's producer Jack Richardson. Bob Seger, a Toronto boy. Oh hell yes. Larry LeBlanc
____________________________________
Thanks for writing about Bob. I love that man… a great person, authentic and generally under-rated (he's an anti-hero). Bob was the first artist I dug my teeth into when I appointed head of publicity at Capitol just prior to Live Bullet.
I was so taken by him and the music that I begged him to 'just give me the next year of your life'. He did and I wrote my first impassioned Dear Journalist letter to the entire mailing list telling his story and casting him as America's All-American Rock Hero. Well it worked thanks to partnering on the quest with Ray Tusken who was the head of AOR promotion.
A year later Newsweek did a two page double truck centerfold feature on Bob using that same phrase. The photo was of Bob seated on an old couch with his dog Boris. I sent a mailgram addressed to Boris Seger that read, 'Dear Boris, good to see your picture in Newsweek. One question, who is the guy with the guitar?
Bob has held a well deserved place in my heart since then, wrote me into two songs on Stranger In Town and even dedicated a song to me in front of a sold-out arena crowd. Rock n Roll never forgets and Bob doesn't either
Bruce Garfield
____________________________________
Bob is a national treasure.
Joe Walsh
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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--
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Thank you,
Shaun Murphy
https://shaunmurphyband.com
____________________________________
In 1972 when I was in the band Spirit, Bob opened shows for us. Although "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" had already done well, he was still traveling in a camper van. After a gig in Florida, we all plied in his van and hit a couple of bars. What a great friendly guy grinding it out on the road. Bob Seeger is a guy you're happy to see have the kind of success he had in the 70's and 80's that allows him to go on the road when he wants to. I was told that when "Like a Rock" became a year after year commercial for Chevrolet, the road was no longer a necessity. If so, good for him. He deserved it.
Al Staehely
____________________________________
Bob, your summary about Seger and your mom jumbled this memory loose in my head:
I once had a free tickets to see Seger at the Palace of Auburn Hills about 5 or 10 years ago. I called my mom, asked her if she wanted to go. She declined. "I already saw him." What? When!
She replied, with no hint of irony, "He played at my eighth grade graduation in the school gym."
Leave it to moms…
Mike Vial
____________________________________
Bob Seger was the first person I saw live on stage. December 9, 1974, my first rock concert at the Capital Centre in Largo, MD in the DC suburbs: Bachman-Turner Overdrive was the headliner, with Blue Oyster Cult as the middle act. The opener? Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. I didn't know any of his music except for Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, but I remembered the name and when Live Bullet came out in Spring 1976 I bought it as well as the follow-up Night Moves in Fall 1976. I have been a fan ever since. I have Live Bullet on my Sonos system now; it's still one of the best live albums!
Carl Nelson
Columbia (moved from Ellicott City), MD
____________________________________
Rambling Gamblin Man: my fave in 5th grade.
- Bruce Gow
____________________________________
The idea to meld Travelling Man and Beautiful Loser in live shows was his drummer's, Charlie Martin. They fit like a glove!
Great read.
- Dante Canil, Victoria, Canada
____________________________________
Great take on this, Bob. I sub for the regular guitarist in a Creedence/Seger tribute band occasionally and Travelin' Man/ Beautiful Loser is my favorite part of the show. All these years later, it still fires up an audience.
Michael Gregory
____________________________________
Hey Bob, I was in a band named Medusa that played a lot of clubs in Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit in the late 60's. We opened for Bob Seger Friday nights at the Sugar Shack in Columbus. It was Bob Seger and the Last Heard and they had a 45 single which was really popular on the OSU campus. You can hear the lyrical and delivery influences of Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues, with a Bo Diddley beat and a Ted Nugent/ Amboy Dukes pschedelic lead guitar. This song made me a Seger fan. XO, Shy Hood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEu5kTAvuFI
John Gunn
____________________________________
I was never a huge fan, but give me Seger over Bruce for "heartland rock" anytime. Even "Like A Rock" is a pretty good song, even though the commercial killed it. P.S. Fun fact – Seger played percussion on the last track of the last MC5 album, High Time!
Jeremy Shatan
____________________________________
Yes, the early seventies was a lonely time for those of us who were rabid fans of groups like Raspberries. Loved them even when I knew no one else except my siblings who felt the same way. Saw them with 150 others in August of '74 at the Municipal auditorium in Atlanta, a few months before they broke up. Didn't think to talk with those sitting around us about the group, they were strangers and really, there was no real opportunity to do so. Fast forward to their reunion tour 30 years later. We fans met online, became friends and by the time the concert series started, we entered the venues as validated co-fans. We validated each other - the loneliness was gone. A totally different experience.
David Thomson
____________________________________
Thank you for writing about Bob Seger, one of the great bar-band rock-&-rollers of all time. Some people did know about Leonard Cohen's book, "Beautiful Losers" when Seger's song came out. The book had been out for a decade, and another piece of music that arose from that book was Buffy Sainte-Marie's "God is alive, Magic is Afoot," on her 1969 Illuminations album, which I still have. That song was one of the most haunting of the late sixties, and takes its lyric from the final stream of consciousness chapter in "Beautiful Losers." Great artistic contributions, the songs and the book. Artists were artists in those days, and Leonard one of the greatest, inspiring so many others.
Rex Weyler
Mansons Landing, BC, Canada
____________________________________
I am a musician from Michigan and was there with the Seger/Stooges/MC-5's earliest beginnings. "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" opened with the coolest drum groove yet, and came out when the group was still called The Bob Seger System. I met and talked to Bob in a music store in Ann Arbor when I was 13 years old. I was so nervous. Then when we saw the MC-5 and the Stooges live, everything changed. In five years we went from "I Want To Hold Your Hand to "I Wanna Be Your Dog". And that MC-5 debut album is still at the top of the list for the best and most aggressive, raw energy live albums of all time. Growing up in that Detroit rock scene was amazing. Come on! "Let me be who I am... And let me kick out the jams".
Rich Nisbet
____________________________________
Bob: Sad that "Back in '72" LP by Bob Seger remains unavailable. Apparently, Bo and Punch Andrews were unhappy about its recording in Muscle Shoals. That there's a buzz on the LP which I never have been able to find. I still have my worn beat-up vinyl version. Seger played away from Detroit often early U.S. touring with Bachman-Turner Overdrive but I saw him earlier opening for Dr. Hook in London, Ontario and he was a known mythical figure to music fans in Ontario. He already had had a regional major hit with "Noah" in Toronto and Hamilton. And betcha didn't know that "Night Moves" was recorded in Toronto at Nimbus 9 Studio with mostly Toronto musicians and produced by the Guess Who's producer Jack Richardson. Bob Seger, a Toronto boy. Oh hell yes. Larry LeBlanc
____________________________________
Thanks for writing about Bob. I love that man… a great person, authentic and generally under-rated (he's an anti-hero). Bob was the first artist I dug my teeth into when I appointed head of publicity at Capitol just prior to Live Bullet.
I was so taken by him and the music that I begged him to 'just give me the next year of your life'. He did and I wrote my first impassioned Dear Journalist letter to the entire mailing list telling his story and casting him as America's All-American Rock Hero. Well it worked thanks to partnering on the quest with Ray Tusken who was the head of AOR promotion.
A year later Newsweek did a two page double truck centerfold feature on Bob using that same phrase. The photo was of Bob seated on an old couch with his dog Boris. I sent a mailgram addressed to Boris Seger that read, 'Dear Boris, good to see your picture in Newsweek. One question, who is the guy with the guitar?
Bob has held a well deserved place in my heart since then, wrote me into two songs on Stranger In Town and even dedicated a song to me in front of a sold-out arena crowd. Rock n Roll never forgets and Bob doesn't either
Bruce Garfield
____________________________________
Bob is a national treasure.
Joe Walsh
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser
"Up with the sun, gone with the wind
She always said I was lazy"
Actually that's what my mother told me again and again, even after I was out of the house. I had to go to therapy to be set straight, the shrink said I was working ALL THE TIME! It just wasn't the kind of work my mother respected, of which there were two kinds, that which made a ton of money and that which you did with your hands. Her father came from Russia and worked in a tannery in Peabody, Mass. She'd belittle me to the point where I thought I should be one of those sign-twirlers, in front of a shop on Westwood and Olympic, or step up and work at McDonald's. Funny how the mores have changed. Today parents say how great their kids are, to not only their friends but to the kids themselves. My parents never bragged on us, they just kept comparing us unfavorably to other kids in the neighborhood.
That could have been a reason I retreated into music. Music used to be a private world. When albums took hold in the late sixties the music set you free, and you went to the concert to have a peak experience hearing the songs you knew by heart. There were no selfies, no way to communicate with others via social media. You were all alone. And honestly, today's world is so much better, you can find like-minded people, you don't have to be lonely, but the business isn't about making and releasing the same kind of music, deep cuts that touched your soul. They didn't have to be hits, they didn't have to cross over to Top Forty radio, but we all knew them. Especially as FM rock exploded in the early seventies.
Bob Seger was a journeyman. Detroit was its own scene, kind of like Austin and the Red Dirt circuit in Texas today. Lauded there, oftentimes unknown and not understood elsewhere. Iggy was on TV once in a televised concert in the late summer of 1970, but he was far from an icon. And the MC5 never broke through. And we knew Bob Seger had had regional hits, but they never got to our region.
The first Bob Seger album I bought is unavailable today, "Back in '72." It's really great, it contains the original, studio version of "Turn the Page," which is now considered a Metallica song. Then again, the original was released fifty years ago. But it had its moment, when it was released in 1976 as part of "'Live' Bullet."
Used to be live albums could break you. Classic case being Peter Frampton, who was known, but unknown. Ditto with Seger. But "'Live' Bullet" made him a star, paving the way for the following "Night Moves," and the subsequent "Hollywood Nights." Seger was everywhere, to the point where you burned out on him, especially when he moved on to ballads, but once upon a time he was a fighter from outside Hollywood, paving his own way, doing it his own way.
So Bob had shifted from Capitol to Warner Brothers, which released "Back in '72," and then back to Capitol. Which was kind of like leaving the Rams to go back to the Jets. From the best to the worst. Then again, RCA was pretty bad too, and MCA was nothing to champion. Capitol had the Beatles, and the Band, and Grand Funk Railroad. But Warner Brothers had Neil Young, James Taylor and everybody else.
So Bob went back to Capitol and released the album "Beautiful Loser" in the spring of '75, and the title track got airplay, you heard Bob Seger on FM radio, which was a novelty. Not that you heard him frequently, and everywhere, but if you were an FM fan, if you were glued to the rock station, you were aware of "Beautiful Loser." Which was somehow smoother than what had come before, somehow a part of the rock canon at the time.
But most people didn't know "Beautiful Loser" until it was paired with "Travelin' Man" on "'Live' Bullet." That was the album's highlight. The first side of the two record set began with a cover of "Nutbush City Limits," and then came "Travelin' Man," which was also on the "Beautiful Loser" album, along with the original "Katmandu," But the studio version of "Travelin' Man" was made to be listened to in your bedroom, quiet and meaningful, whereas the version on "'Live' Bullet" was faster, Seger was not worried about singing it right into the mic in the studio, it was just pure passion, from inside, it was purely him, unfiltered, honest, relatable, hard to resist, especially as it gained momentum, as the rest of the band kicked in and it rollicked down the highway. And "Travelin' Man" goes on for four minutes and forty seconds, typical length for an album track back then, but instead of ending, it didn't fade, it continued full bore and then there was a change, quietude returned, there's an organ and Bob starts to sing...
"He wants to dream like a young man
With the wisdom of an old man
He wants his home and security
He wants to live like a sailor at sea"
All these years later Wikipedia tells us that Seger was inspired by a Leonard Cohen book, but we did not know that back then. We took it at face value. It spoke to us at a moment of transition. The boomers were in their twenties, it was a time of reckoning, how were you gonna make money, how were you gonna live, were you gonna go straight and sell out, or continue on the sixties path.
"A perfect lodger, a perfect guest"
You could no longer couch surf. Your buddies were married, they didn't want you hanging out, and looked down upon you to boot.
And in truth, many boomers got left behind. Especially when the physical jobs dried up and you couldn't support your family without a "career." We didn't need it all, but in many cases we needed more than we got. Life has become harder than it was in the seventies, rawer, more competitive, you can fall through the cracks easily, the suicide rate is out of control. Especially for boomers with too many health problems and not enough money.
Now back when Seger broke big, rock stars were still rock stars. With all the accoutrements...sex, dope and enough money to live like a king. Doors were open, you had more power than politicians, you were a god, and you went on the road both to experience the perks and reach the audience, getting love from the stage that no one who hasn't been on the boards can fathom.
And maybe you got married early. But that first marriage went by the wayside when you went on the road.
And many delayed marriage until they'd been with so many women they knew a relationship was more than physical.
But you still went on the road. That was your job. And that's one thing that's come back, after the MTV era, after the Spotify breakthrough, there are Top Forty stars, but there are even more journeymen (and women), traveling this great country of ours delivering the music to the fans who need it to survive.
But one thing is for sure, you're not living the life of an average citizen, you see you're a travelin' man. You see people, and you never see them again. Or your good friends are concert promoters, who you see once a year. You're living in an alternative universe. Don't confuse this with being on the other side of the music industry fence, being a business person, working at the label, musicians are a separate breed, outside of society, oftentimes a closed society, because the rest of the public doesn't get it. You work at night, you sleep late. And the cycle is so rough, the tours so long, that you need drugs to cope, and sometimes you take too many and...
And decades later, you look back.
So you can go down the road less taken, but it only works if you never look back, if you throw away the safety net. And your endeavor may not pay off for decades, if at all. And what you end up with is different from your brethren, the people you grew up with, those in your community. You see your life is one of experiences. Those make up your life. It's your own movie, no one else can really see it, but it's a blockbuster.
"Sometimes at night, I see their faces
I feel the traces they've left on my soul
Those are the memories that make me a wealthy soul
Those are the memories that make me a wealthy soul"
https://spoti.fi/3raiKjZ
She always said I was lazy"
Actually that's what my mother told me again and again, even after I was out of the house. I had to go to therapy to be set straight, the shrink said I was working ALL THE TIME! It just wasn't the kind of work my mother respected, of which there were two kinds, that which made a ton of money and that which you did with your hands. Her father came from Russia and worked in a tannery in Peabody, Mass. She'd belittle me to the point where I thought I should be one of those sign-twirlers, in front of a shop on Westwood and Olympic, or step up and work at McDonald's. Funny how the mores have changed. Today parents say how great their kids are, to not only their friends but to the kids themselves. My parents never bragged on us, they just kept comparing us unfavorably to other kids in the neighborhood.
That could have been a reason I retreated into music. Music used to be a private world. When albums took hold in the late sixties the music set you free, and you went to the concert to have a peak experience hearing the songs you knew by heart. There were no selfies, no way to communicate with others via social media. You were all alone. And honestly, today's world is so much better, you can find like-minded people, you don't have to be lonely, but the business isn't about making and releasing the same kind of music, deep cuts that touched your soul. They didn't have to be hits, they didn't have to cross over to Top Forty radio, but we all knew them. Especially as FM rock exploded in the early seventies.
Bob Seger was a journeyman. Detroit was its own scene, kind of like Austin and the Red Dirt circuit in Texas today. Lauded there, oftentimes unknown and not understood elsewhere. Iggy was on TV once in a televised concert in the late summer of 1970, but he was far from an icon. And the MC5 never broke through. And we knew Bob Seger had had regional hits, but they never got to our region.
The first Bob Seger album I bought is unavailable today, "Back in '72." It's really great, it contains the original, studio version of "Turn the Page," which is now considered a Metallica song. Then again, the original was released fifty years ago. But it had its moment, when it was released in 1976 as part of "'Live' Bullet."
Used to be live albums could break you. Classic case being Peter Frampton, who was known, but unknown. Ditto with Seger. But "'Live' Bullet" made him a star, paving the way for the following "Night Moves," and the subsequent "Hollywood Nights." Seger was everywhere, to the point where you burned out on him, especially when he moved on to ballads, but once upon a time he was a fighter from outside Hollywood, paving his own way, doing it his own way.
So Bob had shifted from Capitol to Warner Brothers, which released "Back in '72," and then back to Capitol. Which was kind of like leaving the Rams to go back to the Jets. From the best to the worst. Then again, RCA was pretty bad too, and MCA was nothing to champion. Capitol had the Beatles, and the Band, and Grand Funk Railroad. But Warner Brothers had Neil Young, James Taylor and everybody else.
So Bob went back to Capitol and released the album "Beautiful Loser" in the spring of '75, and the title track got airplay, you heard Bob Seger on FM radio, which was a novelty. Not that you heard him frequently, and everywhere, but if you were an FM fan, if you were glued to the rock station, you were aware of "Beautiful Loser." Which was somehow smoother than what had come before, somehow a part of the rock canon at the time.
But most people didn't know "Beautiful Loser" until it was paired with "Travelin' Man" on "'Live' Bullet." That was the album's highlight. The first side of the two record set began with a cover of "Nutbush City Limits," and then came "Travelin' Man," which was also on the "Beautiful Loser" album, along with the original "Katmandu," But the studio version of "Travelin' Man" was made to be listened to in your bedroom, quiet and meaningful, whereas the version on "'Live' Bullet" was faster, Seger was not worried about singing it right into the mic in the studio, it was just pure passion, from inside, it was purely him, unfiltered, honest, relatable, hard to resist, especially as it gained momentum, as the rest of the band kicked in and it rollicked down the highway. And "Travelin' Man" goes on for four minutes and forty seconds, typical length for an album track back then, but instead of ending, it didn't fade, it continued full bore and then there was a change, quietude returned, there's an organ and Bob starts to sing...
"He wants to dream like a young man
With the wisdom of an old man
He wants his home and security
He wants to live like a sailor at sea"
All these years later Wikipedia tells us that Seger was inspired by a Leonard Cohen book, but we did not know that back then. We took it at face value. It spoke to us at a moment of transition. The boomers were in their twenties, it was a time of reckoning, how were you gonna make money, how were you gonna live, were you gonna go straight and sell out, or continue on the sixties path.
"A perfect lodger, a perfect guest"
You could no longer couch surf. Your buddies were married, they didn't want you hanging out, and looked down upon you to boot.
And in truth, many boomers got left behind. Especially when the physical jobs dried up and you couldn't support your family without a "career." We didn't need it all, but in many cases we needed more than we got. Life has become harder than it was in the seventies, rawer, more competitive, you can fall through the cracks easily, the suicide rate is out of control. Especially for boomers with too many health problems and not enough money.
Now back when Seger broke big, rock stars were still rock stars. With all the accoutrements...sex, dope and enough money to live like a king. Doors were open, you had more power than politicians, you were a god, and you went on the road both to experience the perks and reach the audience, getting love from the stage that no one who hasn't been on the boards can fathom.
And maybe you got married early. But that first marriage went by the wayside when you went on the road.
And many delayed marriage until they'd been with so many women they knew a relationship was more than physical.
But you still went on the road. That was your job. And that's one thing that's come back, after the MTV era, after the Spotify breakthrough, there are Top Forty stars, but there are even more journeymen (and women), traveling this great country of ours delivering the music to the fans who need it to survive.
But one thing is for sure, you're not living the life of an average citizen, you see you're a travelin' man. You see people, and you never see them again. Or your good friends are concert promoters, who you see once a year. You're living in an alternative universe. Don't confuse this with being on the other side of the music industry fence, being a business person, working at the label, musicians are a separate breed, outside of society, oftentimes a closed society, because the rest of the public doesn't get it. You work at night, you sleep late. And the cycle is so rough, the tours so long, that you need drugs to cope, and sometimes you take too many and...
And decades later, you look back.
So you can go down the road less taken, but it only works if you never look back, if you throw away the safety net. And your endeavor may not pay off for decades, if at all. And what you end up with is different from your brethren, the people you grew up with, those in your community. You see your life is one of experiences. Those make up your life. It's your own movie, no one else can really see it, but it's a blockbuster.
"Sometimes at night, I see their faces
I feel the traces they've left on my soul
Those are the memories that make me a wealthy soul
Those are the memories that make me a wealthy soul"
https://spoti.fi/3raiKjZ
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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Monday 28 March 2022
Singing Drummers-This Week On SiriusXM
Tune in tomorrow, March 29th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive
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If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive
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Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive
Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive
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Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
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Sunday 27 March 2022
Book Recs
I feel kinda weird writing during the Oscars. People are e-mailing me and I've got a bit of FOMO, but not enough to turn on the show. Tomorrow it will be history, and what I missed today won't matter. Even worse, nothing seems to matter to everybody these days. Although that's a great Bonnie Raitt song, from "Give It Up, her best album, until decades later "Luck of the Draw" came along to eclipse it. Even more amazing, "Nothing Seems to Matter" was written by Bonnie, a rare event. It's the second song on the first side, which is the one with the "hits," but I always played the second side more, for a long time, until the aforementioned "Luck of the Draw," "Too Long at the Fair" was my favorite Bonnie Raitt song, albeit written by Joel Zoss. And the second side ends with Bonnie's version of "Love Has No Pride," before it became a standard when done by Linda Ronstadt, albeit years after it was released in '73. But after "Too Long at the Fair" comes a rollicking version of Jackson Browne's "Under the Falling Sky," which is different from the original on Jackson's debut, but nearly as memorable. And then comes the Sippie Wallace/Jack Viertel "You Got to Know How," which I never loved, but then comes "You Told Me Baby," also written by Raitt, just before the aforementioned closer, "Love Has No Pride." And on a good system you can hear the tape hiss, when records were recorded analog and it was more important to get the emotion right than be perfect, mistakes were left in, because after all it's a performance, if you try to get it exactly right you oftentimes excise the soul. And Bonnie was still relatively unknown, a college favorite, but if you don't fall in love with her after hearing "Nothing Seems to Matter" and "You Told Me Baby," you don't want to let go. And after they gave up trying to steer Bonnie on to the hit parade, she wrote another killer, with her now ex-husband, "One Part Be My Lover," which I loved, but today it's the title cut of "Luck of the Draw" that resonates. I'll make it very simple:
"These things we do to keep the flame burnin'
And write our fire in the sky"
That's the L.A. story, hanging in there, waiting for your big break, which may never come. And Paul Brady wrote "Luck of the Draw," I was just talking to Dann Huff about him, he's one of the greats, and I don't think I sold the Dann Huff podcast heavily enough, he's so honest, you'll not only learn so much, you'll get a feel for the unpredictable roadmap of a musician.
But this is about books.
The most eagerly anticipated book of the year was "To Paradise," by Hanya Yanagihara. You know if you have to read it. Not that I can recommend it. You see Yanagihara's previous book, "A Little Life," was a slow burner, as in it took a while for the public to adopt it. We're so used to being driven by the hype, but it's the stuff that doesn't jump out of the box that truly ends up reaching and touching us. And it took at least a year for all the recommendations to reach me, because on the surface "A Little Life" is not appealing, but it's an adventure you can't get anywhere else. But you've got to be able to accept negativity and loss. Which reflects life. People tell me they want nothing negative, they want more shows like "Ted Lasso," but that's a fantasy, real life is grittier, that's what truly resonates and lasts, like "A Little Life." "To Paradise" is split into three sections, and the end of the first is fantastic, but then the scene changes. People like the second section, but I prefer the third, set in a climate-affected future. You read and you can feel what it might be like. But if you're at all intrigued, start with "A Little Life." And if you want to know more about Yanagihara, read the profile in "The New Yorker": https://bit.ly/3IJG51C She's not part of the New York literary scene, the book business. Which is a controlled cabal with its own judgments. Her day job is running "T Magazine" for "The New York Times," and she reflects how they can't fire her, because of her ethnicity, because she's a woman. And this self-knowledge is sprinkled throughout, Yanagihara knows she's not beautiful, most of us are not, but in a world where everybody is b.s.'ing 24/7 it's refreshing to encounter honesty.
Anyway, one book you need to read is "American Dirt," by Jeanine Cummins. I know, you couldn't read it after the controversy, but that was years ago. Yes, after being anointed by Oprah, the politically correct police came down on the book because it's about the Mexican experience and Cummins is not Mexican. But the book is so good! Doesn't that trump everything? And no one is preventing someone of Mexican heritage from writing a book about this experience, it's not like the doors are closed. I mean would I be bothered if a non-Jew wrote a great Holocaust book? Absolutely not, greatness trumps everything. And Cummins has Latina heritage, and despite the blowback it turns out you still can't get "American Dirt" from the library, it took me months, I reserved it on a whim. And this book is UNPUTDOWNABLE! I can't say I love the style of writing, but it doesn't interfere with the plot, the experience. Actually, Don Winslow wrote about "La Bestia," the train migrants ride atop, in his book "The Border," and Winslow is a better, more gripping writer than Cummins, but Cummins's book rings more true. At first you're hooked by "American Dirt," then you can put it down, but about thirty five percent along...you'll stay up all night reading it, to finish it. I started at 5 PM and finished at 11 and was happy about the whole experience, I guarantee it's better than the Oscars, fiction is always better than fact, it's more truthful.
And the other book I want to recommend is "Mercy Street," by Jennifer Haigh. Haigh is the opposite of Yanagihara, in that she went to the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and too much of the output of the graduates of that school is mannered, overwritten, focused on words more than plot. That's what passes for "literature" today. Where to me, it's all about a great story, it trumps the writing, all the time. But having said that, I was stunned by some of the mistakes in the book, there were just too many, I had to go back to the beginning to see who the publisher was, turns out it's Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, a first rate operation, but "Mercy Street" definitely needed one more proofread. The cop is driving a Charger and then moments later he's in a Tahoe. I expect these inconsistencies in rock biographies, but not in top level fiction. And I started reading "Mercy Street" and got immediately hooked, Haigh can write, the characters come alive, you're taken immediately out of everyday life, you're right there in the story, a great escape. And you think the book is about Claudia, but then it switches and there are other major characters and you think it's becoming predictable, but ultimately it's not, not that it's completely satisfying. The ride is really good, the feelings engendered, it's just that the story ultimately is not as innovative as you want it to be, but having said that I spent five hours finishing it last night, I wanted to know what happened, but also I was enjoying the ride.
Would I have enjoyed the Oscar ride?
Have you caught the negative blowback? It's everywhere. You know you've got a problem when the press has declared you dead and you're unaware of it. There's the "Los Angeles Magazine" article everybody's been e-mailing me, and that story in the WaPo saying the ceremony should be on Netflix, which I agree with, and have said previously. It's just that the world moved and the Oscars did not, kind of like rock.
Then again, is Bonnie Raitt rock? She's got a new album coming...the hype is beginning, it was in this week's "Pollstar."
But one thing is for sure, we're looking for peak experiences. And when we have them we tell everybody about them. Which I'm doing now. Check 'em out.
Bonnie Raitt Spotify Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3Ln9sbE
"A Little Life": https://amzn.to/3LhynO3
"To Paradise": https://amzn.to/3LikW0e
"American Dirt": https://amzn.to/3Nrp8wI
"Mercy Street": https://amzn.to/3DeJXqe
"Are the Oscars Over?": https://bit.ly/387WEb1
"The Oscars are niche entertainment now. Just let Netflix stream them.": https://wapo.st/3tK1nIh
"These things we do to keep the flame burnin'
And write our fire in the sky"
That's the L.A. story, hanging in there, waiting for your big break, which may never come. And Paul Brady wrote "Luck of the Draw," I was just talking to Dann Huff about him, he's one of the greats, and I don't think I sold the Dann Huff podcast heavily enough, he's so honest, you'll not only learn so much, you'll get a feel for the unpredictable roadmap of a musician.
But this is about books.
The most eagerly anticipated book of the year was "To Paradise," by Hanya Yanagihara. You know if you have to read it. Not that I can recommend it. You see Yanagihara's previous book, "A Little Life," was a slow burner, as in it took a while for the public to adopt it. We're so used to being driven by the hype, but it's the stuff that doesn't jump out of the box that truly ends up reaching and touching us. And it took at least a year for all the recommendations to reach me, because on the surface "A Little Life" is not appealing, but it's an adventure you can't get anywhere else. But you've got to be able to accept negativity and loss. Which reflects life. People tell me they want nothing negative, they want more shows like "Ted Lasso," but that's a fantasy, real life is grittier, that's what truly resonates and lasts, like "A Little Life." "To Paradise" is split into three sections, and the end of the first is fantastic, but then the scene changes. People like the second section, but I prefer the third, set in a climate-affected future. You read and you can feel what it might be like. But if you're at all intrigued, start with "A Little Life." And if you want to know more about Yanagihara, read the profile in "The New Yorker": https://bit.ly/3IJG51C She's not part of the New York literary scene, the book business. Which is a controlled cabal with its own judgments. Her day job is running "T Magazine" for "The New York Times," and she reflects how they can't fire her, because of her ethnicity, because she's a woman. And this self-knowledge is sprinkled throughout, Yanagihara knows she's not beautiful, most of us are not, but in a world where everybody is b.s.'ing 24/7 it's refreshing to encounter honesty.
Anyway, one book you need to read is "American Dirt," by Jeanine Cummins. I know, you couldn't read it after the controversy, but that was years ago. Yes, after being anointed by Oprah, the politically correct police came down on the book because it's about the Mexican experience and Cummins is not Mexican. But the book is so good! Doesn't that trump everything? And no one is preventing someone of Mexican heritage from writing a book about this experience, it's not like the doors are closed. I mean would I be bothered if a non-Jew wrote a great Holocaust book? Absolutely not, greatness trumps everything. And Cummins has Latina heritage, and despite the blowback it turns out you still can't get "American Dirt" from the library, it took me months, I reserved it on a whim. And this book is UNPUTDOWNABLE! I can't say I love the style of writing, but it doesn't interfere with the plot, the experience. Actually, Don Winslow wrote about "La Bestia," the train migrants ride atop, in his book "The Border," and Winslow is a better, more gripping writer than Cummins, but Cummins's book rings more true. At first you're hooked by "American Dirt," then you can put it down, but about thirty five percent along...you'll stay up all night reading it, to finish it. I started at 5 PM and finished at 11 and was happy about the whole experience, I guarantee it's better than the Oscars, fiction is always better than fact, it's more truthful.
And the other book I want to recommend is "Mercy Street," by Jennifer Haigh. Haigh is the opposite of Yanagihara, in that she went to the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and too much of the output of the graduates of that school is mannered, overwritten, focused on words more than plot. That's what passes for "literature" today. Where to me, it's all about a great story, it trumps the writing, all the time. But having said that, I was stunned by some of the mistakes in the book, there were just too many, I had to go back to the beginning to see who the publisher was, turns out it's Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, a first rate operation, but "Mercy Street" definitely needed one more proofread. The cop is driving a Charger and then moments later he's in a Tahoe. I expect these inconsistencies in rock biographies, but not in top level fiction. And I started reading "Mercy Street" and got immediately hooked, Haigh can write, the characters come alive, you're taken immediately out of everyday life, you're right there in the story, a great escape. And you think the book is about Claudia, but then it switches and there are other major characters and you think it's becoming predictable, but ultimately it's not, not that it's completely satisfying. The ride is really good, the feelings engendered, it's just that the story ultimately is not as innovative as you want it to be, but having said that I spent five hours finishing it last night, I wanted to know what happened, but also I was enjoying the ride.
Would I have enjoyed the Oscar ride?
Have you caught the negative blowback? It's everywhere. You know you've got a problem when the press has declared you dead and you're unaware of it. There's the "Los Angeles Magazine" article everybody's been e-mailing me, and that story in the WaPo saying the ceremony should be on Netflix, which I agree with, and have said previously. It's just that the world moved and the Oscars did not, kind of like rock.
Then again, is Bonnie Raitt rock? She's got a new album coming...the hype is beginning, it was in this week's "Pollstar."
But one thing is for sure, we're looking for peak experiences. And when we have them we tell everybody about them. Which I'm doing now. Check 'em out.
Bonnie Raitt Spotify Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3Ln9sbE
"A Little Life": https://amzn.to/3LhynO3
"To Paradise": https://amzn.to/3LikW0e
"American Dirt": https://amzn.to/3Nrp8wI
"Mercy Street": https://amzn.to/3DeJXqe
"Are the Oscars Over?": https://bit.ly/387WEb1
"The Oscars are niche entertainment now. Just let Netflix stream them.": https://wapo.st/3tK1nIh
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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