Mailbag

Subject: Re: Ed Sheeran

He's playing all stadiums - no arenas - theatres shows for the new record for super fans

Marc Gentilella

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Subject: Re: Ed Sheeran

I first heard about Ed Sheeran from your article about him and "Lego House" . . . loved it and have been playing his music when i perform for years.

I teach Music to young students and when Ed Sheeran first came out I had multiple students want to learn many of his songs

I haven't had a student ask to learn one of his songs in at least 1 1/2 years

I didn't even know he had a new album out and I am someone who listens to new music more than old and goes to concerts regularly like last nights M83 in Oakland

… maybe we're all just saturated with Ed and not looking for more

Same exact thing happening with Taylor

Alec Fuhrman

PS -student DO want to learn Morgan songs

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Subject: Re: Hey Kids

At least 2 of the 3 majors have these sped up accounts (probably all 3 do). They are just compiling alternative versions of songs (ie remixes). We're 45+ years into remixes since disco/extended mixes started and even further into compilations.

As far as the plays on "Hey Kids" goes, songs have always had purpose. Generations have always used music to express their feelings, soundtrack their experiences, and become attached to moments. When you see a song in socials or UGC used to help express a feeling, and you relate to it, it's contagious and you want to participate. If the song is great, it sticks around beyond that. Songs/artists that would have never gotten video play, nor retail shelf space, are being discovered every day. We should celebrate this.

This has been a fundamental change in music. It's a shift from idolization in official music videos (though they will always be important to superfans), and to a more personal, sometimes narcissistic, but often earnest way to communicate something. We're not going back and we'll even likely go further into personalization. Whether by official release, crowd sourced edits, or AI, there will be endless versions of every great song and even more visuals that accompany them. And like always, incumbents will push back against change but the public will demand it. Eventually we will get some version of what the fans want across the line. History will tell you that the sooner this is accepted and friction is removed, the better for all.

Mike Caren
www.Artistpg.com

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From: Jim Guerinot
Subject: Fred Rosen

I had a good fortune of coming out of college and working directly with Steve Rennie, Brian Murphy, Terry Bassett, and Bob Geddes. I was hired for $250 a week to be available to help during the four Springsteen Coliseum shows. I was able to witness firsthand Ticketmaster versus Ticketron battle and trust me, everything Fred stated is 100% true. TM crushed Ticketron

When I began managing the Offspring in 1994 they did a $10 ticket across the board and of course service fees were an issue. What Fred said about him working with him if they called him is also true... I believe we got service fees as low as a dollar in some instances it was never more than two dollars. Fred understood that we were building something and that we would both benefit in the long run if this band could grow their live business.

A lot was said during that time about Fred Rosen, but I never counted to be anything other than a straight shooter, completely blunt, and funnier than sh*t. Personally, this rates as my favorite Bob Lefsetz podcast of all time!

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From: Tony Hawk
Subject: Re: This Will Make You Miss Eddie Van Halen

Bob!

Thanks for highlighting Eddie's effortless genius, and for pointing me towards Luke Combs via his brilliant "Fast Car" rendition. I had that exact visceral reaction when I heard it; I wasn't paying attention and suddenly I was enthralled. Tracy Chapman deserves all the newfound attention and accolades, akin to Kate Bush with her resurgence from Stranger Things.

Fun fact: I had the honor of shooting photos with Herb Ritts the day after he shot Tracy for her album Crossroads in 1989. The first prints from their shoot were laying on his studio floor as I was trying to skate his cyclorama (curved wall) in an attempt to get warmed up. My board got away from me on the first go and rolled across the TC prints on the other side of the room, leaving wheel marks on two of them. His assistant (manager?) was very upset that I had damaged the studio wall AND defaced the Chapman pictures only minutes after arriving. He laughed it off and told me to pay no mind, then shot pictures of me skating (aka vandalizing) his studio walls shortly after. The pictures never got used - it was supposed to be for a GAP campaign but I guess I didn't make the cut - but it's one of my favorite memories from that era (even though I never saw the pics).

"And I-I had a feeling that I belonged, I-I had a feeling I could be someone." Indeed.

-Tony

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Subject: RE: This Will Make You Miss Eddie Van Halen

Hey Bob,

Thanks for turning us on to that! And yes, there will be guitar heroes again - in fact, I think John Mayer may even be one. But Eddie Van Halen was definitely sui generis.

First of all, as a technician, Eddie had few equals. As an innovator, he was ground-breaking. But the main thing for me was that he was all three things you rarely find together: technical skill, innovation, and a recognizable style. If you go back to the the beginning of the electric guitar, you find stylists: Les Paul was a stylist, as were Duane Eddy and Link Wray. Eddie definitely had a style all his own. If you listen, for example, to "Panama" and "Finish What Ya Started" back-to-back, you hear that although they are quite different songs, the guitar style is unmistakably the same. Part of Eddie's style was to build an all-encompassing guitar part that covered rhythm and lead at the same time. Pete Townsend had that, too, but I think he'd admit that he isn't as technically proficient as Eddie.

You're right - listening to him play both the synth and guitar parts on that Who classic definitely made me miss him.

Best,
John Boylan

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Subject: Re: Fast Car

Kudos to Combs for covering Tracy

His story is almost accurate. The James Gang did play a show on the night of the lunar landing in suburban Cleveland.

They opened for Led Zeppelin at a venue called Music Carnival…a tent with a rotating stage!

I saw several shows there back in the day including that one!

Alan Santos
Kapahi, HI

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From: Meredith Rutledge-Borger
Subject: Re: Fast Car

hey bob, I'm sure jim fox will check in with you on this, but the james gang was playing w/ led zeppelin the night we landed on the moon- jimmy tells a wonderful story of sitting with page watching the landing on a neighbor of musicarnival's portable TV. thanks for all you do! best,

meredith

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Subject: Re: Fast Car

I had an opportunity to get the Byrds publishing back for them back in the early 90's I think. They passed, and 2 months later Tom Petty cut and had a hit with one of their songs. Anything can happen….

Bill Siddons

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Subject: Re: Sleep Songs Addendum

You say everyone should own a certain Jackson Browne album.

Well, here's a further endorsement for it...

I was working in a record store and Bruce Springsteen came in to hang out for a while.

He said he was looking for a cassette to play in the car while he was driving around late at night.

He bought "Late for the Sky"

Marty Bender

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Subject: Re: Fox News Scandal

Hi Bob,

What you say about artists not recieving royalties from their record labels is a story I've been told many times over the years from the artists themselves. Two examples from long tenured major stars and labels come to mind When Merle Haggard moved from Capitol to Epic records, he rerecorded many of his hits. We did a network radio special together as a retrospective of his career. I was surprised when he told me in the interview that he had never received any royalties from Capitol.

Some years later I volunteered to.work in the production staff of a PBS radio taping. Talking with Roger McGuinn, I brought up the Byrds retrospective box set of their Columbia recordings which had just been released. Roger said that he didn't expect to see any money, as the label is still recouping expenses.
When friends who had a hit or two on small labels tell me the same story, I relate these examples. If iconic artists on major labels don't get paid, what chance did a little guy have?

Ed Salamon
Nashville, TN

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Subject: Re: Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot was extremely popular in Detroit and Michigan in the 70s. He received a huge amount of airplay on Canadian Top 40 powerhouse CKLW, which was required by law to play a certain percentage of Canadian artists. CKLW, of course, was located in Windsor, directly across the river/border from Detroit. So, when I ran the Michigan State University concert program back then, I had no hesitancy to book him in 1972 as a solo headliner in the MSU Auditorium—3800 seats. Of course he sold out. Day of the show, he pulled up to the stage door at the Auditorium in his station wagon by himself. After the perfunctory greetings, he grabbed his guitar and amp from the back of the car, carried them inside to a stool sitting on the stage and ran through his soundcheck. That was it. Just Gordon. Gotta say, we didn't really need much of a stage crew that night. Really good guy, a fabulous artist and a true gentleman.

Hugh Surratt

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From: Zachary Goode
Subject: Re: Don't Call It Love

You forgot to mention that Kim Carnes didn't write Bette Davis Eyes either.

Original version here:

https://youtu.be/FAQsOJbs-yo

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Subject: Re: Americanafest Pre-Grammy Salute to Lucinda Williams at the Troubadour

Hi Bob,

I met Lucinda Williams at a Tex-Mex place on Austin's main drag (Guerro's?) during SXSW maybe 25 years ago while eating breakfast. Either got down on my knees or kissed her hand or both. No one else like her. Pure poetry. Lou Reed once told me if you want to hide poetry put it in a rock 'n roll song because no one will look for it there. But I found it in Lucinda…

From Paris,
Elliott Murphy

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From: Perry Resnick
Subject: RE: The Diplomat

Funny you should mention it. Just last night my wife said "I want to watch The Diplomat". I said "but we finished it already". She said "I know, but I want another one". (We finished it several weeks ago.)

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From: John Brodey
Subject: Re: The Diplomat

Agreed, but in reality firefighting is also very slow. 80% boredom but the other 20% is a full on rush.

Like you I view these shows (if they are a drama, not Veep) and wonder how accurate they are in terms of the flow and the realities of the job. I was excited to have my sister Lisa check in on the show. She just retired from the State Dept. after 30 years (if you're a diplomat, the DoS requires you to retire at 65) she hung up her cleats after her final post in London as top tier level 3 rank (Ambassadors are 1, Ass't Amb are 2) She was in charge of environmental affairs with a staff of 50. I knew I'd get a reality check from her on the show.

She loved it. I said: really? Some of it seems like a stretch or off the mark. Not unlike the way we look at shows about the music biz with a yawn and 'this is not how it works'.

She said that it captures the high you get when you are busting moves and trying to get a coalition of countries to jump on board with your initiative. It's an adrenalin rush, you're going 100 mph. My sister is also a bit like our hero, more casual in a disarming way, which probably is her secret sauce outside of being really smart.

So I will be back in a year for sure. Meantime, what is the deal with sex scenes these days? Why is everyone f*cking standing up? When is the last time you could support the weight of a woman while being able to concentrate on the physics of sex. I love Felicity, she's not much on foreplay but then is true to her character in many ways.

Keri is so damn good, I'd watch her in anything.

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From: Ryan Brown
Subject: Re: Fast Car

it's also the second-most streamed song on the record eh! (relatively) neck and neck with #1.

anyway, Jerry Granelli played drums on the "Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack and got no royalties for years.

he was a (broke) free jazz guy and distanced himself from it. in the last decade of his life, he got it sorted out, got paid and re-embraced that music.
he put a trio together and toured it every November/December from 2016-2020 or something. i saw it. it was beautiful. i cried.

during the show, he told a story about how every year he'd hear the songs in restaurants, or the mall, and it would drive him nuts.

one December he was at the Halifax airport on a connecting flight from Berlin to Seattle, waiting at the baggage carousel. they were playing Christmas music.

"i heard it come on the speakers and i said to myself 'oh you've got to be f**king kidding me.'

and then i noticed this woman looking at me and how upset i was and she asked 'what's WRONG with you?'

and all i could do was stare at her and say:

'I'M NOT GETTING PAID!!!!!!'"

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From: Rich Madow
Subject: Re: Steve Martin Audiobook

Bob-

My daughter Michelle is a writer of young adult fantasy novels. She has sold close to three million books and she's just 36 years old. How? Well, besides being a fantastic writer, she fired her agent, got out of her publishing contract, went exclusive with Amazon, and took complete control of her marketing. That's the way to do it these days, but there's no way a superstar like Steve Martin would ever put that much effort in after the book is written or recorded.

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Subject: Re: Willie's 90th-Night Two

Hi Bob,

I was lucky enough to be at Willie's party on Sunday night and your review captures it perfectly.

This is not Pop Music.
This is the transcendental stuff that dreams are made of.

I am blessed to have worked with two of the artists on the show, Willie and Keith Richards.
I put together the band and played guitar on Willie's Countryman reggae album and helped to produce Keith's Wingless Angels Jamaican album.
If we are all 50% spirit and 50% dust, Willie and Keith are 80% spirit and 20% dust!!
They are not like us. They are ethereal figures.

On Countryman we did Johnny Cash's Worried Man which Johnny was very excited about when I saw him in Jamaica (where he spent a lot of time)
Probably the best part of spending a week with Willie recording in the studio was the killer stories.
My favorite was when he told me that he had to sell his private plane.
So I asked if he had sold it when he declared bankruptcy.
He said that he never sold it then, but had to sell it when every one of his pilots tested positive for THC (marijuana) from Willies second hand smoke!! The FAA banned all pilots from flying Willie, so he had to sell his plane!! What the FAA didnt realize is that Willie is always flying no matter where he is !! He is the personification of an Angel Flying Close to the Ground.

So to witness Willie and Keith together onstage was an iconic moment for me.

100 years from now when they look back at the geniuses of our time they will be talking about Willie the Godfather of Country Music, and Keith the King of Rock and Human Riff.

Long live Willie and Keith, they both helped us to see the world a little more clearly.

Native Wayne Jobson
Los Angeles

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Subject: Michael Leon

I wish I had told him but then it's too late. I'm not even sure he remembered who I was, but he was actually responsible for my career and my good fortune. Without him, I most likely would have ended up working in a hardware store in Cleveland. He lived across the street from my girlfriend at the time who became my wife (40 years now!). His mother was her grandmother's best friend. Michael was the older brother she never had. My girlfriend asked him to interview me for an internship at A&M. They didn't have any, but he never said no to her. He not only welcomed me into the coolest office I had ever been in overlooking the corner of 57th and Madison, but he offered to introduce me to his boss, Gil Friesen (who was also robbed from this earth way too early), who happened to be in NY from LA, to see if there were any internships available in LA. Gil invited me to visit the lot in LA. Behind those gates was the most magical musical fantasy land that only the lucky few new existed. Gil introduced me to Milt Olin, who became a lifelong friend, and another one ripped away too early. Gil wrote me the first check for a business he didn't understand or care about (a sports cable channel) because he thought I needed to pursue my passion and I had just had a baby and couldn't afford to leave my job. There was something special behind those gates and I was one of the lucky ones who got welcomed in thanks to Michael. I wish I had the opportunity to properly thank him. Now they are reunited behind some different gates, but can only imagine the music they are making.

Brian Bedol

PS: I never got an internship

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Subject: Re: Hysteria

The first time my band toured arenas was opening for Def Leppard. One night I had an amazing chat with Joe Elliott before playing a sold out Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
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Mostly we talked about Ian Hunter whom we both love. And the band Sweet. And of course Bowie. But then we talked about playing hits versus deep cuts and he said something that I've oft repeated since:
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"You have to play your hits. All of them. Every night. Those songs don't belong to you anymore, they belong to the fans. If you can't handle the responsibility of writing a hit song, then don't f**ing write one."
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That ten minute conversation has stuck with me for years. A little bit of that magical mysteria up close.
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Kurt Dahl

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From: Amanda Palmer
Subject: Re: Hannah Gadsby-Something Special

I got to see Hannah do "Nanette" in London at the tiny soho theater before it went stratospheric. I went in knowing nothing, zero.

You always talk about how Rock Is Dead, how politics and chefs and sports and whatever have taken over what rock Used to Be. This was that. It was punk f*cking rock in the truest sense. She stood there and dared you to laugh, to clap. It was GG Allin, it was Diamanda Galas, it was I AM DOING THIS AND GIVE NO F*CKS level sh*t. And it was well rehearsed. It was ART. And there was a collective sense from the stunned people leaving that theater feeling like we had just all been a part of something historic. I cannot tell you the last time I felt that watching someone playing music. Maybe then seeing Antony and the Johnsons back in 2003, and thinking: this is world-changing. Maybe seeing The Dirty Three in 2001. But I cannot think of a single music gig - ever - that left me with that sense of awe, and that feeling of holy I WAS THERE WHEN THAT HAPPENED.

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Subject: Disney/DeSantis

I'm a 55 year old gay man and in a little over a week I'm getting married to my partner of 11 years.

When I was in high school, I couldn't have dreamed at the idea of marrying another man. I wasn't even out of the closet until my 20s.

Yet here I am, writing my vows, working with a wedding planner, paying a caterer, a DJ, checking floor plans, the whole shebang. Our family, friends, neighbors and all will attend and it will be a celebration. If DeSantis had his way, not only would same sex marriage be illegal, he doesn't even want kids to be their authentic selves in school if they are gay or trans. In 2023 I find it fantastic that so many young kids know who they are, and are coming out of the closet at earlier ages. On the other hand in Florida people like DeSantis want them to go back and hide in the closet.

Good riddance to him.

Russ Turk

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From: Jed Davis
Subject: Re: Seymour Stein

Hi Bob -
Long-time reader (via your web archive), recent subscriber, sporadic replier. I worked with the Ramones for a while and lived with their Creative Director, Arturo Vega, in the loft on E 2nd Street that he had shared with Joey and Dee Dee Ramone in the '70s and '80s. It was known as the Ramones Loft - the band rehearsed there and printed t-shirts there to sell on their early tours (you probably knew that already). Arturo was one of the building's first tenants after it was converted from a plastic flower factory around 1970. I have no doubt that toxic residue from the plastic manufacturing had completely permeated that building. Arturo, Joey, Johnny and Tommy Ramone all succumbed to cancer at a way-too-early age; I lived in that apartment for five years and was ill the entire time. I'm now approaching the age those guys were when they got sick, and that is on my mind often. I'm quite certain that it wasn't the air in the van that poisoned them - it was the loft they came home to.

I hope that is illuminating in some way. Thank you for all your insight and these great daily reads -

Jed

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Subject: Re: Bud Light

I certainly think / hope this will pass but boy did A/B f*ck themselves hard on this saga.

I don't know which is worse, the idiots who thought it was a good idea, or the idiots who've boycotted Bud. Or the idiots who drink it in the first place and think it's actually good beer.

My venue / restaurant is hands down the number one seller of Bud Light and Bud in our distribution territory (aside from sports arenas) and has been since we opened. We plow through 150-200 cases a week of each brand on average. We sell so much of it that on the rare occasions when we run out, they will send a truck out specifically for us on a moment's notice.

For the first time ever we have no bud or bud light order this week, and there are over 50 cases of each in our walk-in. We cater to a very conservative demo so while it's disappointing, it's not surprising.

That being said, my business partners also own ten other stores, three of which are very high volume fun nightclubs, no Bud / Bud Light orders across their other stores either. We're in the burbs, but most of their other stores are all over downtown in one of the most liberal cities in one of the most liberal states, and cater to very politically diverse crowds.

Reminds me of one of my favorite Stern sound-drops from John Wayne "it's gettin' to be re-God Damned Diculous!"

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Subject: Re: Re-Max

The thing that a lot of people are forgetting is that when the head of a label or network gets fired a lot of the bands/brands that person championed get ignored by the new regime. Why? They are much more interested in being able to take credit for the success of a band- or brand- that they were responsible for than working to make the person they replaced look good.

When Don Ienner was let go by Sony in the late 00's Rob Stringer came in and ignored a bunch of bands who had done well with previous releases including one I managed called Crossfade. The lead single from our first record set a record for the longest time in the Top 20 at two radio formats- 65 weeks at Active Rock and 42 weeks at Alternative- yet when our second record came out radio stations were calling me saying that they couldn't get a copy of the new record from the label.

When I started to send out cd's to the stations myself I got called to NY for a meeting and was read the riot act for not knowing my place.

When I asked why the label wasn't doing their job I was told " the band is not a part of our vision for the future." I explained that all the hard work Stu Bergen, Ron Cerrito, and Joe Guzik (who also were no longer at Columbia) did promoting the first album gave this one a great chance of success but was given the hand and told that if I didn't like it I could ask to be released from our contract- which we did.

Rob Stringer didn't even get upset that Charlie Walk-without the bands permission- spent a ton of time and money between cycles with some 18 year old rapper friend of Paris Hilton's (seriously) to do a HIp Hop version of the biggest single from the record. He even got it on the air on an urban station in Philadelphia- where she lived- and billed the band for the recording sessions, which cost more than we spent making the entire debut album.

Tomorrow - April 13th- is the 19th anniversary of the release of that album and as of tonight the band has 1,627,930 monthly listeners on Spotify. The lead single Cold has close to a half billion streams/views on all the streaming platforms and youtube and streaming didn't start until several years after that album was released.

So - to me anyway- it's never a surprise when I hear of "new regimes" making bonehead moves like "rebranding" one of the most credible and valuable names in content creation. It's just what some insecure people do when given the keys to the kingdom.

Chris Long
Los Angeles

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From: Roberto Lovenheim
Subject: Re: It's Snowing

I'll be 80 in June. I still work as a PSIA ski instructor every winter. Age distills knowledge. It is all about the turn. If you can master that you can ski any slope in control and without fear of fall line.

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Subject: After Skiing the World, Vail Remains the Most Special

Dear Bob:

I have skied 180 mountains on all seven continents, including Antarctica, Kashmir, the Chugach, the Arctic in Norway and Sweden, the Dolomites, La Grave, Cham, Zermatt, Stanton, the Tasman on Mount Cook, Hokkaido, Portillo, Toubkal, Rendezvous at Jackson, Revy, and pretty much anywhere else you'd care to mention. And when people ask me where I love it best, they laugh when I tell them Vail.

But Pete and his 10th Mountain Division buddies found the best ski mountain in the world half way between Camp Hale and Aspen, and to a lot of us it will always be home. That's just the way it is. I'm partial to Gandy Dancer and Riva on the front, Bolshhoi on the back and Earl's in Blue Sky, but anywhere on that mountain is just fine with me. I've skied with some of the greats, I've skied with the 10th Mountain boys past and current, I've skied with the ghosts, and I've skied a thousand days with friends and family over sixty years at so many wonderful places.

I will still take Vail mountain, alone or not, over all the rest. I'll forget my own name before I forget the Vail trail map. And I'm not ashamed to say it.

Now I know you understand.

Charlie Sanders
Vice-chair - US Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame
Chair - National Music Council of the United States

P.S. You don't stop skiing because you get older. You get older because you stop skiing. Happy B'day.

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From: Hugo Burnham
Subject: Re: Taylor Swift Tickets Available!

We will play a matinee for Jamie Lee Curtis. No problem...

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