Mailbag

From: Dan Navarro
Subject: Re: Affirmative Action

Were it not for Affirmative Action in 1969, I would not have been able to attend UCLA immediately upon high school graduation. I was admitted under the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) that looked past my mediocre grades, and into my wide range of activities, strong letters of recommendation, my heartfelt essay and, particularly, my Latino ethnicity and border town upbringing.

I am 100% certain that being exposed to the artistic environment I was, and not to a different school in a different town in a different community, led to a career I have cherished. I have been openly grateful to the opportunities, environments and experiences that came my way due to the EOP program, and am profoundly sad to see 50 years of sociocultural justice thrown out.

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From: Ian Lee
Subject: Re: Music Burgeons

Thanks for this one Bob
Top of your game insights-the content we want :)

I see the same unlimited upside.

"And I just can't see a downside."

I do. Personnel to keep live going. The infrastructure of the touring industry is old.

Is there a pipeline of killer sound guys, tour managers? Bus drivers? No.
And there's no infrastructure to train these highly specified niche skills.
The speed that the internet has allowed YouTube and tick toc stars to start playing arenas has come up against the lack of a path for new personnel who want to join the circus of the support crews.

This is part of why you hear "production costs" are so high. More demand than supply of competent crew= crew demanding more.

I have 2 competing quotes from other bus companies for tours im doing that were over 3x my bid.

I don't raise my prices because it's simply gouging. But at the same time, the competition is taking advantage of the misbalance of supply (in the case of buses, a huge capital investment) demand= nobody can find a tour bus.

I wrote a couple of business plans to solve these during the pandemic, which i parked over the last 2 years playing catch up as we came out of it.

Recently started talking to some people about them.
Fun.

Over and out

Your on the road bus driving fool reporter.

Ian

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From: Xavier Ramirez
Subject: Re: TikTok Marketing

I think the unspoken part about the post-covid touring music world is how unprepared all these venue and promoter marketing teams are for the new paradigm.

TikTok surged during covid and what did every promoter and marketing team (if they were lucky enough to retain a marketing team or find new ones)? For nationwide amphitheater tours? They all went straight back to Facebook and Instagram ads. And if you ask for ad spend buyouts/marketing dollars to promote your show? They don't do that.

A handful might know what to do if you give them a TikTok Sparks code but even then, TikTok's ad targeting is still extremely limited. My artist and scene is very niche/specialized so the broad TikTok interests and demographic targeting just doesn't cut it. In comparison with the pixels, audiences, segments, etc we spent the last decade curating on Meta, the data is still catching up. Thankfully we were able to port over all the phone numbers (way better match rate), emails, pixel data, etc… and then great lookalikes from those to create a large enough pool (THEN we can geotarget against that list). 

To be fair, artists are just as much to blame… they're still trying to focus on Instagram clinging to their likes and engagement (nevermind all the bots mess up all the engagement audiences for targeting).

End rant.

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From: Terence Reilly
Subject: TikTok

Bob - ?

Ahmed makes some great points especially about "getting noticed."

TikTok changed my 110-year-old company - Stanley.  Wow, did we ever get noticed!

Just search Stanley Quencher on TikTok and you'll see what I mean. You can scroll for hours - your thumb will hurt. The Times, Journal and seemingly every other media outlet also noticed. Adele too!

And as much as it's about TikTok, for us it's also about the power of female consumers as it's their passion that has fueled our resurgence. Listening to their ideas and suggestions has been crucial and naturally we make many of those connections on TikTok.

Imagine that, a 110-year-old Tik Tok sensation.

Stay well. And hydrated.

Terence

Terence Reilly
President - Stanley

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From: Charlie Brusco
Subject: Re: Oh I Wept

In the late 60s early 70s all over England it was proclaimed Clapton is God and Paul Rodgers was and remains The Voice.

Many of us grew up and remain mesmerized by Paul Rodgers but a young guitar player from Jacksonville, FL   followed everything that was Paul Kossoff. Gary Rossington was a true disciple of Kossoff and Ronnie Van Zant idolized Rodgers. And that was the English blues part of Skynyrd music. It's part of the fabric and Fire and Water was the Holy Grail. Over 50 years later I sat at Gary's funeral and listen to Paul eulogize my great friend and I could feel Gary smiling down on all of us as Paul spoke of his love for Gary as he had told me many times over the years.

What a long strange trip it certainly has been.

Cheers,
Charlie

Red Light Management

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Mark Williams
Re: All Right Now

Recently read Chris Blackwell's book The Islander and he goes in depth about Free and the origins of All Right Now and how one song can change everything for a band. I did not know Free were on Island as in U.S. it was A&M. It inspired me to revisit All Right Now and appreciate how perfect a rock song it is. 
Another interesting Free note in the excellent Lynyrd Skynyrd documentary Gone With The Wind, which is way more detailed than the more recent If I Leave Here Tomorrow, I learned that Ronnie Van Zant was obsessed with Free and insisted Albert Collins and Gary Rossington see their show when they played Jacksonville just as Lynyrd Skynyrd were just starting to become a band.  It made so much sense. It's all there in particularly in the first album with Simple Man, Tuesday's Gone, Gimme 3 Steps etc. It helped Lynyrd Skynyrd develop their own sound of southern rock infused with the British version of blues separating them from The Allmans and Marshall Tucker.

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From: Gary Lang
Subject: Re: Oh I Wept

Love it.

You do know that Skynyrd were complete Free maniacs right?

Listen to "On the Hunt" on "Nuthin' Fancy". The guitar work is pure Kossoff-driven. The song has the feel of "The Stealer". And then, as the guitar climaxes and goes into the kind of chording Kossoff loved, van Zandt actually shouts "I'm a Hunter" (shades of "Tons of Sobs"). They loved Free, and I can tell… so do you.

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From: Lionel Conway
Subject: All Right Now


Hi Bob,
I ran Island Music for Chris Blackwell back in those days.
I represented the band Free, and here is a little story about the track "All right Now"
In the UK at the time BBC radio was all important, if you didn't get on Radio 1 you had very little chance of breaking a record,
The BBC had very strict rules regarding language, you could not  use "swear words" in a lyric.
They banned the song "All right now" because  in their opinion  Paul had sung " lets move before they raise the fucking rate "   Its very possible he did.  Banning the record caused a backlash of press , BBC had never had that kind of bad press,  this caused  much more interest in the song
We insisted that Paul had not used the word "fucking" but in actuality the word was " parking"
We won the arguement, I think mainly due to the public eager to hear the record,  BBC lifted the ban and of course it became a w/w hit and it started the bands career.
They were 16/17 years old at the time. amazing band.

Lionel Conway
Co-President
Mothership Music Publishing

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Subject: Re: Once Bitten, Twice Shy

I was Mott's A&R man between 73-75. I remixed and edited All The Way From Memphis for the single back in the time when that was just part of your day job. Ian Hunter was the only rock'n'roller I met who truly lived up to his image. He could be intimidating, he could be vulnerable, and - if he learned to trust you - he could be kind and funny. He also wrote some fine songs that never got the recognition they deserved. But man, what a career he built over the decades, built on the concrete of a true rock'n'roll spirit and serious intelligence.

Paul Phillips

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From: Tom Rush
Subject: Re: David Bromberg-This Week's Podcast

I pride myself, Bob, as being the one who got him back on stage after that 22 -year hiatus.
 
I called him and asked him to be a guest on one of my Club 47 multi-artist concerts (2 "established" acts, 2 brilliant-but-unknown newcomers who would mix it up on stage). "Hey, David, it's just a 30-minute set and you can get other guests to join you. Easy! Good money! And if you take 2 Advil and 2 Tylenol your fingers won't hurt!"
 
He went for it and we did several of those shows (with different newcomers) before he decided he wanted to get his band back together. I couldn't afford that — the plane tickets, the hotel rooms, the paychecks — so we parted ways, but remain good friends to this day and have shared the stage on many occasions. Sad to see him retiring!
 
Tom Rush
www.TomRush.com

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From: Jesse Lundy
Subject: Re: David Bromberg-This Week's Podcast

Such a hero. I've had the good fortune to work with him many times (as promoter), and I tour managed for a long weekend in the midwest. Of all the things I've done in my career, it's THE thing that my parents were really excited about. 
"Hey mom, here's a picture of me and The Stones"
"Very nice!"

"Mom, I'm working with Bromberg!"
"We are SO proud of you!"

David's the best

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From: Rueben Williams
Subject: Re: Oh I Wept

Bob, 
We appreciate you taking the time to write about Eric Johanson. Whiskey Bayou Records is owned by guitarist Tab Benoit. Tab took Eric out on the road where he supported Tab Benoit dates for a couple of years. The record was a one off and has already recouped. We saw an opportunity to help new Artist who are ignored by the traditional record labels and my clients Samantha Fish, Devon Allman, and Tab Benoit started their own labels to support new Artist. 

Eric just signed with Ruf Records out of Germany and is on a year long tour supporting Samantha Fish and Jesse Daytons Death Wish Blues tour.  On Ruf he joins the roster who once had blues legend Luther Allison, Walter Trout, and Eric Burden. Today Ruf has Eddie 9volt, Ghalia Volt, and Ally Venable. The label has always focused on Blues Rock. 

My Artist wanted to use their success to help new Artist and invest in the support acts. The trade off for the new Artist is  access to larger social media following and their ticket buying fan base.  It is true that with  out Whiskey Bayou Eric Johanson would not be appearing in front of thousands and would not have signed to Ruf Records.  Jesse Dayton would not have produced his new record and you would not have made us all happy by writing about him. Eric is super talented and deserves all the attention he is getting. We have launched a few Artist though our labels and like Eric they are on to a successful career. 

Eric was going to sign with Blue Elan Records. One reason why we chose Ruf Records is because Eric JOHNSON is on that label. I mentioned to him a few days ago that I felt that people would get their names confused. 

 Thank you again for writing and keep your eye on Eric Johanson.  His new record is great and the purist will say it's not blues while others will call it blues. It's only rocknroll. 

Rueben Williams 
Thunderbird Management 
Artist Management Plus 

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From: Jesse Dayton
Subject: I produced the Eric Johanson record

Hey Bob this is Jesse Dayton. You wrote about me a few years back. Thanks for the incredible piece on the Eric Johanson music. I co-wrote & produced his new record The Deep and the Dirty that comes about to come out.

Hope your piece alerts folks to the fact that their is a massive disenfranchised record buying demographic out there of folks who love blues-rock but have been ignored by the industry in favor of soulless regurgitated youth driven pop music. These snarky hipsters pushing this pathetic narrative they've deemed "Dad Rock", are missing out on an entire movement that is still and will always be a large part of the market share.

My friend/comedian Jay Mohr has a great bit about these hipsters who walk around Park Slope and Silver Lake in vintage Journey concert T shirts which they claim to be wearing "ironically". Jay Mohr ask them "oh, do you like Jouney?" Hipster responds "nah, just thought it was funny". Jay Mohr than begins a tirade telling the hipster "if you would've seen Journey in 1979 in a 12,000 seat auditorium, they would've rocked your balls off!" 

Of course this borders on "hey you kids get off of my lawn!" But it also reveals that these younger bands like Greta Van Fleet,(who I must admit, I'm not really a fan of), are filling a huge record sales/ticket sales void left by these so-called "Dad Rock" acts. Eric Johanson is a blues based rock guitar act who is no way aping Stevie Ray Vaughn, which is unto itself, a miracle. Great songs, great playing, multi-racial power trio, balls out blues rock…expect great things. Blues-rock has historically re-trended every 10 years since the 60s when the hybrid was invented and Eric has the goods to do it again. 

best, Jesse Dayton 

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From: Eric Johanson
Subject: Thank you - Oh I Wept

Hi Bob - I can't thank you enough for your thoughtful and kind words about my cover version of the Free song. I made those Covered Tracks EPs by myself in my living room, during the pandemic when the live gigs were all but shut down.  The fact that you discovered me through that, is just the coolest surprise. 

I'm back out on the road now, with a new record on the way in July. 

I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to listen and share those thoughts. I really appreciate it. 

All the best, 
Eric Johanson

-- 
Eric Johanson
EricJohanson.com
New Orleans, LA 
THE DEEP AND THE DIRTY - Out 7/28
ffm.to/tdatd

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From: Denny Somach
Subject: Abut Eric Johnson...

Bob,

I had no idea you were a big fan of Eric Johnson and I also know you like a good backstory, so here is the story on Eric.  
 
In the late 80's, Lee Abrams and I started a label with the idea of making new progressive music. The label was called Cinema and we got a distribution deal with Capitol. The first record we put out was by Pete Bardens, the ex-Camel founder. Don Zimmerman was president at the time and believed in the concept. We went through more presidents, including David Berman, Gary Gersh, Hale Milgram, and Joe Smith. We did three more artists for Capitol. They were beginning to lose patience, and our deal was for five artists, so we had one more to go. 
 
Eric had a bit of a following from other guitarists, namely Skunk Baxter and Steve Morse, who raved about him. He was also one of Stevie Ray Vaughn's favorite players. After seeing him on Austin City Limits where he was one of the few artists to play the show without a record deal, Prince saw him and mentioned Eric to somebody at Warner Brothers, where they signed him. He made one album, 'Tones', that did nothing and was immediately dropped by them. 
 
I happened to be at the Tower one day and stopped in to say hi to Thom Walley. He had just become head of A&R. I asked him if had heard anything interesting that fit our criteria. He handed me a cassette of demos by a little-known guitarist named Eric Johnson from Austin, Texas. His main claim to fame was that he had played with Carole King and Cat Stevens and was all over the Christopher Cross debut. 
 
I listened to the tape and was absolutely blown away, especially the song 'Cliffs of Dover.' Sent it to Lee and he agreed that this guy was amazing, so we signed him. He made 'Ah via Musicom' which included many of the songs that were on that demo. The record started out slow but built momentum. It sold about 200,000 and Capitol was about to drop him. They figured every guitar player had bought a copy, but interest from anywhere else was zilch.
?All of a sudden, it started to get attention from stations like WBCN, WNEW-FM, KLOS, and other influencers. The record started to get adds, not a lot right away, but consistently about a dozen a week. The record had now been out for almost a year, so Capitol started chasing it and it took off. Eventually went platinum and Eric was nominated for three Grammy awards and won for Best Rock Instrumental. He is one of only three guitarists to be voted Best Overall Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine three years in a row. The only other two guitarists to win the category for the Gallery of Greats are Steve Morse and Steve Howe.
?
Eric is a perfectionist, and it took five years to deliver a follow up, 'Venus Isle.' As you know, the public has a short memory, and he was dropped by Capitol when it didn't immediately take off. It did eventually go Gold.
 
He still does great business on the road particularly in the south and southwest. Joe Bonamassa is quoted in the March issue of Guitar World saying he regularly apologizes to Eric Johnson: "Every time I see him I'm like, I'm sorry for stealing your style."
 
I just saw Eric play in south Florida a couple of months ago and he is still amazing, definitely in the top three. I told him there should be a documentary done on him and he agreed. So, now I am looking for a director who plays guitar and knows about this phenomenal player named Eric Johnson.
 
That's the story, hope you liked it. 
 
Regards,
 
Denny Somach

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From: Lee Abrams
Subject: Re: Chris Licht/CNN

CNN had the opportunity to reinvent themselves for this century.  Like most news organizations,  they're good at gathering news,  terrible at presenting it
Changing the lower third, losing the "breaking news" moniker and a few lineup changes ain't going to do it.  Information is the new rock n roll —- it's what's driving culture and CNN is  as flat as the platform
It's on at a time when the world is going through a revolution similar to the late 60's. 
?
Journalists and TV executives aren't programmers and they get caught up in their own battles reporting to each other and the conference room rather than the streets. The world is an electric place and requires truthful reporting of the right stories ( there's no research going into story selection ) presented with Technicolor inventiveness.  
?
CNN's failures were predictable.  A revolution in video information is and will happen,  but it won't be with a bland format rooted in the 80's.  It'll be as explosively fresh and 180 degrees from the cliched and pompous presentation we're currently seeing.  A complete rethink rather than compromises and bandaids.  Oh…and it'll be online and IMHO will change the future of information delivery.  

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From: Jason Harris
Subject: Re: Chris Licht/CNN

Hubris is so spot on.

It's Not TV. It's HBO.

It's Not HBO. It's MAX?

As a guy who spend an entire career in marketing/advertising,

This must be the worst branding move of all time.

Hubris and dumbassery.

In one ego shot, wiping out 51 years of brand equity and identity.

_______________________________________

Subject: Re: Chris Licht/CNN

Hey, Bob – 
Once again, you've covered all sides of the story well. 
Please allow me to add an aside from Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth: "The ego may be clever, but it is not intelligent. Cleverness pursues its own little aims. Intelligence sees the larger whole in which all things are connected. Cleverness is motivated by self-interest, and it is extremely short-sighted. Most politicians and businesspeople are clever. Very few are intelligent. Whatever is attained through cleverness is short-lived and always turns out to be eventually self-defeating. Cleverness divides; intelligence includes." 

Larry Butler 
Nashville

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From: Michael Scott
Subject: Re: The Backseat Lovers

Hi Bob,
I saw the Backstreet Lovers at Sea, Hear, Now festival in Asbury Park last summer. They played on a side stage in the middle of the afternoon, but the crowd, mostly 20-something's (I'm almost 50!), was totally engaged, knew all the words. They were the best performance I saw that weekend, and that includes the headliners, Stevie Nicks and Green Day. I've been a huge fan since. Kilby Girl comes up on my Spotify once a week, and I never skip over it. Great song. Check out "Pool House".
Take Care,

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From: Roger McNamee
Subject: Re: The Baseball Game

Dear Bob,

On the off chance you were not asking a rhetorical question, Cracker Jill was a brand extension introduced last year by Frito Lay to honor women in sports.  

I have not done a side-by-side taste test, but the Cracker Jill bag I had at Dodger Stadium has month tasted better than what I remember of the last bag of Cracker Jack that I had.  Fresher.  Crunchier.  Until further notice I am a Cracker Jill man.  

Roger

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From: Garrett Gravley
Subject: Re: Gutfeld Beats The Tonight Show

I interviewed Greg Gutfeld once. It was because Riley Gale from the band Power Trip had died, and he paid tribute to him on The Five, telling everyone that the two struck a fortuitous friendship. After the tribute aired, I reached out to Fox News thinking he wouldn't talk to me in a million years, but to my surprise, he did. He had nothing to promote or anything - he just wanted to discuss his friendship with an artist whose music he liked. And that's what the story was about. No politics or anything - just a story about that friendship and the grief he was feeling after his friend's death. 

I rarely ever get behind his politics and can NEVER get behind the network he's on, but I will always respect him for being charitable with his time and opening up to me about that without looking to plug anything. 

The story: https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/the-unlikely-friendship-between-a-fox-news-host-and-a-trash-metal-musician-11939649

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From: Randy Stine
Subject: Full circle after 15 years

Bob -


It's hard to believe you first wrote about Straight No Chaser over 15 years ago, when the original 1998 performance of 12 Days of Christmas went viral.  At that time, seven million views in a month were considered big numbers, as YouTube was in its infancy.  I know how lucky we were to rise to anyone's attention, let alone yours, along with Craig Kallman's at Atlantic Records.  After you wrote about us, I got several very kind, generous e-mails from Steve Lukather, encouraging us to reunite, and even assuring us that "Toto has your back!"  Steve and I haven't connected in person yet, but, ten years ago, I'm sitting in our signing line after a show at the Wiltern in LA, and a gentleman comes down the line and says, "Hi, I'm David, I wrote Africa and I love your arrangement."  He had no arrogance, he hadn't requested tickets or passes, and he even waited in-line to come say hello.  After years of corresponding via e-mail, and him coming to see us again last year in Thousand Oaks, David Paich had us fly out and record with him, in his studio this past March.  It was a thrill, a real full-circle moment for us, and we're proud to have him on our new album.

It's amazing for me to think about the power of a single song. If David Paich hadn't penned Africa, we wouldn't have covered it in college and morphed it into the end of a Christmas song.  Which means, without Africa, our silly version of a Christmas carol would never have gone viral, and we wouldn't have been recording and touring for the last 15 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMok9WRpCO4

Thanks again for your part in all of this too; your kind words for us from the very beginning are not forgotten.

Randy

The whole album is here, not that you don't have 1,000 other things to listen to.
https://open.spotify.com/album/4gDZ32a6jU74t8Rr5bQDkk?si=7jPXkQ66SaCZhE66048UEg

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From: Kevin Cronin
Subject: Re: Alito

Yo Bob,

I fucking love this letter. Your parting thought is a basic human truth. I have done my best to lead a righteous life, and yeah, I missed the mark several times. But when I did, it bothered me. I didn't like myself in those times. I have a little voice in my head, my Catholic upbringing calls it a conscience. I bailed on all the "changing water into wine, and walking on water" fantasies, but the conscience part stuck with me. It is, in my opinion, the most important thing I learned in my religious upbringing…and it has nothing to do with organized religion. Feeling bad when you lie, or cheat, or hurt someone is Human Being 101. Trump flunked that course, and flaunts his failure. "I could kill someone in Times Square and no one would care." He is proud of his hall pass to "grab 'em by the pussy." The Klu Klux Klan took notice, and took off their hoods. Sorry guys, but racist assholes were meant to be marginalized, and remanded to a life in the shadows. LGBTQ people are meant to be out of the closet and live their authentic lives. The Klan needs to be the ones closeted.  It is ludicrous to me that Trump retains his cult-like hold on so many otherwise good and reasonable citizens. My point is in line with yours. Trumps blatant misbehavior serves to undermine what I have spent years trying to impart to my children: When you are honest, driven by integrity, and care about others, it feels good. It doesn't feel good when you act like an asshole. I have tried it, so I know. Trump legitimizes the worst parts of human nature. He must be remanded to the same closet as the Klan. My fantasy is that Trump and OJ end up as roommates in a two bedroom apartment West Palm Beach, with no ocean view. … kc

PS. I only fly on private jets owned by people I like. And yeah, I have turned down plenty of opportunities. Who wants to be stuck on a fancy boat, luxurious plane, or in a mansion guest room, owned by an a-hole billionaire! There are plenty of nice billionaires who know the value of hard work and are grateful for their good fortune. When invited, I'll fly, float, or hang with them, any day. Oops, I'm flying commercial toady, and about to miss my flight. Where's a righteous billionaire when you need one?! … kc

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