With Anderson .Paak doing a DJ set before.
But Don told me I completely missed it, last night they had Polo & Pan!
Huh?
So I'm in Vail, Colorado, not the epicenter of entertainment, but you wouldn't know that based on tonight's crowd.
I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, they keep making twenty year olds. If boomers were at tonight's show they'd be both impressed and depressed. Thrilled that the spirit is still alive, upset that they've been superseded and left behind.
Now the paradigm is passé. You know, the Renaissance, starting with the Beatles and ending with Spotify, with MTV and Napster in between. It was one long continuum. Now what?
Well, you'll never find out reading the news. Because the news tells you what is happening after it blows up, not on its way to stardom. For that you need to be online, hooked-in, part of the community. We live in the information society, but it's very easy to be out of the loop, but if you've got the right friends...
We were backstage and Don was asking people how they learned about Polo & Pan. Each one told the story of a friend. It was not radio, it was not Spotify, as a matter of fact, it's not even about the track, it's about the experience, the live show. You can read all about the "hit" acts, manipulating the weekly numbers, but you'll be out of the loop, almost like in the sixties, when there was AM and FM. AM is the Spotify Top 50. FM is everything else, and there's a lot of it.
And then there's Stromae. A Belgian act. Polo & Pan is French. This never used to happen. Used to be that the English and European acts played to us, those in the U.S. Now it's reversed, American kids are open to what is happening overseas. Acts that are uncompromised, doing it their way, to a great degree completely under the mainstream radar. But boy can they sell tickets!
So the headliner tonight was Big Gigantic. Two guys. A drummer and horn/synthesizer player. With a ton of production, top-notch. The assembled multitude was moving, the amphitheater was elevated. And most of America was out of the loop.
One can say that Big Gigantic is dance music. But it's more than that, the show was an experience. And the twentysomethings in this outdoor venue, some standing in snow, were dancing and totally into it. Not that different from fifty and sixty years ago.
You can't get this online. You can only get it at the show. Which is why live entertainment is burgeoning. It's Saturday night, youngsters don't want to stay home. While their parents, my generation, if not even younger, are going to bed at nine or ten their kids are out living the life. Yes, the oldsters, who believe getting up early is the way to win don't know that everything worth knowing about culturally happens after dark.
And in L.A., most of the backstage experience is work. It's anything but the party the hoi polloi believe it to be. But tonight it was a hang with laughs with the act and even their progeny. There were no airs, after all it's just about the music, what happens on stage.
It's easy to be jaded, especially after three years at home.
But tonight I was inspired, there's a whole world out there. And it's not beholden to the usual suspect media. It's bottom-up instead of top-down. And in today's multifarious universe people don't care about their status vis-à-vis you, the pecking order had a giant hole blown through it. You're in your own world, and oldsters can't comprehend this, they think it's still a monoculture.
As for the money... The acts tonight were handsomely compensated, but looking out at the crowd I realized no billionaire would get this reaction. Not Elon Musk, never mind the heads of the Fortune 500. They're rich, but they don't embody what the musicians do. Something of the moment, that's more about feel than facts, which touches your body and soul. This is the power of music. And it's as strong as it ever was.
That's what I learned tonight.
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Saturday 8 April 2023
Sleep Songs Playlist
Spotify playlist:
"Sleep Come Free Me" - James Taylor
"I'm Only Sleeping" - The Beatles
"No Sleep Til Brooklyn" - Beastie Boys
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - The Tokens
"You Can Sleep While I Drive" - Melissa Etheridge
"How Do You Sleep" - John Lennon
"Sleepwalking" - Gerry Rafferty
"Don't Sleep in the Subway" - Petula Clark
"Sleeping Satellite" - Tasmin Archer
"Talking In Your Sleep" - The Romantics
"Sleepwalker" - The Kinks
"Had a Dream (Sleeping With the Enemy)" - Roger Hodgson
"Behind The Wall Of Sleep" - The Smithereens
"(Last Night) I Didn't Get To Sleep At All" - 5th Dimension
"Sleepy Time Time" - Cream
"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" - Warren Zevon
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"Sleep Come Free Me" - James Taylor
"I'm Only Sleeping" - The Beatles
"No Sleep Til Brooklyn" - Beastie Boys
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - The Tokens
"You Can Sleep While I Drive" - Melissa Etheridge
"How Do You Sleep" - John Lennon
"Sleepwalking" - Gerry Rafferty
"Don't Sleep in the Subway" - Petula Clark
"Sleeping Satellite" - Tasmin Archer
"Talking In Your Sleep" - The Romantics
"Sleepwalker" - The Kinks
"Had a Dream (Sleeping With the Enemy)" - Roger Hodgson
"Behind The Wall Of Sleep" - The Smithereens
"(Last Night) I Didn't Get To Sleep At All" - 5th Dimension
"Sleepy Time Time" - Cream
"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" - Warren Zevon
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Friday 7 April 2023
"Sleep" Songs-This Week On SiriusXM
Songs with "sleep" in the title.
Tune in Saturday April 8th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Tune in Saturday April 8th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
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Re-Tennessee
Hey, Bob.
I live in the part of Nashville that Justin Jones represents (though he is not my representative, his district ends something like 2 streets over, thanks to an attempt at gerrymandering in the city). The outrage here is quite palpable.
The Nashville Metro Council is in charge of appointing Justin Jones' replacement. Over half of the member of the council say they plan to appoint…Justin Jones. (I honestly have yet to be able to see if Memphis works the same way and if they are likely to do the same for Justin Pearson.)
That's great news. But I worry about the messaging, or the potential for messaging. My gut says that the ones who voted for his expulsion knew that he'd be returned by the Metro Council, so it was their way of giving him a "symbolic" punishment. However, in a country that is (or supposed to be…) built on precedent to determine paths forward, and where censure is a perfectly fine option, this seems like a way to give other legislative bodies the cover to f*ck with whoever they want and maybe sometimes the person really will stay expelled.
All this…over a tiny, legal protest.
Tennessee can't possibly tell you it's hip. I can tell you that we're more hip on the Nashville island, but surrounded by Stone Age piranhas for most the rest of the state. Sometimes it bears a real resemblance to New York, where you can put the same state abbreviation in the address, but be in two different worlds. The major difference is that our state house is in this city, not out in the hinterlands. So legislators all have to see what we want here instead of pleading "I never go into the city" ignorance.
My wife is a personal chef and was asked to help out with some food for the funeral of Evelyn Dieckhaus, who was murdered in the shooting here last week. This sh*t really comes at you differently when you're asked to incorporate her favorite color into plates and walk into the home the reception is being held at and see it literally full of picture frames that presented you with the fullness and promise of life that a 9 year old girl had.
Without change, someday, everyone will be closely related to this kind of heaviness, like the decades the conflict in Northern Ireland. This sh*t has to end.
Matt O'Donnell
_________________________________________
Hey Bob.
The Convenient School is just seven minutes from my house in Nashville as well as one of our TN Senators, Hagerty, who is my next-door neighbor. I went down to the memorial at the front of the school to pay my respects, but he did not. Nor did Senator Blackburn or Governor Lee. You get what you pay for here in TN. There will be no comments from any one of these individuals regarding the actions of the State House. The majority-run Republican politicians of TN use our kids as a handbasket for their hate and fear. "We're protecting our kids," they say while they refuse to address what the kids of TN fear. Putting the NRA aside (Blackburn reportedly has taken $1.3 mill) it appears that the only thing these "leaders" are protecting is their inability to coexist and work with people who aren't like them. Nashville is a wonderful town in a State of shame.
Changes will come.
Best
John Dittmar
_________________________________________
The expulsion of the two members of the TN state legislature is only just the most recent power move by the Republican super majority.
They have waged a war on the city of Nashville with cynical, mean spirited, and yes fascist laws that have disenfranchised us more than any other big city in 'the free world'.
For 150 years Nashville has had a city wide congressional district, typically electing a Democrat. That ended last year when the state legislature gerrymandered the city into 3 rural-controlled districts. So the neighborhood where the Covenant shooting occurred has a republican representing them in the U.S. House, despite the fact that the area is highly educated, cultured, and liberal.
The state legislature has also passed a targeted bill to force the city of Nashville to slash its large city council in half. At 40+ reps, Nashville has one of the largest city councils in the nation. There has been internal back and forth for years about whether or not the districts should be made larger to lessen the number of councilpeople. So, the city of Nashville voted on this a few years back and decided, on our own, that we liked having small districts with individual neighborhood representation. Recently, as payback for Nashville's denial of the 2024 GOP convention, state legislators from rural towns overrode our own democratic vote and is forcing us to reduce the council reps. I thought republicans believed in small central governments and local autonomy?
The state legislature is also commandeering the City of Nashville's Airport Board, our Sports Authority Council, and Convention Center administration so that the rural small town Tennesseans have control over key infrastructure and the funds that they generate. They are trying to redistribute Nashville's tourism dollars to their small town districts, and rebrand Nashville as a conservative media mecca that is not reflective of the citizens who made this a destination city for hip, young creative folks. The success of Nashville's real estate market, and its ascent as an international culture center over the past 15 years all happened in spite?*of the yokels who are now trying to push us around. Nashville is the economic engine for the state of Tennessee and the fact that we are being disenfranchised is an undemocratic abomination almost without equal in modern American politics.
Due to the gerrymandering, many Nashvillians are now proposing that a city wide General Strike may be the only recourse for fed up citizens. It's worth a shot, and i hope that message gets amplified.
Luke Schneider
_________________________________________
Good morning Bob. I've read your newsletter on and off for years but I have never been as inspired to reply as I am right now.
As I was reading todays newsletter, I kept thinking "come on Bob say it, say the word, "Fascism" and you did. And I am grateful that you're using your platform to bring more people to this discussion.
I live in Nashville, I fight the good fight as best I can. I'd do anything for a magic wand to make the lift lighter to convince people to vote, and further to foster curiosity about voting in the interest of the collective.
To your point, people are complacent. If it's not happening TO THEM it's not urgent. And when you're complacent, you're complicit. That's a simple fact.
I say this all the time. Hope is a discipline and hard work is rewarded. The youth of Tennessee are SHOWING UP and that gives me hope. Gen Z showed up in Wisconsin and that gives me hope. All is not lost but fascism is rearing its ugly head and we've got work to do!
To quote my girl Hillary "Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, for as long as you can."
Hopefully more of your readers wake up (but not too woke or the other Bob might gun them down) and will jump in to fight this fight and do what they can with their platforms and reach!!
Thanks Bob
Ali Harnell
_________________________________________
Well said Bob! I live in TN and could not be more proud of the students and TN representatives who stood in solidarity with them. I have two young daughters and am sick of gun violence. Civil disobedience is warranted and the only step left now.
Van Patton
_________________________________________
It's funny, Schumer and crew told us it was "impossible" to convince Machin/Sinema that the voting rights act should be passed when Democrats controlled Congress. Now we in Tennessee are the victims of this type of bullsh*t because these power hungry Republicans are out of control. Thanks for the help, Chuck.
Mick Fury
_________________________________________
I moved out of Tennessee two years ago today and could not be more thankful. Sure, I took a financial hit by moving to Oregon with all their taxes and west coast pricing, but that's a fair trade off for not being led by a bunch o nonsensical "religious" nut jobs.
Michael Vorhees
_________________________________________
Funny how the anti vaxers, anti abortionists, anti gun regulation fanatics all complain that THEIR rights are what's being taken away.
I always wonder why the label they chose to throw on progressive activists is Antifa, which is short for anti fascist. If they despise people who combat fascism, then it would make them pro fascist. Embracing the swastika because you hate Jews somehow trumps the fact that they killed a lot of American soldiers?
That really illustrates the core problem. Their legions are uneducated, lazy and angry. Most of them wouldn't know the difference between Communism, Marxism or Socialism if you gave them a map. It's too much work.
Basically, the Thomas thing really chaps my hide. He's got the white man's entitlement thing down ironically. For a SC justice to be so blatantly politicized with a record to prove it is very scary. Plus, originalism is such a mindless way to interpret an archaic document.
It is another reminder of how the court is more about ideology than the rule of law. I don't know what bothers me most, the fact that he didn't think twice about accepting the trips/gifts or that, apparently, if he had merely bothered to report it everything would be just fine.
John Brodey
_________________________________________
It's been a long time since I've written Bob - but this is my take - Carrie from Vanderbilt
1. When / why were representatives expelled in the past from the TN state house?
The only other individuals who have been "expelled" from the State Legislature heretofore were:
A) Civil War Era representatives that refused to vote to ratify the 13th Amendment (ending the legal institution of slavery in the United States/where ratification was required to rejoin the Union);
B) in 1980, a representative who was caught accepting $1000 in exchange for his promise to try to keep a bill from making it out of committee;
C) in 2016, an admitted sex-addict who was having sex with under-age staffers in the State Capitol. And this particular representative was given the opportunity to present a defense after being questioned on the House floor, receiving a modicum of due process. As is also publicly acknowledged, recently, a member of the House unabashedly urinated upon another House member's chair, in the House chamber; and also recently, another member, accused of sexually abusing minors, was allowed to retain his seat upon the understanding that he would not run for re-election. Evidently these are not expulsion-worthy displays of unethical behavior or lack of decorum.
2.How does this situation compare? Is it totally unprecedented?
Completely unprecedented. This situation is nothing like these other instances. And comparatively, looking at other states who have expelled members, they have removed members after state and federal felony convictions. No laws, local, state or federal, were broken here. And the prosecutorial tenor and treatment they are receiving in this removal is shocking to reasonable viewers. Many viewers also recognize this for the politically manufactured excision of those who would challenge the status quo of completely unchecked gun legislation in the state Tennessee. They were well within their Constitutional Rights to speak out during the House Recess, per the state and Federal Constitution.
3. Does today's expulsion vote have any connections with the larger way TN Republicans have wielded their political power? Are there any other notable instances of the GOP attempting to water down or cut out the influence/voice of Democratic voters?
Yes; absolutely. This is an exercise of power solely for power's sake. It is akin to a pack of dogs refusing to stop biting and exiling the runt. The super-majority in both chambers of the Tennessee state legislature routinely refuse to allow the Democratic members of the chambers to speak during committee or on the floor. The won't make eye contact with each other. And given the numbers 74 R, 24 D (now 23 – and presumably within the next hour, that will be reduced to 21) they have no incentive to be civil or professional to the Democratic members of the chambers. They do not need Democratic support for anything.
In 2020, they ensured their dominant pack status by stripping and splitting the metro centers of the state (with the largest population centers) of their representation by gerrymandering/cracking the historically Democrat-leaning counties into unrecognizable electoral districts, at the state and federal level. By changing these boundaries, they strategically ensured that the once Democratic stronghold of Nashville would fall. Further, they have recently passed legislation cutting the membership of Nashville's City Council in half, arguably as political retribution for Nashville declining to host the RNC's national convention in 2024.
4. Does race or racism play into today's vote, either directly, or systemically?
Yes. Racism and sexism. The way that the members have been treated, the way that the leadership speaks to these members and uses code words like "ineffective," "attention-seeking," "disrespectful," "aggressive" – It's clear that the ability of these three members to repeatedly garner the support of thousands of young people and outspoken celebrity activists that support them, has shaken the Republican leadership to the point of feeling their only option is to expel these members. These three have refused to comply with the routine expectations of the Republican leadership, expectations that demand staying "in their place," turning a blind-eye, tolerating the dismissive treatment. The sexism is just as rampant – the treatment of interns in the past rose to the level of many universities refusing, for a time, to send their young people there for fear of sexual harassment.
The introduction of the video today, as "evidence" was "in violation of" the house rules. It is against the rules for members to record video on the house floor. The same representative who took that video is the one who assaulted Representative Jones on Monday night. That same representative – Representative Lafferty – was responsible for thishttps://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/politics/justin-lafferty-tennessee-lawmaker-three-fifths-compromise/index.html
Will he be brought to answer for his breach of procedure? No. He will not. Because the Republicans can exercise arbitrary power without any other branch exercising a modicum of balance, much less recourse.
I love this state - I love our people- and this political theater both broke my heart, and watching our state's children and young people step up and speak, emboldened me to be hopeful.
Carrie Russell JD, PhD
Vanderbilt University
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I live in the part of Nashville that Justin Jones represents (though he is not my representative, his district ends something like 2 streets over, thanks to an attempt at gerrymandering in the city). The outrage here is quite palpable.
The Nashville Metro Council is in charge of appointing Justin Jones' replacement. Over half of the member of the council say they plan to appoint…Justin Jones. (I honestly have yet to be able to see if Memphis works the same way and if they are likely to do the same for Justin Pearson.)
That's great news. But I worry about the messaging, or the potential for messaging. My gut says that the ones who voted for his expulsion knew that he'd be returned by the Metro Council, so it was their way of giving him a "symbolic" punishment. However, in a country that is (or supposed to be…) built on precedent to determine paths forward, and where censure is a perfectly fine option, this seems like a way to give other legislative bodies the cover to f*ck with whoever they want and maybe sometimes the person really will stay expelled.
All this…over a tiny, legal protest.
Tennessee can't possibly tell you it's hip. I can tell you that we're more hip on the Nashville island, but surrounded by Stone Age piranhas for most the rest of the state. Sometimes it bears a real resemblance to New York, where you can put the same state abbreviation in the address, but be in two different worlds. The major difference is that our state house is in this city, not out in the hinterlands. So legislators all have to see what we want here instead of pleading "I never go into the city" ignorance.
My wife is a personal chef and was asked to help out with some food for the funeral of Evelyn Dieckhaus, who was murdered in the shooting here last week. This sh*t really comes at you differently when you're asked to incorporate her favorite color into plates and walk into the home the reception is being held at and see it literally full of picture frames that presented you with the fullness and promise of life that a 9 year old girl had.
Without change, someday, everyone will be closely related to this kind of heaviness, like the decades the conflict in Northern Ireland. This sh*t has to end.
Matt O'Donnell
_________________________________________
Hey Bob.
The Convenient School is just seven minutes from my house in Nashville as well as one of our TN Senators, Hagerty, who is my next-door neighbor. I went down to the memorial at the front of the school to pay my respects, but he did not. Nor did Senator Blackburn or Governor Lee. You get what you pay for here in TN. There will be no comments from any one of these individuals regarding the actions of the State House. The majority-run Republican politicians of TN use our kids as a handbasket for their hate and fear. "We're protecting our kids," they say while they refuse to address what the kids of TN fear. Putting the NRA aside (Blackburn reportedly has taken $1.3 mill) it appears that the only thing these "leaders" are protecting is their inability to coexist and work with people who aren't like them. Nashville is a wonderful town in a State of shame.
Changes will come.
Best
John Dittmar
_________________________________________
The expulsion of the two members of the TN state legislature is only just the most recent power move by the Republican super majority.
They have waged a war on the city of Nashville with cynical, mean spirited, and yes fascist laws that have disenfranchised us more than any other big city in 'the free world'.
For 150 years Nashville has had a city wide congressional district, typically electing a Democrat. That ended last year when the state legislature gerrymandered the city into 3 rural-controlled districts. So the neighborhood where the Covenant shooting occurred has a republican representing them in the U.S. House, despite the fact that the area is highly educated, cultured, and liberal.
The state legislature has also passed a targeted bill to force the city of Nashville to slash its large city council in half. At 40+ reps, Nashville has one of the largest city councils in the nation. There has been internal back and forth for years about whether or not the districts should be made larger to lessen the number of councilpeople. So, the city of Nashville voted on this a few years back and decided, on our own, that we liked having small districts with individual neighborhood representation. Recently, as payback for Nashville's denial of the 2024 GOP convention, state legislators from rural towns overrode our own democratic vote and is forcing us to reduce the council reps. I thought republicans believed in small central governments and local autonomy?
The state legislature is also commandeering the City of Nashville's Airport Board, our Sports Authority Council, and Convention Center administration so that the rural small town Tennesseans have control over key infrastructure and the funds that they generate. They are trying to redistribute Nashville's tourism dollars to their small town districts, and rebrand Nashville as a conservative media mecca that is not reflective of the citizens who made this a destination city for hip, young creative folks. The success of Nashville's real estate market, and its ascent as an international culture center over the past 15 years all happened in spite?*of the yokels who are now trying to push us around. Nashville is the economic engine for the state of Tennessee and the fact that we are being disenfranchised is an undemocratic abomination almost without equal in modern American politics.
Due to the gerrymandering, many Nashvillians are now proposing that a city wide General Strike may be the only recourse for fed up citizens. It's worth a shot, and i hope that message gets amplified.
Luke Schneider
_________________________________________
Good morning Bob. I've read your newsletter on and off for years but I have never been as inspired to reply as I am right now.
As I was reading todays newsletter, I kept thinking "come on Bob say it, say the word, "Fascism" and you did. And I am grateful that you're using your platform to bring more people to this discussion.
I live in Nashville, I fight the good fight as best I can. I'd do anything for a magic wand to make the lift lighter to convince people to vote, and further to foster curiosity about voting in the interest of the collective.
To your point, people are complacent. If it's not happening TO THEM it's not urgent. And when you're complacent, you're complicit. That's a simple fact.
I say this all the time. Hope is a discipline and hard work is rewarded. The youth of Tennessee are SHOWING UP and that gives me hope. Gen Z showed up in Wisconsin and that gives me hope. All is not lost but fascism is rearing its ugly head and we've got work to do!
To quote my girl Hillary "Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, for as long as you can."
Hopefully more of your readers wake up (but not too woke or the other Bob might gun them down) and will jump in to fight this fight and do what they can with their platforms and reach!!
Thanks Bob
Ali Harnell
_________________________________________
Well said Bob! I live in TN and could not be more proud of the students and TN representatives who stood in solidarity with them. I have two young daughters and am sick of gun violence. Civil disobedience is warranted and the only step left now.
Van Patton
_________________________________________
It's funny, Schumer and crew told us it was "impossible" to convince Machin/Sinema that the voting rights act should be passed when Democrats controlled Congress. Now we in Tennessee are the victims of this type of bullsh*t because these power hungry Republicans are out of control. Thanks for the help, Chuck.
Mick Fury
_________________________________________
I moved out of Tennessee two years ago today and could not be more thankful. Sure, I took a financial hit by moving to Oregon with all their taxes and west coast pricing, but that's a fair trade off for not being led by a bunch o nonsensical "religious" nut jobs.
Michael Vorhees
_________________________________________
Funny how the anti vaxers, anti abortionists, anti gun regulation fanatics all complain that THEIR rights are what's being taken away.
I always wonder why the label they chose to throw on progressive activists is Antifa, which is short for anti fascist. If they despise people who combat fascism, then it would make them pro fascist. Embracing the swastika because you hate Jews somehow trumps the fact that they killed a lot of American soldiers?
That really illustrates the core problem. Their legions are uneducated, lazy and angry. Most of them wouldn't know the difference between Communism, Marxism or Socialism if you gave them a map. It's too much work.
Basically, the Thomas thing really chaps my hide. He's got the white man's entitlement thing down ironically. For a SC justice to be so blatantly politicized with a record to prove it is very scary. Plus, originalism is such a mindless way to interpret an archaic document.
It is another reminder of how the court is more about ideology than the rule of law. I don't know what bothers me most, the fact that he didn't think twice about accepting the trips/gifts or that, apparently, if he had merely bothered to report it everything would be just fine.
John Brodey
_________________________________________
It's been a long time since I've written Bob - but this is my take - Carrie from Vanderbilt
1. When / why were representatives expelled in the past from the TN state house?
The only other individuals who have been "expelled" from the State Legislature heretofore were:
A) Civil War Era representatives that refused to vote to ratify the 13th Amendment (ending the legal institution of slavery in the United States/where ratification was required to rejoin the Union);
B) in 1980, a representative who was caught accepting $1000 in exchange for his promise to try to keep a bill from making it out of committee;
C) in 2016, an admitted sex-addict who was having sex with under-age staffers in the State Capitol. And this particular representative was given the opportunity to present a defense after being questioned on the House floor, receiving a modicum of due process. As is also publicly acknowledged, recently, a member of the House unabashedly urinated upon another House member's chair, in the House chamber; and also recently, another member, accused of sexually abusing minors, was allowed to retain his seat upon the understanding that he would not run for re-election. Evidently these are not expulsion-worthy displays of unethical behavior or lack of decorum.
2.How does this situation compare? Is it totally unprecedented?
Completely unprecedented. This situation is nothing like these other instances. And comparatively, looking at other states who have expelled members, they have removed members after state and federal felony convictions. No laws, local, state or federal, were broken here. And the prosecutorial tenor and treatment they are receiving in this removal is shocking to reasonable viewers. Many viewers also recognize this for the politically manufactured excision of those who would challenge the status quo of completely unchecked gun legislation in the state Tennessee. They were well within their Constitutional Rights to speak out during the House Recess, per the state and Federal Constitution.
3. Does today's expulsion vote have any connections with the larger way TN Republicans have wielded their political power? Are there any other notable instances of the GOP attempting to water down or cut out the influence/voice of Democratic voters?
Yes; absolutely. This is an exercise of power solely for power's sake. It is akin to a pack of dogs refusing to stop biting and exiling the runt. The super-majority in both chambers of the Tennessee state legislature routinely refuse to allow the Democratic members of the chambers to speak during committee or on the floor. The won't make eye contact with each other. And given the numbers 74 R, 24 D (now 23 – and presumably within the next hour, that will be reduced to 21) they have no incentive to be civil or professional to the Democratic members of the chambers. They do not need Democratic support for anything.
In 2020, they ensured their dominant pack status by stripping and splitting the metro centers of the state (with the largest population centers) of their representation by gerrymandering/cracking the historically Democrat-leaning counties into unrecognizable electoral districts, at the state and federal level. By changing these boundaries, they strategically ensured that the once Democratic stronghold of Nashville would fall. Further, they have recently passed legislation cutting the membership of Nashville's City Council in half, arguably as political retribution for Nashville declining to host the RNC's national convention in 2024.
4. Does race or racism play into today's vote, either directly, or systemically?
Yes. Racism and sexism. The way that the members have been treated, the way that the leadership speaks to these members and uses code words like "ineffective," "attention-seeking," "disrespectful," "aggressive" – It's clear that the ability of these three members to repeatedly garner the support of thousands of young people and outspoken celebrity activists that support them, has shaken the Republican leadership to the point of feeling their only option is to expel these members. These three have refused to comply with the routine expectations of the Republican leadership, expectations that demand staying "in their place," turning a blind-eye, tolerating the dismissive treatment. The sexism is just as rampant – the treatment of interns in the past rose to the level of many universities refusing, for a time, to send their young people there for fear of sexual harassment.
The introduction of the video today, as "evidence" was "in violation of" the house rules. It is against the rules for members to record video on the house floor. The same representative who took that video is the one who assaulted Representative Jones on Monday night. That same representative – Representative Lafferty – was responsible for thishttps://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/politics/justin-lafferty-tennessee-lawmaker-three-fifths-compromise/index.html
Will he be brought to answer for his breach of procedure? No. He will not. Because the Republicans can exercise arbitrary power without any other branch exercising a modicum of balance, much less recourse.
I love this state - I love our people- and this political theater both broke my heart, and watching our state's children and young people step up and speak, emboldened me to be hopeful.
Carrie Russell JD, PhD
Vanderbilt University
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Thursday 6 April 2023
Tennessee
Don't disenfranchise me.
It's one thing to make it harder to vote, it's quite another to cancel my vote completely and leave me without representation.
The day Trump got arraigned someone pointed me to the student protests in Nashville, how come they weren't all over the news instead of the Former Guy. Even worse, the main story on both the "New York Times" and "Washington Post" all day was about Biden and trans athletes. Important, but compared to what was happening in Tennessee, pretty miniscule.
Chalk another victory up for the right. We're discussing cultural issues instead of the real issues to the point that the supposed left-leaning media has taken the bait and is now down in the gutter arguing over these issues that affect almost nobody. Kind of like critical race theory, which wasn't even taught in schools other than colleges. Do you know any trans people? If you did, you'd back down. In the past they were tortured, on the verge of suicide until they could transition. At least now being trans is out in the open, so people can feel safe coming out. And that's a good thing. As for trans athletes... Ain't that America, where sports are king and politics is in the rearview mirror. Come on, there aren't that many trans athletes out there. Furthermore, you share a bathroom with your kids at home, how come they can't share a lavatory with trans kids at school. Where exactly is the danger? Turns out gay is not contagious. Gay couples have straight kids. You can have many gay friends and not end up gay. We've made progress here. Then again, the same people who got rid of abortion rights want to get rid of gay marriage, and so much more. But what are you gonna say when your daughter gets pregnant? I'm old enough to remember when abortion was illegal. People were forced to have babies they didn't want and even Catholic girls went underground and terminated pregnancies. How come everybody in America thinks it can't happen to them? I guarantee you you have a gay person in your extended family, and if you think you don't, they're just afraid to come out of the closet.
I mean they're poking us right in the eye. With not only abortion rights, but racism. The Tennessee House gets rid of two black people and keeps one white person? The optics are terrible, it's de facto racism!
Now reasonability had a victory this week, with the Supreme Court in Wisconsin. Turns out it's Gen-Z, the supposed nonvoters, who showed up and made the difference. Because it's their life and they're gonna be affected by this cockamamie rolling back of rights by old people who think they're immune, never mind being out of touch.
Tennessee keeps telling us it's up-to-date, hip, and then there's no action after a school shooting, in fact they wanted to liberalize gun laws at first, and now they're expelling three members of the House because... Protest in high school, leave the classroom, and they don't expel you, they suspend you, for a week at most.
And what is the appropriate conduct in a legislative body? Republicans keep shouting down Democratic speakers in the U.S. House and there are no consequences, but in the rinky-dink southern state House you should be afraid of the Republicans, they'll excise you. And the rules are vague, so there will be a chilling effect on behavior, talk about freedom of speech...
So I had a hard time with the election is stolen crap, but Biden took the office.
I had a hard time with the reduction of polling places, never mind the difficulty in registering to vote, but people still showed up.
But now? Eliminating voters' voice willy-nilly. This is too much, they've gone too far.
So at what point does the public react. And every poll says most people want abortions, never mind stricter gun laws. There are more of us than there are of them. But we're lazy, we think it's somebody else's problem, we don't do anything. Thank god for the kids, it always starts with the kids, they're pooh-poohed and marginalized, and then oldsters realize they're right.
So antisemitism is out of control. People are fearful of telling others they are Jewish. Do I really want to put a mezuzah on the door?
Are we just going to get rolled over, or are we gonna get up and fight?
The best thing I read all week is this in the "Los Angeles Times":
"Why do so many young white men in America find fascism 'cool'?": https://lat.ms/438btCB
Because people don't click through, let me quote some passages:
"The word 'fascism' is often thrown around loosely, and some may feel applying this label is overly dramatic. But its current manifestation in the U.S. mirrors its incarnation eras ago: an ideology that glorifies the traditional masculine, believes in a spiritual right to exact violence and calls for the seizure of government for authoritarian rule. The fascists are unified by their love of violence, their hatred of progress and their sinister sense of entitlement that declares that America belongs to them.
"Fascism feeds off culture wars, exploits psychological insecurities and uses deeply held resentments to convert the impressionable. At a time of intense polarization and cultural battles over race, gender and democracy, it's not surprising that fascism has found young adherents, this time as a lifestyle, with cosplay."
And:
"The Fascists, then and now, placed unique emphasis on propaganda. Indeed, at a meeting of radio broadcasters in Berlin in 1933, Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda, gave the state broadcasters some urgent advice: 'The first law is don't become boring!'"
"From the start, Fascism was focused on culture."
And:
"Today's fascists are malleable and take on different forms, some more racist than others, some more sexist. But they're drawn to the propaganda and symbols of racial and sexual brutality. For many young white men, fascism starts as a cultural identity, rather than as a political ideology."
Reading this piece changed my entire focus on the crisis in America. We've been fighting issue by issue, and that's a mistake. It's time to pull back the lens and see what is really going on, there's a rogue swath of Americans who feed on disinformation online, believe liberals are the enemy and will fight to the death. I know this if for no other reason I hear from them. Furthermore, you must toe the line. Like all those people who talked smack about Trump before he got elected, who are still paying fealty to him.
This is a battle for the soul of our country. And today's heinous expulsion truly does remind me of Nazi Germany. Specifically in that you think you're immune, and then they come for you. They chipped away at our rights. Now they're chipping away at our voice?
And too many people with a buck are afraid to take a side for fear of offending bad actors. But let's face it, they're complicit. How is it that Disney is doing a better job of pushing back against fascism in Florida than any celebrity? Once again, corporations are taking the lead, and that's just nuts. It's a nation of people. And let me tell you, AI ain't gonna fix this problem.
We can't debate what happened in the Tennessee House today. That would be missing the point. One party used its majority to not only ensure one party rule, but to silence the voice of the opposition, literally take away their voice. If this isn't indicative of a march to fascism, I don't know what is.
Want to talk about patriotism, believing in America?
Those who fight this outrageous behavior are the true patriots, even if they're not wearing flag pins. It's about what you think, what's inside, and if we don't step up and stop this tsunami...our rights are going to be swept away.
It's one thing to make it harder to vote, it's quite another to cancel my vote completely and leave me without representation.
The day Trump got arraigned someone pointed me to the student protests in Nashville, how come they weren't all over the news instead of the Former Guy. Even worse, the main story on both the "New York Times" and "Washington Post" all day was about Biden and trans athletes. Important, but compared to what was happening in Tennessee, pretty miniscule.
Chalk another victory up for the right. We're discussing cultural issues instead of the real issues to the point that the supposed left-leaning media has taken the bait and is now down in the gutter arguing over these issues that affect almost nobody. Kind of like critical race theory, which wasn't even taught in schools other than colleges. Do you know any trans people? If you did, you'd back down. In the past they were tortured, on the verge of suicide until they could transition. At least now being trans is out in the open, so people can feel safe coming out. And that's a good thing. As for trans athletes... Ain't that America, where sports are king and politics is in the rearview mirror. Come on, there aren't that many trans athletes out there. Furthermore, you share a bathroom with your kids at home, how come they can't share a lavatory with trans kids at school. Where exactly is the danger? Turns out gay is not contagious. Gay couples have straight kids. You can have many gay friends and not end up gay. We've made progress here. Then again, the same people who got rid of abortion rights want to get rid of gay marriage, and so much more. But what are you gonna say when your daughter gets pregnant? I'm old enough to remember when abortion was illegal. People were forced to have babies they didn't want and even Catholic girls went underground and terminated pregnancies. How come everybody in America thinks it can't happen to them? I guarantee you you have a gay person in your extended family, and if you think you don't, they're just afraid to come out of the closet.
I mean they're poking us right in the eye. With not only abortion rights, but racism. The Tennessee House gets rid of two black people and keeps one white person? The optics are terrible, it's de facto racism!
Now reasonability had a victory this week, with the Supreme Court in Wisconsin. Turns out it's Gen-Z, the supposed nonvoters, who showed up and made the difference. Because it's their life and they're gonna be affected by this cockamamie rolling back of rights by old people who think they're immune, never mind being out of touch.
Tennessee keeps telling us it's up-to-date, hip, and then there's no action after a school shooting, in fact they wanted to liberalize gun laws at first, and now they're expelling three members of the House because... Protest in high school, leave the classroom, and they don't expel you, they suspend you, for a week at most.
And what is the appropriate conduct in a legislative body? Republicans keep shouting down Democratic speakers in the U.S. House and there are no consequences, but in the rinky-dink southern state House you should be afraid of the Republicans, they'll excise you. And the rules are vague, so there will be a chilling effect on behavior, talk about freedom of speech...
So I had a hard time with the election is stolen crap, but Biden took the office.
I had a hard time with the reduction of polling places, never mind the difficulty in registering to vote, but people still showed up.
But now? Eliminating voters' voice willy-nilly. This is too much, they've gone too far.
So at what point does the public react. And every poll says most people want abortions, never mind stricter gun laws. There are more of us than there are of them. But we're lazy, we think it's somebody else's problem, we don't do anything. Thank god for the kids, it always starts with the kids, they're pooh-poohed and marginalized, and then oldsters realize they're right.
So antisemitism is out of control. People are fearful of telling others they are Jewish. Do I really want to put a mezuzah on the door?
Are we just going to get rolled over, or are we gonna get up and fight?
The best thing I read all week is this in the "Los Angeles Times":
"Why do so many young white men in America find fascism 'cool'?": https://lat.ms/438btCB
Because people don't click through, let me quote some passages:
"The word 'fascism' is often thrown around loosely, and some may feel applying this label is overly dramatic. But its current manifestation in the U.S. mirrors its incarnation eras ago: an ideology that glorifies the traditional masculine, believes in a spiritual right to exact violence and calls for the seizure of government for authoritarian rule. The fascists are unified by their love of violence, their hatred of progress and their sinister sense of entitlement that declares that America belongs to them.
"Fascism feeds off culture wars, exploits psychological insecurities and uses deeply held resentments to convert the impressionable. At a time of intense polarization and cultural battles over race, gender and democracy, it's not surprising that fascism has found young adherents, this time as a lifestyle, with cosplay."
And:
"The Fascists, then and now, placed unique emphasis on propaganda. Indeed, at a meeting of radio broadcasters in Berlin in 1933, Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda, gave the state broadcasters some urgent advice: 'The first law is don't become boring!'"
"From the start, Fascism was focused on culture."
And:
"Today's fascists are malleable and take on different forms, some more racist than others, some more sexist. But they're drawn to the propaganda and symbols of racial and sexual brutality. For many young white men, fascism starts as a cultural identity, rather than as a political ideology."
Reading this piece changed my entire focus on the crisis in America. We've been fighting issue by issue, and that's a mistake. It's time to pull back the lens and see what is really going on, there's a rogue swath of Americans who feed on disinformation online, believe liberals are the enemy and will fight to the death. I know this if for no other reason I hear from them. Furthermore, you must toe the line. Like all those people who talked smack about Trump before he got elected, who are still paying fealty to him.
This is a battle for the soul of our country. And today's heinous expulsion truly does remind me of Nazi Germany. Specifically in that you think you're immune, and then they come for you. They chipped away at our rights. Now they're chipping away at our voice?
And too many people with a buck are afraid to take a side for fear of offending bad actors. But let's face it, they're complicit. How is it that Disney is doing a better job of pushing back against fascism in Florida than any celebrity? Once again, corporations are taking the lead, and that's just nuts. It's a nation of people. And let me tell you, AI ain't gonna fix this problem.
We can't debate what happened in the Tennessee House today. That would be missing the point. One party used its majority to not only ensure one party rule, but to silence the voice of the opposition, literally take away their voice. If this isn't indicative of a march to fascism, I don't know what is.
Want to talk about patriotism, believing in America?
Those who fight this outrageous behavior are the true patriots, even if they're not wearing flag pins. It's about what you think, what's inside, and if we don't step up and stop this tsunami...our rights are going to be swept away.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
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Susanna Hoffs-This Week's Podcast
Susanna Hoffs has a new novel, "This Bird Has Flown," and a new covers album produced by Peter Asher, "The Deep End." We talk about these two projects, growing up, the Bangles, meeting her husband and so much more!
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/susanna-hoffs-112384222/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/susanna-hoffs/id1316200737?i=1000607684674
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6H5jJJ6NmXD1whmVGEluUh?si=inR6BjOKQg63aQrwAvy9jQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/2117230c-4af0-4991-9e6f-75a1cb88bc3d/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-susanna-hoffs
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/susanna-hoffs-301635299
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/susanna-hoffs-112384222/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/susanna-hoffs/id1316200737?i=1000607684674
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6H5jJJ6NmXD1whmVGEluUh?si=inR6BjOKQg63aQrwAvy9jQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/2117230c-4af0-4991-9e6f-75a1cb88bc3d/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-susanna-hoffs
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/susanna-hoffs-301635299
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Wednesday 5 April 2023
Maestro In Blue
Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3MsWJrI
I'm not sure whether to recommend this Netflix show. There are nine episodes and I kept vacillating as to whether it was highbrow or lowbrow, fodder for the masses or something meatier.
Actually, there's one episode about relationships that is killer. It's episode 6, entitled "Musical Chairs." And you could watch just that one, you'd understand it, but I don't recommend it.
"Maestro in Blue" was shot in the Greek islands, mostly Paxos, I've never been, even though I listened to Joni Mitchell's "Blue," you know, with Carey on the Grecian isle, and now I'm eager to go. The water is so clear. And life is so slow. The only thing is I've lived in small communities and everybody is in everybody else's business and I love the anonymity of the city, but still... The Greek islands are now on my list.
But the reason I'm writing about "Maestro in Blue" is the soundtrack. Because either they had a huge budget or acts did them a big favor and...
There are three tracks I want to talk about. In a perfect world, I'd write three separate essays, but then people would sign off because of too much incoming, but now I run the risk of people not getting that far in my screed.
Anyway...
WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN
This was the radio track from "Rattle and Hum," when U2 overloaded us and people were pissed at the band because Bono thought he was God, or at least that was the public perception. And the funny thing is the band felt the slings and arrows, and licked its wounds and went to Berlin and ultimately came up with "Achtung Baby" two years later, which sounds nothing like what came before, which is my favorite LP of theirs. It was unclear how successful the project would be, I mean the first single was "The Fly," that's not playing to radio, and the band toured indoors, one of the three best shows I've ever seen, and then demand built and there was the Zoo TV stadium tour and then U2 followed it all up with "Pop" and the audience wasn't hip enough to get the joke and the band has been anxious about its public perception ever since. (Of course I'm ignoring "Zooropa," but that was seen as an adjunct to the Zoo TV tour, not its own separate album statement.)
And now... It's been misstep after misstep. "All That You Can't Leave Behind" contained the monstrous hit "Beautiful Day," but compare that to "Pride (In the Name of Love)," or "Sunday Bloody Sunday"...it shoots so much lower, it's ear candy, it's not meaningful. And then there was the Apple debacle. And ultimately the "Joshua Tree" tour and...how are we supposed to take your new work seriously when you're trading on nostalgia? Once you give the people what they want, once you play to the audience instead of yourself, you've lost your artistic meaning and are in the rearview mirror. As for the new "acoustic" album... I cherry-picked it, because it's endless, and I enjoyed what I heard, but I didn't need to hear it again. These should have been YouTube clips, even TikTok clips, not part of an official release.
So... At some point you've got to stop trying to top yourself. This is what got Michael Jackson in trouble, he could never equal the success of "Thriller." And Peter Frampton put a huge dent in his career by delivering "I'm In You" to satiate the boppers when musos were his core audience and... It's hard to give up the spotlight. But if you're going to make new records, play by your own rules. This is where Dylan is the beacon. In records and live gigs. I won't say I appreciate his new work to the degree I love the old, I think some of the hosannas are the emperor's new clothes, and I don't get it live, but at least Dylan is exploring. And he never got plastic surgery and never loosened up and at some point, you've got enough money. As far as being top of people's mind... That's a fool's errand. Because no one is that big anymore. No one reaches everybody like in the pre-internet days, no one.
So I was surprised how much I loved hearing "When Love Comes to Town." The show was relatively quiet, not cacophonic, like too many TV productions, and it was the perfect soundtrack, the music was primary as opposed to secondary, like too much stuff today, and with almost forty years of distance, sans the trappings, it had me smiling and enjoying it and...
SON OF A PREACHER MAN
She's English and she's dead.
I say this because I confuse her with other acts. It's so long ago. Dusty Springfield died in 1999, of breast cancer, it was seen as a tragedy, at this point it wasn't a badge of honor to come out of the woodwork and proclaim you had breast cancer and try to raise awareness like it actually became. We're still trying to have a similar movement in the men's world, about prostate cancer, but not only do too many men not want to go to the doctor, tons don't want to have a colonoscopy, and I don't get it, you can now take pills for prep and the procedure is painless, you get the Michael Jackson drug, propofol and...
All of this is to say by time Dusty Springfield died the focus was elsewhere. Her hits were behind her and the internet had not yet burgeoned, so...
To a great degree Dusty is lost to the sands of time.
However, every seven to ten years there's another wave of nostalgia and writings, appreciation for her "Dusty In Memphis" album.
Now what I remember first about Dusty Springfield is "I Only Want to Be With You." That was 1963, before the Beatles broke over here, when we still had surf music and our transistors might be tuned to the ball game as much as music.
But then came "Wishin' and Hopin'," in 1964, after the Beatles arrived. The Liverpool lads dominated the radio, which we were all addicted to, but there was a hangover of the old stuff, there were still pop numbers, and this one...sounded nothing like the British Invasion. Dionne Warwick had recorded it previously, but Dusty Springfield had the hit. The recording might sound dated, out of time, but it still maintains its magic, which is hard to describe, but easy to feel.
So Dusty was cold, signed with Atlantic, got hooked up with the label's production team of Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd and...made a stiff album. Sure, black soul was triumphant, but white soul lived in a no-man's land. But over time "Dusty in Memphis" has come to be considered one of the best albums ever.
And the funny thing is it contains versions of two songs the Al Kooper Blood, Sweat & Tears covered on that band's first LP, Goffin and King's "So Much Love" and Randy Newman's "Just One Smile."
And "Dusty in Memphis" didn't sound dark and English, but like something cut in the delta. And there was one huge hit..."Son of a Preacher Man."
It starts subtly, the antithesis of the guitar heroes coming out of the U.K., in Memphis you could underplay, and it felt so right.
And eventually there were horns.
But really it's Dusty's vocal that makes the record.
One of the through lines of "Maestro in Blue" is about a nineteen year old girl's infatuation with the fortysomething maestro, and normally when you heard singles like this it was on the AM radio, or with background music, not alone, in the quiet, but sans background noise "Son of a Preacher Man" reached me in a way it never did before. Like...
CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE
Mariza Rizou makes it her own. To the point where I couldn't place the original. It sounds nothing like the Elvis Presley hit.
As a matter of fact, I forgot that Elvis did it, my mind was searching for the version I knew, which I ultimately realized was UB40's.
Now in truth Elvis Presley's take is pretty slow. But it's a period piece, with the production, it's a record, whereas Mariza Rizou's...
UB40's take is faster, and reggae-esque, and I dig it, but Mariza Rizou's version...
Not that I knew who Rizou was. I was searching and found a "Maestro in Blue" soundtrack on Spotify, not that it was an official release, the soundtrack album concept is dead, first and foremost there is no album, no souvenir, just tracks, which can be cherry-picked on a streaming service so...
I've got no idea who Mariza Rizou is, but I assumed she was Greek, with that name, and she turns out to be, and she doesn't have her own Wikipedia page, so she can't be that big, even in Athens. But this version of "Can't Stop Falling in Love"...
Love is slow, reflective. Oh, Cupid's arrow might pierce your heart and set it aflame, you might ultimately be in a passionate embrace, even intertwined sexually, but at first there's a lot of time apart, thinking about the other person, which is one of the features of "Maestro in Blue," and Mariza Rizou's version of "Can't Stop Falling in Love" is slow and contemplative just like that experience of nascent love in your head, whether you be walking down the street alone or lying on your bed or...
What I'm saying is this version of "Can't Stop Falling in Love" is so slow that the lyrics really stand out.
"Wise men say
Only fools, only fools rush in"
And that's true. Normally we know the lyrics, but we don't think about them, but in this take you can't help but be infected by them, as they slowly rattle around in your brain.
"Shall I stay
Would it be, would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you"
Forbidden love. Do you fly straight, do what's right, or do you follow your passion...it's a hard choice. And an important choice, who you marry is the most critical decision you'll make in your life, choose wisely. And love is certainly the winding road they speak of, the infatuation wears off, and then the hard work begins. And if the person you're involved with isn't willing to do the hard work, you're gonna get divorced. Because relationships are hard, they demand commitment and trust, and sure, sometimes people get divorced and find someone better, but oftentimes they don't, or they're so shallow they jump from infatuation to infatuation, not learning about themselves, never mind their partner.
That's the power of music, to make you think about and feel all this.
And as slow and quiet as Mariza Rizou's version of "Can't Help Falling in Love" might be, it's just that powerful.
P.S. If you watch "Maestro in Blue," don't shut it off at the credits, let it run!
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I'm not sure whether to recommend this Netflix show. There are nine episodes and I kept vacillating as to whether it was highbrow or lowbrow, fodder for the masses or something meatier.
Actually, there's one episode about relationships that is killer. It's episode 6, entitled "Musical Chairs." And you could watch just that one, you'd understand it, but I don't recommend it.
"Maestro in Blue" was shot in the Greek islands, mostly Paxos, I've never been, even though I listened to Joni Mitchell's "Blue," you know, with Carey on the Grecian isle, and now I'm eager to go. The water is so clear. And life is so slow. The only thing is I've lived in small communities and everybody is in everybody else's business and I love the anonymity of the city, but still... The Greek islands are now on my list.
But the reason I'm writing about "Maestro in Blue" is the soundtrack. Because either they had a huge budget or acts did them a big favor and...
There are three tracks I want to talk about. In a perfect world, I'd write three separate essays, but then people would sign off because of too much incoming, but now I run the risk of people not getting that far in my screed.
Anyway...
WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN
This was the radio track from "Rattle and Hum," when U2 overloaded us and people were pissed at the band because Bono thought he was God, or at least that was the public perception. And the funny thing is the band felt the slings and arrows, and licked its wounds and went to Berlin and ultimately came up with "Achtung Baby" two years later, which sounds nothing like what came before, which is my favorite LP of theirs. It was unclear how successful the project would be, I mean the first single was "The Fly," that's not playing to radio, and the band toured indoors, one of the three best shows I've ever seen, and then demand built and there was the Zoo TV stadium tour and then U2 followed it all up with "Pop" and the audience wasn't hip enough to get the joke and the band has been anxious about its public perception ever since. (Of course I'm ignoring "Zooropa," but that was seen as an adjunct to the Zoo TV tour, not its own separate album statement.)
And now... It's been misstep after misstep. "All That You Can't Leave Behind" contained the monstrous hit "Beautiful Day," but compare that to "Pride (In the Name of Love)," or "Sunday Bloody Sunday"...it shoots so much lower, it's ear candy, it's not meaningful. And then there was the Apple debacle. And ultimately the "Joshua Tree" tour and...how are we supposed to take your new work seriously when you're trading on nostalgia? Once you give the people what they want, once you play to the audience instead of yourself, you've lost your artistic meaning and are in the rearview mirror. As for the new "acoustic" album... I cherry-picked it, because it's endless, and I enjoyed what I heard, but I didn't need to hear it again. These should have been YouTube clips, even TikTok clips, not part of an official release.
So... At some point you've got to stop trying to top yourself. This is what got Michael Jackson in trouble, he could never equal the success of "Thriller." And Peter Frampton put a huge dent in his career by delivering "I'm In You" to satiate the boppers when musos were his core audience and... It's hard to give up the spotlight. But if you're going to make new records, play by your own rules. This is where Dylan is the beacon. In records and live gigs. I won't say I appreciate his new work to the degree I love the old, I think some of the hosannas are the emperor's new clothes, and I don't get it live, but at least Dylan is exploring. And he never got plastic surgery and never loosened up and at some point, you've got enough money. As far as being top of people's mind... That's a fool's errand. Because no one is that big anymore. No one reaches everybody like in the pre-internet days, no one.
So I was surprised how much I loved hearing "When Love Comes to Town." The show was relatively quiet, not cacophonic, like too many TV productions, and it was the perfect soundtrack, the music was primary as opposed to secondary, like too much stuff today, and with almost forty years of distance, sans the trappings, it had me smiling and enjoying it and...
SON OF A PREACHER MAN
She's English and she's dead.
I say this because I confuse her with other acts. It's so long ago. Dusty Springfield died in 1999, of breast cancer, it was seen as a tragedy, at this point it wasn't a badge of honor to come out of the woodwork and proclaim you had breast cancer and try to raise awareness like it actually became. We're still trying to have a similar movement in the men's world, about prostate cancer, but not only do too many men not want to go to the doctor, tons don't want to have a colonoscopy, and I don't get it, you can now take pills for prep and the procedure is painless, you get the Michael Jackson drug, propofol and...
All of this is to say by time Dusty Springfield died the focus was elsewhere. Her hits were behind her and the internet had not yet burgeoned, so...
To a great degree Dusty is lost to the sands of time.
However, every seven to ten years there's another wave of nostalgia and writings, appreciation for her "Dusty In Memphis" album.
Now what I remember first about Dusty Springfield is "I Only Want to Be With You." That was 1963, before the Beatles broke over here, when we still had surf music and our transistors might be tuned to the ball game as much as music.
But then came "Wishin' and Hopin'," in 1964, after the Beatles arrived. The Liverpool lads dominated the radio, which we were all addicted to, but there was a hangover of the old stuff, there were still pop numbers, and this one...sounded nothing like the British Invasion. Dionne Warwick had recorded it previously, but Dusty Springfield had the hit. The recording might sound dated, out of time, but it still maintains its magic, which is hard to describe, but easy to feel.
So Dusty was cold, signed with Atlantic, got hooked up with the label's production team of Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd and...made a stiff album. Sure, black soul was triumphant, but white soul lived in a no-man's land. But over time "Dusty in Memphis" has come to be considered one of the best albums ever.
And the funny thing is it contains versions of two songs the Al Kooper Blood, Sweat & Tears covered on that band's first LP, Goffin and King's "So Much Love" and Randy Newman's "Just One Smile."
And "Dusty in Memphis" didn't sound dark and English, but like something cut in the delta. And there was one huge hit..."Son of a Preacher Man."
It starts subtly, the antithesis of the guitar heroes coming out of the U.K., in Memphis you could underplay, and it felt so right.
And eventually there were horns.
But really it's Dusty's vocal that makes the record.
One of the through lines of "Maestro in Blue" is about a nineteen year old girl's infatuation with the fortysomething maestro, and normally when you heard singles like this it was on the AM radio, or with background music, not alone, in the quiet, but sans background noise "Son of a Preacher Man" reached me in a way it never did before. Like...
CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE
Mariza Rizou makes it her own. To the point where I couldn't place the original. It sounds nothing like the Elvis Presley hit.
As a matter of fact, I forgot that Elvis did it, my mind was searching for the version I knew, which I ultimately realized was UB40's.
Now in truth Elvis Presley's take is pretty slow. But it's a period piece, with the production, it's a record, whereas Mariza Rizou's...
UB40's take is faster, and reggae-esque, and I dig it, but Mariza Rizou's version...
Not that I knew who Rizou was. I was searching and found a "Maestro in Blue" soundtrack on Spotify, not that it was an official release, the soundtrack album concept is dead, first and foremost there is no album, no souvenir, just tracks, which can be cherry-picked on a streaming service so...
I've got no idea who Mariza Rizou is, but I assumed she was Greek, with that name, and she turns out to be, and she doesn't have her own Wikipedia page, so she can't be that big, even in Athens. But this version of "Can't Stop Falling in Love"...
Love is slow, reflective. Oh, Cupid's arrow might pierce your heart and set it aflame, you might ultimately be in a passionate embrace, even intertwined sexually, but at first there's a lot of time apart, thinking about the other person, which is one of the features of "Maestro in Blue," and Mariza Rizou's version of "Can't Stop Falling in Love" is slow and contemplative just like that experience of nascent love in your head, whether you be walking down the street alone or lying on your bed or...
What I'm saying is this version of "Can't Stop Falling in Love" is so slow that the lyrics really stand out.
"Wise men say
Only fools, only fools rush in"
And that's true. Normally we know the lyrics, but we don't think about them, but in this take you can't help but be infected by them, as they slowly rattle around in your brain.
"Shall I stay
Would it be, would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you"
Forbidden love. Do you fly straight, do what's right, or do you follow your passion...it's a hard choice. And an important choice, who you marry is the most critical decision you'll make in your life, choose wisely. And love is certainly the winding road they speak of, the infatuation wears off, and then the hard work begins. And if the person you're involved with isn't willing to do the hard work, you're gonna get divorced. Because relationships are hard, they demand commitment and trust, and sure, sometimes people get divorced and find someone better, but oftentimes they don't, or they're so shallow they jump from infatuation to infatuation, not learning about themselves, never mind their partner.
That's the power of music, to make you think about and feel all this.
And as slow and quiet as Mariza Rizou's version of "Can't Help Falling in Love" might be, it's just that powerful.
P.S. If you watch "Maestro in Blue," don't shut it off at the credits, let it run!
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Tuesday 4 April 2023
Re-Michael Leon
First, thank you so much for sharing some personal stories about Michael. He wouldn't have wanted them shared while he was with us, but I, being his younger sister, appreciate that others get to read what a great, generous person he was.
I was fortunate enough to visit with him numerous times in the past couple of months; these visits were some of the best times I have had with him since we were kids. He was so smart, funny, generous, a loyal sports fan (Yankees, Knicks) and despite spending a lot of time in CA, he was a true New Yorker at heart. His passion for music originated in our home in South Orange. He turned me on to many artists/music that shaped our youth, and beyond.
I too am pissed that I'll never get to see him again. My hero since I was a little girl; he will always be in my heart.
Sari Leon
P.S. Last spring he thought he was suffering from Covid… headaches, lethargy, etc. And his disposition changed. Saw physicians in NYC.. battery of tests, surgery.. Yadayada. Stage 4 glioblastoma. They moved to LA for treatment - in early October- poor prognosis. He had minimal treatment and went downhill quickly last week. Still was watching basketball, golf but took drastic turn about a week ago. Was praying he went soon…Txs for asking .. I will miss him …forever.
________________________________
I was happy to have Michael as a close friend for 42 years, and fortunate to spend a good amount of time with him during his last six months in LA.
I've never met anyone who approached the end with such dignity and equanimity. From his initial diagnosis, his mantra was 'It's fine, I've had a great life.' At first I thought he was just being Michael, but it soon dawned on me he was telling the truth. He did have a great life: lots of professional success, two great marriages, two wonderful kids, a tremendously loving wife, many friends. He spent his last months in a beautiful house high in the hills, surrounded by family and friends. When I left him for what turned out to be the last time, about 10 days ago, I said 'I'll see you next week.' He said, with a smile, 'If I'm still around.'
I thought he would be, but I was wrong. I learned a lot watching him approach the end, and hope I can emulate him when my time comes.
Take care,
Jeff Gold
________________________________
Michael was a suave cool NYer. I met him during his A&M days and he did a great job making the East Coast A&M shine with style. As independents, we all looked up to Herb, Jerry and Gil. Michael represented them and their Artists well. I was down the block at Chrysalis on Madison Avenue and ran into Michael often.
I was lucky to work with him at SBK which then evolved into EMI Records Group NA. Michael was a great head of International. When I became president we traveled a lot together. Most memorable trip was to Germany. He knew his stuff and we broke Artists and records globally.
My warmest memory is when we sold SBK to EMI we were interviewing press companies. PMK was very prominent, somewhat legendary. Pat Kingsley called me to say she cannot make it to the NY offices personally but highly recommended her East Coast "right hand" Leslee Dart. Leslie was already building her reputation as a force in fil , tv and music.
When Leslie came for her tour of our offices I unexpectedly lost her on the way. I thought she was close by as I was introducing her to various executives on the sprawling floor. It turns out she stopped after I brought her to meet Michael… and it was love at first sight. A beautiful story and marriage. Michael was an awesome Dad too. I will miss him.
Daniel Glass
________________________________
I met Michael in the 70's and both being "Jersey Boys" hit it off immediately with much in common. Michael was one of the first record company executives to understand that some promoters were "producers". He introduced me to much of the A&M staff and helped me nurture a relationship with Gil who loved to pick my brain about what was going on in N.Y.C. This was time period when the good labels embraced promoters and included us in helping to break their artists. As time went on another Jersey Boy (Al Cafaro) succeeded Gil and continued A&M's artist first strategy and continued to look for good partnerships with leading promoters/producers. Then in around 1990 all three of us ended up at Polygram. Michael and Al on the A&M side and me starting Polygram Diversified Entertainment. We all stayed friends and when the Alain Levy reign was all over the three of us united and together with my promoting and management duties formed an independent label (Hybrid Recordings). Michael retired and Al left A&M and joined me and our staff. Michael was perhaps the best networker in the business and his combination street and well educated smarts made him stand out as one of the greats in our business. I'll miss my friend.
John Scher
________________________________
Devastating news. I met and worked with Michael at EMI in the late 90's and he was one of the nicest and most genuine people I've ever met in the business. He didn't want anything from me. He enjoyed music, the business of music, art, travel, wine, food and socializing with various people. He was likable and fun to be around. I'm sad I didn't keep up with him. I have nothing but fond memories.
Larry Stessel
________________________________
So many of your points are so true, so spot on. But, you touch my heart when you speak about Michael Leon. Initially, our paths crossed in the mid-seventies when I managed a band on A&M records and Michael was east coast head of promotion.
He did a superlative job trying to get a midwest rock band, Head East, airplay in some tough markets. The important point to me was his honesty and caring attitude whenever he brought me news. He was then, and will always be remembered as a mensch: a person of integrity and honor.
We didn't connect for many years after our manager/promotion rep relationship had ended, as the band departed from A&M. Yet, to my good fortune we had a mutual personal friend, Bobby Margolis, who reintroduced us in Palm Springs. Golf was the connection for us, and we played many rounds together when he visited the desert. He stayed at Bobby's house with a bevy of friends making our reacquaintance seamless, and so much fun!
Thanks to Bobby, I was able to see Michael and have lunch with him in LA a few weeks ago. He was in good spirits while knowing that his life was near the end. It was my blessing to have seen him. He seemed content and at peace. That, in and of itself, was who he was-happy to have lived a good life. Thank you for remembering him.
RIP, Michael.
Irv Zuckerman
________________________________
Tough to read this one Bob, not only because one can't help but self-reflect when an artist dies, let alone someone in the business you were close with, or even of course a friend or relative. We're all on this tightrope walk and we try to do the best for ourselves and others that we can. Speaking of doing the best for others, this post is also tough because Michael Leon was very good to me and played an important role in my life as Jim Merlis and I started Big Hassle Media out of the ashes of the Univsersal-Polygram merger in 1999. Jim started the company with Rufus Wainwright as his sole client two weeks before I joined in early Feb of that year. When I came on board, Melinda Newman was nice enough to run an item about us in her very well-read Billboard column. I hadn't done pr for a couple of years because I left Atlantic to go to Mercury's marketing department in 97. When I got laid off, I went back to pr thanks to Jim and was more than a little nervous about the future. I had never known Michael Leon before, but he read that item in the column and called me!! We had a great meeting the next day, and he sent me home with an advance of "Lost and Gone Forever," by Guster. Needless to say, I fell in love with the record and I was back in business working with great artists, and I very much have Michael Leon to thank for that. SO Big Hassle hoists one for Michael Leon today. Thanks for taking a chance on us! RIP.
Ken Weinstein
Big Hassle Media
________________________________
A real gut punch to read that Michael Leon is gone.
We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same elementary school. He was a year older and a lot taller than I was. Long before we knew that we'd both devote the rest of our lives to music, I used to play basketball with him in his backyard. Not too many kids our age were adept at cross-over dribbling or stopping on a dime to hit a rainbow jumper. Michael was really flashy on the court, a Pete Maravich type. I looked up to him and he was as decent a person as you describe.
As an aside, Michael Leon's younger sister Sari was my first girlfriend. The first girl I ever made out with. The first girl who dumped me (7th grade) for another guy. My first love lost that caused me to cry crocodile tears in front of my friends. Sari and I made up a few months later and have remained lifelong friends to this day. She is a music junkie/sports fanatic of the highest order and I know how devastated she must be. Michael was her only sibling.
Michael and I were only acquaintances who hooped together because I'd be hanging out with Sari at the Leon house in the North Newstead section of South Orange, New Jersey. We both ended up in the music business. When I changed careers from radio/journalism/bandleader to concert promotion and moved from Boulder to San Diego, I started bumping into Michael every year at the New Music Seminar or APAP. I chewed his ear off trying to make him aware of the new concert venue I was booking (Humphrey's by the Bay in San Diego) so that he might steer me toward some A&M acts' agents and managers. I mentioned in passing that I had been the lead singer in a rock 'n' roll band in Boulder (Kenny & the Kritix), and had achieved some local renown before giving it up to move to San Diego.
Michael could have cared less about me as a concert promoter. All he asked about was my band. Could I send him a tape. Send him a promo package. Did I have a video. I explained to him that my band days were over and I was trying to reinvent myself as a concert producer. When I would see him the following year at yet another convention, the first thing he'd say was "How come you haven't sent me a tape of your band???" Michael Leon was the consummate A&R guy, a talent scout, music loving pathfinder. No matter how much I told him that I wasn't the next big thing, he wanted to hear my stuff anyway. I have never forgotten that.
As I get ready to watch the San Diego State Aztecs try and finish their improbable/impossible journey and take down mighty UConn, I'm sad that Michael won't be watching the game (I know that his sister Sari will be). The first thing most people will remember about Michael Leon is his passion for music. I remember that too, but will always first flash back to his ball handling skills and other worldly jump shot.
--Kenny Weissberg
________________________________
Michael and I both were East Coast GM's - he A&M and I at Elektra. I was so jealous of his ponytail that I grew one.
Bill Berger
________________________________
I got hired to do local Boston promo for A&M in 1981...Michael Leon was the GM of the East Coast office in NYC. He flew me down to welcome me into the A&M "family". Working at A&M
did feel like a family. and yes, I agree Michael was "warm and intelligent"...always enjoyed our work together and conversations...thank you Michael for being a gentleman in a business where that was not
so common.... gone way too soon...RIP...
Peter Wassyng
________________________________
This is very very sad news indeed.
Michael was one of the first people that I met in the industry when I started at Arista as an advertising copywriter right out of college.
In addition to his love of music and of New York, he was also a huge sports guy, and we played a lot of pick up basketball together and were teammates on a very good Arista Records cormpany softball team.
I hadn't really seen him since he moved to LA but am very shocked and saddened to read of his passing.
RIP
Stephen Dessau
________________________________
Thanks, Bob. I enjoyed that. I knew and loved Michael Leon I spent five years doing promotion for A&M. He WAS smart and he was elegant and a gentleman. Not many like him. Wish I had stayed in touch. And everything else you said rang true too. We're the same age (I think) and it's interesting how the reality of situations and people get clearer every year. Our time is looming. I still feel good. Still work a few records. And still have a few laughs So maybe I will outlast everyone!
Patti Martin
________________________________
I had the pleasure of working with Michael during my MTV days both in the U.S. with A&M and later in Europe where he wore the SBK flag. I knew Michael professionally, but once at a lunch we went off topic and started talking about life and things other than music.
There I learned of his passion for baseball and his NY Yankees. He told a story I'm sure he'd told many times, but as a "brother in baseball", I was riveted when he told me that as a kid (I think he was around 9) his father pulled Michael and his brother out of school and they bore witness to an event that has never happened before or since and most likely won't ever again...a perfect game (thrown by Don Larsen) in the 1956 World Series. His attention to every detail was that of a historian, but the glee and joy in that conveyance was that of Michael's inner kid. RIP ML...
Brian Diamond
________________________________
I wanted to tell you something, you, actually YOU are the main reason I have started to go to the doctor. I'm a 43 year old roadie and former army ranger, my saying was if The taliban couldn't kill me what else can. Then reading your notes and constant talk about regular illness and doctors made me second guess. I guess it's because I have been reading your letter for so long that I have to admit sometimes I see you as my friend and I worry about you. Nonetheless, thanks for doing what you do. I have begun to take my health more seriously and dropped the bravado because of you. Thanks man.
Andy Cormack
________________________________
So sorrt to hear about Michael, he was one of the really nice ones. Lots of golfing together. All this is reallys scary, as I am almost 77, and plan on making it well past 80. Gotta last at least as long as your sister Jill and my boss, Mr. Buffett. Cross your fingers
Harold Sulman
President, Mailboat Records
________________________________
I always admired his charm and fun
Bobby Tarantino
________________________________
Michael Leon……a class act.
Mike Bone
________________________________
I liked Mike Leon a lot, he was gracious. I looked forward to working with him on A&M acts. In the early '80s when I was at DIR our offices were directly across 57th St from the beautiful building where A&M's offices occupied the penthouse.
Paul Zullo
________________________________
Thanks for this. My wife and I host a retreat each year at onsite for parents who lost kids. Out of order is hard to ever accept but it does bring the two worlds closer together, and makes parents not fear death as much . Coming from a city which is still is reeling from last Monday's shooting
John Huie
________________________________
I think it is time for NARAS or the Rock Hall to fund a Music Industry Hall of Fame. No voting… with just a few requisites. A memorialization of those who helped to make the music and those artists to be heard.
There's a very long list… and one day we will be on that list.
Bruce Garfield
________________________________
It seems like everyone is passing away - an acceleration of the stars and singers and music bosses and producers that were as gods to me.
Some of them are so arcane they pass with barely a notice, but for those who were, well, say for me when I was 15-24 - they will forever remain. And when they pass - my heart stops.
death of despair.
I wrote music for film and tv for 30 years and in 48 hours it ended. If you don't know what meniere's disease is google Huey Lewis. Meniere's disease. I have suffered with it for so long, and it is horrific. It's like being a painter for your whole life and waking up blind. My case is worse than Huey Lewis' - but reach out to me Huey. I could use someone to talk to. Or try to. Friggin's stars you guys. Right side along Michael. I remember Clover! And your voice - the hits - you must be so grateful for them. And now you are fly fishing in Wyoming. I know what you feel. I know. I live it every day.
When you get Meniere's comorbid with diplacusis dysharmonica you cannot hear pitch anymore. One ear hears a Bb, the other a D. So it renders all music atonal serial horror. You can't play, sing, go to concerts, listen to any of the music you wrote. When Burt Bacharach died I tried to hear "Raindrops keep Fallin' On My Head" thru my laptop with specialized eq - it was so sad. I couldn't hear any of it. All the songs that defined me, everything I found on my own - becoming a successful composer for decades - only to face being tone deaf and prone to vertigo attacks beyond description.
It was not the way I imagined my retirement. I had worked long and hard enough to travel the word, write my own music - but now I can hardly do anything. My body is strong. My will is strong. Nothing has ever knocked me down. So...
Assisted suicide is now legal in many states and started in, err, Sweden?
You don't die because of meniere's, you die with it. It is progressive, chronic and incurable. You become anhedonic and agoraphobic. It occurs differently for everyone. In many cases, or some, or few, I don't really know - it leads to Alzhiemer's and then dementia.
That is when I will go. Here in Washington State it is legal. I was very successful for a long time and I make a decent amount of money from royalties. Enuf money that I pay the same for Medicare as Bill Gates does, while it still gets taken out of my own check from my own corporation. Plan A B and D - if you are getting there do a deep dive.
I will not have my precious, loving children standing by my side at my hospital room looking at me drooling and saying "now who are you again?", when the person I am talking to is my daughter. Oh my baby, remember my swagger, remember my music. My fans. Remember my Emmy nomination, Ascap award, remember me playing guitar to soothe you to sleep. I was never a star. But I always got on base.
For as much as it will hurt you and your brother for life, it is already so hard to keep going. At 67. And a better end than suicide. They interview you. Analyze you. Talk to you. And if it seems like the right thing they put you in a chair, put the IV in you, but then you have to turn the knob yourself.
I didn't see things ending this way.
William Anderson
________________________________
From: Dan Navarro
We live as long as we live. Some get more, some get less. No one gets out alive, and every day above ground is a good one. Period. Any illusion to the contrary is psycho. And we have lots of friends who are psycho.
BUT... how we live is the real battle. Do we value every day? Do we laugh every day? Do we stop complaining about bullsh*t little things? Do we invest in community and the generation coming up? Do we learn the landscape on the horizon? Do we value new, different, unknown, outside the comfort zone? Nothing worth a sh*t ever came from a comfort zone.
Or do we petrify our mindset and maintain a death grip on what is no longer possible. Do we still use outdated standards as we navigate the obstacle course of the immediate present, oblivious to the future.
Our industry has changed, irretrievably. Yeah, it was better before, when it was fresh, important, inspiring, and the public ethos revolved around what an artist said or did in their creations. I sure hung on every word and every note. Just like you did.
I mean, hell, I'm not in the music business any more. Haven't been for years. I just make music for a living in the niches, where I found an eager and generous audience. And I've managed to learn what is still relevant -- communication.
It means driving thousands of miles a year, setting up my own gear, little sleep, more than a few frustrations, some broken field running, and planning my moves pretty much alone (though I do have an agent, a digital coordinator and a social media person). My journeyman career is still productive, profitable and worth-it. I've had fun. A boatload of fun, and I'm still having it, very fricking day.
Why am I writing this? I'm older than you, by a few months, we've compared notes on that before. My health is good, somehow I still have my all hair, not even receding, and it's still 90% not grey (not so for my beard, LOL). Nothing but genetics and still more dumb luck.
And, like you, I'm losing people like crazy. My age, older, younger. Croz, Jeff Young, David Lindley, Peter Cooper, Chicago legend Lin Brehmer (closest friend of the bunch), never mind Lisa Marie, Kirstie Alley, Michael Rhodes, Tom Leadon, Jeff Beck, or Michael Leon or Seymour Stein, none of whom I knew. Seems like a new one every week. Or every day.
We notice it because we are aging and not dying just yet.
As we've discussed, Eric Lowen died at 60, eleven years ago. He didn't get to see 70. We were 30 years together and at 60 I had to reinvent. Nothing blasted fresh air into my perspective more than that. He's gone, and I'm still here. Time to get to work and be more grateful for the time I have left, determined to spend it vigorously doing what I love every single day. Use it or lose it.
Dude, you're tops at your game, and still throwing punches. Your health appears to be under control. You're in a good relationship and you are still vertical and above ground, with a platform. Your perspective is razor sharp and you still care about the new even as you reminisce about the old.
Let's face it. You won.
xx
dn
I was fortunate enough to visit with him numerous times in the past couple of months; these visits were some of the best times I have had with him since we were kids. He was so smart, funny, generous, a loyal sports fan (Yankees, Knicks) and despite spending a lot of time in CA, he was a true New Yorker at heart. His passion for music originated in our home in South Orange. He turned me on to many artists/music that shaped our youth, and beyond.
I too am pissed that I'll never get to see him again. My hero since I was a little girl; he will always be in my heart.
Sari Leon
P.S. Last spring he thought he was suffering from Covid… headaches, lethargy, etc. And his disposition changed. Saw physicians in NYC.. battery of tests, surgery.. Yadayada. Stage 4 glioblastoma. They moved to LA for treatment - in early October- poor prognosis. He had minimal treatment and went downhill quickly last week. Still was watching basketball, golf but took drastic turn about a week ago. Was praying he went soon…Txs for asking .. I will miss him …forever.
________________________________
I was happy to have Michael as a close friend for 42 years, and fortunate to spend a good amount of time with him during his last six months in LA.
I've never met anyone who approached the end with such dignity and equanimity. From his initial diagnosis, his mantra was 'It's fine, I've had a great life.' At first I thought he was just being Michael, but it soon dawned on me he was telling the truth. He did have a great life: lots of professional success, two great marriages, two wonderful kids, a tremendously loving wife, many friends. He spent his last months in a beautiful house high in the hills, surrounded by family and friends. When I left him for what turned out to be the last time, about 10 days ago, I said 'I'll see you next week.' He said, with a smile, 'If I'm still around.'
I thought he would be, but I was wrong. I learned a lot watching him approach the end, and hope I can emulate him when my time comes.
Take care,
Jeff Gold
________________________________
Michael was a suave cool NYer. I met him during his A&M days and he did a great job making the East Coast A&M shine with style. As independents, we all looked up to Herb, Jerry and Gil. Michael represented them and their Artists well. I was down the block at Chrysalis on Madison Avenue and ran into Michael often.
I was lucky to work with him at SBK which then evolved into EMI Records Group NA. Michael was a great head of International. When I became president we traveled a lot together. Most memorable trip was to Germany. He knew his stuff and we broke Artists and records globally.
My warmest memory is when we sold SBK to EMI we were interviewing press companies. PMK was very prominent, somewhat legendary. Pat Kingsley called me to say she cannot make it to the NY offices personally but highly recommended her East Coast "right hand" Leslee Dart. Leslie was already building her reputation as a force in fil , tv and music.
When Leslie came for her tour of our offices I unexpectedly lost her on the way. I thought she was close by as I was introducing her to various executives on the sprawling floor. It turns out she stopped after I brought her to meet Michael… and it was love at first sight. A beautiful story and marriage. Michael was an awesome Dad too. I will miss him.
Daniel Glass
________________________________
I met Michael in the 70's and both being "Jersey Boys" hit it off immediately with much in common. Michael was one of the first record company executives to understand that some promoters were "producers". He introduced me to much of the A&M staff and helped me nurture a relationship with Gil who loved to pick my brain about what was going on in N.Y.C. This was time period when the good labels embraced promoters and included us in helping to break their artists. As time went on another Jersey Boy (Al Cafaro) succeeded Gil and continued A&M's artist first strategy and continued to look for good partnerships with leading promoters/producers. Then in around 1990 all three of us ended up at Polygram. Michael and Al on the A&M side and me starting Polygram Diversified Entertainment. We all stayed friends and when the Alain Levy reign was all over the three of us united and together with my promoting and management duties formed an independent label (Hybrid Recordings). Michael retired and Al left A&M and joined me and our staff. Michael was perhaps the best networker in the business and his combination street and well educated smarts made him stand out as one of the greats in our business. I'll miss my friend.
John Scher
________________________________
Devastating news. I met and worked with Michael at EMI in the late 90's and he was one of the nicest and most genuine people I've ever met in the business. He didn't want anything from me. He enjoyed music, the business of music, art, travel, wine, food and socializing with various people. He was likable and fun to be around. I'm sad I didn't keep up with him. I have nothing but fond memories.
Larry Stessel
________________________________
So many of your points are so true, so spot on. But, you touch my heart when you speak about Michael Leon. Initially, our paths crossed in the mid-seventies when I managed a band on A&M records and Michael was east coast head of promotion.
He did a superlative job trying to get a midwest rock band, Head East, airplay in some tough markets. The important point to me was his honesty and caring attitude whenever he brought me news. He was then, and will always be remembered as a mensch: a person of integrity and honor.
We didn't connect for many years after our manager/promotion rep relationship had ended, as the band departed from A&M. Yet, to my good fortune we had a mutual personal friend, Bobby Margolis, who reintroduced us in Palm Springs. Golf was the connection for us, and we played many rounds together when he visited the desert. He stayed at Bobby's house with a bevy of friends making our reacquaintance seamless, and so much fun!
Thanks to Bobby, I was able to see Michael and have lunch with him in LA a few weeks ago. He was in good spirits while knowing that his life was near the end. It was my blessing to have seen him. He seemed content and at peace. That, in and of itself, was who he was-happy to have lived a good life. Thank you for remembering him.
RIP, Michael.
Irv Zuckerman
________________________________
Tough to read this one Bob, not only because one can't help but self-reflect when an artist dies, let alone someone in the business you were close with, or even of course a friend or relative. We're all on this tightrope walk and we try to do the best for ourselves and others that we can. Speaking of doing the best for others, this post is also tough because Michael Leon was very good to me and played an important role in my life as Jim Merlis and I started Big Hassle Media out of the ashes of the Univsersal-Polygram merger in 1999. Jim started the company with Rufus Wainwright as his sole client two weeks before I joined in early Feb of that year. When I came on board, Melinda Newman was nice enough to run an item about us in her very well-read Billboard column. I hadn't done pr for a couple of years because I left Atlantic to go to Mercury's marketing department in 97. When I got laid off, I went back to pr thanks to Jim and was more than a little nervous about the future. I had never known Michael Leon before, but he read that item in the column and called me!! We had a great meeting the next day, and he sent me home with an advance of "Lost and Gone Forever," by Guster. Needless to say, I fell in love with the record and I was back in business working with great artists, and I very much have Michael Leon to thank for that. SO Big Hassle hoists one for Michael Leon today. Thanks for taking a chance on us! RIP.
Ken Weinstein
Big Hassle Media
________________________________
A real gut punch to read that Michael Leon is gone.
We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same elementary school. He was a year older and a lot taller than I was. Long before we knew that we'd both devote the rest of our lives to music, I used to play basketball with him in his backyard. Not too many kids our age were adept at cross-over dribbling or stopping on a dime to hit a rainbow jumper. Michael was really flashy on the court, a Pete Maravich type. I looked up to him and he was as decent a person as you describe.
As an aside, Michael Leon's younger sister Sari was my first girlfriend. The first girl I ever made out with. The first girl who dumped me (7th grade) for another guy. My first love lost that caused me to cry crocodile tears in front of my friends. Sari and I made up a few months later and have remained lifelong friends to this day. She is a music junkie/sports fanatic of the highest order and I know how devastated she must be. Michael was her only sibling.
Michael and I were only acquaintances who hooped together because I'd be hanging out with Sari at the Leon house in the North Newstead section of South Orange, New Jersey. We both ended up in the music business. When I changed careers from radio/journalism/bandleader to concert promotion and moved from Boulder to San Diego, I started bumping into Michael every year at the New Music Seminar or APAP. I chewed his ear off trying to make him aware of the new concert venue I was booking (Humphrey's by the Bay in San Diego) so that he might steer me toward some A&M acts' agents and managers. I mentioned in passing that I had been the lead singer in a rock 'n' roll band in Boulder (Kenny & the Kritix), and had achieved some local renown before giving it up to move to San Diego.
Michael could have cared less about me as a concert promoter. All he asked about was my band. Could I send him a tape. Send him a promo package. Did I have a video. I explained to him that my band days were over and I was trying to reinvent myself as a concert producer. When I would see him the following year at yet another convention, the first thing he'd say was "How come you haven't sent me a tape of your band???" Michael Leon was the consummate A&R guy, a talent scout, music loving pathfinder. No matter how much I told him that I wasn't the next big thing, he wanted to hear my stuff anyway. I have never forgotten that.
As I get ready to watch the San Diego State Aztecs try and finish their improbable/impossible journey and take down mighty UConn, I'm sad that Michael won't be watching the game (I know that his sister Sari will be). The first thing most people will remember about Michael Leon is his passion for music. I remember that too, but will always first flash back to his ball handling skills and other worldly jump shot.
--Kenny Weissberg
________________________________
Michael and I both were East Coast GM's - he A&M and I at Elektra. I was so jealous of his ponytail that I grew one.
Bill Berger
________________________________
I got hired to do local Boston promo for A&M in 1981...Michael Leon was the GM of the East Coast office in NYC. He flew me down to welcome me into the A&M "family". Working at A&M
did feel like a family. and yes, I agree Michael was "warm and intelligent"...always enjoyed our work together and conversations...thank you Michael for being a gentleman in a business where that was not
so common.... gone way too soon...RIP...
Peter Wassyng
________________________________
This is very very sad news indeed.
Michael was one of the first people that I met in the industry when I started at Arista as an advertising copywriter right out of college.
In addition to his love of music and of New York, he was also a huge sports guy, and we played a lot of pick up basketball together and were teammates on a very good Arista Records cormpany softball team.
I hadn't really seen him since he moved to LA but am very shocked and saddened to read of his passing.
RIP
Stephen Dessau
________________________________
Thanks, Bob. I enjoyed that. I knew and loved Michael Leon I spent five years doing promotion for A&M. He WAS smart and he was elegant and a gentleman. Not many like him. Wish I had stayed in touch. And everything else you said rang true too. We're the same age (I think) and it's interesting how the reality of situations and people get clearer every year. Our time is looming. I still feel good. Still work a few records. And still have a few laughs So maybe I will outlast everyone!
Patti Martin
________________________________
I had the pleasure of working with Michael during my MTV days both in the U.S. with A&M and later in Europe where he wore the SBK flag. I knew Michael professionally, but once at a lunch we went off topic and started talking about life and things other than music.
There I learned of his passion for baseball and his NY Yankees. He told a story I'm sure he'd told many times, but as a "brother in baseball", I was riveted when he told me that as a kid (I think he was around 9) his father pulled Michael and his brother out of school and they bore witness to an event that has never happened before or since and most likely won't ever again...a perfect game (thrown by Don Larsen) in the 1956 World Series. His attention to every detail was that of a historian, but the glee and joy in that conveyance was that of Michael's inner kid. RIP ML...
Brian Diamond
________________________________
I wanted to tell you something, you, actually YOU are the main reason I have started to go to the doctor. I'm a 43 year old roadie and former army ranger, my saying was if The taliban couldn't kill me what else can. Then reading your notes and constant talk about regular illness and doctors made me second guess. I guess it's because I have been reading your letter for so long that I have to admit sometimes I see you as my friend and I worry about you. Nonetheless, thanks for doing what you do. I have begun to take my health more seriously and dropped the bravado because of you. Thanks man.
Andy Cormack
________________________________
So sorrt to hear about Michael, he was one of the really nice ones. Lots of golfing together. All this is reallys scary, as I am almost 77, and plan on making it well past 80. Gotta last at least as long as your sister Jill and my boss, Mr. Buffett. Cross your fingers
Harold Sulman
President, Mailboat Records
________________________________
I always admired his charm and fun
Bobby Tarantino
________________________________
Michael Leon……a class act.
Mike Bone
________________________________
I liked Mike Leon a lot, he was gracious. I looked forward to working with him on A&M acts. In the early '80s when I was at DIR our offices were directly across 57th St from the beautiful building where A&M's offices occupied the penthouse.
Paul Zullo
________________________________
Thanks for this. My wife and I host a retreat each year at onsite for parents who lost kids. Out of order is hard to ever accept but it does bring the two worlds closer together, and makes parents not fear death as much . Coming from a city which is still is reeling from last Monday's shooting
John Huie
________________________________
I think it is time for NARAS or the Rock Hall to fund a Music Industry Hall of Fame. No voting… with just a few requisites. A memorialization of those who helped to make the music and those artists to be heard.
There's a very long list… and one day we will be on that list.
Bruce Garfield
________________________________
It seems like everyone is passing away - an acceleration of the stars and singers and music bosses and producers that were as gods to me.
Some of them are so arcane they pass with barely a notice, but for those who were, well, say for me when I was 15-24 - they will forever remain. And when they pass - my heart stops.
death of despair.
I wrote music for film and tv for 30 years and in 48 hours it ended. If you don't know what meniere's disease is google Huey Lewis. Meniere's disease. I have suffered with it for so long, and it is horrific. It's like being a painter for your whole life and waking up blind. My case is worse than Huey Lewis' - but reach out to me Huey. I could use someone to talk to. Or try to. Friggin's stars you guys. Right side along Michael. I remember Clover! And your voice - the hits - you must be so grateful for them. And now you are fly fishing in Wyoming. I know what you feel. I know. I live it every day.
When you get Meniere's comorbid with diplacusis dysharmonica you cannot hear pitch anymore. One ear hears a Bb, the other a D. So it renders all music atonal serial horror. You can't play, sing, go to concerts, listen to any of the music you wrote. When Burt Bacharach died I tried to hear "Raindrops keep Fallin' On My Head" thru my laptop with specialized eq - it was so sad. I couldn't hear any of it. All the songs that defined me, everything I found on my own - becoming a successful composer for decades - only to face being tone deaf and prone to vertigo attacks beyond description.
It was not the way I imagined my retirement. I had worked long and hard enough to travel the word, write my own music - but now I can hardly do anything. My body is strong. My will is strong. Nothing has ever knocked me down. So...
Assisted suicide is now legal in many states and started in, err, Sweden?
You don't die because of meniere's, you die with it. It is progressive, chronic and incurable. You become anhedonic and agoraphobic. It occurs differently for everyone. In many cases, or some, or few, I don't really know - it leads to Alzhiemer's and then dementia.
That is when I will go. Here in Washington State it is legal. I was very successful for a long time and I make a decent amount of money from royalties. Enuf money that I pay the same for Medicare as Bill Gates does, while it still gets taken out of my own check from my own corporation. Plan A B and D - if you are getting there do a deep dive.
I will not have my precious, loving children standing by my side at my hospital room looking at me drooling and saying "now who are you again?", when the person I am talking to is my daughter. Oh my baby, remember my swagger, remember my music. My fans. Remember my Emmy nomination, Ascap award, remember me playing guitar to soothe you to sleep. I was never a star. But I always got on base.
For as much as it will hurt you and your brother for life, it is already so hard to keep going. At 67. And a better end than suicide. They interview you. Analyze you. Talk to you. And if it seems like the right thing they put you in a chair, put the IV in you, but then you have to turn the knob yourself.
I didn't see things ending this way.
William Anderson
________________________________
From: Dan Navarro
We live as long as we live. Some get more, some get less. No one gets out alive, and every day above ground is a good one. Period. Any illusion to the contrary is psycho. And we have lots of friends who are psycho.
BUT... how we live is the real battle. Do we value every day? Do we laugh every day? Do we stop complaining about bullsh*t little things? Do we invest in community and the generation coming up? Do we learn the landscape on the horizon? Do we value new, different, unknown, outside the comfort zone? Nothing worth a sh*t ever came from a comfort zone.
Or do we petrify our mindset and maintain a death grip on what is no longer possible. Do we still use outdated standards as we navigate the obstacle course of the immediate present, oblivious to the future.
Our industry has changed, irretrievably. Yeah, it was better before, when it was fresh, important, inspiring, and the public ethos revolved around what an artist said or did in their creations. I sure hung on every word and every note. Just like you did.
I mean, hell, I'm not in the music business any more. Haven't been for years. I just make music for a living in the niches, where I found an eager and generous audience. And I've managed to learn what is still relevant -- communication.
It means driving thousands of miles a year, setting up my own gear, little sleep, more than a few frustrations, some broken field running, and planning my moves pretty much alone (though I do have an agent, a digital coordinator and a social media person). My journeyman career is still productive, profitable and worth-it. I've had fun. A boatload of fun, and I'm still having it, very fricking day.
Why am I writing this? I'm older than you, by a few months, we've compared notes on that before. My health is good, somehow I still have my all hair, not even receding, and it's still 90% not grey (not so for my beard, LOL). Nothing but genetics and still more dumb luck.
And, like you, I'm losing people like crazy. My age, older, younger. Croz, Jeff Young, David Lindley, Peter Cooper, Chicago legend Lin Brehmer (closest friend of the bunch), never mind Lisa Marie, Kirstie Alley, Michael Rhodes, Tom Leadon, Jeff Beck, or Michael Leon or Seymour Stein, none of whom I knew. Seems like a new one every week. Or every day.
We notice it because we are aging and not dying just yet.
As we've discussed, Eric Lowen died at 60, eleven years ago. He didn't get to see 70. We were 30 years together and at 60 I had to reinvent. Nothing blasted fresh air into my perspective more than that. He's gone, and I'm still here. Time to get to work and be more grateful for the time I have left, determined to spend it vigorously doing what I love every single day. Use it or lose it.
Dude, you're tops at your game, and still throwing punches. Your health appears to be under control. You're in a good relationship and you are still vertical and above ground, with a platform. Your perspective is razor sharp and you still care about the new even as you reminisce about the old.
Let's face it. You won.
xx
dn
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Re-Seymour Stein
Hi Bob:
Long term friend Stephen Budd copied me in on your recent email relating to the sad departure of Seymour Stein. I felt compelled to respond…so here goes!
Your observations and stories about Seymour have had me reminiscing since I woke up this morning. We go back a long, long way that's for sure…mid to late 1960s when I was primarily working for The Decca Record Company Ltd. My plans to launch my own record Blues label were already underway by 1964…some three and a half years later Peter Green left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to form Fleetwood Mac and then I had to leave the staff at Decca to become an Independent Producer. I guess that was around the time I first met Seymour…the Windsor Blues Festival that he alluded to amongst those emails that you listed. Anyway, I truly do not have the time right now to delve back into my memory 'bank' but I would like to say how much I enjoyed reading about those priceless memories. He was very kind to me in those early days…flew me to New York and put me up at his apartment. Showed me Chinatown…introduced me to Henry Glover and Bobby Robinson…and endless stories, mainly about Syd Nathan! He could tell a story too with impersonations and sound effects…hilarious. They were great times…never to be forgotten and never to be beaten either.
I will check my Inbox so see what I have from the man himself…we were corresponding about this and that but not sure about the content. That was at the time when the Blue Horizon label was being resurrected…maybe three years ago? I was in touch with both Seymour and his daughter Mandy.
Anyway, thank you again for brightening up what would have been a very sad day. We will all be celebrating his life as he surely gave so much to us. One of a kind…gone but never to be forgotten. R.I.P. Seymour Steinbigle
Best to you…
MIKE VERNON MBE
_______________________________
I first met Seymour in the seventies when I was in the international division at EMI. I had managed to get the USA as one of my "markets" and started licensing records that Capitol would not, or had not released in the USA. He had Sire, an indie then, and a series of compilation albums called The roots of British rock I believe. He came to see me at EMI but before he came I checked his deals to find that he had not possibly been accounting "regularly". So I arranged with the lawyer at EMI that he would come in halfway through the meeting and threaten him for non payment as a sort of spoof. Well Seymour gave me the best line ever. He said "I have live artists. I have to pay them before I pay your dead artists." I ended up licensing him some more records and licensed his partner at Jem an early Floyd solo record that had been out for ten years in the UK. Rupert Perry threatened to get me fired for that but Bob Mercer stood by me. When I went in to A and R at EMI we stayed in touch and later on at Polygram I managed to give him as many records as I could including Tainted love, the deal for which we did on a napkin in some dive. He was one of the greats and enjoyed all sorts of music. I even licensed him the great David Rudder from Trinidad who we signed to London with him taking the US. He was a regular at Carnival in Trinidad and went to the tents there where he knew all the calypsonians performing.What a great record guy.
Roger Ames
_______________________________
Great piece on Seymour.
He was a wonderful character.
I would often bump into him in London, not going to shows but buying antiques and paintings.
He loved going to the auctions.
This was his great hobby.
Seymour was from the great era of finding fabulous artists and selling them to anyone who would listen.
He had amazing foresight in choosing his music.
He will be greatly missed.
Harvey Goldsmith
_______________________________
BEST POSTING EVER, A COLLECTION OF SEYMOUR COMMENTS, THANKS BOB
I KNEW SEYMOUR AND LINDA IN THE 70'S WHEN THEY SIGNED MY FIRST BAND ( I WAS THE ROAD MANAGER) STANKY BROWN GROUP TO SIRE.
EVERYTHING I HAVE READ DESCRIBING SEYMOUR IS TRUE AND THEN SOME, I'LL LEAVE MY STORIES FOR ANOTHER DAY AND TO THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BETTER
BERT HOLMAN
_______________________________
Wow!
Those emails are incredible!
He was always completely charming when I met him.
One of the all time greats.
They don't make them like him anymore.
Richard Griffiths
_______________________________
Thanks for sharing your Seymour Stein stories and letters. I was fortunate to have spent some time with him when he attended a Gountty Radio.Seninar convention at the Opryland Hotel sometime in the 90s. I had met him before through our mutual friend Richard Gottehrer, at a Madonna party at the Red Parrot and several times before that in the 70s at CBGBs, but we had never had the chances to talk. He was a record man who really loved the music, and I had learned not to take that for granted. Folks who worked with him at King had told me that he could identify any record in their catalog by number He was full of great stories as expected. Truly one of the all time greats.
Ed Salamon
Nashville TN
_______________________________
Very sad news to wake up to this morning, I can't count on the number of Sire Records in my collection, from a reissue of the Nuggets garage rock compilation (originally on another groundbreaking Warner acquisition, Elektra) through the Ramones and Talking Heads to the English Beat and Echo & the Bunnymen, and of course Madonna (I have nearly all of her 12" singles, right up to her dismantling of American Pie). One of the best hours of my life was spent in Seymour's company, when he came to Halifax for the East Coast Music Awards & Conference (and also for the seafood, I'm sure), and he invited me to lunch after we'd had a particularly robust phone interview (we even talked about the Strangeloves, and Manny's Music Store) before he came to town.
It was a fun, freewheeling chat about music and some of his other passions. Mostly I remember asking him why the Monkees weren't in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ("Because some people in charge say it'll happen over their dead bodies") and asking him if he grew up listening to the Yiddish comedy records of Mickey Katz, whereupon he told me a story about recently being at a birthday party for Jennifer Grey, daughter of Broadway legend Joel Grey, whose father was Mickey Katz, the original "Weird Al" Yankovic of parody songs. I gather they sang a few bars of The Barber of Schlemiel and Duvid Crockett, King of Delancey Street together. He asked me what some of my favourite Sire artists were, and Echo & the Bunnymen came to mind, which apparently was a signing he was very proud of, even if they didn't get a North American hit until their fourth album with The Killing Moon, a song that's become an indie-goth classic, and is frequently licensed for film and TV shows. I loved that Seymour played the long game, and let artists develop their talent, and believed in the power of a strong catalogue. My life would have been very different without Sire Records as its soundtrack.
~Stephen Cooke
_______________________________
He wasn't the average record exec indeed. He was one of a kind and I too was privileged to know him. If you had one conversation with him about music, you would immediately understand the depth of his knowledge on music: he would reference songs and artists I had never heard of, ad infinitum. It was like taking a Master Class on pre-Beatles rock and roll and music business. One time we were at a Thai restaurant and he stopped eating and paused when a random song came on the restaurant's stereo system, he looked perplexed and confused while he was trying to place the song and then eventually he smiled that cheshire cat smile and said in that Brooklyn accent of his, 'it's Leiber and Stoller of course…they were just the absolute best!'.
I didn't know him in his 80's heyday, but through his daughter Mandy, I got to know him and spend time with him in the last 15 years of his life. He really liked a Joseph Arthur tribute record to Lou Reed I was involved with (he pointed out he and Lou were born a month apart and that he had released his 'New York' record) and wanted to sign it but couldn't get his team on board. Regardless he wanted the other label interested (Vanguard) to know he was interested with hopes that it would get the advance and their enthusiasm up. I thought that was a classy move. He also once tried to put me in touch with Morrisey, who I had expressed interest in managing but forewarned 'you do know what you're getting yourself into, right?!".
In 2011 he came to Montreal for the Pop Montreal Festival and I met him at the airport, brought him into the city and later at night, when I figured he would probably prefer sleeping, we met up and went around to some clubs, checking out acts. He would hobble his way up and down flights of stairs with his cane but once he was in the room and there was music being played, you could tell he was in his element. He would soak it all in and afterwards would bounce around introducing himself to these young acts saying he was 'Seymour Stein from Sire Records,' and I would wonder if these young acts had any idea of who he was and what greatest they were standing in front of.
The last time I saw him was at the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I walked in and saw him sitting down so I went to say hi to him. He immediately pulled out his phone and called Mandy and handed me his phone so I could say hi to her. What an amazingly soulful man he was, and true visionary.
Peter Wark
_______________________________
My best Seymour story : Apologies for brevity , am on the move...
We managed Ian McCulloch in the 90s signed to Sire/Warners.
I drove Seymour from London to Liverpool. He fell asleep so I ragged his car and did 156 mph down the M1. He then woke up and was laughing encouraging me!!! He said it was the fastest he'd ever been and it woke him up. It was 1995 and you could do it then. Not now with cameras etc. We were going up to see Electrafixion play at the lomax. Mac and Will (Echo and the Bunnymen) had just got back together and were speaking again for the first time since the Bunnymen split years earlier at their peak. I took him to the Jung Wah - best chinese rezzo ever in Liverpool, sadly no longer there. My great grandparents lived there originally (before Chinatown) when they got off the boat from Russia in the early 1900s thinking they were in NY! I explained the history and he laughed his head off again. He absolutely loved the food - traditional Cantonese. We actually saw one of his bands there - the long forgotten Singing Ringing Tree. We then all went to the lomax for the gig. And then I drove him back to London - at a more conservative 130 mph - after hanging out with Mac backstage. He said it was one of the best nights ever!!!
Darren Michaelson
_______________________________
Thank u for this stunning 'from-the-horses-mouth' view of Seymour Stein.
He traversed the world continually seeking the very best in music - so we were lucky to meet him even here in South Africa. He had success with Johnny Clegg and Juluka from Johannesburg - and continued to scour our musical landscape.
In Cape Town and Joburg we had lunches and dinners of epic proportions - with all the stories in your article - and many more.
The best was when Seymour would fearlessly sing all these songs of yesteryears with great love and joy - in his shaky but beautiful voice - lyric perfect. He would do this in the middle of restaurants. He would astound us by ordering double main courses!
I loved him. The only disagreement we ever had was whether Chubby Checker should be in the Rock Hall of Fame. His opinion was an emphatic 'no' - whilst I thought he should be. Not sure who ultimately prevailed ...
He was a mensch. He made our music business a place of true magic.
Salutations, Seymour
Patric van Blerk
_______________________________
This really hit me hard.
I was always amazed that you would see Seymour at all the showcase events around the world. Checking the bands out. Cane in hand. I saw him everywhere. We spoke about China and India often. He always had time to say hello.
The conferences then started having him do the "this is your life" keynotes/panels - and then the book tour - but it was always the shows that blew my mind. This guy - out in the clubs - doing what I was doing and doing what none of his peers were. Hell - you didn't even see the A+R's out, but there he was. My youth was shaped by Sire.
I hate to see a true music man go. Really one of the last label heads that you can name and that you care about - that was out there.
I was trying to think of Sire releases that were not good. There were not many! When I worked in retail as a kid - there were not a lot of Sire releases in the cut out bin. Lot's of MCA and Atlantic!
I did get to have dinner with Seymour. Chinese of course. You are so right about his eating. What a production!
I will really miss seeing him out there.
Adam Lewis
_______________________________
Excellent salute to Seymour Stein, Bob. His encyclopedic knowledge of music never ceased to astonish, and extended to Chinese pop hits of the 40's and 50's. I was up in his office once and mentioned I had an album out of Chinese pop classics from that era—and he proceeded to sing a famous Chinese song, "Megui, Megui", a/k/a "Rose, Rose, I Love You", in the original Mandarin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vv-tgoab0 Not only that, but he informed me that the song's singer Yao Lee was still alive and in her 90's living in Hong Kong—and that her song had been re-recorded with totally different lyrics in English by Frankie Laine, where it made #3 on the Billboard pop charts in 1953. Another time I ran into him at Pop Montreal and over tea lobbied him for inclusion of Captain Beefheart in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, telling him that most of the artists he'd signed during the Punk era would agree with me. He looked at me and with a straight face said, "Gary, my friend Neil Sedaka's not in there! How do you think I feel about that??" Total legend!
Gary Lucas
_______________________________
My old group Morcheeba was signed by Seymour to Sire after Jac Holzman had our first couple of albums on Discovery.
Seymour loved us. We couldn't believe our luck we had no ambitions to break the States, we were doing great Worldwide but to be signed by two of the greatest golden eared moguls of all time was all I needed. Talk about a pat on the back.
Whenever we were in the same city Seymour would take us to the best restaurants and tell us great stories. We were sitting at a swanky eatery in Manhattan and Michael Caine walked in. Life was never dull when Seymour was in town. Our song "Rome wasn't built in a day" was one of his all time favourites and he used to croak the melody to us. We were so happy hanging. They said he used to collect British bands and Antiques from West London, and he had great taste for both. He lasted much longer than I imagined given his lifestyle but he always had that great smile and those sparkling blue eyes so I guess he had other plans. Rest in Peace Seymour! You gave a young British man validation beyond his imagination. Thank you.
Paul Godfrey
_______________________________
I was incredibly fortunate to work for two absolute legends in my record label days - and Seymour was one of them. Sire Records was a bit of a mess by the time I got there in the late 90's, but working in the West Coast A&R Dept with Bud Scoppa and Andy Paley was definitely a career highlight. If you were courting a band and you were able to get Seymour to a dinner with them - he was magic. He had an incredible ear and was responsible for so many of my favorite bands and records; it was both and honor and a thrill to work for and get to know him.
-Gregg Bell
_______________________________
Seymour called me out of the blue about ten years ago because he wanted to get his memoirs out before it was too late. My friend Ivo Watts-Russell referred him to me. He didn't have a literary agent but had heard through grapevine I could help him get a writer and a book deal with an editor at a major house with no agent fees. He was right, and I got him superb music writer Gareth Murphy, plus SMP editor extraordinaire, Elizabeth Beier. Even though extracting the right stories from Seymour was painful, Siren Song was a damn good book. Some stories pissed people which attested to the accuracy. Mo Ostin was not pleased.
But it was just fun hanging out with Seymour, him stopping mid sentence in a story to call Andy Paley to make the details were right.
And there was always food, messy but delicious. And too much wine.
He lived big, a true character.
Jeff Capshew
_______________________________
Beautiful tribute Bob.
Seymour Stein was cut from a different cloth. Nobody knew music like he did.
I just went back to listen to your interview from 2018.
I loved this interview too from 4 years ago in Please Kill Me.
https://pleasekillme.com/interview-seymour-stein-legs-gillian/
I had the pleasure of hanging with him a couple times.
It was in foreign countries as you said, where he actually spent time chatting with me. The times we bonded the most was Tel Aviv. A music conference called Tune-In Tel Aviv. I remember he came out to all the shows and stayed almost to the end. Walking up stairs with his cane probably in pain but you would never have known. He was a trooper and a music fan through and through!
I don't think I ever heard him laugh but he definitely smiled the few times I saw him.
I saw him many times at MIDEM too but that was earlier on in my career and he never seemed to remember me.
The first great convo I had with Seymour was about the British Invasion.
I was able to tell him The Zombies had a record deal and he was ecstatic to hear about that and very keen to hear the new album. He loved The Zombies. He said they'll get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame one day! That was in 2015. Then I saw him in NYC at the Polar Music Prize Polar Talks which I helped produce. That was up in Harlem.
The last convo we had was right after the 2019 Inductees were announced! I had told him about a new artist I was repping called AJ Smith and had asked if he had received his material. He wrote this below.
"Glad about the Zombies. Big representation from UK this year, including Sire band the Cure.
FYI, I'm not working at present time. Hopefully, soon.
OK to resend A.J. Material.
Best,
Seymour
I'm forever grateful and honored to have had that time with an industry giant! It really feels like the end of an era!
Fiona Bloom
_______________________________
This was a wonderful read.
When I was working with Ted Templeman on his autobiography he told me many times that Seymour had an encyclopedic knowledge of 20th c. music of all genres. Exact quote from a few years back from Ted: "Seymour worked for King Records. That label was one of my first inspirations. He's a historian. He knows everything. Early rock and roll? Ruth Brown. Wynonie Harris. Seymour knows that stuff cold. James Brown -- Seymour told me that Tammi Terrell was James Brown's girlfriend. Seymour told me Elvis was blonde! A blonde guy. He said he naturally had hair like mine. I didn't know any of that! He's the most fascinating, greatest guy in the world."
I loved reading Seymour's emails and your tribute to him. Thank you.
Greg Renoff
_______________________________
Best meeting I ever had with a record executive was with Seymour. Danny Fields was managing a new, young artist that Seymour wanted to sign, so Danny arranged for me to go up to meet with Seymour. We met in his office and after some niceties, he took a business card and wrote the deal points for my client's contract on the back of the card ... then sent me down to business affairs to give it to them and tell them to do that deal with me for the artist.
Wallace Collins
_______________________________
Seymour called my band mate and I in 2018 regarding one of our singles. We knew nobody would believe us so we actually recorded the conversation. He loved the song and wanted to hear more. Unfortunately nothing ever happened but it was a pretty cool moment to have a legend in the biz call you. RIP.
Danny Jay
Shytown
_______________________________
Don't forget he signed Ice T. The first "rapper" signed to a major record company on the west coast- and maybe in the United States
Eric Greenspan
_______________________________
Bob: Seymour moment: Although acquired by WB in 1978, Sire/WB released "Reel To Reel '' by Climax Blues Band in 1979 (and "Shine On" in 1978). First band to record at AIR Studios in Montserrat, West Indies (now abandoned after epic island volcano eruption). Major artistic departure for the band to go "mainstream" with major rotation on AOR and formatted radio in the States at the time. I played the elpee non-stop and thus spread the word throughout various U.S. industry channels. Soon thereafter, Seymour called my office to express his appreciation. We never met prior. We spoke for over half an hour. From Frank and Nancy Sinatra (see producer Lee Hazlewood) to artists of the day.
Very sad day indeed.
Scott Hazlewood
_______________________________
The Great Seymour.
You're so right about his music from the 30s and 40s.
One time we were driving up PCH in Malibu. I asked him what his favorite song was. (An impossible question…I know, I know.)
He said, "Little Yellow Bird." (The song performed by a 20-year-young Angela Lansbury in the 1945 film "The Picture Of Dorian Gray.")
Then, he sang the whole song from memory. I thought he was going to cry. Maybe he did.
Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird
I'd rather brave the cold
On a leafless tree
Than a prisoner be
In a cage of gold
Seymour. He sure LOVED his music.
Bobby Woods
Long term friend Stephen Budd copied me in on your recent email relating to the sad departure of Seymour Stein. I felt compelled to respond…so here goes!
Your observations and stories about Seymour have had me reminiscing since I woke up this morning. We go back a long, long way that's for sure…mid to late 1960s when I was primarily working for The Decca Record Company Ltd. My plans to launch my own record Blues label were already underway by 1964…some three and a half years later Peter Green left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers to form Fleetwood Mac and then I had to leave the staff at Decca to become an Independent Producer. I guess that was around the time I first met Seymour…the Windsor Blues Festival that he alluded to amongst those emails that you listed. Anyway, I truly do not have the time right now to delve back into my memory 'bank' but I would like to say how much I enjoyed reading about those priceless memories. He was very kind to me in those early days…flew me to New York and put me up at his apartment. Showed me Chinatown…introduced me to Henry Glover and Bobby Robinson…and endless stories, mainly about Syd Nathan! He could tell a story too with impersonations and sound effects…hilarious. They were great times…never to be forgotten and never to be beaten either.
I will check my Inbox so see what I have from the man himself…we were corresponding about this and that but not sure about the content. That was at the time when the Blue Horizon label was being resurrected…maybe three years ago? I was in touch with both Seymour and his daughter Mandy.
Anyway, thank you again for brightening up what would have been a very sad day. We will all be celebrating his life as he surely gave so much to us. One of a kind…gone but never to be forgotten. R.I.P. Seymour Steinbigle
Best to you…
MIKE VERNON MBE
_______________________________
I first met Seymour in the seventies when I was in the international division at EMI. I had managed to get the USA as one of my "markets" and started licensing records that Capitol would not, or had not released in the USA. He had Sire, an indie then, and a series of compilation albums called The roots of British rock I believe. He came to see me at EMI but before he came I checked his deals to find that he had not possibly been accounting "regularly". So I arranged with the lawyer at EMI that he would come in halfway through the meeting and threaten him for non payment as a sort of spoof. Well Seymour gave me the best line ever. He said "I have live artists. I have to pay them before I pay your dead artists." I ended up licensing him some more records and licensed his partner at Jem an early Floyd solo record that had been out for ten years in the UK. Rupert Perry threatened to get me fired for that but Bob Mercer stood by me. When I went in to A and R at EMI we stayed in touch and later on at Polygram I managed to give him as many records as I could including Tainted love, the deal for which we did on a napkin in some dive. He was one of the greats and enjoyed all sorts of music. I even licensed him the great David Rudder from Trinidad who we signed to London with him taking the US. He was a regular at Carnival in Trinidad and went to the tents there where he knew all the calypsonians performing.What a great record guy.
Roger Ames
_______________________________
Great piece on Seymour.
He was a wonderful character.
I would often bump into him in London, not going to shows but buying antiques and paintings.
He loved going to the auctions.
This was his great hobby.
Seymour was from the great era of finding fabulous artists and selling them to anyone who would listen.
He had amazing foresight in choosing his music.
He will be greatly missed.
Harvey Goldsmith
_______________________________
BEST POSTING EVER, A COLLECTION OF SEYMOUR COMMENTS, THANKS BOB
I KNEW SEYMOUR AND LINDA IN THE 70'S WHEN THEY SIGNED MY FIRST BAND ( I WAS THE ROAD MANAGER) STANKY BROWN GROUP TO SIRE.
EVERYTHING I HAVE READ DESCRIBING SEYMOUR IS TRUE AND THEN SOME, I'LL LEAVE MY STORIES FOR ANOTHER DAY AND TO THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BETTER
BERT HOLMAN
_______________________________
Wow!
Those emails are incredible!
He was always completely charming when I met him.
One of the all time greats.
They don't make them like him anymore.
Richard Griffiths
_______________________________
Thanks for sharing your Seymour Stein stories and letters. I was fortunate to have spent some time with him when he attended a Gountty Radio.Seninar convention at the Opryland Hotel sometime in the 90s. I had met him before through our mutual friend Richard Gottehrer, at a Madonna party at the Red Parrot and several times before that in the 70s at CBGBs, but we had never had the chances to talk. He was a record man who really loved the music, and I had learned not to take that for granted. Folks who worked with him at King had told me that he could identify any record in their catalog by number He was full of great stories as expected. Truly one of the all time greats.
Ed Salamon
Nashville TN
_______________________________
Very sad news to wake up to this morning, I can't count on the number of Sire Records in my collection, from a reissue of the Nuggets garage rock compilation (originally on another groundbreaking Warner acquisition, Elektra) through the Ramones and Talking Heads to the English Beat and Echo & the Bunnymen, and of course Madonna (I have nearly all of her 12" singles, right up to her dismantling of American Pie). One of the best hours of my life was spent in Seymour's company, when he came to Halifax for the East Coast Music Awards & Conference (and also for the seafood, I'm sure), and he invited me to lunch after we'd had a particularly robust phone interview (we even talked about the Strangeloves, and Manny's Music Store) before he came to town.
It was a fun, freewheeling chat about music and some of his other passions. Mostly I remember asking him why the Monkees weren't in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ("Because some people in charge say it'll happen over their dead bodies") and asking him if he grew up listening to the Yiddish comedy records of Mickey Katz, whereupon he told me a story about recently being at a birthday party for Jennifer Grey, daughter of Broadway legend Joel Grey, whose father was Mickey Katz, the original "Weird Al" Yankovic of parody songs. I gather they sang a few bars of The Barber of Schlemiel and Duvid Crockett, King of Delancey Street together. He asked me what some of my favourite Sire artists were, and Echo & the Bunnymen came to mind, which apparently was a signing he was very proud of, even if they didn't get a North American hit until their fourth album with The Killing Moon, a song that's become an indie-goth classic, and is frequently licensed for film and TV shows. I loved that Seymour played the long game, and let artists develop their talent, and believed in the power of a strong catalogue. My life would have been very different without Sire Records as its soundtrack.
~Stephen Cooke
_______________________________
He wasn't the average record exec indeed. He was one of a kind and I too was privileged to know him. If you had one conversation with him about music, you would immediately understand the depth of his knowledge on music: he would reference songs and artists I had never heard of, ad infinitum. It was like taking a Master Class on pre-Beatles rock and roll and music business. One time we were at a Thai restaurant and he stopped eating and paused when a random song came on the restaurant's stereo system, he looked perplexed and confused while he was trying to place the song and then eventually he smiled that cheshire cat smile and said in that Brooklyn accent of his, 'it's Leiber and Stoller of course…they were just the absolute best!'.
I didn't know him in his 80's heyday, but through his daughter Mandy, I got to know him and spend time with him in the last 15 years of his life. He really liked a Joseph Arthur tribute record to Lou Reed I was involved with (he pointed out he and Lou were born a month apart and that he had released his 'New York' record) and wanted to sign it but couldn't get his team on board. Regardless he wanted the other label interested (Vanguard) to know he was interested with hopes that it would get the advance and their enthusiasm up. I thought that was a classy move. He also once tried to put me in touch with Morrisey, who I had expressed interest in managing but forewarned 'you do know what you're getting yourself into, right?!".
In 2011 he came to Montreal for the Pop Montreal Festival and I met him at the airport, brought him into the city and later at night, when I figured he would probably prefer sleeping, we met up and went around to some clubs, checking out acts. He would hobble his way up and down flights of stairs with his cane but once he was in the room and there was music being played, you could tell he was in his element. He would soak it all in and afterwards would bounce around introducing himself to these young acts saying he was 'Seymour Stein from Sire Records,' and I would wonder if these young acts had any idea of who he was and what greatest they were standing in front of.
The last time I saw him was at the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I walked in and saw him sitting down so I went to say hi to him. He immediately pulled out his phone and called Mandy and handed me his phone so I could say hi to her. What an amazingly soulful man he was, and true visionary.
Peter Wark
_______________________________
My best Seymour story : Apologies for brevity , am on the move...
We managed Ian McCulloch in the 90s signed to Sire/Warners.
I drove Seymour from London to Liverpool. He fell asleep so I ragged his car and did 156 mph down the M1. He then woke up and was laughing encouraging me!!! He said it was the fastest he'd ever been and it woke him up. It was 1995 and you could do it then. Not now with cameras etc. We were going up to see Electrafixion play at the lomax. Mac and Will (Echo and the Bunnymen) had just got back together and were speaking again for the first time since the Bunnymen split years earlier at their peak. I took him to the Jung Wah - best chinese rezzo ever in Liverpool, sadly no longer there. My great grandparents lived there originally (before Chinatown) when they got off the boat from Russia in the early 1900s thinking they were in NY! I explained the history and he laughed his head off again. He absolutely loved the food - traditional Cantonese. We actually saw one of his bands there - the long forgotten Singing Ringing Tree. We then all went to the lomax for the gig. And then I drove him back to London - at a more conservative 130 mph - after hanging out with Mac backstage. He said it was one of the best nights ever!!!
Darren Michaelson
_______________________________
Thank u for this stunning 'from-the-horses-mouth' view of Seymour Stein.
He traversed the world continually seeking the very best in music - so we were lucky to meet him even here in South Africa. He had success with Johnny Clegg and Juluka from Johannesburg - and continued to scour our musical landscape.
In Cape Town and Joburg we had lunches and dinners of epic proportions - with all the stories in your article - and many more.
The best was when Seymour would fearlessly sing all these songs of yesteryears with great love and joy - in his shaky but beautiful voice - lyric perfect. He would do this in the middle of restaurants. He would astound us by ordering double main courses!
I loved him. The only disagreement we ever had was whether Chubby Checker should be in the Rock Hall of Fame. His opinion was an emphatic 'no' - whilst I thought he should be. Not sure who ultimately prevailed ...
He was a mensch. He made our music business a place of true magic.
Salutations, Seymour
Patric van Blerk
_______________________________
This really hit me hard.
I was always amazed that you would see Seymour at all the showcase events around the world. Checking the bands out. Cane in hand. I saw him everywhere. We spoke about China and India often. He always had time to say hello.
The conferences then started having him do the "this is your life" keynotes/panels - and then the book tour - but it was always the shows that blew my mind. This guy - out in the clubs - doing what I was doing and doing what none of his peers were. Hell - you didn't even see the A+R's out, but there he was. My youth was shaped by Sire.
I hate to see a true music man go. Really one of the last label heads that you can name and that you care about - that was out there.
I was trying to think of Sire releases that were not good. There were not many! When I worked in retail as a kid - there were not a lot of Sire releases in the cut out bin. Lot's of MCA and Atlantic!
I did get to have dinner with Seymour. Chinese of course. You are so right about his eating. What a production!
I will really miss seeing him out there.
Adam Lewis
_______________________________
Excellent salute to Seymour Stein, Bob. His encyclopedic knowledge of music never ceased to astonish, and extended to Chinese pop hits of the 40's and 50's. I was up in his office once and mentioned I had an album out of Chinese pop classics from that era—and he proceeded to sing a famous Chinese song, "Megui, Megui", a/k/a "Rose, Rose, I Love You", in the original Mandarin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vv-tgoab0 Not only that, but he informed me that the song's singer Yao Lee was still alive and in her 90's living in Hong Kong—and that her song had been re-recorded with totally different lyrics in English by Frankie Laine, where it made #3 on the Billboard pop charts in 1953. Another time I ran into him at Pop Montreal and over tea lobbied him for inclusion of Captain Beefheart in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, telling him that most of the artists he'd signed during the Punk era would agree with me. He looked at me and with a straight face said, "Gary, my friend Neil Sedaka's not in there! How do you think I feel about that??" Total legend!
Gary Lucas
_______________________________
My old group Morcheeba was signed by Seymour to Sire after Jac Holzman had our first couple of albums on Discovery.
Seymour loved us. We couldn't believe our luck we had no ambitions to break the States, we were doing great Worldwide but to be signed by two of the greatest golden eared moguls of all time was all I needed. Talk about a pat on the back.
Whenever we were in the same city Seymour would take us to the best restaurants and tell us great stories. We were sitting at a swanky eatery in Manhattan and Michael Caine walked in. Life was never dull when Seymour was in town. Our song "Rome wasn't built in a day" was one of his all time favourites and he used to croak the melody to us. We were so happy hanging. They said he used to collect British bands and Antiques from West London, and he had great taste for both. He lasted much longer than I imagined given his lifestyle but he always had that great smile and those sparkling blue eyes so I guess he had other plans. Rest in Peace Seymour! You gave a young British man validation beyond his imagination. Thank you.
Paul Godfrey
_______________________________
I was incredibly fortunate to work for two absolute legends in my record label days - and Seymour was one of them. Sire Records was a bit of a mess by the time I got there in the late 90's, but working in the West Coast A&R Dept with Bud Scoppa and Andy Paley was definitely a career highlight. If you were courting a band and you were able to get Seymour to a dinner with them - he was magic. He had an incredible ear and was responsible for so many of my favorite bands and records; it was both and honor and a thrill to work for and get to know him.
-Gregg Bell
_______________________________
Seymour called me out of the blue about ten years ago because he wanted to get his memoirs out before it was too late. My friend Ivo Watts-Russell referred him to me. He didn't have a literary agent but had heard through grapevine I could help him get a writer and a book deal with an editor at a major house with no agent fees. He was right, and I got him superb music writer Gareth Murphy, plus SMP editor extraordinaire, Elizabeth Beier. Even though extracting the right stories from Seymour was painful, Siren Song was a damn good book. Some stories pissed people which attested to the accuracy. Mo Ostin was not pleased.
But it was just fun hanging out with Seymour, him stopping mid sentence in a story to call Andy Paley to make the details were right.
And there was always food, messy but delicious. And too much wine.
He lived big, a true character.
Jeff Capshew
_______________________________
Beautiful tribute Bob.
Seymour Stein was cut from a different cloth. Nobody knew music like he did.
I just went back to listen to your interview from 2018.
I loved this interview too from 4 years ago in Please Kill Me.
https://pleasekillme.com/interview-seymour-stein-legs-gillian/
I had the pleasure of hanging with him a couple times.
It was in foreign countries as you said, where he actually spent time chatting with me. The times we bonded the most was Tel Aviv. A music conference called Tune-In Tel Aviv. I remember he came out to all the shows and stayed almost to the end. Walking up stairs with his cane probably in pain but you would never have known. He was a trooper and a music fan through and through!
I don't think I ever heard him laugh but he definitely smiled the few times I saw him.
I saw him many times at MIDEM too but that was earlier on in my career and he never seemed to remember me.
The first great convo I had with Seymour was about the British Invasion.
I was able to tell him The Zombies had a record deal and he was ecstatic to hear about that and very keen to hear the new album. He loved The Zombies. He said they'll get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame one day! That was in 2015. Then I saw him in NYC at the Polar Music Prize Polar Talks which I helped produce. That was up in Harlem.
The last convo we had was right after the 2019 Inductees were announced! I had told him about a new artist I was repping called AJ Smith and had asked if he had received his material. He wrote this below.
"Glad about the Zombies. Big representation from UK this year, including Sire band the Cure.
FYI, I'm not working at present time. Hopefully, soon.
OK to resend A.J. Material.
Best,
Seymour
I'm forever grateful and honored to have had that time with an industry giant! It really feels like the end of an era!
Fiona Bloom
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This was a wonderful read.
When I was working with Ted Templeman on his autobiography he told me many times that Seymour had an encyclopedic knowledge of 20th c. music of all genres. Exact quote from a few years back from Ted: "Seymour worked for King Records. That label was one of my first inspirations. He's a historian. He knows everything. Early rock and roll? Ruth Brown. Wynonie Harris. Seymour knows that stuff cold. James Brown -- Seymour told me that Tammi Terrell was James Brown's girlfriend. Seymour told me Elvis was blonde! A blonde guy. He said he naturally had hair like mine. I didn't know any of that! He's the most fascinating, greatest guy in the world."
I loved reading Seymour's emails and your tribute to him. Thank you.
Greg Renoff
_______________________________
Best meeting I ever had with a record executive was with Seymour. Danny Fields was managing a new, young artist that Seymour wanted to sign, so Danny arranged for me to go up to meet with Seymour. We met in his office and after some niceties, he took a business card and wrote the deal points for my client's contract on the back of the card ... then sent me down to business affairs to give it to them and tell them to do that deal with me for the artist.
Wallace Collins
_______________________________
Seymour called my band mate and I in 2018 regarding one of our singles. We knew nobody would believe us so we actually recorded the conversation. He loved the song and wanted to hear more. Unfortunately nothing ever happened but it was a pretty cool moment to have a legend in the biz call you. RIP.
Danny Jay
Shytown
_______________________________
Don't forget he signed Ice T. The first "rapper" signed to a major record company on the west coast- and maybe in the United States
Eric Greenspan
_______________________________
Bob: Seymour moment: Although acquired by WB in 1978, Sire/WB released "Reel To Reel '' by Climax Blues Band in 1979 (and "Shine On" in 1978). First band to record at AIR Studios in Montserrat, West Indies (now abandoned after epic island volcano eruption). Major artistic departure for the band to go "mainstream" with major rotation on AOR and formatted radio in the States at the time. I played the elpee non-stop and thus spread the word throughout various U.S. industry channels. Soon thereafter, Seymour called my office to express his appreciation. We never met prior. We spoke for over half an hour. From Frank and Nancy Sinatra (see producer Lee Hazlewood) to artists of the day.
Very sad day indeed.
Scott Hazlewood
_______________________________
The Great Seymour.
You're so right about his music from the 30s and 40s.
One time we were driving up PCH in Malibu. I asked him what his favorite song was. (An impossible question…I know, I know.)
He said, "Little Yellow Bird." (The song performed by a 20-year-young Angela Lansbury in the 1945 film "The Picture Of Dorian Gray.")
Then, he sang the whole song from memory. I thought he was going to cry. Maybe he did.
Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird
I'd rather brave the cold
On a leafless tree
Than a prisoner be
In a cage of gold
Seymour. He sure LOVED his music.
Bobby Woods
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