Why do you always learn stuff you never knew before?
You grow up in the same house, stay in touch via phone and iMessage, and then you get together...
And they drop a bomb.
You've got the whole world organized in your mind, the past is clear, it's the future you're concerned with, and then you hear a story and...
I spoke with my father the night he died. He had his hearing aids out, he could barely hear, he was scared, and then he passed. Or at least I thought so. Tonight my older sister said my mother's best friend Selma called her in the middle of the night to ask if it was all right to pull the plug. Huh? Turns out his heart had stopped and he was brain dead. Now, of course, if his heart had truly stopped he'd already be gone, but when the stories are decades old you can never get down to the nitty-gritty. But my mother confirmed the story, it was true.
My mother is 91. She's still here. But she's pissed. She's handicapped and feels like a burden to her friends. I asked how she'd feel if she went to sleep and didn't wake up. She was fine with it. Which spooked me. Especially since I have so much left I want to do, to live for. But the weird thing about getting older is you go through changes and you no longer care. The people my age are either running the company or retired. And I can't imagine the latter, but you get to the point where the game no longer interests you, you've seen too much, and you want to remove yourself.
So my whole family is in town for the Seder. Four generations. Jews and non-Jews alike. And my brother-in-law is leading the Seder and it occurs to me...
I'd do it a different way. I'd read every page, I want to hit the high points, not only the plagues and Dayenu, but the explanations. It seemed interminable growing up, but now it roots me. Hell, we've even finished the Seder a few times recently, which never happened way back when.
And he didn't believe in passing the baton, having each attendee read a section, so I'm sitting there at the table thinking...
How when the Seder happened in Connecticut the weather had turned, baseball season had begun, this was when we not only watched, but played, I lived for Little League.
And in a good season there was still some skiing left. Although you had to drive to Vermont to do it.
But it was definitely spring. Which means so much on the east coast. It's a rebirth, a beginning, you congratulate yourself you made it through the winter.
But I missed the winter, with my pemphigus, I want to hold back the change of seasons, it's been in the seventies in L.A. all week, it's positively scary, soon it will be festival season, where does the time go?
We used to look forward to drinking the Manischewitz, getting high from the wine in our paper cups. Now I abstain from all alcohol.
I still don't eat the jello mold, I don't get that whatsoever.
But the chicken soup! I doubled-down on that, no gefilte fish for me.
And you sit there as the people banter and you realize who you are. What made you you. And you don't exactly like it.
I mean it's hard to believe I spent so many years growing up with these people, in the same damn abode. Being pushed around and misunderstood. The shrink asks why I don't ask twice, it's because in my family no meant no, and you didn't want to bug someone for fear of reprisals.
And you think about being a prisoner without options. All the things you wanted to do, but couldn't. You didn't have wheels, you had to convince your parents.
Whereas now you can come and go as you please. But to a great degree you don't. And as the cacophony rises you wonder what's best. To be right alone or be a member of the group, albeit one with sharp elbows.
Some people never change. Their foibles get in their way forevermore, they cannot see another path.
You learn bits and pieces that fill in the holes, that make the stories all make sense.
You make sure to talk to everybody because you never know if they'll be there next year.
And you think about not only your Seders past, but those of generations before you. When intermarriage was a no-no and Jews were abused but surviving. Now a cushy life and intermarriage has Judaism in jeopardy, but that does not mean the gentiles still don't hate us.
And you try to explain to people how it works. The self-denigration, the low expectations, the belief that you're lucky, privileged to be here. The insults, the stepping over each other in conversation. Hell, one thing Jews do is talk, that's what was unfathomable at Middlebury, so many people had nothing to say, or thought about it before they did. Jews speak and think later.
And this is all going through my head as I hear about the foibles and missteps and choices of family members I was blissfully unaware of previously. I lay in bed last night unable to fall asleep, trying to put the pieces together again.
Once upon a time I had answers.
Now I only have questions.
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Saturday, 31 March 2018
Friday, 30 March 2018
The Attention Economy
NEVER PROMOTE BEFORE AVAILABILITY
You're lucky if someone's noticed, if they're aware of what you're advertising/promoting, in a world of endless messages once you've got someone hooked you need to allow them to click through freely to purchase/experience your wares, this is why Amazon introduced One Click shopping. You want to reduce friction, you want instinct to take over, once someone thinks about spending their money or not, you're lost.
NO ONE'S GONNA REMEMBER
Which is why if you're a known quantity you want your publicity front-loaded and if you're unknown you want to wait until you have traction. If you're someone and your new project doesn't come out of the gate roaring, it's a stiff, and no amount of sycophantic old media press will resuscitate it. If you're no one, the instinct is to promote to overcome ignorance, this is a mistake, you waste your budget, you burn your relationships and everyone is frustrated and depleted. Now, more than ever, you start small and develop a story. You're selling the story, not the project. That's what hooks people in today's cacophonous society. Not information so much as ANALYSIS! We all see the headlines, but we rarely go beyond that. We do when there's a genuine hook. A real hook is not "This is my latest project, it's the best one I've ever done and let me tell you about my favorite color." Nor is it the classic "I've experienced tragedy and I've distilled it into this work." No, it's more about the reaction of the audience, your experience in slogging it out to get ahead. Where you won over the audience, where you didn't. Ink without story is worthless, there's just too much of it. And only a few may actually read, but those people will be bonded to you and spread the word. You're not speaking to everybody, just somebody. Broadcasting is passe, just look at TV ratings, you're narrowcasting.
ATTENTION IS EVANESCENT
Just because you've got 'em today doesn't mean you've got 'em tomorrow. In a world where what happens in the morning is already passe by the evening you've got to keep the story rolling, you need new product, more music, more YouTube clips... You satiate the core and when the looky-loos finally come on board there's a plethora for them to experience,
ATTENTION IS OFTENTIMES QUANTIFIABLE
There are no turntable hits. You check the Spotify streams and the YouTube count and if's not reacting forget about it. Never lie, people can check the truth instantly, and then you're dead in the water forevermore.
THE PUBLIC IS IN CONTROL
Never ever try to bend people's will, follow them, or get ahead of them in unknown territory, which is how Spotify won, people didn't even know they wanted streaming. We live in an on demand culture. Put up hurdles at your peril.
GIVE UP THE GHOST
Spielberg believes movies must open in a theatre. Yeah right, so they can be ignored there and forgotten when they hit the small screen. Be thrilled anybody's watching/listening to your stuff at all. When someone starts speaking about protection, stop listening. Windows are impediments. Critics have been superseded by the wisdom of the crowd. The music business woke up, the holier-than-thou movie business is way behind the curve, as are network and cable television. Sure, it's about the content, but if it's not easy to consume whenever and wherever I want, I'm not watching.
DISTRIBUTION IS KING
Think about the outlet. If you've got a choice, sacrifice payment for eyeballs. You don't want to be the guinea pig at Apple television, no matter how much they pay.
OLD MEDIA IS A CIRCLE JERK
Everybody involved is backslapping, believing they're fighting the good fight, when the audience has completely tuned out. Youngsters don't read the newspaper. And they go straight to rottentomatoes, as do I, why should I waste my time, which is so precious!
YOU'RE A HIT OR YOU'RE NOT
Fewer projects are ubiquitous and ubiquity ain't what it used to be. If you don't hit right away, give up or be in it for the long haul. No one wants to listen to your sour grapes.
MONEY GROWS ON TREES
That's right, there are so many ways to monetize success that to get hung up on the old ones is a major mistake. The biggest rappers give away their music. People buy merch they don't wear or play, just to feel involved.
YOU'RE BUILDING A BOND
Be human, have frailties, whether it be in your art or personality or both. Rough edges hook people. Which is why "The Voice" stars never translate to Spotify. We're looking for vulnerability, originality, we want to identify. Plastic surgery just makes you look like everybody else. Stop feeling inadequate, own who you are, it will pay dividends.
You're lucky if someone's noticed, if they're aware of what you're advertising/promoting, in a world of endless messages once you've got someone hooked you need to allow them to click through freely to purchase/experience your wares, this is why Amazon introduced One Click shopping. You want to reduce friction, you want instinct to take over, once someone thinks about spending their money or not, you're lost.
NO ONE'S GONNA REMEMBER
Which is why if you're a known quantity you want your publicity front-loaded and if you're unknown you want to wait until you have traction. If you're someone and your new project doesn't come out of the gate roaring, it's a stiff, and no amount of sycophantic old media press will resuscitate it. If you're no one, the instinct is to promote to overcome ignorance, this is a mistake, you waste your budget, you burn your relationships and everyone is frustrated and depleted. Now, more than ever, you start small and develop a story. You're selling the story, not the project. That's what hooks people in today's cacophonous society. Not information so much as ANALYSIS! We all see the headlines, but we rarely go beyond that. We do when there's a genuine hook. A real hook is not "This is my latest project, it's the best one I've ever done and let me tell you about my favorite color." Nor is it the classic "I've experienced tragedy and I've distilled it into this work." No, it's more about the reaction of the audience, your experience in slogging it out to get ahead. Where you won over the audience, where you didn't. Ink without story is worthless, there's just too much of it. And only a few may actually read, but those people will be bonded to you and spread the word. You're not speaking to everybody, just somebody. Broadcasting is passe, just look at TV ratings, you're narrowcasting.
ATTENTION IS EVANESCENT
Just because you've got 'em today doesn't mean you've got 'em tomorrow. In a world where what happens in the morning is already passe by the evening you've got to keep the story rolling, you need new product, more music, more YouTube clips... You satiate the core and when the looky-loos finally come on board there's a plethora for them to experience,
ATTENTION IS OFTENTIMES QUANTIFIABLE
There are no turntable hits. You check the Spotify streams and the YouTube count and if's not reacting forget about it. Never lie, people can check the truth instantly, and then you're dead in the water forevermore.
THE PUBLIC IS IN CONTROL
Never ever try to bend people's will, follow them, or get ahead of them in unknown territory, which is how Spotify won, people didn't even know they wanted streaming. We live in an on demand culture. Put up hurdles at your peril.
GIVE UP THE GHOST
Spielberg believes movies must open in a theatre. Yeah right, so they can be ignored there and forgotten when they hit the small screen. Be thrilled anybody's watching/listening to your stuff at all. When someone starts speaking about protection, stop listening. Windows are impediments. Critics have been superseded by the wisdom of the crowd. The music business woke up, the holier-than-thou movie business is way behind the curve, as are network and cable television. Sure, it's about the content, but if it's not easy to consume whenever and wherever I want, I'm not watching.
DISTRIBUTION IS KING
Think about the outlet. If you've got a choice, sacrifice payment for eyeballs. You don't want to be the guinea pig at Apple television, no matter how much they pay.
OLD MEDIA IS A CIRCLE JERK
Everybody involved is backslapping, believing they're fighting the good fight, when the audience has completely tuned out. Youngsters don't read the newspaper. And they go straight to rottentomatoes, as do I, why should I waste my time, which is so precious!
YOU'RE A HIT OR YOU'RE NOT
Fewer projects are ubiquitous and ubiquity ain't what it used to be. If you don't hit right away, give up or be in it for the long haul. No one wants to listen to your sour grapes.
MONEY GROWS ON TREES
That's right, there are so many ways to monetize success that to get hung up on the old ones is a major mistake. The biggest rappers give away their music. People buy merch they don't wear or play, just to feel involved.
YOU'RE BUILDING A BOND
Be human, have frailties, whether it be in your art or personality or both. Rough edges hook people. Which is why "The Voice" stars never translate to Spotify. We're looking for vulnerability, originality, we want to identify. Plastic surgery just makes you look like everybody else. Stop feeling inadequate, own who you are, it will pay dividends.
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Unmanageable
Tune in for the Bon Jovi stories.
Be wowed by Irving Azoff's skills as host.
This Sirius XM Volume series is a result of a coin flip, in negotiations for music rights Irving said he'd do it if he lost, and he did, and ergo this initial session recorded at his house on the eve of the Pollstar conference with him, Jon, Rob Light and Judd Apatow.
The funniest story is the one where Bon Jovi asks Howard Stern to induct his band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dedicated Sternophiles have heard Howard's version, but the inside iteration is so much better. Jon's bugging Howard to connect in person and Stern is caught between wanting to come through and not wanting to get together at all. Furthermore, he's worried what this is about, is Jon sick or something? The ultimate rendezvous happens outside Howard's shrink's office, by the side door. Where the two men converse astride their respective rides like a Mafia meeting.
And then Irving e-mails Stern and tells him the gig is in Cleveland!
We love these inside stories, we drool over them, and we think we know them...
But there's so much left unsaid.
Meanwhile, in one fell swoop Jon Bon Jovi rehabilitates his image, become human, scrapes away all the b.s. of the past decades. He's mortal, with insecurities. He talks about feeling infallible at the Super Bowl during the height of his fame, when he's sitting in the stands and Garth Brooks punts and he's asked to sing the National Anthem. He says SURE! But he wonders if he'd do it today. He wonders where that kid WENT!
That's why we listen to people's stories, for the humanity, to feel connected, to know we're not the only one confounded by this thing called life.
And Jon talks about the Gorillaz being the biggest band in his household. Giving the U.K. act a bigger plug than they've ever gotten stateside, almost makes you want to fire up their music and see what it's all about.
And when he talks about giving away 80,000 free meals at his Soul Kitchens, how there are no prices and you can either volunteer or pay what you want, you feel warm towards him, he's not trading on his good works, he's just doing what he feels in his heart.
Not that he's as dynamic as Irving...
Thinking on your feet ain't easy. Public speaking ain't easy. Being a host means you not only have to talk, but guide the conversation.
And with no preparation Irving's a pro. Evidencing his intelligence and humor and if you don't know the man, you'll be exposed to his truth, this is not Orson Welles in "The Muppet Movie," an imposing holier-than-thou behemoth, but someone friendly and smart who you want to hang out with, someone who can laugh at himself while revealing truth.
Most people don't get the chance. This is how Irving really is. I'm not saying he can't explode, that's a club in his bag, but you win more when you're friends and you create a win-win, aware, of course, of what your advantages are.
As for Judd Apatow...he's outmatched by the music people. Judd is almost an afterthought, but when he brings up Warren Zevon...
He asks Warren about writing music for his film, but says he's got to wait for the studio's notes. NOTES? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' NOTES!
That's why classic rock was. That's why it sustained. They wrestled the power from the labels, from the suits, and they didn't give it back until MTV made it all about image and the money eclipsed the art. That's a rock star, someone who has to do it his way.
And Rob Light adds color, giving insight into how live has gone from second class citizen to dominant player, because of the raw connection, because it reminds you who you were and forever more shall be, but the glue here is...
Irving.
You'd listen to him talk to ANYBODY! He's more dynamic than Bon Jovi, even though it's Jon who sings to stadiums.
And that comes up too, the power of the stage. The love, the feedback, being able to manipulate people. The influence.
That's the power of rock and roll.
And Irving won't denigrate the new acts.
But he's wistful about the old ones. And everybody agrees, their kids stream the classic rock.
And unlike a movie, unlike standup, you get on stage and sing your greatest hits and...
The audience is no longer livin' on a prayer, they've taken the bad medicine and are thrilled you're there for them.
So lay your hands on Sirius XM's Volume channel.
You're gonna dig this.
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Be wowed by Irving Azoff's skills as host.
This Sirius XM Volume series is a result of a coin flip, in negotiations for music rights Irving said he'd do it if he lost, and he did, and ergo this initial session recorded at his house on the eve of the Pollstar conference with him, Jon, Rob Light and Judd Apatow.
The funniest story is the one where Bon Jovi asks Howard Stern to induct his band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dedicated Sternophiles have heard Howard's version, but the inside iteration is so much better. Jon's bugging Howard to connect in person and Stern is caught between wanting to come through and not wanting to get together at all. Furthermore, he's worried what this is about, is Jon sick or something? The ultimate rendezvous happens outside Howard's shrink's office, by the side door. Where the two men converse astride their respective rides like a Mafia meeting.
And then Irving e-mails Stern and tells him the gig is in Cleveland!
We love these inside stories, we drool over them, and we think we know them...
But there's so much left unsaid.
Meanwhile, in one fell swoop Jon Bon Jovi rehabilitates his image, become human, scrapes away all the b.s. of the past decades. He's mortal, with insecurities. He talks about feeling infallible at the Super Bowl during the height of his fame, when he's sitting in the stands and Garth Brooks punts and he's asked to sing the National Anthem. He says SURE! But he wonders if he'd do it today. He wonders where that kid WENT!
That's why we listen to people's stories, for the humanity, to feel connected, to know we're not the only one confounded by this thing called life.
And Jon talks about the Gorillaz being the biggest band in his household. Giving the U.K. act a bigger plug than they've ever gotten stateside, almost makes you want to fire up their music and see what it's all about.
And when he talks about giving away 80,000 free meals at his Soul Kitchens, how there are no prices and you can either volunteer or pay what you want, you feel warm towards him, he's not trading on his good works, he's just doing what he feels in his heart.
Not that he's as dynamic as Irving...
Thinking on your feet ain't easy. Public speaking ain't easy. Being a host means you not only have to talk, but guide the conversation.
And with no preparation Irving's a pro. Evidencing his intelligence and humor and if you don't know the man, you'll be exposed to his truth, this is not Orson Welles in "The Muppet Movie," an imposing holier-than-thou behemoth, but someone friendly and smart who you want to hang out with, someone who can laugh at himself while revealing truth.
Most people don't get the chance. This is how Irving really is. I'm not saying he can't explode, that's a club in his bag, but you win more when you're friends and you create a win-win, aware, of course, of what your advantages are.
As for Judd Apatow...he's outmatched by the music people. Judd is almost an afterthought, but when he brings up Warren Zevon...
He asks Warren about writing music for his film, but says he's got to wait for the studio's notes. NOTES? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' NOTES!
That's why classic rock was. That's why it sustained. They wrestled the power from the labels, from the suits, and they didn't give it back until MTV made it all about image and the money eclipsed the art. That's a rock star, someone who has to do it his way.
And Rob Light adds color, giving insight into how live has gone from second class citizen to dominant player, because of the raw connection, because it reminds you who you were and forever more shall be, but the glue here is...
Irving.
You'd listen to him talk to ANYBODY! He's more dynamic than Bon Jovi, even though it's Jon who sings to stadiums.
And that comes up too, the power of the stage. The love, the feedback, being able to manipulate people. The influence.
That's the power of rock and roll.
And Irving won't denigrate the new acts.
But he's wistful about the old ones. And everybody agrees, their kids stream the classic rock.
And unlike a movie, unlike standup, you get on stage and sing your greatest hits and...
The audience is no longer livin' on a prayer, they've taken the bad medicine and are thrilled you're there for them.
So lay your hands on Sirius XM's Volume channel.
You're gonna dig this.
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Thursday, 29 March 2018
Must Watch-How Grammy Nominee Brent Faiyaz Built His Music Career Off Streaming
https://bit.ly/2J4onrW
"It was never about the money, it was always about the terms."
Ain't this a change from the forties and fifties, even sixties, when you were paid off in Cadillacs and there was little transparency, never mind having a bottom of the barrel royalty rate.
Ain't this a change from the eighties and nineties, wherein superstars demanded big advances, not trusting the label to ever account accurately to them.
Those are ancient paradigms the major label system is still stuck on. If it weren't for their catalogs, they'd have been eclipsed. But after taking more of the artist's pie with their 360 deals the tide has turned, credit streaming, credit accurate data, the artists are demanding MORE!
Vice News is incredible, but it's behind a paywall on HBO and the branded channel has gotten little traction. This is another paradigm change, Netflix has a multiple of the number of subscribers of HBO and it's built on an on demand model, whereas HBO is positively ancient, you're supposed to tune in at a specific time, what are we living in the twentieth century?
No, the twenty first, deep into the second decade, in an era where information is too plentiful and it's hard to get your message heard. Despite all the e-mail lists of articles to read, none of them hipped me to this video, I got it from a reader, proving once again it's all personal, it's who you know, what they tell you, are you trusted.
So, what you've got here is genius, and almost nobody knows about it.
You've got an act inspired by Chance, the Curt Flood of the music business, to do it his way, to pass up the easy money and do the hard work for the rewards.
And the astounding thing is...THE MUSIC IS GOOD!
I always cross-reference the data. I immediately went to Spotify and checked the play counts. And the ten most popular cuts were all over a million, in some cases significantly, so I played them.
It was R&B. Brent Faiyaz used to be a rapper, now he's a singer, and the world is his oyster, if he can make people aware of himself. This is the kind of music you can play at a dinner party, when you're making love, when you're lazing on a Sunday afternoon.
Now would it be bigger if it were on a major?
I'M NOT SURE!
The active audience is all hip-hop, as are the radio stations, this kind of music takes longer to percolate, take hold, but with acts like Sade it lasts longer. But Sade was the beneficiary of MTV.
But Brent Faiyaz is the beneficiary of STREAMING!
Your eyes will bug out when you read how his manager utilizes the FREE tools/data from Spotify to target both touring and ads. The business has become more sophisticated, the old shotgun approach doesn't work, it certainly isn't cost-effective.
Videos like this get one excited about the future of the music business.
Assuming you see them.
Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/2GnX3TW
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"It was never about the money, it was always about the terms."
Ain't this a change from the forties and fifties, even sixties, when you were paid off in Cadillacs and there was little transparency, never mind having a bottom of the barrel royalty rate.
Ain't this a change from the eighties and nineties, wherein superstars demanded big advances, not trusting the label to ever account accurately to them.
Those are ancient paradigms the major label system is still stuck on. If it weren't for their catalogs, they'd have been eclipsed. But after taking more of the artist's pie with their 360 deals the tide has turned, credit streaming, credit accurate data, the artists are demanding MORE!
Vice News is incredible, but it's behind a paywall on HBO and the branded channel has gotten little traction. This is another paradigm change, Netflix has a multiple of the number of subscribers of HBO and it's built on an on demand model, whereas HBO is positively ancient, you're supposed to tune in at a specific time, what are we living in the twentieth century?
No, the twenty first, deep into the second decade, in an era where information is too plentiful and it's hard to get your message heard. Despite all the e-mail lists of articles to read, none of them hipped me to this video, I got it from a reader, proving once again it's all personal, it's who you know, what they tell you, are you trusted.
So, what you've got here is genius, and almost nobody knows about it.
You've got an act inspired by Chance, the Curt Flood of the music business, to do it his way, to pass up the easy money and do the hard work for the rewards.
And the astounding thing is...THE MUSIC IS GOOD!
I always cross-reference the data. I immediately went to Spotify and checked the play counts. And the ten most popular cuts were all over a million, in some cases significantly, so I played them.
It was R&B. Brent Faiyaz used to be a rapper, now he's a singer, and the world is his oyster, if he can make people aware of himself. This is the kind of music you can play at a dinner party, when you're making love, when you're lazing on a Sunday afternoon.
Now would it be bigger if it were on a major?
I'M NOT SURE!
The active audience is all hip-hop, as are the radio stations, this kind of music takes longer to percolate, take hold, but with acts like Sade it lasts longer. But Sade was the beneficiary of MTV.
But Brent Faiyaz is the beneficiary of STREAMING!
Your eyes will bug out when you read how his manager utilizes the FREE tools/data from Spotify to target both touring and ads. The business has become more sophisticated, the old shotgun approach doesn't work, it certainly isn't cost-effective.
Videos like this get one excited about the future of the music business.
Assuming you see them.
Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/2GnX3TW
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Hogg/Ingraham
"Facing boycott, Laura Ingraham apologizes for taunting Parkland teen over college rejections": https://wapo.st/2uBfMK6
The corporation is not your friend. It's an inanimate entity that depends upon you for survival. You tell it what to do, not vice versa.
The veneration of companies, especially those in tech, came in the wake of the capitulation to corporations by musical acts in the nineties. You couldn't believe in the pop stars, you could believe in Steve Jobs and Apple, back when he didn't do any market research and told you what you wanted, as opposed to the "artists" on assembly lines trying to turn out songs akin to Camrys. Not a bad automobile, but hard to get excited about.
Then Napster eviscerated recording income and the music business rushed to the man, i.e. the corporations, to fund their endeavors, to make them rich. From privates to sponsorships, the goal was to get the man to pay, as if the man never extracted his price.
They call it a chilling effect. Corporations don't want to be associated with anything controversial. So, inherently, if you were taking the money, you were blinking, even if it was subconsciously.
Now Live Nation is a public company itself. It's no wonder it makes sponsorship deals with the man. But no one would come if there were not talent on stage. WHAT EXACTLY ARE WE SELLING?
Certainly not controversy, unless it's related to sex and breaking the law. Music has been dumbed-down, just like the movies. Sure, there's a business in superheroes, but there's no NUTRITION!
And common wisdom tells us the public is fine with this, artists selling out, being fed pabulum.
And then comes Parkland.
In case you missed the news, Fox News host Laura Ingraham tweeted giving David Hogg crap about being rejected by four colleges. We can wonder about a person who attacks a minor publicly in this way. Is this the same mind-set that condones coal mining and fracking and everything with an environmental cost as long as the Republicans stay in power? Is this how low one team has gone? Where winning is everything and decency is nothing?
Looks like it.
And then David Hogg takes to Twitter and asks who Ingraham's sponsors are. And then employs social media to get his followers to contact them and get them to abandon Ingraham.
AND THEY DO! JUST THAT FAST!
Now ultimately Ingraham apologizes, with some baloney about it being Holy Week, as if one needs an excuse to do the right thing, but the point here is David Hogg and his posse harnessed the power of corporations to THEIR benefit, not vice versa!
That's what artists do. David Hogg is more of an artist than most of the acts in the Spotify Top Fifty.
An artist does what's right, not what's expedient.
An artist speaks from the heart, with his or her truth, believing the audience will resonate.
An artist is a leader, not a follower, he or she is always one step ahead of his fans.
We're living the Arab Spring. Which is not surprising, that we're seven years behind, after all this hogwash about the U.S. being the greatest country in the world the truth is we're ignorant in so many ways, and we've let money rule us.
That's what this is about, money. Believe me, otherwise Laura Ingraham wouldn't back down. An artist is not beholden to money, especially today. He or she can utilize the digital tools to get their message out, and if it resonates, there is no limit to its acceptance, unlike Bill O'Reilly, who loses his platform and falls off the edge of the earth.
This is not about right or left, sure Ingraham was way out of line, and one has to ask why the right continues to punch below the belt, this is about the power of the individual, the power of right, the power to lead.
You go into uncharted territory. Based on a feeling. You ride the reaction. You make it up as you go.
That's why we adhered to the acts of yore, we had no idea what they'd do next, NOW WE DO! Music is like baseball, the game remains the same, only the players change, whereas in art...the game needs to be constantly reinvented.
Everything's up for grabs. And if you're an artist know that money is secondary to message, and if the message is good enough there's plenty of money.
Play from the heart. Don't overcalculate. Turn on a dime. Harness the power of your adherents, use the man as a tool.
Like David Hogg.
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The corporation is not your friend. It's an inanimate entity that depends upon you for survival. You tell it what to do, not vice versa.
The veneration of companies, especially those in tech, came in the wake of the capitulation to corporations by musical acts in the nineties. You couldn't believe in the pop stars, you could believe in Steve Jobs and Apple, back when he didn't do any market research and told you what you wanted, as opposed to the "artists" on assembly lines trying to turn out songs akin to Camrys. Not a bad automobile, but hard to get excited about.
Then Napster eviscerated recording income and the music business rushed to the man, i.e. the corporations, to fund their endeavors, to make them rich. From privates to sponsorships, the goal was to get the man to pay, as if the man never extracted his price.
They call it a chilling effect. Corporations don't want to be associated with anything controversial. So, inherently, if you were taking the money, you were blinking, even if it was subconsciously.
Now Live Nation is a public company itself. It's no wonder it makes sponsorship deals with the man. But no one would come if there were not talent on stage. WHAT EXACTLY ARE WE SELLING?
Certainly not controversy, unless it's related to sex and breaking the law. Music has been dumbed-down, just like the movies. Sure, there's a business in superheroes, but there's no NUTRITION!
And common wisdom tells us the public is fine with this, artists selling out, being fed pabulum.
And then comes Parkland.
In case you missed the news, Fox News host Laura Ingraham tweeted giving David Hogg crap about being rejected by four colleges. We can wonder about a person who attacks a minor publicly in this way. Is this the same mind-set that condones coal mining and fracking and everything with an environmental cost as long as the Republicans stay in power? Is this how low one team has gone? Where winning is everything and decency is nothing?
Looks like it.
And then David Hogg takes to Twitter and asks who Ingraham's sponsors are. And then employs social media to get his followers to contact them and get them to abandon Ingraham.
AND THEY DO! JUST THAT FAST!
Now ultimately Ingraham apologizes, with some baloney about it being Holy Week, as if one needs an excuse to do the right thing, but the point here is David Hogg and his posse harnessed the power of corporations to THEIR benefit, not vice versa!
That's what artists do. David Hogg is more of an artist than most of the acts in the Spotify Top Fifty.
An artist does what's right, not what's expedient.
An artist speaks from the heart, with his or her truth, believing the audience will resonate.
An artist is a leader, not a follower, he or she is always one step ahead of his fans.
We're living the Arab Spring. Which is not surprising, that we're seven years behind, after all this hogwash about the U.S. being the greatest country in the world the truth is we're ignorant in so many ways, and we've let money rule us.
That's what this is about, money. Believe me, otherwise Laura Ingraham wouldn't back down. An artist is not beholden to money, especially today. He or she can utilize the digital tools to get their message out, and if it resonates, there is no limit to its acceptance, unlike Bill O'Reilly, who loses his platform and falls off the edge of the earth.
This is not about right or left, sure Ingraham was way out of line, and one has to ask why the right continues to punch below the belt, this is about the power of the individual, the power of right, the power to lead.
You go into uncharted territory. Based on a feeling. You ride the reaction. You make it up as you go.
That's why we adhered to the acts of yore, we had no idea what they'd do next, NOW WE DO! Music is like baseball, the game remains the same, only the players change, whereas in art...the game needs to be constantly reinvented.
Everything's up for grabs. And if you're an artist know that money is secondary to message, and if the message is good enough there's plenty of money.
Play from the heart. Don't overcalculate. Turn on a dime. Harness the power of your adherents, use the man as a tool.
Like David Hogg.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Re-Eddie Money
Sucks about the anti-Semitic comment...
I did a show with him a couple years ago here in Boston and he was a BLAST to hang out with! Laughing and joking and telling stories and asking me about Boston, where I lived and seemed genuinely interested. I'm not one of those promoters that insists on getting my picture taken with the artist or gushes about being a fan (and I am a huge Eddie Money Fan), I prefer to stay out of the way, shake a hand or two and help out when needed, but he specifically said, hey I want to take a picture with my guy!
Did his daughter sing and play with him? He gave her a couple of her original songs to play and the crowd still ate it up.
Just all around good fun.
Rock On Bob!
Dan Millen
________________________________
So, Eddie Money is a right wing, anti Semite which, despite whatever musical talent he may possess, makes him just another piece of shit in my book.
Skip Schoolnik
________________________________
Bob, I always enjoy reading you. FYI, Donnie Iris is no longer a mortgage broker and is bigger and better than ever in the Western Pennsylvania/Northeastern Ohio area. We just celebrated Donnie's 75th birthday with three sold-out shows at the Greensburg Palace Theater. Just about every show in the area we play is a sell-out. Donnie's become a legend because he's a gregarious guy and still screams his ass off and hits all the high notes (even though he is three-quarters of a century old). Moreover, our band is still together (four out of the five us are original members, including Donnie) -- and we sound great. The best part is that we all still love each other. I always wanted to reach the promised land in music; now we have. It wasn't what I imagined it would be (big money, and all the trappings); its better (lifelong friendship and respect -- and having fun playing our music to our wonderful long-time fans in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Youngstown).
I invite you to come to a show if you are ever in the area.
Best,
Mark Avsec
Co-Founder Donnie Iris and the Cruisers (producer, songwriter, keyboardist)
P.S. A few years ago you did a piece riffing on how much you loved "Ah! Leah!" and my inbox blew up.
________________________________
PLEASE DON'T USE MY NAME
So, I've booked Eddie a number of times for various corporates and charity events. Always delivers a great live show and he's always on! Great, down to earth, accommodating guy and crew...but is somewhat risqué in his commentary. Some of my memories:
Renting a house for him and his crew around a high-end event and having to fumigate it afterwards to get the smell of the 60's out of it before the owners moved back in;
Playing a well-known home improvement chain's event and proclaiming from the stage, "Yeah, I'm playing this show for a bandsaw";
Saying to me post-show, "______, I need more of these corporate dates. I'm so poor that I have to beat off to feed the cat"
There's only one Money Man.
________________________________
Eddie is one of the hardest working guys in show business. He always was there for us at Columbia Records and was a pleasure to work with.
He has never stopped touring and I am happy for his success!
Alan Oreman
________________________________
I worked as a stagehand for an Eddie Money show around 2003 at a small club on Hilton Head Island, SC. It's a beach resort town that loves to party and loves music nostalgia. Eddie showed up just in time to run on stage and proceeded to kill it. The guy put on a fantastic show!
What made me chuckle was that his guitarists had three sets of guitars for the show. His tech (hairy giant of a dude named "Wookie"), explained to me that they start the show with guitars tuned down a full step. A few songs in, they switch to guitars tuned down a half step, and finally to guitars in standard tuning. Why? So Eddie's voice can get warmed up enough through the show to eventually be able hit the high notes in the original keys. A brilliantly simple trick for an aging voice on the go!
I appreciate it even more now. I'm playing a show with my band tomorrow night and we lowered the key of a song because I can't quite hit 'em like I could ten years ago.
A few years ago, I met the husband of one of my wife's grad school colleagues and learned he had been Eddie's Manager for a few years. Small world.
T.J. Edmond
Atlanta, GA
________________________________
Gotta say... a couple of months ago, when I read the story about how Eddie Money has a running bit of making jokes — onstage — about his drummer's cancer diagnosis, it made me wanna find him, wrap my hands around his neck, and Baby hold on until he was blue in the face.
https://www.stereogum.com/1880228/drummer-sues-eddie-money-for-being-worlds-worst-boss/news/
Jeffrey Liles
________________________________
One of my favorites, Bob. Not only was he NOT a one and done, the first 3 or 4 albums were really good... but after act 1 there was actually an act 2 when Take Me Home blew up. Only Steve Miller and very few acts were able to do this.
He released a live album many years ago (Shaking With The Money Man, I think it is) with his young son announcing him onto the stage and a killer band behind him. The kid is probably in the band now.
Thanks for bringing him to front of mind. His greatest hits are playing here right now. Have to check out the TV show!
Mitchell Sussman
________________________________
Wow, that makes me sad
Was in the business when his 1st album came out. He came through DC and played at the Cellar Door to promote it. Went to dinner with him and the local CBS execs at the Kennedy Center. In the entrance there was a grand piano. After dinner we were walking out and Eddie was at the piano singing and playing. One of those moments you always remember.
Last night I saw a preview for his interview with Dan Rather on AXS. Thought his new show might be fun.
No chance I'm watching it now. Sad
Dana Gore
________________________________
He sounds like a dick, not an old guy.
There are plenty of people who grew up with parents who were prejudiced and they could love their parents, but see racism for what it was, knew better and did better.
I know plenty of people who grew up in the 70s who still walk the walk, and few of them are rich from their hit records.
Growing older should make you wiser, and more humane, not married to the racist attitudes of a previous, less enlightened era.
If Eddie Money is a racist then forget the couple of happy pop tunes.
He's not worth the paper he was printed on.
Karen Gordon
________________________________
I saw Eddie Money for the first time about 10 years ago at the Long Beach Gay Pride Festival. When I saw the lineup I thought, well that's a strange booking, not your target market to say the least. Although, Pat Benatar played a few years earlier and it was a madhouse. Anyway, I'm an 80s kid and always liked his music, and was up for some nostalgia, so I went over to watch and as expected there was maybe 50 people there, and I'm being kind.
This festival draws tens of thousands and I know that pride festivals in general have deep pockets when it comes to booking artists. Still, I thought a strange booking and who the hell on the entertainment commitee thought this was a good idea? After reading about your experience, seems even weirder he would agree to perform there. Money talks, pun intended. I still enjoyed the show, and whoever booked that show, thanks for the private performance.
Rob Reimer
________________________________
As we part The Mists Of Time we return to the mid 70s when I was an engineer at Columbia Records and I cut Eddie's demo! It's a pretty funny story which Eddie tells but I can't as some involved are still alive. It was a pretty interesting session, not as interesting as The Troggs Tape but very close.
Phil Brown
________________________________
Eddie is all about the jokes indeed.
I met Eddie in 87 when he was on round two of his success. I was called in to play in his album. I was super young and it was a big gig for me so I was very serious when I walked into the studio.
The first thing he said to me was and I quote....
I Hear Ya Got Bad Gas Pains.
I was like Huh?
He said to me with a wink...You Know...Ya Got Bad Gas Pains, Bill Graham Presents!
Bob we were both managed by Bill Graham.
That's Eddie...a regular Palooka with a heart of Gold who happened to have a ton of hits.
Stevie Salas
________________________________
Love Eddie Money!
Used to live in Leamington Ontario, down near Windsor and Detroit.
WRIF used to play this song he did called 'Trinidad'. Still one of my all time faves.
Cheers
Andrew Parr
________________________________
Back in the 70's at a fancy hotel in Atlanta during a Bill Gavin Convention they had the Pointer Sisters open the show for Eddie Money. Eddie learned real fast you did not want to follow the sisters from Oakland Ca. no matter how hot they told you were !
Barry Pollack
________________________________
I saw him a few years ago and it was more of a bad cover of a Rodney Dangerfield stand up show than a concert. And what little music was played was performed by his kids, and once you got into it he'd stop the song and start telling more jokes. 80s is my wheelhouse but I don't ever have to see him live again.
Jason DeBord
________________________________
Jerry Pompili was extremely instrumental in Eddie's - don't forget him
Mary Beth Medley
________________________________
AntiSemite?!.... fuck him!
David Yarnell
________________________________
Saw him in 1975 when he was an unsigned wannabe at the Longbranch in Oakland.
Great talent, charisma and looks-every woman there was in love.
Three years later, Bill Graham gets him to open for the Stones at a Day on the Green show at Oakland stadium.
Eddie was still unrecouped on his Epic Records deal, broke, and living in some shithole in Oakland under the freeway.
In any event, he grabs his sax and jumps into his car, but the battery is dead.
But he had to get to the gig and luckily lived near a Bart station.
So, what's a poor boy do but play a rock 'n roll gig?
He hops on the Bart, mobbed with fans going to the show...and soon they are all asking the same question--why is the guy opening for the Stones carrying his sax and riding the train to such a big gig?
Says to me: "Lance, can you think of any artist who ever had to take the train to a stadium gig with the Stones"?
Lance Grode
________________________________
Nice one.
Couple of things.
1. I don't think there was a better single ever cut than "two tickets to paradise." Every note was perfect.
2. Mahoney may be a douche bag from the outer boroughs but he had talent. That doesn't make him a role model. It makes him a talented douche bag from Queens.
It always amazes me that people whose folks were persecuted a generation before have to find someone else to dump on once they get a pass.
3. Boomers seem to revel in this nostalgia shit. I don't get it. I like it now and then, but only every once in a while.
I can't stand big ass venues anymore. I go to smaller clubs and see folks like the Subdudes from New Orleans and Tab Benoit and Paul Thorn and Samantha Fish--not kids but not geriatric--and other performers who sell no records but they have killer chops and write terrific songs and make a living and thank god for that.
It is what it is.
Keep it coming,
Rik Shafer
________________________________
Hi Bob, a friend of mine owned an Italian restaurant in San Ramon (Nor Cal, East Bay). My friend was in his late 60s and was a bit of a ladies man and a Sinatra style crooner, but never took it seriously. He would sing in his restaurant. Eddie Money was a regular customer and would join him to sing in the restaurant. My friend said everybody in the restaurant loved Eddie no matter what he sang. He was old school, you are right , and all the customers felt he was one of them....despite, his past celebrity.
best, alan segal san diego
________________________________
Hell, Eddie was a NYC cop in the early 70s. He had a good voice but was a known as a ahem difficult guy to play with, and at the end of
The day, he was the cop with rocker wrapping
jht99
________________________________
Hard to believe I was still working in radio just 8 years ago. We had just had our daughter, so I had a staff working a meet & greet with Eddie at a large event. The weather was terrible with lots of rain and the event site turned into a field of mud. My part timers started calling me frantically because Eddie was VERY late. People who had won m&g passes started bailing. Finally, after a long delay, Eddie "stumbles" out from the trailer and yells "Who wants to meet the money man???"
And then a tour manager stuffed him back into the trailer. Meet and greet over.
I love Eddie. That story makes me laugh every time.
Mark M.
________________________________
Eddie Money had some good songs.
Eddie Money's an anti-Semitic jerk.
Eddie Money's not getting any of my money.
H. Love
________________________________
Working for Columbia Records in the promo department in the 90's, I was with Eddie a lot as he played dozens of radio shows, called in for every radio interview, and all without complaining. He got it. While other artists blew off interviews and in-studio visits, they only hurt their careers. Eddie would always ask the radio program directors name across the room, so he could walk over and instantly bond with someone he's never met. He's also the ONLY person who's ever asked me this favor: "Hey...see if we can get a couple "Pilsners". You mean beer? What the hell is a Pilsner? I was fortune to work with dozens of amazing artists and can say without doubt, Eddie Money is the hardest working man - not only in music, but as a showman. The guy knows how to turn it on.
"Dave Ross" Swerdlick
StoryCub, Inc.
________________________________
Fu*k Eddie M(ah)oney! Son of a cop who almost became a cop himself.
I'm the son of a NYC cop whose father wanted better for his children. We didn't move to Long Island to escape the diversity of NYC like Eddie and his family. I was born and bred in Bklyn.
I remember having to suffer through watching Eddie as an opening act back in the '70s in Central Park or at the Palladium.
So, Eddie, you're a right winger, Hillary hater who ducked serving in Vietnam - born in Bklyn but grew up on Long Island.
I know your type. Why don't you keep your right wing mouth shut and keep on making that mediocre music that's sustained you for all these years.
Oh yeah, I have to say I dug that record he cut with Ronnie Spector. Ronnie was/is the real deal, and Eddie's lucky to have had the privilege to sing with her.
Respectfully
Jeff Douglas
Bklyn, NY
________________________________
My mini Eddie Money story...
I had just started in the business, mid 80's, took my hot model girlfriend with me to a big radio convention in one of those huge downtown hotels. I was attending for the major label I was working for.
She and I got into an elevator to head up to some label's hospitality suite. Someone grabbed the doors and jumped in with us. It's Eddie. So it's just the three of us. Slightly awkward, but you know how it is- what are you gonna do?
We all do quick hi's and I played it cool. Like you, I liked his music- I'm sophisticated about music but I'm also a pop guy. I wouldn't call myself a fan of his necessarily.
So Eddie looks intently at my girl, who's holding my arm and standing very close beside me- clearly we are together.
This feels very weird to me. He's honing in... getting a little too close to her.
Eddie (directly to her): "I'm married, but I'm not happy."
Her (instant response): "I'm happy but I'm not married."
We all laughed, including him.
He was doing that rockstar/fame thing- trying to take the woman right off your arm. And like most of you, I've seen this happen before.
But it didn't work this time.
He brushed it off and just acted like everything was normal and nothing had happened. I couldn't help smiling.
I wasn't mad at all. He was charming and funny and like a little kid. He could get away with it, and almost make you feel good about it.
Not long after, she became my wife for 21 years.
You stimulated that small, meaningless memory- just thought I'd share.
Hope you're feeling better,
Sully
________________________________
Wow, Bob. I'm having '70s flashbacks.
In '77 I was a writer/producer with Casey Kasem's American Top 40. It was my first job in the industry and it was a good one. I got to meet and talk with most of my Rock & Roll heroes and, almost as great, I got free records! The publicists at Columbia Records befriended me early on, so I was getting serviced with all the Columbia/Epic LP and 45 promos.
That summer, my buddy-- Columbia publicist Mike Jensen, told me to pay extra attention to a single that was about to arrive-- Eddie Money and "Baby Hold On." When it came in, I gave it a spin and it immediately became one of my favorite singles of the year. So Mike didn't even have to talk me into interviewing Eddie, I was sure that this was gonna be a Top Ten hit. I could pick 'em in those days; I was a kid.
So Eddie and I hit it off like gangbusters, and I awaited the record's ascension on the charts so I could write some good "Eddie Mahoney-- former NYC cop" stories for Casey to tell. But in explicably, the record stiffed. I took it personally. The artist was now my friend, and this airplay rejection was an affront to my musical sensibilities. This was also the first time that I became Crusader Rabbit on a matter of artistic merit. I pestered Mike Jensen about this inexplicable failure and, when I visited him and my other friends at Columbia's Century City's office, I talked to the promo guys about the record's failure. I remember them saying that they "almost had some traction" on the record.
Cut to late December '77. I'm back home in Baltimore for the holidays, out drinking with a coupla buddies, and on the local Top 40 powerhouse comes a familiar opening guitar riff and these eponymous initial lyrics, "Baby, hold on to me..." Over the next ten days, the single reaches top rotation. I almost can't wait for vacation to end to get back to L.A. and find out if this is an anomaly.
When I do get back to my office at Ventura and Cahuenga and sort through my accumulated promos, I see that Columbia has re-serviced "Baby Hold On." And in a matter of weeks, it skirts the Top Ten. Neither then nor now do I think my ardent pestering of CBS personnel had anything to do with the record hitting the second time around, but I was at least personally vindicated.
And Eddie, God bless him, called to thank me, and we hung out a couple times. Once at a gig near Disneyworld where I gave him an AT40 T-shirt. He was fervent in his hope that I'd procure one for his guitarist, to whom he was obviously quite loyal. (I did come through, by the way.) Drinks with Eddie and band post-gig in Anaheim required a one-eye-covered drive home to the Valley at 2:00 am. Different era, but just as foolish at the time.
Later in the year, perhaps, I went to one of Eddie's recording sessions in the valley one night and afterwards, I recommended dropping by a nearby studio where multiple Gibb Brothers were purported to be laying down some tracks. An anomaly, as they cut most of their stuff in Miami, but Andy Gibb was a friend and had invited me. But Eddie demurred. He said he'd feel awkward there, which I understood. So instead we did a mid-Valley tour of legendary (or not) dive bars and called it a night.
I did not see Eddie again for at least a couple of years. After a few more hits, it was like he fell off the grid. But when we caught up again, he told me that he had had a close and debilitating call. He'd gone to a party, had too much to drink-- too many other substances, and had passed out cold at the host home for more than 24 hours. During that time, he never once shifted position, just laying on his side. And during that time, his sciatic nerve had simply atrophied, rendering his leg virtually numb and paralyzed. Fortunately, he was told that it would regenerate, and at the time I saw him, he said that his gait was much better, despite an obvious major limp.
That's the last time I saw Eddie. But I was so knocked out a few years later to hear him come back with "Take Me Home Tonight." And with Ronnie Spector?! That was fantasy stuff for me.
Since then, I've grabbed his albums when they've crossed my path, and I always hold a good thought for him. I'm not pleased to hear about his anti-Semitic joke, or anti-anybody joke. And I hate to think that he might be conservative enough to be a Trump supporter, 'cause at his core, Eddie was a good guy. He was a working class schlub with a sense of humor, a decent heart, and a great Rock & Roll voice and sensibility. 40 years on, I'm still rooting for him.
Thanks, Bob.
Regards,
Scott Paton
________________________________
From: Cindy Ronzoni (AXS TV PR)
Hi Bob,
Eddie and his band and his wife are getting ready to on stage in Pennsylvania right now so Eddie asked me to send this to you on his behalf.
Dear Bob,
Thank you for taking the time to come out and see the Grammy museum event and for the great review that you gave my children. I'm glad that you enjoyed the show, but unfortunately, there was a major misconception on your part, considering me to be anti-Semitic. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Bob , I don't mind getting slammed when I deserve it...and it's true that my father was Irish , but my mother ( God rest her soul) was German and Polish and of Jewish decent. It was never my intent to offend anyone with my jokes or comments, and I'm sorry that I've apparently upset you and caused you to think less of me. I have learned from this and will work on keeping my big NY mouth under control, not to offend other New Yorkers who know when to shut up! Again, I just would like to clear up this misunderstanding and once again thank you for attending the show
You're the "Real Deal" and I love and respect your work.
Eddie Money
________________________________
From: Bob Lefsetz
To: Cindy Ronzoni
Just let Eddie know that when he talked about paying for his wife's clothing, he said he was worried about price, and he said "It's the Jew in me." I heard it loud and clear, I think he even said it twice, and I know in his heart he meant no harm, but he should know better, you can't say this, it reinforces stereotypes that are untrue. As if there's not enough anti-semitism in the world.
________________________________
From: Eddie Money
Subject: Mahjong
Bob, Funny story for you, ...
Picture me in my 1963 Studebaker Lark V111 going to class at UC Berkeley....November, 1978
I finally got added on Z100 and KRFC in SF ....there was no FM radio in cars back then and it was such a "Big Deal" to finally get on AM Radio
I was so happy, I was crying tears of Joy ........No cell phones back then so I loaded up a pay phone with $7.00 worth of quarters and called my mother to inform her of the great and exciting news ...shouting ..."Mom , I'm on AM radio ...
Her response .."Your Aunt Lois just got here, and I told you not to call me on Mahjong night ... typical ..Dottie Keller
We buried Mom with a Whale Bone set ...Unfortunately, she passed from colon cancer in 2004 and there was nothing worse in my life than losing my "Jewish Mom"
When I find something funny, and occasionally, I do ...I say it's the "Jew in me" ..My mother used to say .."My son could sell cancer" She had that NYC sense of humor
Her and Bill Graham were the same age age, both born in 1928 and were very close ..Both gone, but never forgotten.
Three of my closest friend are Jewish, along with Lynn Horowitz, who broke my heart when I was a freshman at Nassau Community College in 1967 ...
Waddy Wachtel, probably one of the best guitar players in the world and I are extremely close
He just finished a tour with Stevie Nicks and before that, he played on the last 2 Keith Richards albums with the "Fabulous Winos" and toured with Joe Walsh last summer
He is my best friend and we have been writing together for my latest CD ...Appropriately called "It's a Brand New Day".
I'll send the new track over to you
I think your gonna love it ...
Oh ...and Laurie wasn't crazy about us sharing the "I said "Posse joke", although, I loved it. ....Ha ha
Your podcasts are the most popular broadcast in the business and I know I would have an absolute blast if you decided to let me do one ...
There is no reason the two of us couldn't and should be great friends, Laurie is also very fond of you and I would like to introduce you to my kids
Mark Cuban ...A good Jewish kid from Pittsburg loves our reality show called "Real Money" and we will be airing it on AXS ( Mark's channel )
At 9:30 on Sunday night, right after "On the Road with Sammy Hagar"
We've been buddies since 1974
Bob, if you could be so kind and check out my website as well as the AXS channel , it would be well appreciated
Joke ... "Why did Israel beat the Egyptians in 6 days back in 1964 . ... "All the equipment was rented"
A very old funny joke that my Uncle Jacob told me many years ago
Enclosed is a couple of pictures of the Fratti brothers (who I came out to California with)....and Waddy ,
Think for a minute of how many thousands of GI's we would have lost invading Japan in 1945 without using "The Bomb"
Einstein split the atom, they had to drop two Atom bombs, not just one
And let us not forget one of the best musical composers in the world
George Gershwin, writing Rapsody In Blue and Porgy and Bess also like us ...a New Yorker
My first producer Bruce Botnick was also Jewish and we sold over 4 million records together when he produced my first two records, also a brilliant and caring man of Jewish decent
When I brag about all these people I just proudly have to say ...
"It's the Jew in me"
Have a nice week and I'm sure, like me, that your very proud of your accomplishments
I just had to "Clear the Air"
Me ..."Antisematic ... Never !!!
Eddie $
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I did a show with him a couple years ago here in Boston and he was a BLAST to hang out with! Laughing and joking and telling stories and asking me about Boston, where I lived and seemed genuinely interested. I'm not one of those promoters that insists on getting my picture taken with the artist or gushes about being a fan (and I am a huge Eddie Money Fan), I prefer to stay out of the way, shake a hand or two and help out when needed, but he specifically said, hey I want to take a picture with my guy!
Did his daughter sing and play with him? He gave her a couple of her original songs to play and the crowd still ate it up.
Just all around good fun.
Rock On Bob!
Dan Millen
________________________________
So, Eddie Money is a right wing, anti Semite which, despite whatever musical talent he may possess, makes him just another piece of shit in my book.
Skip Schoolnik
________________________________
Bob, I always enjoy reading you. FYI, Donnie Iris is no longer a mortgage broker and is bigger and better than ever in the Western Pennsylvania/Northeastern Ohio area. We just celebrated Donnie's 75th birthday with three sold-out shows at the Greensburg Palace Theater. Just about every show in the area we play is a sell-out. Donnie's become a legend because he's a gregarious guy and still screams his ass off and hits all the high notes (even though he is three-quarters of a century old). Moreover, our band is still together (four out of the five us are original members, including Donnie) -- and we sound great. The best part is that we all still love each other. I always wanted to reach the promised land in music; now we have. It wasn't what I imagined it would be (big money, and all the trappings); its better (lifelong friendship and respect -- and having fun playing our music to our wonderful long-time fans in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Youngstown).
I invite you to come to a show if you are ever in the area.
Best,
Mark Avsec
Co-Founder Donnie Iris and the Cruisers (producer, songwriter, keyboardist)
P.S. A few years ago you did a piece riffing on how much you loved "Ah! Leah!" and my inbox blew up.
________________________________
PLEASE DON'T USE MY NAME
So, I've booked Eddie a number of times for various corporates and charity events. Always delivers a great live show and he's always on! Great, down to earth, accommodating guy and crew...but is somewhat risqué in his commentary. Some of my memories:
Renting a house for him and his crew around a high-end event and having to fumigate it afterwards to get the smell of the 60's out of it before the owners moved back in;
Playing a well-known home improvement chain's event and proclaiming from the stage, "Yeah, I'm playing this show for a bandsaw";
Saying to me post-show, "______, I need more of these corporate dates. I'm so poor that I have to beat off to feed the cat"
There's only one Money Man.
________________________________
Eddie is one of the hardest working guys in show business. He always was there for us at Columbia Records and was a pleasure to work with.
He has never stopped touring and I am happy for his success!
Alan Oreman
________________________________
I worked as a stagehand for an Eddie Money show around 2003 at a small club on Hilton Head Island, SC. It's a beach resort town that loves to party and loves music nostalgia. Eddie showed up just in time to run on stage and proceeded to kill it. The guy put on a fantastic show!
What made me chuckle was that his guitarists had three sets of guitars for the show. His tech (hairy giant of a dude named "Wookie"), explained to me that they start the show with guitars tuned down a full step. A few songs in, they switch to guitars tuned down a half step, and finally to guitars in standard tuning. Why? So Eddie's voice can get warmed up enough through the show to eventually be able hit the high notes in the original keys. A brilliantly simple trick for an aging voice on the go!
I appreciate it even more now. I'm playing a show with my band tomorrow night and we lowered the key of a song because I can't quite hit 'em like I could ten years ago.
A few years ago, I met the husband of one of my wife's grad school colleagues and learned he had been Eddie's Manager for a few years. Small world.
T.J. Edmond
Atlanta, GA
________________________________
Gotta say... a couple of months ago, when I read the story about how Eddie Money has a running bit of making jokes — onstage — about his drummer's cancer diagnosis, it made me wanna find him, wrap my hands around his neck, and Baby hold on until he was blue in the face.
https://www.stereogum.com/1880228/drummer-sues-eddie-money-for-being-worlds-worst-boss/news/
Jeffrey Liles
________________________________
One of my favorites, Bob. Not only was he NOT a one and done, the first 3 or 4 albums were really good... but after act 1 there was actually an act 2 when Take Me Home blew up. Only Steve Miller and very few acts were able to do this.
He released a live album many years ago (Shaking With The Money Man, I think it is) with his young son announcing him onto the stage and a killer band behind him. The kid is probably in the band now.
Thanks for bringing him to front of mind. His greatest hits are playing here right now. Have to check out the TV show!
Mitchell Sussman
________________________________
Wow, that makes me sad
Was in the business when his 1st album came out. He came through DC and played at the Cellar Door to promote it. Went to dinner with him and the local CBS execs at the Kennedy Center. In the entrance there was a grand piano. After dinner we were walking out and Eddie was at the piano singing and playing. One of those moments you always remember.
Last night I saw a preview for his interview with Dan Rather on AXS. Thought his new show might be fun.
No chance I'm watching it now. Sad
Dana Gore
________________________________
He sounds like a dick, not an old guy.
There are plenty of people who grew up with parents who were prejudiced and they could love their parents, but see racism for what it was, knew better and did better.
I know plenty of people who grew up in the 70s who still walk the walk, and few of them are rich from their hit records.
Growing older should make you wiser, and more humane, not married to the racist attitudes of a previous, less enlightened era.
If Eddie Money is a racist then forget the couple of happy pop tunes.
He's not worth the paper he was printed on.
Karen Gordon
________________________________
I saw Eddie Money for the first time about 10 years ago at the Long Beach Gay Pride Festival. When I saw the lineup I thought, well that's a strange booking, not your target market to say the least. Although, Pat Benatar played a few years earlier and it was a madhouse. Anyway, I'm an 80s kid and always liked his music, and was up for some nostalgia, so I went over to watch and as expected there was maybe 50 people there, and I'm being kind.
This festival draws tens of thousands and I know that pride festivals in general have deep pockets when it comes to booking artists. Still, I thought a strange booking and who the hell on the entertainment commitee thought this was a good idea? After reading about your experience, seems even weirder he would agree to perform there. Money talks, pun intended. I still enjoyed the show, and whoever booked that show, thanks for the private performance.
Rob Reimer
________________________________
As we part The Mists Of Time we return to the mid 70s when I was an engineer at Columbia Records and I cut Eddie's demo! It's a pretty funny story which Eddie tells but I can't as some involved are still alive. It was a pretty interesting session, not as interesting as The Troggs Tape but very close.
Phil Brown
________________________________
Eddie is all about the jokes indeed.
I met Eddie in 87 when he was on round two of his success. I was called in to play in his album. I was super young and it was a big gig for me so I was very serious when I walked into the studio.
The first thing he said to me was and I quote....
I Hear Ya Got Bad Gas Pains.
I was like Huh?
He said to me with a wink...You Know...Ya Got Bad Gas Pains, Bill Graham Presents!
Bob we were both managed by Bill Graham.
That's Eddie...a regular Palooka with a heart of Gold who happened to have a ton of hits.
Stevie Salas
________________________________
Love Eddie Money!
Used to live in Leamington Ontario, down near Windsor and Detroit.
WRIF used to play this song he did called 'Trinidad'. Still one of my all time faves.
Cheers
Andrew Parr
________________________________
Back in the 70's at a fancy hotel in Atlanta during a Bill Gavin Convention they had the Pointer Sisters open the show for Eddie Money. Eddie learned real fast you did not want to follow the sisters from Oakland Ca. no matter how hot they told you were !
Barry Pollack
________________________________
I saw him a few years ago and it was more of a bad cover of a Rodney Dangerfield stand up show than a concert. And what little music was played was performed by his kids, and once you got into it he'd stop the song and start telling more jokes. 80s is my wheelhouse but I don't ever have to see him live again.
Jason DeBord
________________________________
Jerry Pompili was extremely instrumental in Eddie's - don't forget him
Mary Beth Medley
________________________________
AntiSemite?!.... fuck him!
David Yarnell
________________________________
Saw him in 1975 when he was an unsigned wannabe at the Longbranch in Oakland.
Great talent, charisma and looks-every woman there was in love.
Three years later, Bill Graham gets him to open for the Stones at a Day on the Green show at Oakland stadium.
Eddie was still unrecouped on his Epic Records deal, broke, and living in some shithole in Oakland under the freeway.
In any event, he grabs his sax and jumps into his car, but the battery is dead.
But he had to get to the gig and luckily lived near a Bart station.
So, what's a poor boy do but play a rock 'n roll gig?
He hops on the Bart, mobbed with fans going to the show...and soon they are all asking the same question--why is the guy opening for the Stones carrying his sax and riding the train to such a big gig?
Says to me: "Lance, can you think of any artist who ever had to take the train to a stadium gig with the Stones"?
Lance Grode
________________________________
Nice one.
Couple of things.
1. I don't think there was a better single ever cut than "two tickets to paradise." Every note was perfect.
2. Mahoney may be a douche bag from the outer boroughs but he had talent. That doesn't make him a role model. It makes him a talented douche bag from Queens.
It always amazes me that people whose folks were persecuted a generation before have to find someone else to dump on once they get a pass.
3. Boomers seem to revel in this nostalgia shit. I don't get it. I like it now and then, but only every once in a while.
I can't stand big ass venues anymore. I go to smaller clubs and see folks like the Subdudes from New Orleans and Tab Benoit and Paul Thorn and Samantha Fish--not kids but not geriatric--and other performers who sell no records but they have killer chops and write terrific songs and make a living and thank god for that.
It is what it is.
Keep it coming,
Rik Shafer
________________________________
Hi Bob, a friend of mine owned an Italian restaurant in San Ramon (Nor Cal, East Bay). My friend was in his late 60s and was a bit of a ladies man and a Sinatra style crooner, but never took it seriously. He would sing in his restaurant. Eddie Money was a regular customer and would join him to sing in the restaurant. My friend said everybody in the restaurant loved Eddie no matter what he sang. He was old school, you are right , and all the customers felt he was one of them....despite, his past celebrity.
best, alan segal san diego
________________________________
Hell, Eddie was a NYC cop in the early 70s. He had a good voice but was a known as a ahem difficult guy to play with, and at the end of
The day, he was the cop with rocker wrapping
jht99
________________________________
Hard to believe I was still working in radio just 8 years ago. We had just had our daughter, so I had a staff working a meet & greet with Eddie at a large event. The weather was terrible with lots of rain and the event site turned into a field of mud. My part timers started calling me frantically because Eddie was VERY late. People who had won m&g passes started bailing. Finally, after a long delay, Eddie "stumbles" out from the trailer and yells "Who wants to meet the money man???"
And then a tour manager stuffed him back into the trailer. Meet and greet over.
I love Eddie. That story makes me laugh every time.
Mark M.
________________________________
Eddie Money had some good songs.
Eddie Money's an anti-Semitic jerk.
Eddie Money's not getting any of my money.
H. Love
________________________________
Working for Columbia Records in the promo department in the 90's, I was with Eddie a lot as he played dozens of radio shows, called in for every radio interview, and all without complaining. He got it. While other artists blew off interviews and in-studio visits, they only hurt their careers. Eddie would always ask the radio program directors name across the room, so he could walk over and instantly bond with someone he's never met. He's also the ONLY person who's ever asked me this favor: "Hey...see if we can get a couple "Pilsners". You mean beer? What the hell is a Pilsner? I was fortune to work with dozens of amazing artists and can say without doubt, Eddie Money is the hardest working man - not only in music, but as a showman. The guy knows how to turn it on.
"Dave Ross" Swerdlick
StoryCub, Inc.
________________________________
Fu*k Eddie M(ah)oney! Son of a cop who almost became a cop himself.
I'm the son of a NYC cop whose father wanted better for his children. We didn't move to Long Island to escape the diversity of NYC like Eddie and his family. I was born and bred in Bklyn.
I remember having to suffer through watching Eddie as an opening act back in the '70s in Central Park or at the Palladium.
So, Eddie, you're a right winger, Hillary hater who ducked serving in Vietnam - born in Bklyn but grew up on Long Island.
I know your type. Why don't you keep your right wing mouth shut and keep on making that mediocre music that's sustained you for all these years.
Oh yeah, I have to say I dug that record he cut with Ronnie Spector. Ronnie was/is the real deal, and Eddie's lucky to have had the privilege to sing with her.
Respectfully
Jeff Douglas
Bklyn, NY
________________________________
My mini Eddie Money story...
I had just started in the business, mid 80's, took my hot model girlfriend with me to a big radio convention in one of those huge downtown hotels. I was attending for the major label I was working for.
She and I got into an elevator to head up to some label's hospitality suite. Someone grabbed the doors and jumped in with us. It's Eddie. So it's just the three of us. Slightly awkward, but you know how it is- what are you gonna do?
We all do quick hi's and I played it cool. Like you, I liked his music- I'm sophisticated about music but I'm also a pop guy. I wouldn't call myself a fan of his necessarily.
So Eddie looks intently at my girl, who's holding my arm and standing very close beside me- clearly we are together.
This feels very weird to me. He's honing in... getting a little too close to her.
Eddie (directly to her): "I'm married, but I'm not happy."
Her (instant response): "I'm happy but I'm not married."
We all laughed, including him.
He was doing that rockstar/fame thing- trying to take the woman right off your arm. And like most of you, I've seen this happen before.
But it didn't work this time.
He brushed it off and just acted like everything was normal and nothing had happened. I couldn't help smiling.
I wasn't mad at all. He was charming and funny and like a little kid. He could get away with it, and almost make you feel good about it.
Not long after, she became my wife for 21 years.
You stimulated that small, meaningless memory- just thought I'd share.
Hope you're feeling better,
Sully
________________________________
Wow, Bob. I'm having '70s flashbacks.
In '77 I was a writer/producer with Casey Kasem's American Top 40. It was my first job in the industry and it was a good one. I got to meet and talk with most of my Rock & Roll heroes and, almost as great, I got free records! The publicists at Columbia Records befriended me early on, so I was getting serviced with all the Columbia/Epic LP and 45 promos.
That summer, my buddy-- Columbia publicist Mike Jensen, told me to pay extra attention to a single that was about to arrive-- Eddie Money and "Baby Hold On." When it came in, I gave it a spin and it immediately became one of my favorite singles of the year. So Mike didn't even have to talk me into interviewing Eddie, I was sure that this was gonna be a Top Ten hit. I could pick 'em in those days; I was a kid.
So Eddie and I hit it off like gangbusters, and I awaited the record's ascension on the charts so I could write some good "Eddie Mahoney-- former NYC cop" stories for Casey to tell. But in explicably, the record stiffed. I took it personally. The artist was now my friend, and this airplay rejection was an affront to my musical sensibilities. This was also the first time that I became Crusader Rabbit on a matter of artistic merit. I pestered Mike Jensen about this inexplicable failure and, when I visited him and my other friends at Columbia's Century City's office, I talked to the promo guys about the record's failure. I remember them saying that they "almost had some traction" on the record.
Cut to late December '77. I'm back home in Baltimore for the holidays, out drinking with a coupla buddies, and on the local Top 40 powerhouse comes a familiar opening guitar riff and these eponymous initial lyrics, "Baby, hold on to me..." Over the next ten days, the single reaches top rotation. I almost can't wait for vacation to end to get back to L.A. and find out if this is an anomaly.
When I do get back to my office at Ventura and Cahuenga and sort through my accumulated promos, I see that Columbia has re-serviced "Baby Hold On." And in a matter of weeks, it skirts the Top Ten. Neither then nor now do I think my ardent pestering of CBS personnel had anything to do with the record hitting the second time around, but I was at least personally vindicated.
And Eddie, God bless him, called to thank me, and we hung out a couple times. Once at a gig near Disneyworld where I gave him an AT40 T-shirt. He was fervent in his hope that I'd procure one for his guitarist, to whom he was obviously quite loyal. (I did come through, by the way.) Drinks with Eddie and band post-gig in Anaheim required a one-eye-covered drive home to the Valley at 2:00 am. Different era, but just as foolish at the time.
Later in the year, perhaps, I went to one of Eddie's recording sessions in the valley one night and afterwards, I recommended dropping by a nearby studio where multiple Gibb Brothers were purported to be laying down some tracks. An anomaly, as they cut most of their stuff in Miami, but Andy Gibb was a friend and had invited me. But Eddie demurred. He said he'd feel awkward there, which I understood. So instead we did a mid-Valley tour of legendary (or not) dive bars and called it a night.
I did not see Eddie again for at least a couple of years. After a few more hits, it was like he fell off the grid. But when we caught up again, he told me that he had had a close and debilitating call. He'd gone to a party, had too much to drink-- too many other substances, and had passed out cold at the host home for more than 24 hours. During that time, he never once shifted position, just laying on his side. And during that time, his sciatic nerve had simply atrophied, rendering his leg virtually numb and paralyzed. Fortunately, he was told that it would regenerate, and at the time I saw him, he said that his gait was much better, despite an obvious major limp.
That's the last time I saw Eddie. But I was so knocked out a few years later to hear him come back with "Take Me Home Tonight." And with Ronnie Spector?! That was fantasy stuff for me.
Since then, I've grabbed his albums when they've crossed my path, and I always hold a good thought for him. I'm not pleased to hear about his anti-Semitic joke, or anti-anybody joke. And I hate to think that he might be conservative enough to be a Trump supporter, 'cause at his core, Eddie was a good guy. He was a working class schlub with a sense of humor, a decent heart, and a great Rock & Roll voice and sensibility. 40 years on, I'm still rooting for him.
Thanks, Bob.
Regards,
Scott Paton
________________________________
From: Cindy Ronzoni (AXS TV PR)
Hi Bob,
Eddie and his band and his wife are getting ready to on stage in Pennsylvania right now so Eddie asked me to send this to you on his behalf.
Dear Bob,
Thank you for taking the time to come out and see the Grammy museum event and for the great review that you gave my children. I'm glad that you enjoyed the show, but unfortunately, there was a major misconception on your part, considering me to be anti-Semitic. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Bob , I don't mind getting slammed when I deserve it...and it's true that my father was Irish , but my mother ( God rest her soul) was German and Polish and of Jewish decent. It was never my intent to offend anyone with my jokes or comments, and I'm sorry that I've apparently upset you and caused you to think less of me. I have learned from this and will work on keeping my big NY mouth under control, not to offend other New Yorkers who know when to shut up! Again, I just would like to clear up this misunderstanding and once again thank you for attending the show
You're the "Real Deal" and I love and respect your work.
Eddie Money
________________________________
From: Bob Lefsetz
To: Cindy Ronzoni
Just let Eddie know that when he talked about paying for his wife's clothing, he said he was worried about price, and he said "It's the Jew in me." I heard it loud and clear, I think he even said it twice, and I know in his heart he meant no harm, but he should know better, you can't say this, it reinforces stereotypes that are untrue. As if there's not enough anti-semitism in the world.
________________________________
From: Eddie Money
Subject: Mahjong
Bob, Funny story for you, ...
Picture me in my 1963 Studebaker Lark V111 going to class at UC Berkeley....November, 1978
I finally got added on Z100 and KRFC in SF ....there was no FM radio in cars back then and it was such a "Big Deal" to finally get on AM Radio
I was so happy, I was crying tears of Joy ........No cell phones back then so I loaded up a pay phone with $7.00 worth of quarters and called my mother to inform her of the great and exciting news ...shouting ..."Mom , I'm on AM radio ...
Her response .."Your Aunt Lois just got here, and I told you not to call me on Mahjong night ... typical ..Dottie Keller
We buried Mom with a Whale Bone set ...Unfortunately, she passed from colon cancer in 2004 and there was nothing worse in my life than losing my "Jewish Mom"
When I find something funny, and occasionally, I do ...I say it's the "Jew in me" ..My mother used to say .."My son could sell cancer" She had that NYC sense of humor
Her and Bill Graham were the same age age, both born in 1928 and were very close ..Both gone, but never forgotten.
Three of my closest friend are Jewish, along with Lynn Horowitz, who broke my heart when I was a freshman at Nassau Community College in 1967 ...
Waddy Wachtel, probably one of the best guitar players in the world and I are extremely close
He just finished a tour with Stevie Nicks and before that, he played on the last 2 Keith Richards albums with the "Fabulous Winos" and toured with Joe Walsh last summer
He is my best friend and we have been writing together for my latest CD ...Appropriately called "It's a Brand New Day".
I'll send the new track over to you
I think your gonna love it ...
Oh ...and Laurie wasn't crazy about us sharing the "I said "Posse joke", although, I loved it. ....Ha ha
Your podcasts are the most popular broadcast in the business and I know I would have an absolute blast if you decided to let me do one ...
There is no reason the two of us couldn't and should be great friends, Laurie is also very fond of you and I would like to introduce you to my kids
Mark Cuban ...A good Jewish kid from Pittsburg loves our reality show called "Real Money" and we will be airing it on AXS ( Mark's channel )
At 9:30 on Sunday night, right after "On the Road with Sammy Hagar"
We've been buddies since 1974
Bob, if you could be so kind and check out my website as well as the AXS channel , it would be well appreciated
Joke ... "Why did Israel beat the Egyptians in 6 days back in 1964 . ... "All the equipment was rented"
A very old funny joke that my Uncle Jacob told me many years ago
Enclosed is a couple of pictures of the Fratti brothers (who I came out to California with)....and Waddy ,
Think for a minute of how many thousands of GI's we would have lost invading Japan in 1945 without using "The Bomb"
Einstein split the atom, they had to drop two Atom bombs, not just one
And let us not forget one of the best musical composers in the world
George Gershwin, writing Rapsody In Blue and Porgy and Bess also like us ...a New Yorker
My first producer Bruce Botnick was also Jewish and we sold over 4 million records together when he produced my first two records, also a brilliant and caring man of Jewish decent
When I brag about all these people I just proudly have to say ...
"It's the Jew in me"
Have a nice week and I'm sure, like me, that your very proud of your accomplishments
I just had to "Clear the Air"
Me ..."Antisematic ... Never !!!
Eddie $
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Save The Country
https://spoti.fi/2IYSsZX
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"I got fury in my soul
Fury's gonna take me to the glory goal"
Stormy Daniels outranked the Grammys, she pulled more viewers on the same damn channel, CBS, 22 million to 19.8. What is happening here? It sure ain't exactly clear.
But what we've got is a President who resembles a heavy metal band, an outlaw who appeals to a tiny sliver of the populace which believes it's been screwed and wants revenge, even though the rest of the people abhor them.
Meanwhile, today's metal bands are a caricature of themselves. If they really wanted to make a statement, they'd shun the tattoos and piercings and play acoustically.
But that ain't music today.
I read something interesting over the weekend, you can do anything, people can connect with anything, as long as your work is based in passion, as long as it's what YOU want to do, that's what's missing from today's music scene, there's too much CALCULATION!
And bitching.
Funny how everybody said Spotify was the enemy and now music revenues have gone up by double digits. Funny how the press amplifies the stories of the nitwits and the left behind. Meanwhile, Spotify going public means nothing to you, it's a business story, the Wall Street casino, it's just a way for investors to cash out, pay no attention.
Meanwhile, the only thing everybody cares about these days is politics.
Used to be the highest calling was to work in the music industry.
And then tech.
Now the only thing people want to pay attention to is our government, because they're afraid. Meanwhile, we've got no leaders, and the parking meters have all been sold to hedge funds, truly.
We were for the Vietnam War before we against it. Folkies were for peace, but it wasn't until the rockers started standing up that the rest of us did too, when we we realized that the United States could not only be wrong, it could lose.
Very tumultuous times the late sixties, akin to now. Only in this case the twentysomethings have been superseded by the teenagers, who are taking matters into their own hands and injecting a shock to the system.
"For What It's Worth" came out in 1967. Before Martin and Bobby were cut down, that happened the following year. "For What It's Worth" was a reaction to the Sunset Strip riots at Pandora's Box, now a footnote in history, the song eclipses the inspiration. But protest penetrated the Top Forty.
Now the Top Forty means less than ever before.
You see the systems are collapsing. The major labels say you need them to get on radio and TV when they mean less than ever before. Spotify says you don't need a label at all. And you just can't fathom how you can rise above.
Only by being in your own business. Every act is in its own business these days. If you're waiting for your lucky moment, you're delusional, satisfy your core and hope that they spread the word, don't care about anybody else, the press, the looky-loos, they won't adhere to you and help you survive, in a nation of grazers you want to lock on to your own people.
Like Laura Nyro.
She became famous for writing hits for others, most notably the Fifth Dimension. And when she was doing her act, live entirely solo, there was no one else like her, proving once again the way to prominence is by being unique.
Her first LP was a demonstration of her hits.
The second, although it contained the soon to be legendary "Stoned Soul Picnic," made a statement with "Poverty Train," but that was back in '68, when we were concerned about our brethren, trying to lift them up rather than get them addicted to opioids.
And then Laura wrote "Save The Country."
"Come on people, come on children"
Great artists implore their audience to action. They're cheerleaders, getting the audience off its feet, to stand up for what's right.
"I got fury in my soul."
I do. Do you? I think you do!
"In my mind I can't study war no more."
I can't study duplicity, dishonesty, I don't want to feel powerless, I want a call to action.
"We could build a dream with love"
Like those demonstrating students, unlike Fox News. Hatred has ruled for far too long. We've got to come together, like in that old Youngbloods song, we've got to get back to the garden, like Joni Mitchell sang, we've got to leave behind the hedonism, the capitalism, and focus on the message.
There's power in song.
HARNESS IT!
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https://bit.ly/1pvumYI
"I got fury in my soul
Fury's gonna take me to the glory goal"
Stormy Daniels outranked the Grammys, she pulled more viewers on the same damn channel, CBS, 22 million to 19.8. What is happening here? It sure ain't exactly clear.
But what we've got is a President who resembles a heavy metal band, an outlaw who appeals to a tiny sliver of the populace which believes it's been screwed and wants revenge, even though the rest of the people abhor them.
Meanwhile, today's metal bands are a caricature of themselves. If they really wanted to make a statement, they'd shun the tattoos and piercings and play acoustically.
But that ain't music today.
I read something interesting over the weekend, you can do anything, people can connect with anything, as long as your work is based in passion, as long as it's what YOU want to do, that's what's missing from today's music scene, there's too much CALCULATION!
And bitching.
Funny how everybody said Spotify was the enemy and now music revenues have gone up by double digits. Funny how the press amplifies the stories of the nitwits and the left behind. Meanwhile, Spotify going public means nothing to you, it's a business story, the Wall Street casino, it's just a way for investors to cash out, pay no attention.
Meanwhile, the only thing everybody cares about these days is politics.
Used to be the highest calling was to work in the music industry.
And then tech.
Now the only thing people want to pay attention to is our government, because they're afraid. Meanwhile, we've got no leaders, and the parking meters have all been sold to hedge funds, truly.
We were for the Vietnam War before we against it. Folkies were for peace, but it wasn't until the rockers started standing up that the rest of us did too, when we we realized that the United States could not only be wrong, it could lose.
Very tumultuous times the late sixties, akin to now. Only in this case the twentysomethings have been superseded by the teenagers, who are taking matters into their own hands and injecting a shock to the system.
"For What It's Worth" came out in 1967. Before Martin and Bobby were cut down, that happened the following year. "For What It's Worth" was a reaction to the Sunset Strip riots at Pandora's Box, now a footnote in history, the song eclipses the inspiration. But protest penetrated the Top Forty.
Now the Top Forty means less than ever before.
You see the systems are collapsing. The major labels say you need them to get on radio and TV when they mean less than ever before. Spotify says you don't need a label at all. And you just can't fathom how you can rise above.
Only by being in your own business. Every act is in its own business these days. If you're waiting for your lucky moment, you're delusional, satisfy your core and hope that they spread the word, don't care about anybody else, the press, the looky-loos, they won't adhere to you and help you survive, in a nation of grazers you want to lock on to your own people.
Like Laura Nyro.
She became famous for writing hits for others, most notably the Fifth Dimension. And when she was doing her act, live entirely solo, there was no one else like her, proving once again the way to prominence is by being unique.
Her first LP was a demonstration of her hits.
The second, although it contained the soon to be legendary "Stoned Soul Picnic," made a statement with "Poverty Train," but that was back in '68, when we were concerned about our brethren, trying to lift them up rather than get them addicted to opioids.
And then Laura wrote "Save The Country."
"Come on people, come on children"
Great artists implore their audience to action. They're cheerleaders, getting the audience off its feet, to stand up for what's right.
"I got fury in my soul."
I do. Do you? I think you do!
"In my mind I can't study war no more."
I can't study duplicity, dishonesty, I don't want to feel powerless, I want a call to action.
"We could build a dream with love"
Like those demonstrating students, unlike Fox News. Hatred has ruled for far too long. We've got to come together, like in that old Youngbloods song, we've got to get back to the garden, like Joni Mitchell sang, we've got to leave behind the hedonism, the capitalism, and focus on the message.
There's power in song.
HARNESS IT!
--
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--
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--
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Moe Shalizi-This Week's Podcast
Manager of Marshmello (and more!)
I wrote about Moe here: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2018/02/28/moe-shalizi/
You can listen to a one minute excerpt of the podcast here: https://twitter.com/Lefsetz/status/978754184118812678
Listen to the entire podcast here:
TuneIn http://tun.in/tiogmw
iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/moe-shalizi/id1316200737?i=1000407580389&mt=2
Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Detr73dmfvgcky7bpllbiwlzixe?t=Moe_Shalizi-The_Bob_Lefsetz_Podcast
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bob-lefsetz/moe-shalizi-16
Overcast: https://overcast.fm/+LBr8zFrEQ
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I wrote about Moe here: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2018/02/28/moe-shalizi/
You can listen to a one minute excerpt of the podcast here: https://twitter.com/Lefsetz/status/978754184118812678
Listen to the entire podcast here:
TuneIn http://tun.in/tiogmw
iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/moe-shalizi/id1316200737?i=1000407580389&mt=2
Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Detr73dmfvgcky7bpllbiwlzixe?t=Moe_Shalizi-The_Bob_Lefsetz_Podcast
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bob-lefsetz/moe-shalizi-16
Overcast: https://overcast.fm/+LBr8zFrEQ
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
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--
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Monday, 26 March 2018
The Mechanism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13OtvUxOcUU
We're looking for a strongman. Someone to not only make the trains run on time, but to take care of us, give us a leg up, opportunity, even though our prayers will never be answered.
Blame the internet.
But it started before that. The rich spreading inaccurate information while they pay the politicians to make it all go away. Can you say Timothy Geithner? Can you say Wall Street? How many bad actors who blew up the economy went up the river. NONE! Why? It would be too detrimental to society, to our nation, business must go on.
At least that's what they think.
So Trump gets elected and the left wing is jumping out of its skin. But if you notice, it's primarily the educated left wing, those living on the coasts, who are angry that a system working for them might be broken up, might leave them with less. Meanwhile, these same people never cared about those left out as a result of globalization, and those profiting from globalization are making bank.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The Wall fell. Communism faltered. Democracy was gonna reign. But it didn't. Putin not only runs Russia, his countrymen approve of him! Sure, it might have been a sham election, but citizens like that he makes things work, eliminated the chaos, makes them proud to be Russian.
And now you're apoplectic, telling me how wrong I am.
But I'm not sure that's the case.
I just finished watching "The Mechanism," a Brazilian mini-series about corruption on Netflix. I did because it has the same producer as "Narcos," but I cannot recommend it, it's slow and confusing and it doesn't add up until the end, with a cliffhanger leaving answers for another season. But at least it's not HBO. The lauded "Barry" began tonight. If you think I'm still up for appointment TV you're dreaming, just like the movie studios. Nobody I know goes to the movies, I've been quizzing people, but every Friday the paper is laden with reviews. Meanwhile, the major outlets didn't even review "The Mechanism," and I doubt there will be word of mouth, so you won't see it.
But the message...
It's about corruption in Brazil. The good guys versus the bad, the cops versus the corporations. And then you realize, it's just like here.
Sure, the cops shoot and beat up innocent people, but that distracts us from the fact that if we can't depend upon law enforcement, the laws themselves are worthless. Which is why the firing of Comey and McCabe is such a big deal, why Trump's denigration of the CIA and other agencies is so important. What we end up with is chaos.
And the only person who can eliminate the chaos is a strongman, we have to put all our faith in this individual, otherwise we're screwed.
As for the internet, it was supposed to give everybody a voice, out the truth. But what has happened is we've ended up with cacophony, with everybody following their own news, and few knowing what is really going on. I woke up this morning and checked all the outlets, they all led with the Parkland protests, the anti-gun marches, the NYT, the LAT, even the WSJ. But not on FoxNews, if you went to their site you had to scroll down to nearly the bottom to see a line about the protests, without even a picture. Later in the day a story appeared further up the page, saying that the estimate of attendees was way off. So if you were relying on Fox for your information...
You didn't believe what everybody else did.
But it gets worse.
Used to be there were very few news organizations. We trusted them.
But now everybody is a newsperson, and they're spreading their stories, and there's a plethora of places to get them. Not only the aforementioned biggies, but Apple News, all the other online outlets, like Facebook.
Will Facebook get a penalty or pay the ultimate price, destruction?
It almost doesn't matter, because the truth is the Facebook-owned Instagram is bigger than its older brother now anyway. You could wipe Facebook from the face of the earth and Instagram would only grow, enriching the same damn people. They can't eliminate Facebook anyway, because too many people love to share. To their ultimate detriment.
So right now, the corporations paying the politicians has never been more visible. Can you say THE NRA? Which is a lobbying organization for gun manufacturers? Congresspeople are afraid to go anti-gun, meanwhile, years of right wing diatribes have the same ignorant people voting for a strongman believing if they just have a gun, or maybe twenty, they can protect themselves from government overreach, ain't that a laugh. The truth is these people are powerless, and as long as the string-pullers keep demonizing immigrants, people of color and gays, they'll stay in their pocket. Kinda like this trans debate. Is that the biggest issue, trans people going to the bathroom of their choice? I'd say a much bigger issue is finding a public bathroom at all, but that's been lost in the obfuscation.
The game was always rigged, but now it's gotten worse. The rich live a completely different lifestyle from the poor. And the so-called middle class, the college-educated, don't want to see the rich penalized so much as they want to be rich themselves! And if you're poor, you don't want your illusions shattered, life is too hard at your minimum wage job to believe this is all there is. Meanwhile, they play the lottery, a tax upon these same players, for a chance to make it. Even though the wealthy, those who institute this gaming, never play, they know the odds are prohibitive, better to hoard your cash. But they were the beneficiaries of the best schools, whereas the rank and file are victimized by a nation that believes taxes are bad, unions are bad, and it all comes down to the teachers, and if we could just privatize all this, everything would work out. Yeah, like the Austin bomber who was home-schooled.
Now way back when they made a movie about an honest politician, "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington." Hell, it wasn't that long ago there was a movie about unions, "Norma Rae." But the only senator speaking the truth was Bernie Sanders, who was undermined by the Democratic machine and Reagan fired the air traffic controllers and Scott Walker gets recalled and still wins, after eviscerating union power. Because people sit at home and believe the problem is everyone but themselves, if they were just left alone to live their lives without regulation everything would work.
Like the buildings collapsing in third world countries, like dying from pollution. We need government, we need roads, we need safety, but it's been demonized to the point it no longer works.
Except for those running it.
--
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--
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--
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We're looking for a strongman. Someone to not only make the trains run on time, but to take care of us, give us a leg up, opportunity, even though our prayers will never be answered.
Blame the internet.
But it started before that. The rich spreading inaccurate information while they pay the politicians to make it all go away. Can you say Timothy Geithner? Can you say Wall Street? How many bad actors who blew up the economy went up the river. NONE! Why? It would be too detrimental to society, to our nation, business must go on.
At least that's what they think.
So Trump gets elected and the left wing is jumping out of its skin. But if you notice, it's primarily the educated left wing, those living on the coasts, who are angry that a system working for them might be broken up, might leave them with less. Meanwhile, these same people never cared about those left out as a result of globalization, and those profiting from globalization are making bank.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The Wall fell. Communism faltered. Democracy was gonna reign. But it didn't. Putin not only runs Russia, his countrymen approve of him! Sure, it might have been a sham election, but citizens like that he makes things work, eliminated the chaos, makes them proud to be Russian.
And now you're apoplectic, telling me how wrong I am.
But I'm not sure that's the case.
I just finished watching "The Mechanism," a Brazilian mini-series about corruption on Netflix. I did because it has the same producer as "Narcos," but I cannot recommend it, it's slow and confusing and it doesn't add up until the end, with a cliffhanger leaving answers for another season. But at least it's not HBO. The lauded "Barry" began tonight. If you think I'm still up for appointment TV you're dreaming, just like the movie studios. Nobody I know goes to the movies, I've been quizzing people, but every Friday the paper is laden with reviews. Meanwhile, the major outlets didn't even review "The Mechanism," and I doubt there will be word of mouth, so you won't see it.
But the message...
It's about corruption in Brazil. The good guys versus the bad, the cops versus the corporations. And then you realize, it's just like here.
Sure, the cops shoot and beat up innocent people, but that distracts us from the fact that if we can't depend upon law enforcement, the laws themselves are worthless. Which is why the firing of Comey and McCabe is such a big deal, why Trump's denigration of the CIA and other agencies is so important. What we end up with is chaos.
And the only person who can eliminate the chaos is a strongman, we have to put all our faith in this individual, otherwise we're screwed.
As for the internet, it was supposed to give everybody a voice, out the truth. But what has happened is we've ended up with cacophony, with everybody following their own news, and few knowing what is really going on. I woke up this morning and checked all the outlets, they all led with the Parkland protests, the anti-gun marches, the NYT, the LAT, even the WSJ. But not on FoxNews, if you went to their site you had to scroll down to nearly the bottom to see a line about the protests, without even a picture. Later in the day a story appeared further up the page, saying that the estimate of attendees was way off. So if you were relying on Fox for your information...
You didn't believe what everybody else did.
But it gets worse.
Used to be there were very few news organizations. We trusted them.
But now everybody is a newsperson, and they're spreading their stories, and there's a plethora of places to get them. Not only the aforementioned biggies, but Apple News, all the other online outlets, like Facebook.
Will Facebook get a penalty or pay the ultimate price, destruction?
It almost doesn't matter, because the truth is the Facebook-owned Instagram is bigger than its older brother now anyway. You could wipe Facebook from the face of the earth and Instagram would only grow, enriching the same damn people. They can't eliminate Facebook anyway, because too many people love to share. To their ultimate detriment.
So right now, the corporations paying the politicians has never been more visible. Can you say THE NRA? Which is a lobbying organization for gun manufacturers? Congresspeople are afraid to go anti-gun, meanwhile, years of right wing diatribes have the same ignorant people voting for a strongman believing if they just have a gun, or maybe twenty, they can protect themselves from government overreach, ain't that a laugh. The truth is these people are powerless, and as long as the string-pullers keep demonizing immigrants, people of color and gays, they'll stay in their pocket. Kinda like this trans debate. Is that the biggest issue, trans people going to the bathroom of their choice? I'd say a much bigger issue is finding a public bathroom at all, but that's been lost in the obfuscation.
The game was always rigged, but now it's gotten worse. The rich live a completely different lifestyle from the poor. And the so-called middle class, the college-educated, don't want to see the rich penalized so much as they want to be rich themselves! And if you're poor, you don't want your illusions shattered, life is too hard at your minimum wage job to believe this is all there is. Meanwhile, they play the lottery, a tax upon these same players, for a chance to make it. Even though the wealthy, those who institute this gaming, never play, they know the odds are prohibitive, better to hoard your cash. But they were the beneficiaries of the best schools, whereas the rank and file are victimized by a nation that believes taxes are bad, unions are bad, and it all comes down to the teachers, and if we could just privatize all this, everything would work out. Yeah, like the Austin bomber who was home-schooled.
Now way back when they made a movie about an honest politician, "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington." Hell, it wasn't that long ago there was a movie about unions, "Norma Rae." But the only senator speaking the truth was Bernie Sanders, who was undermined by the Democratic machine and Reagan fired the air traffic controllers and Scott Walker gets recalled and still wins, after eviscerating union power. Because people sit at home and believe the problem is everyone but themselves, if they were just left alone to live their lives without regulation everything would work.
Like the buildings collapsing in third world countries, like dying from pollution. We need government, we need roads, we need safety, but it's been demonized to the point it no longer works.
Except for those running it.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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