"It's too late baby
Now it's too late"
Carole King
Politics is show business for ugly people. And you've got to play by show business rules.
Show business is all about preparation, getting the act, song, movie, TV show, ready and then marketing it so people will be aware of it and buy it.
And you always want to be first, and you want to eliminate all chance.
You want an upward curve, even if you start low and slow.
You want no lulls. You want to keep people interested, by teasing them with new information on a regular basis.
You want to control the narrative.
And what is the narrative the Democrats are trying to sell?
Damned if I know. The only thing they can agree on is they hate Trump. I hate KISS, but that doesn't keep them off the road, playing to empty arenas, their fans support them. And speaking of KISS, Gene Simmons is one of the greatest marketers of all time, a complete blowhard, but he's making it work for himself and the band. Maybe he learned it all from Neil Bogart, who changed his name from "Bogatz," to give the right "impression." Bogart failed on his first attempt, trying to sell a record of Johnny Carson routines, it went instantly into the cut-out bin, but then he pivoted to disco and Donna Summer and KISS.
And Bogart was a showman, full of crap. Seemingly everything he said was inflated and wrong. Remember when there were four simultaneous KISS solo albums and Neil said they were instantly gold? The press bought it, even though all of them but Peter Criss's came back.
You see it's all about perception. Sell the myth, not the facts.
It's more important that Elizabeth Warren be seen as a fighter against the man than any specific policy position. People don't go that deep. CONGRESS doesn't go that deep! Did you read the "New Yorker" story on Al Franken? His accuser told boldfaced lies, there was history disputing her account, but she got out there first and what she said ruled, even though she was working for a pro-Trump radio station. Once again, the Democrats reacted, and now they're doubling-down, can't see why they were wrong. Kirsten Gillibrand, YOU'RE HISTORY!
The press said Trump was losing because he brought up the "i" word before the Democrats. But Trump knows you get ahead of the blowback, you make the first punch, and you load the media with so much b.s. that it can't keep up.
Meanwhile, the public doesn't know the difference between impeachment and conviction and Pelosi seems as old as she really is. She's Perry Como after the Beatles. Doesn't she realize THE RULES HAVE CHANGED?
Happens in entertainment all the time. Suddenly you can't sell hair bands. Suddenly hip-hop is burgeoning. And if you fight the tide, you drown. Oh, little fish can still swim in their own private backwaters, but if you're playing for everything, if you want to run the table, you've got to be looking to the future, not the past!
Trump speaks to the public. Pelosi speaks to insiders.
That's why AOC gets so much traction, she speaks to the public-at-large, it's less about legislation than attitude, which is move over you old farts and let the younger generation take the reins, you oldsters have no idea what is going on anymore!
But Team Pelosi says you've got to run to the center, because you've got to appeal to those districts that flipped for Democrats in 2016. That's like making Aerosmith play acoustic, and refusing to let them play new material.
Of course, Aerosmith doesn't play new material, and Chris Christie is a big Boss fan. It's kinda like long hair. Once upon a time it symbolized something, you were either for us or against us, then it was just a fashion choice.
Anyone who plays to the rearguard is always disrupted. Didn't you ever read Clayton Christensen? Everybody pooh-poohs the new, saying it's not as good as the old, and then it becomes better and the old folds overnight. Christensen says to embrace the new, and then eliminate the old when the new gains traction. The DNC is being disrupted and their answer? Let's go back to Good Ol' Joe. That's like asking your grandfather for music advice.
So what we've got is candidates who want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and the Democrats are freaking out, they can't even get aligned on one position. Criticize the Republicans all you want, but after Trump they all got in line. That's how you win, when you play like a team!
And if you try to appeal to everybody, you lose. The road is littered with middle of the road artists, who fail on the chart and play to a dwindling audience in Branson and clubs. You want to get people EXCITED! That's what Warren and Harris and Bernie and Buttigieg are doing.
And what does the establishment say?
THEY'RE TOO FAR LEFT!
AC/DC was too heavy until suddenly they weren't. "Back In Black" is still streaming prodigiously today, "You Shook Me All Night Long" is an American anthem! Of course Mutt Lange helped. The right has Karl Rove, who do we have on the left?
So the reason you wanted impeachment is so the whole world would watch, so Trump's bad behavior, criminal or not, would infect the public. When the truth outs, it's hard to deny.
But no, it was never time. Pelosi and her pals are like a Silicon Valley outfit that never releases its product. It's so busy getting it right that it can never come out. Meanwhile, Facebook becomes so big by having a motto of "move fast and break things." Forget that Zuckerberg is the enemy now, he's on top of the pyramid, he controls the conversation more than not only Congress, but the mainstream media! Furthermore, he just pivoted, saying it was about private conversations, when the Democrats are still looking for that elusive consensus. Everything worth paying attention to starts off the radar, small, and then it blows up and BECOMES THE MAINSTREAM!
So Barr says Trump is innocent.
The Dems folded their tent.
Then Mueller sends his letter and they think...wow, maybe there's something here. Like a band the label has stopped working that is suddenly selling tickets...the label is on to something else, it's hard to get it restarted on your old product.
And then the Democrats placed all their hopes on Mueller testifying. That's like taking someone with a great record, who's never been on stage, and having them headline Coachella! No one would do that, the odds of failure are too high.
So Mueller didn't deliver. Oh, don't make it about Russia, the Dems thought Mueller was gonna blow a hole through the curtain, reveal that Trump was culpable and should be charged. Not only did Mueller not do this, he said as much after he delivered his report earlier...this was his final statement!
And the Dems are playing by old rules and crying to the nonexistent refs that the Republicans are cheating. No, Trump and his posse have invented new rules, like no one in the regime needs to testify. When they up the ante, so do you! You don't say there's no crying in baseball!
So now, on left wing radio, all the talk is about getting the transcripts from the grand jury. God, even in the NFL when you lose, you lose, no matter how heinous the call. Because without rules, you've got no game.
And that's what's happening now, WE'VE GOT NO GAME! Trump and his cronies are running ragged and the Dems and the media are so flummoxed, they do NOTHING!
Come on. Even the most lame influencer knows you've got to deliver product on a regular basis. You've got to hook the audience and deliver. That's certainly what Trump has done, and all the left keeps saying is HE SHOULDN'T TWEET!
Meanwhile, these same wankers are posting to Instagram, the national pastime, and despite their constant disparagement of the internet and Twitter, Twitter is where the news happens, and if you're not on it, you don't know what's going on.
So impeachment failed in the marketplace. It's like Annapurna, Megan Ellison's movie company. No matter how great the film, and she's put out plenty, they never reach expectations. "Booksmart," one of the best-reviewed movies this year, which appeals to oldsters and youngsters...dead. Product is only one part of the puzzle, you need the aforementioned marketing. The big studios may put out lame films, but they're experts in marketing them.
When you fail, you write it off. Just look at the Fortune 500, that's what they do. Did Bezos try to improve the Fire phone? No, he deleted it from the catalog. And today, your mistakes don't haunt you as long as you continue to play and make noise. Once again, the game has changed, there's so much noise that the biggest challenge is just reaching the public. And if you don't, people forget what you were selling, they're inundated with new messages.
And I've used a plethora of metaphors here, but now I'm gonna use one more. Pro football used to be a running game. Now running backs make a fraction of what they used to, all the emphasis is on passing and receiving! You change with the times!
Seems like everybody can change with the times but the Democrats.
So forget impeachment. This is the gang that can't shoot straight, even if they have clear evidence that Trump needs to go, the right will spin it otherwise and rule the marketplace, i.e. public opinion. And just like a record, you don't have to appeal to everybody to win. How come Trump knows this and the Democrats don't?
Instead of clinging to the past, trying to rebuild the old edifice, it's time to build a new one. And there are a number of candidates promising this. Safe rarely succeeds. Can you say Romney? Can you say Kerry! One of the reasons Obama won was because he HAD little history. There was little to nail him on and he promised hope.
Believe me, Ol' Joe is not promising hope. He's like a boomer musician waiting for Hilary Rosen to save them from streaming. But Hilary's moved on from the RIAA, and streaming has already won, soon there won't even be any hardware to play discs! Apple kills the iPod because the innards are no longer manufactured, and the Democrats keep trying to prop up oldsters, held together by baling wire. Bill Clinton had Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and her husband selling him, and despite baggage, he won anyway!
Who do the Democrats have?
Maybe it's time to hire Bill Belichick.
Oh, that's right, HE'S A TRUMPER!
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Saturday, 27 July 2019
ODESZA At L.A. Historic Park
Evolve or die.
I can't go to see the oldsters anymore. I saw them when they were coming up, on the reunion tour and then the one after that...do I really want to relive the past that badly?
Of course there are exceptions, more than a few, but I just don't understand how the boomers can go year after year to see the same acts perform the same songs over and over again. I hunger for the new.
But what is hyped is crap and the rest of the scene is incomprehensible, loaded with wannabes crying for attention, to the point you give up.
But I stumbled on to ODESZA and last night I finally saw them.
It was an experience.
This is unfathomable to boomers. To them, it was all about the music, and only the music.
To Gen-X, music was a party, more about being a member of the club than what was happening on stage.
What is the appropriate music for today's generation, glued to its smartphones, with the world at its fingertips?
Something that cannot be replicated elsewhere, something that demands your attention, something that melds the past with the present, the analog with the digital in an amalgamation akin to a cyborg.
Now there were 18,000 people there. Sold out. And they're going to repeat the process tonight. And would do it again if they could get the venue.
And most people had no idea it was happening.
That's the modern world in a nutshell. Used to be you knew every act in town, there were never two stars on the same night, now you don't even know when a superstar is playing, even if you're a fan!
But somehow a coterie of people know, it's important to them and they go, even if you may be clueless.
Now I didn't see a single oldster there, I was definitely the oldest person in attendance, by years. Because the link has been broken between the musical generations. The oldsters still think it's about what they read in the newspaper, what's "selling," what's on the radio, when the truth is today radio is last, and streaming is subservient to live, that's where it all happens, on stage.
And don't think of it as classic acts hoovering up cash on the road, pissed they have to work so hard to earn what they used to sitting at home opening the mailbox. Today the road is an adventure, a place where you connect with your fans off the radar screen, it's a unique experience.
Now all the people were mashed together. Having been squished at a show, I felt if someone yelled FIRE, or if they heard a gunshot...it would have not only been pandemonium, you might have lost your life.
And it was completely dark, and as the women passed me on this hot summer night I could see how they could be groped with few consequences.
But this was not Woodstock '99, this audience was half and half, half women and half men, and totally orderly, exulting in the music...
While they were watching what was happening on screen and on stage.
The screens, they oftentimes trumped the performers. Imagine getting on the Millennium Falcon and flying through space while a light show was pulsing outside the window.
You could not take your eyes off the screens/stage, you didn't want to miss a thing.
So the electronic music starts, and then out come two trombonists and a drum line... HUH? What is this, a combo of Beyonce with the future? How come she got so much ink, and this has not?
And this is not a physical workout. No one was sweating, they were just locked into the beat of the music, as was the audience, grooving.
And this was not the bass-heavy thump of what most people consider to be electronic music, it wasn't that repetitive, nor was it just a pulsation. It was not about beating you into submission, but entrancing you.
And just when you start wondering how much is canned, one of the two ODESZA members sits down at a piano and a woman comes out and sings what most people would call a ballad. Complete with a string section! I mean this was totally live.
And a couple of songs later, another woman came out to sing.
And then a GUITARIST! Whose notes swirled in the ether, mesmerizing you.
And I didn't know most of the material, but I'd get caught up in the groove, and thrust my arm in the air and move my body too, with my eyes glued to the stage all the while.
And I guess that's about all I can tell you about it. In other words, you had to be there, when today too often you don't have to. There's something happening on stage, but it's not immersive, but last night the audience was glued to the performance.
By two guys who were not lookers. This is not the MTV era, it's not Ariana Grande, it's the antidote, akin to FM as opposed to AM way back when.
And the performers, the duo who comprise ODESZA, had little charisma, they seemed more like members of the audience, part of the experience.
And one thing was for sure, I didn't feel like I was living in the past, I felt like I was firmly ensconced in the present.
They're making new people every day. And old people not only don't want to cede territory, they think their acts, their music, will rule forever.
But that is untrue.
To a great degree the music was electronic, but there was melody. This was not hip-hop. Nor was it your basic electronica. It seemed to be pointing to the future.
Now I remember when Kraftwerk put out "Computer World." At first it was incomprehensible, but then something clicked and you got it. I won't go see the band again, because I remember seeing them at the Santa Monica Civic on that tour and having my jaw drop, the performance and sound were beyond cutting edge, they were out there on the edge of hyperspace.
And just like members of the Homebrew Computer Club were functioning off stage until they revolutionized our society, it took a while for electronic music to percolate off stage before it was once again ready for its public moment.
And the great thing today is it's not only this sound.
And radio is irrelevant to this sound.
And you don't need a label.
You just have to surf the bleeding edge of what's going on.
ODESZA broke on Pandora and Soundcloud, with no input from management, no working of the system. But then the band decided to announce live dates on both of these services.
And now they're both in the rearview mirror.
How do you break your band tomorrow? Where are the early adopters lurking?
It starts with the music, BUT IT'S SO MUCH MORE!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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I can't go to see the oldsters anymore. I saw them when they were coming up, on the reunion tour and then the one after that...do I really want to relive the past that badly?
Of course there are exceptions, more than a few, but I just don't understand how the boomers can go year after year to see the same acts perform the same songs over and over again. I hunger for the new.
But what is hyped is crap and the rest of the scene is incomprehensible, loaded with wannabes crying for attention, to the point you give up.
But I stumbled on to ODESZA and last night I finally saw them.
It was an experience.
This is unfathomable to boomers. To them, it was all about the music, and only the music.
To Gen-X, music was a party, more about being a member of the club than what was happening on stage.
What is the appropriate music for today's generation, glued to its smartphones, with the world at its fingertips?
Something that cannot be replicated elsewhere, something that demands your attention, something that melds the past with the present, the analog with the digital in an amalgamation akin to a cyborg.
Now there were 18,000 people there. Sold out. And they're going to repeat the process tonight. And would do it again if they could get the venue.
And most people had no idea it was happening.
That's the modern world in a nutshell. Used to be you knew every act in town, there were never two stars on the same night, now you don't even know when a superstar is playing, even if you're a fan!
But somehow a coterie of people know, it's important to them and they go, even if you may be clueless.
Now I didn't see a single oldster there, I was definitely the oldest person in attendance, by years. Because the link has been broken between the musical generations. The oldsters still think it's about what they read in the newspaper, what's "selling," what's on the radio, when the truth is today radio is last, and streaming is subservient to live, that's where it all happens, on stage.
And don't think of it as classic acts hoovering up cash on the road, pissed they have to work so hard to earn what they used to sitting at home opening the mailbox. Today the road is an adventure, a place where you connect with your fans off the radar screen, it's a unique experience.
Now all the people were mashed together. Having been squished at a show, I felt if someone yelled FIRE, or if they heard a gunshot...it would have not only been pandemonium, you might have lost your life.
And it was completely dark, and as the women passed me on this hot summer night I could see how they could be groped with few consequences.
But this was not Woodstock '99, this audience was half and half, half women and half men, and totally orderly, exulting in the music...
While they were watching what was happening on screen and on stage.
The screens, they oftentimes trumped the performers. Imagine getting on the Millennium Falcon and flying through space while a light show was pulsing outside the window.
You could not take your eyes off the screens/stage, you didn't want to miss a thing.
So the electronic music starts, and then out come two trombonists and a drum line... HUH? What is this, a combo of Beyonce with the future? How come she got so much ink, and this has not?
And this is not a physical workout. No one was sweating, they were just locked into the beat of the music, as was the audience, grooving.
And this was not the bass-heavy thump of what most people consider to be electronic music, it wasn't that repetitive, nor was it just a pulsation. It was not about beating you into submission, but entrancing you.
And just when you start wondering how much is canned, one of the two ODESZA members sits down at a piano and a woman comes out and sings what most people would call a ballad. Complete with a string section! I mean this was totally live.
And a couple of songs later, another woman came out to sing.
And then a GUITARIST! Whose notes swirled in the ether, mesmerizing you.
And I didn't know most of the material, but I'd get caught up in the groove, and thrust my arm in the air and move my body too, with my eyes glued to the stage all the while.
And I guess that's about all I can tell you about it. In other words, you had to be there, when today too often you don't have to. There's something happening on stage, but it's not immersive, but last night the audience was glued to the performance.
By two guys who were not lookers. This is not the MTV era, it's not Ariana Grande, it's the antidote, akin to FM as opposed to AM way back when.
And the performers, the duo who comprise ODESZA, had little charisma, they seemed more like members of the audience, part of the experience.
And one thing was for sure, I didn't feel like I was living in the past, I felt like I was firmly ensconced in the present.
They're making new people every day. And old people not only don't want to cede territory, they think their acts, their music, will rule forever.
But that is untrue.
To a great degree the music was electronic, but there was melody. This was not hip-hop. Nor was it your basic electronica. It seemed to be pointing to the future.
Now I remember when Kraftwerk put out "Computer World." At first it was incomprehensible, but then something clicked and you got it. I won't go see the band again, because I remember seeing them at the Santa Monica Civic on that tour and having my jaw drop, the performance and sound were beyond cutting edge, they were out there on the edge of hyperspace.
And just like members of the Homebrew Computer Club were functioning off stage until they revolutionized our society, it took a while for electronic music to percolate off stage before it was once again ready for its public moment.
And the great thing today is it's not only this sound.
And radio is irrelevant to this sound.
And you don't need a label.
You just have to surf the bleeding edge of what's going on.
ODESZA broke on Pandora and Soundcloud, with no input from management, no working of the system. But then the band decided to announce live dates on both of these services.
And now they're both in the rearview mirror.
How do you break your band tomorrow? Where are the early adopters lurking?
It starts with the music, BUT IT'S SO MUCH MORE!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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Thursday, 25 July 2019
Luck's In-Song Of The Day
YouTube: https://bit.ly/2MgzvX0
Most people think "Arc Of A Diver" is Steve Winwood's first solo album.
But it's not.
But not only is this first, eponymous LP unknown by most, it's not even on streaming services. Why, I'm not sure. But I purchased it, and loved two tracks, "Time Is Running Out" and "Luck's In."
Winwood never disappointed me. As a matter of fact, I was a big fan of "When The Eagle Flies," after the disappointment of "Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory." At the time I was on the road, itinerant, changing residences every couple of months, and without a stereo I depended upon the radio, and that was back when they played songs from all your heroes, at least for a while, irrelevant of AM crossover possibility.
And there were two on FM from "When The Eagle Flies" that I heard regularly, "Walking In The Wind" and "Something New."
Now "Something New" blew the carbon off the valves of what came before. I mean writing a track "(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired"? Sounds like you were on deadline and burned out and you were delivering something to satisfy the record company. Somehow the jauntiness of the early, pre-breakup LPs had been forgotten, but "Something New" returned it. There was no long introduction, the song started off on a tear, and Winwood was going up and down the scale, you couldn't help but feel good listening to it.
"Luck's In" was a little darker. And I wouldn't quite call it jaunty, but Winwood went up and down the scale the same way, as soon as he started to sing, you were enraptured.
"Some people get lonely, while some people get blue
But nobody can tell you just what you should do"
It's not science, it's not mathematics, despite eons no one has the solution to heartbreak, to depression.
But like "Something New," there was an unexpected change, a left turn in the song that was not predictable, adding to its charm and its ingratiation.
"You hold the key in the palm of your hand, my love"
Whoa, this isn't a depressed song really, there's a hint of optimism.
"There's something about you, I don't know what you got
But you and me girl, we're gonna give it a shot"
It's hard to define love, how it happens. Oh, you can be infatuated with someone, be in love with a picture, but that's very different from interacting and feeling the mutuality, the connection, when you know they're into you just like you're into them, that's really when you feel like your luck's in, that like Lou Gehrig, you're the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
"I think it's amazing just what you can do
When somebody wants you and their love is true"
Whew! We're all looking to be wanted. Especially when we come from broken homes, or when we're emotionally abandoned, even if both of our parents are in residence. You're looking for this from a young age, even if you can't put words to it.
And you can't plan it, you can't plot it out on paper, you just drift through the world and suddenly it hits you. Then again, you've got to interact, you've got to get out in the world to have it happen, which can be hard in this virtual, digital age where there's so much action at home, when you've been burned so many times before.
"If you saw my love
Then you'd know what I mean
She's the only one
That makes this world like a dream"
Love is like having a baby. Even though it happens regularly, when it happens to you you think you're the first one to ever experience it. It's the definition of feeling alive.
And after three minutes, the vocals disappear, it becomes an instrumental track. And just when you think it's gonna stay the same and fade out, at 3:30 it changes, hits a different plane, and there's percussion, and you're wondering what happened to the couple. After testifying Winwood and his love have departed, they're living their lives, having an adventure, we can hear the mood, but we can't see the details, they're off on their own, like every couple in love in the history of the world.
We're all waiting 'til our luck's in.
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Most people think "Arc Of A Diver" is Steve Winwood's first solo album.
But it's not.
But not only is this first, eponymous LP unknown by most, it's not even on streaming services. Why, I'm not sure. But I purchased it, and loved two tracks, "Time Is Running Out" and "Luck's In."
Winwood never disappointed me. As a matter of fact, I was a big fan of "When The Eagle Flies," after the disappointment of "Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory." At the time I was on the road, itinerant, changing residences every couple of months, and without a stereo I depended upon the radio, and that was back when they played songs from all your heroes, at least for a while, irrelevant of AM crossover possibility.
And there were two on FM from "When The Eagle Flies" that I heard regularly, "Walking In The Wind" and "Something New."
Now "Something New" blew the carbon off the valves of what came before. I mean writing a track "(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired"? Sounds like you were on deadline and burned out and you were delivering something to satisfy the record company. Somehow the jauntiness of the early, pre-breakup LPs had been forgotten, but "Something New" returned it. There was no long introduction, the song started off on a tear, and Winwood was going up and down the scale, you couldn't help but feel good listening to it.
"Luck's In" was a little darker. And I wouldn't quite call it jaunty, but Winwood went up and down the scale the same way, as soon as he started to sing, you were enraptured.
"Some people get lonely, while some people get blue
But nobody can tell you just what you should do"
It's not science, it's not mathematics, despite eons no one has the solution to heartbreak, to depression.
But like "Something New," there was an unexpected change, a left turn in the song that was not predictable, adding to its charm and its ingratiation.
"You hold the key in the palm of your hand, my love"
Whoa, this isn't a depressed song really, there's a hint of optimism.
"There's something about you, I don't know what you got
But you and me girl, we're gonna give it a shot"
It's hard to define love, how it happens. Oh, you can be infatuated with someone, be in love with a picture, but that's very different from interacting and feeling the mutuality, the connection, when you know they're into you just like you're into them, that's really when you feel like your luck's in, that like Lou Gehrig, you're the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
"I think it's amazing just what you can do
When somebody wants you and their love is true"
Whew! We're all looking to be wanted. Especially when we come from broken homes, or when we're emotionally abandoned, even if both of our parents are in residence. You're looking for this from a young age, even if you can't put words to it.
And you can't plan it, you can't plot it out on paper, you just drift through the world and suddenly it hits you. Then again, you've got to interact, you've got to get out in the world to have it happen, which can be hard in this virtual, digital age where there's so much action at home, when you've been burned so many times before.
"If you saw my love
Then you'd know what I mean
She's the only one
That makes this world like a dream"
Love is like having a baby. Even though it happens regularly, when it happens to you you think you're the first one to ever experience it. It's the definition of feeling alive.
And after three minutes, the vocals disappear, it becomes an instrumental track. And just when you think it's gonna stay the same and fade out, at 3:30 it changes, hits a different plane, and there's percussion, and you're wondering what happened to the couple. After testifying Winwood and his love have departed, they're living their lives, having an adventure, we can hear the mood, but we can't see the details, they're off on their own, like every couple in love in the history of the world.
We're all waiting 'til our luck's in.
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A$AP Rocky
Only in America can you shoot and beat-up people with impunity.
To tell you the truth, those in power see African-Americans and Latinos as THOSE people and refuse to bring justice to these communities, like the police in Rio refuse to go into the favelas.
Now A$AP never should have been held this long without being charged. That's truly anti-American...or is it? How about all those prisoners in Guantanamo who haven't been charged, never mind brought to trial? The United States used to be a paragon of fairness, however imperfect, it was the standard the rest of the world looked up to, but no longer.
No, I'm not saying the United States is not the greatest country in the world, but it's pretty damn good in Scandinavia, and there's a great safety net and...call it socialism, call it whatever you want, but go there and see if people complain.
But there are certain taboos in other countries, like beating people up. Never mind lying about it.
In the U.S. justice system, where everybody's entitled to an advocate and a defense, some of the theories proffered in pursuit of innocence are truly head-spinning. They usually don't succeed, but they permeate the news, making citizens believe there's no justice and that the rich and powerful experience a different legal system. And that's true, the average person can't afford a defense that can obfuscate the crime and get the offender off with a lighter sentence, if not complete exculpation. Hell, isn't this the story with Jeffrey Epstein?
So, A$AP and his posse go to Sweden and beat-up a couple of people, and say that it was their fault.
Only one problem, THERE WERE CAMERAS!
You want to commit white collar crime these days, and you don't want a paper trail, which is why many execs won't email or text, they'll just talk in person or on the phone, they want no paper trail.
Whereas the hoi polloi, shooting people, beating people up, robbing people... In the U.K. they've got cameras everywhere, they got footage of those Russians in town, there to poison that spy. But what did Putin do? DENY, DENY, DENY! Speaking of criminals...
Now do you want a society where you can go around beating people up willy-nilly, getting away with it scot-free? I don't think so, no matter what community you live in.
But too often you can get away with it in the States, where the cameras are not quite as ubiquitous.
But all of A$AP's famous friends come out in support, wanting him set free, like Justin Bieber, an uneducated nitwit who tweets "But while your at it" That's what happens when you don't get an education, when you tat yourself up and find yourself washed-up with the rest of your life to live. You're a star today, you're a joke in the supermarket not long thereafter. And I blame the parents, they should say no. Hell, I dreamed of being on TV when I was a kid, not that there was an opportunity, but now I see what a bad path that is, I'm lucky my parents insisted that I get an education.
And there's an argument as to whether A$AP Rocky's arrest was racially motivated, but...just because someone's an African-American, does that mean they didn't do it?
As for the Swedes incarcerating him... They've got a different system, they hold you and they investigate, especially if you're a flight risk. And of course A$AP is, why in hell would he go back to Sweden?
And I don't agree with this system, charge someone immediately and hold them or let them go. But it's not like they wrote the rules just to hold A$AP, and when you go to another country you've got to respect their laws, just like when you go to someone else's house for dinner!
But unlike in the U.S., A$AP is going to get a prompt trial, supposedly lasting three days, starting next week, as opposed to charged defendants in the U.S. waiting months or years for a trial in the U.S., oftentimes incarcerated all the while.
I think even if found guilty, A$AP should be immediately released. He's already paid for his crime by being in jail for weeks. As for a fine, doesn't bother me one way or the other, same deal with whether he can come back to Sweden or not.
But this illustrates pugilistic behavior will not be tolerated around the world, no matter how famous you are, and that the U.S. doesn't have complete power over the rest of the world, and everything does not go the way our President and our celebrities want it to.
Meanwhile, Bad Bunny cancels European dates to come home and protest with the people against the Governor of Puerto Rico, and then the Governor resigns. Music has power, let's use it in the right ways.
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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To tell you the truth, those in power see African-Americans and Latinos as THOSE people and refuse to bring justice to these communities, like the police in Rio refuse to go into the favelas.
Now A$AP never should have been held this long without being charged. That's truly anti-American...or is it? How about all those prisoners in Guantanamo who haven't been charged, never mind brought to trial? The United States used to be a paragon of fairness, however imperfect, it was the standard the rest of the world looked up to, but no longer.
No, I'm not saying the United States is not the greatest country in the world, but it's pretty damn good in Scandinavia, and there's a great safety net and...call it socialism, call it whatever you want, but go there and see if people complain.
But there are certain taboos in other countries, like beating people up. Never mind lying about it.
In the U.S. justice system, where everybody's entitled to an advocate and a defense, some of the theories proffered in pursuit of innocence are truly head-spinning. They usually don't succeed, but they permeate the news, making citizens believe there's no justice and that the rich and powerful experience a different legal system. And that's true, the average person can't afford a defense that can obfuscate the crime and get the offender off with a lighter sentence, if not complete exculpation. Hell, isn't this the story with Jeffrey Epstein?
So, A$AP and his posse go to Sweden and beat-up a couple of people, and say that it was their fault.
Only one problem, THERE WERE CAMERAS!
You want to commit white collar crime these days, and you don't want a paper trail, which is why many execs won't email or text, they'll just talk in person or on the phone, they want no paper trail.
Whereas the hoi polloi, shooting people, beating people up, robbing people... In the U.K. they've got cameras everywhere, they got footage of those Russians in town, there to poison that spy. But what did Putin do? DENY, DENY, DENY! Speaking of criminals...
Now do you want a society where you can go around beating people up willy-nilly, getting away with it scot-free? I don't think so, no matter what community you live in.
But too often you can get away with it in the States, where the cameras are not quite as ubiquitous.
But all of A$AP's famous friends come out in support, wanting him set free, like Justin Bieber, an uneducated nitwit who tweets "But while your at it" That's what happens when you don't get an education, when you tat yourself up and find yourself washed-up with the rest of your life to live. You're a star today, you're a joke in the supermarket not long thereafter. And I blame the parents, they should say no. Hell, I dreamed of being on TV when I was a kid, not that there was an opportunity, but now I see what a bad path that is, I'm lucky my parents insisted that I get an education.
And there's an argument as to whether A$AP Rocky's arrest was racially motivated, but...just because someone's an African-American, does that mean they didn't do it?
As for the Swedes incarcerating him... They've got a different system, they hold you and they investigate, especially if you're a flight risk. And of course A$AP is, why in hell would he go back to Sweden?
And I don't agree with this system, charge someone immediately and hold them or let them go. But it's not like they wrote the rules just to hold A$AP, and when you go to another country you've got to respect their laws, just like when you go to someone else's house for dinner!
But unlike in the U.S., A$AP is going to get a prompt trial, supposedly lasting three days, starting next week, as opposed to charged defendants in the U.S. waiting months or years for a trial in the U.S., oftentimes incarcerated all the while.
I think even if found guilty, A$AP should be immediately released. He's already paid for his crime by being in jail for weeks. As for a fine, doesn't bother me one way or the other, same deal with whether he can come back to Sweden or not.
But this illustrates pugilistic behavior will not be tolerated around the world, no matter how famous you are, and that the U.S. doesn't have complete power over the rest of the world, and everything does not go the way our President and our celebrities want it to.
Meanwhile, Bad Bunny cancels European dates to come home and protest with the people against the Governor of Puerto Rico, and then the Governor resigns. Music has power, let's use it in the right ways.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Dave Koz-This Week's Podcast
I don't care if you're a fan of Dave or not, you should listen to this podcast. To hear how a middle class boy from the Valley, with a dermatologist father and a cookie-baking mother, made it in music. How he picked up the saxophone to be in his brother's band and didn't decide to turn professional until after graduating from UCLA. Dave got a gig with Bobby Caldwell, who insisted Dave "perform" during his solo, engendering Koz's active stage show, and then Jeff Lorber not only hired him for his band, he helped him make demos to get a record deal.
Dave's weathered the changes. The soft jazz WAVE format was burgeoning when he began and eventually faded. Dave toured relentlessly and then started his own cruises long before that became de rigueur. In other words, Dave Koz pivoted, and has found his way in the twenty first century by being in the Dave Koz business. And he lives to collaborate, hell, he's even played with the Foo Fighters!
And in today's newspaper, there's a review of the new Tarantino movie that reveals all the plot points, which bugs me, that's why we go to the movies, for the plot! So I feel anxious about revealing details about Dave's performance, but I truly want you to listen. Too often you can't relate to the star's circumstances, and frequently they can barely get their story across.
But not Dave.
Listen: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dave-koz/id1316200737?i=1000445286082
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2UUHyI8IMRsoUdgo7OSEyu
https://www.stitcher.com/s?
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Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Dave's weathered the changes. The soft jazz WAVE format was burgeoning when he began and eventually faded. Dave toured relentlessly and then started his own cruises long before that became de rigueur. In other words, Dave Koz pivoted, and has found his way in the twenty first century by being in the Dave Koz business. And he lives to collaborate, hell, he's even played with the Foo Fighters!
And in today's newspaper, there's a review of the new Tarantino movie that reveals all the plot points, which bugs me, that's why we go to the movies, for the plot! So I feel anxious about revealing details about Dave's performance, but I truly want you to listen. Too often you can't relate to the star's circumstances, and frequently they can barely get their story across.
But not Dave.
Listen: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dave-koz/id1316200737?i=1000445286082
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2UUHyI8IMRsoUdgo7OSEyu
https://www.stitcher.com/s?
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Tuesday, 23 July 2019
The Moon Landing
We were space-crazy.
Sure, JFK promised we'd go to the moon, but no one really took this seriously until Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth.
This was the era of the cold war. There was supposedly nothing worse than living in the U.S.S.R. They oppressed people, their economy was challenged...so how in the hell did they beat us, not only going into space first, but completing an orbit and landing on...LAND?
This was positively scary. Kinda like today, but totally different. Today we're worried about nationalism, the division of countries, the disdain for immigrants and science, yesterday we were worried about the Russkis taking over the world.
Now by time the U.S. put a man in space, it was Alan Shepard, and he didn't even fly around the Earth. Shortly thereafter, the U.S.S.R. put a man in space for an entire day! It wasn't until almost a year after Gagarin that we had our own astronaut flying around the earth, three times, and that man was John Glenn. The first is always a hero.
And then we were off to the races. We followed space like you follow the internet. Only there was much less information. There was much less information on everything in the sixties, which is why everybody knew about the war, and the protests could get notice.
But then came Gemini! Two men in space at the same time! At this point we knew the routine, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo.
Now I'm not saying every Gemini flight garnered the attention of the first, but it was on TV. The last Apollo flight was not, by then it was de rigueur, after you've been to the moon...
But we were still building the blocks.
So we had space food. Not only Tang, but Space Sticks, which were kind of like circular energy bars, which tasted even worse! They came in packets, you had to keep them fresh. And we had space blankets. All innovation seemed to be coming from the space program.
And then, we had the fire.
I remember exactly where I was when the news came over the radio, driving on Route 30, in Vermont, just after Maple Valley, with the river on the right. How could this happen? We were accustomed to winning, it was up, up and up, but now...
And I remember the story being pure oxygen. And I remember the delay in future space flights. But then, we were going to the moon, in July '69. Kennedy might have been dead, but his promise was going to be fulfilled.
1969. The Miracle Mets. Woodstock. The moon landing. Despite the turmoil, that was the era of can-do. America was indomitable. If we put our minds to something, it happened. And the protests were about equality for African-Americans, and the ending of an unjust, unwinnable war. We wanted a better America, and we got one. Even though the old white men won a lot too. And they were white, and they were men and they were old.
So we knew the date of the moon landing long before. Well, the mission, not the exact dates of the landing and the walk. We were prepared.
At this point, we only watched when it was a breakthrough. The first Gemini. But walking on the moon? That seemed positively unfathomable.
Now I was living in Chicago, in a frat house on the University of Chicago campus. It was a deal I made with my parents, I would go to Mitzvah Corps if I could go to summer ski camp in Squaw Valley first. They agreed, they had to get rid of me, they were going to Europe, it was an annual event since I was in the first grade, when they left us with a woman we didn't like and my mother came back with my first watch, but even then I knew they'd bought it at the airport. But I did love that Timex.
Mitzvah Corps. Even sounds bad, right?
Summer ski camp was phenomenal. To a great degree unsupervised, which was new to me, at least when it related to camp, but a good chunk of our lives was unsupervised back then. Playdate? We'd never even heard of the term!
But then I had to go to Mitzvah Corps. To hang with nerds, I believed. But it was five girls and five boys and we hung together and it was run by a young rabbi who was in his twenties, as was his wife, and the guy who lived downstairs smoked dope and introduced me to Steve Miller and I don't remember watching television at all until it came to the moonwalk.
We had a black and white TV. Even back then, it was akin to a CRT versus a flat screen today. Most people had color.
And it was about twenty inches big. With a curved screen, remember that?
And it was in the living room. There was a giant couch, which could sit about eight, and the rest of the group sat on the floor.
And it was interminable waiting. Nothing was happening. The commentator kept telling us they were getting ready, making sure all systems were go. All I knew was I was wearing my penny loafers, and my feet were so hot that I took them off and my feet smelled and I was worried about alienating the girl sitting next to me, who I had a crush on, but that's another story.
And I didn't know these people that well at this point. You see we all had different jobs, and were separated all day. Mine was to be a counselor on a schoolyard in south Chicago. I wouldn't do that today! I'd walk with this woman... She was a nerd, and sensitive to seemingly everything, they paired her up with me when no one else wanted to go with her, and we walked to the train station, got on, long before the days of A/C, and then walked to the schoolyard. I remember walking to lunch at Burger King. There wasn't another white person for miles, other than this girl. What was I thinking? Yes, today kids go on do-gooder trips for their college resumes, but they're never at risk.
Another two guys were building inspectors. They took us to meet community organizers, not that they had that title, they knew Jesse Jackson and they wanted change and I felt like I was at the center of something. Could have been the first time I heard the word "rap," or heard it used so much. This guy was talking about rapping to this person and that person.
But that was only one day. Normally I worked at the playground, on the asphalt, next to the school building. We played softball with a soft ball that required no gloves. And one day there was a rape on the fourth floor of the school, but once again, I was too young and inexperienced to recognize the consequences of that. And the big hit was James Brown's "Popcorn," which I'd never heard before, they even had a "Popcorn" dancing contest.
But now I was sitting on the couch waiting and waiting for Neil and Buzz to get out of that damn module.
And let's be clear, we expected it all to go down smoothly, then again... They were leaving the module, they were on the moon, I'd seen enough "Twilight Zone" to know that things could go wrong.
And then Neil descends the ladder and steps on the moon and utters those fateful words. At the time, we didn't know they were scripted. But thinking about it now, who would come up with "One small step for man, one giant step for mankind." Of course I remember it, it was indelibly burned into my brain.
And then I remember Neil bouncing. We'd read for years about the lack of air, the difference in gravity, it was like a school experiment come alive. That was cool. But after watching them walk around a bit, it got boring. But you had to watch, because you knew this was an historical moment. We had a lot of those in the sixties, and not all bad.
And then it was over.
I remember being anxious about the module blasting off from the moon, worried they might get marooned there, but it went up no problem. But I'm not sure I watched that on TV. Back then there were no 24/7 news channels, nowhere to catch something if you missed it, you just read the newspaper, and the headlines were glorious, like this was the beginning of a new world.
And then days passed, the story fell off the front page, and we rarely talked about it, but we knew about it, even if I did see it in black and white. I was stunned, you mean you could really broadcast from the moon in color? Hell, just a few years earlier the big story was Telstar, and we watched a live TV show from Europe. Now we can Facetime with anybody around the world and don't think much about it.
But after you go to the moon, then what?
1970 was a year of wound-licking, at least after Kent State. The seventies were about going back to the land. Spaceshots continued, but they were no longer the focus.
And then we had the O-ring disaster. Suddenly, Americans, our scientists, were fallible. The expert said not to go, but they did anyway. That's men for you, expressing no caution, wanting the glory.
And then Christa McAuliffe burned up in that space shuttle fire. Just a school teacher, we thought space travel was as safe as car travel, probably more, the odds of a problem were nonexistent in our minds.
And then we stopped paying attention.
Hell, the space station was built by Russia. We were suddenly weak, and there was no money for NASA. It had achieved its mission and the mantra of the Republican Party was that taxes were bad and the government inefficient and wasteful and...
The computer revolution was quite something. Mostly made by kids inspired by the space program. But they were uncontrollable renegades. To both our benefit and our loss.
And now government can't even understand science, at least not those in Congress.
And politics is tribal.
The greater good? We can't even agree on that.
But despite all the dissension, we all marveled at the moonwalk back in '69.
What did Don Henley sing?
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Sure, JFK promised we'd go to the moon, but no one really took this seriously until Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth.
This was the era of the cold war. There was supposedly nothing worse than living in the U.S.S.R. They oppressed people, their economy was challenged...so how in the hell did they beat us, not only going into space first, but completing an orbit and landing on...LAND?
This was positively scary. Kinda like today, but totally different. Today we're worried about nationalism, the division of countries, the disdain for immigrants and science, yesterday we were worried about the Russkis taking over the world.
Now by time the U.S. put a man in space, it was Alan Shepard, and he didn't even fly around the Earth. Shortly thereafter, the U.S.S.R. put a man in space for an entire day! It wasn't until almost a year after Gagarin that we had our own astronaut flying around the earth, three times, and that man was John Glenn. The first is always a hero.
And then we were off to the races. We followed space like you follow the internet. Only there was much less information. There was much less information on everything in the sixties, which is why everybody knew about the war, and the protests could get notice.
But then came Gemini! Two men in space at the same time! At this point we knew the routine, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo.
Now I'm not saying every Gemini flight garnered the attention of the first, but it was on TV. The last Apollo flight was not, by then it was de rigueur, after you've been to the moon...
But we were still building the blocks.
So we had space food. Not only Tang, but Space Sticks, which were kind of like circular energy bars, which tasted even worse! They came in packets, you had to keep them fresh. And we had space blankets. All innovation seemed to be coming from the space program.
And then, we had the fire.
I remember exactly where I was when the news came over the radio, driving on Route 30, in Vermont, just after Maple Valley, with the river on the right. How could this happen? We were accustomed to winning, it was up, up and up, but now...
And I remember the story being pure oxygen. And I remember the delay in future space flights. But then, we were going to the moon, in July '69. Kennedy might have been dead, but his promise was going to be fulfilled.
1969. The Miracle Mets. Woodstock. The moon landing. Despite the turmoil, that was the era of can-do. America was indomitable. If we put our minds to something, it happened. And the protests were about equality for African-Americans, and the ending of an unjust, unwinnable war. We wanted a better America, and we got one. Even though the old white men won a lot too. And they were white, and they were men and they were old.
So we knew the date of the moon landing long before. Well, the mission, not the exact dates of the landing and the walk. We were prepared.
At this point, we only watched when it was a breakthrough. The first Gemini. But walking on the moon? That seemed positively unfathomable.
Now I was living in Chicago, in a frat house on the University of Chicago campus. It was a deal I made with my parents, I would go to Mitzvah Corps if I could go to summer ski camp in Squaw Valley first. They agreed, they had to get rid of me, they were going to Europe, it was an annual event since I was in the first grade, when they left us with a woman we didn't like and my mother came back with my first watch, but even then I knew they'd bought it at the airport. But I did love that Timex.
Mitzvah Corps. Even sounds bad, right?
Summer ski camp was phenomenal. To a great degree unsupervised, which was new to me, at least when it related to camp, but a good chunk of our lives was unsupervised back then. Playdate? We'd never even heard of the term!
But then I had to go to Mitzvah Corps. To hang with nerds, I believed. But it was five girls and five boys and we hung together and it was run by a young rabbi who was in his twenties, as was his wife, and the guy who lived downstairs smoked dope and introduced me to Steve Miller and I don't remember watching television at all until it came to the moonwalk.
We had a black and white TV. Even back then, it was akin to a CRT versus a flat screen today. Most people had color.
And it was about twenty inches big. With a curved screen, remember that?
And it was in the living room. There was a giant couch, which could sit about eight, and the rest of the group sat on the floor.
And it was interminable waiting. Nothing was happening. The commentator kept telling us they were getting ready, making sure all systems were go. All I knew was I was wearing my penny loafers, and my feet were so hot that I took them off and my feet smelled and I was worried about alienating the girl sitting next to me, who I had a crush on, but that's another story.
And I didn't know these people that well at this point. You see we all had different jobs, and were separated all day. Mine was to be a counselor on a schoolyard in south Chicago. I wouldn't do that today! I'd walk with this woman... She was a nerd, and sensitive to seemingly everything, they paired her up with me when no one else wanted to go with her, and we walked to the train station, got on, long before the days of A/C, and then walked to the schoolyard. I remember walking to lunch at Burger King. There wasn't another white person for miles, other than this girl. What was I thinking? Yes, today kids go on do-gooder trips for their college resumes, but they're never at risk.
Another two guys were building inspectors. They took us to meet community organizers, not that they had that title, they knew Jesse Jackson and they wanted change and I felt like I was at the center of something. Could have been the first time I heard the word "rap," or heard it used so much. This guy was talking about rapping to this person and that person.
But that was only one day. Normally I worked at the playground, on the asphalt, next to the school building. We played softball with a soft ball that required no gloves. And one day there was a rape on the fourth floor of the school, but once again, I was too young and inexperienced to recognize the consequences of that. And the big hit was James Brown's "Popcorn," which I'd never heard before, they even had a "Popcorn" dancing contest.
But now I was sitting on the couch waiting and waiting for Neil and Buzz to get out of that damn module.
And let's be clear, we expected it all to go down smoothly, then again... They were leaving the module, they were on the moon, I'd seen enough "Twilight Zone" to know that things could go wrong.
And then Neil descends the ladder and steps on the moon and utters those fateful words. At the time, we didn't know they were scripted. But thinking about it now, who would come up with "One small step for man, one giant step for mankind." Of course I remember it, it was indelibly burned into my brain.
And then I remember Neil bouncing. We'd read for years about the lack of air, the difference in gravity, it was like a school experiment come alive. That was cool. But after watching them walk around a bit, it got boring. But you had to watch, because you knew this was an historical moment. We had a lot of those in the sixties, and not all bad.
And then it was over.
I remember being anxious about the module blasting off from the moon, worried they might get marooned there, but it went up no problem. But I'm not sure I watched that on TV. Back then there were no 24/7 news channels, nowhere to catch something if you missed it, you just read the newspaper, and the headlines were glorious, like this was the beginning of a new world.
And then days passed, the story fell off the front page, and we rarely talked about it, but we knew about it, even if I did see it in black and white. I was stunned, you mean you could really broadcast from the moon in color? Hell, just a few years earlier the big story was Telstar, and we watched a live TV show from Europe. Now we can Facetime with anybody around the world and don't think much about it.
But after you go to the moon, then what?
1970 was a year of wound-licking, at least after Kent State. The seventies were about going back to the land. Spaceshots continued, but they were no longer the focus.
And then we had the O-ring disaster. Suddenly, Americans, our scientists, were fallible. The expert said not to go, but they did anyway. That's men for you, expressing no caution, wanting the glory.
And then Christa McAuliffe burned up in that space shuttle fire. Just a school teacher, we thought space travel was as safe as car travel, probably more, the odds of a problem were nonexistent in our minds.
And then we stopped paying attention.
Hell, the space station was built by Russia. We were suddenly weak, and there was no money for NASA. It had achieved its mission and the mantra of the Republican Party was that taxes were bad and the government inefficient and wasteful and...
The computer revolution was quite something. Mostly made by kids inspired by the space program. But they were uncontrollable renegades. To both our benefit and our loss.
And now government can't even understand science, at least not those in Congress.
And politics is tribal.
The greater good? We can't even agree on that.
But despite all the dissension, we all marveled at the moonwalk back in '69.
What did Don Henley sing?
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E-Mail Of The Day
From: Dave Mason
Re: Feelin' Alright?
Bob,
Michael Jensen just forwarded your piece on Feeling Alright?, what a great piece of writing, and `very fortuitous in the fact that I have had director friend of mine here at my house starting to put together a documentary of my life and music. When we get to putting this together we would love to have you appear in it, and or use what you have written.
Thank you so much for doing this piece, and recognizing what the song is really about.
Dave
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Re: Feelin' Alright?
Bob,
Michael Jensen just forwarded your piece on Feeling Alright?, what a great piece of writing, and `very fortuitous in the fact that I have had director friend of mine here at my house starting to put together a documentary of my life and music. When we get to putting this together we would love to have you appear in it, and or use what you have written.
Thank you so much for doing this piece, and recognizing what the song is really about.
Dave
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Monday, 22 July 2019
Mailbag
Re: All Blues
Thanks again Bob!!!! By the way, just found out it's #1 again.
That's the 6th week!
Peter Frampton
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: America-This Week's Podcast
Bob,
I think this turned out great and you made it very comfortable! I guess 50 years warrants a closer look back! So many things we missed sharing from those early days in London, and our return to the U.S. in 1972...brushes with the individual Beatles, opening for Pink Floyd and The Who and The Faces and Traffic with Johnny Winter in attendance joining them for an extended jam. The sights, sounds and smells of the British music scene in London are imprinted on my memory forever. Then back in the U.S. sharing the bill with everyone from The J. Geils Band to James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt to Bob Hope and George Burns! Touring with The Beach Boys for years, and Joe Cocker, Kenny Loggins, Chicago, Three Dog Night, Jefferson Starship, Poco and so many others. From World Tours and huge multi-act festivals, to little shows in faraway places. It's been a dream and we still haven't woken up. Thanks again for the opportunity to tell some of our story. best always, Dewey Bunnell
____________________________________________
Subject: Mickey Thomas Responds
I don't engage in debates over the validity of this classic song, either. I WOULD like to thank you and my dear bud, Mickey Thomas, for the recent attention paid to 'WE Built This CIty'! As you might know, mine is the DJ voice on the original, which is a story in and of itself that we'll save for another occasion. Like I said to The Starship in a telex from Switzerland back in 1985, "Thank you all for backing me up on my number one song"!!!
You certainly have my permission to post this, minus my address, please, and i hope that you do…keep those HITS comin', Bob…a hit is a hit is a hit is a hit. Now, MORE music and Les Garland.
Warm regards,
les garland
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: We Built This City
Bernie told me he made more money from that song than from anything else. A good Trivia question which no one ever gets!
Steve Lillywhite
____________________________________________
From: Tom Ross
Subject: Re: We Built This City
You are always entertaining and although I represented the Airplane/Starship for 25+ years, I never knew the answer to why Grace left the band. For most of those early years, I always introduced myself to Grace as I was never sure she knew who or what I did, but most of the times she just enjoyed making people off center and unassured. I had always assumed it was because of all the changing players from the original band but YOU got right to the question. They were the very first band I represented starting at APA in 1968 thru to CAA. Bill Thompson, the mgr, was a great and loyal friend and unique doesn't describe him or his many talents. He had to wear many hats to appease all the group members and conduct business while they were living upstairs in the mansion from time to time. My most favorite memory was being up in SF and hanging out at the mansion off Golden Gate Park. It was a magical time and they were leading the tribe of Golden Gate artists to change the social times and conditions. No tweets, just music and the vibes. Thank you for the walk down memory lane and the update on one of the early Queens of those revolutionary days and her amazing social and musical impact. Different times but great music that clearly pushed the envelope of acceptance thru music. Loved the innocence then! TR
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: We Built This City
Bob,
You need to hear the original demo of "We Built This City" before Starship got it. You can find it on SoundCloud. Makes the single song brilliant!
https://soundcloud.com/emily-emily-k-kesselman/we-built-this-city-demo
Robert Bond
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: We Built This City
Re:Grace Slick
All hail the queen! Love Grace's candor.
As a retired Bay Area stage tech of a certain age, I've worked stages with Grace for years, be it for BGP or as a systems provider.
Mid-80's, Exotic Erotic Ball, SF Civic Center, Micky Thomas aka Litlle Gadget is headlining and Skip Johnson ( Lighting director for the Airplane / Starship) is Lighting Director for Mickey.
I'm with the lighting provider.
We're in the middle of setting up, Band gear is almost done.
We're focusing lights and sorting things out.
On one of my trips back to the lighting desk, there she is, sitting on the cases, looking like the LD's girlfriend always does. She had a black "Carnaby Street" hat on, black mini and long, thigh high boots. As I go do my thing , she says to me, " it's ok, I'm with the band." I smile, turn , look back and said" It's ok Grace, I know who you are." and went back to patching. Yeah Buddy, she is a sexy woman!
Long live the Queen! Allen (Alien) Craft
____________________________________________
Subject: The David Crosby Movie
Dear Bob, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your kind and thoughtful analysis about the Crosby movie, a film I had the great honor to direct with one of my all-time director heroes as producer-- the rock movie oracle himself Cameron Crowe. The fact that it is resonating with you is an honor and dream come true and means that perhaps we might have accomplished what we set out to do.
Being the son of a songwriter, growing up around the highs and lows of the music, this was a story that I simply couldn't shake..and I fought, borrowed and pled for years to shoot as much of Crosby's third act renaissance as I could, because, as you know, each recording session or concert could be the last...and the new music is not tired, its surprisingly fresh and a window into a soul of someone who still has much left to say.
With much respect...
Crozzingly,
A.J. EATON
____________________________________________
From: Josh Nelson
Subject: Re: Feelin' Alright
Funny how "singles were for sissies," and now albums are for ancients...
- josh nelson
____________________________________________
From: Mo Boyles
Subject: Re: Final Woodstock
Hi Bob,
Michael Lang should partner with nugs tv and do a 3 day exclusive livestream of woodstock 50 via Youtube, produced from a rehearsal space in LA, with all the belles and whistles of festival lighting & video productions,as a background. forget the all camping bs and permitting issues. If Marshmello can do Fortnite with 10.7 million attendees, why cant W50 mature with the times and go digital? All major festival stream via youtube as is. Food for thought.
Mo Boyles
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: Beginnings-Song of the Day
A very special band Bob. We've had the honor of being friends and sharing the stage with them since the 70's...great guys too! Robert has always been a personal support and they all have class. Terry Kath was a monster. Rock on Chicago. Dewey Bunnell
____________________________________________
From: Peter Buffett
Subject: Re: Beginnings-Song of the Day
I have a funny story….
A friend was joining a cover band many years ago and ended up with a list of songs left on his answering machine.
He found all the songs except one. Asking the clerk, he said it was by a band called "Penis of Terror"
Knowing no such band, the clerk asked for the name of the song.
It turned out he was looking for Peter Cetera.
(I was able to relay that story to the man himself… he was not amused)
____________________________________________
From: EveAnna Manley
Subject: Re: Blowback
My company builds audio electronics and if one capacitor is loaded in backwards, or one tiny resistor isn't installed, the whole unit will not function. I also write code. If I forget one semi-colon, the whole script won't execute. Yes, building electronics requires incredible dedication to precision and detail. Send me a resume with a spelling error and I'll throw it in the trash.
I've been reading The Lefsetz Letter for about 25 years. I can't say that I have ever seen a spelling error in your missives. Maybe one? Maybe not even one. Kudos!
____________________________________________
From: Shari Waugh
Subject: Re: Blowback
You are right about the spelling thing. What woman wants to go out with an illiterate!
Shari from Tennessee
____________________________________________
From: Karen Bliss
Subject: Re: Blowback
"I know a woman who decides who to go out with based on spelling errors" — I thought that's how everyone decides.
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Git Up
Like I mentioned to you and Flom last October that whole Hick Hop thing is bubbling up and gonna bust out soon.
https://youtu.be/B45AGRIEOxM
Also check out Upchurch the Redneck https://youtu.be/e-TIlOu1zEM
Dude can sell out 600-1,000 and goes out for 10-15k a night anywhere in the southeast and creeping his way up North.
No label, no radio.
And of course The Lacs
Peace and Love,
Dan Millen
____________________________________________
From: Gary Frenay (and more)
Subject: Re: 4+20
According to Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Hot 100 Singles on Billboard book, it was a single, that debuted on the charts on Oct 4, 1969 (just six weeks after their triumphant Woodstock performance), and peaked at #21, while spending 12 weeks on the charts.
____________________________________________
From: Lynette Pearson
Subject: RE: Sebastian Maniscalco
Macy Gray's dress ad was from 2001. I recall it because her album had the misfortunate release date of September 18, 2001 – one week after the World Trade Center attacks. Between 1999 and 2001, we had undergone substantial change. Macy's dress underscores the sad reality that the second word in "music business" is BUSINESS. That said, your letter makes its point well. Best, Lynette
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: Feelin' Alright
Bob,
About thirty years ago I played guitar in a full-on, old school, corporate show for one of the car companies, complete with singers and dancers. The 'star' was actress/singer Suzanne Somers. Over a month's time we played Vegas, Atlanta, Atlantic City, and Detroit. Suzanne's pianist was this quiet guy named Artie Butler. It wasn't until the last night of the tour that we found out that Artie was piano player on Cocker's Feelin' Alright. Holy smokes! Artie was one of those Brill Building guys that migrated to LA and worked with the Wrecking Crew folks. Among Artie's many credits is arranging Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artie_Butler
Keep up the good work, Bob.
Thanks,
Sandy Williams
Indianapolis
____________________________________________
From: Randall Barron
Subject: Trent Reznor and Old Town Road
After months of hearing about this song I finally listen and immediately recognize that this is a Nine Inch Nails song. I'm fucking outraged that Trent is blatantly being ripped off and begin Googling, only to find that the legal shit has already quietly hit the fan and Trent and Atticus have been given co-writing and co-producing credits.
Old Town Road is Trent Reznor's first #1 song on Billboard, he and Atticus own 50% of this song. This happened a month ago and I've heard not a fucking peep about this from you or anyone else at Volume....what the fucking fuck?!?!?!
Perplexed,
Randall
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Metallica Ticket Fracas
Bob,
In my limited survey of the public's reaction to this, every person decrying the band for this are also saying in the same breath "I've hated them since Napster" or "They've sucked since '88, anyway". In other words, the people complaining are people who would not pay to go see Metallica in the first place. I coughed up a couple hundred bucks to see the band this past January by purchasing my tickets through the fan club, loved every fucking second of the show, and bought two t-shirts to boot. Why? Because I love the band and think they are worth the money. When I saw this story, it was obvious to me they were simply exposed for doing what everyone else does, despite Live Nation's claim that it is not something done regularly. The music media reporting on this just knew they would get clicks and a feisty comments section in their social media posts by posting this story. It was all about the headline and not about the substance of the story. And much like Trumpers and Trumpettes like to yell "WHAT ABOUT HER EMAILS?!", the haters got to beat the dead horse of Napster with Metallica. (By the way, someone who is mad about a band not wanting their music given away for free is of course going to be the same person who thinks concert tickets should be $5.)
This story is one big *yawn* if you ask me. Long live Metallica!
Nick Tieder
____________________________________________
From: BILL BERGER
Subject: Cutouts
Hi Bob
Funny, you mentioned cutouts - which I'm guessing 50% of your readers have no idea what they are - and I'm remembering the havoc and wealth they played.
When I was in retail - I was President/Partner in Stawberries - I would get cutout lists from Morris Levy's Promo Records with albums currently on Top 100 along with the dregs. You are correct, I had to buy 100 dogs to get 25 gems. Many label people would come to me for the all important "first crack" at the lists. Somebody was getting taken care of for somewhere along the way.
A handful of dealers controlled all these cutouts and most every label had an exclusive deal with one. The two most famous cutout dumps were RSO's Saturday Night Fever and MGM's Dr Zhivago. You could buy these for $1.99 when they were No. 1 on the charts.
When I started working at labels, it was like a candy shop, so many people got a "taste" over cutouts. When I was EVP at one major, I discovered the head of production was also selling the cutouts, so we were in overrun heaven constantly. I tried to take it away from him and give it to head of sales but was stopped by someone above me. Didn't take much to figure that out what that was all about.
It was the Golden Era all right.
P.S. Those RSO and MGM cutouts were $1.99 at retail not my cost.
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Rolling Thunder Revue
Great review......my friend George Moran was Bob Dylan's bodyguard for the Rolling Thunder Tour........he's in the movie 4 times, starting with singing "You Are My Sunshine" near the beginning of the movie with Dylan watching on. George is in the credits 2x. He was an entertainer on the Auto Train in '74 when I was a hostess and when he left he started Body-guarding for Dylan.
He told Dylan something really brilliant that I've been hanging onto just in case I ever got famous. He suggested that Dylan pay for everything by check, because most people would rather have Dylan's autograph than cash the check!!!!
Katie Bradford
Portland, OR
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The David Crosby Movie
Yes, David has always marched to the Beat of his own Drum. Very Salty at times, kind of a Smart Ass in high school, but can also be very fun to hang out with and be very congenial. I sat next to him in Acapella class for a year at SBHS, and yes he had great talent then, mainly as a harmonizer and guitar player. Our teacher knew he had talent and at times they would spar verbally when David was in one of his salty moods. David helped produce our HS Spring show and came up with the name "Someone's Singing, Someones Dancing," that was quite a nice review played to the student body and at night for the public. I mentioned to you earlier that I used to follow David and his brother Ethan to all these Santa Barbara Venues where they would play their music or join other groups playing there. Most of these Venues, like the Iopan, were leftover coffeehouses from the Beatnik era, but had allcomers music entertainment on the weekends. Later when David joined the Byrds, I saw them play at Deano's Pizza Parlor on the Mesa and yes, SBHS beauty, Nance Martai (spelling) was there. When I had my ranch in Mount Shasta, Ethan Crosby was living there. For a year he lived in one of our guest houses and fed our horses for us. Ethan liked peace and quiet and would turn his refrigerator off at night because he did not like to hear the motor running. Ethan did play music at some venues and local gatherings. He
told me he was worried about his brother David, although now a successful music star, his big time partying, drinking and drugs was getting out of hand. Ethan had a beautiful girlfriend who was recuperating from a bad crash in her Volkswagen. Sad to say, a couple of years when I moved from Mount Shasta, Ethan took his last hike up Mount Shasta Mountain, and never returned. Probably joined the Lemurians. David's best friend from Cate School, Jeff Palmer had also moved to Mount Shasta from Santa Barbara. Became great friends with Jeff, who owned the famous Lotus Leather Company. Still miss and Love Mount Shasta, Beautiful and Mystic place.
Yes, have seen and talked to David many times in the past few years living in Santa Ynez. David has a nice home in the outskirts of Santa Ynez near the San Lorenzo Seminary. David is (or was) a frequent customer at Bakers Table for breakfast and that is where I talked to him frequently. If David did not like the way they cooked his breakfast, he would let the restaurant staff know about it, until one day he walked behind the cook station to complain, and the owner said, "Well, maybe you should find another place for breakfast!) Talking with David about high school days, and Mount Shasta, and the music industry, David said that it was hard to make money today cutting a record because of streaming. He also said he would probably never get together with Stills, Nash and Young for a concert because of Bad Blood, but if the money was good enough? One day, a couple of years ago, at Bakers Table, there was a couple of guys
I started talking with. They said they were waiting for David to show up. When David showed up he introduced my friend and me to these guys, who were going to film a movie about David.
David is still holding concerts at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara on occasion, sometimes, with his son, or a young band that he also recently toured Europe with. Yes, after the hard party years he did get a new Liver. A couple of years ago he ran over a bicyclist who later died, but
David was not drinking at the time, but otherwise David is enjoying the quiet life here in Santa Ynez, and still cutting records.
John Roger Battistone
____________________________________________
From: Lance Grode
Subject: Re: Taylor Swift/Scooter Braun
Didn't Swift's father invest in Big Machine?
That would have been the time to try (I said try) to own masters but no new artist gets reversion. I cite Dennis Hopper's spectacular observation: if you want to paint the Sistine Chapel, you gotta deal with the pope, ( the signing label being the pope).
I was involved in the Jackson purchase of The Beatles catalogue through a third party who was also in the bidding. I want everyone reading this to know the following: McCartney wouldn't go a penny past 38 million, Jackson came in at 48.5-49 million, my clients bid 50 million but couldn't raise the final part of the money.
Paul then went on Howard Stern and told some Trump-like story about telling Michael about publishing and claiming that Michael didn't give him a UNILATERAL raise on the writer's share of his songs in the catalogue—something that has never happened from before the Crimean War.
I mention this because Swift, who I really like, really fucked up here by even suggesting she was wronged by a sale of property she doesn't own. Much like Paul she could have stepped up and didn't.
____________________________________________
Subject: Taylor Swift
Hi Bob:
As you write about Taylor Swift jousting with Borchetta and Braun over the ownership of her masters, you might find this excerpt from my untitled, work in progress autobiography relevant:
It was in the mid 60s, when Brian Auger was a scalding hot property and was about to sign with RCA. He wanted an unusual clause added to his contract. What he wanted in the agreement was a paragraph stipulating that 20 years after the termination of the agreement, the ownership rights to the master recordings would be reassigned to him so that he could own and control his own music. "What? We just don't do that. It just isn't done.", said the RCA rec exec. Knowing that RCA really, really wanted him on their label, he said to the exec, "Tell me. Do you think you'll be working for RCA 20 years from now?" "I don't know", the puzzled exec responded. "Probably not". "Then why the fuck would you even care if I end up owning my masters 20 years from now," said Brian Auger with just enough agitation in his voice to sound like he might just walk away from the deal if he didn't get his way. "You won't even be here." "Fine", said the rec exe, not wanting to blow the whole deal and then having to explain to his higher ups why the deal fell apart. What Brian was asking for would barely be a blip in the the contractual radar and in all likelihood, would probably not even be noticed by anyone at the label. And because of this barely noticeable clause in a contract Brian signed almost 50 years ago, I have been in a position, as his personal manager, to be able to license Brian Auger's valuable catalog all over the world to various licensees to the tune of around a million dollars. So far. And his catalogue is as musically viable today as it was decades ago. Contracts may have termination dates but great music doesn't. Such foresight, Brian.
Regards,
David Libert
____________________________________________
From: John Loken
Subject: Re: Trump Tells The Squad To Go Home
Thanks for ending with a Jethro Tull lyric. I saw them last week in Palm Springs, and there was a guy actually hoisting his walker over his head with wild (but seated) abandon. Too old to rock and roll, too young to die.
Thanks again Bob!!!! By the way, just found out it's #1 again.
That's the 6th week!
Peter Frampton
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: America-This Week's Podcast
Bob,
I think this turned out great and you made it very comfortable! I guess 50 years warrants a closer look back! So many things we missed sharing from those early days in London, and our return to the U.S. in 1972...brushes with the individual Beatles, opening for Pink Floyd and The Who and The Faces and Traffic with Johnny Winter in attendance joining them for an extended jam. The sights, sounds and smells of the British music scene in London are imprinted on my memory forever. Then back in the U.S. sharing the bill with everyone from The J. Geils Band to James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt to Bob Hope and George Burns! Touring with The Beach Boys for years, and Joe Cocker, Kenny Loggins, Chicago, Three Dog Night, Jefferson Starship, Poco and so many others. From World Tours and huge multi-act festivals, to little shows in faraway places. It's been a dream and we still haven't woken up. Thanks again for the opportunity to tell some of our story. best always, Dewey Bunnell
____________________________________________
Subject: Mickey Thomas Responds
I don't engage in debates over the validity of this classic song, either. I WOULD like to thank you and my dear bud, Mickey Thomas, for the recent attention paid to 'WE Built This CIty'! As you might know, mine is the DJ voice on the original, which is a story in and of itself that we'll save for another occasion. Like I said to The Starship in a telex from Switzerland back in 1985, "Thank you all for backing me up on my number one song"!!!
You certainly have my permission to post this, minus my address, please, and i hope that you do…keep those HITS comin', Bob…a hit is a hit is a hit is a hit. Now, MORE music and Les Garland.
Warm regards,
les garland
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: We Built This City
Bernie told me he made more money from that song than from anything else. A good Trivia question which no one ever gets!
Steve Lillywhite
____________________________________________
From: Tom Ross
Subject: Re: We Built This City
You are always entertaining and although I represented the Airplane/Starship for 25+ years, I never knew the answer to why Grace left the band. For most of those early years, I always introduced myself to Grace as I was never sure she knew who or what I did, but most of the times she just enjoyed making people off center and unassured. I had always assumed it was because of all the changing players from the original band but YOU got right to the question. They were the very first band I represented starting at APA in 1968 thru to CAA. Bill Thompson, the mgr, was a great and loyal friend and unique doesn't describe him or his many talents. He had to wear many hats to appease all the group members and conduct business while they were living upstairs in the mansion from time to time. My most favorite memory was being up in SF and hanging out at the mansion off Golden Gate Park. It was a magical time and they were leading the tribe of Golden Gate artists to change the social times and conditions. No tweets, just music and the vibes. Thank you for the walk down memory lane and the update on one of the early Queens of those revolutionary days and her amazing social and musical impact. Different times but great music that clearly pushed the envelope of acceptance thru music. Loved the innocence then! TR
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: We Built This City
Bob,
You need to hear the original demo of "We Built This City" before Starship got it. You can find it on SoundCloud. Makes the single song brilliant!
https://soundcloud.com/emily-emily-k-kesselman/we-built-this-city-demo
Robert Bond
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: We Built This City
Re:Grace Slick
All hail the queen! Love Grace's candor.
As a retired Bay Area stage tech of a certain age, I've worked stages with Grace for years, be it for BGP or as a systems provider.
Mid-80's, Exotic Erotic Ball, SF Civic Center, Micky Thomas aka Litlle Gadget is headlining and Skip Johnson ( Lighting director for the Airplane / Starship) is Lighting Director for Mickey.
I'm with the lighting provider.
We're in the middle of setting up, Band gear is almost done.
We're focusing lights and sorting things out.
On one of my trips back to the lighting desk, there she is, sitting on the cases, looking like the LD's girlfriend always does. She had a black "Carnaby Street" hat on, black mini and long, thigh high boots. As I go do my thing , she says to me, " it's ok, I'm with the band." I smile, turn , look back and said" It's ok Grace, I know who you are." and went back to patching. Yeah Buddy, she is a sexy woman!
Long live the Queen! Allen (Alien) Craft
____________________________________________
Subject: The David Crosby Movie
Dear Bob, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your kind and thoughtful analysis about the Crosby movie, a film I had the great honor to direct with one of my all-time director heroes as producer-- the rock movie oracle himself Cameron Crowe. The fact that it is resonating with you is an honor and dream come true and means that perhaps we might have accomplished what we set out to do.
Being the son of a songwriter, growing up around the highs and lows of the music, this was a story that I simply couldn't shake..and I fought, borrowed and pled for years to shoot as much of Crosby's third act renaissance as I could, because, as you know, each recording session or concert could be the last...and the new music is not tired, its surprisingly fresh and a window into a soul of someone who still has much left to say.
With much respect...
Crozzingly,
A.J. EATON
____________________________________________
From: Josh Nelson
Subject: Re: Feelin' Alright
Funny how "singles were for sissies," and now albums are for ancients...
- josh nelson
____________________________________________
From: Mo Boyles
Subject: Re: Final Woodstock
Hi Bob,
Michael Lang should partner with nugs tv and do a 3 day exclusive livestream of woodstock 50 via Youtube, produced from a rehearsal space in LA, with all the belles and whistles of festival lighting & video productions,as a background. forget the all camping bs and permitting issues. If Marshmello can do Fortnite with 10.7 million attendees, why cant W50 mature with the times and go digital? All major festival stream via youtube as is. Food for thought.
Mo Boyles
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: Beginnings-Song of the Day
A very special band Bob. We've had the honor of being friends and sharing the stage with them since the 70's...great guys too! Robert has always been a personal support and they all have class. Terry Kath was a monster. Rock on Chicago. Dewey Bunnell
____________________________________________
From: Peter Buffett
Subject: Re: Beginnings-Song of the Day
I have a funny story….
A friend was joining a cover band many years ago and ended up with a list of songs left on his answering machine.
He found all the songs except one. Asking the clerk, he said it was by a band called "Penis of Terror"
Knowing no such band, the clerk asked for the name of the song.
It turned out he was looking for Peter Cetera.
(I was able to relay that story to the man himself… he was not amused)
____________________________________________
From: EveAnna Manley
Subject: Re: Blowback
My company builds audio electronics and if one capacitor is loaded in backwards, or one tiny resistor isn't installed, the whole unit will not function. I also write code. If I forget one semi-colon, the whole script won't execute. Yes, building electronics requires incredible dedication to precision and detail. Send me a resume with a spelling error and I'll throw it in the trash.
I've been reading The Lefsetz Letter for about 25 years. I can't say that I have ever seen a spelling error in your missives. Maybe one? Maybe not even one. Kudos!
____________________________________________
From: Shari Waugh
Subject: Re: Blowback
You are right about the spelling thing. What woman wants to go out with an illiterate!
Shari from Tennessee
____________________________________________
From: Karen Bliss
Subject: Re: Blowback
"I know a woman who decides who to go out with based on spelling errors" — I thought that's how everyone decides.
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Git Up
Like I mentioned to you and Flom last October that whole Hick Hop thing is bubbling up and gonna bust out soon.
https://youtu.be/B45AGRIEOxM
Also check out Upchurch the Redneck https://youtu.be/e-TIlOu1zEM
Dude can sell out 600-1,000 and goes out for 10-15k a night anywhere in the southeast and creeping his way up North.
No label, no radio.
And of course The Lacs
Peace and Love,
Dan Millen
____________________________________________
From: Gary Frenay (and more)
Subject: Re: 4+20
According to Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Hot 100 Singles on Billboard book, it was a single, that debuted on the charts on Oct 4, 1969 (just six weeks after their triumphant Woodstock performance), and peaked at #21, while spending 12 weeks on the charts.
____________________________________________
From: Lynette Pearson
Subject: RE: Sebastian Maniscalco
Macy Gray's dress ad was from 2001. I recall it because her album had the misfortunate release date of September 18, 2001 – one week after the World Trade Center attacks. Between 1999 and 2001, we had undergone substantial change. Macy's dress underscores the sad reality that the second word in "music business" is BUSINESS. That said, your letter makes its point well. Best, Lynette
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: Feelin' Alright
Bob,
About thirty years ago I played guitar in a full-on, old school, corporate show for one of the car companies, complete with singers and dancers. The 'star' was actress/singer Suzanne Somers. Over a month's time we played Vegas, Atlanta, Atlantic City, and Detroit. Suzanne's pianist was this quiet guy named Artie Butler. It wasn't until the last night of the tour that we found out that Artie was piano player on Cocker's Feelin' Alright. Holy smokes! Artie was one of those Brill Building guys that migrated to LA and worked with the Wrecking Crew folks. Among Artie's many credits is arranging Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artie_Butler
Keep up the good work, Bob.
Thanks,
Sandy Williams
Indianapolis
____________________________________________
From: Randall Barron
Subject: Trent Reznor and Old Town Road
After months of hearing about this song I finally listen and immediately recognize that this is a Nine Inch Nails song. I'm fucking outraged that Trent is blatantly being ripped off and begin Googling, only to find that the legal shit has already quietly hit the fan and Trent and Atticus have been given co-writing and co-producing credits.
Old Town Road is Trent Reznor's first #1 song on Billboard, he and Atticus own 50% of this song. This happened a month ago and I've heard not a fucking peep about this from you or anyone else at Volume....what the fucking fuck?!?!?!
Perplexed,
Randall
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Metallica Ticket Fracas
Bob,
In my limited survey of the public's reaction to this, every person decrying the band for this are also saying in the same breath "I've hated them since Napster" or "They've sucked since '88, anyway". In other words, the people complaining are people who would not pay to go see Metallica in the first place. I coughed up a couple hundred bucks to see the band this past January by purchasing my tickets through the fan club, loved every fucking second of the show, and bought two t-shirts to boot. Why? Because I love the band and think they are worth the money. When I saw this story, it was obvious to me they were simply exposed for doing what everyone else does, despite Live Nation's claim that it is not something done regularly. The music media reporting on this just knew they would get clicks and a feisty comments section in their social media posts by posting this story. It was all about the headline and not about the substance of the story. And much like Trumpers and Trumpettes like to yell "WHAT ABOUT HER EMAILS?!", the haters got to beat the dead horse of Napster with Metallica. (By the way, someone who is mad about a band not wanting their music given away for free is of course going to be the same person who thinks concert tickets should be $5.)
This story is one big *yawn* if you ask me. Long live Metallica!
Nick Tieder
____________________________________________
From: BILL BERGER
Subject: Cutouts
Hi Bob
Funny, you mentioned cutouts - which I'm guessing 50% of your readers have no idea what they are - and I'm remembering the havoc and wealth they played.
When I was in retail - I was President/Partner in Stawberries - I would get cutout lists from Morris Levy's Promo Records with albums currently on Top 100 along with the dregs. You are correct, I had to buy 100 dogs to get 25 gems. Many label people would come to me for the all important "first crack" at the lists. Somebody was getting taken care of for somewhere along the way.
A handful of dealers controlled all these cutouts and most every label had an exclusive deal with one. The two most famous cutout dumps were RSO's Saturday Night Fever and MGM's Dr Zhivago. You could buy these for $1.99 when they were No. 1 on the charts.
When I started working at labels, it was like a candy shop, so many people got a "taste" over cutouts. When I was EVP at one major, I discovered the head of production was also selling the cutouts, so we were in overrun heaven constantly. I tried to take it away from him and give it to head of sales but was stopped by someone above me. Didn't take much to figure that out what that was all about.
It was the Golden Era all right.
P.S. Those RSO and MGM cutouts were $1.99 at retail not my cost.
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Rolling Thunder Revue
Great review......my friend George Moran was Bob Dylan's bodyguard for the Rolling Thunder Tour........he's in the movie 4 times, starting with singing "You Are My Sunshine" near the beginning of the movie with Dylan watching on. George is in the credits 2x. He was an entertainer on the Auto Train in '74 when I was a hostess and when he left he started Body-guarding for Dylan.
He told Dylan something really brilliant that I've been hanging onto just in case I ever got famous. He suggested that Dylan pay for everything by check, because most people would rather have Dylan's autograph than cash the check!!!!
Katie Bradford
Portland, OR
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The David Crosby Movie
Yes, David has always marched to the Beat of his own Drum. Very Salty at times, kind of a Smart Ass in high school, but can also be very fun to hang out with and be very congenial. I sat next to him in Acapella class for a year at SBHS, and yes he had great talent then, mainly as a harmonizer and guitar player. Our teacher knew he had talent and at times they would spar verbally when David was in one of his salty moods. David helped produce our HS Spring show and came up with the name "Someone's Singing, Someones Dancing," that was quite a nice review played to the student body and at night for the public. I mentioned to you earlier that I used to follow David and his brother Ethan to all these Santa Barbara Venues where they would play their music or join other groups playing there. Most of these Venues, like the Iopan, were leftover coffeehouses from the Beatnik era, but had allcomers music entertainment on the weekends. Later when David joined the Byrds, I saw them play at Deano's Pizza Parlor on the Mesa and yes, SBHS beauty, Nance Martai (spelling) was there. When I had my ranch in Mount Shasta, Ethan Crosby was living there. For a year he lived in one of our guest houses and fed our horses for us. Ethan liked peace and quiet and would turn his refrigerator off at night because he did not like to hear the motor running. Ethan did play music at some venues and local gatherings. He
told me he was worried about his brother David, although now a successful music star, his big time partying, drinking and drugs was getting out of hand. Ethan had a beautiful girlfriend who was recuperating from a bad crash in her Volkswagen. Sad to say, a couple of years when I moved from Mount Shasta, Ethan took his last hike up Mount Shasta Mountain, and never returned. Probably joined the Lemurians. David's best friend from Cate School, Jeff Palmer had also moved to Mount Shasta from Santa Barbara. Became great friends with Jeff, who owned the famous Lotus Leather Company. Still miss and Love Mount Shasta, Beautiful and Mystic place.
Yes, have seen and talked to David many times in the past few years living in Santa Ynez. David has a nice home in the outskirts of Santa Ynez near the San Lorenzo Seminary. David is (or was) a frequent customer at Bakers Table for breakfast and that is where I talked to him frequently. If David did not like the way they cooked his breakfast, he would let the restaurant staff know about it, until one day he walked behind the cook station to complain, and the owner said, "Well, maybe you should find another place for breakfast!) Talking with David about high school days, and Mount Shasta, and the music industry, David said that it was hard to make money today cutting a record because of streaming. He also said he would probably never get together with Stills, Nash and Young for a concert because of Bad Blood, but if the money was good enough? One day, a couple of years ago, at Bakers Table, there was a couple of guys
I started talking with. They said they were waiting for David to show up. When David showed up he introduced my friend and me to these guys, who were going to film a movie about David.
David is still holding concerts at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara on occasion, sometimes, with his son, or a young band that he also recently toured Europe with. Yes, after the hard party years he did get a new Liver. A couple of years ago he ran over a bicyclist who later died, but
David was not drinking at the time, but otherwise David is enjoying the quiet life here in Santa Ynez, and still cutting records.
John Roger Battistone
____________________________________________
From: Lance Grode
Subject: Re: Taylor Swift/Scooter Braun
Didn't Swift's father invest in Big Machine?
That would have been the time to try (I said try) to own masters but no new artist gets reversion. I cite Dennis Hopper's spectacular observation: if you want to paint the Sistine Chapel, you gotta deal with the pope, ( the signing label being the pope).
I was involved in the Jackson purchase of The Beatles catalogue through a third party who was also in the bidding. I want everyone reading this to know the following: McCartney wouldn't go a penny past 38 million, Jackson came in at 48.5-49 million, my clients bid 50 million but couldn't raise the final part of the money.
Paul then went on Howard Stern and told some Trump-like story about telling Michael about publishing and claiming that Michael didn't give him a UNILATERAL raise on the writer's share of his songs in the catalogue—something that has never happened from before the Crimean War.
I mention this because Swift, who I really like, really fucked up here by even suggesting she was wronged by a sale of property she doesn't own. Much like Paul she could have stepped up and didn't.
____________________________________________
Subject: Taylor Swift
Hi Bob:
As you write about Taylor Swift jousting with Borchetta and Braun over the ownership of her masters, you might find this excerpt from my untitled, work in progress autobiography relevant:
It was in the mid 60s, when Brian Auger was a scalding hot property and was about to sign with RCA. He wanted an unusual clause added to his contract. What he wanted in the agreement was a paragraph stipulating that 20 years after the termination of the agreement, the ownership rights to the master recordings would be reassigned to him so that he could own and control his own music. "What? We just don't do that. It just isn't done.", said the RCA rec exec. Knowing that RCA really, really wanted him on their label, he said to the exec, "Tell me. Do you think you'll be working for RCA 20 years from now?" "I don't know", the puzzled exec responded. "Probably not". "Then why the fuck would you even care if I end up owning my masters 20 years from now," said Brian Auger with just enough agitation in his voice to sound like he might just walk away from the deal if he didn't get his way. "You won't even be here." "Fine", said the rec exe, not wanting to blow the whole deal and then having to explain to his higher ups why the deal fell apart. What Brian was asking for would barely be a blip in the the contractual radar and in all likelihood, would probably not even be noticed by anyone at the label. And because of this barely noticeable clause in a contract Brian signed almost 50 years ago, I have been in a position, as his personal manager, to be able to license Brian Auger's valuable catalog all over the world to various licensees to the tune of around a million dollars. So far. And his catalogue is as musically viable today as it was decades ago. Contracts may have termination dates but great music doesn't. Such foresight, Brian.
Regards,
David Libert
____________________________________________
From: John Loken
Subject: Re: Trump Tells The Squad To Go Home
Thanks for ending with a Jethro Tull lyric. I saw them last week in Palm Springs, and there was a guy actually hoisting his walker over his head with wild (but seated) abandon. Too old to rock and roll, too young to die.
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Brush With Greatness-SiriusXM This Week
Your experience meeting a famous musician.
"Lefsetz Live," Tuesday July23rd, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
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"Lefsetz Live," Tuesday July23rd, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
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The Metallica Ticket Fracas
I'm shocked, positively shocked I tell you, that Metallica was caught scalping its own tickets. What kind of bizarre business do we have where ticketing is opaque and every customer can't sit in the front row for fifty bucks?
Come on kids, not only does scalping your own tickets go back generations, it's been proven ever since the digital era that the concert ticket industry doesn't want to explain itself to the hoi polloi, never mind a government that can't understand it and is always one step behind, like Ticketmaster is with the bots.
The truth is scalpers provide a service.
And in this case, the scalper LOST MONEY!
Sure, the scalper got good tickets, but he also had to take bad ones. Kinda like the days of cut-outs, when retailers had to take the bad with the good, hoping the good would sell enough to cover the cost.
But the real truth is customers no longer care. They understand the game. And it's only the once a year people and the nitwits complaining. And once you pay attention to the nitwits, the one percent that is vocal, the tail is wagging the dog and you've lost control of your business.
Unless you're a pop star, probably with an evanescent fan base, depending upon whether you have a hit, there's this belief that the acts and its fans are in it for the long term and must respect each other. Ergo, fan club ticketing. You want your fans to be taken care of. And if you don't...there is blowback. However no one has been able to quantify that blowback, because certain individuals complain so loudly and others don't at all.
And speaking of the blowback, not only are we not living in the twentieth century, we're not even living in the aughts, and if no one amplifies a story, it doesn't spread and it dies. You may not know what I'm talking about right now. And I won't even bother to include a link, let's see how interested you are in Googling and reading a couple of thousand words... I doubt it, you just don't care enough, you're paying attention to much more important issues, those that interest you and those relating to the nation at large.
Furthermore, understanding the modern paradigm, no one is blowing this story up. Everybody is remaining silent. Live Nation, Metallica, the individuals involved. Unless you pour gasoline on the fire, it dies out. And people move on. The story is lost in the endless river of information that overwhelms everybody on earth.
Meanwhile, the guy who released the taped phone call, Vaughn Millette, broke the code, and only for his own purposes. He will be shunned for it, the same way Kirsten Gillibrand has been for kicking Al Franken out of the Senate. It's a club I tell you, and you don't want to break the norms unless you're willing to be frozen out.
And how do you think Live Nation pays so much money, and beats other promoters for the tour.? This is how that additional money is made! It's a negotiation between the promoter and the act. Someone's got to pay the freight.
And the act is in control. This is one of the greatest subterfuges of all time. Everybody believes it's Ticketmaster, acting independently, when the truth is Ticketmaster just does what the act wants, Ticketmaster takes the heat for the act. Fans just cannot believe their favorites are about the money when they're about the music. But we're not living in 1969 anymore folks, no one is saying music should be free. As for the Napster era, that was a result of a technological change that caught the purveyors off guard. They kicked and screamed and then changed their business model.
Now if concert tickets weren't moving, this wouldn't be happening. But demand is insane.
And the truth is everybody wants an inside connection, everybody wants to buy tickets on THEIR terms. Who knows what you'll be doing in six months when the date plays? Better to buy from StubHub or a scalper just before the date. And the price can go down, as it did for some seats in this transaction.
You want to take risk off the table, especially with stadium dates. You want guaranteed money in the bank.
And the media has demonized paperless and the fans hate it because they can't scalp the tickets themselves and...oftentimes it turns out there isn't such hot demand anyway, that the on sale, where the bots go crazy, heats up the market beyond reality.
And you like that Amex or Citi gives you advance chance.
And no one is publicizing the number of tickets actually available on the on sale date, often de minimis.
And now we've got platinum if you really want to sit in the front row, or close thereto. Superfans can pay.
I'm not telling you all of the above is good, I'm just telling you it's the way that it now is. And both bands and fans have adjusted to it.
You're always gonna get people complaining. But the truth is if this was really news, it would go viral. But it hasn't, not yet.
As for the agitators... Do you think you're entitled to a BMW at KIA prices?
Furthermore, the people buying from the scalper are willing to pay the freight, they're not complaining. One can even argue they're doing the fans a favor, making the rest of the seats cheaper. And the truth is acts never scalp the very best tickets, because they want their fans up close and personal.
Will there ever be sunshine in the ticketing business?
When acts are not worried about appearing greedy and every show is a guaranteed sell-out with no transferability and no uplift.
And if you think that's gonna happen...
You're dreaming.
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Come on kids, not only does scalping your own tickets go back generations, it's been proven ever since the digital era that the concert ticket industry doesn't want to explain itself to the hoi polloi, never mind a government that can't understand it and is always one step behind, like Ticketmaster is with the bots.
The truth is scalpers provide a service.
And in this case, the scalper LOST MONEY!
Sure, the scalper got good tickets, but he also had to take bad ones. Kinda like the days of cut-outs, when retailers had to take the bad with the good, hoping the good would sell enough to cover the cost.
But the real truth is customers no longer care. They understand the game. And it's only the once a year people and the nitwits complaining. And once you pay attention to the nitwits, the one percent that is vocal, the tail is wagging the dog and you've lost control of your business.
Unless you're a pop star, probably with an evanescent fan base, depending upon whether you have a hit, there's this belief that the acts and its fans are in it for the long term and must respect each other. Ergo, fan club ticketing. You want your fans to be taken care of. And if you don't...there is blowback. However no one has been able to quantify that blowback, because certain individuals complain so loudly and others don't at all.
And speaking of the blowback, not only are we not living in the twentieth century, we're not even living in the aughts, and if no one amplifies a story, it doesn't spread and it dies. You may not know what I'm talking about right now. And I won't even bother to include a link, let's see how interested you are in Googling and reading a couple of thousand words... I doubt it, you just don't care enough, you're paying attention to much more important issues, those that interest you and those relating to the nation at large.
Furthermore, understanding the modern paradigm, no one is blowing this story up. Everybody is remaining silent. Live Nation, Metallica, the individuals involved. Unless you pour gasoline on the fire, it dies out. And people move on. The story is lost in the endless river of information that overwhelms everybody on earth.
Meanwhile, the guy who released the taped phone call, Vaughn Millette, broke the code, and only for his own purposes. He will be shunned for it, the same way Kirsten Gillibrand has been for kicking Al Franken out of the Senate. It's a club I tell you, and you don't want to break the norms unless you're willing to be frozen out.
And how do you think Live Nation pays so much money, and beats other promoters for the tour.? This is how that additional money is made! It's a negotiation between the promoter and the act. Someone's got to pay the freight.
And the act is in control. This is one of the greatest subterfuges of all time. Everybody believes it's Ticketmaster, acting independently, when the truth is Ticketmaster just does what the act wants, Ticketmaster takes the heat for the act. Fans just cannot believe their favorites are about the money when they're about the music. But we're not living in 1969 anymore folks, no one is saying music should be free. As for the Napster era, that was a result of a technological change that caught the purveyors off guard. They kicked and screamed and then changed their business model.
Now if concert tickets weren't moving, this wouldn't be happening. But demand is insane.
And the truth is everybody wants an inside connection, everybody wants to buy tickets on THEIR terms. Who knows what you'll be doing in six months when the date plays? Better to buy from StubHub or a scalper just before the date. And the price can go down, as it did for some seats in this transaction.
You want to take risk off the table, especially with stadium dates. You want guaranteed money in the bank.
And the media has demonized paperless and the fans hate it because they can't scalp the tickets themselves and...oftentimes it turns out there isn't such hot demand anyway, that the on sale, where the bots go crazy, heats up the market beyond reality.
And you like that Amex or Citi gives you advance chance.
And no one is publicizing the number of tickets actually available on the on sale date, often de minimis.
And now we've got platinum if you really want to sit in the front row, or close thereto. Superfans can pay.
I'm not telling you all of the above is good, I'm just telling you it's the way that it now is. And both bands and fans have adjusted to it.
You're always gonna get people complaining. But the truth is if this was really news, it would go viral. But it hasn't, not yet.
As for the agitators... Do you think you're entitled to a BMW at KIA prices?
Furthermore, the people buying from the scalper are willing to pay the freight, they're not complaining. One can even argue they're doing the fans a favor, making the rest of the seats cheaper. And the truth is acts never scalp the very best tickets, because they want their fans up close and personal.
Will there ever be sunshine in the ticketing business?
When acts are not worried about appearing greedy and every show is a guaranteed sell-out with no transferability and no uplift.
And if you think that's gonna happen...
You're dreaming.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Sunday, 21 July 2019
Feelin' Alright?
https://spoti.fi/2O8fWCI
"Feelin' Alright" is the song FM radio played first, this is the track that broke Joe Cocker in the U.S. "With A Little Help From My Friends" really didn't supersede "Feelin' Alright" until the release of the Woodstock movie, and its subsequent use on "The Wonder Years." And Cocker's iteration became so famous, it completely replaced the Traffic original.
Traffic really didn't gain mainstream success in the U.S. until the band broke up, Stevie Winwood went to work in the supergroup Blind Faith, and then reformed with "John Barleycorn Must Die."
"John Barleycorn"'s release was perfectly timed. The late spring of 1970, when the Beatles had their last hurrah with "Let It Be" and FM had finally ascended to domination. Everybody was aware of album rock, singles were for sissies.
But there were three LPs before "John Barleycorn Must Die." Ironically, the last, the worst, a mash-up of studio and live tracks, got the most traction, or as Joni Mitchell sang at the same time, "you don't know what you've got till it's gone". "Shanghai Noodle Factory" was all over the airwaves, and "Medicated Goo" too. And they were a pretty good distillation of the Traffic sound, which was thought to have expired.
But the two LPs that came before, they were the essence of Traffic, then and now.
The first had the most impact. Musos cherry-picked it for covers. You know "Heaven Is In Your Mind" by Three Dog Night, not Traffic, and I hate to say it, Three Dog Night's version is better, Traffic got the chorus right, but the verses? And Al Kooper made "Dear Mr. Fantasy" ubiquitous with its inclusion on the double album "The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper," remember the mic cutting out midstream? And Kooper covered "Coloured Rain" on his initial solo LP, "I Stand Alone," and I must admit I prefer the over-produced Kooper iteration, but no one could exceed the original version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy," a classic rock track if there ever was one, which Winwood still performs just as well, his electric guitar picking in the outro will blow your mind, have you nodding your noggin, getting into the groove.
But I didn't get on board until the second Traffic album, when Dave Mason was ensconced in the band once again. Actually, it was two Mason tracks that originally entranced me, the opening "You Can All Join In" and the second side's "Cryin' To Be Heard."
"You Can All Join In" was especially noteworthy because of the lead vocal being in one channel and the supporting/backup vocals being in the other. And we all know the jaunty tracks reach us first.
As for "Cryin' To Be Heard," it was exactly the opposite, quiet and dreamy, as if cut in Morocco, this was not made for the radio so much as your bedroom, it still stands up today.
But this is about "Feelin' Alright," the first side closer.
Now some people might be aware of Three Dog Night's 1969 cover of the track, but that never was a hit single, and nobody with cred was buying their albums.
But Three Dog Night's version was like Joe Cocker's version, it was UPBEAT! You listen to them and think everything is ALL RIGHT, when the truth is it's not.
Now at this point, Dave Mason is most remembered for his soft rock hit on Columbia, "We Just Disagree." But before that he was momentarily legendary for his Blue Thumb solo debut "Alone Together," which not only came on multicolored pizza vinyl, but featured a triple-panel cover.
At the time the most noteworthy cut was his version of the Delaney & Bonnie cover of "Only You Know And I Know," but every cut on "Alone Together" is genius, I don't think younger generations have picked up on it.
But before Traffic splintered, there was that rendition of his song "Feelin' Alright?"
Now I won't say I never think of it, that it never crosses my mind, as a matter of fact, I sing it in my head on a regular basis, it's Dave's vocal so world-weary, almost understated. But still, at this point, I always think of "Feelin' Alright" as an upbeat song, hell, the Cocker version is a tear. But last night, "Feelin' Alright" revealed itself to me.
Of course I got it back in '68, reading the lyrics, but I was inexperienced then.
You see "Feelin' Alright" is a breakup song, one not of exuberance, I'M FINALLY FREE, but lamenting what once was, with the singer licking his wounds.
"Seems I've got to have a change of scene
'Cause every night I have the strangest dreams"
Yup, he's moved on, physically, leaving the bad memories and mood behind. BUT THAT'S NOT TRUE!
"Imprisoned by the way it could have been"
The average person is not a celebrity, they don't crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. No, they break up and...they're left alone, contemplating what's been lost, what's been left behind.
"Left here on my own or so it seems
I've got to leave before I start to scream
But someone's locked the door and took the key"
Wow, it's like solitary confinement. But that's the way it is when you break up. You can walk outside the house, go to the city center and be around people, but you can't get the other person out of your head, they don't leave your mind for a minute.
"You feelin' alright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself
Well, you feelin' alright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself"
Honesty. He's in a bad space, he's wondering if she is too, you always believe your ex is living it up, are they?
"But boy you sure took me for one big ride
And even now I sit and wonder why"
Hindsight is 20/20. How did you get wrapped up in their web? You compromise, buy into one thing, and then it's a slippery slope, you've lost your perspective, you're in a cult of two, and you're not the leader.
"And when I think of you I start to cry
'Cause I just can't waste my time, I must keep dry"
You're stuck. You can't move forward, you can't live. The world progresses around you, and you're chained to the past.
"Gotta stop believin' in all your lies
'Cause there's too much to do before I die"
He went through the meat grinder. He knows there's a better future out there, he's got to put one foot in front of another, but right now that's impossible.
"Don't get too lost in all I say
Though at the time I really felt that way"
He's drunk-dialing, through a song. This is the worst, when you profess your undying love and get no response at all, or the brush-off.
"But that was then and now it's today"
He's apologizing, the tears have stopped, but she's gotten the message, he's desperate.
"Can't get off yet, so I'm here to stay
Till someone comes along and takes my place
With a different name yes, and a different face"
He truly can't get off. The merry-go-round of his mind and sexually. And he knows it's only a matter of time before he's replaced. But when that happens it will be a bitter pill to swallow, but it will allow him to go on, however haltingly.
"You feelin' alright?
I'm not feelin too good myself
Well, you feelin' alright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself"
He wants to get his message across, he wants acknowledgement, of his bad space, of how she manipulated and hurt him. But still, he wants to believe she feels what he does and there's a chance...guys always think there's a chance.
And even the title is important. The Cocker cover is entitled "Feeling Alright." It's clear, he's fine. But the Traffic original is called "Feelin' Alright?," with a question mark, it's not about him, but her.
I guess that's something amazing about music, how it constantly reveals itself to you over time, as you gain experience and perspective.
But "Feelin' Alight" is another reason classic rock is classic. Sure, there's bombastic stuff like "Smoke On The Water," and then there's more subtle stuff like "Feelin' Alright," which encapsulates the human condition in sound and lyric.
This is why we keep listening to this music.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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"Feelin' Alright" is the song FM radio played first, this is the track that broke Joe Cocker in the U.S. "With A Little Help From My Friends" really didn't supersede "Feelin' Alright" until the release of the Woodstock movie, and its subsequent use on "The Wonder Years." And Cocker's iteration became so famous, it completely replaced the Traffic original.
Traffic really didn't gain mainstream success in the U.S. until the band broke up, Stevie Winwood went to work in the supergroup Blind Faith, and then reformed with "John Barleycorn Must Die."
"John Barleycorn"'s release was perfectly timed. The late spring of 1970, when the Beatles had their last hurrah with "Let It Be" and FM had finally ascended to domination. Everybody was aware of album rock, singles were for sissies.
But there were three LPs before "John Barleycorn Must Die." Ironically, the last, the worst, a mash-up of studio and live tracks, got the most traction, or as Joni Mitchell sang at the same time, "you don't know what you've got till it's gone". "Shanghai Noodle Factory" was all over the airwaves, and "Medicated Goo" too. And they were a pretty good distillation of the Traffic sound, which was thought to have expired.
But the two LPs that came before, they were the essence of Traffic, then and now.
The first had the most impact. Musos cherry-picked it for covers. You know "Heaven Is In Your Mind" by Three Dog Night, not Traffic, and I hate to say it, Three Dog Night's version is better, Traffic got the chorus right, but the verses? And Al Kooper made "Dear Mr. Fantasy" ubiquitous with its inclusion on the double album "The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper," remember the mic cutting out midstream? And Kooper covered "Coloured Rain" on his initial solo LP, "I Stand Alone," and I must admit I prefer the over-produced Kooper iteration, but no one could exceed the original version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy," a classic rock track if there ever was one, which Winwood still performs just as well, his electric guitar picking in the outro will blow your mind, have you nodding your noggin, getting into the groove.
But I didn't get on board until the second Traffic album, when Dave Mason was ensconced in the band once again. Actually, it was two Mason tracks that originally entranced me, the opening "You Can All Join In" and the second side's "Cryin' To Be Heard."
"You Can All Join In" was especially noteworthy because of the lead vocal being in one channel and the supporting/backup vocals being in the other. And we all know the jaunty tracks reach us first.
As for "Cryin' To Be Heard," it was exactly the opposite, quiet and dreamy, as if cut in Morocco, this was not made for the radio so much as your bedroom, it still stands up today.
But this is about "Feelin' Alright," the first side closer.
Now some people might be aware of Three Dog Night's 1969 cover of the track, but that never was a hit single, and nobody with cred was buying their albums.
But Three Dog Night's version was like Joe Cocker's version, it was UPBEAT! You listen to them and think everything is ALL RIGHT, when the truth is it's not.
Now at this point, Dave Mason is most remembered for his soft rock hit on Columbia, "We Just Disagree." But before that he was momentarily legendary for his Blue Thumb solo debut "Alone Together," which not only came on multicolored pizza vinyl, but featured a triple-panel cover.
At the time the most noteworthy cut was his version of the Delaney & Bonnie cover of "Only You Know And I Know," but every cut on "Alone Together" is genius, I don't think younger generations have picked up on it.
But before Traffic splintered, there was that rendition of his song "Feelin' Alright?"
Now I won't say I never think of it, that it never crosses my mind, as a matter of fact, I sing it in my head on a regular basis, it's Dave's vocal so world-weary, almost understated. But still, at this point, I always think of "Feelin' Alright" as an upbeat song, hell, the Cocker version is a tear. But last night, "Feelin' Alright" revealed itself to me.
Of course I got it back in '68, reading the lyrics, but I was inexperienced then.
You see "Feelin' Alright" is a breakup song, one not of exuberance, I'M FINALLY FREE, but lamenting what once was, with the singer licking his wounds.
"Seems I've got to have a change of scene
'Cause every night I have the strangest dreams"
Yup, he's moved on, physically, leaving the bad memories and mood behind. BUT THAT'S NOT TRUE!
"Imprisoned by the way it could have been"
The average person is not a celebrity, they don't crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. No, they break up and...they're left alone, contemplating what's been lost, what's been left behind.
"Left here on my own or so it seems
I've got to leave before I start to scream
But someone's locked the door and took the key"
Wow, it's like solitary confinement. But that's the way it is when you break up. You can walk outside the house, go to the city center and be around people, but you can't get the other person out of your head, they don't leave your mind for a minute.
"You feelin' alright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself
Well, you feelin' alright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself"
Honesty. He's in a bad space, he's wondering if she is too, you always believe your ex is living it up, are they?
"But boy you sure took me for one big ride
And even now I sit and wonder why"
Hindsight is 20/20. How did you get wrapped up in their web? You compromise, buy into one thing, and then it's a slippery slope, you've lost your perspective, you're in a cult of two, and you're not the leader.
"And when I think of you I start to cry
'Cause I just can't waste my time, I must keep dry"
You're stuck. You can't move forward, you can't live. The world progresses around you, and you're chained to the past.
"Gotta stop believin' in all your lies
'Cause there's too much to do before I die"
He went through the meat grinder. He knows there's a better future out there, he's got to put one foot in front of another, but right now that's impossible.
"Don't get too lost in all I say
Though at the time I really felt that way"
He's drunk-dialing, through a song. This is the worst, when you profess your undying love and get no response at all, or the brush-off.
"But that was then and now it's today"
He's apologizing, the tears have stopped, but she's gotten the message, he's desperate.
"Can't get off yet, so I'm here to stay
Till someone comes along and takes my place
With a different name yes, and a different face"
He truly can't get off. The merry-go-round of his mind and sexually. And he knows it's only a matter of time before he's replaced. But when that happens it will be a bitter pill to swallow, but it will allow him to go on, however haltingly.
"You feelin' alright?
I'm not feelin too good myself
Well, you feelin' alright?
I'm not feelin' too good myself"
He wants to get his message across, he wants acknowledgement, of his bad space, of how she manipulated and hurt him. But still, he wants to believe she feels what he does and there's a chance...guys always think there's a chance.
And even the title is important. The Cocker cover is entitled "Feeling Alright." It's clear, he's fine. But the Traffic original is called "Feelin' Alright?," with a question mark, it's not about him, but her.
I guess that's something amazing about music, how it constantly reveals itself to you over time, as you gain experience and perspective.
But "Feelin' Alight" is another reason classic rock is classic. Sure, there's bombastic stuff like "Smoke On The Water," and then there's more subtle stuff like "Feelin' Alright," which encapsulates the human condition in sound and lyric.
This is why we keep listening to this music.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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