Trailer: https://t.ly/KjJBD
This is a really good series.
You know I usually go for the foreign stuff, because it tends to be more visceral, it's easier to lose yourself in the foreign shows, and we've been on a streak of international series that I don't think should be your first choice if you watch what the algorithm serves you, but still they were very good.
First is "Yosi, the Regretful Spy," on Amazon Prime. It's Argentinian and based on a real story. The government sends a spy into the Jewish community fearful it's going to build a colony in the hinterlands, and then the Israeli embassy is blown up. There are two seasons. You'll become invested in the characters.
Actually, before that we watched "The Interpreter of Silence" on Hulu. What we've got here is a trial bringing Nazis to justice for their crimes during the Holocaust and the interpreter learns the truth about what happened and more. "The Interpreter of Silence" is dark. And set in sixties Germany. It'll seem real. Whereas "Yosi" is more of a tale, a lot denser, dealing with many characters, their emotions, and there's plenty of action.
And after those two, we watched "Past Lies," a Spanish show also on Hulu, sans the gravitas and the ultimate quality of the preceding two, but I must mention it alongside "Under the Bridge" because in both series you think it's all about finding out whodunit, but then it's not. What you're waiting for is revealed earlier, and then there are other plot lines, other twists.
"Under the Bridge" is an American series on Hulu which got middling reviews when it was released a couple of months back. But word of mouth has been building. I did not know they dripped out episodes week by week, I cannot watch that way, I binged the whole thing, the continuity is crucial, there's a mood you get caught up in, and now you can watch it all too. Assuming you subscribe to Hulu.
The hook of the hype is Riley Keough, Elvis's granddaughter. And she is very good, but she is not the essence of the show, that is the teenagers, who are so believable it's astonishing. You rarely see such spot-on performances, even in movies. You believe the characters are real.
And "Under the Bridge" is based on real life, it hews pretty closely to what actually happened, but wait until you're finished with it to do some research, which you'll be dying to do.
So it's about whodunit, but once again you find out most of what happened early on. And then it becomes about the characters, their motivation, their choices.
Chloe Guidry as Josephine Bell is positively astounding. You know people like this, assuming you grew up in the melting pot of public school. Someone who not only thinks they're cool, but is. Who is the queen bee. But also you get the teenage outlook, Josephine believes she's one step away from the Mafia in New York, she's following in their footsteps, which is laughable, but tragedy ensues, and Josephine never breaks character.
And Javon "Wanna" Walton as Warren Glowatski... It's such a fine line to walk, a sensitive villain. But Javon never breaks character, he rides the razor's edge. It's pretty incredible.
And then there is Izzy G. as Kelly Ellard, who is just plain bad. A follower of Josephine yet much more messed up. Josephine might manipulate Kelly and everybody else, but Kelly is just a bad seed. Who can lie through her teeth. Who can appear the good girl. Who ultimately seems to have no moral compass.
So this all happens in Victoria, B.C. That's right, on an island off the coast of Canada, where everybody dreams of growing up and emigrating to Vancouver, the big city, real life, the mainstream. Victoria is beautiful, but psychologically inbred. I've lived in the hinterlands, in rural areas, and everybody's in everybody's business, you get caught up in the daily drama whether you want to or not.
Though the population of Victoria is not so sparse. It's suburban. And beautiful. This is not the bright lights of Hollywood, this is the rich greens of the forest, snow on the mountains, rain and the vast bodies of water surrounding the land. So the feel is anything but bogus. And when you think the show is going off the rails, which is very rare, you have to pinch yourself and remember that it's all real. Not all, but what isn't isn't really relevant.
And then you've got Reena's parents. A South Asian couple who've experienced racism, despite their best efforts to fit in. Canada looks cohesive and happy until you pull back the surface. And then you find all the problems with the First Nations people, which even plays here.
I hate to break it, but I don't think it will ruin the series whatsoever, Lily Gladstone's Cam is a fiction, that person doesn't really exist.
But the rest of them do. Josephine is really Nicole Cook. Everybody else is acting under the name of the real person.
Once again, this is real.
And it deals with teenage life. Not in an exploitative way, it's just that being a teenager is often hell. Are you cool? Are you bullied? It's a fragile ecosystem from which you cannot remove yourself. You're all together at school, and even if your plan is to keep your head down, that strategy oftentimes doesn't work.
So too many American shows are all about the look, with name actors who are beautiful but don't act that well. That is not "Under the Bridge," which may not be the best streaming series you've ever seen, but it's really damn good. It deserves attention, you will be wholly satisfied with the viewing experience, you will not be angry that you wasted your time.
Therefore, I wholeheartedly recommend it. You'll go down the rabbit hole, you'll binge it, and then you'll be eager to talk with others about it. We call that art. And on that level "Under the Bridge" works. This is a show that is not a heavy lift, that does not employ subtitles, it's something you can get into very easily. And then you get hooked, you can't wait to go back and finish it.
Start now.
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Saturday, 1 June 2024
Friday, 31 May 2024
Live Nation/Ticketmaster/DOJ-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in Saturday June 1st to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
Phone #: 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Phone #: 844-686-5863
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If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Dead & Company At The Sphere
You don't quite get it until you go there.
And that's what's so great about the Sphere.
Or, to adapt Don Henley's lyric, we haven't had that spirit here since 1995 and the advent of mass use of the internet, never mind the launch of YouTube in 2005. Suddenly everybody could see everything. You could just pull it up on your phone. But what is great about the Sphere is the experience is unique. So it's like going to a show in the sixties or seventies, you come home and testify to your friends all about it, go to the Sphere and you can dine out on the story for weeks back in your hometown. You did something others can't really know unless they go too. And you're foaming at the mouth so they have a deep desire to go to the Sphere too.
Sure, live music is an evanescent experience in a world of long-lasting commodities available to all. But the dirty little secret is most acts play the same show with the same production in every city. So, it doesn't matter if you see them in Los Angeles or Orlando, it's the same. But you can't get the Sphere experience any place but Vegas. Furthermore, Dead & Company don't play the same show every night.
So what we've been sold is a futuristic vision. That the Sphere is a great leap forward. But I'd posit it's a great leap back, to the sixties, when life was all about possibilities, when we were optimistic, not pessimistic, when nobody wanted to work at the bank, they wanted to express themselves, selling out was anathema.
So you went to a show and everybody was equal. There were no billionaires, everybody in attendance was pretty similar to you. And there was power in that.
And there's power in the Sphere. There's not a bad seat in the place. No one feels left out. And at certain moments you're thrilled, because what you're experiencing you've never experienced before.
So the number of people who lived through the sixties, never mind have their memories intact, never mind were part of the counterculture, is diminishing. Makes me crazy when these young writers start talking about how it was. They're basing their information on statistics, which we never cared about, and tomes. But for those of us who were there...
First and foremost there were light shows. At the Fillmore East there was Joshua, and then Joe. They added another dimension, of creativity. And when you sit there staring inside the Sphere you realize we are only at the beginning, there are endless possibilities. Creative people will blow our minds. The costs will come down and they'll create video trips we could never contemplate. The medium changes the message.
This is not MTV, wannabe hitmakers throwing stuff against the wall that oftentimes didn't even get aired. You know if you're going to play the Sphere, and then you create.
And I don't want to talk about the economics, which so far are poor. But economics were not part of the equation in the rock days of yore. No one expected it to last, they expected to go back to the factory when it was all done. It was a lark. But the creativity, the honesty, the credibility struck the audience so dramatically that the whole business blew up. There was music before the Beatles, but the reach, the cultural impact, the effect upon society, was nowhere near as great.
So Dolan laid down billions and conventional wisdom is that he needed to prove himself independently, outside the shadow of his father. But that's the wrong way to look at it. If you go through history, oftentimes it was those with capital who enabled and fostered change. Dolan didn't have to prove himself to VCs. Of course he's running a public company, but he's in control and the numbers are good and you've got to grow or die, that's why Salesforce tanked. Numbers were good, but there was no growth.
And when you throw the long ball and get it right, the public can't stop talking about you. Sure, the Sphere sent out a ton of hype, so much that I had to unsubscribe from their mailings, but what really had the Sphere penetrating society was word of mouth. And the appearance of the globe at the Formula 1 race last fall. No one truly foresaw the advertising power of the building. Fly into Vegas today and every other structure looks quaint compared to the Sphere. Which is colorful in the drab desert, and doesn't possess the rectangular shape of all the other buildings. Let this be a message to you, imitate others at your peril. The true rewards go to those who take risks, we hunger for change, for the different, that's what gets us fired up.
Now you've probably seen some of the footage of the Dead & Company Sphere shows online. And I'm loath to describe in detail any of the highlights, for fear of eviscerating your fresh experience, but...
The screen clears and you're on a street in San Francisco. You know it if you've been there, or if you've studied the history of the San Francisco scene, not only of the Dead but so many others. Rows of Victorians, on an incline.
This is Haight-Ashbury. They tell you so on the screen, but dedicated followers of fashion know immediately. And they know what this means.
In San Francisco it was about personal development and expression. Three hours behind New York in an era when that was crucial, San Francisco was its own society. Back when airline fares were regulated and no one went anywhere on a whim. You were stuck at home and you fantasized.
And then the lens starts to pull back and back and...
You see more of San Francisco. You see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Golden Gate it is named for. And then all of California. And then Mexico. They keep pulling back the camera until you can ultimately see the horizon, the edge of the globe. I'm getting pins and needles writing this. It was positively thrilling.
And positively sixties. This was our dream, come to life. Starting with our roots. It wasn't about telling everybody how great we were, boasting on social media, it wasn't about accumulating the most toys, it was about adventure. And that's what the Sphere delivers, adventure.
And if you go down to the floor, it resembles nothing so much as a high school sock hop, or a battle of the bands. If you were alive in the sixties, you know what I'm talking about. In that there was no scrim, no wall between you and the act. No ten foot high stage, no security. They were there and you were here and you blended together.
The stage is not high. And everybody's playing live. And you get a sensation far distant from the arena, never mind stadium, shows of today. If you're high in the sky, the band is dwarfed by the production, the images in the Sphere, but if you're down on the floor the perspective is different, the images are no longer primary. The balance shifts and the act becomes the focus.
And they don't crowd everybody in on the floor. I started on the periphery and worked my way right up front without pushing a single person. This is not the GA of your nightmares, there's elbow room.
But unless you want to stand for hours, I recommend you get a seat. As for the haptics, Bernie had us lying on the floor with our heads on pillows looking straight up during "Drums" and I'm not sure whether it was the bass that moved us or whether the haptics were in full force, but once again, there are no bad seats. We were in a suite far to the end and it made no difference, I could see everything, we were there.
As for Dead & Company...
What a long strange trip it's been. I'm not talking about the Dead, but John Mayer. Starts out as a hot guitarist, a fact only insiders know, and makes his bones with singer-songwriter stuff. And then he shifts to flash, having hits all the while. And then the hits dry up.
Mayer switches managers. He needs more hits. Just like his girlfriend Katy Perry. But the time has passed. And this forced Mayer to become a musician. I don't mean he wasn't a musician before, but now it's about the playing itself, not the Spotify Top 50. And Mayer is the glue that holds the entire enterprise together. He smiled and laughed when he hit a clam, but that was the only one I caught. He makes it seem effortless.
And of course his style is different from Jerry Garcia's. But Mayer's more intense, more upfront playing, energies the enterprise. Sometimes when Jerry would noodle the end result laid flat. Oh, don't you Deadheads get your knickers in a twist. Everybody on the plane was comparing notes, who'd seen the Dead first. And of course it was me, back at Manhattan Center, back when so many authoritative Deadheads weren't even born. And the truth is the Dead were very uneven live, VERY uneven. They'd play for four hours, one would be unlistenable, two would be good and one would be great. I only saw them be consistently great once, at the old Boston Garden. Sure, Jerry was a prince, Captain Trips, the glue, but the raw fact is Dead & Company are much tighter, much more together, much more consistent than the Grateful Dead ever were. Sure, Jerry wrote so many of the songs, and they played them last night, but Jerry was oftentimes better than the rest of the group.
Bob Weir hit the stage wearing what we called "clamdiggers" back then. In this case, jeans cut off mid-calf. And sandals. Because it's not how you look, but how you play. It's about the music, not the image.
And like the Dead of yore, it's when it all comes together, when it all gels, that your mind is blown, when you're truly one with the music, smiling at an experience you truly can't get anywhere else. In this case the song was "Franklin's Tower."
"Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew"
At this point I was on the floor, and those surrounding me knew every word and were singing along. Kinda like when they played "Bertha" earlier in the set. These songs are in my DNA. I can't tell you that I listened to them incessantly, and only them. But music was the internet of the era. You were addicted, you know so much that you never realized you do. And it brings us together.
And I must mention Jeff Chimenti's organ solo during "Franklin's Tower." Superb. Enriching. It squeezed out every other thought in your body and lifted you above the morass, the detritus of everyday life.
Of course you can't really call it the Dead without Weir. That almost goes without saying. But from the young heartthrob of yore to now... You can see the entire span of our generation in his visage.
And Mickey Hart... His hair may have turned gray, but if you close your eyes there's no difference between fifty years ago and today.
And Jay Lane does a great job in the Kreutzmann role.
And Oteil Burbridge is a utility player nonpareil. You can't think of anybody better for the role.
But of course it's not really about flash, but cohesiveness, doing their best to get the sound right. And once again, no one else ever made this sound, and when Weir and Lesh and Hart and Kreutzmann are gone, it will be over. Period. Just like with Jeff Beck. I still can't believe he's gone. That SOUND!
And despite all the dreck about the Grateful Dead formula, in truth the band had no idea what they were doing, there was no big plan. It's not like they sat around and said if we let our fans tape the shows the audience will grow. They had San Francisco values, except for very brief moments they were not part of the mainstream whatsoever, and that's one of the reasons they're so special. You don't have to like them, but for so many the band gives them a reason to live, never mind community.
I'm going to leave it at that. If what I've written above doesn't make you want to go to the Sphere, I don't think anything will.
In truth, the graphics wow, and at times make the band look small, but with the Dead, let's be clear, it's about the music. If you hate the Dead, don't go just for the images. But if you like the Dead, it's worth a special trip to Vegas, because odds are you'll never get this experience again.
Which brings us back to the beginning. Rock used to be a religion. There were elements of pilgrimage involved. That's what Woodstock was all about. People heard the lineup and decided they had to go. Period. Woodstock was not Coachella, there was never really another Woodstock thereafter. Woodstock was a spontaneous surprise. And either you were there or you were not. You could see the movie, but it wasn't like being there.
But you can't even get a movie of Dead & Company's show at the Sphere. The technology doesn't exist. There is no home version, a twelve by twelve mini-Sphere you can put in your living room and go on a trip. The vastness of the enterprise is part of the appeal, there's an incredible wow factor. And, once again, there's not the usual pecking order of the usual show. The furthest out seat is in some ways better than the one in the middle. It's all about field of vision, perception. Anywhere inside works. Everybody's on the same trip.
GO!
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And that's what's so great about the Sphere.
Or, to adapt Don Henley's lyric, we haven't had that spirit here since 1995 and the advent of mass use of the internet, never mind the launch of YouTube in 2005. Suddenly everybody could see everything. You could just pull it up on your phone. But what is great about the Sphere is the experience is unique. So it's like going to a show in the sixties or seventies, you come home and testify to your friends all about it, go to the Sphere and you can dine out on the story for weeks back in your hometown. You did something others can't really know unless they go too. And you're foaming at the mouth so they have a deep desire to go to the Sphere too.
Sure, live music is an evanescent experience in a world of long-lasting commodities available to all. But the dirty little secret is most acts play the same show with the same production in every city. So, it doesn't matter if you see them in Los Angeles or Orlando, it's the same. But you can't get the Sphere experience any place but Vegas. Furthermore, Dead & Company don't play the same show every night.
So what we've been sold is a futuristic vision. That the Sphere is a great leap forward. But I'd posit it's a great leap back, to the sixties, when life was all about possibilities, when we were optimistic, not pessimistic, when nobody wanted to work at the bank, they wanted to express themselves, selling out was anathema.
So you went to a show and everybody was equal. There were no billionaires, everybody in attendance was pretty similar to you. And there was power in that.
And there's power in the Sphere. There's not a bad seat in the place. No one feels left out. And at certain moments you're thrilled, because what you're experiencing you've never experienced before.
So the number of people who lived through the sixties, never mind have their memories intact, never mind were part of the counterculture, is diminishing. Makes me crazy when these young writers start talking about how it was. They're basing their information on statistics, which we never cared about, and tomes. But for those of us who were there...
First and foremost there were light shows. At the Fillmore East there was Joshua, and then Joe. They added another dimension, of creativity. And when you sit there staring inside the Sphere you realize we are only at the beginning, there are endless possibilities. Creative people will blow our minds. The costs will come down and they'll create video trips we could never contemplate. The medium changes the message.
This is not MTV, wannabe hitmakers throwing stuff against the wall that oftentimes didn't even get aired. You know if you're going to play the Sphere, and then you create.
And I don't want to talk about the economics, which so far are poor. But economics were not part of the equation in the rock days of yore. No one expected it to last, they expected to go back to the factory when it was all done. It was a lark. But the creativity, the honesty, the credibility struck the audience so dramatically that the whole business blew up. There was music before the Beatles, but the reach, the cultural impact, the effect upon society, was nowhere near as great.
So Dolan laid down billions and conventional wisdom is that he needed to prove himself independently, outside the shadow of his father. But that's the wrong way to look at it. If you go through history, oftentimes it was those with capital who enabled and fostered change. Dolan didn't have to prove himself to VCs. Of course he's running a public company, but he's in control and the numbers are good and you've got to grow or die, that's why Salesforce tanked. Numbers were good, but there was no growth.
And when you throw the long ball and get it right, the public can't stop talking about you. Sure, the Sphere sent out a ton of hype, so much that I had to unsubscribe from their mailings, but what really had the Sphere penetrating society was word of mouth. And the appearance of the globe at the Formula 1 race last fall. No one truly foresaw the advertising power of the building. Fly into Vegas today and every other structure looks quaint compared to the Sphere. Which is colorful in the drab desert, and doesn't possess the rectangular shape of all the other buildings. Let this be a message to you, imitate others at your peril. The true rewards go to those who take risks, we hunger for change, for the different, that's what gets us fired up.
Now you've probably seen some of the footage of the Dead & Company Sphere shows online. And I'm loath to describe in detail any of the highlights, for fear of eviscerating your fresh experience, but...
The screen clears and you're on a street in San Francisco. You know it if you've been there, or if you've studied the history of the San Francisco scene, not only of the Dead but so many others. Rows of Victorians, on an incline.
This is Haight-Ashbury. They tell you so on the screen, but dedicated followers of fashion know immediately. And they know what this means.
In San Francisco it was about personal development and expression. Three hours behind New York in an era when that was crucial, San Francisco was its own society. Back when airline fares were regulated and no one went anywhere on a whim. You were stuck at home and you fantasized.
And then the lens starts to pull back and back and...
You see more of San Francisco. You see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Golden Gate it is named for. And then all of California. And then Mexico. They keep pulling back the camera until you can ultimately see the horizon, the edge of the globe. I'm getting pins and needles writing this. It was positively thrilling.
And positively sixties. This was our dream, come to life. Starting with our roots. It wasn't about telling everybody how great we were, boasting on social media, it wasn't about accumulating the most toys, it was about adventure. And that's what the Sphere delivers, adventure.
And if you go down to the floor, it resembles nothing so much as a high school sock hop, or a battle of the bands. If you were alive in the sixties, you know what I'm talking about. In that there was no scrim, no wall between you and the act. No ten foot high stage, no security. They were there and you were here and you blended together.
The stage is not high. And everybody's playing live. And you get a sensation far distant from the arena, never mind stadium, shows of today. If you're high in the sky, the band is dwarfed by the production, the images in the Sphere, but if you're down on the floor the perspective is different, the images are no longer primary. The balance shifts and the act becomes the focus.
And they don't crowd everybody in on the floor. I started on the periphery and worked my way right up front without pushing a single person. This is not the GA of your nightmares, there's elbow room.
But unless you want to stand for hours, I recommend you get a seat. As for the haptics, Bernie had us lying on the floor with our heads on pillows looking straight up during "Drums" and I'm not sure whether it was the bass that moved us or whether the haptics were in full force, but once again, there are no bad seats. We were in a suite far to the end and it made no difference, I could see everything, we were there.
As for Dead & Company...
What a long strange trip it's been. I'm not talking about the Dead, but John Mayer. Starts out as a hot guitarist, a fact only insiders know, and makes his bones with singer-songwriter stuff. And then he shifts to flash, having hits all the while. And then the hits dry up.
Mayer switches managers. He needs more hits. Just like his girlfriend Katy Perry. But the time has passed. And this forced Mayer to become a musician. I don't mean he wasn't a musician before, but now it's about the playing itself, not the Spotify Top 50. And Mayer is the glue that holds the entire enterprise together. He smiled and laughed when he hit a clam, but that was the only one I caught. He makes it seem effortless.
And of course his style is different from Jerry Garcia's. But Mayer's more intense, more upfront playing, energies the enterprise. Sometimes when Jerry would noodle the end result laid flat. Oh, don't you Deadheads get your knickers in a twist. Everybody on the plane was comparing notes, who'd seen the Dead first. And of course it was me, back at Manhattan Center, back when so many authoritative Deadheads weren't even born. And the truth is the Dead were very uneven live, VERY uneven. They'd play for four hours, one would be unlistenable, two would be good and one would be great. I only saw them be consistently great once, at the old Boston Garden. Sure, Jerry was a prince, Captain Trips, the glue, but the raw fact is Dead & Company are much tighter, much more together, much more consistent than the Grateful Dead ever were. Sure, Jerry wrote so many of the songs, and they played them last night, but Jerry was oftentimes better than the rest of the group.
Bob Weir hit the stage wearing what we called "clamdiggers" back then. In this case, jeans cut off mid-calf. And sandals. Because it's not how you look, but how you play. It's about the music, not the image.
And like the Dead of yore, it's when it all comes together, when it all gels, that your mind is blown, when you're truly one with the music, smiling at an experience you truly can't get anywhere else. In this case the song was "Franklin's Tower."
"Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew"
At this point I was on the floor, and those surrounding me knew every word and were singing along. Kinda like when they played "Bertha" earlier in the set. These songs are in my DNA. I can't tell you that I listened to them incessantly, and only them. But music was the internet of the era. You were addicted, you know so much that you never realized you do. And it brings us together.
And I must mention Jeff Chimenti's organ solo during "Franklin's Tower." Superb. Enriching. It squeezed out every other thought in your body and lifted you above the morass, the detritus of everyday life.
Of course you can't really call it the Dead without Weir. That almost goes without saying. But from the young heartthrob of yore to now... You can see the entire span of our generation in his visage.
And Mickey Hart... His hair may have turned gray, but if you close your eyes there's no difference between fifty years ago and today.
And Jay Lane does a great job in the Kreutzmann role.
And Oteil Burbridge is a utility player nonpareil. You can't think of anybody better for the role.
But of course it's not really about flash, but cohesiveness, doing their best to get the sound right. And once again, no one else ever made this sound, and when Weir and Lesh and Hart and Kreutzmann are gone, it will be over. Period. Just like with Jeff Beck. I still can't believe he's gone. That SOUND!
And despite all the dreck about the Grateful Dead formula, in truth the band had no idea what they were doing, there was no big plan. It's not like they sat around and said if we let our fans tape the shows the audience will grow. They had San Francisco values, except for very brief moments they were not part of the mainstream whatsoever, and that's one of the reasons they're so special. You don't have to like them, but for so many the band gives them a reason to live, never mind community.
I'm going to leave it at that. If what I've written above doesn't make you want to go to the Sphere, I don't think anything will.
In truth, the graphics wow, and at times make the band look small, but with the Dead, let's be clear, it's about the music. If you hate the Dead, don't go just for the images. But if you like the Dead, it's worth a special trip to Vegas, because odds are you'll never get this experience again.
Which brings us back to the beginning. Rock used to be a religion. There were elements of pilgrimage involved. That's what Woodstock was all about. People heard the lineup and decided they had to go. Period. Woodstock was not Coachella, there was never really another Woodstock thereafter. Woodstock was a spontaneous surprise. And either you were there or you were not. You could see the movie, but it wasn't like being there.
But you can't even get a movie of Dead & Company's show at the Sphere. The technology doesn't exist. There is no home version, a twelve by twelve mini-Sphere you can put in your living room and go on a trip. The vastness of the enterprise is part of the appeal, there's an incredible wow factor. And, once again, there's not the usual pecking order of the usual show. The furthest out seat is in some ways better than the one in the middle. It's all about field of vision, perception. Anywhere inside works. Everybody's on the same trip.
GO!
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Thursday, 30 May 2024
Ed Bicknell-This Week's Podcast
The story of Dire Straits from their one and only manager.
iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/ed-bicknell-181077899/?cmp=web_share&embed=true
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ed-bicknell/id1316200737?i=1000657274743
Spotify: https://spotify.link/qwZ2vE7z1Jb
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/8cd3cdf9-6826-4e69-ac53-a807ce7ef17e/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-ed-bicknell
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/ed-bicknell-181077899/?cmp=web_share&embed=true
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ed-bicknell/id1316200737?i=1000657274743
Spotify: https://spotify.link/qwZ2vE7z1Jb
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/8cd3cdf9-6826-4e69-ac53-a807ce7ef17e/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-ed-bicknell
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Wednesday, 29 May 2024
The Movie Business
No one goes to a movie for the theatre, and all the innovation and investment has been on the exhibition side of the film business for the past two decades. And now the industry is paying the price.
Also for being out of touch with the changing world. In all verticals, it's about niches. Narrower products appealing greatly to smaller groups. Instead, the film companies are making generic, broad-based films hoping to reach everybody, and when you try to appeal to everybody, you appeal to nobody.
The world keeps changing and the film studios have not kept up. Not only did they miss the Netflix/streaming tsunami, they have not kept up with the viewing habits of customers. The studios have to provide something that can't be seen at home, something so important that it gets people to leave their houses and go to the theatre just so they can experience the film and have the right to intelligently discuss it thereafter.
However, most of the films being released are not worthy of discussion. Movies as religion has been on the decrease ever since "Jaws." "Jaws" and "Star Wars" showed the riches that can be rained down by a blockbuster, and then the studios only wanted to make blockbusters. This is hurting the major record labels right now. They're releasing fewer records trying to appeal to everybody via marketing and promotion that is no longer as effective as in the past and their market share keeps being eaten by indies. This is a recipe for death. There will always be a couple of big acts, but if you're not in the process of cultivating and releasing high quality, niche product, you're on the road to death.
How come Netflix realizes this and no one else does? Competitors keep criticizing Netflix for its plethora of product. And, of course, not all of it is good, far from it, but it gives the subscriber options, and what I love, that may keep me subscribing, 98% of other Netflix viewers might hate. But that one show for me, and that one show for others, is enough to get us to keep laying down our cash.
Which is different from the film business/theatre exhibition. Look at software, it's gone from a sales model to a subscription model. The transition was wrenching, but Adobe now makes more money, even Microsoft sells its software via subscription. I'm not saying subscription is the right way for film, but I am saying every flick is a heavy lift, getting people off the couch to buy tickets and see movies at set times in an on demand world. In the rest of commerce it's all about knowing your customer and having an ongoing relationship with them, and here film has failed miserably. I go and I'm gone.
And Hollywood believes fads never fade. Just like the music business. Remember when they thought "Guitar Hero" was forever? No, you get in and ride the wave and then get out. Anybody who thought superheroes were forever is just plain dumb. Just like the people who believe since sequels have a built-in audience it's best to pursue that angle. Traditionally sequels do less business, and only a handful of sequels was ever better than the original. Sheeple go to see sequels, and they're dissatisfied after the experience, and therefore less eager to go to a movie in the future.
There's no excitement around movies anymore. It's seen as a business as opposed to an art form. There's not a person in the world who respects David Zaslav, who is so busy cutting to make his numbers that he's undercutting future revenue. And let's not get started with Paramount.
Films sustained after the advent of television because they provided something TV did not. Grit, authenticity, dangerous topics. But then you could get nudity on HBO and then "The Sopranos" was better than anything released in the theatre. And it was a series. Who said filmed entertainment must be a one shot, two hour thing? If you truly hook your audience, you can go on forever. And "The Sopranos" ended. That's the mantra of modern TV, you do it until there are no more storylines. In film, you do it until no one is willing to go to the theatre, long after creativity has left the building.
But it was Covid that put the movies in the dumper. We're never returning back to normal. Covid killed the magazine and the movie. Quick, does your favorite magazine even exist anymore? I've stopped renewing because every time I do the title goes out of business. And the very few that sustain have changed their business model. Used to be you amped up circulation to charge advertisers, in other words you wanted a larger base to get more ad revenue. But that paradigm died. Now the title has to stand on its own, based primarily on subscription revenue. If you want "The New Yorker," it will cost you a minimum of $149.99 a year, prohibitive for the casual reader/fan. Today it's all about finding the dedicated fan and superserving them and charging them for the experience. Who are the dedicated fans of the movie business?
Well, there's a cohort of youngsters who need somewhere to go without supervision. And dying baby boomers who got into the habit in the sixties and seventies. But other than that...
The movies have no vibe, they don't connect overall, which is one reason the Oscars are a poorly rated joke. But it's not only the film business, but the film business infrastructure, i.e. the media hype machine. Do we really care about this competition? The young audience is much more interested in social media influencer culture, but big media abhors it, thinks the smartphone is the devil, and studio heads all think they're Samuel Goldwyn, who's been dead for fifty years, never mind Robert Evans.
Everybody in L.A. used to know the heads of the studios, they were royalty. Today everybody knows Ted Sarandos. An innovator, not riding on fumes, but continuing to innovate, because in tech if you don't, you die.
But studios keep generating more of what came before. As for last summer's "Barbenheimer"...that was a one-off, nearly impossible to replicate. Netflix was built on giving auteurs cash to make their pet projects, ironically the ones studios refused to greenlight. Whereas making a movie for a studio... All you get is interference, if you get the budget to begin with. You've got to change it, as if the brass knows better than the creator.
All to say we are never going back to the past. Many things are not forever. Or if they come back, they do so with a twist. In order to thrive, films must be different, unique, must-see. And they must have legs in conversation. If you want to break a movie today you should platform it, build excitement as it goes from city to city as opposed to opening in thousands of theatres on Friday and being gone in a matter of weeks. Today everything is here today and gone tomorrow. To succeed film must go a different way. Evanescence is anathema to film. Sure, there's anticipation for some movies, but most need marketing, and the best way to do this is to get the audience excited about it and let word of mouth flourish. Stop railing against RottenTomatoes. What next, get rid of the star system on Amazon? It too is imperfect, but eliminate it and business tanks. You're asking people to lay down their money, they're supposed to do so blind? That ship sailed with the advent of the internet.
So in order to survive, theatrical distribution requires many more movies with ever narrower appeal. This doesn't mean that every film will do minor box office. You never know when something niche will blow up wide. Like "March of the Penguins," or "My Octopus Teacher." If you get it right on a narrow basis people who are otherwise uninterested are intrigued. People are looking for excellence, credibility, heart, that's what gets people off the couch, not what they've seen before.
But that formula has been lost. Just like the worldwide success. Native films now do better in mainland China than Hollywood blockbusters, and if you're not following the explosion of electric cars in China... A broad choice of product, constantly refreshed. There is excitement about electric cars in China whereas in America not only is half the population against them, "The Wall Street Journal" relishes negative news. But anybody who studies the sphere knows that electric is the future, and without tariffs, Chinese cars would wipe the so-called Big Three off the map nearly instantly. Stay locked in the past to your detriment.
Innovation is always around the corner, which is why you have to see the future and disrupt yourself. But we're not seeing this with the movie studios, not at all.
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Also for being out of touch with the changing world. In all verticals, it's about niches. Narrower products appealing greatly to smaller groups. Instead, the film companies are making generic, broad-based films hoping to reach everybody, and when you try to appeal to everybody, you appeal to nobody.
The world keeps changing and the film studios have not kept up. Not only did they miss the Netflix/streaming tsunami, they have not kept up with the viewing habits of customers. The studios have to provide something that can't be seen at home, something so important that it gets people to leave their houses and go to the theatre just so they can experience the film and have the right to intelligently discuss it thereafter.
However, most of the films being released are not worthy of discussion. Movies as religion has been on the decrease ever since "Jaws." "Jaws" and "Star Wars" showed the riches that can be rained down by a blockbuster, and then the studios only wanted to make blockbusters. This is hurting the major record labels right now. They're releasing fewer records trying to appeal to everybody via marketing and promotion that is no longer as effective as in the past and their market share keeps being eaten by indies. This is a recipe for death. There will always be a couple of big acts, but if you're not in the process of cultivating and releasing high quality, niche product, you're on the road to death.
How come Netflix realizes this and no one else does? Competitors keep criticizing Netflix for its plethora of product. And, of course, not all of it is good, far from it, but it gives the subscriber options, and what I love, that may keep me subscribing, 98% of other Netflix viewers might hate. But that one show for me, and that one show for others, is enough to get us to keep laying down our cash.
Which is different from the film business/theatre exhibition. Look at software, it's gone from a sales model to a subscription model. The transition was wrenching, but Adobe now makes more money, even Microsoft sells its software via subscription. I'm not saying subscription is the right way for film, but I am saying every flick is a heavy lift, getting people off the couch to buy tickets and see movies at set times in an on demand world. In the rest of commerce it's all about knowing your customer and having an ongoing relationship with them, and here film has failed miserably. I go and I'm gone.
And Hollywood believes fads never fade. Just like the music business. Remember when they thought "Guitar Hero" was forever? No, you get in and ride the wave and then get out. Anybody who thought superheroes were forever is just plain dumb. Just like the people who believe since sequels have a built-in audience it's best to pursue that angle. Traditionally sequels do less business, and only a handful of sequels was ever better than the original. Sheeple go to see sequels, and they're dissatisfied after the experience, and therefore less eager to go to a movie in the future.
There's no excitement around movies anymore. It's seen as a business as opposed to an art form. There's not a person in the world who respects David Zaslav, who is so busy cutting to make his numbers that he's undercutting future revenue. And let's not get started with Paramount.
Films sustained after the advent of television because they provided something TV did not. Grit, authenticity, dangerous topics. But then you could get nudity on HBO and then "The Sopranos" was better than anything released in the theatre. And it was a series. Who said filmed entertainment must be a one shot, two hour thing? If you truly hook your audience, you can go on forever. And "The Sopranos" ended. That's the mantra of modern TV, you do it until there are no more storylines. In film, you do it until no one is willing to go to the theatre, long after creativity has left the building.
But it was Covid that put the movies in the dumper. We're never returning back to normal. Covid killed the magazine and the movie. Quick, does your favorite magazine even exist anymore? I've stopped renewing because every time I do the title goes out of business. And the very few that sustain have changed their business model. Used to be you amped up circulation to charge advertisers, in other words you wanted a larger base to get more ad revenue. But that paradigm died. Now the title has to stand on its own, based primarily on subscription revenue. If you want "The New Yorker," it will cost you a minimum of $149.99 a year, prohibitive for the casual reader/fan. Today it's all about finding the dedicated fan and superserving them and charging them for the experience. Who are the dedicated fans of the movie business?
Well, there's a cohort of youngsters who need somewhere to go without supervision. And dying baby boomers who got into the habit in the sixties and seventies. But other than that...
The movies have no vibe, they don't connect overall, which is one reason the Oscars are a poorly rated joke. But it's not only the film business, but the film business infrastructure, i.e. the media hype machine. Do we really care about this competition? The young audience is much more interested in social media influencer culture, but big media abhors it, thinks the smartphone is the devil, and studio heads all think they're Samuel Goldwyn, who's been dead for fifty years, never mind Robert Evans.
Everybody in L.A. used to know the heads of the studios, they were royalty. Today everybody knows Ted Sarandos. An innovator, not riding on fumes, but continuing to innovate, because in tech if you don't, you die.
But studios keep generating more of what came before. As for last summer's "Barbenheimer"...that was a one-off, nearly impossible to replicate. Netflix was built on giving auteurs cash to make their pet projects, ironically the ones studios refused to greenlight. Whereas making a movie for a studio... All you get is interference, if you get the budget to begin with. You've got to change it, as if the brass knows better than the creator.
All to say we are never going back to the past. Many things are not forever. Or if they come back, they do so with a twist. In order to thrive, films must be different, unique, must-see. And they must have legs in conversation. If you want to break a movie today you should platform it, build excitement as it goes from city to city as opposed to opening in thousands of theatres on Friday and being gone in a matter of weeks. Today everything is here today and gone tomorrow. To succeed film must go a different way. Evanescence is anathema to film. Sure, there's anticipation for some movies, but most need marketing, and the best way to do this is to get the audience excited about it and let word of mouth flourish. Stop railing against RottenTomatoes. What next, get rid of the star system on Amazon? It too is imperfect, but eliminate it and business tanks. You're asking people to lay down their money, they're supposed to do so blind? That ship sailed with the advent of the internet.
So in order to survive, theatrical distribution requires many more movies with ever narrower appeal. This doesn't mean that every film will do minor box office. You never know when something niche will blow up wide. Like "March of the Penguins," or "My Octopus Teacher." If you get it right on a narrow basis people who are otherwise uninterested are intrigued. People are looking for excellence, credibility, heart, that's what gets people off the couch, not what they've seen before.
But that formula has been lost. Just like the worldwide success. Native films now do better in mainland China than Hollywood blockbusters, and if you're not following the explosion of electric cars in China... A broad choice of product, constantly refreshed. There is excitement about electric cars in China whereas in America not only is half the population against them, "The Wall Street Journal" relishes negative news. But anybody who studies the sphere knows that electric is the future, and without tariffs, Chinese cars would wipe the so-called Big Three off the map nearly instantly. Stay locked in the past to your detriment.
Innovation is always around the corner, which is why you have to see the future and disrupt yourself. But we're not seeing this with the movie studios, not at all.
--
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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The Chart Is Broken
You can only rip off the public so many times before there is a backlash. Wasn't that one of the drivers of Napster, overpriced CDs with only one good track? People felt entitled to steal, they were sticking it to the man.
And as Howard Stern famously learned in therapy, everybody else doesn't need to lose in order for him to win. Howard now has friends, he's living a happier life, maybe Taylor Swift needs intensive therapy too.
How many weeks has "Tortured Poets Society" been number one? I've got no idea. Only Swift and her minions are aware of this number. Not even her fans know. But Swift needed to deny Billie Elish's new album number one status because..? I can't figure out a reason why.
And is it an album or a collection of streams? In other words, in the old days of sales, an album was an album was an album. But that's not true anymore. Students of the chart realize that the longer an album is, the more tracks it contains, the larger the total number of streams and therefore the higher the chart position, because true fans play the album throughout, and then again. And Swift's album has 31 tracks and Eilish's 10. In other words, we're incentivizing longer albums in most cases for no other reason than chart position and revenue. It's no longer an artistic statement, it's about money, pure and simple.
Maybe you're unaware of this. As many should be. It's inside baseball. How there are umpteen versions of an LP so brain-dead fans caught up in the mania will purchase the same damn record over and over again. You can only listen to one song at one time, no one needs multiple versions of an LP, NO ONE! But now the business is based on selling these items and of course there is money involved, but frequently the main goal is chart position and bragging rights.
And number one doesn't mean what it used to anyway. Number one used to represent ubiquity, the greatest exposure to the most people, you were world-dominant. Not anymore. Today it just means in the plethora of diversions you got the most manipulated attention. The biggest success of the past plus year is Morgan Wallen's "One Thing at a Time," which is still number three all these weeks after release. Showing pure demand, no shenanigans necessary. Then again, "One Thing at a Time" has 36 tracks, if the old system were still in place, where an album was an album was an album would "One Thing at a Time" include so many? OF COURSE NOT!
The business has lost touch with the consumer. Everybody's trying to game the system. The advantage to the customer is nil, you risk backlash. But backlash be damned, I've got to be number one!
And then you've got the outsiders complaining that they can't get paid by Spotify and other streaming outlets, that they must be helped by the government. This is like believing breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster will lower ticket prices. Of course it will not, because it's a matter of supply and demand. And the truth is there are a few acts, well, more than a few, but a limited number, who stream in prodigious numbers and then the rest. But the rest can't accept this. But let me ask you, do you know what Fox News said today? Or in the alternative, MSNBC? For most people it's one or the other. Just like most people are not listening to Taylor Swift whatsoever. And cable news outlets have been decreasing in viewership. You can't have it both ways, reach fewer people and get paid more. Sure, to the winner goes the spoils, but you don't have to be a winner to be successful these days, artistically or financially, but if you're inured to old thinking, locked in the pre-internet era, you refuse to admit this to yourself.
Think of politics. In the old days a heroin addict would have no chance of becoming President, i.e. RFK, Jr. And Trump's court losses would make it impossible for him to win. And the thought that only Biden can beat Trump is a fiction that no one would have gone for previously. But true believers can't be swayed. And today we have great swaths of true believers, and even greater swaths of those who have tuned out and don't care.
Weekly chart numbers are not like Presidential elections. There are no consequences. It's little better than winning your hometown Little League championship. It only matters to those who are paying attention, and those are very few.
And there are a lot of things competing for your attention. And science tells us multitasking is a myth. Everybody can truly do only one thing at one time and there are only twenty four hours in a day. They can't watch sports, listen to music and tune in Netflix simultaneously, something has got to give, but everybody's operating like nothing has changed.
Kudos to Billie Eilish for only including 10 tracks on "Hit Me Hard and Soft." And if you analyze the numbers, Eilish won by a mile. Each cut on her album was streamed 19 million times to Swift's 7. If we say an album is an album is an album, Eilish trounced Swift.
What we need is a consumption chart, especially since most of the vinyl purchases are souvenirs anyway. And we can have total consumption for the week, of all tracks by an artist, or of an album in its entirety, i.e. how many times the complete album is listened to.
But this would veer closer to reality.
Used to be charts impacted sales. Because retailers would order and feature more product. Now that paradigm is dead. What is the chart even for?
Oh, that's right, to stroke the egos of the artists and teams involved. Period.
Except for publicity value. Which means less than ever before. Unless you're in the business you're unaware of this chart nonsense. And who needs more disinformation in their feed anyway?
"Taylor Swift Prevails Over Billie Eilish for a Fifth Week at No. 1"
Free link: https://t.ly/S9udW
And as Howard Stern famously learned in therapy, everybody else doesn't need to lose in order for him to win. Howard now has friends, he's living a happier life, maybe Taylor Swift needs intensive therapy too.
How many weeks has "Tortured Poets Society" been number one? I've got no idea. Only Swift and her minions are aware of this number. Not even her fans know. But Swift needed to deny Billie Elish's new album number one status because..? I can't figure out a reason why.
And is it an album or a collection of streams? In other words, in the old days of sales, an album was an album was an album. But that's not true anymore. Students of the chart realize that the longer an album is, the more tracks it contains, the larger the total number of streams and therefore the higher the chart position, because true fans play the album throughout, and then again. And Swift's album has 31 tracks and Eilish's 10. In other words, we're incentivizing longer albums in most cases for no other reason than chart position and revenue. It's no longer an artistic statement, it's about money, pure and simple.
Maybe you're unaware of this. As many should be. It's inside baseball. How there are umpteen versions of an LP so brain-dead fans caught up in the mania will purchase the same damn record over and over again. You can only listen to one song at one time, no one needs multiple versions of an LP, NO ONE! But now the business is based on selling these items and of course there is money involved, but frequently the main goal is chart position and bragging rights.
And number one doesn't mean what it used to anyway. Number one used to represent ubiquity, the greatest exposure to the most people, you were world-dominant. Not anymore. Today it just means in the plethora of diversions you got the most manipulated attention. The biggest success of the past plus year is Morgan Wallen's "One Thing at a Time," which is still number three all these weeks after release. Showing pure demand, no shenanigans necessary. Then again, "One Thing at a Time" has 36 tracks, if the old system were still in place, where an album was an album was an album would "One Thing at a Time" include so many? OF COURSE NOT!
The business has lost touch with the consumer. Everybody's trying to game the system. The advantage to the customer is nil, you risk backlash. But backlash be damned, I've got to be number one!
And then you've got the outsiders complaining that they can't get paid by Spotify and other streaming outlets, that they must be helped by the government. This is like believing breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster will lower ticket prices. Of course it will not, because it's a matter of supply and demand. And the truth is there are a few acts, well, more than a few, but a limited number, who stream in prodigious numbers and then the rest. But the rest can't accept this. But let me ask you, do you know what Fox News said today? Or in the alternative, MSNBC? For most people it's one or the other. Just like most people are not listening to Taylor Swift whatsoever. And cable news outlets have been decreasing in viewership. You can't have it both ways, reach fewer people and get paid more. Sure, to the winner goes the spoils, but you don't have to be a winner to be successful these days, artistically or financially, but if you're inured to old thinking, locked in the pre-internet era, you refuse to admit this to yourself.
Think of politics. In the old days a heroin addict would have no chance of becoming President, i.e. RFK, Jr. And Trump's court losses would make it impossible for him to win. And the thought that only Biden can beat Trump is a fiction that no one would have gone for previously. But true believers can't be swayed. And today we have great swaths of true believers, and even greater swaths of those who have tuned out and don't care.
Weekly chart numbers are not like Presidential elections. There are no consequences. It's little better than winning your hometown Little League championship. It only matters to those who are paying attention, and those are very few.
And there are a lot of things competing for your attention. And science tells us multitasking is a myth. Everybody can truly do only one thing at one time and there are only twenty four hours in a day. They can't watch sports, listen to music and tune in Netflix simultaneously, something has got to give, but everybody's operating like nothing has changed.
Kudos to Billie Eilish for only including 10 tracks on "Hit Me Hard and Soft." And if you analyze the numbers, Eilish won by a mile. Each cut on her album was streamed 19 million times to Swift's 7. If we say an album is an album is an album, Eilish trounced Swift.
What we need is a consumption chart, especially since most of the vinyl purchases are souvenirs anyway. And we can have total consumption for the week, of all tracks by an artist, or of an album in its entirety, i.e. how many times the complete album is listened to.
But this would veer closer to reality.
Used to be charts impacted sales. Because retailers would order and feature more product. Now that paradigm is dead. What is the chart even for?
Oh, that's right, to stroke the egos of the artists and teams involved. Period.
Except for publicity value. Which means less than ever before. Unless you're in the business you're unaware of this chart nonsense. And who needs more disinformation in their feed anyway?
"Taylor Swift Prevails Over Billie Eilish for a Fifth Week at No. 1"
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Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Mailbag
Re: Bottlerock-Day 3
Had to take a second to comment about the band Cannons (who I am not aware of) and their "live" performance not being entirely live as you mentioned in your Bottle Rock review.
Thank you for calling that out. I have been on a soap box now for years about the massive epidemic of bands playing to tracks. Live shows not being live at all. It floors me how many look the other way at this or are just plain ignorant. In pop the ship has sailed. Remember the outrage when Ashlee Simpson was exposed on SNL? Now today's biggest acts charging thousands for their "live" shows are blatantly lip synching and way more. And most don't even care if they are caught because nobody says anything. It's just the new accepted norm for a live performance to be anything but. How on earth can people spend so much money on a live show only to actually hear a pro tools playback?? What is the point of going to hear a band sing and play live if it's not live and will be exactly the same every single night ?
I deal almost exclusively in the world of rock, where thankfully there are still many truly all live bands. But that genre is also starting to be inundated with track acts. Make no mistake I am not talking about a keyboard or orchestra part in one song. Or some effects, samples or loops. I have no issue with that. But now tons of bands in rock are doing way way more and it blows my mind how people talk about how great they sound. I'd sound great too and I can't play or sing! Also makes me crazy when I hear people say "well everyone does it". WRONG! You know how many acts I talk to who put the work in to play totally live, then on a festival watch a band play to tracks before or after them and have to hear how good they were. It's true madness and why some of the real live bands are starting to speak out. Or at least proudly state there are no "tapes" in their show. Promoters don't seem to care as long as seats are filled. So the only line of defense left is fans and media caring. Someone has to draw a line in the sand with this nonsense. If they don't the beauty of a truly live warts and all concert is going to be quickly behind us. In pop it pretty much is. In rock maybe 50% - 60% gone. And growing. There is absolutely nothing that beats the experience of a truly live rock show. But if people don't start taking a stand it will soon be a rarity and that is truly sad. Let's keep live shows actually LIVE! Seems ridiculous to say but sadly where we are these days.
Eddie Trunk
TrunkNation SiriusXM
__________________________________________
From: Charlie Brusco
Subject: Re: Bottlerock-Day One
Stevie is the Real Deal
.... I remember that every day when I talk to my daughter Rhiannon
Still kind of funny as big as that song is that so many of my daughters teachers could never pronounce her name
Probably same for kids born in the 70's whose parents named them Aja.
Cheers,
Charlie
__________________________________________
Subject: Stephen Sanchez
Morning Bob,
Just read your letter regarding Bottlerock, great festival.
I just Tour Managed Stephen's Australian tour last month, where every single show sold out. He is a generational talent, 21 years old and literally the absolute nicest young man you could ever meet.
I sat and watched him perform every single night and it reminded me of watching Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis all in one. If he smashes album two out of the park, he will be in another stratosphere.
I have never seen anything close to Beatlemania, but after and before every show, that is what it was like, the fans adore him and know how true the talent is.
I'm watching on, hoping that we get to see him take off, as true talent like that is as rare as hens teeth.
Thanks Bob,
TB
Todd Burman
TOUR MANAGEMENT
RIVAL SONS | Ian Munsick | Stephen Sanchez | Morgan Evans
__________________________________________
Subject: Re: Bottlerock-Day 3
Bob,
Really loved reading these daily wrap ups, as I feel the same about the festival itself and every act as you did. You described it perfectly. They do the VIP and Platinum levels brilliantly, but if you're GA, it's still an incredible place to be and watch music. Outside of the music, there are so many other things to do and see to captivate you.
And the food and drinks are levels above the other festivals, because…well, it's Napa. My wife pointed out how friendly and helpful each and every person working there was, and that translated to the attendees as well. And the Culinary Stage is such a great pairing of musicians, chefs, athletes, and other celebs, that it is pretty captivating as well.
Every year I leave that festival, I feel like I just had an incredible experience that you just can't get at any of the others. Bourbon & Beyond comes close though.
Glad you had fun there.
Danny
Danny Cooper
88 Vines Entertainment
__________________________________________
From: John Brodey
Subject: Re: Re-Bill Maher/Television
I didn't think it was just me. I ran into him at Arianna Huffington's house in W. Hollywood during a fundraiser for Barbara Boxer way back. Not a huge gathering. He was alone/ I introduced myself and asked a fairly provocative political question. He looked at me for two seconds, turned around and walked away without a word. An arrogant, self absorbed asshole, as the crowd said.
__________________________________________
From: Romy Glazer
Subject: Community Story -- do you believe in Joe Hendry?
Here's a fun one for you Bob re: community and going deep with your audience.
I'm working with a professional wrestling organization, Total Nonstop Action (TNA - yes, TNA), and we have a Scottish wrestler Joe Hendry whose gimmick is a quasi whitemeat rock star. He writes songs making fun of his opponents. Classic.
His character is a little goofy in-good-fun. When he comes to the ring, his theme is "I believe in Joe Hendry" ::clap, clap:: which gets the fans into it before it turns into a Queen-style ballad.
The song starts with "...say his name and he appears..." so we have often had him pop up randomly on screen when this happens to make the audience crack up. Of course now they've been meme'ing Joe's face into unexpected situations on TikTok, which has turned into a viral moment.
Trying to figure out what to do with this success, Joe released his theme as a single, and rallied his fans to push his theme to the Charts. It's cooled off in the past week, but I think he hit as high as #4 -- ahead of Sabrina Carpenter, Beyonce and more. And now a profile in NME and on the BBC. Proud of the guy.
100% all about getting a groundswell going, and feeding into it.
It may surprise you, but professional wrestling is scripted -- and I wouldn't be surprised if this is the thing that convinces our creative team to put the belt on him, leading to more career success and fun for everyone.
Thanks for all the great insight.
-Romy
__________________________________________
Re: Bottlerock-Day 3
I saw Ed Sheeran at Boston Calling on Friday night with my daughter. She loves him and knows every song.
I was not as familiar with his material. But, after seeing him live, I'm now a fan.
Ty Velde
__________________________________________
Re: Bottlerock-Day 3
Love Cannons, I've listened to that more than any other act this year. Check out some of the music videos on YouTube. They're fun :) I look forward to them!!
Michael Graham
__________________________________________
From: John Hamilton
Re: Bottlerock-Day 3
He Bob -
Appreciate your honest take on things. I probably agree about 60% of the time. But, I appreciate your approach. Digging your take on BottleRock (again, even if I don't agree).
Some of my thoughts:
1.This is my 4th BottleRock with my son (now 11). We took him when he was 3, but this was his first time going all three days. He was a trooper. And had a blast. I refer to BottleRock to my friends as the anit-festival. It's not like any other music festival. Super family friendly. Super chill. I almost wouldn't want to play this festival if I were an artist. I suspect they are paid super well for this festival though. The only I've met a more disinterested crowd at a festival is at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, which is free, so people just show up and sorta listen to music while they play Worldle. It's better than that, but not much better. Still, it's a pretty chill festival as festivals go and it's a great way for me to experience a passion of mine with my son.
2. I hear you on Ed Sheeran. Man, that dude is talented. First time seeing him. My son will tell you his favorite artist of the weekend was his favorite artist, The Kid Laroi. But, he grooved to Ed Sheeran. He was dancing the entire time. And as Eddie Vedder says, "all that's sacred comes from youth." Follow the kids like. And, I love Ed Sheeran's whole vibe. He's an entertainer. He puts on a show. I left a fan and super impressed. I will take my son to see him again, I am sure of it.
3. As you say, Pearl Jam are gods to a certain demo. And I am that demo. If you are a white male gen-xer, you are likely in that demo. And man do they have the crowd feeding from their hand. You probably left in the midst of playing their newer stuff. I love the new album, but it's not Ten for sure. Still, it's the album I needed this year (wreckage and setting sun crush me). It was my son's first time seeing Pearl Jam and it was a highly emotional experience for me. I don't want to push Pearl Jam on anyone. But, it was really the highlight of my weekend to experience singing along to Porch with my son. We sang these words to each other: "Take a good look. This could be the day. Hold my hand. Walk beside me. Oh. I just need to say: I could not take, a-just one day, knowing I would never touch you, hold you, feel you in my arms. Ever again! Again!" I am tearing up just writing that. It was awesome. But, I get it. I think Pearl Jam distinctly speaks to Gen X in a way that only Gen X can possibly get. They don't play for the masses, they play for the fans. For instance, that was a pretty typical festival set. But, they kicked off with Lukin, a hard charging, punk influenced song that is not a hit or even a b-side. They typically open with a few slow songs. In fact, my son was like, "I think they will open fast." And, I was like, "no, they always open slow, unless they are trying to make it special." That's the first time ever they've opened with Lukin. My son's 3rd favorite PJ song. He loved it. And fans loved it. But, I get they are not for everybody. But they were for me and it was awesome.
4. MMJ. I am so glad you got to see them. I never got them until I saw them live at Lolla 2007 (the slot before Pearl Jam actually). They were awesome. And I've been a fan ever since. I hope you got to see Phone Went West. That was a highlight for me. MMJ was the highlight for the weekend for me. And I am a huge Pearl Jam fan.
5. Stevie Nicks was great. I love Stevie. I love Rumours. I am of the belief that Rumours is the best pop album ever made. I love the conversation between Stevie and Lindsay throughout the album. But, Bella Donna makes it clear that Stevie is the star. She is so awesome. I dug her set.
6. My son got to see his favorite artist The Kid Laroi. He is not really my music. But, if you've ever seen someone you loved experience the first time seeing their favorite artist live....well that is just an experience that is worth having regardless of how you feel about the band itself.
7. Nelly was so packed. So so so packed. it was crazy in there.
__________________________________________
From: Peter Clare
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
Your going to get trashed by Pearl Jam fans, and deservedly so, however, the one thing you are right about is the stache. ;-)
__________________________________________
From: Wyllys Ingersoll
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
You're gonna hear a ton of grief from the Pearl Jam die-hards about this one...
They did indeed play a bunch of crowd pleasers in the Bottlerock set - small town, daughter, given to fly, wishlist, even flow, black, crazy mary, alive. Last Kiss is drek to most of the hard core, btw. It's really off-brand for them, I know it went to #1 (their only #1), but it blows.
You are right about Mike M being the stick that stirs that drink, especially the live shows, but it's not fair to tarnish Mother Love Bone - they failed because their singer OD-ed, not for lack of talent.
Your opinions of EV and his facial hair or whatever he was in high school are what they are, your opinions, but you seem to have a special personal dislike for the guy that seems unearned unless there is a story you aren't sharing that would shed light on your animus for the man.
Anyway, as always, I appreciate your writeups even when I don't agree.
Cheers.
__________________________________________
From: Jarred Arfa
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
Don't work with PJ (wish we did) but when you ask where are the songs ? Just checked setlist they played alive , even flow, black, caught up (all ubiquitous songs for anyone listening to music in the 90s) not to mention classic live songs like elderly women, given to fly and courdoroy. My generation didn't get plant, Morrison or Freddy but Eddie is the closest thing we got…
__________________________________________
From: Russ Dugoni
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
Bob-- I was right there with you on Day 2. My Morning Jacket is a band that must be experienced live to "get it". I first saw them in 2007 at the annual Bridge School Benefit and I was really impressed with Jim James. This coming week they are recording their Fillmore shows -- keep am eye out for the finished product.
I too left Pearl Jam early to see Tower of Power with my 2 sons. Tower of Power played my bay area high school in 1971, and I've gone on to see them dozens of times. Their Bottlerock stage was a party!
Pearl Jam is not a band in my wheelhouse, I was not into Grunge. I was born in 55 so perhaps I was too old when Grunge was popular. Keep up the great newsletter! -Russ
__________________________________________
From: Patti Martin
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
Your Eddie Vedder comment…. I could NOT agree more. It's a relief that I'm not the only one. (And we appear to be the same age)
__________________________________________
From: Bob Davis
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
PJ never really had any songs worth a repeat listen.
And Vedder's no more than a mumbler.
__________________________________________
From: Bob Davis
Re: Bottlerock-Day One
L&L comes on the sonos or pandora or whatever (dopamine hit) … i stop what i'm doing and let it wash through me entirely before resuming.
__________________________________________
Re: Bottlerock-Day One
Agree Pete Yorn has largely been disappointing since his great debut over 20 years ago . The material just hasn't been there and it was telling that the covers album he did a couple of years back has the worst version of "Lay Lay Lay" ever recorded. So his choices are questionable.
I can't separate Stevie Nicks from Lindsey Buckingham , he took the raw material and turned it into timeless classics.
Enjoy the rest of the fest
Blair Morgan
__________________________________________
From: Gary Mendel
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2 (Jerry Lee Lewis)
I remember reading that article at the time and being totally shocked. It rang so true. Over the years I've mentioned it to many people but NO ONE seemed to have heard about it/read it. Only recently I spoke about it again, which prompted me to search online for it. It's there alright, so now I have it bookmarked for easy access. A great piece of writing/journalism. It still reads like a horror story... the story of a man who got away with murder.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-strange-and-mysterious-death-of-mrs-jerry-lee-lewis-179980/
Peace
Barry
__________________________________________
From: Alan Childs
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
In your embarrassment upon realizing it was Jos? Andrès , this triggered a memory.
Back in the 90's while on tour, friends & I went to the China Club in L.A. on our night off. I believe it was a Monday & a Jam session night. When we walked in, Rick James was singing and some of my fellow New York musician friends were onstage as the house band.
Having a drink enjoying the music, I looked around and noticed two attractive women & a guy sitting between them. I'm thinking I know the guy. Maybe he's an engineer I worked with at a recording studio. I just couldn't place where we met. After about 15 minutes I walked over to him and introduced myself and asked him if we've ever worked together. He eyed me up & down and said " I don't think so, I would've remembered you." He stood up to shake my hand and said "Nice to meet you, I'm Ron Jeremy." OMG !!!!!! hahahaha.
__________________________________________
Subject: RE: Me On CNBC
Bob
Spot on re your criticism on CNBC of shows in the UK where multiple ticket agencies are selling tickets on the primary market to the same show and have their respective allocations. From a consumer perspective, it's a complete pain in the arse (or "ass" if you prefer on your side of the pond!) to jump through the hoops of going from one agency website to the next in search of the ideal seats. And, entirely unsurprisingly, the ticketing fees borne by the consumer are much of a muchness as between the different agencies. The ticketing grass is not necessarily greener on this side of the Atlantic.
Best wishes
Nick Shilton
Kingmaker Management, London, UK
Had to take a second to comment about the band Cannons (who I am not aware of) and their "live" performance not being entirely live as you mentioned in your Bottle Rock review.
Thank you for calling that out. I have been on a soap box now for years about the massive epidemic of bands playing to tracks. Live shows not being live at all. It floors me how many look the other way at this or are just plain ignorant. In pop the ship has sailed. Remember the outrage when Ashlee Simpson was exposed on SNL? Now today's biggest acts charging thousands for their "live" shows are blatantly lip synching and way more. And most don't even care if they are caught because nobody says anything. It's just the new accepted norm for a live performance to be anything but. How on earth can people spend so much money on a live show only to actually hear a pro tools playback?? What is the point of going to hear a band sing and play live if it's not live and will be exactly the same every single night ?
I deal almost exclusively in the world of rock, where thankfully there are still many truly all live bands. But that genre is also starting to be inundated with track acts. Make no mistake I am not talking about a keyboard or orchestra part in one song. Or some effects, samples or loops. I have no issue with that. But now tons of bands in rock are doing way way more and it blows my mind how people talk about how great they sound. I'd sound great too and I can't play or sing! Also makes me crazy when I hear people say "well everyone does it". WRONG! You know how many acts I talk to who put the work in to play totally live, then on a festival watch a band play to tracks before or after them and have to hear how good they were. It's true madness and why some of the real live bands are starting to speak out. Or at least proudly state there are no "tapes" in their show. Promoters don't seem to care as long as seats are filled. So the only line of defense left is fans and media caring. Someone has to draw a line in the sand with this nonsense. If they don't the beauty of a truly live warts and all concert is going to be quickly behind us. In pop it pretty much is. In rock maybe 50% - 60% gone. And growing. There is absolutely nothing that beats the experience of a truly live rock show. But if people don't start taking a stand it will soon be a rarity and that is truly sad. Let's keep live shows actually LIVE! Seems ridiculous to say but sadly where we are these days.
Eddie Trunk
TrunkNation SiriusXM
__________________________________________
From: Charlie Brusco
Subject: Re: Bottlerock-Day One
Stevie is the Real Deal
.... I remember that every day when I talk to my daughter Rhiannon
Still kind of funny as big as that song is that so many of my daughters teachers could never pronounce her name
Probably same for kids born in the 70's whose parents named them Aja.
Cheers,
Charlie
__________________________________________
Subject: Stephen Sanchez
Morning Bob,
Just read your letter regarding Bottlerock, great festival.
I just Tour Managed Stephen's Australian tour last month, where every single show sold out. He is a generational talent, 21 years old and literally the absolute nicest young man you could ever meet.
I sat and watched him perform every single night and it reminded me of watching Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis all in one. If he smashes album two out of the park, he will be in another stratosphere.
I have never seen anything close to Beatlemania, but after and before every show, that is what it was like, the fans adore him and know how true the talent is.
I'm watching on, hoping that we get to see him take off, as true talent like that is as rare as hens teeth.
Thanks Bob,
TB
Todd Burman
TOUR MANAGEMENT
RIVAL SONS | Ian Munsick | Stephen Sanchez | Morgan Evans
__________________________________________
Subject: Re: Bottlerock-Day 3
Bob,
Really loved reading these daily wrap ups, as I feel the same about the festival itself and every act as you did. You described it perfectly. They do the VIP and Platinum levels brilliantly, but if you're GA, it's still an incredible place to be and watch music. Outside of the music, there are so many other things to do and see to captivate you.
And the food and drinks are levels above the other festivals, because…well, it's Napa. My wife pointed out how friendly and helpful each and every person working there was, and that translated to the attendees as well. And the Culinary Stage is such a great pairing of musicians, chefs, athletes, and other celebs, that it is pretty captivating as well.
Every year I leave that festival, I feel like I just had an incredible experience that you just can't get at any of the others. Bourbon & Beyond comes close though.
Glad you had fun there.
Danny
Danny Cooper
88 Vines Entertainment
__________________________________________
From: John Brodey
Subject: Re: Re-Bill Maher/Television
I didn't think it was just me. I ran into him at Arianna Huffington's house in W. Hollywood during a fundraiser for Barbara Boxer way back. Not a huge gathering. He was alone/ I introduced myself and asked a fairly provocative political question. He looked at me for two seconds, turned around and walked away without a word. An arrogant, self absorbed asshole, as the crowd said.
__________________________________________
From: Romy Glazer
Subject: Community Story -- do you believe in Joe Hendry?
Here's a fun one for you Bob re: community and going deep with your audience.
I'm working with a professional wrestling organization, Total Nonstop Action (TNA - yes, TNA), and we have a Scottish wrestler Joe Hendry whose gimmick is a quasi whitemeat rock star. He writes songs making fun of his opponents. Classic.
His character is a little goofy in-good-fun. When he comes to the ring, his theme is "I believe in Joe Hendry" ::clap, clap:: which gets the fans into it before it turns into a Queen-style ballad.
The song starts with "...say his name and he appears..." so we have often had him pop up randomly on screen when this happens to make the audience crack up. Of course now they've been meme'ing Joe's face into unexpected situations on TikTok, which has turned into a viral moment.
Trying to figure out what to do with this success, Joe released his theme as a single, and rallied his fans to push his theme to the Charts. It's cooled off in the past week, but I think he hit as high as #4 -- ahead of Sabrina Carpenter, Beyonce and more. And now a profile in NME and on the BBC. Proud of the guy.
100% all about getting a groundswell going, and feeding into it.
It may surprise you, but professional wrestling is scripted -- and I wouldn't be surprised if this is the thing that convinces our creative team to put the belt on him, leading to more career success and fun for everyone.
Thanks for all the great insight.
-Romy
__________________________________________
Re: Bottlerock-Day 3
I saw Ed Sheeran at Boston Calling on Friday night with my daughter. She loves him and knows every song.
I was not as familiar with his material. But, after seeing him live, I'm now a fan.
Ty Velde
__________________________________________
Re: Bottlerock-Day 3
Love Cannons, I've listened to that more than any other act this year. Check out some of the music videos on YouTube. They're fun :) I look forward to them!!
Michael Graham
__________________________________________
From: John Hamilton
Re: Bottlerock-Day 3
He Bob -
Appreciate your honest take on things. I probably agree about 60% of the time. But, I appreciate your approach. Digging your take on BottleRock (again, even if I don't agree).
Some of my thoughts:
1.This is my 4th BottleRock with my son (now 11). We took him when he was 3, but this was his first time going all three days. He was a trooper. And had a blast. I refer to BottleRock to my friends as the anit-festival. It's not like any other music festival. Super family friendly. Super chill. I almost wouldn't want to play this festival if I were an artist. I suspect they are paid super well for this festival though. The only I've met a more disinterested crowd at a festival is at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, which is free, so people just show up and sorta listen to music while they play Worldle. It's better than that, but not much better. Still, it's a pretty chill festival as festivals go and it's a great way for me to experience a passion of mine with my son.
2. I hear you on Ed Sheeran. Man, that dude is talented. First time seeing him. My son will tell you his favorite artist of the weekend was his favorite artist, The Kid Laroi. But, he grooved to Ed Sheeran. He was dancing the entire time. And as Eddie Vedder says, "all that's sacred comes from youth." Follow the kids like. And, I love Ed Sheeran's whole vibe. He's an entertainer. He puts on a show. I left a fan and super impressed. I will take my son to see him again, I am sure of it.
3. As you say, Pearl Jam are gods to a certain demo. And I am that demo. If you are a white male gen-xer, you are likely in that demo. And man do they have the crowd feeding from their hand. You probably left in the midst of playing their newer stuff. I love the new album, but it's not Ten for sure. Still, it's the album I needed this year (wreckage and setting sun crush me). It was my son's first time seeing Pearl Jam and it was a highly emotional experience for me. I don't want to push Pearl Jam on anyone. But, it was really the highlight of my weekend to experience singing along to Porch with my son. We sang these words to each other: "Take a good look. This could be the day. Hold my hand. Walk beside me. Oh. I just need to say: I could not take, a-just one day, knowing I would never touch you, hold you, feel you in my arms. Ever again! Again!" I am tearing up just writing that. It was awesome. But, I get it. I think Pearl Jam distinctly speaks to Gen X in a way that only Gen X can possibly get. They don't play for the masses, they play for the fans. For instance, that was a pretty typical festival set. But, they kicked off with Lukin, a hard charging, punk influenced song that is not a hit or even a b-side. They typically open with a few slow songs. In fact, my son was like, "I think they will open fast." And, I was like, "no, they always open slow, unless they are trying to make it special." That's the first time ever they've opened with Lukin. My son's 3rd favorite PJ song. He loved it. And fans loved it. But, I get they are not for everybody. But they were for me and it was awesome.
4. MMJ. I am so glad you got to see them. I never got them until I saw them live at Lolla 2007 (the slot before Pearl Jam actually). They were awesome. And I've been a fan ever since. I hope you got to see Phone Went West. That was a highlight for me. MMJ was the highlight for the weekend for me. And I am a huge Pearl Jam fan.
5. Stevie Nicks was great. I love Stevie. I love Rumours. I am of the belief that Rumours is the best pop album ever made. I love the conversation between Stevie and Lindsay throughout the album. But, Bella Donna makes it clear that Stevie is the star. She is so awesome. I dug her set.
6. My son got to see his favorite artist The Kid Laroi. He is not really my music. But, if you've ever seen someone you loved experience the first time seeing their favorite artist live....well that is just an experience that is worth having regardless of how you feel about the band itself.
7. Nelly was so packed. So so so packed. it was crazy in there.
__________________________________________
From: Peter Clare
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
Your going to get trashed by Pearl Jam fans, and deservedly so, however, the one thing you are right about is the stache. ;-)
__________________________________________
From: Wyllys Ingersoll
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
You're gonna hear a ton of grief from the Pearl Jam die-hards about this one...
They did indeed play a bunch of crowd pleasers in the Bottlerock set - small town, daughter, given to fly, wishlist, even flow, black, crazy mary, alive. Last Kiss is drek to most of the hard core, btw. It's really off-brand for them, I know it went to #1 (their only #1), but it blows.
You are right about Mike M being the stick that stirs that drink, especially the live shows, but it's not fair to tarnish Mother Love Bone - they failed because their singer OD-ed, not for lack of talent.
Your opinions of EV and his facial hair or whatever he was in high school are what they are, your opinions, but you seem to have a special personal dislike for the guy that seems unearned unless there is a story you aren't sharing that would shed light on your animus for the man.
Anyway, as always, I appreciate your writeups even when I don't agree.
Cheers.
__________________________________________
From: Jarred Arfa
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
Don't work with PJ (wish we did) but when you ask where are the songs ? Just checked setlist they played alive , even flow, black, caught up (all ubiquitous songs for anyone listening to music in the 90s) not to mention classic live songs like elderly women, given to fly and courdoroy. My generation didn't get plant, Morrison or Freddy but Eddie is the closest thing we got…
__________________________________________
From: Russ Dugoni
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
Bob-- I was right there with you on Day 2. My Morning Jacket is a band that must be experienced live to "get it". I first saw them in 2007 at the annual Bridge School Benefit and I was really impressed with Jim James. This coming week they are recording their Fillmore shows -- keep am eye out for the finished product.
I too left Pearl Jam early to see Tower of Power with my 2 sons. Tower of Power played my bay area high school in 1971, and I've gone on to see them dozens of times. Their Bottlerock stage was a party!
Pearl Jam is not a band in my wheelhouse, I was not into Grunge. I was born in 55 so perhaps I was too old when Grunge was popular. Keep up the great newsletter! -Russ
__________________________________________
From: Patti Martin
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
Your Eddie Vedder comment…. I could NOT agree more. It's a relief that I'm not the only one. (And we appear to be the same age)
__________________________________________
From: Bob Davis
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
PJ never really had any songs worth a repeat listen.
And Vedder's no more than a mumbler.
__________________________________________
From: Bob Davis
Re: Bottlerock-Day One
L&L comes on the sonos or pandora or whatever (dopamine hit) … i stop what i'm doing and let it wash through me entirely before resuming.
__________________________________________
Re: Bottlerock-Day One
Agree Pete Yorn has largely been disappointing since his great debut over 20 years ago . The material just hasn't been there and it was telling that the covers album he did a couple of years back has the worst version of "Lay Lay Lay" ever recorded. So his choices are questionable.
I can't separate Stevie Nicks from Lindsey Buckingham , he took the raw material and turned it into timeless classics.
Enjoy the rest of the fest
Blair Morgan
__________________________________________
From: Gary Mendel
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2 (Jerry Lee Lewis)
I remember reading that article at the time and being totally shocked. It rang so true. Over the years I've mentioned it to many people but NO ONE seemed to have heard about it/read it. Only recently I spoke about it again, which prompted me to search online for it. It's there alright, so now I have it bookmarked for easy access. A great piece of writing/journalism. It still reads like a horror story... the story of a man who got away with murder.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-strange-and-mysterious-death-of-mrs-jerry-lee-lewis-179980/
Peace
Barry
__________________________________________
From: Alan Childs
Re: Bottlerock-Day 2
In your embarrassment upon realizing it was Jos? Andrès , this triggered a memory.
Back in the 90's while on tour, friends & I went to the China Club in L.A. on our night off. I believe it was a Monday & a Jam session night. When we walked in, Rick James was singing and some of my fellow New York musician friends were onstage as the house band.
Having a drink enjoying the music, I looked around and noticed two attractive women & a guy sitting between them. I'm thinking I know the guy. Maybe he's an engineer I worked with at a recording studio. I just couldn't place where we met. After about 15 minutes I walked over to him and introduced myself and asked him if we've ever worked together. He eyed me up & down and said " I don't think so, I would've remembered you." He stood up to shake my hand and said "Nice to meet you, I'm Ron Jeremy." OMG !!!!!! hahahaha.
__________________________________________
Subject: RE: Me On CNBC
Bob
Spot on re your criticism on CNBC of shows in the UK where multiple ticket agencies are selling tickets on the primary market to the same show and have their respective allocations. From a consumer perspective, it's a complete pain in the arse (or "ass" if you prefer on your side of the pond!) to jump through the hoops of going from one agency website to the next in search of the ideal seats. And, entirely unsurprisingly, the ticketing fees borne by the consumer are much of a muchness as between the different agencies. The ticketing grass is not necessarily greener on this side of the Atlantic.
Best wishes
Nick Shilton
Kingmaker Management, London, UK
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Monday, 27 May 2024
Bottlerock-Day 3
Now THAT'S a headliner!
Bottlerock is so civilized, such a good experience, that you believe it'd be headliner independent. But it is the acts that make the difference, sans known names that appeal to many, you can't sell out. And you need to sell nearly every ticket to make the economics work.
Pearl Jam? To a certain demo they're god,
Stevie Nicks? Truly a legend. A hero to both the young and the old.
Ed Sheeran? Despite all the press, the chart-topping records, today's world is very different from yesteryear, when Pearl Jam and Nicks made their bones. Everyone alive knew their hits. Whereas nothing today is ubiquitous, despite what the press would have you believe. Meaning, how many of these mostly middle-aged attendees are interested in seeing this one man band? ALL OF THEM!
Sheeran is an amazing performer. His personality is such that you like him from minute one, and as the set unfolds you think he's a friend, and by time he's done you feel like you know him. Ed is personable without being cloying. And he calmed down a minor kerfuffle so expertly. Saying this was a mellow festival. Which worked, I mean that's the Bottlerock vibe, no one is elbowing each other, people are apologizing when they bump into you or spill something on you, you'd almost be embarrassed to get your dander up.
And I'm thinking maybe it's because it's dark out. But by time he's done, it's clear that Sheeran's act would even work in the light. You're drawn to him. He's not selling status, there's no wall between him and you, it's all about the experience, the music.
Ed's creating once in a lifetime loops. He explains this...here right now, and then gone forever. And he sings his songs and you don't have to know them to get them. And they are songs in the traditional sense. With verses and choruses... You might see Ed in the Spotify Top 50 but it's not one chord numbers, it's not one voice and machines, it's a guy singing songs in the tradition that has existed since the beginning of time, on an acoustic guitar to boot.
I wandered over to see Queens of the Stone Age in the middle of Ed's set, and there was almost no one there. Must have been disheartening for the band, which was firing on all cylinders.
Stephen Marley was laid back and good, but I couldn't wait to get back to the garden, to Ed's stage. And I started off at the back, and the lawn was completely full. People weren't leaving, he had them in the palm of his hand.
Normally they beat you over the head. And barely speak. You can feel the distance between them and you, the scrim, the untouchability. But not Ed.
Norah Jones? Not dynamic enough to keep your attention. More of a nighttime act. With the sun out your eyes and ears wandered.
I saw this great act Cannons. But it was just a bit too good. So I Shazamed and the tunes came right up, meaning most of the set was on hard drive. The lead singer was live, and had a good voice and some charisma, but come on, they call it LIVE ENTERTAINMENT, can't you live up to the moniker?
Stephen Sanchez was magical. With the right material, he could become a superstar.
But I must mention the Offspring. Rock and roll might not be forever, but punk is. The audience loved them, it was a victory lap. These guys have sustained, they've got a sense of humor, they know their roots, they did "Blitzkrieg Bop," and Ed Sheeran came out to do a number with them to boot. Fine in the daytime. It was a party. It wasn't about gravitas, but joy.
And I ate more oysters than you ever do at a restaurant. That was an absolute highlight of my experience at Bottlerock.
If you're looking for civilized, upscale if you want it, if you want to go to a festival that is truly more than the music, Bottlerock is your place. Everybody who goes knows. I'm just letting you in on the secret.
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Bottlerock is so civilized, such a good experience, that you believe it'd be headliner independent. But it is the acts that make the difference, sans known names that appeal to many, you can't sell out. And you need to sell nearly every ticket to make the economics work.
Pearl Jam? To a certain demo they're god,
Stevie Nicks? Truly a legend. A hero to both the young and the old.
Ed Sheeran? Despite all the press, the chart-topping records, today's world is very different from yesteryear, when Pearl Jam and Nicks made their bones. Everyone alive knew their hits. Whereas nothing today is ubiquitous, despite what the press would have you believe. Meaning, how many of these mostly middle-aged attendees are interested in seeing this one man band? ALL OF THEM!
Sheeran is an amazing performer. His personality is such that you like him from minute one, and as the set unfolds you think he's a friend, and by time he's done you feel like you know him. Ed is personable without being cloying. And he calmed down a minor kerfuffle so expertly. Saying this was a mellow festival. Which worked, I mean that's the Bottlerock vibe, no one is elbowing each other, people are apologizing when they bump into you or spill something on you, you'd almost be embarrassed to get your dander up.
And I'm thinking maybe it's because it's dark out. But by time he's done, it's clear that Sheeran's act would even work in the light. You're drawn to him. He's not selling status, there's no wall between him and you, it's all about the experience, the music.
Ed's creating once in a lifetime loops. He explains this...here right now, and then gone forever. And he sings his songs and you don't have to know them to get them. And they are songs in the traditional sense. With verses and choruses... You might see Ed in the Spotify Top 50 but it's not one chord numbers, it's not one voice and machines, it's a guy singing songs in the tradition that has existed since the beginning of time, on an acoustic guitar to boot.
I wandered over to see Queens of the Stone Age in the middle of Ed's set, and there was almost no one there. Must have been disheartening for the band, which was firing on all cylinders.
Stephen Marley was laid back and good, but I couldn't wait to get back to the garden, to Ed's stage. And I started off at the back, and the lawn was completely full. People weren't leaving, he had them in the palm of his hand.
Normally they beat you over the head. And barely speak. You can feel the distance between them and you, the scrim, the untouchability. But not Ed.
Norah Jones? Not dynamic enough to keep your attention. More of a nighttime act. With the sun out your eyes and ears wandered.
I saw this great act Cannons. But it was just a bit too good. So I Shazamed and the tunes came right up, meaning most of the set was on hard drive. The lead singer was live, and had a good voice and some charisma, but come on, they call it LIVE ENTERTAINMENT, can't you live up to the moniker?
Stephen Sanchez was magical. With the right material, he could become a superstar.
But I must mention the Offspring. Rock and roll might not be forever, but punk is. The audience loved them, it was a victory lap. These guys have sustained, they've got a sense of humor, they know their roots, they did "Blitzkrieg Bop," and Ed Sheeran came out to do a number with them to boot. Fine in the daytime. It was a party. It wasn't about gravitas, but joy.
And I ate more oysters than you ever do at a restaurant. That was an absolute highlight of my experience at Bottlerock.
If you're looking for civilized, upscale if you want it, if you want to go to a festival that is truly more than the music, Bottlerock is your place. Everybody who goes knows. I'm just letting you in on the secret.
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Sunday, 26 May 2024
Bottlerock-Day 2
1
So Pearl Jam has left the stage and I'm standing by the soundboard talking to Dave Graham, one of the three majordomos of Bottlerock, and these two guys approach us, shake our hands and then all three start speaking Spanish. I was stunned that Dave was fluent, I was catching an occasional word from my high school days, but mostly I was beatifically assessing the departing multitudes.
But this white-haired guy, he asks me where I'm from, I say L.A. and then ask him where he's located. He says Washington, D.C., which is very odd for someone in the rock and roll business. Oh, did I mention that next weekend the Bottlerock guys are doing a Latin festival? I thought these two were their partners. Makes sense, right? But D.C. did not. So that was the end of the conversation. Well, I asked him why he lived in D.C. and he gave me a stare that I decided I was best not responding to.
After five minutes went by, we're waiting for Pearl Jam to clear out backstage, we started walking towards the Latitude 38 pavilion right outside the grounds of the festival, this is the backstage for the fans of the promoter.
So we're walking down the fenced-in gauntlet towards the stage and this white-haired guy wants to talk about me. Like maybe he knows who I am? This is hard for me to believe, but I just play along.
And then he says he's opening two new restaurants in L.A. and I've got to come. And that's when I realize this white-haired guy is JOSÉ ANDRÉS!
And now I'm embarrassed, I don't want to look like a total schlemiel, so I tell José I ate at his restaurant in the Hotel Nikko, and how great it was, and it was! And now José starts telling me the history, how the dining spot is now closed, but we've still got a while before we reach the exit, and he's right by me, and once again, I'm trying not to look like a complete imbecile, am I the only person who doesn't recognize this guy? So I ask José about Gaza.
Whereupon he stops, puts his arm around my shoulder, and tells me he lost seven people there. I KNOW!
And then he starts talking about writing for "Haaretz." About doing an editorial for them. And I'm not quite following, thinking this guy is asking me to write an editorial? I mean does he really know who I am? But then it's clear that he's talking about an editorial HE wrote for "Haaretz." And that I should read it.
Meanwhile, he doesn't take his arm from my shoulder.
But I am Gaza-fluent. And this guy was there. José told me how he flew to Israel right after October 7th, and how horrible the attack was. But now he was concerned with Israel's response.
And now we're in a full-blown discussion. Which lasts until we get to the Latitude 38 compound. And we stand outside talking until they implore us to come inside, where we stand by the pizza station and José starts scarfing slices, which kind of amazes me, because this guy isn't overweight in the least.
And people are coming up to get José's attention but he's not taking his eyes off me. And I'm completely confused, why is José so interested in talking to ME?
I figure he's going to drop off any minute now, to just hang in until then. But an hour goes by. I'm kind of pinching myself. José Andrés wants to spend all this time with ME?
And José's main position is the war needs to stop. Hamas has to give back the hostages, and then Israel needs to invest in Gaza. José says only a long term solution will work. And it strikes me that he is on the right track more than Biden or Tom Friedman, who keep on insisting on a two-state solution that has been rejected time and again by the Palestinians.
But José thinks that Saudi Arabia and Jordan can broker peace, that it's in their interest.
But will Hamas ever give up the hostages?
We both agree they won't, but Andrés thinks Hamas can't be eradicated by the Israelis anyway. As far as the polls showing Gazan support for Hamas... José tells me the numbers are wrong, Gazans are afraid to come out against Hamas for fear of retaliation.
And all of José's ideas are good. But I tell him we need a leader, someone to step in and broker peace. José starts talking about the U.N., but that body's neutrality has left the station.
And eventually I shift gears to Ukraine, where José has been too, and then it strikes me, when it comes to these conflicts, especially Gaza, no one has as high a profile as he does other than Biden and Netanyahu. I tell José his status, his power, which he doesn't believe, probably because he's in the eye of the hurricane.
And he says the protests on campus are a small minority.
But I say they have made Biden blink.
And finally, it's too much. I'm just some schlepper and José Andrés is spending all this time with ME?
So I make statement about setting him free to talk to other people, and eventually we break up the confab.
Until half an hour later, when just before he leaves, José comes over to where I'm sitting, puts his hand on my back, looks me straight in the eye, and testifies as to our bond and tells me to be sure to spread the word on what he thinks.
WHEW!
2
Which made up for my experience in the Latitude 38 compound just before Pearl Jam hit the stage.
I got a Diet Coke from the bartender, there's only a fifty foot walk between me and the exit, to freedom, and who do I see blocking my way?
Pete Yorn. And his brother Rick. And Ross Zapin. And they want to talk about how I dissed Pete earlier in the day.
And now I'm mortified. Pete was cool, yet his brother and Ross were not. They kept needling me, pushing me. And then they force me to say what the problem was, why I dissed Pete.
I told them he was doing a rock show on a big stage when his act was more intimate. I'm just trying to navigate, trying to escape.
But that's not enough. "Did I see the whole show?" They want to go deep.
And now I'm saying that if I only write positive things I'll lose my credibility, and it made no sense to step on the undercard acts that weren't going anywhere anyway.
But it still wasn't enough. Once again, I must stress that Pete himself was cool. We were having a discussion creator to creator, artist to artist, but his bodyguards...
And now I can't see any way out of this. So I wind up and I tell them that this was my opinion... And I can see in their eyes this is not resonating, believing I was doubling-down, but then I said that I wasn't necessarily right, which seemed to satisfy them, bring on some smiles, but WHEW!
3
I got there in time to see Holly Humberstone. I was kind of shocked how young she was. Video online is one thing, real life is another. But she was playing the guitar and it was all really good. Her band was together. There were no airs. I was wondering if she was a one hit wonder, but she is not, at least in my eyes.
As for My Morning Jacket... I finally get it. You've got to see them live. They're incredibly tight and powerful.
Now in the old days, and I'm talking about back to 1968, when FM underground rock began, it was all about having that one track that crossed over, to AM, the mainstream, that lifted the boat of the act, that broadened their career, that made them legendary. As big as the Allman Brothers were after "Fillmore East," and they were really big, it wasn't until two years later and "Ramblin' Man" that they became ubiquitous.
And Cream was a cult band until "Sunshine of Your Love" crossed over.
But there's no crossing over for rock bands today, even if you write a track that might have crossed over in the past. Oftentimes an act could only do it once, but once was enough.
So I haven't heard a crossover song from My Morning Jacket, if one even exists, but it doesn't matter. This band is earning its living on the road. And one show and you're a fan.
As for T-Pain... That was kind of astounding. Are that many people interested in Mr. Auto-Tune?
I mean it's just him and a deejay. But he lights up the crowd IMMEDIATELY! They're waving their hands in the air, they're really into it, as if a whole band on stage was in overdrive, but there wasn't, just the deejay and T-Pain.
As for Pearl Jam...
It's a Gen-X thing, and I'm a boomer. They had the audience in the palm of their hand. But can I be a heretic and ask where all the memorable songs are? And can I say that Eddie Vedder bugs me?
But having said that, Mike McCready is amazing, the element that pushes Pearl Jam over the top. I can see why Mother Love Bone never made it, he was not in it. As for Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard...they are rock solid. And Matt Cameron too.
I guess that article in "Rolling Stone"... No one remembers this stuff anymore, like the exposé on Jerry Lee Lewis, he was anything but a hero. And when Pearl Jam blew up Eddie Vedder wouldn't do an interview so the magazine decided to do the story without him. And it was a complete contradiction of the crap he'd been spewing. He was not some isolated loner, but the most popular guy in his high school. Wow, let me dig the hole a little deeper...the MOUSTACHE? He's a man, he's entitled, but it doesn't ring true on his baby face.
As for the duet with Bradley Cooper... The guy's a movie star, what has that got to do with Pearl Jam? Considered to be the most credible act of the weekend, everybody was buzzing, they couldn't wait to see them, they were jamming to them, but I...
Left in the middle to go see Tower of Power.
Now let me tell you this... If Tower of Power had been on the main stage heads would have blown off, they're just that powerful, just that good. And new frontman Jordan John is akin to Arnel in Journey. But John's voice is even better, and he can play too!
And when that five man brass section starts to play... You remember from "Waiting For Columbus," THE TOWER OF POWER HORNS! Ah, now that was a number, Little Feat's "Spanish Moon." Tower of Power is funky in a way that Pearl Jam is not.
Not that I don't respect Pearl Jam. But when I sauntered over to the Prudential Stage to see Tower of Power, I fell into the groove immediately. With a small scrum of others.
And then I went over to the Verizon stage to see Kali Uchis. I didn't get it at all. Big production, very twenty first century, dancers, a set, the whole thing. I guess for me the music is enough when done right, but I stayed for a few numbers and I never got it.
So I went back to Tower of Power and I timed it perfectly, they started introducing the one number I needed to hear, "What Is Hip?"
"So ya wanna dump out yo' trick bag
Ease on in a hip thang
But you ain't exactly sure what is hip
So you started to let your hair grow
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe
Somehow, ya know there's much more to the trip"
When everybody grew their hair out in college, I cut mine off. When everbody bought a leisure suit, I did not. Hip is on the inside, never forget it.
"You became a part of a new breed
Been smokin' only the best weed
Hangin' out with the so called 'Hippie set'
Seen in all the right places
Seen with just the right faces
You should be satisfied, but it ain't quite right"
Now more than ever, in the days of Instagram. Where you've been, who you've hung with, once again, it's all about the exterior, and it seems the rich are the worst offenders.
"You went an' found you a guru
In an effort to find you a new you
And maybe even raise your conscious level
While you're striving to find the right road
There's one thing you should know
'What's hip today, might become passé"
Ain't that the truth. Are you a follower or a leader? We need more of the latter.
And R&B is forever.
But then I cut out to catch the end of Pearl Jam, who are legendary for inserting covers in their encores. But I missed the one song I needed to hear, "Last Kiss."
But you can't do it all. The sooner you learn that the better. Life is about surprises.
Until then...
Pearl Jam ended with "Rockin' in the Free World."
All these years later and Neil Young is still the oracle.
Looks like we're never going to get back to the garden. What Neil and Stephen and Joni and the rest were doing... That was more than entertainment, that was the pulse of life and the culture. And those songs live on, but unless you were there you've got no idea of their power. If you wanted to know which way the wind blew, you listened to a record. Can you imagine listening to Ariana Grande? Or Justin Timberlake? Both of whom are hit-dependent, there are a limited number of hard core fans, their recent projects tanked, no matter what the hype.
And hip-hop used to be the sound of the streets. Now it's all about a trumped up rap war. Kind of a cartoon, don't you think?
But our music used to be dead serious. Oh, there was humor and attitude, but that brings us back to the question of the day...
WHAT IS HIP?
P.S. It's Grace BOWERS, not POWERS!
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So Pearl Jam has left the stage and I'm standing by the soundboard talking to Dave Graham, one of the three majordomos of Bottlerock, and these two guys approach us, shake our hands and then all three start speaking Spanish. I was stunned that Dave was fluent, I was catching an occasional word from my high school days, but mostly I was beatifically assessing the departing multitudes.
But this white-haired guy, he asks me where I'm from, I say L.A. and then ask him where he's located. He says Washington, D.C., which is very odd for someone in the rock and roll business. Oh, did I mention that next weekend the Bottlerock guys are doing a Latin festival? I thought these two were their partners. Makes sense, right? But D.C. did not. So that was the end of the conversation. Well, I asked him why he lived in D.C. and he gave me a stare that I decided I was best not responding to.
After five minutes went by, we're waiting for Pearl Jam to clear out backstage, we started walking towards the Latitude 38 pavilion right outside the grounds of the festival, this is the backstage for the fans of the promoter.
So we're walking down the fenced-in gauntlet towards the stage and this white-haired guy wants to talk about me. Like maybe he knows who I am? This is hard for me to believe, but I just play along.
And then he says he's opening two new restaurants in L.A. and I've got to come. And that's when I realize this white-haired guy is JOSÉ ANDRÉS!
And now I'm embarrassed, I don't want to look like a total schlemiel, so I tell José I ate at his restaurant in the Hotel Nikko, and how great it was, and it was! And now José starts telling me the history, how the dining spot is now closed, but we've still got a while before we reach the exit, and he's right by me, and once again, I'm trying not to look like a complete imbecile, am I the only person who doesn't recognize this guy? So I ask José about Gaza.
Whereupon he stops, puts his arm around my shoulder, and tells me he lost seven people there. I KNOW!
And then he starts talking about writing for "Haaretz." About doing an editorial for them. And I'm not quite following, thinking this guy is asking me to write an editorial? I mean does he really know who I am? But then it's clear that he's talking about an editorial HE wrote for "Haaretz." And that I should read it.
Meanwhile, he doesn't take his arm from my shoulder.
But I am Gaza-fluent. And this guy was there. José told me how he flew to Israel right after October 7th, and how horrible the attack was. But now he was concerned with Israel's response.
And now we're in a full-blown discussion. Which lasts until we get to the Latitude 38 compound. And we stand outside talking until they implore us to come inside, where we stand by the pizza station and José starts scarfing slices, which kind of amazes me, because this guy isn't overweight in the least.
And people are coming up to get José's attention but he's not taking his eyes off me. And I'm completely confused, why is José so interested in talking to ME?
I figure he's going to drop off any minute now, to just hang in until then. But an hour goes by. I'm kind of pinching myself. José Andrés wants to spend all this time with ME?
And José's main position is the war needs to stop. Hamas has to give back the hostages, and then Israel needs to invest in Gaza. José says only a long term solution will work. And it strikes me that he is on the right track more than Biden or Tom Friedman, who keep on insisting on a two-state solution that has been rejected time and again by the Palestinians.
But José thinks that Saudi Arabia and Jordan can broker peace, that it's in their interest.
But will Hamas ever give up the hostages?
We both agree they won't, but Andrés thinks Hamas can't be eradicated by the Israelis anyway. As far as the polls showing Gazan support for Hamas... José tells me the numbers are wrong, Gazans are afraid to come out against Hamas for fear of retaliation.
And all of José's ideas are good. But I tell him we need a leader, someone to step in and broker peace. José starts talking about the U.N., but that body's neutrality has left the station.
And eventually I shift gears to Ukraine, where José has been too, and then it strikes me, when it comes to these conflicts, especially Gaza, no one has as high a profile as he does other than Biden and Netanyahu. I tell José his status, his power, which he doesn't believe, probably because he's in the eye of the hurricane.
And he says the protests on campus are a small minority.
But I say they have made Biden blink.
And finally, it's too much. I'm just some schlepper and José Andrés is spending all this time with ME?
So I make statement about setting him free to talk to other people, and eventually we break up the confab.
Until half an hour later, when just before he leaves, José comes over to where I'm sitting, puts his hand on my back, looks me straight in the eye, and testifies as to our bond and tells me to be sure to spread the word on what he thinks.
WHEW!
2
Which made up for my experience in the Latitude 38 compound just before Pearl Jam hit the stage.
I got a Diet Coke from the bartender, there's only a fifty foot walk between me and the exit, to freedom, and who do I see blocking my way?
Pete Yorn. And his brother Rick. And Ross Zapin. And they want to talk about how I dissed Pete earlier in the day.
And now I'm mortified. Pete was cool, yet his brother and Ross were not. They kept needling me, pushing me. And then they force me to say what the problem was, why I dissed Pete.
I told them he was doing a rock show on a big stage when his act was more intimate. I'm just trying to navigate, trying to escape.
But that's not enough. "Did I see the whole show?" They want to go deep.
And now I'm saying that if I only write positive things I'll lose my credibility, and it made no sense to step on the undercard acts that weren't going anywhere anyway.
But it still wasn't enough. Once again, I must stress that Pete himself was cool. We were having a discussion creator to creator, artist to artist, but his bodyguards...
And now I can't see any way out of this. So I wind up and I tell them that this was my opinion... And I can see in their eyes this is not resonating, believing I was doubling-down, but then I said that I wasn't necessarily right, which seemed to satisfy them, bring on some smiles, but WHEW!
3
I got there in time to see Holly Humberstone. I was kind of shocked how young she was. Video online is one thing, real life is another. But she was playing the guitar and it was all really good. Her band was together. There were no airs. I was wondering if she was a one hit wonder, but she is not, at least in my eyes.
As for My Morning Jacket... I finally get it. You've got to see them live. They're incredibly tight and powerful.
Now in the old days, and I'm talking about back to 1968, when FM underground rock began, it was all about having that one track that crossed over, to AM, the mainstream, that lifted the boat of the act, that broadened their career, that made them legendary. As big as the Allman Brothers were after "Fillmore East," and they were really big, it wasn't until two years later and "Ramblin' Man" that they became ubiquitous.
And Cream was a cult band until "Sunshine of Your Love" crossed over.
But there's no crossing over for rock bands today, even if you write a track that might have crossed over in the past. Oftentimes an act could only do it once, but once was enough.
So I haven't heard a crossover song from My Morning Jacket, if one even exists, but it doesn't matter. This band is earning its living on the road. And one show and you're a fan.
As for T-Pain... That was kind of astounding. Are that many people interested in Mr. Auto-Tune?
I mean it's just him and a deejay. But he lights up the crowd IMMEDIATELY! They're waving their hands in the air, they're really into it, as if a whole band on stage was in overdrive, but there wasn't, just the deejay and T-Pain.
As for Pearl Jam...
It's a Gen-X thing, and I'm a boomer. They had the audience in the palm of their hand. But can I be a heretic and ask where all the memorable songs are? And can I say that Eddie Vedder bugs me?
But having said that, Mike McCready is amazing, the element that pushes Pearl Jam over the top. I can see why Mother Love Bone never made it, he was not in it. As for Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard...they are rock solid. And Matt Cameron too.
I guess that article in "Rolling Stone"... No one remembers this stuff anymore, like the exposé on Jerry Lee Lewis, he was anything but a hero. And when Pearl Jam blew up Eddie Vedder wouldn't do an interview so the magazine decided to do the story without him. And it was a complete contradiction of the crap he'd been spewing. He was not some isolated loner, but the most popular guy in his high school. Wow, let me dig the hole a little deeper...the MOUSTACHE? He's a man, he's entitled, but it doesn't ring true on his baby face.
As for the duet with Bradley Cooper... The guy's a movie star, what has that got to do with Pearl Jam? Considered to be the most credible act of the weekend, everybody was buzzing, they couldn't wait to see them, they were jamming to them, but I...
Left in the middle to go see Tower of Power.
Now let me tell you this... If Tower of Power had been on the main stage heads would have blown off, they're just that powerful, just that good. And new frontman Jordan John is akin to Arnel in Journey. But John's voice is even better, and he can play too!
And when that five man brass section starts to play... You remember from "Waiting For Columbus," THE TOWER OF POWER HORNS! Ah, now that was a number, Little Feat's "Spanish Moon." Tower of Power is funky in a way that Pearl Jam is not.
Not that I don't respect Pearl Jam. But when I sauntered over to the Prudential Stage to see Tower of Power, I fell into the groove immediately. With a small scrum of others.
And then I went over to the Verizon stage to see Kali Uchis. I didn't get it at all. Big production, very twenty first century, dancers, a set, the whole thing. I guess for me the music is enough when done right, but I stayed for a few numbers and I never got it.
So I went back to Tower of Power and I timed it perfectly, they started introducing the one number I needed to hear, "What Is Hip?"
"So ya wanna dump out yo' trick bag
Ease on in a hip thang
But you ain't exactly sure what is hip
So you started to let your hair grow
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe
Somehow, ya know there's much more to the trip"
When everybody grew their hair out in college, I cut mine off. When everbody bought a leisure suit, I did not. Hip is on the inside, never forget it.
"You became a part of a new breed
Been smokin' only the best weed
Hangin' out with the so called 'Hippie set'
Seen in all the right places
Seen with just the right faces
You should be satisfied, but it ain't quite right"
Now more than ever, in the days of Instagram. Where you've been, who you've hung with, once again, it's all about the exterior, and it seems the rich are the worst offenders.
"You went an' found you a guru
In an effort to find you a new you
And maybe even raise your conscious level
While you're striving to find the right road
There's one thing you should know
'What's hip today, might become passé"
Ain't that the truth. Are you a follower or a leader? We need more of the latter.
And R&B is forever.
But then I cut out to catch the end of Pearl Jam, who are legendary for inserting covers in their encores. But I missed the one song I needed to hear, "Last Kiss."
But you can't do it all. The sooner you learn that the better. Life is about surprises.
Until then...
Pearl Jam ended with "Rockin' in the Free World."
All these years later and Neil Young is still the oracle.
Looks like we're never going to get back to the garden. What Neil and Stephen and Joni and the rest were doing... That was more than entertainment, that was the pulse of life and the culture. And those songs live on, but unless you were there you've got no idea of their power. If you wanted to know which way the wind blew, you listened to a record. Can you imagine listening to Ariana Grande? Or Justin Timberlake? Both of whom are hit-dependent, there are a limited number of hard core fans, their recent projects tanked, no matter what the hype.
And hip-hop used to be the sound of the streets. Now it's all about a trumped up rap war. Kind of a cartoon, don't you think?
But our music used to be dead serious. Oh, there was humor and attitude, but that brings us back to the question of the day...
WHAT IS HIP?
P.S. It's Grace BOWERS, not POWERS!
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