"Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away"
https://bit.ly/4p9mcHe
I wanted to write about this book because of the endless stream of CEOs... People have this idea that Patagonia has always been smooth-sailing, but that is not the truth. Yes, the company was started by Yvon Chouinard, but what people don't realize is this visionary is a mercurial man who has contempt for his workers... Yes, you hear all about the surfing breaks, but Chouinard keeps believing his workers are slackers and don't deliver.
Meanwhile, he doesn't want to be hands-on. He's always off on extended wilderness trips and then he comes back and cocks up the works, having no idea how the company is run, never mind not always having good ideas.
There's this belief that the success of these companies is linear, once they catch fire it's onwards and upwards, but not with Patagonia.
Chouinard was a climber who was dissatisfied by the day's pitons who became a blacksmith so he could make better ones. But once he gained traction, he was horrified at the results...scarring of the rock walls, so he killed his own business, just like Clayton Christensen said to do in "The Innovator's Dilemma" and switched everybody to chocks... Putting his business in jeopardy, but changing the entire sport for the better in the process.
Not that every innovation was linear. He decided to use organic cotton... Which gummed up the works, literally, and colors faded and... God, you read this book and all the failures of Patagonia are pointed out and you almost wonder how the company survived (and at one point it almost didn't), since Patagonia prides itself on quality products sold at a premium price.
I first heard of them in Utah, back in '75, my housemate had these pants he got from the Great Pacific Iron Works... He couldn't stop testifying about them, even though they were baggy and the opposite of the skiwear of the day, and Tom kept saying this guy Yvon Chouinard was a visionary manufacturer but I thought he was just another Frenchman yet it turned out he grew up in Southern California...
And then I heard about Synchilla. The initial fleece. Which I bought in the early eighties, when almost no one had heard of Patagonia... In truth, the jacket was boxy and not exactly form-fitting, but I testified about its warmth even when wet and then a few years later fleece was everywhere...still is.
And I've bought a lot of Patagonia stuff, but it's become somewhat of a cult, and I'm not enamored of all its members... You see them on the slope, they wear this boxy stuff that is layered... I guess it would be okay if they didn't look down on the rest of us. I mean the stuff is functional...but far from the height of style...
But I was hiking at Vail a summer ago and it started to rain and I was kind of enjoying it, figuring my Marmot jacket was protecting me, but when I got back to the condo...I couldn't warm up. Hard to believe, but I had symptoms of hypothermia, I started to freak out, I jumped into the shower and had to stand there for minutes before my body temperature rose. That's when I decided I needed a better rain jacket.
So I did the research. And all agreed that this Patagonia jacket was definitive. And it was in stock in Vail, but not sure what color I wanted I went to the website to see the range of possibilities and found out it was ON SALE ONLINE! List was $179, but it was offered for $124.99 and I clicked to buy it and I've been pondering writing about it ever since, telling you about it, and here is my opportunity.
Unlike the lightweight Marmot jacket I had and the North Face one before, this Patagonia Torrentshell 3L actually keeps the water out. (However, it is a bit thicker, a bit stiffer, so not as squeezable/packable as the competitors, but it keeps you DRY!)
https://www.patagonia.com/product/mens-torrentshell-3-layer-rain-jacket/85241.html
I guess I've got one foot in the cult.
Anyway, Chouinard famously "gave away" Patagonia, but I was more interested in what came before.
And reading this book I realized Chouinard was a rock star. He had a vision and it had to be done his way. He refused to go public, take outside money, because he knew it would mess with the business. And how much money did he need anyway? He's the opposite of the titans you see in the news, accumulating ad infinitum. And at this point people know the story, but they don't know how difficult, even headstrong Chouinard is.
And people don't like controlling, headstrong people. Which is why if you are one, you can't play nice, you've got to find a lane where you can operate unhindered. In a country where everybody wants you to get along. And to play by the rules. Chouinard is the antithesis of this. He's all about conservation, saving the planet, and if his minions get arrested protesting corporation/government overreach, he supports them...even when it's bad for his business.
Don't read this book to learn how to emulate him. Chouinard is one of a kind.
But know you don't have to do it their way.
Then again, Chouinard seems to be the only person doing it his way.
--
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Saturday, 29 November 2025
New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7MhDU9xSWM1LPQGPFkAEJC?si=fe45f90ec6dd4665
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09CrTp6wGH0
I was assembling a radio playlist and thought to include this Simple Minds song...
And then I pulled it up and played it. And I was reminded of how it was hazy. Like the fog blanketing a river in Scotland. There was something out there, something intriguing, something that demanded my attention, but I couldn't quite see it clearly.
And then came that change... It starts around 1:02. When you expect the track to amp up, go for victory, it drops down, becomes subtle, focuses on the heart as opposed to the genitalia. It's magic.
I bought the album because of "Promised You a Miracle," which you heard on the radio dial way up at 106.7, KROQ, now rebranded the Roq of the '80's, even though it had previously been the last free format station on the Los Angeles rock radio dial.
This was something new, this was Top 40 of the new wave. That's right, the playlist was short, and repetitive, but only new songs were played, mostly from the U.K., which had leapfrogged a U.S. decimated by the death of disco and classic rock simultaneously. There were synthesizers, new sounds, and ultimately two tracks that traditional AOR wouldn't play that won the hearts and minds of Los Angeles, in the process eclipsing what had been and replacing it with something brand new, i.e. "Tainted Love" and then "Don't You Want Me."
It started in Los Angeles. Sure, CBGB was the sound of the late seventies, a New York thing, with the two breakout acts, Blondie and the Talking Heads, and a plethora of others, like Television, and the west coast coughed up the Knack and a bunch of new wave popsters, but then the slate was wiped clean by this new U.K. sound.
And once the doors were blasted open...all kinds of things broke through, like Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough," talk about infectious.
Something was happening here. Actually, it was happening in England, but on the west coast a radio station in Pasadena carried the flag and started a movement that ultimately spread to MTV, where one after another English act broke through and dominated, and the KROQ talent ended up programming the music television outlet and appearing in front of the camera too.
But there was a moment...
This was after the return of ska at the end of the seventies. Definitely an L.A. thing. Big, to the point where there were ska acts in Orange County... Were there any on the east coast? I never heard of any.
But with KROQ's new programming there was an injection of excitement, adrenaline into the entire music ecosystem. You had to go to the store to comb the new releases, and you were addicted to the radio...people talked about these records, which oftentimes featured humor, this was a twist on the irreverence of the sixties.
And if you liked a single, you bought the album, which is how I ended up with Simple Minds' American first.
Which came on gold vinyl. If you bought it early enough, that was one of the perks. But not as well-publicized as this perk was that this colored vinyl didn't sound quite as good as the usual black product. It was a bit thinner...so all you could do was CRANK IT UP!
That was a legacy of the seventies, turning up the music loud. By the nineties music reproduction was relegated to the all-in-one not much better than a boombox device. Which was cheap and better than the crap of yore, but not too good. The stereo chains declared bankruptcy or went upscale, but...
Before that... You'd come home and break the shrinkwrap on your new album and just wait for a track to break out. That's what you're looking for, that's what gets you to play an album again, that one cut that grabs you the first time through, and for me it was the title track of "New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)," which opened the second side. You see it was exotic and hypnotic. You were transported from everyday life into the ether...
Very different from today. We knew the acts wanted to make money, but they weren't constantly dunning us for it. They were about testing limits more than commerce. And the marketplace was open for it, especially in the optimistic eighties of the U.S.A.
Now it wasn't long before Simple Minds had a hit. From "The Breakfast Club." Keith Forsey's "Don't You (Forget About Me)," which the band performed on the "Breakfast Club" soundtrack. Bringing the band reluctantly to the forefront. It had done what the label had wanted, but despite its success, the band was uneasy about this breakthrough, after all they didn't write it and it didn't fully represent the band's ethos and sound.
There was MTV success thereafter. But always eclipsed by that one big hit.
But if you dug a bit deeper...there was "Alive and Kicking," but even more..."Waterfront," "Sanctify Yourself" and the majestic "Let There Be Love."
But it all started with that one 1982 album, the band's sixth, but its first in America.
There was a darkness. Because if you picked up a U.K. act from the era, underneath it you found Thatcherism and struggle and...
"81-82-83-84"...
What exactly were they singing about?
Before Prince and "1999," the big anticipated year was 1984, George Orwell's line of demarcation. What were we heading for...
But one thing was for sure, these new U.K. acts had their eyes open, they were not wearing blinders, they had opinions on everything and they let them fly.
Along with these new sounds.
This was beyond the syndrum, beyond the one note synthesizers of the seventies. This was a miasma of electronica, yet underpinned by humanity, this was not music that could be made all by your lonesome in your bedroom...
So I hear that change earlier today and there was only one thing to do...
CRANK IT UP!
And when I did, there was this rumbling bass... Not quite a herd of elephants, but close...
This was a band. Not an act compromised by someone else's vision, not concocted by committee, made for commerce, Simple Minds and their brethren wanted to have an impact...AND THEY DID!
--
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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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09CrTp6wGH0
I was assembling a radio playlist and thought to include this Simple Minds song...
And then I pulled it up and played it. And I was reminded of how it was hazy. Like the fog blanketing a river in Scotland. There was something out there, something intriguing, something that demanded my attention, but I couldn't quite see it clearly.
And then came that change... It starts around 1:02. When you expect the track to amp up, go for victory, it drops down, becomes subtle, focuses on the heart as opposed to the genitalia. It's magic.
I bought the album because of "Promised You a Miracle," which you heard on the radio dial way up at 106.7, KROQ, now rebranded the Roq of the '80's, even though it had previously been the last free format station on the Los Angeles rock radio dial.
This was something new, this was Top 40 of the new wave. That's right, the playlist was short, and repetitive, but only new songs were played, mostly from the U.K., which had leapfrogged a U.S. decimated by the death of disco and classic rock simultaneously. There were synthesizers, new sounds, and ultimately two tracks that traditional AOR wouldn't play that won the hearts and minds of Los Angeles, in the process eclipsing what had been and replacing it with something brand new, i.e. "Tainted Love" and then "Don't You Want Me."
It started in Los Angeles. Sure, CBGB was the sound of the late seventies, a New York thing, with the two breakout acts, Blondie and the Talking Heads, and a plethora of others, like Television, and the west coast coughed up the Knack and a bunch of new wave popsters, but then the slate was wiped clean by this new U.K. sound.
And once the doors were blasted open...all kinds of things broke through, like Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough," talk about infectious.
Something was happening here. Actually, it was happening in England, but on the west coast a radio station in Pasadena carried the flag and started a movement that ultimately spread to MTV, where one after another English act broke through and dominated, and the KROQ talent ended up programming the music television outlet and appearing in front of the camera too.
But there was a moment...
This was after the return of ska at the end of the seventies. Definitely an L.A. thing. Big, to the point where there were ska acts in Orange County... Were there any on the east coast? I never heard of any.
But with KROQ's new programming there was an injection of excitement, adrenaline into the entire music ecosystem. You had to go to the store to comb the new releases, and you were addicted to the radio...people talked about these records, which oftentimes featured humor, this was a twist on the irreverence of the sixties.
And if you liked a single, you bought the album, which is how I ended up with Simple Minds' American first.
Which came on gold vinyl. If you bought it early enough, that was one of the perks. But not as well-publicized as this perk was that this colored vinyl didn't sound quite as good as the usual black product. It was a bit thinner...so all you could do was CRANK IT UP!
That was a legacy of the seventies, turning up the music loud. By the nineties music reproduction was relegated to the all-in-one not much better than a boombox device. Which was cheap and better than the crap of yore, but not too good. The stereo chains declared bankruptcy or went upscale, but...
Before that... You'd come home and break the shrinkwrap on your new album and just wait for a track to break out. That's what you're looking for, that's what gets you to play an album again, that one cut that grabs you the first time through, and for me it was the title track of "New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)," which opened the second side. You see it was exotic and hypnotic. You were transported from everyday life into the ether...
Very different from today. We knew the acts wanted to make money, but they weren't constantly dunning us for it. They were about testing limits more than commerce. And the marketplace was open for it, especially in the optimistic eighties of the U.S.A.
Now it wasn't long before Simple Minds had a hit. From "The Breakfast Club." Keith Forsey's "Don't You (Forget About Me)," which the band performed on the "Breakfast Club" soundtrack. Bringing the band reluctantly to the forefront. It had done what the label had wanted, but despite its success, the band was uneasy about this breakthrough, after all they didn't write it and it didn't fully represent the band's ethos and sound.
There was MTV success thereafter. But always eclipsed by that one big hit.
But if you dug a bit deeper...there was "Alive and Kicking," but even more..."Waterfront," "Sanctify Yourself" and the majestic "Let There Be Love."
But it all started with that one 1982 album, the band's sixth, but its first in America.
There was a darkness. Because if you picked up a U.K. act from the era, underneath it you found Thatcherism and struggle and...
"81-82-83-84"...
What exactly were they singing about?
Before Prince and "1999," the big anticipated year was 1984, George Orwell's line of demarcation. What were we heading for...
But one thing was for sure, these new U.K. acts had their eyes open, they were not wearing blinders, they had opinions on everything and they let them fly.
Along with these new sounds.
This was beyond the syndrum, beyond the one note synthesizers of the seventies. This was a miasma of electronica, yet underpinned by humanity, this was not music that could be made all by your lonesome in your bedroom...
So I hear that change earlier today and there was only one thing to do...
CRANK IT UP!
And when I did, there was this rumbling bass... Not quite a herd of elephants, but close...
This was a band. Not an act compromised by someone else's vision, not concocted by committee, made for commerce, Simple Minds and their brethren wanted to have an impact...AND THEY DID!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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Mailbag
From: george drakoulias
Subject: Re: Forever Young
Date: November 2, 2025 at 5:55:22?PM PST
Bob ever see this, spectacular
"Rod Stewart Gasoline Alley"
https://youtu.be/HLBFyS2hlhw
_________________________________________
From: Harvey Goldsmith
Subject: Grateful Dead
Date: November 15, 2025 at 2:20:12?AM PST
Dear Bob
Great piece on the Dead.
I first met them in 1968 when they played a free show in Golden Gate Park. I was on a Greyhound Bus enroute to the Y in downtown San Francisco when driving over Golden Gate Bridge I saw a large crowd in the park. I dumped my bags asked for directions and found myself at the concert. I made my way to the front of the stage and told the security guy that I was the biggest promoter in Europe. He told the tour manager who welcomed me backstage saying he loved my British accent. I met the band and was offered a drink. It was only later that I was told not to drink anything that had been opened. I woke up two days later not knowing where I was. They had spiked my drink with acid.
The band took care of me and we became friends. They only came to Europe twice and I presented them at The Rainbow Theatre.
Every year when they played a run at The Beacon they invited me over.
No airs or graces but best band in the world.
Harvey Goldsmith
_________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Lilith Fair Movie
Date: September 27, 2025 at 10:52:34?AM PDT
Hi Bob
Haven't watched the doc yet, but planned to this weekend. I was a regional promotion man for Sony Nashville/Monument Records, the year the (Dixie) Chicks were a part of Lilith Fair. I accompanied them on a few of the shows in the northeast. Your email this week brought back a flood of memories...riding rides after hours at Hershey Park with the cast and crew of the tour, losing my phone at Merriweather Post Pavillion - someone found it and rang my "Home" number in the address book, my wife answered as they said, "We have your ...." and the battery died! She thought I'd been kidnapped! Mostly I remember how sweet Sarah was to me when I arrived before the Chicks at one show with no place else to go on a Saturday afternoon, allowing me to hang in her air-conditioned dressing room, feeding me and chatting all afternoon. I've told almost anyone who's ever asked me about my career and the artists I've worked with, when asked who was the nicest....the answer is easily Sarah McLaughlin. As good as many notable artists have been to me throughout the years, Sarah had no reason to acknowledge me, let alone be kind to me, yet went way out of her way to make feel comfortable and valuable.
The shows of that year's tour were unbelievable...Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair, The Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris - all people I'd known, booked or worked with prior - plus Meredith Brooks, Erykah Badu, Bonnie Raitt & Queen Latifah...one killer set after another and the collabs were truly inspired! Every tour and/or festival should aspire to be what Sarah built in those few summers! Nowadays, everything just feels like a money-grab. Those shows had SOUL ... and they pissed off Jerry Falwell on top of it, so what's not to LOVE??
Can't wait to see the film now, Bob -I'm gonna get that on right now!
Bob Reeves
Nashville, TN
_________________________________________
From: Jon Pleeter
Subject: Re: The Dead
Date: November 15, 2025 at 10:41:51?AM PST
Bob, bullseye.
I am a Deadhead of many years, and I have represented many K Pop artists over the course of my career. I have attended many K Pop shows, Super M, Monsta X, Chung Ha, MCT, and others….and what struck me were the similarities between a K Pop show and a Dead show.
Both instances, it's 50/50, the fans and the band creating the magic in the building, equally. The intimate relationship between the humans on stage and the humans in the chair.
Have you seen the per/head at the merch stand at K Pop shows?
People thought I was nuts when I claimed there are numerous similarities between the two The Dead and K Pop.
You're correct, there is no way to plot this course, except to be authentic with your fans. Whatever happens after that is up to natural course of things.
To replicate what the Dead did, there is no way. No matter if you are Phish, DMB, Widespread…..as you said it's about the impact on culture. It's deeper than the music. It's a lifestyle, and when the masses jump on board, culture is impacted.
We are still in the early stages of the impact K Pop will ultimately have. K Culture runs deep, beyond the music. There is K fashion, there is K food, there is K Pop. It is indeed a wave.
We could all learn a thing or two by taking a page out of the K Pop model. How to value the fan, how to superserve the fan, and overdeliver. When those seeds are sown, the fan will be with you for the long haul, and feel a part of it, having their hands in the clay, and taking ownership.
That is the ultimate goal, but the work must be put in.
These days, it seems transactional, the Artist wants the fan to buy the ticket, buy the merch, but what are they doing to invest in the fan? Are they delivering? Are they overdelivering? Are they playing the long game?
Jon Pleeter
JPA
_________________________________________
From: John Dick
Subject: Re: Gen Z Disillusionment
Date: November 4, 2025 at 9:58:29?AM PST
Spot on. This is a central theme of my stump speech over the last several months.
Typically, when we survey people asking them "When was America at its greatest?" every age group overwhelmingly cites the decade during which they were a teenager. This is the first generation to more commonly answer a decade that happened before they were born. It explains, among many other things, the power of nostalgia in marketing among Gen Z - ie. the popularity of Stranger Things and why my daughters have stolen all my Nirvana and Sublime shirts. It has all sorts of broader implications on Gen Z's mental health, media habits, consumerism, and political dispositions as you mentioned.
Most people think it's all very sad - which it is. But it also gives me hope that they'll be the generation that actually changes things. They're not so deluded or narcissistic to believe the world is the way it's supposed to be.
Great piece as always my friend.
I hope you're happy and healthy.
John
_________________________________________
Subject: Re: E-Mail Of The Day
Date: October 1, 2025 at 4:24:33?PM PDT
Democrats offer nothing to Republicans. Republicans offer no boys competing in girls sports. That my pet issue. Im not voting Democrat again. Im not sitting out of elections, im voting for my issue.
Abortion doesn't matter to me. Schools/Colleges don't mean anything to me. Pay your bills like I do. Health Care doesn't matter to me. Prepare yourself to be desirable for employment. I dont care about illegal aliens. I really dont. Leave and come back correctly. I dont care about gun laws, they are all a joke.
My vote is for men staying out of girls sports. Thats it. I don't even care what you think about anything. Trump wins again. I win removing cheaters in school sports.
This is reality.
Chris Badynee
_________________________________________
From: Steve Berlin
Subject: Re: Bondi In Congress
Date: October 7, 2025 at 11:15:52?PM PDT
Here's my question for all those MAGA's that for whatever reason still follow you and feel compelled to continually tell you how wrong your take on America is- explain in detail without bullsh*t MAGA tropes how Trump has improved any aspect of your life. Literally any aspect whatsoever. Unless they're a f*cking billionaire somehow paying less than the appalling pittance that 60 years of Republican mendacity has let them get away with, it's impossible for me to imagine a single aspect of our daily existence that is 'better' since the Republican coup. Health care with or without the Dem's sudden appearance of a spine is about to skyrocket. Every single thing in American life is exponentially more expensive and harder to acquire and for what? Let's get one of your MAGA bitches to answer how all of this insanity in service of billionaires paying less than nothing is somehow beneficial to their own lives. All I know is it's precipitously impacted my life as a touring musician in the worst ways imaginable and I'm one of the luckiest people on the planet with a working band that can still tour and survive for now. I shudder to think what happens when my and everyone else's health care expenses quadruple at a minimum with no plan in place to ameliorate it and no one currently in power who could give two sh*ts about it whatsoever.
_________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Springsteen Flick
Date: October 24, 2025 at 10:39:09?AM PDT
Hi Bob, greetings from Turkey. So it will be a while before I see this film. Btw, this country is amazing and the people are the most beautiful and respectful I've ever met.
Like you, I have a problem with biopics while the artist or main character is still alive. We still have the real article, so it's odd to see even the greatest of actors try to become that person.
When I first heard "Nebraska" I felt that it was very strong and an important work, even if it was sparse on production. Bruce's singing made all of it so real, haunting, and authentic. Some of my favorite Bruce songs are from this album. Let's not forget, some of the most iconic Bob Dylan records are just a voice, guitar, and harmonica.
Yes, rock radio and the consultants at the time were very skittish about playing it. But I felt that after all Bruce had accomplished up to this point with "Born To Run," "Darkness, "The River," and over-the-top concerts boasting four encores a night, he'd earned the right for the public to hear these tracks. So, to set the record straight, I didn't beg rock radio to play it, I got strong and insisted they do. As most people know, my usual promotion style was respectful and organic but on this project I had to summon the powers I had using all of Columbia's major acts as leverage. I actually told folks, including the big three consultants at the time if they didn't put this album in a strong rotation out of the box they could lose my phone number. Let the public decide, I said. Lots of people were shocked, this was the opposite of my usual personality. They all said the same thing to me. "Rap, this is not like you, are you going to hold me up?"
As I write in my book, I had never seen an artist so driven and with such a work ethic like Bruce. So, I said, "Not for just anyone. But for Bruce Springsteen at this height of his career I will. He's EARNED the right for you guys and rock radio to have his back on this."
"Nebraska" was heard quite clearly on 150 rock stations across the country for at least a month. We sold over one million albums.
Paul Rappaport
_________________________________________
From: Dave Schools
Subject: Re: John Lodge
Date: October 12, 2025 at 12:48:01?AM GMT+9
Hey Bob,
I'm listening to Every Good Boy Deserves Favour after reading your piece about the passing of John Lodge - it was one of the first cassettes my encouraging parents bought me (the other was Exile on Main Street). And it was transportive to my young ears. Before this it had been a steady progression from Disney albums to CCR and Beatles 45s...but the Moody Blues were literally a trip: the opening track "Procession" was unlike anything I had ever heard before. 12 seconds of silence to 50 seconds of distant synth decay - thunder and rain - the band singing the words "desolation - creation" - piano playing the notes E/G/B/D/F - crickets w primal drumbeat - the band singing the word "communication" - drumbeat/chanting - Gregorian monks - an Arabian melody - a bucolic flute melody - a harpsichord variation - a church organ resolving into a beautiful mellotron string progression - final button with electric guitar harmony statement - hard slam into "The Story In Your Eyes," a song that remains in my opinion to be one of the tightest most melodic art/prog/pop rock songs with all the hallmarks of classic Moody Blues: love song lyrics, soaring background vocal pads, and the piano driven outro. I was hooked.
I realize that what I wrote above was an overly detailed description of the first 4:40 of a 1971 record. Later I learned that the title Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was a mnemonic device to recall the notes of the treble clef. The theme is scattered throughout the record as is a return to the "desolation creation communication" lyrical theme. In the classic prog tradition the songs cross fade into one another from "Procession" across the entire album leading to the 6:30 opus "My Song," which is a journey in and of itself recalling themes stated in "Procession." Conceptual continuity. A listening experience.
Included in the menu is John Lodge's "Emily's Song," a beautiful ballad for his newborn daughter. And an indication of the beginning of a soul's procession through life. Songs with themes about eyes and seeing return. A classic prog record bordering on the dreaded "C Word," as Phil Walden called it: CONCEPT ALBUM. How dare they!
As a child on the verge of becoming entirely immersed in contemporary music I didn't know what to make of this album as a whole. After a steady diet of parentally approved happy pop singles and AM radio in the car on the way to elementary school this album was a challenge that became a fascination that became a search that became a journey that became the arc of my life. A search not for the lost chord but for a way to express myself musically and then to find a like minded group of friends who were also looking for something that we couldn't put into words but rather into songs. Together.
All of the era's album oriented experiments gave us permission to think outside of the box and it had nothing to do with the actual craft and rules of creating hits but rather a group search for a way to forge something unique. Something that entertained us first and foremost. Something that satisfied a need to transport ourselves out of the milieu of the mid 80's. I am grateful to still be on that journey with my friends (family to be sure) and that music is still being created by modern artists that can unite people in these dark divisive times. Or at least give them a break from the chaos sh*t that continually floods the zone.
I'm grateful to my parents for encouraging my preoccupation with music and art. I am grateful for groups like The Moody Blues for giving me permission to let it fly. John Lodge was a distinct part of the Moody Blues although I don't recall there being photos of the group on this record. I never knew what they looked like (until the "Moodies" somehow made the miraculous leap from 70's FM radio to the 80's and MTV). Their personalities and looks weren't the point - the music was the driving force. Many of my favorite records didn't feature group shots: In The Court of the Crimson King, Dark Side of the Moon, Houses of the Holy. Because it was about the music. The music was the message. And the message was PERMISSION.
May it ever continue to be so - at least in the minds of artists who simply want to create.
Bonus content: One of the first songs Widespread Panic played was "Knights In White Satin." I don't even know why: it sure seemed cheesefrog in 1986. Nonetheless we occasionally performed the song. One night we played it at our regular Atlanta gig at Little Five Points Pub and unbeknownst to us the founder of indie label Landslide Records, the great Michael Rothschild, was in the audience.
After he had signed us and we had finished recording Space Wrangler Michael Rothschild came to give us a pep talk about the release of the album and some expectations he had of us as far as doing press and extending our touring range. He only had one request - which was not to play the emphasis track every night. Nope. Rather his sole request was that we immediately cease and desist playing "Knights In White Satin." In hindsight Michael taught us a great lesson: stop playing half-assed classic rock cover songs and replace them with our originals. A lesson we "kind of" learned. I guess.
And then he gave us a cassette tape of Meters tunes to listen to in the van as we traversed what Phil Walden said was "a big country." Transportive. Grateful.
Cheers,
das
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From: Joe Wilford
Subject: Saul Zabar RIP
Date: October 10, 2025 at 10:17:02?PM PDT
Is Saul Zabar on your radar, Bob? He should be.
In 1989, Saul Zabar gave me a job and rented me a studio apartment. I told him I was from Iowa and had a dream. I wanted to be a rock n roll star, be in a band, and be where the action was, Manhattan, and that I needed a job that paid enough to be able to afford to live there. I was young, full of piss and vinegar, very determined. To Saul's credit, he did not dismiss my desires as so much foolishness. Instead, he decided he would support me and my dream. But I would work for him. He made it happen. I worked hard. Nights and weekends. 60 hours sometimes. Still, my band rehearsed twice a week in the old music building on 8th Ave. We got gigs all over lower Manhattan. Saul even brought his wife Carol to a show at the Speakeasy. We were loud, he didn't enjoy it. But he didn't have to do that, and yet there he was. Maybe he thought it was part of the trade off.
In a relatively short period of time - Saul took me under his wing at the store, challenging me, teaching me and always giving me more responsibilities. He apprenticed me in the fine and delicate art of buying smoked fish for Zabar's. We'd drive out to several Brooklyn smokehouses each week, placing orders for thousands of pounds of lox, smoked salmon, whitefish, sable and sturgeon. They pulled out racks of smoked salmon for Saul to inspect and taste. You really know the measure of a man by the way people treat them. The smoked fish vendors showed him an uncanny level of respect, as though a god was walking among them.
Never mind my dream of being a rock star, under the tutelage of Saul, eventually the inventory of the entire appetizing department was in my hands - an incredible honor. A farm boy from Iowa! A gentile!
The studio apartment he rented me gave way to a proper, albeit modest one bedroom apartment. And my pay soon far eclipsed what I had ever before made in my life. I could afford more guitars, gear, and most of all, recording studio time. It was all happening.
By the mid 90's my band had pressed 2 CD's of original material. We were shopping the labels. As it happened, a Sony records exec named Harvey Leeds had a birthday wish to spend one day working behind the scenes at Zabar's. An unusual wish, but he got it. The store's general manager, Scott Goldshine, knew the score. He sent Harvey to work with me. And as such, I spent several hours with Harvey. We packed containers of gefilte fish. Put labels on packages of whitefish salad and pickled herring. I asked for Harvey's information- and told him I would follow up with him. I wanted him to listen to my bands CD.
Weeks later, when my calls to his office for a meeting went unreturned, I sent over a Zabar's platter of bagels w/lox and cream cheese. Within an hour, my phone rang. It was Harvey. 'Now you've got my attention,' he said. And following that an appointment at Sony records.
To his credit, Harvey listened to my bands CD. He said he would pass it along, but Sony wasn't interested in alt country bands at that time. They were looking for jam bands, like Moe, or the next Rage Against the Machine.
But none of that really matters. I was able to get an audience. A glimpse. A shot. And it was all because of Saul Zabar.
I was continually intrigued by Saul himself, as he was truly unlike anyone I have ever met. He was difficult to please, meticulous and demanding and naturally he expected an exceedingly elevated level of hard work and dedication from his employees. You might expect that a man in his position wouldn't bother getting his hands dirty with the menial labor that is required to run a store which makes upwards of 60 million per year. But Saul was as much in the trenches and on the front lines as his employees were. He is not afraid to get his hands dirty - indeed he would work elbow to elbow with anyone - anywhere in the store. When a refrigeration unit broke down - he was the first one on his hands and knees on the floor, in the grime and grease with a flashlight and screwdriver taking apart the console to see what was wrong. Some of us joked about him being 'The Grey Ghost,' because he seemed to be everywhere in the store, omnipresent.
Over time, I realized that the store was to Saul Zabar what music was to me. An art, an inspiration, a craft, an adventure to be explored, savored and cherished. His creative outlet. It doesn't matter what form it takes on - our art feeds our souls. The store was Saul's art, his canvas. He obsessed over it the way any mad, creative genius would.
Saul Zabar's legacy will live on. A legend, an icon, a mentor, boss, friend, and father figure - not just to me, ask any of the employees at Zabar's. They will tell you. To me, he was all these things, but he was also a rock star.
Joe Wilford
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From: John Brodey
Subject: Re: Update
Date: November 25, 2025 at 8:31:55?AM PST
Thanks for the wonderful insight into Jimmy! You hit it spot on and to the late arrivals who think they know better...shut the hell up! If you weren't there then you don't know sh*t. I was.
I started on the air at WBCN in the late sixties. In Jan. of 1972 I was told to take a vacation, which we never did because of FOMO. What great shows might we be missing? So needing to get out of town and working for peanuts, I asked a travel agent who advertised with us where could I go for a week where it's warm and won't cost more than $400. He said Jamaica.
He had booked me in a strange hostel type hotel in Ocho Rios. I remember the ride there from Montego Bay and hearing these pounding beats coming out of the forest. The whole island pulsed.
When I got there, I'm walking down the main drag and I hear these speakers in front of a store booming out the real sh*t. I walked right into The Super Star Record Shack and there was Rudy McFarland who I soon realized was one of the island's greatest champions of Reggae. I started asking questions and we connected. 4 spliffs later I was sold. The next night Rudy said 'we got to go to da moovies'. We met in front of this theater looking building. Inside it looked like the real thing, slanted floor and soft lights on the side walls to help you find your seat and the big screen. Then I look up and see stars... there was no roof! It was like a drive in. The wooden seats spoke to the fact that it often rained on the whole place. The movie was of course was The Harder They Come. I couldn't believe it. The music was visceral and infectious. It consumed you. I couldn't understand the dialogue but the plot wasn't hard to figure out and the sound track emerged as the star. Rudy and I hit a lot of clubs and out door parties in Fern Gully. It was wild.
When my week was up, I left for home with a trove of vinyl from Rudy. I made sure we started playing Toots, Melodians etc. on the air right away. I then went to the guys at the Orson Wells theater and said; you've got to get a hold of this film, here's Chris Blackwell's contact info, make it a midnight thing, we'll pump it and people will have their minds blown. Chris tweaked the movie with subtitles and it only got better. It played there for years.
We opened the door for Reggae and were the first station to give it a chance. I went back to Jamaica the following three years and Rudy took me to Tuff Gong studios in Kingston where we did a couple of 20 hours shifts and where most of the greats spent time i.e. Peter Tosh cut his first solo lp there. He took me to innumerable shows. In Feb of '73 we brought Toots and the Maytals to Boston to play at the Orson Wells theater. They got off the plane that January afternoon wearing nothing but shorts and t-shirts. They had no idea where they were. We put the band up in our apartments and got donated sweatshirts/parkas for survival purposes and so began the reggae invasion. It was one of the most powerful and meaningful experiences in my life of music and one of which I'm very proud to have played a small role.
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From: steve poltz
Subject: Todd Snider
Date: November 29, 2025 at 7:33:16?AM PST
Hey Bob,
Thanks for writing about my friend Todd Snider. We sure lost a good'n.
I go way back with Todd. In the nineties I was touring with my band The Rugburns and we were doing some dates with Todd and his band The Nervous Wrecks. It was an absolute blast being in Todd's orbit.
I remember one time we played a club in Indianapolis and we all arrived very early (what're the odds of that?). I'm talking six hours early. The club—The Patio?—let us in, and we ended up playing whiffle ball. I remember thinking, "You can do this?" It was completely chaotic. Barstools became bases and a pint glass was home plate. The game was nuts, and when the soundman showed up for soundcheck none of us cared. We didn't want to stop because we were in extra innings. Will Kimbrough—the amazing guitarist in The Wrecks—threw a mean whiffle curve. The whole thing was Todd's idea, and what is normally boring purgatory before soundcheck became one of the best days ever.
Then there was the time at some street festival somewhere in Indiana—also with The Rugburns and The Nervous Wrecks (why is it always Indiana?)—I saw Todd and we had lots of time before our disrespec-tive sets. So, naturally, we decided to paint each other's toenails. It got very artsy and there were lots of joints and laughs. Another moment where I thought, "You can do this?"
Todd was chaotic, charismatic, cantankerous, and cool. I loved him. We kept in touch over the years and I was always happy when we'd get a chance to catch up.
The last time I saw Todd was about seven weeks ago on Oct. 10. We both played The Ryman for the John Prine "You Got Gold" tribute show. There were heaps of artists on the bill—Carlene Carter, Louis Cato, Phosphorescent, Courtney Marie Andrews, Margo Price, Fantastic Negrito, Margo Cilker, Tift Merritt, Maggie Rose, Ron Sexsmith, Bonnie Prince Billy, Drew Holcomb, Hiss Golden Messenger, Evan Dando, John Paul White, Todd Snider, and more I'm forgetting.
It was a blast. I walked backstage a few hours before showtime and Todd was already there. (Why are we always early? Aren't we supposed to be late?) Todd gave me a big hug and said, "Come share my dressing room with me." Now this was a very organized event with assigned dressing rooms. I was supposed to share with Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham) and John Paul White. But when you're in Todd's company, you just ride the wave. So I follow him to his room, and he's sharing with Evan Dando, who's there with John Strohm.
Now—making a long story longer—Evan and Todd had never met. I found that fascinating. It just seemed like they would've crossed paths. So the backstage hang is lively, and Evan and I get to reminiscing about that time in the 90s when we spent the night trying to score coke after a show at The Casbah.
Evan sees Todd's decent-sized jar of weed and asks if he can have some. Of course Todd hands him the jar, a joint, and a pipe. There's also a bottle of celebratory John Prine bourbon on the table. I quit booze and coke back in 2004, but I'm getting a full contact high because the room has become a hot box. Evan and Todd are riffing about Townes Van Zandt—neither of them making sense, both talking at the same time—but somehow I understood it all. It was amazing. We were cracking up.
By now I've lost all track of time. The stage manager comes up and says, "Steve Poltz! You're on in 10 minutes." Todd says, "I'm gonna go out front and watch you sing. What're you singing?"
"Illegal Smile," I tell him.
"Perfect," he says.
So I walk out on stage at The Ryman and say to the sold-out audience, "I've just been upstairs for the last couple hours sharing a dressing room with Evan Dando and Todd Snider, and I think I need to call my sponsor." The audience cracks up, and I break into my song, and it all goes off without a hitch.
Afterwards Todd finds me, hugs me, and we laugh some more.
Then Todd goes out at the end of the show and absolutely destroys "Lake Marie." I mean, he slays it. Stunning. I watched from side stage with tears in my eyes—tears of joy. Everything was perfect. Todd was perfect. The world was perfect.
The next morning I was talking with Bob Schneider on the phone telling him about the night before. I told him about Todd's new record High Lonesome, and Then Some. I said, "I don't wanna tell you anything about this record. Just listen and let me know what you think." (I had listened a couple times and LOVED it, but didn't tell him that.) Now, Bob is the most honest person I know. If he hates something, he'll tell you. Well… an hour later he texted: "9 outta 10. Loved it."
When I ended the call I remember saying, "Man, I'm kinda worried about Todd. He doesn't look that healthy, and I have a weird feeling he's not gonna make it through this tour."
I didn't think he would die on tour. I just thought he'd cancel dates due to health issues. But I had a premonition he wasn't going to be around much longer.
I'm so sad, Bob. I can't thank you enough for writing about Todd.
The dude was a legend and left his mark. God bless him.
Yer pal,
Steve Poltz
Subject: Re: Forever Young
Date: November 2, 2025 at 5:55:22?PM PST
Bob ever see this, spectacular
"Rod Stewart Gasoline Alley"
https://youtu.be/HLBFyS2hlhw
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From: Harvey Goldsmith
Subject: Grateful Dead
Date: November 15, 2025 at 2:20:12?AM PST
Dear Bob
Great piece on the Dead.
I first met them in 1968 when they played a free show in Golden Gate Park. I was on a Greyhound Bus enroute to the Y in downtown San Francisco when driving over Golden Gate Bridge I saw a large crowd in the park. I dumped my bags asked for directions and found myself at the concert. I made my way to the front of the stage and told the security guy that I was the biggest promoter in Europe. He told the tour manager who welcomed me backstage saying he loved my British accent. I met the band and was offered a drink. It was only later that I was told not to drink anything that had been opened. I woke up two days later not knowing where I was. They had spiked my drink with acid.
The band took care of me and we became friends. They only came to Europe twice and I presented them at The Rainbow Theatre.
Every year when they played a run at The Beacon they invited me over.
No airs or graces but best band in the world.
Harvey Goldsmith
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Subject: Re: The Lilith Fair Movie
Date: September 27, 2025 at 10:52:34?AM PDT
Hi Bob
Haven't watched the doc yet, but planned to this weekend. I was a regional promotion man for Sony Nashville/Monument Records, the year the (Dixie) Chicks were a part of Lilith Fair. I accompanied them on a few of the shows in the northeast. Your email this week brought back a flood of memories...riding rides after hours at Hershey Park with the cast and crew of the tour, losing my phone at Merriweather Post Pavillion - someone found it and rang my "Home" number in the address book, my wife answered as they said, "We have your ...." and the battery died! She thought I'd been kidnapped! Mostly I remember how sweet Sarah was to me when I arrived before the Chicks at one show with no place else to go on a Saturday afternoon, allowing me to hang in her air-conditioned dressing room, feeding me and chatting all afternoon. I've told almost anyone who's ever asked me about my career and the artists I've worked with, when asked who was the nicest....the answer is easily Sarah McLaughlin. As good as many notable artists have been to me throughout the years, Sarah had no reason to acknowledge me, let alone be kind to me, yet went way out of her way to make feel comfortable and valuable.
The shows of that year's tour were unbelievable...Sheryl Crow, Liz Phair, The Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris - all people I'd known, booked or worked with prior - plus Meredith Brooks, Erykah Badu, Bonnie Raitt & Queen Latifah...one killer set after another and the collabs were truly inspired! Every tour and/or festival should aspire to be what Sarah built in those few summers! Nowadays, everything just feels like a money-grab. Those shows had SOUL ... and they pissed off Jerry Falwell on top of it, so what's not to LOVE??
Can't wait to see the film now, Bob -I'm gonna get that on right now!
Bob Reeves
Nashville, TN
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From: Jon Pleeter
Subject: Re: The Dead
Date: November 15, 2025 at 10:41:51?AM PST
Bob, bullseye.
I am a Deadhead of many years, and I have represented many K Pop artists over the course of my career. I have attended many K Pop shows, Super M, Monsta X, Chung Ha, MCT, and others….and what struck me were the similarities between a K Pop show and a Dead show.
Both instances, it's 50/50, the fans and the band creating the magic in the building, equally. The intimate relationship between the humans on stage and the humans in the chair.
Have you seen the per/head at the merch stand at K Pop shows?
People thought I was nuts when I claimed there are numerous similarities between the two The Dead and K Pop.
You're correct, there is no way to plot this course, except to be authentic with your fans. Whatever happens after that is up to natural course of things.
To replicate what the Dead did, there is no way. No matter if you are Phish, DMB, Widespread…..as you said it's about the impact on culture. It's deeper than the music. It's a lifestyle, and when the masses jump on board, culture is impacted.
We are still in the early stages of the impact K Pop will ultimately have. K Culture runs deep, beyond the music. There is K fashion, there is K food, there is K Pop. It is indeed a wave.
We could all learn a thing or two by taking a page out of the K Pop model. How to value the fan, how to superserve the fan, and overdeliver. When those seeds are sown, the fan will be with you for the long haul, and feel a part of it, having their hands in the clay, and taking ownership.
That is the ultimate goal, but the work must be put in.
These days, it seems transactional, the Artist wants the fan to buy the ticket, buy the merch, but what are they doing to invest in the fan? Are they delivering? Are they overdelivering? Are they playing the long game?
Jon Pleeter
JPA
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From: John Dick
Subject: Re: Gen Z Disillusionment
Date: November 4, 2025 at 9:58:29?AM PST
Spot on. This is a central theme of my stump speech over the last several months.
Typically, when we survey people asking them "When was America at its greatest?" every age group overwhelmingly cites the decade during which they were a teenager. This is the first generation to more commonly answer a decade that happened before they were born. It explains, among many other things, the power of nostalgia in marketing among Gen Z - ie. the popularity of Stranger Things and why my daughters have stolen all my Nirvana and Sublime shirts. It has all sorts of broader implications on Gen Z's mental health, media habits, consumerism, and political dispositions as you mentioned.
Most people think it's all very sad - which it is. But it also gives me hope that they'll be the generation that actually changes things. They're not so deluded or narcissistic to believe the world is the way it's supposed to be.
Great piece as always my friend.
I hope you're happy and healthy.
John
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Subject: Re: E-Mail Of The Day
Date: October 1, 2025 at 4:24:33?PM PDT
Democrats offer nothing to Republicans. Republicans offer no boys competing in girls sports. That my pet issue. Im not voting Democrat again. Im not sitting out of elections, im voting for my issue.
Abortion doesn't matter to me. Schools/Colleges don't mean anything to me. Pay your bills like I do. Health Care doesn't matter to me. Prepare yourself to be desirable for employment. I dont care about illegal aliens. I really dont. Leave and come back correctly. I dont care about gun laws, they are all a joke.
My vote is for men staying out of girls sports. Thats it. I don't even care what you think about anything. Trump wins again. I win removing cheaters in school sports.
This is reality.
Chris Badynee
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From: Steve Berlin
Subject: Re: Bondi In Congress
Date: October 7, 2025 at 11:15:52?PM PDT
Here's my question for all those MAGA's that for whatever reason still follow you and feel compelled to continually tell you how wrong your take on America is- explain in detail without bullsh*t MAGA tropes how Trump has improved any aspect of your life. Literally any aspect whatsoever. Unless they're a f*cking billionaire somehow paying less than the appalling pittance that 60 years of Republican mendacity has let them get away with, it's impossible for me to imagine a single aspect of our daily existence that is 'better' since the Republican coup. Health care with or without the Dem's sudden appearance of a spine is about to skyrocket. Every single thing in American life is exponentially more expensive and harder to acquire and for what? Let's get one of your MAGA bitches to answer how all of this insanity in service of billionaires paying less than nothing is somehow beneficial to their own lives. All I know is it's precipitously impacted my life as a touring musician in the worst ways imaginable and I'm one of the luckiest people on the planet with a working band that can still tour and survive for now. I shudder to think what happens when my and everyone else's health care expenses quadruple at a minimum with no plan in place to ameliorate it and no one currently in power who could give two sh*ts about it whatsoever.
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Subject: Re: The Springsteen Flick
Date: October 24, 2025 at 10:39:09?AM PDT
Hi Bob, greetings from Turkey. So it will be a while before I see this film. Btw, this country is amazing and the people are the most beautiful and respectful I've ever met.
Like you, I have a problem with biopics while the artist or main character is still alive. We still have the real article, so it's odd to see even the greatest of actors try to become that person.
When I first heard "Nebraska" I felt that it was very strong and an important work, even if it was sparse on production. Bruce's singing made all of it so real, haunting, and authentic. Some of my favorite Bruce songs are from this album. Let's not forget, some of the most iconic Bob Dylan records are just a voice, guitar, and harmonica.
Yes, rock radio and the consultants at the time were very skittish about playing it. But I felt that after all Bruce had accomplished up to this point with "Born To Run," "Darkness, "The River," and over-the-top concerts boasting four encores a night, he'd earned the right for the public to hear these tracks. So, to set the record straight, I didn't beg rock radio to play it, I got strong and insisted they do. As most people know, my usual promotion style was respectful and organic but on this project I had to summon the powers I had using all of Columbia's major acts as leverage. I actually told folks, including the big three consultants at the time if they didn't put this album in a strong rotation out of the box they could lose my phone number. Let the public decide, I said. Lots of people were shocked, this was the opposite of my usual personality. They all said the same thing to me. "Rap, this is not like you, are you going to hold me up?"
As I write in my book, I had never seen an artist so driven and with such a work ethic like Bruce. So, I said, "Not for just anyone. But for Bruce Springsteen at this height of his career I will. He's EARNED the right for you guys and rock radio to have his back on this."
"Nebraska" was heard quite clearly on 150 rock stations across the country for at least a month. We sold over one million albums.
Paul Rappaport
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From: Dave Schools
Subject: Re: John Lodge
Date: October 12, 2025 at 12:48:01?AM GMT+9
Hey Bob,
I'm listening to Every Good Boy Deserves Favour after reading your piece about the passing of John Lodge - it was one of the first cassettes my encouraging parents bought me (the other was Exile on Main Street). And it was transportive to my young ears. Before this it had been a steady progression from Disney albums to CCR and Beatles 45s...but the Moody Blues were literally a trip: the opening track "Procession" was unlike anything I had ever heard before. 12 seconds of silence to 50 seconds of distant synth decay - thunder and rain - the band singing the words "desolation - creation" - piano playing the notes E/G/B/D/F - crickets w primal drumbeat - the band singing the word "communication" - drumbeat/chanting - Gregorian monks - an Arabian melody - a bucolic flute melody - a harpsichord variation - a church organ resolving into a beautiful mellotron string progression - final button with electric guitar harmony statement - hard slam into "The Story In Your Eyes," a song that remains in my opinion to be one of the tightest most melodic art/prog/pop rock songs with all the hallmarks of classic Moody Blues: love song lyrics, soaring background vocal pads, and the piano driven outro. I was hooked.
I realize that what I wrote above was an overly detailed description of the first 4:40 of a 1971 record. Later I learned that the title Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was a mnemonic device to recall the notes of the treble clef. The theme is scattered throughout the record as is a return to the "desolation creation communication" lyrical theme. In the classic prog tradition the songs cross fade into one another from "Procession" across the entire album leading to the 6:30 opus "My Song," which is a journey in and of itself recalling themes stated in "Procession." Conceptual continuity. A listening experience.
Included in the menu is John Lodge's "Emily's Song," a beautiful ballad for his newborn daughter. And an indication of the beginning of a soul's procession through life. Songs with themes about eyes and seeing return. A classic prog record bordering on the dreaded "C Word," as Phil Walden called it: CONCEPT ALBUM. How dare they!
As a child on the verge of becoming entirely immersed in contemporary music I didn't know what to make of this album as a whole. After a steady diet of parentally approved happy pop singles and AM radio in the car on the way to elementary school this album was a challenge that became a fascination that became a search that became a journey that became the arc of my life. A search not for the lost chord but for a way to express myself musically and then to find a like minded group of friends who were also looking for something that we couldn't put into words but rather into songs. Together.
All of the era's album oriented experiments gave us permission to think outside of the box and it had nothing to do with the actual craft and rules of creating hits but rather a group search for a way to forge something unique. Something that entertained us first and foremost. Something that satisfied a need to transport ourselves out of the milieu of the mid 80's. I am grateful to still be on that journey with my friends (family to be sure) and that music is still being created by modern artists that can unite people in these dark divisive times. Or at least give them a break from the chaos sh*t that continually floods the zone.
I'm grateful to my parents for encouraging my preoccupation with music and art. I am grateful for groups like The Moody Blues for giving me permission to let it fly. John Lodge was a distinct part of the Moody Blues although I don't recall there being photos of the group on this record. I never knew what they looked like (until the "Moodies" somehow made the miraculous leap from 70's FM radio to the 80's and MTV). Their personalities and looks weren't the point - the music was the driving force. Many of my favorite records didn't feature group shots: In The Court of the Crimson King, Dark Side of the Moon, Houses of the Holy. Because it was about the music. The music was the message. And the message was PERMISSION.
May it ever continue to be so - at least in the minds of artists who simply want to create.
Bonus content: One of the first songs Widespread Panic played was "Knights In White Satin." I don't even know why: it sure seemed cheesefrog in 1986. Nonetheless we occasionally performed the song. One night we played it at our regular Atlanta gig at Little Five Points Pub and unbeknownst to us the founder of indie label Landslide Records, the great Michael Rothschild, was in the audience.
After he had signed us and we had finished recording Space Wrangler Michael Rothschild came to give us a pep talk about the release of the album and some expectations he had of us as far as doing press and extending our touring range. He only had one request - which was not to play the emphasis track every night. Nope. Rather his sole request was that we immediately cease and desist playing "Knights In White Satin." In hindsight Michael taught us a great lesson: stop playing half-assed classic rock cover songs and replace them with our originals. A lesson we "kind of" learned. I guess.
And then he gave us a cassette tape of Meters tunes to listen to in the van as we traversed what Phil Walden said was "a big country." Transportive. Grateful.
Cheers,
das
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From: Joe Wilford
Subject: Saul Zabar RIP
Date: October 10, 2025 at 10:17:02?PM PDT
Is Saul Zabar on your radar, Bob? He should be.
In 1989, Saul Zabar gave me a job and rented me a studio apartment. I told him I was from Iowa and had a dream. I wanted to be a rock n roll star, be in a band, and be where the action was, Manhattan, and that I needed a job that paid enough to be able to afford to live there. I was young, full of piss and vinegar, very determined. To Saul's credit, he did not dismiss my desires as so much foolishness. Instead, he decided he would support me and my dream. But I would work for him. He made it happen. I worked hard. Nights and weekends. 60 hours sometimes. Still, my band rehearsed twice a week in the old music building on 8th Ave. We got gigs all over lower Manhattan. Saul even brought his wife Carol to a show at the Speakeasy. We were loud, he didn't enjoy it. But he didn't have to do that, and yet there he was. Maybe he thought it was part of the trade off.
In a relatively short period of time - Saul took me under his wing at the store, challenging me, teaching me and always giving me more responsibilities. He apprenticed me in the fine and delicate art of buying smoked fish for Zabar's. We'd drive out to several Brooklyn smokehouses each week, placing orders for thousands of pounds of lox, smoked salmon, whitefish, sable and sturgeon. They pulled out racks of smoked salmon for Saul to inspect and taste. You really know the measure of a man by the way people treat them. The smoked fish vendors showed him an uncanny level of respect, as though a god was walking among them.
Never mind my dream of being a rock star, under the tutelage of Saul, eventually the inventory of the entire appetizing department was in my hands - an incredible honor. A farm boy from Iowa! A gentile!
The studio apartment he rented me gave way to a proper, albeit modest one bedroom apartment. And my pay soon far eclipsed what I had ever before made in my life. I could afford more guitars, gear, and most of all, recording studio time. It was all happening.
By the mid 90's my band had pressed 2 CD's of original material. We were shopping the labels. As it happened, a Sony records exec named Harvey Leeds had a birthday wish to spend one day working behind the scenes at Zabar's. An unusual wish, but he got it. The store's general manager, Scott Goldshine, knew the score. He sent Harvey to work with me. And as such, I spent several hours with Harvey. We packed containers of gefilte fish. Put labels on packages of whitefish salad and pickled herring. I asked for Harvey's information- and told him I would follow up with him. I wanted him to listen to my bands CD.
Weeks later, when my calls to his office for a meeting went unreturned, I sent over a Zabar's platter of bagels w/lox and cream cheese. Within an hour, my phone rang. It was Harvey. 'Now you've got my attention,' he said. And following that an appointment at Sony records.
To his credit, Harvey listened to my bands CD. He said he would pass it along, but Sony wasn't interested in alt country bands at that time. They were looking for jam bands, like Moe, or the next Rage Against the Machine.
But none of that really matters. I was able to get an audience. A glimpse. A shot. And it was all because of Saul Zabar.
I was continually intrigued by Saul himself, as he was truly unlike anyone I have ever met. He was difficult to please, meticulous and demanding and naturally he expected an exceedingly elevated level of hard work and dedication from his employees. You might expect that a man in his position wouldn't bother getting his hands dirty with the menial labor that is required to run a store which makes upwards of 60 million per year. But Saul was as much in the trenches and on the front lines as his employees were. He is not afraid to get his hands dirty - indeed he would work elbow to elbow with anyone - anywhere in the store. When a refrigeration unit broke down - he was the first one on his hands and knees on the floor, in the grime and grease with a flashlight and screwdriver taking apart the console to see what was wrong. Some of us joked about him being 'The Grey Ghost,' because he seemed to be everywhere in the store, omnipresent.
Over time, I realized that the store was to Saul Zabar what music was to me. An art, an inspiration, a craft, an adventure to be explored, savored and cherished. His creative outlet. It doesn't matter what form it takes on - our art feeds our souls. The store was Saul's art, his canvas. He obsessed over it the way any mad, creative genius would.
Saul Zabar's legacy will live on. A legend, an icon, a mentor, boss, friend, and father figure - not just to me, ask any of the employees at Zabar's. They will tell you. To me, he was all these things, but he was also a rock star.
Joe Wilford
_________________________________________
From: John Brodey
Subject: Re: Update
Date: November 25, 2025 at 8:31:55?AM PST
Thanks for the wonderful insight into Jimmy! You hit it spot on and to the late arrivals who think they know better...shut the hell up! If you weren't there then you don't know sh*t. I was.
I started on the air at WBCN in the late sixties. In Jan. of 1972 I was told to take a vacation, which we never did because of FOMO. What great shows might we be missing? So needing to get out of town and working for peanuts, I asked a travel agent who advertised with us where could I go for a week where it's warm and won't cost more than $400. He said Jamaica.
He had booked me in a strange hostel type hotel in Ocho Rios. I remember the ride there from Montego Bay and hearing these pounding beats coming out of the forest. The whole island pulsed.
When I got there, I'm walking down the main drag and I hear these speakers in front of a store booming out the real sh*t. I walked right into The Super Star Record Shack and there was Rudy McFarland who I soon realized was one of the island's greatest champions of Reggae. I started asking questions and we connected. 4 spliffs later I was sold. The next night Rudy said 'we got to go to da moovies'. We met in front of this theater looking building. Inside it looked like the real thing, slanted floor and soft lights on the side walls to help you find your seat and the big screen. Then I look up and see stars... there was no roof! It was like a drive in. The wooden seats spoke to the fact that it often rained on the whole place. The movie was of course was The Harder They Come. I couldn't believe it. The music was visceral and infectious. It consumed you. I couldn't understand the dialogue but the plot wasn't hard to figure out and the sound track emerged as the star. Rudy and I hit a lot of clubs and out door parties in Fern Gully. It was wild.
When my week was up, I left for home with a trove of vinyl from Rudy. I made sure we started playing Toots, Melodians etc. on the air right away. I then went to the guys at the Orson Wells theater and said; you've got to get a hold of this film, here's Chris Blackwell's contact info, make it a midnight thing, we'll pump it and people will have their minds blown. Chris tweaked the movie with subtitles and it only got better. It played there for years.
We opened the door for Reggae and were the first station to give it a chance. I went back to Jamaica the following three years and Rudy took me to Tuff Gong studios in Kingston where we did a couple of 20 hours shifts and where most of the greats spent time i.e. Peter Tosh cut his first solo lp there. He took me to innumerable shows. In Feb of '73 we brought Toots and the Maytals to Boston to play at the Orson Wells theater. They got off the plane that January afternoon wearing nothing but shorts and t-shirts. They had no idea where they were. We put the band up in our apartments and got donated sweatshirts/parkas for survival purposes and so began the reggae invasion. It was one of the most powerful and meaningful experiences in my life of music and one of which I'm very proud to have played a small role.
_________________________________________
From: steve poltz
Subject: Todd Snider
Date: November 29, 2025 at 7:33:16?AM PST
Hey Bob,
Thanks for writing about my friend Todd Snider. We sure lost a good'n.
I go way back with Todd. In the nineties I was touring with my band The Rugburns and we were doing some dates with Todd and his band The Nervous Wrecks. It was an absolute blast being in Todd's orbit.
I remember one time we played a club in Indianapolis and we all arrived very early (what're the odds of that?). I'm talking six hours early. The club—The Patio?—let us in, and we ended up playing whiffle ball. I remember thinking, "You can do this?" It was completely chaotic. Barstools became bases and a pint glass was home plate. The game was nuts, and when the soundman showed up for soundcheck none of us cared. We didn't want to stop because we were in extra innings. Will Kimbrough—the amazing guitarist in The Wrecks—threw a mean whiffle curve. The whole thing was Todd's idea, and what is normally boring purgatory before soundcheck became one of the best days ever.
Then there was the time at some street festival somewhere in Indiana—also with The Rugburns and The Nervous Wrecks (why is it always Indiana?)—I saw Todd and we had lots of time before our disrespec-tive sets. So, naturally, we decided to paint each other's toenails. It got very artsy and there were lots of joints and laughs. Another moment where I thought, "You can do this?"
Todd was chaotic, charismatic, cantankerous, and cool. I loved him. We kept in touch over the years and I was always happy when we'd get a chance to catch up.
The last time I saw Todd was about seven weeks ago on Oct. 10. We both played The Ryman for the John Prine "You Got Gold" tribute show. There were heaps of artists on the bill—Carlene Carter, Louis Cato, Phosphorescent, Courtney Marie Andrews, Margo Price, Fantastic Negrito, Margo Cilker, Tift Merritt, Maggie Rose, Ron Sexsmith, Bonnie Prince Billy, Drew Holcomb, Hiss Golden Messenger, Evan Dando, John Paul White, Todd Snider, and more I'm forgetting.
It was a blast. I walked backstage a few hours before showtime and Todd was already there. (Why are we always early? Aren't we supposed to be late?) Todd gave me a big hug and said, "Come share my dressing room with me." Now this was a very organized event with assigned dressing rooms. I was supposed to share with Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham) and John Paul White. But when you're in Todd's company, you just ride the wave. So I follow him to his room, and he's sharing with Evan Dando, who's there with John Strohm.
Now—making a long story longer—Evan and Todd had never met. I found that fascinating. It just seemed like they would've crossed paths. So the backstage hang is lively, and Evan and I get to reminiscing about that time in the 90s when we spent the night trying to score coke after a show at The Casbah.
Evan sees Todd's decent-sized jar of weed and asks if he can have some. Of course Todd hands him the jar, a joint, and a pipe. There's also a bottle of celebratory John Prine bourbon on the table. I quit booze and coke back in 2004, but I'm getting a full contact high because the room has become a hot box. Evan and Todd are riffing about Townes Van Zandt—neither of them making sense, both talking at the same time—but somehow I understood it all. It was amazing. We were cracking up.
By now I've lost all track of time. The stage manager comes up and says, "Steve Poltz! You're on in 10 minutes." Todd says, "I'm gonna go out front and watch you sing. What're you singing?"
"Illegal Smile," I tell him.
"Perfect," he says.
So I walk out on stage at The Ryman and say to the sold-out audience, "I've just been upstairs for the last couple hours sharing a dressing room with Evan Dando and Todd Snider, and I think I need to call my sponsor." The audience cracks up, and I break into my song, and it all goes off without a hitch.
Afterwards Todd finds me, hugs me, and we laugh some more.
Then Todd goes out at the end of the show and absolutely destroys "Lake Marie." I mean, he slays it. Stunning. I watched from side stage with tears in my eyes—tears of joy. Everything was perfect. Todd was perfect. The world was perfect.
The next morning I was talking with Bob Schneider on the phone telling him about the night before. I told him about Todd's new record High Lonesome, and Then Some. I said, "I don't wanna tell you anything about this record. Just listen and let me know what you think." (I had listened a couple times and LOVED it, but didn't tell him that.) Now, Bob is the most honest person I know. If he hates something, he'll tell you. Well… an hour later he texted: "9 outta 10. Loved it."
When I ended the call I remember saying, "Man, I'm kinda worried about Todd. He doesn't look that healthy, and I have a weird feeling he's not gonna make it through this tour."
I didn't think he would die on tour. I just thought he'd cancel dates due to health issues. But I had a premonition he wasn't going to be around much longer.
I'm so sad, Bob. I can't thank you enough for writing about Todd.
The dude was a legend and left his mark. God bless him.
Yer pal,
Steve Poltz
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Friday, 28 November 2025
Live Album Covers-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in Saturday November 29th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Poison In My Well
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1lQPaWzjstwG1X3hWZb11A?si=U85iBAQ-Svy5ODLMAx4nig
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYmZyHXPUT4
I was listening to the Pulse of Americana playlist on Spotify.
I don't do that on a regular basis, listen to playlists, it was a last resort, I wanted to hear new music and...
I'm reading the news, but at this point I almost shrug, I guess I feel powerless.
As for podcasts... True crime...kinda burned out on that. And the political ones...the speakers are self-satisfied and believe they make a difference and...
You know how it is when almost nothing feels right?
That's why I ended up listening to the latest album by a classic act, and realizing it wasn't really that good, that's when I pulled up the Pulse of Americana playlist.
And...
It starts with the song. I know, I know, you've heard this over and over, but most people still don't learn the lesson, they just don't know what a song is. Listen to the Beatles' catalog and then sit down and write a song. Start with verse/chorus/bridge... If you can master this, then you can jump off into uncharted territory. "Tomorrow Never Knows" was not on the Beatles' first album...
And the form is important, the lyrics less so, but melody/changes always helps. It's very rare that a droning sound sans differences embeds itself in the mind of the listener.
So, assuming you've got the song, which is a big if, A BIG IF!
Then it comes down to the performance/recording of said song.
I once got an e-mail from someone, back when I used to respond, asking me about their song. I was not positive about the vocal, and then he responded...WHAT ABOUT THE LYRICS? The lyrics were not fantastic, but this guy was indignant, saying WHAT ABOUT BOB DYLAN!
And I responded BOB DYLAN IS THE BEST LYRICIST OF ALL TIME!
If you're in the league of Bob Dylan, and have a less than perfect voice, go for it, sing your own songs, but if you don't...don't put your music online and then bitch when no one wants to listen to it. Isn't that part of music, having a good voice? When did we lose the thread here?
As for recording... That's one thing we've lost with the major label/pre-internet era. Without a ton of money, recordings are not labored over (not that fast and cheap is always bad), and you end up with a lot of less than professional stuff. The internet is LADEN with less than professional stuff. To the point where it's nearly impossible to find the needle in the haystack.
But I found one.
"Poison In My Well" by Maggie Rose and Grace Potter...
Everybody's an armchair expert. I don't need a plethora of e-mail telling me this song is not great, I KNOW IT! But in a world of crap, it's pretty damn good, and it stood out.
First there was the groove, which got my head nodding... Too many people have not paid enough dues and don't know how to swing... This is what you get with endless live appearances, you gain FEEL! Too many of today's recording artists lack this.
And then when Maggie Rose comes in...SHE CAN SING! What a concept! Well, it is after listening to endless substandard vocals on the Americana playlist. Somehow people believe in this genre you can get away with imperfect vocals...believe me, the audience isn't enamored.
And after a short verse, there's a change, there's a pre-chorus, a revelation in a world where acts drone endlessly with one chord verses...
But it's better than that. This pre-chorus is not Ms. Rose alone, Grace Potter comes in singing along...which adds humanity and richness. Never mind Potter always bringing an element of swagger, the antithesis of the kewpie dolls like Ariana Grande.
And then these two women go into the chorus...
Now back when we used to go to bars to hear bands, this is what resonated, good singers wailing, going balls to the wall, giving it their all. We could FEEL IT in the audience.
And then there's the post chorus singing about poisoning the well... There's emphasis, attitude, but CONTROL! These women know what they're singing, they're feeling empowered.
And when Rose comes back in, she's upped it up a notch, she's got somewhat of a sneer.
And Grace Potter comes and doubles....
And listening on headphones I'm thinking of how we listened to this music back in the seventies, on the biggest rigs we could afford, LOUD! You can't get that gut-punching bass with earbuds/headphones, you can't feel the music, it's not all encompassing, it appeals to your head before your heart, before your genitalia...and believe me, although this song is not about sex, you can feel the sex in the vocals.
And I wanted to hear "Poison In My Well" again. The music had gotten to me, that groove, that professionalism, this was not someone recording with their iPhone eager to post to Spotify.
So I look up the song...
"All my expectations
You go and shoot 'em down
All my birthday candles
You go and blow 'em out"
Okay, he's a bad man. Not pedestrian, but not revelatory.
"'Cause if you can't have it
Then nobody can have it
Yeah, I know how it happens
You're gonna smash and grab it all"
The music and singing of the pre-chorus is great, and that one line about smashing and grabbing it all...that's a new way to put it, the image comes to mind...I know people like that, you do too...
But the best words are in the chorus:
"The only time you're every sorry
Is when you're sorry for yourself"
This is a cut above. I've never quite seen it put this way before.
And then there's the piece-de-resistance:
"You can't see what you can't see
You don't know how to be happy for somebody else"
On the page maybe not great...maybe not that great when looked at from a distance, but with the emphatic vocal the image is painted... Guys who are all about themselves, sharks, if they're not winning they're not interested, and any victories can't be at their expense, they always must come out ahead.
So now I'm on about the third or fourth time through and I start to do a little research. And I find out online this track came out in JULY!
So am I out of the loop or did this song never really happen...
Well, Spotify tells me there are only 147,119 streams, so...
As for Maggie Rose, whose name I know, but not much more...
She's been on a slew of labels, even made a record for Big Loud...
Close, but no cigar. In the old days, someone would have given up. Made it to the show but not the center ring.
But "Poison In My Well" is now on...One Riot?
Whatever that is.
But getting my info right, research tells me that "Poison In My Well" is nominated for a Best Americana Performance Grammy...which means I'm not the only person who is paying attention, who can see the merit in this track, but art is not about awards...the stars put theirs in their bathroom, if they display them at all... Most of the categories are for losers. No, the music game is about IMPACT! Which usually aligns with commercial success. Have people heard your music, did they like it and want to play it again, did they tell people about it?
That's worth more than any award. That's the game we're all playing, don't delude yourself otherwise. The committee is the public. What does the public have to say?
HAS THE PUBLIC EVEN HEARD IT?
Well, I'm not sure where "Poison In My Well" fits in today's marketplace. It's not Spotify Top 50 pop. Not mainstream country...you can't hear a hat or references to beer/babies/church and there's no banjo... Now Chris Stapleton broke through breaking all the rules, by just being great, so there is a lane...
Then again, Stapleton is fantastic. He supersedes the mainstream country crap, but if you're in his lane and don't have traction...
Americana encompasses too much dreck. To be a fan of this genre... Its fans don't want you, they're proud of their interests, and usually it's about lyrics and struggle and if an act's too polished, they're not interested.
So...
In conclusion... "Poison In My Well" is the best thing I heard on the Pulse of Americana playlist. It was the only song I wanted to hear more than once. I could put it on at a party and people's bodies would start to pulse along with the music, no one would say to take it off, but...
Most people have never even heard it.
This is the world we live in, if you do professional work that is a cut above the rest that still isn't enough for notice.
But I noticed "Poison In My Well."
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYmZyHXPUT4
I was listening to the Pulse of Americana playlist on Spotify.
I don't do that on a regular basis, listen to playlists, it was a last resort, I wanted to hear new music and...
I'm reading the news, but at this point I almost shrug, I guess I feel powerless.
As for podcasts... True crime...kinda burned out on that. And the political ones...the speakers are self-satisfied and believe they make a difference and...
You know how it is when almost nothing feels right?
That's why I ended up listening to the latest album by a classic act, and realizing it wasn't really that good, that's when I pulled up the Pulse of Americana playlist.
And...
It starts with the song. I know, I know, you've heard this over and over, but most people still don't learn the lesson, they just don't know what a song is. Listen to the Beatles' catalog and then sit down and write a song. Start with verse/chorus/bridge... If you can master this, then you can jump off into uncharted territory. "Tomorrow Never Knows" was not on the Beatles' first album...
And the form is important, the lyrics less so, but melody/changes always helps. It's very rare that a droning sound sans differences embeds itself in the mind of the listener.
So, assuming you've got the song, which is a big if, A BIG IF!
Then it comes down to the performance/recording of said song.
I once got an e-mail from someone, back when I used to respond, asking me about their song. I was not positive about the vocal, and then he responded...WHAT ABOUT THE LYRICS? The lyrics were not fantastic, but this guy was indignant, saying WHAT ABOUT BOB DYLAN!
And I responded BOB DYLAN IS THE BEST LYRICIST OF ALL TIME!
If you're in the league of Bob Dylan, and have a less than perfect voice, go for it, sing your own songs, but if you don't...don't put your music online and then bitch when no one wants to listen to it. Isn't that part of music, having a good voice? When did we lose the thread here?
As for recording... That's one thing we've lost with the major label/pre-internet era. Without a ton of money, recordings are not labored over (not that fast and cheap is always bad), and you end up with a lot of less than professional stuff. The internet is LADEN with less than professional stuff. To the point where it's nearly impossible to find the needle in the haystack.
But I found one.
"Poison In My Well" by Maggie Rose and Grace Potter...
Everybody's an armchair expert. I don't need a plethora of e-mail telling me this song is not great, I KNOW IT! But in a world of crap, it's pretty damn good, and it stood out.
First there was the groove, which got my head nodding... Too many people have not paid enough dues and don't know how to swing... This is what you get with endless live appearances, you gain FEEL! Too many of today's recording artists lack this.
And then when Maggie Rose comes in...SHE CAN SING! What a concept! Well, it is after listening to endless substandard vocals on the Americana playlist. Somehow people believe in this genre you can get away with imperfect vocals...believe me, the audience isn't enamored.
And after a short verse, there's a change, there's a pre-chorus, a revelation in a world where acts drone endlessly with one chord verses...
But it's better than that. This pre-chorus is not Ms. Rose alone, Grace Potter comes in singing along...which adds humanity and richness. Never mind Potter always bringing an element of swagger, the antithesis of the kewpie dolls like Ariana Grande.
And then these two women go into the chorus...
Now back when we used to go to bars to hear bands, this is what resonated, good singers wailing, going balls to the wall, giving it their all. We could FEEL IT in the audience.
And then there's the post chorus singing about poisoning the well... There's emphasis, attitude, but CONTROL! These women know what they're singing, they're feeling empowered.
And when Rose comes back in, she's upped it up a notch, she's got somewhat of a sneer.
And Grace Potter comes and doubles....
And listening on headphones I'm thinking of how we listened to this music back in the seventies, on the biggest rigs we could afford, LOUD! You can't get that gut-punching bass with earbuds/headphones, you can't feel the music, it's not all encompassing, it appeals to your head before your heart, before your genitalia...and believe me, although this song is not about sex, you can feel the sex in the vocals.
And I wanted to hear "Poison In My Well" again. The music had gotten to me, that groove, that professionalism, this was not someone recording with their iPhone eager to post to Spotify.
So I look up the song...
"All my expectations
You go and shoot 'em down
All my birthday candles
You go and blow 'em out"
Okay, he's a bad man. Not pedestrian, but not revelatory.
"'Cause if you can't have it
Then nobody can have it
Yeah, I know how it happens
You're gonna smash and grab it all"
The music and singing of the pre-chorus is great, and that one line about smashing and grabbing it all...that's a new way to put it, the image comes to mind...I know people like that, you do too...
But the best words are in the chorus:
"The only time you're every sorry
Is when you're sorry for yourself"
This is a cut above. I've never quite seen it put this way before.
And then there's the piece-de-resistance:
"You can't see what you can't see
You don't know how to be happy for somebody else"
On the page maybe not great...maybe not that great when looked at from a distance, but with the emphatic vocal the image is painted... Guys who are all about themselves, sharks, if they're not winning they're not interested, and any victories can't be at their expense, they always must come out ahead.
So now I'm on about the third or fourth time through and I start to do a little research. And I find out online this track came out in JULY!
So am I out of the loop or did this song never really happen...
Well, Spotify tells me there are only 147,119 streams, so...
As for Maggie Rose, whose name I know, but not much more...
She's been on a slew of labels, even made a record for Big Loud...
Close, but no cigar. In the old days, someone would have given up. Made it to the show but not the center ring.
But "Poison In My Well" is now on...One Riot?
Whatever that is.
But getting my info right, research tells me that "Poison In My Well" is nominated for a Best Americana Performance Grammy...which means I'm not the only person who is paying attention, who can see the merit in this track, but art is not about awards...the stars put theirs in their bathroom, if they display them at all... Most of the categories are for losers. No, the music game is about IMPACT! Which usually aligns with commercial success. Have people heard your music, did they like it and want to play it again, did they tell people about it?
That's worth more than any award. That's the game we're all playing, don't delude yourself otherwise. The committee is the public. What does the public have to say?
HAS THE PUBLIC EVEN HEARD IT?
Well, I'm not sure where "Poison In My Well" fits in today's marketplace. It's not Spotify Top 50 pop. Not mainstream country...you can't hear a hat or references to beer/babies/church and there's no banjo... Now Chris Stapleton broke through breaking all the rules, by just being great, so there is a lane...
Then again, Stapleton is fantastic. He supersedes the mainstream country crap, but if you're in his lane and don't have traction...
Americana encompasses too much dreck. To be a fan of this genre... Its fans don't want you, they're proud of their interests, and usually it's about lyrics and struggle and if an act's too polished, they're not interested.
So...
In conclusion... "Poison In My Well" is the best thing I heard on the Pulse of Americana playlist. It was the only song I wanted to hear more than once. I could put it on at a party and people's bodies would start to pulse along with the music, no one would say to take it off, but...
Most people have never even heard it.
This is the world we live in, if you do professional work that is a cut above the rest that still isn't enough for notice.
But I noticed "Poison In My Well."
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Todd Snider
1
This is weird to me. For a journeyman singer, barely covered in the media, unknown to most, Todd Snider got some of the most glowing obituaries I've ever seen. Lengthy, with not only biographical information, but lyrical quotations...if one was not a fan a reader would think they'd missed out on something.
If only Todd Snider was alive to see them.
I was not the biggest Todd Snider fan. Actually, I was not that much of a fan at all. I was paying attention at the advent, when he released his first album on Jimmy Buffett's label Mailboat, distributed and promoted by MCA.
You see there was a triumvirate of AOR promotion people at Atlantic. Dedicated, successful and fun, and one, David Fleischman left the New York office for L.A., to work for MCA. Supposedly a soul singer in Memphis before he switched sides (and subsequent histories of Memphis soul have confirmed this), Fleischman was called "Flash," and he was anything but, flashy that it is. He sold the music in a low-key way. And the first project he worked for MCA was Todd Snider. Who had this track "Alright Guy."
"You know just the other morning I was hanging around in my house
I had that new book with pictures of Madonna naked, I was checking it out
Just then a friend of mine came through the door
Said she'd never picked me for a scumbag before
She said she didn't ever want to see me anymore
And I still don't know why
I think I'm an alright guy
I think I'm an alright guy"
Now if that doesn't bring you back... When Madonna was surfing the zeitgeist of popular stardom, testing limits all the while. Today pop stars bare their wares on OnlyFans, and Google will show you so much T&A you'll end up bored.
But that's kind of my point. Remember how big Madonna was back then?
Nobody's that big anymore. Never mind today it's more about money than pushing the envelope. Multiple copies of vinyl albums. Show grosses. What is being sold underneath has the nutritional value of cotton candy.
But not Todd Snider.
And just like Madonna, Snider was the beneficiary of the major label machine, but after a couple of albums that ended and he became indie before you wanted to be. And today EVERYBODY is indie. Seems like only the brain-dead want what the majors purvey, akin to the network television of yore, made for the most people and appealing directly to few.
So what is stardom today?
Now let's be clear, most acts posting to Spotify don't deserve stardom, never mind failing to achieve it. But there is a certain level of artist...
2
So it's not only the over the top obituaries that is weird, but the way Snider passed. In that just before he was involved in this altercation in Salt Lake City... Outside a hotel he got into it...
Well, that was the original story. Which didn't make complete sense, since the police ended up arresting Snider...
More details have now come out, and you can read them here:
https://tasteofcountry.com/todd-snider-arrest-body-cam-footage-salt-lake/
But the point is this is not the average behavior of a nearly sixty year old troubadour. Who then cancels his tour, goes back home, enters the hospital and promptly dies.
And 59... If you think that's old, you haven't reached that threshold. That's positively young, musicians don't tend to die before that unless it's a case of misadventure, and they said that Snider died of...PNEUMONIA?
So it was a double-whammy.
I mean I hadn't seen a Todd Snider show recently... I'm trying to think, I definitely met him and we interacted momentarily back in the MCA days...but when you're a singer-songwriter and you've never opened for Taylor Swift, you not only don't play arenas, you end up in tertiary venues where your hard core supports you. Usually you're not making much more than a living. And you have to work to get paid.
Now at this point...
Just because you had a major label deal once, that doesn't mean you're entitled to make a living from your music thereafter. But the more you read the obituaries, the more you read the lyrical quotes, you had to admit it to yourself, this guy was GOOD!
This was in the "New York Times," from the song "Just In Case," about a prenuptial agreement:
"I can't love you enough
But I also can't afford to lose half of my stuff."
You have to be smart to be funny. A tradition back in the sixties, humor has been excised from today's material, everything's so damn SERIOUS! Albeit in many cases laughable.
From that same "Times" obituary:
"'A lot of this record is about how poor people sometimes cope with pain and hardship,' Mr. Snider told The Times. 'A little drugs here, a little sex here, a little denial there.'"
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/arts/music/todd-snider-dead.html
There's more truth there than there is in a month of opinion pieces in major media.
And then, "Variety" quoted from Snider's HQ Aimless's post:
"May your hope always outweigh your doubt
Until this old world finally punches you out
May you always play your music
Loud enough to wake up all of your neighbors
Or may you play at least loud enough
To always wake yourself up"
https://www.instagram.com/p/DRFN5XnEXKH/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=eacce54d-bdc7-4cd6-9eaf-bab77c79c7aa
This is not the boomers who sold their souls for the almighty dollar in the eighties. This is not about gated communities and private jets. This is the rock and roll ethos, which has been snuffed out. The other, who doesn't fit in and knows it, but is unwilling to compromise.
3
Where does Todd Snider end up in history? Will be be like Nick Drake, discovered and kept alive after he dies or...will he just fade away and not radiate.
But one thing is for sure, we live in a weird era... Where nobody gets universal purchase on the public's attention, never mind the zeitgeist.
But, sans that major label push... You can live your whole live on the outskirts, as part of the sideshow.
Now Todd put out some records on John Prine's label "Oh Boy," but don't confuse his status with that of the label owner. John Prine had SEVEN major label albums before he went independent. And he got a ton of ink when the rock press was alive and thriving. And Bonnie Raitt made one of his songs a standard. And then there's "Hello In There" which Bette Midler amplified and..
Todd Snider had none of this mindshare.
So today the acts with mindshare are either old, riding on the coattails of their major success decades ago, or the few pushed by the major labels... As for the rest...
It's the great unwashed. Good luck trying to get ahead.
And, once again, most don't deserve the notice.
And you put out records and have fans but that does not mean you're rich, that your problems are solved. Snider got addicted to Oxycontin...
So... Not only do the acts who deserve it not get attention, many acts don't even get started, or give up early. The road is fraught with obstacles. And the fault is not streaming, that's a bogeyman, it's the impossibility of gaining attention, with not only musicians and influencers but news outlets and other sites competing for the eyes and ears of the audience.
Now if Todd Snider had just passed, and hadn't gotten obituaries in not only the big three, the NYT, WSJ and the WaPo, but elsewhere, it'd be no big deal. Sad for fans, not even a shrug from the mainstream. But these obits testified, AT LENGTH!
How come we can't give some of these acts this attention when they're still alive?
Then again a media push doesn't mean what it used to. Most of the articles are placed, they read as promotion. But there's only honesty in an obituary, where everybody agreed Todd Snider was a cut above.
I wish he'd known.
Because he was an ARIGHT GUY!
Like so many of us... We're misread, misunderstood, they want us to conform, but inside...
"I know I ain't perfect, but God knows I try
I think I'm an alright guy!"
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This is weird to me. For a journeyman singer, barely covered in the media, unknown to most, Todd Snider got some of the most glowing obituaries I've ever seen. Lengthy, with not only biographical information, but lyrical quotations...if one was not a fan a reader would think they'd missed out on something.
If only Todd Snider was alive to see them.
I was not the biggest Todd Snider fan. Actually, I was not that much of a fan at all. I was paying attention at the advent, when he released his first album on Jimmy Buffett's label Mailboat, distributed and promoted by MCA.
You see there was a triumvirate of AOR promotion people at Atlantic. Dedicated, successful and fun, and one, David Fleischman left the New York office for L.A., to work for MCA. Supposedly a soul singer in Memphis before he switched sides (and subsequent histories of Memphis soul have confirmed this), Fleischman was called "Flash," and he was anything but, flashy that it is. He sold the music in a low-key way. And the first project he worked for MCA was Todd Snider. Who had this track "Alright Guy."
"You know just the other morning I was hanging around in my house
I had that new book with pictures of Madonna naked, I was checking it out
Just then a friend of mine came through the door
Said she'd never picked me for a scumbag before
She said she didn't ever want to see me anymore
And I still don't know why
I think I'm an alright guy
I think I'm an alright guy"
Now if that doesn't bring you back... When Madonna was surfing the zeitgeist of popular stardom, testing limits all the while. Today pop stars bare their wares on OnlyFans, and Google will show you so much T&A you'll end up bored.
But that's kind of my point. Remember how big Madonna was back then?
Nobody's that big anymore. Never mind today it's more about money than pushing the envelope. Multiple copies of vinyl albums. Show grosses. What is being sold underneath has the nutritional value of cotton candy.
But not Todd Snider.
And just like Madonna, Snider was the beneficiary of the major label machine, but after a couple of albums that ended and he became indie before you wanted to be. And today EVERYBODY is indie. Seems like only the brain-dead want what the majors purvey, akin to the network television of yore, made for the most people and appealing directly to few.
So what is stardom today?
Now let's be clear, most acts posting to Spotify don't deserve stardom, never mind failing to achieve it. But there is a certain level of artist...
2
So it's not only the over the top obituaries that is weird, but the way Snider passed. In that just before he was involved in this altercation in Salt Lake City... Outside a hotel he got into it...
Well, that was the original story. Which didn't make complete sense, since the police ended up arresting Snider...
More details have now come out, and you can read them here:
https://tasteofcountry.com/todd-snider-arrest-body-cam-footage-salt-lake/
But the point is this is not the average behavior of a nearly sixty year old troubadour. Who then cancels his tour, goes back home, enters the hospital and promptly dies.
And 59... If you think that's old, you haven't reached that threshold. That's positively young, musicians don't tend to die before that unless it's a case of misadventure, and they said that Snider died of...PNEUMONIA?
So it was a double-whammy.
I mean I hadn't seen a Todd Snider show recently... I'm trying to think, I definitely met him and we interacted momentarily back in the MCA days...but when you're a singer-songwriter and you've never opened for Taylor Swift, you not only don't play arenas, you end up in tertiary venues where your hard core supports you. Usually you're not making much more than a living. And you have to work to get paid.
Now at this point...
Just because you had a major label deal once, that doesn't mean you're entitled to make a living from your music thereafter. But the more you read the obituaries, the more you read the lyrical quotes, you had to admit it to yourself, this guy was GOOD!
This was in the "New York Times," from the song "Just In Case," about a prenuptial agreement:
"I can't love you enough
But I also can't afford to lose half of my stuff."
You have to be smart to be funny. A tradition back in the sixties, humor has been excised from today's material, everything's so damn SERIOUS! Albeit in many cases laughable.
From that same "Times" obituary:
"'A lot of this record is about how poor people sometimes cope with pain and hardship,' Mr. Snider told The Times. 'A little drugs here, a little sex here, a little denial there.'"
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/arts/music/todd-snider-dead.html
There's more truth there than there is in a month of opinion pieces in major media.
And then, "Variety" quoted from Snider's HQ Aimless's post:
"May your hope always outweigh your doubt
Until this old world finally punches you out
May you always play your music
Loud enough to wake up all of your neighbors
Or may you play at least loud enough
To always wake yourself up"
https://www.instagram.com/p/DRFN5XnEXKH/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=eacce54d-bdc7-4cd6-9eaf-bab77c79c7aa
This is not the boomers who sold their souls for the almighty dollar in the eighties. This is not about gated communities and private jets. This is the rock and roll ethos, which has been snuffed out. The other, who doesn't fit in and knows it, but is unwilling to compromise.
3
Where does Todd Snider end up in history? Will be be like Nick Drake, discovered and kept alive after he dies or...will he just fade away and not radiate.
But one thing is for sure, we live in a weird era... Where nobody gets universal purchase on the public's attention, never mind the zeitgeist.
But, sans that major label push... You can live your whole live on the outskirts, as part of the sideshow.
Now Todd put out some records on John Prine's label "Oh Boy," but don't confuse his status with that of the label owner. John Prine had SEVEN major label albums before he went independent. And he got a ton of ink when the rock press was alive and thriving. And Bonnie Raitt made one of his songs a standard. And then there's "Hello In There" which Bette Midler amplified and..
Todd Snider had none of this mindshare.
So today the acts with mindshare are either old, riding on the coattails of their major success decades ago, or the few pushed by the major labels... As for the rest...
It's the great unwashed. Good luck trying to get ahead.
And, once again, most don't deserve the notice.
And you put out records and have fans but that does not mean you're rich, that your problems are solved. Snider got addicted to Oxycontin...
So... Not only do the acts who deserve it not get attention, many acts don't even get started, or give up early. The road is fraught with obstacles. And the fault is not streaming, that's a bogeyman, it's the impossibility of gaining attention, with not only musicians and influencers but news outlets and other sites competing for the eyes and ears of the audience.
Now if Todd Snider had just passed, and hadn't gotten obituaries in not only the big three, the NYT, WSJ and the WaPo, but elsewhere, it'd be no big deal. Sad for fans, not even a shrug from the mainstream. But these obits testified, AT LENGTH!
How come we can't give some of these acts this attention when they're still alive?
Then again a media push doesn't mean what it used to. Most of the articles are placed, they read as promotion. But there's only honesty in an obituary, where everybody agreed Todd Snider was a cut above.
I wish he'd known.
Because he was an ARIGHT GUY!
Like so many of us... We're misread, misunderstood, they want us to conform, but inside...
"I know I ain't perfect, but God knows I try
I think I'm an alright guy!"
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
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Thursday, 27 November 2025
Tom Freston-This Week's Podcast
Tom has a new book, "Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu."
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tom-freston/id1316200737?i=1000738658172
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6cASLWs2jZNI5QrQv4BsTm?si=PoaCd-k1Q4WgLe1SJDAx2A
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/tom-freston-309630282/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/cbd6f24f-9fb7-48c0-9c2e-aeeee9b684a8/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-tom-freston
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--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tom-freston/id1316200737?i=1000738658172
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6cASLWs2jZNI5QrQv4BsTm?si=PoaCd-k1Q4WgLe1SJDAx2A
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/tom-freston-309630282/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/cbd6f24f-9fb7-48c0-9c2e-aeeee9b684a8/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-tom-freston
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Monday, 24 November 2025
Update
So I'm sitting here writing about Jimmy Cliff and in my mind I can hear the blowback.
Believe me, I've always gotten negative responses, but not with the vociferousness, the put-downs, the holier-than-thou attitudes of correspondents today. Is it about me or is it the nature of the world at large? Or maybe it's just the nature of the internet.
I mean on one hand I'm cracking up. Wondering who these people think I am. Like I'm some god who must be torn down. No, I'm just a guy with education and opinions who has built an audience based thereon. It's totally an opt-in list, you'd think I was pushing myself and my pronouncements down their throat, that there was no way to avoid me/sign off from the mailing list. But this is patently untrue.
Now most people don't respond at all. But today, a bunch of responses bothered me...
If I get one more e-mail hipping me to the fact that Desmond Dekker's 1969 smash "Israelites" was the first reggae hit, I'm going to tear what little hair I have left out of my head.
No, "Israelites" is SKA!
Listen to the track, does it sound like anything from the Wailers' Island repertoire? The other icons of reggae?
Ska predated reggae in Jamaica. Furthermore, at the end of the seventies there was a ska renaissance in the U.K., which bled all over the world. With acts like the Specials, Selecter, The "English" Beat... Would you call "Mirror in the Bathroom" reggae? No. I'd say I'm splitting hairs here, but really I am not. Because the evolution from ska into reggae is historically very important.
As for places online where you see "Israelites" labeled reggae... What you've got here is self-anointed experts half a century after the fact, oftentimes people who weren't even alive in 1969, weighing in. What was that cliché you learned in elementary school? "Don't believe everything you read"? Or "Everything in the newspaper isn't true"?
Once again, all you've got to do is listen and you can hear the difference, and the difference is important.
And believe me, when I was writing the piece, I THOUGHT about "Israelites," how it was ska and people would e-mail me that it was reggae, and voila! My dreams came true, ha!
One other pet peeve...
I constantly get e-mail from people tapping me on the shoulder, making me aware of some fact that is evidenced in what I wrote IF ONLY THEY'D READ IT! Did you know that "The Harder They Come" played at the Orson Welles in Boston for years? Yes, I WROTE THAT! But that's not enough. If you're going to take the time to correct me, wouldn't you make sure you're correct first yourself? No.
And then there are those who wonder why I no longer spell out swear words, i.e. f*ck and sh*t... BECAUSE IF YOU DO YOU CAN'T GET THROUGH SPAM FILTERS!
Once again, people don't ask, they just put me down, laughingly correct me in their holier-than-thou fashion...if you sent e-mail for a living you would know that it's almost impossible to reach people. These corporations have triggers that bounce e-mail and...
Then there are the people who castigated me for saying that the American Dream was now more achievable in Canada and parts of the EU.
These honkies who can't believe the U.S. is not perfect, who are oblivious to facts... Believe me, I knew I'd hear from them when I was writing too.
But of course what I was saying was right.
I can be wrong, of course... But I am reading ALL DAY LONG! I subscribe to four newspapers. I read three of them cover to cover each and every day. You'd be stunned what you learn. And over time there is context. Whereas those blowing back are running on emotion, not facts. As for saying you don't trust mainstream media, which as I stated above can be wrong, then who can you trust? Nobody?
So I'm reading all day long and I learned the power of analysis at an elite institution but when I say something that doesn't feel right to you, if I don't hew to conventional wisdom, rather than checking the facts before you blow back, you fire up your keyboard and insult me and...
Believe me, I can take it. But in this case, I want to set the record straight.
I'll quote from last week's "Wall Street Journal." LAST WEEK! If you were following the news instead of bloviating, if you were willing to pay for news, you might have read it:
"The Economics of Income Mobility - I believe in the American dream, but the data show that some people have an advantage in realizing it."
Free link: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-economics-of-income-mobility-c0a5bd3e?st=Es5FyA&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Here's the money quote:
"Although economic mobility is a core American ideal, the U.S. now ranks below the Nordic countries, Canada and much of Europe in overall mobility, including the classic rags-to-riches story of starting in the bottom and working your way to the top."
BINGO!
I could cite the numerous articles that state this point that come up in a casual Google search, but to satisfy those who only believe in AI, this is what Google's AI response is:
"The 'American Dream' is often seen as more achievable in Canada and parts of Europe due to greater social mobility, a stronger social safety net, and better access to education and healthcare compared to the United States.
"While America may offer a more dynamic startup scene and top-tier universities, Canada and European nations are frequently cited for their lower economic inequality and higher rates of upward mobility, where it's more likely for individuals to improve their economic standing regardless of their background."
I love a good debate, I love to analyze, argue the nuances, but I HATE, HATE HATE arguing over facts. I mean if we can't agree on the same facts, how can we have a discussion at all?
And the irony of everything I said above is I'll still get e-mail from people saying that "Israelites" is reggae and that the American Dream is achievable foremost in America, but both of those are UNTRUE!
Welcome to my world.
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Believe me, I've always gotten negative responses, but not with the vociferousness, the put-downs, the holier-than-thou attitudes of correspondents today. Is it about me or is it the nature of the world at large? Or maybe it's just the nature of the internet.
I mean on one hand I'm cracking up. Wondering who these people think I am. Like I'm some god who must be torn down. No, I'm just a guy with education and opinions who has built an audience based thereon. It's totally an opt-in list, you'd think I was pushing myself and my pronouncements down their throat, that there was no way to avoid me/sign off from the mailing list. But this is patently untrue.
Now most people don't respond at all. But today, a bunch of responses bothered me...
If I get one more e-mail hipping me to the fact that Desmond Dekker's 1969 smash "Israelites" was the first reggae hit, I'm going to tear what little hair I have left out of my head.
No, "Israelites" is SKA!
Listen to the track, does it sound like anything from the Wailers' Island repertoire? The other icons of reggae?
Ska predated reggae in Jamaica. Furthermore, at the end of the seventies there was a ska renaissance in the U.K., which bled all over the world. With acts like the Specials, Selecter, The "English" Beat... Would you call "Mirror in the Bathroom" reggae? No. I'd say I'm splitting hairs here, but really I am not. Because the evolution from ska into reggae is historically very important.
As for places online where you see "Israelites" labeled reggae... What you've got here is self-anointed experts half a century after the fact, oftentimes people who weren't even alive in 1969, weighing in. What was that cliché you learned in elementary school? "Don't believe everything you read"? Or "Everything in the newspaper isn't true"?
Once again, all you've got to do is listen and you can hear the difference, and the difference is important.
And believe me, when I was writing the piece, I THOUGHT about "Israelites," how it was ska and people would e-mail me that it was reggae, and voila! My dreams came true, ha!
One other pet peeve...
I constantly get e-mail from people tapping me on the shoulder, making me aware of some fact that is evidenced in what I wrote IF ONLY THEY'D READ IT! Did you know that "The Harder They Come" played at the Orson Welles in Boston for years? Yes, I WROTE THAT! But that's not enough. If you're going to take the time to correct me, wouldn't you make sure you're correct first yourself? No.
And then there are those who wonder why I no longer spell out swear words, i.e. f*ck and sh*t... BECAUSE IF YOU DO YOU CAN'T GET THROUGH SPAM FILTERS!
Once again, people don't ask, they just put me down, laughingly correct me in their holier-than-thou fashion...if you sent e-mail for a living you would know that it's almost impossible to reach people. These corporations have triggers that bounce e-mail and...
Then there are the people who castigated me for saying that the American Dream was now more achievable in Canada and parts of the EU.
These honkies who can't believe the U.S. is not perfect, who are oblivious to facts... Believe me, I knew I'd hear from them when I was writing too.
But of course what I was saying was right.
I can be wrong, of course... But I am reading ALL DAY LONG! I subscribe to four newspapers. I read three of them cover to cover each and every day. You'd be stunned what you learn. And over time there is context. Whereas those blowing back are running on emotion, not facts. As for saying you don't trust mainstream media, which as I stated above can be wrong, then who can you trust? Nobody?
So I'm reading all day long and I learned the power of analysis at an elite institution but when I say something that doesn't feel right to you, if I don't hew to conventional wisdom, rather than checking the facts before you blow back, you fire up your keyboard and insult me and...
Believe me, I can take it. But in this case, I want to set the record straight.
I'll quote from last week's "Wall Street Journal." LAST WEEK! If you were following the news instead of bloviating, if you were willing to pay for news, you might have read it:
"The Economics of Income Mobility - I believe in the American dream, but the data show that some people have an advantage in realizing it."
Free link: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-economics-of-income-mobility-c0a5bd3e?st=Es5FyA&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Here's the money quote:
"Although economic mobility is a core American ideal, the U.S. now ranks below the Nordic countries, Canada and much of Europe in overall mobility, including the classic rags-to-riches story of starting in the bottom and working your way to the top."
BINGO!
I could cite the numerous articles that state this point that come up in a casual Google search, but to satisfy those who only believe in AI, this is what Google's AI response is:
"The 'American Dream' is often seen as more achievable in Canada and parts of Europe due to greater social mobility, a stronger social safety net, and better access to education and healthcare compared to the United States.
"While America may offer a more dynamic startup scene and top-tier universities, Canada and European nations are frequently cited for their lower economic inequality and higher rates of upward mobility, where it's more likely for individuals to improve their economic standing regardless of their background."
I love a good debate, I love to analyze, argue the nuances, but I HATE, HATE HATE arguing over facts. I mean if we can't agree on the same facts, how can we have a discussion at all?
And the irony of everything I said above is I'll still get e-mail from people saying that "Israelites" is reggae and that the American Dream is achievable foremost in America, but both of those are UNTRUE!
Welcome to my world.
--
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Jimmy Cliff
DON'T F*CK WITH ME!
If you ever saw "The Harder They Come," you know this scene. If you haven't watched the movie, you should.
They started to promote reggae. Only this was in a world with no YouTube, never mind the internet. We weren't sure how to PRONOUNCE IT! Was it like "Reggie" in the "Richie Rich" comics or was it like "gay" or... You see the way they promoted something back then was via the press. There were articles in "Time" and other magazines, there was a big push, but there was no radio airplay.
Most of the push came with the release of the Wailers "Catch a Fire," their first "rock" album, produced and released by Chris Blackwell. Marley and the group were stranded in London, needing cash, and Blackwell gave it to them in return for this record that he adjusted for white audiences. Which didn't catch a fire whatsoever, not in the U.S. That didn't happen for Marley until five albums later, with the release of "Live!," which percolated in the marketplace during 1976 and is a one listen smash...all you need to hear is the opener, "Trenchtown Rock." After that...Marley and the Wailers were stars. And it was definitely Bob Marley and the Wailers, he pointed to the emblem on his white BMW and said that was what it stood for.
But before that...
The first reggae hit to break in the U.S. was by an American! Johnny Nash, with his original "I Can See Clearly Now," a phenomenal track that one can never burn out on. The attendant press said it was reggae, but the success of the track transcended the hype, it was EVERYWHERE! And if you bought the album it was littered with Marley covers, it opened with "Stir It Up," but no one in the U.S. knew who Marley was.
But before Marley gained traction, there was the 1972 film, "The Harder They Come," directed by Perry Henzell and masterminded by Chris Blackwell. It was not released in America until 1973, part of the reggae push, but unlike "Catch a Fire," "The Harder They Come" did ignite, albeit slowly, via word of mouth after continued exhibition, especially in the college student mecca of Boston, where the film had a seven year midnight run at the Orson Welles Cinema.
But it wasn't only the film, within which Jimmy Cliff starred as Ivan, it was also the SOUNDTRACK! A cornucopia of reggae's greatest hits featuring first and foremost the work of Cliff, the album caught you immediately with "You Can Get It If You Really Want."
"But you must try, you must try..."
I never heard this on the radio. But I bought the album and the music was undeniable.
The record also contained the Melodians' "Rivers of Babylon," and the Slickers' "Johnny Too Bad," and the Maytals' (soon to be known as "Toots and the Maytals") "Pressure Drop, but...
As good as those tracks were, and they were great, they were superseded by the work of Jimmy Cliff, the title track and then "Rivers of Babylon" and the piece-de-resistance..."Sitting in Limbo."
"Sitting here in limbo
But I know it won't be long
Sitting here in limbo
Like a bird without a song"
You'd never heard something quite like this. It was a giant leap forward. Soft, hooky, ethereal and meaningful, wow!
But as big as the movie and these songs were, "The Harder They Come" was still a cult item. Not a cult item like today, a small vertical, but without mainstream AOR airplay only dedicated music fans and those who'd seen the movie were exposed. And for them...the album was a staple of their collection, that never went out of style.
And Jimmy Cliff was the biggest star in reggae. Eclipsing Bob Marley by far. Whose Island career really didn't gain any significant traction until "Rastaman Vibration," four studio albums in.
But when Jimmy's 1973 Island album "Struggling Man" did such, despite the movie, Jimmy jumped ship. To the major labels. EMI in Europe and Reprise in the U.S. It was like he sold out, in search of stardom, he was not an authentic Jamaican spliff-smoker, he was part of the machine, he was no longer one of the struggling originals. And this perception spread from the island to the mainland, and the small group who were reggae fans shunned Cliff, he was for everybody else, not them.
But Reprise couldn't break Cliff, not in the traditional way. Meanwhile, Marley was percolating up from the bottom, and when he and his group finally got a toehold, it was not radio that spread the word, but the public, who adored the Wailers like fans adored the Grateful Dead. The Wailers got even less radio airplay. But word was you just had to see them. And people did, and the legend grew.
Jimmy put out "Give Thankx" in 1978, and it received a push from Reprise, I bought it and liked it, but sans Chris Blackwell, sans being part of the Island reggae cult, sans a hit (which even Marley and the Wailers did not have), Jimmy Cliff was just another major label act trolling for radio airplay to rocket them into the stratosphere, and that never happened.
And then Jimmy Cliff converted to Islam, when reggae fans were all over Rastafarianism. And this sealed his outsider status. And reggae fans knew. Jimmy was not a pariah, he was just a sideshow, a very small sideshow... Reggae lifted the boats of everyone playing it except for Jimmy, the wind was no longer in his sails.
Jimmy even switched to Columbia, worked with the Stones' producer Chris Kimsey, but the reggae cult shrugged its shoulders.
Meanwhile, Bob Marley had died of cancer, and it's impossible to compete with a dead man. Marley was seen as the epicenter of reggae, true believers considered him the god, and Jimmy Cliff was just a guy who starred in a movie. But he wasn't!
But in music back then, commercial success was everything. And you couldn't sell many tickets without it. Furthermore, tickets were still cheap.
So...
Jimmy Cliff continued to live, he made records, but he was now seen as separate from Jamaica.
Now the last time I saw Jimmy Cliff was in 2012, at Coachella, on the main stage, in the afternoon, when not only are there few in attendance, there are not many in front of the main stage. And neither was I... But I heard this voice... I remember immediately looking to the sky. Who is this? And I turned around and...
It was Jimmy Cliff. Who was promoting a new album, "Rebirth," but you didn't have to know the record to get the performance.
It was the kind you never forget. Sans big production, in the sun, which is not conducive to impact, Jimmy seemed to hover twenty or thirty feet above the stage, that's how powerful his voice and music were. It was astounding.
And now he's dead.
Coda:
The news is everywhere. Boomers and Gen-X'ers know his name. Youngsters? I've never heard one of them reference "The Harder They Come," even though Jimmy Cliff was more than that, much more...
There was "Vietnam," released in '68, but most people did not catch on until after the war was over. There was no internet to provide alternative airplay, sans the radio...you were dead in the water, or close to it.
And then there was "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" in '69... Another track that didn't really gain traction until later, in the seventies.
As for "You Can Get It If You Really Want." This used to be the ethos of America, the so-called "American Dream," which today is more achievable in Canada and certain European nations than the U.S. But it was even harder to move up the ladder in Jamaica...but at the time...as many tickets as today's musical acts sell, as many streams as they have, acts were much bigger fifty years ago. Music was beyond entertainment, it was laden with meaning, it drove the culture, music was IT! And the best way to go from nowhere to somewhere was to have a hit, not be on a reality TV show or concoct some scam in Silicon Valley.
As for the movie's title track...
"Well they tell me of a pie up in the sky
Waiting for me when I die
But between the day you're born and when you die
They never seem to hear you even cry"
There's more truth in that verse than you find in today's Spotify Top 50. An honest appraisal of the human condition. Today they're selling fantasy, back then reality triumphed.
And in the song Jimmy ultimately did:
"So as sure as the sun will shine
I"m gonna get my share now, what's mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all"
This is not the false braggadocio of a rap record, this is not the trappings, this is the essence...through sheer will I'm going to lift myself up, all by lonesome, because no one is helping me, and as far as those who held me back...F*CK THEM!
"Many Rivers to Cross"?
"Many rivers to cross
And it's only my will that keeps me alive"
Live long enough and you struggle. You think you're flying high, then you lose your job, your spouse...it's not clear sailing for anybody, ANYBODY! And it's hard to put one foot in front of another. It's only sheer will that keeps you alive.
"And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's such a drag to be on your own"
When you've got nothing, nobody wants to be your friend, no one wants to date you, you're alone, in the wilderness, and staying upright and functioning is extremely difficult, not that you'll learn about this in today's music...where too many are complaining they're not yet rich or famous, or from internet influencers, who believe by laying themselves bare and talking about how screwed they are that this resonates...even though what they're really looking for is attention...and money.
And then there's "Sitting in Limbo," alone with your thoughts on the beach.
"Well they're putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on"
Faith in yourself. That's how you break through.
"Sitting here in limbo
Waiting for the tide to flow
Sitting here in limbo
Knowing that I have to go"
To succeed you must take action. You must confront your issues, your problems, your naysayers. You cannot cower, you must hold your head high.
Like Jimmy Cliff.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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If you ever saw "The Harder They Come," you know this scene. If you haven't watched the movie, you should.
They started to promote reggae. Only this was in a world with no YouTube, never mind the internet. We weren't sure how to PRONOUNCE IT! Was it like "Reggie" in the "Richie Rich" comics or was it like "gay" or... You see the way they promoted something back then was via the press. There were articles in "Time" and other magazines, there was a big push, but there was no radio airplay.
Most of the push came with the release of the Wailers "Catch a Fire," their first "rock" album, produced and released by Chris Blackwell. Marley and the group were stranded in London, needing cash, and Blackwell gave it to them in return for this record that he adjusted for white audiences. Which didn't catch a fire whatsoever, not in the U.S. That didn't happen for Marley until five albums later, with the release of "Live!," which percolated in the marketplace during 1976 and is a one listen smash...all you need to hear is the opener, "Trenchtown Rock." After that...Marley and the Wailers were stars. And it was definitely Bob Marley and the Wailers, he pointed to the emblem on his white BMW and said that was what it stood for.
But before that...
The first reggae hit to break in the U.S. was by an American! Johnny Nash, with his original "I Can See Clearly Now," a phenomenal track that one can never burn out on. The attendant press said it was reggae, but the success of the track transcended the hype, it was EVERYWHERE! And if you bought the album it was littered with Marley covers, it opened with "Stir It Up," but no one in the U.S. knew who Marley was.
But before Marley gained traction, there was the 1972 film, "The Harder They Come," directed by Perry Henzell and masterminded by Chris Blackwell. It was not released in America until 1973, part of the reggae push, but unlike "Catch a Fire," "The Harder They Come" did ignite, albeit slowly, via word of mouth after continued exhibition, especially in the college student mecca of Boston, where the film had a seven year midnight run at the Orson Welles Cinema.
But it wasn't only the film, within which Jimmy Cliff starred as Ivan, it was also the SOUNDTRACK! A cornucopia of reggae's greatest hits featuring first and foremost the work of Cliff, the album caught you immediately with "You Can Get It If You Really Want."
"But you must try, you must try..."
I never heard this on the radio. But I bought the album and the music was undeniable.
The record also contained the Melodians' "Rivers of Babylon," and the Slickers' "Johnny Too Bad," and the Maytals' (soon to be known as "Toots and the Maytals") "Pressure Drop, but...
As good as those tracks were, and they were great, they were superseded by the work of Jimmy Cliff, the title track and then "Rivers of Babylon" and the piece-de-resistance..."Sitting in Limbo."
"Sitting here in limbo
But I know it won't be long
Sitting here in limbo
Like a bird without a song"
You'd never heard something quite like this. It was a giant leap forward. Soft, hooky, ethereal and meaningful, wow!
But as big as the movie and these songs were, "The Harder They Come" was still a cult item. Not a cult item like today, a small vertical, but without mainstream AOR airplay only dedicated music fans and those who'd seen the movie were exposed. And for them...the album was a staple of their collection, that never went out of style.
And Jimmy Cliff was the biggest star in reggae. Eclipsing Bob Marley by far. Whose Island career really didn't gain any significant traction until "Rastaman Vibration," four studio albums in.
But when Jimmy's 1973 Island album "Struggling Man" did such, despite the movie, Jimmy jumped ship. To the major labels. EMI in Europe and Reprise in the U.S. It was like he sold out, in search of stardom, he was not an authentic Jamaican spliff-smoker, he was part of the machine, he was no longer one of the struggling originals. And this perception spread from the island to the mainland, and the small group who were reggae fans shunned Cliff, he was for everybody else, not them.
But Reprise couldn't break Cliff, not in the traditional way. Meanwhile, Marley was percolating up from the bottom, and when he and his group finally got a toehold, it was not radio that spread the word, but the public, who adored the Wailers like fans adored the Grateful Dead. The Wailers got even less radio airplay. But word was you just had to see them. And people did, and the legend grew.
Jimmy put out "Give Thankx" in 1978, and it received a push from Reprise, I bought it and liked it, but sans Chris Blackwell, sans being part of the Island reggae cult, sans a hit (which even Marley and the Wailers did not have), Jimmy Cliff was just another major label act trolling for radio airplay to rocket them into the stratosphere, and that never happened.
And then Jimmy Cliff converted to Islam, when reggae fans were all over Rastafarianism. And this sealed his outsider status. And reggae fans knew. Jimmy was not a pariah, he was just a sideshow, a very small sideshow... Reggae lifted the boats of everyone playing it except for Jimmy, the wind was no longer in his sails.
Jimmy even switched to Columbia, worked with the Stones' producer Chris Kimsey, but the reggae cult shrugged its shoulders.
Meanwhile, Bob Marley had died of cancer, and it's impossible to compete with a dead man. Marley was seen as the epicenter of reggae, true believers considered him the god, and Jimmy Cliff was just a guy who starred in a movie. But he wasn't!
But in music back then, commercial success was everything. And you couldn't sell many tickets without it. Furthermore, tickets were still cheap.
So...
Jimmy Cliff continued to live, he made records, but he was now seen as separate from Jamaica.
Now the last time I saw Jimmy Cliff was in 2012, at Coachella, on the main stage, in the afternoon, when not only are there few in attendance, there are not many in front of the main stage. And neither was I... But I heard this voice... I remember immediately looking to the sky. Who is this? And I turned around and...
It was Jimmy Cliff. Who was promoting a new album, "Rebirth," but you didn't have to know the record to get the performance.
It was the kind you never forget. Sans big production, in the sun, which is not conducive to impact, Jimmy seemed to hover twenty or thirty feet above the stage, that's how powerful his voice and music were. It was astounding.
And now he's dead.
Coda:
The news is everywhere. Boomers and Gen-X'ers know his name. Youngsters? I've never heard one of them reference "The Harder They Come," even though Jimmy Cliff was more than that, much more...
There was "Vietnam," released in '68, but most people did not catch on until after the war was over. There was no internet to provide alternative airplay, sans the radio...you were dead in the water, or close to it.
And then there was "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" in '69... Another track that didn't really gain traction until later, in the seventies.
As for "You Can Get It If You Really Want." This used to be the ethos of America, the so-called "American Dream," which today is more achievable in Canada and certain European nations than the U.S. But it was even harder to move up the ladder in Jamaica...but at the time...as many tickets as today's musical acts sell, as many streams as they have, acts were much bigger fifty years ago. Music was beyond entertainment, it was laden with meaning, it drove the culture, music was IT! And the best way to go from nowhere to somewhere was to have a hit, not be on a reality TV show or concoct some scam in Silicon Valley.
As for the movie's title track...
"Well they tell me of a pie up in the sky
Waiting for me when I die
But between the day you're born and when you die
They never seem to hear you even cry"
There's more truth in that verse than you find in today's Spotify Top 50. An honest appraisal of the human condition. Today they're selling fantasy, back then reality triumphed.
And in the song Jimmy ultimately did:
"So as sure as the sun will shine
I"m gonna get my share now, what's mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all"
This is not the false braggadocio of a rap record, this is not the trappings, this is the essence...through sheer will I'm going to lift myself up, all by lonesome, because no one is helping me, and as far as those who held me back...F*CK THEM!
"Many Rivers to Cross"?
"Many rivers to cross
And it's only my will that keeps me alive"
Live long enough and you struggle. You think you're flying high, then you lose your job, your spouse...it's not clear sailing for anybody, ANYBODY! And it's hard to put one foot in front of another. It's only sheer will that keeps you alive.
"And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's such a drag to be on your own"
When you've got nothing, nobody wants to be your friend, no one wants to date you, you're alone, in the wilderness, and staying upright and functioning is extremely difficult, not that you'll learn about this in today's music...where too many are complaining they're not yet rich or famous, or from internet influencers, who believe by laying themselves bare and talking about how screwed they are that this resonates...even though what they're really looking for is attention...and money.
And then there's "Sitting in Limbo," alone with your thoughts on the beach.
"Well they're putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on"
Faith in yourself. That's how you break through.
"Sitting here in limbo
Waiting for the tide to flow
Sitting here in limbo
Knowing that I have to go"
To succeed you must take action. You must confront your issues, your problems, your naysayers. You cannot cower, you must hold your head high.
Like Jimmy Cliff.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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