Tips from Graham Nash

Music is the presiding factor in Graham Nash’s life.  He opens his book, Wild Tales with this line:  It always comes down to the music.  It is his driving force. It’s the reason he kept agreeing to Crosby, Still, Nash and Young regroupings.  From the moment he met David Crosby, he knew they had a connection and it was through their music.  He became good friends with him, which is probably why Crosby’s descent into drug addiction is the hardest part of the book to read. 

I was never a CSN fan, but appreciated their talent.  Me being a sucker for musician memoirs, I had to read Wild Tales.  I can’t say it’s one of my favorites, but it was a nice read. 

Tips from Graham Nash:

On Managing Money:

“When it was over, the entire tour made close to $12 million, but David, Stephen, Neil and I only got $300,000 each.  That Left $10.8 million unaccounted for, by my arithmetic.”

(Summer 1974 Tour CSNY.  There was crazy excessive spending on that tour and of course, lots and lots of drugs.)

On Dating:

The first date with his not-yet-wife Susan:  “I spent most of that night trying to figure out how to make myself more attractive to this woman. Aha! Now I knew what to do.  I’ll get up in a tree, I thought.  (Don’t even try to attempt to follow this reasoning.) So fifteen minutes before she was supposed to show up, I climbed into a tree outside our bungalow at the Chateau.    And, believe it or not, this stunt actually worked. 

(She told him she had been to a self-exploration conference, which prompted him to think of hiding in a tree.)

On the drama of being in a band:

I know what you’re thinking; didn’t we learn a thing or two about four superegos trying to coexist in one studio?  Why in heaven’s name were we gonna do that again?  But it’s the music.  It’s always the music.  It’s like a drug, irresistible.  And we’re both smart enough-and-dumb enough-to recognize that. 

What I didn’t know about Graham is that in 1990 he started Nash Editions, which is  a fine arts digital print making company.  

Graham will be touring on the West Coast in November.   

Howard Stern's interview with Nash.  

Carole King Ticket Prices Are So Far Away From Reasonable

I was looking forward to seeing Carole King. She's touring with James Taylor, which is an event. They are playing Madison Square Garden June 15th. Tickets go on sale at 11am this morning through Carole King's website.

I've been priced out of the show.

Here is a breakdown of the ticketing fees:

Base Price: $150.00 USD
Facility Fee: $4.50 USD
CaroleKing.com Service Charge: $15.00 USD
Transaction Fee: $4.00 USD
Our Price: $173.50 USD

Paying $173.50 ($23.50 of that in additional fees) for a show at the not-very intimate Garden in this economy is cost prohibitive.

The Garden is charging $4.50 a person/ticket. Capacity for a concert is 20,000, which means they are grossing $90,000 at sell out. They have to be taking a piece of the merchandise, concessions, etc. Do they also get a % of ticket fees? Does not seem like a great deal for the Garden.

Why is there a service charge and a transaction fee?
At sellout, CaroleKing.com will receive $300,000 in processing fees. Seems extreme for what is needed to execute the ticket sales. Tickets have to be picked up at the venue day of show. They are not physically sending tickets to buyers.

Not sure who gets the $4 ($80,000) transaction fee.

Once again, it seems like shows like this are a reality only for hedge fund managers. Too bad. I'm a huge fan of Carole's work. I've never seen her live and would love to, but it won't be on this tour.

I'm off my soapbox.

A Rare Tour From An Uber-Creative Duo

A rare tour by one of our country’s greatest songwriting duos graces the Northeast this month. David Hidalgo and Louie Perez, the main songwriters for Los Lobos and Latin Playboys will be playing a series of dates that encompass the breadth of their collaboration, which began in high school. “We started this musical conversation back in about 1970, and we havenʼt stopped talking,” Pérez says.

Beside several dates on the West Coast, the last time David and Louie performed outside of Lobos was with Latin Playboys. Those performances were a remarkable mix of creativity, stellar musicianship and excitement.

The shows this month will have an interactive flavor. The duo takes audience questions and if they’re open to requests, I’ll put mine in now for the NY show: Peace. Making it a family affair, David’s sons, David Jr. on percussion and Vincent on bass will be joining their father and Louie. The show will have a local moderator. In New York, Rita Houston of WFUV is set to the take on the role.

In conjunction with the tour, the guys will be releasing The Long Goodbye. This collection of previously unreleased recordings (with the exception of Take My Hand) might be considered an album of love songs. The music is at it’s basic, letting the songs “sing for themselves”.

Exploring the roots of American music has always been paramount in David and Louie’s songs, so it’s no surprise that this album embodies country, R&B, rock, soul, jazz and tejano.
Louie and David know how to combine musical genres better than anyone. They mix genres up, blend them together, twist 'em around and create a masterpiece. If you’ve never listened to Kiko the entire way through, do it right now.

The opening song What Good Is Love is a rocker. It’s defiant. It’s in your face. The rhythm of the acoustic guitar drives it. I would love to hear Keith Urban get his hands on this one. Don’t You Know brings to mind John Fogerty/Creedence. It could bookend the Lobos gem A Matter of Time.

I heard the original demo of Cure For Love, when it was presented to Bonnie Raitt, who wound up recording it for her 1998 album Fundamental. I remember thinking: wow an obvious love song from David and Louie. It blew me away. David’s unmistakable guitar and background vocals grace Bonnie’s version. Fellow Latin Playboys bandmates Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake produced that album. It’s a sexy track. Bonnie sings it with a bold attitude. David and Louie’s version takes a more soulful, Marvin Gaye approach. As with many of the songs on The Long Goodbye, it’s filled with the pain of a love gone away, whether real or impending. The song begins with You bring me roses/You give me kisses and ends with When the phone rings/no one answers. The letters comeback saying/"Lover cannot be found". Have they have been hording all those “obvious love songs” for this album?

The upbeat, get off your feet and dance track is Till The Hands Fall Off The Clock. I can see the crowd rising as they do with the first notes of Anselm at a Lobos show. The immense amount of fun one is having with a newfound love is evident in this song about not wanting the night to end.
Well there's nowhere else to go And no one will ever know And we'll dance this way till the hands fall off the clock

Leading up to and preparing us for the title track is a magical, visual spoken word piece from Louie called 1964. His childhood, his family and his neighborhood are remembered in a loving embrace. Then there is a moment that changes things. There may be a long goodbye involved. Life goes on. We grow up, but we never forget that loving embrace. It’s what makes us who we are.

David and Louie are aptly playing the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center on January 15th. No one embodies more of the American experience in their songs than David Hidalgo and Louie Perez.

Tour Dates:
01/14/10 Boulton Center Bay Shore, NY
01/15/10 Lincoln Center For Performing Arts New York, NY
01/16/10 South Orange PAC South Orange, NJ
01/17/10 Tupelo Music Hall Londonderry, NH

Carole King & James Taylor to Tour

The only US date posted so far is the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on May 16th. Tickets go on sale for that show on Nov 23rd. It's a reunion commemorating their first show together in 1969 at the Troubadour. Carole King's website has the full press release.