Jim Marshall, the eyes of Rock & Roll, died this week. Famous for capturing a private moment or a very fiery stage performance, Jim was the premier musicians photographer. He required full access to acts to capture these moments and most of the time, he got it. The iconic images of Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire and Johnny Cash giving the finger belong to Jim.
According to his obituary in the NY Times, his first musical encounter was with John Coltrane. “He asked me for directions to a club,” he said in a 2004 interview. “I told him I’d pick him up and take him there if he’d let me take his picture.” He lived in Greenwich Village and photographed Bob Dylan. He moved to San Francisco and capture the 60's music scene there. After recovering from a drug addiction, he came back in the 80's to work with bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and recently John Mayer.
I'm sure he was always confused with T Bone Burnett. T-Bone Wolk, who I just read about in the Huffington Post died of a heart attack the beginning of the month. He was the long time musical director for Hall & Oates. I saw him perform with them on many occasions. He was also a big part of Daryl's web show Live From Daryl's House. Daryl said "T-Bone was my musical brother and losing him is like losing my right hand."
Wolk impressed me as a musician with a vast knowledge of music and it's history. He seemed to fit in with all musicians which must have been a testament to his patience and his talent. He always looked like he was having a great time and loved his "job". His passing is a piece missing from music.
Alex Chilton was a big influence on bands like R.E.M., Trip Shakespeare (who recorded the Ballad of El Goodo) and The Replacements who wrote a song about him. The Memphis Commercial Appeal broke the story last night. He died suddenly of what is presumed to be a heart attack. Alex and the recently regrouped Big Star were scheduled to appear at SXSW this week. To many, he is probably best remember for his powerful vocals on The Letter and Cry Like A Baby when he was a member of the Box Tops.
I heard The Letter nonstop on WABC and never got sick of it. Classic rock song and classic vocals.
Author, musician and tech guy, Jaron Lanier made a statement at the Canadian Music Week breakfast that touring and selling merchandise is not a long-term solution for the decline in the sale of recorded music for musicians. Try telling that to Los Lobos, Phish and many, many other musicians.
"Whatever it is that is rarefied that you sell instead of music is going away," he told the audience. According to Billboard, he added that "free" cultural supporters, who suggest musicians should give away their recorded output, are short sighted, with very few examples of successful careers built on offering material without payment.
"Every single example of these musicians who did really well by giving stuff away... they don't exist." There are a lot of people who pretend ... and it is fake."
The majority of musicians who make a really nice living from music, do not see a penny in income from the sale of recorded music unless they release it themselves or license it. I know this from working with musicians who are well-known, still tour and make a nice amount of money each year to live very comfortably.
I wasn't at the breakfast, so I can only speak from the quotes I am reading. Based on those, Jaron's theories are so far off the mark. Where does he get his "facts" from? I'd love to know the thinking behind his remarks. I've seen the touring/merch model work really well for years. Yes these acts did have a major label behind them at one point to finance the record, most of the time after that, the labels involvement fell to almost nothing. You don't need $100,000 to make a record now. You might need to hire someone to help with the tech stuff or PR, but it will cost a fraction of what would have been charged to your bottom line if you were at a major label. The labels would build to a sum that was insurmountable even if you sold 1 million units. It seems that Jaron has it all wrong.
The Wall Street Journal reported that since Mr. Jackson's death on June 25, Sony has sold an estimated 31 million of his albums globally. This number is staggering and it's albums, not single songs. I guess that's why Sony Music was willing to pay his estate a minimum of $200 million for 10 future albums including some unreleased material over a period of seven years. The piece states that half of the money will pay down Jackson's debts including $35 million to AEG who were the promoters of his never materialized tour and refinance his Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Neverland Ranch. Will the gloved one's catalog have the staying power to generate enough revenue to make this deal lucrative for Sony? What a time to take the risk.
"You make me vibrate" John Hiatt told the crowd at Irving Plaza. He shook his body and went into a fist pumping version of Cry Love. Hiatt is the master of spoken intros. He draws you into the song with a story. If he doesn't love his "job", then I'm the Pope. He has fun with the audience. He appeased a fan's request for Ethylene, which ignited a request shouting frenzy. He's the ultimate song craftsman as evident in his performances of Feels Like Rain and Real Fine Love. The latter opened with a melodic, beautiful guitar interaction by Hiatt and his guitarist/ Nashville-based producer Doug Lancio.
Hiatt's shows are informed by his band and his song arrangements admirably change with each incarnation. This band, The Combo, which includes original Goners drummer Ken Blevins felt like a meeting point between previous bands, the Goners (Sonny Landreth on guitar) and The Guilty Dogs (Michael Ward on guitar): a little blues, country and rock. Lancio was forefront as the show had a prominent jamming element.
John has a great catalog of road songs. His most recent recording is the The Open Road and the band performed the title track. Last night's set would be a great soundtrack for any road trip. Drive South, a love song about getting away from it all was heard early on and it primed the crowd for the joy ride that followed. Tennessee Plates is an ironic play on the title: steal a Cadillac and you're doing time making license plates. John sang with a preacher's enthusiasm in Memphis in the Meantime and rounding out the road tunes was Riding With The King. It wasn't all songs about driving as Hiatt closed the show with a Whiter Shade of Pale-inspired rendition of what has to be his most covered song, the revered Have A Little Faith In Me.
Like Keith Urban, John Hiatt respects and appreciates his fans. John thanked everyone for spending their money to come out and see him in such hard economic times. Following these comments, the guy behind me yelled, "I was on the guest list". You have to love a NY crowd.
The Mets marketing department could take a lesson from bands such as Guster.
Yesterday I received this booklet from the Mets soliciting me to buy a season ticket package. In big bold letters it says: We Believe In Comebacks. As a suffering Mets fan, I would say I believed in comebacks also, but with the team's history these past few years (last year excepted as they were out of the race in June), it's hard to buy into such a statement. The Mets were in it to the last game of the season. In fact they could have had the division sewn up, but they fell apart each and every time. We Believe? Who is the "royal we"?
First rule of marketing is know your audience. A band like Guster knows their audience, gives to their audience and makes it exciting to be a part of their fan base. Whether it's posting video clues to find free tickets to a show or playing full album night performances, they are constantly engaging the fans, which is my next point: Engage your base. The Mets have failed on both of these.
The front office might believe in comebacks, but my patience is thin and I'm guessing I'm not alone. If nothing else be honest. We're Healthy! would be a lot more refreshing. The NY Daily News mentioned the sign posted by the exit to the spring training clubhouse: PREVENTION & RECOVERY. Ok I can live with that. It's realistic and about what we can hope for as Mets fans.
The Mets slogans over the years have been uninspiring, which is contrary to why they are created.
Baseball Like It Oughta Be The Magic Is Back Your Season Has Come Out Team, Our Time Amazin' Again
Their best slogan, Ya Gotta Believe came from a player, Tug McGraw. He engaged fans. Every time I see that video of him slapping the glove against his leg and shouting in joy, I get chills. Remember the ad with Mike Piazza going around town getting advice from street vendors, people on the street, etc? I think the catch phrase was With your help, we can win. It engaged the audience and make them a part of the season. It also does it with humor. I think that commercial was pitched to them by a filmmaker/fan who had a great idea and wanted to share it. Glad he did.
Come on Mets marketers, think different, go out on a limb (maybe bad choice of words, could lead to injury), think about who the fans are. We're smart, baseball savvy and love a good punch line. Don't bore us to death, the team did that on their own this year.
They're On The Mend and We're Keeping Our Fingers Crossed.
According to a report "Investing in Music" from IFPI, it costs a record label at least $1 million to launch the career of a new recording artist. It also states that $5 billion a year is invested in new artists and the "broader sector" of music employees 2 million people.
Looking at A&R as Research & Development, the record labels spend about 16% of their sales revenue on A&R, which far exceeds the R&D budgets of any other industry.
John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI, says: "One of the biggest myths about the music industry in the digital age is that artists no longer need record labels. It is simply wrong. The investment, partnership and support that help build artist careers have never been more important than they are today. This report aims to explain why. Investing in Music is about how the music business works. It explains the value that music companies add, helping artists to realise a talent that would typically go unrecognised and get to an audience they would otherwise not reach."
This is definitely true for mainstream pop artists. Jam bands, rock bands and singer/songwriters might not benefit from a major label deal in this climate. Those acts need to tour and connect with fans immediately to be successful. Most labels won't take a chance on that kind of an act without a following. These musicians can be more profitable and sustain a longer career by doing it on their own, especially if they have a fan base. Things may change, but when saddled with $1 million in recoupable expenses before a song is released, they are standing behind the 8 Ball.
Jim Boggia wrote an open letter to Taylor Swift on Outlandosmusic.com. He is vocal about his bitterness at her walking away with 4 Grammys after she hobbled through her duet with Stevie Nicks. The most interesting part of the letter is his declaration that the "popular kids" have taken over music. Here is an excerpt:
You know that song of yours? The one where she’s the cheerleader and you’re the unpopular outsider? Well, I’m having a hard time buying into that because – not to dwell on this but, um . . . . LOOK AT YOU. You can feel free to read this next sentence in the voice of Grandpa Simpson, but: In my day, girls who looked liked you WERE the cheerleaders and then, as now, girls who looked like you wound up getting the guy you talk about in that song. And music . . . Music . . . MUSIC . . . well, that was OUR territory – the folks who really were unpopular. You should check out a tune called ‘At Seventeen’ by Janis Ian. Then you should check out Janis Ian. I mean do a Google Images search. See? SHE was in the bleachers wearing a t-shirt, Taylor, not you. Can’t you just be happy being the cheerleader? Do the popular kids have to take over music, too?
But why am I blaming you? The popular kids took over our game a while ago. There was a bit of a back and forth tussle for a while, but there was a moment – it might have been when Kurt put the bullet through his head – that it was over, the cool kids won and popular music (not POP music, but music which is massively popular) became about being popular and not about making music.
This is the most telling thing I've read about the current music scene in a long time. How much does American Idol plays into this? In the 80's MTV certainly helped the careers of those good-looking bands ala Duran Duran or a-HA. MTV has removed music from its name and now it's American Idol. This season more than ever, they are placing more emphasis on the looks. It could be because the talent is so sparse. Contestant Michelle Delamor was wearing a dress from designer Vera Wang, who was in the audience. Randy called her outfit "hot". In a past episode, Kara inappropriately told contestant Casey James to remove his shirt. But then there is Crystal Bowersox who throws the whole theory out the window. On a talent level she is the powerhouse to beat. She is not concerned with fashion. She gets out there and belts it out. It would be more beneficial to her if she places in the top 4, but is not crowned the next American Idol. Daughtry's career might not be what it is had he won. Not winning allows them to do their own thing, not worry about wardrobe changes and be under the strict supervision of the Idol producers. It will be interesting to see where the votes go.
He would have been 78 today. There's a Wear Black For Johnny Campaign in honor of his birthday.
His latest record American VI: Ain't No Grave was released earlier this week. It was produced by Rick Rubin.
Retired real estate agent Louie Sulcer 71, of Woodstock, Ga., won Apple's iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs contest. He purchased Johnny Cash's 1957 single "Guess Things Happen That Way", which is the 10 billionth song downloaded from iTunes. He was rewarded with a a $10,000 iTunes gift card. The L Magazine reported he also received phone calls from Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Johnny's daughter, singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash, who had her guitarist husband, John Leventhal play the song for Sulcer over the phone.
Binky Phillips of the band The Planets, wrote a loving ode to playing CBGB's at SonicBoomers.com. His band opened for the Ramones and Television, which were probably the biggest draws for the club in it's early years. Apparently Hilly Kristal, the owner, used to make burgers and chili, which Binky thought were good until he saw Hilly's dogs deposits on the kitchen floor. Needless to say, shortly after that CBGB's stopped serving food.
The Wall St Journal has a well-thought out piece on Howard Stern and his next career move. There is much speculation on him taking over for Simon Cowell as a judge on American Idol. This would be a very welcome addition. With the subtraction of Simon, who is the star of the show, there are few people that could slip into the role, make it his own and keep the ratings alive. Howard has said on his Sirius/XM show if they want to offer him $100 million dollars to judge a karaoke contest, he's all for it.
Speaking of American Idol, the show has really lost a lot of it's charm this year. The loss of Paula Abdul as a judge is significant. She made the contestants feel at ease. Her comments were coming from the heart and her occasional wackiness made the show great. You don't see Simon and Kara getting into scuffles. Simon seems like he's checked out of the show already. His comments are short. There is a glaring hole where his critiques used to be. Did Kara really think that Andrew Garcia's cover of Paula's Straight Up was genius as she exclaimed on TV? It's a great song and it was a nice cover. Led Zeppelin ll, Pet Sounds, London Calling, Rubber Soul-ok, there is genius, but a cover of Straight Up, not sure it lives up to her hype.
Redbox, is a service that is essentially a red box vending machine found at supermarkets, etc where a person can rent movies for as cheap as $1 a day. It's very popular and it generates income for the movie studios. It looks like the movie studios don't want people to continue to use this service on the same level they were used to. A story in TechDirt points out that Redbox finally caved into Warner Bros crazy demand that they not rent films until 28 days after the DVD is released. This is similar to the deal that Warner's made with Netflix recently. Essentially what Warner is trying to do in a very short sided way is make the consumer BUY the DVD if they want to see it as soon as it's released.
This is another completely misguided, uniformed (I say uninformed because these companies are not listening to the consumer, whom they depend on) decision by a media company. The NY Times website is going back to a limited paywall. When people are used to getting something one way for a very long time, such as renting a DVD the day it's released, not paying for the NY Times online, there is no way to go back to the well to try and find water when it's bone dry. I have a strong feeling that these decisions will come back to bite both Warner's and the NY Times.
Why is it so hard for media companies to embrace the consumer? Why do they treat them like the enemy? The recorded music industry has been alienating fans for too long now and look where it's gotten them. We rarely hear from the musicians, actors and journalists whose livelihood is most affected by it all. These companies should all take a page from indie musicians who are making a respectable living connecting with their audience and being creative about how they generate income (while giving the fans something they want). Read Marian Call's blog.
Thanks to the Grateful Dead's longtime office manager, the band's archives are copious and will be housed at the University of California at Santa Cruz. There are scholars who study the band and have been mocked and derided by politicians for it. The Dead's organization is now being hailed as the business paradigm for the 21st century. Practices that are second nature to the Dead are now embraced by big corporations as well as indie musicians. The Atlantic's article quotes he band’s lyricist, John Perry Barlow, who became an Internet guru. As early as 1994, the band was using their philosophy to embrace new technology.
Writing in Wired in 1994, Barlow posited that in the information economy, “the best way to raise demand for your product is to give it away.” As Barlow explained to me: “What people today are beginning to realize is what became obvious to us back then—the important correlation is the one between familiarity and value, not scarcity and value. Adam Smith taught that the scarcer you make something, the more valuable it becomes. In the physical world, that works beautifully. But we couldn’t regulate [taping at] our shows, and you can’t online. The Internet doesn’t behave that way. But here’s the thing: if I give my song away to 20 people, and they give it to 20 people, pretty soon everybody knows me, and my value as a creator is dramatically enhanced. That was the value proposition with the Dead.” The Dead thrived for decades, in good times and bad. In a recession, Barnes says, strategic improvisation is more important then ever. “If you’re going to survive this economic downturn, you better be able to turn on a dime,” he says. “The Dead were exemplars.” It can be only a matter of time until Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead or some similar title is flying off the shelves of airport bookstores everywhere.
Most of the archives will be posted online. They are hoping that Deadheads and others will add to the colossal amount of information and material the band has amassed. Anyone/company who wants to know how to gain fans, keep them interested, interact with them and also be profitable should look to these archives. This should be required viewing for CEOs.
The New York Historical Society will offer the first glimpse of the archives in an exhibit there from March 5th through July 4th. Along with displays of concert tickets, posters and fan mail, the exhibit will focus on the band's business savvy and refusal to adopt the same working model as the major record labels.
The song Snow Days has been running through my head since last night. As the song goes it's coming down in New York City. There's a blessing on the ground. When the city decided it would close the schools today I thought of Snow Days by Trip Shakespeare. The band lived in Minneapolis, so I'm sure they were used to snow days. John Munson's booming voice takes you to a day of snow, ending the in words every kid (or employee for that matter) wants to hear go home and take a snow day. The lyrics are so visual you can't help but be brought back to that time when you were a kid listening to the radio or watching TV and you heard your school was officially closed. If your road's patrolled by children/There's no order to be found.
This is a beautiful version of the song by The New Standards which is the band John started after Trip Shakespeare, after Semisonic . It's rich, it's magical, it's snowing.
John and Matt Wilson (from Trip) have a new band called The Twilight Hours . They're on the road with upcoming dates in Chicago, Milwaukee, Philly and Brooklyn.
From postings and comments I've heard during and after every Super Bowl, whoever chooses to do the Halftime Show is putting themselves in the same category as the Christians being fed to the lions in Rome. Everyone has a definite opinion on the quality of the performance. This year, I'd say the negatives win. 70% hated The Who. Thought they didn't die before they got old, Pete's voice was bad, fake windmills, Roger looked like a used car salesman, etc. About 30% said everyone watching was singing along, loved the show and The Who still have it into their sixties.
I didn't listen close enough to offer a well-informed opinion. I though the staging was perfect for TV. It worked well. There was an abundance of shots of Zak Starkey on drums. The cymbals were very cool. Directors usually ignore drummers. I guess it helps that your lineage is Beatles. I did comment that I bet this performance was amazing if you were at the stadium. It's tough to capture the excitement of a live performance on TV. Many people complained that the mix was bad. I hate medleys. I would have loved to see them do 2 full songs. Someone mentioned that Pete Townsend said in a pregame interview that he wanted to do just that and Roger wanted the medley and won.
With all the attention paid to The Who, scant comments were made on Carrie Underwood's Nation Anthem. I was listening from a distance and not in front of the TV, but it sounded like she was shouting, not singing.
My favorite halftime show was Prince. He played in the rain. He played like nothing mattered. Someone suggested having John Mayer and Keith Urban play next year. I think Urban is one of the most exciting, gifted performers today and he could rival Prince.
Warner Music Nashville is releasing Blake Shelton's latest musical offering as a "Six Pak". On March 2nd, Hillbilly Bone will sell as a six song album (this used to be known as an EP). The album is fast becoming a thing of the past. By releasing 6 songs instead of the 10 -12 usually found on an album, the artist can get music to the fans on a regular basis (sometimes the lag between albums can break a career by losing fan momentum gained from releasing a successful album). The artist can write and record faster and the bottom line is that very few people are buying full album's worth of music. This is the way to release music right now. Read the full article in Billboard.
On Blake's website, he's selling the record as a packages with t shirts, autographed copies and fan club access. Another positive sign: he's selling the packages from his website. You don't have to go to Warner's site. Country artists are the ones leading the way these days. They are also the ones consistently writing "songs".
Saturday night at 9:30pm EST, VH1 will air Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America, a documentary on the Don Cornelius hosted TV show. It featured the best in soul and R&B and it aired every Saturday morning. It was required viewing along with American Bandstand. Every musician passed through both those shows.
Check out the Soul Train dancers, don't miss ReRun. You can't miss Don's tie.
According to today's NY Times, The Grammy Awards had their best audience in years: 25.8 million viewers. Here are some more staggering facts from the article:
These numbers were up 35 percent from the 19 million who watched the awards show last year. It dwarfed such recent awards shows as the Golden Globes (17 million) and the Emmys (13.5 million). The Grammys this year were more popular than all of the NFL Sunday night prime-time football games this season on NBC as well as Game Four of the World Series, which was played on a Sunday night.
I caught a little of the show and I came away with thinking that only country artists know how to write a song. There was lots of spectacle. Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas and Jamie Foxx all danced and gyrated with robots and other shinny things. Beats, Beats, Beats! The big number duets which have become ubiquitous, were lackluster. Lady Gaga and Elton John's take on Your Song seemed misguided. Then again, I didn't watch the whole show only a small portion, which was enough.
The Heavy are from Bath England. They look like Dave Grohl, Mick Jones (of The Clash), a young Pete Townsend and Corey Glover. How You Like Me Now sounds like James Brown meets Pig Bag. Their performance on Letterman got them an encore. They played in and out of the commercial. This song has the power that Gnarls Barkley's Crazy had.
Speaking of Mick Jones, he recently went into the studio with former band mate Topper Headon to record a version of The Clash's Jail Guitar Doors with Bill Bragg on lead. It's to benefit Billy's charity with the same name. From their website: Jail Guitar Doors is an independent initiative which aims to provide instruments to those who are using music as a means of achieving the rehabilitation of prison inmates. Founded by Billy Bragg, it takes its name from the b-side of the Clash’s 1978 single ‘Clash City Rockers’. Breaking Rocks is a documentary about the recording and the organization as well as a tour which will begin in February in the UK.
Mick can also be heard with other former band mate Paul Simonon on Gorillaz title track for their latest Plastic Beach.
Mike Masnick of techdirt.com posted about his "10 Good Reasons To Buy" presentation at Midem. He elaborated on last year's presentation which was based on his equation of Connect with Fans + Reason to Buy (CwF+RtB). He gave a short talk and the broke the audience into groups to create business models for specific musicians. (Details on this will be posted at a later date.) He gave his reasons to buy, which is not new to his readers, but worth mentioning a few. Check out the full post.
Having managed bands and seeing what a positive connection with the fans and non-believers makes, I found 2 and 3 to be solid advice that does work.
2. Attention: One of the most important scarcities in the digital age. Attention is incredibly scarce, and if you've got it, you can do a lot with it.
3. Authenticity: This one also includes "trust." The ability to be authentic carries tremendous weight and is quite scarce at times. But if you can provide something that is authentic and valuable, it's often a very strong reason to buy.
The minute an artist goes south of what his/her creative path is and starts listening to others, the authenticity is gone, the music suffers and the fans know it. Believe in yourself, that's what drew your fans to you in the first place.
Midem, the music conference, is going on in France as I write. Their website offers streaming, video and live blogs of the daily events. If you have a passion for the the music business or a passing interest, take a look and watch a few panels.
There is a real lack of female presence on these panels. The recorded music industry has always been a boys club, with very few women able to crack into the top echelon. That seemed to be changing with powerful female managers and female artists taking their careers into their own hands. Is there a dearth of females in the tech area of music? Most of the panels are tech driven. Not all consumers are male, not all points of view should be male. Would love to know what the women attending Midem think.
Jeff Price, the founder of TuneCore has a post asking for a new way to quantify music sales. He points to a recent CNN piece The Plan to Save the Music Business. The focus of the piece is on A&M/Octone records, but it also speaks of the amount of new records released last year and those that sold more than 250,000 copies. From Jeff's blog:
"...106,000 new (music) releases in 2008"In 2009, TuneCore released approximately 90,000 releasesThis means, if their numbers hold true, almost every single new music release in 2009 was distributed via TuneCore. In addition, the article went on to quote the following Neilsen statistic"Of the 63 new releases that sold more than 250,000 copies last year, 61 were issued by major music companies."Well then, according to Neilsen, there are now four major "music companies" - Sony, Warner, EMI and, according to Neilsen, TuneCore as all of the following TuneCore artists sold over 250,000 copies....and mind you, this is a not a complete list:
He goes on to list 11 acts and concludes with the following:
And what about the arbitrary concept of looking at a weeks worth of sales, why not a days, or a months, or a years? Things are moving much faster. More music is being recorded and released. Music buyers are moving faster too. Seems to me that the age-old concept of weekly album sales has lost its relevancy.It’s time to get a new system that more accurately reflects the new “IT” – and this time, its important not to consolidate the power of the reporting into the hands of one company.
Sultry singer Teddy Pendergrass lost his battle with colon cancer at age 59. His career was derailed at it's peak by a car accident that left him confined to a wheelchair, although he did record and periodically performed. Originally he played drums for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes and later became their lead vocalist. He forged a solo career with hits like Love TKO.
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.
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've already waxed poetically about the beauty of the song Saint Behind the Glass by Los Lobos. Here is a live version performed by the songwriters Louie Perez and David Hidalgo. Don't forget that Louie and David are playing a few east coast dates this week into next.
When music is placed correctly in a TV show, film or commercial, it makes the piece that much better. It adds to the storyline. Music can become an additional character in the plot. Gary Calamar, the music supervisor for Dexter, among other shows, said there wasn't a grand story behind choosing Frankie Avalon's Venus for several episodes. A writer producer who wrote the script injected it into the plot.
This seemingly harmless pop song makes two significant appearances over two episodes. Arthur, played flawlessly and with serious conviction by John Lithgow, is a serial killer out to revenge his sister's death. John is so convincing as Arthur that he said that after watching a few episodes of the show with his wife, she repeatedly turned to him and said "Do I know you?". Arthur kidnaps and harbors a young boy who he perceives to be himself at that age. He was innocent then. He hadn't witnessed his sister's murder. Her favorite song was Venus. Arthur plays it on the phonograph in the basement where he keeps the boy. The 45 drops from the magnetic holder and starts to rotate. The arm moves slowly over the record to plop the needle on vinyl and we hear "Hey Venus" with the angelic background vocals ooo ooo ooo's. It's innocence. It's innocence shattered.
The song returns on the season finale. At risk of giving away anything for those who haven't seen this season (you MUST rent or buy it), the placement of the song is chilling, creepy, haunting and it will drill a hole in your brain. Venus will follow you for days, as will the events leading up to the final scene. It's a brilliant choice.
Another recent music placement that was spot on was The End Of The World by Skeeter Davis used during the closing credits on Mad Men. In the case of that show, the songs have to be timeline correct. It's a period show, set in the 60's. You have a finite list of songs to play with. This song summed up the episode and foreshadows future episodes.
I'm sure people think being a music supervisor is easy. Pick a scene from a favorite show and think about what music you would use to drive the story and convey the actions taking place. Sometimes it's knowing that there shouldn't be music. There are many an ill-placed song. This not the case with Gary Calamar's selections, which is why he is one of the best. He's worked in record stores and as a radio host. His depth and knowledge of music is far reaching. Although he didn't pick Venus, his choices are subtle (I'm partial, but his use of Brandi Shearer's Lullabies in the season premier of Dexter Season 3 was perfect) and well thought out. There was a show on ABC that was unwatchable because of the overuse and abundance of ill-informed music choice. Men In Trees was a sonic mess.
Gary's TV Show credits include Six Feet Under (Breathe Me by Sia in the series finale) , Weeds, House, True Blood, and most recently Men Of A Certain Age. The theme song for Men is the Beach Boys' When I Grow Up To Be A Man. Again, on the surface the production and the background vocals proclaiming the aging of a man 22, 23, 24, etc. make it seem like a harmless pop song. A typical Brian Wilson song is never what you think you hear on the surface. The lines "Will I love my wife/The rest of my life" convey the anxiety about growing up, which essentially is the theme of this show. Ray Romano's character is living the song. As an aside, the show's website proclaims "Every memory has a soundtrack" and you can create your own digital scrapbook to share with others. The choices you are given to create that musical scrapbook: Styx, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Whitesnake.
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 goAnd no one will ever knowAnd 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
If you have any questions on why the major record labels are faltering, read Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash Of The Recording Industry in the Digital Age. It’s well organized, well researched and well written. It’s a page-turner! It’s not a lament about piracy killing the business. In fact, the author, Steve Knopper (a contributing editor for Rolling Stone) barely uses that as a reason for the destruction.He confirms what hit me in the mid 1990’s:the major labels were always about 3 years behind technology, which probably increased to about 8 years behind as the 1990’s became the 2000’s.The unwillingness or arrogance to embrace anything outside their business model (which is rooted in the 1950’s) has led to the downfall.
The book traces the labels troubles beginning in 1979, which is about the time I started to get my feet wet in the music business.Disco was selling.People seemed to love it and the lifestyle or hate it.Steve Dahl, a DJ from Chicago lived the Disco Sucks credo. With the help of Mike Veeck, son of the White Sox owner, he organized a death to disco promotion at Comiskey Park.Anyone bringing a disco album to the game on July 12, 1979, got into the park for 98 cents.59.000 fans showed up for the game.Crates of disco records were “blowed up real good” in the words of Dahl, fans rushed onto the field.This ignited the fire that would kill disco.Here’s the shocking news of what that meant to major labels:Sales plummeted by almost 11 percent in 1979 after 10 years of growth.Casablanca Records (Donna Summer and Kiss) founded by the big spending, lavish lifestyle lover Neil Bogart, was probably the biggest casualty.PolyGram purchased half of Casablanca for $10 million in 1977.As seems to be common practice, a label pays high and comes in on the end of a trend.Labels seem to think the wave will never crash to the shore.Besides out of control spending, Casablanca had no problem shipping way more product to stores than was needed. Of course unsold product got shipped back to the label.In 1978, fueled by the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, the recorded music industry brought in $4.1 billion in sales.The anti-disco trend sent the business into a tailspin from 1979-1982.PolyGram spent years cleaning up a $30 million Casablanca mess.CBS Records laid off 2000 employees.
In 1982 Michael Jackson released Thriller. It can be argued that he single handedly saved the business.Walter Yetnikoff described by one as “the bearded, Yiddish, smack-talking dervish” was chairman of CBS.Knopper beautifully weaves the story of Yetnikoff into the advent of MTV, which issued a new round of life support for the business, even though MTV would wind up reaping huge benefits, while getting the labels to pay for their programming.Labels covered expenses (which were billed back to the artists) for the making of the videos and provided them and access to their artists for no fees. It was considered “for promotional purposes”. They were giving away free content.Something the labels haven’t grasped when it comes to file sharing.
The advent of the Compact Disc is a fascinating tale.Knopper takes it from its infancy as James Russell experiments with the technology behind the CD in 1965 to convincing the major labels (as well as recording engineers) that the CD would be as a new source for selling music.In 1981 it took Marc Finer (product communications manager) of Sony to play a CD of Billy Joel’s Honesty to label heads to break the wall of resistance to the CD.Those running the labels finally “got it”.Now there was a way to charge more for an album and charge back higher production costs to the artists for this new technology, therefore garnering higher profits for the label.Production costs quickly lessened for the labels, but this was never reflected in artists’ bottom lines.For this chapter alone, it’s worth reading the book.
Throughout Appetite, there is a six part series outlining “Big Music’s Big Mistakes”.They run the gamut from The CD Longbox to Independent Radio Promotion to the final blow, Sony BMG’s Rootkit.
As they say history repeats itself and it’s never more evident in this book. The teen pop bubble is another trend the industry thought wouldn’t end.Napster is the new technology that is ignored.It took an outsider to make digital music sales work:Steve Jobs and Apple get it right with the iPod and iTunes, once again taking a huge chunk of profit out of the labels (and artists) hands.
Knopper considers the future.Artists are now taking their careers in their own hands and it's working, ie Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails.Noted that they did have the benefit of a label to launch their career. Subscription services would probably be the most lucrative for the labels if they want to hang on.360 deals are examined.The label that makes this deal receives a percentage of all the artists income for an advance and a record deal.The point that is overlooked in these deals is that the label is not equipped to handle the other aspects of the artists’ career to warrant that extra money. They are not in the touring, management or merchandise business.Companies like Live Nation are signing artists such as Madonna and Shakira to these contracts and are revamping their staff to handle such things as product endorsement pitches.I don’t think anyone knows the fate of the labels, but as Knopper points out repeatedly in the book, unless they are willing to move into the 21st Century, this could be the beginning of the end of record labels as we’ve known them.
It’s not always easy for a musician to make music the way she/he hears it.If there is a record label behind an artist, the label, as well as the artist have an idea of the kind of record they want to make.Those two camps don’t always agree and the label is usually not shy about enforcing their vision with the artist.Lisa Germano has recorded for major record labels and independent ones.She has never compromised her vision.Listening to several of her records reminded me of that.Her most recent is Magic neighbor.I was spoke with her last week about the record, collaborating with other musicians and Oxfam.
Lisa first came to my attention when she performed violin with John Mellencamp.We worked with her at Side One Management on her debut album, On The Way Down From the Moon Palace.The first single was the wonderfully whimsy and droll You Make Me Want To Wear Dresses.
If it is possible to do a valid remake of Valley Of The Dolls (not sure that anyone can top the 1967 epic), Lisa’s music would be the perfect soundtrack. It has a childlike feel of wonderment, yet the lyrical themes are very adult. It’s lilting, haunting, melancholic and upbeat. It’s very cinematic. It’s visual in an audio format.When told that, Lisa acknowledged that “People tell me this often, but I can't say why. I am not influenced by film scores as far as I know. I do love movies and I love when the music fits perfectly. I think my music is more like little stories, maybe fairy tales and those are also visual when you read them.”
Magic neighbor is comprised of fairy tales for the ears. The leadoff track is marypan, a beautiful, yet short musical interlude.Lisa notes that “I've had this little song for awhile and it was even shorter, just one time through …a nice moment, a breath. When recording it, Jamie (Candiloro) suggested playing it through again with the addition of the pedal steel.I'm glad we made it longer.It didn't need to be turned into a song with lyrics, as it felt fine as a melody.”
In another instrumental, the fairy tale-like kitty train, the piano is reminiscent of hearing your music teacher playing piano at a school recital.It’s a song that Lisa often plays on the piano.“Sometimes when I practice, I need a break from my voice.I get tired of hearing it. A simple piano song is helpful for this break.”Lisa loves cats so it’s no surprise that she pays homage to them in this song. “I changed kitty train a bit when recording it since it was reminiscent of my three cats who come rushing into the kitchen all in a row like a train waiting for their breakfast so I made the tempo change like a train: starting and slowing down and starting again.”
While Lisa's music is beautiful, the lyrics and themes do take on mature matter. There is a recurring message in the songs on Magic neighbor of wanting to enjoy the moment and if it’s not working start the relationship over. Women can easily relate to what she’s saying, although may not always heed the advice.Lisa said she doesn’t write with women in mind. She did get some strong male reaction when she released geek the girl several years ago.“I got reviews from men who thought I was a real hard-lined 'I hate men’ woman...which I'm not.At the same time I received more gay fan mail from men who thanked me for this record as they related to it.It was pretty cool.”
a million times is about coming to terms with the fact that maybe the person you’re with is not who your thought (or who you wanted him to be) he was, but living in denial. Unfortunately, too many people have lived this scene at least once.
we fell in love and we were caught
inside this game we call “together”
and it felt good until we found
we had more fun when we were strangers
Besides being lyrically intriguing, a million times also has interesting percussion and guitar. The production is spot on.“I wanted the song to be monotonous as the actions of the lyrics suggest, so it needed to be a bit boring but it also needed a kick to say ‘What? Again? OK’To emphasize the mundane, Lisa used an everyday item, but it didn’t exactly end up sounding the way she envisioned it.“I did want it to be even weirder, like when the vacuum machine turns on every chorus. I really wanted you to hear that it was a vacuum machine, cleaning the house yet again, but on pro tools since it already had a lot on it, there's only so much space. You can't really tell it'sa vacuum. The percussion had to be things in the house to hit, lots of simple things like spoons, glasses, stuff at the home where you keep repeating your actions a million times”
The guitar in simple brings to mind the Kink’s song Lola.Lisa doesn’t have any connection between the two songs, but said “simple just needed to feel heavy because of the self indulgence and the weight that is on your mind and then it needed some irony so the circusy recorders on the chorus could help make fun of this self indulgence.You can look at it easier.”
There doesn’t seem to be another musician out there with such captivating song and album titles ((lullaby for liquid pig, dream glasses off, you make me want to wear dresses, Magic neighbor, on the way down from the moon palace). Many times the titles do not appear in the songs lyrics.“Song titles to me are what the song is about in general. Sometimes it's simple and sometimes it's the same as writing the song, which might need stripping away of a lot of the obvious to get to the heart of the song: what is it actually about.Sometimes the titles don't come until much later for me. Like to the mighty one. It was titled it's a beautiful day, but for me I knew there was some deeper meaning to the song.Do you know how many songs there are in the world called a beautiful day?LOTS.My cat Lou was fighting cancer, as well as people I knew that had cancer... and I was fighting my bad side so I titled it to the mighty one.The song is about fighting your demons and at least trying to take control as much as you can overthings you have little control over except for a huge try. These are the mighty ones and the beautiful day could be just one day.
“Magic” in Magic neighbor is the only capitalized word of Lisa’s song titles.“Every time I see my name or titles of my songs capitalized it just simply feels wrong. It's too big...missing an intimacy for me. But Magic neighbor felt wrong in all lower case.Somehow it needed the Magic to be big because it takes Magic to deal with the horrible unconsciousness that it takes to put two cats to sleep when they aren't even sick, which my neighbor did and how this can lead to blowing up people and fighting stupid wars...boom boom.”
Being a fan of album artwork, she isn’t happy about the digital age making it somewhat a think of the past.“I love a record with artwork to help the whole concept and these days people don’t seem to care about it so much. I want a cd to hold and love.It’s always a gift when people give you their art. Dean (he did the artwork for Magic neighborhood) is a friend of Neil Finn and my friend Tchad Blake.I've known him for years.When I decided to put this record out I contacted him cause his paintings are amazing and make me feel so much. He let me use anything I wanted for free. Check him out : deanbuchanan.co.nz”
Besides John Mellencamp, Lisa has played with a list of amazing musician including Neil Finn, Johnny Marr, eels, Sebastian Steinberg and Latin Playboys. I remember getting chills hearing and seeing her and David Hidalgo face off on stage during one of those all too rare Latin Playboys shows. She considers herself “the luckiest person ever” to be playing with these artists.“They are drawn to me which I struggle to understand but which also gives me confidence that there is something to my music when I feel insecure.”
7 Worlds Collide, The Sun Came Out is a collaborative record spearheaded by Neil Finn.Proceeds from the sale of the record benefit Oxfam.Lisa recorded and wrote Reptile for the album.“I got involved with 7 Worlds Collide back in 2001 when Neil got a bunch of people together to create a band that did some shows before they would break up.It was friends he had met through the years who didn't know each other but knew Neil and it was an amazing experience. We all have been on him to do it again.
Finally he had an idea how to do it but do it differently: get everyone together in New Zealand and in 3 weeks record a record for Oxfam. Everyone on the first 7 Worlds came except for Eddy Vedder, who just had a child.There was the addition of somenew friends such as Wilco andKT Tunstall. Everyone came with their families and it was huge and crazy with all the energy around. Since everyone was performing with each other and pretty busy I decided to use Jeff Tweedy's boy Spencer as my main drummer on Reptile. We recorded it with him, Seabstian on bass, Glenn Kotche on percussion and me on guitar and got it in one take.All the kids (Jeff Tweedy and Johnny Marr’s children) were around having fun but rather bored so I decided to have them come in and sing the chorus.It was great fun and I think the songshows this especially with Neil at the end playing a marimba that was in the room.Thekids were singing with a big smiles on their faces...good stuff!”
Looks like there be some live performances for Lisa in 2010.“I am planning a 10 or so day tour with Boybrain in Europe at the end of March beginning of April.Philip Selway of Radiohead has made a record under the name Boybrain which should be out early next year. To make the record, he put a band together of people he knew from this last 7 Worlds Collide experience with Sebastian Steinberg from Soul Coughing, Glenn Kotche and Pat Sansone from Wilco and me. On tour it'll probably just be me, Sebastian and Philip doing some of his music and some of mine. 7 Worlds may be at SXSW in some form...still being worked on. If Lisa performs anywhere near you, make sure you get to her show. You'll count your Magic stars.
Panic Attack, a 5 minute movie made for $500, has Hollywood opening their pocketbooks. Federico Alvarez runs a post-production visual effects house in Uruguay and is the director. He worked on the project in his spare time according to newslite.tv. He has been given millions of dollars by a Hollywood production company for a bigger project and would work with Sam Raimi says Cinema Blend.
It's all about getting your work in front of people. If you keep it under a bushel, it will stay there. You not only have to build it, but you have to set it free. Reap the rewards later.
