The Pain In Living: Colbert, Kennedy and Cash

Stephen Colbert was a guest on The View today.  He was promoting the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.   Stephen questioned Barbara Walters on why he has never been one of the 10 Most Fascinating People of the Year.  I think he convinced her by the end of his segment that he was fascinating.  He spoke about his father and two brothers dying in a plane crash when he was 10 years old (he's the youngest of 11 children) and how his mother was able to carry on with nine kids.  She told him, "If you can accept your suffering, you can understand other people's pain." What an impact that statement has. 



Ironically, Maria Shriver, who was the guest host on this episode of The View said basically the same thing about her uncle Ted Kennedy on Meet the Press,  He was the most compassionate,
empathetic man. And I think he was that way because he himself was wounded and he himself knew pain, he himself knew struggle, he knew abandonment. He knew all of the things that pain a human being. And so when he saw other human beings in pain, or where their character was questioned or where they had loss, he was always the first person to reach out. And nobody does that who hasn't felt that way themselves.  But this was a man, you know, who had fought a lot, who had struggled a lot, who had been through a lot, and he understood when other people also went through a lot.

Rosanne Cash's memoir Composed takes this full circle.  Her autobiography is filled with pain and suffering.  Losing four family members in a short period of time is traumatic, add to that brain surgery.  It gave her a different perspective on her life, but also revealed how it affected those around her.  She relays very touching moments on how her surgery impacted both her husband and young son.  I worked with Rosanne for 8 years and I've always known her to be both generous, understanding and open.  She is a rare songwriter who is able to convey reality in her songs, which are loosely biographical and always connect on a human level. 

Rosanne clearly states her disdain for her album Rhythm and Romance. It took one year to make.  She explains in her book, "At the end of that torturous year of recording, rerecording, mixing and remixing in three cities, with three producers, one executive producer and a lot of fighting, I found that I was suffering from a bizarre kind of trauma."  "I hated the process, I hated the record, I hated Eli Ball (her A and R man) and I did not even want to think about promotion and touring for the record, which for me had become nothing but a painful memory."   I love this record. It shows progression as a song writer.   The album is so easy to relate to.  She wrote I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me? after being nominated for a Grammy and losing.  The irony is she won the next year for this song.  I can't think of any female I know who can't relate to the following scenario she portrays:

It's the right time you know I feel fine tonight (I don't why you don't want me)
It's the right place I've got my new face tonight (I don't why you don't want me)
I'm in the right mind I've got my new shoes tonight (I don't why you don't want me)
I've got a new dress I couldn't care less tonight (I don't why you don't want me)

Second to No One is an emotional roller coaster,  one only Rosanne can put to music.

I don't know if this can last forever/ Cause I don't know what I can stand
I can love you like a man should be loved/ But I can't love half a man

Fast forward to her Rules of Travel album and the song September When It Comes.  The lyrics reflect a more mature view, but no less revealing. 

I cannot move a mountain now/ I can no longer run
I cannot be who I was then/ In a way,  I never was

Pain brings us closer to our own humanity, closer to the humanity of others. 

The Genius of Jac Holzman

The best part of Jac Holzman’s job was working with the artists. He loved pairing a musician with the right producer. He said last night at the 92Y’s celebration of 60 years of Elektra Records (Jac founded the label) that finding that perfect collaboration was probably the most challenging part of his job.  He told the crowd that he wanted the label to make enough money so that he could continue to put out the music that needed to be heard.

Lenny Kaye was superb in his conversation with Jac. They have a history.  Among other things, Lenny assembled the Nuggets compilations, which were a packaging of the best songs from the albums Elektra released. 1948 was a pivotal year for both Jac and music.  The 33 1/3 album was now available and this changed the music business, much like digital files have today.  The early 50’s saw the rise of independent record labels.  Lenny and Jac both commented on how similar that era is to today.  Jac’s first release was a John Gruen record with soprano Georgiana Bannister, from there it became the premier label for folk music.  Lenny pointed out that just about every important folk singer was on the label.  Jac commented that he missed one:  Bob Dylan.   Jac still seems to be beating himself up for missing the Dylan train.  At the time Dylan was playing Greenwich Village, Jac felt that New York City was being plucked from all angles, so he took a year and moved to LA to check out the scene there.  He didn’t find the music he was looking for and by the time he returned to New York, Dylan was signed to Columbia Records. 

When John Sebastian (before The Lovin’ Spoonful, he played on a lot of Elektra’s recordings) mentioned to Jac in the early 60’s that they were running out of folk songs to record, the light bulb went off and Jac realized he had to sign folk singers who were recording their own compositions.  Till that point, a folk song in the strict sense of the word, was a tune that was handed down from a generation that lived it.  Now with recorded music, the dynamics changed.  Songs were there to be heard as they were originally written and sung. They no longer had to be handed down to be reinterpreted.  Tom Rush, Phil Ochs and Tim Buckley were the new folk paradigm.  Judy Collins recorded Leonard Cohen songs. Folk music had changed. 

Jac wanted to sign a rock band. He went back to LA and as he told it, he went through the local papers and circled the names of any artists he had never heard of and decided to go see them live.  Love caught his eye.   “What a great name for a band” he told the audience.  Love’s leader Arthur Lee was wearing prismatic glasses, doing a rock version of My Little Red Book.  Jac was sold after seeing them at Bido Lido's in Hollywood.  Arthur wanted $5000 in cash to sign.  The deal was done.  Love was never a huge hit despite being an amazing rock band.  Jac thinks part of it might be that it was a racially mixed band, which meant nothing to him growing up in the melting pot of New York City.  Arthur was instrumental in Elektra’s biggest success. 

At the urging of Arthur, Jac came early to a Love show to see the opening act, The Doors.  Jac didn’t really get them the first time he saw them, but Arthur’s passion for the band led him to see them a few more times and when he heard them perform Alabama Song, he got what they were doing.  Unbeknownst to Jac, the band had just been dropped from Columbia Records the week before and were leery of record companies.  The band was a fan of the world music albums Jac was releasing on his sister label Nonesuch Records.  They liked that Love was on Elektra.  Jac was very close to signing them when he decided to get into their heads and think as musicians.  What would they want?  He decided it was a full on commitment to release three albums no matter what the situation.  This hadn’t been done before and it worked.  Jac thought like an artist.  He let the artist be him/herself. He was very hands on in the studio, with the artwork and with the marketing, but at the core, he let the musicians make their own music.  

The next step in Jac’s work with The Doors was to pair them with the reluctant Paul Rothchild to produce the record. Jac thought he would be perfect even though Paul did not.  He was someone who was as smart as the band and it probably didn’t hurt his standing with them that he had been arrested for  marijuana possession.  The Doors had never been into a recording studio before making the landmark Doors record in 1967.  As Jac explained it, it took them about two hours to get it and feel comfortable.   They recorded at Sunset Sound where Jim Morrison was enamored by using the same mic that Frank Sinatra used. He was a big fan.

Towards the end of the program two Elektra artists, Jackson Browne and Natalie Merchant took the stage and talked about their experiences with Elektra and then performed.  Jackson started off with My Opening Farewell.  Nathalie sang a song of Jackson’s These Days that she recorded for an Elektra 40^th Anniversary record.  Browne accompanied her on guitar.  Her voice is nothing short of a force of nature.  She exudes feeling and it seems effortless.  She’s a natural talent.  One that I’m sure Jac would have signed if he hadn’t left the company years before. 

Jac is truly a music man. He said numerous times how lucky he is to do what he does. His true passion came through when he talked about why he signed an artist. If the hairs on the back of his neck stood up when listening to her/him, the artist was worthy of a record.  He said that there had to be joy in wanting to work with these artists.  Maybe that is really his genius, letting us all in on his joy. 

Ringo, The Monkees & A Bit Of Pizza

Not sure how I missed this commercial when it aired in the mid-90's, but I thought it was worth posting. Ringo sitting in for Mike?

Handyman Vanilla Ice

House Flipper/Rapper         Photo:  DIY Network

The rapper Vanilla Ice (Robert Van Winkle), known for the song Ice Ice Baby (he sampled the Queen/Bowie song Under Pressure) is now a house flipper.  He's got his own show, The Vanilla Ice Project debuting on the DIY network on October 14th at 9pm.  He's been buying, fixing up and selling houses since 1998.  The first episode reveals his work on a house in Florida.  Read about it here. Who knew?

When he's not renovating, he's touring, with dates in the US as well as South Africa where he's on a bill with MC Hammer. 

Video Alert: Hollerado

Hollerado

• Made a creative low budget video (song is Americanarama)
• Shout out to Philadelphia
• Used one take for the video
• Must have been rehearsing for days
• A guy in one of the boxes played a serial killer on Season 5 of The Wire
• Are from Canada

They are close to 185.000 views and I'm sure this number will increase after the next few days. Word is just starting to get around.  Check it Out.

John, Yoko and the Hongs

On the wake of what would be John Lennon's 70th birthday, The New York Times has an untold glimpse into the life of John and Yoko.  While in San Francisco they were treated by Yuan Bain Hong, a Shanghai-born practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture for spiritual and physical cleansing and healing.  He was also the father of two girls who are now 49 and 48.  Yuan and his wife were Chinese immigrants and did not have much money.  John and Yoko sometimes stayed with them, brought them to New York to see him perform at Madison Square Garden and eventually the family allowed them to offer some financial support.  The Hongs were some of the first people to hear the song Imagine as he performed it for them in their home before it was release on record.

Google is using Imagine to honor Lennon's birthday with an animated Google Doodle. 

What's Good For The Environment, Is Not Good For The Consumer

Many recording artists make it a point to use 100% recycled products in the packaging of their CDs.  The Rattles debut album Rattle On is packaged that way.  The blog Young Wife and Mom, took note today:   I was happy to find that the CD case is child friendly, made of 100% recycled materials, most of which is paper. No worries about shattered plastic cases.  On the heels of this recognition, I read about a yin to that yang. 

Here is a case of a big corporation, Frito-Lay a division of PepsiCo being eco-friendly by packaging their Sun Chips snack in a biodegradable bag.  According to today's Wall St Journal, Touted by Frito-Lay as 100% compostable, the packaging, made from biodegradable plant material, began hitting store shelves in January. Sales of the multigrain snack have since tumbled.  Apparently the bag is too noisy for consumers.  Has this country gone mad?

The company has been trying to find a less noisy bag and will revert to non-degradable bags for each line of Sun Chips except the Original.  "We chose to respond to the consumer feedback but still want to show that we are committed to compostable packaging", says Chris Kuechenmeister, a spokesman for Frito-Lay.  Apparently consumers posted videos mocking the noisy packaging and complained on social networking sites.  Aren't their bigger issues to get all fired-up over?   The Atlantic has a an interesting take on the issue.  

CDs may not be around for much longer, but while they are still here, artists will hopefully continue to make the packaging as environmentally friendly as possible.

Life is too short to be spent in the company of morons

When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man is the perfect title for this memoir from Jerry Weintraub written with Rich Cohen.  It reads like Jerry is talking to you.  My guess is that is exactly how the book was written. Rob Cohen profiled Jerry for Vanity Fair in 2008 and it would follow that this book expanded on that piece. There are just too many stories to fit in a magazine article. 

From his beginnings in the Bronx, (he was born in Brooklyn, likes to claim he’s from there, but moved to the Bronx at a very early age.  The book cover is a photograph of him on the Brooklyn Bridge)  he joins the military, works in a men’s clothing store in Fairbanks, Alaska and takes acting classes in New York.  Part of his instructions included a dance class taught by Martha Graham.  James Caan was in the class with him. Jerry wouldn’t put on the tights and left the class.  He realized he wasn’t an actor or a dancer.  He became an NBC page, worked for a few weeks in the mailroom at The William Morris Agency, where all big careers seems to have started and that’s the beginning of his entertainment career.  When he started his own agency he was managing the Four Seasons, Kimo Lee a sword dancer and acrobats.  Some of his best stories revolve around putting a show together, such as the one in Las Vegas called a Night in Hawaii. 

At age 26 he convinced Elvis Presley’s manager Col Tom Parker to let him promote an Elvis  tour.  In three weeks, he was a millionaire.  In 1968, Frank Sinatra calls him directly. He was impressed with what he did with Elvis and wanted Jerry to do the same for him. 

His first film venture is Robert Altman’s Nashville.  The two things that come to my mind when I hear Jerry’s name are Concerts West or Jerry Weintraub Presents, which is how he promoted his concerts.  The other is the movie Diner. It’s one of my top 5 favorite movies.  In this book, he recounts talking to Barry Levinson who wrote the screenplay. Every studio turned down Barry to produce the film. Jerry loved the script and said let’s make it.  Barry explained that no one wanted it.  This does not deter Jerry.  Barry says ok, but I have to direct it.  Jerry perseveres and the movie is made.  He says that casting was critical to the film being a hit and Diner launched many successful careers. 

There are two anecdotes in the book, that I think sum up why Jerry is so successful.

• John Denver needed a new manager around 1970.  He had decided to go solo and had released one or two solo recordings to no notice.   John was making $70 a show (Jerry considered that nothing.  I know musicians who would love to be making that now!)  performing at clubs in Greenwich Village.  Someone suggested Jerry see him.  There was a small audience for the show Jerry attended.  “He made a connection immediately.  It was one of those moments you dream about as a manager.  Spotting the kid who will become a star, who is a star already, even if the world does not know it yet.”  Jerry made sure the world knew who John Denver was. 

• “Work with the best people.  If you have the best writers, actors, distributor and fail, there is even something noble in it; but it you fail with garbage, then you are left with nothing to hang your spirits on.”  He was referring to why he made Nashville.  He continued, “Besides, life is too short to be spent in the company of morons.”

The Stones Exile in France

Ethan Russell has been photographing musicians since the late 1960's.  He followed the Stones for a few years and these photos, along with photos by Dominque Tarle are part of a new exhibit ("Soul Survivors" at La Galerie de L'Instant in Paris) and are included in the documentary film, Stones in Exile, which is available on DVD.  Ethan speaks very eloquently about The Rolling Stones in his Huffington Post piece.   I met Ethan at a Rosanne Cash photo shoot many years ago.

To quote him,  To this day -- especially this day -- I get irritated with photographs that scream (the photographer's head peaking out from behind) "Look At Me! Look at Me!" The value I believe that both Dominque and I were lucky enough to deliver is the experience of letting the viewer be there. 

His photos let the viewer feel like they are peering through a hole in the wall.  Ethan, much like Rosanne Cash is an artist who writes very poetically.  You want to read more. He's let you in on his secret. 

Uncle Floyd's Brother To Lead Conan's Band

Max Weinberg announced he is stepping down as the leader of house band on the new TBS show Conan.  Jimmy Vivino, who has been in the Max Weinberg 7 since Conan O'Brien's first show, will take over the reins.  I always think of Jimmy as Uncle Floyd's brother.  The Uncle Floyd Show was a big part of my college years.  It was made for kids and adults.  Jimmy appeared on the show.

The Vivino Brothers

Singer Eddie Fisher Passes

Eddie My Lifes, My Loves should be required celebrity autobiography reading. His sequel, Been There, Done That is suppose to be more scathing.  Eddie Fisher died on Wednesday at 82. He certainly had his ups and downs.  He rose to fame as the singer of Oh My Pa-Pa. He had the requisite girls swooning over him. He was most famous for his marriages (5 of them), notably to Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor and Connie Stevens.  He didn't transition to an acting career like most of the singers of his time.  When Elvis hit the scene and rock and roll ruled the airwaves, Eddie's music lost it's place.  He is the father of the talented actress and writer Carrie Fisher. In her recent show, Wishful Drinking, she candidly talked about her parents divorce and her father's marriage to Liz Taylor.  She describes the relationships in the clip below.

Katy Perry Exlied From Sesame Street

In a video that was made for Sesame Street,  Katy Perry runs around with Elmo and sings a kid friendly version of her song Hot N Cold.  People saw the video online and complained about her outfit.  I've seen worse on 4 year-olds in those scary beauty pageants.   She's wearing a gold dress with a mesh top that goes to her neck, where there is a silver bow. It looks like a princess costume or something you might see on an Olympic figure skater.  Apparently this was too much for the viewers, so Sesame Street has decided to pull the video from it's upcoming TV season as well as pull it from YouTube. This of course will bring more attention to it and drive up the views on YouTube.  The video is cute.  I'm partial, but my favorite will always be Elmo and the Lavender Moon.

OK Go Have Gone To The Dogs

Everyone knows OK Go make great videos.  They've topped themselves again with White Knuckles.
The dogs were trained by Lauren Henry and Roland Sonnenburg and their team from Talented Animals.  I can bribe my dog to do a lot of things, but the coordination in a one take video is amazing.  If you pay for a download of the video via the band's website, a portion of the proceeds will go to the ASPCA.  Gizmodo has an article about how the video was made.  Take 72 is what you see in the video.

Here is a glimpse of my dog Dusty watching OK Go's dogs.

Wherever the Music Takes Them

A bunch of great New York musicians get together from time to time to play live.  Mojo Mancini grace the stage at Rockwood on Wednesday 9/22 at 10pm.  This band lets the music take them or take over them.  The band is John Leventhal, Rick DePofi, Shawn Pelton, Brian Mitchell, Conrad Korsch

Chris Blackwell's Island Community

The WSJ has a Q&A with Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records.  Chris was in New York to promote a new book Keep on Running: The Story of Island Records, which is a written and visual history of the label.  Chris has always been thought of as a visionary, but I think his greatest asset is summed up in how he put his label together:

What I was hoping to create was a company where the artists were proud to be on the same label as the other artists that were on the label. So it felt almost like a team or a creative community.

54 World Turning Years

For a show that has been on the air for 54 years, there is not much fanfare to celebrate such an accomplishment.  The final episode of As The World Turns airs this Friday.  I've been watching this show for a very long time.  My mother watched it after I was born and it's been there ever since. The show has been canceled due to poor ratings. The story lines had become stale and redundant over the past few years and I'm guessing that's what led to the decline in ratings. Of course everything picked up last week with the return of John Dixon and the death of Reid Oliver.

There is  a long list of quality actors that have been both small and big parts of the show:  James Earl Jones, Martin Sheen, Julianne Moore, Steven Webber (Julianne and Steven played girlfriend/boyfriend on the show), Parker Posey,  Jason Biggs, Meg Ryan, Lauryn Hill, Claire Bloom, Farley Granger, Tamara Tunie, Matthew Morrison, John James, Kelly Bishop, Thomas Gibson, Shawn Christian, James McCaffrey,  Swoosie Kurtz, Annie Parisse, Rex Smith,  Zsa Zsa Gabor, Abe Vigoda,  Joyce Van Patten, Jane Powell, Ming-Na, Frank Converse, James Van Der Beek, Robert Vaughn, Imogene Coca, Richard Roundtree, Peter Noone, Andy Williams. Jermaine Jackson with Whitney Houston as one of his backup singers and Tony Bennett.  I'm sure I've left a few people out.

One episode that caught me off guard was the wedding of Betsey and Craig.  At the time Betsey was played by Meg Ryan and Craig by Scott Bryce.  Since I can't find any documentation on it, I hope my memory serves me right. The I Do's are said and then comes the wedding band which was The World's Most Dangerous Band,  Paul Shaffer's original Letterman band.  Will Lee sang the Lionel Richie song Truly. At the time, I found it amusing.  I was a cynical college student, but still watched ATWT.

Here is a website that chronicles the children of Oakdale. 
SoapCentral.com has an extensive database on who's who on the show.  Each character is profiled by who they married, crimes they committed, her/his history and other sordid details. 

I've had Bob, Lisa, Kim, Nancy and Tom around for my entire life.  I will miss the Oakdale crew. 

Stay With Me Jesus

Guster is back with a new album next month.


Stay With Me Jesus from Guster on Vimeo.

Paul, Merle & Oprah

According to Hits, Paul McCartney, Merle Haggard, Jerry Herman, Oprah Winfrey and Bill T Jones will be this year’s Kennedy Center Honors recipients.  The show, which is my favorite awards show, is scheduled for broadcast on December 28th.

The Walkman Is Not Dead Yet

According to a research company in Japan, the Sony Walkman outsold the iPod in the month of August.  This is the first time that has happened since Apple introduced the iPod in 2001.  I don't know anyone who owns a recent Sony Walkman.  They were of mass importance when I was in college, but Sony seemed to lose site of the market and Apple jumped in.

NBC Cluess When It Comes To Securing Music Rights

The Emmys opened with lots of energy.  Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, John Hamm, members of the TV show Glee, etc took a cue from Glee and performed Springsteen's Born To Run.  I can't officially show you the video because NBC is not allowed to use it online.  According to a post in Techdirt, NBC (they aired the awards show) only secured the rights to perform Born To Run in the show, therefore killing any viral spread of the opening through NBC.  Haven't we heard this story before?  In this day and age, how do you not secure online rights. I have no idea why that song was chosen, but it was fun and really got the audience hooked. The excitement waned after that number.  Jimmy Fallon continued to sing.  He was personally annoyed that it wasn't "officially" online.  He told Variety that it could have been worth half a million hits to NBC. He worked hard on it and it's a good commercial for NBC and just pay for the rights.  I tallied what I could find of unofficial postings on YouTube and as of noon I found 411,211 hits.  Guess Fallon was pretty close in his estimate. 

Here is the unofficial video posting: