Brandi Shearer Live From NY

This is late, in fact a month late, but it made me realize how a great performance stays with you long after the show is over. I still get chills when I think about seeing The Clash at The Palladium, Brian Dennehey in Death of A Salesman and my first concert: The Beach Boys at Nassau Coliseum. Brandi Shearer’s three week residency at The Living Room, culminated in one of those moments. Each show built on a growing power. By the last show in late August, the audience was inhaling every note. Brandi herself seemed a bit surprised that everyone was LISTENING (meaning not talking through the set, which seems to be status quo). The closing number Yes, Yes, Yes brought the show full circle. People have commented that her live show reminds them of Janis Joplin without the screaming. Brandi is not afraid to take a song by the horns and blast it back at you. Heaven is a borderline creepy song, that stays in your being for days. It’s a call for redemption, take me back I’m good now-She means it! Punctuating lines like “I Want To Go To Heaven Like Other Little Girls” and “I want you back,
I always did. And I’m such a good girl now”, Brandi has you guessing about what could she have done to cause such pleading….

Her band of seasoned New York-based musicians added to the excitement, kept the pace going and had fun.

Jim Campilongo of the Little Willies booked ended the shows with his guitar while Steve Elliot picked up middle relief.
Richard Hammond on both upright and electric Bass
Robin Macatangay on acoustic Guitar
Aaron Comess of the Spin Doctors on Drums

The icing on the last night of performances was Brandi sharing her recent obsession with the audience: cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery. She told the audience how much she loves NY, even the subway shutdown due to a storm, 95 degree weather one day and 65 the next. For three weeks, New York City was Brandi’s town.

Download Brandi's Lullabies for limited time, free at amoeba.com

Release Week - Brandi Shearer

Releasing an album is not just having a musician record a record, then the label makes sure it gets into the stores. There is a whole thing that goes on and one day when I can spend more time on it, I'd like to get into that whole thing. This week Brandi Shearer's record Close To Dark came out. It's the initial release from Amoeba Records, the West Coast record retail people. It's a record we're beyond excited about. Brandi's In Store @ Amoeba Hollywood, 9/1 at 2pm PST will be streamed live on Amoeba.com. Check out a great performer!

LA Weekly: Brandi Shearer at Amoeba Music

Feeling burned by the near-pathological show-canceling of soul-belter Amy Winehouse? Then the singer you should get to know well is Brandi Shearer. Not only can Shearer stand up for lengths of time without wobbling, she has a heaven-sent, heart-shuddering vocal style that, like ol’ Wino, makes her sound worldly and seasoned well beyond her young years. Shearer’s just-out record, Close to Dark, was produced by Larry Klein (producer and ex-husband of Joni Mitchell, but you knew that) and will definitely appeal to fans of sultry ballads, with an emphasis on swooning melodies. When she delivers the line “My eyes flew open in the middle of the night” over and over, there’s even a ferocity that hints that Brandi Shearer may just be a tad crazy — just as we Winehouse fans like our singers. Starts at 2 p.m. Also at Tangier, 9 p.m. (Libby Molyneaux)

Saving the Planet 1 CD at a Time

It took me awhile to get around to going to GreenDisk's website. They recycle anything techno. One of the best features is the small package under 20 lbs, which they'll recycle for $6.95 and you can print the label and choose the delivery service from their site. There are additional way to recycle bigger items like computers. For $6.95 you can send them CDs, your own mouse, cell phones, etc. Seems like a good idea to me. I have a bunch of CD that are worth nothing and need to be trashed, but why put more hazardous waste into our landfills and our drinking water. For less than a movie, you can do you part.

It's Still Ok To Like Nick Lowe

I still have my purple It’s Ok To Like Nick Lowe button. I first heard about Nick Lowe in the magazine Trouser Press. He was releasing his first record here and I remember him saying I started playing the bass because a monkey can do it and it’s a great way to get girls. I immediately went out and bought Pure Pop For Now People. This started my never-ending musical loyalty to Nick. He performed at the Housing Works Bookshop last Friday. Just he and his guitar and there is nothing better than Nick and his guitar.

He played a few from his recent album, At My Age. Hope For Us All was beautiful. I Trained Her To Love Me is an interesting Nick twist. In this story All Women Are Liars and he is going to train this person to love him, so he can break her heart and get back at all the women who broke his heart. Speaking of heart, the highlight of the evening was his rendition of Heart the song first performed by one of his many bands, Rockpile. It’s one of the all time greats and it can be played fast, moderately or slow. This evening he opted for slow making it touching and poignant. It gave me chills. I worked with Nick during his Little Village phase and there none funnier, more gentlemanly or talented. At My Age is an apt title for someone who just gets finer and finer with age like a great Bordeaux.

Listen to his interview on Fresh Air from 7/24. You can pull it up as a podcast.

Dumbing down to the Tween Market

Created bands/singers are nothing new and they completely have their place in our culture. I can make an argument that without them, kids may not develop a love of music. My love for The Monkees exists to this day. I have much respect for Mike Nesmith's songwriting. They made great records that hold up better than most Madonna records do. How could you fail with people like Carole King writing your material?

Today's Wall St Journal has a article on The Jonas Brothers and the Disney machine behind them. Columbia took a shot with one brother, who was a budding Christian pop artist, found out he had two more brothers that were musical and they put a record out as a trio. It was described as Green Day light. They sold about 62,000 copies, which isn't so dreadful in this day when you figure their biggest champion, the label head, had exited before the release and it wasn't promoted. When Columbia released them from their contract, Disney stepped in. On Disney's label they now have access to the Tween marketing machine behind High School Musical and Hannah Montana.

Here's where the story goes south and why the music industry is in the toilet. They're painting an awful image of their consumers.

Jill Casagrande, the senior vice president and general manager of Radio Disney, says the Jonas Brothers are a rare act that bridges the preteen gender gap. "Boys identify with them," Ms. Casagrande says. "And girls love them because they're cute.

That last line struck me. It says to me that Radio Disney's perception of what girls listen to or make decisions on is guided by superficial things such as looks. Music is such an important part of most kids lives. Why is a woman of this caliber portraying her audience as a bunch of dim wits?

The following reinforces how far records labels will take themselves out of music to sell a record:
"Today one of our main challenges is making music available to the consumer who isn't just looking for music," says Hollywood general manager Abbey Konowitch. The Baby Bottle Pop displays, he says, give exposure to "the candy buyer as well as music buyer."

The Jonas Brothers website is directed to Hollywood Records site. The first thing you see is an ad to pre-order their new record.

Consistently putting out quality records should be a label's first priority. Thank God for indie labels like Amoeba Records, the newly formed label from the West Coast record retailer. Look for quality releases, Brandi Shearer and The Gram Parsons Archive Vol 1 from the label in the next two months.

Live Earth, Not Exactly Live

I was probably not being very “earth conscience” by leaving the TV on for most of 7/7’s Live Earth Concert. I was interested to see the coverage and left Bravo on (didn’t have Sundance or Universal HD where I was). Unless you watched online, the tv coverage was not live. In fact, I saw Shakira’s Hip Don’t Lie at least three times. Once was more than enough. There was a highlight for me and that was Alicia Keys. I guess I haven’t paid much attention to her, but she is a real performer/entertainer.

Other performances of note:
Melissa Etheridge going on way too long and turning what started out as a help the earth sermon into a political rant-this not helping Al Gore’s mantra of this not being a partisan issue.

Jon Bon Jovi saying that he was going to play the National Anthem, which turned out to be Wanted Dead Or Alive. I remember the president using that rhetoric when referring to the capture of Osama (apparently he’s still alive). I guess he is no longer humble Jon.

Kids and Parents Sharing Playlists

I was leaving the gym, crossing the street when a boy about 8 years old had one ear bud in, holding his iPod and turned to his Dad and said "Do you have The Jackson 5 on your playlist?" The father replied, "I do." Are kids now sharing playlists with their parents or is it the other way around? To what extent are parents influencing what their kids listen to?

According to a recent article in the Wall St Journal, parents have no problem shelling out hundreds/thousands of dollars so their kids can learn how to play Stairway to Heaven on the guitar, in a band with their peers. We've all seen the movie School of Rock which was inspired by the Paul Green School of Rock. His schools teach kids to play an instrument and put them in a band setting with other kids. This article profiled a child who is a classically trained flutist. He talked about going to sleep listening to orchestral pieces and his love for classical music. His father "encouraged him" to go to rock school, where it seemed he was less than thrilled to be performing a Jethro Tull song with his new found band members. The School of Rock All Stars open shows for Ween and Bad Brains. A few not so happy concertgoers remarked that they shouldn't have to sit through these kids to hear the band they paid for.

When I was younger my parents record collection consisted of Bossa Nova compilations, Herb Alpert (he’s on my playlist), Lawrence Welk's Elephant Walk (I still love it to this day) and a Danny Kaye record who's cover scared the daylights out of me. I grew up in a neighborhood where the kids were older and that was an influence on my listening. When I was 3, I asked for and got Meet The Beatles for Christmas. That was it. Music became a passion. I played music all the time in our house and my mother really got into knowing the bands I loved and shared my passion. She knew about Debbie Harry before most of my friends did and my parents lent me their Buick Wildcat so I wouldn't miss the Beach Boys at the Nassau Coliseum. I guess what I'm getting at here, is I found rock music through friends and my thirst to hear everything.

Even though I don't like to admit it, I am of the age where I could be the parent of a teenager. I hope I wouldn’t shove my music down anyone’s throat, but I have to admit that living in my home it would be hard not to hear Pet Sounds, London Calling, Kiko, Bring the Family or Kings Record Shop a few hundred times. My friend has a 9 year-old daughter; they share Carrie Underwood’s Before He Cheats and sing it together in the car. The daughter has borrowed her mom’s Bon Jovi and Toby Keith CD’s and they’re in her iPod. She solely listens to Gwen Stefani and isn’t yet ready for the Eagles. She does scream turn it off when Bobby Vinton’s Blue Velvet comes on the radio (I must concur).

While researching a project I’m working on, I spoke with a lot of high schoolers. I asked them what they were listening to and I got the same responses over and over: AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, etc. maybe a System of a Down thrown in. I didn’t ask if they were turned on to these acts because of their parent’s collection or found it on their own.

I guess the bigger picture here is that
a. Good music has staying power
b. Kids are not afraid to talk music with their parents
c. What is wrong with the music that is out there now, that kids just don’t mention it? Is it not appealing to them? Is it because radio is so consolidated, they can’t hear new music?
Is it just easier to pull out Mom and Dad’s Highway To Hell and rock the house?

McCartney Mania At Amoeba Music in LA

I don't think anyone but the people who work at Amoeba Music could know what it is like to assemble an in-store performance for Paul McCartney, which is happening Wednesday night. The security issue alone must be daunting. Word is that people began lining up outside the store last night, which is a full 48 hours before showtime. Wristbands will be given out starting at 12:30pm tomorrow. What are those first 150 people to line up like? I'm sure many flew in from other parts of the country. The store will close at 4pm for Sir Paul's sound check and when the doors open, Amoeba will be ready. Recently about 900 people attended a Patti Smith in-store. On August 28th, Amoeba launches their record label, with the release of Brandi Shearer's exquisite Close to Dark. If you haven't been to Amoeba while in LA, you're missing out on a wonderful music experience. Go there and you'll see why music is so important in our lives.

Passionate About Food, Music, etc

It seems like passionate talk about food is surrounding me these days. The Lefsetz Letter, which usually is about music, has been dedicated this past week to music industry people’s entries on pizza. It all started with Bob mentioning Pepe’s Pizzeria which just opened a second branch in Fairfield. Pepe’s clam pizza is one the culinary joys in life. It ranks up there with some of the best meals I’ve ever had dining out, which include Nobu, Danube, Gramercy Tavern, etc. Someone on Lefsetz commented that if people were this passionate about music these days, there might not be a slump in the business. On Tuesday Keith and I went to the 92nd St Y to see a panel on NY Dining: Is It Better Than Ever? Gael Greene, the long time food critic from New York Magazine and Arthur Schwartz who was the Daily News critic for many years were on the panel. The reason for my attendance was the chef Jacques Pepin. He is a class act. The way he spoke about his passion for being a cook, he used that term, and the excitement about food especially in NY made me want to go home, pull out the arborio and start a risotto. The risotto would have to wait as The Shield was coming on the minute we got home from the event.

Apparently there is a rise in enrollment in culinary schools, probably fueled by the Food Network. Apparently tuition is running $30,000 to $40,000 and when students get out they are either making $9 an hour or working under some of the best chefs for nothing. Jacques said you have to love cooking in order to withstand the drudgery of moving up the ranks. He said pay your dues for three years, learn everything you can and you will be successful. Chefs are not what you see on the Food Network. He lovingly described an egg yoke, bread and caviar dish he had at Jean Georges as well as the best Lobster Rolls at the Clam Castle in CT (back to CT again). It just reinforces that there must be passion in life, whether it be your job, your hobbies, your family or friends. Without it, it just ain’t no fun. As Kinky Friedman said “Find What You Love and Let It Kill You."

Things I learned about the NY food industry: 40% of a restaurant's budget used to go to food, now it's about 25-28%, 40% or more is now real estate. There are some restaurants in the Meat Packing district that are pulling in $70,000 a night. Between rent and design, restaurants can now run up a bill of $15 million before one meal has been served. The first 6 months of a restaurant usually have a menu with far more items on it. The crazier combinations are there for reviewers or for a wow factor and these fall off the menu as the average customer won't order them. Other items that prove to be less than popular also leave the menu. Most young diners today do not frequent the same spot, but like to try different places each time.

Four Winds

I look forward to hearing Four Winds by Bright Eyes on Sirius. It reminds me of a British band from the 80's called Tenpole Tudor. There is a little bit of sea chantey feel, which just adds to the appeal for me. Tenpole dressed in Medieval garb for their album covers or were posed with a castle in the background. Ironically, I just realized that their second album, which I believe contained one of my all time favorites, Throwing My Baby Out With The Bathwater, was titled Let The Four Winds Blow. Stay with the Bright Eyes video which you can watch from their myspace site. It starts off with Conor & Co playing before a deadpan, misplaced crowd. I can't image these county fair attendees lining up to see Bright Eyes.

The Decline of the Musician Rock Star

The use of the term Rock Star is now applied to everyone except musicians. While watching the Mets home opener today, Gary Cohen and Ron Darling, Mets announcers, said there was such excitement in the air at Shea and the Mets are beyond players and are now Rock Stars. The first non musician reference to Rock Star that I can remember hearing repeatedly and still here is President Bill Clinton. Ok Clinton can play the sax, but that is secondary to his life as a politician. I've met him and he is charismatic. Barack Obama is called a Rock Star. He is a well spoken politician, which by today's media standards, deems him a Rock Star. I've seen Prince and Prince is a Rock Star in every way. He may be the last of a dying breed. I have not heard the words Rock Star applied to a musician in a long time. Is that because there are so many musicians out there now, finding an audience big enough to make you a Rock Star is out of reach? American Idols have massive audiences but is there a Rock Star among them? Don't think so. Where are the Jimmy Pages, the Jim Morrisons, the Janis Joplins, the Stings of the future?

The Shield -TV Crack

There is no better block of television than FX's The Shield (back this Tuesday April 3) and when those 10 episodes are over, Rescue Me kicks in. I am a late comer to The Shield. Christmas of 2005, my friend Dennice got the first season on DVD, which was the start of her addiction. She then rented all available seasons over the break. I never want to get into new shows as I think I already watch too much. Dennice lent me her season one and my addiction began. The Shield is TV Crack. I joined Netflix just to watch it and when they didn't have Season 5 (it wasn't out yet), I went into withdrawal. I wouldn't look at anything on the net that might give away one piece of the plot for the already broadcast season 5. The DVD just came out, but luckily iTune had it up before then and I've been downloading a few shows a week. TV just doesn't get any better. Forget about the Sopranos, which has lost a lot of it's shine the past few seasons. The Shield has the best writing and acting. The show is violent, so it's not for everyone. These are cops you know you should hate, but they get the bad guy and that really is their goal anyway. If they have to play dirty to make a few bucks to send their autistic kid to a special school, so be it.

Forest Whitaker is beyond creepy as Kavanaugh, the IAD cop who will go to any extreme to nab Vic for killing a fellow cop, for which he was already cleared. After watching him, I will never accept gum from anyone I barely know again. This show has me emotionally drained. I'm up to episode 7 which I hope to watch tonight. I will catch up before Tuesday. Dennice is insisting that I watch the final episode with her, which means it must be outstanding. Season 6 will be 10 episodes. According to the series creator, Shawn Ryan, Season 7 will start taping in June and when that airs, that will put an end to my addiction. Most people don't even know what channel FX is on their cable system. Make the channel a favorite and watch continuous good drama from now until the end of the summer.

PS for those who watch the show, I just found this little piece of trivia, CCH Pounder plays Claudette. The CCH stands for Carol Christine Hilaria.

Willie Nelson Spring Water? All Night Chemists more SXSW

The last time Len, Brandon and Andy played SXSW was with Thisway. With over 1500 bands and 16,000 people descending upon Austin, the conference has grown by leaps and bounds. 6th Street, the home of one music club after another, makes Ludlow St look small in comparison. Police close the street off to all vehicles and music can be heard coming from every doorway and alleyway too. ANC played a tight set the first night of the festival at the Troubadour. The band benefited from good sound and a great performance. Everyone agreed that they were the best vocals and performance that were heard that evening. Apparently bad sound and ultra volume were rampant among most of the clubs the first night.

24 hours earlier the band booked a show on the just assembled Willie Nelson Spring Water Solar Powered Stage. Willie and Spring Water seems like an oxymoron, but you have to admire his commitment to helping the earth. The stage was set up, like so many other stages in a parking lot, 2 doors down from the famed Waterloo Records. Watching people hang their heads out of passing cars to hear the music, just summed up the fact that anyone, anywhere could hear music in Austin last week. You could listen to free music from 11am to 2am and probably get free food and drinks if you hit the right parties.

All Night Chemists @ SXSW

The skies were finally bled dry and the masses hit 6th St last night. Two great live acts graced the same stage last night @ the Troubadour: All Night Chemists played a great set (Open rocked as always) before the Benjy Davis Project closed the evening. Benjy hails from Baton Rouge. Clowns was a standout. Great song!

Soggy SXSW

It started raining at 1pm and let up for about 15 minutes. This was enough time for me to make it back to the hotel after grabbing lunch at Nueva Onda. Besides myself & Brandi Shearer, having dinner at The South Congress Cafe was David Byrne. Tomorrow is the official start; my first show is Brandi @ Moonshine Patio 303 Red River @ 1pm. Also checking out The Cliks at 4:20pm and All Night Chemists @ The Troubadour Saloon 305 E 6th St, 11pm.

SXSW Revisited

Tomorrow I'm off to Austin for music's biggest conference SXSW. I haven't been to it in over 7 years. Last time I went there were about 800/900 artists/bands. This year there are over 1500. It's almost doubled in size. I'm looking forward to seeing some great music: All Night Chemists, Brandi Shearer, Patty Hurst Shifter, Ari Hest the list goes on, eating good food and seeing many people I just don't see on a regular basis.

Jam All Over

I was a big Jam fan in their heyday. I DJed in college and Town Called Malice became a favorite song to play. It was the ultimate seguer (note: you could segue almost any song into and out of it). It got people dancing, even though they had no idea who The Jam were. Malice was a great conduit to bridge songs like To Hell With Poverty and Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) or Uptight, which of course would work it's way into Really Saying Somethin' by The Velvelettes which had to lead into It Ain't What You Do It's the Way That You Do It (Fun Boy Three's introduction of Bananarama to the world). It probably broadened The Jam's fan base. You can't help but get sucked in the minute that song starts. It's political and I think angry, but it's disguised as a perfectly constructed pop song.

As Paul Weller was closing three nights at Irving Plaza in New York (I believe one night was dedicated to the songs of The Jam), the remaining two thirds of of the Jam: bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler were announcing they are reuniting for a tour without Paul called "From the Jam: Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler." They will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Jam's debut In the City. As of now, there are only UK dates planned.

Record of the Day featured Little Man Tate. This band wears its Jam badges on it's sleeve. It Must Be Love was described as having charmingly juvenile lyrics and the melody is catchy, catchy catchy. This is among a pack of songs coming from the UK recently, that have justified my belief that songwriting is making a comeback. There's more music on their MySpace site, including the wonderfully titled, Man I Hate Your Band. Worth a listen.

Response to Sequencing

A friend and former music writer from Houston, Sandy Adzgery had the following to add to the discussion on sequencing:

Your bit on albums and the order of songs made me think about XTC's "Skylarking" -- Todd Rundgren used his "continuity concept" to "marry" certain songs as Andy Partridge told me at the time... It doesn't work on a CD, because there is a real break that is noticeable, and the US wanted "Dear God" on the album, which they had decided didn't fit... But that is an element of music making (along with album art and worthwhile album notes) that are a thing of the past. CDs may still use art, but an album cover was a REAL piece of art!

Adding to Previous Entry via Courtney Love

When the judgment came against MP3.com, the RIAA sought damages of $150,000 for each major-label-"owned" musical track in MP3's database. Multiply by 80,000 CDs, and MP3.com could owe the gatekeepers $120 billion.

But what about the Plimsouls? Why can't MP3.com pay each artist a fixed amount based on the number of their downloads? Why on earth should MP3.com pay $120 billion to four distribution companies, who in most cases won't have to pay a nickel to the artists whose copyrights they've stolen through their system of organized theft?

The above is actually an excerpt from a piece Courtney Love wrote for Salon in 2000 that was sent to me today. It plays into my previous thoughts and it seems as timely as ever.

Does the Artist Share in the Revenue?

Google is in the news again, this time involving a month long test of it’s video advertising system. It has Warner Music and Sony BMG as partners in this test. They will share in advertising revenue generated through AdSense, which will pay every time an impression is generated when their music videos are viewed. I’ve been reading a lot about this and there seems to be no mention of what happens to the money the record labels receive. Is that money shared with those artists whose videos are being viewed? I’m guessing that since this is a new model, these provisions were not written into artists’ contracts. As an artist manager, I want to know that my client is receiving his/her fair share of profits generated by their art. I will continue to look into this.