Mailbag

Note: No anonymous e-mails unless your livelihood or personal safety are significantly at stake.
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From: chris stein
Subject: Re: The Suzi Quatro Movie
One day when we were working on Autoamerican, Mike Chapman and me were trying to record some guitar feedback while I was sitting playing in the United Western control room. Chapman was notorious for his playback volume and after a bit the left hand monitor speaker started burning. The driver had gotten so hot it sparked and then went up in flames.
I've never seen this phenomena again and it was an appropriate metaphor for our relationship with Mike for which I remain eternally grateful.
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From: BILL MUMY
Subject: Re: I Won't Stay For Long
He may indeed be cantankerous, judgmental, opinionated and difficult to work with, but Crosby is still making music that’s worthy of the time we have to listen to it and then some.
Right from the start, he’s been the X factor that brought the bands he was in to a much higher and unique level. I loved the Byrds. Really loved them. Remove Crosby from them and what do you get? “McGuinn, Clark & Hilllman”. Hmmmm.
Consider the Stills Young Band album. Sure, Long May You Run is great, but how many other tracks from that album that Crosby (and Nash) were booted from can you recall off the top of your head? Do you know? Don’t you wonder?
He brought jazz harmonies and jazz guitar inversions into folk and pop music in a very different way than Brian Wilson did and he should be acknowledged for that contribution. Plus, he’s a damn good guitarist. People rightfully sing the praises of Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Roger McGuinn, but go listen to Crosby‘s rhythm guitar driving Eight Miles High, Chimes of Freedom, Deja Vu, Laughing, and his finger picking on acoustic ballads like Guinevere or Tracks in the Dust. He knows how to play. But of course it’s his harmony vocals that have always been, and still are, stellar.
I think the best defining word for Crosby’s music is uncompromising. I’m glad I’ve listened to his new album.
I felt like I owed it to someone.
Mumy
Still in Laurel Canyon
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Subject: My Favorite Lyrics Playlist
Hello Bob,
My name is Mike Evans and I was surprised, excited, proud and so on to find a song I co-wrote on your "My Favorite Lyrics Playlist." I co-wrote "What Do You Want From Life", mostly the lyrics, with Bill Spooner, founder of The Tubes. I have always been proud of my lyrics on this song and others. So to find myself on your list along with Dylan, Prince, Joni, Jackson and all the others is
truly amazing and unexpected.
Thank you very much and I wish continued success.
Mike Evans
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Subject: Re: Jazz Fest Cancels
Bob
How right you are. I have been trying to encourage leadership in the UK instead of brown nosing.
The whole industry should come together and push for the right solution for safe concerts and events.
And where are the record companies and publishers in this... hiding of course as usual.
No voice and absolutely no support.
It is total confusion in the UK. The Government only issue platitudes with no detail.
When the detail ( like the insurance announcement) is issued, it's crap.
Yet our representative bodies all take credit, instead of pushing harder and together
Harvey Goldsmith
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Subject: Re: Jazz Fest Cancels
Bob,
Last week we announced proof-of-vax requirements and masking required for our upcoming shows and immediately got a fair amount of refund requests. Small price to pay to try to keep the performances safe and let the crowd not look sideways at each other so they can just let loose and release. A lot of folks in the industry are afraid to lose just one fan, one sale, one follower. I'd rather do a smaller show if necessary than have the extra anxiety in the room. Less anxiety and animosity in the room, the more room for magic to occur.
- Adam / low cut connie
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Subject: Re: Jazz Fest Cancels
Bob-
Cancelling for reasons of public health ought to be enough. But as a business decision, it's also a no-brainer.
When the country gleefully opened back up in June, I was asked to promote about a week of dates with an act that had earlier planned to go out this summer, but whose tour cancelled earlier in the year. They decided a scaled-down tour in July/August on short notice might play and offered to work at a reduced guarantee. I saw the vaccine numbers (at the time) trending upward. So I bought. The first show in the Bay Area in mid-July at an 800-seat PAC in Walnut Creek sold out in advance. Yay! My next shows - in Chicago and Atlanta - weren't for another two weeks. A week later, as news about the lower vaccine rates and Delta variant spread, sales suddenly slowed for this decidedly 55+ demographic. By the time the rest of the dates were about to play, they stopped selling completely. We literally couldn't give tickets away. Papering the house? Nobody "papered" show up anyway.
I could quote Yogi Berra's "Deja Vu" line but I'd rather pick another one of his beauties: "When people don't want to go to the ballpark, you can't stop them!"
Brian Martin
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From: Barry Drinkwater
Subject: Re: Jazz Fest Cancels
Hi Bob,
As you know I’ve been in the music merchandising business since it’s lnception.
My whole life has been servicing live events around the world and fighting bootleggers outside shows.
I was not at the Green Day show in NYC a couple of weeks ago but I was told to get in you needed to show you were fully vaccinated.
I’m told outside the bootleggers were selling shirts for $25 or a vaccination card for $50.
Asides from the issues the states have with people that won’t get vaccinated.
some type of digital vaccination passport would be the only way to really prove that a person is fully vaccinated but in the land of the free that’s never good to going to happen just like stopping the sale of assault rifles to “hunters” or ammunition sales in Walmart.
I think no matter what conditions are put in place regarding requirements to get into a live event in the land of the free and home of the brave the fuck you mentality will for ever rule. sadly it’s endemic in a GOP mindset where socialism and caring for your fellow human is labeled communism.
I love your country and everything it stands for but freedom of speech has a heavy price and unfortunately a dark side.
We are basically all fucked as common sense went out of the window decades ago never to return.
Best regards
Barry
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From: Olivier Chastan
Subject: Re: Jazz Fest Cancels
Bob - I’m traveling in France and the government expects 85% of the population to have received at least one shot by the end of this month. Everyone wears a mask and doesn’t think it’s a big deal. Yes there’s a small minority protesting but they’re irrelevant and no one gives a shit. World of difference!
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Subject: Re: Jazz Fest Cancels
If the vaccinated are wrong, we will have been inconvenienced by wearing masks & getting jabbed. If the non vaccinated are wrong, they might die a painful death & possibly infect family & friends who may also die. The choice looks pretty simple to me. I'd rather risk a few side effects & inconvenience to dying a truly miserable death.
Thanks for doing what you do, Bob!
Rogerway
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Subject: Re: Jazz Fest Cancels
Hi Bob,
Good points all round. What I don't understand is why nobody's decided to hit unvaccinated people in the wallet where it hurts. Lots of people are all about standing up for their rights until it's a choice between those rights and their money.
For example, I am absolutely within my rights to not get an annual physical, but my insurance company will charge me an extra $40 a paycheque to exercise that right. Why not do the same for COVID vaccinations?
Don't want to get the vaccine? Not a problem! Your health insurer can track on the additional risk-based cost of covering you to your premium. You're employer can mandate weekly testing at your expense and on your time to mitigate the cost of your eventual absence. Want to go to a show? Here's the calculated cost of care for people you may infect and here's the insurance premium you'll have to pay to ensure the cost of their care is not unduly borne by others.
At the end of the day, I don't see it as any different from having to buy insurance to drive a car on public roads, maintain insurance on my house to protect the interests of my mortgage holder, and having to visit the doctor once a year to let my health insurer know that nothing is festering away sight unseen.
All the best,
Charles
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From: Amanda Palmer
Subject: Re: Jazz Fest Cancels
A-FUCKING-MEN, Bob.
I'm still in New Zealand, where I've been living month-to-month since getting magically plopped here during tour in March 2020.
My 5-year old kid has never seen another kid in a mask. He himself has pretty much never worn a mask.
We have been pretty much Covid-free since May 2020. I am homesick and lonely but my family is safe.
When I talk to my friends with ids back in the states, they're sad and exhausted and scared.
I tell them that Ash has never worn a mask and they almost can't understand what I'm saying.
I just had a string of USA shows lined up for The Dresden Dolls this coming October.
All signs were looking hopeful.
And then boom, Delta. So about a month ago, I pulled everything.
I delayed my flights home from mid-August to mid-September.
Now? I think I'm not going home. The risks are growing.
Some of my folks grumbled at me that I was being too conservative - that things would "probably" be fine - but COME ON!!!
How many times have we heard "probably" this year?
How many times are we going to play the Magical Thinking Card and not just listen to the stats and science?
It's like we've collectively learned NOTHING in the last year and a half!
This is what the science says: The less vaccinated the globe is, the more likely we will get a Delta-like variant that is resistant
to current vaccines. Then it's BACK TO SQUARE ONE.
The whole continent of Africa is about 15% vaccinated.
So it doesn't matter if Los Angeles is "feeling okay!!" It doesn't matter if Vermont is 90% or even 100% vaxxed...what matters is EVERYBODY ON EARTH. Sorry, but it's just like the goddamn climate crisis: everybody wants to pass the buck and pretend that borders can protect you.
But we are all in this together, people.
Borders will not keep out climate collapse or Covid variants.
At this rate, we are in for a next wave and the writing is on the wall.
All the science points to one overall solution only: GET VACCINATED NOW.
If you can't get vaxxed for medical reasons, stay home, stay masked. We love you.
Rant over.
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Subject: Re: Re-Covid/Concerts/Long Haulers
A year and a half ago I won tickets to see The Black Crowes. The twice-rescheduled date now seems to be a go - an outdoor show on August 25th in Ridgefield, WA.
I'm fully vaccinated. The Delta variant is a wild card.
Now, this sounds ridiculous, but for the sake of my own health and for my family - I don't give a shit. If I had tickets to see Norah Jones, I'd feel better about the relative vaccination rate in that crowd.
But, The Black Crowes crowd...
My buddy and I agreed that we'll most likely sit in his backyard, drink beers and listen to Shake Your Money Maker.
Daryl Faulkner
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Subject: Re: Bobby Whitlock On All Things Must Pass Remix
Remixes. I was a mastering engineer and mixer. I've mixed records and agonized over every detail in ways a track sheet can't convey, because that's all the information you have. And yes, I've done remixes but as stand alone records not "improved" versions of the original.
But more importantly, the act of mixing is a performance itself, with unique things about it that won't be duplicated again, much less (fill in the blank) years later.
Jeez, folks, we worked hard on those records. Have some respect for them.
Phil Brown
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Subject: Re: Bobby Whitlock On All Things Must Pass Remix
Hi Bob,
I am not a fan of remixing iconic records (except for Live At Leeds which desperately needed a look under the hood) because many of the engineers are young and have spent zero time studying the pulse of a great mix and where it is placed. Our favorite rock engineers like Glyn Johns, Eddie Offord, Bill Symsyk, Geoff Emerick, Jack Douglas and even Phil Spector all came from rock and roll, sponging on Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Bill Haley - dance records that made sure that the pulse or the performance nucleus that appealed to our primal instincts held the recording together. Young rock engineers are infatuated with width, ear candy, compression and rarely study the great masters. I often tell my students to try and stay in MONO for a mix as long as they can. This is how one learns balance. BTW, this is not the case with hip-hop. Young hip hop engineers continue to revolutionize mixing in sonics and balance.
Rich Pagano
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From: Chuck Morris
Subject: RE: The Suzi Quatro Movie
Loved your story I had Suzi once and I thought she was great. Also promoted her brother a couple of times who actually sold some tickets. As for Mike Chapman Barry Fey and I after being asked to become the American manager for the Divinyls by Jack Craigo then the head of Chrysalis did that for a year and a half. I had previously seen the band in Australia and thought they were amazing. We worked the What A Life album produced by Mike and it killed me they couldn't break in America. I always thought the 2 tracks on that record Pleasure and Pain and Good Die Young should have been hits here. I just always in retrospective thought Christine was just a little bit a head of her time for the American audience. But boy was she great. I was such a big fan and it killed me they couldn't break in America.(except for their one hit here I Touch Myself but even that didn't move the needle much.
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From: Rob Preuss
Subject: Re: The Suzi Quatro Movie
hey Bob the Suzi Q doc is available to stream
on Kanopy, which is an amazing free service which
you can sign up for with a library card! Many
library systems throught the US and Canada
offer their service, and they have a fantastic
selection of films!
www.kanopy.com/product/suzi-q-0
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Subject: Re: Bobby Whitlock On All Things Must Pass Remix
Watching this clip...BW almost literally took his words of disgust out of my mouth. I managed to struggle through the first side, which wasn't easy, and like BW, pulled out my copies (two UK and one Japanese pressing) to see if I was maybe losing my mind. I'm not, at least not in this case. He's right, and for the many reasons he describes.
Now, like Bobby, I am talking about the vinyl 50th; I didn't purchase the CD's, but I pray that the CD's sound better; inevitably, they'd have to. Why Bobby didn't also comment on the CD's, I can't say; they are in the Uber set in his possession....
To be fair, the original ATMP was a little lean in the bottom end. But while bringing up the bass might have been a good idea, you now have loud and thudding bass, which is a loud and thudding blur.
Bobby's right. An abject failure. Grade F.
Dave Recamp
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From: Steven Starr
Subject: MTV
MTV! 40 years ago this week? Wow. What a life-changer for this kid.
It's May 1981, months before MTV goes live. Gale Sparrow, Bob Pittman, and Carolyn Baker come up to William Morris to pitch John Lack's 8-minute Warner/ Qube demo called "Music Television". Since I'm the rock n' roll kid in the TV Dept, I take the meeting.
My brain explodes.
A few days later, I'm in my boss's office, I spot a Umatic 1-inch tape labeled "Rock for Kampuchea." Leon tells me his client, Thorn-EMI, just produced this major Cambodian Relief concert in England. But Betty Bitterman at HBO and Stu Smiley at Showtime had already passed -- and they had the only checkbooks for this kind of thing back in the day. So now Thorn-EMI's making noises about leaving WMA, and this is one of the reasons.
I grab the tape, jump into the screening room, and fire it up. I am blown away. The Clash. Elvis Costello. The Pretenders. Queen. The Who. The Specials. McCartney. Just effing INCREDIBLE.
I call Pittman, tell him to get ready to be amazed, and messenger over the tape. A few hours later he calls me back. "OK, so how much?" I bolt back to Leon's office, he tells me to ask for 50k, multiple runs. I call Pittman back and tell him 70k, multiple runs.
"Done!", he says. He loves it, he wants it up on the satellite the night they launch. Whoa. I tell Leon we closed at 70; he's so delighted, he has me send out a company-wide memo on the deal. And I'm still an assistant!
Fred Milstein from our film department reads the memo, he tells me to expect a call from these two brothers who’ve just released "The Secret Policeman's Other Ball". The phone rings, this gruff voice says, "Steven? My name's Harvey Weinstein, my brother Bob and I want to take MTV’s 70K and four-wall Rock For Kampuchea in four theaters -- NY, LA, Chicago, and SF. Whaddya think?"
Oh, hell yeah.
Leon's amazed, "You're pulling a rabbit out of a hat, kid, get it done." So I go meet Harvey and Bob at their parent's apartment -- Mira and Max’s apartment -- and we close the deal. Miramax opens the film in July. MTV chops Kampuchea up into bits, runs the live McCartney track the night they launch, then peppers the schedule with the rest. Every time I see one, I’m grinning ear-to-ear.
I earned my agent stripes on Kampuchea, and WMA kept Thorn-EMI. I ran around NYC with Nina, Martha, Alan, and the rest of the VJ’s those early years, all of us wild-eyed rock n’ roll kids. I sold MTV "The Tube" w/Jools Holland out of London (an amazing live music series), repped Fab Five Freddy for a while, and more. Then left WMA to co-create/co-produce 26 episodes of “MTV’s The State” in the 90’s.
But nothing, nothing was ever sweeter for me than seeing Rock For Kampuchea hit MTV that very first night. I GOT my MTV.
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From: Tom Grueskin
Subject: Re: Skateboarding In The Olympics
The same thing happened to mountain biking in the 90s. The '96 Olympics were probably just the big hit that led to the fall as it all started when the UCI assumed control of international certification of courses (read: standardization). It took about ten years for the collapse to happen. Economically, it has recovered somewhat since but to a very different place, some of it interesting. There's a new discipline, XC Marathon, which is closer in spirit and form to what XC was in the 80's pre-UCI.
Related, one of the coolest and most interesting things happening in cycling is the emergence of L39ion of LA. Led primarily by Justin Williams (I say "primarily" because they operate more like a collective) he and his team are really changing things up. It is partly out of existential necessity but their execution and credibility are on point. They talk big but then back it up. There are a bunch of whiners online who complain about their success, saying they're only a social media phenomenon. But, L39ion rolls into town and does something like finishing 1-2-3 (men's) and 1-2 (women's) at one of the biggest races of the year (Tulsa Tough) and then made it quite a bit about the centennial of the Greenwood massacre.
I haven't been interested in watching crit racing in decades. They've changed that for me. But, aside from their racing success, their business model is really different from any other team anywhere in the world.
--Tom
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Subject: Re: Class Action Park
I grew up on Long Island and as a teenager we made the 2 - 3 hour ride at least once a Summer. The last time I went before they closed I had a close call in the wave pool. It was packed and I was in the deep end when it started. I grew up with a pool so I was a good swimmer but I could tell within 30 seconds it was too rough so I started to swim over to the metal step thing to get out but there was already about 10 kids also trying to get out. The problem was that even if you could grab a piece of the bar, every time the wave went down it pulled you off. This was going on for a few minutes with no sign of a lifeguard and I actually remember deciding to give up, it had just overwhelmed me so I let go and as soon as I started going under it stopped and I was able to get to the side and grab the side. Scariest feeling in the world.
Rob Reimer
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From: barbara rea
Subject: Re: Jazz Fest Cancels
Dear Bob:
Re, your comment about the man who wore his mask around his mouth…That’s about as effective as putting a condom on your balls!
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From: MERLE HANSON
Subject: Re: Skateboarding In The Olympics
Bob soon the Cornhole game will be an Olympic sport jeeez
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From: Michael Craig
Subject: Re: Bobby Whitlock On All Things Must Pass Remix
Isn’t It a Pity? (Sorry)
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