From: Sam Pocker
Re: Transmission-1
November 30, 2006 7:58:24 PM PST

—Terry said he turned down a multimillion dollar re-up for the Barenaked Ladies.  Rather than signing with a major label, they decided to go their own way.  Instead of taking the four mil for a new deal, they put out a Christmas album and made THREE million.  Sounds FANTASTIC, certainly if you’re into dollars.  But do you know anybody who’s GOT this record?  Does it have any TRACTION?  Do you just want to make money and stay home and count it, or put on your jersey, run out on the field and play?—

fuck the three million they "made" on the record

how much did they LOSE on the piece of shit tour that followed?
how much did they LOSE comping all their fan club memberships, and post dating them something like five years?
ironically when you paid for your membership and you were grandfathered in you got really great seats, this last run at radio city i logged in and it was scattered mid range shit not to mention even with mike doughty opening, i still wouldn’t pay whatever crazy price it was i think 75 bucks — HELLO? don’t tell me about market value – i understand it just fine

same with sarah mclachlan’s wintersong show here in nyc that was going pennies on the dollar on ebay

next time you’re in a room full of asswipes spouting this bullshit, whip out this charmer

"Hey, what do you think of the fact that over the summer, Bryan Adams 1985 at the Meadowlands was one of the most active torrents on dimeadozen?"

because let me tell you, that IS interesting, and i won’t be surprised at all when bryan adams plays to a full house at the beacon in january. if you put avril lavigne onsale for the beacon right now at the exact same prices it wouldn’t even be 1/2 full. and that’s the truth, ruth.

And the manager of that supposedly has-been act with all the action?

Bruce Allen.

He didn’t have a father in the business, he didn’t go to music business college, no, Bruce Allen came up from the streets.  Many of which he now OWNS!  Drive through Vancouver with Bruce Allen and seemingly one building per block he either owns or USED TO!  His only regret is he didn’t invest in the casino business.  Oh, the HANDLE!

They broke the mold after Bruce Allen was born.  You just can’t get that combination of insouciance, irreverence, charm and intimacy anywhere else.  I mean for a man with international demands, I was stunned to find him quoting facets of my personal life that all those execs TOO BUSY making money are clueless about.  You see first and foremost, Bruce Allen is a human being.  An UNRULY ONE!

That’s what the license plate on his Corvette reads.  At least in the BACK!  He removed the front plate.  Asked the cop who stopped him and wrote a $105 ticket WHEN DID YOU EVER CHASE A CAR FROM THE FRONT!

I won’t quite say Bruce Allen plays by his own rules, but he’s constantly testing the limits, questioning the BULLSHIT!

On the phone Bruce told me to pick a restaurant and a time.

Upon being asked for suggestions, Bruce told me he owned the best steakhouse in town.  BINGO!  Steak is the unofficial food of the road.  Just ask any one of those old dogs, who used to visit the Palm and now Mastro’s.

He knows I don’t go for American cars, but Bruce told me his new convertible went like STINK!  Actually, noticing the automatic shifter I thought he was telling me it was a dog.  But it turned out I just wasn’t up on the lingo, stink is now FAST!

Not that we burned any rubber from the hotel to the restaurant.

And upon entrance, we hooked up with Bruce’s right hand Randy Berswick and got into it.  RIGHT AWAY!

It started with lawyers.  What’s up with the PERCENTAGE?

Oh, Adams’ lawyer asked what if someone DIED on the road!

Bruce said it had happened twice.  He’d sent flowers with a note.  He handled it.  He didn’t have to give up five percent of PUBLISHING for this, never mind a cut of every other dollar.  He’d pay the four hundred dollars an hour.

And then there was the business manager who said she wanted to work with Martina McBride, another of Bruce’s clients.  Bruce never called her back.  The job of a business manager is to make HIM look bad.  He doesn’t need somebody looking over his shoulder.  He’ll just take his fifteen percent and then his clients can take their remaining 85% and do WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANT TO WITH IT!  Yup, Bruce is like an old time Republican.  I’m staying OUT OF YOUR BUSINESS!  Do what you want with your money!

Bruce went on.  Well, you give 5% to your lawyer, 5% to your business manager, 10% to your agent, 15-20% to your manager…what have you got LEFT?

Sounds totally right, doesn’t it?

In other words, the conventional wisdom is bullshit.  It’s all posturing.  You need someone who sees the landscape ACCURATELY!

Not that Bruce isn’t fearful of the Internet.  Well, not fearful of the Net, but afraid of what he DOESN’T KNOW!  God, the big label execs think they know EVERYTHING, and sixty two year old self-questioning Bruce ALREADY knows more.

Not that all execs came in for scrutiny.  Bruce is down with Joe Galante.  Who holds dinners with retailers, other people in the food chain, to EDUCATE the managers of his acts.  Joe says all he gets revenue from is records, he wants those in partnership with him to UNDERSTAND HIS BUSINESS!

Not that Bryan Adams is focusing on selling records.  That isn’t the plan.  Bruce is focusing on the road.  He wants to sell out Madison Square Garden.  Actually, that’s easy.  He wants to do arena business EVERYWHERE!

Mmm…  Seems kind of hard without a hit, wouldn’t you think?

But Bruce said no to a package with Heart.  He doesn’t want to take Adams down that road.  Into oblivion.  Not that he’s averse to a co-bill, but it’s got to make sense, it’s got to be more, it’s got to EXCITE people.  Like a package with George Thorogood…

Live Nation said no.  They just didn’t get it.

But it sounded good to me.  Thorogood can PLAY!  And Bryan delivers.  Yup, they’ll take print ads.  Showing EVERY ONE OF BRYAN’S HITS, and saying he’s gonna PLAY THEM!  Fuck the new album and the new material that no one cares about, like with the Stones, Bryan’s gonna give them what they want, but BLOW THEM AWAY DOING IT!

But if Live Nation isn’t in, who do you turn to?

Maybe Don Fox, who did so well with Michael Buble.

Bruce didn’t understand Buble.  But sometimes you’ve got to bet on the horse.  He bet on David Foster.  But the success wouldn’t have happened without Don Fox.  An independent concert promoter who PERSONALLY called every building.  And a reviewer in EACH MARKET!  And if the critic wasn’t gonna come, Don called the PAPER!  And said with the amount of money he was spending for ads, they OWED HIM!  And somebody showed up.

And then we’re brainstorming.  All the little details.  How to mount this Bryan Adams assault.  It was like the management meetings you DREAM OF, all STRATEGY!

Not that we were limited to business.  We covered more about relationships than I do with my best friends.  Yes, Bruce holds nothing back.

And when we were all done, long after one a.m., Bruce took me on a tour.  Of drug-addled Vancouver.  The home of B.C. Bud, the best in the WORLD!

Not that these were dope smokers.  No, the denizens across the street from his office, the ones who said hi every morning before he pulled behind the gates, were JUNKIES!  Hell, there was a needle repository RIGHT ON THE SIDE OF ADAMS’ RECORDING STUDIO!  Yup, a big blue box, where you left your old syringes, waiting for new ones to be delivered.

Not that Bruce is a supporter of drug addicts.  After all, this is the man who called the killing and wood-chipping of dozens of prostitutes URBAN RENEWAL!

He had to write a letter of apology to the CRTC for saying this on the radio.  But this is how so many people tired of the government’s inaction in the taking back of the streets feel.  Not that Bruce Allen checks with his constituents before uttering a word.

Now I think Bryan Adams can have another hit.  After all, this was the guy who exited AOR at exactly the right moment, just before it died, by singing the "Robin Hood" theme.  And Bruce is not averse to that kind of action.  But he’s a realist. He’s not gonna play the traditional game, be dependent on so many he has no control of.  He knows he has a client who can slay them, if given a chance.  He plans to build from the ground up.  Raise Adams’ profile via the ROAD!

In an era of consolidation, in an era of corporate rule, Bruce Allen stands outside.  He says it’s PERSONAL management.  He delivers for not only Bryan Adams and Michael Buble, but Martina McBride and Anne Murray too.  He’s not too busy to take a phone call, not too busy to get into it.

And as this man with twice the energy of those half his age drove off, with both the Killers and Van Morrison in his listening pile, I felt privileged.  That I could KNOW such a character, that I could hang with him, that he could impart his wisdom TO ME!