Lewi’s Clusterf@&%
I don’t know why Lewi is self-flagellating, I thought it was GREAT!
The problems he delineated were real.
But people came. In droves. Something we used to count on in rock and roll. We didn’t need publicity, we just announced the show on the radio and it sold out. But now, we beg people to come. To hear bands that will be history nearly as soon as they leave the stage or bands that are so old that they ARE history.
The Drive Up
I don’t need no stinking NAV!
But I did bother to go to AAA and get a map. And even routed our trip via MapQuest and AAA’s online TripTik service.
NEVER USE THESE! NEVER EVER! They’re the greatest advertisement for built-in navigation systems ever invented.
I’m not telling you the Lexus or BMW or even GM nav systems will route you any differently, but at least they’ll ALERT YOU to their fakokta routes.
I mean if you’re driving from L.A. to San Jose you’d expect a sign. How could I miss the turn-off? Well, it turns out MapQuest and AAA are computerized services, no human beings involved. So, they’ll pick the shortest route, just not the most PRACTICAL ROUTE! Leaving Palo Alto for Yosemite two days later, I was stunned to find they routed me on a secondary road with STOP SIGNS from Interstate 5 to California 99. I thought I was in a remake of "The Hills Have Eyes", about to be eaten by locals uttering "baby…baby".
But eventually we made it to Palo Alto, our ultimate destination. And I phoned Lewi. Who said we should come to the venue.
Shoreline Amphitheatre is one of the better sheds. But despite all the rock and roll photos on the walls, rock does not live here. We lost something when the Fillmores closed, when the seventies ended. Music is a mature field now, concerts are not seat of the pants events, but military exercises. There’s no soul. Especially when the venue, with no gravitas at all, lives on, but the acts don’t. Better to gig in a high school gym. Really, if you don’t think there’s a problem with the institutional venues concerts are promoted in, you don’t go. They just don’t FEEL like rock and roll, but an elaborate recreation built by Madison Avenue, ON A BUDGET!
But I was impressed with Lewi’s layout. I was excited to take a bite of the food from his purveyors. High class peanut butter and jelly? This I had to taste. And I was salivating over Katz’s pastrami. You can go to Langer’s, but truly, other than that downtown establishment, it’s impossible to get great pastrami in L.A.
We ended up having dinner in the hotel with Brian Greenbaum, Andy Somers and Dave Shapiro. They all flew up in Dave’s plane. I don’t know about you, but I’m AFRAID to go up in these tinker-toys. I need to be in the back, with no view of the pilot, praying that he’s got so many hours under his belt that no matter what we encounter, we’re safe.
The conversation was illuminating. Used to be you wanted to dine with label people. Now, all the information comes from agents. Want to know what’s truly going on in the music business? Break bread with an agent or promoter. Jimmy Iovine may get all the press, but labels are history.
The Next Day
I’ve got to tell you, when you exit from the freeway to Shoreline, you see one of the great American landmarks. GOOGLE!
I was stunned. I knew what the building looked like. But I imagined it was on a hill, surrounded by vast fields, and that the edifice was as large as an Alp. Whereas it’s just off the highway and relatively tiny. But, like Brigham Young so famously said…THIS IS THE PLACE!
Right here is the heartbeat of the WORLD! It was like coming to L.A. for the first time and seeing all the rock and roll landmarks. My heart beat faster. To go inside… Could I go inside? I remember coming to Hollywood and crossing the street to enter the lobby of Liberty Records. To get the same hit today, I’d have to go to Google. Or Apple. The best minds of a generation, the innovators, the limit-testers, did not pick up guitars, but got computer science degrees, stayed up all night coding as opposed to listening to records, and then truly changed the world. Tech triumphs over music. If you want to see someone break rules, you fire up your computer, you don’t put on a record.
Anyway, the gig was CROWDED! Overwhelmingly so! People were lined up!
Like a rock concert in the seventies.
There was a vibe, a pulse. You felt like you were where it was at.
Lewi goes on about being unprepared, but the true story here is publicist Elaine Garza and her protege. They got the kind of ink, the kind of mentions you can’t get for music anymore! Shit, they got the cover of the "San Francisco Chronicle" weekend section. It gave people the impression THIS IS WHERE IT’S HAPPENING!
And it was.
To too great a degree.
Bacon
Yup, we tested it at Zingerman’s. You got four types and rated them. We ate Junior’s cheesecake and great burgers and s’mores…
And then there was gridlock. The lines were too long, we went into the venue.
Where Marshall Crenshaw played to almost nobody.
And then Bobby Flay hit the stage.
The thunderous roar brought me to the bowl. These people had been primed by television. Bobby Flay was a STAR!
That was the great insight I got. That these Food Network personalities, they’re what rock stars USED to be. Bobby Flay was cracking jokes, revealing his truth in a way no new musical act instructed by handlers how to be ever is. Guy Fieri even more so. He whipped the audience into a frenzy! He made it a SHOW!
And that’s what it’s got to be. ENTERTAINMENT! People will pay if they have a good time.
Conclusion
Lewi’s been going on about a food festival forever. To the point where even I doubted its success. But this was such a winner idea, I was STUNNED! Jim tapped into a zeitgeist I didn’t even know existed. Furthermore, EVERYBODY EATS!
I’m sorry Jim took the problems so personally.
But the key to the future is IDEAS! Doing the same old thing again and again leads to bankruptcy. We’ve got cultural bankruptcy in the music business. You just don’t want to admit it. The Food Network is better than MTV and VH1 combined. It’s got a quality of truth, a humanity that no canned "reality" show can ever provide. Today at lunch Joel Selvin proffered that music tanked when the acts stated wearing tights, after "Born In The U.S.A.", when Bon Jovi ascended and power ballads ruled. I think he’s right. It became about calculation. And music was always about FREEDOM!
Conclusion 2
You can work out the details, but it’s almost impossible to create demand. Lewi tapped into demand. And he’s right, the Live Nation team was not passive, but on it and supportive.
If you’re a promoter, you should book this show.
If you’re a fan of food, and who isn’t, YOU SHOULD GO!
