Jamie Kitman
I don’t even know what kind of Bentley this was. Other than it was white, had four wheel drive and 660 horsepower.
Jamie Kitman. Do you know him?
I do. He’s the irascible dude in "Automobile" magazine. The contrarian who occasionally opines on the Op-Ed page of the "New York Times", about the fallacy of both hybrids and SUVs. I’ve been reading Jamie for years. Who knew he was a rock manager?
Dude called me a couple of years back. About his new band OK Go. They had this video featuring treadmills that was getting traction…
Ever speak with a manager on the phone? Hard to get a word in edgewise. They’re gonna plow through your consciousness like a plow on I-95 in a snowstorm, they’re gonna leave an impression, they want you to know that whatever their band is doing is important and you’ve got to pay attention. Doesn’t matter if the manager represents nobodies or somebodies… Get Tony Dimitriades on the line, he’s represented Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers for decades, still, he’ll sell you, he’ll do his best to close you, it’s in his DNA.
Which is why all those schools that try to teach you the music business are bullshit. Managers aren’t taught, managers are BORN! They just don’t fit in anywhere else. They’ve got no option but to fend for themselves, make their own headway promoting the latest and the greatest.
Jamie went to law school. Even had great work. But after driving a Lotus Esprit Turbo cross-country for a magazine article, he quit. You just can’t beat music and cars. Hell, ask Billy Gibbons!
And after meeting Tom Werman as an adolescent, Jamie got the bug. He took the leap. He started managing They Might Be Giants.
And there the adventure begins.
They Might Be Giants was headlining Largo this evening. Which, ostensibly, is why Jamie is in town. A kids’ show at 2, and then an adult performance in the evening, and then they do it all over again tomorrow.
And being a big macher in the car world, Jamie can order up a machine for a demo. Which is how he ended up picking me up in this Bentley behemoth.
A work of art. With a stabilizing bar made of graphite where the rear seat should have been. And bucket seats. Real buckets. Like a race car. Where your tucas barely fit. I couldn’t own it, my hips were too wide!
But I’m not in danger of owning what Jamie called "The World’s Most Expensive Volkswagen", yes, VW owns Bentley, I’m not that rich. But I was king for a day. And when I mashed my foot on the accelerator you’d think we were blasting off for the moon, it was just that powerful.
We took Sunset to the beach. And then into the Valley via Malibu Canyon. Which is where I took the wheel, for the ride into Echo Park, where OK Go was shooting its new video. In an abandoned warehouse just off Glendale Boulevard.
Fascinating story. It’s all Damian’s idea, a semiotics major at Brown, he wanted to construct the world’s biggest Rube Goldberg contraption. So he went online, to a geek board, advertising for a couple of helpers. He ended up with rocket scientists. Twenty of them. Just about all of them doing the work for free.
Not that the video is free. State Farm Insurance is paying. All 160k. Welcome to the new music business. Capitol may not have any cash, so it’s using its connections. You just need to put the logo in the video.
It was like the eighties, but with a twist. You had the excitement of video, in a world where video no longer rules. Then again, video broke OK Go. Could they do it again?
Damian walked us through all the contraptions. On two floors. They were going to shoot it all in one take. Wednesday and Thursday are the days. They’re gonna do it over and over again until they get it right. Should rival "Sledgehammer" when it’s done.
The music? I’ve got the benefit of NEVER HEARING THE MUSIC! So I can’t render an opinion. But, I will say that Damian was charismatic. I got his sex appeal. If I was a girl, I’d fall in love. That’s what we’re selling. Charisma. Attractiveness.
And then we ventured to Largo to see They Might Be Giants. Appearing in a sold out show. Where the fans were so rabid, you’d have thought they were the Beatles.
Once upon a time, the muckety-mucks pooh-poohed the Giants, although they were signed by Sue Drew to Elektra and had a tenure on the major. But now, the Giants are the future. A hard core of fans who will see you every time you come through. You can live off this. Someone will come to see the flavor of the moment perform their hit once. Twice? No, not unless there’s another hit. And it ain’t easy having another one. Not since Haircut 100 and that Rico Suave dude…
Now I don’t think the Giants are rich. But is that what you got into it for? I hope that’s not the case.
Anyway, very fun day. The way rock and roll used to be. Breaking the rules. Testing the limits of our creativity. Believing that we’re not part of the system… Hell, we got into this to stay OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM!
And music will only flourish, will only drive the culture once again, when it realizes it can’t be synonymous with the man, but must chart its own course, of freedom and limit-testing, the American Way.
I looked it up. Turns out it’s only 621 horsepower. Sue me. Isn’t that enough for you? This could be the exact car we drove, it’s certainly the same color with the same trim. Click on the "Interior" button to see the tiny seats.
