From: Harriet Sternberg

Subject: Re: The Greatest Night In Pop

Hello Bob:

I am so pleased you watched our film. The song, the recording and now the documentary were a labor of love for all involved. The moments leading up to and including the night of the AMA’s were Ken Kragen, Harry Belafonte and Quincy’s vision captured so well by Michael and Lionel. And that the purpose and inspiration behind the song resonates today, 39 years later, means everything to me. I’m very proud that Julia Nottingham, Larry Klein and Bao Nguyen invited me in to tell part of the story, and for Lionel and Bruce to have supported the project from inception deserve the global attention the film has received. And now that you’ve told your many music biz veterans to check out the documentary, I thank you.

Harriet

Harriet Sternberg Management, Inc.

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Subject: Re: The Greatest Night In Pop

Bob,

The filmmakers did a first class job showing the planning, preparation, and the night.

Your reaction proves they were the right people to tell the story behind the song and its legacy.

Thanks for also honoring Ken and his legacy.

The work of USA for Africa continues today.

The streaming numbers here and internationally already reflect the impact of the documentary.

Every single stream helps people in need. I hope your readers play it in the car for their kids on the way to school tomorrow.

Thank you to Lionel, Bao, producer Julia Nottingham, and their incredible team.

A special shout out to Marcia Thomas, who is hands on every day, and constantly traveling to Africa (coach by the way) to make sure the mission goes on.

Paul Brownstein

Executive Producer for USA For Africa.

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Subject: Melanie

Hi Bob,

 

Like Bill, I also was at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. It’s a major section in my upcoming memoir.

 

I went with Beach Boys producer and songwriter Gary Usher, who at the time was an executive at RCA Records, and American comedian Murray Roman who dressed for the occasion as a city of London businessman, black jacket, bowler hat and umbrella. I spent the afternoon and evening on the side of the stage watching everyone from The Doors, to The Who, to Sly and the Family Stone, to Melanie. The Doors seemed lethargic to me and, as Bill said, the lighting left a lot to be desired as Jim Morrison did not want any spotlights for the Doors set. He spent more time complaining to the crew than he did speaking to the audience.

 

The Who killed it, and Melanie followed them. Keith Moon guided her on stage and did his best to ensure the audience paid attention to her before he left her with just her acoustic guitar to play her set which began well after midnight!

 

I was already a fan of Melanie at the time and share Bill’s opinion, with just an acoustic guitar, her songs, her voice and personality, she was able to captures the crowd’s attention.

 

This was also when I met Bill Siddons for the first time. He offered me a lift in his cab to the Ferry as we were leaving the festival.

 

Tony Dimitriades

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Subject: The only cover band in the world that  plays all originals

Hi Bob.

A couple months ago my wife and I watched the documentary “Immediate Family.” We loved it so much that we decided to travel from Dallas to Santa Barbara to catch the band on their tour to promote their new album “Skin in the Game.” 

We really did not know what to expect musically. Will they play their new album in its entirety? Will they play cover songs? Will they play hits they have played on? Will there be an opener? They started the evening by showing 30 minutes of their documentary which in retrospect was a great idea. I’m  sure many people in the audience 

had not seen the documentary previously, and at the same time it gave people like us what a reminder how fortunate we were to be at the Lobero Theatre that evening.

The concert opened with the song “ Honey don’t leave L A” and was followed by “Somebody’s Baby.” At that point, Kooch stated one of the best one liners I have ever heard a singer say to their audience: “We are the only cover band in the world that plays all originals!” 

Waddy Wachtel was not present as he is out touring with Stevie Nicks, so the band got Elliot Easton of The Cars to fill in, and he did great.  Some of the other songs performed included “Dirty Laundry, “ “Just what I needed,” “All she wants to do is dance,” several new songs,  and other hits. 

One thing that pleasantly surprised me was the ovation each band member received upon individual introduction. Who do you think received the biggest ovation?

Leland Sklar! After the concert was over, we headed outside the venue where a lot of the concert goers were hanging out sharing the vibe, waiting for Ubers, or just enjoying the beautiful evening. Leland shows up talking  to fans and just being the great guy that he is. Now I know why he got the loudest applause  when introduced. 

He is a pro both on and off the stage.

 

My best,

 

Ronnie Raphael

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From: James Patrick Regan

Subject: Re: BottleRock

Hi Bob!

Something that wasn’t brought up on the podcast, is the willingness for the group to put local talent on the bill… when there’s no financial incentive to do so. I’ve never met David, Justin or Jason but I’m eternally grateful to all of them. My band (the Deadlies) had the opportunity to play BottleRock multiple times which exposed us to a huge audience we would have never had the opportunity to play for and the last time we played we shared a stage with Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz and Michael Franti! How many local bands get that opportunity…!

Thank you Bob for having them on what’s become my favorite podcast.

Best, James – the Deadlies

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From: Beki Brindle-Scala

Subject: last night we lost our dear friend Ron Gilbert, bassist for The Blues Magoos. My husband Ralph Scala’s band mate & friend since The Bronx where they grew up

Hi Bob,

Thought you might want to know about this.  Ron was so much more than a so-called “One Hit Wonder” band member.  They had more hits than just “We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet” Many incredible songs. Ron is the first Magoo to depart this earthly plane.  We are all very sad.  These guys talked at least once a week for the past 50 years. They never lost touch.  Ron wrote a sci-fi mystery novel and published it.  I read it.  It’s great.  He worked as a chemist in Simi Valley and never stopped writing songs (great songs, at that).  He was brilliant in so many ways.

Anyway, I thought we should write and let you know that his presence in that band made a big difference to the music. He played with Ralph after the Magoos on an album on United Artists, and even played bass on a single that The Blues Magoos put out a couple of years ago during Covid entitled, “Nowhere Is Somewhere.”  It is a beautiful, psychedelic rock-pop track.

Ron had f***ing Cancer and though we just talked to him two weeks ago and all seemed normal, we then got the call from his ex-wife that he was about to go into hospice. Ralph talked to him and sang to him on the night before he passed.  They were brothers … and we didn’t think we were going to lose him last night.  If you want any information, please let us know.

By the way, many people tell us that “Psychedelic Lollipop” was the first album they ever bought.  My guess is because they liked the hit & because the word, “psychedelic,” was in the title. They have a lot of fans, including many from much younger generations.

Xo

Beki and Ralph

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Subject: Re: The Normalization Of Insanity

Nailed it Bob. That’s why we moved to France. Yes, they have some of the same problems. But when workers are unhappy they strike, they don’t blame drag queens reading books to kids. There is still a sense of community, of “we are all in it together.” Socialism is not a dirty word; hell, there is a bar called Le Prolé (which means the proletariat) near us. And, to whatever degree it is the same craziness, we don’t have to worry about getting shot.

Take care

Michael Ross

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Subject: Re: The Normalization Of Insanity

Excellent piece, as always, Bob, if ultimately depressing.

What’s really scary is that, even as you write from a U.S. perspective, much of the same can be applied to the rest of the world.

I left the UK at the end in 2010, unhappy with the way I saw things going in my home country, sensing the mood there turning inwards and ugly. But who could have foreseen almost a decade and a half of Conservative idiocy, incompetence, greed and cruelty…!? 

The flourishing of Thatcherism at its worst, the needless, countless deaths during Covid (but hey, we did our bit by banging pots and pans on our doorsteps to support the nurses, who we then turn around a screw by refusing to pay them a decent, living wage, but hey, that’s life), the lies to the public that became the norm, the endless parade of hopeless puppet Prime Ministers and Cabinet members, each somehow managing to be worse than the last in the lemming-like race for the bottom, and don’t even get me started on Brexit… a generational shot-in-the-foot that manages to negatively affect even UK migrants like me, long gone but still a citizen.

And now the supposed socialist paradise of Norway in which I make my home seems to look at the madness as something to emulate: right-wing populism bubbling too close to the surface while we fear pissing off our neighbour Putin in case he decides to talk a walk across the border to pay a visit to us, profit over people becoming the norm, and now a stream of political scandals including a former prime minister and (somehow still) current Conservative party leader embroiled in a marital insider-trading scam, and ministers being found out for plagiarism in their education (including, yes, the Minister for Education, whose master’s thesis was full of the work of others, copied wholesale).

Do as I say, don’t do as I do. Be a good worker drone and do everything for the benefit of the state, while I skim off the top and grease my way through life.

And yep, all this can be traced back to the rise of trickle down.

What IS a poor boy to do…!?

Best, as always,

Dave King

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From: Adam Lewis

Subject: Re: The Normalization Of Insanity

This:

“And when asked about the killing of Khashoggi, Jared Kushner says ‘are we really still doing this?’ Hell, it’s not only Kushner, it’s the golfers and more who let cash whitewash the bad behavior of MBS. Makes your head spin.”

Man, I could not agree with you more.  It feels like we are in bizarro land. Nothing is sacred.

It’s closer to home. It’s in our business of course. It’s bad enough that my beloved Red Sox/Fenway Sports Group is involved with the Saudis on this PGA deal – but last summer I had to sit through a “panel” discussion at A2IM’s Indie Week in NYC. The panel was all about how wonderful the arts were in the Saudi Kingdom and that they have come so far (in a couple years). And especially for Women! All presented by the former head of AIM (The UK’s indie label association) – who is now a paid government shill for the Saudi Government. This was a paid for presentation as the Saudis were official sponsors at A2IM – as they had a showcase for their artists that evening as well. This was all happening a block or so from a fire station that I walked by to get there. Of course there was a memorial there. But – that’s long forgotten right? The Saudis are better now. Or maybe they were not part of 9/11. But killing journalists or women’s rights? A2IM looked past all of that in return for the sponsorship dollars. Was really disappointing to see the independent label community, especially a NYC organization, sell out so easily. Make no mistake – the Saudis will be at the other music events as soon as they can weasel in with a check. It was also unreal to hear this presentation – the same day that A2IM was hosting panel discussions on diversity and inclusion….I’m still a member – but I am starting to question why.

Best,

A

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From: ERON EPSTEIN

Subject: Re: The Normalization Of Insanity

I started practicing law in November 1980 around the time Reagan and Bush were elected. My uncle was a higher up in the  Democratic Party in Los  Angeles. I called him for his take on the future. He simply said “The Republicans mission now is to return the money to its rightful  owners.” 

EE