Subject: Re: John Boylan On Little River Band

Hey Bob,

First of all, I love John Boylan. And I owe my career as a record producer to the coincidental fact that the REO album, You can tune a Piano, but you can’t Tuna fish, got horribly behind schedule, John was committed to produce Little River Band, and he had to leave me in charge of that REO Speedwagon album. Boylan was an Executive Producer on the Tuna album, and because he had to leave us in mid-stream, (pun intended), he did the unthinkable: He gave back his production points! John came out to see a show recently, and he looked exactly the same as the day we met in 1977! I am very grateful that John Boylan is part of my life.

Kevin Cronin … REO Speedwagon

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Subject: Re: Superstar AI Album

Good one on AI Album Bob for April Fools!

– Regarding drum machine. Best advice Prince’s manager Steve Fargnoli ever told me as a drummer staring at the horror of the first Linn LM1. “Well it’s here, so why not just learn to use it!”

Regards,

Bobby Z

Prince & The Revolution

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From: Neil Giraldo

Subject: Re: Superstar AI Album..Neil G

Morning Bob,

Interesting article on AI in relation to music. Gotta move forward with the times.

The LinnDrum frightened many drummers. At first!

Pro Tools,Auto tune etc gave everyone a safely net which could be a good thing or a bad thing! It’s how you use it.

I also agree with Don Was: everything is a tool, and you have to know how to use it. That means understanding all the elements—song structure, storyline, and more. Plus, you’ve got to be brave and unafraid to be different—willing to try something that doesn’t sound like everything else out there in real time.

By the way—“When Doves Cry” was brilliant! And my favorite Prince song.

Speaking of tools from the ’80s…

I was willing to accept new technology.The LinnDrum was a total game changer and remained a valuable tool for me on many songs that became hits. True drummers weren’t exactly thrilled—especially mine he thought i was crazy—when I told him I just wanted top kit only: snare and hi-hat on “Love Is a Battlefield.” That was 1983!  BTW The drum fills he played live in the song were great and the machine would never capture that feel!

And diving even deeper, I actually made a mistake when programming the LinnDrum because I was so new to it. I accidentally erased one measure—so instead of an 8-bar phrase, it became a 7-bar phrase and I didn’t know how to correct it. That made the kick land in some strange spots that wouldn’t normally work. But I kept it anyway, because I loved the feel.

And here’s the thing—this is where the music business, run from the top floor high-rise, can try to have the final say (which doesn’t always align with your gut). “Battlefield” was initially turned down by folks who’ll remain nameless. It took multiple listens and days before they started to understand it—and eventually took the chance and released it which i was thankful for because i would not change a thing i knew i had it!

So, regarding AI: use the new tool for what it is—a tool. Like my Sicilian carpenter father used to say, “Anyone can use a hammer to drive a nail, but when you know how to use it properly, you build like a pro.” Or you use a nail gun which in the wrong hands is fatal!

Okay, enuff rambling from me.

Neil

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Subject: Re: Old School/New School

Dear Bob……I, of course, am Old School.  Not that  there’s anything wrong with that.  And I truly don’t understand how the music business works today. I do know that Daryl and I worked our asses off for years in mostly stinking,   smoky little clubs in the LA area, learning how to earn the audience’s attention.  We were both trained as classical musicians, but Daryl was a boogie guy, and I loved jazz and the music my father introduced me to when I was young….mostly the “Great American Songbook”.  Together over time we figured out what worked for us.  It was a long hard road, but we had some success….and by the time we became very well known, we were about as ready as we could be to “make it”.   My point is we had worked so hard and so long to figure out how to reach our audience, when the stars aligned and

luck was on our side, we were ready.

Your recent email was fascinating to me, and helped me understand how success in the pop music works today. 

Toni Tennille

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From: Robert Margouleff

Subject: Re: Post Covid

Hey Bob,

Having produced “DEVO” I think, sadly that you are spot on. When I was a young man, I thought I had all the answers, now I only have the questions.

Margouleff

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Subject: Re: Jesse Welles

Now if a voice like Ed Sheeran decided to sing these songs we could have something big. 

Steve Lillywhite

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From: Adam Howell

Subject: Re: Luke Combs At Stagecoach

Thanks for this, so true. When I asked a distracted student what SHE’D like to play/learn when I was teaching at the local School Of Rock, she suggested a couple of country tunes. The manager pulled me up afterwards and admonished me with “we don’t do country here”. I suggested to her that if you had to pick one spot in the country with the best writing currently, and certainly the best levels of musicianship, it would be Nashville or maybe Austin. She, as a flaming liberal, didn’t  appreciate that I called her rule a form of racism. Oh well.

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Subject: Indirect Ron Delsener/Herbie Mann/Duane Allman  Story

When Herbie Mann heard Duane Allman’s guitar playing from Wollman Rink through his open apartment window he got dressed and walked down to see who it was and how to contact Duane’s management. And that’s how Duane ended up on Herbie’s “Push-Push” album from playing Ron’s show at Wollman. I was told this story at the time when I was tour managing the Allmans.

Willie Perkins

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Re: Re-Ron Delsener

I will always appreciate Ron Delsener for many reasons but most importantly he taught me about Ticket scalping. I had four Door shows in the Felt Forum with Ron and we sold out instantly. Everyone I knew in New York started calling to get tickets to the show and I had none. I kept calling Ron and they were also that I couldn’t get any.

So we’re sitting at settlement where you count the unsold tickets, but there aren’t any and Ron comes in with a box of unsold tickets and this is what we have to take this off the Gross. I said Ron I’ve been trying to buy those tickets for a month. I’m certainly not buying them after the show. It turned into a big kerfuffle, but I finally got my way and in that process learned that all the ticket brokers would return the unsold inventory to the Box Office. I remember the early days. !!

Bill Siddons

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Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods/Ron Delsener

Hehe, this is great… here’s mine.

I act as a reference of my students after they graduate and normally do not mind it…. but in the last 3 or 4 years, there has been a shift.

Companies will reach out to me about a potential hire, by email, but instead of a phone interview, they will attach a Word document that has 2 or 3 pages of questions to fill out -IN DETAIL- about why this person would be a good hire.  I actually called the one company and asked if this was for real or a joke. It was no joke.  Instead of a 5-10 phone interview, which i don’t mind doing, it would be an hour filling this f*cking document out- I am doing their work.  I did manage to do a phone interview the first time, but I’m getting more of these all the time… I simply reply that i can do a phone interview… nothing else… I’m curious if this is common in the USA with your readers.

Todd Devonshire

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Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods/Ron Delsener

Bob you could a whole series on bad drivers. My most recent favorite. I was on a 2 lane street behind a car with a bumper sticker that said “ senior driver, please be patient.”  We got to a stop sign. The women in the car just sat there. I gave her almost 2 minutes and then slowly drove on the other side of the street around her. She was sitting there talking in her phone!  Oblivious to where she was.

North Carolina has horrible drivers overall. I have more for when you do that column.

Stephen Knill

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Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods/Ron Delsener

Airport etiquette is at an ALL TIME LOW.

I was on a flight boarding in Vegas and there was literally 30 people in the pre board area.  The gate attendant said they would not be able to get us off on time if he had to walk everyone down the aisle.  He then asked if any of those people could get up out of their wheelchairs and walk down the jetway and EVERY single one of them did.

John Nichols

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Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods/Ron Delsener

Ok Bob, new rant… gyms!

After a good workout, I like to relax in the gym’s sauna.  It’s good for one’s health and it is relaxing… Of course, it has to be shared with others and that’s all good – EXCEPt when some people decide to have conference calls in the sauna!!! Or listen to music (regardless of what music) in the sauna! Or just have conversations with their friends during a sauna!!! Or watching tiktok – out loud!!!  Did anyone ask for this?  Is no space safe from social media … and now it has to be shared??? It comes down to the same cause as your Whole Foods experience… the absence of community norms and civil behavior I think….

Harout Topsacalian

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Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods/Ron Delsener

A final one from our pasts:

People in line at the drugstore to pick up their developed photos…And Then stand right there at the counter looking and emoting over Every print of the two rolls of 24 exposures!

Dennis Brent

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Re: Re-Ron Delsener

Hi Bob. I don’t know if anyone mentioned this. In the late 70s, Ron Delsener ran this ticket club in NYC called InHouse tickets, where if you signed up for a hundred bucks or so, you could stop by their office, pick up four tickets for ANY, I mean ANY show he was producing. Didn’t matter if it was Stevie Ray Vaughn or Elvis Costello at Pier 84 (the descendant of those Wollman Rink Schaefer Beer shows) or the Stones or Bowie at Madison Square Garden. Four tickets at face value. One time, I showed up and actually met Ron, and he was cool and cordial, he asked me what shows I wanted to see…Around the same time, Keith Richards and the New Barbarians with Stanley Clarke, Waddy Wachtel, etc played at the Beacon Theater. So during the intermission, I see Ron Delsener, Bill Graham, and John Scher from NJ’s Capitol Theater (saw many a Springsteen show there) standing and chatting in the aisle near the stage. Talk about a triumvirate of rock promoters…Like you Bob, I spent many a night at the Fillmore East so when I saw Bill Graham and Ron Delsener and John Scher I had to go up to ’em like the fan boy I was (and still am), and thank them, as Abba said, for all the music. Bill Graham shook my hand, and said, “Thanks, kid.” I think I was 27, but I’ll never forget that moment. I cannot count how many of Ron Delsener’s shows I saw in my 20 years in NYC. Keep on rocking in the free world or whatever is left of it!

Chip Lovitt

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From: David Thomson

Subject: Re: More Macular Degeneration

So true Bob, people think they are going to live forever. All four of my grandparents lived into their 90s. My parents took such good care of themselves and then, at the same time in their 70s, one got a brain tumor and the other vascular dementia. Three and a half years of doctors, rehabilitation, tests, decline, nursing homes, you name it. It was an awful train wreck. You absolutely never know. These vessels we depend on will betray us. At least we can try to keep tabs with the best medical science available.

David Thomson

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Subject: Neil Giraldo

Hey Bob, just finished listening to your podcast. Thought I’d check in and tell you I so enjoy all your interviews on your podcast as well as your columns but as a young guy I just wanted to tell you how much I love learning more about Pat and Neal.

See my first local job was at Chrysalis in 1985 and Pat Benatar and Neil were hometown heroes. They were so kind to me as a rookie Promo guy. Matter of fact the first time I flew out of private plane was with Pat Neal found out I was gonna have to catch two flights to beat them in Columbus the day after the Erie Pennsylvania show so they said just come on our plane. Haley was just a baby was pretty cool.

Anyways, hope you’re well. Thanks for all the great entertainment.

Greg  Thompson

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Subject: Re: San Francisco Sound Playlist

What did we do before the internet?

I caught your most recent San Francisco show, Bob.  It was great!

When I heard the tune you played by It’s a Beautiful Day called Don and Dewey I was like… HEY, that’s Wring That Neck by Deep Purple!

Turns out both of those were “inspired” by the song Stretchin’ Out by Don and Dewey themselves, and neither of them credit Don Harris / Dewey Terry.

And of course, YouTube has the audio.  Thanks for the inspiration to do a deep dive on these.

Regards,

Joe Tymecki

Fairfax, VT

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Subject: Re: Music

Hey Bob

You hit something spot on…I always worked a lot but I always took good breaks away from work to open my mind.

In the 90s we had a cool little group of Managers, Agents, Lawyers and Record company guys who were all movers and shakers and we would go surf all over the world.

I was the only musician invited in the group but I always got along with the biz guys more than most musicians. During those times we would all get great ideas and often help each other with them ( that’s how I ended up at 19/American Idol).

All that time away from creating actually helped me create more.

NOW the problem is this…in the 90s you could pick up a hundred grand here and there and that was plenty enough to live really good taking lots of time off while not working….Now you gotta make a couple hundred grand just to be broke.

Stevie Salas

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From: Peter Noone

Subject: Re: Music

Me

Live by the hit, die by the hit… But today you don’t need many to sustain a career. If you have a few, you can tour forever, more than ever before.

100. Concerts this ear not had a hit for 56 years

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Subject: Re: The Seder

Hi Bob

I love hearing Passover stories.. so many experiences from my childhood in Brooklyn, but here is  that was very unique. In April 1987 I was working on the David Sanborn album that it would turn out to be A Change of Heart. There were a few musicians involved that were at Sound Ideas Studio in NYC. David Sanborn,Paul Shaffer ,Steve Jordan and Hiram Bullock were on the session as well. The receptionist at the studio was Kitty Bruce ,Lenny Bruce‘s daughter. Now it’s about 10 o’clock at night and this session is not going to end anytime soon… it was also the first night of Passover.. Paul was such a great character and  he said we have to have a Passover Seder in the studio.. and I was asking myself how are we going to do that?.

Paul got on the phone and called the Carnegie deli! I remember him saying this is Paul Schafer and I’m looking for “name..I forgot” .. so the next thing you know the guy gets on the phone and they exchange pleasantries and Paul says “I’m at a studio here on 44th street.. can you put together a Passover Seder and send it over here? “ I hear some talking in the background and Paul goes great thank you so much… about an hour later somebody from the Carnegie deli shows up with a bunch of bags full of food for a Seder  and they set it up in the lounge. They even include Yarmulke’s and a sheet with the four questions. So at around midnight, we sat around for an hour and had a Passover Seder in the studio… the Carnegie deli really took care of us.. and myself as I have always tried to appreciate the unique situations I’ve been in over my last 50+ years in the music world.. I had to add this to the list. Everybody  totally enjoyed themselves! Paul definitely had the connections in New York. That’s for sure! Then It was back to work for another three hours! 

Peace,Jason 

Jason Miles

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Subject: Re: More Supertramp

Hi Bob, I was the front of house sound mixer when A&M’s Hometown Band opened for Supertramp in 1977 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I had engineered their first two albums and when this opportunity emerged we were all beside ourselves with excitement….of course!

The big day came and off we flew from our hometown Vancouver. The excitement built to levels I’ve never experienced since.  Micing up the band while each member beamed with appreciation and anticipation is are images still imbedded in this 77 year old brain….still brings smiles to my face!

There was no struggle at all at sound check making The Hometown Band sound as awesome as they were!  Supertramp’s sound system was fantastic and in pretty short order everything was sounding really great.  Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies emerged from behind me at the end of sound check and offered big approvals to what they had heard!!  I was thrilled, knowing The Hometown Band will shine during their set……what a fantastic feeling that was!!

Showtime, and The Hometown Band were greeted very warmly by the crowd…..big ripping smiles from all of us as they hit their first chord!

THE SOUND WAS LIKE IT WAS FIGHTING THROUGH A MILE OF THICK WOOL!!!  OMG!!!

I’ve never felt my heart sink so low. There was no air to breathe.  I often still dream about that moment.

It was clear that the sound system had been minimized for us since sound check and that brutal compression on our output had been added.

There was nothing I could see within my grasp that I could adjust to bring back the clarity and energy of what I’d achieved at sound check.

Seeing my panic one of Supertramp’s crew/managers stepped forward and said to me  ”Welcome to the big time bud!”

The Hometown Band weren’t aware of the situation as their stage monitors weren’t affected, but sadly they witnessed an audience far less enthused than they could’ve been!

I understand the want for the main act to stand out in every way possible, but we were label mates ffs, and this was just brutal sabotage.

The audience was denied hearing a truly wonderful band sound almost as impressive as Supertramp did that night.

The flight home sure differed from our arrival.

David Hayes

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Subject: Fw: Donnie Iris

Dear Bob,

Love Donnie Iris and the Cruisers and love this email! I don’t get all of your emails for some reason and this was one of them. Mark forwarded this one to me. No one could have said it all better than you! I know Mark is appreciative.

If you ever get a chance to see Donnie and the Cruisers live, it will blow you away! There’s no one like Donnie and his band is second to none. This band, this little project, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, was created from pure love, guts, and determination: straight from the heart!

Mark Avsec produced my first record with my girlband, Lipstick. We were a regional hit with “I Want to Be With You Tonight.” It went to number 14. We always credited that to Mark!! No doubt!

Mark not only wrote for and with Donnie but he wrote some songs for which many don’t know he was the writer. An example is “She Don’t Know Me” on Bon Jovi’s first album. The talent in Donnie Iris and The Cruisers is still the best. They are at the top of their game, and yes, Joe Vitale Sr and Joe Vitale Jr have been drumming with them the last few shows. Mark is an honorary member of sorts of The James Gang. When The James Gang gets together, Mark is the keyboard player.

A little fun side-note. After the Lipstick record (nothing went on between Mark and I during that time, though I did have an enormous crush on him)  26 years later Mark and I reconnected and last year we got married.

And another fun side note – “The Wrapper” was the first record I was allowed to buy as a kid.

Funny how life connects us in ways we never could have imagined.

Yvette “Jet” Williams

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From: dobe Newton

Subject: Re: Re-Southwest/Bags No Longer Fly Free

Hi Bob,

Long-time US traveller from Australia and sad to read about Southwests’s decision re baggage.

We don’t have much choice here domestically, with Virgin Australia and Qantas dominating our market.  However, both of them have a musicians baggage allowance which means that you can take three pieces of luggage (up to 28 Kilos each) – without extra charge if you are a member of a recognised professional association (think MA, AMA etc).

A godsend for travelling musos in Australia!

Maybe Southwest – or somebody else!?

Cheers,

Dobe

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From: Oren Williams

Subject: Re: Molly Hatchet Live At Capitol Theatre 1978

Late to the Molly Hatchet party but here’s a, mostly, related story.

My dad, Earl Williams, played in a Jacksonville band called ‘Hillard Stills’ from about ’78-’82.  They shared local bills at big outdoor shows with Molly Hatchet.  That was a gritty, hard-partying scene.  My dad, and I suspect others from that scene, knew no limits and didn’t expect to live to 30.  Rockstars in the original model. There’s authenticity to that life and, of course, youthful ignorance.

I spent less than a year down there as a kid.  It was supposed to be a year but that was no place for kids.  Still, that was a place where a very unique breed of rock and roll crawled out of the swamps.  When you hear it, you know.

My dad was offered the keyboards position with the Van Zant band but turned it down out of loyalty to his band.  

Born-again Christianity saved my dad from drug and alcohol addiction and he quit the band.  He remarried my mom after seven years of divorce.  Unfortunately, his turn-about didn’t stave-off what was probably the ill effects of that lifestyle.  He was diagnosed with oral cancer and fought it for thirty years until he died at age 65.  Like Molly Hatchet, none of the original members of Hillard Stills are alive today.

Oren at Dolby

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Subject: Re: More Molly Hatchet

One of the first promotions I ever put together as a CBS College Rep was a hatchet throwing contest for Molly Hatchet at UC Davis on January 29, 1979. They were opening for the Outlaws that night on campus. My branch manager (Jerry Pitti) gave me a budget to buy some actual throwing tomahawks and with the help of the UC Davis newspaper and KDVS we managed to turn out several hundred students who were waiting when the band rolled up in their tour bus as kids were sailing tomahawks at archery targets on the “quad”.  Danny Jo Brown was first off the bus and was looking for something to “get his furnace burning’”.

Needless to say the whole thing made for a great wrap up and was the beginning of my 46 year friendship with Larry Stessel who also became my mentor and boss at Epic. It was also the beginning of a great friendship with manager Pat Armstrong.

Molly Hatchet blew the doors off Freeborn Hall that night.

Cliff O’Sullivan

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Subject: Re: Molly Hatchet Live At Capitol Theatre 1978

Hi Bob –

Buddy Miles covered Dreams in 1970.

Big R&B arrangement with horns.

Possible inspiration for the Hatchet version?

A couple of young Connecticut natives not even out of high school in the band at the time, Charlie Karp and David Hull.

JD Dworkow

Westport, CT

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From: Joel Selvin

Subject: Re: 1965

Sal Valentino … where to start? He was North Beach royalty — his father played sandlot ball with the DiMaggio brothers and managed prize fighters through the ’50s. Tom Donahue always like to say that a hooker turned him onto the Beau Brummels, “and I always listen to hookers.” Sal had the incredible voice, movie star looks and the charisma but you can’t talk about the Brummels without mentioning Ron Elliott, songwriter, guitarist and architect of the band’s vision. As great as it is, they were so much more than “Laugh Laugh.” Wheeler-dealer Donahue sold his Autumn Records catalog to Jack Lewerke and sold the artist contracts to Warners (they got Teddy Templeman out of that; he belonged to the Autumn group the Tikis, later known as Harpers Bizarre). The Brummels did classic albums at Warner Brothers like “Triangle” and “Bradley’s Barn.” Templeman produced a worthy reunion album for WB in ’75. Stoneground was less a Sal thing than a Donahue deal, formed as house band for the misguided “Medicine Ball Caravan” movie. True enough, Sal has been through some hard times but the last time I saw him, he looked like an aging Italian aristocrat, a despoiled count or something, elegant, dignified, gracious and a little rumpled. But — get this — I once asked him what was the most money he made in the music business and he said it was the $5,000 finder’s fee he got for bringing Rickie Lee Jones to Warners. Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be singers.

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From: Derek Morris

Subject: Watch “Sal Valentino (Beau Brummels) — “Laugh Laugh” #BeauBrummels” on YouTube

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Subject: Re: Big Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Bad

I’ve been buying season passes – or tickets – since I started skiing in ‘65.

I love Ikon. This weekend I visited a resort, Schweitzer (in Idaho) that I would never have booked a trip to, and had a great time. Because it was on Ikon. And then drove to an old favorite, Red Mountain in Rossland, B.C. – also, on Ikon.

Neither resort was crowded. Both got money I spent on local restaurants and in the lodge.

Ikon (and Epic, and to some extent Indy Pass) all encourage you to explore and try something new. And you want to do this because you want good value from your pass. I’ve used nearly five days at Mt. Bachelor this year, it’s become one of my fav mountains…on Ikon. Trying Mammoth for the first time this season…it’s on Ikon.

I also buy a weekday season pass at Mt. Hood Meadows, my local mountain, where I can ski during the week after work and evenings. Hood Meadows is already crowded on weekends – I don’t ski there then – so maybe adding Ikon there wouldn’t be such a good idea (they’re on Indy Pass).

Both passes can be bought over time, instead of the old days where you had to pay up front.

I’m a fan of the conglomerate passes. I just don’t expect uncrowded weekend skiing at one of the major resorts (even The Bird and Alta are usually not too crowded on the weekends).

Yes, the passes are expensive, but they’re worth it.

All best,

Dick Huey

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Subject: Re: Big Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Bad

I’m in Park City reading this. We’ve been here for a couple weeks and still have 10 days to go. This is the first time in several years that I’ve spent any serious time in Park City. In the past we bounced around, stayed in rentals and with friends.

Park City Mountain Resort has changed a lot under Vail ownership. I was never a fan of Vail’s takeover of the mountain until this year. The mountain stretches for miles and the lift capacity is very adequate. Supposedly it’s bigger than Vail or Whistler. 

I could complain about the 10 minute line at Silverlode but overall the mountain is well managed. The whole kerfuffle with the ski patrol was not handled well. Vail came across like ogres and basically pissed off customers who traveled to the resort only to find it 30% open. 

On a positive note the way Vail built out the Canyons and connected the two with the Gondola is impressive.  Tons of terrain. It’s like several resorts in one. 

Now are the concessions expensive? Yes but bring a sandwich if you can’t take a joke. I can’t get too upset having worked for a company (Feld Entertainment) that charged 19 dollars for a snow cone 🙂 . 

Parking is the big issue at all the resorts in Utah. Forget skiing Brighton on weekends. Unless you are at the mouth of the canyon at 7 am you may have a ticket but if you didn’t secure parking forget it. Park City is better but the parking apps suck and work inefficiently. Basically its 50 bucks to park conveniently…..no different that a sports event in a major market. 

A? for real estate the joke about Park City is the billionaires pushed the mere millionaires over to Heber. It’s not Aspen ….yet, but climbing every year. 

Overall I have some mixed feelings but it just dumped 2 feet and the past 3 days have been heaven. I’m 73 and outside enjoying life on the mountain so all is well. Someday this may not be the case so time is more important than money…actually healthy time on the mountain. 

Are Vail and Alterra a duopoly? Yep, sure but they make skiing affordable for anyone wanting to hit the slopes more than 4 days a year. BTW it’s interesting that Jared Smith (Ticketmaster former COO) is now heading up Alterra.

As and avid skier my summation is overall the subscription pass system is better. Now if I want to take a few laps for an hour I don’t feel guilty about not getting my moneys worth.

Safe skiing

Bill Powell

Circus Ring Of Fame Foundation

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Subject: Re: Big Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Bad

My favorite part of the video is when they tell you lift ticket prices have become out of reach, and then they say “and the lines are too long.” Could been a Yogi Berra quote.

Regards,

Marc Slonim

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Subject: Re: Disruption

“First and foremost this is about thinking, ideas. Which is why hit records don’t come from the musicians in the Philharmonic, nor Berklee. Innovative ideas can come in an instant. But you must be open to them.”

Hey Bob, after my career in LA had run its course, initially on tours in the 70’s and then session work in the 80’s into the 90’s it was time to make a move. I didn’t want to spend my life back on the road, so my wife (originally from Massachusetts) and I took the kids and moved back east with the goal of getting a gig at Berklee.

You are so right with that statement. For 20+ years I have been telling my ensemble students, especially the vocalists, if you came here to be a star you are in the wrong place. I say “Berklee makes great “back line” musicians, the ones who could have a 25+ year career, being a star is a completely different thing. Leave here and pursue YOUR music, and DO NOT follow what’s popular, make your own lane, that’s where the potential for something great could happen

Marty Walsh

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Subject: RE: The Musk Meltdown

In case you might not know (I’m an independent journalist who’s written a lot about Musk’s business moves over the years), there is a two-part big reason he is freaking. First, like many wealthy people, he borrows money at very low rates against his assets. That’s how they all get cash and still enjoy appreciation in value. There’s no tax because it’s borrowed — not a sale — so there’s no financial mechanism that sets even capital gains taxes in motion. Ultimately they sell a small portion of assets to cover the interest, roll the loan over, and continue on. 

Now the second part. Because Musk works for Tesla, he’s limited by board rules to borrowing against only 25% of his shares’ total value. This is a reason, I’m pretty sure, he’s pushed so hard for that $55 billion pay package. He needs enough shares that a sudden drop in value doesn’t trigger the 25% limit, at which point he’s supposed to sell or give up assets to pay down the outstanding balance. When shares tumble, he gets pushed closer to that point.

I wrote about this a few years ago suggesting that instead of taking “wealth,” which gives the wealthy room to argue about the market value, tax the amounts they borrow against their assets. That’s an easy-to-determine amount and avoids contention over asset valuation, which gets tricky.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2022/04/16/dont-tax-the-wealth-of-the-rich-tax-what-they-borrow/

Erik Sherman

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Subject: Stan Lynch

Dear Bob:

Thanks for a stellar conversation with Stan Lynch. I got to meet him more than 40 years ago and I’ll never forget it. He was drumming for T Bone Burnett on his “Proof Through The Night” tour and they played a little club in Rochester, NY. There weren’t too many of us in the audience, and after the show, Stan Lynch was hanging out by the tables. I walked over and fanboyed all about my love for his playing, particularly his drumming on “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” He sat down at our table, dug in to our plate of chicken wings, and said, “Oh man, that was right after Ron had split the band so we had Duck Dunn come in. He just looked at me with that pipe and said ‘do whatever you want and I’ll hold it down.'” He ate a couple more wings, told a couple drumming stories, and that was that. But what a great guy.

Ted Potrikus

Tucson AZ

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Subject: Re: The U.N. Resolution

Hi Bob – Not sure if this gets covered down there, but I thought I’d share the view from Canada. Today on CBC radio a caller said, “It’s like we’ve been betrayed by our family.”  The backlash to the threatened tariffs is palpable up here.  My street has as many Canadian flags flying on the houses as we do on our July 1st “Canada Day” holiday and what is everyone talking about? About “buy Canadian” and which American products to boycott from gas stations, to wine, to oranges. All the goodwill and benefits of free trade between neighbours is vanishing daily and it’s sad to see, because as people we have much more in common than we have differences – but there is no room for that when the m.o. is “divide and conquer.” And as for being forced into being the “51st state” – it’s insulting, but nothing has united Canadians more.

Adrian Stimpson

Vancouver, BC

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Subject: Re: The U.N. Resolution

I live in DC, a good friend of the highest integrity who worked for AID for 20+ years helping to improve maternal and newborn health in the developing world (?ie Africa, Asia and South America) received her termination email late on the Friday and when she and colleagues came into AID  offices on Monday they discovered that the hallways that had for decades been lined with framed photos of the poverty-stricken places and impoverished people AID had helped over the years around the globe were now littered with the crumbles photos removed from every frame amidst the broken glass and broken frames strewn on the floors. Some of those AID staff with knowledge of history said it felt like krystalnacht. Which is perhaps no surprising from a movement led by musk and Bannon who are perfecting their Nazi one armed salute

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From: Harout Topsacalian

Subject: Re: The U.N. Resolution

What’s worse is the perspective of some of us who were born in Eastern Europe in the ’60s (Romania in my case) and who are very familiar with how rights simply disappear, things my parents experienced, how military is replaced with loyalists, how all arms of government are weaponized (can’t wait until IRS starts doing audits with whoever’s been “naughty”) to the point where people are afraid of their neighbors, and even need to train their own kids lest they say something dumb in class… Yeah… it’s dejavu all over again…

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Subject: Subject: Re: Fran Healy-This Week’s Podcast

Hi Bob,

I enjoyed your conversation with Fran from Travis.  Travis was one of my favorite clients back in the day. Incredible band and people.  It was a sad story regarding the US market as the band was building nicely, with the first big break being our package of Oasis/Travis.  What a fantastic show that was and Travis was incredible on that tour.  After that, they built to the level of headlining and sold out Radio City as a highlight.  Unfortunately, after that, the drummer had a swimming pool accident and broke his neck.  This put the band on a several-year hiatus, and the momentum in the US collapsed.  I had more than one promoter say to me that they should have been in the public slot that Coldplay eventually took.

Regardless, it was great to hear Fran’s voice, and I sent him a note about the interview.

John Dittmar

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Subject: Re: Fran Healy-This Week’s Podcast

Bob, this was great. I bought the Travis CD over 20 years ago, on the strength of the song “Sing”, which I loved. I got into that CD for a while, time passed and I hadn’t listened to the band in years, nor was I sure they were even still together. But Fran Healy was a treat to listen to, and he came across as one of the nicest and most thoughtful and sensitive people you’ve had on your show, and I listen to most of them. Thanks!

Steve Zahradnik

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From: Cheryl Brown

Subject: RE: Apple Cider Vinegar

Couldn’t agree more with you Bob. I’m currently watching it and my golly Belle has a lot to answer for. But so do all those who don’t fact check as well.  And it’s an expensive business – the juicing – bottles costing $14-$16 – only desperate people pay that money.

My brother was diagnosed with melanoma 11 years prior to his death in 2012 aged 58. He went to a melanoma clinic for regular check ups and always told he was ok. Until one day he all of a sudden had three months to live. Like where did that come from when he was always ok?

So he and our mother (he hadn’t married) started juicing madly and looking into all the things. He was upset that he’d eaten too many sweet things through the years. He was one of the healthiest people in our family on top of our mum who fed us meat and four veg and just looked after us very well. She’s in fact now 90 and quite fit.

So whilst my brother had melanoma, he still had thoughts that, in this instance, his diet had caused it!

In his final days he travelled 5 hours away from home to Sydney NSW to have orange juice injections which he was told would be beneficial.  We don’t know if they were or not – hard to tell – he wasn’t in a hospital when he passed so we want to believe the injections my have given him a strength to bear the pain. Again, how would we know. However, the interesting thing here was that the person who injected him each day, on my brother’s final day, he was told that he’s doing well and improving.

He died that night.

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Subject: Re: Apple Cider Vinegar

Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with aggressive, muscle-invasive bladder cancer. I sought “the gold-standard” treatment: chemo and radical cystectomy. A colleague had the same diagnosis. He refused Western medicine and embarked on a ritual of diet and hyper-oxygenated chambers. I’m writing to you; he’s not, because he died.

I counsel cancer patients by always reminding them that there are things Western medicine does very well, and there are things that alternative medicine does better. The key is figure out where your ailment lands you on that spectrum.

Whatever you do, don’t hide your head in the sand.

Jon Sinton

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From: Danny Segelin

Bob,

I was a pro athlete.  The worst you’ve ever seen.  One game…injury…done.  But I had an impeccable diet; I didn’t eat a piece of chocolate for probably 3 years.  My last college game – the NCAA tournament – I got super sick.  If I’m healthy, we win it all.  Instead: regrets forever.  Wish I had some antibiotics.

Fast forward to my knee surgeries.  Like you, I chose to stay away from the knife. When I finally had enough, it was too late.  The amount of damage I’ve done to my knee makes it so that I’ll never play my sport again at anything other than a 6-year old level.

People: doctors are good. And I don’t care about Brad Pitt’s personal trainer; after all, every Hollywood leading man is on HGH or steroids – and why not?  But I do care if you work with pro athletes because we are the guys who make our bodies our temples.  If you’re the guy or girl who fixes our blemishes you’re a god in our circles.

TLDR: if you have a chance to see a specialist who is a doctor-to-the-stars, run away fast.  But if the guy who did LeBron’s knee is giving you advice…do exactly what he says, and don’t ask questions.

/end rant

—ds

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From: Gregory Prestopino

Subject: Re: AmericanaFest Salute To John Hiatt

Bob,

Okay, so I have to tell you a funny Fred Tackett story:

Around 1976 or so, I was hired by Chuck Plotkin as a staff producer at Elektra Records.  I had known Abe LaBoriel from Boston and

thought he could be a recording artist…to be fair, he wasn’t so sure about that, but…  I put together the band: Jeff Porcaro on drums, Sam Clayton on percussion,

Bill Payne on keys, Fred Tackett on guitar and Doug Livingston on pedal steel.  We cut four songs and my only regret is that we didn’t do a whole

album’s worth.  To this day, I have never heard anything like it.

None of these guys had met or heard Abe but I kinda knew their heads would explode upon hearing him…and I was right.  It’s an amazing twenty-five

minutes of music.  But lemme get back to the Fred part of the story…

I was in the control room with Billy and his eight-voice Oberheim.  At some point, the guys are running down a track and I can see Fred playing but

I can’t hear him.  I say to Roger Mayer (our wonderful engineer) “is his track on?”  Yes.

I say to Billy, half jokingly “what are we paying Fred for, I can’t hear him”.

Billy says: “mute his track”.  So I did.

And the WHOLE TRACK fell apart!  It was wild.  Little Mister Know-it-all (me) learned some humbling, important lessons that day, I’ll tell ya.

gPresto

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Subject: Re: AmericanaFest Salute To John Hiatt

Hey Bob

It was 7 April 1991 and three of us had travelled 5 hours by road and 3 hours by interislander ferry from Christchurch in New Zealand’s South Island to the capital city Wellington in the  North to see John Hiatt support Robert Cray. Yes support for Robert Cray. We couldn’t believe it and although Cray gave a fair performance he was completely blown away by the charisma and song craft of John Hiatt. And what a band Hiatt had featuring veteran bass player Pat Donaldson and a guy named Steven Perry on guitar who could effortlessly reproduce the iconic Ry Cooder & Sonny Landreth parts (I have no idea t what happened to Steven Perry but on this night he was a real guitar hero).

The story doesn’t end there as two of us worked in record retail and managed to get backstage afterwards via the Polygram records rep to “hang”. Sure enough there was John Hiatt and band though Robert Cray was nowhere to be seen and I recall only showed up very briefly from his dressing room and he seemed grumpy. Hiatt was an extremely nice guy, all denim jacket and Stones lapping tongue lapel pin. When I got to meet him I had no idea what to say so decided to ask him about Peter Case and singing on his great Geffen debut and the “Horse and Crow” song in particular. We had played the album on the way up in the car so it was front of mind. Hiatt seemed pleased to talk about this and we chatted for a few minutes. My friend Bruce asked Hiatt in all seriousness if he had “brought the family” with him on the trip down under. Hilarious!

Afterwards Bruce said to me , “You should have seen your face when you were talking to John Hiatt, your eyes were standing out like dog balls!”  I still remember my reply “Well it is not often you meet God “. That is what Hiatt meant after that spectacular one-two punch of “Bring the Family” and “Slow Turning” then seeing him deliver one of the greatest shows I have ever seen.He was an inspiration and though I checked out after “Perfectly Good Guitar” it didn’t matter. He caught lightning in a bottle twice.

Thanks for the great post.

Cheers

Blair Morgan

Christchurch New Zealand

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From: Wileen Dragovan

Subject: Re: Leaders

Hey Bob,

I always enjoy your takes on possible resolutions to our current political climate in the US and you are really onto something in your critiques of our country’s old established media of print and television. But please don’t quote David Brooks on anything just because he read and can quote from a primary source.

He was in a couple of my common core classes at the University of Chicago many moons ago. He would suck the air out of our classroom with his toadying smugness. He is still pretending to be some sort of right-leaning moderate but he’s really still just a cruel Reaganite in sheep’s clothing that’s gratified that the GOP is in full power. Don’t fall for his “thoughtful” writing, Bob.

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Subject: Re: The End Of Universality

Bob, I posit that the last monoculture is young children’s literature: All kids know Mo William’s Piggie & Elephant series, the Dr Seuss of the last two generation’s time; but then, monoculture ends by middle school.

If they don’t care, it does not exist to them.

Take it from a teacher of 21 years. After the pandemic, there isn’t one movie that a high school English teacher can riff on—use to create a universal connection or comparison—that resonates with enough of the class. Black Panther felt like the last one…

Have you seen (this movie)? Three kids of 28… Wicked? I estimate maybe 25-35% of my classes saw it. (I’ll do a survey tomorrow out of curiosity.)

To the young adults, Kendrick Lamar’s well done half time show became old news before this week’s snow storm.  I haven’t heard about it from one student, nor a single commercial from them, except one teen mentioning a commercial with sloth.

Sloths might climb the same trees; humans don’t now, culturally speaking.

Mike Vial

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“Dogs seen licking food inside NYC Trader Joe’s as carefree owners ignore ‘no pets allowed’ signs – but some pooch lovers don’t mind: ‘It’s cute!’”

https://nypost.com/2025/04/30/us-news/dogs-nose-through-food-at-nyc-trader-joes-while-carefree-owners-shop-but-some-pet-lovers-dont-mind/

Daniel Glass