DEAD AND BURIED

AOL E-MAIL

Because it comes late. We live in a Gmail world. Unless your business or educational institution provides e-mail, switch to Gmail, for the storage, for the usability, for the cutting edge updates. Kind of like buying an HP printer. Sure, an Epson or a Canon might be as good, but will they update the drivers to work with the new operating system right away? Doubtful.

REAL TIME CHATS

The only things we want in real time are sports and awards shows. We might be interested in what you have to say, but we don’t want to dedicate an hour at the appointed time to find out.

ME TOO VOICES

We’re entering an era of authority. In other words, you can write online but unless we already know who you are, we’re not going to read it. Yes, if you write something better than the usual suspects, with greater insight and equal readability, you might go viral, otherwise, save your time and post photos to Pinterest, because hobbies are personal.

FEATURE PHONES

Buy your smartphone today. That’s right, if you don’t have one you’ve got about a three month window until all your friends start making fun of you. You might think you don’t need one, but the truth is we all live on apps and believe you’ve got maps in your pocket.

COMMENT THREADS

They’re on most blogs and YouTube too but no one reads them. They give you the illusion your voice counts, but the truth is it doesn’t.

GROUPON AND LIVING SOCIAL

Fads. They’re the essence of the internet. No different from PSY and Rebecca Black. Like one hit wonders, you get your money out fast and then move on. But the public is stupid and invests when these companies go public.

THE ALBUM

With no physical product there are no limits. We want as much good stuff as you can deliver. Think about how you can deliver it differently. Don’t focus on one time events, but constant ones.

PAID SMARTPHONE APPS

No one wants to pay, they’d rather just hand over their data. We expect it to be free. If your business model is dependent upon people paying, reevaluate.

ON THE WAY OUT

THE HUFFINGTON POST

Because BuzzFeed does linkbait so much better.

SPAM

You can send it, but that doesn’t mean we’ll read it. If our filter doesn’t get it, that doesn’t mean we’ll click on it.  You think it’s a direct to consumer world, that if you’ve got someone’s e-mail address you can make contact. But the truth is you’ve got to know that person, or someone who does.

IN LIMBO

GOOGLE GLASS

Oh, we’ll all be employing wearable computers, but will they be geeky glasses we can all see? Doubtful.

THE PERSONAL COMPUTER

Too much horsepower and limited mobility. For most people, their handset is enough. We live in a mobile era and now everybody knows it.

HYPE

We hate it. We can see through it. But if we see the same story enough, we know someone is behind it and it’s worth paying attention to.

SLOW CONNECTIONS

The faster the connection, the better the economy. It’s why Spotify started in Sweden and so many companies began where there was screamingly fast bandwidth. There was no Netflix before broadband. There will be no CD quality music without faster delivery. This is a national issue. Lobby your government and pay your taxes, it’s for the good of us all.

EDUCATION

Kansas wants to eviscerate funding for public schools so fat cats can get richer with lower taxes. This is an under-covered story. How the right wing religious zealots and their rich Republican compatriots are undercutting public education. As for college… You can pay for it, but it’s nothing more than an entry ticket unless you go to an elite institution that teaches you how to think. That publicity degree, that music business degree, it might get you in the door but it won’t ensure a long term career. Whereas if you know how to analyze a problem you’re prepared for change, and change is constant, now more than ever.

CAMERAS

Do we need a separate unit? As smartphone cameras get better, the need for anything else declines. Only hobbyists need a DSLR.

CROWDFUNDING

It will continue, but it’s already passe. Let me see, I want to invest a ton of money so someone can create something I think I want but find out I don’t really. Don’t expect Amanda Palmer’s next album to be funded by Kickstarter, she’s smart enough to move on to the next thing. That’s her skill, discovering what’s hip and using it to connect with her fans. You definitely want to know who your fans are and connect with them on a regular basis, but please don’t expect the rest of us to care.

TECH

Is there a new new thing? Doubtful. Right now the story is…storytelling. That’s what TV does so well. If you can tell a story, the world is yours.

PHYSICAL BOOKS

The iPad killed e-books, or at least stalled their progress. Everyone got excited about e-readers and purchased them and bought books, we were in a heyday of reading. But then the iPad came out with additional capabilities, the Kindle Fire followed and e-books stalled. Luddites and publishers believe this is good for them, that it keeps brick and mortar bookstores and physical books in circulation. But that denies the number one rule of consumerism, distribution. Not everybody lives near a bookstore, printing and distributing books is expensive and wasteful. When everybody was buying Kindles and books publishing was getting a shot in the arm, reading was suddenly where it was at. Now all that’s stalled, to the detriment of publishers and writers, they just don’t know it yet. He how sits self-satisfied on the old ways loses out. Just like those who focus on CDs lose out. You can reach so many more people online. Figure out how to convert them and make money. Everybody knows about
Beyonce’s new album. They could know about you too, if you just got your head out of your rear end. No, that’s not true. They want to know about a very thin layer of popular titles, and most people can’t deliver them.

RECORD DEALS

Major labels will continue to sign fewer artists and focus their efforts upon them. You can sign with an indie, you can put it out yourself, just don’t expect anybody to pay attention.

60 MINUTES

Which failed to realize entertainment comes secondary to pith. Looking for spicy stories “60 Minutes” sacrificed its credibility and will not be taken seriously again. At least the “New York Times” fell on its sword after the Judith Miller affair. But “60 Minutes” can’t do this, because it would require them to spend money where no one can see it, behind the scenes, and TV news is all about what you can see on screen and nothing else.

ON THE WAY UP

BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK

Better than the old iteration, he with enough money to dedicate to traditional media wins. For example, read their story on label services here: http://buswk.co/1b4i8f8

WI-FI

If you’re afraid of data caps at AT&T and Verizon…you don’t realize that wi-fi is becoming ever more ubiquitous and that you don’t need a high cellular ceiling.

HEADPHONES

People will spend more on these than they will on desktop or home speakers. If for no other reason than people can see their purchase, there’s a status component, but quality does matter.

HOME TECHNOLOGY

Only baby boomers are afraid of new technology, everybody younger has grown up with it and expects it to work and continue to do so. Odds are what you’ve got will be superseded before it breaks. So, the homes of Gen Y will all have Nest thermostats and so much more. There’s a ton of money to be made here.

ONLINE SHOPPING

Because no one’s got any time. They’d rather buy what they want and return it for free if they don’t like it. Wasting time to drive to a brick and mortar store to find out what you want is not in stock is something you do only once.

CONSOLIDATION

It’s the story of the age. Multiple players who merge to make one or who are killed by he who ultimately dominates. To make money today you’ve got to have an innovative product, priced right, i.e. cheaply, which gets better and better. Innovate or die applies across all spectra today. We don’t want yesterday’s news, or smartphone or computer or television… You use it and then throw it away.

The inside joke is the corpulent Christie is a huge fan of the Boss.

And who really is the Boss? The people with all the money or those with all the fans, the artists?

That’s the power of performers… The ability to move the masses. Back when they used to stand for something, way before they were just vessels for endorsements, two-dimensional icons for behind the scenes players to attach advertising messages.

If you think anybody cares about Springsteen’s new album, you’re a fan of the man who never misses a show and have probably flown to a gig to boot. Because albums are too labored, not spontaneous.

Yes, once music was not for tomorrow, just today. Ask the English rockers, they thought they were going back to the factory, they didn’t believe they’d be plying the boards decades later.

So what we’ve got here is a late night comedian with a sense of humor about himself who is willing to break the format established by Carson and honed by Letterman that everyone believes they must adhere to.

Now I’m not saying Jimmy Fallon will triumph at 11:30, because the truth is his audience does not believe in appointment television, we no longer believe in appointment anything, you tell me I’ve got to tune in to see plastic-surgeried “stars” hype their latest worthless projects as the hosts fawn over them? Ecch…

But we’ve always got time for creativity. Assuming we can consume it on our own timetable.

All entertainment is now a web play, not only music. Can you put it online where everybody can see it?

And not only does Mr. Fallon know this, but suddenly Mr. Springsteen.

So what we’ve got here is a concept. Fleshed out. On the spot. Kind of like the best songs of yore, like “Satisfaction,” which were written in a burst of inspiration and laid to wax moments later, in a matter of hours. Today we labor over our art to the point where it’s so overworked no one can relate to it, all the inspiration is smoothed over and the magic is eviscerated.

But not here.

Come on… You like piling on Christie, right? Mess with our taxes, cut off our unemployment, but don’t mess with our CARS! That’s an American right, the ability to get in your low mileage machine and scorch the earth of this great nation of ours.

And if you can’t…

Meanwhile, Bruce Springsteen has a new album to sell.

Radio isn’t gonna play it. Come on, he’s too old for Top Forty and his music doesn’t sound right and he hasn’t written a hit in eons.

But all the ancient rag writers have weighed in, as if reviews mean anything in this cacophonous world.

But a little skit on late night TV evidencing more than a smidge of creativity and a sense of humor… We’re ready for that!

Fallon does a pretty good Boss. He’s actually more comprehensible than the man himself. But it’s the moments of interaction that make you smile. But not as much as the nuances… The need to pee, the “Jerseyland” reference. This is the best of high school in action. Or “Your Show Of Shows.” That’s what we’re looking for, a bolt of creativity, not slick, worthless, me-too product.

So what we’ve got here is a burst of publicity for Springsteen that actually eclipses the new album. If he were smart, he’d appear on Fallon’s show in skits like this on a regular basis, we’re much more interested in stuff like this than his new music.

That’s the new paradigm… Being in the game on a regular basis. Sure, you want to go on the road, but if you’re not feeding those who might be interested, you’re gonna be forgotten.

But the Boss deserves props. Because he’s never sold out, never done endorsements, he can nakedly make fun of Christie not worrying about payback…what is Chris gonna do, prevent him from playing in Newark, at the Meadowlands?

That’s the power of art!

I don’t know why “Dream Weaver” survives and “Love Is Alive” has been forgotten.

I knew who Gary Wright was, but I didn’t know his music. Because Spooky Tooth got no airplay anywhere I lived, and in the seventies you had to buy an album to hear it, and nobody I knew owned any of the act’s work.

But then Gary Wright made a deal with Warner Brothers and made “The Dream Weaver” and in the summer of ’75, “Love Is Alive” was all over FM radio.

It was different from today. There were no iPods, at best you had a tape player, satellite radio was inconceivable, we were addicted to FM, hell, they even made a movie about it. And we’d push the buttons and wallow in a glorious sound that evidenced the youth of the U.S.A.

I was working at Hollywood Sporting Goods, on Hollywood Boulevard. In addition to the wackos, one day H.R. Haldeman came in looking for Tretorns. I sold him a pair, even though the discount price in the newspaper ad he brought in didn’t apply. And I remember distinctly listening to “Love Is Alive” in my car waiting to go in for my shift, listening to the radio during lunch.

The rap was it was all keyboards. That’s what the deejay said. And most certainly it was about the sound.

But really, it was all about that change.

My heart is on fire
My soul’s like a wheel that’s turning
My love is alive
My love is alive

The track started off all exuberant. Not so different from the emotion and attitude in so many other tracks. But when you hit the chorus, it was like Gary Wright got down on one knee, put his hand over his heart and testified.

But it was more than that.

It was that synthesizer bass all over the track.

The otherworldly synths.

And the drums. Slapping. Gary Wright didn’t have the best voice, but the track pulsed with power, it was undeniable.

Every time that intro sound came through the speakers my heart started to glow. The backbeat, the synthesizer bass, the ethereal synth and then…

THE RIFF!

Before this they’d been on guitars. Which made this one novel, you were entreated to come join the party, of the seventies, the sixties were finally done, but music was still burgeoning.

Well I think it’s time to get ready
To realize just what I have found
I have lived only half of what I am
It’s all clear to me now

It was different back then. No one was on the fast track, at least no one I knew. We didn’t meet with campus recruiters, we had no plans after college, our main goal was to find ourselves. You turned on the music and hit go!

There’s a mirror moving inside my mind
Reflecting the love that you shine on me
Hold on now to that feelin’
Let it flow, let it grow, yeah, yeah

That’s what we were all doing. Looking for love. Hookup culture was decades away. Nobody got married early. We were all looking for fulfillment, enrichment and satisfaction.

And no date went on without music.

No sex transpired without music.

It inspired us.

It made us who we were.

And “Love Is Alive” was part of it. “Dream Weaver” is kitschy nostalgia, “Love Is Alive” is seventies essence. A decade that gets a bad rap but featured some amazing music.

Rhinofy-Love Is Alive

Let’s go down to the Sunset Grill

I never talk on the telephone and I never go to lunch.

That’s just how busy I am. Actually, that’s because everybody wants to waste my time, selling me their wares. Don’t ask to pick my brain, ask what you can do for ME!

But I have a long-standing tradition of going to lunch with Don Passman and we’d been working on a date for months and today was the day.

Don reserved the number one table. The one I’d previously occupied with Irving and Penske. But that’s another story…

And on the steps of the Grill, the Beverly Hills outlet, on the alley, not the hamburger stand in the Don Henley song, I ran into my dentist. The most expensive in the world. Who saved my tooth. Shouldn’t he be back in the office practicing? But I guess everybody’s living the lifestyle of the rich and famous in Beverly Hills.

Also on the steps we encountered Bruce Ramer, Don’s law partner. Who was intimate and cracked jokes. Was this his personality or could it be that inside the clubhouse everybody’s friends? I’m not sure.

And after sitting down, Bernie Yuman came by.

Huh?

He knew me but I didn’t know him.

And then Don told me Bernie was the manager of Siegfried and Roy, the Vegas connection.

And then came Jerry Bruckheimer.

Now it was getting ridiculous. I don’t know Jerry, but Don does. I felt like I was doing myself a disservice sitting in front of the computer at home, that some things never changed, that business was personal, and you were best to show up.

And as I was contemplating this, someone sat right down next to me in the booth.

TROY CARTER!

I just read the “Fast Company” piece last night!

TROY CARTER: FIRED BY LADY GAGA AND LOVING IT

We discussed John Mayer and POPwater and talked about getting together and I wondered if there was no one who was not here.

But then Irving came by and I knew it was untrue, that everybody was here. And for the moment, I was exactly where it was happening.

P.S. Do you think I don’t know you’re making fun of me right now? All you big shots with your hundreds of Twitter followers? The truth is business is not democratic, each and every one is run by a club. And you know if you’re inside. And as George Carlin would say, you’re not. Sorry.

P.P.S. Reach a level of success and you become gun-shy. You’re afraid to play because of the blowback. Which is why you can’t meet the stars. They’re afraid of your smartphones and your inability to understand that just because you’ve listened to their music or seen their TV shows, you really know nothing about them and they know nothing about you.

P.P.P.S. I heard about the history of Gang, Tyre, Ramer and Brown. Gang started off in the thirties taking everything that came through the door. Specialization comes down the road. You take every gig that’s offered on the way in.

P.P.P.P.S. Gene Salomon told me his eleven year old was already over One Direction. They got a year. That’s right, while you’re plotting your next album, the audience is already forgetting about you.

P.P.P.P.P.S. We discussed the future of the music business. I said there will be fewer acts who will become more successful. Everybody hates to hear this. They want to believe the Internet gives them opportunity. But the truth is in the era of cacophony, when everything is at our fingertips, we gravitate to excellence, authorized by our compatriots. Don’t shoot the messenger. People would rather listen to the work of the superstar than your wannabe band. As for listening to your CD a few times…Gene told me he doesn’t watch TV, I don’t either, other than Bill Maher, we don’t have any time, no one’s got any time.

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. I met with Michael Gudinski at the Peninsula before this. It was that kind of day, a Beverly Hills one. Gudinski flew in for the Peter Grosslight tribute at the Forum. That’s the biggest story in the music business this week, the reopening of the gussied up L.A. Forum with the Eagles. You might think what happens on your blog is important, but the truth is this is a controlled business, run by the usual suspects, and the only people knocking on the door to get in are those who cannot. Because those who could truly revolutionize the business don’t want in, there’s not enough money involved, never mind opportunity.

P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. And that’s a day in the life in L.A. Where right now it’s 77 degrees in Santa Monica and there’s not a cloud in the sky. Yes, you can make it anywhere, but then why do all the techies move to San Francisco?

The Grill on the Alley, Beverly Hills