When your arms are empty, got nowhere to go
Come on out and catch a show
There’ll be saints and sinners
You’ll see losers and winners
All kinds of people you might want to know
Once you get it, you can’t forget it
The W.S. Walcott medicine show

That’s the way it used to be. Concerts were not an event, but a show. Sure, you sometimes planned in advance, but other times your phone would ring and you’d hear the question…DO YOU WANNA GO?

And scalpers existed, but you could get a ticket. And if you really cared, you could work your way down front. This was long before the era of luxury boxes and gestapo security.

And hard drives and perfection.

It wasn’t about getting it right, like in the video, there was no dancing involved, the show was always a little bit different, which was one of the reasons you went, to be there the night…

The Band played with a horn section.

Yes, they just released an extended version of the Band’s legendary “Rock Of Ages” shows.

Can’t say that I was ever as enamored as the press, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t own the original double album and know every lick, it’s just that it’s hard to improve on that second album, with “King Harvest (Has Surely Come).”

Oh, that’s on this package too. But the original is so INTIMATE! You think you’re listening to a lone man in a one room shack telling his tale. It’s eerie, and when the album hit the runout groove, the silence was positively creepy.

But the best song on “Rock Of Ages” and this package didn’t appear on any studio album, it’s “Don’t Do It.”

It’s the GROOVE!

You know I tried to do my best
‘Cause I tried to do my best
Don’t do it
Don’t you break my heart

That was the best thing about being at the show, everything else fell away. If your girl had left you, if you didn’t have the cash for next month’s rent, there was a multi-hour respite when all that didn’t matter.

Then there’s Richard Manuel’s vocal on “Across The Great Divide.”

Levon gets all the kudos. Rick Danko has almost been completely forgotten, Richard Manuel has.

That’s the life of a musician. You can put in your thirty years, but you get neither a gold watch nor a pension. You end up just as you started, with your joy and your despair. And when the despair eclipses the joy…

You know rockers die young.

And you can hear all the pain in Richard’s vocal on this live track.

Sure the hits are here. But the Band was never about the hits. Rather, it was… a band.

And that’s what you hear in this package. A rollicking enterprise rolling down the track. Back when we used to want to know everybody at the show, instead of making sure we were separate from those less wealthy, privileged and connected.

In days of yore, this new package would go unheard. But now, with Spotify, you can check the whole thing out!

(And don’t argue with me about payments, if no one buys something, you don’t make any money, and music is best when it’s heard…LISTEN!)

Rhinofy-Live At The Academy Of Music 1971

Hallelujah, they finally get it right.

I’m not saying Yes doesn’t belong inside, and Deep Purple for the riff to “Smoke On The Water” alone, but it’s been years since there was no controversy and everyone agreed.

Except for maybe Kiss.

But the point is there’s no hip-hop, no jazz, no Madonna, no questionables like Patti Smith, everyone is deserving and it’s about time.

NIRVANA

No questions asked. An automatic.

Let this be a lesson to the industry, that we should focus on individuals as opposed to money and commitments. If so, Kurt Cobain would be alive today.

Just try going on the road. Playing to an adoring throng and then getting in the bus with the same dudes you’ve known since high school, trying to come down to do it all over again. It takes drugs. And if you’re doing drugs it’s just a matter of time until you die.

Kurt was pushed too hard. And felt so alone. That’s the conundrum of stardom, oftentimes you’re the only one left inside, the world spins around you and you’re frequently oblivious.

I know nothing about his death you don’t, but I will say this guy had an ability to fuse melody and punk in a way that the public just could not resist. Add in the ability to emote with his voice and you have possibly the last rock superstar.

Not that Krist and Dave didn’t help. But there are only a few true superstars, and Kurt Cobain was one of them.

Come as you are. Please. Don’t dress up. Don’t make a deal with a fashion house. Don’t do endorsements. Keep it punk.

That’s why we believed in Nirvana. Because Kurt believed in rock and roll. Too bad he won’t be at the induction ceremony.

CAT STEVENS

And where do the children play?

He wrote “The First Cut Is The Deepest” before anybody knew who he was.

Ditto “Trouble,” featured in the classic “Harold and Maude.”

And if you didn’t play “Tea For The Tillerman” incessantly, you weren’t alive. Back when rock was a state of mind more than a sound. Yes, Cat Stevens was truly rock and roll.

As for becoming a Muslim… Story is he committed himself to God after nearly drowning. Near-death experiences will change you. And at least he’s still alive.

The albums got worse as time went on. But there were so many hits, such a sound, that this guy would be successful in any era.

He might not have found that “Hard Headed Woman,” but we were enraptured by his search.

The hit was “Wild World,” but “Sad Lisa” was so seventies, so great, when you didn’t have to boast and play to the last row, but could be intimate, to the point where we were all leaning in.

But my favorite track on “Tea For The Tillerman” is the closer, the title cut, only a bit longer than a minute, you had no choice but to drop the needle on the LP and listen to it again.

PETER GABRIEL

The road less taken.

He quit Genesis just when the band was getting traction.

And the third solo album is the best, with “Biko,” but he’s never done anything you can shrug your shoulders at and say NEXT!

Too much talent, it’s too bad he’s not still making new, original music. But the problem is the audience is not ready for it. But Gabriel has got a hard core of fans possibly exceeding those of any other act on this list, in intensity if not numbers. Proving you can shoot high instead of dumbing it down.

Wanna tip? Listen to “Secret World Live,” one of the top ten live albums ever, one which no one seems to know about. Especially the extended versions of “Secret World” and “In Your Eyes.”

But it all comes down to “Solsbury Hill.”

I was feeling part of the scenery

Alienation. It’s the essence of rock and roll. If these people could fit in, play on the football team, date a cheerleader, we’d never have this exquisite greatness.

I walked right out of the machinery

That’s what we all did. We weren’t best friends with our parents, they were clueless, we were forging our own path.

My heart going boom, boom, boom

Do you feel alive? Too many are somnambulant. But the best music wakes us up.

Hey,’ he said ‘Grab your things
I’ve come to take you home’

Here we go! Pack up your old kit bag. We’re gonna go down the rabbit hole of rock and roll. To the Fillmore, to Woodstock, to the arena, to the stadium, not every once in a while, but all the time, because rock and roll was the most important thing in our lives, superior to our automobiles, more important than technology.

We’re going home.

Just put on the record and…LISTEN!

LINDA RONSTADT

Oh baby don’t it feel like heaven right now
Don’t it feel like something from a dream

The waiting truly is the hardest part. The fact that Linda Ronstadt wasn’t inducted upon initial eligibility is a travesty. That she had to get sick for these moribund men to vote her in… These same men who jerked off to her, who didn’t even need a picture, who could just close their eyes, because she was just that ubiquitous, everyone knew the cute style icon the men wanted to impress and the girls wanted to befriend. Linda Ronstadt was the seventies’ biggest female rock star. Hell, only Zeppelin and the Eagles were in her league. But men hate letting the women inside. Then again, Linda never begged. She snorted cocaine and screwed the desirable people just like the guys. Which is why she was always an insider and the idiots on this committee are not. Because musicians comprise a club, and the fans are not included, not the critics, only the writers, players and singers. They’re who we want to be. And inside the inner sanctum…it’s all jokes and references and life in a lane so fast only the strong survive.

If I were Linda Ronstadt I’d give the R&RHOF the middle finger and refuse to show up.

But she will.

And I know she won’t be conciliatory. I know she’ll tell it like it is. She’s not afraid to be three dimensional, to speak her truth, which is why she’s a star and you’re not.

HALL & OATES

You’re a rich girl, and you’ve gone too far
‘Cause you know it don’t matter anyway
You can rely on the old man’s money
You can rely on the old man’s money
It’s a bitch girl, but it’s gone too far

To hear this sound emanating from the radio was…enough to make you drive immediately to buy the album, “Bigger Than Both Of Us,” which it truly was. Hall & Oates went from obscurity to superstardom. Even better, after falling all the way back down, even having to play clubs, they came all the way back, with the infectious “You Make My Dreams” and so much more…

It was the “Royals” of yesteryear. You only had to hear a few notes.

What I want you’ve got
Though it might be hard to handle

Yes, it was hard for the wannabes of the twenty first century to admit how much talent the band actually had, how good a voice Daryl Hall possessed. This isn’t yacht rock, unless the term represents something so good it rains down money to the point where you can buy one!

Hall & Oates are so good.

Come on, who had that many hits.

And now they’ve got this victory lap. This inclusion. Just when they’d given up on it.

Because the sound has been burgeoning, become deafening. Hell, who wouldn’t want to be invited to Daryl’s house?

KISS

Induct Bill Aucoin. Come on, if you’re including Brian Epstein and my buddy Andrew Loog Oldham, without whom there’d be no Beatles or Stones, Aucoin deserves to be in too, for without him there’d be no Kiss.

Which might be okay.

But still, even I will admit I liked “Rock And Roll All Nite.” It was a band for those who missed the sixties. And despite Gene Simmons being the number one blowhard in music, the guy with no sense of humor about himself, they had a string of hits.

My favorite?

LICK IT UP!

Don’t wanna wait ’til you know me better

This is the ESSENCE of Motley Crue, which played Kiss’s role in the MTV eighties. Come on, let’s throw off our inhibitions, take off our clothes in this pre-AIDs era and have some fun!

You gotta live like you’re on vacation

Before the baby boomers, life was boring. A sentence. But rock and roll said NO MAS! Fun is the one thing that money can’t buy. Except a ticket to the show. Where the amps are big and powerful and the songs are known by heart and you’re amongst your brethren and there’s nowhere you’d rather be.

So…LICK IT UP!

Come on. Life is short. Discover what you’re into, and go full bore, to the max. This is what all of the above inductees did. They didn’t play it safe, have a fall back position, they just went for greatness.

And we followed them.

P.S. The E Street Band. My only point is if we’re gonna induct them, how about the rest of the backup bands? This is b.s., evidence that the R&RHOF is east coast-centric, driven by Jann Wenner and Jon Landau and the holier than thou who think we’re listening.

We are not. You don’t have to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame to mean something to people. You just have to reach deep down inside and throw your innermost feelings down on wax. Do it right, and it’s life itself.

That’s rock and roll.

Rock ain’t money… Unless you’re peeling off hundreds to pay hotel damages.

Rock ain’t awards… If you need a Grammy to justify your existence, you lead a sorry little life.

Rock is about ATTITUDE! And SOUND!

Are you willing to do it your way? Not worried about what anybody says? Whether it be Simon Cowell or Doug Morris or Dr. Luke? Are you willing to piss all over the powers-that-be, stand up and lead?

Then you’re ready to rock and roll.

And I’ve only got one message for you. Go straight down to Guitar Center, buy that Les Paul or Stratocaster, and plug it into that Marshall or Fender and TURN IT UP!

Drive your parents crazy.

It’s not about tattoos.

It’s not about clothing.

It’s about what’s inside!

It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.

But if you do…we wanna party with you all night and every day.

You show us everything you’ve got
You keep on dancing and the room gets hot
You drive us wild, we’ll drive you crazy

Yes, there’s no rock and roll without an audience.

You keep on shouting, you keep on shouting

I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day

I certainly do. And so do you.

And there’s no better place to start than with the above inductees. If you’re not happy with these acts, if you don’t want to listen to their music, I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU!

It’s a stunt. No different from Radiohead’s “In Rainbows.” Unrepeatable by mere mortals, never mind wannabes and also-rans.

That’s how desperate Apple is. It lets Beyonce circumvent its rules and release a “video album,” so the record industry can have its bundle and the Cupertino company can delude itself into believing that it’s got a solution to Spotify, when the Swedish streaming company is chasing YouTube, not iTunes.

And the media is so impressed by numbers that it trumpets the story, believing its role is to amplify rather than analyze.

Yes, it was a story. The same way a bomb or SpaceX or anything new gets people’s attention. Only in this case, there was something to buy. Whoo-hoo! We got lemmings and fans to lay down their credit cards to spend money for the work of a superstar, as if this is a new paradigm.

And we’ve got Rob Stringer and the rest of the inane music business slapping its back, declaring victory.

What a bunch of hogwash.

The story of 2013 is cacophony. How it’s almost impossible to get your message out to anybody but those who truly care. Because we’re inundated with a tsunami of information and can’t be bothered by that which we are not interested in.

Yes, in a world where Snapchat is burgeoning and Instagram allows private messages we’re trumpeting something that went viral.

That’s so 2012, that’s so “Gangnam Style.”

The bottom line is Beyonce is a superstar. And superstars get traction. And everybody else is close to ignored. And you become a superstar by having a bunch of money and power behind you.

Name this year’s big viral music video.

There isn’t one. That game is gone too. And anything that moves is supported by the big boys, it’s all about manipulation.

So you do the same thing Beyonce does. You drop your album with no advance publicity. Will that be news?

OF COURSE NOT!

We’ve seen the trick!

Beyonce has put in years of hard work and hit tracks to get to the point where people pay attention.

If you’ve got a stiff album can you whip your audience into a frenzy and get them to buy it first day out by doing no advance publicity? In other words, would Gaga have been better off doing what Beyonce did?

I’d say so.

But that wouldn’t work for long. And the point here truly is longevity.

Yes, at the heart of this Beyonce project is old school thinking. Which is let’s release an ALBUM!

Are we gonna be talking about “Epic” a year from now? Three months from now?

There’s a good chance we’re not. That’s what’s wrong with the album construct, it was built for a different time. When we were starved for information and people waited for radio to work a “new” single years after the album was released.

But these days the entire album is available for free the day it comes out. Do you really expect those sitting on the fence to decide to purchase 18 months out? That was the old game, deliver enough hit singles to convert those who were unsure. The new game is to constantly release product so that the audience will continue to be enticed.

PSY didn’t have a follow-up single. Oh, he released one, it got a bit of traction out of curiosity, then disappeared, I dare you to name it.

Carly Rae Jepsen had the hit of the summer and had no follow-up and is now forgotten.

Robin Thicke released an album, but all people wanted was the single, he’s a trivia question, do you think he’s going to be invited to sing “Blurred Lines” at the 2014 AMAs? Ha!

What’s your plan Stan? Just because you’ve got ten tracks that does not mean anybody is interested.

And that’s what you need, a plan. And the plan can’t be to sell people one collection at one time. That’s as if Google only updated its search engine once a month, instead of constantly. How often do you think you’d go back to Google if that was the case?

It comes down to music. And careers. And today being an artist means constantly creating, building an audience and holding it.

This surprise album changes none of that.

If you think there are lessons to be learned here, you come home from Magic Castle and try to duplicate the tricks.

It’s a novelty. A footnote. Near meaningless.

Beyonce is a star. If she tried to do this a year from now, almost nobody would be talking about it.

Next.

He was a bright guy with a sense of humor and to write this means he’s gone.

But he can’t be. I just heard from him two weeks ago, we were discussing cars!

Milt loved cars. Had a passion for them. When I first met him at A&M he was driving a Merkur. Ford guaranteed to buy it back at a high price so he got one. For the last decade he’d been driving a Subaru Forester. Because of the high performance turbo engine. He hated the gas mileage, but it was paid for. We commiserated on this. That’s one of the last times I saw him live. For lunch in Bel Air, when he paid the bill and said “I’m a patron of the arts.” And I’ve been thinking a lot about Milt because with the freeway constantly closed I’ve been driving through that neighborhood on the way to Felice’s.

I’m not saying I never cry. But when I got the e-mail today tears came to my eyes. How could it be?

Must have been a health issue.

But then to find out he was run over by the police, supposedly while in the bike lane…

What did Elvis Costello sing? Accidents will happen?

And his family had no suspicion. This is when it’s worst. When the last time you see them they’re alive and vibrant, and the next time it’s in the box.

That same first time I saw Milt it was in his office at A&M. He gave me a record. That’s what was different back then, everybody remotely attached to the music business was a fan. Sure, you could make money, but that’s not what it was about.

And when A&M was sold and merged Milt went back to practicing law. First at Manatt, then he hung out his shingle, with David Altschul.

And he had his clients. Because Milt was sharp. And knew everybody from that era. And a lot of them still have force in the business.

And oh yeah, in the middle he worked at Napster. That’s what all the headlines are saying. I’m sure if Milt were here now he’d laugh at that, how far and wide the word spread. Because Milt wasn’t about fame, and he could find the irony and the joke in life experiences.

But he won’t be having any more.

And just before I got the news I’d been OCD’ing about something. And then it hit me, how irrelevant my petty problems were in the face of death.

It’s final.

We think we’re gonna live forever.

Then we get cancer or have a heart attack and realize our time is limited.

Still, we expect to live to a ripe old age. Near ninety. Even though the older you get the more frail you become, and so many are gone, no one remembers what you do.

But I remember when the Police was the biggest band in the world.

And Bryan Adams ate up the chart with “Run To You,” the entire “Reckless” album.

When A&M was owned by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, when artists came first, when quarterly numbers were not important. It all worked out in the end if you had the right acts and the right team, and they did.

So, so long Milt.

I just wish we’d had another lunch or phone call, or I’d run into you at an event and we’d had another conversation. That was the great thing about Milt, he was never jive, when you connected it was always real, he’d make a sly comment, illustrating that you and he were just cogs in the wheel, but were enjoying the ride.

What a bad pun, unintentional.

So here’s where I whip out the cliches.

Hug your loved ones.

Live every day like it’s your last, because it just might be.

And if you’re doing it to be remembered, know that no one will be. Not even the Beatles, certainly not Steve Jobs. The sands of time will bury them like the pyramids.

Life is about experience. Eat it alive, while you still can.