I started with “Dixie Chicken.” It was the reviews and the song on the Warner Brothers sampler. And it took me a hell of a long time to get into it, to understand its understated magic. If you can put Patti Smith in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and not Lowell George, I don’t want to visit. For that matter, Rush and Heart and all the people they’re inducting now… Even they’ll admit Lowell George influenced more people than they did, left an even bigger mark.

Then again, that’s art. It’s open to debate, unlike sports. Well, sports not dependent upon judging.

The initial album, cut after Lowell left the Mothers, fell flat. As did “Sailin’ Shoes.” It wasn’t until “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” that Little Feat had a radio hit. Then Lowell fell out of the band, despite still being in it, cut a solo record and died. But talk to Bonnie Raitt or James Taylor or Valerie Carter, they’ll all testify. You see Lowell George was the chef, with the special sauce, and he never added more than necessary. Everybody thinks it’s about more more more, showing off, but Lowell infected you with his subtlety, like his playing on James Taylor’s “Angry Blues.”

And to say there’s a Little Feat masterpiece would be to lie. And you’re probably best off starting with the live album. Then again, the band, although never bad, could be wildly uneven live. I remember a night at the Santa Monica Civic after the release of “Times Love A Hero” that had too much jamming and didn’t quite gel, then again, three years before I’d seen them at the Troubadour…

It wasn’t even sold out. Even though the fourth album had already come out, the one with “Oh, Atlanta” and “Rock And Roll Doctor.” And I’m sitting mere feet away, the Troub had tables and chairs back then, when we still respected the music, when we weren’t packed in like lemmings, and the band laid into a groove so syrupy and thick that you’d be closed instantly. But only fans were there. This was no victory lap, no celebration, just a band firing on all cylinders…back when you had to know how to play to perform.

And that was mere weeks before I decamped to Utah to ski the bumps, where “Sailin’ Shoes”‘s opening cut, “Easy To Slip,” was my anthem.

It’s so easy to slip
It’s so easy to fall

In the bumps. When the sun is shining, your skis are twisting and you’re slamming through the zipper line.

It’s so easy to slip
It’s so easy to fall
And let your memory drift
And do nothin’ at all

Ain’t that the truth. For all the winners testifying, there’s a world of people hanging back, reflecting, wounded by life. The older you get, the harder it is to soldier on. That’s what we depend on music for…to fill us up and get us going.

Well I don’t want to drift forever
In the shadow of you leaving me
So I light another cigarette
And try to remember to forget

Whew! How eloquent! Ever been left? Knocks your socks off. You rarely see it coming. And then you find yourself off balance, it can take years to right yourself. Some never do.

But the music sounds NOTHING like these lyrics!

It’s like Lowell’s been down in the dumps for days, but band practice is scheduled so he’s decided to WAIL! To exorcise all the demons.

This is not radio music.

This is not club music.

This is personal music. Cut just for you. Play it when you’re driving down the highway, when you need inspiration. It’ll lift you right off the couch and insert you into life. It’s got more optimism than a handful of antidepressants.

Listening to “Easy To Slip,” you’ll be stunned Lowell George is dead, because the track sounds so positively ALIVE!

“A Apolitical Blues”

You know this one. From Van Halen’s “OU812.” You see the players listen. They don’t focus on fame so much as music. Without roots, without a foundation, you’re nothing. The hoi polloi may not have known this track, but Sammy Hagar did. Back when stars were fans.

“Sailin’ Shoes”

Lady in a turban
In a cocaine tree
Does a dance so rhythmically

This is quintessential Lowell. From the slide guitar to the subtlety to the oblique story to the feeling you just want to get inside the music, inside the lyrics…you wanna be involved. And that’s what Little Feat was, a cult, which never grew so large that everybody didn’t think they were an insider. Listen to Lowell squeeze out the notes, the background singers, the whole number is zippered up, there’s nothing unnecessary… The more you listen, the more you marvel.

“Tripe Face Boogie”

Exactly what it sounds like. As if Foghat had grown up in Los Angeles and played the same music.

And it’s not only Lowell, Bill Payne works out furiously and Richie Hayward drives the whole enterprise forward with Roy Estrada, on his last album appearance with the band.

You bring your guitar
I’ll bring the wine
Blow out our speakers
Just one more time

It sounds like a party. And there’s even guacamole! (Which I knew nothing about when I first heard this album in Vermont, we were essentially clueless when it came to Mexican food.)

And be sure to listen to “Cold, Cold, Cold” and “Teenage Nervous Breakdown,” but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention “Willin’.”

Linda Ronstadt made it famous, and it took Little Feat two tries to get it right, “Willin,” was also on the band’s debut, but forty years later it’s the one Lowell George standard, probably the best and most famous truck-driving song ever written. A combo of loner stoner driver and band on the road.

And just like I was clueless as to guacamole, I was stunned to come to California and see a sign for Tehachapi. And now I know not only that mountain burg, but Tucumcari and Tonopah.

That’s the west. Spread out. With enough room to be yourself and do your own thing.

There was never a band that sounded like Little Feat. Despite Lowell’s huge influence his own sound could not be copied. And despite the great group that still employs the moniker Little Feat, it’s not what it was when Lowell was a member.

If you’ve got time.

And almost nobody does anymore.

You will be rewarded by listening to Little Feat.

And I’m not saying to start with “Sailin’ Shoes,” but you’ll eventually find yourself here. And will be amazed. That once upon a time being a band was going on your own journey, finding your identity, becoming what you weren’t sure of, hoping an audience found you on the way.

So different from today. When the man demands a single and puts you together with someone you don’t know to write it.

Lowell George is a rabbit hole a certain cadre of us fell into.

And it changed our lives.

Rinofy-Sailin’ Shoes

Previous Rhinofy playlists

 

I’m having trouble with my Slingbox. It won’t connect.

But it’s worse than that. It says it’s not connecting to the Internet in my own house! Good luck having it make a connection in Colorado so my girlfriend can watch cable TV finales.

So I get home and start to troubleshoot…and end up nowhere.

I disconnect the power. I restart the router. But I cannot reset the Slingbox, despite what the online instructions say. Talk about frustrating… Before we had all this electronic crap there were answers. You called someone, took your device somewhere, somebody knew how to fix it, or told you so… But today we’re on our own. I feel like I’m a full time IT person. Sure, I’m connected, I can call someone, but I’m the kind of guy who wants to know how something works and why it does not. Because if it breaks down once, it’s gonna again.

So, frustrated with my Slingbox, I decide to fire up some music to soothe my nerves. And the Sonos app on my iPhone won’t connect. And won’t connect. And won’t connect.

So I go to my iPad. Which says an update is required. Which I execute. But my iPhone still won’t connect. And I’m wondering why.

Turns out the issue is bigger than that. My iPhone isn’t even connected with my wireless network. LTE is so fast at my home I didn’t even realize it. And I’m not sure why the iPhone dropped the connection. And maybe this has got something to do with the Slingbox… But when I select my home network and enter the password I finally get to try…

The most incredible new feature.

Yes, you can now stream your music wirelessly from your iPhone.

It’s like magic.

I know, I know, I can do the same from Spotify. But it’s not the same. I mean I’m not connecting to the pipe, it’s coming straight from the phone itself! Wirelessly!

So I’m in the bedroom, listening to “Stephen Stills 2” on that zone. But I click to hear the Silencers’ “Answer Me” in the living room. And it’s not quite loud enough for me to hear over Stills so I switch the bedroom zone to the living room zone and…

Jimme O’Neill comes pouring out of the speakers and all of a sudden all of my frustration slips away!

Silencers – Answer Me – A Blues for Buddha – 1988

Yes, check it out. You won’t hear it anywhere else. It’s not on Spotify.

But it is on my living room stereo right now…

Won’t you answer me
Said the coal miner
It’s dark down here
Gas creeps through the walls

It’s dark inside my mind. Do you get that feeling? That there’s a plethora of stimuli surrounding you but there’s a force field between you and the rest of the universe? That you’re locked inside your head and you can’t break out? That no one understands you and you’re dying to make a connection but it’s impossible?

I feel that way all the time. My whole life is about trying to eradicate this feeling, I’m trying to make a connection. That’s what’s got me sending these missives morning noon and night. The desire to find someone else who feels like me, who thinks like me, who isn’t an automaton inured to the world I find so confusing.

And I get blowback from people telling me I’m not entitled to an opinion and I should crawl back into my hole despite the fact that they keep reading and writing to me. But still I soldier on. Because of you. No one specific. Just the people who write back and testify, who tell me they’re on the same path, have the same questions, feel the same way.

Once upon a time the band was called Fingerprintz. And despite being on Virgin Records, they never broke through. Then they reconstituted as the Silencers and released a masterpiece known as “A Letter From St. Paul” with the radio track “Painted Moon” and it looked like another band from the U.K. was gonna break through. But they were on RCA Records and Bob Buziak was too busy promoting Michael Penn and the second album, “A Blues For Buddha” made a giant thud which almost no one heard.

But it’s absolutely one of my favorite albums.

It starts off quietly, like there’s a troupe of merrymaking musicians coming over the rise, through the Scottish fog, and then Jimme hums and the bass starts to thump and the drums start to pound and the strings start to wail and…you’re enthralled.

Won’t you answer me
Said the exile
Is there a message for me?
Now I feel so far away

I made it this far. I didn’t O.D., I wasn’t hit by a bus, I know so much more than I once did, but the world changed to the point of unrecognizability and I’m completely flummoxed. I’m never gonna be rich, without money few listen, and I wonder if the joke is on me. I spent decades of my life listening to records but don’t feel akin to those enthralled by the punks, to those who think everything mainstream sucks. But then I hear a record…

Won’t answer you me
Said the soul singer
There’s a murmur in here
Sound thunders through the wall

That’s who I am. A soul singer. This is coming directly from my heart to yours. Do you feel it? Do you have more questions than answers? Do you feel you just weren’t made for this world?

I’M HERE! I’M WITH YOU! CRANK THIS MUSIC! IT WON’T CHANGE YOUR LIFE BUT IT WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE WORTH LIVING!

IT’S STREAMING FROM MY PHONE! CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE IT?

I love technology.

1. Filter

People don’t know what to listen to. You can’t trust the radio, you can only trust your friends, and who’s to say your friends have the same taste as you?

He who tells us what to listen to will have all the power in the future.

It will not be an algorithm.

If you think Pandora has great recommendations, you’ve got no taste. If that’s the future of radio, I want no part.

2. Money Trumps Art

Everyone’s trying to get rich, or bitching that they’re poor. People no longer discuss music, but their financial stability. Furthermore, money is the ultimate arbiter. If someone sells a lot of tickets or a lot of tracks you can’t say a negative thing about them. This coarsens our society. Critical thinking is crucial to a healthy arts scene. Something can be successful and suck. Conversely, it can be obscure and great. If your first question is how do I make money, you shouldn’t be in music.

3. Everybody Thinks They’re A Star

We’re only interested in the exceptional. It’s kind of like the Olympics, if you don’t medal, we don’t know your name. In the old days, with a limited universe, mediocre, with exposure and promotion, could make it. Today, you’ve got to be positively A-team. Or, the beneficiary of A-team marketing and promotion. But if your music doesn’t sell itself, your career will be very brief.

4. You Can’t Get A Good Ticket At A Fair Price

Therefore people don’t even try to buy. For all the bitching from people who overpay or sit in the cheap seats there are legions who’ve opted out of live music. This is the industry’s problem. With no one leading the charge against it. It’s easy to fall out of the habit of going to the show.

5. Greed

This is just how the rich like it. The hoi polloi fighting amongst themselves, oblivious to the true enemy. The acts and executives, the agents and the promoters, they’re fighting over a tiny pot.

6. Con Artists

You know, the websites that give you advice and hope, and charge you for the privilege. Not everybody can work in the music business, not everybody can be a star. If you’re paying someone to host your stuff, to get you gigs, you’re either not good or delusional or both.

7. Classic Rock

It was too good. Just because the kids like something that does not make it good. Come on, all you trumpeting the Jonas Brothers, name one of their songs… Until modern acts truly reach the brass ring, the whole sphere will suffer. As for those saying today’s music is just as good as yesteryear’s…you don’t have ears.

8. Old Media

From radio to newspapers to movies it’s old world thinking, a circle jerk trying to perpetuate something that’s dead. The sooner old media dies, the clearer the landscape will be. Radio is not coming back. Newspapers will not survive in print, and most won’t survive at all. And while we’re at it, CDs are history and physical books are goners. The fact that something still exists does not mean it isn’t over. If you’re discussing piracy, the death of the CD, singles and streaming, you’re wasting your breath. The modern music world is not like Congress, there’s no consensus amongst an elite. Instead modernity is an endless rushing river controlled by nobody. If you’re doubling down on old media, you’re probably investing in the PC business and feature phones.

9. Working The Numbers

Whether it be authors scamming Amazon reviews or record companies garnering fake YouTube plays you can no longer trust statistics and reviews. Everybody’s a scumbag. Trying to game the system. And it’ll only go away when e-mail spam is eradicated. Which probably won’t be in my lifetime.

10. Lack Of Knowledge

No one knows history. Before you sit down to write your song, listen to the Beatles catalog, learn about a bridge, learn about harmony. You can’t break every rule and be successful. If you’re familiar with the basic building blocks, you’ve got a chance of making it.

NOT A PROBLEM

1. Peer To Peer File-Sharing

It’s declining. Everything’s free on YouTube anyway. To worry about piracy is to be shortsighted. If you don’t want people to trade your music you’re living in the last century. Your enemy is not piracy, but obscurity. Just because the RIAA controls the media discussion, that doesn’t mean you should pay attention. Focus on your career. Focus on being great. There’s plenty of money to be made if you are. Not as much as being a banker, but that’s got more to do with the meshuggeneh country we live in and its flawed economic policies than piracy.

2. Sound Quality

The baby boomers listened to 45s on some of the worst systems imaginable. If it’s a hit song, it sounds good on anything. Yes, a hi-fi boom would lift all boats, but it won’t happen by badgering people their sound sucks, but creating stuff so marvelous you want to hear it at a high level, which is not today’s compressed, loudness wars crap.

3. Electronic Music

You didn’t understand rap, does your opinion on EDM count?

4. Texting & Shooting Photos At Gigs

People live to communicate, it’s human nature. Maybe they’ll communicate about you! The best way to combat social media at a show is to be absolutely riveting. But even that won’t work…people live to connect. And at these prices do you blame them?

5. Information

Google yourself. You’ll find the bread crumbs of your life. You never know when someone will decide to check you out. If you’ve got no online presence, you will have no success. The first thing someone does when they’re interested is read your Wikipedia page. And they can tell if you wrote it yourself, they laugh behind your back. If someone can’t research your history and find out almost everything about you, you’re doing it wrong. Don’t think campaign, think land mine. People will find you when they’re good and ready.

It’s an entrepreneurial business.

Remember when Matsushita bought MCA? They left David Geffen out of the loop, despite his huge stockholdings. Because Geffen plays by his own rules, he could cock up a deal, make it turn out in his favor. Best to leave wildcatters out of corporate business.

The same goes for Irving Azoff.

To think Irving Azoff could work for a public company is to believe Kim Kardashian could marry a white guy. He doesn’t believe in any controls that he doesn’t impose upon others. That’s what the Front Line rollup was about to begin with. It may be hard to recollect, but there was a time, at the turn of the last decade, that the major labels held all the power in the music business (and if you still believe that, you work for one!) Irving would call them and ask for something and some lawyer would refuse, saying it was “corporate policy.” It was then that Irving decided to gather all the artists and tell the labels that they had their own policy. Then the record companies failed and the artists gained all the power. Musical artists have more power than ever since the Beatles, if you don’t believe this you’re never going to make it, you’re too busy looking for a sugar daddy, someone to tell you what to do. But today you make your own decisions. And you want someone in your corner to advise you. And that’s Irving Azoff.

A better artist representative has never existed. Acts don’t leave Irving, even though every once in a while he fires one. Because Irving extracts what no one else can. And if you look up the word “loyalty” you see his picture. If you’re on his team, Irving will do anything for you, literally anything, even carry your dope. Ask him to tell you that story, how he was willing to take the fall for…

But a guy like that can’t work for the man.

Could Steve Jobs work for the man?

No, he got fired.

If you haven’t been fired by the man, or walked in frustration, then you’re not an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur makes things happen. A corporate citizen plays politics, wins for himself, not others. Whereas when an entrepreneur wins, cash rains down on many.

So Irving had fourteen months left on his contract, had no intention of renewing and didn’t want to be a lame duck. So he ankled Live Nation. Why now? THE FISCAL CLIFF! And everybody’s happy. He walks with twenty acts, the ones you think, but his goal is not to stick it in the side of Live Nation but to do something new. To go back to his natural skill. Of artist representation.

But you may have heard that the music business is challenged.

So Irving’s not limiting himself to music, but is kicking the tires at sports, fashion, tech…

But what about power?

It all comes down to contacts. And the only person with a better rolodex than Irving Azoff is Barack Obama.

So where does this leave us?

With a whole new music business.

The progenitors, those who constructed the modern music business, they’re gone. Not even Doug Morris was there at the beginning. As for Lucian Grainge and Jimmy Iovine… Business was booming when they got in. Whereas Irving Azoff got started representing WLS deejays and dealing with Morris Levy

Michael Rapino is forty four. He’s the last man standing at Live Nation. Everybody else walked or was killed. It’s his company to run. And he’s not beholden to the past, he can’t remember it because he wasn’t there.

Over at AEG… Irving gave Randy Phillips his job.

So what happens now?

You take over.

You young ‘uns who are Internet savvy who don’t even remember when MTV played videos. It’s your sandbox. Record at home, distribute online and ignore the old farts lamenting the way it used to be, those days are never coming back.

Music has been a second class citizen for this entire decade. Sure, it was the canary in the coal mine for technology, but it’s become a football kicked around by fat cats and is peopled by lowest common denominator denizens. Music can’t drive the culture, because the people in it know little about data and think that you win through intimidation.

No, you win through ideas.

That’s what songs are.

One great one can change the world.

Rihanna can’t change the world. There’s no there there. Hell, Kendrick Lamar sold more albums in the first week and he didn’t even have a radio hit!

And if you write a great song, Live Nation and AEG are there to write you a big check to perform live.

But music will only really count when it recaptures the ethos of Irving Azoff. Isn’t it interesting that the most powerful person in music can’t work for the man and everybody in the business is looking to sell out to the man! You can’t go anywhere without someone talking about a payment from the Fortune 500 or a TV network or…

Music must stand by itself. The acts must be beholden to no one but themselves.

Irving’s been unleashed. Will he re-emerge as the most powerful person in the media landscape, will he become a household name, or will he retire with his riches like David Geffen or be an almost powerless blowhard like Barry Diller who owns a ragtag bunch of almost worthless companies but has the dying press at his beck and call?

I don’t know.

But nature abhors a vacuum. Someone always comes in to fill the space.

It’s not Lyor Cohen. What he did best was extract money from others. He’s not a builder, he’s a stealer.

Nor Jimmy Iovine, who doesn’t have the balls to walk from Interscope, despite building Beats. I mean if he’s so good at signing and breaking talent why does he need Universal again? Isn’t that like someone too afraid to leave Microsoft?

The future of entertainment is not selling out. Art is not widgets. It makes people uncomfortable, angry, it’s frequently banned. But art always emerges triumphant. It’s no different from Warner caving to pressure and getting rid of Interscope and Death Row. Rap only went on to become more successful! The man never understands the game.

Everything’s intertwined now. From music to the Internet to mobile handsets to politics. Without the shenanigans in D.C., Irving’s exit never would have happened today.

Can you manage all this data? Can you be emotional in your art but cold-hearted in your business? Can you forget the past and look to the future?

That’s what Irving Azoff did today.

Look to him for direction.