Beating a dead horse…

It’s gonna be hard for me to spend time with your music if I don’t know who you are.

I know, you hate that. It’s kind of like you can’t get a job without experience, but how are you supposed to get that experience in the first place?

You’ve got to build a network.

I’ve got mine.

A lot of these people have music business status, a lot of them are personal friends. And a couple of them are people I’ve never met who’ve established trust via e-mail.

First and foremost, these e-mail buddies want to do me a favor. By hipping me to something just to share the joy, something they’ve got no involvement in.

Now if you decide to take this approach with me, and I don’t recommend it, you’ve got somewhere between five and thirty seconds to convince me you understand where I’m coming from, sending a track in a genre I like that will tickle my fancy.

It’s kind of like relationships. I’m not just looking for a date, I’m looking for the right person! If someone sets you up on a bad blind date will you trust them to recommend someone again? If you do, you’re not someone I know…

In other words, you only get one chance.

And you don’t want to blow it.

But really, this is not advice on how to reach me, but a delineation of how the game works.

As you move up the ladder, your free time shrinks. You don’t want to waste it.

Furthermore, despite the bravura, everyone’s fearful of sliding down and ending up out of the game, never mind at the bottom. There are more people who used to work in the music business than work in it now.

So how do you get into it?

By building relationships.

It matters less what you know than who you know.

I felt I knew a lot, but I took classes at UCLA Extension to make connections. My goal wasn’t to be the smartest guy in the class, to get an "A" from the teacher, but to become friends with my fellow students. One worked at a recording studio where they did two weekly satellite broadcasts, when that was a nascent format. By making friends I got to hang out, hell, I even met Bumps Blackwell and Little Richard! And this person had a friend who managed an act with a demo so good, it made me swoon.

That person ultimately got a major deal on that tape. She failed. I was involved and then wasn’t. There wasn’t enough money to keep me in. Furthermore, the music business is about a ton of failing before you gain success.

You’re right, too many baby boomer record execs are too busy playing golf and not listening to new music and just don’t get it. But now, with the Internet and the changing of the landscape, the newbies are not left out. Better to build your own better mousetrap than try to harangue these people into paying attention. Kind of like in that front page story in yesterday’s "New York Times", about electronic music, wherein Gary Richards laments the big boys getting into the game and cocking up the works:

Electronic Dance Concerts Turn Up Volume, Tempting Investors

I know Gary.

I met him through a friend…

Gary Richards is passionate with an edge. He built it himself. The big boys found him last. He’s been doing it for twenty years. Let him be a beacon.

But don’t deny that someone gains power by putting in time and building relationships. If you think you can crash that party instantly, you’re plain wrong. Because you learn something paying your dues. And you meet people along the way.

That guy you abhor who you believe is out of touch can lay his hands on best-selling talent and get the money to book said act in a major venue. Don’t underestimate that skill.

If you think getting ahead is about facts, you’re sorely mistaken.

My time is limited. Find someone coming up like you. Who’ll go to lunch, spend all afternoon listening to and debating records. You’re right, those days are behind me.

You want me to be just like you.

But what you don’t understand is that I once was.

I can barely listen to "Roundabout", but I can listen to this all day long.

Then again, I’m not eager to hear "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", the big hit single off of "90125".

Imagine if the new Guns N’ Roses fronted by Axl was as good as the original. Different, but just as satisfying. With a replacement for Slash who sounded nothing like him but added his own special twist. Then you’d get what happened with Yes. A band that imploded as a result of overindulgence which came back together with a different sound that was still similar enough to the original to be called Yes.

It’s criminal that Yes is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, never mind the fact that the whole genre of prog rock has been ignored. One used to say that no one had more loyal fans than metal bands, but at this late date, I’d say prog rock acolytes are their equal. Just ask a Rush fan!

I liked hearing "Carpet Crawlers" on the radio this morning. But when I heard "It Can Happen" I was elated, I felt the world was at my fingertips, that life was one big juicy adventure, that I wanted to bite down hard and eat it up.

If we’re listening to "90125", and we should, we’ve got to begin, after ignoring the overplayed "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", with "Leave It". One thing about Yes, they could sing! They were the first band I saw who could replicate the harmonies live. God knows CSN&Y were challenged live, just watch the "Woodstock" movie! And "Leave It" begins like it was cut in an old world cathedral. And then there are nonsense vocals like on an a cappella track and then the whole thing explodes…LEAVE IT!

And after "Leave It" comes "Changes"… Which begins all spacy, starts to resemble something from the band’s early seventies heyday and then suddenly gains a conventional song structure, after laying into a groove as good as any you’ll find on classic rock radio, then or now. Don’t you love the guitar work under the vocal?

And then there’s "Hold On", which sounds like you’re a Volga Boatman, rowing hard with a bunch of your brethren and loving it! Even Beavis & Butt-head would bang their heads to this. It’s heavy without being plodding nonsense, possessing an anthemic chorus to boot!

Every track on "90125" is listenable. Of a piece, yet unique. And they all go on long enough to sink your teeth but not so long you’re bored.

And then comes the piece de resistance, "It Can Happen".

It starts just like "Within You Without You", yup the George Harrison composition that opens side two of "Sgt. Pepper". And then the stringed instruments start to twinkle, like you’re looking out the window of the Millennium Falcon and marveling at the Milky Way.

And let’s not ignore the bass. Chris Squire’s been the only constant in Yes, deservedly so, he’s a master, the way he slides his finger down the string pinning the bottom of the track is nothing short of miraculous, you know you can count on him.

Meanwhile, Jon Anderson is the cherry on top of the sundae, the angel on top of the Christmas tree.

But it’s the changes that make the track truly magical.

It’s a constant fight, you’re pushing the needle to the red

And then, after climbing that ladder, we’re on the chute…

Look up, look down, look out, look around

And then the band is firing on all cylinders, we’re in the chorus. Everybody’s playing, everybody’s locked on. But then, just shy of two minutes, we’re pushed into the stratosphere once again. The captain’s pushed the button for hyperspace, we’re going headlong into the unknown.

Then the drums pump and we’re marching to Mars.

It can happen to you
It can happen to me
It can happen to everyone eventually

They’ve scavenged around the studio, they’ve thrown in absolutely everything. Hell, there’s someone speaking, the guitar’s wailing…

And then they decide to build it one more time…

You can mend the wires
You can feed the soul apart
You can touch your life
You can bring your soul alive
It can happen to you

It truly can happen to you. You can listen to the track and you too can be jetted into the stratosphere, you too can be exquisitely happy.

This music should not be forgotten.

BECAUSE IT’S JUST THAT DAMN GOOD!

Rhinofy-It Can Happen

Previous Rhinofy playlists

HONESTY

Do you think I didn’t know I’d piss people off by complaining about getting unsolicited MP3s? Do you think I don’t know how to control my inbox to get rid of them?

Most people are afraid to hang it out there, worried about the feedback.

But worse than those who never play are those who adjust their act because of the feedback.

Not everybody’s gonna like what you do. And if you try to please everybody, sand off all the rough edges, you end up with Bon Jovi. A two-dimensional hack who hasn’t had a hit in years playing for matrons trying to relive their glory years.

So you hate mainstream music and mainstream TV. I’m telling you right now, they adjusted themselves so as not to piss anybody off. That’s the country we live in now, where if someone is pissed about something that is said or some behavior they don’t like they make a brouhaha and then the perpetrator apologizes.

That’s all we’ve got in America is apologies.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t apologize if you get it wrong, if you say that the sky is orange when it’s blue or that the wrong person wrote the song, but if it’s your opinion… We’re drawn to those with strong ones. Artists are not running for office. As a matter of fact, the best ones take us into places we don’t think we want to go, that are uncomfortable. Then we acclimatize and the greats push us into further zones.

I could be one of those bloggers who only spew the positive. Who inspire you. Who rip you off.

Just because some people can’t handle the truth. That they suck, does not mean I’m gonna stop saying it.

As for me complaining about my inbox… That’s how I feel. The same way you do when you get a parking ticket. It’s personal. You get to complain, why can’t I?

And when I do it right that’s why it works. I’m saying what you feel.

I’ll leave you with an e-mail I got from Uncle Joe Benson, longtime deejay at KLOS-FM:

"Your last two ‘e-mail’ postings were some of the best/most entertaining ever – and people keep asking why I don’t restart my old Local Licks program ;)"

rock on!"

EXPLANATIONS

You shouldn’t give them. And I just broke my rule.

I’m no better than you. I’m foraging through the wilderness, calling it as I see it. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong.

That’s exactly what Bob Dylan said. Both in interviews and most famously in "Subterranean Homesick Blues":

Don’t follow leaders
Watch the parkin’ meters

No matter how much detail you give, certain people will never understand you. That’s the nature of communication.

You’re getting my unfiltered honesty. If you don’t like it, I’m cool with that. I don’t like everything my girlfriend says and if you’re not fighting with your spouse that just means someone’s holding in their feelings and will probably wake up and one day leave you. Hell, I know, it happened to me!

EXPECTATIONS

Neil Young was the biggest act in America, he recorded the album "Harvest", a soft rock masterpiece.

Then he went on the road with a rock band and tore up arenas with edgy and loud brand new material, much of which ultimately appeared on the live album "Time Fades Away".

He destroyed his career overnight.

To keep it going.

Once you’re a prisoner of your audience, you’re toast.

Sure, Mr. Young’s live business tanked, but then he became a hero once again with "Rust Never Sleeps" over half a decade later. And even though it’s hard to find a musician who won’t sell out, who won’t do an endorsement deal, Neil won’t and not only is he still standing, he’s thriving. With him, CS&N can play arenas. Without him, they do theatres at best.

Stay true to yourself. Sure, you think about the audience, who wouldn’t. But you can’t be beholden to your audience.

UNSOLICITED

That Shannon Labrie cut? That was a LINK! I’m delusional if I believe I’ll get people to stop sending links. But the chutzpah to send an MP3??

But you say I’m too big for my britches.

That’s because you don’t want to see what it’s like living on the other side. Which is why most truly rich people don’t flaunt their wealth. But maybe if you saw what was going on you’d be pissed, you’d take action. Maybe you can learn something from the world I’m in instead of trying to drag me down into the hole you’re in.

QUITTING

I received 2,000 e-mails. 600 believed it.

Did you bother to check the date?

What if I came to your door and harangued you for twenty minutes trying to convince you to buy something you don’t want, that you’ve got no interest in, whose purchase will benefit me, not you.

NOW YOU KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE WHEN YOU E-MAIL ME UNSOLICITED MP3s!

It’s bad enough when you send me links. But people e-mail me 10 MB files without even thinking about it. Sometimes I’m on the road with an insanely slow connection and I’ve got to wait ten minutes for my e-mail to download, just so I can delete your terrible MP3.

And that’s what it is…terrible.

Makes me hate America, where no one can be honest.

How many people get to play in the NBA? Most of the kids in the Final Four never even make the pros. Why do you think you deserve a music career, why do you think you’re any good?

It’s just amazing the chutzpah people have.

But it’s worse, they’re delusional, they truly think they’ve got talent, as if with an endorsement by me they’ll be the new Gaga.

I can only listen to one song at one time. You want me to spend all this time listening to crap? What’s worse, despite reading for free, you want my advice for free too!

Well, unlike MP3s, my advice isn’t easily replicable at no cost. And it’s not worth that much anyway. If you’re great, you’ll make it without me. And almost none of you are great.

And I know, it’s only the ignorant wannabes that do this. I feel guilty tarring all the reasonable people who wouldn’t think of wasting my time, but it’s always the nitpickers who ruin it for all of us. Isn’t that the problem we’ve got in music? Too many wannabes cocking up the works, making it harder to find those with talent?

That’s what the Internet has wrought.

But it gets worse. Facebook is a license to spam. You invite me to listen to your music as if I give a damn. Ever been invited to a party you don’t want to go to? Ever get phone solicitations from the inept selling products you don’t want? Then you know what it feels like.

Meanwhile, gives me sympathy for Simon Cowell. I’d really like to embarrass these people. Post their lousy MP3s online and have them experience the abuse that would have them crawling back into their holes and never reappearing.

I am not in control of your life. I am not a freight train to riches, not even for myself. If you need to make it, you might. But you’re gonna have to sacrifice everything to get close, and your music will speak for itself and I’ll hear about it from someone else.

Meanwhile, for the umpteenth time, read Seth Godin on Permission Marketing:

Permission Marketing

"Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them."

"Permission is like dating. You don’t start by asking for the sale at first impression. You earn the right, over time, bit by bit."

"Just because you somehow get my email address doesn’t mean you have permission."

Jack Nicholson was right. You can’t handle the truth. I used to refrain, remembering the movie "Milk", wherein Harvey was told you’ve got to give the people hope.

It is not my job to give you hope. From now on if you send me an unsolicited MP3 I’m gonna tell you the truth.

That you suck.

That you’re just not good enough.

That you might have a glimmer of talent, I might be able to discern some quality.

But that ain’t enough.

Never was. Still ain’t.

And you wonder why you can never reach anybody with any power in the music business…