GIRL DON’T TELL ME

I can’t tell you how much I liked “California Girls.” I used to ride my cherry red Raleigh with my transistor hanging from the handlebars waiting for the song to come on the radio. And I rode my bike down the hill to Topps discount store to purchase “Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)” the day it came out (I had to walk my bike back up the hill, it wasn’t until years later and the advent of ten speeds that there was a gear low enough so I could pedal up).

Now “Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)” also had the hit version of Help Me Rhonda,” which was far superior to the version on “The Beach Boys Today!” (Two albums with exclamation points in their titles in a row?) But it started with “The Girl From New York City,” an answer song to the Ad Libs’ “The Boy From New York City,” which was good, yet I thought it was superfluous. After that came the roller coaster ride of “Amusement Parks U.S.A.,” which seemed kind of funny sung by guys of this age, you’d figure they’d outgrown them, that’s when I wondered if they were singing for themselves or the market. Then an even more superfluous cover, “Then I Kissed Her.” But the following “Salt Lake City” was magical, maybe because of Brian Wilson’s singing and the change, ending with “we’ll be coming soon.” And at that point I knew about the powder skiing in Alta, but in 1965, no one went on a flight on a whim, the airlines were still regulated, Salt Lake City was still exotic.

And then came “Girl Don’t Tell Me.”

“Hi little girl, it’s me

Don’t you know who I am”

1964 was the summer of “A Hard Day’s Night.” By 1965, the Beatles were part of the firmament, we’d gone from mania to amazement. That an act could be so consistently good. And by this time, for many of us, albums had superseded singles, and this was the summer we all brought our albums to camp.

Now 1964 was the year I had my first girlfriend.

But in 1965, she went to camp in July and I went in August. I could tell you how I stole Jimmy’s girlfriend Jill at the first social after dropping the needle on the Beach Boys’ version of “Do You Wanna Dance,” made special because of Dennis Wilson’s lead vocal…then again, I guess I just did.

Anyway, camp is where I had my first “relationship” experiences. And when I got home from camp, I literally cried. I missed my friends. My mother laughed at me, but that’s just who she was.

But “Girl Don’t Tell Me” is about meeting a girl on summer vacation and then…she doesn’t write back.

“I’m the guy who left you with tears in his eyes

You didn’t answer my letters

So I figured it was just a lie”

Now writing letters was a thing back in the sixties. You’d meet a girl on a trip and correspond…until it ended. I did this with Jill. Some girl in Wisconsin whose name I can’t remember. (I want to remember because you can look everybody up online…you’ve done this, haven’t you?) And I did correspond with Jill, but just for a while.

And eventually she got back together with Jimmy, they both lived in the New Haven area and I didn’t.

I can’t say I was licking my wounds, but the song ends…

“Girl don’t tell me you’ll write

Girl don’t tell me you’ll write

Girl don’t tell me you’ll write me again this time”

There’s all this literature about girls being ghosted, hanging by the telephone back in the day, but it happened to boys too.

But as meaningful as the lyrics are, it’s Carl’s delivery that puts the song over the top. It’s the antithesis of the songs I’ve mentioned above. It’s not in your face, it’s intimate. At this late date “Girl Don’t Tell Me” is my favorite Beach Boys song.

GOD ONLY KNOWS

In the summer of 1966, we took a three week family trip cross-country. We flew, it was my first time on a jet airliner, my father didn’t have the patience to drive, as many other families did.

This was in July. I begged my parents to send me back to Camp Laurelwood in August. My mother kept saying it was full, I didn’t believe her, I thought it was an issue of money. For the record, since we were not part of the New Haven JCC, it would have cost $225, it was $200 if you were a local member.

So, instead I went to Boy Scout camp. Which was on the Connecticut/Massachusetts border.

Camp Pomperaug was about as rustic as it gets. We slept in tents.

Most troops went for a week, but there was a provisional unit for those who went unattached. And we had to pay more. Twenty two dollars per week instead of twenty.

But this provisional unit had a totally different vibe, a different attitude. You see it was peopled by lifers…assuming you consider eight weeks a life. It was looser…although Boy Scout camp was as about as loose and unsupervised as it got. And I was only going to go for a week, but I earned so many merit badges that I stayed a month. My goal was to get to Eagle so I could go to the World Jamboree in Idaho the following summer. I broke the record, fifteen in four weeks, the old one was fourteen in eight weeks. That’s how much I wanted to go. But when I found out that I didn’t have enough status in the council to make it to the Jamboree, it took me more than a year to earn the remaining six merit badges for Eagle…which they said looked good on your college application.

Anyway, there were three guys who ran the provisional unit. Two were teenagers, one was a twentysomething who was a teacher in real life, and he was  great guy. They got to live in a lean-to, and we’d hang out there and…

We were having a conversation, and this guy said “It’s like ‘God Only Knows.'” I didn’t know what he was talking about, not having heard the record. I didn’t buy “Pet Sounds,” it didn’t have enough hits. And it was not legendary until the seventies, despite today’s rewritten history. And then I started to hear “God Only Knows” on the multi-transistor in the lean-to. Magical, you only have to hear it once.”

GOOD VIBRATIONS

I got “Smiley Smile” as a Hanukkah gift from our cleaning lady Jean Moales, who was like a member of the family. She came every Saturday and she babysat us at night, sometimes made fried chicken. I know that’s not a term you can use today, but that’s what we employed sixty years ago.

Of course I knew “Good Vibrations.” And it had so many magical moments. But Carl’s vocal, from the very first “I…” sets a mood that you didn’t get in Top 40 in that era.

Enough has been written about “Good Vibrations,” but you’ve got to know that back in the day it was just another hit record…innovative and great, but even more, unexpected… The Beach Boys were fading on the chart compared to the English upstarts.

WITH ME TONIGHT

Now “Smiley Smile” was a weird album, it had the aforementioned “Good Vibrations” and “Heroes and Villains,” but what can you say about the rest of the record, it was just strange…

The next track I got into was “Vegetables,” which seems a weird concept for a record. But the rhythm, the obtuse lyrics and the harmonies delivered magic.

I’d be lying if I told you I liked all the songs on the LP, but when Carl sings the verses in “With Me Tonight” there’s  a heartfelt element that resonated.

“With me tonight

I know you’re with me tonight”

WONDERFUL

“One, one wonderful”

One step away from smooth, comporting with the rest of “Smiley Smile,” still this song had the bones of something transcendent. Only the Beach Boys could get away with singing about something being “wonderful,” it would be like using the word “fabulous,” positively unhip.

Now the version of “Wonderful” from “The Smile Sessions” is more streamlined, less out there, less rough, but it features the vocal of Brian Wilson, back when he still had his pure voice. The take on the 2004 “Smile” is smoother and more normal, and features one of Brian’s latter-day vocals.

WILD HONEY

I bought the “Wild Honey” album at Alexander’s in Stamford. I went on a rainy day with my mother…she wanted to buy something there, clothing, I don’t remember. And I wanted to buy “Wild Honey,” because of the title track.

Now the LP did have a hit single, “Darlin’,” their second to last hit, but my sister had purchased the single, I don’t know why, because at this point she’d pretty much  given up on buying records, I was the main purchaser, but occasionally a single would resonate…

Anyway, I’d heard “Wild Honey” on the radio and become infected and…

“Wild Honey” marks the return of the electro-theremin from “Good Vibrations,” but it’s also got Carl’s emphatic vocal, the complete opposite of his work on “Girl Don’t Tell Me.” He was goosed, akin to Paul McCartney singing those covers like “Twist and Shout” and “Long Tall Sally,” but not really, and this was not expected from Carl…

And there’s that line “Gettin’ sweeter (and sweeter)”.

I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER

This was back when he was still known as Little Stevie Wonder, he didn’t become the Stevie Wonder of today until 1972’s “Music of My Mind” and the tour opening for the Rolling Stones.

But Stevie did have hits, and I knew “I Was Made to Love Her,” but it was a different production, much sweeter and Stevie was emphatic, but Carl pushes it just a bit further in the Beach Boys’ take, Carl sounds like he’s at his limit, like a guy in a band at the sock hop doing his best to overcome the din.

Now Stevie’s version is superior, but it’s a great, at this point forgotten, song that could be done faithfully by anybody successfully, but what puts the Beach Boys’ take over the top is Carl pushing and pushing it, beyond the point of belief…what I mean is it’s like someone’s grabbing his package, he’s singing like his life depends on it, and you can feel it.

And there’s those great lines…

“You know my papa disapproved it

My mama boo-hooed it”

And…

“Oh, even if the mountain tumbles

If this whole world crumbles

By her side I’ll be standing there”

Whew!!

DARLIN’

They played this regularly on WDRC Hartford, both AM & FM. ’68 was the year FM burgeoned, I got a Columbia stereo, with detachable speakers, Milt worked for the company and got it for me for $100 (my parents paid, not me…but at this point music had superseded everything but skiing for me, and it was just as important to nearly everybody). And this Columbia unit had an FM tuner, so I’d spend time on the dial listening to all of the nascent FM stations popping up that year. We’d listen to WDRC AM in the car when passing through Hartford on the way to Vermont. We’d convince my father to let us listen to our music… That would never last long, he’d freak out and push the button and we knew to shut up, he was at his limit. And did your father listen to Monitor too?

But despite all that, I never really loved “Darlin’,” it wasn’t a breakthrough like what had come before.

I CAN HEAR MUSIC

Jimi Hendrix, Cream… It wasn’t so much that the Beach Boys were passé at this point, just that they’d stopped making great records. As a hard core fan it caused me to wince, and I didn’t even buy “Friends,” which Brian ultimately called his favorite, which I still can’t fathom today.

However, by time “20/20” was released, it was clear that Brian was off on his own personal hejira… Hell, he wasn’t even on the cover. So how high could one’s expectations be? But by this time, there was now rock news…that’s how big and powerful the music was, and we learned that the Beach Boys were covering “Cotton Fields”…huh?

But I read enough, and I liked the opening cut, “Do It Again,” which was the Boys’ last big hit, so I purchased the album, but…

This cover of the Ronettes’ “I Can Hear Music” was mellifluous, had the feeling of honey, because of Carl’s vocal. This portended the direction the Boys were going in… Carl was starting to take control, he produced this.

CABINESSENCE

The “Smile” leftover…

And it sounded like it, in a good way. “Cabinessence” tested limits, was innovative, whereas the rest of the album was moving in the opposite direction, towards safe.

What did “cabinessence” mean? And what about that maelstrom in the middle?

And then the finale…

There was something there that drew you in, made you think, made you want to go even deeper. This was the music of the late sixties, the absolute opposite of today’s made by committee in-your-face dreck. If it doesn’t have the potential to be a hit, the company is not interested. As for those off the radar screen experimenting… Don’t forget that Brian paid a lot of dues before he widened the vista, he was building on bedrock.

THIS WHOLE WORLD

“Sunflower” was supposed to be the comeback, the group had moved from Capitol to Warner Bros., the king of album rock. But the Beach Boys were neither fish nor fowl, not quite hip, although they started to come back in the public consciousness after this, appearing the closing night of the Fillmore East in June 1971 with the Allman Brothers…I listened to the simulcast, I was proud. But I’ve got to let you know, the Allmans were a surprise headliner to most, I knew “Idlewild South” from college, but most people were unaware until the subsequent release of “At Fillmore East.”

Now ultimately the Carl-led act became an arena fixture, even releasing a double live album, but it was based primarily on the sixties hits, and then came the greatest hits double album “Endless Summer,” which became a surprise blockbuster, cementing the Beach Boys’ place in the firmament forever, but really as an oldies act and…

“Sunflower” is a surprise, a tear, and that also describes the opening cut, the Dennis co-write (with Gregg Jakobson) “Slip On Through,” which Dennis also sang, before his voice turned gruff. Pure magic.

But really, the opening three cuts are all killers, as if the band had something to prove, and that they did. These are songs I sing in my head to this day.

The third of the trilogy was “Add Some Music to Your Day,” which was supposed to be the breakthrough, the hyped in advance single that was supposed to bring the Beach Boys back…but it didn’t.

“Music

When you’re alone

Is like a companion

For your lonely soul”

Ain’t that the truth.

But here we’re talking about the track sandwiched in between “Slip On Through” and “Add Some Music to Your Day.”

“This Whole World” has got the sunniness of Southern California, but unlike on “Wild Honey” and “I Was Made to Love Her,” Carl is not pushing it, he’s sweet and confident and it all resonates.

And then there’s the bridge, absent from today’s hits but a feature of yesteryear:

“When girls get mad at boys and go

Many times they’re just putting on a show

But when they leave, you wait alone”

Solid.

IT’S ABOUT TIME

Talk about a tear…

“I used to be a famous artist

Proud as I could be

Struggling to express myself

For the whole world to see

I used to blow my mind sky high

Searching for the lost elation

Little did I know the joy I was to find

In knowing I am only me”

Self-knowledge. Not putting themselves in the shoes of the audience, but being themselves. This was the seventies, an era of self-examination, but it was not expected from the Beach Boys.

“Oh, the creation, yeah

Of a good time doing my part

With an open-hearted laugh

Of realization in my mind

And now I’m but a child who art

Erect in humility

Serving out a love for everyone I meet

In truth who are really me”

Maybe a bit too touchy-feely for you, however…once again, it’s not about fame, but introspection, finding meaning in your life, knowing riches and fame are not enough. Then again, it’s from the point of view of the other side, whereas so much music is from the middle, empty-feeling questioning era.

And as if the rest of the track is not great enough, there’s this bridge, which no one could execute but the Beach Boys, it sounds exactly like them:

“No, no, no, no, no, no

It’s about time now

It’s about time now

It’s about time now

Don’t you know now

It’s about time now

It’s about time now

It’s about time now

Don’t you know now

It’s about time we get together

To be out front and love one another

Brothers, sisters, everybody

We better start to help each other now

We need it now”

The pure sound is the essence of music, it exists in its own rarefied atmosphere, but it ends up resonating more than that which is trying to convince, to close you.

And then the whole track explodes.

A tour-de-force.

FEEL FLOWS

Well, that didn’t work. “Sunflower,” I mean. So the group went back to the mines and…

The thought was to resurrect “Surf’s Up” and promote the hell out of the song previously only heard on a Leonard Bernstein TV special as being a masterpiece.

And then there were the au courant tunes, “Don’t Go Near the Water,” about ecology, and the self-explanatory “Student Demonstration Time,” and suddenly the Beach Boys had commercial as well as critical success, despite the “Surf’s Up” album not being as good as “Sunflower.”

But “Surf’s Up” does contain one gem, which I thought only I knew until Don Was featured it in his Brian Wilson film back in the nineties.

“‘Til I Die” is the essence of the Brian Wilson sound, there’s not another act that can do this, nor another act who has come close to this. This is the California mentality for the seventies as opposed to the sixties. Instead of hedonism, it’s contemplation.

Used to be my favorite Beach Boys track, but I played it so much and now as I stated above, “Girl Don’t Tell Me” is the one I like best, not that I like “‘Til I Die” any less.

A stunning achievement.

And Carl’s one of the three vocalists on “‘Til I Die,” and he’s hearable, but it’s the mass vocals/singing/harmonies that are most magical, but Carl’s peak on “Surf’s Up” is the second side opener, “Feel Flows,” cowritten with Jack Rieley who insinuated himself into the band to the point where he had a vocal in “A Day in the Life of a Tree” before the act ultimately woke up and jettisoned him, but…

Unlike the sixties hits, there was nothing obvious in “Feel Flows,” Carl was not trying to impress us. “Feel Flows” is sui generis, there’s not another song like it, and it opens up the second side of the album like an early morning wake-up call. And it evolves into what might have been called “experimental” in the late sixties, but this section of the track was more exploration, more journey than excess.

LONG PROMISED ROAD

Also co-written with Rieley, the interesting thing is “Long Promised Road” starts positively seventies, latter-day Beach Boys, and then hearkens back to the sixties heyday.

MARCELLA

The last song on the first side of the double-album package “Carl and the the Passions — ‘So Tough,'” “Marcella” is positively SHOCKING!

There were only days left in the spring semester of junior year. I purchased “Carl and the the Passions — ‘So Tough'” because the band was on a roll. But to say the studio album was forgettable…it truly was.

This was the beginning of the full court push of the “Pet Sounds” renaissance, it was the second disc of this double album.

And I hadn’t owned “Pet Sounds” previously, as stated above, yet it was the new material I was interested in.

So I drop the needle, the opening cut is supposed to be the best, at least great, right? But the hyped in advance “You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone” missed the target nearly completely. I mean REALLY? How out of touch could you be? Didn’t anybody know this was subpar, and if they did… In any event, this did not portend good things.

And good things did not come. “Here She Comes” was a Flame song, with no Wilson, never mind Love, involved. Good, but this was not what we were looking for, how thin was the vault, how light was the creativity, to include a song written and sung by people associated with the band, but not members.

The third track, “He Come Down”…this is really going in the wrong direction, this is a far cry from “Sunflower” and “Surf’s Up.”

And then comes “Marcella.”

It’s like being in the desert and stumbling upon an oasis.

It’s like reconnecting with an old love and not only having it go smoothly, but realizing it’s everything you ever wanted.

I mean “Marcella” is a complete return to form, hearkening back to the sixties, yet not dated.

It starts with a brief flourish out of a carnival but very soon thereafter goes into an hypnotic chorus, but it’s the background vocals that put it over the top.

And the verse delivers, with adult lyrics, a bit cryptic, but far from the surface, beach, fun, fun, fun words of the sixties.

And then the chorus returns. But it’s like they’re singing rounds, it’s elementary school singing on steroids, this is the peak of the paradigm, and then the synth notes deliver an exquisite palate cleanser, and then we’re back into it.

And then there’s even a guitar break, not overdoing it, but not so simple that anyone could deliver it, and then nearly sotto voce…

“One arm over my shoulder

Sandals dance at my feet

Eyes that’ll knock you right over

Ooh, Marcella’s so sweet”

Ad infinitum as the band slowly marches over the hill and disappears and you have no option but to pick up the needle and listen to “Marcella” again. And again. And AGAIN!

Now this was in the days when you had to buy it to hear it. And few bought this double album. So it was a personal treat. If only others could hear it, if only they could play it on the radio, this is a HIT!

But I never found anyone else who knew “Marcella.”

But the internet has brought “Marcella” back from the dead, people know it now.

All that naysaying about the internet?

Hogwash.

“Marcella” is not the only obscurity the internet has surfaced, they were land mines just waiting for attention, and now they’ve gotten them.

THE TRADER

A ton of money spent, shipping all that gear overseas, as well as the families, all to come back with nothing resembling a hit. And then they reached out to recluse Brian and he delivered the opening cut for “Holland,” probably their most memorable late-period track, the Blondie Chaplin sung “Sail On Sailor.”

“The Trader” opens the second side of “Holland” in the same way “Long Promised Road” opened the second side of “Surf’s Up.” But it hits the ground running as opposed to being subtle, and the song is good, with memorable sections, the same but with different lyrics, like this:

“Banish them from our prairies and our hillsides

Clear them from our mountains and our seasides

Or want them off our lakes, so please reply

Signed, sincerely” 

And then halfway through the song it switches completely, Carl is no longer emphatic, but sweet.

“Making it softly

Like the evening sea

Trying to be”

And the song concludes with:

“Reason to continue

Reason to go on

Reason to live”

FUNKY PRETTY

“Funky

I still remember funky pretty”

There’s the magic, not quite three minutes into the song, Carl is positively wistful.

GOOD TIMIN’

The last hurrah. The last great Beach Boys song. Rescued from the vaults and finished to counteract the band’s disco foray with “Here Comes the Night.” Very few can follow trends and survive. The Stones did it. Rod Stewart…had success after “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy,” but he lost all credibility with the fans who built and supported him.

The Beach Boys released an oldies album, did a TV special with Aykroyd and Beulshi, they told us Brian was back, but he wasn’t.

But with “Good Timin’,” co-written with Carl and sung by the youngest Wilson brother, there was a complete return to form. Not as good as “Sail On Sailor,” but close.

FULL SAIL

The best song on “L.A. (Light Album)” after “Good Timin'” was “Angel Come Home,” co-written by Carl with Geoffrey Cushing-Murray, but sung by Dennis. Heartfelt. Utterly fantastic. Dennis’s voice was now rough, but that just added gravitas here, and then there’s the chorus, and backup vocals with the magic of “Marcella.”

Carl also wrote “Full Sail” with Geoffrey Cushing-Murray, but this starts off incredibly stripped-down and naked, a great vehicle for Carl’s sweet voice. And the record builds, but it’s Carl’s wistful vocal that makes the track.

BABY BLUE

Written by Dennis, Gregg Jakobson and Dennis’s then girlfriend, Karen Lamm (Dennis’s cool and charisma were irresistible), Carl takes the lead vocal on this 

“Baby Blue” sounds like the late night of the lyrics, but it’s the ending where the magic resides.

“Baby, baby blue

Baby blue eyes I love you new

I hold you in my dreams tonight

Hold you ’til morning light”

And then the coda…

This is the essence of adult Carl Wilson.

The marketplace was about to change completely. Rock had become corporate and then disco crashed and the entire business was depressed until MTV came along to rescue it.

And very shortly thereafter, although there were great albums, it was definitely about the single once again…which not only had to be great, you ultimately needed a great video too.

But before that, at the end of seventies, the album-dominant era… You could reach for the stars and if it wasn’t radio-friendly that didn’t matter, as long as you reached those who broke the shrinkwrap and listened at home.

Not everybody was listening to the Beach Boys at the end of the decade. But those who were realized it was Carl’s vision and talent shepherding their process.

You can’t find this sound anywhere today.

Will people study it years from now?

I don’t know…

But they should.

Amy has a new album, “The Me That Remains.”

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amy-grant/id1316200737?i=1000769983611

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/4a70e0cc-b93a-41f9-bb28-9efff9097d55/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-amy-grant

From: Lincoln Myerson

Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

Hey Bob-

I’m late to your post on Willie. (I blame the international timeline despite being a day ahead of you here in New Zealand but I digress) I thought I’d share my anecdote nonetheless.  You might enjoy it.

I brought Willie to McCabe’s for the first time in 2006 or 2007.

I’d  been a fan since the mid 80s when, while working at the old Rhino record store on Westwood, I got hipped to that first Arista record of his.

Cut to 2006 and I’m at my first SXSW as the new booker for McCabe’s.

I’d seen Willie at a daytime party and loved what he was doing and after the show tried to get him to play McCabe’s. He wasn’t so sure. Didn’t really get out to the West Coast that much yada yada.

I gave him my card and left it at that.

The next day I went to see a Ray Davies interview/Q&A at the convention center. Turns out about 5000 people had the same idea and the line stretched out around the block. I gave up on that and started heading out when I heard “Pssst! Hey McCabe’s” and then, slyly… “cuts?”

Willie and I were the last two admitted before they cut off the line.
10 minutes of us fanboying over the Kinks while in line and the dye was cast. Willie was at McCabe’s later that year.

A real rock n roll lifer.

And gem of a human being.

A goofy side note- my father was a TV and film director.

He directed Private Lessons which features a Willie track on the end credits.

Take care Bob.
Until the next time,
Lincoln

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From: Meg Griffin

Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

My True Friend in RocknRoll!  The unstoppable Willie Nile!

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Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

Back in 2013 and we had tickets for Ian Hunter at the City Winery, flying in from Oklahoma. There was a blizzard arriving the same time we were so we changed our flight to a day earlier. We decided to see what was happening at the winery. The scheduled band couldn’t make it as the snow was coming down heavily. So, I guess they called up Willie who made the short trip from his home and did a hell of a solo show. We had the window view of the beautiful snow falling and Willie Nile singing his beautiful song “The Crossing” at the piano. It was magical memory.

Steve Walker

Tulsa

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From: Steve Martin

Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

Hi Bob,

I so glad you saw Willie at McCabes and slightly surprised he hadn’t come across your radar earlier.

I first saw Willie in Central Park in 1980.

The Arista album had come out,with quite a buzz.

And he killed that night.

He was —and still is- one of the best live artists,ever.

I’ve seen him countless times over the years & he has never disappointed.

He’s a truly gifted songwriter,dynamic performer & a true gentleman.

Glad you gave him a spotlight.

 

Write on, my friend.

Best,

Steve

#UAP

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Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

I saw Willie Nile at the Bottom Line when the first album came out.  The record label did not know how to promote him and the record got lost.  I moved on to other artists until 2006 when Streets of New York came out.  Simply a fantastic album and one of my five favorites of this century..

I saw him at Joe’s Pub two weeks ago.  It was the first time I had seen him since I saw him at City Winery several years ago.  At that show Congressman Joe Crowley, who lost in a primary to AOC a year later, came out to sing with him on “One Guitar”.

The show at Joe’s pub was solo and was terrific.  Interesting thing was he knew half the audience and was calling people out by name.

He truly is a NYC treasure and deserves as much recognition as possible.

Adam Gerstein

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Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

Worked as an Arista label mgr at
EMI Sweden, when the 1st Willie Nile album surfaced on my desk. Loved the first listen and still love it

hasse breitholtz

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Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

I had the privilege of seeing Willie a few years ago at the Grammy Museum in L.A. Great show and talk back. Been a huge Willie guy since the early NYC days. Seems he was always playing the Bottom Line, Max’s Kansas City, etc. He still rocks and is 100% the real deal. He should give seminars to the current crop of rock artists to show ‘em how it’s done with integrity and courage.

All the best,

Larry Laffer
Malibu, CA

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From: Michael Leonard

Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

Thanks for this heads up on Willie, whom I most definitely never heard of until now. Sadly.

I know you said not to run to Spotify to check out his albums but that advice i decided to ignore. Thankfully.

Goddamn there’s some certified BANGERS on his last several albums! “The Great Yellow Light”, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “New York at Night” all burst with such vital old school rockin energy. Willie and his band would most definitely fit along side a playlist or concert with the Black Crowes, Whiskey Myers, Blackberry Smoke or the Stones.

His lyrics didn’t loose any bite at all with his band – including a new favorite of mine, a duet with Steve Earle, “Wake Up America”.  Not only bites, it’s a kick in the teeth.

Wake up America
Rise and shine
The sun’s going down
And it’s all on the line
Wake up America
Red, white and blue
You used to be great
What happened to you? …
Wake up America
Land of the free
Are you everything
That you say you want to be?

Thanks Bob. Here’s hoping Willie has got the same longevity as is Pop!

Michael Leonard, Portland Maine.

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Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

For the Streets Of New York album, Willie came to play for the staff at the SonyBMG branch office. As awkward as office performances can be, he was utterly amazing and blew the team sway. Afterwards, Willie couldn’t have been kinder to everyone (even me, a lowly college rep at the time). Became a fan for life.

The standout track for me on that album is “Cellphones Ringing In The Pockets Of The Dead” (which stemmed from the bombings at the train station in Madrid, Spain). When I visited the station a few years after that performance, that song was in my head & further drove home the impact of his writing. A surreal & powerful moment, which is what great art (like Willie’s) should make you feel.

Later had the pleasure of booking Willie & Johnny Pisano for a private late-night party during Folk Alliance (you remember the setup – artists play 30 minute sets in hotel rooms while conference attendees watch). Will never forget watching Willie sing & jump on the bed in the room – no one was having a better time that night than him!

Mike Fordham

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Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

Bob,

This was shared with me by someone who knows I’m a fan and friend of Willie Nile

You captured how I feel perfectly.

I little more than dozen years ago, I was dragged by my father-in-law, with my wife and two young daughters, to a small venue in the DC suburbs. My father-in-law had been been following Willie for decades and had asked enough times that we couldn’t say no. We should have listened sooner.

He had his full band and they rocked. His base player, Johnny Pizano is a talent. They, especially Willie brought magic. My then 8 year old ended up on stage for his closing anthem, One Guitar. We have been a fans since.

We’ve probably seen him play 20+ times in a half dozen venues. Mostly with his band but also solo. You are spot on… We have had him to play two (business) client events and done two unplugged shows for close friends in our home  We had our kids’ talented piano teacher join for a few songs. Very cool to watch musicians who haven’t played together figure it out. Clip attached.

I think some of his songs could be perfect in a movie soundtrack.

I imagine you know he is a musician’s musician, with relationships with many big names. Springsteen has jumped on stage at multiple Willie Nile shows- lots on YouTube. I would think a shout out from a big name or two could give Willie a nice boost. Maybe if he was invited on stage on a tour to play one of his songs like One Guitar with a superstar…

Separate from his talent, he is a special human being. I’m not in the music business. I have this idea that one break could help him catch fire and maybe get him into an elevator building…

Long way of saying, I appreciate what you wrote. If you find yourself in DC when Wille is here, feel free to reach out and join us for a show. For that matter, we have and will travel if the logistics work.

Best regards,

Peter Glassman

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Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

Thanks Bob

A long overdue tribute.

I’ve seen Willie three times in London, both with the band, electric and also on his own ( maybe plus 1?), acoustic.

He is criminally underrated and plays clubs here so small I doubt he can pay his hotel bill!

He has some fab songs of his own and his Dylan covers album is a gem.

Love him!

 

Adam AB Pollock

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From: Jason Cilo

Subject: Re: Re-Willie Nile

Just think, with those genes, Willie’s got another THIRTY YEARS to rock!

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From: nancy barnum

Subject: Herb Alpert….the 91 year old we all aspire to be

Hi Bob,

Thanks to your review of Herb Alpert some months back, I was motivated to see if his tour would be coming nearby and sure enough, he had a date in Rochester NY, a mere 90 minutes away. The show was 5 days ago and I am STILL euphoric over the musicianship, the memories and the fact a 91 year old guy can still blow with the best of them!   I don’t remember how much I paid for the tickets but it was a bargain at any price! I see by your mailbag he’s talking about a European tour next year…that would absolutely be a show worth dealing with the inconveniences of traveling to experience again. Thank you for keeping us all informed and thinking…about music, books, cinema, television and the current political hellscape.

All the best,

Nancy Barnum

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From: John-Angus MacDonald

Subject: Jack Douglas

Hey Bob!

Jack was the best. We hired him to produce our second album, Den of Thieves, back in 2005. We were still a pretty young band at the time — I was only 24 when we made that album — but Jack was a great guide in the studio. He loved to tell stories and have a laugh, but he was also able to crack the whip and keep us on task. And the record turned out great. It was a big hit for us in Canada.

We hired him because we loved the work he did on Aerosmith’s 2004 album, Honkin’ on Bobo. Put on that opening track, Road Runner, again — if it doesn’t have you grinning ear to ear and bopping along, you haven’t got a pulse!

He went on a good run after that record, doing our record next, followed by the New York Dolls comeback record, One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, which is also a damn good record — easily their second best after the debut, which he also had a huge hand in making.

What a legend of a man he was. I really enjoyed the interview you did with him for your podcast a few years back. Another great one gone. May he rest in peace.

~ John-Angus MacDonald (The Trews)

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From: Chip Dorsch

Subject: Harry Styles in Amsterdam

I’m here in the 2nd weekend. Anyone bitching about the stage / view is only here for instagram, or I bet if we dig they bitch about everything on twitter or whatever it’s called. Somehow, and it’s beyond my comprehension, but the silent majority is louder. There is truly nothing to complain about with this show. There are accommodations for everyone. Gender neutral bathrooms. Everything. Air conditioning (we all take it for granted!) and even f*cking ice (when requested). Champagne problems but you get the point, if my lil issues are being accommodated, just imagine how they are treating this with actual needs. With kindness. It’s not just a lyric, it’s a business strategy. I don’t understand why we all don’t follow it. Money is awesome. But can we all just f*cking chill out and make it at least SECOND to kindness!?!  If you’re reading this, you’re either a real music head, a kid rock fan who’s here to troll bob or probably rich – and if not, you’re much more comfortable than basic needs. His band is multi-racial, mostly women and has a keys player in a f*cking wheelchair. And the story is the stage got in my way?!?  F*ck off!  Harry runs a marathon+ a night. The marathons we’ve read about online are just him warming up. He runs more during a show than most of us do in a lifetime to make sure everyone feels connected and seen…and spends an unusual but appreciated amount of his time on stage expressing his gratitude. Even when singing it, it’s often with direct eye contact. These complainers clearly see the bridges of his stage as a barrier. And anyone amplifying it as a story is part of the problem and missing the f*cking point. Can we all stop amplifying hateful sh*t and take a f*cking second to look for the meaning?!?

Full disclose:  Card carrying homo here. He’s f*cking gorgeous. Even my straight male friends can acknowledge that. Also, I’m not a Harry fan girl or whatever they’re called. I’m a music manager with real industry perspective who chose to spend my own money and Memorial Day weekend seeing 2 shows. I have to ask all of your readers… WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS???

Chip Dorsch, Red Light Management

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From: Amanda Palmer

Re: AI Protests

Hey Bob –

So so right on about this one.

Just yesterday my mgmt team had to reach out to Spotify to get some horrific AI slop animation video taken down as the background for all the songs on the The Dresden Dolls 2006 record we are about to re-release. It looked horrible and wasn’t there even a few weeks ago. Why? Who knows who put it there….and what they were thinking? For sure: the band wasn’t consulted. I was pissed. It wasn’t about the AI so much as the lack of agency, control. We’re a band who tried so hard to exercise artistic control and there’s our beloved logo, which held a lot of emotional meaning and was deliberately made to read hand-drawn (it was, my me, in a tour bus in 2005)….there it was, looking like a badly animated spinning AI joke.

This really struck me, what you said, re: the molotov cocktail:

“People only react when it affects them directly. People feel their futures are bleak, and that’s what they’re reacting to.”

I have been reflecting lately on the times I’ve been personally caught in the crossfire of a cultural moment – more than I can count now – and this sentiment seems to be the big common denominator.

My infamous 2012 Kickstarter kerfuffle (when people got on my case about a tour in which I asked my fans to bring their instruments and play on stage with my touring band in exchange for tickets and merch and glory) did not happen in a vacuum.

It happened RIGHT at a time when young gigging musicians were facing the aftershocks of the 2008 recession. If you’d just spent serious dough on a music education and you were trying to bust into the music profession in 2012, getting a gig was looking increasingly bleak. There was nobody to directly be pissed at; the conditions just sucked at that moment. And along comes this lady (hi) who had just optically made a million on Kickstarter (even though it all went to pay for the project and the goods, etc) looking for – on the surface – unpaid labor. You just graduated Juilliard or Berklee, you can’t find a paid gig, and there’s nobody to yell at and then you see someone like me asking for volunteers. Whether or not the gun was badly aimed at me. I get it: how tone deaf it must have felt to other musicians; I really do.

I wasn’t looking for unpaid labor, really, I was just hoping to do what we’d always done as a scrappy punk band, which was to get the local community involved as much as possible…I had a paid crew and a paid touring band, etc.

But the optics…the optics were that I was a gazillionaire getting unpaid labor using my beguiling witchy grifter ways.

I think about this a lot with the AI….the collision could not be coming at a worse time.

The internet was supposed to make things FAIR. It was gonna educate everybody, help everybody, make everything accessible. Revolutions against governments happened on twitter. It would be great, it would flatten the artistic playing field.

It didn’t happen. We all clicked “I agree to the terms and conditions” having no idea what we were selling off to platforms that seemed utopian. There were no ads on early twitter. NONE. For YEARS. We didn’t think about how the bill would come due.

Then….the money didn’t flow into the middle, it flowed straight to the top. This is exactly what I was hoping we would all avoid, post-Napster. I was hoping the people would all move to more of a middle class economy for artists, a meritocracy based on artistic have and need, from the avant-garde to the pop world…some utopian global street-theater mindset, imagining consumers sharing their small disposable incomes via the internet. I imagined the common person putting money down on the various artists they enjoyed and discovered, from the large to the little local ones….all in direct proportion.

No way. Spotify and the streaming giants have squashed that possibility.

There were missed opportunities for sure. We could have done what the publishing industry did, what the movie industry did, and locked things up, hard, and early. We didn’t. I put my hand up as one of the responsible ones, here. Trent Reznor and Bono both came and grumbled at me that I was ruining the ecosystem by espusing a “just give it away, and ask” approach, and I pooh-pooh’ed them as old-school dudes who didn’t understand that the genie couldn’t be put back in the bottle. But they were kinda right: my TED talk (my defense of Kickstarter, and of “giving things away, then asking for help, do the grand trust fall! The net will appear!”) was missing one main key factor: not only does the audience has to be on board…. so do the corporations,and more importantly: the monetizing internet itself has to play the game, and it didn’t. HOW was I giving my music away? YouTube. Twitter. Somewhere, somewhere, some company was hosting and distributing my “free” content and waiting to strike, then frack.

The bill has come due.

There was Flattr, for a while, created by Peter Sunde from The Pirate Bay (he wound up doing jail time), which would have distributed the download/subscription wealth among all creators in a way that Spotify doesn’t, but it sank due to lack of critical mass. Not enough people got on board to float it.

And then there’s this handful of hyper-social ADHD artists like me willing to be super-interactive and present, ready to basically run a community center and an open-kimono art workshop in a bid to get people to support the whole life of an artist directly, and hey, I’m doing great, I have 25,000 patrons paying $5-$750 a month and I make a solid salary and pay my team well.

But it isn’t alway replicable. Most musicians and songwriters I know can’t organize their way out of a paper bag…..nor should they. THEY’RE ARTISTS. And I spend way more of my time running a small company than I do making songs and art. Wah wah, you say, poor rich artist. But it’s true: running a full time crowdfund takes a ton of attention, time, energy, and money…it’s not for everyone.

This gets us back to the AI & the moment; it’s about the health of the existing arts economy NOW. It blows. Arts funding is getting slashed everywhere, at the city, state and federal levels. Young artists I talk to don’t understand the idea of not wanting a brand endorsement as an amazing thing, a golden ring. My 90s DIY self dies a million deaths when I hear them talk about where their dough is gonna come from.

But you’re right, in a nutshell: it’s a mess, corporations rule, people know, and people are PISSED. They feel powerless. Artists feel powerless and so do the ordinary people who love listening to music. Nobody feels like they can control their reality. It feels so hard to get away from the corporate tithe.

AI may not – in retrospect, like twenty years from now – wind up being as satanic as people are currently making it out to be (though I think it’s pretty satanic and meanwhile we are totally missing the mark on where to put the guardrails), but for the moment, for sure, it’s the perfect target for all this caged rage that has nowhere else to aim itself.

Amanda Palmer

The Dresden Dolls

p.s. This is also where I plug subvert.fm, where a lot of my musician/songwriter friends are currently trying to point people as an alternative to this sh*tshow. If I can make one small change in this industry, maybe we can all put our attention there, place our bets, and make a change for the better.

A reality TV star who’s bad at business?

That sounds like a perfect candidate to be mayor of Los Angeles.

Never mind that Los Angeles is essentially an ungovernable city where the mayor has little power, as evidenced in this article by Steve Lopez in the “Los Angeles Times:

“Spencer Pratt, please call me. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into”:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-23/la-mayoral-hopeful-spencer-pratt-is-making-big-splash-but-can-he-swim

Now the truth is if you can find someone who lovingly and full-throatily supports Karen Bass, they must be related to her.

As for the rest of us…

Can I fault her for being overseas when the fires hit? I mean who has that foresight? Then again, Monday morning quarterbacks have all the answers.

As for the empty reservoir… I’ve got to ask you, when are you supposed to fix a reservoir? I’ll tell you, in the rainy season, when fire is least likely to happen, which is what was being done.

And now it turns out that the fire was set and the fire department did a poor job of monitoring the exhaustion of this fire such that it smoldered and reignited and ultimately there was a conflagration. Do we need to re-evaluate and hold responsible those at the fire department? Definitely.

But also note that it took nearly a year to find out the facts, while everybody rushes to judgment.

As for the homeless problem… The unhoused got smart, they went where the weather suited their clothes, where it never goes below freezing, and that is the streets of Los Angeles. The homeless are not migrating to Buffalo nor Sioux Falls.

As for what should be done with the homeless… It’s a thorny problem. We live in the richest country in the world but we’ve devolved into a nation where everybody must pull themselves up by their bootstraps…if you get cancer, if you run out of money, if you’re mentally ill, it’s your fault.

So what are supposed to do about the homeless? That’s a good question. But if you’re faulting the Los Angeles government for having compassion for these people…

I’m not saying I like seeing people tented in Hollywood, it’s creepy. But if there were an instant, easy solution, it would have been found and executed.

So now Spencer Pratt is channeling the anger of the populace. And the populace is angry.

But this is the same situation we had with Trump. Adding in an aged Biden who was too dumb to go and a replacement candidate Harris who was so inauthentic that she basically handed the election to Trump.

And how is that working out?

Trump has abysmal ratings. And seems not to care about the economic problems of the hoi polloi, never mind believing the law doesn’t apply to him.

Of course Trump has supporters.

But who exactly is supporting Spencer Pratt?

Certainly not fans of “The Hills,” where he played a villain. As for his business acumen…this is a guy who made millions and squandered them. This is the guy you want to put in charge of the government?

But Pratt does have name recognition and is employing modern media, i.e. the internet, to gain mindshare. But does he have to be supported by the Grainges?

Of all things to come out for… This doofus?

I mean David Foster has retained his talent but has squandered all credibility with his reality TV appearances and in true Hollywood fashion he’s somewhat connected to Pratt… He was married to Linda Thompson, whose son Brody is close friends with Pratt.

That’s Hollywood. Where nepotism reigns supreme.

But Foster is a lone wolf, whereas the Grainges are responsible for nearly half of all music production in America. They represent more than themselves.

And now you’ve got Trump supporting Pratt and I don’t see the Grainges distancing themselves from Spencer.

Don’t tell me it’s a personal choice, that’s not the world we live in.

Pratt is a Republican… Which means the odds of him winning the mayorship are miniscule in super-blue Los Angeles. You can see the latest odds here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/polls/los-angeles-mayor-election-polls-2026.html

I’m not saying Pratt can’t win, but just imagine if he did…

Not only must we ask what government/leadership skills Pratt possesses, but his monetary skills and people skills…

Is this who we really want for mayor?

Of course not.

I can understand wanting to throw a spanner in the works, there is frustration with L.A.’s governance, but why support a nincompoop? Why not get involved in the process and support a better, experienced Democratic candidate? Or throw your money down for Bass… We all know money gives you access and power.

And we’ve already seen this movie with Rick Caruso… Who spent $104 million trying to become mayor and failed. But at least it was his own money. Donating to Pratt… That’s who I want as mayor, a guy who blew through all his money and is now monetizing his appearances on TikTok.

All you fat cats, you need to distance yourself from Pratt. How can you be so out of touch, you’re akin to the tech bros being vilified by the younger generation for their AI efforts.

And it’s the younger generation who disproportionately support the music industry.

And if Pratt is so appealing to the notoriously left-leaning music business, how come no one else has lined up in support of him?

Rather we’ve got fat cats who are all about using their money and influence to tilt the table in their favor. People like the Winklevoss crypto-bros and the beloved Sean Rad, founder of Tinder.

The Grainges support of Pratt is a bad look.

Probably Elliott is friends with Spencer and they didn’t think twice about supporting him, I don’t know for sure, yet that’s how it works in politics. But now that Pratt is all over the news the Grainges’ support is trumpeted in all the media that thrives on this long shot candidacy to sell advertising.

I didn’t see the Grainges come out against ICE. I didn’t see them taking public positions on the White House ballroom or the slush fund or… Why Pratt?

Once again, L.A. has issues. And Harris has a low profile. But that does not mean you throw the baby out with the bathwater.

But the Democratic party has lost control of the narrative, which today is established online. It’s all about creativity. But the Democratic candidates keep asking us for dollars for television advertising…who exactly watches broadcast TV these days? My phone is burning up with requests for money… Not until they start living in the twenty twenties…I’m not giving them a f*cking dollar.

But that does not mean I support Pratt.

And you shouldn’t either.

As for those who do… They need to be called out. These tax-evaders who just want to make the game work for themselves…

And one more thing, the billionaire tax.

I was actually going to vote against this tax, but after reading the below, I’m not so sure.

You MUST read this story:

“The Case for California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax”: 

Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/26/opinion/wealth-tax-california-billionaire.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lVA.6x7K.AyDLG_idtHFw&smid=url-share

Here’s the key point:

“California’s billionaires currently pay such a low tax rate that even if all of them left the state, it would take 25 years for the loss of their tax payments under the current set of rules to surpass the amount the state would raise if the one-time tax succeeds this fall.”

We keep hearing all these protestations about the rich paying a disproportionate share of taxes, but these billionaires borrow against their holdings and the increase in their wealth is not taxed.

Read this:

“From 2019 to 2025, California billionaires’ wealth grew an average of over 15 percent per year, while they paid, on average, just 0.26 percent of their wealth annually in state income taxes. Their income tax payments accounted for only 2.4 percent of California’s income tax revenue.”

So what we’ve got here is oligarchs and idiots struggling for power while the rest of us are powerless and getting more and more pissed.

How did Stealer’s Wheel put it?

I’m stuck in the middle with you. And if you don’t agree with me, you’re on the wrong side.