From: John David Souther
Subject: Thanks from JD Souther

Bob,

Nothing appeals to me like a maverick and you definitely don’t wear anyone’s brand but your own.

You’re one of a kind writing has cracked me up, made me scratch my head and look for the material covered, and now filled me with surprise and gratitude.

The Bordertown piece was a powerhouse of praise (thank you), information (some of which I’d not thought of in years), opinion (shot from the hip but deadly), and critique (accurate-You’re Only Lonely, as an album, was an attempt to put a double album’s worth of recording into one-very uneven).

I must have got twenty forwards of it from luminaries and fans alike and I read it again every time, the grin getting wider with each read.

Hope you are every bit as opinionated about the 21st century albums (’08 If The World Was You, ’09 Rain-Live At The Belcourt Theatre, and the new one Natural History which is in its third week of release).

Thank you again and please come to a show as my guest and introduce yourself again.

Keep knocking ’em out of the par and add me to your mailing list.

Best,
JD

I’m not even sure how to respond.

Which is why I’m sharing this with you first.  Maybe in the process, my thoughts will be clarified.

I don’t do it for the money.  I do it for this.  And when I started, I didn’t expect this, didn’t even dream it.  And now it brings tears to my eyes.

I bought J.D. Souther’s "Black Rose" in the summer of ’76, when I had the world’s worst case of mononucleosis and decided to go to law school because what the hell else was I gonna do with my life.  I couldn’t go back to Utah.  If I did, I’d never escape.

And I’d love to tell you law school was a thrill, but it was a relentless drag with far less work than Middlebury and much less stimulation.

But I became fixated on a girl.  I thought I knew her from Utah.  I recognized her ass from the tram line at Snowbird.

But when I finally worked up the gumption to speak with her, which took weeks, she had a southern accent and I knew I was mistaken.  But I was still taken.

And the very first time I went to her apartment, right in front of her stereo, was a copy of J.D. Souther’s "Black Rose".

The moon was yellow
And the sky was cool
The night can make a promise of love
Or it can make you a fool

It’s summer in SoCal.  Which means it’s like spring anywhere else.  Cold and foggy.  But it’s still the season of possibilities. What did the Beach Boys say, "Summer Means New Love"?  Whenever I feel elated, whenever I have a bounce in my step, I sing the above lyrics from "Your Turn Now".  Really.

And "Faithless Love" is the hit of the album.  I’m sure it’s still paying J.D.’s bills.

But the song that resonated in that empty time twenty odd years ago, when my wife left me, but didn’t seem want to get divorced, was "Baby Come Home".

There’s that moment, a bit more than halfway through the record, when J.D. gets down on his figurative knees and sings…

If you could trust me
Try to believe me
Listen to me when I say
When I say that love
Is a burning fire
And it will not fade away
No, it will not fade away

It’s kind of like carbon dating.  The feeling, the connection, the hurt, never completely evaporates.  But you’ve got to hang in there long enough until what your head says your heart believes, that it’s time to let go.

Then there’s a return to the chorus, J.D.’s resorted to pleading…

Ah, but deep in the night
When nearly nothing’s going right
You can hear him cryin’
Baby come home

The night is the worst.  If you turn on the TV you’ll be up ’til dawn, meanwhile the tossing and turning goes on forever.

She came back for one last interlude and then disappeared for good.

But J.D. Souther’s music did not.  It stayed right by my side.

There’s that brilliant cover of "Roll ‘Um Easy" I discovered on XM and had to immediately track down.

And the version of "Black Rose" I’m listening to right now was personally EQ’d for me by Val Garay, its engineer.

Life ain’t so easy in this border town, but it’s a hell of a lot easier when I get e-mail like this, from one of my heroes.

You can have double digit millions, a Gulfstream VI, but can you write like this?

You just wish you could be J.D. Souther.

From: Steve Lukather
Re: Oldsters With New Releases

I just read your new post. It IS 100% right on. I am out with a new/old version of my old band Toto right now (not the one you saw).

It is my high school pals and NO record.. We got together to help our brother Mike Porcaro who has ALS, a fucking Horrible disease.. we got back together with Me, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, Simon Phillips, Nathan East and Joseph Williams (son of John) singing and 2 great BG singers Jenny Douglas and Mabvuto and we are doing sell out biz. 2 shows in Amsterdam now and off in Europe for a month, Japan and South America thru Oct. and people are lovin it. We are all healthy and just fucking happy to be here. Oddly young audience and I am havin the time of my life. Perhaps I appreciate it more now than ever having a clear head and heart.. I know we won’t change the world and the hipsters hate us (although I wonder how many musicians/bands can say collectively we have done like 4-5000 records with almost every superstar in all styles of music over over the last 35+ years..) however I digress..

I am on line EVERY day connecting. Answering questions, tech stuff, song requests, squelching bullshit rumors and mostly just saying thanks to all who have supported me and my old band. No point in the old band makin new music. We have like 17 records of album cuts besides the obvious ones people wanna hear and I do MY solo shit for a core audience and I am happy to do it.

So.. have a nice day and it does not suck to be in Amsterdam with my 24 year old son seeing it and experiencing it all for the first time. For me… Fun to watch. Been there done it all anyway. I go to bed at midnight now. haha

I am out till Dec and already block booked doin all sorts of crazy fun wacky side projects till March next year and beyond. I AM the luckiest cat in showbiz and I know it!

Stay the course oh great truth sayer haha

Luke

Countdown to EDC VEGAS 2011:
Official Behind the Scenes Video

Doesn’t this make you want to go?

Future concert promoters know it’s not about the deal but the experience.  You can hire new lawyers, you can find someone else to come up with the money, but you cannot replicate creativity.

Don’t carp about the music.  IT’S NOT FOR YOU!

I know that’s hard to understand in a world still running on the fumes of MTV, that believes in a mainstream and nothing else.

The way you succeed today is to start with a tiny niche and grow it.  And you don’t grow it via hype, via spam, telling people to pay attention, but by providing tools that your believers can use to spread the word.

Sure, everybody’s on drugs.  What’s the difference between today and yesterday?  Between Electric Daisy and Woodstock?

And your parents didn’t like that music either.

It’s not about TV marketing, it’s not about pushing your message on those who don’t care, but allowing those who do to pull.

I own a TV, but weeks can go by without me turning it on.

But a friend e-mailed me this link and I clicked through, not even knowing what it was, because I trust him.

And fans trust Insomniac Productions to deliver one helluva show.  Not the camping in the mud of Bonnaroo.  And not the I’m so snooty and rich I sleep in a room at a resort of Coachella.  But the I’m on the cutting edge, I don’t care what the mainstream has to say, I need to be here for myself, not to be able to tell everybody I was there, but to have the experience!

Sure, it would be hard to replicate this low key hype campaign if you had no traction, if you were just starting out.  But EDC is not.

One YouTube clip can pay more dividends than a plethora of paid advertising.  Hell, the previous clip, the one month old "EDC Vegas 2011 Official Trailer"

EDC Vegas 2011 Official Trailer

has already been viewed 1,212,847 times.  Don’t compare that with clips with ten or one hundred times the views, that’s missing the point.  You only watched this video if you cared.

Think about that.  Marketing to people who want to buy from you.

That’s the secret to Apple’s success.  People are members of the tribe, they trust the manufacturer, they want to be the first on their block to blow their minds.

Think about the iPad.  Every reviewer scratched his head and couldn’t figure out a use for it.  But it was the customers who made it successful!

People trust Insomniac.  Electric Daisy Carnival’s got history. That’s how you succeed today, you build and sustain.  It’s not about doing it once, but ten times.

Come on, watch this.  You’re a gearhead, you know the thrill of a show.  Look at those giant arches.  Look at that giant wheel.  What exactly is gonna happen here?

YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO GO TO FIND OUT!

I heard a Robbie Robertson song on the radio today.

Sirius XM’s Loft.  There’s not a terrestrial radio station that’d play the Canadian’s new album.  Not that he knew that.

I’m constantly scratching my head.  These oldsters put out new music thinking it’s 1979, certainly no later than 1989, and then they’re flummoxed when nothing happens.

This is what they need to do:

1. You’ve got to know who your fans are.

It’s best if you’ve got everybody’s e-mail address.  But you need a presence on Facebook and Twitter too.  If someone decides to check you out on a whim, which is what fans do, we mindlessly surf to the firing of neurons in our brains, you’d better be readily available online, with up to date information.  People will go to Facebook first, but if you’ve got a Web page don’t focus on design but information.  Even if you yourself don’t post, make sure there’s new info EVERY DAY!  That’s what makes people come back.  And if you’re posting on Facebook or Twitter it had better be you, nothing pisses people off more than when an impostor, your lackey, posts for you.  It’s easy to detect, just like boys impersonating girls online and vice versa.  Anybody who says you can’t tell the sex of someone online doesn’t play, it’s OBVIOUS!

2. You must be willing to work.

And I don’t only mean in the studio.  If you’re not willing to put in all day every day for the better part of a year, don’t even start.

It’s like starting all over.  All the old media you employed to get the word out is diminished or irrelevant.  Chances are your audience doesn’t listen to the radio, or if it does, they don’t listen to the stations that might air your music.  Oldsters listen to NPR.  A segment there helps, but it doesn’t define.  It’s best for brand new acts, not old farts.  Late night TV is meaningless.  If you’re friends with Dave, do it, but don’t expect a sales bump.  Sunday morning TV is better, as are "Today" and the other morning shows, but don’t go on and do happy talk, if you can’t say something worthy of restatement/link, you probably shouldn’t invest your time.  And I’m not saying to whore yourself out, to make stuff up or reveal personal items you don’t want to, it’s just that TV is a mass medium.  And you’re niche.  EVERYBODY’S NICHE!

3.  The music had better be damn good.

And only release that which is good.  If that means your album is only four or eight tracks, so be it.  Price it accordingly.  Don’t worry about CDs, chances are retailers aren’t even going to stock ’em.  We live in a digital world.  Focus on MP3s.  Don’t tell me they sound shitty, that’s like lamenting the loss of vents in car windows, that ship has sailed, it’s HISTORY!

4. Video

There had better be tons.  And it had better be on YouTube.  And don’t bother spending money and doing something slick, hiring hairdressers and the like.  Buy a camera and have your son or daughter shoot you playing, around the house, and upload this footage.  It’s not about one infinitely playable clip, it’s about having enough stuff up there that if someone stumbles upon you, they can go deeper, find more.  That’s the mantra of today, not thin for everybody, but vast for those who care.  Focus only on those who care.  If you’re lucky, your new project will grow.  But probably not.

5. Topspin/Bandcamp

You need multiple formats of your project to sell.  Not only the MP3s but vinyl (it’s a souvenir!) and a photo book and autographed ____________.  The most expensive stuff sells first.  But make it worth it.

6. Access

That’s what everybody wants.  Answer e-mail and people will be blown away.  At least show footage from backstage or in your house.  Figure out a way to meet the public.  And I don’t mean at a record store!  Do a house concert in each and every state.  Have a contest.  You show up and play acoustically.  Or maybe full bore electric in the backyard.  If the police show up, you’re lucky!  You’ll get press, you’ll be a local hero.  Think local!  You can be the biggest news in nowheresville as opposed to the smallest news in the big city.  And news from anywhere can be experienced everywhere if it’s interesting or funny.

7. Virality

You never know what is gonna go, what’s gonna get people’s attention and fly.  Which is why you’ve got to do a lot.  What’ll spread is what you least expect, that which is rough not smooth, the day your hair looked bad and your voice cracked.  See this Paul Simon clip for example.  This went viral, it had greater penetration than all of the mainstream press, it made Paul look good, it enhances his reputation:

Paul Simon, Rayna singing Duncan

8. It’s not about record sales, it’s about your career.

Forget the number, you’re trying to regain a place in people’s consciousness.  If you’re not working live when you put your new music out, don’t.

9. You’re not a star.

This is hardest for oldsters to fathom.  But today, everybody’s in it together, we’re all equal.  Don’t talk down to us from above, get in the pit with us!

10. Be three-dimensional.

Food is hotter than music.  Tweet where you eat, say what you like.

11. Know that youngsters are more popular than you.

The Doobie Brothers could not get arrested with their new album.  But they just did a CMT Crossroads with Luke Bryan and blew him off the stage, Tom Johnston can still sing!  (http://bit.ly/iAKfFH)  CMT works, because the audience still believes in it.  MTV airs no music and VH1 makes you look like a tool, stay away.  Like Tom Johnston, you want to show you’ve still got it, you want to remind people how great you were…and still are.

12. ESPN

Get them to feature your song.  It’s part of your awareness campaign.  And start local.  Don’t only sing the National Anthem at the ballpark/stadium of your local team, give a free concert after the game.  Give back.  Show your roots.

Nothing sells itself anymore.  It’s a constant fight to stay in the public eye.  You grow from the bottom up, not the top down. You want to look like you’re all about the fans and the music, not the money.  Hell, give away a little money, do some charity work, but don’t pose for pictures, let the info leak out, just mention it in passing.  People hate braggarts.  Don’t you realize, we’re making fun of you!  Robbie Robertson with the dyed hair and the slick suits…  Huh?  Are you a vain banker or a musician?  We’re old and grizzly, why aren’t you?

13. Festivals

Buffalo Springfield had this right.  Doing Bonnaroo.  Shows you’re cool and gives you a chance to connect with the young ‘uns.

Everything I’ve said above is known to the young ‘uns.  Except for those nitwits without talent who utilize TV competition shows to try and make it.  Music is a lifelong struggle.  You may have made bank then, but if you still want to count musically today you’ve got to see yourself as broke.  Hell, artistically you are!