Women believe men can just be friends.

Men are more suspicious.

So when my nascent girlfriend was going to the Roxy with her "friend" to see Andrew Gold I was anxious.  This was a new relationship.  She’d known him longer than she’d known me.  Was it real, or could she slip right through my fingers?

In the seventies, Los Angeles was the musical king.  In the sixties, it was the U.K., at least in the middle of the decade, but by the time the decade changed everyone moved to the west coast, even the English rockers, for the weather, for the lifestyle.  In Los Angeles you could be who you wanted to be.

And some of the acts who had been kicking around for eons finally broke through.  Like Linda Ronstadt.  She hooked up with former performer Peter Asher and engineer Val Garay and created an album entitled "Heart Like A Wheel" that zoomed to the top of the chart and became embedded in the public consciousness.  It made Linda Ronstadt a superstar, it was the best thing she ever did, before or after, and there was a third creative genius involved…Andrew Gold.  He was not only a guitarist, but an arranger, his work is stamped all over the breakthrough track, "You’re No Good".

And like every second banana, a key member of the ensemble, eventually Andrew Gold stepped aside, into his own solo career.

And the breakthrough came on his second album, done with the Ronstadt team, Asher and Garay and the rest of the players.  The track was "Lonely Boy".  Andrew Gold had a hit.  And on the follow-up there was a cut that became ubiquitous, "Thank You For Being A Friend", it was the theme for the "Golden Girls".

But I knew that one when it was released.  Because now I was a fan.

In the seventies you didn’t buy everything you wanted, you couldn’t afford it.  You waited for the hit, or you waited to hear the album at a friend’s house.  You bumped into things.  And if you didn’t, you never heard them.

I bumped into Andrew Gold.  That girlfriend played that album, the second one, with "Lonely Boy", all day before she went to the Roxy to see Andrew Gold with him.

And I wanted to hate it, pooh-pooh it, but there was this one exquisite cut on "What’s Wrong With This Picture", the closing number, "One Of Them Is Me".

There’s a girl I know
So far away from here
She’s got a lover, she’s got a friend
And she’s got someone who’s always near

One of them is me
And I don’t know who
One of them is me
And I don’t know who

Where do you stand?  Are you the anointed one, or are you in the dreaded friend zone?

She’s got so many men
Who long to love her
To feel her body next to theirs
Or just to understand her

You know these women.  Only you don’t.  They’ve got charisma, or they’re beautiful, and they’re overwhelmed with male attention.  They’ve got a flock of admirers, they’re endlessly pursued.  But not for what’s inside, they’re hardly known, people fall in love with the exterior.  You think you want to be that desirable, only you don’t.

But it’s not only those who are genetically blessed, those who are just doing what comes naturally, what women don’t understand is they’ve got a flock of admirers.  Each and every one of you.  There are men lying in bed right now, dreaming of you, talking to you, getting into your pants.  I’m not saying you want to reciprocate their interest, but you’re the object of their desire.

Some of these men hit on you, others start a conversation, still more are afraid to even speak with you.  Just to be in close proximity makes them sweat, gets them tongue-tied.

Oh come to me sweet baby
I’m in love with you and I can’t stop it now
You’re a part of me
Oh save me, oh save me from you
What can I do

They have no idea you feel this way.  If only you could open up and be honest, but if the desire is not mutual you’ll be embarrassed, you’ll run, you’ll never get a chance to speak to them again, and if you do, it will be different.

So you decide to hate them.  From afar.  To focus on their flaws.  To save yourself.

Because you’ve been dying.

Dying.

That’s what happened to Andrew Gold.  Yesterday.  I’m stunned.  He was always so alive.  Not a passive player, but someone active, energized by life.  Not that I really knew him.  Had an e-mail exchange, but I’d see him on stage, on television.

You think people last forever.  Or at least longer than you.  When they predecease you, die before their time, you just can’t understand it, especially when they were not sick, when there’s no advance warning.  They were here yesterday, and…now?

Oh look into my eyes
Tell me what you see
One of them is me
And I don’t know who

Send me a signal.  Let me know.  Say yes.  Or put me out of my misery.

You’ve been there.  We’ve all had crushes.  We’ve all had rivals.

Or else we haven’t played.

And life is about playing.  Not only winning, but losing.  If you never lose you’ve got to ratchet up the level of your game.

And you want to do this now, because sometimes there is no tomorrow.

"One Of Them Is Me"

—————-

I had a hell of a time finding an online version of this song.  I eventually found one on the questionably legal service Grooveshark.

If you’re a player and you don’t make your music freely accessible to all you’re going to be forgotten.  A star today is tomorrow’s has-been.  Music must be at our fingertips so it can live on, so it can enrich lives.  I almost didn’t write this because I couldn’t find the track, and if you couldn’t hear it, you wouldn’t get it.  Andrew is gone, his music lives on.  Give a chance for your music to live on.  I’m not saying music should be free, but as long as the rights holders refuse to come up with an adequate offering, one that entices everybody to pay for everything, protest by posting your own music.  It’s about music, not money.  If you fight from the money position first, you’re a businessman.  A musician leads with his music.  There’s always money to be found.  And if not, so what.  It’s like love.  They don’t pay you to fall in love.  Music is just that powerful, don’t restrict it.

Ricky Wilson, the lead singer of the Kaiser Chiefs, did not want me to print his e-mail, as you can tell by reading his missive below.

But I thought it was important.  I asked him for permission, and he relented.

We live in changing times, and we’re most interested in those who try new things, who take risks.  And the Kaiser Chiefs are doing that.

I’ve gotten a bunch of e-mail about this and I thought it best to hear the story from the horse’s mouth.

Ricky was anxious, worried about how he came across, but the sheer honesty was riveting, it gives you insight into the mind of the creator.

And in this modern era, where there is no barrier between act and fan, why should you hear the story from a middleman, who too often gets the facts wrong, never mind the nuances.

So, unedited, here is the original e-mail:

Hi Bob.

Ricky from the Kaiser Chiefs here. You well? Good.

We had this idea about a year ago. We wanted to do something a bit different for our 4th album. We also wanted to do something that involved the fans a bit more than usual. Take a look: www.kaiserchiefs.com Thought you might be interested to see where we’ve ended up, and to be honest we’d love to get your thoughts on it all.

To start with we thought it’d be great if everybody had their own unique album. You know, not just the music but the artwork too. That sort of rules out a physical release as it was going to cost a fortune to print and burn each one. It would have been a New Order ‘Blue Monday’ all over again.

I think we actually had a giant robot painting the album sleeves in a warehouse in our early plans. That was met with a lot of frowns at the label. So yeah, it’s a digital release.

What we did is record 20 tracks and people can pick 10 of them, in any order they like. It’s all done through a website. We had objects built that represent each song and you sort of wire them up to a machine to make your album. Then we got an artist to do an oil painting of each of those objects which people can use to piece together their artwork. So it’s a very tactile and old-fashioned looking way of making a digital album made up of computer data.

It’s £7.50 to buy. Seems fair to us. But we wanted to try something a bit different with that too. Now here’s our favourite bit (also the most unbelievably complex thing to build).

Once you’ve bought your album, you can sell it on. For every album you sell, we’ll give you a pound (or a dollar in your case). We’re giving people posters, banner adverts, a website, Facebook tools etc. etc. All to help them sell these albums. If you sell 8 you make a profit.

We’re quite excited about this. Why not make an album yourself? We wanted to reward the fans for being our fans and thought this could be nice.

We just sold all our tickets for our first two gigs exclusively on our facebook page, which worked a treat and we’re going to be getting fans to use Facebook polls to help us pick set-lists and stuff. God knows if it’ll work.

We’ve used a load of our own money to hire some really clever people to build the site and market it so we’re hopeful.

This definitely isn’t some sort of two-fingers-to-the-system thing. In fact our label Fiction have been very supportive.

It’s not supposed to be a massive statement to the world or a fight against anything. It was just fun and we needed that to be honest.

After three albums you need to shake things up a bit we think it’s led to our best ever music. I just wanted to draw your attention to it. I’d be over the moon if you made an album or talked about it, but I’d rather you didn’t publish this letter as I’ve been slightly more candid about the process than I would normally be in the public domain. I really respect your opinion on such matters and look forward to hearing back from you.

Cheers
Ricky

This was sent from Ricky’s BlackBerry.  Amazing typing!  It was one big paragraph, I broke it down into multiple paragraphs to enhance readability.

If you want to sign to a label…

Last night we went out to dinner with Daniel Glass and his wife, and then to see Glassnote’s new signing, Givers, at the Bootleg Theatre.

We met at Craig’s.

Craig’s is the new hip joint on Melrose.  And the story is important.  Because Craig used to be the maitre d’ at Dan Tana’s, which J.D. Souther just went on record as being the inspiration for the Eagles’ "Sad Cafe".  It’s right next to the Troubadour.  It’s been the hip joint forever.

But Dan Tana, the owner, wouldn’t forge a succession plan, he wouldn’t make Craig the owner.

So Craig set up shop a few blocks away.  Took his rolodex and boy is the place jumping.  I’ve been there twice and both times I had imperfect meals (although last night’s chocolate bread pudding was INCREDIBLE!), but there’s a vibe, that this is where it’s happening.

And upon being shown our booth, Daniel stopped by to speak with the people sitting next to us.  Unrecognizable to me, they turned out to be the infrastructure at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

They used to work at the Beverly Wilshire.  Daniel stayed there.

Then he got a phone call, they were up and moving to the Beverly Hills Hotel.  Did he want to come along?

Loyalty.  It’s everything if you’re a businessman.  Daniel said yes.

And these people take care of him.  All those perks, all those extras, Daniel gets them.  By being friendly.  He even invited one of them to the show, and he came!  I wouldn’t have the chutzpah!

That’s what Daniel’s got.  Chutzpah.  He’ll ask when someone else will not.

In other words, a label is run by people.  You can sign with a guy who can talk music all day, is great to get high with, but what are his relationships, will he go the extra mile for you and him?  Is he cunning without turning people off?

The nineties school was record label exec as king.  Everyone bow down to the grand pooh-bah.  And some of those people remain.  Along with worker bees who are told what to do and can barely say yes.

Which is why so many people want to be with an indie.

But does that indie have major label chops?

After sitting down, Daniel reeled off the stations that were playing Second Serenade.  Sure, he’s working me, he’s showing his promotion roots.  And I never listen to terrestrial radio, I find it condescending and interminable, but if you’re going to play this game…you’ve got to be with someone who knows it, someone who can get Gene Sandbloom to the gig, which Daniel did, and Chris Douridas too.

Yes, Givers, Daniel’s band, had appeared on "Morning Becomes Eclectic" that morning.  And I don’t listen to KCRW, but there are so many self-satisfied tastemakers who do and this is the easiest way to reach them.  I’ve got to believe that’s why the gig was full.  The KCRW imprimatur.

Not that that was the only incentive.  But the rest of the incentives are unclear.  All Daniel could say was "The Internet". That vast world of links.  I tweeted I was at the gig and people tweeted back that they were there and came up and said hi and that’s what the networked world is like.  And if you’re not networked, you’re gonna have a hell of a hard time making it.

Ultimately Givers played four gigs yesterday.  From the morning to the evening.  It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.  They travel in a van, towing a trailer.  If you think that’s glamorous, you probably revere Snooki as the height of decorum and fashion.

But the band wants to make it.  And this is what you’ve got to do.

And today they’re down in San Diego doing Sunset Sessions and then tomorrow they’re in Phoenix.

Will Givers break?

Time will tell.

But Daniel Glass is not on anybody’s payroll but his own.  If his bands don’t succeed, he’s out of luck.  He’s not raping and pillaging, he’s building.  He’s not signing bands as favors, it has to be about the music, because not only is his reputation on the line, but his wallet.

The game is changing.  But if you want to get your feet into the old game, you’ve got to know someone who understands it, who’s got an investment in it, who knows how to play it.  There are tons of fired employees who will take your money to do publicity and promotion, but ask them to work on spec and you’ll get a bunch of nos.

Daniel Glass is working on spec.

And that makes him hungry.

His track record speaks for itself.

Craig’s

Sunset Sessions

DIGITAL SALES-Week Ending 5/29/11

102. Steven Tyler "(It) Feels So Good"
Sales this week: 20,502
Percentage change: -35.4
Cume: 128,895

Uh-oh.  Could it be that despite the accolades, Steven Tyler is even worse off than he was before "American Idol"?

I’d posit he is.  Except for a large paycheck.

He was a caricature on TV.  Of a rock star.  He almost appeared to be a Steven Tyler doll.  But that didn’t keep all the prognosticators from fawning over him.

But put these same writers and talking heads in a drug den with Steven and they’d puke and run like hell (just like in the Pink Floyd song!)

In other words, what are you selling?

Steven Tyler and Aerosmith were selling great music and danger.  The band was living close to the flame, on the edge. But now he’s all cuddly, the new Ozzy, and although one Aerosmith tour might go well, the bloom is off the rose.  Who wants to see THAT guy?

Steven Tyler is the real deal.  Be in his presence and you can feel the charisma.  He’s smart.  He makes you tingle, whether a boy or a girl.  But putting him on TV is like…all those has-beens going on "Dancing With The Stars".  It smells of last chance desperation.

Sure, people will watch.

But they shoot horses, don’t they?

Now if Tyler is at the end, wants to cash out and call it a day, that’s his prerogative.  But whatever he was selling has now taken a giant hit.

In other words, do you want to be Tom Waits or Steven Tyler?

You get to choose.  You make career choices every day.  Are you playing for the long haul or just momentary cash and accolades?  Notice that Dave Matthews didn’t play the "Idol" finale.  Sure, a lot of people would see him, but it would cheapen his act.  And those who truly care would be turned off.  Because if you want to play forever, you’ve got to play to the core.

And Aerosmith hasn’t played to the core in a very long time.  Their manager has them on a scorched earth tour, with prices too high and appearances too frequent.  Maybe the rest of the band can bring Tyler back to sanity, can drag him in the right direction, but if you don’t think Tyler’s appearance on "American Idol" hurt him more than helped him, you know nothing about rock and roll.

As for the track not being good enough.  Don’t you get it?  Aerosmith hasn’t released a reasonable cut in eons.  Tyler needed to blow the core away, with a hard-edged romp, a searing ballad that makes you shiver.  It wasn’t about cutting a hit, but showing the core he still had it.

He didn’t do this.

___________________________

Right now, Tyler’s track is #114 at the iTunes Store

___________________________

Right now, Dave Matthews Band’s "Live At Wrigley Field" is number 13 on the iTunes chart.  What, you didn’t know DMB had a new live album?  It wasn’t made for you, but fans, who flock to this constant stream of authorized live releases. You can’t release too much music for a fan.

___________________________

Right now, Adele’s "21" is #1 on the iTunes Chart, eclipsing yesterday’s new release, Eddie Vedder’s "Ukulele Songs". Lady GaGa’s special edition is #3, the regular GaGa edition, without bonus tracks, resides at #11 on the chart.

___________________________

Adele’s "Rolling In The Deep" is the number one digital track.  It sold 254,495 copies last week.  For a cume of 3,218,988.

___________________________

Lady GaGa sold 662,021 digital albums last week.

Adele sold 38,587 digital albums last week.

Adele has sold 842,349 digital albums.  She has sold 1,974,306 albums total.

___________________________

Mumford & Sons has sold 1,487,747 albums since release.  They’re #10 on the chart.

Katy Perry has sold 1,499,973 copies of her album "Teenage Dream" since release, it’s #19 on the chart.

Mumford’s album has been out for 67 weeks.

Katy’s album has been out for 40 weeks.

___________________________

Zac Brown’s second Atlantic album, "You Get What You Give", has sold 935,254 copies in 36 weeks, it’s number 23 on the chart.

Zac’s first Atlantic album, "Foundation, has sold 2,621,766 copies in 132 weeks, it’s number 67 on the chart.

___________________________

Stevie Nicks’s album has sold 97,379 copies to date.  It sold 9,933 last week.  Guess there’s no "Dancing With The Stars" bounce.  Stevie needs to get down in the trenches with her fans.  She’s got to do what hungry artists do, go on tour and play night after night, tweet, Facebook…  She just doesn’t care enough, she just doesn’t want to work that hard.

___________________________

The Cars reunion album has sold 60,020 copies to date.

One can only ask one question…WHY?

Why did they make it?

I hope Ric Ocasek made it for himself.  Because he’s the only one who’s going to hear it.

Doesn’t matter who you are, you’ve got to sell your album today.  And that involves more than going on tour and posting your record to iTunes.  And in order to succeed today, your music has to be as good or better as your work of yore.  To the point when someone hears it they go WOW!  Listening to the new Cars material, one does not say wow, one says…huh.  Sounds like the Cars, so what?

___________________________

Tyler The Creator.  65,467 copies sold after 3 weeks, #63 on the chart.  If print hype meant anything, this album would be #1.  But "The New York Times" doesn’t sell records, nor does any other newspaper.  You reach people online.  Through their friends.

Stunningly, Tyler The Creator places not a single track in last week’s Digital Sales chart.

The overhype has not helped here.  Now everybody’s from Missouri, the "Show-Me" state.  Better to uncover this by oneself, and pass along the word.  In other words, all publicity is not good publicity, overhype can negatively impact your project.

___________________________

Avenged Sevenfold has sold 535,198 copies of "Nightmare" after 44 weeks.  That’s more albums than Jennifer Lopez will ever sell (156,407 after 4 weeks, #18 on the chart).  That’s almost as many as Chris Brown (582,554 after 10 weeks, #28 on the chart), and I guarantee you most people have no clue who Avenged Sevenfold is, never mind know its music. Avenged Sevenfold has got fans.  Diehard, active ones.

Meanwhile, Arcade Fire’s "Suburbs" has been out one week less than Avenged Sevenfold’s album, and is two numbers higher on the chart, 102 to 104, but has sold only 634,098 copies, despite winning that Grammy for…what was it, "Album Of The Year"?

You think everybody’s paying attention to what you’re doing.

No, they’re paying attention to what’s interesting to them.