Crowdsourcing.

Felice now prompts me to write about our adventures, delighting in the feedback of my readers, who e-mail me the straight dope.

Having written about Barcelona, my inbox was instantly filled with recommendations, more than I could explore in weeks.  But the one that intrigued me most said:

"And make sure you and Felice get to the ESPADRILLE STORE… It’s closed for lunch and siesta (that 104 degree heat !! )… But the espadrilles are gorgeous-men’s and women’s… Some made by the store owners, some not.

Prices excellent.  Whatever you may think of Pablo Picasso, if those espadrilles were good enough for him…

Your hotel will know all the above places."

I’m fascinated by Picasso.  Not for his mistreatment of women, but his constant reinvention.  Imagine if Madonna had musical talent.  A better example might be the Beatles.  In any event, Picasso created a trend, milked it, and then created a new one, again and again.  (Give Madonna credit, she saw trends and blew them up again and again, if we stop calling her a musician and refer to her as a businesswoman or a performance artist, I’m willing to give her an A+.) Sure, there are some who mine the same territory over and over and somehow continue to maintain our interest, like AC/DC, but usually today’s artists are victims of the trend they ride to success, it passes and so do they, they’re suddenly nostalgia.  How about that guy from New Zealand who sang "How Bizarre"?  Or Jimmy Ray, who asked if we knew him in the eponymous "Are You Jimmy Ray?"  Then again, one can’t say either of these performers truly invented a trend, never mind getting stalled there.  Unlike Georges Braque, who was right there with Picasso with cubism and then…could never move on.

Speaking of artists, we started the day off at the Miro museum.  And then took a taxi to the Palau de Mar for lunch.

And it was after dining that we ventured into the Old City to find La Manual Alpargatera, which, as Amy Krakow’s e-mail stated, the concierge of our hotel was fully familiar with.

You see the walls of the Old City that still remain and you’re intrigued and feel insignificant.  Then you see the franchises on the tiny streets and you want to puke.  Everything from Starbucks to McDonald’s to H&M.  But following the twists and turns, we eventually ended up at La Manual Alpargatera.

Which had more styles of espadrilles than Bubba Gump had shrimp.  Truly stunning and overwhelming.  Made me want to buy something, even though I’m a dedicated Nike guy.

I zeroed in on a couple of styles, but couldn’t pull the trigger.  Was I actually going to wear them?  I remembered the photo of Picasso shod in his in the book on my mother’s coffee table, but I didn’t think I could fill the shoes.  But Felice bought a pair.  So cheap.  And the experience was so authentic.  The walls were covered in espadrilles, some in boxes, some just in plastic bags.  You got the feeling this store had predated the chains and would survive them.  Because, like AC/DC, they found a formula that worked and they stuck with it.

And from there we ventured to La Rambla, Barcelona’s most famous street, a tree-lined Venice Boardwalk.  And halfway up, we sidled into the Mercat de la Boqueria.

Boqueria Market

Want to get real insight into a culture?

Go to their market.

Fresh fruit galore.  You desire something to soothe your throat and relieve you from the heat.

But it was the ham legs and fish that truly got to me.

You buy the whole leg.  Prices vary, there’s obviously a quality issue, I saw one for over a thousand pounds in Harrods. And I’m not exactly sure what you do with one.  Have a party and eat the whole thing, or just slice off a morsel every night before dinner, to accompany your cocktail? 

Iberian ham legs

And the octopus could frighten small children, all bulbous and white.  Many varieties of fish were for sale.  I’d like to say my taste buds were titillated, but it made me never want to eat again.  Like that line about sausage, you don’t want to see where it comes from.

And from there up to the Palau de la Musica Catalana, another Modernista edifice that is frivolous to the point of exhilaration.  I’d love to go to a show there:

The Palau de da Musica

But the reason I’m writing this has nothing to do with what happened today.  I got the inspiration on the way out of the hotel last night, on our way to dinner, when we were confronted once again with the rope men.

So we arrive in Barcelona on Sunday hungry and tired.

Eating at an outdoor cafe just shy of the Casa Batllo (the squid was tantalizing), suddenly four African men strode up on the sidewalk, unfurled blankets and revealed knock-offs, purses and other designer bags for the public to buy.

No big deal.  Knock-offs are now an institution.  Hell, there’s a whole school of thought that they BENEFIT the ripped-off companies.  First, it is believed that those who buy the fakes can’t afford the real thing anyway, and that the image of Gucci and Louis Vuitton, et al, is actually burnished, flattered by the imitation.

I’ll leave you to your own conclusions, wondering whether you’re satisfied with the Liverpools or you need the Beatles, but I will tell you I noticed something curious.  Every purveyor was holding four ropes, each attached to a corner of his blanket.  A light went off in my head…  If they yanked real hard, the blanket would close in on itself, like a giant sack at the end of a hobo’s stick, and they could run away instantly, with their wares intact, if challenged by the authorities.

I asked our waiter…  Did the police ever crack down?

OH YES!

A few purchases were made, I didn’t want to get too up close and personal, those who did were handed bags (the seller keeping the ropes in their other fist) and implored to buy.

But when we were finished eating and were crossing the street, suddenly there was a commotion, the four sellers ran past us, the police in hot pursuit, just like that!  You should have seen these guys run, they could have competed in the Olympics!  But one was not fast enough, the policeman grabbed on to his blanket, spilled all his goods, and the seller ran off in frustration, head turned ’round, looking back over his shoulder at his loss, scurrying to catch up with his buddies, eluding capture himself.

Wow, crime in action.

And last night we came out of the hotel and saw the same four guys.  On our side of the street this time.  Once again, holding their ropes.

And I wondered…  Was it a ring?  Did you immigrate from Africa and start off with a job like this?  Controlled by a knock-off pimp, who docked you if you got busted, but shared profits equally amongst all the sellers?  And if you garnered enough money, could you graduate, leave the trade and go legit, or were you forever caught in the underworld.

They have crime shows every night on television.

But it’s nothing like being confronted by the real thing.

Everybody’s struggling to stay alive, to make a buck.  Stay in school as long as possible, because the games don’t really begin until you’re out.  And then what your parents told you is suddenly true.  Better to start further up the food chain.  Learn a trade, gain some skills, or get that liberal arts degree that allows you to nimbly navigate life’s curves, reinventing yourself as necessary as the years march on.

La Manual Alpargatera

Felice is fascinated by pickpockets.

I took it with a grain of salt when word passed to us in Madrid, but today our guide confirmed Felice’s suspicions, thieves are only hit with a 50 Euro fine and it often makes sense to steal, if the item is expensive enough, the profit is there.  Andrea, the aforementioned guide, says he knows all of them, sees them in the finest restaurants, nods and winks and said he’d been ripped off once too.

Having frequented NYC pre-Giuliani, it takes a lot to make me paranoid.  Then again, after lunch Felice slipped her hand in my pocket to show how easy it would be.

Lunch.  Was at this Tapas Bar, Tapac 24.  You can look at the daily menu here: Tapaç 24  And if you read Spanish, you can get the full flavor.  Andrea tipped us to the McBurger with foie gras, sensational!  And I say this having totally fucked up ordering at a Tapas place in Madrid, where we got thin strips of meat on bread, but Andrea said tapas cuisine is different in Barcelona.

Barcelona.  Let’s see, they had the Olympics and Woody Allen did that movie.  Was never at the top of my list of places to visit, but it was a perfect itinerary fit, a great place to fly back to the U.S.  But once we told people we were coming, they waxed rhapsodic!  About the food, the atmosphere…

But not the heat.

Today it was 104.  Yesterday, 106.  And unlike L.A., there’s plenty of humidity.  I thought I was gonna have heat stroke yesterday, I was finally revived by a Coke.  Today, I thought I was going to fade into oblivion.  Thank god we found some shade along the way.

The way…

I’d like to say we planned prodigiously for this trip.  Alas, we did not.  Which left us scrambling once we arrived.  An e-mail from my mother told us to hire a Gaudi guide in Barcelona, which blessedly we did, it made all the difference.

Utterly fascinating.

We’re staying on the Passeig de Gracia, up from the old city.

Everyone lived inside the walls until the defeat of Napoleon.  Then, this street shooting out of the old metropolis was developed.  By the rich.  They built houses and wanted to show off.

They all lived on the first floor, which is the second in the U.S.  There are bay windows, marble columns, the wives situated themselves where they could be seen all day, so everybody would know how rich they were!  And they hired Gaudi and his compatriots to design edifices that made others ooh and ahh.

The most famous is the Casa Battlo, with the colorful facade and the dragon’s back atop.  Turns out this was not the initial front of the building.  But Battlo was one-upped by his next door neighbor, the chocolate maker, who had a Modernista facade, so Battlo hired Gaudi to deliver a masterpiece, which he did: Casa Batlló

But I was more impressed with La Pedrera, up the street.  The building with the exterior that looks like melting ice cream.

We studied it in art class.  And today not only did we get to see the exterior, we went inside, to find a car park, Gaudi could foresee the necessity.  And there was an interior courtyard, all structures had them, for light.  Although there was electricity in La Pedrera.  And custom Gaudi furniture:

La Pedrera exterior and La Pedrera website

And from there a cab up to Parque Guell.

The cab.  It was a Suzuki.  The Japanese company has yet to gain its footing in the U.S., but I see more Suzukis here than Toyotas.  The one we were in was small on the outside, yet large on the inside, bowing out at hip level to add extra room.  I sat there saying, I’d buy one of these!

Buying…  So fascinating, you learn about distribution and marketing here.  iPhones are rampant.  The valet had one in Madrid, that’s how he checked the intermittent wi-fi connection.  Somehow, the people here were made aware of the product, and they found a place to buy it.  If you’ve got a great product in one location, that doesn’t mean it will bust out big somewhere else.  You’ve got to advertise, distribute, provide customer service…  Hell, that’s why direct sales of the Google Nexus One died, there was no customer service infrastructure.  Reminds me of the settling of the west, when those who were richest were the distributors, getting food and hardware to the hinterlands.

Parque Güell was mesmerizing:

Parque Güell

A failed housing development, it’s loaded with Gaudi-isms.  Not only broken tile decoration, but coffee cups too, embedded in the spires.  Gaudi was all about testing limits, he did it his way, and therefore his name and his creations live on.  Want to last?  Don’t copy everybody else, don’t be a Me Too Mickey.  Then again, you need incredible strength of character and perseverance to go your own way.  If you’re doing something different, you can’t dun people into paying attention, pressuring them to buy your creation.  You can only succeed by doing something so special that other people demand it.  That’s what happened with Gaudi.  Like I said, Ballot wanted to keep up with the Joneses!

And from there to the legendary Sagrada Familia, which looks like a real-life Monet, almost out of focus:

Sagrada Familia exterior

Gaudi was not the original architect.  And when hired, he threw out the old plans and instituted his own.  Only this one facade was completed before his death.  And they’re still finishing the cathedral a hundred years later, but at an accelerated pace, with admission fees to Spain’s number one tourist attraction, totaling 20 million Euros a year, financing the construction.

La Sagrada Familia website

We learned so many interesting things.  How architects employed the latest inventions in their imagery.  On facades we saw cameras.  And the chocolate maker had a small statue of a worker making candy on the front of his house.

Andrea made the city come alive.

Which reminds me of something Lenny Ibizarre said in Ibiza: "You’re nothing without an introduction."

That’s what wannabes don’t understand.  You just can’t e-mail Jimmy Iovine blind, you’ve got to know someone who knows him! Don’t blame the music business, it’s been this way for ages, in every walk of life.  Wander around alone and you’re a pariah.  Have a friend and you’re welcomed with riches.

In other words, you’ve got to know someone.  And by knowing Andrea, albeit through a commercial exchange, Barcelona opened up to us.

We’ve still got some time left.  We need to dig deeper into the old city, and hopefully go to the Miro museum, but this trip to Europe has been so illuminating.

Last time I was on the Continent, decades ago, Americans dreamed of traveling to Europe, to learn history, to find out about where they came from.  Today, America’s riddled with jingoism, we’re the greatest country in the world, why go anywhere else, America first!

Well, we just might be number one.  But there are billions of inhabitants outside our borders who know a thing or two.

Like spray vinegar.  They’ve got it all over Spain, but I’ve never seen it in the U.S.

And dual flush toilets.  You pick the appropriate button based on how much needs to go down.  Much better than Santa Monica’s low-flush commodes, which constantly back up.

And then there are the cars.  If we paid this much for gas, we’d drive smaller automobiles too.  And what would we lose in the process?  Nothing!

Then there was that almost-doctor who just asked me to take his picture in the park.  He’s from Brazil.  Speaks pretty good English.  He’s a urologist, who’s studying robotic surgery.  The thought that the rest of the world can be cutting edge is unthinkable to so many Americans.

Last night I had my paella.  Not sure where we’re going to dinner this evening, but I’m expecting an adventure. Because in Europe, they don’t live to work, they work to live…and restaurants and places of entertainment are up to snuff!

Chao!

From: A Major Agent
To: Bob Lefsetz

Please keep my name out of this.

In addition to the 10 cancelled Lilith dates Live Nation just cancelled 25 Jonas Brothers dates yesterday.  No national press release, just announcements in the local markets.  They also cancelled some american idol dates.

From: Bob Lefsetz
To: A Major Agent

are you sure it’s 25, I can only find reference to a few…

From: A Major Agent
To: Bob Lefsetz

I’m pretty sure.  They are only announcing them locally.  Maybe some of the local offices aren’t announcing them until the beginning of the week.

Lilith Fair co-founder Terry McBride on the tour’s travails: ‘No matter what the media says, there won’t be any more cancellations’

Read the comments.

Terry McBride is making a classic twenty first century mistake.  He’s playing to the media, not the fans.

Yes, Lilith got caught in the Tour Crunch Of 2010.  It played by the old rules when we’ve suddenly been ushered into a new world.

It’s become a walk-up business.

Remember the Dixie Chicks?  They were excoriated by the press, dropped from country radio and then went on a sold-out tour.  How could that be?  They sold all the tickets months in advance, before the fracas occurred.

Then Celine Dion leaves Vegas and puts shows on sale over a year in advance.  Do you know what you’re doing fifteen months from now?  I certainly don’t, unless it’s a holiday, and then I sure don’t want to go to a show.

And feeding this frenzy we had high prices and scalpers and ultimately V.I.P. packages, all based on the premise that it was hard to get a ticket and everybody wanted to go.  But suddenly, when Miley Cyrus went to paperless ticketing, it turned out demand, if not skimpy, was far less than perception.  Gigs no longer sold out.  Mothers were no longer pissed.

And I don’t want to get into a long discussion of career arcs, who’s hot and who’s not, then again, I must say if you’re hot, your tickets sell, but very few acts are that hot today.

So:

1. Risk

That’s inherent in business.  We wanted to remove it from the concert world.  If you truly believe in your show, stage it. Because you won’t truly know what demand is until the very last minute, because concertgoing culture has changed. Only diehards need to buy in advance.  Others wait to see what their plans are, who’s going, what the price is.

2. Price

Ever notice that all movies are the same price?  Sure, 3-D has gone through the roof, but the numbers are not good

(Free registration: http://www.btigresearch.com/2010/07/01/dear-movie-industry-should-boise-consumers-really-spend-53-more-to-see-last-airbender-in-3d/). 

Is every act in it for himself or are we in it together?  Especially now, when very few acts can drive enough business to meet the guarantee.  Prices need to come down so people come to the show on a regular basis.  This is not only good for Live Nation, but business at large.  People get into the habit of going and they’re willing to take a risk.  Now, going to a show is getting married.  Can we turn it into a date?  A bad date is troublesome, but you shrug your shoulders and move on.  A bad marriage?  You’ve got to get a divorce, there are money issues, it’s hell.  If going to the show is hell, how often do we expect people to go?

3. Price 2

If there’s price protection at every electronics store, how come we can’t have it in the music industry?  If you buy a ticket and the price goes down, we refund the difference.

4. Trust

Without it, you’ve got no business.  When your product is hot, people will line up to buy it.  I.e. Dell.  Then Dell outsources customer service to Bangalore, makes defective computers and denies it and business goes elsewhere, in this case to HP.  (Never mind that Dell didn’t see the model change to retail sales at physical establishments once PCs had become a commodity.)

5. Value

Just because you put up a show, that doesn’t mean people want to go.  It’s got to be a good proposition.  The bill has to be desirable.  Don’t build a show by favors, but what will bring people through the door.  And, if fewer people are coming, bring in a co-headliner.  The ancient acts do it at the sheds, why can’t newer acts do it too?

6. The Media

You can control mainstream media, but you can’t control fans.  It’s like there’s a black market in information, only in this case, the black market is the real market.  You’ve got relationships with writers, they bend over backwards to be nice to you, desiring further access.  Then you’ve got the fans, on Facebook, tweeting, and it’s only what they say which is truly important, because they’re the ones buying the tickets!  I’m not saying you should ignore mainstream media, I’m just saying it should be secondary to social media, placating the fans.

7. Social Media Stunts

Terry McBride and Lilith should have special timed offers on Twitter.  One VIP ticket for free a day.  Or auction off a meeting with Sarah or every star with the proceeds going to charity.  Or auction off a signed guitar.  Make it quick, leave the mainstream out.  Get fans to go into a frenzy and tell each other.  Also, why isn’t Terry giving away performances in homes in every market?  Come on, some act on his bill would be willing to show up and play in a living room to build excitement.  For a new model guy, Terry’s positively old school here.  You’ve got to drive people to the show today.  And you do this via the Web, via social media.

8. Stop Selling

Desperation is a turn-off.  You can’t beg the customer to come, but you can relax and give the appearance that you’re all in it together.  Terry looks like Nixon.  Or Roger Clemens.  No one believes Roger Clemens is innocent, even though none of us know for sure.  Everyone thinks Lilith is in trouble.  How do you combat that perception?  Not by telling me what a great car the sudden acceleration Toyota is.  Hell, did you notice when Toyota got in trouble, they focused on price?  If your tour is in trouble, maybe you should do the same thing, because businesses across the nation see that that works, that everybody’s got a price.

9. Stop Blaming Live Nation

They paid for your tour, without them you’re nothing, or at least a hell of a lot poorer.  LN’s got tons of its own issues. But by pointing your finger at them, absolving yourself of power, you’re just playing the blame game, you look like you’re in the second grade.  You got in business with Live Nation, defend them!  Terry does a halfway good job of doing that here, but I don’t want one more act complaining about Ticketmaster or parking fees.  Lower YOUR fees and put limits in your Live Nation contract.  Go to all-in ticketing.  Reduce parking and beer.  Sure, the latter is difficult, but let’s be clear, fees are the profit center for Live Nation and they can’t eliminate them until you lower your guarantee.  So, either you’re part of the problem or part of the solution.  Either you’re willing to take less up front and work with Live Nation as a partner or you’re greedy, no different from the bankers on Wall Street.

10. Demand

Your album can’t come out after the tour begins.  No way.  Demand is just not that great.  Hell, we may go completely topsy-turvy, the tour might be months after the record release, when demand has been established.  Almost no acts get recorded music traction anymore.  If you’re using this to create demand, you’re screwed when the release date slips or your album stiffs.  There’s no buzz on Lilith.  Sarah doesn’t have a hit record.  There’s no URGE!  Maybe all these acts should have done a one off album in advance.  Gotten them all in a room and recorded a bunch of covers.  You can stream it on YouTube, embed it on your Facebook page and buy it on iTunes.  (Or acts should emulate the jam bands, instead of making it about rote performances of recorded hits, make every show unique and different, with new songs and improvisation, so either you were in attendance or you missed it…sure, it ends up on YouTube and RapidShare, but it’s not like being there, then again, watch it or see it after the fact and you want go to next time…P2P and the Web are your friends!)

11. If You Build It, They Will Come

Then you’d better be building one hell of a show.  That’s the U2 model, the album’s far from successful, but they go on tour with bells and whistles.  Or the superstar of yore reunites, like the Police.  Today even the Eagles no longer go clean.  Everybody has to create demand.  Is it a hit single, cheap prices, magic marketing, an incredible bill…  All of these elements are now key.  Screw up a bit and you’ve got a Pontiac Aztek instead of a Scion xB.  And isn’t it funny that Pontiac is out of business.  Yes, a few mistakes and you’ll be gone too.  At least car companies try, they refresh models every few years.  Do you want to buy an ’82 Cutlass?  Then why do you think people want to overpay to see you perform your old hits every year at the amphitheatre?