I don’t like to write after midnight anymore, I end up so jazzed-up, so laden with adrenaline that I can’t fall asleep for hours.  But standing in the kitchen eating pineapple I realized that Howard Stern does what Johnny Carson used to, before David Letterman reinvented late night TV as scripted comedy bits and the informational interview bit the dust.

I couldn’t leave the car.  I wanted to hear what Lewis had to say.

They were talking about the Tonys.  Lewis blew a gasket.  Thought the whole show was an advertisement not to come.  Was he bitter?  You betcha.  He wrote forty plays and made no headway.  Even now that he’s a famous comedian they won’t produce his plays.  He’s written three books, but Broadway just doesn’t give a shit.

He didn’t turn to comedy until he was forty.  Well, he didn’t go professional until then, he worked stand-up on an amateur level.  Now he’s 61 and he headlines theatres, goes on the road in a bus with a road manager and a merch guy and a sound guy…he can’t get over the fact that 2,500 people a night come to see him, he’s thrilled.

Making it…

Howard asked Lewis if he resented the low brow comics.  I figured Howard was referencing Dane Cook, but Lewis talked about Larry the Cable Guy, from twenty years before, when he was working under his real name.  Lewis said he couldn’t resent the guy, even though he was horrific then and funny in an horrific way today, because Larry did the work.  Every morning he woke up and called radio stations.

And then there were the great comedians, like Dom Irrera, who never got their due, never broke through.

Howard put it to Lewis directly.  Did he sacrifice his whole life, not get married, not have kids in pursuit of his dream of being a playwright.

OF COURSE!

He was a schmuck in his parents’ eyes.  He borrowed money from his more successful brother.  Girls thought it was cool he was a playwright for three dates, and then dumped him.

Making it is so hard.  You’ve got to do the work.  And then sometimes it still doesn’t happen.

And it sustains only when you’re honest.  Lewis gave shit to the baby boomers, said we should invade BP like we invaded Iraq.  He was testing the limits, intellectually, and it was stimulating.

I get it, I get it, Howard Stern can be juvenile, talking about farts and doodies, but if you don’t think he’s good, just look at all the people who tried to follow in his footsteps and failed, like Diamond Dave and Adam Carolla.

Howard’s a pro.  His show is as well-oiled as Letterman’s.  But instead of poking fun at life, Howard Stern’s show is life itself.

Life is hard.  Not in the media, but real life.  You’ve got too many commitments, not enough money and certainly not enough time.  You’re either running at a hundred miles an hour or stuck in neutral.  And it seems like nobody wants to hear your story.  Except music.

When done right, music makes you want to join the circus, leave everything that bothers you behind in pursuit of the sound.  You wonder why people followed the Dead, still follow Phish?  It’s because when the music hits, everything’s all right.

I was reading the new "Entertainment Weekly" about the song of the summer.  And I just didn’t care.  I can live without hearing "California Gurls" ever again.  I turned the pages, more interested in the feature on the Millennium Trilogy.  Scott Rudin’s boyfriend picked up "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and told Scott not to bother him for a week.  That’s what music used to be.  But it’s rarely that way anymore.

But reading the magazine from back to front, which is my wont, I came to the "Must List", where the editors list the Top Ten of the week, stuff you need to pay attention to, and they’re recommending Jamey Johnson’s "Macon".

I immediately hop up from my perch, fire up Safari and Google the track and find this:

Jamey Johnson

Endure the ad.  No one in the music business can leave money on the table, can forgo an opportunity to cash in, but if you wait fifteen seconds and you once believed, if you were a fan of classic rock, you’ll be stunned, because Jamey Johnson’s doing Skynyrd’s act, but it doesn’t feel dated, it feels positively today.

It feels just like rolling down the highway with the window down, your elbow perched on the sill, the wind blowing through your hair as the radio plays.  Summers past come wafting through your brain, you suddenly feel like your life works.

Then study this clip.  Maybe the second time through.  Does it make you want to take the stage and join in or what?

Isn’t that what "Almost Famous" was really about?  Joining the circus?  We didn’t want to go to Silicon Valley and hang with the nerds, we wanted to get on the bus, get high and have an adventure.  We wanted the music to squeeze out the need for money, for advancement, we wanted to leave the straight world behind.  That’s what a great concert is, a respite from the bullshit.

A rock concert is not dancing, it’s not rear projection, it’s music.  It’s a religious revival, when the backup singer wails you feel you can see her insides, you thrust your arm in the air, stamp your leg and die to go backstage.

We live in a fractured society.  The scene is so overwhelming as to be unfathomable. Then you stumble on something basic, something real and you feel…home.

Everybody wants to get paid, but that is never enough, if you’re doing it for the bread, you’re gonna have a rough slog.  Isn’t it AC/DC who sang that it’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll?  Getting old, getting grey…getting ripped off, underpaid?

You do it for the time on stage.  When you can blend with the music.  And if you do it right, the audience can tell.

There’s nothing fake about this clip.  What you’ve got is musicians, playing live, having a good time.  It’s infectious!

The studio take is absent some of the energy.  Then again, as much as we loved the records live, we remember the concerts.

And we can sit back and analyze the song intellectually, catalog its faults Clive Davis style.  But that’s missing the point.  This performance has great feel!  And that’s where the magic lies.  That’s how you build an audience.  Not by squeezing out the mistakes, but putting forth your naked all.

Scroll down and click on the triangle next to Jamey Johnson – "Macon".  A player will pop up at the bottom of the page and stream the studio take:

Jamey Johnson – “Macon”

1. Glee Cast "Journey To Regionals"

Sales this week: 151,976
Debut

I just got off the phone with Irving Azoff.  Despite the raging success of "Glee", he decided to keep Journey off the road this summer.  You can’t overwork your acts, you can’t go out every year.  Or, you can ask yourself the question, do you want to burn it out or go for longevity?  Remember grade school, where you learned about farmers letting their land go fallow?  Same deal in rock and roll.  Work the same venues every year with the same crop and you end up in trouble.  Only in this case, it’s not the land that dries up, but your audience.

When "Any Way You Want It" was first a hit it was easily dismissed by the cognoscenti, put down as a lightweight romp.  But compared to today’s pop confections, "Any Way You Want It’ looks like Beethoven.

As for "Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’"…  Isn’t that what we all want?

"Glee" is not a band, but a TV show.  Which builds, fades and is done.  Hell, just look at "American Idol".  There’s no such thing as too much music in the marketplace, especially when none of it gets radio airplay.  Yes, these "Glee" albums are made for home play.  On your iPod, in your car.  Listening makes you feel exuberant…and there’s nothing wrong with that!

And there’s a hard core Journey fan base that’s never stopped believin’.  They’ve been waiting for the reunion show.  If Dave can get back with Van Halen, if Felix could play with the Rascals, Steve Perry and Neal Schon can make up and go on the road.  To play stadiums.  It could happen.  Steve called me a couple of months back and sounded as upbeat and thrilled about his music as ever.

Furthermore, this proves that if you’ve done great work that made it once, you’re only one step away from a renaissance.  But you can’t push it, it’s got to happen by accident, serendipitously.  A royalty check should be sent to David Chase for each and every song downloaded.  And make no mistake, "Glee" sales drive Journey sales.  And if Chase could put their music in the greatest TV series ever, who are we to pooh-pooh it!


8. Lady Antebellum "Need You Now"

Sales this week: 38,865
Percentage change: -5
Weeks on: 20
Cume: 2,252,103

"Reachin’ for the phone ’cause I can’t fight it anymore"

Every time your cell rings you look at the number.  You come home and check the answering machine.  Aren’t they going to call?

"And I wonder if I ever cross your mind"

You do.  It’s just that the person doing the breaking up is already gone by the time he or she tells their partner. They’ve struggled in their mind and made a decision.  No matter what you say, it can’s make them stay.  You’re grasping, they’re being stoic, keeping their distance.  But they think about you all the time too.  They might even come back and have sex.  But then they’ll be gone again.

"It’s a quarter after one, I’m all alone and I need you now?
Said I wouldn’t call, but I lost all control and I need you now"

You do this once, maybe twice, three times is pushing it, four or more and your friends have probably abandoned you, sick of hearing about your ex.

You eventually get over it.  But once you’ve had your heart broken, you never forget it.

I know better songs on this topic than "Need You Now".  But none of them are recent.  The rappers constantly say they need no one.  The melisma sisters are belting so loud that there’s no intimacy.  Whereas Lady Antebellum is soothing.

Sure, the music is ear-pleasing.  But this song doesn’t sell without the lyrics.  And the album doesn’t sell without the hit.

22. Carrie Underwood "Play On"

Sales this week: 16,188
Percentage change: +5
Weeks on: 32
Cume: 1,591,477

Biggest star in country music, Entertainer of the Year, multiple hit albums deep, and tickets are under sixty bucks, tiered at $57, $47 and $37.

You’ve got to leave money on the table if you want longevity.  You’ve got to make the audience believe you’re in it together, that you’re not ripping them off, that they’re not paying to see the peep show.

Country knows it’s about careers. The rest of the business can learn from Nashville.  Hell, there’s no rap or pop music Fan Fair, I don’t see Ke$ha signing autographs for fifteen hours like Taylor Swift…then again, she doesn’t have as many fans, because Ms. Swift sings from her heart, real life, she’s not making train-wreck music which says nothing so much as LOOK AT ME!

80. "Sex and the City 2"

Sales this week: 5,855
Percentage change: -50
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 39,365

Remember when movie soundtracks could sell even when the movies were stiff?

90. Mumford & Sons "Sigh No More"

Sales this week: 4,853
Percentage change: 0
Weeks on: 17
Cume: 65,355

From: Bob Ezrin
Subject: Mumford and Sons

If you’re a Laura Marling fan you need to check out her boyfriend’s band.  I first heard them on XM radio on BBC Radio 1 where they stuck out like a palm tree in a desert.  It was so refreshing to hear a real, un-autotuned voice singing a real, unprogrammed song.  I bought the album immediately and think it may be the second most inventive thing I’ve heard all year after the Drake album.  

She’s wonderful too by the way as were Jonah and the Whale who I went to see in a little club in London 2 years ago.  The whole folk scene in the UK is incredibly fertile and full of art and intelligence.  They’re all worth checking out.  And they give me great hope for the future of the artform.  

Finally – just listened to the new Drake album.  Holy shit!  What an amazing record.  This is THE most inventive thing I’ve heard this year and for many years and may be the best complete "hiphop" album I’ve ever heard, though calling it "hiphop" only describes one of its many facets.  This guy is hiphop’s Barack Obama…the new star, absolutely brilliant with the most compelling voice, articulate and inventive, a product of two worlds with a uniquely broad world view, honest to a fault, self-critical but egotistical, overthinking everything, seeing all the sides all at the same time, split in almost every way but strangely grounded in the face of virtually overnight superstardom…and seemingly headed for a number of falls that he virtually predicts here.  What a ride!  I think you’ll love this.  

But then again…………..

Enjoy.  B

192. Dave Matthews Band "Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King"

Sales this week: 2,630
Percentage change: +9
Weeks on: 2 (re-entry)
Cume: 1,090,031

And the hit single is..?

One could argue that "You and Me" was a hit.  Certainly Coran Capshaw would.  But it had very little penetration of the public consciousness, and it was released over a year ago.

Furthermore, "Big Whiskey" is not Dave’s best work.  Many disagree with me, but they’re all fans, so what is their opinion worth…  EVERYTHING!

It only matters what your fans think.  Not what I think.  Certainly not what the "New York Times" and the rest of the mainstream media think.  I always wonder why papers send their usual suspect reviewer to the show.  It only matters what the FAN thinks!  I don’t care if Jon Pareles or Randy Lewis liked it, I wonder what the person who bought every album and goes every year thought…and there’s a BIG DIFFERENCE!

Yes, Dave’s been on the road every summer.  But he gets away with it because you never know what you’ll get. Each show is a unique party.  Know the acts with the set list laminated to the pass?  That’s not DMB.  The music breathes, it’s alive.  It’s not the version on the album, but something totally new.

And now Dave says he’s gonna take a summer off.  And as a reward to fans, he’s not saying he’s gonna play the hits, but the obscurities, the album tracks!  And believe me, fans know the album cuts.

I want to hear "The Dreaming Tree".  Then again, that’s not that obscure…  I’ve got three live versions on my computer.  Yes, with Dave the definitive version isn’t the one on the studio album, could be the take from the Gorge or SPAC or…

If you want to make money from the road, you’ve got to live on the road.  It can’t be a grind, an endless repetition of your greatest hits, it’s got to be fun, like playing baseball, going from park to park, every night different, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

And believe me, the audience doesn’t mind the mistakes, they want the thrill of watching you walk the high wire.

Recorded music sales are abysmal.  Everyone’s focus is on the road.  If you want to see how it’s done, look at Dave.

I’m listening to this new Tom Petty album.  I haven’t reached a final verdict.  But I already know it’s about listening.  About dropping the needle and letting the entire opus play again and again as it sinks into your brain. It’s not about the hit single, but the experience.

And it used to be this experience was translated live.  You bought the new album to hear it live on the subsequent tour, maybe not start to finish, but the lion’s share of the album would be played.  You see careers were going forward, they weren’t calcified.  But now new music is anathema.  The audience doesn’t want to hear it, it signals the bathroom break.

But is it the audience’s fault?  Now that tickets cost in excess of $100, you expect the hits.  You’re no longer on an adventure, you want insurance.  But if the buy-in is less, if you’re on an equal footing, you want the act to take you on an exploratory journey.

What if acts toured in venues where only their hard core could fit, and they played the new album, like in the old days…  Less revenue would be generated, albums might never break big, but you’d have a healthy scene, satiated fans and musicians.  I mean how can the artists stand to play the same damn songs night after night?

You had to buy the new album before the show.  You didn’t want to be in the dark.  You had your favorites, you wanted to hear what they sounded like live.  And you knew you had to go to the show to hear them, because next time around they’d be replaced by the subsequent new album, with only a couple of cuts surviving.

Now acts play entire albums.  Old albums.  To try and get you to pay a fortune to relive your high school days. Interesting, but if looking back were so damn good our reflections would get younger every time we looked in the mirror.

Now in many cases the musicians are no longer young.  They don’t want to go on the road in buses, never mind vans, they don’t want to work that hard for so little money.  Or else their heads have been turned by past success, they’ve got lifestyles befitting the rock stardom of yore, which exists for almost no one today.  Therefore, some acts wouldn’t want to play theatres, never mind clubs.  They wouldn’t want to come home with six figures in their pockets instead of seven.

But imagine if Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers did a theatre tour, and tickets were twenty bucks.  Hell, that might be unrealistic, let’s say forty bucks.  Can you imagine the demand, the excitement?

And you can imagine fans boogieing to "Mojo", because that’s what it would be, the "Mojo" tour.

Blame "Behind The Music".  It set in stone everybody’s career, acts have been touring Live Nation sheds ever since on this nostalgia.  But now that rarely works.  It’s time to dig down deep and reinvigorate.  It’s the acts that must demand audiences listen to new material.  And the way they’ve got to do it is through enticement, small cheap tours playing to fans.  If you don’t want to hear the new album, you don’t go.  And there’s no Amex pre-sale.  As a matter of fact, it would be best if tickets were sold in lineups outside the box office.  How dedicated a fan are you?  Are you willing to miss a day of work or a Saturday morning round of golf?

This would be a bigger story, in both the mainstream press and word of mouth, than another overpriced greatest hits tour.

The acts have to save the music.  Believe me, the labels and Live Nation won’t.

P.S. Best track I’ve found so far on "Mojo" is "Lover’s Touch".  It’s dark and quiet like those tunes on Petty’s first album, it’s an amplified "Luna".  "Mojo" works first and foremost because Tom Petty and his band are fans, they love the music, they’re driven to create.  Now that’s very different from the acts du jour.  It’s about looking inward, not outward, it’s about digging down deep in the darkness of the studio, not going out to clubs so you can be featured on TMZ.  But that’s what music is, something you hear, not something you see.  Something that touches your inner soul.  You know it when you hear it.  But it requires dedication on the creative end.  TP has it.  It comes through in the grooves of "Mojo".