The Valiants played "She’s Not There" at Ilene Kramer’s bat mitzvah party.  Held at Hillandale Country Club on a gray February day, I actually danced a few times.  I’d recovered from being snubbed by Nancy Moss at Bert’s party the month before.  But what I remember most is sitting at that round table, listening to the Valiants, the best bar/bat mitzvah band in the land.

During slow numbers like "She’s Not There" you danced close.  This was just before you put both limbs around your partner, when you still held one arm stretched out straight, hands clasped, like you learned in dancing school.  I guess we could feel tits, but although we talked about them, we were not quite as infatuated as we’d later become.

The party started at four p.m.  The sun slowly set.  I remember distinctly hearing this Zombies tune.

I spent last night catching up with Tom Petty’s Superhighway Tour.  Seemingly every day, they make another track available for download, or streaming.  You can take it in MP3, you can download in FLAC.  There are no restrictions, you pay, you truly get all access.  Dribbled out over weeks, until the actual release of Tom’s multi-disc live album, when you can have the rest of the tracks.

But to get it all at once would be unfortunate, because there’s too much to digest.

You see on every page, there’s a little story about the track.  A complete set list from the night it was recorded.  Reviews. Sometimes not complimentary.  And extra pics.  And fan photos.

And commentary.

On every track, the three (okay, occasionally only two) key band members tell the story behind the recording.  Sometimes it feels like Tom’s going through the motions.  Other times it’s positively riveting.  And fascinating.

Did you know that Tom Petty’s wife has "The Wild One, Forever" on her answering machine?  That Mike Campbell was stunned the audience knew the track "Nightwatchman" just moments after the album came out?  And that this wouldn’t happen today?  In an era when the audience is overloaded and only concerned about the hit?

And there’s a plethora of information on the Superhighway Tour.  You almost have to clear the decks and not pay attention to anything else, you won’t have the time!

But going cut by cut you’re confronted with masterpieces!

Like the band’s performance of "Oh Well" at Bonnaroo.

I never saw Peter Green play it.  Lindsey Buckingham does an incredible version with today’s band.  But it’s not in the LEAGUE of this Heartbreakers take.  It’s the pure ENERGY!  Sure, Mike hits all the notes.  But it’s more than that, there’s the TONALITY of the guitar!  This rendition is STUPEFYING!

I’d say to release a single disc package of all the covers, of all the tracks that have never seen the light of the day.  That’s the essence of the collection.  Not the live renditions of your favorites, but the revelations.  Like "Goldfinger".  Huh?

And there’s this unreleased gem, an original entitled "Lost Without You" that sounds like a drive on a hot Florida night.  Like the sweat is sticking to you, that time is moving slowly, almost too slowly, but this is your one and only life.

But the piece de resistance is the Zombies’ "I Want You Back Again".

I thought maybe it was a variation on the Jackson 5 hit.  I was more interested in hearing the cover of "Friend Of The Devil".  But as I played the song and then listened to the commentary, I got hooked.  By this cover of a lost gem.

Mike says the guitar on the track is understated, that it’s a Vox twelve string, which captures the exact Zombies sound from the original record.

Benmont admits he didn’t even know the record, that it slid right by him back in the day, even though he was a Zombies fan.  Me too, I’d never heard of it, never mind heard it.

Tom says "I Want You Back Again" is his second favorite track of the collection.  That he knew the song from the radio, and it played in his head for ten years until he found the record.

Which is pictured on the site!  You click and you see that Parrot label.  Distributed by London Records, home of the Stones.  The credit on the label says "Directed by Ken Jones".  And the time is 1:58!

I immediately pulled up the Zombies take on Spotify.  The song was new to me, I needed to hear the original.

But it paled in comparison to the Heartbreakers’ remake, which I immediately went back to and couldn’t stop spinning.  It had a driving, slashing groove, and Tom sang with that intimate intensity he specializes in.

Somebody help me
I’ve got to eat
Somebody help me
To stand on my feet

There’s nothing worse than residing in the heartbreak hotel.  Nothing else matters.  Not work, not play.  Just her.  And Benmont’s keyboard conveys the feeling of climbing the walls, which is exactly what you’re doing!

Since you have left me
I’m all alone
I need your help
I can’t stand on my own

There’s that same mid-sixties darkness.  When the movies were still in black white, before the technological revolution, when the U.K. was still emerging from the shadow of the war, when you wanted to avoid a life of desperation by playing music.

I want you back again
Oh, oh, oh
I want you back again

They say you can’t deny your history.  I spend too much of my life searching for it.  Used to be it was deep in the darkness of the past.  But as a result of the magic of the World Wide Web, you can find old haunts, old people, it’s like the past is riding shotgun with you today.

And some elements of those days gone by still pull.  Before we were adults, when we were still kids, with time to waste, to listen to these records over and over again.

Listening to Tom’s take on "I Want You Back Again" ad infinitum, I decided to check out the original once again.

This time it was different.  I knew the song so well, I could hear beyond the song, into the record.  It feels like it was cut in an alternative "Hard Day’s Night", underground, where there was no chance of advancement, yet there was still a glimmer of hope. For what, I’m not sure.  But that’s what music does.  Give you gumption to face incredible odds.

Oh baby don’t it feel like heaven right now
Don’t it feel like something from a dream

The waiting is the hardest part.  For your life to unfold.  Then, suddenly, too much is in the rearview mirror, you want to put on the brakes.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers know those days are done.  When we fought over list price of a vinyl record, when fans lined up on the date of release with hard-earned cash and after purchasing the record spun it into oblivion, until they knew every lick and every word, being unable to afford anything more.

But no one’s getting plastic surgery.  No one’s working with Timbaland.  They did do the Super Bowl, but I’d like to see that as a momentary indiscretion.  You see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers was never everybody’s band.  They were our band.  However large "our" might have been.

Although composed of live cuts stretching back decades, the "Anthology" recordings don’t sound calcified.  Listening is akin to opening up a photo album with an old friend, someone who is in the pictures too.  Not reliving the past silently, but commenting on it.

Yes, it’s the commentary, the extras on the Superhighway Tour that make it all work.  Sure, this was a way for the band to generate extra cash, but you know that constructing this site was FUN!  The way music used to be.  We dedicated hours out of love, to get closer, not because we were interested in a paycheck at the end.

Check out a free sample of the Superhighway Tour here

From: Larry Solters

Maybe TM should get some credit for "trying" to be totally
transparent.

But we always take the heat.

My guess is that nobody in the industry or the public knows that the
following is posted on every event page:

"Our event provider clients decide at their sole discretion which of their tickets are made available for public sale. The tickets we sell belong to our clients and typically represent only a portion of (and
sometimes substantially less than) the total venue seating capacity.
On occasion, additional tickets may be released by the event provider as late as the event date."

And that every event presale is listed.

Ticketmaster’s event info tab states the internet presales and general public onsale information.

For example: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D004369C9B54AF3?artistid=1249444&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=1

What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where the CMAs are better than the VMAs?

One in which the big winner is an MTV castoff, considered to be too old and too unhip for the mainstream.

No, I’m not talking about Taylor Swift, I’m talking about Hootie!  Yup, Darius Rucker!

He may have only won Best New Artist, but he won the evening, he was the only award winner to get a spontaneous standing ovation, for not only his achievement, but the sincerity and honesty of his acceptance speech.

Darius was the anti-Kanye.  Without going all Uncle Tom, he spoke of acceptance by the community.  Like Nashville and country radio are really going to embrace a faded black rocker from South Carolina?  And he thanked his wife and three kids.  For being understanding while he was gone, on the road, trying to earn a living.  And believe me, that’s what it takes.  Show me a divorced country singer and you might find evidence of infidelity, but the true breaking point was the absence, the lack of contact, as the performer traipsed around the country, in much less glamorous circumstances than the public believes, hawking himself and his music, just to stay in the game.  And Darius thanked Doc McGhee.  Isn’t it fascinating that Bon Jovi’s old manager had Nashville success with a rocker with one tenth the footprint of his old client and Bon Jovi failed miserably in the country sphere?  Maybe because Darius Rucker seemed to play by Nashville’s rules.  Rather than just add a banjo, he focused on songwriting, telling stories, not looking to crash the party so much as gain entrance.

And for all the flash on the VMAs, isn’t it honesty and human emotion that truly sells music?  Whilst the rappers are beating us over the head, telling us how great they are, in Nashville you lead with your music.  Mr. Rucker played by the rules and won.  A heartwarming story.

And although hokey, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood were great hosts.  Made me wonder whether musicians should act, play roles, read lines at all, but they made the most of it.  Rather than being wooden, they played along with the script, almost seeming to exist outside of it.  To the point where you felt like members of your family were on stage performing.  And stunningly, since they seem to fail in every awards show in which they’re used, their comedy songs were actually funny, and endearing.

The performances?

Too many acts were hyping their next single as opposed to the hit fans wanted to hear.  Instead of being a celebration, it was a marketing opportunity.

And then there were strange choices.  Why did Zac Brown and his band perform "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"?  I expected Charlie Daniels to come out on stage.  But he didn’t.  At least not in the fast-forwarded images that flew by on my screen.  You couldn’t play "Chicken Fried" or "Toes"?

And there’s something about Ronnie Dunn that just bugs me.  I guess it’s the hair most.  How much time and goop did you expend getting it to look like that?  And while I’m at it, what’s up with Kix Brooks’ porn star moustache?  Still, they truly rocked.  And my buddy Billy Gibbons sat in with them.  Although their regular guitarist got most of the licks.  Which is deserving, since he’s on the road and the band is expiring.  For how long?  Who knows?  You know the comeback is near…

And speaking of comebacks…  How weird is Naomi Judd?  Hi-def makes those facelifts unmistakable.  And Wynonna, I feel for you, having that mother.  But can you spend a little less time in the tanning booth?  Or just have them spray on a lighter layer of brown/gold?

Tim McGraw needed a better song.

Miranda Lambert performed better than when I saw her in that club, but "Gunpowder & Lead" was a scorcher, a "Tumbling Dice" with "Rocks Off" speed.  "White Liar" may be a single, but it’s an album track.

And Carrie, you’re lovable, but can you release a different album?  The formula is so curdled, even a baby couldn’t swallow this milk.  How about a down and dirty record about how you really feel.  How about a little Loretta Lynn with the gloss.

And speaking of rockers, Dave Matthews got a big ovation sitting in with Kenny Chesney.  Dave can’t get arrested on MTV, but he does boffo at the b.o., and his fans scooped up more of his new album than that of almost any MTV star.  Who’s the winner here? Certainly not the flavor of the moment on the VMAs.

And it wouldn’t be a CMA Awards show without Kid Rock, who handled himself admirably.  But what’s up with the seventies sunglasses?  Are they coming back?

And I like Lady Antebellum, but who could love them?  Their material is so bland.  Kind of substandard Brewer & Shipley.  But credit Gary Borman.  He built them into award winners.  And Keith Urban is on a juggernaut!

I guess you’re wondering how good the show could have been if I’m making these criticisms.

Yes, too much of today’s country is formula, not exceptional.

But at least they’re promoting songs.  Which you can sing along to, however evanescent they might be.

And Taylor Swift is the entertainer of the year.  Not only in country, but America at large.  When you’re nineteen, and everybody tells you they love you, you’re gonna believe them.  But they’ll forget about you soon if you don’t keep working, keep delivering the hits.  That’s the reality Hootie spoke of.

And that’s the truth.

My head is spinning.

First Greg Wells, now Louis Messina?

Used to be you denied, denied, denied.  Now you just admit your behavior and throw it back at the accuser, saying you’re innocent and really, it’s the accuser’s fault!

Greg Wells admits parts of Mika’s show are on hard drive.  Now, Louis Messina says Taylor Swift’s deal with American Express, ultimately allowing cardholders to buy the best seats first, is a good thing.  Huh?

So, AmEx buys full page ads in major newspapers.  Is that really the problem?  That no one knows that Taylor Swift is going on tour?  They’ve got to get the word out?

Chances are, if you need that level of advertising, you’re not gonna be able to fill the building.  And that’s not the case with Taylor Swift.  She can sell every damn ticket over and over again.

Then, when Taylor Swift says she wants tickets to be $20, so all her fans can go to the show, Mr. Messina says: "Taylor, you can’t do that ’cause you can’t afford that. It would cost you so much money."  Huh?

Only a promoter could think this way.  What he’s really saying is, if you don’t charge more, you’ll make LESS money, and I’LL  make less money!  Notice he doesn’t say Taylor is going to LOSE money!  Because she’s not!

Listen, Taylor is better than most.  This is not about her.  The whole ticketing fracas is not about individual acts.  It’s a cancer endemic to our industry that is only harming us.  Because you lose the trust of the consumer and you have no business.

Talk to anybody putting on shows right now.  Business is TERRIBLE!  Don’t listen to the press reports.  The public is staying home.  And acts are not lowering their prices.  And those on the talent side want to make as much money as ever, even though recorded music sales in most cases have tanked and the public has little money.  This is a recipe for ongoing business success?

It’s when Louis says there should be a government solution that I get pissed.  Just like the government should solve the file-trading problem, which has gone on for a decade.  Business problems require business solutions.

The scalpers are a problem, but they’re not THE problem!

The problem originates with the talent.

The talent could charge a fortune for the tickets.  But they’re worried about blowback, the public’s perception of them.  They don’t want to APPEAR greedy, so they revert to subterfuge.  So, they don’t LOOK greedy, even though they ARE greedy.

That’s what scalping your own tickets is all about.  That’s what AmEx deals are all about.  In many cases, that’s what fan clubs are all about.

Heinous Ticketmaster fees, if not kicked right back to the artist, which happens in the case of many stars, go to the promoter, so he can make some money.  Artists could include the fees in the overall price, eliminating customer anger and confusion, but they don’t want to appear greedy, they’d rather that Ticketmaster take the heat.

So what do we need?

An all-in price.  Having the customer angry at Ticketmaster and Live Nation does not bode well for the concert industry in general, because this is where the transaction takes place.

Acts either have to charge fair market price for the tickets, or insure that the true fans get ahold of the good tickets at what is essentially a price below fair market value.

If you want to sit in the front row, pay a grand, maybe two.  But don’t tell everybody they can sit in the front row for twenty five bucks when in reality all the good seats have been siphoned off, sold to those who are willing to pay more.

No one expects a BMW for the price of a Hyundai.  Price the tickets fairly, at their real value, and scalping is to a great degree eliminated.  Then again, the acts are fearful of charging a grand for a seat, they’re afraid the public is going to see them like they see the bankers on Wall Street.  Unfortunately, this would not be inaccurate, both are incredibly greedy (although the banker does make more).

Or, institute systems that allow the fan to get a good seat at a cheap price.  Like putting the name on the ticket, a la Nine Inch Nails.

Now don’t think everybody involved is stupid.  Greedy, yes, but not stupid.  Irving Azoff is aware that scalpers use low value credit cards to get around paperless ticketing.  He couldn’t get the credit card companies to play ball with him, they couldn’t see the problem.  But now they do.

And Irving says he’s got the technology and the willingness to show exactly what tickets are on sale for a gig, and will soon have the ability to auction them off/variable price them like airline tickets.

But instituting the procedures and having acts use them is something different.  Does an act really want to let people know that 1/20th of the tickets are actually available to the general public on the on sale date?

I say if you’ve toiled hard and long in the alley, you’re entitled to make the dough.  That’s your choice, charge up the yin-yang.  Or, leave a little in order to insure future good will, keeping the relationship with your fans by allowing them good seats at low prices.  But the acts want it both ways, they want to maintain the good will and make all the money.  And that’s where I’ve got a problem.

Taylor Swift’s Promoter: Congress Can Fix Ticket Woes

Tuesday night’s report:

Scalpers, Wealthy Get Great Seats for Taylor Swift