I’m immune to mainstream hype.

When you e-mail me about your show, your project, I just delete it.

And I’m not alone.

We stumble upon information now.  We start with our trusted resources and see where they lead.

I follow Thomas Meyer on Twitter.  Not because I love Sonos, which I do, I use it every day, but because Thomas is the one who convinced me to tweet.  In a convivial, buddy to buddy way.  Friends bring you along.  Enemies insult you.

So, today I see that Thomas is tweeting about 2009 Bonnaroo downloads.  Are they real?  Are they legal?

I wasn’t sure.  But wanting to know more about this site, http://www.largeheartedboy.com, I clicked through to the homepage.  Whereupon I found out that Shawn Colvin had a new live album.

When I clicked to download it, I was linked to Amazon, where I learned that it wasn’t going to be released until…June 23rd.  That’s WEEKS off.  No, it’s today.  But, high on chocolate I thought it was still the first week of the month and decided to see if I could download the album from RapidShare.  Not wanting to e-mail a friend at Nonesuch and wait upon delivery.  We live in the age of instant.  And coming up empty, with a little more research, I ended up on AOL, listening to a stream of an album I didn’t even know existed five minutes before, but contained some of my favorite tunes of the last two decades.

Records used to be my best friend.  They were my training wheels for love.  Everything I learned about sex was from movies, everything I learned about intimacy was from records.  And intimacy comes first.  You’ve got to know someone before you can truly have a relationship.  How do you start?  Books tell you to compliment them, tell them you like what they’re wearing, how they’ve styled their hair.  But records told me to put forth my personality, to reach out with some inner truth.  If I conveyed who I truly was, I had a chance I’d get an honest response.

Some records are sold by the machine.  Radio and the press tell you to buy them.  Their covers scream out at the store.  There are people like this, who shop all day for clothing, even alter their looks with plastic surgery to attract the opposite sex…  I always thought who I was would be enough.  If only I could get someone to play me.

Home is where I want to be

The Internet is the greatest invention of my lifetime.  Because it allowed me to be home, but a part of it.  The universe.  The action.  Prior to its invention, the explosion of 1995, when everybody got a computer and got online, I was lonely, home alone.  That’s what happens when you’re left.  By your wife, your father and your money.  You become a prisoner of TV.  I knew all the sitcoms, never missed an episode of Letterman.  I had the contents of conversation, just no one to conduct it with.  But not only did the Internet give me willing listeners, along with an audience came invitations, outside my abode.

I was shaky.  I still am.  It’s scary.  But the essence of life comes from being out, interacting with humans, having enough confidence to give your personality a whirl and see if it attracts any takers.

I am just an animal looking for a home

Some people rely on their families.  Their parents or their siblings.  I think that’s why some people create their own broods, to have a private posse, who will always pay attention, who will always listen.  But I’m a limit-tester.  I don’t like to play it safe.  I want to reach for the stars.

But I got sick of doing it alone.

So you end up with an ache.  Which cripples you.  In my case, for years.

Leave your house.  The walking wounded are all around you.  They’re just putting on a happy face.  They’re trying to look like winners to attract winners.  But like that Steely Dan song said, I want a name when I lose.  I’m much more interested in the bruised and battered than seamless perfection.

In the depths of my despair one album made a difference, got me through.  And that’s Shawn Colvin’s "Steady On".

But if you went to the show, you heard covers interspersed with the original material.  One of those was Talking Heads’ "Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place)".

It sounded nothing like the original.  I didn’t even recognize it, even though I owned the Heads’ album upon which it originally appeared.  Shawn made it her own.  And in making it her own, she made it all of ours.  Great music belongs to the populace, not the creator.  We own it not by buying it, but by listening to it, having it deposited deep inside of us.

Eventually Shawn did a rendition on her 1994 album "Cover Girl".  But the live take was tweaked in the studio, with strings.  And, in the process, lost its essence.

Now, years later, it reappears, in naked form.

And you’re standing here beside me
I love the passing of time

I’m lonely no longer.  I’ve got love, I’ve got companionship.

But as much as I love being part of a team, I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say I loved having you.  When I hit send and I reach tens of thousands of people, when they care what I have to say, whether they agree or not, I feel I’m a member…of the human race.

Never for money
Always for love
Cover up and say goodnight…say goodnight

Actually, there’s not much money involved.  But I’m not gonna shill anything, promote or hype anything for a paycheck.  Because that would sully the mission.  It would be dishonest.  I’d be disrespecting all those records of yore, that made me who I am.

They were not artifacts to be digested and discarded.  I’ve got each and every vinyl album I ever bought.  To get rid of one would be like abandoning one of the children I never had.

All I’ve got is this music.  These experiences.  I’ve got nothing against possessions, but they don’t keep you warm at night.  And music will.

Click on the last track: ‘Live’ by Shawn Colvin

Liveworks newsletter

I don’t know why Lewi is self-flagellating, I thought it was GREAT!

The problems he delineated were real.

But people came.  In droves.  Something we used to count on in rock and roll.  We didn’t need publicity, we just announced the show on the radio and it sold out.  But now, we beg people to come.  To hear bands that will be history nearly as soon as they leave the stage or bands that are so old that they ARE history.

The Drive Up

I don’t need no stinking NAV!

But I did bother to go to AAA and get a map.  And even routed our trip via MapQuest and AAA’s online TripTik service.

NEVER USE THESE!  NEVER EVER!  They’re the greatest advertisement for built-in navigation systems ever invented.

I’m not telling you the Lexus or BMW or even GM nav systems will route you any differently, but at least they’ll ALERT YOU to their fakokta routes.

I mean if you’re driving from L.A. to San Jose you’d expect a sign.  How could I miss the turn-off?  Well, it turns out MapQuest and AAA are computerized services, no human beings involved.  So, they’ll pick the shortest route, just not the most PRACTICAL ROUTE!  Leaving Palo Alto for Yosemite two days later, I was stunned to find they routed me on a secondary road with STOP SIGNS from Interstate 5 to California 99.  I thought I was in a remake of "The Hills Have Eyes", about to be eaten by locals uttering "baby…baby".

But eventually we made it to Palo Alto, our ultimate destination.  And I phoned Lewi.  Who said we should come to the venue.

Shoreline Amphitheatre is one of the better sheds.  But despite all the rock and roll photos on the walls, rock does not live here.  We lost something when the Fillmores closed, when the seventies ended.  Music is a mature field now, concerts are not seat of the pants events, but military exercises.  There’s no soul.  Especially when the venue, with no gravitas at all, lives on, but the acts don’t.  Better to gig in a high school gym.  Really, if you don’t think there’s a problem with the institutional venues concerts are promoted in, you don’t go.  They just don’t FEEL like rock and roll, but an elaborate recreation built by Madison Avenue, ON A BUDGET!

But I was impressed with Lewi’s layout.  I was excited to take a bite of the food from his purveyors.  High class peanut butter and jelly?  This I had to taste.  And I was salivating over Katz’s pastrami.  You can go to Langer’s, but truly, other than that downtown establishment, it’s impossible to get great pastrami in L.A.

We ended up having dinner in the hotel with Brian Greenbaum, Andy Somers and Dave Shapiro.  They all flew up in Dave’s plane.  I don’t know about you, but I’m AFRAID to go up in these tinker-toys.  I need to be in the back, with no view of the pilot, praying that he’s got so many hours under his belt that no matter what we encounter, we’re safe.

The conversation was illuminating.  Used to be you wanted to dine with label people.  Now, all the information comes from agents.  Want to know what’s truly going on in the music business?  Break bread with an agent or promoter.  Jimmy Iovine may get all the press, but labels are history.

The Next Day

I’ve got to tell you, when you exit from the freeway to Shoreline, you see one of the great American landmarks.  GOOGLE!

I was stunned.  I knew what the building looked like.  But I imagined it was on a hill, surrounded by vast fields, and that the edifice was as large as an Alp.  Whereas it’s just off the highway and relatively tiny.  But, like Brigham Young so famously said…THIS IS THE PLACE!

Right here is the heartbeat of the WORLD!  It was like coming to L.A. for the first time and seeing all the rock and roll landmarks.  My heart beat faster.  To go inside…  Could I go inside?  I remember coming to Hollywood and crossing the street to enter the lobby of Liberty Records.  To get the same hit today, I’d have to go to Google.  Or Apple.  The best minds of a generation, the innovators, the limit-testers, did not pick up guitars, but got computer science degrees, stayed up all night coding as opposed to listening to records, and then truly changed the world.  Tech triumphs over music.  If you want to see someone break rules, you fire up your computer, you don’t put on a record.

Anyway, the gig was CROWDED!  Overwhelmingly so!  People were lined up!

Like a rock concert in the seventies.

There was a vibe, a pulse.  You felt like you were where it was at.

Lewi goes on about being unprepared, but the true story here is publicist Elaine Garza and her protege.  They got the kind of ink, the kind of mentions you can’t get for music anymore!  Shit, they got the cover of the "San Francisco Chronicle" weekend section.  It gave people the impression THIS IS WHERE IT’S HAPPENING!

And it was.

To too great a degree.

Bacon

Yup, we tested it at Zingerman’s.  You got four types and rated them.  We ate Junior’s cheesecake and great burgers and s’mores…

And then there was gridlock.  The lines were too long, we went into the venue.

Where Marshall Crenshaw played to almost nobody.

And then Bobby Flay hit the stage.

The thunderous roar brought me to the bowl.  These people had been primed by television.  Bobby Flay was a STAR!

That was the great insight I got.  That these Food Network personalities, they’re what rock stars USED to be.  Bobby Flay was cracking jokes, revealing his truth in a way no new musical act instructed by handlers how to be ever is.  Guy Fieri even more so.  He whipped the audience into a frenzy!  He made it a SHOW!

And that’s what it’s got to be.  ENTERTAINMENT!  People will pay if they have a good time.

Conclusion

Lewi’s been going on about a food festival forever.  To the point where even I doubted its success.  But this was such a winner idea, I was STUNNED!  Jim tapped into a zeitgeist I didn’t even know existed.  Furthermore, EVERYBODY EATS!

I’m sorry Jim took the problems so personally.

But the key to the future is IDEAS!  Doing the same old thing again and again leads to bankruptcy.  We’ve got cultural bankruptcy in the music business.  You just don’t want to admit it.  The Food Network is better than MTV and VH1 combined.  It’s got a quality of truth, a humanity that no canned "reality" show can ever provide.  Today at lunch Joel Selvin proffered that music tanked when the acts stated wearing tights, after "Born In The U.S.A.", when Bon Jovi ascended and power ballads ruled.  I think he’s right.  It became about calculation.  And music was always about FREEDOM!

Conclusion 2

You can work out the details, but it’s almost impossible to create demand.  Lewi tapped into demand.  And he’s right, the Live Nation team was not passive, but on it and supportive.

If you’re a promoter, you should book this show.

If you’re a fan of food, and who isn’t, YOU SHOULD GO!

The Great American Food and Music Fest

Subject: Barry B.

Bob…

This is Steve Buckingham in Nashville. Our friend, Bob Kirsch, sent me the many statements about Barry Beckett that you posted. I am going to forward all of these to his sons, Mark and Matthew. Diane, his wife, doesn’t do email but I will make sure she gets a copy of all the wonderful things everyone has said about Barry.

Barry had been scheduled to play Wurlitzer and B-3 with me three years ago on a Joan Osborne album I was producing. It was that week that Barry had the first of a series of strokes that he never really recovered from.

Two weeks ago Diane asked Eddie Bayers, Michael Rhodes and me to come see Barry for what we all knew would be the last time. Needless to say, it was very emotional.

I am helping Diane, Mark and Matthew put together a memorial service for Barry. It will be at the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville and I will let you know the date so you can post it.

By the way, I have heard from so many people about Barry’s death. Paul Simon called from his tour in New Zealand to offer his condolences. I asked him to call Diane, Barry’s wife of over 43 years, which he did.

Thanks Bob for keeping some of us "in touch."

The following is something I wrote on the night I was told Barry had died.

Eddie Bayers just called me and Barry died about 30 minutes ago. Barry Beckett was one of the greatest studio keyboard players in history and a hell of a guy. If you listened to Rhythm & Blues, Bob Dylan’s "Gotta Serve Somebody," Paul Simon’s "Kodachrome"…and thousands of other records…you’ve heard Barry Beckett.

I first met Barry in 1976 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama when I was still playing sessions and hadn’t yet started producing. Barry and the other members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section…Roger Hawkins, David Hood and Jimmy Johnson…were already legends, having played on records for everyone from Wilson Pickett to the Rolling Stones.

Barry moved to Nashville a few years after I did. The first country artist I produced in Nashville was Tammy Wynette and the first musician I called to play on the session was Barry. I have a great picture of Tammy, Barry and all the other musicians together in the studio. We all look so young…and, sadly, three of those in the photo are no longer with us.

Barry and I worked together a number of times over the following years and even co-produced some artists together. As so many of the other musicians have recalled, the image of Barry holding a cigarette in one hand, elbow on one knee, toothpick in his mouth…staring at the keyboard, waiting to lay just the right 5 or 6 notes in the perfect spot…is indelibly stamped in our memories.

A week ago today, I went to see Barry for the last time with Eddie Bayers and Michael Rhodes. Eddie and Michael played drums and bass on hundreds of Barry’s productions as well as for me. We all consider ourselves lucky to have had him as a mentor…and, especially, a friend.

I will close with this one story. Barry and a group of us studio musicians and producers loved trains. Every year we would charter a steam engine and several cars and go on all day excursions out of Chattanooga. The cars were the old, luxurious types built in the 1930s. The last car on the train had a platform out back and we all wanted to spend time sitting out there, watching the tracks disappear behind us. This is where Barry would park himself for the entire day, except when it was time to eat. One afternoon I was sitting on the back platform with Barry who, typically, had his elbow on one knee and was holding a cigarette…staring at the tracks. Finally he said: "Buck…listen to that rhythm" (He was referring to the clickety-clack of the steel wheels on the rails). Barry continued, "That’s a deep pocket (groove)…let’s remember that the next time we’re in the studio."

Believe me…there are a lot of things I remember about Barry Beckett.

Steve Buckingham
Nashville…June, 2009

___________________________________

Subject: Re: More Barry Beckett

Barry and Roger Hawkins produced Orleans’ debut LP in 1973.

We were beyond thrilled to be working with them in Muscle Shoals, as young music bucks rapt with what was already a considerable legacy from that srudio and team.

Barry taught us much, as well as joining us on a couple of tracks. We learned a lot and laughed a lot.

The whole LP took 2 weeks – from basic trax to finished mixes on 11 cuts – and remains our hardest-core fan’s favorite album.

We took in more in that 2 weeks about recxording than we’d learned in 20-something years on the planet!

And yeah, we had to stop recording whenever it rained (the tin roof ‘-)

They sent us  back to Woodstock with a thick drawl and a lot more wisdom about musix and the biz.

Next time we met up with Barry was in Nashville mid-80s. He was
always the gracious, gentle giant, the quiet genius who touched so many with his understated music and personality.

Only the good die young, indeed.

Larry Hoppen.

___________________________________

Subject: Re: Springsteen/Ticketmaster

On Jun 22, 2009, at 5:31 PM, Bob Lefsetz wrote:

"I don’t care if there were seats available on the floor"

Bob, I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to here (did Landau use this as some sort of explanation?), but just so YOU know, in most of the shows on Bruce’s last two tours, "floor seats" don’t exist…it’s general admission, standing room only on the floor, and if you don’t get in line at the venue hours before the show starts, you are forced to stand at the back…there are barricades preventing one from moving all the way to the front.  If you do get into the "right in front of the stage area", you have to endure several hours on your feet.   

So, if anyone is indicating that it wasn’t the "best seats" in the house that were held back, they’re dodging the fact that the "better" seats are ones in which you have no seat and must stand for several hours.

Just clarifying for you on that point in case you didn’t know…

John Van Nest

___________________________________

Headley grange

Look bob

You’re a smart guy—but Springsteen didn’t really change the world in the seventies, although my daughter, gia ciambotti sang with him for a couple of years—great act but not earth shattering. The shit that really counted was happening over the pond. That takes us to headley grange.  It’s just a big old english countryside castle-like workhouse—cold as hell, heated by coal, paraffin stove in the kitchen, a hundred rooms, damp and dank—right out of charles dickens.  But it must have some musical ghosts haunting the joint because it’s like a vortex for creative, world changing, rock and roll.

Right after led zep recorded their stuff there, my band, clover rented the grange to live in and rehearse.  Comming directly from marin, our minds were totally blown by the vibe.  The rehearsal hall was a huge ballroom with unreal acoustics.  Perfect for loud music.

For some reason or other it was decided that clover would record at rockfield studios in wales instead of doing a remote truck at headley. Rockfield was cool, but didn’t have the danger vibe that headley grange had.  Anyway, clover continued to live and rehearse there (and, of course, party), when jake riviera had the brilliant idea to send this guy, d.p. Mc manus, he was thinking of putting on Stiff records, down to headley to have us see whether his shit was worth doing.  Well, the vibe at headley must have been in full force that night because we rehearsed the foundations of elvis costello’s first record—and the rest, as they say, is history.  To this day, elvis will occasionally tell the story of sleeping that first night in the rehearsal hall and getting up close and personal with the humongus rat population of headley grange.  I don’t know whether it’s still being used for the purpose of recording or not, but it ought to be—it’ got some powerful thing going for it.

Dr john p ciambotti      
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

___________________________________

From: Amanda Palmer
Subject: twitter power, or "how an indie musician can make $19,000 in 10 hours using twitter"

"how an indie musician can make $19,000 in 10 hours using twitter"

this story has just been blowing people’s minds so i figures i should write it down.

1.
FRIDAY NIGHT LOSERS T-SHIRT, $11,000

about a month ago, i was at home on a friday night (loser that i often am when i’m not touring, i almost never go out) and was, of course, on my mac, shifting between emails, links and occasionally doing some dishes and packing for a trip the next day. just a usual friday-night-rock-star-multi-tasking extravaganza.

i twitter whenever i’m online, i love the way it gives me a direct line of communication with my fans and friends.

i had already seen the power of twitter while touring…using twitter i’d gathered crowds of sometimes 200 fans with a DAY’S notice to come out and meet me in public spaces (parks, mostly) where i would play ukulele, sign, hug, take pictures, eat cake, and generally hang out and connect. this was especially helpful in the cities where we’d been unable to book all-ages gigs and there were crushed teenagers who were really grateful to have a shot at connecting with me & the community of amanda/dolls fans.

i’d also been using twitter to organize ACTUAL last-minute gigs…i twittered a secret gig in LA one morning and about 350 folks showed up 5 hours later at a warehouse space….i played piano, filmed by current.tv, and then (different camera crew) did an interview with afterellen.com.
the important thing to undertsand here is that the fans were never part of the plan..,i basically just INVITED my fans to a press day, the press didnt’ plan it…i did.
i was going to be playing in an empty room and doing q&a with afterellen on a coach with only the camera watching.
it was like….why not tell people and do this in a warehouse instead of a hotel lobby or a blank studio? so i did.

it cost me almost nothing. the fans were psyched.

but back to the bigger, cooler story….

so there i am, alone on friday night and i make a joke on twitter (which goes out to whichever of my 30,000 followers are online):

"i hereby call THE LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS to ORDER, motherfucker."
9:15 PM May 15th from web

one thing led to another, and the next thing you know there were thousands of us and we’d become the #1 topic trend on twitter.
zoe keating described it as a "virtual flash mob".

the way twitter works (if you don’t have it) is that certain topics can include a hashtag (#) and if a gazillion people start making posts that include that hashtag, the topic will zoom up the charts of what people are currently discussing. it’s a cool feature.

so anyway, there we were, virtually hanging out on twitter on a friday night. very pleased with ourselves for being such a large group, and cracking jokes.

how do you "hang out" on the internet? well, we collectively came up with a list of things that the government should do for us (free government-issued sweatpants, pizza and ponies, no tax on coffee), AND created a t-shirt.
thank god my web guy sean was awake and being a loser with me on friday night  because he throw up the webpage WHILE we were having our twitter party and people started ordering the shirts – that i designed in SHARPIE in realtime) and a slogan that someone suggested: "DON’T STAND UP FOR WHAT’S RIGHT, STAY IN FOR WHAT’S WRONG". neil gaiman and wil wheaton joined our party. the fdnas felt super-special.

by the end of the night, we’d sold 200 shirts off the quickie site (paypal only) that sean had set up.
i blogged the whole story the next day and in total, in the matter of a few days, we sold over 400 shirts, for $25/ea.

we ended up grossing OVER $11,000 on the shirts.
my assistant beth had the shirts printed up ASAP and mailed them from her apartment.

total made on twitter in two hours = $11,000.
total made from my huge-ass ben-folds produced-major-label solo album this year = $0

2.
WEBCAST AUCTION, $6000

a few nights after that, i blogged and twittered, announcing a "webcast auction" from my apartment.
it went from 6 pm – 9 pm, my assitant beth sat at my side and kept her eyes on incoming bids and twitter feed.
while we hocked weird goods, i sang songs and answered questions from fans. we wore kimonos and drank wine. it was a blast.

people on twitter who were tuned in re-tweeted to other fans. the word spread that it was a fun place to be and watch.
we had, at peak, about 2000 people watching the webcast.

at the suggestion of a fan early in the webcastm anyone could, on demand, send us $20 via paypal and we would chew,
sign and mail them a postcard. we sold about 70, and we read all those names at the end of the webcast and thanked those
people for supporting us. here’s how the sales broke down:

all the items were signed by moi and hand-packed by beth and kayla._ the items and highest bidders were as follows:_ hilary, ukulele used on the european tour: $640 _jake, "guitar hero" plastic guitar controller used in album promo shoot: $250_ lary b, copy neo2 magazine, plus two post-war trade slap-bracelets & a crime-photo set: $230_ devi, glass dildo, with subtley-sordid backstory: $560 _liz b., "hipsters ruin everything" t-shirt, made by blake (get your very own here!!!!): $155.55_shannon m., my bill bryson book, a short history of neary everything: $280_ nikki, huge metal "the establishment" sign, used at rothbury festival for the circus tent i curated: $450 _j.r., purple velvet "A" dress used in the dresden dolls coin-operated boy video shoot: $400_ jessie & alan: who killed amanda palmer vinyl: $100_ nikki: wine bottle, auctioned BY REQUEST!!! $320 _shannon w., torn-to-shit vintage stockings used in the who killed amanda palmer/ michael pope video series: $200 _jodi, school-note-book break-up letter, written to amanda from jonas woolverton in 7th grade (i still haven’t emailed him about that….): $250_ daryl, ANOTHER wine bottle, by request, that we had LYING AROUND: $320
and…………..
reto emailed, having barely missed the wine bottle, and asked us to send him "something funny" for $129.99. we sent a heath ledger statuette.

total made on twitter in 3 hours, including the postcards, was over $6000.
again, total made on my major-label solo album this year: $0

3.
TWITTER DONATION-ONLY GIG, $1800

a few days later, i twittered a guest-list only event in a recording studio in boston, to take place a week later.
the gig lasted about 5 hours, all told, with soundcheck and signing. i took mostly requests and we had a grand old time.
first come, first served. the first 200 people to ask got in, for free. i asked for donations and made about $2200 in cash.
i gave $400 back to the studio for the space and the help. we sold some weird merch. i think we should call it an even 2k.

total made at last-minute secret twitter gig, in about 5 hours = $2000
major-label record blah blah blah = $0

…..and for fun, and to thank my fans for being awesome, i’ve been doing some twitter perfomance art, including answering their questions by magic-markering my body until it’s covered, and displaying time-lapse make-up application advice….but that’s another story.

TOTAL MADE THIS MONTH USING TWITTER = $19,000
TOTAL MADE FROM 30,000 RECORD SALES = ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

turn on, tune in, get dropped!!!!!

love,
amanda fucking palmer
http://www.amandapalmer.net
http://www.dresdendolls.com

p.s.
if you want to read the full blogs and see the pictures from the #LOFNOTC events, i blogged here:

1. the friday night that started it all:
http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/111667948/twitter-the-beautiful-losers-lofnotc

2. the webcast and magic-marker/make-up mayhem:
http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/127401792/wasnt-this-supposed-to-be-my-fucking-week-off

What’s worse, overpaying to be inside the building or not being able to go to the show at all?

I’ve got no desire to get involved in the pissing match between Ticketmaster and Springsteen, but I will say, as per usual, the fan is the loser.

Jon Landau’s defense that it’s standard industry practice to hold back tickets in major markets although true, is evidence of a greater concern.  THAT YOU JUST CAN’T GET A GREAT SEAT UNLESS YOU BUY FROM A SCALPER!

I don’t care if there were seats available on the floor, Jon Landau does not dispute that 1,126 tickets in sections close to the stage were held back from the initial on sale.  They don’t hold the bad seats, they hold the good ones.  And although I believe that Bruce did not scalp his own tickets, if you don’t think a large quantity of these held back tickets were sold for way above face value, you probably think Metallica believes all music should be free and that Madonna has got the voice of an angel.

We’ve trained the audience to go to scalpers.  A scalper offers a specific seat, which you can pay an appropriate amount for, based on surfing the Net for available ducats. You don’t have to wake up early on a Saturday, you don’t have to buy close to the on sale date at all.  In other words, on sale is for suckers.

And the company taking the heat is Ticketmaster.  Ticketmaster makes available what it is told to, not what it decides independently.  The percentage of great seats that are truly available is a fraction of those in the building.  Promoters resell, season ticket holders resell, the building resells…  It’s who you know.  It’s not an issue of being abused by Ticketmaster.

As for Ticketmaster directing surfers to their TicketsNow site for scalped tickets, that is heinous.  Especially if seats are still available.  Then again, are you truly telling me that Bruce Springsteen fans are so stupid as to be unable to tell that multi-thousand dollar seats are being sold by scalpers as opposed to the Boss himself?  This makes no sense, that a literary man would have such a dumb audience.

And speaking of dumb audiences…  It’s a minority that’s truly bitching.  Because everybody else knows the facts of life.  You just can’t get a good seat unless you overpay.

I’m not sure why Mr. Landau waded into this, made it such a cause celebre that Ticketmaster had screwed up.  Did he truly believe his house was in order to such an extent that he and the Boss were unimpeachable?  We live in the Internet era, there is no privacy, the truth outs.

So the Boss, just like Ticketmaster, does not have clean hands in this situation.  And we’ve got a public that sees music as a once a year event, that you overpay for, since you want to be in the building, and if you’re bothering to go, you want to be close.

As for checking out a new band?  Why?  Even if the listed value of the ticket is cheap, the final price will not be.  Fees can double the cost.  Primarily because the promoter has been squeezed to such an extent that he takes all the risk and has very little upside.  You may hate Live Nation, but I ask you, if the company disappears, WHO IS GOING TO PAY THESE ACTS THESE MONSTROUS SUMS?

AEG will overpay for superstars.  Mid-level stars and developing acts?

Ticketmaster is a front for the artists.  The service should not help performers scalp their own tickets, it should try and get all-in ticketing.  But Ticketmaster is not in control!  To say Ticketmaster runs the music business is akin to saying your local car dealership was responsible for the failure of GM.  Your local dealer may have a flawed operation, but the Detroit company’s bankruptcy was caused by ineptitude at the very top.  Just like the music business.

All-in ticketing must be the norm, not the exception.  And make no mistake, it’s not Ticketmaster that’s against all-in, but the acts.  They don’t want to appear greedy by charging high prices!  They’d rather Ticketmaster take the heat.

Promoters must be able to make money.  Deals cannot be predicated on selling out and the promoter profiting on merch and refreshments.  You know why promoters steal? Because the acts make them!

There should be a public manifest for every show, detailing exactly what seats are available.  Which ones have sold already, which ones were never for sale!  It’s not like this is difficult technologically, it’s just that the industry wants to operate on smoke and mirrors, thinking the public is stupid.

But it’s not.

The public knows that superstars are all about the money.  And that their handlers are equally greedy, willing to wring fans dry in order to maintain their lifestyle.

Instead of pointing fingers, we’ve got to work together, to entice the public to both trust us and experiment with new music.  A concert should not be an assault, like flying coach, but something more akin to business class, even if the gig is sold out.

If Springsteen truly wanted to help, he’d initiate some of the changes delineated above.  Reveal more information and let the public decide.  But now Bruce’s hands are stained too.

As for the press that beat up Ticketmaster and then failed to report this "Star-Ledger" story…  Ain’t that America.  It was sexy when fans were irate, whipped into a mob by Springsteen’s camp, but when the heat was off, the press didn’t care.

Or maybe it’s just that the press is afraid of attacking the Boss.

The Boss tries.  He admits mistakes.

He made one here.  Of yelling at Ticketmaster when his own house was not in order.

Ticketmaster needs to divorce itself from all scalpers.

And Springsteen needs to use his power to clean up this business.  That’s what a leader does.  Not shrug and say this is the way it’s always been and I’ve got no choice, but make the hard choices and promise he’ll conduct himself in a better way, illustrating to others that it can be done.

"Star-Ledger" story

Jon Landau’s response