From: Steve Berlin
Subject: Re: Grammy Opening

Bob-

What I am struck by is the amazing lack of vision in our business compared with this year’s Oscars. Even if you don’t care for the work, you have to applaud the command and ambition in both No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood just to pick two, and I am incredibly sad that there is absolutely nothing within the solar system of the Grammy nominees in any of the main categories that corresponds. And does anyone think that a young Miles Davis or John Coltrane or John Lennon would have won any of these inane ‘Grammy Moment’ competitions that NARAS seems to love so much? Just like American Idol, the premium seems to be on noisemaking, rather than taste and economy.

Steve Berlin

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From: Julie Ann May
Subject: Grammys Golden-Grey

What a great 50-years-ago show! If it had aired in Black & White it really would have connected with its audience – then again maybe not all of them back here in the east who were probably asleep by 10…

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From: Jesse McCann
Subject: The Grammy’s Are DEAD

Bob,

I’ve written before as head of Digital Distribution for Allegro Corporation. I am also a part time music teacher at Portland State University. This morning I asked one of my classes if anyone watched the Grammys. In a class of 37 non-music majors, not a single person watched. You can add me to that list as well. I even forgot they were on. No one in the class was even near interested in the awards. I’m wondering, has anyone else chimed in with this kind of observation? And if so, what does it say about the industry, if anything? To me, it says the Grammy’s don’t matter anymore. But, maybe they do?

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From: Adam Sandler
Subject: An explanation why the Grammys sucked

When Mike Greene and Rob Senn ran NARAS, they at least had the backbone to frequently say "no" to Ken Ehrlich (Grammy telecast producer) when he proposed an uninspiring artist pairing, or suggested an inappropriate presenter. The current NARAS administration seems to exercise little, if any, control over the creative elements of the telecast. Whatever one may say about Mike’s personal peccadilloes, his unwavering goal was always to elevate the Grammy brand during the show, not to denigrate it to the lowest common denominator. He easily said "no thanks" to label chiefs, Les Moonves and heavyweight managers lobbying for a slot on the show, if he didn’t believe their appearance would enhance the telecast. This refusal to kowtow may be viewed by some as alienating the powers that be, but the Grammy show was never used by Mike as a due bill. He wanted the show to be classy, memorable and entertaining; not totally comprised of ratings-driven gimmicks. Mike and Rob also oversaw every creative element, from the smallest (commercial bumpers, show graphics and which direction the Grammy rotated) to the largest (stage design, performers, presenters and pairings). They even had the stones to tell CBS executives "no" when the network wanted to stuff the show with lame talent from the various TV series. (Ehrlich, who produces other shows for the network seems to go along to get along in order to keep peace in the family). And Mike and Rob certainly never would have allowed an unsigned talent competition, or internet voting. You’d never see the Academy Awards have a segment with acting students competing to star in their own studio-financed and distributed feature film. While the voters can shoulder some of the blame for a crappy show by whom they voted for — i.e. Amy Winehouse sounds like the artists on the records Doug Morris sold out of the trunk of his car back in the ’50’s — a show that seems to feature the same seven artists every year (Timberlake et al), is guaranteed to wane in both relevance and value.

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If you reprint this, please don’t include my name as I am very entrenched in the Grammys organization…

… but … OH M’GOD!!! Herbie Hancock album of the year!!!! What went wrong?

I am a voting member and I know that my constituents would not have voted this album of the year. This is totally fucked up! I wasn’t in favor of most of the runners up, but this must have been a RED HERRING! They must not have wanted to give "album of the year" to Kanye West, or anyone that would make him cry, so they picked the most un-offensive candidate… Herbie Hancock. This is a travesty!

There were some precious moments, like Herbie Hancock & Lang Lang, or the gospel Beatles tribute, or even, gack … the Jimmy Jam/ the Time/ The Rhianna moment, we had standing ovations at my Grammys party (of industry alumni and we work so hard to give the Grammys credibility) but then it ended like "NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN" … and we all said … what????

I am an integral part of the Grammys, on committees, etc, but even I was like, NO FUCKING WAY!!!! Huh????

Also, when we were screening the candidates in our October meetings, we discredited Jay Z as part of the Rihanna "Umbrella" song, only to have him be the focus of the award tonight, Rhianna ultimately pushing him away from the podium! What kind of (as Amy Winehouse would say) "Fuckery" is this????

So, this is what makes people discredit the Grammys. Now I get it! I will write my opinion to the Grammys directly and hopefully, they will listen.

Hopeless in Grammys Oz…

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Anonymous:
Re: Herbie Hancock’s victory

No one is allowed to see the elephant in the middle of the room, and that anemic pachyderm is membership. According to someone inside, the Academy has lost somewhere between 6K and 10K members since 2002. It reminds me of the year when Jethro Tull won for best Metal performance. Even though a flute is indeed metal, the reason that happened was again, a puny membership…

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From: Michael Moniz
Subject: Grammy Comment(My Grammy Moment)

One more thing I can’t believe no one caught on to, which further make the Grammys a fucking joke, was the "My Grammy Moment". The way the contest was structured, you would think it’s meant for non-established performing musicians to get a chance in the pseudo spotlight. The winner last night? Ann Marie Calhoun. Now you may ask who the hell she is. She’s currently in fucking Ringo Starr’s touring/promo band for his new album! Alarm bells went off in my head when I saw her as one of the final three. I had just seen her a couple weeks before as part of Ringo’s band on the Craig Ferguson Late Late Show. Add to that, her performing on a Dave Matthews record, and touring with Jethro Tull and Steve Vai!! (check out her site and Wikipedia entry). Pretty much a scam to the actual amateur musicians from around the country who submitted to this contest thinking they actually had a real shot. And for the record, I watched to see what kind of train wreck the show was gonna be, and for comedic value, by an hour and a half in, I’d taken all the punishment I could take and flipped off the tv.

Keep up the great blog, maybe they will actually listen and rebuild the damn industry from the ground up, which it so desperately needs.

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From: Jordan Berliant
Subject: Re: Sales-Week Ending-2/3/08

I appreciate what you wrote about Buckcherry but one correction:

Every label passed on them twice so I got two international deals (one in Canada & one in Japan) to finance the making of the album. We put it out behind an internet campaign (basically an "adult" video that attracted the attention of core fans and rock radio programmers, who stripped off the audio and started playing "Crazy Bitch"). It was Top 30 at active rock radio before we ever officially WENT to radio. And it’s now 2 years later and we’ve got our first crossover hit. The band has done over 300 shows during this cycle and is now in the studio making their next record while we’re still having our biggest single on THIS record. Who says artist development is dead??? When you’re not subject by the corporate pressures of quarterly billing or subject to the ups and downs of their stock prices, you can operate in an environment that is much more conducive to meeting the needs of artists and fans alike.

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From: Vickie Strate
Subject: RE: Belonging

"Fan clubs? In most cases, just fees for better ticket access. There’s no belonging involved, the extra content isn’t even worth looking at once. But Dave Matthews gives his members worthwhile additional content and truly good seats, at reasonable prices. How come he can do it, but other acts can’t? Because they don’t want to. They don’t respect the consumer, they just want to get paid. They think they’re in business with LiveNation, but LiveNation is just a conduit, to the fan."

Hey Bob: Metallica has owned and operated their own Fan Club for fifteen years now, most of the time at a financial loss. And while it is true that many people join the Club just for the ticket pre-sales, we have a long time loyal membership who know that there is a lot more to it . . . every single show night the band meets Fan Club members before they go on stage, members have their own website (yes, with additional content), their own message boards and chat rooms, their own online store, a 48 page four color quarterly magazine that band members participate in heavily, contests throughout the year, and in general we include Fan Club members in every possible event that we can such as putting them in the audience for TV appearances. Oh, and did I mention the four shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco that were FREE for Fan Club members?

Just had to blow our own horn here . . . agreed, Dave Matthews Band does a great job with their Fan Club. As does Pearl Jam. A few other acts can do it . . . and I like to think that we were one of the first.

Vickie Strate
Metallica HQ

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Luke:
Subject: FW: Important ThePolice.com account information

Hey Bob,

I was just going to trash this email having de-activated my Police.com account but I knew that the email I sent to them in response would not get a reply so I thought I would share it with you guys instead.

Millions of people like me joined ThePolice.com at a hundred bucks a pop to get the "best seats in the house" for their local Police reunion tour concerts. (The website was originally titled thepolicetour.com before they realized they’d have to change the name to keep raking in the cash after the band got off the road). The "limited edition" poster they sent out to everyone as gravy was an unremarkable shot of the band circa 1977, which fairminded folks put straight up on ebay to claw back a few dollars and a shred of their dignity.

But get this…in the email they sent me, they were informing that they were about to AUTOMATICALLY RE-CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD the $100 renewal for another year’s membership!

So here’s what I wrote in response:

Dear Thepolice.com,

I just received my membership renewal email. It is blatantly clear to me that you are attempting to automatically renew peoples’ accounts because you know that no-one in their right mind would fall for this scam twice, and you’re trying to dip your hand in our pockets one last time.

I joined your website to get GOOD seats to my local Police concert. I bought my tickets THE MINUTE they went on sale and the seats were half-way back in the arena. Surely, SURELY the fan club ticket allocation should have been, all things being equal, the best seats in the house. Of course, keep the front three rows of the arena for competition winners and the band’s family, friends and hangers-on, but beyond that, the people running these shows and this website should have made sure that the people who were big enough fans to drop $100 ON TOP OF the $225 tickets should be front and centre.

You have made millions of dollars with the scam of a website and I am delighted to finally be rid of you. I used to love The Police, but my memories of them will forever be tainted by this huge money-grabbing fiasco they have endorsed with their once-good name.

I don’t expect a response to this email as I suspect that right about now your mailbox is being flooded with emails just like this one.

Goodbye, and good riddance.

Luke

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From: Mark Bacino
Subject: The Police Fanclub

Bob,

Have you heard what the Police fanclub pulled this week? They sent out an email yesterday to all fanclub members (i.e. people who ponied up $100 for the privilege to join the club and buy the shitty seats before anybody else last go around) saying they would be renewing memberships in the coming days automatically. At the bottom of the email was a little note about how to turn this option off. If I didn’t catch that, like I’m sure a lot of busy people didn’t, they’d just go ahead and charge your card another $100. Since I caught it, I deactivated that option.

Now today, via fanclub email, they go and announce the last leg of the tour! With Elvis Costello opening! After doing a little reading I learn that if I re-activate my membership for $100 (same as renewing), I become a ‘legacy’ member allowing me to buy shitty seats 2 hours earlier than ‘new’ fanclub members (who still get charged $100). And if you’re not in the fanclub, well, you might as well set a lawn chair out in the parking lot to hear the show, as the general public sale begins days later… man, they get you coming and going.

Bastards… every fiber of my being is telling me to forget this… but ma, its The Police and Elvis.

See ya, yeah, I have to go renew my membership (sigh).

 Why don’t they just make the concerts free!

Okay, if I want to go to the show, I’ve got to get not only a Citibank card, but an Amex. And I’ve got to join the fan club too. So in this rolling wave of pre-sales, maybe I can get a seat. Which won’t be too close to the stage, because those seats NEVER go on sale to the general public!

And Live Nation is rebranding all of its smaller venues "Fillmore", to trade on the good will of the man who helped build this glorious business. Bill Graham is rolling in his grave. Live Nation doesn’t give a shit about the public, and neither do the Police.

As for the band, rather than leave a good taste in the public’s mouth, they want to eke every last dollar from the landscape with a scorched earth policy. And if you believe this is the band’s last tour, then you’re betting that one of the three croaks in the dead pool. Because money will bring them back. Are you aware of Sting’s OVERHEAD? And the other two, while not homeless, can’t make a dollar on the road without Mr. Sumner.

We need a concertgoers bill of rights. What can it contain?

Well, let’s start off with a seating plan that illustrates which seats never go on sale, so people won’t buy fan club memberships in hope of buying these ducats.

A rebate if the final tour is not. Or guaranteed seats up close and personal if the band goes back on the road.

No t-shirt over $25.

No parking fee unless you’re in an urban center. Even if the lot is paved. Unless space is at a premium, parking is free!

Fan club fees must guarantee a seat within a certain area of the building. So people know what they’re getting.

One on sale date. No rolling dates based on privilege. Isn’t this what’s wrong with America? The division between the haves and the have-nots? Not everybody can afford an American Express card. Not everyone QUALIFIES for a Citibank card. Even if you have the cash, you might be shit out of luck. You end up sitting in the back no matter what.

No seat over $125. I’d say $100, but the industry would freak out. As for prices higher than that, those seats must be auctioned from the get go. The act can reap the reward of the upside, but it must be clear what seats are auctioned and how many of them there are, so the fan can make an informed decision.

But Live Nation doesn’t give a shit about the fan. Live Nation is as bad as radio. Live Nation is playing to Wall Street, not the concertgoer. Just like Clear Channel is playing to Madison Avenue, despite lip service to the listener. Hell, did you see that Clear Channel is increasing the number of minutes of advertising on the radio? Why not turn every station into an infomercial. Make the whole CHANNEL an ad!

And you wonder why terrestrial radio is dying and the concert business is a minefield. Grosses might be going up, but the key is to get people in the habit of attendance. That’s how you grow the business. But we’ve got the labels not wanting any more people to own music than in the CD days. New technologies allow more people to own more music at a lower price? FOUL! We’re married to the old business model!

The music business is fucked up. If you’ don’t believe this, you’re part of the problem.

Live Nation, Citi Deal On The Cards

Private Pass – Citi

Clear Channel Changes Its Tune On Radio Strategy

After breakfast at Mother’s, Marty, Felice and myself took a cab deep into the French Quarter to the McDonogh School, where the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation was presenting the music program with a slew of instruments.  That’s what the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation does, grant instruments to school music programs.  It was started by Michael Kamen, who composed the music for the movie.  He wanted students to have the same opportunity he had, to learn an instrument in school, to be fulfilled, to be enriched.  Felice runs the Foundation.

I’d been hearing about all the great work the Foundation had been doing in New Orleans for two years.  And on a site visit a couple of months back, Tricia had encountered Kelvin Harrison and his program.  She believed they were worthy, they deserved the instruments.  The program had started after Katrina with no instruments.  Mr. Harrison had taught his students on recorders when the ordered instruments hadn’t arrived.  But now he was up and running, he needed more.  And that’s why we were there.

The environment in the building was completely different from my educational experience.  Instead of sterility, I found vibrancy.  Silhouettes graced the cafeteria, with explanations of each.  One student said his creation was as big as the 24" rims on his older brother’s car.  That cracked me up.  But I loved the banner on the far side of the room: "Climb the mountain to college."  There were aphorisms all over the place.  Informing the students to pay attention now, to apply themselves now, to prepare, for otherwise, in the future, they’d be left out.

And after reading the display about Black History Month, learning exactly who Booker T. Washington was, we ascended the stairs to the third floor, where Mr. Harrison was warming up the band.  Brass members were playing notes.  I prepared myself.  This was going to be awful.  An endurance test.  You know what it’s like being in the vicinity of someone learning an instrument.  You want to support them, but the sound is grating, you can’t read, you can’t watch television, you just want the noise to stop.

After quieting everybody down, Mr. Harrison looked at the assembled multitude and said the band was going to play a couple of numbers.  They were going to start with "Oye Como Va".

Oh, I know it wasn’t a Santana original.  But that’s where I heard it.  Coming out of John "Muddy" Waters’ room in the dorm all of freshman year.  I’ve come to love "Abraxas".  I bought it on vinyl.  And have a gold CD.  I’ve got all the MP3s.  I love "Oye Como Va".  I was trepidatiously excited.  Then the two players on keys rolled out the intro, the drummers started hitting the accents, the horn players lifted their instruments to their lips and the band started to swing!

I couldn’t believe it!  Fifth graders?  My high school’s band wasn’t this good.  This was good enough for college!  The flutes are wailing.  I notice the drummer is a girl.  And yes, that tiny figure behind the keyboard, she’s hitting every note.  Trombone players got up and soloed.  Tears started coming to my eyes.  This was education!  If I could play in a band like this, I’d want to come to school!

And when they finished, there was raucous applause.  And then they lit into Herbie Hancock’s "Watermelon Man".  These little kids, they had soul!

Then we went back to the cafeteria.  Where the curtain was parted and the students saw the sousaphone, the tympani, the other instruments the Foundation was granting.  The excitement, the whooping, it was not something learned on MTV, it was not the fakery of the peanut gallery standing in front of the stage at a televised awards show, it was genuine.  They were excited for the school, for themselves.

Then Felice said they weren’t done.  That our mission wasn’t complete.  We had another item on our agenda.  To honor Mr. Harrison’s greatness, he was being awarded a Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation Teacher Award.  Which granted him $10,000 to spend as he pleased.  And that the check would be delivered in a ceremony, in April, on the stage of Carnegie Hall.

Kelvin Harrison was in shock.  You should have heard the shriek when the dollar figure was announced.  To little kids ten grand is a million!  Kelvin kept rubbing his nose, trying to keep his composure.  But he couldn’t.  Tears were welling in his eyes.

As they were in mine.  A veritable waterworks.  Who knew such great work was being done, especially in an area almost totaled by a hurricane.  And sure, Mr. Harrison wanted to get paid, but it wasn’t about the money.  The sense of accomplishment, the glow on his students’ faces was enough.

Eventually, the kids went back to class.  School business resumed.  I wandered the halls.  I had an urge to stay.  The work being done here was so important.  Not only were children being educated, they were being given hope.  Because people cared.

McDonogh 15 School for the Creative Arts

Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation

Riverboats were the CDs of the first half of the nineteenth century.  An era that many U.S. inhabitants of the time thought would never end, for many it was all they knew.  Then Abe Lincoln persuaded the government to allow a railroad bridge at Rock Island and the paddle wheels stopped turning.

I’ve never been to New Orleans before.  And as we were flying in over the lake, all I could think of was the Poco song, "Heart Of The Night".

There’s a full moon in sight
Shinin’ down on the Pontchartrain

It’s gigantic.  And as one contemplates the breakage of the levees, one is confronted with destruction.  A Shell station that looked like a remnant from an old Spielberg movie, all twisted to hell.  And boarded up houses, with x’s on them, slated to be torn down.  Can’t Jimmy Carter and Habitat For Humanity come down here and clean this city up?  Can’t our great country, with all of its resources, help these people and rebuild their city?  It’s not like its destruction was their fault.

And Bourbon Street appeals if you’ve just turned 21 and are ready to PAR-TAY!  If I were still in college, I’d have a raucous time.  Otherwise, it’s a seedy street akin to Ensenada.  Not somewhere you’d want to visit.  But visit people do.  Short ones, tall ones, big ones, small ones.  The vast sea of humanity is overwhelming.  Only when you leave home do you realize there truly are 300 million unique individuals in America.

But the highlight for me so far, other than the historical plaques on Riverwalk, describing the history of the city, came as we left the French Quarter and crossed over the tracks to the Big Muddy.  There, on the station house, well, it was kind of a gazebo, was the location’s name: TOULOUSE STREET!

Locked in a room down in New Orleans
My blood is a flowin’ fast

I was not listening to the music.  But on a flight from JFK to Salt Lake, I was exposed to this album track, the title track, of the Doobie Brothers’ second album "Toulouse Street".  It made me a fan.

And suddenly the album cover made sense!  It was a New Orleans theme!

It reminded me of moving to L.A. and having Frank Zappa lyrics come alive.  And to still be able to discover musical history, to make the connection, titillated my soul.  And as I strode the banks of the Big Muddy, contemplating New Orleans’ slave trade, French ownership and construction below sea level, a song was playing on a loop in my head…

Old black water, keep on rollin’
Mississippi moon won’t you keep on shinin’ on me