1
So Pearl Jam has left the stage and I’m standing by the soundboard talking to Dave Graham, one of the three majordomos of Bottlerock, and these two guys approach us, shake our hands and then all three start speaking Spanish. I was stunned that Dave was fluent, I was catching an occasional word from my high school days, but mostly I was beatifically assessing the departing multitudes.
But this white-haired guy, he asks me where I’m from, I say L.A. and then ask him where he’s located. He says Washington, D.C., which is very odd for someone in the rock and roll business. Oh, did I mention that next weekend the Bottlerock guys are doing a Latin festival? I thought these two were their partners. Makes sense, right? But D.C. did not. So that was the end of the conversation. Well, I asked him why he lived in D.C. and he gave me a stare that I decided I was best not responding to.
After five minutes went by, we’re waiting for Pearl Jam to clear out backstage, we started walking towards the Latitude 38 pavilion right outside the grounds of the festival, this is the backstage for the fans of the promoter.
So we’re walking down the fenced-in gauntlet towards the stage and this white-haired guy wants to talk about me. Like maybe he knows who I am? This is hard for me to believe, but I just play along.
And then he says he’s opening two new restaurants in L.A. and I’ve got to come. And that’s when I realize this white-haired guy is JOSÉ ANDRÉS!
And now I’m embarrassed, I don’t want to look like a total schlemiel, so I tell José I ate at his restaurant in the Hotel Nikko, and how great it was, and it was! And now José starts telling me the history, how the dining spot is now closed, but we’ve still got a while before we reach the exit, and he’s right by me, and once again, I’m trying not to look like a complete imbecile, am I the only person who doesn’t recognize this guy? So I ask José about Gaza.
Whereupon he stops, puts his arm around my shoulder, and tells me he lost seven people there. I KNOW!
And then he starts talking about writing for “Haaretz.” About doing an editorial for them. And I’m not quite following, thinking this guy is asking me to write an editorial? I mean does he really know who I am? But then it’s clear that he’s talking about an editorial HE wrote for “Haaretz.” And that I should read it.
Meanwhile, he doesn’t take his arm from my shoulder.
But I am Gaza-fluent. And this guy was there. José told me how he flew to Israel right after October 7th, and how horrible the attack was. But now he was concerned with Israel’s response.
And now we’re in a full-blown discussion. Which lasts until we get to the Latitude 38 compound. And we stand outside talking until they implore us to come inside, where we stand by the pizza station and José starts scarfing slices, which kind of amazes me, because this guy isn’t overweight in the least.
And people are coming up to get José’s attention but he’s not taking his eyes off me. And I’m completely confused, why is José so interested in talking to ME?
I figure he’s going to drop off any minute now, to just hang in until then. But an hour goes by. I’m kind of pinching myself. José Andrés wants to spend all this time with ME?
And José’s main position is the war needs to stop. Hamas has to give back the hostages, and then Israel needs to invest in Gaza. José says only a long term solution will work. And it strikes me that he is on the right track more than Biden or Tom Friedman, who keep on insisting on a two-state solution that has been rejected time and again by the Palestinians.
But José thinks that Saudi Arabia and Jordan can broker peace, that it’s in their interest.
But will Hamas ever give up the hostages?
We both agree they won’t, but Andrés thinks Hamas can’t be eradicated by the Israelis anyway. As far as the polls showing Gazan support for Hamas… José tells me the numbers are wrong, Gazans are afraid to come out against Hamas for fear of retaliation.
And all of José’s ideas are good. But I tell him we need a leader, someone to step in and broker peace. José starts talking about the U.N., but that body’s neutrality has left the station.
And eventually I shift gears to Ukraine, where José has been too, and then it strikes me, when it comes to these conflicts, especially Gaza, no one has as high a profile as he does other than Biden and Netanyahu. I tell José his status, his power, which he doesn’t believe, probably because he’s in the eye of the hurricane.
And he says the protests on campus are a small minority.
But I say they have made Biden blink.
And finally, it’s too much. I’m just some schlepper and José Andrés is spending all this time with ME?
So I make statement about setting him free to talk to other people, and eventually we break up the confab.
Until half an hour later, when just before he leaves, José comes over to where I’m sitting, puts his hand on my back, looks me straight in the eye, and testifies as to our bond and tells me to be sure to spread the word on what he thinks.
WHEW!
2
Which made up for my experience in the Latitude 38 compound just before Pearl Jam hit the stage.
I got a Diet Coke from the bartender, there’s only a fifty foot walk between me and the exit, to freedom, and who do I see blocking my way?
Pete Yorn. And his brother Rick. And Ross Zapin. And they want to talk about how I dissed Pete earlier in the day.
And now I’m mortified. Pete was cool, yet his brother and Ross were not. They kept needling me, pushing me. And then they force me to say what the problem was, why I dissed Pete.
I told them he was doing a rock show on a big stage when his act was more intimate. I’m just trying to navigate, trying to escape.
But that’s not enough. “Did I see the whole show?” They want to go deep.
And now I’m saying that if I only write positive things I’ll lose my credibility, and it made no sense to step on the undercard acts that weren’t going anywhere anyway.
But it still wasn’t enough. Once again, I must stress that Pete himself was cool. We were having a discussion creator to creator, artist to artist, but his bodyguards…
And now I can’t see any way out of this. So I wind up and I tell them that this was my opinion… And I can see in their eyes this is not resonating, believing I was doubling-down, but then I said that I wasn’t necessarily right, which seemed to satisfy them, bring on some smiles, but WHEW!
3
I got there in time to see Holly Humberstone. I was kind of shocked how young she was. Video online is one thing, real life is another. But she was playing the guitar and it was all really good. Her band was together. There were no airs. I was wondering if she was a one hit wonder, but she is not, at least in my eyes.
As for My Morning Jacket… I finally get it. You’ve got to see them live. They’re incredibly tight and powerful.
Now in the old days, and I’m talking about back to 1968, when FM underground rock began, it was all about having that one track that crossed over, to AM, the mainstream, that lifted the boat of the act, that broadened their career, that made them legendary. As big as the Allman Brothers were after “Fillmore East,” and they were really big, it wasn’t until two years later and “Ramblin’ Man” that they became ubiquitous.
And Cream was a cult band until “Sunshine of Your Love” crossed over.
But there’s no crossing over for rock bands today, even if you write a track that might have crossed over in the past. Oftentimes an act could only do it once, but once was enough.
So I haven’t heard a crossover song from My Morning Jacket, if one even exists, but it doesn’t matter. This band is earning its living on the road. And one show and you’re a fan.
As for T-Pain… That was kind of astounding. Are that many people interested in Mr. Auto-Tune?
I mean it’s just him and a deejay. But he lights up the crowd IMMEDIATELY! They’re waving their hands in the air, they’re really into it, as if a whole band on stage was in overdrive, but there wasn’t, just the deejay and T-Pain.
As for Pearl Jam…
It’s a Gen-X thing, and I’m a boomer. They had the audience in the palm of their hand. But can I be a heretic and ask where all the memorable songs are? And can I say that Eddie Vedder bugs me?
But having said that, Mike McCready is amazing, the element that pushes Pearl Jam over the top. I can see why Mother Love Bone never made it, he was not in it. As for Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard…they are rock solid. And Matt Cameron too.
I guess that article in “Rolling Stone”… No one remembers this stuff anymore, like the exposé on Jerry Lee Lewis, he was anything but a hero. And when Pearl Jam blew up Eddie Vedder wouldn’t do an interview so the magazine decided to do the story without him. And it was a complete contradiction of the crap he’d been spewing. He was not some isolated loner, but the most popular guy in his high school. Wow, let me dig the hole a little deeper…the MOUSTACHE? He’s a man, he’s entitled, but it doesn’t ring true on his baby face.
As for the duet with Bradley Cooper… The guy’s a movie star, what has that got to do with Pearl Jam? Considered to be the most credible act of the weekend, everybody was buzzing, they couldn’t wait to see them, they were jamming to them, but I…
Left in the middle to go see Tower of Power.
Now let me tell you this… If Tower of Power had been on the main stage heads would have blown off, they’re just that powerful, just that good. And new frontman Jordan John is akin to Arnel in Journey. But John’s voice is even better, and he can play too!
And when that five man brass section starts to play… You remember from “Waiting For Columbus,” THE TOWER OF POWER HORNS! Ah, now that was a number, Little Feat’s “Spanish Moon.” Tower of Power is funky in a way that Pearl Jam is not.
Not that I don’t respect Pearl Jam. But when I sauntered over to the Prudential Stage to see Tower of Power, I fell into the groove immediately. With a small scrum of others.
And then I went over to the Verizon stage to see Kali Uchis. I didn’t get it at all. Big production, very twenty first century, dancers, a set, the whole thing. I guess for me the music is enough when done right, but I stayed for a few numbers and I never got it.
So I went back to Tower of Power and I timed it perfectly, they started introducing the one number I needed to hear, “What Is Hip?”
“So ya wanna dump out yo’ trick bag
Ease on in a hip thang
But you ain’t exactly sure what is hip
So you started to let your hair grow
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe
Somehow, ya know there’s much more to the trip”
When everybody grew their hair out in college, I cut mine off. When everbody bought a leisure suit, I did not. Hip is on the inside, never forget it.
“You became a part of a new breed
Been smokin’ only the best weed
Hangin’ out with the so called ‘Hippie set’
Seen in all the right places
Seen with just the right faces
You should be satisfied, but it ain’t quite right”
Now more than ever, in the days of Instagram. Where you’ve been, who you’ve hung with, once again, it’s all about the exterior, and it seems the rich are the worst offenders.
“You went an’ found you a guru
In an effort to find you a new you
And maybe even raise your conscious level
While you’re striving to find the right road
There’s one thing you should know
‘What’s hip today, might become passé”
Ain’t that the truth. Are you a follower or a leader? We need more of the latter.
And R&B is forever.
But then I cut out to catch the end of Pearl Jam, who are legendary for inserting covers in their encores. But I missed the one song I needed to hear, “Last Kiss.”
But you can’t do it all. The sooner you learn that the better. Life is about surprises.
Until then…
Pearl Jam ended with “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
All these years later and Neil Young is still the oracle.
Looks like we’re never going to get back to the garden. What Neil and Stephen and Joni and the rest were doing… That was more than entertainment, that was the pulse of life and the culture. And those songs live on, but unless you were there you’ve got no idea of their power. If you wanted to know which way the wind blew, you listened to a record. Can you imagine listening to Ariana Grande? Or Justin Timberlake? Both of whom are hit-dependent, there are a limited number of hard core fans, their recent projects tanked, no matter what the hype.
And hip-hop used to be the sound of the streets. Now it’s all about a trumped up rap war. Kind of a cartoon, don’t you think?
But our music used to be dead serious. Oh, there was humor and attitude, but that brings us back to the question of the day…
WHAT IS HIP?
P.S. It’s Grace BOWERS, not POWERS!
