What a crock of sh*t.

This is not a judgment of “Texas Hold ‘Em,” it’s a great track, nearly a one listen hit. But if you think the country audience has embraced it…

You’ve got another think coming.

We do not only have duplicity in politics, we’ve got it in music too. Those who are not students of the game, who are exposed to this headline, which is everywhere, will believe that race relation issues have been exterminated, that Black Beyonce has been embraced by White Country.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

It all comes down to Lil Nas X. After signing the man, Columbia ginned up a fake controversy. Saying that “Billboard”‘s charts were racist, that the entire country community was racist, because they didn’t acknowledge the success of “Old Town Road,” they were boycotting it.

And what did “Billboard” do? Say “Old Town Road” wasn’t country, therefore it wasn’t on the country chart. As for country radio, have you ever listened to it? “Old Town Road” fits not at all.

Columbia laughed all the way to the bank. This fake controversy gained media traction and it blew up Lil Nas X even bigger. Let’s be clear, “Old Town Road” was pretty gigantic before this fake controversy, but after it the track became ubiquitous. Billy Ray Cyrus, who hadn’t had a hit in eons, glommed on to the controversy, cutting a duet on the track with Lil Nas X… It was another music business victory, no harm, no foul.

Well, not really. Actions have consequences.

Now Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” is a lot more country than “Old Town Road,” and it’s possible that country radio may embrace the cut, BUT THIS HASN’T HAPPENED YET!

Check the latest Mediabase Country chart, there are forty cuts, AND “Texas Hold ‘Em” is nowhere to be seen! Doubt me? Check it out for yourself”: https://rb.gy/14213h

So what is a country hit?

Well, according to “Billboard,” it’s a combination of airplay, sales and streams, a secret sauce. And one thing is for sure, Beyonce is a superstar, she had ton of sales and streams, but seemingly no country radio airplay, not a spin to be found.

Now if you want to have a chart with all genres included, be my guest. As a matter of fact, it exists, it’s called the “Hot 100.”

Now that chart is a miasma of obfuscation, talk about a special sauce… It includes single sales, radio airplay, digital downloads and streams. DIGITAL DOWNLOADS??

I get the e-mail all the time, some track is number one at the iTunes Store. That’s like telling me how many DVDs a movie sold. It’s all streaming now. Even worse, digital downloads and physical sales heavily outweigh streams in the formula employed by “Billboard.”

So let me get this straight… Almost all of consumption is streaming, but when it comes to the chart…streaming is a second-class citizen.

Now on the Hot 100, Jack Harlow’s “Lovin On Me” eclipses “Texas Hold ‘Em.” That’s a bad headline, #2 only worked for Avis.

Now the definitive statement when it comes to streaming, when it comes to consumption, is the Spotify Top 50. On that “Texas Hold ‘Em” is also number two.

Now “Texas Hold ‘Em” does appear on Spotify’s Hot Country, but it is not number one, it’s number ten.

So “Billboard,” fearful of getting into an “Old Town Road” kerfuffle, considered “Texas Hold ‘Em” to be country, where it promptly went to number one, where the big pond eclipsed the little creek. It’s like bringing a major leaguer to a Little League game.

But to what degree has the country audience embraced “Texas Hold ‘Em”?

Now some country fans may be listening to Beyonce, to “Texas Hold ‘Em,” they may even be listening to Metallica. But the Nashville based scene… So far, it doesn’t look like Beyonce is a factor whatsoever.

BUT SHE’S NUMBER ONE!

Let’s be very clear, “Texas Hold ‘Em” is a hit, a very big hit. But is it a COUNTRY HIT?

What are the criteria for a country song?

That’s murky, but I’d say to be a country hit a track must “fit the format” and be embraced by the audience. We can debate whether “Texas Hold ‘Em” fits the format, but one thing is for sure, it has not been embraced by the country audience in any significant way.

Is it because the country audience is racist? Or because the country audience hasn’t heard the track on the radio, the last bastion of a controlled ecosystem?

Or maybe the country audience doesn’t see “Texas Hold ‘Em” as country. They see Beyonce as pop, as living in a different domain.

This is all gray. And even by discussing it one risks being called a racist.

But come on, how come we can’t face facts here. The music business is as bad as Kellyanne Conway and her cronies. To say “Texas Hold ‘Em” is the number one country cut is to employ alternative facts.

And who does this behoove?

Beyonce. Period.

And “Billboard” is nothing without the labels, piss them off at your peril. Hell, “Billboard” has the backbone of a jellyfish.

Could everyone agree to consider “Texas Hold ‘Em” to be country, could it be embraced by the country community?

That could certainly happen, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Tune in Saturday February 24th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

Spotify: https://shorturl.at/gjCY8

YouTube: https://rb.gy/zki6j2

It sounds straight off Humble Pie’s “Rockin’ the Fillmore,” but there are more guitars!

I saw this album on Spotify a few months back. I thought it was an ancient recording, after all Peter Frampton still had hair on the cover, and he’s been bald for quite a while, he even jokes about losing his hair on one of the contained tracks.

No, this was recorded recently, in 2022. And I played a few numbers back in 2023, but two days ago I needed something otherworldly, as in not connected to my present life, something to take me away, something that was self-contained, that didn’t remind of that which I did not want to remember. And I ran through a few acts in my head, and then I thought of Frampton and said to myself, “That’ll work.” And then I was confronted with the “Royal Hall” album in the Amazon app. And I said, “Why not?”

The opening cut is “Somethin’s Happenin’,” the title track of Frampton’s third solo album, which represented a loss in momentum. But with “Frampton” in 1975, Peter came roaring back. And Peter usually opens his shows with this song, and I’ve heard him perform it, but I was listening to the version on “Albert Hall” and the tone of the guitars just got to me. They were different from the recording, and combined with the energy of the playing it becomes something else entirely, it breathes in a way the studio recording does not.

So then I went to “All I Want to Be (Is By Your Side),” the second side opener on the solo debut, my favorite Frampton track, which was given short shrift on “Comes Alive!” Sure, it was great, an interesting acoustic reworking, but the original is an aural journey that goes on for six and a half minutes, it’s a float in a boat down a river in the dark. Safe, but enticing, exciting. And this version on “Albert Hall” is even longer! It clocks in at over nine minutes. It’s a journey that sets you free, especially the instrumental second half.

Now I’m cottoning to the album in a way I hadn’t previously, not that I’d given it a good listen, and I decided to skip to the last track, the definitive Frampton live cut, “Do You Feel Like We Do.” I expected it to be hackneyed, a far cry from the career breakthrough of the original concert recording. But that was not the case, it was as alive and vibrant as the rendition from ’76. And, once again the tones, the instruments had additional color.

And yesterday I decided to dive in deeper to songs that I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear. I mean how many more times can I listen to “Show Me the Way” or “Baby, I Love Your Way”? So I played track seven, “(I’ll Give You) Money,” from the aforementioned “Frampton,” a good track, but not one of my favorites. I wanted melody, not groove. But the intro guitar was so heavy and crunchy, evidencing rock and roll, and then with a lead intertwining, dancing all over the track…

Now the original studio recording of “(I’ll Give You) Money” is a typical album cut, four and a half minutes long. And that’s how long I expected the “Albert Hall” version to be.

And you know how it is listening to music, you lose focus, it’s there, in your mind, but you’re thinking about, doing something else.

And that’s when I noticed that this live version of “(I’ll Give You) Money” never ended. The band was still playing. All the constraints were thrown away. Radio time limits. Worry about the audience going to the bathroom. It’s like the band doesn’t care about the audience at all. It’s not a performance so much as satisfaction for the players themselves. This is music!

This is what concerts were like in the late sixties and early seventies. Sure, there were AM acts, playing the hits. But the FM acts expanded their repertoire, didn’t match the studio recordings. And now, with so many of the bands of yore, never mind those of today, playing to hard drive, these experimental journeys are passé, history.

Along with the guitar. Sure, we have metal acts playing their axes, but that’s something different, that’s noisy, in-your-face, offensive to many. But the kind of guitar playing on “(I’ll Give You) Money,” on the whole “Albert Hall” album, is not that, it’s like Dead Sea Scrolls, the past come back to life. I mean Clapton goes on the road occasionally and does something similar, but he’s constantly trying to fade into the background, when a true guitar showman is drawn to the spotlight.

And Jimmy Page no longer plays live.

If you’re of my vintage, you’ll listen to this “Albert Hall” recording and you’ll think about all the shows you went to back in the day. Sans production, not even a light show, maybe not even a backdrop. The band came out in their street clothes and they spoke through their music, and we loved them for it. They were Gods. When you sell out to the corporation, when you’re active on social media, the internet, you come back to earth, you’re just one of us. But these guitar heroes of yore…

And we’re familiar with Frampton’s story… Finally breaks big and plays to the teenybopper audience, focuses on his looks, and it all falls apart. And usually that’s the end of the story. Maybe you go out on the road and play your hits to ever dwindling audiences, but almost no one retrenches, marches forward, tests the limits and comes back. Sure, Frampton put out those delectable instrumental albums, but the “Albert Hall” album transcends those. It puts Frampton in the pantheon, as one of the greatest rock guitarists in history.

But he also writes and sings.

But it’s the band that makes the entire “Albert Hall” album shine. It’s not only Frampton, they jell, bounce off each other, make the music that rained down all that money way back when, when music was the most powerful artistic endeavor, when rock stars were as rich as anybody on Earth, and acted like it. They were beholden to no one.

And this version of “(I’ll Give You) Money” goes on for more than twelve minutes. And you’ll be intrigued, possessed the whole way through, it squeezes out the rest of the world, the music is not a diversion, it’s life itself.

From: Harriet Sternberg

Subject: Re: The Greatest Night In Pop

Hello Bob:

I am so pleased you watched our film. The song, the recording and now the documentary were a labor of love for all involved. The moments leading up to and including the night of the AMA’s were Ken Kragen, Harry Belafonte and Quincy’s vision captured so well by Michael and Lionel. And that the purpose and inspiration behind the song resonates today, 39 years later, means everything to me. I’m very proud that Julia Nottingham, Larry Klein and Bao Nguyen invited me in to tell part of the story, and for Lionel and Bruce to have supported the project from inception deserve the global attention the film has received. And now that you’ve told your many music biz veterans to check out the documentary, I thank you.

Harriet

Harriet Sternberg Management, Inc.

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Subject: Re: The Greatest Night In Pop

Bob,

The filmmakers did a first class job showing the planning, preparation, and the night.

Your reaction proves they were the right people to tell the story behind the song and its legacy.

Thanks for also honoring Ken and his legacy.

The work of USA for Africa continues today.

The streaming numbers here and internationally already reflect the impact of the documentary.

Every single stream helps people in need. I hope your readers play it in the car for their kids on the way to school tomorrow.

Thank you to Lionel, Bao, producer Julia Nottingham, and their incredible team.

A special shout out to Marcia Thomas, who is hands on every day, and constantly traveling to Africa (coach by the way) to make sure the mission goes on.

Paul Brownstein

Executive Producer for USA For Africa.

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Subject: Melanie

Hi Bob,

 

Like Bill, I also was at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. It’s a major section in my upcoming memoir.

 

I went with Beach Boys producer and songwriter Gary Usher, who at the time was an executive at RCA Records, and American comedian Murray Roman who dressed for the occasion as a city of London businessman, black jacket, bowler hat and umbrella. I spent the afternoon and evening on the side of the stage watching everyone from The Doors, to The Who, to Sly and the Family Stone, to Melanie. The Doors seemed lethargic to me and, as Bill said, the lighting left a lot to be desired as Jim Morrison did not want any spotlights for the Doors set. He spent more time complaining to the crew than he did speaking to the audience.

 

The Who killed it, and Melanie followed them. Keith Moon guided her on stage and did his best to ensure the audience paid attention to her before he left her with just her acoustic guitar to play her set which began well after midnight!

 

I was already a fan of Melanie at the time and share Bill’s opinion, with just an acoustic guitar, her songs, her voice and personality, she was able to captures the crowd’s attention.

 

This was also when I met Bill Siddons for the first time. He offered me a lift in his cab to the Ferry as we were leaving the festival.

 

Tony Dimitriades

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Subject: The only cover band in the world that  plays all originals

Hi Bob.

A couple months ago my wife and I watched the documentary “Immediate Family.” We loved it so much that we decided to travel from Dallas to Santa Barbara to catch the band on their tour to promote their new album “Skin in the Game.” 

We really did not know what to expect musically. Will they play their new album in its entirety? Will they play cover songs? Will they play hits they have played on? Will there be an opener? They started the evening by showing 30 minutes of their documentary which in retrospect was a great idea. I’m  sure many people in the audience 

had not seen the documentary previously, and at the same time it gave people like us what a reminder how fortunate we were to be at the Lobero Theatre that evening.

The concert opened with the song “ Honey don’t leave L A” and was followed by “Somebody’s Baby.” At that point, Kooch stated one of the best one liners I have ever heard a singer say to their audience: “We are the only cover band in the world that plays all originals!” 

Waddy Wachtel was not present as he is out touring with Stevie Nicks, so the band got Elliot Easton of The Cars to fill in, and he did great.  Some of the other songs performed included “Dirty Laundry, “ “Just what I needed,” “All she wants to do is dance,” several new songs,  and other hits. 

One thing that pleasantly surprised me was the ovation each band member received upon individual introduction. Who do you think received the biggest ovation?

Leland Sklar! After the concert was over, we headed outside the venue where a lot of the concert goers were hanging out sharing the vibe, waiting for Ubers, or just enjoying the beautiful evening. Leland shows up talking  to fans and just being the great guy that he is. Now I know why he got the loudest applause  when introduced. 

He is a pro both on and off the stage.

 

My best,

 

Ronnie Raphael

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From: James Patrick Regan

Subject: Re: BottleRock

Hi Bob!

Something that wasn’t brought up on the podcast, is the willingness for the group to put local talent on the bill… when there’s no financial incentive to do so. I’ve never met David, Justin or Jason but I’m eternally grateful to all of them. My band (the Deadlies) had the opportunity to play BottleRock multiple times which exposed us to a huge audience we would have never had the opportunity to play for and the last time we played we shared a stage with Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz and Michael Franti! How many local bands get that opportunity…!

Thank you Bob for having them on what’s become my favorite podcast.

Best, James – the Deadlies

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From: Beki Brindle-Scala

Subject: last night we lost our dear friend Ron Gilbert, bassist for The Blues Magoos. My husband Ralph Scala’s band mate & friend since The Bronx where they grew up

Hi Bob,

Thought you might want to know about this.  Ron was so much more than a so-called “One Hit Wonder” band member.  They had more hits than just “We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet” Many incredible songs. Ron is the first Magoo to depart this earthly plane.  We are all very sad.  These guys talked at least once a week for the past 50 years. They never lost touch.  Ron wrote a sci-fi mystery novel and published it.  I read it.  It’s great.  He worked as a chemist in Simi Valley and never stopped writing songs (great songs, at that).  He was brilliant in so many ways.

Anyway, I thought we should write and let you know that his presence in that band made a big difference to the music. He played with Ralph after the Magoos on an album on United Artists, and even played bass on a single that The Blues Magoos put out a couple of years ago during Covid entitled, “Nowhere Is Somewhere.”  It is a beautiful, psychedelic rock-pop track.

Ron had f***ing Cancer and though we just talked to him two weeks ago and all seemed normal, we then got the call from his ex-wife that he was about to go into hospice. Ralph talked to him and sang to him on the night before he passed.  They were brothers … and we didn’t think we were going to lose him last night.  If you want any information, please let us know.

By the way, many people tell us that “Psychedelic Lollipop” was the first album they ever bought.  My guess is because they liked the hit & because the word, “psychedelic,” was in the title. They have a lot of fans, including many from much younger generations.

Xo

Beki and Ralph

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Subject: Re: The Normalization Of Insanity

Nailed it Bob. That’s why we moved to France. Yes, they have some of the same problems. But when workers are unhappy they strike, they don’t blame drag queens reading books to kids. There is still a sense of community, of “we are all in it together.” Socialism is not a dirty word; hell, there is a bar called Le Prolé (which means the proletariat) near us. And, to whatever degree it is the same craziness, we don’t have to worry about getting shot.

Take care

Michael Ross

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Subject: Re: The Normalization Of Insanity

Excellent piece, as always, Bob, if ultimately depressing.

What’s really scary is that, even as you write from a U.S. perspective, much of the same can be applied to the rest of the world.

I left the UK at the end in 2010, unhappy with the way I saw things going in my home country, sensing the mood there turning inwards and ugly. But who could have foreseen almost a decade and a half of Conservative idiocy, incompetence, greed and cruelty…!? 

The flourishing of Thatcherism at its worst, the needless, countless deaths during Covid (but hey, we did our bit by banging pots and pans on our doorsteps to support the nurses, who we then turn around a screw by refusing to pay them a decent, living wage, but hey, that’s life), the lies to the public that became the norm, the endless parade of hopeless puppet Prime Ministers and Cabinet members, each somehow managing to be worse than the last in the lemming-like race for the bottom, and don’t even get me started on Brexit… a generational shot-in-the-foot that manages to negatively affect even UK migrants like me, long gone but still a citizen.

And now the supposed socialist paradise of Norway in which I make my home seems to look at the madness as something to emulate: right-wing populism bubbling too close to the surface while we fear pissing off our neighbour Putin in case he decides to talk a walk across the border to pay a visit to us, profit over people becoming the norm, and now a stream of political scandals including a former prime minister and (somehow still) current Conservative party leader embroiled in a marital insider-trading scam, and ministers being found out for plagiarism in their education (including, yes, the Minister for Education, whose master’s thesis was full of the work of others, copied wholesale).

Do as I say, don’t do as I do. Be a good worker drone and do everything for the benefit of the state, while I skim off the top and grease my way through life.

And yep, all this can be traced back to the rise of trickle down.

What IS a poor boy to do…!?

Best, as always,

Dave King

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From: Adam Lewis

Subject: Re: The Normalization Of Insanity

This:

“And when asked about the killing of Khashoggi, Jared Kushner says ‘are we really still doing this?’ Hell, it’s not only Kushner, it’s the golfers and more who let cash whitewash the bad behavior of MBS. Makes your head spin.”

Man, I could not agree with you more.  It feels like we are in bizarro land. Nothing is sacred.

It’s closer to home. It’s in our business of course. It’s bad enough that my beloved Red Sox/Fenway Sports Group is involved with the Saudis on this PGA deal – but last summer I had to sit through a “panel” discussion at A2IM’s Indie Week in NYC. The panel was all about how wonderful the arts were in the Saudi Kingdom and that they have come so far (in a couple years). And especially for Women! All presented by the former head of AIM (The UK’s indie label association) – who is now a paid government shill for the Saudi Government. This was a paid for presentation as the Saudis were official sponsors at A2IM – as they had a showcase for their artists that evening as well. This was all happening a block or so from a fire station that I walked by to get there. Of course there was a memorial there. But – that’s long forgotten right? The Saudis are better now. Or maybe they were not part of 9/11. But killing journalists or women’s rights? A2IM looked past all of that in return for the sponsorship dollars. Was really disappointing to see the independent label community, especially a NYC organization, sell out so easily. Make no mistake – the Saudis will be at the other music events as soon as they can weasel in with a check. It was also unreal to hear this presentation – the same day that A2IM was hosting panel discussions on diversity and inclusion….I’m still a member – but I am starting to question why.

Best,

A

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From: ERON EPSTEIN

Subject: Re: The Normalization Of Insanity

I started practicing law in November 1980 around the time Reagan and Bush were elected. My uncle was a higher up in the  Democratic Party in Los  Angeles. I called him for his take on the future. He simply said “The Republicans mission now is to return the money to its rightful  owners.” 

EE