Drummer for the Police. And more.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stewart-copeland/id1316200737?i=1000640527614

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/cdd9da2e-5efe-4a08-aaec-58676ce765de/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-stewart-copeland

Re: Stage Dolls

Hi,

I’ve just read your post about our band and want to say thank you so much.

You really nailed it to the point about the song ‘Ammunition’.

My brother was studying in West-Berlin in the mid 80’s and I visited him there.

We went over to the other side one day and you could climb up on stairs to look over. I remember how strange it felt standing there knowing that the people next to me were stuck here while I could freely go back..

I didn’t get the idea for the song right then but I guess the experience stayed in my mind..

Thank you again and a Happy New Year!

Best,
Torstein Flakne

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Subject: RE: Re-Stage Dolls

When I was a writer for Kerrang! during the mid-eighties I thought Stage Dolls would blow up big time. The hooks, songwriting and the melodies were stupendous. And let us not forget the incredible production by Norwegian studio master Bjorn Nessjo – a man that was every bit as talented as Mutt Lange who went on to produce TNT, another Norwegian act that should have broken through. I was flown out to Oslo to see the band live and they delivered big time. Wow wonderful memories.

Derek Oliver

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From: Sepp Donahower

Subject: Re: Aspen Live-Day One

Bob

Nice write up here….good to see all the accolades for Louis Messina….He is one of the last of the first generation promoters active, along with Don Law, and few others.  Thank you for the mention of California Jam, the festival we helped put together at Pacific Presentations.  It was game changer….It was the precursor to the modern festival as a business endeavor, and not just a cultural endeavor.  At the time, it set the record for the highest PAID attendance at any event in the world at anytime…over 200,000 PAID…My partner and I, Gary Perkins, were under 30 at the time.     Paul Tollett, Mr. Goldenvoice / Coachella,  graciously sent me a text a few years ago when they released the Goldenvoice / Coachella documentary, that basically said “ without California Jam, there would have been no Coachella “ .   Being a promoter is a special gig….Not for everyone, and not many able to do it correctly.   Most of the event production these days is herding cattle through a gate….what Louis Messina does is different….it echoes back to what us old timers considered being “ Impresarios “  of a sort….We all crafted events and experiences, with memorable lineups…….along with  creative and memorable marketing that is actually ART and now highly collectible.   Also, back in those days, kids went to shows in mass  every week….they were tribal gatherings….and they could afford the tickets.

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Subject: Re: Consensus Hits

I am a former music biz guy, both retail and radio. It’s been 10+ years since…your emails, my son, and a couple of good music pals keep me abreast of what is good. Note I did not say popular. Because that’s not really an adjective used before the word music, here’s proof.

As a high school golf coach we listen to music in the team van to and from matches. Used to be kids wanted to control the tunes. Now? It’s on me (which I like!). No one wants to play “their” music because of their fear of being judged. Kids have no clue if others like what they like. To lay yourself out there?! It’s scary. They literally refuse to plug in their iPhones.

They never talk music nor movies…even video games are less ubiquitous. And it’s not that they don’t listen to music, watch movies or play video games…it’s just awkward “sharing.” 

They text each other more than they talk. In the van.

I have to pull conversation out of them. And those are the best times when we find common ground. It’s not that hard.

We may think the generations behind don’t have the same need for something soul bending. I think they do. It’s just no one it pushing them toward the deeper waters where truth and courage exist. Far be it from me to think it was us parents who didn’t have the courage to challenge our kids to search. To teach critical thinking, the desire to explore and engage in the uncomfortable. 

-Frank Jenks

listenin.org

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From: Conor McNicholas

Subject: Re: Consensus Hits

Exactly this.

The past was an anomaly. We were lucky to have it. Now music is democratised again it’s owned by no-one and drifts. 

But people buy narrative. I’ve always felt that. It’s the frame around the picture. Strong stories promote emotional connection. We need a platform for more of them. 

There is a land beyond the Spotify jukebox. For many years now the storytelling of music was largely dumped because people thought it was just about the audio and the storytellers should get out of the way. Now we discover that that was 50% of what we fell in love with. 

I have thoughts on what the future could look like if anyone wants to hook-up. 

Conor McNicholas,

Previously Editor of NME. 

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From: Nico Moolenaar

Subject: Re: Best Streaming TV 2023

What an honour to be mentioned in this list, Bob. Netflix will make another Ferry movie, but the series you have seen this year was my last contribution in this Undercover/Ferry universe. I want to quit when I’m still having fun and am currently developing something completely new (also for Netflix). Which is amazing and terrifying at the same time, the best place for a creator to be. Thanks for watching my shows.

Best,

Nico

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From: Ron Ozer

Subject: Re: Final Aspen Live

So very glad to see you mention NIVA and our work on Save Our Stages and Fix The Tix and the amazing Dayna Frank who I first met on Zoom in May 2020 when I was suddenly on a team trying to save all of my favorite venues from closing for good. It’s hard to separate the fear at the beginning of the pandemic from the fact that joining this group of people was truly life changing. Here were buyers, promoters, venue managers and owners who only months before were fighting each other in the marketplace for the best shows, but now were a team with a common goal. And I discovered they were powerful personalities, as entrepreneurs can be of course. By the end of 2020 Dayna and the many other crucial leaders in the organization like Hal Real (World Cafe), Audrey Fix Schaefer (IMP), Chris Cobb, Adam Hartke (WAVE) and Rev. Moose (Marauder) had somehow gathered support from the Broadway League, Museums, Talent Agents and even Independent Movie Theaters to move Congress to do the impossible, pass the largest investment in the arts in US history ($16 billion, 100X the typical annual NEA appropriation). And what did being around these people do for me? It made me realize that after 20 years as a volunteer running a small music series in Delaware, it was time to try this work full time and give up my day job in chemical engineering. Helping start a new independent (NIVA member!) music venue in a small town in Maryland?  Why not! Bob, do come join us in New Orleans in June at NIVA Con.

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From: Marty Walsh

Subject: Ursus and Raf

Bob, unreal. What an interview. Everyone who wants to be in the entertainment sphere needs to listen to this.

Well done.

Marty Walsh

BTW every student I have next semester is going to write me a report on the podcast episode.

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Subject: Re: Re-Promotion

I couldn’t agree with you more that promotion is in the artists’ hands. I am routinely asking myself and our staff, “What’s the role of a label in 2023/4? Why should an artist sign with us? What value do we bring?” The answers are moving targets. Adaptability to constant change is the key. Today (and this could very well change in a few months), it’s helping the artist be effective with short form video. Provide the tools and teach them how to be good at it. Invest in stealth digital marketing, build email lists, nurture the artist-fan connection by trying to grow a community … rinse, wash, repeat. Tour, tour, tour. Have a point of view. Be vocal about it. Be willing to alienate the wrong people in exchange for bonding with the right ones. Understand that TikTok is not social media…. it’s a pure entertainment platform on which you must be visible. If you’re not on TikTok or using Spotify Marquee, I probably have no idea that you’re active. Boycott it at your peril, unless you’re so adored by your fans who do the work for you (i.e. Ghost “Mary On A Cross”)… truly no substitute for that, but yeah, good luck. Go ride that unicorn.

If you can build a meaningful audience through this kind of daily grind, then PR and radio can be really effective in broadening your reach…. telling the story, not breaking the story. Big difference.

Anytime I see one of these old school campaigns I cringe, but I understand how and why they happen. It seems that whatever era in which an artist first broke, they think that the same rules apply and if they don’t do X, Y, and Z like they did in 19-whatever, the record won’t happen. They put out new music and they’re scared that it won’t reach anyone. Too often, instead of embracing the new, they rely on the old. It doesn’t work and they ask why the music business is so hard. Tell me, Bob, when was it easy?

Niels Schroeter

Blue Élan Records

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Subject: Re: The Slate Skiing Article

Hi Bob, 

Brian Shirley here, writing in from Boise, Idaho. Proud to say that my father, Mike Shirley, was a key driver in the ski industry’s return to affordable skiing. 

He took over as General Manager at Boise’s local non-profit ski mountain, Bogus Basin, as a second career in the early 1990’s. At the time, Bogus was charging a baseline rate of over $500 for a season pass, with layers of stratified “special deals” that were confusing and hard to use. And partially as a result, season pass sales and skier visits were declining, as they were across the entire industry. 

After a few financially tough years in the red, and with mounting capital needs required to replace the old slow two-seater chairlifts with new “high-speed quads” but no way to afford them, Dad knew something had to change. 

In 1998, he tried an experiment, slashing season pass prices to $199, and removing the accreted layers of “special deals”: Make it so mindlessly cheap and simple that it would be stupid NOT to purchase a season pass. The only requirement was that you had to buy the pass in spring, so that Bogus had the capital when they needed it the most, over the summer when mountain improvements are made. 

While this sounds like an obvious solution now, it is hard to overstate the vocal opposition at the time to even attempting such as experiment, including by large swaths of the industry, several members of his own board, and plenty of local residents that would have loved to keep skiing a “luxury experience”. The entire ski industry was watching carefully to see what the results would be. 

The innovation proved a stunning success, immediately driving a nine-fold increase in season pass sales, and supercharging Bogus’s capital improvement fund. Dad’s model moved from an object of derision to something copied by dozens of ski areas across the country, including Vail, and helped recharge an industry desperately in need of new skiers.

The new model was here to stay, and Bogus Basin’s finances remain on solid ground to this day, with several new chairlifts helping keep lift lines short. Dad steadfastly kept prices at $199 EVERY YEAR after that, until his retirement in 2012, despite continued pressure from his own board. Part of his rationale for $199? “This is what a lot of families spend at Costco without thinking too much about it.” 

Thousands of local skiers that would have otherwise been priced out of the experience owe their lifelong love of skiing to him, and the National Ski Area Association eventually honored him as the “Father of Affordable Skiing”. At one such event, Warren Miller introduced him as “The man who figured out how to sell 39 thousand passes in a single season, and has enough parking for at least five thousand of those…”

On a sad note, my father passed away this last August, at 81 years of age. Below I include a photo of a plaque his friends and supporters created to honor him, which will be mounted at Bogus Basin later this season. 

Bob, thanks for allowing me the chance to share the story of my father and his innovation, and keep up the great work!

Brian

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Subject: Re: 2023 Deaths Playlist

Date: December 30, 2023 at 11:31:55 PM MST

Dear Bob,

Yesterday my longtime client, musical collaborator and wonderful friend and Brother Les McCann ‘graduated with honors at 3: 55 PST…………..His massive Soul Jazz hit “Compared To What” from the Live at Montreux “Swiss Movement” and the more than 80 albums, 150 samples of his recordings by a who’s who of rap and hip hop made him one of the most beloved and influential musicians of our time.  He discovered Roberta Flack and signed her to Atlantic………….he ‘produced’ Lou Rawls first album “Stormy Monday” with his Jazz Trio Les McCann Ltd.

‘They are not making any more Les McCanns’  I am sure most of the Artists on your list knew his work as well as your readers too.

Sincerely,

Alan Abrahams

Woodside Ca.

Spotify: http://tinyurl.com/26fpjnja

Gary Wright

“Love Is Alive”

Jeff Beck

“Brush with the Blues”

Sinead O’Connor

“I Am Stretched on Your Grave”

David Crosby

“Long Time Gone”

Robbie Robertson

“Broken Arrow”

Jimmy Buffett

“A Pirate Looks at Forty”

Gordon Lightfoot

“Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”

Tina Turner

“What’s Love Got to Do with It”

Randy Meisner

“Certain Kind of Fool”

Jim Gordon

“Rock ‘N’ Roll Stew”

Gary Rossington

“Don’t Misunderstand Me”

David Lindley

“For a Dancer”

Steve Harwell

“Walkin’ on the Sun”

George Winston

“Prelude”

Keith Reid

“Shine On Brightly”

Tom Verlaine

“Ain’t That Nothin'”

Terry Kirkman

“Cherish”

John Gosling

“Money Talks”

Burt Bacharach

“Walk on By”

Cynthia Weil

“We Gotta Get Out of This Place”

Rudolph Isley

“It’s Your Thing”

Wayne Shorter

“Tears”

Tony Bennett

“I Left My Heart in San Francisco”

Jane Birkin

“Je t’aime… moi non plus”

Jean Knight

“Mr. Big Stuff”

Bernie Marsden

“Here I Go Again”

Bob Feldman

“My Boyfriend’s Back”

Harry Belafonte

“Banana Boat (Day-O)”

Barrett Strong

“Money (That’s What I Want)”

Astrud Gilberto

“The Girl from Ipanema”

Not the city, not “Babylon Berlin,” but the prequel to “Money Heist.”

Did you know about it?

I didn’t even hear they were making it, but earlier in the week I saw a listing in the “New York Times” saying it was premiering on Friday and made a mental note to check it out.

Last time we left “Money Heist” it was done, over, history, there was nowhere to go. This is the story of Berlin, you remember that each character had a city name, and a whole new cast of criminals.

So on some level it’s a formula, but as the formula plays out you become more comfortable with it. Yes, you miss Tokyo and Nairobi, but their replacements are becoming more 3-D. As for Raquel, the cop who switches sides, that appears to be Camille, at least for the two episodes we’ve watched already.

Not that I can rave. Then again, there was a lot of set-up, and now it’s getting juicy.

Anyway, when I went to pull up the show on Netflix yesterday I was worried about getting the right “Berlin.” There’s no copyright in  titles, this is not the only vehicle that has employed that name. But I was stunned that Netflix served up “Berlin” when the app launched. Does it do this for everybody or just for me? I don’t know. But if I hadn’t seen that listing in the “Times,” Netflix itself would have made me aware of the series.

That’s how strong Netflix is, it doesn’t need advertising.

You can’t get the message across to anybody these days. People are impossible to reach. In the Style section of the aforementioned “Times” on Thursday, they had a two page spread on social media peaks, trends, highlights:

“Top Social Media Trends of 2023: Roman Empire, Grimace Shake, Keith Lee and More – You may have forgotten—or wanted to forget—what happened on the internet in 2023. We’re here to refresh your memory.”

http://tinyurl.com/4wbnkvya

That’s a free link, and I implore you to click through, because I believe, like me, you will have never heard of most of these memes and trends.

That was another story this week, how what is perceived to be big is not so big on social media. The news covers a story about outrageous behavior and it turns out it happened in an echo chamber, very few were aware of it. So people get the wrong impression. Even worse, there are bad actors, like the retail giants who cried about organized shoplifting in San Francisco, you know, you have to keep everything behind a locked door, the Bay Area is a hellhole. Only that turned out to be untrue, it was blown up by Walgreens because they wanted to close stores: http://tinyurl.com/2n3564n7 You probably missed this, it made a good story, but it was a lie.

And then there’s the canard that we live in a lawless society where people are being murdered left and right. But the truth is just the opposite:

“Homicides See Historic Decline In 2023 Despite Perceptions That Crime Is On The Rise”: http://tinyurl.com/yyjd3xbw

Even in Chicago, the right wing punching bag, that’s right, homicides in the Windy City fell by 12.7%.

Now your head is spinning, mine certainly is. Everything we were told was wrong. Or something like that. But even worse is today’s news about Brexit:

“Brexit has completely failed for UK, say clear majority of Britons — poll – Only one in 10 feel leaving the EU has helped their finances, while just 9% say it has benefited the NHS, despite £350m a week pledge according to new poll”: http://tinyurl.com/2p9ykrve

That’s right, a bunch of dirty, lying scumbag politicians ruined, or at least negatively impacted, an entire country. As for keeping immigrants out, immigration is up!

The public suffers.

Anyway, we all live in our own verticals. Oftentimes manipulated by others. And we’re averse to input contrary to our beliefs, outside our silos, if for no other reason than we’re overwhelmed!

Did you see that subscriptions to MAX have dropped? They removed the halo of HBO and now they’ve got a second-rate service that people don’t want to pay for. Maybe it will be merged with the third rate Paramount service. As for Disney, other than “The Mandalorian,” what has it got?

So Netflix was hiding in plain sight and everybody tried to compete and failed.

First and foremost there was a first mover advantage. But Netflix was all about a plethora of product appealing to a wide variety of people. There just isn’t enough new product on the other services, not enough to keep people paying month after month.

And isn’t it funny that only Netflix drops all the product at once. Because Netflix is trying to satiate the customer, and knows that most shows get no word of mouth at all! “The Morning Show” on Apple got negative reviews at first, supposedly it has gotten better, but who has stayed with the series? If it’s not good enough to drop all at once, it’s just not good enough. The product must speak for itself, don’t rely on the public to do your work in a world where fewer go to the office and if you do you bring your own Stanley water bottle as opposed to hanging at the water cooler.

So Netflix is just for you. Not that I trust the algorithm, but I am happy it serves up Scandinavian dramas, it knows I’m into them, most are not worth watching, but some are, and I wouldn’t have known about them otherwise. And I don’t care if anybody else is watching, it’s a one to one experience. And in a world where everybody is trying to be broad, appealing to everybody and offending no one, I’m glad I’ve got my own little bubble sans b.s.

And you might like the “Berlin” bubble. One thing is for sure, there’s a lot of riffing on love, and a lot of it is true. It’s not like an American show, and production wasn’t hurt by the strike, you can pull it up right now.

I’m excited. I might ultimately be disappointed after I finish the eight episodes, but for eight hours I won’t have to deal with the crap of the outside world. That was the magic of movies before the industry was ruined by the studios. Yes, a dark room, where you can watch something uninterrupted, marinate in it.

Seemingly everybody blowing their horn loudly is full of it.

So we gravitate to the niches.

But how do we find out about the niches?

Well, the most powerful real estate in the world of television is the Netflix homepage. It’s a captive audience. You’re being served, made aware of stuff you might like. This is so different from the smorgasbord of messages we’re inundated with every day that we do not care about.

The world has changed, but too many want to tell us it hasn’t.

What we’ve learned over the last few years is no one is in control. Other than you. You’re an individual with a limited amount of time. You want to be directed, you want help. And there are very few outlets you can count on. Sometimes, it’s the Netflix homepage. And that’s very powerful.