How can I sleep after reading your review?   That was the coolest thing to read.  Seriously tears for me. I want to wake my wife up but she’ll kill me. Love to you Bob.  Thank you.

Denny Tedesco

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Thanks so much for the nice review of The Immediate Family Documentary.  Fred Croshal and I have managed the Band since its formation five years ago and we are so proud of the guys and the power of the Film.  Denny Tedesco did a brilliant job directing the Documentary and telling the story of the band members’ careers in a compelling, charming and fun way.  When the public sees the Film, they will be amazed to learn that these iconic musicians played on some of their favorite songs of all time.  I must admit that I, too, would occasionally say “wow, I didn’t know that Waddy played on that tune” or “how did Kootch come up with those great musical ideas”.

Hopefully, the Documentary will remind people that these guys were more than just side musicians.  They helped to define the Southern California sound in its heyday, and contributed to the music in a way that changed the power and impact of the tunes, working with the likes of Keith Richards, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, Neil Young, Phil Collins, Lyle Lovett, Don Henley, David Crosby, and Joni Mitchell, to name just a few.  To quote James Taylor, “the creative input of these session guys cannot be overstated”.  Unlike the members of the Wrecking Crew, the guys in The Immediate Family played on the albums, but then, were invited to join these iconic artists on the road to re-create the music live, as only they could.  My hope is that once people see the Film, they will do a deeper dive into the music of The Immediate Family, including the Band’s forthcoming Album entitled “Skin In The Game”, and embrace their most current tunes as only a musical family could deliver – “the band behind the scene”.  Let their legacy live on.

 

David A. Helfant | Arpeggio Entertainment

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It was a fun adventure but the reason that I’m in it is Denny came to me and he said everybody I ask about these guys says “they’re the greatest” and I need to know why and you can tell me and that’s the part I played.

Val Garay

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I’m so glad they did this. I hope Craig Doerge, the keyboard player, is in the mix somewhere; his playing was a big part of that sound.  My career started because Craig was always overbooked!! Like you say, it who you know.

Kim Bullard

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Bravo!

I helped Denny Tedesco in the earliest stage of the Wrecking Crew film by giving him contract info for WC alumni in Nashville out of my Musicians Union book. As a studio musician, I was an acolyte if his legendary father, Tommy.

But as influential as they were to me, the Crew were my parents’ generation. The Immediate Family are mine and they had more direct influence on me than the Crew did.

Thank you for your hearty endorsement of the film. After the steep learning and licensing curve on the Wrecking Crew film, Denny got it absolutely right on this one!

Michael Gregory

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We got to do a show with this band at Ardmore Music Hall in the fall of 2021.

Let me tell you that walking into the green room and seeing THOSE faces…wow. What am I going to say to THOSE guys?

I asked Waddy how he got away with playing through a full-on Marshall stack on the Main Offender tour…

“Did you ever play with Keith Richards?”

“Um, nope, haven’t done that”

“Well, he plays LOUD”

I felt like a putz, but hey.

The show was so good, and they were really great to meet. A massive honor.

Jesse Lundy

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Bob , Thanks for posting about this film, I can’t wait to see it . My sister got me a record in 1977 by the Section called fork it over . It was Lee , Russ and Danny and Craig Doerge on keyboards . It was a great record for a 15 year old kid in Upstate NY to listen to and dream one day I want to move to LA and play music . These guys are some of the greatest of all time . I still own the vinyl.

Dan McCarroll

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Can’t wait to see this….I think the first time I saw these guys on stage was when Carole King opened for James Taylor at the Anaheim Convention Center right after Tapestry was released. I think they played for both of them.

Michael Rosenblatt

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Great timing…I literally just met and hung out with Steve Postell at Kenny’s (Loggins) house for his end of tour/end of touring gathering.

Very nice guy and a regular guy, had me punch my info into his phone, had a nice talk for a minute, I guess he’s the rookie of Immediate Family at 20 years. He mentioned it was coming out but I don’t think I realized it was this soon…after meeting him I’m def gonna go check it out!

Wade Biery

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I can’t wait to see this.

Loved “The Section” LPs.

We devoured the back of the album information.

We soon found out these guys were playing on everything!

Brian Quinn

Last Dance Productions

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Can’t wait to finally see this. Growing up in the age of the singer/songwriter, and becoming one myself, these were the guys who made everyone sound so good whether live or on vinyl.
I devoured the recording credits and used to being bring binoculars to shows with Jackson, Linda, James, Dan Fogelberg, and half of the time was spent watching Russ Kunkel drive the bus.
Thank you for the review Bob.
It  makes me even more excited to see this!

Michael Lille

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Movie was great. The immediate family represent a great artistic era with a lot of great memories

John Huie

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I can’t wait for this..

A Classic indeed, as classic as Ancient Rome!

Gladiators with headphones, creating the world of rock ‘n’ roll..

Michael Des Barres…

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Like Lukather pointed out when you interviewed him, session players were given a chord chart, put on the spot, and spontaneously turned raw material into hits by creating signature intros, outros, arrangements, rhythm patterns, and feel.   Especially in  L.A., Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and Detroit.

I enjoyed Immediate Family’s  pre-covid Iridium gig (small Times Square club ).

Paul Lanning

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Thanks! Sounds like fun. On the eagles biopic and Linda Ronstadt’s I am always pointing these guys out to my wife. They seemed like Gods.

Michael Becker

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I really want to go see the Immediate Family .. as a musician that is my generation, and before that the Wrecking Crew movie which I immensely enjoyed as well. They are, however a real California perspective. In New York there was a whole other scene going on that absolutely could match that with some of the finest players in the world. If you were one of the NY Cats fans  from all over the world, knew who you. How many great records came from New York in the 1960s that match anything that came out of LA. When I was coming up during the 70s, there were the legendary players that created so many albums that were part of a core group just like in LA. We had bands like Stuff with Richard Tee,Cornell Dupree, Eric Gale, Gordon Edwards,Steve Gadd,Chris Parker. They set the tone of so many albums that they all were on. Then you have Ralph Macdonald, and his crew at Rosebud studios. You could hear these musicians play at clubs like Mikells and 7th Ave south. The stories are there as well. You had Randy and Michael Brecker, and all the great music and musicians that came out of that collective like Will Lee, and David Sanborn, Steve Khan,Don Grolnick, I saw it all go down and as time went on, I became a part of it and believe me it was a huge honor to be on albums with those guys. There was another scene in New York that was making records with the 60s Artists guitarist like Al Gorgoni who I can’t even believe how many records he’s on

Jason Miles

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I have been wondering if this would be worth seeing. Well into the Great Shutdown®️ and getting very bored at home we turned to endless surfing of You Tube. Having viewed many music videos the algorithm presented Lelend Sklar. I knew of him from reading credits on vinyl and CDs. Having his tour schedule cancelled he took to You Tube and in a charmingly awkward manner shared tracks he had played on while simply staring into the camera or playing along on his bass. My wife and me were enchanted by his calm demeanor and soothing voice. We eagerly await his weekly videos.  I was surprised to learn that he resides in Pasadena, the city I was born in. Lives in a 6,000 square feet home built in the 1930s in the Arroyo area just above the Rose Bowl. Paid $700k back in the late 70’s. Not bad for a side man! He’s probably better off than many of the artists he worked for. Not sure if we will go to a theater to see this. Our last visit to the local cinema was disappointing. The place was a mess. I have my home system with surround sound and my house is clean and neat and I am guaranteed the best seat in the house. Gonna wait for this on a streaming service.

Love the podcasts.

– Bruce Bremer

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A few years ago a bunch of my music geek friends and I went to see The Immediate Family at the Iridium in NYC. One of friends,a gigging bass player, was very excited to See Lee Sklar in particular. The show was fantastic, Danny Kortchmar was a great host and the band, was of course, perfect. After the show Lee Sklar was sitting at the tiny bar having a drink, we surrounded him and started having a great talk about music and life. My bass player friend was so excited (and a bit herbally enhanced). He eventually mentioned Billy Cobham’s Spectrum, a touchstone fusion masterpiece. In his excitemnt and state of mind, he excitedly said he loved it and then asked “Hey, who played bass on that?” (we all almost gasped). Lee, being the gracious awesome gentleman that he is, looked at my friend and quietly pointed at himself, It was an amazing moment (brain fart from my friend aside). We still bust on him about his faux pas years later. Immediate Family are so much more than amazing muscians.

Thanks as always Bob,

Michael Eigen

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Man, this resonates for me on so many levels.  First off, they are my friends, my pals, I’ve played and recorded with all of them except Waddy. Something to look forward to, doncha think?

The learning… You said it so well, we learned more from Rolling Stone than from class. Bruce said it, “We learned more from a three minute record baby / Than we ever learned in school.” A-men to that.

That was my mantra, high school onward, laying out my albums and tracking who played on what, tracing the thread, looking for (or dreaming of) the intersect with my own line, like the branches on Pete Frame’s legendary Rock Family Trees, which I still think of as required reading. I got as much out of three years working for Tower Records in Westwood as music school.

The relationships… Waddy got pointed to LA by Bud Cowsill. I worked at a singing waiter restaurant with Barry Cowsill (RIP) circa 1979. That’s where I met Eric Lowen, Bobby Romanus worked there as a cook before he was Damone in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Rickie Lee Jones, Katy Sagal, Cindy Lee Berryhill, Lee Ving of Fear, Peter Tork, all did time there. But I digress.

I first saw Russel playing with John Stewart at UCLA Royce Hall in 1972. Tracked his family tree like crazy. Then I got to play with him and learned why he’s who he is.

And it was Danny who turned James Taylor on to Peter Asher. “Go see my friend Peter in London.” Go figure, no Danny, no James! I did demos for Danny in 1988, as a session singer, long before we hung as pals.

The hang… Danny said, in an interview we all did during a short stretch, pre-Immediate Family when we had a little trio, Kortchmar, Postell and Navarro… Q: “How do you pick who you play with? A: “First off, it’s the hang.” The hang and the chops, keys to the kingdom. You don’t develop either sitting in your room making music with the laptop.

Brings me to Steve Postell. The new guy in the band, besties with Danny and plays and sings better than all of them. Who is this guy? My brother for 37 years, he produced my first solo album, played on every track of my last one, and led me into these incredible friendships. He was tapped to play in David Crosby’s band, with James Raymond, Christ Stills, Hutch Hutchinson, Jee-zuss H Wow, then fate stepped in and took Croz. I’m so glad Steve is getting his due. He’s a mensch, a master and a monster, with the chops and the hang to run with legends. And he gets better every day.

Retirement… that’s for others. Not them, not you, not me. Still too many lines on the family tree not filled in yet. Still on the road, a-heading for another joint. Retire? No effin’ way.

Denny Tedesco has done an amazing job humanizing a story that could have just been a parade of hits. We made friends at a screening of Wrecking Crew ten years ago, bonded over mutual friendships and the story he was telling. His commitment to these labors of love is watershed. We need him.

I saw the Immediate Family film in January at a screening at United Western. Can’t wait to see it on the big screen in a big dark room. I’ll get to relive the records that made we want this silly job in the first place.

Thanks for the reminder.

Dan Navarro

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Anxiously awaiting this film to arrive in flyover country (MO)

Roberta Mueller

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Yeah I’m pretty sure I’ll be watching this, lol

Peter Roaman

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I. CANNOT. WAIT.

Marc Reiter

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hey Bob
waddy here…..hope you’re well and safe..
to begin with,
sooo very happy that you actually even saw the film…
and then
that you dug it so much was just such a fantastic way to start my day!
it was really lovely reading your words this morning Bob! truly!
so glad you appreciated Denny’s telling of our musical journeys.
blew me away
Thanks VM again rock and roller !
xx
w²:)

Amy Spitalnick is CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Before that she ran Integrity First for America and quarterbacked the lawsuit against the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. We discuss antisemitism as well as the Charlottesville lawsuit. Amy is focused on community relations between Jews and others in support of a just and equal world.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amy-spitalnick/id1316200737?i=1000635031181

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/4db7614a-1a50-42de-b8b6-73878fd749aa/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-amy-spitalnick

Trailer: https://tinyurl.com/4spev3wa

I didn’t expect it to be this good. I thought it would be a sales pitch for the new band of these ancient, road-weary musicians. But really, it’s a sequel to the Wrecking Crew movie, but it’s even better.

Yes, it took years for the Wrecking Crew movie to come out, it was a rights issue. It was the little engine that could. Whereas this film comes out fully formed, sans the buzz, sans the begging, and I watched it out of obligation. But whew!

This is my era. And there was so much information. I knew who the players in the Wrecking Crew were, I still can’t believe Carol Kaye is alive. Yes, a woman was the bass player on all those hit records, and for a while there she was teaching, but the guys in the Immediate Family? They’re around, accessible, and I know so much of their story.

But there’s more.

But really, this is about perspective. I’m old, I lived through this. But if you didn’t…

Well, I don’t know if you’d care. But if you do, it’s a gold mine. Furthermore, I think many people do and will care, after all they call it classic rock!

Now the beginning is all set-up And there’s animation and nothing new, but as they start getting into the story of each member…

More and more is revealed that you don’t know.

And then come the studio stories, and then come the road stories.

When Waddy and Jackson Browne talk about recording “Werewolves of London”… They end up calling Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Mick warns them, they’re not like Russ and Leland, this is not their world, don’t expect them to be machines and nail it. And then the band records a take. And then another. And then another. And Fleetwood Mac doesn’t want to quit, they keep playing, all night. And it’s the second of sixty one takes that is the keeper.

Or the story of the recording of “Running on Empty,” how it was supposed to be greatest hits and it evolved.

And Don Henley talking about the recording of his solo albums with Danny.

Yes, everybody is in this, from Lou Adler to Niko Bolas to Val Garay to Phil Collins. If you worked with these guys, you spoke on screen, Linda and Stevie too. Too often these movies have holes, because people wouldn’t participate, or something couldn’t be licensed, but it’s all here.

You see people playing along to their hits. Which in most cases they had no idea would be hits.

The highlight of Kootch’s life is when he’s on the 101, in traffic, and from the car next door he hears “All She Wants to Do Is Dance.” The guy is geeking out, in the groove in his automobile, and Danny wrote it. Whew!

And Leland wants no attention, doesn’t think he’s worthy. But at one JT gig the front row are all wearing Leland Sklar fan club t-shirts…and James is not thrilled.

But it all blurs together. These guys were on the road, staying up all night, playing, partying, talk about not remembering the sixties, the seventies began the era of constant touring, don’t forget the tour was the advertisement for the record, as opposed to vice versa today.

And Linda Ronstadt is a great poker player. And she goes with Waddy to a strip club and they won’t let her in without I.D. Waddy says IT’S LINDA RONSTADT! But that’s not good enough. So then Waddy tells Linda to sing, and she does, and they let her in.

Road stories. Studio stories. That’s what people not in the business don’t get, that it runs on stories. Hang with a promoter? They’ve got tons! It’s an inside job, part of the culture, and if you’re not in it, you’re out.

And I think it’s Waddy who says put an exec on the street corner next to him and see who survives. He can live on tips, but what is the executive gonna do?

Now in truth there was more than the Immediate Family back in the seventies, other famous studio players. These guys tended to play on certain records, but we all knew their names, they were part of the band, not hit and run musicians.

Someone says that Peter Asher was the first to put the players on the album jacket. That’s not the way I remember it. And there are other minor inaccuracies, “Tapestry” was not the first Carole King solo album. They’re minor irritations to a fan.

But other than Paul McCartney, I’ve found that most people don’t remember every aspect of their career, it was all a blur. We were home studying the records, they’d moved on to other things, they lived their lives. They spent all that time in the studio cutting these tunes…and in many cases never listened to the records ever again. Sure, they played them a zillion times live, but oftentimes changing certain elements, keeping themselves happy. Yes, the songs evolved.

That’s right, the fan oftentimes knows more about the career of the artist than the artist themselves. That’s how much these records mean to us. This is why I say selling out should not be de rigueur, that it makes a difference, that it affects the act’s credibility, because these records are everything to us, literally. I was brought up on rock and roll, the rest is superfluous. I learned more in college reading “Rolling Stone” and listening to records than I ever did in class. Truly. May be hard to believe, but that’s just how dedicated I am, what it meant to me, and still does.

But even casual fans will enjoy “The Immediate Family.”

This is not “20 Feet From Stardom,” because in that case most of the talent was nearly unknown, certainly their stories were. And let’s be clear, Morgan Neville is an auteur. But Denny Tedesco is a fan, a lifer, part of the story, so the movie has a different feel. There’s no sheen, you’re inside. If you ran into any of these players you’d pick up a conversation immediately, they don’t come across as stars, but musicians.

Which is what so many of us wanted to be.

This is the second generation. This is not the British Invasion, these are the people who listened to the Beatles, saw them on “Ed Sullivan.”

And it’s all about relationships, who you know. That’s how music works. And if you’re a jerk, you won’t make it, because no one wants to play with a jerk. But if you’ve got the chops, show up on time, deliver, give good hang, you’re in!

Another one of my favorite moments in the movie is when Waddy comes in to add notes to “Oh, Sherrie”…I love that record, more than I love Steve Perry Journey. And then Waddy asks about the solo. The producer says the artist plans to put a saxophone there. Waddy gets irritated, says no way, says to fire up the machine, goes in and plays the indelible solo we all know.

And after the seventies everybody needs to reinvent themselves.

And then comes technological disruption.

And I don’t know why these movies come out in theatres, this audience ain’t gonna pay money to go see it that way. But when it plays on the flat screen, when you can stream it at home as part of your subscription, all of us who lived through it will watch it, and we’ll talk about it, the same way we still talk about records and concerts.

And the youngsters… The way it works in the internet age is you make it, and if it’s good, if it resonates, it takes on a life of its own. It’s just waiting to be discovered, to catch fire with newbies.

“The Immediate Family” will.

The band?

Well, they’re not retiring, that’s not what a musician does!

Nor does a fan.

You’re gonna dig this.

“The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder”: https://tinyurl.com/3mcp7z2s

Yes, this is about a boat, not a bet. Not that I could remember months after I reserved it at the library.

This is a certain kind of book, that may or may not appeal to you. If you’re interested in exploration, the Arctic and Antarctica, especially expeditions gone wrong, this is a highlight in the genre. I mean with the trip around Cape Horn…

Now David Grann, the author of “The Wager,” is the same guy who wrote “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which was recently made into a movie by Martin Scorsese. I haven’t seen it. And I don’t plan on seeing it until after I read the book. But although I had the book from the library for three weeks, I couldn’t get to it, I was backed up.

I’m still backed up. Right now I’m reading Peter Heller’s “The Last Ranger,” which is a return to form after 2021’s “The Guide,” which was too simplistic, too obvious. Before that, Heller wrote “The River,” which I wrote about back in 2019, you can read what I had to say here: https://tinyurl.com/73ztk7j7 “The River” is an easy read, I recommend it. “The Guide” is an easy read, but I was disappointed. “The Last Ranger” is not the easiest of reads, Heller is showing his writing chops, which decreases readability/understanding a bit, furthermore it is set in Yellowstone and it’s hard to paint a mental picture of the locations, even if you’ve been there, which I have. “The Last Ranger” brings you completely away from today’s world, and for that alone it is worth the read. But dive in at your own peril. Meanwhile, Heller made his bones with the cult book “The Dog Stars,” a story set in the future that has some of the dense writing of “The Last Ranger.” So, start off with “The Guide,” and then read “The Dog Stars,” and then you’ll know if you want to read more, which you probably will, Heller is addictive.

And when I say cult book, I don’t mean a personal pleasure that no one is aware of, I’m talking about a book that has not penetrated the entire universe. There is a movie, without great reviews, that I have not seen, but “The Dog Stars” is a book readers talk about, tell people about, implore you to read, and it’s got 8,173 ratings on Amazon, and that’s a significant number, and by the way, it’s got a 4.4 out of 5 rating, and that’s extremely high.

Getting back to “The Last Ranger” for a minute… I’ve spent a lot of time in the wilderness. But that was so long ago, seems like another lifetime. Yet there’s so much I can resonate with here. A lot of the people who live in the hinterlands can’t fit into regular society, or don’t want to fit in. They don’t like to compromise, they want to do things their way. But in the hinterlands there are not that many people, and they all don’t get along. Some of these square pegs that don’t fit in round holes are edgy, rub you the wrong way, and this friction can result in consequences you don’t get in the city.

But I’m talking about “The Wager.”

Now one of the paragons of this exploration genre is Hampton Sides’s “In the Kingdom of Ice – The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette”: https://tinyurl.com/4d62fptx This has a 4.6 out of 5 rating and 6,683 ratings. I’d recommend you start here if this is the kind of book that appeals to you.

Actually, you might have heard the story of the Jeannette recently, since Sides’s book it’s been many places. And the problem here is it’s history, all true, but if I tell you what happened it’s going to ruin the surprise. Same deal with “The Wager.” But the Jeannette set sail in 1889, over a hundred years before the Wager. The Wager set sail in 1740, the dark era, you’re stunned they even made the journey, when maps were inaccurate and communication methods were mostly absent.

That’s one of the fascinations of the book. You put yourself in these circumstances, and then you realize these guys thought they were living in advanced times, even though they were positively antiquated from our viewpoint.

And by reading the title you can see what happens.

Only you can’t. What do they say, the devil is in the details?

And there’s an arc, it’s inherent in the story, then again so do Erik Larson’s books and they’re flat. Larson’s books are a retelling, almost sans emotion…this happened, then that happened and that’s the end. What Larson is writing about is fascinating, but the style undercuts what he has to say. However, having said that, the best is “Devil in the White City,” start there if you want to jump in. And my personal favorite is “In the Garden of Beasts,” all about the U.S. ambassador to Germany at the advent of  World War II. He’s got a married daughter who seems to have screwed seemingly every famous Nazi. And when you go to Berlin, which is haunting in its own way, especially if you’re a Jew, and you pass the locations, the park where meetings took place, it’s eerie.

Recently Larson has been on a losing streak. “The Splendid and the Vile” is a disappointment. Especially if you’ve been to the Churchill War Rooms, which I highly recommend, for your second trip to London, and on that same journey also take in the Imperial War Museum across the river.

And before that came “Dead Wake,” the story of the Lusitania. Interesting, but flat.

“The Wager” is not flat. But it’s not for everybody. You know if you like to read nonfiction. You know if you like this kind of explorer history. And if you do, I highly recommend it.

But having said that, I must make you aware that the beginning is slow, before the boat leaves England. What is said is interesting, but it’s only when they journey to South America that you get hooked.

Now “The Wager” is not some secret, it came out in April of this year and already has 16,093 ratings on Amazon, with an average of 4.5.

As for my links to Amazon…

You know I’m into digital books. These are all Kindle links. Furthermore, you can get these books digitally via Libby, the library app, and they’re completely free.

In other words, there’s less friction, even though the digital copy may be just as expensive to purchase as the physical copy.

This is a longer conversation, and the people who disagree with me, who insist one must read physical books and they must be purchased from an independent bookstore, are like Trumpers, whatever you say not only can you not convince them they’re wrong, they cannot even accept that you’ve got a different take.

But that’s a fruitless argument for another day.

Sure, “The Wager” is a ride, and it’s enjoyable, but the book has stuck with me, and therefore I’m making you aware of it.

P.S. To give you some perspective on the numbers, “The Last Ranger” came out in July, and it has 1,209 ratings on Amazon, illustrating the great uptake of the books above. Having said that, the rating is 4.2 out of 5, and that’s great. My metric is if it’s under 4, be wary. It has served me well, like under 80% on RottenTomatoes. It’s not definitive, but in a world overloaded with product, it’s helpful.