The legend. And the subject of the new documentary film “I Am a Noise.”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joan-baez/id1316200737?i=1000634248578

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/e994e000-4139-4758-a2f0-6a8b789139f9/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-joan-baez

From: Craig Anderton

Subject: Re: Future Ticket Sales

Bob, during the pandemic there was an explosion in sales of music and recording equipment. Companies thought this would create a new generation of musicians and it would go on forever. Well, it didn’t. Music is a discipline and despite the “kids just push buttons these days” mentality, it’s damn hard to push the right buttons at the right time, and have them play back the right sounds…let alone learn how to play guitar.

Besides, people forget demand for anything that’s not a necessity goes in cycles. So yes…ticket prices will crash, along with other luxury items.

Craig

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From: Jeff Laufer

Subject: antisemitism in Comedy

Dear Bob,

I thought comedy is the one art form where antisemitism would not exist.

Well I was mistaken….

A week ago I was at a comedy gig and the booker made a blatant anti-Semitic joke.

The punchline was, “I Jewed him down”.

I was dumbfounded… I couldn’t believe it!

I didn’t know what to do… should I let it pass?

If I say something will this dumb ass not book me anymore?

F*ck it!

I loudly booed him during the rest of his set!

The other comics said, “Hey, it was only a joke”.

I didn’t care…it was a bad joke and to be honest it wasn’t funny!

It’s like when a “white” comic uses the ‘N-word”.

Afterword I told the host how I felt and he realized he made a terrible error.. and he apologized.

And this putz was a chemistry grad student at UCLA!

Still, I lost my respect for the guy…

BTW… he still books me for spots…

kindest cheers,

Jeff Laufer aka Barney Kugel

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Subject: Re: Sam Bankman-Fried

Bob,

The canary in the coal mine signaling the beginning of our society revering people who happened to have a lot of money was “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” years ago. And the fascination has yet to let up. “Succession” played to the same audience!

Both shows and everything in between couldn’t be less interesting. Perhaps Sam and Liz will be cell mates.

David Epstein

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From: Randy Thomas

Subject: Re: Fair Play

I called my 100 year old mom living in Florida,  who is always looking for something good on Netflix to watch. After your review I recommended it. Then I watched. Mom called to thank me for it yesterday. I asked her “Are you sure there wasn’t too much sex?” She replied “Oh no! I love it!!”. That’s my mom the one and only Terry Thomas.

Randy Thomas

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From: Amy Mantis

Subject: Re: The Wired Article

Bob, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I wish I hadn’t studied music business at Berklee. Not because I didn’t learn a lot – I did. But almost none of it is relevant anymore.

If you’re going to go to music school – or college in general, whatever your field is, study something rooted in first principles. Be it writing, music, art, science, math. You can use that knowledge forever even as the world turns upside down.

Keep up the great work.

Cheers,

Amy

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Subject: Re: More Israel

The “Ambassador” from “The Transcendence Embassy” says that Iran has the second largest population of Jews after Israel?  I looked it up. They do have a small Jewish population that has been getting smaller every year. Has this guy ever heard of the United States?  

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351079/jewish-pop-by-country/

Not even close.  

Toby Mamis

ALIVE ENTERPRISES

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Subject: Re: The Joan Baez Movie

Bob

Kenny Greenberg and I produced two records on Joan, and I became close friends with her in the process. She lived at my home for many months. One Tennessee summer night I heard bells jingling and I looked out my window…..and Joan was dancing alone in the moonlight with bells on her fingers.

She is definitely a star, and she’s definitely a vulnerable, beautiful, special spirit. The world is a much better place with her in it.

Wally Wilson

Nashville

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From: James E. Anderson III

Subject: Re: The Joan Baez Movie

I was the marketing guy at the Universal Amphitheatre for three years back in the 80s. We did a crazy number of shows back then, and I often worked 12 hour plus days. It was a grind, but I refer to it as my music business grad school days.  I worked with, and was mentored by, Larry Vallon and Jay Marciano, but I digress. 

On many of those long days and nights I would dine alfresco with the crews during load-in from a makeshift buffet set up behind the theatre. Everyone ate at large communal tables. The acts never ate with the crew. Never. Except that one time, when Joan Baez sat next to me at a table populated primarily by stage hands and roadies. I remember it clearly as the unassuming act of someone who did not place herself above the hoi polloi, who was there to work, and who probably really did dream of Joe Hill. She was warm, funny, engaging, and the spinach between her teeth when she smiled sealed the deal, endearing her to me forever. She was real. She was one of us.

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From: Bill Berger

Subject: Re: The Joan Baez Movie

You had to have been there to feel her impact. I bought the first Vanguard album and became hooked.  Borrowed money from my parents and bought a Goya guitar and the accompanying songbook and for hours in my bedroom practicing.

Went to Ole Miss my Freshman year and that was a stone’s throw from Montgomery, Greenville, Selma.

Went to the marches/boycotts and Joan was always in the forefront.  Just being with MLK in Washington cements her place in the history of Civil Rights.

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From: Elliott Murphy

Subject: Re: The Joan Baez Movie

Hi Bob,

This year 2023 marks my “50 years on the road” anniversary. And in that time I’ve opened for countless headliners: Kinks, Starship, ELO, Hall and Oates, Supertramp, Buddy Guy, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, New York Dolls, Aerosmith, Meatloaf, Phoebe Snow, Billy Joel, Melissa Manchester, Tom Waits, Toto, Bob Dylan and so many others … great artists all and always an honor for me. 

But a few years back when I opened for Joan Baez in Vichy, France, after soundcheck I ran into her backstage and introduced myself. We sat down and talked for quite a while; Joan asked questions, told me about her son who was playing percussion, asked why I moved to France, got to know me, her opening act. In 50 years that’s the only time that ever happened. As the French say, “La classe” and Joan has got it in spades. 

From Paris

Elliott Murphy

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From: coral sea

Subject: State of Independence – Jon Anderson & Todmobile – Live

Knocks spots off all the other versions Bob

 

Anderson + Todmobile + orchestra + choir in Iceland, 2013

https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=80sL3gfNz1Y

rgds

LC

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Subject: Re: Fall Freshman Year Playlist

Firesign Theater needs way more recognition. When I worked for Dan Fogelbeg he and I would toss FT lines and melodies back and forth all day.

Great times.

Mark Hogue

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From: Alan Pell

Subject: Re: Electric Cars

Vinyl is to the record industry what the classic car market is to the auto industry.

You love your 57 Bel Air, but it’s not your daily drive……..

Vinyl in the house, streaming on the move.( and only then when everyones out and you can chill out and relax!)

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From: Kevin Cronin

Subject: Re: The Dirty Knobs At The Bellwether

Hey Bob,

Not many guitarists can get me out of my pajamas and into LA. But to see and hear Mike Campbell, I would totally throw on some jeans and and my vintage Heartbreakers tour t-shirt from a gig in Dortmund, Germany, circa 1985, and make the drive. And crank up Damn the Torpedoes all the way in! Hey, REO throws in “Listen to her Heart” as our final encore when the spirit moves us; I love singing that tune.

Anyway, my 24 year old twin sons Josh and Shane are talented young artists, (I should be so lucky to sing and play as well as Shane, or be as soulful and intuitive as Josh). And their songs are well-written, unique, and relatable. I pass along your posts about the importance of authenticity and delivering a real live performance to my sons. They hear a similar message from me any time the subject comes up, but hearing it from you, in your inimitable way likely makes a deeper dent. And the truth is, they get it. 

Yeah, they are a young band, but they have old souls when it comes to music. Authenticity has been their watch-word since they swapped their Nike Mambas for Beatle boots after their sophomore season as stars of the Westlake High School basketball team. (That’s when they realized that you can impress the girls as much with a guitar as with a crossover dribble or a no-look pass.) And they have never looked back. The guys are part of a musical community that stretches from Thousand Oaks, to the USC Pop Music program, into Echo Park, and beyond. All dedicated young musicians and songwriters, practicing in garages, making demos in their bedrooms, honing their crafts, actually playing their instruments! Yeah, they record digitally and use plug-ins, but their mentality is analog all the way, and their music is a breath of fresh air. It is inspirational. It is lean, sometimes mean, and other times sweet. And always soulful.

I don’t need to tell you that it is a different world for young musicians today. But from what I see and hear, many of these up-and-comers share the basic values which guys like you, me, and Mike Campbell hold dear. It’s our job to pass along these values in support of this new generation of artists who have more in common with the Beatles than Bad Bunny. … kc

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From: Brian Alvey

Subject: Re: Rob Price-This Week’s Podcast

Great interview with Rob Price. I’m glad he mentioned Earasers for hearing protection, too. Excellent product.

When we moved our family from NY to CA eight years ago, our kids didn’t know anyone or play any sports. A new School of Rock was opening near us in San Ramon, so we enrolled all three kids. Today, my oldest is a junior in college in Nashville studying music technology at Belmont. He sings, plays keyboards/guitar/drums and recreates songs like ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky” on his laptop. He wants to be the next Butch Walker. My daughter sang and played keyboards in 17 School of Rock shows, got into doing local musicals and now plans to work on Broadway. She wants to be the next Sara Bareilles.

How cool is that?

We owe a lot to School of Rock. Their teaching method with solo lessons and group rehearsals every week leading up to a big concert performance every few months works really well. Even during the pandemic, the Zoom lessons worked great and it was a social lifeline for our kids. The only downside is that some song that we’ve heard hundreds of times will come on in the car and one of our kids will say, “Don’t change the channel, I played bass on this song!”

Brian Alvey

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From: Jared Polin

Subject: Re: Taylor Lorenz’s Book

Took your advice and bought the book. 

I live the life you’re describing.  I started in “social media” before social media was even a term.  I ended up on the road with Perry Farrell in 2007 with a digital camera and a video camera…dslrs didn’t do both yet.  Perry hired my friend and I to help him get more MySpace spins.  We were able to take him from 300 to 3000 spins in a matter of days by simply posting fresh content every day.  Perry is a visionary and always seems to be ahead of the curve. He gave me all access to capture and share whatever I wanted.  Everything from the tour bus to backstage where I often found he and his wife cuddling and rolling around on the floor.  He let me capture everything.

After that tour I attempted to find other bands who wanted and needed content creation.  I latched on with a local band who had five members.  I told them they each get a day of the week to post content.  One was into 

Movies, so they would do a movie review. Another food, another photography, so on and so forth.  But they never kept up with it, they never did what I thought they should to let their audience in.

So after struggling with a social media business that was a little too early, I said f*ck it, I’m going to do this myself.  I launched FroKnowsPhoto on YouTube on June 1st 2010, with the goal of sharing my photography online with the hopes I end up getting more jobs.  The jobs didn’t happen, but what did happen is people stated asking photography questions. So every question and comment that came in I decided to make a video about it and share it with the world. Because if one person had that question, then 100 more had it as well and that’s how I started growing my YouTube.

Here I am almost 14 years later with two full-time employees, a couple of properties, and millions of followers globally that I can reach with oppressive a button.

To me the key to success online is consistent quality content that you continue to evolve and grow. You can skip the gatekeepers because you beat down the door and found your way, and no longer need them because you’re the ones who really matter and hold all the power.

Jared Polin 

www.jaredpolin.com

www.froknowsphoto.com

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From: Alan Childs

Subject: Re: Harold Bronson’s Book

Hey Bob ,

What a crazy coincidence. 

In the car tonight on the way to an Indian restaurant in San Jose with John Waite & Tim Hogan ( we have a gig up in the winery in Saratoga tomorrow night with Pat Benatar) we were talking about Hendrix at the Atlanta Pop Festival. There is also a documentary by Alex Cooley ; Time Has Come Today . I believe it’s about the Atlanta Pop Festival.  So 20 mins ago I Googled Alex and the pop festival and one of the results sent me to Amazon where I did see Harold’s book. Not able to find where to watch the doc, I decided to look at my emails. Time Has Come Today, Your email. Crazy.

Like you said , the music business is nothing like it was back in the day. A few of us musicians are still hangin onto the touring world. I’ve been on tour for a majority of my adult life.  I”m 70 , but the feeling you get when your road manager informs you you’re on in 5 mins is the same feeling as in the mid 60’s when a lot of us were just starting. That would be excitement and wanting to play.  What I find very different now at venues (backstage) is that most people are very nice & accommodating. A far cry from the intense coked out & crazed attitudes of the 80’s. Musicians yelling at techs( roadies) Drinking  as well. Haha. Those days are gone. Another big difference is some of the audience enters the venue on walkers or wheelchairs. No Plaster Casters at our gigs. Haha.

The sunset years are upon us. For some of us still touring , it’s obvious we’ll continue till the end.  For now it’s business as usual. New Stones lp, McCartney going on tour again, U2 at the Sphere. Reading Noel Redding’s book at the moment ( Are You Experienced ) Harold’s book is next.   Thanks Bob.  Love your emails 

Peace & Love.   Alan Childs 

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From: Gary Gold

Subject: Re: Now And Then

I was the original drummer on these three John Lennon songs.

A couple of years after John’s death, I got a call to do a session in New York with the brilliant keyboardist (and chromatic harp player) Gary Schreiner. His record was being produced by Rob Stevens, who at the time was mixing and organizing all of John’s stuff for Yoko. The session was unusual, to say the least. Yoko had some John piano/vocal demos – and she wanted to build real tracks around those bare piano/vocal recordings. There was some talk about there being a Broadway show in the works…

So there I sat in Evergreen Studios, an upper west side studio in the basement of a residential building, listening to tapes no one had ever heard… Just John at the piano… with Yoko there by my side.

I asked her if she knew what each song was about. We got into a talk about the approach of playing to the lyric of a song as opposed to the feel of the groove. What was most important for John was to say what he meant, she said.

I was blown away by how open and just… honest, and beautiful Yoko was. Everything I had thought about her before was just wrong. She wasn’t some pretentious, entitled, shrieking witch who broke up the Beatles. She was ALL LOVE. Kind, thoughtful… the real deal. It was easy to see why John had fallen for her.

I was a session player at the time… I could play anything. Giving the producers what they wanted was my gig. That year alone I recorded with Donald Fagen, Rick Danko, Michael Brecker, Phoebe Snow, Robben Ford, Ben E. King, and Al Kooper. I had Jazz chops and RnB chops. Funk, Rock, Wrecking Crew Pop, Latin … you name it, I loved it and could play it

But these songs required one thing and one thing only.

Ringo.

No matter what I played to these tracks, what felt best was me doing my best Ringo imitation. I told Yoko this, and she was totally sympathetic. Again… ALL LOVE!

So we recorded three songs… Real Love, Free As a Bird, and Now and Then. I have a bit of a musical photographic memory. Anything I have ever recorded, I can remember… both the songs and exactly what I played. I remember thinking then that all the songs were beautiful and was keenly aware that I was privileged, but I had no illusions. I was filling in… and making believe that those four guys were in a room making music. Making believe that the magic broke through – the way it did when that fortunate rhythm was struck by those four special blokes being in the same room in London years prior.

I haven’t heard this new version of Now and Then yet. Is it even a “version”? Similarly, I haven’t seen all the biopics that have been made of Johnny Cash, Bird, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, et al.. I’m really not interested in anyone’s cinematic fiction of the music that is sacred to me. I think it was Martin Mull who said, “It’s like dancing about architecture.”

Years later, I told George about the session and that I’d played on the John demos. He seemed more interested in our ukelele fun than talking about anything Beatles. I’ve never asked Ringo if the version of the song he first heard had any drums on it but the thought of Ringo hearing a song of John’s with me on drums and then recutting the drums gives me chills. WOW!

As always, I love your words. Peace and love and thanks for all you do, Bob.

Gary Gold

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Subject: Re: Now And Then

Every day of the week, somewhere on this planet a musical masterpiece the likes of “Gimme Shelter” and “Yesterday” is being written and the world will never know about it because some twist of fate didn’t play out just right for that artist.

So when an established artist releases something new, I always ask myself if that track was released by an unknown with the same degree of marketing support applied, would that track move any needles?

In the case of The Rolling Stones “Angry” and now The Beatles with “Now And Then”, I really don’t think so. 

The tracks are fine and I completely understand and respect why diehard fans are loving them, but let’s not kid ourselves, neither would stand alone without the legacy brands attached to them. 

Chris Nissen

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From: Donny Kutzbach

Subject: Re: Declan McKenna At The Novo

Bob,

We did that Buffalo show you mention at Town Ballroom and it was a lot of young girls but I was also shocked at some of the “old heads” – dudes 20 years past the best date for those other fans – that I  knew who were excited and came out to see Declan.

And for good reason: real music fans look beyond the age, the audience and the hype because they are looking for the songs.

I immediately saw/heard T.Rex, Oasis and Arctic Monkeys in his fantastic set.

And my 20 year old daughter Izzy shamed me, reminding me she had been into Declan years before and first told me about him.

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From: Nate Dorough

Subject: Re: Declan McKenna At The Novo

Sold out a 200 cap room in Lansing, Michigan with Declan in 2018.  He’s built it organically, has always delivered a great live show.  The TikTok stuff just helps put it over the edge.  Even in that little dive bar 5 1/2 years ago, the starpower was undeniable.

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From: Jason Orr

Subject: Re: Declan McKenna At The Novo

Listening to brazil I feel like I just got transported back to the mid to late aughts when vampire weekend, and phoenix, death cab, and the shins, and two door cinema ruled the rock scene.  Best thing I’ve heard in rock since then.  Thanks for sharing.

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From: coral sea

Subject: Declan Mckenna – infectious is the word you were looking for

I’m same age as you Bob – normally I don’t care for any of your recent recommendations – never heard ths guy/band before, but nevertheless  I checked out youtube.

 

Not difficult to see his appeal – he really connects  – touch zany, pleasantly messy, somewhat scattergun – anything but journeyman.

Refreshing in this era. Yes, is reminiscent of late ’70s but is firmly now.

 

The drummer is also a livewire. Great to see.

 

Check out when Declan jumps into the crowd here. (3min 20sec onward)

 

 

Regards

 

L.C

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From: GEOFFREY CUSHING-MURRAY

Subject: Re: Daryl Hall & Todd Rundgren At The Pantages

Something/Anything was my master class in songwriting.  I own  the late Chris Bond’s acoustic guitar played on Sara Smile.  And I was blown away by my old pal legendary engineer Barry Rudolph’s tales of recording Hall’s vocals. One take and a second perfect double. I’m gassed that Daryl’s House is back.  I guess some people don’t get it, but then I have socks that declare me a music snob. GEOFFREY CUSHING-MURRAY

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Subject: Re: Daryl Hall & Todd Rundgren At The Pantages

In March I will be 50, so I am the generation that was raised on MTV. It was everything to us. The 60’s had Woodstock. The 80’s kids had MTV. You can argue the merits of one vs the other, but at the heart of both of these cultural phenomenons was music. We may not have been demonstrating or protesting a war (something that seemingly gets held against us by subsequent generations), but music was our life.

I gravitated toward the hair bands. The first time I heard and then saw Ratt on MTV was the first indication to me that there was a whole other world out there other than the one I lived in and I wanted to be a part of it. Even though I was a heavy metal kid, there was no denying the appeal of the pop hits of the day and Hall & Oates were enormous. Their songs were everywhere for the first half of the decade.

A number of years ago, my wife gifted me tickets for Hall & Oates at Ravinia. Ravinia is a venue in Highland Park, IL. As a point of reference, it’s the same town Risky Business took place in, which is to say it’s an affluent suburb on the north shore of Chicago. Ravinia is an event each concert season. While there is a small pavilion, most of the concert goers sit on the lawn. But, it’s far from your typical soulless concert shed. It’s a beautiful setting sewn into a forest. And people go all out with their Ravinia gear, not unlike how football fans tailgate. The setups are elaborate. It’s like if you were to take your dining room tailgating. Fancy tablecloths. Candlesticks. Wine bottles chilling in ice buckets. As I said, it’s an event.

Hall & Oates was the perfect band to see here because you aren’t going to see them for their elaborate stage show or their newest costumes. It’s not a KISS concert. You’re going for the songs! And man, they were outstanding live. Toward the end of the show I made my way to the bathroom to relieve myself before the long trek back to the car. It was of course jam packed. Among the crowd was maybe 4 or 5 guys wearing Harley shirts. They looked the part. Beards, wallet chains, leather vests, etc. They looked like they were at an AC/DC show. While we were in the bathroom, Hall & Oates started playing You Make My Dreams (Come True). One of these guys got completely giddy and slapped his friends on their shoulders and said, “Guys! This is it! We’ve gotta hear them play this one.” It was a surreal scene that just goes to show, music is a universal language.

Neil Johnson

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From: JOHN FIELDS

Subject: Re: Daryl Hall & Todd Rundgren At The Pantages

I was honored to have produced some Daryl solo songs in 2010 and i asked him to show me how to properly play “You Make My Dreams”

my dear friend/drummer Michael Bland took this video of the lesson

Continue to rock bob!

John Fields

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From: Greg Cagle

Subject: Re: Daryl Hall & Todd Rundgren At The Pantages

We saw the same show in Indio last Saturday. Utterly amazing, and your description was what I wish I could express. At the end I turned to my wife and said “I can’t believe we got to see this.” The mere fact that Todd and Daryl’s guitar player just NAILED the dual guitar thing from I Saw The Light was enough for me. Well done.

Greg Cagle

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From: Michael Urbano

Subject: Re: Daryl Hall & Todd Rundgren At The Pantages

This show sounds like it was amazing. I’ve been watching clips online and they both are on fire. 

Todd changed my life. He  produced my first band (Bourgeois Tagg’s) 2nd record. He was hard on me while making that record. I was young and a perfectionist. He immediately got on me and sternly made me let go and just play in the moment. “Don’t do it the same way every take!” He literally yelled that at me. I know now that he taught me more in the 3 months  of making that record than I’ve learned anywhere else in my life. Yup, Todd is god. 

When Bourgeois Tagg broke up Todd called me. “Wanna make a record with me?” I was stunned. I thought he hated my drumming. He said, “nah, that was just me producing you, trying to make you do things differently.”So I made Nearly Human with him (along with the great Prairie Prince and Willie Wilcox) and then I toured internationally with Todd for that record. It was incredible. Our band was incredible. Vince Welnick, Byron Alred, Larry Tagg, Lyle Workman, Scott Mathews, Jenny Malduar, Shandi Cinnamon, Todd’s now wife Michelle Rundgren, Bobby Strickland, Max Hasket. We killed it every night, I was spoiled after that. All that talent on one stage all at once. Hard to ever feel something so magical again. It came again in different forms but never quite like that. Every night Todd would go all the way to the edge, and then just jump off. God I love that dude. 

uRbAn0

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Subject: RE: Daryl Hall & Todd Rundgren At The Pantages

Bob, I still have a receipt for $5 from Todd when he came into my office in the Whisky in August, 1969.  He was looking for a keyboardist for his band, at that time called Runt.  Never knew if I found him one or not……

Sterling Howard, founder/owner

https://www.MusiciansContact.com

If shows were this good, I’d go out every night.

I went to hear “Foolish Pride” and “Black Maria,” but I got so much more.

Todd was the opener. And it was Daryl’s crowd. You could tell by the applause. It was like they didn’t realize that what they were experiencing was extremely rare. After confounding audiences for years, Todd took the stage and played…HIS GREATEST HITS!

Now this show was booked for 7:30, and it started right on the dot. Todd bounced on the stage and started singing…REAL MAN!

Your head would explode, if you were paying attention. And by that time only the diehards were. 1975’s “Initiation” was the first truly left field album, after the underrated double album “Todd” the year before. 

“And my world is something you can’t see

But it’s still very real to me

You can find it in the hole where I keep my soul

There it is, way down inside me

There’s a real man

Forget about my body and be a real man”

The change in the middle is delicious, it’s a rub of the tummy, it’s what endears us to music, that which we can’t truly explain but feels so good.

And from there “Love of the Common Man.” From the originals side of the album after “Initiation,” the one with the covers of sixties classics filling up the first side, “Faithful.” You know, or maybe you don’t. Todd was now a cult item, and most were not members of the cult.

But everybody in the audience knew “We Gotta Get You a Woman,” even if they didn’t know it was about Paul Fishkin. It was a semi-hit on the radio when most people didn’t know who Todd was.

And Todd played the opening cut from “Something/Anything?, “I Saw the Light,” which everybody seemed to know. But very few knew the following number, a veritable Todd Rundgren classic, “Black Maria.”

“Black Maria

You scare me so

I feel as though

My heart stop dead”

And then the guitar wails! Todd is squeezing all his talent out on the strings, and his talent is prodigious.

Now eventually “Something/Anything?” became a hit, but at first it was for fans only, who were small in number. After the Nazz, after being an engineer for the Band, Todd started out recording for Albert Grossman’s Bearsville label, distributed by Ampex. Do people today even know that was a tape company? (And recording devices too, save me the correction.) And putting an album out on that label was like…it not coming out. There were multiple versions of the first LP, the one with “We Gotta Get You a Woman,” and the second album, the piece de resistance, Todd’s absolute best work, “The Ballad of Todd Rundgren,” was the second LP on Bearsville/Ampex. You couldn’t even find them in stores. But being overproduced in numbers and not purchased, they ended up in cutout bins and they were snatched up and for years thereafter were unavailable.

But then Ampex Records cratered, Bearsville switched to Warner Bros. for distribution, and “Something/Anything?” was the beneficiary of that relationship.

You opened the gatefold cover, and there was a picture of Todd, from the back, in his studio Secret Sound. And that same image was projected on the screen last night, an homage to what once was, our belief.

And ultimately Todd played his cover of the Nazz song “Hello It’s Me,’ the audience genuflected, but what came after…

The Philly soul medley from “A Wizard/A True Star?”

If you were a fan… This was all you could want.

But even stranger, the band was Daryl’s, which freed Todd up to prowl the stage sans instrument, working the crowd, actually performing, as opposed to be being burdened by his guitar and…

I’m sitting there thinking how this is the way it was, in the seventies. If you dropped a young ‘un into the Pantages, they’d get it. Music known by heart by some of the audience, hits known by everybody, and the whole thing being hermetically sealed, only for those in attendance. No one was playing to the back row, they were just playing music. No one was dancing, there was no production, there were no hard drives… It made you want to be a musician, and I haven’t had that feeling for a very long time.

And then Daryl Hall took it up a notch.

Yes, Todd hearkened back to what once was, you could call it nostalgia, but that’s not the way the numbers were performed. It was if they were cut yesterday, Todd was giving it his all. This was very different from the classic acts knocking it out shed by shed over the summer, painting by numbers. The show had the feel of a bygone era, despite the music being so vibrant. Like I said, this was the way it once was.

As for Daryl… Do you know anybody who doesn’t like this kind of music, you know, R&B influenced?

Everybody in attendance did, and there were no youngsters, everybody looked old and decrepit, just like me. They had many miles on them, but they remembered when music was everything, when they had to go to the show, not to shoot selfies, not to be able to tell someone, but because they needed to resonate with the sound, it was the elixir of life, and everybody there last night wanted another hit.

So Daryl bounces on stage, and launches into a couple of solo numbers. He’s playing guitar, a different one on each number, performing like it was the only thing anybody ever wanted to do in life.

Yes, it was palpable last night, the guys on stage were having fun! And fun is the one thing that money can’t buy. And too many calcified boomers have given up on fun, they’re too old, afraid of risk, and then these two septuagenarians take the stage as if the seventies were yesterday, they’re so into it. Sure, it was a performance. But it wasn’t that far removed from the garage. What I mean is everybody had paid their dues, they’d jumped through the hoops, they’d become professional musicians, that was their calling, their life’s work, and they can still do it and enjoy it, maybe more, to this day.

I mean Daryl Hall has nothing to prove. And if it’s only about money, he can partner with John Oates and play the hits in arenas to those who just want to relive the past.

Which is what most of these acts are doing. If you don’t think it’s all about the money…

And then Daryl played “Foolish Pride.”

“And I’ve got this foolish price

And pride goes before a fall

Yeah, I’ve got this foolish pride”

It’s the best cut on 1986’s “Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine.” I bought it, didn’t you? I guess not. But we were fans, we bought everything our favorites put out, and we spun them to the point they revealed themselves to us.

And I’d never heard “Foolish Pride” live before.

Daryl eventually put down the axe and sat behind the piano and played his version of “Everytime You Go Away,” you know, the number Paul Young had a giant hit with, you can picture the video in your mind’s eye.

But the Hall & Oates version is a little slower, a little more emphatic. Daryl was sitting at the piano and wringing every last emotion out of the number. And yes, he was playing the piano after the guitar. This guy was skilled, he was a musician.

One of the absolute highlights was a cover of Eurythmics’ “Here Comes the Rain Again,” with just an acoustic guitar accompaniment to Daryl’s piano and vocal. Didn’t sound like the original, but it resonated even more.

We got “Sara Smile,” the real breakthrough, from the first RCA album, the “Silver Album” if you bought it early enough in its run, it had a foil cover, but then gray cardboard, just like “Wheels of Fire.”

“When I feel cold, you warm me

And when I feel I can’t go on

You come and hold me

It’s you and me forever,

SARA SMILE!”

Yes, about Daryl’s then girlfriend, a flight attendant. But the mood of the music along with the lyrics…you can see your own life in the song. The music sets you free. It’s anything but the assault we’ve got today

And by this time, heads were exploding, as if Oprah had given away cars. And you’ve got all these old people, standing and weaving, dancing, entranced by the music, it could have been 1975, but it was also 2023, because some songs, some music, is timeless.

And then came “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”

This was monstrous in 1981, at the advent of MTV. This was the heyday, this was when Hall & Oates were the biggest band in the land, years after they’d begun.

“Yeah, I, I’ll do anything

That you want me to

Yeah, I’ll do almost anything

That you want me to”

The pre-chorus, it’s the magic, Daryl effortlessly evidencing his vocal talent, so sweet, so resonant. Man, he’s playing this song and I’m standing up swaying, with my head in the air, singing along. And nobody was looking at me, because everybody else was standing up too. And although we were all together it was a personal experience, my entire life scrolling through my brain, it was transcendent, and it built and went on and when it was done we were all nearly exhausted.

Daryl left the stage, we couldn’t ask for more, but then Todd came out and sat on a stool, Daryl stood behind the electric keyboard, and they knocked out “Wait for Me,” from the stiff “X-Static,” a minor hit song at best. Hall & Oates had triumphed in 1976 with “Rich Girl,” and then they couldn’t find their way back, album after album did worse commercially, they even ended up playing clubs. And by time they put out 1980’s “Voices,” they resorted to a cover, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” in a desperate search for a hit, but it didn’t, but…

So, they’re duetting on “Wait for Me,” always an engaging number, and then came…

The best of “Mink Hollow,” Todd’s “Can We Still Be Friends.”

“We can’t play this game anymore

But can we still be friends”

Now Daryl’s taking the lead. And when the song evolves, Todd’s adding little asides, and body movements, taking the song to a whole ‘nother level.

And then the two Philly souls do an extended cover of “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” by the Delfonics.

Every boomer knows this song, from when AM still meant something, before there was FM in every car, never mind a tape deck, when there still wasn’t even an FM rock station in many markets.

So these guys are up there showing their roots, truly blowing our minds. They’re in a trance, it’s almost as if we’re not even there, they’re so into it.

You don’t get this every night, you almost never get it at all, but here on a Monday, when most people stay home, these two were taking us to heaven and beyond. It was truly spectacular. Not in the jaw-dropping way, but in a religious way, they were channeling the divine and we were along for the ride.

And then Todd left the stage, Daryl started pounding out the notes on the keyboard, and it was clear to everybody in the building, this was YOU MAKE MY DREAMS COME TRUE!

Everybody jumped up, as if they’d gotten a hypodermic to the ass, they couldn’t help but move around, nearly mindless, uniting who they once were with who they are now, seeing the long continuum of life coming together, they’re still here, they’re still alive, and so is Daryl Hall. He’s not running on fumes, he’s giving it his all, he’s got the music in him.

“Kiss on My List” was the surprise comeback track on “Voices,” it went all the way to number one, Hall & Oates were back in the hit parade, something that rarely happens once you’ve gone.

But this was only the beginning, as great as “Kiss on My List” is, it’s one of the best things in life, it was followed up by “You Make My Dreams.”

“What I want you’ve got and it might be hard to handle

But like a flame that burns the candle, the candle feeds the flame”

An electric number, as if the band plugged into a socket, and the electricity poured over the audience, we were jumping as if we’d been electrocuted.

“Well, well, well you

You make my dreams come true”

But then there’s that moment, almost two-thirds of the way through the song, the change.

“Well, listen to this

Ow!”

The instrumental break, you’re twisting and turning, it’s so simple, but it’s like you’re doubled-up after being squeezed in a bear hug, it’s something only music can do, can make you feel, it’s so simple, yet so right.

And it’s got nothing to do with spandex. Dancing. Acrobatics. The song is enough, nothing else is needed, the music infiltrates your body and makes you feel alive, even if your significant other dumped you, you lost your job, your money, “You Make My Dreams” makes life worth living.

And then the band left the stage. I really expected “She’s Gone,” you know how they like to let you down easy, calm you down before you exit the building, but the band ended on a high note, giving it their all, and you believed they could go all night, maybe they were going to an all-hours club to continue, because that’s what they do, and they can do it forever, and they’d play for free if they had to, because this is who they are.

But this is who you are. From back when you knew the hits, when they enlivened society, when they permeated the culture, when they were bigger than anything and everything today. And even though it’s forty years old ,”You Make My Dreams” sounds just as fresh as yesterday. Which is pretty amazing if you think about it.

So the lights came up and I was on a high. As was the assembled multitude. In this theatre, on a weekday night, we’d been provided with the essence of music, the essence of rock and roll. 

Our parents went to hear classical music, maybe an old jazz performer, maybe even a crooner, but they were not like us, their progeny. Music is one of our basic building blocks, more important than milk and vitamins. It was everywhere and everything.

It made our dreams come true!

Spotify playlist: https://tinyurl.com/2av6ejdv

WHO?

The World Series was the least watched ever. It averaged 9.11 million viewers, a 23% decline from 2022’s 11.78 million. In a country of 331.9 million.

That’s right, not even 10% of Americans watched the World Series. As a matter of fact, only 3.6% of Americans watched the Series. And you know oldsters are into baseball, so we can’t count them out. And sure, there are babies who won’t watch, but theoretically baseball crosses all demos. Yet for some reason, the Series was not a priority.

Now the scuttlebutt is it was two wild card, minor market teams. Which is like saying no one in America watched the ski race because Mikaela Shiffrin wasn’t participating. In other words, very few people are interested in watching ski racing, and very few are interested in watching baseball.

This is not to rag on baseball. I only went to one game this year, but the changes were palpable. I’m a traditionalist, I still can’t get over the designated hitter, but if you’re losing purchase with the audience you’ve got to change up the game. The endless stepping away from the mound and the batter’s box, the endless shenanigans with a runner on first…these didn’t happen, these abominations, stretches of the rules, had to be excised. Now all we need is automatic umpires. They’ve got them in tennis.

But the reason I mention the World Series is not to rag on baseball, but to illustrate it’s niche. There are plenty of alternatives, on network, cable, streaming, social media… There used to be very few choices. So if you’re a passionate baseball fan, you tune in. If not, you’re fine avoiding the whole damn thing. And it’s not like baseball is in your face 24/7, that’s Taylor Swift. But that’s the same damn thing, how many people are really interested in Taylor Swift? A lot fewer than you’d estimate reading the calcified news with no perspective.

Music is in bad shape. There, I said it. You can deny it, but if you want to know which way the wind blows, you certainly don’t put on a record. I think we will ultimately be saved, then again the entire paradigm has changed. Used to be you and me, our band against the world. We rehearsed in the garage, we played for free, we got into the clubs, we drove within 50 miles and if we had success, we expanded our horizons. It was all done in a stealth way, not by choice, but because nobody else cared. You built it, hoping that someone with bucks, influence and relationships would come along to make you rich and famous.

But now if you’ve got anything to say, you immediately do so online. You don’t woodshed, you get it right out there. You don’t discover who you are, you troll for dollars from day one. Even worse, just like the World Series, you’re competing for everybody’s attention, and it’s nearly impossible to get anybody to focus on you.

So, with so much effort involved, with so few guaranteed returns, there are few bands anymore. It’s all solo artists. But still, there hasn’t been anything new under the sun in eons. Howard Stern featured the Struts. They were actually very good, but I couldn’t stop laughing at their appearance, the leather jackets and long hair. God, the sixties are over, even the seventies and eighties. Even James Hetfield cut his hair. Do you really expect anybody to buy your act, do you expect to have any influence? To do so, you’ve got to do it differently.

And one thing is for sure, Declan McKenna was doing it differently.

I went to hang with Cliff Burnstein. I too had never heard of Declan McKenna. But when I emerged from the bowels of L.A. Live, all I could see were girls. A plethora of them. They certainly couldn’t be going to see Declan McKenna, there are a lot of options on campus. But doggone it, they were! You could barely get near the place. It wasn’t only women, but I’d put the ratio at about six or seven to one.

HOW DID THEY KNOW?

That’s the question, this is my business, I’m paying attention, the managers are my friends, and I was completely out of the loop.

And I’d done some research. Declan had one number with nearly half a billion streams on Spotify, one with just over a hundred million, and then nothing close. Don’t forget, streaming numbers on Spotify, the ones I’m quoting, which are public on the desktop app, are cumulative, over the life of the record. Which means if you’re complaining about getting ripped off for 100,000 streams, that you should make bank, adjust your mentality, the numbers keep going up and up, but not for everybody.

So what happened here?

“Brazil” had been used in a TikTok video, it had gone viral. Was it worked, did the label use connections? No, it happened serendipitously. And not yesterday, McKenna’s been at it for nearly a decade. I mean you heard one song on TikTok, really just part of a song, and you were so infected that you became a fan of McKenna, listened to everything that came after?

Turns out so. Otherwise, how did all these people know every word. This wasn’t the Beatles, but they literally knew every word, they were standing singing along.

So what was the act?

I didn’t see a single tattoo on stage. Reminds me of being in college, when even the nerds had long hair. I cut mine. During Thanksgiving vacation, when a barber was near. People thought my parents made me do it. Not my parents. Maybe your parents. Yes, long hair once meant something. If I see a musician loaded up with tattoos today, I laugh. It doesn’t mean you’re dangerous, mostly that you’re a conformist. And music was built by those who did not conform.

And the lead guitarist was a woman. Wearing baggy painter’s pants and a baggy jacket. In other words, she was not trading on her sexuality. That was also a revelation.

As was the energy.

The late seventies punk/new wave scene in L.A. The English ska scene from the same era. And then the one hit wonder English bands on MTV. They were all about the same thing, rejecting the past and letting their youth and energy fly, they were infectious. You could not go to a ska show and not feel the vibe and dance, even if you abhorred the dance floor.

That’s what Declan McKenna and his four bandmates were providing. Endless energy, the performance was upbeat, not dreary.

Declan was wearing a beige suit, with a tie and no shirt. The sartorial choices were different from the usual suspects, only the English seem to be able to do this.

So how did this happen?

Well, a Q Prime person discovered Declan McKenna on Bandcamp. Cliff and Peter listened with weary ears, but were stunned, they believed the song was a hit. They flew to England and signed him. Then they brought the band over to play minor markets, and when girls lined up to buy tickets at nine a.m. in Buffalo, they knew they had something. That was the plan, to play out of the way places, not the major markets. And to play venues in the suburbs, because that’s where the audience was. Young people whose parents might be afraid of letting them go downtown.

Declan even played some acoustic numbers at high schools.

Then again, I got Cliff to admit that as good as his efforts had been, he didn’t really know how it had all happened.

Ain’t that the truth. All the tried and true methods not only don’t work, you’re not in control of those that do.

And Declan played for an hour and forty five minutes, no one could complain they did not get their money’s worth, unlike in that “Wall Street Journal” article. Declan’s got fans, and unlike the nobodies from nowhere who pop on to the Spotify Top 50, they’d definitely come the next time around. Declan isn’t dependent upon hits, they’d help, but they’re not necessary. He’s got an audience.

Do I think Declan McKenna will be the new Sam Smith, nowhere to somewhere overnight? No. Then again, I’m not sure anybody can do that anymore. And if I sat here and told you that Declan McKenna was unique, an absolute star with A+ material, I’d be lying too. You never know what someone will develop into, but right now Declan appears to be a journeyman.

In the old days, journeypeople were subsidized by the record label. Today, you do it yourself, on the road.

So is Declan McKenna’s success an inspiration or is it depressing?

You can spin it either way.

You can have success, make a good living, almost completely outside the major system. But that’s all you may get.

And no one seems to know exactly how to break a new act these days.

But one thing I have to say for sure, Declan McKenna wasn’t doing it exactly like everybody else. He didn’t have a featured rapper. He wasn’t writing bland pop tunes. He was speaking his truth, and it resonated with some people.

Yes, Declan is cute, and that never hurts.

But no one could exactly say why all the girls were there.

But they were.