Uber-manager Ken Kragen, who steered the careers of Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Trisha Yearwood, Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, the Smothers Brothers, Travis Tritt, Gallagher and more, sadly just passed at 85. After Kenny Rogers died in 2020, Ken did a podcast with me about Kenny that was never aired. In fact, it’s more about Ken than Kenny, so in tribute to him I am posting it now. If you’re interested in going deeper, you can listen to my podcast with Ken about his life and career posted on September 12, 2019.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ken-kragen/id1316200737?i=1000545158860

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast?

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast

“Twisted Business: Lessons from My Life in Rock ‘n Roll”: https://amzn.to/3yxz8x3

Jay Jay French is a hustler. A New York hustler. The top of the heap. A survivor. A human cockroach who cannot be ignored and cannot be killed. And that’s why he made it.

Every band needs a hustler. Sure, some bands become big and can the initial hustling manager for the big, established one, but the established ones started out as hustlers too, that’s how you make it in this business.

That’s why I’m against music business education. You can’t teach someone to hustle, they’re born to it, it’s the environment, their family, their parentage. They didn’t start hustling when they formed a band, they were always hustling, like Mr. French, he started out as a dope dealer. How else could he afford equipment and tickets?

Scratch the back of music industry icons and you’ll find a plethora started by dealing drugs. Most notably Doc McGhee, who used the skills he developed to turn Bon Jovi into a monster act. But it’s not only McGhee… It’s a good background. It’s sleazy, it’s a cash business, and you never know when you’ll be ripped off. Just like rock and roll. And neither side of the trade trusts each other, i.e. the band and the label. The label is not your friend, never ever ever, remember that as they wine and dine you, they end up billing you for the cost anyway.

So Jay Jay dropped out of high school. It was impinging on his lifestyle. This is after getting kicked out a few times for his revolutionary behavior. Yes, this was the sixties. If you’re not a limit-tester, if you’re not questioning authority, if you’re not pushing the envelope, good luck trying to make it.

So Jay Jay joins a band that goes through umpteen formulations before it finally gets a record deal, ten years later, and it’s like Spinal Tap, one label folds, an exec dies on a flight back to the U.K… Your one big break is never one, not in the music world. Your failures far outweigh your successes, it’s only the superstars who get to say no, and they’re always worried they’re going to fall out of favor with the fans. Yes, the manager, and hopefully someone in the act, is paying attention to ticket counts, you want to catch the dip in the bud, try to turn it around. As for Twisted Sister… They had mega success and blew up the band.

French blames it on the single, a cover of “Leader of the Pack.” But it’s more than that, the perception of the band had morphed, from heavy metal to cartoon, and their hard core audience became wary of them, they moved on, leaving Twisted Sister bankrupt, truly.

Also there were personality conflicts. It was an equal partnership but the focus was on Dee Snider, who eventually failed as a solo act anyway. You can count the number of front people who’ve left their band and gone on to greater success on one hand. Phil Collins is the exception, not the rule, and he continued to keep his day job, in Genesis.

So everybody knows the band, but Jay Jay is broke. He ends up selling stereo equipment while he regroups. He owns the band’s name, he shares the revenue with members equally, but he’s the one with the head for business, and he cares more than all the outsiders they employed before, Jay Jay also became the manager.

So his love life… God, just surviving that would be tough. The two-timing women. The wife who leaves him when Twisted implodes. You may want to be rich and famous, but significant others may be drawn to you because of those qualities, as opposed to your personality, and if those edifices crumble, they oftentimes leave.

So there you have it, classic music business story.

Well, not completely. TWISTED SISTER WAS COMPLETELY SOBER! Drugs and alcohol may be cool, but they’re a huge impediment to success. You want to be clear-headed. Furthermore, everybody lies to look cool. They talk about their hard time in high school, but they graduated, but like I said, Jay Jay truly did not. And then you have the wannabes imitating the legend, the perception, not the reality, and then they exhibit bad behavior and O.D. and… It’s called music BUSINESS, focus on BUSINESS, it’s about the money, don’t ever forget that.

And everybody needs some.

So now Jay Jay has reinvented himself as a motivational speaker. I kid you not. Every convention needs one, even though they make no difference to the assembled multitude, because you’re not them. Their rules might have worked for them, but you have to find your own rules. Actually, Jay Jay eventually says this. But towards the end of chapters for every letter of TWISTED.

Are you laughing?

Jay Jay is not. He’s serious. This is no laughing matter. This is about survival, this is about money, there is no safety net.

So most of what he says is obvious, except for one chapter, the second “T,” trust. Do what you say you’re going to. Your credibility is key. Deliver on promises. Contracts are irrelevant, the lighting and sound companies that provided gear for Twisted Sister in the beginning did it on a handshake, they wanted the band to survive, you’ve got to support the up and comers, just as long as the band came through, paid every week.

You’d be stunned how many people can’t do the basics. Show up on time straight and do what they’re supposed to do. I know, I know, it sounds basic, but there’s a crisis in America, maybe in the rest of the world too, I don’t know, but here… Then again, you deliver at your job and don’t make more money and don’t get promoted and there’s no trust between you and your employer anymore. There’s a divide in America, and it’s not only between Democrats and Republicans, it’s also between the haves and the have-nots, the rich and the poor. The rich repeat the myth that they’re geniuses, not lucky (and if they’re such geniuses, how come they can’t repeat the success, almost none can), and that their wealth will trickle down to the little people. Yeah, right. That’s statistically been proven wrong, but few are listening. The dream of striking it rich and paying low taxes is the only one the hoi polloi have got.

So, used to be being a rock star meant you were rich and famous. Well, Twisted Sister never got rich, but they were certainly famous. But today there are easier ways to be rich and famous than becoming a musician. But a musician, or people who call themselves that, need no training, no education, there is no barrier to entry, now, more than ever, whereas most professions have high hurdles.

But a guy like Jay Jay will always find his way.

Will you?

Probably not. Because you don’t need it that bad, you didn’t grow up in poverty. Those with the least have the biggest desire. And desire is just as important as talent. You’ve got to keep on chooglin’, and most people give up. Although Jay Jay says when your dreams far outstrip your pocketbook, when you can’t make ends meet, change your dream. Which is good advice. I hear from too many starving musicians who tell me they’ve put in their 10,000 hours, the system is against them, they’re gonna make it. Hmm…no. The world has spoken, it doesn’t need you. Maybe if you had a hustling manager, a better agent…but it’s incumbent on you to build the relationships, being able to play is just one element. And players are a dime a dozen, what makes you special? Twisted Sister was special.

So really, this book needed to come out in the eighties. Back then Twisted Sister was still in the public consciousness, buyers would have been plentiful, books by working musicians were relatively rare. But now? Every person who had success once has or is writing a book. But the public cannot digest all of them, almost all of them fail.

And almost all of them are done the same way. The act dictates and then a third party transcribes and oftentimes the end result is barely readable. The Frampton autobiography? Worst written major book I’ve ever read, it’s atrocious. Books have to flow. And readers know when you repeat yourself… I mean does anybody proofread these tomes? Jay Jay’s is better than most, but there are times he repeats what he already said, like telling the story of his brother being a teacher. There’s so little money involved that the worker bees do a shoddy job of cutting and pasting and…if you really care, you could do a better job, right?

But Jay Jay’s is better than most. It’s highly readable. You’ll get hooked. It does bog down a bit somewhere in the middle, where it’s business sans anecdote, but the story and anecdotes are great. Yes, Jay Jay is busy taking credit, for things like the first heavy metal Christmas album, and licensing heavy metal songs, but really, who cares? This is just stuff you say to make yourself feel good. Jay Jay does it less than most, but it’s still in there.

But Jay Jay is not warm and fuzzy. He’s not laid back. His book is unlike those of the classic rockers. It’s not a tale, it’s in-your-face. Hard core. No B.S.

Does Jay Jay really do two motivational speeches a month?

Who knows? That’s the main purpose of this book, to get more speaking gigs. And it’s probably serves that purpose pretty well.

But for me… It was that indelible track “I Wanna Rock.” Sure, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” is more famous, but “I Wanna Rock” is an anthem. Pure. Gut-busting. That’s rock and roll. That’s what drove the business. That’s what had us buying the records and the tickets. Jay Jay was there, on both sides of the equation, as a fan and a performer.

And if you were there too, you’ll identify.

But those times are dead and gone. Spending 300k on your new video? No way. Then again, rock is now a fringe genre. At this point the players in that world have lowered expectations. But for a while there, you could play any kind of music and make it to the top, be world famous. And that’s what Twisted Sister was, world famous, you cannot take it away from them, and achieving that? Nearly impossible!

Blame the movie industry. If you stop making adult films adults fall out of the habit of attending them.

Yes, Hollywood is now for cartoon superheroes. Comedies are too risky, these conglomerates want a guaranteed return. They’re risk averse. Never in the history of the film business has it been less about art.

As for risk-taking, that’s all on the flat screen. Which has increased in quality to the point where it’s a better experience for most people. You’re alone, without the riff-raff talking on their phones, there is no garbage at your feet, the image is pristine on the screen AND THE MOVIE STARTS WHEN YOU WANT IT TO! Never mind being able to pause at will.

We live in an on demand economy. Everything is delivered when you want it. People are acquiring fewer possessions. Kids don’t have driver’s licenses and their parents are happy that their immature bodies are being ferried by Uber. The world changes, Hollywood has not.

Yes, in hindsight those studios that delivered their pix to streaming services day and date are the futurists here, the winners. Forget all the bitching from agencies and talent. First and foremost, scripted entertainment is an ever-decreasing percentage of major talent agencies’ revenue and profitability. They saw the handwriting on the wall, they diversified, but when it comes to movie distribution everything remains the same? Meanwhile, Netflix lays beaucoup bucks at the feet of talent, with little interference, that’s the future, and if you want an ongoing percentage negotiate with them, not the moribund movie studios. It’d be like the music business insisting everybody go back to CDs. The economics changed, because of technology and the public’s desires. The way out was to embrace the future, i.e. Spotify, with its ultimate benefit of endless payment for streamed tracks, the catalog is more valuable than ever before!

So Spielberg is an unknown quantity amongst Generation Z, and amongst a lot of Millennials too. “Jaws” was 46 years ago. “E.T.” 39. And “Jurassic Park” is now a franchise that is not associated with him. Those are Spielberg’s greatest hits, and they’re in the past, but to the aged titans in the film industry he’s a god. That’d be like saying young people love Bad Company and Boston. Sure, there’s an audience, OF AGED PEOPLE!

But Bad Company and Boston weren’t remakes. Imagine a cover album of their tunes today, dead in the water. We see this with tribute albums, they almost universally fail. Doesn’t matter how good they are, people want the original.

So… If you want to promote a film today you don’t do it via reviews. The positive reviews for “West Side Story” were an insider circle jerk. An hermetically sealed system that didn’t reach anybody under the age of forty, and didn’t reach many above that age either.

The promotion should have started on TikTok, forget the critics. The active audience is on TikTok, and TikTok is about dancing, just like “West Side Story”! Youngsters are active, oldsters are passive. To get an oldster off the couch is nearly impossible. An oldster will question the ticket price when a youngster doesn’t think twice, if they want it they do it. So to succeed, “West Side Story” needed to appeal to the younger generation, and on its surface it did not.

All we saw were stories about Rita Moreno. But the last time she’s been in the public eye was “Oz,” about twenty years ago. However talented she might be, kids don’t know her and don’t care. But they could have been sold.

And don’t tell me there’s no market for movie musicals. What about “High School Musical”? If you build it they probably won’t come, if you market it to them there’s a good chance they will.

If you’re marketing to adults you’ve got to make it easy. You’ve got to make it a value proposition. They move slowly and wait for word of mouth. And by time word of mouth gains traction for a movie, the film has left the theatre. The movie business no longer moves at the speed of adults, it’s much faster. Boomers remember when films played for six months. Started in theatres in New York and L.A. and then platformed out across the country over weeks. Today they open in thousands of theatres, make most of their money up front and then disappear, to the flat screen. And that’s so fast that unless you’re truly passionate, you can wait for the appearance on the flat screen. And you don’t want to pay an on demand fee, it must be baked into a service you’re already paying for.

You can rail against the rules, the law, the future, but no one has ever won proceeding on that basis. You can only win by embracing not only the present, but getting ahead of the public. Putting features on streaming services got people in the habit of seeing their films there. To build the service you needed more films. I signed up to see “Hamilton,” with my free account from Verizon for Disney+, but when that was over I was done, there was no further product appealing to me. Disney is a youth company. The era when Michael Eisner took over and they created Touchstone and made “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” is long gone.

Steven Spielberg doing an updated, improved version of “West Side Story”… I ask you, WHO IS WAITING FOR THAT? Spielberg is about action, not gravitas. He’s got no history with music, he’s not Bob Fosse. And despite “Schindler’s List” he’s got little reputation for highbrow. He’s not in the wheelhouse of the aged cognoscenti who go to foreign films in theatres to feel better about themselves, to brag, wearing their attendance as a badge of honor. As a matter of fact, the revered makers of adult films are almost all gone. The hero directors of today…Michael Bay? Christopher Nolan?

“Licorice Pizza” would be culture shifting if it were on HBO, with its imprimatur and hype. Opening in a couple of theatres over the holiday, it’s a minor experience, only elite insiders care. Hell, Netflix did a much better job of hyping “Power of the Dog,” a much more difficult viewing experience, and more people will end up watching it than would have ever seen it on the big screen, and when awards season hits, and it starts just about now, “Power of the Dog” is just a click away, you can make an instant decision, get instant satisfaction, and if you don’t like it, you can immediately turn it off and not feel ripped off.

It’s not like boomers are not invested in higher brow, non-superhero entertainment. Look at “Succession”! This stuff used to be films. Albeit much shorter. “Succession” is better at an extended length.

As for all this hogwash about the theatre experience… It sucks. As for the big screen, it’s like the recording industry talking about the quality of CDs. And now you can stream at CD quality, EVEN BETTER! But people chose convenience over quality. Isn’t this Clayton Christensen 101? The newbie starts cheap and inferior but good enough, gains traction, gets better and kills the old institution.

As for budgets… Talk to record labels about recording budgets. They’re a fraction of what they what once were. Sure, it’s great to be able to spend half a million dollars in an A-level studio creating your opus, but the economics changed and that paradigm has evaporated. As for the youngsters dominating the charts, they have no experience with that era, AND THEY DON’T CARE! They make records in their bedrooms and they top the charts. Everybody’s happy except those who can’t get over the fact their cheese has been moved.

The failure of “West Side Story” should not come as a surprise to the film world. They created the atmosphere where it was doomed. You stop servicing an audience and you expect them to show up on demand, based on brand name? Brand name actors mean less at the box office than ever before. And when it comes to directors, the only one who gains adult notice is Quentin Tarantino, because he always twists the format, delivers something different, unique. As for Scorsese, another insider lauded by the oldsters, he’s a TV director now. And he’d better make better films if he wants youngsters to pay attention, “The Irishman” was a slog, assuming you could get through it.

Yes, today it’s less about image than story, which is what the flat screen has delivered. And isn’t the essence story? Story has taken a back seat too long in Hollywood, but on TV it’s up front and center, where it always must be to ensure a warm reception by the public.

Things changed. It was happening before the pandemic, Covid just accelerated it, put a stake in the heart of the old game. Accept it.

Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3GHVIGi

“Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph

Preserve your memories, they’re all that’s left you

“Bookends Theme”

We all live in the past.

The past few days I’ve been reading this book “Powder Days,” by Heather Hansman. After graduating from Colby College she went west to Colorado and became a ski bum. But after a few years she let go, now, years later, she’s revisiting all her old haunts and old people, trying to find out if the ski bum life still exists, and how those who were caught up in it have survived.

It was different decades ago. You could make it on minimum wage. And almost nobody was going anywhere fast. You were trying to find yourself, do what felt right. It was hard for our parents to understand, having grown up in an age where you did what you had to, what you were told, to get ahead in the world. But the boomers were the first generation raised in the era of leisure time, when you could think about what you wanted to and do it, when who you were was more important than how much money you had.

It’s not that different in the music business. Sure, as the sixties closed it was obvious money was being made in the music business, ergo the consolidation of Warner, Elektra and Atlantic into the Warner Music Group. As a matter of fact, Ahmet Ertegun could never get over the sale, Atlantic was first, he wanted the financial security, but those who sold thereafter got a much better multiple, he believed he’d been ripped off. So when you told your parents you wanted to work in the music business, they were not encouraging. Furthermore, you couldn’t start at the top, you couldn’t even start in the middle. Your college degree meant nothing. And there was no financial security, no obvious career. To this day it’s hard to stay in the music business, then again a whole generation is not eager to get involved. Used to be if you worked at a record label you were a god, inside the machine, privy to Oz. Now, it’s just a job.

And it was all because of the music. There’s music today, but it doesn’t infect people the same way. It doesn’t mean the same thing. Back then it was everything, and we counted on our artists to push the envelope each and every time, and they tried to. And we basked in the results.

So on these cold winter nights, well, as cold as it gets in Southern California, it’s the quieter music that resonates, that keeps me warm. Not the bombastic in your face productions, but the ones that touch my soul, like Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bookends.”

Am I the only person who just doesn’t love “Bridge Over Troubled Water”? I mean it’s okay, but it’s just another ballad featuring Art Garfunkel’s high voice. Oh, it’s more than that, but I’d much rather listen to “The Boxer,” on the flip side of that album, which is held up as the duo’s paragon of excellence when the truth is that’s “Bookends,” which came before.

“Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme” was the one that showed us these two were different. That they weren’t just recording ditties, but reaching for something more. “Scarborough Fair” is far superior to “Bridge Over Troubled Water” in my book. There’s the upbeat “Cloudy” and the reflective “Homeward Bound,” but the best track on the album is “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her,” the most beautiful song I know. Go deep beneath the surface and this is every man’s dream. The track hovers above the earth, it is not of this world, it’s free of the bringdowns, it’s life.

And of course there was “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night,” which captures the zeitgeist better than any of today’s bombastic tracks. Today you can do or say anything, but the end result is usually nothing is said. Whereas “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night” cut right to the heart of society, and everybody was aware of it, even though it was not a hit single and didn’t get radio play, this is what happens when you tell your truth holding no punches. Then again, there were many fewer records then.

And then came “Bookends.” It’s the album with “Mrs. Robinson,” but at this point that was seen as a movie song, for “The Graduate,” which had come out the year before. And both the song and film are great, but “Bookends” as a whole is even better.

At the time, it was the second side I cottoned to, that i played most. I loved the opening track, “Fakin’ It.” “Punky’s Dilemma”…I could never forget the reference to the Kellogg corn flake but the truth is I didn’t love it back in ’68, although it grew on me. And then there was the concluding trifecta, “Mrs. Robinson,” “A Hazy Shade of Winter” and “At the Zoo”…WHEW!

As for the first side, at first I only cherry-picked “America,” which is the best track on the album, which encapsulates a spirit and experience that no longer exists. The dream is no longer to go cross-country, to see America, and now you’re never disconnected, you can reach out and touch Mommy & Daddy with your cell phone. Back then once you walked out the front door you were in the ether, disconnected, alone, long distance phone calls were expensive, and you made them once a week, if that.

But I came to love “Save the Life of My Child,” with its aside “He’s all right,” the chaos and changes, you felt you were on the street before “America” took you on a journey.

But then… “Overs” was a downer after “America.”

But after that, you had “Voices of Old People,” which you only needed to hear a few times and then couldn’t tolerate. This was back in the experimental music era, John Cage and so much more. “Revolution 9.” That’s how the track was viewed.

And the album closed with “Old Friends” and a reprise of the theme song, albeit with lyrics this time.

“Old Friends”… It was slow, sandwiched between that which didn’t need to be heard. But there’s that one line that every boomer knows, which I’ve been saying a lot to friends recently, as that dreaded birthday arrives for them, “How terribly strange to be 70.”

64 is younger. And the Beatles song was a lark, from the perspective of youth. You really didn’t feel the advanced age. But in “Old Friends”…

These were the forgotten people, on park benches, we thought we’d never get there, but we are there now.

When you get to around 70, it’s about lifestyle. Good times. Friends. Possessions mean less, as does the culture. You pay attention to the movies, watch TV, but there’s nothing you really need to hear or see, and you can always fall back on the classics. And the shenanigans… You realize nothing ever changes, it seems people can’t get along, and there are always a few money and power hungry people who cock it all up for everybody else. But at least you’ll be gone soon. You think about the long term future, but when there’s gridlock you disconnect, I mean you’re literally not going to be here.

So now “Old Friends” resonates completely. How prescient Paul Simon was. But what resonates with me most is the “Bookends Theme,” which closes out the side.

“Time it was, and what a time it was, it was

A time of innocence, a time of confidences”

It most certainly was, and we didn’t realize how good we had it, that these were our formative years. I’m not talking about high school, but college and your twenties. You questioned, you bonded, you weighed the options, experimented and found your path, whether by choice or default. In your thirties you get serious, before that you still believe everything is up for grabs.

Of course it’s different now. People in their twenties have careers, own houses, are saving for retirement. We thought we’d die before we retired, we could not see that far out, absolutely not. But now we’re looking back.

I got out. The second year in Utah I realized if I didn’t leave then, I never would. And it was hard, but I escaped. You say you can ski on the weekends, take vacations, but that’s not the same thing. You’ve got to hit the hill every day, like a job, the experience counts, you fine tune your skills, after a month you’re at the top of your game, having peak experiences, which trump everything else in your life, but is it a life?

Most of the people still doing this in “Powder Days” have sacrificed everything to ski, relationships, children, ownership of houses… They’re all in, and it’s too late to turn around. But they continued to reach for the stars in this one vertical, whereas most people end up compromising, endlessly.

So what we end up with is our memories. It’s personal. We share a bunch with friends, others with family, it’s amazing you spent all those years growing up in that house with your siblings, it was so long ago.

And we forget the bad experiences. And believe me, there were plenty. You don’t truly become comfortable in your skin until your fifties or sixties. And it’s amazing you made it through, especially if you did it your way, so many of those ski bums end up committing suicide, to this day, happened when I was there.

But on one level I’m still there. In the mountains. With room to move. Alone with nature. Hitting peaks you can’t reach any other way. Feeling alive.

And you start to realize it could end in a minute. So many are dying, but you become old and frail, and even if you’re not cautious there are certain things you can no longer do, or not as well, and you eventually accept this, but not easily.

And throughout it all is these songs. Like I said, it’s different for baby boomers. We bought guitars, we sang in a circle. If you weren’t there you cannot understand how much the music meant. It was an exciting, transitional period. Kinda like the advent of the internet, but it was based on the arts, music. What you said was more important than what you did. And then you reach a point where no one is interested in what you have to say, you end up not even speaking, it’s not worth it, you just keep it all in your head.

And you wake up and you realize you’re approaching the bookend. You had birth, you had twenty years of growing up. Now it’s twenty years of slowing down. But instead of making friends, they fade away. Instead of your world getting bigger, it gets smaller. And no matter what you do, you cannot stem the tide, it’s inevitable.

So to a great degree we live in the past. There’s so much of it. Memories are triggered randomly, you could be taking a shower, reading a book or driving your car, a synapse fires and there you are, in that old situation, with those old people, who you never even talk to or see anymore, but once upon a time they were friends.

It’s a secret, we all know it but no one talks about it, for fear of being labeled over the hill, discarded, ignored. But the truth is we’re all in it together. It’s a dilemma. Maybe not Punky’s, and society may resemble a zoo more than ever, but Joe DiMaggio sold Mr. Coffee. And Paul Simon wore a turkey suit on Saturday late night TV. And Chevy Chase was once the biggest name in comedy, the irreverent voice of a generation.

On one hand it’s hazy, on the other it’s perfectly clear. Doesn’t matter if we faked it or not, now it’s completely real, this is us, we have to accept it, whether we like it or not. But thank god we’ve got the music to carry us through, it’s our theme.