Patrick Spence is the CEO of Sonos. We discuss the creation of products, the marketing thereof, the company’s place in the landscape as well as Patrick’s history at BlackBerry!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/patrick-spence/id1316200737?i=1000530385254

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

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast?returnFromLogin=1&

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3i8CRuw

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3l6OzYp

Streaming is the best thing that ever happened to David Crosby because with the magic of a click, the movement of a finger, you can hear his exquisite new track “I Won’t Stay for Long.”

This guy has a terrible reputation. As someone who won’t play by the rules. You know the rules, don’t you? You hold your tongue, are humble and self-deprecating because the key to life is getting along and using the ensuing relationships to your advantage.

But not David Crosby. He can’t hold his tongue. After all these years he’s incorrigible, he told me he can’t help himself. Then again, when you’re almost eighty years old are you really interested in changing?

That’s right, August 14th. And Crosby looks it. Which is refreshing. He’s got those two shocks of white hair stumbling out of the sides of his head, he’s had no plastic surgery, up close and personal he’s got liver spots, but beneath the skin he’s an authentic artist.

Who is difficult.

Then again, the greatest artists always are. They’ve got to do it their way, they need to get their art down unfiltered, and if you create people are always telling you how to do it, but the artist knows best. Oh, you can shave off the rough edges for commercial success, but that’s not Crosby’s goal in recording, he hears songs in his head and he’s got to get them down.

And are you paying attention?

Probably not. The story is all about his wars with Neil Young and Graham Nash. He’s in a bind re Neil, having dissed his now wife Daryl Hannah. This is a friend dilemma. Do you tell them about your experience or squelch your thoughts? And the truth is love is always the strongest bond. Think of all the acts that break up based on love relationships, and then there are divorces and the act is back together (can you say Guns N’ Roses?)

Not that I want to apologize for Crosby. He’s every bit as difficult as the legend. If he doesn’t want to talk about something he locks eyes and intimidates you. You can argue or change the subject to what he wants to talk about. Which is his just released new album “For Free.”

WHO CARES!

We’ve heard this mantra again and again, my latest work is my best, I’m at my peak, and then you listen to the music, scratch your head and stop listening. Hell, you can count on two hands the great work done by classic rock artists in the twenty first century. But David Crosby’s “For Free” is one of them. It’s not perfect throughout, some tracks resonate more than others, but “I Won’t Stay for Long” is just as good as he says it is.

The music Crosby is making is out of time, or perfectly in time, depending upon your perspective. It’s only about the music, Crosby ain’t a brand, no corporation wants to tie up with this guy and Crosby probably wouldn’t take the money anyway. Then again, you get old enough and you’re no longer worried about credibility, you come to realize you’re not going to be here forever, you’re going to be forgotten so…

So if you throw off all the trappings, all the expectations, maybe you have a chance of achieving something great, grasping the brass rail once again.

Then again, Crosby still has his voice, he sounds as good as ever, whereas seemingly everybody else’s voice has suffered the ravages of age, there’s been attrition.

And Crosby has one of the sweetest voices ever, in an era that doesn’t even consider melody, where subtlety is sacrificed, it’s all about being in your face grabbing for attention, but that’s not what Crosby is doing on “I Won’t Stay for Long,” on the entire new album “For Free.” You should be able to drop the needle and be drawn in, the music should be enough to not only gain your attention but keep it, no dancing, no diversion should be necessary, the track should stand on its lonesome, and if it’s great you don’t want to lose the mood it’s created, you want to hear it again and again.

This is not what we expected. As a matter of fact, we expect nothing from our classic rock faves other than to get on stage and play the hits of yore. They’re living jukeboxes, some acts don’t even have any original members, it’s about the songs, but one thing is for sure “For Free” is about David Crosby.

And this ain’t Crosby, Stills & Nash, never mind Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young or Crosby & Nash, it’s just David Crosby, previously seen as the weakest link he’s now triumphing. It’s all him.

So he told me he’s too old to go back on the road, it’s just too difficult. Who knows if this will be the case once covid fully fades. Oh yes, he’s been vaccinated, because one thing is for sure, David Crosby is smart and he’s not afraid of owning his position, vocalizing it. There are those sixties values, he’s not afraid of losing fans, he’s not running a business, he’s creating art!

You can tell from the opening track, “River Rise,” with its optimism, never mind the Michael McDonald vocals.

And “Rodriguez for a Night” is the new Steely Dan track you’ve been waiting to hear that has not been forthcoming, yes, the lyrics were written by Donald Fagen, but it’s not only the words but the groove, the instrumentation, “Rodriguez for a Night” hearkens back to that sound that stood alone, and still does.

But really it’s all about the closing cut, “I Won’t Stay for Long.”

“I’m standing on the porch

Like it’s the edge of a cliff”

Crosby is up front and center. He’s at the school assembly, doing a solo. Captivating the audience, enthralling them, especially when his voice goes up, when he hits the higher notes with emphasis.

“I’ve got a place of my own

A little slice”

It’s all personal. We’re always looking for connection, we only need one person, but we live inside our brains and oftentimes it’s only music that has a chance of resonating, can make us feel less alone, because it’s human, it breathes, it reflects life.

“I just need to be close today

I need to be with you today”

That’s what our music represented. Far different from what is being sold today. The artists stood apart, from the establishment and corporations, they were middle class denizens looking at the world for themselves and dropping their wisdom upon the rest of us. The music was our school and compass. We followed it, we needed to get closer, that’s why all those people went to Woodstock, why all those people needed to go to shows, to get closer!

And if you can remember those days, and fewer and fewer of us can, you’re on the edge of the abyss. So much of what you put faith in is unsatisfying, nearly worthless, possessions, he with the most toys does not win. Only a record can get us through, if only there were a new record.

“I don’t know if I’m dying or about to be born”

You get old enough and no one cares what you think, even though you’ve gathered so much wisdom. You want to feel so alive, but so many of your contemporaries have surrendered, they’re nearly dead, in spirit if not body.

So I know you’ve given up on new music. And if you look at the anemic physical album sales you know that it’s not only oldsters who have given up. Do you really want to lay down ten bucks plus for a CD with nowhere to play it, never mind not wanting to ultimately listen to it, it being so inferior to what came before, what you remember.

Which is why streaming is such a bonus. Crosby won’t make any real dough on YouTube or Spotify, but he can be heard, and that’s what an artist really wants, for people to experience their art, which is why if you’re an artist beware of paywalls.

So now it costs you nothing to listen to David Crosby’s “I Won’t Stay for Long,” you’ve only got to click.

And you should.

And you will tell everybody you know about it, because it’s more than refreshing, it’s manna from heaven.

Check it out.

From: Tom Rush

Subject: Re: Blue

Bob,

I had the honor of being the first to record Joni’s songs — before she did — on my Circle Game album. (I tried to get Jac Holzman at Elektra to sign her up, he said she sounded too much like Judy Collins.) My recollection is that, while she very much wanted to be a STAR, she was not calculating to write hit songs. Because she was (and is) a true artist she wrote her truth, take it or leave it. 

The fact that the music business sausage factory couldn’t figure out how to sell her work is more an indictment of the industry than an indication of any failing on Joni’s part. The fact that her Blue album is being celebrated 50 years later it a testament to her importance. As with Dylan, she’s been hugely influential on the music scene in general, and on generations of new artists, without ever selling the tonnage required to have a wall full of platinum albums at home. (I’m told, by the way, that if you take one of those albums out of its frame and play it on a turntable — it usually turns out to be somebody else’s album. Mind you, I’ve never had any of my own to test the theory.) (And I’m assuming they went through a platinum CD phase, and then probably a platinum SD Card, but what do they do now? Platinum Downloads, if they ever existed, would be passé. How do you hang a Platinum Digital Stream on your bathroom wall? What has the world come to?!?)

Tom Rush

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From: Steve Lukather

Subject: Re: Billboard 200 Album Chart-This Week In July 1975

Yes I remember. I Remember real music played and written by real people! Not 14 writers .. one just to plug in the drum machine.

‘I play drum machine’. People SAY that!    hahahahahaha

It was the year I graduated high school. Jeff Porcaro was IN Steely Dan and our High School band was called ‘Still life’ with Me, Michael Landau, John Pierce, Carlos Vega , Steve Porcaro our leader back then.

David Paich ( the musical genius he is)  as well as Jeff Porcaro used to come to our high school gigs and sit in. We were a Steely Dan tribute band before their ever was ‘ tribute ‘ bands. A magical time.

We were all deep into our musical studies and playing any gig we could and working and … well and..

Boz Scaggs loved us ( we loved him and still do) He gave us all our shot and then… we put out our 1st record out and ‘the hipsters’ have pissed on us for 45 years.

Such is life…

I still won. I am still here and I am grateful.

Sorry our musical era WAS better!

Sue me.. like everyone else does.

Luke

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From: Robert Kacerow

Subject: RE: God Gave Rock And Roll To You

Bob, 

As a long-time fan of the Al Kooper, the Zombies, and Argent since the early days of my youth, I was pleased and gratified with your commentary on Russ Ballard, and his many contributions to Rock & Roll music over the years. Russ, like so many others in the Music business are often overlooked by the mainstream media and fans.

I’ve followed Russ’s career and music contributions very early-on; from his formative days in the Roulettes backing Adam Faith, then morphing into Unit 4+2, and breaking into the US market with “Concrete & Clay”, and then ultimately finding further success with the evolution of Argent subsequent to the demise of the Zombies. Bob, you and I are of the same age, and I became a concert addict way back in grade school. As I got older and became financially successful; every year for the last 21 years I make an annual pilgrimage to the UK for two weeks, to attend as many R & R concerts as possible in that short amount of time. I’ll see many British 60’s acts (Hollies, Searchers, Manfreds, Fortunes, etc.) who either don’t, or can’t, tour the US anymore for an array of issues, be it financial, Visas, or lack of fan interest and support.

Back in 2016 at a Manfreds concert in London, I bumped into Russ in the lobby during intermission; he was having a beer and chatting with friends. I approached Russ and introduced myself as a long-time US fan, and asked if he would be receptive to letting me get a picture with him. He was quite surprised and graciously agreed. As we were standing there, I recounted to him all of his music career and contributions over the years as I knew it. He was quite flabbergasted to be hearing this from a US fan in London all these years later. He kept asking and saying to me “Who Are You?”, “Is this some kind of a set-up you’re pulling?”. I laughed and laughed and said “No, I’m just one of your loyal fans and wanted to thank you for all that you’ve given to me over the years.” He was quite the gentleman and professional as my wife snapped-away on her camera, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy that moment of unanticipated fan attention.

He still tours regularly in Europe and was about to commence a tour in support of a new CD release when Covid hit in March of last year. He’s chomping at the bit to get back out there later this year. When I saw your commentary on Russ I took the liberty to copy and pass your comments over to him. I gave him your contact details, but don’t know if he replied directly to you or not. I’ve pasted below his response that he sent back to me. Thank you Bob for your kind words from this long-time Russ Ballard fan.

Regards,

Bob Kacerow

“Thanks for this, Bob,   Great piece of writing. It’s good to know there’s people listening. You are right, many want to be rich and famous but don’t want to put the work in. I do appreciate your words, cheers. I still go in to my studio everyday and enjoy writing and recording, same as ever. Psychiatrists say the key to well being is to be completely engaged in to something, and with music we are…..it is a passion, and, I believe most people never find one – they have to pay the bills and so they settle for a job that pays. In the studio 5/6 hours flys by and I come in to the house feeling blissful. Somehow we have to find a way for future generations to find then follow a passion. It could be a different world, – (You don’t want to hit someone when you’re feeling good.)    I wish you and yours the very best and if you’re ever in East Herts. I’ll treat you to a curry…Russ    (PS – 68 is young my friend).

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From: Kevin Carroll

Subject: Robert Palmer

Hey Bob, 

Hope this finds you well. Just got your note on the chart. I’ve been finding myself in a Robert Palmer place lately. I had a few connections with him. When I started in radio, Vinegar Joe was taking a shot in the US and they were on a promo tour in 1973.  They came for a visit and he was extremely engaging. He wanted to learn more than hype. I added the record. It stiffed. 

Years later, I went to work for WB and   we had distribution of Island. We were humping “Bad Case Of Loving You”. I dressed up in a doctors outfit to deliver a major station, got a photo in the trades and the add, and a call from Robert thanking me. 

Fast forward to the release of his Clues. It was brilliant. Inspired by Gary Numan, “Johnny And Mary” and “Looking For Clues” still stand up today. Robert came with me to do a promo run. Mind you, this was unusual then, but his passion for his new sound drove him to take a personal approach. It worked.

He was undoubtedly one of the most charming artists I ever had the pleasure to work with. I think his music and artistry are largely overlooked. He, like Lowell George sometimes tend to be forgotten for their moment . And if you haven’t heard Robert do “Spanish Moon”…

Dig in on Robert…I forgot how good it was. But will never forgot what a class act he was.

Best, Kevin

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From: alexander Mair

Subject: TouTube monetization

Mr. Beato made one big factual error in your interview…you need 4000 hours in twelve months, not one month, to monetize the video. You also need 1000+ subscribers.

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Subject: Re: Harry Wayne Casey-This Week’s Podcast

Bob:

Loved the podcast with Harry Casey. I found it very interesting when he mentioned that he still listens to everything out there pop, country, r&b, ect. Back in 1977/78 I was working as an order picker and 12″ buyer at Tone. KC and Rick used to come down to the warehouse at least once a week and pick up a copy of every new release and I mean everything. Doobie Brothers, Santana, Dolly Parton, whatever. Those guys listened to everything. Glad to hear he’s still at it.

Jay Rosenberg

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From: Shammy Dee

Subject: Re: It’s Not A Hit

I’ve been thinking about this for a while.

I argue that Cardi B and Billie Eilish are the last superstars we’ll see until whatever is the next turn in this business.

As a DJ, I feel the streaming decentralization of hits and artists make my work a bit harder. It’s hard to know what the crowd likes because the crowd is way more into their own tastes. Like you said, who listens to radio anymore? The older crowds don’t dance to current hits and younger crowds can be fickle with their tastes. I can play a smash hit one night to a raving crowd and play it again the following night and the crowd will empty out the dancefloor.

The challenge has been making it harder to call what tracks will work, but that’s part of what makes a DJ great.

Maybe I’ll be playing a “Drivers License” remix by Olivia soon…Who knows?!

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out for artists in future years.

-Shammy

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From: William Perkins

Subject: Re: Can’t You See At Love Rocks

RE: Toy Caldwell/MTB 

Toy Caldwell apparently once said he would always treasure the first five words Duane Allman ever said to him: “Your strings are on wrong!”. Toy’s original band was called “Toy Factory”. I think “Marshall Tucker” may have been a blind piano tuner from South Carolina they knew..? Great guys, great band, and great producer, Paul Hornsby, who was in Hour Glass band with Duane, Gregg, and Producer Johnny Sandlin. Capricorn was the hottest indy label in the world for a while there in the 1970’s. I remember receiving a $997,000.00 royalty check one Friday afternoon for the Allman’s and racing it to their bank to pick up interest on it for them for the weekend! I still treasure my years around all of those guys. A true musical and spiritual time and family!  

Willie Perkins

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Subject: Re: Can’t You See At Love Rocks

Bob,

You are correct. There isn’t a guitar to be had in America right now because of unprecedented demand and we are seeing record enrollment at School of Rock. An outgrowth of the pandemic seems to be a renaissance in self expression not fully satisfied by beat-making, EDM and rap lyrics. There also is a frenzy to make music together, a feeling only achievable in an ensemble.

Long live Rock and Roll!

Rob Price

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From: Chip Lovitt

Subject: Re: Can’t You See At Love Rocks

Great column, once again. And it drove me to one of my favorite Capricorn Records’ tunes, from Alex Taylor, brother of James, who recorded an LP, which I still have, called Alex Taylor with Friends and Neighbors. This cut, “Southbound,” knocked me out enough back then to buy the LP….but dig the lineup.

Scott Boyer and Tommy Talton of Cowboy on guitars, Johnny Sandlin on bass, and co-written by Greg Allman…how’s this for a groove? You gotta love Phil Walden and what Capricorn Records gave to the musical world! I love how it starts off as an acoustic, Taylorish tune, then the band kicks in. Keep up the good work!

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From: Martin Media

Subject: Re: More B.J. Thomas

BJ Thomas was recovering from his second near-death overdose when his wife converted him to Christianity in the mid 1970s, leading to his decision to sign a gospel deal with Word Records. Stan Moser, head of the label, told B.J. he didn’t want a “gospel” record, he wanted a “B.J. Thomas” record for the Christian market. So he hired a young producer, Chris Christian, to craft a “Christian pop” record. At the time, 20,000 units was considered a good-selling gospel record. Christian and B.J. put together “Home Where I Belong” and the dam burst, becoming the first Christian record to sell over 500,000 units (and over a million to this day).

The success of “HWIB” brought Chris Christian a 25-record production deal. I talked to Chris yesterday, after B.J. died, and he told me that without the success of “HWIB,” Chris likely never would have been able to secure the resources to hunt down other talent in the field and find someone like an Amy Grant, whose first album was also produced by Chris. Grant went on to become the biggest concert draw in contemporary Christian history, selling out the Forum in L.A. in 1986 at the height of her game.

The same trajectory, sadly, did not result for B.J. – without whom none of this would have likely been possible. I was just starting out as a fledgling promoter of shows in churches and hired B.J. for a concert in the late 70s. The audiences at that time were not interested in hearing B.J. sing anything but his gospel hits. Some idiots in the audience would boo him when he broke into “Raindrops” or “Hooked On a Feeling,” screaming stuff like “What about Jesus!” After enduring a few years of this crap, B.J. rightfully and predictably stopped performing in gospel settings and spent the last 40 years of his life singing all of his songs for everybody, staying married to the same woman who saw him through his turbulent 70s. The secular audiences were more forgiving, ironically, when he would break out “Home Where I Belong” or “Without a Doubt” in his shows.

This is the song that started it all for BJ in his “second career”:

Brian Martin

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Subject: RE: More Throw It Back

I would like to become an industry titan and I deserve to be one but cannot seem to get any traction by being a bankruptcy lawyer in St. Louis.  I figure the system is rigged against me.  Am I right?  What does that Azoff guy have that I don’t have!?  I think it is because I am a Protestant and no one respects us in the industry?  BOB, I AM MAD AS HELL AND NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!  I plan on getting on Facebook and getting my hundreds of Friends to march on Capitol Records (if they still have a building) and come “armed to the teeth” to fight like hell and take the music industry back from the Jewish lawyers and their black rapper cabal!

I know you are with me on this Bob.  I am an aggrieved, White, arguably straight, conventionally married, midwestern male and the whole world is TRYING TO TAKE MY CHEESE… which I don’t even have yet but desperately feel like I deserve.

Pay attention Bob!  Biden is senile and he is a genius working for the Chinese to tax us into communism!

WAKE UP and follow the money Bob… follow the money!

Maybe someone should do a Go Fund Me page for me?

Think on it Bob…become part of my movement and give me your name, time, eyeballs and money.

I think that’s all I got… now I have to get back to work because I like eat.  I wish people would shut the fuck up.

Thanks.

Michael A. Becker

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From: Donovan Pyle

Subject: Re: Woodstock 99 On HBO

My friends and I started the fire the third night during the chili pepper’s set, but we didn’t destroy anything.

We did it because there was so much trash on the ground at the back of the field that we couldn’t even find a place to sit down and relax during the show.

We literally piled up a bunch of trash and burned it so that we’d have a clean place to sit and listen.

Remember: this was the last night of the festival, and it was extremely hot in upstate New York that weekend…everyone was exhausted.

In fact, we had been at the Phish show about an hour away the weekend before, and the experience was the polar opposite of what we saw  at Woodstock.

The main difference was the Phish really appreciated and took take of their audience by making sure everyone had a good time — no one had to spend all their money on water.

It’s a shame that others by the front of the stage saw our fire and took it as a que to burn down the left speaker stack, forcing the chili peppers to stop their show more than once.

It was a really strange weekend, but I’ll never forget dropping out and watching James Brown open the festival Thursday at noon — he just incredible.

Donovan

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From: R.T. Parker

Subject: Re: Woodstock 99 On HBO

Almost had some sort of PTSD from watching this documentary. 

My best friend and I went.  I had just turned 21. We had been contacted by a Baltimore Sun reporter, on some Woodstock99 message board on AOL (flashback??) we agreed to take her along for the ride. 

We all drove up Wednesday night and arrived in a town that was little prepared for the deluge.  They took all of our food and drink at the gate.  We had some light snacks hidden in our bags. We were young and broke, definitely no money for alcohol. And certainly not for $4 water. The $10 cheeseburger keeps getting brushed under the rug.

They had wiped out huge swaths of forest to make room for tent camping, so we slept on wood chips.  If they had left some trees, the experience may have been different.  It felt more like a refugee camp than a peaceful campground. 

I have a picture taken on a yellow Kodak disposable camera, of my buddy and I laying on the tarmac,  with our faces in the small shadow of a metal Drum trash can, just to escape the sun for one minute. 

We got separated from the reporter on Day 2 and never saw or heard from her again.  No cell Phones. Zero idea of how she got home. 

We left Sunday around 3pm to make the trip back to Maryland.  We were toast. And broke.  I stopped at a rest stop in NJ somewhere and called my dad from a pay phone. He was sooo relieved to hear we had left. Said the place had descended into chaos.  And that they had been watching the news and were worried for days.

Different times. Certainly a pivotal time in my life. Unforgettable is so many ways, good and bad.

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Re: Class Action Park

I visited Action Park in 1995 when I was living in Manhattan with my future wife. She had a house in the Hamptons at the time so she took a bit of persuading to visit.  We went on the first ride we saw which was the crazy water slide with the vertical loop.  The lack of a queue and the fact that they weighed you and got you to remove all your jewelry should have alerted us to how crazy and terrifying the ride was going to be.  Turns out we were there on one of the few occasions the loop ride was actually in service.  Perhaps the worst part of the ride was the run off area at the end which consisted of a plastic sheet in a puddle and was supposed to collect you after the crazy speeds reached in the ride. A horrible experience all round but at least now I get to feel like the people who really were on the boat with the Sex Pistols on the Thames.  The loop is legendary for being the most dangerous slide ever invented and at least I am one of the few who can say they were there!

Andrew Harting

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Re: Class Action Park

Are you kidding! You want to talk clueless.

Those of us who grew up in Orange County, CA had LION COUNTRY SAFARI. That eventually turned into Irvine Meadows then whatever else came after that.. now its a water park. (I think)

Yep.. wild animals, lions, tigers you name it roaming free with cars full of families driving through and taking pictures. Of course there were the usual idiots who would get out of the car to get close to the lion and get attacked. The park had open top Jeeps painted like a zebra with guys with rifles shooting at the animals if they got out of hand.  IT WAS INSANE..

Jesus, they had my high school prom there one year.

Its amazing we survived the 70’s and 80’s at all.

Jean Sievers

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Re: Class Action Park

I had the pleasure of going to Action Park in the mid 90s… To me, it was by far the greatest theme park of all time. The danger was real and boy was it fun!

Clint Weiler

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Re: Class Action Park

There is an excellent oral history of Action Park that has the voice of a large proportion of the people that used to work there, including Gene’s son Andy. It sounds like heaven and hell at the same time, both for the patrons and the staff. I’m not sure if it covers all the same ground, but it was an incredible read - https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/536412/action-park-water-park-oral-history. How it managed to survive so long is astounding to me!

Joel Beeson

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Re: Class Action Park

It was the Greatest Shit Show on Earth! I still have a burn bruise from where there was no water on a part of the water slide and my skin got scraped. It was awesome. My orthodox Jewish friends and I were balls to the wall and we had the best time. We got to see how the non Jews lived and looked. So awesome! Wish you had gotten there. There was nothing like it. Rock on!

Etan G/thejewishrapper

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Re: Class Action Park

I went to Action Park a few times, in my twenties and my thirties.

That cliff? I can still feel how it felt to fall that far (and how careful you had to be to aim for a clear spot). The Rapids? I kid you not, there was one part where it was exactly like you were being flushed down a toilet, the whirlpool was so strong and the drop so steep. The trapeze swing? The first time I went, I didn’t realize the trick to it, or have the upper body strength for it, and I took the kind of face splat that the peanut gallery lived to witness (and jeer), but every time after, I triumphed! The slide that shot you out in the air at least ten feet above the ice-cold pool?!

I could go on and on.

*AND* I was always very aware that many of the kids there were practically marauders. There was an animalistic energy (think restless inner city teens raging with hormones, totally unleashed and completely aware of how much they could get away with) that was obvious, and something I was always careful to very clear of.

Recently I told some young friends I had been there, they were in awe: “*YOU* WENT THERE??” Instant cred.

I’m sixty now, and I would go again_in_a_New_York_minute.

Bill McKinley/DaddyB
Madrid, Spain

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Re: Class Action Park

Bob, growing up in New Jersey my friends and I ventured to Action Park a bunch and everyone got hurt. It was full of thrills but after you got hurt too many times often we would just stand at the pool where the crazy water slide dumped out to watch all the bathing tops fly off the girls. That place wouldn’t last a week without being shut down in today’s litigious times.

Gregg Simon

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Re: Class Action Park

I went to high school from 83-87 in a NJ town just fifteen miles away from Action Park.

It was a given that the park was dangerous. I remember hearing the horrible news that someone had drowned in the wave pool, trapped inside the wave mechanism as I recall. Can you imagine being the person who discovered the deceased?

Everyone at school called it TRACTION PARK. I remember one kid came to school with the skin shredded off of his thigh from the Alpine Slide. We all laughed, because it reaffirmed the obvious. The place was incredibly unsafe.

I did a lot of stupid things as a teenager, but I never went to Action Park.

Greg Renoff

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Re: Class Action Park

I loved going to Action Park as a kid. I grew up in northern New Jersey in a small mountain town called Ringwood which is a watershed for Northern New Jersey. Action Park was about 20 minutes West. New York City was 20 minutes South East.

But let’s get to the point. I’ve been to many water parks and adventure parks and NOTHING compares to the Action Park experience. It was the greatest time possible.

It’s all true what they say about the experience in that movie. I saw that doc too. But it was so much more.

People had orange stains on their arms from losing skin on the Alpine Slide. We have an Alpine Slide here in Park City. It’s cool but not the same. First of all, the track is made out of some kind of poly/fiberglass. The Action Park track was concrete. When you went down the slide you could easily go too fast and fly off. Death and injury loomed and when you are 10 years old, that’s the magic! That’s freedom! That’s fun!

There was a sign that said, “Dip Ahead.” The track would drop down 5 or more feet. If you didn’t slow down you would be air-born and maybe land on the track if you were lucky with a compressed spine from the impossibly hard impact.
I remember the first time I saw that sign. I had just learned to read. I was riding the slide, sharing the cart with my mom, maybe 4 years old. At the end of the slide, I was looking around for some guy who was the “dip” they warned about.

That place birthed in me a love for adventure. There are too many details to share. Too many pictures to paint. It was the best time possible. And it lives in my heart.

Nicole Paradiso

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Re: Class Action Park

Grew up one town over from Quassy. Wild Mouse, or The Monster as they called it, is hands down the scariest coaster I’ve ever been on due to the impending sense of death.

Adam King

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Re: Class Action Park

LOL. I went to Action Park many times, and was bruised many times too. Definitely dangerous which of course was a big part of the attraction. Show your friends you are not a sissy, etc. How about some of the water slides? I went airborne one time, and later some were seriously injured and they had to shut that one down.

The toned down version is today called Mountain Creek and some of the rides from Action are still there, but as you say highly monitored and much safer (but less fun).

Robert Heiblim

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Re: Class Action Park

I’m only 30 but when i was at summer camp in starucca pa they took us multiple times to the reopened mountain creek, none of us had been to action park but heard rumors of it. Even as tamed down mountain creek that was the most unbounded and reckless water park ive ever been to. This was the mid 2000’s and was just like it was in the documentary, whole place run by children. In line at the cannonball run everyone was shouting obscenities, multiple fights broke out, i witnessed multiple kids being taken out on back boards from the cliff jump ( i was almost one of them, i took a running start and landed on my back. My back was red for 5 days) i walked around barefoot and my feet became shredded, i went to the infirmary and was told to stand in the circle and win a prize (they had no prize to give after i won, the old guy in the doc was still there and said eh the spray must be watered down) they served sooo much alcohol next to the wave pool, which only going to disney, hershey and dorney park before this was such a eye opener. The giant straight up and down slide, the main attraction was watching girls bikini tops come flying off. We went on the rapids tube ride and near the end another raft came careening at us and everyone in both rafts were ejected into the wading pool at the end. Even as mountain creek and reopened to be a safe environment, that place has left such a profound mark on my life. Friends from camp have also watched class action park and we all sat around in disbelief that we actually went to this place, multiple times.

Matt Gevurtz

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Re: Class Action Park

I went to Action Park as a kid and the memorable line among friends was “if you didn’t get hurt, you were never there.”

I loved the documentary.  Brought back so many memories. And I showed it to my teenage kids who both couldn’t believe that such a place existed.  THEY WANTED TO GO THERE TOO!

Jaime Feldman

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From: Carlos Duron

Subject: Re: Eric Clapton

My wife and myself just went through the COVID hell, I’ve been over the disease for a week today and my wife is still isolated, I was supposed to get my first dose the following Monday after I got ill , she has one dose and according to the doctors that saved her life. COVID is not an ideology or a set of legal rights that can just be bypassed at your convenience, it’s grueling it taxes your body to the limit. Look out for yourself and get your shots.

______________________________

Re: The Unvaccinated

There’s a woman on my tennis team that told me in December she wasn’t going to get vaccinated because she once fainted after getting a flu shot. Well now she’s got Covid and is whining in our group text about how tired she is and how much it sucks. If only you could’ve done something to prevent that, Karen*!

*Obviously not her name. 🙂

Sarah Martin

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Re: The Unvaccinated

I’m on a production right now in ATLANTA! They won’t mandate  vaccines! A film shoot=cruise ship. Afraid of a lawsuit.

Peter

______________________________

Re: The Unvaccinated

I just saw my father for the first time in almost eighteen months and he was sick as fuck!

He won’t get the vaccine and I can’t believe he still came knowing how sick he was?

He truly believes its not real, or he just isn’t scared? But the worst part is he would risk my daughters and my safety.

I don’t think I’ll see him again for a long while but the hardest part is knowing we are not important enough…

Thanks for hammering home this idea. Bob, you are one of the last truth speakers left.

Adam Franklin

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Re: The Unvaccinated

I’m angry.

Datapoint 1: My brother is an ER doc in San Antonio. Text from him yesterday, “Happy birthday to me. I have COVID” He also pointed out that his fully vaccinated status will save his life as he has fairly minor symptoms. But, he knows he got it in the ER, where he and everyone are fully vaccinated and masked up. He sees several patients a day, says the feel in the hospital is like it was when it was bad over the winter. “All are unvaccinated (the bad ones). Vast majority are ignorant. Quoting Tucker Carlson bullshit.” “I am pissed all of the time.”

Datapoint 2: My daughter. She caught it in April, midway between her first & second shot, from the family whose kids she regularly babysits. The parents had been sick for several days, didn’t bother to think critically that it may have been COVID, and therefore didn’t tell her until she started to feel sick. She quarantined in her room (the normal state for a teen) and somehow the rest of us didn’t get sick. She got better, had her second shot (with strong 24 hour reaction to it as expected).

But here’s the thing. Last weekend, she says the dad says he’s sick again, going to get tested. Although his quick test was negative, he and his wife have no intention of getting vaccinated, “don’t believe in that.” The family are pretty outwardly normal, successful professionals, very comfortable financially. So, my daughter is more than a little freaked out.

I’m angry, and tired of this crap, like this is just a matter of respect for differences of opinion. Argh

You’re right. I don’t envy you the vitriol you’re no doubt receiving right now. But, you’re right. 100%.

Tom Grueskin

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Re: The Unvaccinated

Right on!  We are going 100% vacc for all locations starting Monday.  Not just NY, everywhere.  Enough!

Michael Dorf

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Subject: Re: Re-Lefsetz/Aaron Lewis/Borchetta

Seriously if I were you I would stay away from the politics nowadays it’s just too divisive. There are two camps of people in this country and only one of them believes in the founding tenants of freedom of speech and the right to be left alone to do as they will. We want our borders closed and only a merit based immigration policy to others who can prove they understand our culture and can add to it in a positive way. American First, PERIOD. We know we will never be allowed to do that and eventually it’s going to come to a fight. This country is going to break up and Balkanize..it’s already happening now as you can see the mass movement of people many to the freer states and out of places like New York and your beloved California.

The fatal mistake the left makes is their hubris. You also lack self awareness and there’s a fundamental misunderstanding of white leaning heritage individual liberty loving Americans by the left. You have to understand Bob that if the left keeps pushing we’re going to stop try not to push back. We have a lot of patience and Have given you guys a lot of room to see if this mass insanity will Peter out but it seems to only be expanding. 

You see, we are not afraid of you at all. We are afraid of what you might force us to do to you and we understand the consequences of that and you do not. We are the ones who join the military (were but are getting out since it went woke), serve in combat arms, who are the tip of the spear and kill other human beings. We actually understand violence and we don’t want that to happen here in the United States. But all we see is the left pushing and pushing and pushing and eventually it’s going to come to violent head and you’re not going to like the results because it’s going to be swift and fast and there will be many bodies stacked. Again we do not want this we are not pushing for this we are being pushed and we understand who is pushing us and why. 

So Bob please stop writing about the divisive political stuff we all know where you stand. Don’t add to the problem. Maybe take a step back and try to figure out a way to be a voice of reason and maybe help calm things down a bit so it doesn’t go where it’s surely heading and make no mistake, if that happens inside a week I will be the most far left radical remaining in the country and probably the darkest too..because unfortunately there is an anti-white race element to the left’s insane war on Heritage Americans. I’m appealing for peace. Or at least an armistice because this will not end well if it continues.

Sean Mormelo

Spotify Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3rAuBXq

THE LATE SHOW

Everyone I’ve ever known has wished me well
Anyway, that’s how it seems, it’s hard to tell
Maybe people only ask you how you’re doing
‘Cause that’s easier than letting on how little they could care
But when you know that you’ve got a real friend somewhere
Suddenly all the others are so much easier to bear

Now, to see things clear it’s hard enough, I know
While you’re waiting for reality to show
Without dreamin’ of the perfect love
And holding it so far above
If you stumbled onto someone real, you’d never know

You could be with somebody who is lonely too
(Sometimes it doesn’t show)
He might be trying to get across to you
(Words can be so slow)
When your own emptiness is all that’s gettin’ through
There comes a point when you’re not sure why you’re still talking
I passed that point long ago
(Long ago)

LATE FOR THE SKY

Now, for me some words come easy
But I know that they don’t mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
You never knew what I loved in you
I don’t know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be

DEAR LANDLORD

Now, each of us has his own special gift
And you know this was meant to be true
And if you don’t underestimate me
I won’t underestimate you

SIGN ON THE WINDOW

Build me a cabin in Utah
Marry me a wife, catch rainbow trout
Have a bunch of kids who call me “pa”
That must be what it’s all about,
That must be what it’s all about

IT’S ALRIGHT, MA (I’M ONLY BLEEDING)

Advertising signs that con you 

Into thinking you’re the one 

That can do what’s never been done 

That can win what’s never been won 

Meantime life outside goes on 

All around you

While one who sings with his tongue on fire 

Gargles in the rat race choir 

Bent out of shape from society’s pliers 

Cares not to come up any higher 

But rather get you down in the hole that he’s in

MONEY TALKS

Show me a man who says he can live without bread
And I’ll show you a man who’s a liar and in debt.
There’s no one alive who can’t be purchased or enticed
There’s no man alive who wouldn’t sell for a price,
Money talks and we’re the living proof,
There ain’t no limit to what money can do
Money talks, money talks.

BABY I’M A STAR

Hey, look me over
Tell me do you like what you see?
Hey, I ain’t got no money
But honey I’m rich on personality
Hey, check it all out
Baby I know what it’s all about
Before the night is through
You will see my point of view
Even if I have to scream and shout

Baby I’m a (star)
Might not know it now
Baby but I are, I’m a (star)
I don’t want to stop, ’til I reach the top
Sing it (we are all stars!)

SHOWER THE PEOPLE

You can run but you cannot hide
This is widely known
Now what you plan to do with your foolish pride
When you’re all by yourself alone

Once you tell somebody
The way that you feel
You can feel it beginning to ease
I think it’s true what they say
About the squeaky wheel
Always getting the grease

Better to
Shower the people you love with love
Yes and show them the way that you feel
I know things are gonna be just fine
If you only will, what I like to do to you

IF HE’S EVER NEAR

They say just once in life
You find someone that’s right
But the world looks so confused
I can’t tell false from true

… And love’s so hard to find
In this state of mind
Oh i hope I’ll know him
I hope I’ll know him
If he’s ever near

LIFE DURING WARTIME

This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,
This ain’t no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey,
I ain’t got time for that now

Transmit the message, to the receiver,
Hope for an answer some day
I got three passports, a couple of visas,
You don’t even know my real name

I’M BAD, I’M NATIONWIDE

Well I was rollin’ down the road in some cold blue steel
I had a blues man on the back, and a beautician at the wheel
We going downtown in the middle of the night
We laughing and I’m jokin’ and we feelin’ alright

Oh I’m bad, I’m nationwide
Yes I’m bad, I’m nationwide

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM LIFE

What do you want from life
To kidnap an heiress
or threaten her with a knife
What do you want from life
To get cable TV
and watch it every night

There you sit
a lump in your chair
Where do you sleep
and what do you wear
when you’re sleeping

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH

There’s something happening here
But what it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it’s time we stop
Children, what’s that sound?
Everybody look, what’s going down?

DON’T TAKE ME ALIVE

I’m a bookkeeper’s son
I don’t want to shoot no one
Well I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don’t take me alive
Got a case of dynamite
I could hold out here all night
Yes I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don’t take me alive

THE FINER THINGS

While there is time
Let’s go out and feel everything
If you hold me
I will let you into my dreams
For time is a river rolling into nowhere
We must live while we can
And we’ll drink our cup of laughter

TUNNEL OF LOVE

Well, it ought to be easy, it ought to be simple enough
Yeah, man meets woman and they fall in love
But this house is haunted and the ride gets rough
You’ve got to learn to live with what you can’t rise above
If you want to ride on down, down in through this tunnel of love

REAL LOVE

Darlin’, I know I’m just another head on your pillow
If only just tonight, girl, let me hear you lie just a little
Tell me I’m the only man that you ever really loved
Honey, take me back in my memory place
When it was all very right, so very nice, so very nice

MY OLD MAN

My old man, he’s a singer in the park
He’s a walker in the rain
He’s a dancer in the dark
We don’t need no piece of paper from the city hall
Keeping us tied and true no, my old man
Keeping away my blues

SONG FOR SHARON

A woman i knew just drowned herself
The well was deep and muddy
She was just shaking off futility
Or punishing somebody
My friends were calling up all day yesterday
All emotions and abstractions
It seems we all live so close to that line
And so far from satisfaction

PHIL COLLINS

Just as I thought I’d make it
You walk back into my life
Just like you never left

Just as I’d learned to be lonely
You call up to tell me
You’re not sure if you’re ready
Oh, but ready or not, you’ll take what you’ve got and leave

Oh, leave me alone with my heart
I’m putting the pieces back together again
Just leave, leave me alone with my dreams
I can do without you, know what I mean

YOUR TURN NOW

The moon was yellow

And the sky was cool 

The night can make a promise of love

Or it can make you a fool 

Would anybody know it If the real thing shined?

You’ve seen so many movies 

You’d probably think it was a line

SOMETHING SO RIGHT

When something goes wrong
I’m the first to admit it
I’m the first to admit it
But the last one to know
When something goes right
Well it’s likely to lose me
It’s apt to confuse me
It’s such an unusual sight
I can’t get used to something so right
Something so right