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There are two kinds of people in this world. One believes David Mitchell is the bees knees, the best writer working, and the other makes the sign of the cross and runs away from all his words.

I’m in the latter camp.

Although, there is a third breed…people who have no idea who and what I’m talking about and don’t care.

When the “Cloud Atlas” movie was released there was a huge buzz, but a concomitant blowback, from Mitchell fans who felt they did not get it even remotely right.

I did not see “Cloud Atlas.” I don’t think I’d even heard of David Mitchell. And since the film got mediocre reviews at best, I passed.

But then two people sent me David Mitchell’s 2010 book “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.” And I was on the fence, but then Don Henley told me he was reading it so I decided to plow through.

It was my most difficult reading experience of the last decade. No, even longer, do I have to hearken back to 1972, when I had to read “Ulysses”?

And I read “Jacob de Zoet” the same way I read “Ulysses.” I just kept on going, I stopped worrying if I understood what was going on. And I’d like to tell you when I was done with the book I was satisfied, but the truth is I was just relieved, and I swore I’d never read another David Mitchell book again, even though people kept recommending them.

But then Andrew weighed in. I’d written about “Opal & Nev” possibly being the best fiction rock book of all time. (Yes, I know about “Daisy Jones & The Six,” I read it, liked it and even wrote about it: https://bit.ly/3g29iZt But “Daisy Jones” follows the Fleetwood Mac narrative quite closely, “Opal & Nev” is more original, and chews off more, even though “Daisy Jones” is the easier reading experience.) And he kept bugging me. To the point where I got “Utopia Avenue” from the library. Little did I know Mr. Oldham was in it.

As a matter of fact, almost all of the rock royalty kicking around in the late sixties is in “Utopia Avenue,” from both sides of the glass and both sides of the pond, and I don’t want to ruin the reading experience, but it’s fun when the members of the band Utopia Avenue run into stars, and there are narratives, aligned with truth, as to how these famous names behave.

So at first I was thrilled and surprised by “Utopia Avenue,” I couldn’t wait to get home from my hike and read the book. But then the second night, I was dazed and confused, it turned into a David Mitchell book, with endless words where you weren’t quite sure what was going on, I was ready to give up. But Felice was ahead of me, and she was enjoying it, and she acknowledged at times it was difficult, but that it swung back, so I decided to stay the course and keep reading.

So what we’ve got here is the formation of a band in 1967.

And it’s very different from today. First and foremost there is a band. Today bands are rare, because not only are they hard to keep together, there’s the issue of the MONEY! Sure, you’re willing to starve for a while, but if you actually hit it you at least want to get rich, at least never have to get a day job again, but that’s not how it was for most acts back then, they were doing it for the music, they gave it all up for the music. Elf gave up college, Dean starved, Jasper detoured from his privileged upbringing and…Griff was an anomaly, trained as a jazzer he crossed over into rock.

Levon puts the band together. It’s his last chance. He’s got some backing and the thought of going back to where he came from is anathema.

So everybody’s got a family and everybody’s got a backstory.

And unlike in the usual rock novel, the book is just not a string of plot points run together. Sure, there’s plenty of plot in “Utopia Avenue,” but a lot of it revolves around the band members and their histories and individual dealings. “Utopia Avenue” moves slower than the average rock level, it’s not “Behind the Music,” an entire act’s history shmushed down into an hour, rather it’s a deep dive into just a few years. And in those years are a lot of hopes, which are too often dashed, and detours, and excitement and drudgery. Join a band and you can see the world, and I’m not only talking about travel. Just don’t plan on getting rich at the end, then again there was a hell of a lot less money in it in the sixties, and never forget, almost no one made it.

So what we’ve got here is a real writer writing a rock story, and that’s very rare. But it is David Mitchell, so he goes off the rails occasionally. Also, if you’re familiar with Mitchell, you know his books all reference his others. Yes, the lead guitarist in Utopia Avenue is named…Jasper de Zoet. Furthermore, in this book they tell you how to pronounce it, which is “zoot,” I read that whole damn book about his ancestor and kept on getting it wrong!

So Elf’s family is middle class. She’s the black sheep. She’s talented, but her parents want her to go straight. And she’s insecure sexually, she doesn’t think she’s good-looking enough, sexually attractive. Then again, when Utopia Avenue starts to gain traction being a woman in a band you get the spotlight shined upon you, and it’s weird, getting attention just because you’re a woman, in a world run by men, how do you handle it?

And some of the men are creepy, but oftentimes you don’t realize this until it’s too late.

Dean comes from a challenging background. His father didn’t want him to be a musician either, but his dad takes more drastic action than Elf’s.

And Jasper keeps getting called a girl because of his long hair.

And today these issues are completely incomprehensible, but you don’t know, in 1967 even growing your hair long was a statement, there was the generation gap, parents were not best friends with their children.

Getting a record deal is the hardest part. Back then if you didn’t have one, you couldn’t play.

And then there’s the money. If you’re in music you know the cliché: “It’s not about the money…IT’S ABOUT THE MONEY!” If you’ve got the single, you make more, because of the publishing. And there are three writers in Utopia Avenue, so who goes first? And then the label starts to meddle and you have to make the album on a budget and…

The nuts and bolts, the mechanics, are pretty well delineated here, even the risks of the road. You got paid in cash, because you couldn’t trust the promoter’s check to be good.

Yes, there’s a lot of truth in “Utopia Avenue.”

But it’s a commitment. It’s long, and it’s not always an easy read. But in these days where we’re confronted with the present all day long, the news which obliterates us, the pain of everyday life, “Utopia Avenue” is a great respite, you can dive into this world and remove yourself from the issues of today, your troubles.

“Utopia Avenue” is 570 pages long. And I couldn’t read even 10% per hour. So do the math, you can see how long it took me to read it. I know it’s a holiday, but I spent most of Saturday and a good chunk of Sunday finishing it, never mind the hours I put in before.

Which is why there was never much buzz about “Utopia Avenue” in the rock world when it was released last year. Records are short, they require little commitment, and music is not an intellectual business, as a matter of fact if you’re highfalutin’, you often miss the point.

Then again, back in the sixties, the highfalutin’ people were involved, that’s just how powerful the music was. If you couldn’t play, you wrote. That’s how Jon Landau started out. R. Meltzer… The writers weren’t as legendary as the players, but they were known.

And when “Utopia Avenue” came out I don’t remember universally positive reviews.

Then again, it gets four and a half stars on Amazon, but is that mostly Mitchell fans?

If you’re looking for something light, something you read only for the plot, don’t even start. But if you’re willing to go down the road less taken, where all the rewards lie, you’ll get more out of “Utopia Avenue” than almost any fictional book about music, maybe nonfiction too. Will it give you a leg up, teach you lessons, help you get rich? Absolutely not. If for no other reason than the business is completely different today, it’s corporatized, the hustlers and sharks of yore are gone…but it was these characters that gave the business its color, they took risks corporate types never will, and they risked on innovation, all the bands sounded different.

And didn’t last long.

That’s one thing you learn as you age…the peak period for almost all acts is very short, just a handful of years, and then they lose it, or the sound changes, or people tire of them, or all three. They may stick in your mind, but they’re also stuck in time, playing their hits forever, assuming they had any.

If you’re old enough to remember the sixties, and contrary to the legend, everybody remembers them if they lived through them, this is your era.

If you’re younger than that, you’ll still recognize most of the names, and you’ll also get insight into how it used to be.

On Denmark Street. At the Marquee. In the record bins. Which used to be the most happening places extant. Forget dope, you got high just going into a record store. Mitchell does a good job of capturing that spirit. And more…

P.S. “Utopia Avenue” isn’t about making a statement, the words service the story, it’s not like there’s a stunning aphorism on every page, wisdom laid down. But there are a number of passages I highlighted, I want to drop a few:

“No — you are a star first, therefore you have the hits.”

You’ve either got it or you haven’t, either you’re dripping charisma or…get a job behind the scenes.

“A person is a thing who leaves.”

You’re alone in this world. The most committed person dies. It’s sad, and lonely, hopefully the music will keep you rooted.

“‘If I can play,’ says Jasper, ‘it’s because I practiced in lieu of a living. It’s not a method I recommend.'”

BINGO! This is the difference between yesterday and today. Do you want to shut off social media, never mind streaming television, and take ten years to practice your instrument? I don’t think so…

“You’ll be ripped off, mugged, and shat on, but Utopia Avenue’s waiting for yer. Hang on in there.”

It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll. And that means a lot of false starts, a lot of blind alleys, if you’ve got it and you persevere you’ve got a chance, but without perseverance you’ll never make it.

“‘The best pop songs are art,’ says Jasper. ‘Making art is already a political act. The artist rejects the dominant version of the world. The artist proposes a new version. A subversion. It’s there in the etymology. Tyrants are right to fear art.'”

And there you have it folks, the difference between yesterday and today. And the definition of an artist.

“‘And music scares ’em shitless,’ says Dean. ‘It’s the hooks. Once music’s in yer, it’s in for good. The best music’s a kind of thinking. Or a kind o’ rethinking. It doesn’t follow orders.'”

That’s the power of music. And we haven’t had that spirit here since…

“‘Everyone acts. The trick is to do it well and reap rewards.'”

Yup, even if you’re not on stage, if you’re working in a record store, everyone is playing a role.

“How stability is illusory. How certainty is ignorance.”

This is the hardest part, you can never rest. But as difficult as this is, it’s what makes life interesting.

At times this is so slow it’s a chore to keep watching. And therefore I don’t recommend it. Then again, if you’re a fan you’ve probably already seen it. And if you’re not…

But you should be. The first two seasons of “Master of None” are fantastic. But having been caught up in the #Metoo movement, Aziz Ansari has been licking his wounds and therefore it’s taken four years for this new season. (As for #Metoo…if you succumb to sex on a date, making the choice yourself, does the person who implores you to do so need to be canceled? I’ll let you decide.)

Anyway, Aziz is barely in this season. And when he appears in the first episode, it’s a breath of fresh air, a jolt to one’s focus, you snap to attention, gladly…but then he’s gone.

But it’s when Aziz and his girlfriend show up that the greatness begins. You see they start to fight. They’re picking at each other. And neither is innocent. And they’re doing it front of Denise and Alicia.

You’ve been there. Or else you’ve never had a deep relationship. When things get so bad you don’t bother hiding them, you can’t hold back, you’ll fight anywhere. And Aziz/Dev even states maybe they’re just staying together because they’re afraid to get back out there. There’s so much truth here it’s a revelation.

But even better is when Aziz’s girlfriend retreats to the bathroom with Alicia and confesses…she just didn’t think her life would turn out this way, in her thirties she expected success, not loose ends, not knowing where to go next, floundering.

Media is populated with winners. We can debate all day long whether America can handle the truth, but one thing is for sure, they don’t often see it on the screen. You’re supposed to be optimistic, never lose hope, and furthermore, if you’re not a winner you’re supposed to feel inferior, and shut up and get out of the way.

You’re in training for twenty years, in school, and then you graduate and get a job and maybe even get married and then you wake up…is this where I want to be? Are my goals aligned with my significant other’s? Has too much time gone by for me to get on the train and arrive at my destination?

This happens to everybody. But not necessarily at the same time. If you think life can be about a steady ascension, you’re not on the ladder. You wake up one day and you ask yourself is this it, and no matter how much money you may have, where do you go next?

So I’m loath to give away plot points, then again, once again, if you don’t know them you’ll probably never see this. Which is equivalent to Woody Allen’s art films, but even more realistic. There are almost no jokes, but there is a lot of personal truth. Does every comedian have an urge to pull down the mask, set aside the laughs and speak existential truth? Maybe so.

So keeping a relationship/marriage on track is one of the hardest things you’ll do in life. And the number one criterion for doing so is too often absent. And that’s commitment. People always think they can trade up, do better. But live long enough and you find out this is not true. Every relationship is chiaroscuro, with ups and downs, it’s about a balance, and if you get so far as to be married, standing up in front of friends and family, you should do your best to make it work…but that is not what happens. Your friends will sympathize with your issues, implore you to leave your partner, and then when you’re single they’ll find significant others and leave you behind, all alone, lonesome.

And then Denise, after reaching the pinnacle and it not sustaining, speaks of her fear of being ordinary. If you’re on the road to a destination, this is what you fear most. Getting married, getting a job, buying a house, having kids and…hopefully some good times, but not much more. Not rich, not on the cover of a magazine, not recognized when you go out… Maybe you never had this dream, but if you did, when it is snuffed it is painful…yes, when you have the realization that you truly are just like everybody else.

And does love ever die? Or does what you have with one person last forever, can you hook back into them as easily as snapping your fingers. And is the exciting one ultimately less compatible than the boring one?

You don’t have to watch season one and season two to get and understand season three of “Master of None.” People have argued that Denise is not even the same person, although Aziz/Dev is.

One can also argue that the slowness reflects real life. Alicia in the laundromat, staring into space as her clothes spin.

Or Denise staring into the distance…

But then there are the small moments which mean much more than they appear. Like losing your inhibitions and dancing together. No one else can see you, but the mood, the connection, is palpable and memorable.

Season three of “Master of None” is not a huge commitment. There are only five episodes, but with so much else on offer…

Yet if you’ve reached thirty, and you watch this, it will touch feelings, emotions that have been dormant for too long, or that you thought only you had.

It’s easy to say Aziz Ansari should get back to where he belongs, just do comedy, people implore others to stay in their lane constantly, especially if they’ve had any success, and I would like to see more Aziz comedy, but I would also like to see more Aziz drama, albeit moving a bit faster, because Aziz is dealing with the real issues of life…there’s a sensitive soul inside there, as there is in you, not that you’d admit it to anybody.

1

1968. Martin, then Bobby. Which ultimately led to Chicago. But it was also the year of “Hair”…which dominated turntables and radio.

Although “Hair” covers and ubiquity slipped into 1969, just like “Hooked on a Feeling” itself.

1969. The moon landing, Woodstock. Nothing gets that kind of ubiquity today, other than politics. One can argue nothing important really happens, but the truth is if it does, there’s so much in the channel, and it all goes by so fast, that events just don’t get the traction they used to. Even mass shootings have become de rigueur. Yup, you hear someone insane with a chip on their shoulder shot up a bunch of people and by the next day it’s not even on the front page.

Where’s the glue?

There is none.

But in ’68, ’69, it was the radio.

Television was a vast wasteland. As for movies…they were just coming into their own, the musicals and the men who greenlit them were fading and the youngsters were coming up. It started with “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate” in ’67, and by ’69 we had “Midnight Cowboy” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

Not that “Butch Cassidy” had a deeper cultural meaning, in an era when those were prevalent in cinema, and not that it was an intentional antidote, but it was a film that everybody saw, needed to see, it played in theatres for months and months and it had no mechanical shark or special effects. I can’t say I’ve ever met someone who hasn’t seen “Butch Cassidy.” Maybe if I polled youngsters…but quizzing youngsters about the films they’ve seen is no longer a thing, they want to talk about social media stars and oldsters are all about defending their turf and counting their money. It’s not only Republicans who want little change, it’s the same deal with the wealthy Democrats. Sure, I’ll pay a few million more in taxes, just don’t make me change my lifestyle, don’t make me give up any power.

But the sixties were completely different. No one was that rich, there was a strong middle class, and although we were fighting for truth and justice our culture was really dominated by the arts. You knew who all the stars were, they were famous for actually doing something. And those on the big screen were truly larger than life.

Paul Newman? Legendary, cool not only as Luke.

Robert Redford… Newman boosted him into the stratosphere, everyone knew him and he was not just a two-dimensional good-looking guy.

And then there was Katharine Ross.

It’s hard to overstate the power of screen icons on maturing males back then. The generation before had Marilyn Monroe, but for those coming of age in the late sixties and early seventies…our screen dreams were earthier, more real, and what could be better than a beautiful woman who could hold her own with the boys?

And one of the key scenes was when Ross was on front of the bicycle and B.J. Thomas was singing in the background…

“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” was one of the biggest hits of 1969, overplayed, known by heart, but rarely quoted, unlike the legendary line from the movie…”The fall’ll probably kill ya!” And it was performed by B.J. Thomas, but it was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David…yes, “Raindrops” was movie music, far from the rock and roll that was permeating the airwaves, dominating and changing the culture.

And by the fall of 1969, most Americans, at least those who cared, were now aware of FM rock, after all, “Led Zeppelin II” was released in October, but AM radio still ruled.

Almost no one had an FM radio in their car. And those that existed…they weren’t that good, if the station was more than ten or fifteen miles away, the signal would drop out. You could buy an amazing home tuner, but auto audio was positively retro.

So we knew the AM hits.

As a matter of fact, forgetting the progenitors, there was essentially no free-form underground FM radio until ’68. So, everybody tuned in in ’64 to hear the Beatles and stayed with the band, music was everything, and we knew the cool songs and the dreck, the British Invasion and the last gasps of the crooners.

But every once in a while there was a song by someone who you didn’t know, that rang your bell.

Some of them verged on bubble gum, like “Build Me Up Buttercup”…then again, no one could deny its power.

And others were just so right that they reached you immediately, you relished hearing them on the radio, you never forgot them.

2

“I can’t stop this feelin’

Deep inside in me”

The music of yore used to set you free.

The music of today is just grease for the fire, cartoons, the blatherings of nincompoops trying to make bucks or those who believe they’ve got talent when at best they’re B performers. To be a rock star in the old days was to be one of the most powerful people on earth, not only were you rich, you could do whatever you wanted. with no governor, no limit…you truly had your freedom. And believe me, they all would have lined up for vaccination against Covid-19, after all they were the first generation after polio, assuming they squeaked by that tragedy.

But it’s when music pressed that release button, untethered you from the planet, triggered your hopes and dreams, that was when it really resonated, when it was powerful, when it spread.

And as you’re growing old, you’re thinking of opportunity…and the opposite sex. Well, maybe the same sex too, but back then coming out of the closet was dicey.

“Girl you just don’t realize

What you do to me”

The power of love. Huey Lewis sang about it, but this is different. This is a cocoon, just you and them, you’re not blasting it to everybody, you’re just feeling it yourself, reveling in it, savoring it, not wanting to share it with anybody else for fear of it evaporating.

“When you hold me in your arms so tight

You let me know everything’s all right”

You didn’t always hear all of “Hooked on a Feeling”‘s intro, in the AM world fifteen seconds was interminable, oftentimes they went straight to the vocal, but we heard it enough to know it, and it was magical. This was back in the days of experimentation, when the studio was a band member and new sounds were being integrated into records on a regular basis. In this case, it was the electric sitar, played by one Reggie Young. This was not the George Harrison sound of “Within You Without You,” but a bridge between the electric guitar and the Ravi Shankar sound, and it felt so good, and nice!

And B.J. Thomas sang with power, with a rich voice, like the best person in the glee club, and unlike on today’s television competition shows, he was not showing off, he was not demonstrating melisma, this was twenty-odd years before Mariah Carey, when the song became more important than the singer. And by holding back just a touch, yet singing with power, Thomas’s rich voice resonated.

And the above words are not so magical, but it’s the way the track changed after the initial verse. Too often acts will literally repeat the same verse twice, figuring since old bluesmeisters did it they can get away with it, but “Hooked on a Feeling” is more of a theme park ride, not one where you’re scared, but one where you’re smiling and laughing.

“I

I’m hooked on a feelin’

High on believin’

That you’re in love with me”

Probably the best feeling in the world. No, definitely. You feel glad all over, you tingle.

And then a string flourish.

Strings were getting a bad name, rockers railed against them. But they hung over in the old world, like with B.J., a singer singing someone else’s composition, in this case, Thomas’s friend, Mark James.

“Lips are sweet as candy

The taste stays on my mind

Girl you keep me thirsty

For another cup of wine”

At this point, B.J. could be singing the phone book, it’s his voice, the musical bed, the sitar/guitar…you’re high on the sound of the record.

“I’ve got it bad for you girl

But I don’t need a cure

I’ll just stay addicted

And hope I can endure”

TWO VERSES! At the advent there was only one, now this is a double-dip, like at Baskin-Robbins, with the strings whisking you along.

“All the good love when we’re all alone

Keep it up girl, yeah you turn me on”

There’s that pre-chorus again, one of the track’s main hooks.

And then we get the brief Reggie Young sitar/guitar solo and…

When B.J. comes back in the track is running on all cylinders. Thomas is just riding the crest of the production, he’s the cherry on top, but without the cherry there’s no hit. At least no monster, legendary hit.

And the song ends just like the intro, with that remarkable sitar/guitar and now strings and another guitar walking over the hill into the distance and…

You were just lying on the couch, listening, now you jump up, you want to follow this sound, and chances are you lifted the needle to hear it again, because that was the game back then, to create a track so enticing, so life-affirming, so unique that you had to buy it to hear it over and over and over again.

3

B.J. Thomas went on to have country hits, back before all the country players had long hair and Stratocasters with Marshall amps, when country and rock were opposites, when country touched your soul and rock was dangerous, before they melded together in commerce and lost their essence. You could go years without knowing the country number one, but you knew the rock number one by heart, and you’d heard the AM pop one too. Musically, it was like the politics of today, the south listened to completely different music. C&W. Country and western. The western has been excised from country today, never mind the country itself.

But sometimes one song is enough to make a career. And B.J. Thomas had two. Kind of like Don McLean.

But McLean’s hits were in the seventies, they were a bridge between hip and straight, whereas Thomas was unconcerned with those descriptors back in ’68, he and his team just wanted to make a hit, they felt if they had a strong enough song they were on their way.

And if you have a strong enough song…the years go by and it’s covered and becomes a hit once again.

Jonathan King rearranged the song in 1971, when he was still best known for “Everybody’s Gone to the Moon,” before 10cc, before he went to jail. 

And then a Swedish band, entitled Blue Swede, glommed on to King’s remake and pushed up the faders, amplified and multiplied the nonsense phrase “ooga-chaka-ooga-ooga” and had a monster worldwide hit in 1974. Despite the act disappearing from the hit parade thereafter.

And the funny thing is the Blue Swede take is now the standard-bearer, the most famous version of “Hooked on a Feeling,” it’s got 397 million plays on Spotify and B.J. isn’t even close, which is testimony to the song more than the production, which was so in-your-face as to lose almost all meaning…it could be employed in an animated movie, it was all about the groove as opposed to…

The original, which was a slice of heaven, elixir of the gods.

So B.J. Thomas just died. We knew he was sick, but in the tsunami of information we forgot that he was, and then he passed away.

And the truth is this generation, born during the war and just thereafter, is going, fast. If you want to see one of the legendary acts, go…now!

But as soon as I read B.J. passed, I started singing “Hooked on a Feeling” in my head. I thought back to those days, I thought back to Butch and Sundance, I felt once again that I’d lived through the heyday of music. Hell, name a track as magical from the nineties, never mind today.

So B.J. Thomas left his mark.

And that’s what it’s all about in music. Capturing lightning in a bottle. Sometime in the process you realize you’re doing it, and then you try not to be self-conscious, you do your best to follow through, to get it down before you screw it up. And the truth is this is a rare occurrence. No one can write and record an 11 every month, every year…you’re lucky if you do it once in a career! Do that and you’re a star for all time, irrelevant of your bank account.

And B.J. Thomas did.

He got me hooked on a feeling.

From: Sechman Scott

Subject: Re: Formula 1: Drive To Survive

Bob,

WTF?

My lady subscribes to your newsletter.

I come downstairs today and she’s in front of the TV watching this show. I was taken aback, as I have to force her to watch Angels games that are required viewing here in NC since I’m an Anaheim ex-pat.

I said “Why are you watching a racing show?” 

“Lefsetz wrote about it”, she replied. 

“I saw that he did…what episode are you on?”, I asked, expecting something like Season 1, Episode 2. (I mean, I am with her all day long except when I have a gig…of which I had two, this week).

“I’m on Season 2, episode 2”.

I was shocked. “When did you have time to watch 12 episodes?” 

“While you were at the your gigs.”

It’s like you furnished her with visual crack, Bob. She’s hooked on this shit. She won’t stop. 

I refuse start a series in the middle, so I am left to my own devices until she’s finished with it. Depending on how extreme her withdrawal symptoms are, she may watch it again, when I take on Season 1, Episode 1.

I blame you, dude.

Scott

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From: Frederick Lyle

Subject: Re: God Gave Rock And Roll To You

Bob –

Back in 1984 I lucked upon a Russ Ballard song called “Voices.” I had the job to find and integrate the music played on “Miami Vice.”

Half the song was perfect and the other half felt like filler.

Emmy Award winning music editor (for this episode) Jerry Cohen, sliced and diced the track to fit the scene.

Don Johnson himself feels that the Russ Ballard “Voices” sequence was the best music segment we ever did on “Miami Vice.”

Thanks for filling in where Ballard came from.

Fred Lyle

__

Note: Watch “Miami Vice” segment: https://bit.ly/3vvU3yh

Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3fWAAAr or YouTube: https://bit.ly/3wHKtsw

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From: Lizzz Kritzer

Subject: The Ignorant Pay The Price

Now you know 3 (couples who outlived their money).  Mom is 94 and Dad is 97….both will hit 100.  They ran out.   And I got stuck with the bill.

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From: Tim Pringle

Subject: Re: The Ignorant Pay The Price

I can remember getting the polio vaccine in church when I was very young.  I’ve gotten a Covid vaccine and I’ll be 63 in June. My sister-in-law who is probably eight or nine years older than I am had polio. Her leg was horribly disfigured and she walked with a limp her whole life. I noted in one of your prior emails was is a discussion about the scourge of polio which is now for the most part gone due to the polio vaccine vaccine. I’m still shocked at how uninformed people are these days.

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From: Mike McCann

Subject: Re: Personality

Hey Bob,

From the VERY small world file.

I interviewed Lloyd Price at my house in 2017. Why would the legendary singer, who lived in Pound Ridge (Westchester County) come down to Fairfield?

Turns out that he was an active participant in a Bowling league at Nutmeg Bowl, the lanes near the Villa Ave Stop & Shop. I’d spoken with him on the phone — and was planning to meet him somewhere near his home around the time his final album came out when he mentions that he kept fit by bowling in this league… When I heard Fairfield, I was pleasantly shocked. So, yes, Lloyd Price was a guest in my dining room where we recorded a 40 minute conversation.

A terrific performer and very gracious gentleman. I enjoyed speaking with him and seeing him perform at the Cutting Room in NY.

I wasn’t aware he was ill until I saw the obit late Friday night.

I’m saddened by his passing.

Mike McCann

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From: Phil Brown

Subject: Re: Personality

You missed something very important about Lloyd Price: After getting screwed out of the royalties on Lawdy Miss Clawdy he owned all the copyrights on all his songs. Administered them himself, too. No publisher to take half.  Ahead of his time.

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From: Garth Cartwright

Subject: Re: Personality

Hi Bob,

nice to see you honouring Lloyd Price’s passing.

Apparently Lloyd not only held onto his publishing he also owned his masters – at least the ABC ones (but he might have purchased his Specialty masters at some point, I believe). The publishing royalties off the 3 hits you mentioned kept him in real comfort – he lived in upstate NY – and allowed him to pursue all manner of business ventures (some more successful than others) and avoid having to grind it out on the Oldies circuit. When he did do a show he apparently did a good one – but he only performed when he felt like it. He put his business sense down to learning from his mother as she ran a fried fish shack and being advised while drafted to make sure he owned as much of himself as possible – someone in the military told him this. Lawny Miss Clawdy was one of those songs that presaged the rock’n’roll revolution – no surprise that Elvis, Little Richard and The Beatles all recorded it.

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From: Robert D’Angelo

Subject: Re: Personality

I think I first heard the song personality at one of Marie Kauffman’s (Murray the K) rock ‘n’ roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramont when I was in high school. Performed live, no lip-synching with about $200 worth of audio equipment for each of the many acts.  I worked back stage as a gopher for $3.00 for a six hour day, but it was cash.

Subject: Re: Data

Hi Bob,

I notice this as I hunt for a journalism job too. They’re looking for people to write to SEO and trends, and while that’s good sometimes, it leads to a lot of lazy content out there. In my main fields of writing – music and sport, both things you mentioned – there are great stories that will never be told, because the data suggests no one reads them, which means no one will be hired to write anything than pieces for search engines. 

Samuel Draper, London

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From: Jeremy Hammond

Subject: Re: Data

For good data – try counting the goosebumps….