“Do Stand So Close: my improbable adventure as Sting’s guitarist”: https://amzn.to/38OscAw
This is the best book I’ve ever read about being on the road. Yes, even better than Ian Hunter’s long ago memoir.
First and foremost, Jeffrey Lee Campbell can write. Positively astounding. Not a week goes by without someone sending me their music book, and they’re almost never good. Having a story is different from being able to write the story. Furthermore, said writers don’t realize a story should flow, that sometimes you’ve got to leave the best stuff out because it doesn’t fit the narrative.
But not Jeffrey Lee Campbell.
Jeff was the guitarist on Sting’s “…Nothing Like the Sun” tour, which included a six week worldwide jaunt on the Amnesty tour, featuring Bruce Springsteen and Peter Gabriel and more.
Jeff didn’t play on the record, but Sting heard him play as part of an underfunded jazz combo in Europe and decided to give him an audition. Jeff showed up for multiple rehearsals, and eventually Sting said he could have the job if he wanted it. The business people told him it was only going to pay $2500 a week, take it or leave it, but it was much better than selling candy at Broadway theatres.
Yes, that was Jeff’s gig. Along with Aaron Sorkin and Camryn Manheim… You’ve got to start somewhere, and you’re best off starting in New York or L.A. Did you read any of the obits about Howard Johnson? The tuba player made famous by Taj Mahal, who was a fixture in the original SNL band, didn’t think he was good enough for New York, so he went first to Chicago. But when Eric Dolphy heard Howard play, he said he was needed in NYC right away, and Howard moved, and there started a decades-long career: https://nyti.ms/3qshN3z
Jeff was living in North Carolina. He’d attended the music program at the University of Miami, but dropped out after three years. Then he played in local bands until he got up the gumption to move to the city. Where he was nobody. He got the gig selling candy and hanging coats on Broadway, but he had to work his connections until he could finally get gigs playing in wedding bands. What did AC/DC say? It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll?
But actually, it was a short journey for Jeff. He took the gig and…
Proceeded to go on the road for a year. This was before the internet, never mind smartphones. Being in one’s hotel room was lonely, and boring. Jeff played some tennis, at times with Sting, but mostly he drank and drugged and saw nothing of the world, mostly in places he’s never been back to.
You see this was the highlight of Jeff’s career. 1987-1988. He never got such a high profile gig thereafter. He came home thinking he was a big deal, but in the city he was seen as a guy who hadn’t paid his dues, who wasn’t hooked into the local scene, and after running out of money, he went back to playing in wedding bands and… He played some other famous tours thereafter, but not at the same level, with the same prominence. For decades, Jeff’s been a guitarist in Broadway orchestras. It’s a hard gig to get, and not often an easy gig to keep, it’s all about relationships. Being able to play is assumed. Jeff rehearsed for free, spent all that time learning the music to get his first gig as a sub. And he likes being able to walk to work, and the pay is good, but it is not the touring big time.
So, Jeff goes on the road and is always worried about getting fired. And this is a possibility. The drummer is replaced. Yes, you think you’ve got security, but…
And the regulars, like Kenny Kirkland and Branford Marsalis… I won’t say they exactly haze him, but when he steps out, makes rookie mistakes, they rub it in, deeply.
And the sex… Sometimes in brothels provided as perks by promoters. And the endless one night stands. The girls want to get closer, and Jeff provides the experience. And these affairs often take all night, so the next day…you’re dragging. And then there’s the night Jeff did too much and was subpar on stage and was chided by Sting…
Sting is portrayed as a good guy. Not without faults, but…you buy it as a reader, even though Rod Stewart zings the star.
So, there’s a warm-up in South America, and an appearance on SNL, where Jeff gets to wail on “Little Wing,” but he’s always wondering exactly where he fits in, how wide a path he can cut, is he one of the boys or just an outsider who’s going to be one and done.
Jeff does not get hired for the next Sting tour. And he wonders, did he drink too much, party too much? He’ll never know. But he’s been trading on this one year of touring with Sting ever since, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Jeff doesn’t sugarcoat the story. And the best thing is he describes his feelings, and has no problem putting himself down and wondering what he was thinking when he did certain things.
Most people have no idea what truly goes on on the road. They see the band on stage, and believe off stage is a heaven of sex and drugs. But there’s endless travel, which wears on you.
And is Jeff ever accepted?
He’s on the Amnesty tour and one of Bruce’s security people insists he get out of the way, despite Jeff having an all access pass. Jeff refuses to move, and then Bruce comes down the hallway and says hi to him. Jeff got some satisfaction.
And you will too.
Yes, this was over thirty years ago. And now things are different, but on some level they’re the same. Can you afford a private jet, can you base yourself in a central city and then fly out to gigs?
And there are so many great lines, musician aphorisms, many that I have not heard.
Like musicians can make a killing, but they can’t make a living. Either you get this or you don’t.
And as far as money on the road…it is described as an ocean of cash, and if you dip in and take some, no one will ever notice it. I’m not talking about theft, but if you want to stand up for more…it’s not gonna hurt the tour, no one’s really going to notice the loss.
I breezed right through this book. I had a hard time putting it down. If you want to know what it’s like being on the road, a prominent band member backing up a superstar…THIS IS THE PLACE!
We discuss Mr. DiMucci’s early years in the Bronx, getting a record deal, assembling the Belmonts, going on the road, getting on and off drugs, AA, his life in Miami, royalties, his new work and… Dion has been there and back, he’s full of insight, AND HE’S STILL MARRIED TO RUNAROUND SUE!
My friend Ralph sends me a cornucopia of newspaper clippings from the U.K. on a regular basis. To a great degree they’re obituaries, or a spotlight on a minor figure who had impact in the world of music, but this week’s package had even more, which I’m going to tell you about now.
There were multiple articles on the success of U.K. music around the world. One in ten songs streamed globally is British. As a result of streaming, U.K. artists now have reach into Asia, Africa and South America that they did not have previously. U.K. artists’ impact is four times greater than the country’s GDP.
But it gets even better.
U.K. labels now have 640 signed acts, a whopping 68% jump from 2010!
As for all that hysteria about the drop in streaming consumption back in March and April…streaming ultimately went up more than 20%! Ain’t that music business reporting, all short term, all hit and run, with no perspective. And streaming is the champion, it represents 80% of music consumption in the U.K.
But this is where it truly gets interesting… Almost 200 artists were streamed in excess of 100 million times. The value of a stream varies, despite all the penny nonsense thrown around. I’d explain it, but either you know how the ecosystem works or you don’t. But I’ll point you to this article: https://bit.ly/3bBYjFz which calculates that a million streams earn $4,370. Well, that means if you get a hundred million streams, you make…$437,000!
Let’s not get into the penumbra, the minor details, whether it was a paid stream or one that came with advertising and…
Let’s not assume you’ve got a lousy deal.
What we’re saying here is 200 artists made nearly half a million bucks from streaming last year. You keep nearly all the money if you’re your own label, but the new standard is closer to a fifty/fifty split of net if you’re signed to a label and if this is the case, this means that over 200 acts made in excess of $215,000 from streaming last year. Of course, we can get into costs, what defines the net, but if you go back to the old days, which people wax rhapsodic about, most acts didn’t even go into royalties, they survived on the advances, what was left after recording costs, if anything.
And now you’re saying that all the money is going to the classic acts, but that is not true. Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, Adele, Sam Smith, Lewis Capaldi and Dua Lipa were some of the most streamed, along with the Beatles and Queen.
And let’s not forget old acts are still getting paid from streaming, wherein the old days their recorded music revenue ultimately faded to zero, or close to it, because their albums weren’t even available in stores, there was a space issue. If you can’t find it, you can’t buy it…but now with streaming, everything is available at your fingertips, everything is findable.
Meanwhile, over 8,000 acts eclipse one million streams annually. That’s $4,370. Not bad considering back before the internet the major labels only had a few thousand acts on their rosters.
So, what does this MEAN?
Well, the complaints are out of proportion with the reality. Turns out a lot of people bitching were propped up by the labels of yore. They had deals when deals were rare. They were the beneficiaries of advances and marketing and tour support, but most of them never earned royalties. And now, it turns out that most people don’t want to listen to their music, it has not survived, it has been eclipsed by that of youngsters and stars. Or else the oldsters have bad deals.
Once again, a million streams is no longer that high a threshold. 8,000 acts a year reach that total! So if you’re bitching that you’re not getting paid much on 10,000 or even 100,000 streams…turns out you’re really not that popular. And if you think you have a devoted fanbase, you can always go on the road, which acts have done for eons after losing their label deals. The label built their rep, they’re surviving on it, they’re getting few recording royalties, if at all.
As for new acts… Yes, it’s harder to get noticed. Then again, you’ve got the tools to get noticed at your fingertips! In the days of yore, you were hamstrung. It cost a fortune to record and distribute, you could not get your story out, you were dead in the water, maybe you could play the local club. Now, many acts tour the world, or at least their home country, without having a major record label deal at all!
As for those old and new acts still complaining, they can still sell overpriced vinyl at the show, as well as CDs and other merch. Merch can be made cheaply and easily and sold via the web, what a world!
What we’re seeing is evolution. There are tons of new successful acts. Did the acts of the thirties complain that the Beatles were stealing all their money, that they weren’t getting paid recording royalties in the seventies, in the heyday of Queen? OF COURSE NOT!
As for the music being made…
I point you to this “Daily Mail” story:
“Pop songs will get SHORTER in future because the attention span of young people has dropped by 33% since 2000, experts predict”: http://dailym.ai/3nNrzLM
In other words, you’ve got eight seconds to hook the listener, as opposed to twelve twenty years ago. And you only get paid on Spotify if a song is listened to for thirty seconds.
So, you’ve got to get to the hook sooner, to grab people, to make sure they continue to listen.
And streaming pays by the play, so it behooves you to not extend the song, to increase repeatability, which pays you more.
In other words, the medium is affecting the message.
So, if you need time to stretch out…it may be working against you. Don’t shoot the messenger! This does not mean longer songs with delayed hooks won’t dominate in the future, but the populace must be driven to these songs, they must be superior, just like the eight minute “Stairway to Heaven” eclipsed under two minute ditties like the Beatles’ “From Me to You” or the Box Tops’ “The Letter.”
So yes, it’s tragic that touring has been killed by Covid, but the truth is the future is here and it’s so bright you’ve got to wear shades and it’s getting better all the time. As for the quality of the music? I’ll let you decide, but the more money available/earned, the more you draw higher quality people to the enterprise, looking to score.
Loved this piece of blowback “The smartest thing for Biden to do is to pardon Trump, put all this wasted energy behind us, and move forward with trying to unify the people.
Reminded me of George Carlin’s “I just want to put this thing behind me and get on with my life”
Start at 11:00
Keep on kicking
Anthony Gimel
________________________________________
Seems it’s time for your readers to again contemplate the Paradox of tolerance, as posed by Karl Popper in 1945 in The Open Society and Its Enemies,
“Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant”
Stu Walker
________________________________________
Thanks for the master class on whataboutism, deflection, and denial. And when a private company decides who can use its services it’s not censorship. As one wit put it, think of Twitter as a Christian baker and Trump as a gay wedding cake. America the beautiful.
George Laugelli
________________________________________
It’s pretty simple – do you care about others in society beyond your loved ones or not? Be honest with yourself. All this defensiveness, and denial. We know the history here. There are only two sides to decency. We must stop listening to the people who don’t care and are too much up in their ego to ever admit they were wrong.
My aunt was a German girl living outside Bergen Belsen. She knew, but she never admitted she was sorry. She always said she couldn’t do anything because her family was hungry. We don’t know what we would have done in her position, but we know what we can do now. There is a line. We all have to stop listening to those who won’t even acknowledge the line.
Thanks for enduring the slings.
Johanna
________________________________________
As a concert promoter, I learned the ticket price wasn’t high enough if nobody complained about it.
Before I promoted shows, I spent 25 years in the newspaper business. As a sports editor, the overwhelming majority of letters I got were from those complaining about coverage.
The point is – I was amazed to see that you have 3 or 4 responses supporting you here. The others are predictable negative responses. People, by nature, don’t bother to write about it unless they disagree or object. For every pissed off reader, you probably have a dozen or more who agree with you and don’t feel compelled to write about it.
Brian Martin
________________________________________
This is what we have become, a bunch of uneducated people who make big pronouncements without any facts to back them up. Your complainers prove they are not interested in the truth if it contradicts their beliefs.
Maggie Curran- “There’s absolutely no scientific evidence, using the scientific method, that masks prevent infection. None.”  Did not know Maggie was a scientist and practicing physician ? If you go into any operating room in America everyone is wearing a mask. A simple google search will give you numerous medical studies that prove otherwise.
Thaddeus Graham- “No, it was not a coup attempt. 1% of the people were armed, at most? Did not know that Thaddeus works for the FBI/Secret Service or was at the capitol and did a weapon check of everyone who was involved. Let’s just say he is right, 1% of 3000 people is 30, does he know how many people can be killed by 30 weapons, some assault weapons, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails.
Just because you can yell the loudest does not make you right. Stop talking shit that you know nothing about!
Hang in Bob, the truth wins, it can just take time!
Regards,
Scott Welch
Scott Welch Management
________________________________________
Couldn’t agree with you more. The Benghazi Hearings went on for four years, four years! This guy has crossed every boundary- every line including sedition, defacing our capital, making money off of Covid, killing 365,000 people, blowing the vaccine roll out. He is buried the economy. And of course the republicans want us to MoveOn. And what ? Forget the most corrupt, worst president ever? In 2008 we moved on from the corporations burying the economy. No one went to jail. That gave us Trump.
I want to put your stuff out everywhere. I am locked and loaded. Figuratively, and literally. I cannot believe how angry I am and how much they have debased our country. Fuck em . As I said to one of  my Trump friends, if Obama had done this, I would be just as angry and want to do all I could to make sure he was prosecuted. Why the hell don’t you feel that way? If it was Obama -you would be calling for his head. His answer; that’s different. They are two-faced liars. Thanks for your inspiration- you’re right on -let’s all stay strong. Next time you’re in the store and someone’s not wearing a mask, let’s all get on them and yell at them . We all grumble to ourselves as one or two assholes walks in proudly without a mask. We need to turn on all of them. There are more of us-  they have awakened the sleeping giant.
Peter O’Fallon
________________________________________
Here’s a pop quiz… Of the last 20 appointments to the Supreme Court, how many have been made by Republican Presidents and how many by Democrats? Â Â Â Â If you guessed 16 by Republicans, you’d be correct! Â So the question is, how could the Pubs possibly justify whining about not getting enough appointments? Â Â Because facts are irrelevant!
Nixon – 4
Carter – 0
Ford – 1
Reagan – 4
George H Bush – 2
Clinton – 2
George W Bush – 2
Obama – 2
Trump – 3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_justices_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States
rkirkbright
________________________________________
It can’t be said enough:
Free speech doctrine does not legally apply to privately-owned platforms. (Read it again, dummies on the right. Or ask an adult to read it to you.)
You can write “You’re commies! Whatever that means! I’ve heard it said elsewhere!†to the New York Times all you want. Write them 100 letters. Send them 1,000 emails. They are not legally mandated to publish it. Same goes for Twitter and Facebook.
Public comment at your local town hall? They (by law) have to give you time for your say. (For an entertaining example, YouTube “The Party Bros.â€)
May we never forget both big tech platforms waited until there was a body count at the Capitol to make a move against the ad-money-faucet of misinformation, sexism, and racism that Donkey Trump reveled in. Big Tech knows that even with the gameshow host gone, that hydra has plenty of other profitable heads.
S. Roads
Boston MA
PS. Big tech still has all of our data and will continue to print money selling it.
PSS. If you think for whatever reason they don’t have YOUR data, you’re wrong. They do.
________________________________________
In Australia, our left have a long term view and that is controlled through the union movement which is the primary funding mechanism for the labour Party ( our democrats). Our right may have a long term view but it’s hard to see.
Its fascinating to watch the US from here. It’s a complex very divided society.
How you get to the middle.
1) Pay wages that allow people to live.
2) Fix your medical system – easy – we pay 1.75% of our incomes to “Medicare” our socially provided healthcare system- and that provides comprehensive basic health cover for all – independent of incomes/wealth. Many have private cover in addition which is to ensure the top private doctors/private hospitals etc (what wealth can buy)
3) Provide paid sick and Carers leave – people can afford to stay at home when not well
4) Provide proper holiday pay – allow people to live like humans.
5) Free education for all children.
Many more suggestions, but this is what we have in “socialist Australia”
We have no violence, not guns no murders low violent crime.
Good luck for the next few weeks – it will be interesting.
Mark Michalowsky
________________________________________
I lost my mother in Iowa in early September. And then I lost my relationship with my sister who – in defiance of my mother’s wishes – demanded a service at the funeral home, which of course refused to require masks in their building. The vitriol I experienced while back “home†tending to my mother in her last days was staggering and entirely inexplicable.  My mother was incredibly proud of my work (for the WA Atty Gen) but was too afraid to tell people that we were suing Dejoy for intentionally crippling the usps in advance of the election (back in the day – 2017 – my friend and WA state solicitor general Noah Purcell argued the travel ban in the 9th circuit.  It was his work shut down the ban nationwide – go Noah)   Silly me I thought, regardless of party, who could possibly oppose defending the postal service against these attacks? Well, it became clear that it absolutely did not matter what I said or what positions I took – I was merely the liberal enemy from Seattle. It was confusing. It was disorienting.  People responded to simple questions with such hatred – and you could tell that they themselves were unable to explain why they were reacting the way they were. They were just as confused by their responses as I was.  It sucks.  It all just sucks.
And I’ve been told I need to listen to those folks because they’re hurting.  And that’s exactly what I did for nearly four years – patiently listening to my family spew unhinged nonsense, hoping to draw out their underlying concerns and interests. As you know – It’s foolish; that is an entirely foolish “strategyâ€.  The just want to hate and blame someone for their problems.  That’s it.  That’s all of it.  Fuck Hillbilly Elegy.  It’s just simple spite and hatred. Nothing more.
So thank you, Bob, for keeping the lights of hope on for me this year, especially. Â It has helped me persevere knowing that not everyone has been fiendishly deluded.
Sincerely,
Mark Melroy
Seattle, WA
________________________________________
My opinion is: The issue with Taylor Swift, Trump and many others (Ed Sheeran, Travis Scott, Ellen, Bieber, Elon Musk) is, they are not grounded as individuals, and they don’t know how the middle class or the lower class people live; they don’t care, and they are not raising a family of their own (or never had to in Trump/Elon case).
They’ve never put themselves second or third, they’ve never set their egos aside. When you’re successful, when you don’t have to work a job (or multiple) at minimum wage to make ends meet, when you’ve never been oppressed as an individual, or lived in a poor or war ridden country, you lose touch of reality, of why you’re doing what you do in the first place.
To the successful whiners; Be happy that you get to do what you love everyday, be thankful that you have an audience (and money that comes with it), and stop whining about your problems; we all have them, but we don’t all get to cry in our mansions when we have a bad day.
tepnomusic
________________________________________
At least you have the balls to post under your own name. Anonymity on the internet is a scourge and disease. As the former CEO of a large message board network who has had his share of death threats (FBI involved, solved) for simple things like having the courage to make minor rule changes to the platform, I can’t imagine what is happening to Twitter and other platform staff right now. At least they are WFH these days. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be doxed or swatted.
What needs to and probably will never happen is real ID for all online activity. Remove anonymity, improve the world. Without any impact on free speech – if you want to talk you can, you just can’t do it from behind a pseudonym. Kind of like speakers corner, Hyde Park, London. Imagine how much better we’d all be if everyone had to use their real name online. THAT would bring back the good ‘ole small town days of the internet where, as they say on Cheers, ‘Everyone Knows Your Name’.
Keep up the great work and don’t let the bastards get you down.
Rob Labatt
________________________________________
Always thrilling to discover how many assholes read you.
I found out this AM… maybe some grist for you here..
Nobody joins a cult. They just forget to leave. How do you get them to leave?
It’s interesting to see the blowback against your almost uniformly intelligent rants.
After all, you told us months ago EXACTLY how far Trump would take it if he lost (including inciting violence) and people criticized you for exaggerating.
Mostly, what I read here are 3 kinds of forces in motion.
First, the false equivalency. This sleight of hand confuses a lot of people. You can see it in a lot of the comments.
Second, ignorance of history. People minimize the danger because they have no context for events and they underestimate just how bad things can get – fast. They think that even if they are (literally) ignorant ( not stupid), they are still entitled to a point of view on a topic. Which is ridiculous. If you don’t know enough, you can’t speak intelligently about an event. You can only react emotionally and then rationalize that somehow your feeling makes you right.
Third, excuse-me thinking. The fact that the rioters and seditionists think they did the right thing doesn’t make it right! It stuns me how often I hear this. This is actually crazy. Not one of the people who agree with this would say that it was OK if someone tried to murder them, because the murderer thought they were doing the right thing.
That’s what you’re up against.
John Parikhal
________________________________________
Is it only lawyers that understand the “screaming fire in a crowded theater” “exception” to the First Amendment?
The broadcasters have to adhere to “standards and practices” under FCC guidelines.
Perhaps Rupert has given so much $ to both parties that he and FOX News have gotten a free pass from the FCC for airing an almost constant and unchecked stream of lies since the network’s inception. The other three have been called on the carpet for the slightest infraction -ie -  Dan Rather and the Westmoreland libel suit in the mid 1980’s; the The Killian documents/George W. Bush 60 Minutes controversy…
What if Fox News was forced to adhere to the same standards and practices as CBS/NBC and ABC?
What if all of the cable channels had to (with the sex exception for cable since THAT would definitely cause a revolution)?
And what of those same “standards and practices” were applied to the ISP’s (who ultimately have more power than FB, Twitter, Google combined) so that the ISP’s would be the gatekeepers preventing child porno, extreme violence, propaganda from all political persuasions, terrorist recruitment sites, lies, insanity, etc, etc?
IS that TOO “BIG BROTHER” or is it just the most effective modern tech way of preventing the endless screaming of “Fire in a crowded theater”?
George Gilbert
Attorney At Law
________________________________________
You don’t know me but ask around, I’ve still got cred and a rep- what did you expect to happen when you spoke the truth? That suddenly the willfully ignorant would see the light? truth terrifies people because it demands that they examine and measure. Critical thinking is dead and has been replaced by propaganda of which the right wing is the biggest consumer and purveyor of.
After a lifetime in the biz both on radio and as an A&R exec at a handful of majors, I am now a high school teacher in a small Indiana town- go figure. What I have painfully observed is that there is ignorance which can be remedied with knowledge. Then there is willful ignorance for which there is no remedy. I have now concluded that there is a third state- defiant ignorance which is very dangerous and upon us…keep writing…keep shining the light.
Jovan (John) Mrvos
________________________________________
Not a big leap to see how 70+ million people came to idolize an illiterate conman. Millions of Americans graduate high school and college without mastering the most elementary basics, as evidenced here in these letters to you. Literacy is crucial to critical thinking — both in very short supply the last five years.
