“How TikTok Chooses Which Songs Go Viral – The app’s hits seem to emerge organically, but the success of artists like Megan Thee Stallion reveals a highly managed curation process”: https://bloom.bg/3e6C9Mo

This is the most important music business article you will read all year, well at least the year that’s already transpired. And what stuns me is NO ONE e-mailed it to me, NO ONE!

Remember twenty years ago, in the days of file-trading, when music was disrupted and the news was everywhere? When something happened and it was blasted into every nook and cranny instantly? Those days are through. “Billboard” is a complete joke. Mediocre writers pointed towards the consumer as opposed to the professional. As for “Rolling Stone,” behind a paywall sans its classic writers, its trajectory seems to be one towards death, then again, this was ensured when the magazine aged with its users as opposed to focusing on the demo, like MTV.

And the demo is young.

You might not be listening to the young music, but all the innovation takes place amongst the youth first. The youth were file-trading, the youth put videos on YouTube and audio on Soundcloud, the youth embraced smartphones and their possibilities and it’s the oldsters who followed in their wake. And if you want to know what’s going on right now…read this article.

There’s an attendant podcast: https://www.bloomberg.com/foundering which you should listen to if you listen to podcasts, it’s much  more informative than the true crime b.s. spreading throughout the podcast universe, and maybe it’s because its host, Shelly Banjo, has been following the TikTok story for THREE YEARS!

That’s the problem with most news, it’s written by reporters, getting the story as opposed to living the story. Then again, if you want to know what is really happening oftentimes you have to turn to business publications, which “Billboard” used to be and Bloomberg is now. Bloomberg did go mass, but it pulled back and decided to focus on business news only, and if you get one magazine, subscribe to “Bloomberg Businessweek.” The latest issue also contains an article on Kevin Liles, but you can skip that, you don’t learn much, but Shelly Banjo tells us EVERYTHING!

So on the podcast you have a teen TikTok creator talking about activity. Beyonce posted her baby reveal on Instagram and got a million likes in twenty four hours. Sounds pretty good, right? WRONG! This girl said she and the other TikTok stars get three million likes AN HOUR!

It’s always the same, the news is controlled by oldsters who continue to miss the plot. Like with video games, whose numbers far outstrip both music and movies, but they still don’t get respect.

So why should you read the above article… TO LEARN THAT IT’S ALL MANIPULATED! TikTok is not only a platform, it’s essentially a manager, in deep contact with its stars, it’ll even give them money. But even better, TikTok tells them how to stay atop the charts, it tells creators which songs are priorities, to make videos for them so these creators can continue to dominate and grow bigger. As for the priorities…those are heavily-influenced by the major labels. The perception that TikTok is a passive platform is patently wrong. You get lucky, you get a million views…unless you get in touch with the TikTok ecosystem (actually, unless they get in touch with you) you’re one and done. It’s a professional business, and if you’re not a professional, forget it.

So if you listen to the podcast you’ll hear about the founder, Zhang Yiming, who’s the opposite of a Silicon Valley star, who basks in the attention. Turns out you can’t even find Zhang, he’s elusive. And Banjo opines that if Zhang were American, he’d be as big as Zuckerberg, but since he’s Chinese…

You’ll be stunned when you hear about the Chinese operation. First and foremost, they live in a 9-9-6 world. That means you work nine a.m. to nine p.m., six days a week. And it’s not like America, where the dumb get traction, where we had an inane do-nothing president who still thinks he won an election he lost, no, in China they’re looking forward. It’s America a few decades back. But too many think we can win via trade wars, no, we can win by paying attention!

As for the aforementioned Zuckerberg, TikTok is the platform that is eating his lunch. Facebook kicked the tires, they weren’t interested, they believed they could duplicate Musical.ly if it gained traction.

But that was before Musical.ly sold to Bytedance. Bytedance paid a fortune, many people believed the company overpaid, but sometimes you have to do that to gain market share, to get ahead. Oh, Bytedance tried to compete with Musical.ly, BUT IT COULDN’T! Turned out the Musical.ly algorithm was just too strong, just too good, not that it’s not being tweaked constantly, for he not busy being born is dying, like all those acts complaining about streaming payouts as opposed to wholeheartedly embracing the new business model.

As for that new business model… This is a time when many will get out, TikTok is a game-changer.

Used to be acts were broken on radio. Then they were broken on Spotify and radio came next. Now they’re broken on TikTok and then they spread to streaming and radio. And how did TikTok achieve this? VIA CONSUMER PARTICIPATION! Exactly what the oldsters fought for decades, in many cases are still fighting. But that skateboarding cranberry juice swigging Idahoan brought Fleetwood Mac to the youngsters, adding longevity to the act, never mind enlarging its grosses.

And all this has been happening under the radar. There’s a whole ecosystem, building new stars.

And while you’re at it, read Jon Caramanica’s story in today’s “New York Times” which talks about acts making multiple versions of the same song, without even bothering to make an album. Yes, it’s about the song.

“Who Needs an Album? Just Keep Remaking the Song! Recent hits by SpotemGottem and Lil Nas X show the power of extending the life of a single track, album be damned.”: https://nyti.ms/3gTwR8D

And if you want to go even deeper, read Connie Bruck’s article about Ari Emanuel in the latest “New Yorker”: 

“Ari Emanuel Takes On The World – Hollywood’s most tenacious agent tries to remake himself as a mogul”: https://bit.ly/3vCuziD

Bruck wrote the definitive statement about Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham Lambert, “The Predators’ Ball,” and this Ari Emanuel article is incredibly well-researched, but much less insightful than the TikTok one in Bloomberg. Sometimes you’re so focused on where you’ve been that you can’t see where you’re going, which is why the “New Yorker” article ultimately falls flat.

But the “Bloomberg Businessweek” article, it’s positively now. And unlike Ari, it’s not about business shenanigans so much as creation, the arts. Sure, art intersects with business, but most people don’t want to talk to Ari Emanuel, they’d rather watch TikTok. And never forget, disruption happens from the bottom up, so WME can be disrupted too.

But reading this article you have to ask…have you been disrupted? It’s not simple anymore, you just can’t make a record and hire a PR person to spam it to radio and other outlets. First and foremost, no one is paying attention, you can’t reach anybody! Today you’ve got to be a creator but you’ve also got to understand the systems, how they work, where they’re going.

It turns out today the people make the hits. And where they make them is on TikTok. But TikTok ultimately decides what is a hit.

So what if you’re making oldster music?

Think about how you can connect with the audience, how you can reach people.

Then again, not one single person has told me about this “Bloomberg Businessweek” article and it’s genius, so insightful, better than anything about music in newspapers or online. You’re now hipped, you’re a member of the club, but let me forewarn you, it will be both insightful and depressing, inspirational and overwhelming, but you can’t turn back the clock, this is where we are. China is building infrastructure at a pace we can’t even contemplate. TikTok ate Zuckerberg’s lunch. The ball keeps moving, the government missed WhatsApp and they missed TikTok, elected officials think they can quash something already embedded in the culture…not that TikTok deserves to go, rather we’ve got to act like the Chinese, we’ve got to take the best and IMITATE IT! There’s so much we need to imitate from around the world, let’s start with universal health care. It’s these foundational elements that are letting the rest of the world improve and accelerate and that are holding the U.S. back. Free child care gives a boost to the economy, because suddenly all mothers and fathers can work. If you think it’s about saving money on the front end, please don’t have any power, please get out of the way, because one great idea, implemented by a believer(s) can change the world.

Like TikTok!

Jimmy Kimmel is just funny. Add his superior intellect and you know why he’s successful. Furthermore, he makes you feel included, like his best friend. We cover Jimmy’s roots in Brooklyn as well as Las Vegas, his radio career, his discovery as a TV personality by Fred Silverman to “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” “The Man Show,” Crank Yankers” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Jimmy pulls no punches, either on his TV show or in this podcast. Even if you don’t watch, you should listen, to get a feel for the playing field, to hear how someone makes it!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/id1316200737

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

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast

I think every American who’s been following the news lately, and even those who haven’t, should take the time to read the lyrics of Trouble Comin’ Every Day, from the Freak Out album.

This tune and these lyrics are what made me a Zappa fan early on.

R Lowenstein

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I loved Zappa when I saw it at the Belcourt Theater last year, the same theater I saw Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words in 2016. I’ve been a fan since Phish turned me onto his music in the late 90s via their cover of “Peaches in Regalia.” ALL of my friends knew I was a Zappa head because the music stuck out to them with its distinct mix of serious compositions and Zappa’s lyrics written with his brand of irreverent humor. There are no musical artists like him in the 21st century that combine his artistic talent and willingness to speak his mind regardless if it jibes with mainstream public opinion.

Agreed that any and all music and counter-culture heads need to see this doc.

-Stu Walker

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Thanks for the heads up on this.

There is a song on the 1966 Mothers Of Invention “Freak Out” LP titled “Trouble Every Day” that I’ve been listening to a lot lately for its biting lyrics and driving force.  It could have been written an hour ago, and it would still be more current as anything out there, yet, it’s 45 years old.  On the liner notes Frank says “ It was written during the Watts riots as it developed. I shopped it briefly all over Hollywood but no one would touch it…everybody worries so much about not getting any air play.  My, my.”

The lyrics are riveting and disheartening; we’ve come so far, but so little has changed.

Music only had one Frank Zappa, a contemporary madman well versed in all music, fierce and funny plus a hundred other adjectives.  I once represented him in a deposition; in the middle of a response to a question he looked at the opposing counsel and remarked, “Your tie reminds me of Red Norvo’s mallets”.  Brilliant.

 

Fred Ansis

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We opened for the Mothers of Invention on two separate, short residences. Of course, it was great! The band was a truly cool collection of people, very approachable and totally into what they were doing.

At one point, Gail bought a six-month-old Moon Unit into the dressing room, and we all oohed and aahed over the cute kid. Didn’t think about it much until years later, when I was looking at MTV and she was…all grown up.Time flies.

Craig Anderton

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As a doc filmmaker I was intensely jealous when I heard Alex Winter was on the Job.  And the film he made was not the film i would have made.  But I’m so glad he made it.  It’s not a bio pic by any stretch. And as you say it doesn’t even try to be comprehensive.
Think of We’re Only in it For the Money. There’s a gorgeous solo piano piece that you wish would go on forever when suddenly Suzie Creamcheese says “I don’t do publicity balling for you anymore”. A piano chord and then “The first word in this song is discorporate – it means to leave your body”.
There are fragments  and hints of this compositional beauty on every MOI LP through to One Size Fits All. Maybe beyond.  Frustrating because you wish they would go on forever. But then you realize that Frank had so much to say as an artist and composer, and somehow intuited that he was not going to have enough time to get it all out there.  This is what the structure and form of the Winter movie seems to be. Compelling stories and music, glued together with mini collages of Frank’s half realized musings. It was such an appropriate approach. Loved it. Still jealous.

Michael McNamara
Toronto

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So I’ve watched the movie: very good.  And saw him and the Mothers of Invention 3-4 times; can’t remember exactly, it was the 60s. The first time I saw them was my first time time attending a rock concert. I was 16 years old and the concert was at a local university in western NY where I lived.  They were joined by their special friends: Tom & Jerry (aka Simon & Garfunkel). Another time, saw them at the local symphony hall with another pair of special guests: the two singers from the Turtles.  Some of the most memorable times of my life. I support your recommendation.

William Hultman

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The movie was great and educational.
I always get asked if I’m related
And I always say:
“No, but I am in the music business and I did get to meet Frank’s children Dweezil and Moon at a record release party for Extreme”
So thank you for the article,
and I also wanted to thank you for the article you did on my band Open Skyz and our album of the same name.
Regards,
Gerard Zappa
(Valentine/ Open Skyz/ Steve Augeri Band )

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Spot on!  This doc came out at almost the exact same time as the Bee Gees doc, and it provides an amazing juxtaposition to that piece of promotional garbage.  The Frank doc was open, honest and true to the artist’s vision.  The Bee Gees doc was overseen by Barry and, as such, was as vapid as most of their music.  Yet, everyone seemed to be praising the shit out of it.  There was little honesty and depth to it, it played more like a Hallmark movie than anything else.   Thanks for shining a light on the real deal; it is truly an inspiring film.

Iain Taylor

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True, very much an impressionistic view of Zappa. I like how they didn’t get too caught up with Frank’s music, more about his motivation, and his scintillating intellect. I saw it at a cinema when it came out here in February. I was the only soul in the theatre.

My first big concert was Frank in Sydney in ’73, it was quite mind altering, I was 14. They don’t make ‘em like Frank anymore… Brendan

Brendan Gallagher

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Great Piece Bob.  You’re so right – The greats don’t conform.
He was an iconoclast.  BTW, I guess I was one of the few WHO DID SEE IT on PPV last fall and absolutely loved it.

Best Always,

Ritch

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I was particularly moved by the notion that everything else, family and friends included, came second to him realizing the goal of witnessing others performing his compositions. Just to hear out loud what was in his head. And… that vault!!! Sweet Jesus!!! Be a little bit Frank if you’ve got it in ya.

Keep it up, Bob.

Terry Gottschalk

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Indeed Zappa was one of a kind. A true original. He was my teenage idol and he continued to be my hero through all my life. He was true to himself and he never compromised.
A true musical genius. He had so much more to give us. I miss him every day.
I’m glad I was part of the kickstarter project. This project was the closest I could get to him. My name with many others was immortalized in his book and in the end credits of the documentary. Thank you Alex Winter for this great tribute featuring a true Master.
Jean Anfossi
Music For Productions

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Glad for the head’s up about this being on Hulu. Tempted to rent it on a streaming service just to generate some income for the film makers.

Zappa had a run of brilliant records through the early 80s. After that, he had his moments, but Them or Us and You Are What You Is, to choose just two, lacked some of the inspiration that drove his great records before that. Brilliant musicianship, but the songs weren’t quite there. I liked the later symphonic stuff a lot, but I don’t know enough about that kind of music to judge if he was innovative there.

I’m a couple years younger than you and Zappa was in my pantheon of satirists who were truly heroic. He, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor–they offended people and made them think. They offended me sometimes. Boy, you sure don’t want to offend these days. That attitude will kill satire.

Joseph Taylor

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The one and only time I got to see Zappa live in concert was in March of 1988.  A magical evening,  as he brought his satirical Broadway the Hard Way tour to Chicago’s palatial Auditorium Theatre. Zappa loved to skewer anything and everything musically. His target was the disgraced preacher Jimmy Swaggert. Using a medley of Beatles songs and his lyrics, Zappa proceeded to eviscerate the televangelist in song. Best surprise of all –  he mentioned meeting this guy at the Grammy’s – a Mr. Sting. Yes that Sting,

whom he brought onstage, and they played “Murder by Numbers,” a Police song. Even better, he tossed some Zeppelin and Allman Brothers into the mix. I took my wife, who is not the world’s biggest concert goer, and she still talks about that show.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/frank-zappa/1988/auditorium-theatre-chicago-il-5bd0ef74.html

Steve Leventhal

SRN Broadcasting

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I was working for Bob Jones at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1969.  On Saturday, the main act, on at 8 PM, was Erroll Garner. I don’t know if you were there but they had music all day, starting at around noon, so…at noon on that Saturday, the Mothers went on.  I was watching from stage left and from the first note, I was transfixed.  I had heard their records but the records were NOTHING like the live show.  I think it was eleven guys (it was a long time ago) playing the most intricate, muscular, fantastic music I’d ever heard.  Nothing clever or edited like the LPs. I doubt either Bob or George Wein had heard them before booking them because I am certain they would have realized this was a primetime outfit.  They only got 45 minutes but the crowd went wild and all of us were left wanting WAY more.

That Zappa guy was somethin’.

Gregory Prestopino

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Frank Zappa was the reason I became a full time musician. The way he controlled his art and viewed it as an ongoing work always resonated with me since I was twelve. And thus, forty years later (I’m 60 now) I’m still writing and recording, creating a vast catalog of interconnected music that few will ever hear. And I couldn’t care less. Through the digital outlets and what ever venues I will play in the future I believe my music will reach those it needs to reach. Though I’ve never conformed to any particular trend in the music world I never saw that as a big deal. I just do what comes naturally and the universe sort of takes care of the rest. And thanks to FZ, at least I don’t feel alone going down this solitary path. His presence still looms over me and guides me. As he would say: “Anything anytime anywhere for no reason at all.” Yup.

Thanks Bob for letting others know of this movie. Frank Zappa is inspirational in any generation.

Kindest regards,
JT

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How did you get into Frank Zappa? For me, it was an article in Hit Parader magazine. In the mid 1960s, when I was in junior high, Hit Parader was not what you expected from a magazine whose main feature was the printed lyrics of top 40 songs. Hit Parader had interviews with Pete Townshend (pre-Tommy, and pre-Sell Out), Otis Redding, Frank Zappa, and other artists whose only broadcasting outlet was on the fledgling FM radio stations that could no longer simulcast the programming of its AM counterparts. These so-called “underground” stations could play tracks and album sides that AM would never touch. Hit Parader and FM radio is how our fellow NYC junior high outcasts discovered “Freak Out” with its epic “Return of the Son of Monster Magnet”, the doo-wop satires, the background story behind “Trouble Coming Every Day”. We became fans forever. The rest of the early albums on Verve sealed the deal.

Stuart Taubel

M.C. Mentholyptus Productions

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I’m 65 and discovered Zappa back in 1968….First purchase was ‘Weasels Ripped My Flesh’…saw him live 4 times and each time gained some insight of what the fu** was going on with me and the world..Today my copies of ‘Freak Out’, ‘Only In It’ ‘Lumpy Gravy’ etc. are among the ony material possessions I consider truly valuable, documents of who I am, what I believe…After Frank died, I never cried, back in the Fall after seeing Zappa, I cried like a fountain, delayed grieving is better than no grieving at all… Thanks the article, I’m with you all the way buddy, you nailed it! As I have often said/texted to a 32 year old friend of mine….”Think More Zappa, Less Kanye”…

All the best,

Chris O’Shea

Cascade, CO

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First heard Zappa (other than Valley Girl) my first week in the dorm my freshman year in college. It lead me down a rabbit hole of discovery of so much other music. It seemed to be what Zappa intended through his writing and interpretation of many musical styles, the level of musicianship and general lack or fear or care of what others thought.

Neal Bookspan

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Great perspective around the flick and the man.

I discovered Zappa at age 14 through “We’re Only In It For The Money,” as a child of boomers who discovered music through the lens of The Beatles. “Who was this freak who ripped off Sgt. Peppers?!“  – Little did I know what I was in for!

For folks who are intimidated by his seemingly endless catalogue and archive (as you noted- he created THAT MUCH) i’d suggest the album/concert film “Does Humor Belong In Music?” from the mid-1980s. It neatly encapsulates his expansive “brand” (Frank’s rolling in the grave at the sound of anyone referring to him as a brand) of genre-mutating, anti-iconoclast, hilarious yet virtuosic self-depracation.

Who knows what Frank would have to say had he lived through the culture-war political theatre nonsense permeating from the political and corporate media establishment?! Maybe we’d have some REAL influential influencers, not brand-whoring vanity-chasing money-grabbers. What would a Frank song ripping on influencers sound like?!? Good grief… we’ll never get that and we’ll see another human like Frank.

Now, on to Hulu!!

Dylan Muhlberg

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Saw it in the theater last Fall and loved it…

My journey with Frank began as a pre-teen in Texas in the latter half of the 60’s. My brother told me about a new show that came on the am radio station at midnight…KONO Koncepts. I tuned in that night and the first song I heard on my little transistor radio was “Who are the Brain Police?”. Imagine being 10 and up late in a dark bedroom when someone sings

“What will you do when the label comes off,

And the plastic’s all melted,

And the chrome is too soft?”

It blew my mind and we bought the compilation “Mothermania” not too long afterward and played the shit out of it…it’s a very heavy record with a good deal of juvenile humor mixed in.

I got to see him perform twice in later years and he didn’t disappoint.

I implore everyone to list to “Trouble Every Day”…it could have been written yesterday and needs to be heard today.

“You know something people

I’m not Black

But there’s a whole lots a times

I wish I could say I’m not white”

Too true

Bill Lambrecht

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As soon as this came out my wife and I paid to stream it. And it is a fantastic document of the times.

High School in New Rochelle NY ’67-69 was all “Susie Creamcheese” and “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” for my misfit friends and I.

So we would go off to the city, hang out in the Village, and 3 or 4 times we caught The Mothers at The Garrick Theater.

The audience would straggle in at night, and then at some time or other the band would gather on the stage, and then launch into the MOST amazing music, everything from Frank’s doo-wop songs to half hour free jams to “The Planets” by Holst. It was performance theater at its finest, it seemed often like total chaos but you knew that Zappa was in control the whole time, and you went along for the ride.

IN 1976 I moved to Los Angeles, and continued to follow Zappa’s career. A few of my musician friends rotated through Frank’s bands, every one of them saying it was the most challenging music they ever had to play or memorize.

Yes, there are some albatross items in the catalog (1000 Motels, anyome?) but there is so much brilliance there.

George Kahn

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We need a big dose of Frank right now! Someone who can provoke, challenge and make fun of us at the same time. Can you imagine what he would of made of the Trump phenomenon, as well as the feckless opposition? He would have wrapped it up in  amazing music and arrangements. It sure would be great to chew on that.
His music has provided me with endless enjoyment. Had he lived, I suspect he would have been unable to resist commenting on our current societal absurdities. I think he went down a rabbit hole with his Synclavier compositions toward the end of his life, but would have come back in a big way to set us straight if he could have seen where we’re at now. The film is a great overview of his life and work and will hopefully inspire our “next” Zappa, if we should be so lucky.
Kyle Peterson
Seattle

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Hi Bob! The Vietnam War ended in 1975, but in the middle of one night, in 1973, a rumor went around Boulder’s University of Colorado campus that the war had ended. People were outside dancing, shouting, and celebrating. I put my stereo speakers up to my dorm room window, turned up my Marantz amplifier to maximum, and blasted Frank Zappa’s “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama” for all to hear. It somehow expressed the feeling. Not necessarily in the words. But sort of. (Great instrumentals in the middle of that one too.)

 

There was also a great small club in Boulder called Tulagi, where, that same year, I saw Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, Muddy Waters. I went to the bathroom during one of the shows, and in the urinal next to me was Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black (“The Indian of the Group,” as he called himself). He was quite drunk but communicative. “Some people say fuckin’ is better than pissin’,” he said. “But I don’t know. . . .”

 

I don’t know if you were the only man left on shore after the sixties, but I look forward to the documentary.

 

–jeffrey ainis

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Thanks for the tip on the Zappa movie. Frank was the first rock star I ever met. My friend Tom Smith and I were working at a Top 40 station in Flint, Michigan in 1974 and Zappa and The Mothers were in town for a show. Frank’s incredible live album “Roxy And Elsewhere” had just been released. Against all logic, Tom had been assigned to do an interview with Frank that night after the show. He was justifiably nervous and borderline terrified at the prospect and begged me to accompany him to the interview. We attended the soundcheck and the show which was basically a 90-minute non-stop virtuoso performance. The band was incredibly tight and Frank commanded the stage from start to finish. After the show, we were escorted backstage where we greeted Frank who was reclined in a chair eating blueberry pie from a plastic cup. It only took a couple questions from Tom to signal Frank that Tom knew little about his career or his music. The whole episode was awkward and painful to watch as Frank’s patience steadily wore thin. I kept my mouth shut and suffered along with my pal. After Tom fumbled through his last question, Frank made a point that connected with me and I innocently commented, “I know what you mean.” There was a deathly pause as Frank turned to me, affixed a cold stare and said with most condescending tone I’ve ever felt, “You couldn’t possibly know what I mean.” With the smite completed, he polished off the cup of blueberry pie as we said goodnight, thankful to get out of there alive. Twenty years later, Dweezil Zappa was visiting my station (WLUP/Chicago) for an interview and I shared the story with him. He laughed out loud and said, “Yeah, that sounds like my dad. He loved doing that.”

Dave Logan

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I went to Berklee in 2004 after being a high school rock star. Well, more like a high school member of The Wrecking Crew. Anytime there was music to be made, I was there with my bass. But I was influenced by jam bands that were popular where I grew up around the ski hills in the Poconos and stuff on the radio. It wasn’t 2 months after moving to Boston that I got tipped off to Zappa. It changed my life. Literally every $15 I acquired for maybe a year went to buying a new FZ record until six had them all. Maybe the only other thing that educated me as deeply was listening to Prince rehearsal tapes, hearing him build shit until it was great…much like Frank rehearsals!

In 2008, I hosted the first show on the Berklee radio station that was broadcast from the incredible studio complex they built after, essentially, a closet. The feeling was that it was a new era for the station…the next evolution. I got to hit the button when we switched signals to the new room, and the first thing I played was “My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama”. I couldn’t think of anything better to plant a flag in the ground. Billy Bob Thornton once said that Zappa’s guitar playing came at you like razor blades. It sure fucking does, and that’s what I wanted to put out there.

I did it for like 5 years. I’m a junkie for all the genres, but Zappa is just special. I always kept him, at the very least, in the sidecar. Then I moved to Nashville and started playing. I still buy every new Zappa release, but it’s not a passion. This is where you come in, Bob: I trained, I took his musical, philosophical, and social lessons and moved into my adult life. You’ll never REALLY notice it in me playing or producing Nashville stuff, but everything I do is informed in some way by Frank.

FZ hated a lot of aural entertainment out there, but he’s always been right when he said, “Music is the best!” Damn right it is.

Matt O’Donnell

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I think a lot of people “had a Zappa period” when you found out about his music and dove in and listened to nothing but for months on end. i know i did, and you’re right.

the movie reminded me that Frank changed me. He inspired something inside of me that i think is inside all of us.

He inspired me to be free.

Did i start an avant garde, free jazz band? nope. i like Cheap Trick too much. I ended up wanting to be  the Replacements or Guided By Voices.

Would Frank have cared that i like power pop? i doubt it.

Would he care to know he gave me the gift of freedom? I hope so.

i think the high point of this story is Frank standing up for all of our freedoms to say what we want. He fought for free speech and nobody has since.

It’s a stark contrast to watching Zuckerberg testify. The opposite of someone fighting for Our free speech.

The hope of the internet was the freedom Frank fought for, i think.

i wonder if Frank would have fought Twitter shutting down Trump. I kind of think so.

Would Barking Pumpkin and that amazing claymation be at the forefront of NFTs and cryptocurrency? I’d like to think so.

i’m not saying i would vote for Trump and invest in Bitcoin. my IQ is higher than that 🙂

i played drums and bought a bunch of tour buses so i could stay free. I bitch about social media fucking everything up and i don’t trust governments.

I think things are basically spiritual, which i don’t think Frank could see. You pointed out that the film didn’t show “how he learned to write music” Maybe he didn’t “learn” Maybe he just knew. Maybe it’s spiritual and he was reincarnated, Bach or Tesla or Rockefeller. I think YOU miss those points in YOUR columns all the time Bob.

and i still love you. i don’t care who you vote for. i don’t care if i don’t agree with you. i care that you feel free enough to say what you think.
I’m sure we all have Frank to thank for that.

best
ian lee. a guy with some tour buses

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I so appreciate your review of the Frank Zappa documentary.

I was 8 and over at a friend’s house and we were goofing off hanging out and doing something that bothered his older brother and he came in and shoved Freak Out in my hands and said “Listen you little shit you don’t know nothing now go home and listen to this record.”  I did.

Frank’s take on racism/relations from when, 1965?, ‘Trouble Every Day, is still as relevant as ever, 50+ years later.

It’s a few months later and I see an ad for the Mother’s Fan Club, United Mutations, in the back of my Marvel comic and I send it away.

I get a questionnaire with this wonderful packet and I fill it out and, on the back, write him a fairly lengthy letter. I think I was bitching about my parents. Frank actually writes back. Sadly, that letter is gone into the ethers but I remember well what he said which was, ” Look kid I’m not Ann Landers, don’t bitch to me, go to the library and educate yourself.”

They say when the student is ready the teacher will appear.  I actually took him at his word and began to do just that and have been doing it ever since. Frank’s influence on my life was massive and you captured it well.

He also said something along the lines of “Drugs are stupid” that I didn’t listen to.  I needed to find some pain.

Eventually recovery set me on the path to understand, grow, amend and leave my regrets behind.

Alex Winter rocks. He’s a leading documentarian and I recommend his take on ‘The Panama Papers’.

Sincerely

Jimmy Cioe

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The Frank Zappa documentary is one of the very best and most moving films I’ve ever seen.  I spent $6.99 to watch it and would have spent $100.00.  It’s that good, that compelling, and that important.

 

Unless you are an avid fan, you probably don’t know that much about Frank Zappa.  I know I didn’t.  To me Frank was this far out guy who played quirky music with alluring lyrics that made you think.  I never listened that much to his albums but admired and had the utmost respect for what he did.  He was the thinking man’s rock artist.

 

But it turns out he was so much more than that.  He was a brilliant composer reimagining how music might be created, and beyond all The Mothers of Invention music, he also wrote a copious amount of some of the most amazing pieces written for a 36-piece orchestra.

 

In the beginning, the music Frank and The Mothers of Invention did was so unconventional they couldn’t get a foothold in Southern California.  People there seemed to only want to hear the familiar sounds, musical styles, and types of songs they were used to.  Moving to New York, they found an audience with more open minds, while playing a residency at the Garick Theater.  In 1967, doing a show there almost every night, Frank and The Mothers were able to work on their craft, try new stuff out, and really perfect their art.  I’m thinking that’s the reason why I may not have been properly introduced to The Mothers’ music, and Frank’s aesthetic.  Growing up in L.A., they simply weren’t around for me to see them.  Frank and the band happened in New York, where friends of mine today tell me they used to go see The Mothers of Invention all the time.

I was lucky enough to meet Frank in the early 70’s and hear some of his experimental electronic music.  One of my buddies, a disc jockey named Martin Perlich, had an interview show on KMET-FM in Los Angeles called “Electric Tongue.”  One day he told me he was going up to Frank’s house to interview him and asked if I wanted to come along.  I was very intrigued and, of course, said yes.

 

Frank lived with his family, wife Gail and two children at the time, daughter Moon Unit and son Dweezil.  Frank answered the door to his now legendary house, by himself—no manager, no assistants.  He invited us in and immediately my mind was blown.  All of the walls were painted a deep purple and the thick wall-to-wall carpet was a shocking bright orange–you felt like you were inside an impressionist painting.   Over the fireplace was a huge mural of a ’59 Chevy with flames coming out of side exhaust pipes.

 

We sat down in the living room and Martin put his small tape recorder on the coffee table between a couch and a couple of chairs to do the interview.  I did not know at the time how much Zappa had been influenced by classical music and composers.  And Zappa didn’t know that my friend Martin, aside from being an FM rock DJ, was well steeped in classical music and could go toe to toe with him on the subject.

 

And toe to toe they went, until Frank said, “You’re getting into some deep stuff right there unless you want to get into a big philosophical discussion.”  “I do,” pressed Martin.  “For a teenage radio station…you kiddin’ me?”  Martin, forged onward, “I’ll kid you.”

 

Martin could be very intense, and so could Zappa.  They started to talk about deep classical music philosophies and composers and before long had a big disagreement about one of them.  That disagreement got heated and turned into a bull-blown argument resulting in loud voices as they began to talk over one another.

 

I’d never seen anything like it.  Usually, DJ’s tread lightly around rock stars, not wanting to rock the boat.  These guys were now yelling at each other, and over a classical composer!

 

It was getting close to noon and I was getting hungry.  On the coffee table there was a plate of chocolate chip cookies under a glass dome.  Losing my willpower, I interrupted the argument.  “Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but Frank…could I have a cookie?”  Turning towards me, still in a rage, he yelled, “YES, you can have a fucking cookie!!”  Then he went back to arguing with Martin.

 

Eventually, they both calmed down and had quite a productive interview.  Towards the end things got much more lighthearted when the kids ran into the room.  Zappa gave them big hugs and it was nice to see some normalcy in what appeared to be a very weird household.  Of course, normal only lasted a few seconds until he called them by their names.

 

Frank, now in a much more lighthearted mood asked us if we wanted to hear the latest music piece he’d been working on.  Thrilled, we followed him down the stairs to the basement (on the way, I was able to snatch a second much-needed cookie).  The Zappa house had a pretty large basement where Frank had some recording equipment and shelves of recorded tapes.  What he played us that day was one of the most amazing pieces of music I’ve ever heard.

 

Frank had put contact microphones on every instrument of a 36-piece orchestra.  So, when you heard that instrument, you only heard the electronic tactile sound it made without all the usual overtones that you hear from violins, woodwinds, etc. Hearing all these different odd electronic sounds in the context of a classical music piece was indescribable.  In fact, it was music like his hero, French composer Edgard Varese had described, music being like a mass of organized sounds or noises.  The only thing I could think of was that it sounded like “ant music”—like watching the hustle bustle of ants going in and out of their anthill home but organized, each with a purpose.  Just incredible.

 

We had easily spent half a day with Frank and I felt like I’d fallen down Alice in Wonderland’s rabbit hole—engulfed by the weirdest surroundings, meeting weird characters, and listening to some of the most far-out music I’d ever heard.

 

When we walked out the front door our eyes had to adjust to the light, and also to the normalcy of the outside world—tress, the sky, cars going by.  We had been visiting a completely other universe.

There is so much to learn watching this documentary–it’s a MUST SEE for any music person, Zappa fan or not.  I don’t think I’ve been more moved by any other rock dock.

PS. If you are interested, the Martin Perlich interview is available on YouTube—sans argument and me asking for a cookie.

 

Paul Rappaport

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Bob..  Thank you soooooo much for your epic review of Zappa. Made me so emotional. Made me cry.

You rock.

Xo

Ahmet Zappa

From: Richard Griffiths

Subject: Jim Steinman

I was so sad to read about the passing of Jim Steinman this week. I feel privileged that I got to work with him and could call him my friend.

Bat Out Of Hell is one of the top 10 selling albums of all time,  here in the UK. Over 50 million worldwide. I can still picture in my mind the performance Meatloaf did Two out of Three Ain’t Bad on the Old Grey Whistle test back in 1977, with Steinman in band .

I was hooked from that moment.

In 1983 I was running Virgin Music in London, and I heard this song on the radio. Total Eclipse of the Heart, by Bonnie Tyler. I knew it was a smash. I did some digging on publishing situation, and found out it was available. I got in touch with his lawyer, who came back with the question,”Jim Steinman wants to know what you know about Jim?” To which I replied “I know more about Jim Steinman than Jim Steinman knows about Jim Steinman!”

I was invited to fly to NY and meet with Jim and his manager David Sonnenberg.

We met early evening in Jim’s apartment on the east side. He came in, shook my hand and said “Do you like red wine?” I told him I did and from that moment a wonderful business and personal relationship grew.

In 1988, the last thing I signed to Virgin in London, before I went to run the LA  office, was a concept album of a four girl band called Pandora’s Box. It was a total stiff.

However years later, 1995, I’m the President of Epic in NY and we were just starting to have success with Celine Dion. I’m in an AnR meeting with her manager and Paul Berger from Sony Canada. We’ve been playing all sorts of songs and Paul says, “We need a big power ballad to show how amazing Celine’s voice is” I told them to wait a minute while I went to find something I wanted to play them. I came back with the cassette of Pandora’s Box and played them It’s All Coming Back to Me Now. The rest is history!

I don’t think Jim Steinman has ever really been fully recognised for being the unique genius that he was.

And one of the greatest dinner guests you could ever hope for.

RIP Jim.

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Subject: Re: Steve Cropper-This Week’s Podcast

Dear Bob,

“Legend” – possibly the most overused term in the modern entertainment industry, but Steve is the real deal!

I was 21, and working for a UK promoter, on a tour for the Blues Brothers Band. I’d managed to sell every date on the tour. 2000-5000 seat theatres.

At the last minute, our tour manager got sick, and I was thrown in at the deep end. I turned up at Gatwick to meet 15 musicians with nothing but an itinerary (home made) and a tour bus.  Quite an induction for my first ever tour!

Fortunately for me, I didn’t actually know that much about them – Steve Cropper, Duck, Eddie Floyd, my great (late) friend Alan Rubin.

I soon realised after a day or two on a tour bus (and copious amounts of fried chicken later) who these guys really were.

We would watch a video (old VHS) on the bus and every time we put something on, Steve would say “yeah, watch this one, I have a song in it.”!

I was wet behind the ears, but ended the tour with dozens of stories about Otis, James Brown, a who’s who of legendary musicians.

People often comment on how people are “wonderful human beings” etc, but in Steve’s case, it’s 100% true – I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a more genuine and kind hearted individual. We checked his share prices every morning at breakfast,  and he would never let me pay for anything, even though it was me who was the TM.

It’s a rare commodity that someone has his abundance of talent and such a beautiful personality to boot.

Best Wishes from Scotland

Dave Rogers

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From: Edward Stasium

Subject: Re: Strange Brew

Hey Bob,

LOVE ’Strange Brew’

Albert King recorded and released  ‘Oh Pretty Woman’ as a single in August 1966.

’Strange Brew’ was recorded in April of 1967.

Please check out the guitar, especially the solo at 1:13

Influence!

Cheers… Ed

_______________________________________

From: Lewis Gersh

Subject: Re: Slava Rubin-This Week’s Podcast

Bob,

I led the first VC round into Indiegogo when it was only the three founder team, we had a great moment that speaks volumes of Slava and the team. They had pitched me early on and I was very interested but as a deal it wasn’t ready yet, so I referred them to a renowned valley “Sherpa” who helps coach promising startups get prime time financing ready. Eventually, I did go to terms to lead the first round and it was not an easy sell, we were fielding many objections to “crowdfunding”. Suddenly mid-round magic hit, metrics started taking off, literally up and to the right, and the round becomes way oversubscribed. Then Slava calls, some investors I had referred had then referred others who then counter-offered against my term sheet, more money and higher valuation. My reaction on the call was coaching Slava his first obligation as a founder is always to do what’s best for the company and it’s shareholders, and if it means throwing my deal under the bus, I will be very disappointed, but supportive. I told him he also has to wonder about the character of the guys undermining my deal which is what got them to the table in the first place. Slava said throwing my deal under the bus is NOT what they want to do, but they would like more money in the round and don’t want the dilution. I said ok, how about we split the difference, you choose the amount off additional capital and we will raise the valuation to offset half the dilution for it – founders and investors equal on the impact. Slava, Danae and Eric agreed, virtual handshake bonded, and we began a relationship of loyalty/trust that was infinitely more valuable and resonated through the culture of Indiegogo. And it’s great to see that culture has continued to proliferate. Cheers.

_______________________________________

From: William Goldsmith

Subject: Re: Patreon/Substack

Hi Bob,

My direct experience says you are totally right on this. Many of my peers in the Internet radio space went the subscription-only route years ago. Others went with the freemium model. Of the dozen or so independent webcasters with any kind of sizeable audience, only three (Radio Paradise, Accuradio & SOMA) kept their streams freely available — Accuradio with advertising, Radio Paradise & SOMA relying on voluntary support.

I don’t know how well Accuradio is doing (unless you’re Facebook or Google, selling advertising is a really hard way to make money these days). Both RP & SOMA are still thriving — with passionate, loyal, larger-than-ever audiences that support us, even though we are much more low-key about that sort of thing than public FM stations.

A couple of the others are still around, with audiences that have shrunk to a small fraction of what they once were. The rest are long gone.

I have no doubt that our experience (like yours) translates directly to any endeavor where the relationship between creators and their fans is important. Mess with that relationship — by adding friction to it of any kind or via heavy-handed attempts to monetize or manipulate it — at your peril.

 

—

Bill Goldsmith

Radio Paradise

www.radioparadise.com

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Subject: Re: Where Are The Record Companies?

The “show must be paused” initiative was taken seriously by Record Store Day. We stopped and reassessed everything that we could influence and are now making a concerted effort to empower Black owned record stores. In doing so we discovered that just as recently as about 10 years ago there were around 100 Black owned record stores. Today there are about 25.

We are doing two volumes of Record Store Day vinyl records we call “Songs For You,” with tracks kindly donated from H.E.R., Roberta Flack, Freddie Gibbs, Run The Jewels and fourteen others.  Our goal is to raise money, support and awareness for these Black owned business.

While working on this project, the one recurring theme in my conversation with the owners of these Black owned record stores is the positive impact that they have on local organizations, schools, community sports teams, etc. All of which they pretty much do on their own as there is little or no support coming from record companies anymore as it has been pretty much lost with the advent of streaming.

The net result is money is literally streaming out of the neighborhoods with nothing left behind for the community. Zero. Nothing for libraries, nothing for schools, nothing for the local sports team, nothing for the churches.

For the “Songs For You” project, we went out to ask for help and Vans/Off The Wall took a stand and gave Record Store Day the financial and critical support needed to make it possible.

https://www.vans.com/rsd

I hope this inspires someone else out there to do what they think is right in the space they work in, with the people they work with. That’s all any of us can do.

Michael Kurtz

Co-founder, Record Store Day

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From: Hilary Rosen

Subject: Re: Where Are The Record Companies?

This is not the industry of old.  We stood up didn’t we? We fought. We gave executives and artists platforms on voting, on censorship, on gun control, on racism, on LGBTQ and feminism.  We had agendas bigger than ourselves that was reflected in the music. But it requires leadership.  People need authentic and passionate leadership.  I think the industry is currently led by good people with good hearts and open minds who understand that we are in fraught times and speaking out is risky and potentially loaded with repercussions they can’t always control.  And they worry that the responsibility to get it right feels too big to step out. But it’s a choice. 

Hilary Rosen 

Vice Chair

SKDKnickerbocker