In Conversation: Quincy Jones

I don’t give a fuck.

That’s what musicians used to say, they gave the man the middle finger, their fans kept them alive, and if they struggled they had the wine, the women, the dope and the song.

Q argues there’s no song anymore.

This is a train-wreck you can’t take your eyes off of. Want to know what it was like reading “Rolling Stone” in the sixties and seventies? Read this. Pure, unadulterated honesty, leavened with a bit of craziness. We wanted to get closer to the artists, we needed to get closer to the artists, we’d put on headphones, sidle up to the speakers, because they were God.

There once was a note pure and easy…

That’s what Pete Townshend wrote, and that’s why he’s still remembered. History remembers artists first and then politicians, businessmen fade away, don’t you ever forget it. But in our monied culture artistry takes a backseat and everybody wants the bread and music has suffered for it.

But you can’t say that.

But Q just did!

The funny thing about Quincy Jones is he has no airs. If you can get close to him, he’ll talk to anybody. And he knows EVERYBODY! Take that you redneck crackers living in the hinterlands. You’re jealous, because life is about access, we’re a country of people, and knowing others is what it’s all about. If you’re satisfied with friends and family, so be it. But the reason TMZ and the “Housewives” series exist, never mind the Kardashians, is because we want more.

Q has been there.

So you get old enough and you know the jig is up. That life is a farce. A construct with inane rules. My dad told my friend Ronnie that when he turned fifty he started to live for himself, he stopped worrying about what other people thought, he ceased giving a fuck.

It’s the way of the world… AND IT’S SO FREEING!

So much b.s. I have no time for, so much fighting for attention that’s not worth it. I mean arts coverage is the worst, all the hype. If the film’s any good I’ll find out when it’s released, I don’t need to read the actor drone on about how it’s the best flick he’s ever done and his personal life.

Furthermore, actors are vessels.

Musicians are truth.

That’s why hip-hop triumphs, eviscerates other forms, there’s more truth and honesty there. Whether it be the actual words spoken or the emotion behind it, which is oftentimes I’ve been screwed my whole life and now I’ve got the mic and I’m not gonna let it go!

We also admire those who triumph against the odds. Only nitwits believe racism is eviscerated. Hell, if you were in an elevator and didn’t know who Q was you’d probably keep your distance. Imagine being black 24/7, that’s the game we’re playing here.

So Quincy is gonna be 85. And somehow, he decided to stop worrying what others thought, he decided to tell his truth.

And it’s all laid out in this interview.

It’s a breath of fresh air in this duplicitous nation. Where the true string-pullers stay quiet and the bloviators obfuscate. We depend upon artists for truth, but we’ve got too little of that.

Can you lay it on the line? Can you tell us how you feel? Can you reach down deep and puke it all up without giving a fuck?

That’s what we’re looking for.

That’s what’s been done here.

And no matter if you’re black or white, young or old, catch the references or not, you’ll be riveted by this interview, you’ll forward it to your friends, unlike the cotton candy movies you’ll continue to think about it, it will challenge your preconceptions.

That’s the power of art.

That’s the power of the individual.

That’s the power of Quincy Jones.

When Jason got booted by Lyor, I asked Roger Ames whether Flom was done.

Ames said no, that the ability to spot and sign talent was rare, and once you developed it, you never lost it.

Which is why Jason went on to sign Katy Perry at Capitol and Lorde and Greta Van Fleet at the reactivated Lava.

Jason not only signs talent, he markets it. Kid Rock was dead in the water until he took Lewis Largent out on the golf course and got him to listen to “Devil Without A Cause.” Then MTV added it, and the album went diamond. That’s ten million in sales, for those not conscious before the turn of the century.

Not that everything Jason has signed has broken, but his batting average is stratospheric, he’s a Hall of Fame hitter by music industry standards. There was Matchbox Twenty, the Corrs, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Tori Amos, Simple Plan, even Thirty Seconds To Mars, whom everybody else wanted to drop, but when Jason met with Jared and found out he was turning down acting gigs to break his band, he invested in him.

Now Jason’s father was a legendary New York attorney. But his dad came from nothing, and ended up giving money over and over again to Harvard, because its law school gave him a chance. This philanthropic gene was inherited by Jason, he puts his money and his time where his mouth is, most notably with the Innocence Project, which specializes in getting the wrongly accused out of jail. Listen to his podcast,

“Wrongful Conviction,” for further details

Now unlike so many of the fat cats, Jason doesn’t lie. He’s never told me an untruth, that’s not who he is.

And he also admits what he doesn’t know. Which is stunning. You’ll bring something up and he’ll say he knows nothing about it and he’ll ask you to explain it.

I really don’t know any other music exec like Jason. Sure, he’s an imperfect human being, but we all are.

But he knows how to close, he knows how to strategize, he knows how to break.

This his story from the beginning until now. From playing in a band in high school, from taking a break from college to try and make it, from putting up posters in record stores to ultimately signing hit acts.

You’ll learn something.

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I spoke at a conference in the Marina today, after I was done an old friend I hadn’t seen in nearly two decades came up to speak to me.

She is a woman.

That’s not that common in the music business. It’s a male-dominated construct, where there’s little upward mobility for women, they inhabit the lower ranks, but only a few make it to the top, and the business can’t stop championing those who do.

But that’s not enough.

It occurred to me during this conversation that men don’t really listen to women, certainly not in the music business. We’ve played our sports, we have our codes, and we exclude women. And most of us don’t even know it. We keep saying we’re not the problem, but we are.

You see there’s little opportunity.

Whether it be country radio programmers saying the audience doesn’t want women or the Grammys not offering Lorde a performance slot, but finding time for multiple appearances by Bono and Sting. Where were the three time female appearances? And although I am not a fan of the Lorde album, there was plenty of great work by women, let’s start with Miranda Lambert, but she doesn’t get any respect either, because country artists are redneck hicks and the coastal elites look down upon them. It’s true, have an accent and you’re dismissed. Isn’t that how we got into this mess, by leaving out others?

I don’t want to hear that they didn’t nominate any women producers because there aren’t any, that’s no excuse.

And one thing’s for sure, we’re not providing on-ramps for women, no way, we just say none play at the man’s level, that the opportunities for reward are not there.

That’s the crime of Neil Portnow, his bias, he doesn’t know any better, but that does not mean he should get a pass. Everyone can make a mistake, everyone can misspeak. But if you do it about race, you’re bumped, remember Al Campanis, DECADES AGO, but Neil gets another chance? I don’t think so. Meanwhile, the women are organizing against him and the men? Crickets. That shows how much support women are getting in this business.

Never mind the constant cries of “I never saw it,” “I’m not one of the bad guys.”

I guess you believe since you’re not racist no one else is, that African-Americans haven’t been shafted and don’t need a leg up.

We’re living in changed times folks. You’re so busy protecting the man’s interests. There’s a great opinion piece in Monday’s “New York Times.” It’s entitled

“#MeToo Has Done What the Law Could Not”

You need to read it, but right now I need to quote some salient points.

“This mass mobilization against sexual abuse, through an unprecedented wave of speaking out in conventional and social media, is eroding the two biggest barriers to ending sexual harassment in law and in life: the disbelief and trivializing dehumanization of its victims.”

When a man says it, he’s believed. When a woman says it, she’s “hysterical” or “crazy” or “on her period.”

“Even when she was believed, nothing he did to her mattered as much as what would be done to him if his actions against her were taken seriously. His value outweighed her sexualized worthlessness. His career, reputation, mental and emotional serenity and assets counted. Hers didn’t. In some ways, it was even worse to be believed and not have what he did matter. It meant she didn’t matter either.”

We’ve got to protect men and their careers at all costs. After all, women are breeders, housewives, it’s the males who are the breadwinners.

Not.

I’m not saying there aren’t false accusers out there, but I am saying that men have almost all of the control and power and the burden of proof on women is often insurmountable.

There’s a theory that this was all instigated by the election of the Pussy Grabber In Chief.

All I know is we can’t turn back the clock, we have to deal with the world we live in now, one where sexual harassment has been given light and airtime, and men take a backseat as the women lead.

The Wall fell, democracy reigned, and then strongmen appeared.

Whites felt powerless and elected Trump.

Women felt powerless and came out of the woodwork and accused men.

There’s pent-up anger about being left behind.

I’m sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable, you need to feel more uncomfortable, then maybe you’ll put yourself in women’s shoes, know how they feel, instead of being silent, protecting the corporation and the bosses who don’t care about you anyway.

That’s right, the government eviscerated whistleblower protections but the people… They’re protesting.

And you can get on the bandwagon or not, you can come down off your high horse or live in that ancient world where you wink at your bro and let them get away with it.

If you’re a male and you don’t know a male who has mistreated women…

You’re lying.

You are the problem, you let them get away with it. Because you believe in some team ethos, a silent code.

But that’s for the Mafia, and in America it’s been eradicated.

Furthermore, just because you’re sexualized, that does not mean you’re giving license to be taken advantage of. We keep hearing from old men “she was asking for it.”

Come on, have you got no self-control, can you not hear the word NO, can you just for a second believe these women are right?

We’ve heard rumors for decades about some of the fallen. No one believed their victims back then, but now they do.

Maybe you should too.

Not only the famous are abusers.

Wherever there’s money and power there are liberties taken.

Like in the music business.

As for Neil Portnow forming a task force…

Sometimes you need new blood.

It’s not about investigation, it’s not about a new code so much as pushing aside the ancient men with their out-of-date values and replacing them with young thinkers who will do the right thing. Hell, that’s one of the inherent problems in today’s music business, the ruling class of old white men who missed the internet and think they know better.

They don’t.

And they need to be held accountable.

And we all must pay for their sins.

That’s what living in a society is all about.

His performance has been universally panned by the press.

I point you to:

“The Washington Post”: “This Is How Justin Timberlake lost the Super Bowl”

“The Los Angeles Times”: “Justin Timberlake had nothing to say at the Super Bowl and wouldn’t stop saying it”

TMZ: “Justin Timberlake’s Halftime Show A Deaf-ing Disaster”

So the question becomes, where does this leave popular opinion? Does this hurt his career or does the sheer fact of his appearance help him? No doubt Timberlake sold tickets for his tour last night, although his album is considered to be a complete stiff. So his fans support him, and those who don’t don’t. But one thing we’ve learned, is to be ubiquitous, to be considered all-encompassing, there must be a positive vibe about you and your career, and with this performance JT seems to have turned the corner, arguably to his detriment.

This has been the first time this has happened with a Super Bowl appearance. Seen as a marketing opportunity, there’s always been scuttlebutt about the performance but no negative outcomes were experienced, unless you count the people talking about Janet Jackson’s career, but maybe she just didn’t have another hit…

So, once again, you can always say no, and sometimes should.
If you’re courting the press, know the press can turn against you.
And we know if your album is a hit or a stiff within a day now, that’s what streaming service data will tell you.

So you’re best to go your own way, reinvent the paradigm, be happy you’ve got your core audience and prey upon it, because the bigger you want to be, the more chance you have to fall.

P.S. Press, especially traditional media, means less than ever before, but when the stars align and the outlets agree, it can sway national opinion/conventional wisdom.