Science fiction or reality?

After today’s presentation I’m leaning towards the latter.

To tell you the truth, I’m so high on carbs, having eaten so many slices of pizza, I’m grinning from ear to ear. For connoisseurs, you know that it’s hard to get a good slice of pizza in L.A., just like it’s hard to get great Mexican food on the east coast. Oh, they serve it, it’s just a little off. Kinda like pastrami, it’s all good on the east coast…on the west, pick and choose your outlets. But these slices were from Jon & Vinny’s on Fairfax and they were thin and burnt, just like in New Haven, and even though I’m trying to stay away from bread, I found it irresistible. A good cherry on top of the sundae of the presentation.

So a who’s who of the entertainment business showed up at the Forum this morning for a detailed presentation on the Sphere. You know, that globe you’ve seen in trade shots, that futuristic thing you tell yourself will never happen?

Well now I think it’s real.

And the truth is, despite all the blowback about the web, I interact with more people online than I ever did in the old days, but there’s a certain something about being face to face. Kinda like a camp reunion. You see everybody you know you haven’t seen for a while and it’s fun. That’s why you want to live in L.A., that’s why you want to live in the big city, you can telecommute from anywhere, but you can’t get up close and personal with the people. The hang was fun. And productive.

So, the experience has been the same from time immemorial. The only thing we’ve added is amplification and a roof. Act gets on stage and the audience listens. Where you’re sitting is key. Too close and the mix is bad, too far and the sound is muddled.

But not in the Sphere.

They had a demonstration. Of the beaming technology. Every seat gets personalized sound. Dolan said in-ear monitors, wedges, were not needed at all for performers in the Sphere.

Anyway…

They bounce the sound to the individual, at the same volume no matter where you sit. And it sounds too good to be true, and then…

We stood in the back, we heard the guitars. We moved up, heard these same guitars at the same volume. Stood on the right, heard the saxes, stood on the left, only four feet away, heard the guitars only. Sounds futuristic, but it’s here NOW!

I know, I know, you don’t believe me, and I didn’t believe it either, until I heard it.

So the Sphere is a giant dome, the first to break ground in Vegas in the fall, up and running fourteen months later. The second up in London a year after that.

But you’ve got to understand, these are not just concert venues.

They are EXPERIENCES!

For far too long, Silicon Valley has wagged the entertainment industry tail. We’ve followed, not led. None of our own has broken barriers.

Until now.

Maybe it takes a billionaire, which Jim Dolan is. He says he had the vision almost two decades ago, but now the technology is here.

Not only the sound, but the screen.

It covers the whole dome in pixel density far outstripping HD.

And there’s smellavision and they can even spray water on you and you start to think about failed technologies like 3-D and the earth-shaking system introduced for “Earthquake,” but then you realize, if only the sound works, it’s worth it.

So this is a breakthrough. Aligned with the times.

Just going and hearing is no longer enough. People want experiences. Something they can talk about as opposed to something they can own. And what the Sphere is is a platform, for creativity. Imagine IMAX on steroids. MSG has a fund for creativity, pitch ’em and they might say yes. What can you do with the technology?

And it’s not only music, but trade shows and new immersive experiences we depend on Hollywood to create.

I’d love to be a skeptic, but I’m convinced.

Creatively.

As for financially?

He who takes the big risks gets the big rewards.

Or the big losses.

But this is a giant leap forward, and it’s EXCITING!

With The Beatles

We had “Meet The Beatles!” before the band appeared on “Ed Sullivan.” The single of “She Loves You” on Swan backed with “I’ll Get You” too, actually we had that first.

They called it “Beatlemania,” and it truly was. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” exploded out of transistors right after the New Year and the band was on everybody’s lips, back when we were young and impressionable, when distractions were limited and you could easily gain everybody’s attention, assuming you had the platform and the goods.

I know some boomers were old enough to buy the album themselves, but the bulge was comprised of a younger set, without driver’s licenses, they bugged their parents to purchase “Meet The Beatles!” with the desire only a child can exhibit, mixed with nagging, and sure, parents wanted to shut their kids up, but even more they wanted to deliver for them, in an era where an LP cost between two and three dollars. We’d heard about a “jet set,” but we not only weren’t members, we didn’t know anybody who was, we were not famous, that was a tiny group of people, and as far as being rich…those were people who drove Cadillacs, we couldn’t contemplate a lifestyle beyond that. Which is to say satiating your children’s desires used to be so much cheaper, so much easier to achieve.

And when “Meet The Beatles!” came home you might have played it on the console stereo in the living room, but if you were lucky you had a record player in your bedroom, a box containing a speaker with a heavy tonearm that turned the vinyl gray with repeated plays, and which oftentimes sported a taped-on nickel or dime to ensure there was no skipping.

And we played the album, over and over again, for two reasons, we had so little product and we had so few distractions. We’d sit there in front of the box, as close as possible, and soak up the sound, believing the more we knew it the closer we were to the source, the magical Beatles.

And unlike its English iteration, the album contained “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” opening side one. And no listening of the track today can simulate what once was, a fresh sound that exploded out of the speaker that sounded like nothing else.

And at this point, you hear “I Saw Her Standing There” much more, with its reference to the object of desire being seventeen. Truth was we thought that was too young back then, she would still be in HIGH SCHOOL! Then again, didn’t people drop out earlier in the U.K? It was all exotic, England went from the backward Mother Country to the primary influence overnight. We soaked up the clothing and the accent, anything to get closer.

And at this late date, most of the focus is on the Beatles’ later work, from “Rubber Soul” on, when they were experimenting, testing limits, when the lyrics and the execution were more mature.

And for a few decades there, we had little access to “Meet The Beatles!” You had to own the LP and a record player and the desire to spin it, hearing the clicks and pops evidencing history. And you didn’t.

And then there was the seventies renaissance with “Breakfast With The Beatles” and in the eighties the albums came out on CD and suddenly, the Beatles were a staple of our society, they sustained.

But…

You rarely heard those initial two minute tracks.

“Little Child” was even 1:46, it didn’t seem like someone implored the band to condense their message, it’s just that they spun off diamonds, they were thrilled they had anybody’s attention, they didn’t want to overdo it, they wanted to nail it and bask in the accolades.

And everybody had their favorite Beatle. Paul, the cute one. Or John, the brainy one. Or Ringo, the playful one.

Or George, the sensitive one. He stood on stage picking the notes, he was essential but gained less attention, less focus, and then there was “Don’t Bother Me.”

It was raw and dark in a way that nothing else on the LP was.

Sure, “This Boy” was sensitive and quiet, but it sounded like something that ultimately seemed to come from the “American Graffiti” soundtrack, it looked back, not forward.

And “Till There Was You” was literally a cover, which we all knew, because prior to the Beatles the dominant, universal sound was Broadway Original Cast albums.

But “Don’t Bother Me”…

In retrospect, the vocal was different, but at this time, except for Ringo, we thought they all sounded the same. But the track and the intonation…they stood out.

Since she’s gone
I want no one
To talk to me

This we understood. Our ultimate goal was to be popular, and most people were not, so they sat in their bedrooms contemplating their loner status. They didn’t want to confide in their parents, they were not best friends, they had all these feelings they couldn’t express, but they were in the grooves of this record.

So go away and leave me alone

How many times did you say this to the ‘rents? We just wanted to be left alone, to wallow in our thoughts, we felt if we stewed in our own juices long enough we’d cook ourselves into a better mood. Then again, we had to get up the next day and go to school, there was a reset button, a veritable “Groundhog Day,” a chance to get it right the next time.

I can’t believe
That she would leave
Me on my own

Indignation, it’s the human condition when you’re a teenager, feeling your way. You’re not resigned to your spouse, to your job, you’re jumping through hoops and when one is taken away, you feel it. It’s personal. Despite people saying it’s them and not you, deep inside you doubt that, you KNOW it’s you.

I know I’ll never be the same
If I don’t get her back again
Because I know she’ll always be
The only girl for me

You’ve got to be damn old until you realize life is a process, with ups and downs, and that you can survive almost anything and end up better off. It’s all personal before this. And loss seems permanent. You’re convinced you’ll never find anyone as good, and since this was probably the first time you were in love, or got to second base, or third, or even home, it was all the more visceral, the comedown back to where you once were was EXCRUCIATING!

But till she’s here
Please don’t come near
Just stay away

It’s like you’re truly wounded, if someone touches you, talks to you, it’s gonna hurt too much to endure. You’re willing your way back to the past, when the only way to go is forward.

So the dark, brooding Beatle wrote a dark brooding song. He was more sensitive, he wasn’t always winning. That smile gave Paul everything he wanted. John was too smart for the room, he was ready with a quip, it paid dividends. Ringo was the butt of the joke and the life of the party and…

George was left out.

That’s what it felt like.

And the winter seems endless at that age. Now life passes too quickly. Then it couldn’t pass fast enough. You sat in your bedroom after school, on weekends, and played your records again and again and again, you knew them by heart, they were best friends. That’s why girls screamed at gigs, they were so invested in the act, they couldn’t believe the band was there in the flesh, so close, yet so far, to scream was to be in the moment, for soon you’d be back home with your memories, and memories fade.

The guitar intro seems to be saying…

I’m gonna tell you a story.

And when the track starts to fade out two minutes later…

You’re left wondering what happened, what came after, how George was feeling. Could this mega-successful act be just like you and me?

They were and they were not.

The Beatles were the first with this level of success.

But we’re all human under the skin.

And we get in touch with our humanity through art.

Most art is disposable.

And then there’s that stuff that lasts, that permeates our skin, seeps in and becomes part of us.

And its saturation is not based on premeditation, but inspiration. Doesn’t matter if it’s ragged, perfection is irrelevant, it’s got more to do with a FEELING!

When I hear “Don’t Bother Me” I’m brought right back to the winter of ’64. Sledding in the backyard, skiing at Mt. Snow, watching Jim McKay on “Wide World of Sports.”

It’s as if “Meet The Beatles!” is a younger brother, or a cousin, a blood relative.

And at this point, fifty years hence, “Don’t Bother Me” is my favorite song on the record.

He gets the least attention, but George was an integral part of the band. He played the leads, which we all started to pick out shortly. He was the youngest member. But he seemed to have thought about it, and with “Don’t Bother Me” he started to speak his truth. Ain’t it always darkness that leads us to the light.

Open Skyz – Nothing without You (audio)

It was the wrong band on the wrong label at the wrong time.

But the music goes through my brain on a regular basis, even twenty five years later.

Music used to be precious, to be on the mailing list was akin to nirvana, only equaled by having a free subscription to AOL when they charged by the minute, which I had too, ah the old perks of the music industry, when concert tickets were still free and music drove the culture, when it was a business but excess was part of the equation.

Used to be every three years a new sound would come and upend the previous one. That’s how hair band music was eclipsed by grunge. And, honestly, Open Skyz is more akin to Journey, in look and vocal timbre, but I always saw them as separate from the Steve Perry juggernaut.

Truly a faceless band, their image was not even on the album cover, which is the kiss of death, it smacks of corporate rock, of a studio creation, but Open Skyz was a band, previously known as Valentine, with a bit of MTV traction, but then they jumped from Warner Brothers to RCA and were told they needed a new moniker and this was the one they ended up with.

I guess what caught my eye was the production by Richie Zito. A guitarist with a flair behind the board, he’d done good work with Eddie Money, he knew how to wail.

And this was back before music was made for earbuds. Younger kids had portable CD players, but the oldsters, the thirtysomethings and boomers, had big rigs, the switch from vinyl/cassettes to CDs was complete, and everybody still had power and big speakers and sound quality was important and when you cranked it up and the whole room was awash in the sound…

You felt good.

Now the opening cut on the Open Skyz album is “None Of It Matters.” An upbeat explosion. The Stones taught us you hit ’em with your best shot right up front, especially in the CD era, when there was only one side, many people never made it to the end of the album, even fewer do now.

“None Of It Matters” is not a radio hit, it wasn’t for MTV, it was made for the owner, the fan, a private pleasure…

All of your gold, all of your toys
None of it matters

Music used to sell the other. It was for the alienated, those who just did not fit into society. They watched television and did not see themselves, they wanted to be understood, they put on a record…

She don’t want your diamond rings
But she wants to feel alive

Money can’t buy you love. Or can it? Especially today, when life is so damn hard. Funny how many actresses marry hedge funders. People want to be protected, they want a leg up, cash opens doors closed to so many others, and artistic achievements pale in comparison.

But this was not how it used to be.

The acts didn’t boast. Their goal was to connect. And if they did, then cash rained down, WHAT A CONCEPT!

The third cut was “Golden Years,” which started off quiet, as if from a distant galaxy, and then resonated with its message.

Happily ever after is more than enough

It most certainly is, but try selling that idea in an era where everybody’s looking over their shoulder, for something better.

And cut four is the title cut, “Open Skies,” which sounds at first like it’s an outtake from the second side of “Magical Mystery Tour,” and then locks in and has you nodding your head as it turns into an anthem.

And there’s a cover of Supertramp’s “Give A Little Bit,” and ballads looking to pull the heartstrings of women around the world that didn’t, but the piece de resistance is track two, “Nothing Without You.”

There’s a drum fill, and then ethereal instrumentation that immediately sets your mind free, has you hovering three feet above your bed.

Every day and every night I try to be so strong
Every inch of me cries out for you whenever you’re gone

Schmaltzy, I know, but if you heard the record…

Have you been dumped, have you been on the losing end of distance, have you played your hand wrong, have you been alone and unable to stop thinking about them…

Then this is the music you want to hear, it soothes you.

But it’s about the advent of a relationship, when nothing else matters, when you can’t stop thinking about…

Her.

When my heart beats now
It’s not the same somehow
There’s nothing I can do
‘Cause I’m nothing without you

But it’s the instrumentation and the vocal histrionics, the way Hugo works his way in and around the words, it’s like you’re in a slow motion amusement park, you can see where you’re going, can feel the twists and turns, other people may be on the ride, but you’re in your own bubble.

I know, I know, punk was a reaction to prog rock, to slickness, to calculation, metal too, they were raw and basic, but…

You don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

And everything Open Skyz represents is anathema today. Melody, production, now it’s all about beats, a jolt, it’s more physical than emotional, but “Nothing Without You” resonates on both levels, the sound is a warm bath and then the lyrics percolate and penetrate and even though you may be alone, you feel part of a club, a giant continuum, of people who believe music will not only set their souls free, but keep them warm at night.

And there’s nothing cool about Open Skyz. As a matter of fact, “Nothing Without You” was not written by the band, but Allee Willis, Franne Golde and Suzann Rye, there is calculation involved.

But the target was missed. Like I said, Pearl Jam was dominant, RCA was an also-ran and this music was already in the rearview mirror and still is.

And insiders hate this stuff. They want something more raw, more authentic. But to be unable to open your heart to different sounds is the mark of a closed mind with limited perspective.

And sometimes, when the progenitor has lost their way, the imitation well-done is so satisfying. And what was ersatz yesterday is iconic today, can you say Boston, can you say Karen Carpenter?

Music is personal. It plays in your brain.

I know, going to the show is a good time.

But I never went to party, I went to connect with the band on stage.

I connect with Open Skyz.

“None Of It Matters”

(The Open Skyz album is on no streaming service, therefore I can’t link to “Golden Years” or “Open Skies,” they’re not even on YouTube!)

If you want to learn about the music for “Love” in Vegas and remixing “Sgt. Pepper” and being the son of a legendary father, THIS IS THE PLACE!

Here’s a sample:

Giles Martin-This Week’s Podcast

 

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