We’re in New York for the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation Teacher Awards at Carnegie Hall.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not until Friday, but we flew in early so we could have dinner with Malcolm Gladwell, the rest of our time being totally booked.\u00c2\u00a0 He told a great story analogizing the world to David and Goliath, but that’s his routine, so I won’t rip him off and replicate it here.<\/p>\n
We had lunch with Cliff and Dan from Razor & Tie.\u00c2\u00a0 Fascinating hearing Cliff’s story of his start.\u00c2\u00a0 From being the stand-in cantor at his old synagogue to a Wall Street lawyer to starting the "70’s Preservation Society" to sell compilation CDs via television ads.<\/p>\n
And after having a cupcake at that bakery the guys on SNL made famous, we rode back uptown in the rain and I went to the Apple Store.<\/p>\n
I know, I know, you can go to the Apple Store in Santa Monica.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s not the same as this one.\u00c2\u00a0 Where they had a special contraption to bag your umbrella so not only did it not get the equipment wet, it didn’t harm other patrons.\u00c2\u00a0 And there were zillions of them.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no recession at the Apple Store.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, there’s mania.\u00c2\u00a0 And a ton of products I’ve seen nowhere else.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Focal speakers for your iPod, and those Dr. Dre Beats headphones.\u00c2\u00a0 They sounded pretty good.\u00c2\u00a0 Heavy on the bass.\u00c2\u00a0 Are you surprised?<\/p>\n
And there’s a new power adapter that’s so tiny.\u00c2\u00a0 You just plug in your USB cable and jam the white plastic module into a socket.\u00c2\u00a0 I felt I needed one, but I figured I’d buy it online.\u00c2\u00a0 But if I’d been shopping online, I’d have never found it.\u00c2\u00a0 Retail can be entertainment, it can be informative, if the products are excellent and the merchandising is done right.<\/p>\n
The product was right at the Nintendo outlet, but it was empty.\u00c2\u00a0 I tried playing Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii, but gave up, I couldn’t figure it out and I felt I was being eyed by the employees.<\/p>\n
But then I went down the street to Manny’s.<\/p>\n
Back in the sixties, after everybody saw the Beatles and picked up a guitar, there came a time when you had to cash in your Japanese axe and get a real instrument, a Fender, or a Gibson.<\/p>\n
This required a train ride into New York, and a walk from Grand Central to 48th Street, where all the musical instrument stores were lined up side by side. Only a few remain.\u00c2\u00a0 Sam Ash and Manny’s.<\/p>\n
Sam Ash now owns Manny’s.\u00c2\u00a0 Has since 1999.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe that’s sacrilegious, but it’s Guitar Center’s world now, history has wiped the slate clean to such a degree that one can no longer lament the change, it’s necessary to own it.\u00c2\u00a0 And the change is truly dramatic.\u00c2\u00a0 Because Manny’s is closing.\u00c2\u00a0 For good.<\/p>\n
It was almost empty.\u00c2\u00a0 There was even less buzz than there was at the Nintendo emporium.\u00c2\u00a0 The workers didn’t care, they knew soon they’d be out of a job, they let me wander.<\/p>\n
Which is not how it was in the old days.\u00c2\u00a0 In the old days, you’d be accosted immediately, asked what you wanted.\u00c2\u00a0 And after saving money for years, after emptying your Bar Mitzvah bank account, you’d say you were interested in a Stratocaster, they’d ask what color and it would be delivered downstairs almost instantly, where you’d be expected to pay for it.<\/p>\n
At a rock bottom price, but you got none of the thrill of the purchase, none of the satisfaction.\u00c2\u00a0 You expected to be able to strum the strings, tweak the knobs for an hour or two.\u00c2\u00a0 But not at Manny’s.\u00c2\u00a0 Manny’s was like Best Buy.\u00c2\u00a0 Or a BMW dealership without salesmen.\u00c2\u00a0 This was expensive equipment, but it was sold like supermarket items.\u00c2\u00a0 Just that fast.<\/p>\n
But if you were famous, and I saw Gene Cornish on the street way back when, or if you had chutzpah, they’d let you try something out.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d pick up this yellow Danelectro guitar…<\/p>\n
It was still there.\u00c2\u00a0 Now in a glass case.\u00c2\u00a0 Broken down and put on exhibit.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d seen so many musicians play this schmutzy yellow electric guitar.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s weird when your memories come back, flowing with not only the experience, but the people you were with.<\/p>\n
And on the walls are signed pictures from every act every to ply the boards.\u00c2\u00a0 From the Del Vikings to Todd Rundgren.\u00c2\u00a0 I even saw a signed photo from the Steve Gibbons Band.\u00c2\u00a0 I own that record, does anyone else?<\/p>\n
What I was experiencing was the last vestige of sixties culture.\u00c2\u00a0 When music set the agenda, when you listened to the radio to know what was going on. Now it’s happening over at the Apple Store.\u00c2\u00a0 Times have changed, but the music industry has played a huge part in its own demise.<\/p>\n
Music became about winners and losers.\u00c2\u00a0 Our heroes were no longer admirable.\u00c2\u00a0 They played the role of rock star without any of the intellectual trappings. The sixties stars broke the rules for a reason, not just because they could, not just because they were rich.<\/p>\n
I don’t know if music can come back.<\/p>\n
Oh, don’t inundate me with the names of new bands I’ve never heard of that I probably won’t like anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re never going to be as big as the Beatles, not even as important as the Dave Clark Five.\u00c2\u00a0 No one’s ubiquitous anymore.<\/p>\n
But maybe we can have a scene.\u00c2\u00a0 Before the Beatles it was folk, there was even a hootenanny show on TV.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got to stop flailing, looking for saviors and start rebuilding.\u00c2\u00a0 Fading publications trot out tour grosses, but those acts are all long in the tooth.\u00c2\u00a0 The solution is new acts, that start off small, and not only don’t go for the brass ring, but don’t even see it.<\/p>\n
New York City never dies because of its pulse.\u00c2\u00a0 This is where people come to make it.\u00c2\u00a0 And others with wherewithal come to leave their mark.\u00c2\u00a0 The concentration of people and the opportunities inspire.<\/p>\n
If you can locate the pulse of music, I’d like you to tell me where it is.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, there’s a throb at Coachella.\u00c2\u00a0 And Bonnaroo.\u00c2\u00a0 But they’re closed scenes.\u00c2\u00a0 Name one band that’s broken from Coachella, hell, they’re signing old ones to perform just to bring up the gross.\u00c2\u00a0 And Bonnaroo is dependent on Phish.<\/p>\n
Don’t tell me how great it is, but how great it can be.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what I’m interested in.<\/p>\n
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