Subject: Re: John Boylan On Little River Band<\/p>\n
Hey Bob,<\/p>\n
First of all, I love John Boylan. And I owe my career as a record producer to the coincidental fact that the REO album, You can tune a Piano, but you can\u2019t Tuna fish, got horribly behind schedule, John was committed to produce Little River Band, and he had to leave me in charge of that REO Speedwagon album. Boylan was an Executive Producer on the Tuna album, and because he had to leave us in mid-stream, (pun intended), he did the unthinkable: He gave back his production points! John came out to see a show recently, and he looked exactly the same as the day we met in 1977! I am very grateful that John Boylan is part of my life.<\/p>\n
Kevin Cronin \u2026 REO Speedwagon<\/p>\n
____________________________________<\/p>\n
Subject: Re: Superstar AI Album<\/p>\n
Good one on AI Album Bob for April Fools!<\/p>\n
– Regarding drum machine. Best advice Prince\u2019s manager Steve Fargnoli ever told me as a drummer staring at the horror of the first Linn LM1. \u201cWell it\u2019s here, so why not just learn to use it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Regards,<\/p>\n
Bobby Z<\/p>\n
Prince & The Revolution<\/p>\n
____________________________________<\/p>\n
From: Neil Giraldo<\/p>\n
Subject: Re: Superstar AI Album..Neil G<\/p>\n
Morning Bob,<\/p>\n
Interesting article on AI in relation to music. Gotta move forward with the times.<\/p>\n
The LinnDrum frightened many drummers. At first!<\/p>\n
Pro Tools,Auto tune etc gave everyone a safely net which could be a good thing or a bad thing! It\u2019s how you use it.<\/p>\n
I also agree with Don Was: everything is a tool, and you have to know how to use it. That means understanding all the elements\u2014song structure, storyline, and more. Plus, you\u2019ve got to be brave and unafraid to be different\u2014willing to try something that doesn\u2019t sound like everything else out there in real time.<\/p>\n
By the way\u2014\u201cWhen Doves Cry\u201d was brilliant! And my favorite Prince song.<\/p>\n
Speaking of tools from the \u201980s…<\/p>\n
I was willing to accept new technology.The LinnDrum was a total game changer and remained a valuable tool for me on many songs that became hits. True drummers weren\u2019t exactly thrilled\u2014especially mine he thought i was crazy\u2014when I told him I just wanted top kit only: snare and hi-hat on \u201cLove Is a Battlefield.\u201d That was 1983!\u00a0 BTW The drum fills he played live in the song were great and the machine would never capture that feel!<\/p>\n
And diving even deeper, I actually made a mistake when programming the LinnDrum because I was so new to it. I accidentally erased one measure\u2014so instead of an 8-bar phrase, it became a 7-bar phrase and I didn\u2019t know how to correct it. That made the kick land in some strange spots that wouldn\u2019t normally work. But I kept it anyway, because I loved the feel.<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s the thing\u2014this is where the music business, run from the top floor high-rise, can try to have the final say (which doesn’t always align with your gut). \u201cBattlefield\u201d was initially turned down by folks who\u2019ll remain nameless. It took multiple listens and days before they started to understand it\u2014and eventually took the chance and released it which i was thankful for because i would not change a thing i knew i had it!<\/p>\n
So, regarding AI: use the new tool for what it is\u2014a tool. Like my Sicilian carpenter father used to say, \u201cAnyone can use a hammer to drive a nail, but when you know how to use it properly, you build like a pro.\u201d Or you use a nail gun which in the wrong hands is fatal!<\/p>\n
Okay, enuff rambling from me.<\/p>\n
Neil<\/p>\n
____________________________________<\/p>\n
Subject: Re: Old School\/New School<\/p>\n
Dear Bob\u2026\u2026I, of course, am Old School. \u00a0Not that \u00a0there\u2019s anything wrong with that. \u00a0And I truly don\u2019t understand how the music business works today. I do know that Daryl and I worked our asses off for years in mostly stinking, \u00a0\u00a0smoky little clubs in the LA area, learning how to earn the audience\u2019s attention. \u00a0We were both trained as classical musicians, but Daryl was a boogie guy, and I loved jazz and the music my father introduced me to when I was young\u2026.mostly the \u201cGreat American Songbook\u201d. \u00a0Together over time we figured out what worked for us. \u00a0It was a long hard road, but we had some success\u2026.and by the time we became very well known, we were about as ready as we could be to \u201cmake it\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0My point is we had worked so hard and so long to figure out how to reach our audience, when the stars aligned and<\/p>\n
luck was on our side, we were ready.<\/p>\n
Your recent email was fascinating to me, and helped me understand how success in the pop music works today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Toni Tennille<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n From: Robert Margouleff<\/p>\n Subject: Re: Post Covid<\/p>\n Hey Bob,<\/p>\n Having produced “DEVO” I think, sadly that you are spot on. When I was a young man, I thought I had all the answers, now I only have the questions.<\/p>\n Margouleff<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Re: Jesse Welles<\/p>\n Now if a voice like Ed Sheeran decided to sing these songs we could have something big.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Steve Lillywhite<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n From: Adam Howell<\/p>\n Subject: Re: Luke Combs At Stagecoach<\/p>\n Thanks for this, so true. When I asked a distracted student what SHE\u2019D like to play\/learn when I was teaching at the local School Of Rock, she suggested a couple of country tunes. The manager pulled me up afterwards and admonished me with \u201cwe don\u2019t do country here\u201d. I suggested to her that if you had to pick one spot in the country with the best writing currently, and certainly the best levels of musicianship, it would be Nashville or maybe Austin. She, as a flaming liberal, didn\u2019t \u00a0appreciate that I called her rule a form of racism. Oh well.<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Indirect Ron Delsener\/Herbie Mann\/Duane Allman\u00a0 <\/span>Story<\/p>\n When Herbie Mann heard Duane Allman’s guitar playing from Wollman Rink through his open apartment window he got dressed and walked down to see who it was and how to contact Duane’s management. And that’s how Duane ended up on Herbie’s “Push-Push” album from playing Ron’s show at Wollman. I was told this story at the time when I was tour managing the Allmans.<\/p>\n Willie Perkins<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Re: Re-Ron Delsener<\/p>\n I will always appreciate Ron Delsener for many reasons but most importantly he taught me about Ticket scalping. I had four Door shows in the Felt Forum with Ron and we sold out instantly. Everyone I knew in New York started calling to get tickets to the show and I had none. I kept calling Ron and they were also that I couldn\u2019t get any.<\/p>\n So we’re sitting at settlement where you count the unsold tickets, but there aren\u2019t any and Ron comes in with a box of unsold tickets and this is what we have to take this off the Gross. I said Ron I\u2019ve been trying to buy those tickets for a month. I\u2019m certainly not buying them after the show. It turned into a big kerfuffle, but I finally got my way and in that process learned that all the ticket brokers would return the unsold inventory to the Box Office. I remember the early days. !!<\/p>\n Bill Siddons<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods\/Ron Delsener<\/p>\n Hehe, this is great… here’s mine.<\/p>\n I act as a reference of my students after they graduate and normally do not mind it…. but in the last 3 or 4 years, there has been a shift.<\/p>\n Companies will reach out to me about a potential hire, by email, but instead of a phone interview, they will attach a Word document that has 2 or 3 pages of questions to fill out -IN DETAIL- about why this person would be a good hire.\u00a0 I actually called the one company and asked if this was for real or a joke. It was no joke.\u00a0 Instead of a 5-10 phone interview, which i don’t mind doing, it would be an hour filling this f*cking document out- I am doing their work.\u00a0 I did manage to do a phone interview the first time, but I’m getting more of these all the time… I simply reply that i can do a phone interview… nothing else… I’m curious if this is common in the USA with your readers.<\/p>\n Todd Devonshire<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods\/Ron Delsener<\/p>\n Bob you could a whole series on bad drivers. My most recent favorite. I was on a 2 lane street behind a car with a bumper sticker that said \u201c senior driver, please be patient.\u201d \u00a0We got to a stop sign. The women in the car just sat there. I gave her almost 2 minutes and then slowly drove on the other side of the street around her. She was sitting there talking in her phone! \u00a0Oblivious to where she was.<\/p>\n North Carolina has horrible drivers overall. I have more for when you do that column.<\/p>\n Stephen Knill<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods\/Ron Delsener<\/p>\n Airport etiquette is at an ALL TIME LOW.<\/p>\n I was on a flight boarding in Vegas and there was literally 30 people in the pre board area.\u00a0 The gate attendant said they would not be able to get us off on time if he had to walk everyone down the aisle.\u00a0 He then asked if any of those people could get up out of their wheelchairs and walk down the jetway and EVERY single one of them did.<\/p>\n John Nichols<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods\/Ron Delsener<\/p>\n Ok Bob, new rant… gyms!<\/p>\n After a good workout, I like to relax in the gym’s sauna.\u00a0 It’s good for one’s health and it is relaxing… Of course, it has to be shared with others and that’s all good – EXCEPt when some people decide to have conference\u00a0calls in the sauna!!! Or listen to music (regardless of what music) in the sauna! Or just have conversations with their friends during a sauna!!! Or watching tiktok – out loud!!!\u00a0 Did anyone ask for this?\u00a0 Is no space safe from social media … and now it has to be shared??? It comes down to the same cause as your Whole Foods experience… the absence of community norms and civil behavior I think….<\/p>\n Harout Topsacalian<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Re: Mailbag-More Whole Foods\/Ron Delsener<\/p>\n A final one from our pasts:<\/p>\n People in line at the drugstore to pick up their developed photos\u2026And Then stand right there at the counter looking and emoting over Every print of the two rolls of 24 exposures!<\/p>\n Dennis Brent<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Re: Re-Ron Delsener<\/p>\n Hi Bob. I don’t know if anyone mentioned this. In the late 70s, Ron Delsener ran this ticket club in NYC called InHouse tickets, where if you signed up for a hundred bucks or so, you could stop by their office, pick up four tickets for ANY, I mean ANY show he was producing. Didn’t matter if it was Stevie Ray Vaughn or Elvis Costello at Pier 84 (the descendant of those Wollman Rink Schaefer Beer shows) or the Stones or Bowie at Madison Square Garden. Four tickets at face value. One time, I showed up and actually met Ron, and he was cool and cordial, he asked me what shows I wanted to see…Around the same time, Keith Richards and the New Barbarians with Stanley Clarke, Waddy Wachtel, etc played at the Beacon Theater. So during the intermission, I see Ron Delsener, Bill Graham, and John Scher from NJ’s Capitol Theater (saw many a Springsteen show there) standing and chatting in the aisle near the stage. Talk about a triumvirate of rock promoters…Like you Bob, I spent many a night at the Fillmore East so when I saw Bill Graham and Ron Delsener and John Scher I had to go up to ’em like the fan boy I was (and still am), and thank them, as Abba said, for all the music. Bill Graham shook my hand, and said, “Thanks, kid.” I think I was 27, but I’ll never forget that moment. I cannot count how many of Ron Delsener’s shows I saw in my 20 years in NYC. Keep on rocking in the free world or whatever is left of it!<\/p>\n Chip Lovitt<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n From: David Thomson<\/p>\n Subject: Re: More Macular Degeneration<\/p>\n So true Bob, people think they are going to live forever. All four of my grandparents lived into their 90s. My parents took such good care of themselves and then, at the same time in their 70s, one got a brain tumor and the other vascular dementia. Three and a half years of doctors, rehabilitation, tests, decline, nursing homes, you name it. It was an awful train wreck. You absolutely never know. These vessels we depend on will betray us. At least we can try to keep tabs with the best medical science available.<\/p>\n David Thomson<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Neil Giraldo<\/p>\n Hey Bob, just finished listening to your podcast. Thought I\u2019d check in and tell you I so enjoy all your interviews on your podcast as well as your columns but as a young guy I just wanted to tell you how much I love learning more about Pat and Neal.<\/p>\n See my first local job was at Chrysalis in 1985 and Pat Benatar and Neil were hometown heroes. They were so kind to me as a rookie Promo guy. Matter of fact the first time I flew out of private plane was with Pat Neal found out I was gonna have to catch two flights to beat them in Columbus the day after the Erie Pennsylvania show so they said just come on our plane. Haley was just a baby was pretty cool.<\/p>\n Anyways, hope you\u2019re well. Thanks for all the great entertainment.<\/p>\n Greg \u00a0Thompson<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Re: San Francisco Sound Playlist<\/p>\n What did we do before the internet?<\/p>\n I caught your most recent San Francisco show, Bob.\u00a0 It was great!<\/p>\n When I heard the tune you played by It’s a Beautiful Day called Don and Dewey I was like… HEY, that’s Wring\u00a0That Neck by Deep Purple!<\/p>\n Turns out both of those were “inspired” by the song\u00a0Stretchin’ Out by Don and Dewey themselves, and neither of them credit Don Harris \/ Dewey Terry.<\/p>\n And of course, YouTube has the audio.\u00a0 Thanks for the inspiration to do a deep dive on these.<\/p>\n Regards,<\/p>\n Joe Tymecki<\/p>\n Fairfax, VT<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Re: Music<\/p>\n Hey Bob<\/p>\n You hit something spot on\u2026I always worked a lot but I always took good breaks away from work to open my mind.<\/p>\n In the 90s we had a cool little group of Managers, Agents, Lawyers and Record company guys who were all movers and shakers and we would go surf all over the world.<\/p>\n I was the only musician invited in the group but I always got along with the biz guys more than most musicians. During those times we would all get great ideas and often help each other with them ( that\u2019s how I ended up at 19\/American Idol).<\/p>\n All that time away from creating actually helped me create more.<\/p>\n NOW the problem is this\u2026in the 90s you could pick up a hundred grand here and there and that was plenty enough to live really good taking lots of time off while not working\u2026.Now you gotta make a couple hundred grand just to be broke.<\/p>\n Stevie Salas<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n From: Peter Noone<\/p>\n Subject: Re: Music<\/p>\n Me<\/p>\n Live by the hit, die by the hit… But today you don’t need many to sustain a career. If you have a few, you can tour forever, more than ever before.<\/p>\n 100. Concerts this ear not had a hit for 56 years<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Re: The Seder<\/p>\n Hi Bob<\/p>\n I love hearing Passover stories.. so many experiences from my childhood in Brooklyn, but here is \u00a0that was very unique. In April 1987 I was working on the David Sanborn album that it would turn out to be A Change of Heart. There were a few musicians involved that were at Sound Ideas Studio in NYC. David Sanborn,Paul Shaffer ,Steve Jordan and Hiram Bullock were on the session as well. The receptionist at the studio was Kitty Bruce ,Lenny Bruce\u2018s daughter. Now it\u2019s about 10 o\u2019clock at night and this session is not going to end anytime soon\u2026 it was also the first night of Passover.. Paul was such a great character and \u00a0he said we have to have a Passover Seder in the studio.. and I was asking myself how are we going to do that?.<\/p>\n Paul got on the phone and called the Carnegie deli! I remember him saying this is Paul Schafer and I\u2019m looking for \u201cname..I forgot\u201d .. so the next thing you know the guy gets on the phone and they exchange pleasantries and Paul says \u201cI\u2019m at a studio here on 44th street.. can you put together a Passover Seder and send it over here? \u201c I hear some talking in the background and Paul goes great thank you so much\u2026 about an hour later somebody from the Carnegie deli shows up with a bunch of bags full of food for a Seder \u00a0and they set it up in the lounge. They even include Yarmulke\u2019s and a sheet with the four questions. So at around midnight, we sat around for an hour and had a Passover Seder in the studio\u2026 the Carnegie deli really took care of us.. and myself as I have always tried to appreciate the unique situations I\u2019ve been in over my last 50+ years in the music world.. I had to add this to the list. Everybody \u00a0totally enjoyed themselves! Paul definitely had the connections in New York. That\u2019s for sure! Then It was back to work for another three hours!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Peace,Jason\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jason Miles<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Re: More Supertramp<\/p>\n Hi Bob, I was the front of house sound mixer when A&M’s Hometown Band opened for Supertramp in 1977 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I had engineered their first two albums and when this opportunity emerged we were all beside ourselves with excitement….of course!<\/p>\n The big day came and off we flew from our hometown Vancouver. The excitement built to levels I’ve never experienced since.\u00a0 Micing up the band while each member beamed with appreciation and anticipation is are images still imbedded in this 77 year old brain….still brings smiles to my face!<\/p>\n There was no struggle at all at sound check making The Hometown Band sound as awesome as they were!\u00a0 Supertramp’s sound system was fantastic and in pretty short order everything was sounding really great.\u00a0 Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies emerged from behind me at the end of sound check and offered big approvals to what they had heard!!\u00a0 I was thrilled, knowing The Hometown Band will shine during their set……what a fantastic feeling that was!!<\/p>\n Showtime, and The Hometown Band were greeted very warmly by the crowd…..big ripping smiles from all of us as they hit their first chord!<\/p>\n THE SOUND WAS LIKE IT WAS FIGHTING THROUGH A MILE OF THICK WOOL!!!\u00a0 OMG!!!<\/p>\n I’ve never felt my heart sink so low. There was no air to breathe.\u00a0 I often still dream about that moment.<\/p>\n It was clear that the sound system had been minimized for us since sound check and that brutal compression on our output had been added.<\/p>\n There was nothing I could see within my grasp that I could adjust to bring back the clarity and energy of what I’d achieved at sound check.<\/p>\n Seeing my panic one of Supertramp’s crew\/managers stepped forward and said to me\u00a0 ”Welcome to the big time bud!”<\/p>\n The Hometown Band weren’t aware of the situation as their stage monitors weren’t affected, but sadly they witnessed an audience far less enthused than they could’ve been!<\/p>\n I understand the want for the main act to stand out in every way possible, but we were label mates ffs, and this was just brutal sabotage.<\/p>\n The audience was denied hearing a truly wonderful band sound almost as impressive as Supertramp did that night.<\/p>\n The flight home sure differed from our arrival.<\/p>\n David Hayes<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Fw: Donnie Iris<\/p>\n Dear Bob,<\/p>\n Love Donnie Iris and the Cruisers and love this email! I don’t get all of your emails for some reason and this was one of them. Mark forwarded this one to me.\u00a0No one could have said it all better than you! I know Mark is appreciative.<\/p>\n If you ever get a chance to see Donnie and the Cruisers live, it will blow you away! There’s no one like Donnie and his band is second to none. This band, this little project, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, was created from pure love, guts, and determination: straight from the heart!<\/p>\n Mark Avsec produced my first record with my girlband, Lipstick. We were a regional hit with “I Want to Be With You Tonight.” It went to number 14. We always credited that to Mark!! No doubt!<\/p>\n Mark not only wrote for and with Donnie but he wrote some songs for which many don’t know he was the writer. An example is\u00a0“She Don’t Know Me” on Bon Jovi’s first album. The talent in Donnie Iris and The Cruisers is still the best. They are at the top of their game, and yes, Joe Vitale Sr and Joe Vitale Jr have been drumming with them the last few shows. Mark is an honorary member of sorts of The James Gang. When The James Gang gets together, Mark is the keyboard player.<\/p>\n A little fun side-note. After the Lipstick record (nothing went on between Mark and I during that time, though I did have an enormous crush on him) \u00a026 years later Mark and I reconnected and last year we got married.<\/p>\n And another fun side note – “The Wrapper” was the first record I was allowed to buy as a kid.<\/p>\n Funny how life connects us in ways we never could have imagined.<\/p>\n Yvette “Jet” Williams<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n From: dobe Newton<\/p>\n Subject: Re: Re-Southwest\/Bags No Longer Fly Free<\/p>\n Hi Bob,<\/p>\n Long-time US traveller from\u00a0Australia and sad to read about Southwests’s decision re baggage.<\/p>\n We don’t have much choice here domestically, with Virgin Australia and Qantas dominating our market.\u00a0 However, both of them have a musicians baggage allowance which means that you can take three pieces of luggage (up to 28 Kilos each) – without extra charge if you are a member of a recognised professional association (think MA, AMA etc).<\/p>\n A godsend for travelling musos in Australia!<\/p>\n Maybe Southwest – or somebody else!?<\/p>\n Cheers,<\/p>\n Dobe<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n From: Oren Williams<\/p>\n Subject: Re: Molly Hatchet Live At Capitol Theatre 1978<\/p>\n Late to the Molly Hatchet party but here\u2019s a, mostly, related story.<\/p>\n My dad, Earl Williams, played in a Jacksonville band called \u2018Hillard Stills\u2019 from about \u201978-\u201982.\u00a0 They shared local bills at big outdoor shows with Molly Hatchet.\u00a0 That was a gritty, hard-partying scene.\u00a0 My dad, and I suspect others from that scene, knew no limits and didn\u2019t expect to live to 30.\u00a0 Rockstars in the original model. There\u2019s authenticity to that life and, of course, youthful ignorance.<\/p>\n I spent less than a year down there as a kid.\u00a0 It was supposed to be a year but that was no place for kids.\u00a0 Still, that was a place where a very unique breed of rock and roll crawled out of the swamps.\u00a0 When you hear it, you know.<\/p>\n My dad was offered the keyboards position with the Van Zant band but turned it down out of loyalty to his band.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Born-again Christianity saved my dad from drug and alcohol addiction and he quit the band.\u00a0 He remarried my mom after seven years of divorce.\u00a0 Unfortunately, his turn-about didn\u2019t stave-off what was probably the ill effects of that lifestyle.\u00a0 He was diagnosed with oral cancer and fought it for thirty years until he died at age 65.\u00a0 Like Molly Hatchet, none of the original members of Hillard Stills are alive today.<\/p>\n Oren at Dolby<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Re: More Molly Hatchet<\/p>\n One of the first promotions I ever put together as a CBS College Rep was a hatchet throwing contest for Molly Hatchet at UC Davis on January 29, 1979. They were opening for the Outlaws that night on campus. My branch manager (Jerry Pitti) gave me a budget to buy some actual throwing tomahawks and with the help of the UC Davis newspaper and KDVS we managed to turn out several hundred students who were waiting when the band rolled up in their tour bus as kids were sailing tomahawks at archery targets on the \u201cquad\u201d.\u00a0 Danny Jo Brown was first off the bus and was looking for something to \u201cget his furnace burning\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n Needless to say the whole thing made for a great wrap up and was the beginning of my 46 year friendship with Larry Stessel who also became my mentor and boss at Epic. It was also the beginning of a great friendship with manager Pat Armstrong.<\/p>\n Molly Hatchet blew the doors off Freeborn Hall that night.<\/p>\n Cliff O’Sullivan<\/p>\n ____________________________________<\/p>\n Subject: Re: Molly Hatchet Live At Capitol Theatre 1978<\/p>\n Hi Bob –<\/p>\n