If you go to a good show, when you get home you can’t fall asleep, you toss and turn all night, and when you wake up the next morning, you’re wasted.<\/p>\n
I feel like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck.\u00c2\u00a0 And I had my last sip of alcohol decades ago.\u00c2\u00a0 As for sleep, I tossed and turned while the clock spun its digits.\u00c2\u00a0 And I had the weirdest dreams, involving performers in Italy, and an art show…<\/p>\n
JESUS JUST LEFT CHICAGO<\/span><\/p>\n And he’s bound for New Orleans…<\/p>\n Bill Ham showed up at the Warehouse begging for an opening slot for his band, ZZ Top.\u00c2\u00a0 The guy with the long beard, who looked like Jesus, finally relented, he offered the band $100 and a chance to play.\u00c2\u00a0 Minutes later, there was a knock on the door.\u00c2\u00a0 Ham again.\u00c2\u00a0 They had nowhere to stay.\u00c2\u00a0 Don Fox said they could sleep in the dressing room, but there were to be no women and no dope, and he exhaled from his joint to emphasize the point.<\/p>\n Thus began a thirty eight year relationship.\u00c2\u00a0 Touring the little ol’ band from Texas around the country, not impinging on another promoter’s territory, no one else wanted to play them!<\/p>\n And Don Fox met Bruce Allen when he agreed to let BTO open for ZZ.\u00c2\u00a0 Then there was Loverboy and Bryan Adams and now Buble.\u00c2\u00a0 They’d done it four times.\u00c2\u00a0 Don kept imploring Bruce to do it once more.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, when I put it to them straight, they believed they could do it with anybody, their machine was that good.<\/p>\n How good?<\/p>\n The opening Buble date in Phoenix pulled nineteen paying customers.\u00c2\u00a0 Then they moved on to Salt Lake City, where they did fifty two.\u00c2\u00a0 The numbers were positively awful, but they had a plan, and they were sticking to it.<\/p>\n And then Starbucks tracked them down to put Buble in an ad.\u00c2\u00a0 Then there was TV and now there’s the deal with Nordstrom, that not only gave them all those pages in "Vanity Fair", but put four Buble CDs at the cash register at over a thousand outlets.<\/p>\n CRY ME A RIVER<\/span><\/p>\n That was Buble’s opening number.\u00c2\u00a0 You know, the old Joe Cocker chestnut.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, don’t tell me who did the original, I don’t know.\u00c2\u00a0 We all come to music at our own entry point.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, many people have probably heard these songs first from Buble, that’s cool.<\/p>\n He’s got a complete band, and a full horn section and they’re tearing it up.\u00c2\u00a0 But what’s amazing is the audience.\u00c2\u00a0 From the barely born to the nearly dead.\u00c2\u00a0 All the way to the rafters.\u00c2\u00a0 No one can sell out the upper deck at Staples, but every seat was full.\u00c2\u00a0 And I know this was true.\u00c2\u00a0 Because I saw them turning away wannabe seat buyers at the ticket window.<\/p>\n And it was like flying in the fifties.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, everybody came dressed up.\u00c2\u00a0 My favorite was the family who was booted from the seats two rows in front of us.\u00c2\u00a0 Each and every one of them had the body of a beach ball, but they were dressed in their Sunday finest.\u00c2\u00a0 They were here to see Buble!<\/p>\n Who had a sense of humor about himself.\u00c2\u00a0 Told jokes about being gay.\u00c2\u00a0 And said we weren’t here for a concert, but a party!\u00c2\u00a0 Scream, sing along, and if you feel like it, get up and dance.\u00c2\u00a0 And if the person behind you complains, GIVE THEM THE FINGER!<\/p>\n Wait a second!\u00c2\u00a0 I thought this show was supposed to be G-rated.\u00c2\u00a0 Oldsters like to sit!\u00c2\u00a0 But the girls in their finery stood up and swayed as they mouthed the lyrics, they rushed the stage, and when Buble asked them to return to their seats so the people down front could see, they did!\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, even Mick Jagger doesn’t have this power.<\/p>\n A SONG FOR YOU<\/span><\/p>\n Don’t ask me to go hear your unknown rock band, it’s torture.\u00c2\u00a0 Worse if you’re a modern act, beat-infused…\u00c2\u00a0 You know what it’s like to sit through two hours of unfamiliar material?\u00c2\u00a0 If I don’t listen to the record first, I’ve got no chance, my BlackBerry suddenly becomes utterly fascinating.\u00c2\u00a0 But I knew seventy percent of this material.\u00c2\u00a0 I could enjoy it.\u00c2\u00a0 It was entertainment.<\/p>\n What a concept.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what Don said backstage before the show.\u00c2\u00a0 Buble isn’t cutting edge, he’s not doing something new.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless you consider singing great songs with melody a novel concept.<\/p>\n And I’m not looking at my watch, never worried about when I can exit, and Buble’s going on about this being his final number, one he wants to sing at the end of every show for the rest of his career.\u00c2\u00a0 And he launches into "A Song For You":<\/p>\n I’ve been so many places in my life and time<\/span><\/p>\n Like Middlebury College in the seventies.\u00c2\u00a0 Where I spun Leon Russell’s debut again and again, with its opening number, "A Song For You".\u00c2\u00a0 I realize there were covers thereafter, but this is the original, no one can top it. We’re in this cavernous barn.\u00c2\u00a0 But with the trumpet solo finished, with just a spotlight on Buble in front of the curtain, singing a cappella, away from the mic, totally live, it truly felt like he was singing just for me.<\/p>\n I love you in a place where there’s no space and time<\/span> Rule number one of show business, leave them wanting more, leave them wanting to come back.<\/p>\n Today, most acts let their audience down easy, they let them slide out of the building ready to snooze.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas Buble built to this absolute peak, the highlight of the show.\u00c2\u00a0 And then he was done.<\/p>\n And that was when I was closed.<\/p>\n It wasn’t an issue of charisma.<\/p>\n It wasn’t an issue of vocal skill.<\/p>\n It was an issue of emotion.\u00c2\u00a0 I was touched.<\/p>\n MEANWHILE, BACK IN NEW ORLEANS<\/span><\/p>\n We’re sitting in the bar after the show, and Don and Bruce are telling me how they did it.<\/p>\n These are the Damon Runyon characters who’ve been eviscerated from our business.\u00c2\u00a0 Guys who made it based on their wits.<\/p>\n Don refused to sell out to Sillerman.\u00c2\u00a0 And he’s not complaining about Live Nation.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s just doing it his way.\u00c2\u00a0 No pre-sales.\u00c2\u00a0 No Amex.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody gets a shot at a good ticket.\u00c2\u00a0 Do people buy four and resell two?\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, there’s no way to stop that.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, they do do paperless ticketing for the good seats close to the stage.<\/p>\n They spoke about Warner Brothers’ set-up.\u00c2\u00a0 They talked about Don booking dates at arenas BEFORE the sports schedules are announced.\u00c2\u00a0 They were giddy with success, like the Little Rascals pulling the wool over Miss Crabtree’s eyes.<\/p>\n Bruce told me they were gonna do two stadium dates in Ireland.\u00c2\u00a0 This thing was still building.<\/p>\n And I got more of Don’s story on the long walk back through the bowels of the arena.\u00c2\u00a0 He told me about being able to say NO!\u00c2\u00a0 That what was crippling this business was promoters overpaying.\u00c2\u00a0 And that if he’s got a stiff show, he refuses to paper, refuses to hang a curtain, let the act SEE the end result of their greed.\u00c2\u00a0 As to whether he plays them again, he doesn’t care! And believe me, Don’s a player.\u00c2\u00a0 He just finished a run with Clapton.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, people say DON FOX IS CHEAP!\u00c2\u00a0 He just considers himself realistic.<\/p>\n And then we’re at the van, for the short hop to the afterparty.<\/p>\n There appear to be more people than seats, so I tell Bruce we’ll walk.\u00c2\u00a0 But he insists we take a seat.\u00c2\u00a0 And when I get inside the van, I realize the back row has been removed, but Bruce hops into the back with Buble and starts introducing us.\u00c2\u00a0 Of course he’s gonna have no idea who I am, but I figure he’ll get into it with Felice, singing some of her dad’s songs.\u00c2\u00a0 But after a few beats skip, Buble goes into shock.\u00c2\u00a0 OF COURSE HE KNOWS WHO I AM!\u00c2\u00a0 And goes on and on.\u00c2\u00a0 And the reason I bring this up isn’t to impress you, isn’t to have you question the veracity of my account, but to tell you this opened a window for questions.\u00c2\u00a0 Which I peppered away.<\/p>\n We spoke about his Michael Jackson bit.\u00c2\u00a0 Debated the longevity of the white gloved one’s legacy compared to Elvis.\u00c2\u00a0 Buble told me he used to do an Elvis tribute.\u00c2\u00a0 So, what got a bigger response?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, when he did Elvis, his audience was older, it was before the young ‘uns had started to attend.<\/p>\n So, is he worried about placating the audience?<\/p>\n He just believes the songs he likes will be the songs the audience likes.\u00c2\u00a0 After all, who doesn’t like melody?\u00c2\u00a0 What’s gonna stick around, Kelis’ "Milkshake" or the great American songbook he pulls from?<\/p>\n You’ve gotta love a guy who knows himself, who’s not arrogant, who’s willing to play.<\/p>\n And then Don and I got into it, we didn’t even cross the threshold into the bar.\u00c2\u00a0 He told me he PROMOTED shows.\u00c2\u00a0 I asked him how?\u00c2\u00a0 He winked and said that would be like revealing the formula for Coke or Pepsi.<\/p>\n And it’s this formula that built Buble into not only one of the world’s biggest touring acts, the Australian promoter was there cementing Down Under dates to come, but one of the biggest recording acts too.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve sold another five million albums.\u00c2\u00a0 Same as they sold on the previous record.\u00c2\u00a0 Shouldn’t that number have gone down?<\/p>\n Knowing what I know now, having experienced Buble live and in the flesh, I’d say no.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you go to a good show, when you get home you can’t fall asleep, you toss and turn all night, and when you wake up the next morning, you’re wasted. 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I’ve acted out my love in stages<\/span>
With ten thousand people watching<\/span>
But we’re alone now and I’m singing this song for you<\/span><\/p>\n
I love you for in my life you are a friend of mine<\/span>
And when my life is over<\/span>
Remember when we were together<\/span>
We were alone and I was singing this song for you<\/span>
We were alone and I was singing this song for you<\/span><\/p>\n