Music Industry Conference<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Liz Nowak wanted to create a SXSW for her region, this is the inaugural year.\u00c2\u00a0 And you meet these people via e-mail, you show up in their town and you’ve never even spoken to them.\u00c2\u00a0 I had no idea until I went to the Hall of Fame dinner at the Dinosaur that Liz was in a wheelchair.<\/p>\nMy mother just had back surgery.\u00c2\u00a0 Back in April, to be exact.\u00c2\u00a0 She could barely walk before, doesn’t walk a whole hell of a lot better now.\u00c2\u00a0 But I keep telling her people spend their whole lives in wheelchairs.\u00c2\u00a0 In Liz’s case, it was a car accident at nineteen.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s been through the emotional trauma, but she’s so bright and sunny and alive, without being fake in the least, that she’s an inspiration, makes me feel guilty for focusing on my own problems.<\/p>\n
And after my presentation today, Max Weinberg took the stage.<\/p>\n
People talk a lot of shit about Max.\u00c2\u00a0 And after hearing he wanted to meet me and getting the perfunctory glazed over look as he shook my hand I’m wondering if what they say is right, but his interview with Big Mike was utterly fascinating.<\/p>\n
Last night I watched that Springsteen documentary on HBO.<\/p>\n
I went to dial up Bill Maher on my Slingbox, but the channel was already on HBO and this doc had just begun.<\/p>\n
I’m a huge fan of "Darkness".\u00c2\u00a0 I played "Candy’s Room" for my ex on our very first date.\u00c2\u00a0 I bought all the Springsteen albums in order. Saw the band at the Bottom Line the year before "Born To Run".\u00c2\u00a0 So I was really looking forward to this documentary.<\/p>\n
You can miss it.<\/p>\n
It’s not that it’s bad.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that it’s not that good.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, let me clarify that…\u00c2\u00a0 It’s good, but it’s not great!\u00c2\u00a0 And in today’s world, we only have time for great.\u00c2\u00a0 There are too many other diversions.\u00c2\u00a0 I kept waiting for the payoff, and when it was done an hour and a half later I was frustrated, I wanted my time back.<\/p>\n
But I could have listened to Max Weinberg all night.<\/p>\n
Bruce is a legend, but sometimes others tell your story better than you do.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Howard Stern, Bruce is best doing his act.\u00c2\u00a0 When he’s not singing, when he’s not performing…he’s not riveting.<\/p>\n
But Max was.<\/p>\n
He told the story of becoming a drummer.<\/p>\n
But even better was the story of becoming Bruce’s drummer.\u00c2\u00a0 Answering the ad in the "Village Voice".\u00c2\u00a0 Taking direction from the Boss.<\/p>\n
That’s why they call him that.\u00c2\u00a0 Most people don’t know that.\u00c2\u00a0 Because Bruce acts like the Boss!\u00c2\u00a0 He’s in charge, he tells you what to do.\u00c2\u00a0 You may be a band member, but you’re not equal.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s his name on the marquee, as much as you care, he cares even more. And while you’re watching football, he’s writing music.\u00c2\u00a0 Like "Born In The U.S.A."\u00c2\u00a0 Written and recorded, twice, in half an hour.\u00c2\u00a0 The classic take is the second.<\/p>\n
So Max is going to college, playing for $275 a week in the pit for "Godspell", and living at home.\u00c2\u00a0 He gets the gig with Bruce, by following the instruction in the ad and not being a junior Ginger Baker, and the plum gig he accepts pays fifty bucks a week.<\/p>\n
At this point in the narrative, Max quoted Duke Ellington, who said: "A musical profit outweighs a financial loss."\u00c2\u00a0 Tell that to all the wannabes who just want to get paid.<\/p>\n
I mean watching that doc last night was like peering into a time capsule.\u00c2\u00a0 All that time spent getting it right…\u00c2\u00a0 No one pays that much attention to music anymore, and if you want to impact society invent Facebook, and if you want to get rich, be an athlete or work on Wall Street or invent the aforementioned social network.<\/p>\n
In other words, music is once again for musicians.<\/p>\n
After Bruce broke up the band, and Max referenced the date to the minute, Max took a job at the BMG Record Club, learning the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 This was after going back to college, being the son Springsteen’s mother wanted Bruce to be, and getting his degree.\u00c2\u00a0 He didn’t want to set a bad example for his children.\u00c2\u00a0 He even spent a month in law school.\u00c2\u00a0 But when he sat down to play the drums, something was missing.\u00c2\u00a0 He had to think about it, he just couldn’t play.\u00c2\u00a0 He may have only been off by a millisecond, but he knew.\u00c2\u00a0 He quit his job and became a drummer once again.<\/p>\n
And Max did tell the story of running into Conan outside the Carnegie Deli and pitching him ideas for O’Brien’s nascent late night show.\u00c2\u00a0 But in the unfolding story it kept being reinforced that Max was a musician and a hustler.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re not a hustler, you just can’t make it.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to hone your craft, look for opportunities and make your opportunities.<\/p>\n
And one other thing…\u00c2\u00a0 Max said Bill Ludwig put two guys out of business.\u00c2\u00a0 He invented the bass pedal.\u00c2\u00a0 That used to be a separate guy, hitting the big bass drum.\u00c2\u00a0 And then there was the cymbal stand.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, one guy could do the job of three.\u00c2\u00a0 If you think technology replacing musicians is a new thing, you just don’t know history.<\/p>\n
Max wouldn’t have been as good on television.\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly not as good in L.A. or New York.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s when you’re relaxed, off the beaten path, when you can stretch out and be the real you that you’re riveting.<\/p>\n
How you play in Syracuse is just as important as how you perform in the metropolis.\u00c2\u00a0 Because you never know who’ll hear you, you never know who’ll spread the word.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially in this era where one person can be heard worldwide.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Steven Page tracked me down.\u00c2\u00a0 He lives in Syracuse now.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s picking me up for dinner at 7:30.\u00c2\u00a0 See you later!<\/p>\n
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I’m in Syracuse. Yes, I went to the Dinosaur.\u00c2\u00a0 I even went to Heid’s! How BBQ blossomed in upstate New York, I’ll never know.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like how white sausages in the region are named "Coneys".\u00c2\u00a0 But I got the full on feel.\u00c2\u00a0 Of a place off the beaten path where houses are cheap but the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-T2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3413,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412\/revisions\/3413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}