{"id":3476,"date":"2010-11-01T08:41:01","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T16:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=3476"},"modified":"2010-11-01T08:41:01","modified_gmt":"2010-11-01T16:41:01","slug":"jerry-weintraubs-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/11\/01\/jerry-weintraubs-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerry Weintraub’s Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got it from Evan.<\/p>\n

Not that I was unaware of the hype.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s how it registered to me, as hype, and I hate hype. Did you see the "Holiday Movie" sections in yesterday’s L.A. and N.Y. "Times"?\u00c2\u00a0 Who reads these?\u00c2\u00a0 The newspapers say they must survive, but was this really news?\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t we all just wait until the movies come out, whereupon the wisdom of the crowd tells us whether to go or not?\u00c2\u00a0 No, these newspaper sections were not for us, they were for advertisers, they were about revenue, they were hype, and like I said, I ignore hype, and more and more people do every day.<\/p>\n

But Evan was testifying.\u00c2\u00a0 Telling me he enjoyed the book so much that he tracked Jerry down and went to lunch.\u00c2\u00a0 And that he’d give me a copy so he’d be sure to see me again, I’d have to return it.<\/p>\n

So it lived in the backseat of my car.<\/p>\n

I’ve got to have a book in the car.\u00c2\u00a0 You know how long you can wait to see the doctor?\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not saying you can read "War and Peace", but I’ve read an entire book in waiting rooms this year.<\/p>\n

So I was reading Jerry Heller’s book<\/a>, about Eazy-E, Ruthless Records and West Coast rap.\u00c2\u00a0 And I learned a few things and I enjoyed it, especially the fact that Jerry pulled no punches, but occasionally the timeline didn’t make sense and it just made me feel that lunch or dinner with Jerry would be so much better, to hear the stories live in an unexpurgated fashion.<\/p>\n

But I don’t need to go to lunch with Jerry Weintraub.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t gonna read it.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve had enough of non-fiction.\u00c2\u00a0 People telling their tale for money.\u00c2\u00a0 But I got hooked.<\/p>\n

And I’m not telling you to read it for the stories, but for the sensibility!\u00c2\u00a0 You know how your dad always had his lessons, used to whip out stories from his past to illustrate how you should live your life?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what I get from Jerry Weintraub’s book.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like a lesson from your father, which you can ignore, but never forget.\u00c2\u00a0 You may not be the same person, but suddenly, when you least expect it you’ll hear his voice, pointing the way.<\/p>\n

But the other reason Weintraub’s book is fascinating is it portrays the true entertainment business, the one driven by hustlers, not big corporations surviving on their own momentum.\u00c2\u00a0 In the world of the hustler, when he dies, so does the company.\u00c2\u00a0 The hustler needs no college degree, no relatives in the business, he can find his own way, by wits alone.<\/p>\n

That’s what’s wrong with today’s entertainment business.\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe it’s yesterday’s.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody wants to suck at the tit of the corporation.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, even Jimmy Iovine went inside.\u00c2\u00a0 And he’s a hustler.\u00c2\u00a0 Same deal with Irving Azoff.\u00c2\u00a0 Beware of a hustler running a corporation, because really, he’s only in it for himself.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s got no choice, it’s in his DNA.<\/p>\n

Or Lyor Cohen telling me about file-trading…\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got to be stopped, not for any moral reason, but because Lyor needs to be protected, Lyor needs to get paid.<\/p>\n

Unless you understand these Damon Runyon characters, you cannot understand the entertainment business.\u00c2\u00a0 They created it, run it and will continue to do so.\u00c2\u00a0 People who can talk a mile a minute, promise what they do not have and ultimately deliver it.<\/p>\n

Jerry Weintraub heard a casino was offering 50k a week for a show…\u00c2\u00a0 He didn’t tell the Boss he had nothing, he created an extravaganza out of thin air.\u00c2\u00a0 He cold-called the Colonel ad infinitum until he agreed to put Elvis on tour.\u00c2\u00a0 Meanwhile, Jerry learned on the gig, screwed up again and again.\u00c2\u00a0 But a hustler adjusts, a hustler learns as he goes along, and when he’s through, he knows more than you.<\/p>\n

A hustler knows he’s not the talent.\u00c2\u00a0 He hustles so the artist can create.\u00c2\u00a0 If someone gives you deep down creative advice, chances are he’s not a hustler and will not get you where you want to be unless he hustled in his youth and is such a big deal these days that he can call all the shots.<\/p>\n

Hustlers?\u00c2\u00a0 Shawn Fanning’s uncle.\u00c2\u00a0 He ruined the record business.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, Shawn and Sean Parker created the service, but it was Fanning’s uncle who saw how much money could be made. And if the labels were run by hustlers, they would have made a deal.\u00c2\u00a0 Because hustlers know stasis is impossible, or as Weintraub says, the landscape changes every ten years, the tablecloth is jerked off, the dishes fall to the floor and there are all new settings.\u00c2\u00a0 Be prepared.<\/p>\n

Steve Jobs?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe the ultimate hustler.\u00c2\u00a0 Have you seen that video where he and his minions keep saying everything is great?<\/p>\n

\n
Back To The Mac in 104 seconds: Amazing..Phenomenal…Great….Awesome….!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Apple’s breakthrough product, the iPod, was not an innovation, just a better iteration of what came before.\u00c2\u00a0 Packaged and sold incredibly well.\u00c2\u00a0 A hustler doesn’t have to be an innovator, he just needs to build upon the past, deliver a better lightbulb.<\/p>\n

And maybe that’s why tech’s triumphed in the past decade.\u00c2\u00a0 Because tech is all about hustlers and entertainment is all about people in suits working for a paycheck trying to maintain what they’ve already got.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you believe it’s ten years later and we still haven’t solved the P2P crisis? Eradication doesn’t work, but the rights holders will not admit we live in a new era that requires new deals.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re coming from behind instead of in front.\u00c2\u00a0 A hustler is always ahead of the game, can you say this about the modern entertainment business?<\/p>\n

So we know that one day we’ll wake up and a band we’ve never heard of will be the biggest in the land and its manager\/record company will also be someone we’ve never heard of.\u00c2\u00a0 A hustler. Who will see no reason to play with the usual suspects, who’d rather do it alone, controlling his own destiny.\u00c2\u00a0 A hustler does not want to stay in school, he wants no restrictions, he wants to do it his way.<\/p>\n

And then everybody runs to the hustler.\u00c2\u00a0 Frank Sinatra calls Jerry Weintraub.\u00c2\u00a0 Irving Azoff manages not only the Eagles, but Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs…\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, remember when everybody wanted to sign with Interscope?<\/p>\n

And the rest of the players decry this.\u00c2\u00a0 They say that the hustler is just that.\u00c2\u00a0 That he’s not educated, sophisticated, can’t be trusted…\u00c2\u00a0 But the clients love the hustler.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the hustler will do anything for the client in order to keep him happy and get ahead.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s ultimately what the client wants, to get ahead.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not looking for a friend, they’re not even looking for honesty, they’re looking for success.<\/p>\n

So read "Billboard".\u00c2\u00a0 Or listen to the guy on the panel working for the label.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll just insure that you’re a loser.<\/p>\n

But if you read Jerry Weintraub’s "When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead", you’ll learn how to be a winner.<\/p>\n

\n
Jerry Weintraub’s "When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got it from Evan. Not that I was unaware of the hype.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s how it registered to me, as hype, and I hate hype. Did you see the "Holiday Movie" sections in yesterday’s L.A. and N.Y. "Times"?\u00c2\u00a0 Who reads these?\u00c2\u00a0 The newspapers say they must survive, but was this really news?\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t we […]<\/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-3476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-U4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3476","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=3476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3477,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3476\/revisions\/3477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}