Actually, we were at the EMI Publishing table.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what everybody says, that the best A&R people in Canada are Michael McCarty and Barbara Sedun.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not like Americans.\u00c2\u00a0 They take their jobs very seriously, it’s not about the glitz and the glamour, it’s about the MUSIC!\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, Barbara placed Lukas in "Rock Star Supernova".\u00c2\u00a0 You might not think much of the act, but you’ve got to give Barbara credit for seeing the POSSIBILITIES!\u00c2\u00a0 Finding a lost act and seeing his potential, that he could WIN!<\/p>\n
You see Michael and Barbara are in it for the long haul.\u00c2\u00a0 Is EMI in it for the long haul?<\/p>\n
Doesn’t look like it.\u00c2\u00a0 Looks like they’re trying to make the company look good on paper so they can merge with Warner.\u00c2\u00a0 But with CD sales in free fall and the horrible Christmas what IS the value of EMI?<\/p>\n
Actually, EMI is worth a ton.\u00c2\u00a0 If only it would enter the twenty first century.\u00c2\u00a0 And start monetizing existing music acquisition as opposed to tentatively following in the public’s footsteps from years before.\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, keep cutting costs, i.e. people.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll end up with a company that looks good on paper, but is utterly devalued, because it’s not a running concern.<\/p>\n
That’s all anybody can talk about.\u00c2\u00a0 EMI.\u00c2\u00a0 They could have merged with Warner at a reasonable price, now, with the firing of Levy and Munns, and the collapsing of the operation in the U.S., value has been ELIMINATED from the proposition, the company’s worth a lot less.<\/p>\n
But this wasn’t an evening of business.\u00c2\u00a0 This was an evening of music.<\/p>\n
Well, not really.\u00c2\u00a0 You get a lot of music business people together, and you talk a lot of business.<\/p>\n
But they did have a piano player bang out the tunes of the inductees.\u00c2\u00a0 Both past and present.\u00c2\u00a0 And when he hit the notes of "If You Could Read My Mind" a large cadre of people started singing along.\u00c2\u00a0 Nobody would sing along in the U.S.\u00c2\u00a0 It would look bad.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to be cool, first and foremost.\u00c2\u00a0 Better to check your BlackBerry than sing.\u00c2\u00a0 But cool is irrelevant in Canada.\u00c2\u00a0 You see in Canada, everybody’s in it together.<\/p>\n
At the center table were James.\u00c2\u00a0 And Joni.\u00c2\u00a0 And Herbie Hancock.\u00c2\u00a0 There was star power.\u00c2\u00a0 But the action was in the penumbra.\u00c2\u00a0 Connecting with the various personages in the Canadian music business.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s what it is, a MUSIC business.\u00c2\u00a0 USED to be the record business, but the labels killed that, around the world, by not embracing new technologies, not selling music how people want it.\u00c2\u00a0 Yeah, sue ISPs and drive music acquisition even further underground.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s a solution.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like the death of Napster was gonna prevent the ascension of KaZaA?<\/p>\n
Used to be the tour was the advertisement for the record, now the record is just the advertisement for the tour.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what Sam said.\u00c2\u00a0 Sam Feldman.<\/p>\n
Sam and Bruce are partners.\u00c2\u00a0 Not many people know this.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, they don’t really work together, but they split the money.\u00c2\u00a0 And in an era where the Firm gets all the press, A&F is earning all the money.<\/p>\n
You see they used to book bands.\u00c2\u00a0 Bruce Allen and Sam Feldman.\u00c2\u00a0 And Bruce called Sam into his office thirty odd years ago and suggested they become partners.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, suggested…\u00c2\u00a0 Bruce doesn’t suggest ANYTHING!\u00c2\u00a0 As Sam said tonight, Bruce sees the target and elbows ahead.\u00c2\u00a0 He convinced Sam.\u00c2\u00a0 They threw in together.<\/p>\n
They controlled every venue in Western Canada.\u00c2\u00a0 If you wanted to play, you had to go through them.\u00c2\u00a0 And via this system, they resuscitated Randy Bachman’s career.\u00c2\u00a0 And, after everybody passed on the initial BTO album, Bruce went to Chicago and made a deal with Mercury.\u00c2\u00a0 The result was "Blue Collar".\u00c2\u00a0 And after that track, with the next album, they took care of business.\u00c2\u00a0 You see you’ve got to believe, and dedicate the time, allow something to percolate.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sam continued with the agency business.\u00c2\u00a0 A steady income.\u00c2\u00a0 Without the highs of Bryan Adams’ career.<\/p>\n
Oh, they worked in the same office for a while.\u00c2\u00a0 But after one of Bruce’s tirades, DECADES AGO, Sam and the rest of the staff walked out.\u00c2\u00a0 Leaving just one assistant.<\/p>\n
And they haven’t worked in the same place since.<\/p>\n
But they remain partners!<\/p>\n
In America you make a deal, and in half a decade, at most, you’re at each other’s throats.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, Bruce and Sam are OFTENTIMES at each other’s throats.\u00c2\u00a0 But they never see the divorce lawyers, unlike their American counterparts.\u00c2\u00a0 They keep it together.<\/p>\n
And they kept it together long enough for Sam to get his own stellar management clients.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Diana Krall.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Elvis Costello.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Joni Mitchell.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Norah Jones.<\/p>\n
Seems kind of funny, doesn’t it?\u00c2\u00a0 That someone in Western Canada manages this New York denizen who’s sold thirty million plus albums.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s a perfect fit, they’re both low key.<\/p>\n
Denise Donlon told me I needed to write about Sam, as a counterpart to my piece about Bruce.<\/p>\n
But don’t consider this justice.\u00c2\u00a0 Just illumination.<\/p>\n
That’s what I had speaking to Sam tonight.\u00c2\u00a0 Talking about the new Norah album.\u00c2\u00a0 There wasn’t hype, but realism.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no realism south of the border.<\/p>\n
There were tales of the old days.\u00c2\u00a0 Doing acid the night before he met with Bruce when the deal was sealed.\u00c2\u00a0 Starting off with a staple gun, putting up posters for gigs.<\/p>\n
You see we all share the same history.\u00c2\u00a0 We started at the bottom.\u00c2\u00a0 We needed to be in the circus.\u00c2\u00a0 We persevered, and we’re still here.\u00c2\u00a0 Each and every one of us an integral part of the machine.<\/p>\n
And Larry LeBlanc is adding flavor.\u00c2\u00a0 Talking about winding up Bruce.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, with the shit Bruce talks about Sam, you’ve got to equalize the pressure every once in a while.<\/p>\n
But when it was all done, when they turned on the lights in the hall, Larry told me about Bruce calling him the night his mother died, and staying on the phone with him for two and a half hours.<\/p>\n
You see Bruce is haimish.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody in Canada is haimish.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t be a crook, you won’t last for long.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, you need Larry to write an article about you eventually!<\/p>\n
It wasn’t an evening of entourages.\u00c2\u00a0 Nobody left early, certainly not the stars.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a great hang.<\/p>\n
And everybody says tomorrow’s show is gonna kill.<\/p>\n
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