RollingStone Fiasco

What? You mean to tell me that RollingStone failed to do accurate, thorough reporting, putting out a story too quickly just to get a reaction and sell magazines and advertising? Doesn’t sound like them at all.

It’s too bad they reported such a relevant story with such amateur reporting.

But wasn’t it just earlier this week that the entire entertainment community was blasting RollingStone for their inability to crown a somewhat deserving Album of the Year?

My how we giveth and we taketh away credibility when it fits our own narrative for what we want to hear and feel.

We blasted them for not doing a good job covering what the magazine is founded upon (music), yet initially took as gospel a report that is way outside their strength and foundation.  So are we surprised?

It used to be that artists covered the social/legal side and then the magazine covered the artists.  Today’s artists are too scared to publicly have an opinion, but then again no one is asking them or really looking to them for that anymore.  But at least Questlove made a call to action HERE

I’m just old enough to remember when RollingStone was at least primarily music reporting. But in the midst of their declining credibility in that area, they expanded outward to cover politics, social issues, justice, and world topics.  Great idea.  Move away from your strength which your company was founded upon and start doing lots of things not very well.

RollingStone should go back to doing a great job reporting on music, the music business needs that.  And lots of people would benefit from it.

Make a list of all the things you are able to do and realize that just because you’re able, doesn’t mean you should.

In fact, aside from the top 2 or 3 things, you should probably run far far away from everything else on the list.  They’re distractions, not options.

All The U2 Stuff

U2 gets the ever more worthless pat on the back from RollingStone with their Album of the Year title the same week U2 announces it’s tour/tickets on sale.

Obviously not an accident.

I think the first half of Songs Of Innocence is decent, but I’m a fan of U2 so I’m gonna give them the benefit anyway.  There’s just no smash on the album. Miracle was kinda close, but it needs to be faster and Larry should have just bashed the drums through the chorus instead of making it complicated.

But I’m glad they had the guts to do the Apple thing.  Do you think they didn’t know they would get tons of backlash?

That’s the thing about U2.  They’re willing to be bold enough to kick people off the fence, one way or the other.  People have an opinion about U2, and after the Apple thing it was actually impressive how many people got upset about it.  They really reacted.

If you’ve read about Bono at all, he’s having a laugh cause getting a reaction is on the top of his priority list.  For all the people hating U2 or the new album or that they’re too old or that they try too hard, there are enough people that buy tickets and sell out a worldwide tour for the band.  There are that many people who LOVE U2.

U2 found a way, after all these years, to stir the pot.  When is the last time your band did something so bold as to make people fall in love with you or completely hate you?

But I am surprised their PR rep went after the RollingStone thing.  I would have thought the band was a bit more savvy than that.  Cause they don’t have the album of the year.

I’ve heard Bono say that if the band releases “2 crap albums in a row” that they’d pack it up and be done.  No Line On The Horizon didn’t exactly sparkle, but the corresponding 360 tour did.  So is Songs of Innocence a the second crap album?  I wouldn’t go that far.

The band still sounds good enough to be inspiring. Bono’s voice is still in good enough shape to make an impact, he can still nail those notes that make you levitate.  And with enough perceived failure, they might even get hungry enough to eek out one more great song.

I hope so.

Can Someone Do Your Impression?

Back in the beginning of November,  Jay Leno was on Jimmy Fallon.  Did you see this?  Leno was a total jerk to Jimmy.  Although I’m sure Leno thought he was being discreet, he wasn’t.  Totally obvious.  HERE’s a clip. 

What Jay Leno hates more than anything, so I’ve heard, is when people do impressions of him.  And Jimmy slipped a few Jay impressions in during the episode.  So maybe that’s what made him act like a middle schooler on the playground who just got beat in tetherball by the new kid.

It’s true, the only impression that I can do is the same one everyone can do: Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The phrase I usually use is “Get out of here”.

But I bet you or I could at least make a stab at some other ones, with words, actions or both: Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Bill Clinton, Bono, Jay-Z, Christopher Walken, Bob Dylan, John Madden, Ron Burgundy.

Why is that?

Repetition.

They are known for being one certain way, sounding one certain way and they do it over and over and over again.  They are not afraid of being known as something.  Except for Jay Leno. He hates it.

Can someone do an impression of you?

Or are you too afraid of being pigeon holed that you’re not known for anything at all.  I know you wanna make your equivalent of Sgt. Pepper’s, but have you made Meet The Beatles yet?

For some reason artists get the idea that they can cast their nets as wide as the gap between Republicans and Democrats, and conquer all. But they fail to realize that when thinking of the big acts that they’re trying to achieve the same level of success of, they have the amazing ability to boil that artist down to “oh yeah, they’re the band that…”

Stop trying to be known for so many things.  Start with one, and make it count.  

I want to be able to do an impression of you.

Paul Harvey…..good day.

Alabama Football

I watched Alabama win the Iron Bowl last night.  It was not fun, it was not joyful, it was not a good time. And I’m an Alabama fan.

Starting about five years ago I began devoting my allegiance to the Crimson Tide.  Five years ago is when I started dating my wife, and she graduated from there.  She converted me quickly, both to her and Alabama football.

Other teams think they have the most devoted fans, the best coach and most electric atmosphere at home games.  But Alabama fans KNOW they possess these things.

It’s kind of like the way we believe in our Apple products. It’s not even a question. Doubt doesn’t even enter my mind.  I even feel a slight wave of pity when I see others fumbling with their Android devices.  Do I just need so speak up and let them know that Apple exists? Did no one tell them along the way?

I’ve been to a few Alabama games.  100,000 people in the stadium and another 100,000 outside.  It’s real.  And it’s wild.

I grew up in Minnesota. We don’t have this there.  But I guess no one else does either.

Not only is football a way of life in Alabama, being a football fan is a way of life.  People talk about these college kid gladiators it ALL THE TIME.  Weddings, parties, vacations, having babies, are all scheduled around the Tide.

Especially the Iron Bowl.  I bet there’s no baby in the state of Alabama born on the Iron Bowl.

Year after year the fans keep coming back.  No question. We are smitten with seeing the next play. Because for all the insane highlight-reel footage Alabama can put together, we think maybe, just maybe the NEXT play will take our breath away, beat the odds, give us hope for our own lives.

And don’t we want the same thing from our music?

That last sentence could be re-worded like this: For all the insanely great  playlists we can put together, we think maybe, just maybe the next new song will take our breath away, beat the odds, give us hope for our own lives. 

That’s why we don’t give up.  That’s why we keep coming back.  That’s why we devote ourselves to this silliness.

Saban Out.

The Pomplamoose Article

If you haven’t read it you can HERE

Synopsis, cause I know most of you won’t read the article: indie band goes on the road, ticket sales are pretty legit, lots of expenses, band still loses money, but it’s all good because of the love of music.

Off the top I give Pomplamoose (Jack)  credit for a high degree of transparency in a business that hides and skims the numbers in favor of making themselves look more successful than they are.

But Jack says that the point of the article is not about licking their wounds, yet it seems like the whole point of writing the post was to talk about how they lost $11,819 on their tour. It’s difficult to work up sympathy for that.  And there’s a thousand things they could have done differently to make more profit.

Although they did get mine and a lot of other people’s attention, so maybe that was the point in the first place.

Music doesn’t owe anyone a living.  Just because you’re passionate doesn’t mean you deserve success.  It’s life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness.  No one’s entitled to the actual happiness.

Being in a band vs solo artist (or duo in the case of Pomplamoose) is a big deal when it comes to the dollars and cents.  

If the solo artist wants to have a full band for their tour, they have to hire people on a per show basis to come and play with them.  Good players won’t play for cracker jacks.  And this is where a bulk of Pomplamoose’s expenses came from.

But also as a solo artist when a cd is sold,  a song gets on a tv show, there’s a publishing offer, one (or two) person gets ALL the money. They don’t have to split, which is huge.

Think about it, getting a song on a TV show can initially bring $10,000 (sometimes more, sometimes less).  For an indie artist, after commissions by everyone involved, there’s probably $5000-$6000 remaining.  

If you’re an indie band you might have 4 or 5 or 6 people in the band and hopefully everyone’s entitled to an equal share, cause it’s already gonna be a squeeze to make this glorious windfall of cash even last everyone a single month.

But a solo artist pockets that 5 or 6k and gets at least a couple months of living out of it.

I know a lot of solo/duo artists here in Nashville that have been able to fund their whole career off this fact.

Risk/reward. Sacrifice and payoff.  If you’re a solo/duo you benefit from this but some of that extra money you made is going to have to go back into touring if you want that explosive rock show as oppose to an acoustic coffee shop situation. 

What would be impressive would be if Jack keeps this transparency going. Tweaking the tour strategy and letting us know how it effected the numbers.  

His post will either be the start of a new standard of artist leadership and transparency, or just another complaint column by an artist crying in his porridge.  We need the former. 

Is Bill Cosby Still Funny?

When is it ok to laugh at Bill Cosby’s comedy again?

Martha Stewart was all smiles and good vibes on Letterman the other night.  Lance Armstrong is ultimately remembered as a champion.  Who can forget the Brett Favre fiasco…apparently everyone.  Didn’t Zeppelin and KISS sell their souls to the devil at some point? Bill Clinton lied to all of us including the judicial system, but most people are cool with it now.

We care because it’s news.  We get up in arms because our perception is violated, but ultimately we forget.  We don’t care.

Why can’t we see this pattern and understand that we don’t know who these people are?  We simply enjoy or benefit from a tiny slice of what they do.  

I don’t think John Lennon and I would have been friends, probably more like enemies.  He did a lot of questionable and illegal things, but whatever.  He’s the best.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t take the root issues of some of these things seriously.  We should.  

But for all the fury against the latest public figure, just or unjust…it’s gonna go away.  The conversation is going to change.