TAYLOR SWIFT RESPONDS

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First time I was in the shower. When I listened to the message toweling off, I thought she said "Erica". Listening again it was clear it was Ms. Swift, who sounded troubled, like there'd been a misunderstanding involving love. And maybe that's the case. She felt I loved her, had I turned against her?

That's what she said when we finally spoke. That she thought I got her. And it frustrated her to think that I believed she used auto-tune.

She denied it. Emphatically. As only as a nineteen year old can. I believed her. But it still didn't address the underlying issue. Could she sing? Exactly how good a singer was she?

I told her I couldn't talk right now. That I was rushing out to a doctor's appointment. If she wanted, we could speak about two hours hence, when I came back. But there was the eight hour time difference, and the day was evaporating. Although she'd left me her cell phone number, unfortunately one digit eaten by the machine, I told her to e-mail me with her address, and as soon as I got home I'd let her know, we could talk.

But then doing the math, worried we'd be unable to connect, having to get up early to do interviews, Taylor got into it. How she didn't even know how to use auto-tune, had never used it. Then again, she admitted to fixing some mistakes in the studio.

Then I asked her, what about those high-priced concert tickets online? What was going on there? I'd printed an e-mail saying in Philadelphia that tickets were going for far in excess of a hundred bucks and then, within minutes of my publishing said letter, the whole tour page disappeared online, replaced with dates that had already played as opposed to those coming up.

She told me she had no idea. She'd have to check into it. And I ran out of my house and got behind the wheel.

This was not the first contact I'd received from her camp. I'd gotten a long e-mail from her father. Not histrionic, not criticizing me, but also emphatically denying she'd been auto-tuned live. That was off the record, but now since his daughter has weighed in...

And maybe that was true. Because she was so horrible in the opening of the CMAs. Oh, that's a strong word to use. It's just that she was so far from perfect, anywhere but on the note, on pitch. She was definitely naked there.

As she was during the first song on SNL. Not the opening segment, wherein Taylor said, like many writers to me opined, that she was trying to imitate Phoebe from "Friends", but the full band number. She wasn't quite as bad as she was on the CMAs, but she was not up to the level of a professional. The second song was better, but the backup vocals were covering up quite a bit.

So, like I said. Even if she didn't use auto-tune, there was still the underlying issue, could she sing? She admitted fixing things on record...

Then, after my appointment, I got an e-mail from the guy who leases the audio equipment for her tour, one Everett Lybolt, GM of Sound Image. This was pushing me over the edge. They protesteth too much! Furthermore, Mr. Lybolt went on to criticize other performers on the CMAs for not being live.

Who the fuck knows.

Taylor said I could come to the gig, check all her equipment out.

Like I'm really going to do that. Like it would prove anything. And I never wanted to be a member of the CIA.

And then I get home to a hanging tag from FedEx. My new laptop has finally arrived from China. I missed the delivery by fifteen minutes. I call the delivery service, asking for a resend, and while I'm being transferred between operators, another person is looking for me. But they hang up, then ring again. It's Taylor. Who I tell to hold.

This was unexpected. I figured she'd accomplished her mission.

But she wanted to get back to me with information on the tour dates. As a reader had informed me, the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia does not use Ticketmaster, Comcast sells the tickets. And isn't it funny now that Comcast has joined the Ticketmaster/Live Nation cluster fuck, with Irving supposedly offloading assets to the Roberts-controlled venture so the merger can go through.

Taylor told me her site had been hacked. That the link should have been to comcasttix.com. But the hackers had redirected buyers to gotthetix.com. That's why ducats for her show were priced far in excess of a hundred dollars. She implied that this had been discovered days ago, but in any event, she said it had now been fixed. Anyway, if you go back to her tour page now, the spring dates have reappeared. With Philadelphia and most other markets being shown as being sold out.

The truth?

Who the hell knows.

But there's your story.

But what about our earlier conversation. About Taylor's singing?

I told her she was quite good in the skits on SNL. And she was. Best non-actor guest host in recent times. But I told her, like that CMA opening, the first song...her voice was not good.

Taylor laughed. Said she could handle being criticized for having a bad voice, for missing notes. But she couldn't live with being criticized for being inauthentic.

Those songs are written in real time. About real people. Her co writers edit more than contribute. Her next album she's not planning to write with anyone. Not now, anyway.

And speaking of collaboration, she said she's got no manager. That she and her team have weekly meetings, where they go over career details. If she's on the road, she's conferenced in. The decisions are hers.

Like playing Gillette Stadium?

Absolutely. It's something she always wanted to do. She figures she'll do two or three stadium gigs next summer, that's all. She's salivating over building the show, deciding who will appear with her.

As for SNL, the call came through William Morris. They phoned and told her to hold for Lorne Michaels. Her heart was palpitating, she didn't figure it was about hosting SNL, and when she got the word, she was flying.

Then we discussed her career. And music.

I felt I was getting some stock answers. As I listened, I put myself in her shoes, wondered what it must feel like to get asked the same damn thing again and again. But I wanted to know. Did she see herself as a singer, an actress or..?

Definitely a singer. With a body of work that delineated the various periods of her life. Her first album was about being 13-16. Her second...

So I asked her what her favorite album was. Not because I was making a list, but because I wanted to know where she was coming from.

She thought for a moment, then said Shania Twain's "Come On Over".

I said Mutt Lange was the best living record producer, a true master. But had she ever listened to Joni Mitchell?

There was some hesitation. Then Taylor said no.

I told her to buy "Blue" tonight. Quoted her some lines from "A Case Of You".

And quoting that classic number, I went on to recite lines from Jackson Browne's "The Late Show". Told her I didn't want to overload her, but she should buy "Late For The Sky" too.

Taylor told me she'd seen Jackson live acoustic.

I guess I wanted to know if Taylor Swift wanted to be a star or an artist. That's why I wanted to know her favorite album, I wanted to know her hopes and dreams. Did she need to be in the spotlight, or was it about the work, testing limits?

She's the one who's got to figure it out.

Right now, she's the biggest star in America. Trumping U2, Springsteen, even Kenny Chesney and the Stones. And it's all based on these songs. Straight from the heart. That's why the little girls relate.

One day those girls will be women. A cusp where Taylor Swift is presently residing. Will she make the wrong choices?

I told her you can't say yes to everything. You can make some mistakes, but too many wrong steps can crimp your career.

Then again, I'm fifty six and she's nineteen. Growing up is about taking chances, making mistakes. But I didn't want her to listen to oldsters, telling her what to do, telling her it didn't make any difference as they skimmed from her pond.

We talked about Louis Messina and American Express. This was not some backwoods bimbo, an uneducated nitwit who was clueless when it came to business, but she knew only so much of the inner workings. But that which she did speak about she had a command of. When I broke new ground, she could follow. Taylor Swift is smart.

So where does that leave us?

Did Taylor Swift work me?

I've been worked before. I recognize it when I see it. Tommy Lee insisting I print his e-mail before he responds again. He was looking for publicity. Taylor seemed to need set the record straight. For herself.

Then again, there's an entire career in the balance.

But songs trump singing all day long. Anybody can sing, especially in this auto-tune era. But being able to write a great song, one that grabs fans lyrically and melodically, that's truly tough. And Taylor Swift has accomplished that.

So, I'm a huge fan of the albums.

And I'm convinced she's vocally challenged. But the way Taylor handled that in our conversation, by not skipping a beat, by admitting she's less than perfect, that she can handle the criticism, won me over.

Louis Messina Strikes Back

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My head is spinning.

First Greg Wells, now Louis Messina?

Used to be you denied, denied, denied. Now you just admit your behavior and throw it back at the accuser, saying you're innocent and really, it's the accuser's fault!

Greg Wells admits parts of Mika's show are on hard drive. Now, Louis Messina says Taylor Swift's deal with American Express, ultimately allowing cardholders to buy the best seats first, is a good thing. Huh?

So, AmEx buys full page ads in major newspapers. Is that really the problem? That no one knows that Taylor Swift is going on tour? They've got to get the word out?

Chances are, if you need that level of advertising, you're not gonna be able to fill the building. And that's not the case with Taylor Swift. She can sell every damn ticket over and over again.

Then, when Taylor Swift says she wants tickets to be $20, so all her fans can go to the show, Mr. Messina says: "Taylor, you can't do that 'cause you can't afford that. It would cost you so much money." Huh?

Only a promoter could think this way. What he's really saying is, if you don't charge more, you'll make LESS money, and I'LL make less money! Notice he doesn't say Taylor is going to LOSE money! Because she's not!

Listen, Taylor is better than most. This is not about her. The whole ticketing fracas is not about individual acts. It's a cancer endemic to our industry that is only harming us. Because you lose the trust of the consumer and you have no business.

Talk to anybody putting on shows right now. Business is TERRIBLE! Don't listen to the press reports. The public is staying home. And acts are not lowering their prices. And those on the talent side want to make as much money as ever, even though recorded music sales in most cases have tanked and the public has little money. This is a recipe for ongoing business success?

It's when Louis says there should be a government solution that I get pissed. Just like the government should solve the file-trading problem, which has gone on for a decade. Business problems require business solutions.

The scalpers are a problem, but they're not THE problem!

The problem originates with the talent.

The talent could charge a fortune for the tickets. But they're worried about blowback, the public's perception of them. They don't want to APPEAR greedy, so they revert to subterfuge. So, they don't LOOK greedy, even though they ARE greedy.

That's what scalping your own tickets is all about. That's what AmEx deals are all about. In many cases, that's what fan clubs are all about.

Heinous Ticketmaster fees, if not kicked right back to the artist, which happens in the case of many stars, go to the promoter, so he can make some money. Artists could include the fees in the overall price, eliminating customer anger and confusion, but they don't want to appear greedy, they'd rather that Ticketmaster take the heat.

So what do we need?

An all-in price. Having the customer angry at Ticketmaster and Live Nation does not bode well for the concert industry in general, because this is where the transaction takes place.

Acts either have to charge fair market price for the tickets, or insure that the true fans get ahold of the good tickets at what is essentially a price below fair market value.

If you want to sit in the front row, pay a grand, maybe two. But don't tell everybody they can sit in the front row for twenty five bucks when in reality all the good seats have been siphoned off, sold to those who are willing to pay more.

No one expects a BMW for the price of a Hyundai. Price the tickets fairly, at their real value, and scalping is to a great degree eliminated. Then again, the acts are fearful of charging a grand for a seat, they're afraid the public is going to see them like they see the bankers on Wall Street. Unfortunately, this would not be inaccurate, both are incredibly greedy (although the banker does make more).

Or, institute systems that allow the fan to get a good seat at a cheap price. Like putting the name on the ticket, a la Nine Inch Nails.

Now don't think everybody involved is stupid. Greedy, yes, but not stupid. Irving Azoff is aware that scalpers use low value credit cards to get around paperless ticketing. He couldn't get the credit card companies to play ball with him, they couldn't see the problem. But now they do.

And Irving says he's got the technology and the willingness to show exactly what tickets are on sale for a gig, and will soon have the ability to auction them off/variable price them like airline tickets.

But instituting the procedures and having acts use them is something different. Does an act really want to let people know that 1/20th of the tickets are actually available to the general public on the on sale date?

I say if you've toiled hard and long in the alley, you're entitled to make the dough. That's your choice, charge up the yin-yang. Or, leave a little in order to insure future good will, keeping the relationship with your fans by allowing them good seats at low prices. But the acts want it both ways, they want to maintain the good will and make all the money. And that's where I've got a problem.

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11487313

Tuesday night's report: http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11481431

Detroit Breakdown

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If you know where to surf on the Web, you can find downloadable concerts.

Conventional wisdom is young people don't care. Maybe that's only because they've never seen an act as vibrant as the J. Geils Band live.

Before they shortened their name to "Geils". Before they switched labels and started making MTV fodder. Before they sold their souls and went extinct.

It was a local thing. Nothin' but a party. Nothin' but a house party.

But back in the early seventies, a party wasn't enough. You needed a record. On wax, the J. Geils Band rarely triumphed. But live, they kicked ass. Would the J. Geils Band be gigantic today?

I was surfing my usual sites and I found a live recording of the J. Geils Band from April 25th in Detroit this year. This I had to check out.

I downloaded the cuts from the Who's 1969 fall tour first. Then I took all twenty four live cuts here. From the second show that evening. Which, according to the blurb, sold out in fifteen minutes.

Is this true? Who knows, Detroit was always a rockin' town, a big J. Geils market, and there's no label hype. Meanwhile, who even knew that J. Geils was on tour?

If you Google, you find a band site that hasn't been updated in a decade. Literally.

Search a bit farther, and you can see they're playing a casino on New Year's Eve. They opened a new House of Blues in Boston earlier in the year. Funny how time makes those memories fade away. Of how you hated each other, of how you disagreed. But the good memories, the good times, they remain. When it was all about the music. Before money fucked the whole thing up.

Now I know the big thing on Hollywood Boulevard these days is clubs. You overpay for drinks to bump asses to records. Huh? What would happen if the assembled multitude saw a great live band?

I'm not talking about Phish. I'm not talking about the Dave Matthews Band. I'm not talking jam. I'm talking sharkskin suits, I'm talking sunglasses, I'm talking R&B. If you were a great R&B band today, could you make it?

Used to be about the records. You needed an album and hopefully a hit single in order to make it. But if you've got a killer live show today, would that be enough?

I think so!

The energy is enough.

This is the opposite of canned music. This is pure power, pure sweat. This is the kind of event you drag your friends to. It's just that prior to the Internet, it was hard to spread the word. You had to rely on in-person conversation, the telephone, but today you can testify online and ZILLIONS can hear you. And we're all looking for something great. And when we find it, we tell everyone we know.

In other words, does the hit single NO LONGER MATTER?

Let's be clear. A hit pays dividends. But it won't get hardly anybody to come see you live. Even if you've got a string of them, people don't consider Top Forty artists to be credible. Which is why you're better off with one Michael Buble than anybody in the Top Ten. People go to see Buble to hear a crooner. He's nailed this market. How about R&B? Do you think it can't be replicated?

You can't get players who know more about technology than music. You've got to find people who live to listen, who don't know html, but can transpose keys on their instruments on the fly. People who know the history of music, not the history of Apple products. Oh, there's nothing wrong with bleeding in a bit of technological know-how, it's just that if this is done right, IT SELLS ITSELF, THE MUSIC COMES FIRST!

People want to get closer. A beautiful girl doesn't have to advertise. Boys flock around her. She may be an airhead, there may be little substance, but true greatness draws people in. And R&B is a proven genre. Mix it in with a bit of rock and roll, and you've got the J. Geils Band.

If J. Geils were starting today, they'd be monstrous. Word would spread from campus to campus. Their live business would be amazing. And who'd care about the record business...you can't make any real money selling records anymore anyway! And, this type of music doesn't get any radio play. And it's only idiots and casual music fans who listen to the radio. The hard core is on a personal adventure, a quest to find something great.

I'd love to tell you this show kills. But it's just a bit off. Could be the recording. Maybe I can't hear the organ enough, maybe J. Geils' fills aren't mixed up front. But OH THE ENERGY! You wouldn't walk out, you'd move and groove.

"They're dancing on the ceiling
They're dancing on the floor
People everywhere comin' through the door They know there's a party goin' on Do the dancin' romance all night long I know it's cold outside C'mon baby, I'll keep you satisfied All you gotta do is move Every time you feel that groove

It ain't nothing but a party
It ain't nothing but a party
It ain't nothing but a party
It ain't nothing but a house party"