WORD OF MOUTH

Image via CrunchBase

First and foremost comes a good product.

Requiring no admission fee, no college degree, no qualifications whatsoever, the music business is peopled by hucksters, who employ myriad scams to get you to pay attention to their wares.

But it doesn't work.

Used to. Back when there was limited distribution, when bribing a deejay to play your song got you a leg up. But who buys music because it's got a high iTunes chart position? Sam Adams worked the system in order to get meetings with major labels. But then what? If they sign him, they might market and promote him, but that doesn't mean his music will sell. Because only good music sells.

Sucks, I know. Makes it much more difficult for you. You can't get any traction outside your family and friends. The system's rigged against you. Bullshit. If you were actually good, you'd blow up. We've got people surfing the Web 24/7 looking for good stuff, dying to tell their peeps about it.

In Wednesday's "Wall Street Journal" there's a story about Porter Airlines. I wouldn't have bothered to read it except for the fact that in Toronto, my ear was bent constantly about the carrier.

People waxed rhapsodic. The terminal was downtown-adjacent! The planes had leather seats! The flight attendants were all decked out like the sixties! There was a brand new terminal! And you only had to check in minutes before!

If Porter does any advertising, I'm clueless. But having heard the rap so much, I started spreading the word too. When Seymour Stein told me he was having trouble flying back to New York I asked him, had he tried Porter?

Porter is triumphing with a good product. And it's being sold by its users. Kind of like Google.

I remember the turning point. A phone call with a non-tech savvy friend about a decade ago. She was telling me about some Web-activity and referenced "Googling" something.

This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I'd been ignoring the search engine, I was a fan of HotBot, but now I had to try Google out, now that the hoi polloi were employing it. Hell, the hoi polloi could barely surf the Web. If Google gave them answers...

I switched to Google overnight.

But it gets better. Not only did I become a user, but a fan. I was thrilled when Apple installed the Google search window in the Safari toolbar. Yeah! It was like my favorite team scoring a touchdown. This is what people don't realize about Steve Jobs' company. We not only buy the products, we're believers. We're interested in everything Apple does. Kick the tires on new products? Shit, sometimes we buy them without even experiencing them first. Ergo, iPad pre-orders.

But it only works if you've got a killer product.

It starts with a track. And from that track, you can build a career. Just like the iPod got people to buy iPhones and Macs. Give someone a taste of an exquisite product, and they're on board.

And it's not about speed. Hell, the twenty first century is littered with products that were hits overnight and disappeared almost instantly. You've got to let the audience discover you. You've got to let people believe it's their choice. Shit, Apple is one cold computer company. But their stores are warm, the customer service is great. And this pays dividends.

Let's focus on service. Because the initial product is not the end of the relationship. Point is, you want a relationship. Dell's lame overseas customer service ended up decimating the company. Apple's made in America customer service gets people testifying. See the difference?

The music business has been about batting people over the head to sell them a product once. You bought it. It sucks? That's your problem. Furthermore, we rip you off at every turn. Just try getting a good concert ticket...what's up with that? Hell, the experience buying an airline ticket is better!

So focus on the music. There's nothing wrong with updating your Facebook page, tweeting away. But those elements are never going to make you. It's your music that's your calling card. And if your music is good enough, it will be embraced by fans and the word will be spread. No one sits at home waiting for their favorite song to come on the radio anymore... Shit, if you like something you can e-mail a friend the MP3, point to a YouTube page, there are many entry points for exposure.

You don't stand out because of the penumbra. Shit, even J. Lo lost her Sony gig. It's no longer how good you look, who you know, who you hang with... It's about the tunes.

Don't point out the exceptions. Those acts tend to be here today and gone tomorrow. Furthermore, this is a twenty first century change. When so much is available, when marketing is abhorred and tuned out, the only people we listen to are our friends. We trust them.

Marketing is the final step these days. It's about positioning. It's about imaging. Like those iPod billboards. They don't tell you much, they just remind you how hip the product is.

So don't bother attending marketing seminars. Don't listen to the major label tell you how it used to be. Just practice, practice, practice. Make something insanely great. And post it online. Hell, give it away for free. Because if it's really good, people will ultimately clamor around you to give you their money...for concert tickets, t-shits and signed CDs, even if they only listen to MP3s. Because believers need badges of honor. They want to evidence what's close to their hearts. It's the key to logos on clothing. Shit, no one wants to sport a JCPenney or Wal-Mart logo just like no one wants to help you sell your lame music. But Louis Vuitton?

And, in case you didn't know... That LV luggage lasts FOREVER!

2010 Predictions

Image by dannysullivan via Flickr

1. Ticketmaster and Live Nation Will Merge

After public outcry lasting a week, people will move on to tracking the exploits of faux celebrities and the two companies will get down to trying to improve their bottom lines. Which will depend not so much on fees, but the artists in the Front Line stable.

Expect innovative merchandising and distribution deals. The ability to stream concerts at home. And a ton of data delivered to acts that will allow them to enhance their careers.

Will this be enough to improve Live Nation's anemic bottom line? Will Ticketmaster be able to demonstrate growth? Unclear at this time. In a business where the lion's share of the revenue goes to the acts, it's hard to grow. But this is their challenge.

And if you want to compete with the behemoth, you've got to deliver more. And better.

Independent concert promoters must do more than pay an advance and sell tickets. They too will be forced to go high tech. Government conditions will allow independent ticketing agencies to flourish, but will they? Or will we learn that Ticketmaster does a good job (which Live Nation's ticketing debacle proved). Or will it all come down to money. How much new agencies will kick back and how little they're willing to profit.


2. Major Labels

History!

Well, that's not exactly accurate.

The behemoth will be TM/LN. What does the act need the major label for when they get can almost all these services from TM/LN and retain the lion's share of revenue from selling the music they do?

Expect major label rosters to continue to shrink. The majors will focus on winners. Broad-based acts that garner radio and TV airplay. However, these acts tend not to be winners in the live arena, so those slices of live revenue and merchandising in the 360 deals are worth little. And, the more people you try to reach, the blander the product. And this business has always thrived on cutting edge product. Which the major label won't sign, because it doesn't know how to expose it and doesn't see instant revenue.

In sum, a bad recipe.

Best to spin off new artist development to a third party and turn the major into a licensing house. Thrive from the catalog.


3. Independent Labels

Don't have 360 deals and don't have cash. If someone is telling you they're staring an indie label, laugh. Unless that someone is a manager and already has an interest in 360 degrees of revenue.

Suddenly, you're your own label. You get all the money, but you're doing all the work. Which artists are historically poor at.

So expect a roll-up of new acts.

So far, TM/LN is not in this business. And Red Light has a lot of acts, but little traction.

Some smart cookie, much younger than the players of today, will build a hit act. The old-fashioned way, slowly, via a lot of touring, employing new technology to spread the word. The success of this act will draw other new acts to this person. And out of nowhere, suddenly, you're going to have a brand new powerhouse.

These will be acts the oldsters want no part of at first. Because they don't see enough revenue. That's how new players always get started. By finding that which few are interested in and becoming the new mainstream. These new acts will be music focused. They won't even think about Top Forty radio. They'll put the fans first. But, they might just end up writing a ubiquitous track. Which is built by the people, not the industry.


4. Acts

Will focus on their niche instead of world domination. It will be about making a living more than earning a private jet lifestyle. These new acts will not be bitching that music is free, they'll be giving away their material, just hoping that you pay attention.

But don't be surprised when one of these new acts suddenly becomes ubiquitous. Because despite the balkanization of the Web, it also allows a story to be universally known, overnight.


5. Terrestrial Radio

A dying medium for music.

The stations are overleveraged, or already in bankruptcy, and they're cutting back infrastructure and banking on twenty plus minutes of commercials per hour. You're supposed to double down, innovate in a crisis. But terrestrial radio has done just the opposite. It's dying, and it will never come back. In a world where no one experiences a commercial they don't want to, do you really expect people to listen to what you tell them and be sold to every third minute? You're dreaming.

Terrestrial radio will be about news and talk, those elements that are immediate. Music's been recorded previously, there's no urgency to sit through the b.s. to hear what you want to.


6. Satellite Radio

Has the benefit of being in automobiles, but a bad image. Will stay at the twenty million subscriber level unless the model is changed and the service becomes free. Don't expect that to happen.


7. Pandora

A winner. I find the service tedious, requiring way too much effort to hear what I want. Slacker is superior. But Pandora is winning.

All because of Tim Westergren. Who kept his company in the public eye. Who aligned himself and his company with the public, not the government or the powers-that-be. Yup, Tim kept rallying his troops, telling them to write to their representatives in Washington, to keep the service alive. To the point where Pandora got name recognition. To the point where it thrives not only on computers, but mobile phones. And is supposedly on the verge of profitability.

Learn Tim's lesson. Keep yourself in the public eye. Don't condemn your customers, rally them.

And know that the best service does not necessarily win.


8. Piracy

Will no longer be the focus of discussion. It will be about signing people up to subscription music services. How long will this take? The cards are held by the rights holders, until they play ball, innovation will be stifled.

Ever notice that Google search is free? That people clicking on ads support the service for everyone? This is the essence of a freemium model. Those paying for music subscriptions will subsidize those employing a free version, albeit with limits...i.e. advertising.

Until you've got the free version, you've got no incentive.

Once people have free streaming services on their desktops, they'll pay to have them on their mobile devices. Because first and foremost, all the data will synch, you'll have convenience and you'll save time. Furthermore, you'll get what you want, all your music on the go. And you'll pay for this.

Makes no sense to try to accumulate a library of tracks. Especially when the health of the business depends on experimentation, getting people to listen to new tracks. This process must be easy. Sure, hard drive space keeps getting cheaper. And broadband connections get faster. But it still takes time to steal and catalog all that music. So, if someone does it for you, will you pay a small price?

Of course.

Starting with small.

It's about regrowing the revenue stream. Not figuring out how we get back to the numbers of yore, but delivering a service people want for a price...and slowly raising that price, like every other service in America. Get 'em hooked first, then make your money.

Traditional labels may rail that music is being devalued. But savvy artists will realize it's about exposure. And that there's more ways to make money than recorded music. Which, of course, should be paid for, but should not be seen as the main way to earn your bread.


9. Music Video

Will be what it originally was. A way for fans and potential fans to experience the act, not a mini-movie. Veoh, if it ever works right, will not experience exponential growth because new acts will not make videos like those of the eighties and nineties, and will not be aligned with Veoh anyway.

Just like Veoh's videos are hosted by YouTube, so are the wannabes'. They can be embedded anywhere. Google/YouTube gives all artists this power. The majors/Veoh have no monopoly on distribution.


10. Retail

Already it's hard to find vast inventories of CDs. This will only get worse. Sure, diehard indie stores will survive, but Wal-Mart and Best Buy will continue to shrink floor space for music, down to essentially nothing.

But the big story will be the decline of the iTunes Store. Sale by track has always been death. You need to get more than a buck a track from a customer to survive. You need the higher price point of a subscription, that is still low, but so desirable that many people buy it.


11. Music

Will need to reclaim its rightful place as the most powerful art form. This will be done by innovative acts, not aligned with a major.

Today's audience sees music as background, not foreground. Aural grease in a club, not something you sit on your floor and listen to again and again as it fulfills your soul.

In order to turn the ship around, we'll need a plethora of artists who can sing, write and play. The new technological tools allow you to fake it in the studio, but it's much more difficult to fake it live. You may point to lip-synching divas as contradiction to this point, I'll say those are productions, whereas real musicians, playing live, sans effects, sans canned backup, touch the audience in a wholly different way, which bonds fans to them, which makes people want more.

Yes, we're going to experience a return to basics. Don't be distracted by the vast gobs of crap, whether it be the wannabes on MySpace or the no-talents on Top Forty radio. The growth will come from those who pay their dues, who rely on their talent.

None of the oldsters believe this. They point to grosses of jokes. They point to dollars as opposed to emotions. And that's how we've gotten to this godforsaken place. Until you focus on the essence, the music, motivating people to come to the show based on the sound alone, you're screwed. The shows will start smaller. They'll be cheaper. But the acts will be better. Because when there's less money involved, you don't do it for the fame, but the love.


12. Conclusion

The music business is going through a wrenching transition. Which will continue and may not solidify in its new form until the end of this new decade. But, when the new destination is reached, most of the old players will be extinct and music will thrive.

We need to separate the wheat from the chaff. This will be done online. Someone like Arianna Huffington will roll up tastemakers and distill information for those not willing to surf all day to find what they want. Wannabes will be seen as that. Esoteric blogs will complain that they host the real music, that they are the true keepers of the flame, but the more we let today's shoegazers' voices be heard, the further we are from the destination.

Sure, all genres can succeed. But let's not confuse the marginal with the mainstream. And there's nothing wrong with being mainstream, if that means more than your family, your friends and your college buddies like you. You can get plenty far without compromising. As long as you're good.

Sure, you can post your wannabe music on the aforementioned MySpace, but we're going to ignore it. The same way we ignore your second grade diorama, or your high school talent show.

Chaos will fade, solidification will emerge. A new breed of acts not beholden to the old business mind-set who can play, who have something to say, will dominate. It's coming. Not as soon as we want it to, but it's coming.

Alternative "We Can't Make It Here"

Image via Wikipedia

Mmm...

Not exactly sure what's going on here. YouTube is doing maintenance and suddenly the links in my prior message are not working in Safari, but they're occasionally working in Firefox.

Ah, technology.

Anyway, try these links instead:

Acoustic YouTube version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vN0--mHug

Alternative acoustic take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWRfBZY-ng

Official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv0q3cW3x1s

SONG OF THE DECADE

Image via Wikipedia

Yes, it's been ten years. And I'm not one for lists. But in magazines and newspapers decade-ending rankings have started to appear. Best movies, best TV shows and best songs. So I thought I'd weigh in.

"Some have maxed out all their credit cards Some are working two jobs and living in cars Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO See how far 5.15 an hour will go Take a part time job at one of your stores Bet you can't make it here anymore"

I've had a rough year. Financially.

After a disastrous nineties, I owe nothing. I live on a cash basis. I saved every damn cent I could, figuring it's hard to make a living on a freelance basis, and then the bottom fell out.

I'm not complaining. I've got my cash hoard. But it's depressing. Because almost everybody I know is broke, or close to it. I've even got a friend who put her stuff in storage and is bouncing from guest bedroom to guest bedroom, she just can't find a job.

They don't exist. Even if you want to work, you can't.

Your best bet is the network, those people you've known for decades. You can call and lean on them, if they still even have their jobs.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs is paying record bonuses and their Chairman Lloyd Blankfein says the firm is doing God's work. He must pray to a deity I've yet to encounter, one who wants to see the populace suffer. Used to be Wall Street helped build America, now traders just profit off exotic investment instruments. Meanwhile, if we didn't prop up AIG, the banks would be bankrupt and their employees would be just like us, without a job and with no prospects. Hell, did you see that story in the "New York Times" about ex Lehman Brothers employees? They can't work.

Not that I've got sympathy.

"Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils The billionaires get to pay less tax The working poor get to fall through the cracks Let 'em eat jellybeans, let 'em eat cake Let 'em eat shit, whatever it takes They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps If they can't make it here anymore"

By time you read this our President, Barack Obama, a man who ran on the mantra of hope, may be getting us deeper into Afghanistan. Isn't Al-Qaeda in Pakistan? And, if the Soviets couldn't win there, why should we? A country owned by China with disastrous financials (that's us, in case you didn't recognize your homeland).

And if you join the armed forces to serve your country, to pay your bills, you're entering the Hotel California. It seems you can never leave. You wish you were a rock star, high on dope, as you jumpily wait for people to attack you one more time. Coming home to a country that pays you lip service, but doesn't give a shit. If you come home at all. And if you do return, you're probably so traumatized you figure suicide is the best solution.

"In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains That's done closed down along with the school And the hospital and the swimming pool Dust devils dance in the noonday heat There's rats in the alley And trash in the street Gang graffiti on a boxcar door We can't make it here anymore"

Not only have they ditched music in schools, now they're closing the libraries. Guess everybody's got to sit in front of the TV, paying media giants to have crap shoved down their throats. Elvis Costello sang about vapid radio? Well, they killed radio and now have us anesthetized in front of the flat screen, selling us products we don't need, that we put on credit cards that charge 29%. As for holding back... Didn't they say it was American to shop, that we were entitled? If we sacrifice, maybe that means the future truly is bleak. So, we consume until we go bust.

I try to have hope. Can't say that I achieve this state every day.

But one thing that helps me get through is James McMurtry's "We Can't Make It Here". Not only my favorite song of the twenty first century, but my most played. With over 200 plays in my iTunes library on the computer I superseded in 2006, and over 100 more since.

Sure, the lyrics are poignant, they're poetry. But there's a hypnotic groove that hooks me, that makes me want to play the song again and again.

There's an authorized electric version, but I prefer the acoustic take. Which James used to give away for free on his site, but now you can hear as backing to a clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_vN0--mHug&feature=PlayList&p=8F9DB3A3A3F39061&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=21

You don't have to pay a scalper to see James McMurtry. He's gonna play in the bar in your hometown sometime next year. But the paper won't make a big deal, there won't be a buzz. But the paper is going extinct and we haven't yet made a complete transition from Kara DioGuardi crap to real music.

Is it only about the money? What happens when the money runs out? Then what? When no one listens to Top Forty, when no one wants to go to the show. When the old criteria die, it comes down to the music.

James McMurtry got a break at the beginning. He did a number of albums on Columbia, his first was produced by John Mellencamp. But when his deal was done he didn't give up and go to law school, he didn't get an MBA, he didn't don a suit and go straight, no he went indie, he kept writing, he kept playing.

And if that ain't twenty first century, I don't know what is.

In the next month, we're going to be deluged with statistics. Telling us who the winners were. People who provided fodder for the system, that you consumed, shat out and forgot.

But great art is unforgettable.

"We Can't Make It Here" is unforgettable. Just as powerful as "Eve Of Destruction", but sans camp, it doesn't slide off of you, it penetrates your core.

How did we get here?

To a country where there are winners and losers. And the winners feel entitled.

It's not only Wall Street, the music game is not much different.

The stars can't sell recordings anymore so they've jacked up the price of concert tickets to the point where the average attendee only goes to a show once a year. Isn't that like only having sex once a year? Aren't you entitled to more? Don't you want more?

Those left at the label complain that the audience is a bunch of thieves. Never mind the overpriced CDs they sold with only one good track for over a decade.

And the wannabes only want to know, which way to riches?

Every day they e-mail me...how can I make money?

If I had the answer to that, I'd be rich myself!

But I do it because I want to, it's my passion. That's why I write. And as long as people read, I'm going to proceed. It's fine with me that you're partaking for free, because first and foremost it's about communication, hell, it's about attention, and I've got yours, and believe me, nothing thrills me, nothing satisfies me more.

I may be a lone voice in the wilderness, I may be the only person who says this, but I truly believe James McMurtry's "We Can't Make It Here" is the best song of this nascent century. It doesn't only sound good, it's got something to say.

"We Can't Make It Here" lyrics: http://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/we_cant_make_it_herelyrics.htm

Alternative acoustic take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWRfBZY-ng&feature=related

Official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv0q3cW3x1s&feature=player_embedded#

Empowerring Your Audience

Image by aulia.m via Flickr

Go to a gig and you'll see a plethora of attendees filming the event. Not only taking photos, but literally recording the gig.

Old acts want to employ a no-camera policy. They want to ban the users. Newbies tolerate it. Why not EMBRACE the audience's activity?

Why doesn't every band have a page for audience uploads? Pics AND clips? Allowing the fans themselves to vote on which ones are the best, which ones are worth viewing?

Of course, you host on YouTube and you embed on the artist's page. If Google can sway L.A. to host its e-mail in the cloud, why can't bands utilize the company's free services to their advantage? Flickr is a great resource too!

The point is we've got it all wrong. We're trying to tell the fans what to do, when they should be telling US what to do!

Did you read the story on Twitter in yesterday's "New York Times"? All its good ideas come from outside. Like search, hash tags and referencing people by using the @ symbol. The company decried some of these innovations, they didn't even want messages to be called "tweets". Then they realized they had it wrong, that they should be embracing third party innovation, not stifling it!

People want to share music. Rather than trying to stop this, copyright owners should make it easier. You want to e-mail someone the track? Let the band's site do it for you! And if the person you send the music to clicks a button on the e-mail, saying he actually likes the new cut, you get points, allowing you better seats at the gig or some other swag.

What, do we think we're going to prevent people from swapping music? If you believe this, you must not have any USB keys, which even come in credit card-sized promotional form these days. It's not about stopping trading, but INCREASING trading!

Eventful has got it right. An act should go where its fans want them to.

Fans want more access, not less. Where is fan access to music business executives? Ashton Kutcher and every musician known to man can tweet, but Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine can't? No wonder the business gets such a bad rap. If it's all about relationships, how about doing a spot of work, helping the cause? Believe me, hiding behind Mitch Bainwol will pay no dividends.

Speaking of Twitter, people like to tweet about tracks. Why not create a service easier than Blip, that allows people to hear what others tweet about? I should be able to tweet about a track, and if you want to check it out, all you've got to do is click the link. And I get the URL for the track from one central, easy to use database. Plug the name into a Google-type search engine and you IMMEDIATELY get a bit.ly shortened url for someone to hear the entire thing. This is better than radio promotion. You're getting people truly interested in the music checking it out right away. They're pulling it, you're not pushing it. And pull is where all the money is. It's just like Google AdWords. The people who click WANT TO BUY!

The fans want to hook up at the gig. Can't you make this easier? A special meeting station, with free wi-fi for iPhones. Believe me, you can get a sponsor to cough up the free wi-fi.

We've got it all wrong. We've been FIGHTING the customer instead of EMBRACING HIM! So worried about losing money, being unable to sustain the nineties model, we're closing the door to the future. The more you can get people excited about music, the more you can increase their access, the more money you ultimately make.

Sure, Twitter itself may not yet be profitable, but the tweets are evanescent. Music is not. Get someone hooked on an act, and they'll go see them live, buy merch, buy the music, whether it be the track outright or listening on a paid streaming service.

For over a decade, the technology's been more interesting than the music. Because music has been putting up barriers, refusing to play in the new world. This makes no sense. Instead of telling people how to use the music, let them tell US!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html

Song Of The Day "Wild Girl"

Image via Wikipedia

Somewhere back there Rickie Lee Jones lost her way.

I'll vote for the second album. Sure, the first was great, I loved "Weasel and the White Boys Cool", but the second, "Pirates", begins with a one-two punch that's undeniable, it knocks you out cold, you wake up on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

We belong together.

Have you ever laid in bed, wondering about the distance between the two of you, deciding whether to break it off or try and continue and you suddenly decide "we belong together"?

The operative word is "we". That's when relationships are on fire, when it's no longer about you and her, but when you can't imagine life without your other half, when you think the cosmos has determined you belong together.

I actually called up a girl and told her this. We'd had a hard time docking, we were unable to make it fit, frustrated, it looked like it was best to return to our respective corners, permanently. But this night I determined we belonged together.

She didn't see it the same way.

And, in retrospect, she was right. We didn't belong together. But that doesn't mean I don't remember that feeling. Just like Rickie Lee Jones sings it in this song. It's a private moment, not a diva onstage singing for everybody, but a private symphony playing in your own head.

The follow-up, "Living It Up", has got a completely different vibe. But it's no less touching, no less meaningful. You may think you're living it up, you might put a sunny face on the situation, but is that the truth?

Then Rickie lost the plot. She stopped working with Lenny Waronker and Russ Titelman. She did a great cover of "Walk Away Renee", but the albums no longer hit you in the same way. She was Rickie Lee Jones once. Now?

It's a beautiful day in L.A.

And I'm driving west on Wilshire and I hear the new Rickie Lee Jones song for the second time, "Wild Girl".

On Sirius XM's Loft. Meg Griffin was spinning it from her perch on the coast of Massachusetts.

And the song speaks for itself. But you can't hear it. I found it nowhere online.

You can hear a snippet at http://www.rickieleejones.com/ It's not the first track, still the first track works too.

How did Rickie Lee come back twenty years later?

By finishing twenty year old songs.

Her Website has too much Flash, you'd never go back. But the TV-type images are fascinating. They've got the feel of the music. This is not some babe of the moment in a video clip, this is meaning. We're all lonely at heart, but we're yearning to feel connected. Music, when done right, brings us together.

The second track on the Website player is "Wild Girl". You'll get a taste. Longer than thirty seconds, but not long enough. It's snappy, yet not mindless. It's visceral, it opens your skin and tucks itself inside.

But you can check out this live YouTube clip from last May.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBBJ2yBn_BU

The sound is not perfect, but Rickie Lee's voice is. She's aged, but her voice has lost nothing. It's stunning, you look at the image and you can't believe anyone can sound this good without some kind of aural trick.

Concord also has a clip, but although the audio is better than the YouTube video, it doesn't have quite the same punch and it stutters, still, it's great.

http://concordmusicgroup.com/newmedia/video/rickieleejones/rickie_lee_jones_wild_girl_clip.html

I don't think Rickie Lee Jones will return to her seventies perch. Where she was the hipster who dominated the country. But if you listen to "Wild Girl", not only will you believe she's still got it, you'll be blown away that she blows all the poseurs away.

TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) or FREE RIDE as I call it...Pat Melfi

What amazes me the most is the level of entitlement Americans believe they are entitled to.

One of my friends, a musician named Bill Zucker wrote this song. It puts a spin on the problem in American government. Just a few months ago Americans were insured that funds from this program would save GM and Chysler among others and prevent them from going bankrupt. Did I miss something here or what? I did graduate from Berkeley in the 70's don't remember what I studied there either...maybe those brain dead cells just helped me imagine what I was hearing about this.

America needs to wake up!!!

This is a joke and remaining complacent about this will only allow it to get worse...Anyone else but me notice the current administration is like a runaway train?

Get your share of your own TARP with this funfilled humorous tune from Bill that has been all over the news as well as had 148,000 views on YouTube.

Enjoy the humor.