Communication Breakdown

Have you tried to book a gig lately? I mean even an audition for a little solo acoustic set in a bar or lounge somewhere? I just called twenty-one venues I found on the Internet (with the help of Yelp) and out of the twenty-one three were no longer in business, three claimed to not have live entertainment despite what their website said, only five had actual people answer the phone and the rest were all tape machines where you can leave a message.

What does this say about putting the customer first? I'm calling to ask for an audition and potentially for them to pay me money but I could just as easily have been a potential paying customer. Sure, I could listen to a tape recording and maybe hear the information I wanted to hear such as times open, directions to the location, etc., but being able to ask my questions directly to a human being would have made me feel a lot more comfortable about giving this establishment my patronage. Seriously, what kind of customer service can I expect from my visit if they won't even answer their telephone?

This is one of the great frustrations of trying to find any kind of job these days. Who can you talk to? Who can you call to follow up when the tape recorded HR director directs you to their website to apply for positions? How do you know if anyone ever gets your application? How does EDD check up to see if you're actually calling employers? I just don't know anymore.

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The Age Of Authenticity

In a previous blog post I told of my dream of a "Last Wave". That's my term for the Baby Boomers who are heading into retirement picking up their old guitars for one last stand. They now have the time and money and forty years of developing skills and are of need of a hobby. Sure, they won't be doing any major label signing as they're "too old" and the company can't squeeze another twenty years out of them and they won't be doing anything so new and as yet so unheard so as to hearld in "the next big thing", but what they do have that the kids can't have is Authenticity.

A twenty year old blues singer might say he got his inspiration from the singer of Nickleback who clearly got his style from Eddie Vedder who copied Jim Morrison who got turned on to the Blues by The Rolling Stones who were influenced by Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. What the Baby Boomers have to offer is music much closer to the source and therefore much more authentic. These musicians aren't just copying the music that came before but many actually were playing this music when it was new. Their experience flavors the sound to a great degree and is hard to replicate.

The previous Baby Boomer music "wave", Newwave, had as a large part of its genre a rediscovering of the music that its performers had grown up loving. Elvis Costello, The Cars, The Knack, The Plimsoles, The Pretenders, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Blondie are just a few of the bands from the early Eighties that reinterpreted the music of the British Invasion of 1964, the Folk Rock movement of 1965 and the girl band sound of Phil Spector. These musicians did such a good job not because they were spoofing or parodying a music style that was before their time, but because they grew up with this music. Rather than invent a style all their own, which Newwave sort of was, they brought back the music of their youth. The Stray Cats and Queen with A Crazy Little Thing Called Love, went even farther back and revived Rockabilly.

Classic Rock still has its fans even among today's young people who I believe would appreciate a new version performed and recorded by the people who not only heard it but lived it.

Speaking of the real thing, here's an example right HERE.




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The Band That Died Redux

A couple years ago, since it was Memorial Day, I wrote a blog post about a band that was killed during the Viet Nam War while there with the USO. To read the original post go HERE.

Yesterday Rock & Roll Rehab received a comment on that blog post which I don't want to have get lost in the archives so I've reprinted it here. This is quite a story.

 
This is the true story about what happened to Brandi Perry and The Bubble Machine in Viet Nam July 1968.

SP4 David K.Hamilton U.S.Army who was assigned to the HQ Company, 1St. Logistics Command volunteered to drive a pickup truck with the band and Brandi (Paula Levine) to a camp for a performance when they were ambushed by Viet Cong forces on Highway 15 in the middle of a combat zone, according to Miss Levine, Hamilton, a Malden MA. native was covered with wounds when he threw himself over the actress and ordered the rest of the troupe to "play dead". Two band members died and two survived, the survivors credited SP4 Hamilton with their survival by listening to his commands to stay still and play dead so the enemy wouldn't kill them. The actress Paula Levine flew from Hollywood to Malden MA to attend the funeral and bring Hamilton's belongings that he entrusted to her before he died. Hamilton was 19 years old, his name is etched on the VietNam Memorial Wall along with over 58,000 of our brave American heroes.

Respectfully,
Jack Marino, US Navy 1967
Malden Veteran

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Rockin' The House, YOUR House

Singer / songwriter and auxiliary member of The Tooners, Jerry Strull, is helping raise funds for the Alzheimer's Association's 2013 Care & Cure Drive by offering to play a free house concert in the Los Angeles area for contributors of over $50.00.

House concerts are an interesting phenomena that has been growing in popularity in recent years. Inside of going out to see live entertainment, private citizens host parties in their homes, invite however many people they can comfortable fit in their living rooms and hire entertainers to perform intimate concerts, usually as a solo/acoustic act. Many times the performers are traveling along a House Concert circuit and are given room and board at the show host's home the night of the show.

The fees paid to the performers can be a set price but many times the performer gets the "contribution", usually from $15 to $20 per person for anywhere from ten to forty people since these house concerts are specifically advertised as "NOT A BUSINESS" but a private party (for legal / tax reasons). Although these House Concerts are specifically musical performances rather than "parties with music" there can be food and drinks served both before or after a performance and even a question and answer part of the performance. It's loose and intimate and a very special experience especially to people who grew up attending giant stadium shows and miss the special jam sessions that often took place at small parties at their friend's house, like Jerry's back in the day. Check him out at www.jerrystrull.com.
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We Nominate Dick Alen

Where would Elvis be without Col. Tom Parker? Or how far would the Beatles have gotten from Liverpool without Brian Epstein? One more question: does the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame include the people who helped the great superstars become what they eventually became? Are agents and managers recognized in the Hall of Fame?

If they are, then right behind Epstein and Col. Tom in the nominating procedure should come Dick Alen. Until his retirement from the William Morris Agency he was the guiding hand behind the "Grandfather" of Rock & Roll and the undisputed inventor of rock guitar, the great Chuck Berry.

Dick Alen agent to the Stars

Joe Reinartz, Dick Alen's ghostwriter of his autobiography has a great interview with Dick on the Pollstar website;

Dick Alen has been with talent agency William Morris (now William Morris Endeavor) for 39 years and has spent 60 years in the entertainment industry.


Among the artists Alen is associated with are Aretha Franklin, Little Richard and Chuck Berry, who has been a client of Alen’s for more than 50 years. He also brought Jose Carreras, Julio Iglesias, Tom Jones and Juanes to the agency and has represented Cheech & Chong, Rod Stewart, Barry White and Enrique Iglesias. Alen will now be a consultant to WME as well as an adviser to Aretha Franklin and Chuck Berry.

 Alen’s career began in 1952 working at Shaw Artists and handled acts like Fats Domino, Ray Charles, The Clovers and The Orioles. He is considered a pioneer in getting R&B acts on television. His history includes being road manager for Woody Herman and, in 1958, working at Universal Attractions repping acts like James Brown, Dinah Washington and Hank Ballard. He and Jack Bart eventually purchased Universal and signed Solomon Burke, Joe Tex and Johnny Taylor among others.
We here at Rock & Roll Rehab will research the procedure for nominating individuals into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and if at all possible, we'll start the campaign for Dick Alen's induction right here. Check back to see our progress.
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House Concert For Alzheimer's Association Care & Cure Drive

Singer-songwriter Jerry Strull will perform an exclusive private house concert to benefit the Alzheimer's Association's 2013 Care & Cure Drive. Each person to donate $50.00 or more can register to win a private 90 minute performance by guitarist / singer / songwriter Jerry Strull. The winner of the concert can host the performance in his or her home and invite paying or nonpaying audience members. The host will be responsible for any marketing and advertising of the event, supply the location, seating and refreshments. The proceeds from the event are the property of the host.

Jerry Strull is a guitarist, singer and songwriter who has been a sought after session player for recording and live shows. Like a lot of people of Baby Boomer age his family has been affected by Alzheimer's Disease and he sees the devastating effects the spread of the disease will have on the aging Boomer generation if left unstopped.

The winner will be picked at random from email entries and are limited to locations within Los Angeles County. Concert date and time to be decided by the winner who will be selected on July 4, 2013.

To register online go to www.jerrystrull.com.

To donate to the Alzheimer's Association's 2013 Care & Cure Drive go to their website at: www.alz.org/join_the_cause_donate.asp

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Suffering For Your Art


The 18-year-old passed away on Monday morning at his home in Minnesota surrounded by his family and girlfriend, according to a post by his mother on Sobiech's CaringBridge page.

Zach touched the hearts of millions, including countless celebrities, with the farewell song he wrote for family and friends after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer.
Sobiech said he also needed to write it for himself. "I needed to get that emotion out and they wanted something they could remember me by," he said.

The lyrics read: "And we’ll go up, up, up. But I’ll fly a little higher. We’ll go up in the clouds because the view is a little nicer. Up here my dear. It won’t be long now, it won’t be long now."
Clouds was uploaded to YouTube on December 5, 2012, and has since been viewed by nearly 3 million people.

This response saw celebrities come together to pay tribute to Zach with their own version of the song and a video.

Among the stars featured in the video is Ashley Tisdale, Colbie Caillat, Anna Faris, Passenger, Jason Mraz, Rachel Bilson, Chris Pratt, Jenna Elfman, Jenna Fischer, The Lumineers, Rachel Bilson, Ed Helms and Phillip Phillips.

The video was assembled by The Office star Rainn Wilson and actor Justin Baldoni, who directed a short documentary about Zach, called My Last Days, which airs on Wilson's SoulPancake YouTube channel.

The story of Zach Sobiech and his recording of his song Clouds is very sad but it's nice that Zach lived to see its popularity. As artists we always wonder if the work we do that goes unnoticed will be discovered and celebrated after our deaths. At least Zach knew the world had discovered him, it's just too bad he didn't have any time to enjoy his success.

The question becomes would Clouds have had any success at all if not for the tragic backstory that accompanied it? It might have been just another song recorded by a teenager and released on Youtube if Zach had remained healthy. In fact, if not for his illness he might never had felt the pressure to write, record or upload a song in the first place.

A while back a musician named Justin Vernon retreated to his family's vacation cabin in northwestern Wisconsin to recover from a bout of mononucleosis. While there he wrote and recorded an album under the band name Bon Iver. Bon Iver then went on to win the 2012 Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album for their album Bon Iver, Bon Iver. The name Bon Iver was derived from the French phrase bon hiver , meaning "good winter", taken from a greeting on the TV series Northern Exposure.

I've heard this story of Justin Vernon recording his hit record while ill a lot more than I've actually heard the music. It makes me wonder how much the record's success is because of the dramatic backstory rather than because of the music itself. It's already gotten to the point where a talented singer-songwriter-pianist-brunette named Stefani Germanotta had to change her name, hair color and persona to the cartoon characterish Lady Gaga to get her music the attention it deserved. Now have we gotten to the point where you have to be ill to get noticed like Justin Vernon. Or worse yet, die like Zach Sobiech?


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