From: Jamie Hartman
Subject: Human
Dear Mr Lefsetz,
How do you do.
I drove for 12 hours today. Doesn't matter where - details would knock the gloss off the statistic fairly quickly. Anyway at 5.45pm, in the last 15 minutes of my somewhat insane journey and in my personal blizzard of tiredness, my phone started buzzing. People in the business of music were contacting me from all sides. My wife picked up my phone for me and explained why. She then proceeded to read me your piece.
Rag N Bone Man and I wrote Human together. I was lucky enough to record and produce his vocals and even sing the parts which make up the choir behind his lead. One day hopefully I'll meet you and then you can decide whether you want the full story of the songs birth or not. But regardless of that, a huge, humble and as it turns out, tearful, thank you.
I welled up and started openly sobbing in the car and my wife thought I'd lost it. Because I had, temporarily. No one has ever written such a powerful or positive review of a song of mine - maybe because I've never written one that good, but either way, it was a huge huge moment for me. That you got it. You get it. And that you cared enough to review it.
From me and I'm sure from Rory (RnB Man) when he reads it, a very personal and sincere thank you.
And I hope that you're right! Bring on US radio..
Fingers all crossed.
Respectfully.
Jamie
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From: Noel Paul Stookey
Subject: hey bob...thanks for the pp&m referrals, ...
just to clear up a few items:
"Dejected, Albert went over to the Bitter End on Bleecker Street to pick owner Fred Weintraub's brain. It was late at night, and it was comedy night. A lanky young kid, Noel Stookey was one of the acts that night, who did monologues with a guitar slung over his shoulder onstage. Albert asked him if he wanted to be in a group and told him what he'd make, and Noel agreed.
"Oh, and kid, one last thing, your stage name is Paul...""
truth is i actually never worked the bitter end as a solo. albert came to the gaslight where i was performing and asked if i wanted to be in a group. i said no as my solo career was just beginning to open up with jobs at club 47 - the baez/rush venue - in boston. according to peter albert related the story to him of my declining but followed it up with 'but, i think he will'. within a week or so peter had connected with mary travers (for whom i had done some backing guitar work on her occasional open mike visits to the gaslight) and a phone call from her went something like this: "...there's this guy visiting me here at the apartment (she lived on macdougal) and we're singing and we thought it would be fun to come over and sing with you". i said sure and about an hour later we were singing MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB because it was the only folk song upon which we could agree on lyric and melody. seriously. we each knew quite different versions, chords, words for standards like GOLDEN VANITY. it was then i learned that albert managed peter and that it was his idea to put a group together but the introduction to the concept by mary and peter made it ever so much more appealing. about six weeks later, after rehearsals at mary's, we had an 'audition' of sorts to present albert with the half dozen songs we had worked up. it was at that time upon listening that john court (albert's long time associate from chicago) delivered his prescient estimation of the trio: "...if nothing happens, you're gonna happen". albert had asked us to come up with a name for the trio and the only one close to pleasing us was THE WILLOWS (we were after all kind of lanky) but there was never any mention made to me of changing my name until albert suggested at the audtion that "...noel could change his name to paul and we could call the group PETER, PAUL and MARY". the name seemed to us so perfect that i said "well, i'm not about to change my first name but i WILL take it on as a middle name" not realizing that the middle name would take ME on and from the first interview where i was referred to as 'paul' it became so obviously unimportant to explain the subtlety of the first name / second name choice that for the first 10 years of the trio's career, 'noel' took a back seat to the famous 'paul'.
so. there you are. aside from disliking the cheesy and false implication that i would join a group because albert told noel "what he'd make", the references to the group's music were enjoyable and i thank you for including me in your nostalgia...
nps
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From: Peter Yarrow
Subject: Sending you thanks
Dear brother Bob,
Thank you so much for your most generous and complimentary notes and thoughts about the trio. Very insightful comments and observations and the heart you put into framing them was wonderful. The acknowledgment is very much appreciated.
If you are interested, I could send you a couple of historical notes that might be of interest to you that present a slightly different take on events, such as Bob Dylan and the lyric to Too Much of Nothing etc and a couple of notes on some of the posts that tell our history. These stories, such as what happended at Newport when Bob went electric, are a Rashamon on vantabe points, of course.
Bottom line, in a world in which "charted music" and the music "business" has to a large degree side-barred folk music and its derivative/contemporary forms, it’s wonderful for you to raise the flag of awarness of what that music was and what it can convey. Being now engaged in many Seeger-legacy-inspired efforts such as my going with my daughter to Standing Rock and singing with her in September, participating in anti-fracking gatherings, in Madison Wisconsin at an oppostion gathering to Scott Walker’s draconian mesasures to gut uniion and collective bargaining, at Occupy in a nimber of cities, at a Unity Concert in the Black Hills and many many more, I have the suspicion that folk music and contemporary forms that hark back to it, will become more and more important in the days, months, and years ahead with Trumpism staring right at us and threatening us in ways never before imagined.
I’m sending you an MP3 of a song that I wrote written, obviously, during the Republican debates called "The Children Are Listening". No further explanation needed.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbNHlAAN0E Also, I’m sending you, below, a link to a variety of videos of a song I wrote with my daughter, Bethany, "Lift Us Up", that affirms who we are, what we believe in, and celebrates our progressive traditions and our legacy of the pursuit of justice, equity and peace. When sung in concerts, "Lift Us Up" is a rallying call for Americans to come together, embrace each other, (all of us, however we voted) and not focus on, reacatively, responding to Trump’s daily dangerous absurdities. It’s a call to. proactively, reach out to one another and confirm that we are, very much, still who we are and who America is. (We must not continue to let Donald Trump set the terms of discourse).
A thought: Not only is folk music and the legacy of Pete Seeger, Woody, Bob Clairborne, Earl Robinson and many others not "dead" and, much more than a reminiscence of inspiration and being the sound track for activist of the birth of their involvement in civic actions and awareness of social political efforts, that legacy is alive and well right now, and urgently so, actively taking part in the crucial efforts of our times, still standing up for our better angels and answering today’s versions of the powerful questions that Bob posed in "Blowing In the Wind".
With thanks and much appreciation, my friend,
Peter
operationrespect.org/2016/10/20/lift-us-up/ Lift Us Up performed at Symphony Space Sept 29th, 2017
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUdjpfjoVsc&feature=youtu.be - recording session with chorus, lift us up.
youtu.be/lAiwUmz0aWA same song, Black and White - version for a younger audience.
youtu.be/6I5tNeKalq8 Bethany singing Lift Us Up to a video for Standing Rock.
One more of Bethany as part of a vidio, singing at Standing - not a music video. (Bethany has become a dynamic, amazing organizer).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeUIyI83b7g _____________________________________________
RE: PP&M
So I had my brand new 427 Stingray stolen while I was at class one day at USC.
A few days later it was found in Compton totally stripped. And of course they took my brand new 8 track sound system and all my 8 track tapes.
Well ok, not all of my 8 track tapes, just most of them. They left all my Peter, Paul and Mary and Jan&Dean tapes scattered on the floorboard.
I drove my stripped 427 Stingray Straight Outta Compton while sitting on a cardboard box
Dean Torrence
Surf City, USA
PS I was influenced big time by PPMs Stylized Font that was consistently showing up on their album covers and promotional materials
They were very much ahead of their time
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Subject: Re: Pandora Premium
I know this isn’t really your point, but Spotify won my loyalty by having the best algorithm. For example, I’m listening to the Marshall Tucker Band radio stream includes Boz Scaggs, the Doobies, Jackson Browne, the Allman Brothers, the Band, Eagles, Steely Dan, CSN(Y), Steve Miller, BTO, even ELP - and a host of others - but no David Alan Coe, Bob Wills, Hank Jr. and others Pandora tried to cram down my throat. Spotify’s algorithm gets it. Spotify doesn’t get "genre lock" like Pandora, where Pandora keeps queuing up almost the same exact song you reject (like 11 dub reggae songs in a row on a Bob Marley station). And when you ask Pandora why it played a song, it gives you some BS answer like "Lilting melodic keyboards with an emphasis on technical post-production techniques in minor-key half-octave structures, exotic chordal voicings, tonalities, and sequences," etc.
Spotify just works.
Best,
Keith Baker
Commander, United States Navy (Retired)
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From: Gregory Dennis
Subject: Re: Pandora Premium
I was alongtime defender of Pandora because it helped me find new music and was the lazy man's way to add variety. But since Spotify added so many playlists and made them easier to access, well -- I gotta say you're right. The train has left the station, Spotify is in the engineer's seat, and Pandora isn't even in the caboose anymore.
_____________________________________________
From: Edo Van Duijn
Subject: Re: Pandora Premium
Hi Bob
Another wonderful insightful piece on the World of Spotify. And I agree. So much so that your insights have influenced our Management company to focus heavily on a strategy aimed at Spotify + Radio for new artists we’re launching. Of course the music needs to be good to stand a chance, but if you get it right, it’s incredible how fast it goes. Check out our young talents, Bruno Martini and Alok, as an example:
The single 'Hear Me Now' is now the #1 track on Spotify Brasil, charting in markets as far as Sweden and Norway and getting licensed all over the world. (Tomorrow Bruno performs in Norway…. A booking based entirely on Spotify popularity… for a kid that comes from Sao Paulo, Brazil. It's only just started and this is his first single. It’s astounding to see how fast it goes when the digital dots connect.... Quite literally.
So thank you for arguing the case so fervently and clearly for Spotify. It most certainly is where the music business currently resides. And for us that work in the electronic music sphere I must add that complimenting Spotify + Radio Play, strong support from DJs is also essential to grab the 'early adopters'.
It goes something like this:
1. Hear the record at a show (unless your friend has already shared the Spotify link)
2. Shazam the track.
(2a. If you’re under 20 you might look for a version on YT)
3. Add it to your Spotify playlist and play it too death once it’s released.
4. Hear it on Radio on the way to work…
Live + Shazam + Spotify + Radio.
Crack that eco-system and you’re on fire. And when you do it’s addictive. Watching your numbers go up... probably more exciting then watching your Stock rise or the NJ Jets actually win a game !
Spotify is democratic, and that’s why I love it. Sure there’s some lobbying involved to get better visibility, but ultimately the FANS DECIDE BY LISTENING. If your music is good, you have a chance. And it if sucks, well then no traditional press or marketing campaign can fake it anymore. Nobody cares.
Spotify is going to separate the real Talent from the rest. And numbers don’t lie.
_____________________________________________
From: Diarmuid Quinn
Subject: Re: Steve Backer Dies
Steve was my first boss in the Record Business.
I was doing college radio and Steve gave me a shot and pulled me into the College rep program.
He was a true mentor for a green college kid, who had no idea about the biz.
Two years later he pulled me into NYC to be his #2 in the College Dept nationally. He took the intimidation out of my arrival in the big city almost instantly.
We had an amazingly talented crew of college reps…..
Craig Kallman, Jerry Blair, Marc Reiter, Al Carolonza, Fred Ehrlich, Lisa Wolfe, Michelle Block, Dave Watson, Dale Connone, Bruno DelGranado, Dave Millman, Kevin Gore, and others....all in a two year span.
Many of them are STILL in the biz, and certainly they each owe a debt of gratitude to Steve’s crazy sense of humor and leadership.
There was no "alternative radio" to speak of then, and all the labels would send the acts that didn’t get "CHR" or "AOR" play to us.
(Kind of like Chevy Chase to Bill Murray....we were the "pond"). We were the last hope for many managers and artists.
We would regularly wage internal war at the labels we worked with and Steve went to the mat for acts like the Bangles, Midnight Oil, Psychedelic Furs, Translator, Romeo Void and others, most of whom would never have broken out of college radio without Steve’s relentless drive....
We then both went up to Epic, Where we were aligned again and broke bands like Living Colour and Europe. Steve became the video promo guy and lived the MTV and VH-1 heyday better than anyone I knew.
Marc then also joined us at Epic, and Marc, Ed and Steve and I used to run together….
All over NYC....we’d go to the Warwick or Imperial Dragon for lunch, or Steve’s favorite, "the umbrella club"!
Danceteria, The Cat Club as late as 3am...Maxwell’s, and numerous other haunts....
Steve was always on. A veritable promo machine when he wanted to be, but as loyal a friend as you could ever wish for. While constantly making fun of you he ALWAYS had your back.
Last January, Marc, Steve, and I had a great lunch together, the first in a long time. It was as if we had been apart only a few weeks.
We left after two hours of laughing, promising to follow up again soon! Sadly, we didn’t.
Somewhere up above Steve is waiting with his famous line he used to say to us, and all of his ex college reps that I think he looked at as his children.
"I made you...I can break you!"
RIP Steve.
_____________________________________________
From: Michele Rhoades
Subject: Re: Steve Backer Dies
Mud - this says it all. My feelings exactly. I was so fortunate in January 1983 to become Steve's intern and be able to move up in the college dept. He gave my start and I will never forget him for that. It was the greatest group to be a part of.
Michele
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Subject: Re: Steve Backer Dies
Very sad day. Steve was a man who brought joy to so many ...especially all of us who came up with him in the 80's. I first met Steve as our WCDB college rep. With his huge smile, hounds tooth sports jacket, and a michevious twinkle in his eyes he was our champion for breaking the underdog artists and having as much fun as possible along the way. That passion for music and mischief and camaraderie carried Steve far, and made him special. He will be greatly missed. - Jack Isquith
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From: Michele Rhoades
Subject: Re: Steve Backer Dies
Mud - this says it all. My feelings exactly. I was so fortunate in January 1983 to become Steve's intern and be able to move up in the college dept. He gave my start and I will never forget him for that. It was the greatest group to be a part of.
Michele
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Re Steve Backer
Great great music guy! Loved our client Jules Shear everytime we met he had something to say about his past- loved great songs! We met at epic then on and on—big heart- always shot for the fences !we’ll all miss him and have stories – many more then mine- rip- see ya later my friend!
Michael J. Lembo, Jr.
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From: Mike Gormley
Subject: Backer
A late and short note re: Steve Backer. The success we had with The Bangles wouldn't have happened without him. He was so supportive and wouldn't let the executives in New York ignore this "girl band from the west coast". The Bangles became known as "the band that wouldn't go away" because we kept selling a couple of thousand a week on that first album, due to touring and our hard work before signing with Columbia.
So thankful I bumped into him about a year ago at Herb's Vibrato Grill. Hadn't seen him at that point for probably 25 years, but the warmth in the greeting he gave me that night will stay with me forever.
He made an impact on the music of the world.
Gormley
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From: George Dassinger
Subject: The Passing of Bob Krasnow
I was so fortunate to have run the PR Dept. at Elektra Records during the '83-'86 period when the label went from last to first. It was one of the best times I had working in PR or as my Elektra title stated, "Information Services". Working with people like Hale Milgrim, Kenny Hamlin, Bill Berger. Larry Braverman, Aaron Levy, Sandy Sawotka, Michael Lago, Gary Casson, Tom Cording, Joe Bosso to name a few, it was the label to be at because of them and Bob Krasnow. When you are the lowest record label and then you are #1, nothing better. Today it doesn't exist but then, the best of the best.
Bob let me run the department "my way" and after I left, we passed on the street. He wanted to apologize for letting me go. "George, you were one of the best PR guys I've known. I should have had you stay on". I told Bob, it was OK since it pushed me to start my own company which allowed me family time I relish to this day. Hell, my office overlooked St. Patrick's and the view was outstanding.
Bob was a wild man - a guy who loved as he put it "debauchery". He was also an outlandish art lover and heralded gourmet chefs saying they would be the "next rock stars".
I still have my Elektra sweater with my name on it draped around my office chair. I found it recently in the attic stowed away for safe keeping. I will leave it on my chair in Bob's memory for awhile. I feel it is a fitting tribute to the music man he was and will forever be.
George Dassinger
Dassinger Creative
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