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| From | "bob" <segarini@sympatico.ca> |
| Subject | Fw: Jason Mraz At The Wiltern...A Must Read Lefsetz |
| Date | Sat, 8 Nov 2003 11:43:03 -0500 |
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This is a great read. Lefsetz rules...
bob
> One of the great hangs in rock and roll is Rena's office. At the Wiltern.
> Fuck the show, I go for the HANG!
>
> So I was ELATED that Eric invited me to the show. He said come for
dinner!
> We'll catch a few numbers. Then HANG OUT!
>
> Only one problem, I fell asleep. I didn't only not make it for dinner, I
> didn't make it for kickoff either. The show was supposed to start at
9:15, I got
> there at 9:30. Parked in my privileged space underneath the building.
Went
> for a pee. Looked through the door to see that the act was ON (he was)
and
> then went straight for Rena's office, a modern day salon.
>
> I found myself talking to Kathrine. She was filling me in on business.
How
> all the shows were doing.
>
> And you know it's not 1973 anymore. You can get a ticket to ANYTHING!
>
> But not Jason Mraz. Jason Mraz was SOLD OUT!
>
> I thought I heard her wrong. But then she said she was saved by the
twenty
> tickets turned back in by the label. TWENTY TICKETS MAKING A DIFFERENCE?
>
> And while we're standing there, Eric comes in.
>
> Uh-oh. I'm gonna get busted.
>
> I admit that I haven't caught any of the show. I learned LONG ago that
> honesty is the best policy. But Eric was just looking at me with this
shocked
> look. A kind of smile. Like he'd just had sex and I was about to find
out.
>
> He told me I had to SEE THIS!
>
> And as we're walking through the lobby to the showroom, he starts talking
> about the babes. The way Jason Mraz CONNECTS!
>
> Sometimes I think the people at record labels know NOTHING! They're under
> some ILLUSION that MUSIC is cyclical and the audience will purchase
WHATEVER
> they're selling.
>
> This is patently UNTRUE! The AUDIENCE is cyclical.
>
> And we haven't seen an audience like this since...the sixties.
>
> In the sixties we had the baby boomers. A HUGE cache of teenagers who
> thought they RULED, who didn't give a FUCK what their parents thought.
>
> The exact same situation exists today. With the KIDS of the baby boomers.
>
> And in the early sixties, the music business sold the baby boomers girl
and
> boy groups, that sang essentially MEANINGLESS music, but were QUITE GOOD!
You
> don't want to argue with the Four Seasons canon.
>
> And you don't want to argue with a lot of the Backstreet Boys' hits.
"Quit
> Playing Games (With My Heart)" is one of the BEST records of the nineties.
If
> you don't think so, do me a favor. QUIT! Start selling real estate.
Open up
> a restaurant. You're cocking up the works. You're so out of touch you're
> getting in the WAY!
>
> The Backstreet Boys were NOT New Kids On The Block. New Kids On The Block
> SUCKED! It was all a hype. And, there WAS a lot of hype involved in the
boy
> bands of the nineties, but there was ALSO a great deal of good material.
>
> So think about it. You're hooked on the Backstreet Boys. What do you
want
> NEXT? MARILYN MANSON??
>
> God, makes me want to go through these labels run by these baby boomers
with
> their coiffed hair firing an UZI!
>
> What we had with the Backstreet Boys was...cute boys who could sing who
> performed melodic material.
>
> That's not what's going on in rock today. God, everything's a REACTION to
> what's come before. If you're a teenager, how can you UNDERSTAND IT if
you
> didn't LIVE THROUGH THE HISTORY!
>
> It's SO simple. Kids NOW want MORE meaningful material sung by people who
> can sing!
>
> And if you doubt me, go see Jason Mraz. It'll blow your fucking mind.
>
> I DIDN'T GET THE MEMO! I thought Jason was just another Elektra priority.
> No different from a million hypes.
>
> But I've got to tell you, tonight was like the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan".
The
> hall was PACKED with screaming girls who knew every word.
>
> It was positively jaw-dropping. The audience was PUTTY in Jason's hands.
> They were IN LOVE with this cute guy in street clothes who could PLAY!
>
> Look at all that description. Cute! The BEATLES were cute. STREET
CLOTHES!
> That's the acts of the late sixties and seventies, no artifice, all
honesty,
> all reality, all the time! They were reflecting REAL LIFE!
>
> And Jason could play. Didn't hit a bum note. And when the band came in,
> there was a mellifluous whole. Sans tapes, sans Pro Tools.
>
> While the majors are using the MOTTOLA formula of old farts cowriting hits
> for DANCERS who CAN'T EVEN SING, the audience has made a left turn.
>
> If you think it's about Britney...
>
> You see the audience USED to be into Britney. Actually, their first
concert
> was the Spice Girls. They saw Britney's extravaganza in the arena.
>
> But they're done with that. They need more SUBSTANCE!
>
> There were NO parents in attendance. This was PROBABLY HALF of the
> audience's FIRST SHOW ALONE! They'd GROWN UP! This music, Jason Mraz's
music, was an
> EVOLUTION from what they'd cut their teeth on.
>
> God, it was some weird 'FEAR FACTOR"!
>
> It was like "Surf City" on STEROIDS! Two girls for every boy? TWENTY
GIRLS
> FOR EVERY BOY!!!
>
> They were there...showing their bellies, and their fully-developed tits.
It
> was a STATUTORY RAPE TEST! Could you look at all this young, nubile flesh
and
> NOT TOUCH!
>
> Their minds might say girl, but their bodies say WOMAN!
>
> And when I walk into the pit, Jason's singing some quiet song with just
his
> bassist and percussionist. Lilting. But, THEN, he slows it down, almost
> stops, and tells everybody to sing along. And, from just under the
RAFTERS, the
> assembled THOUSANDS sing "Our House" full force.
>
> Yup, the CSNY song. Jason melds it into one of his own numbers. A number
> ONLY on a live CD, sold via the Net.
>
> You should have seen it. These girls knew EVERY WORD! Grooved their
lithe
> bodies in motion with the music. It was like a secret society I was not a
> part of. They knew ALL these songs I'd NEVER heard. They were holding up
their
> CELL PHONES, to play the music for friends, they were shooting digital
PHOTOS!
>
> And Jason wasn't playing down to them. No, he was being his mid-twenty
self.
> He was so cute and cool, even I wanted to fuck him.
>
> And I figured he'd do a cover as an encore. The closest he came was when
his
> guitarist played the line from Frampton's "Do You Feel Like We Do". He
had
> enough material to play almost TWO HOURS!
>
> It was revelatory, it was SHOCKING! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN??
>
> After the show I spoke with sixteen year old Elizabeth. She said it was
the
> NET!
>
> Then Bill Silva confirmed this. How else to explain that gig in
Cincinnati
> almost a year ago where they'd had no airplay and had moved only 80 CDs
but all
> 500 tickets were sold and 150 people were turned away!
>
> Now I'm not gonna tell you that Jason Mraz's material is of the quality of
> James Taylor's or Jackson Browne's. But, go back to your collection, was
every
> record that good?? And, normally, I get bored stiff. But I stood there
for
> the remaining hour and twenty minutes of the show. I COULDN'T leave. It
was a
> RELIGIOUS meeting. They were revealing the secret of life, I didn't want
to
> MISS OUT! These kids had DISCOVERED SOMETHING, all by their LONESOME! It
> wasn't jammed down their throats, it was relatively organic. Oh, there
was a
> video, and some airplay, but not commensurate with THIS!
>
> Go to jasonmraz.com. Find the closest gig and go. It will blow your
fucking
> mind.
>
> EVERYTHING the fat cats and the RIAA are telling us is phony baloney
> bullshit. Music isn't on the verge of dying. It's REINVENTING ITSELF!
It's
> spontaneous generation, from the performers and the audience. The fat
cats want to
> HARNESS it, but they're CLUELESS! Jason Mraz signed with a major, but
I've got
> to tell you, he didn't NEED TO, and the next Jason WON'T!
>
> And the next Jason won't be a Fred Durst kiss-ass. Won't be a
> plastic-surgeried Britney. Won't be a can't sing J. Lo. Won't be a
dancing fool. No, he's
> gonna be the kid sitting next to you in high school. Who plays music
because
> he MUST! He's just got to EXPRESS HIMSELF!
>
> And he won't need a band to get his act across. Just he and his acoustic
> will be enough.
>
> Oh, the band explorations, the Genesis-type acts, will come later.
>
> But not right now.
>
> Just like the people in Jefferson Airplane could sing. Just like David
> Clayton Thomas could sing. Everybody coming down the pike is gonna be
TALENTED,
> able to sing AND write. My advice? LET THEM BE, LET THEM DO THEIR OWN
THING! T
> HEY know their audience, YOU don't. Don't be a meddler, be a FACILITATOR!
>
> Tonight I saw the future of the music business. And it was THRILLING!
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