Brown. Sugar wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

Good job Rhianna spat out that plonker from under her Um ber rella. All week ABC TV had been trailing her appearance on last night’s 20/20 program. Every morning on ‘This Morning’ they were showing clips and building up to the climax. The first time SHE had spoken about it.( In case anyone has slept away the last few months, ‘IT’ refers to being smacked around by the love of her life, Chris ‘The Bruiser’ Brown.)

And guess what? Chrissie boy, having bounded in to Larry King’s show a few months ago to ‘apologize’ decided once again, that he should have another right to reply. Like we cared the first time? And MTV opened their door like the reality madhouse they are and let him in. How totally deplorable. I don’t feel it’s disrespectful, which is what others are saying. That isn’t at all appropriate, don’t you have to have respect in the first place in order to disrespect it?

This showdown was fast becoming a battle of the brands. She has a career, his was falling apart around him. Guess what baby boy, no one likes an abuser. No matter what talent you have it just shows you up as a lowlife, a bully, a coward and what’s the word? WANKER. I’m sure there’s plenty of us out there putting blog to work and commenting on last night’s circus. She decided to speak after a long period of silence and not only did HE speak, he reacted! Good job she wasn’t around or likely he would have pounced. The tiger would have been cornered once again.

He thought she was wrong, he said it was between him and her and it should be private. OK, big boy then go make your records and keep them private. Don’t release them because if you do then you’re public domain and if you beat the shit out of someone then people have a right to know. Sadly though your public side likes you to be noticed and definitely your bank account does. You wouldn’t want that to take a beating now would you? You wouldn’t want to see that beaten and broken. Oh and by the way if it was that private then why did you go on national TV and talk about it? ……TWICE!

You can smell the PR all around him, you need to do this, and now. They’ll be people wanting to hear your side of the story, why don’t you do it to deflect from her when she’s on Prime Time on ABC. The only thing it will salvage is a few who might have flicked between channels. What is there to explain? You’re a bully and you smacked a woman.

It must be really hard doing interviews when you’re stupid, but if you’re stupid and successful then you have PR. And the PR will get you in front of the right people, they’ll work at finding you the opportunity to redeem yourself. Damn, they forgot that it involves opening your mouth and sounding believable. How could you not feel this had everything to do with him and nothing to do with her. HE GOT CAUGHT OUT, he’s not that smart and he’s trying to claw his way back. Her face hurt but his ego was was really took a beating. All of a sudden people didn’t like him and when you’re used to adoration you can’t bear the thought that you are getting bad publicity. Most of the abusers around get away with it because it doesn’t get reported and it isn’t in the papers, on TV. Thank God some of these cowards get caught out.

I’m thinking the PR people here should have given him a script to learn and told him not to deviate from it. But his ego would never allow that, the media wants to talk to him and he gets to have his say. I’d cringe if I had to put this geezer on TV and worry at what he might come out with. He needs to dance and on a stage. He’s good at that but when you try to dance around questions and interrogation you just ain’t good enough, son. It’s not what you do. And to see how you react to being cornered by a defenseless girl who wanted to know why, when you were going out with her were you texting another girl. How dare you ask me that, how dare you catch me out. If I hit her hard enough she’ll stop interrogating me. Smack, shut the fuck up!

And out come the industry folks would want to try and clean up the shit, keep his career on track. They have a living to make too. Where’s the record company honchos condemning their artist, even sacking him. They daren’t, they have precious few artists who are keeping them in work nowadays as it is. Let’s not kick the shit out of the hand that feeds us.

You have to admire the Chairman of Wigan Athletic Football Club though who sacked that other wanker who smacked a female about because she didn’t accept ‘Who he was!’ It’s always been a killer of a line hasn’t it guys when you have to use that to entice the female of the species. It sounds better than, I’m a twat, I can’t string a sentence together but would you like to have a look at my bank statement before I allow you to shag me. Oh how the footballer is the great Lothario, the real master of seduction. Wasn’t it great the Chairman came out and condemned Stupid Marvin whatshisname  and said he regretted signing him. You’re history, fuck off , you’re sacked.

Starvin Marvin soon we might hope. He thought he could bully and attack if he didn’t get his own way. They slung him inside for 6 months so what’s twathead Brown doing on the tele anyway?

Filed under: View from the room , MTV, Chris Brown, Rhianna, ABC 20/20

Moving,shaking and anticipating

And so to new beginnings. Happily settled in to my new place I feel alive. Unpacking was easy, I gave nearly everything I had away. I think I’m going through my Brian Eno minimalist period and yes, less is definitely more. Or more or less. I think it’s the perfect inspiration for what I’m doing now and no excuse for not to getting back to writing. In fact once the book comes out ( 2 to 3 weeks now methinks) I’m ready to get on with part two! I did a presentation in Tampa a few weeks ago on 24 Hour Party People and it was only afterwards that I realized there’s nothing on Factory in the book! Nothing about the madness and the mayhem, absolutely nothing but in the general context of the book, lessons learned from rock and roll maybe Factory didn’t teach me anything! A lesson in how not to run a business that’s for sure! 

I remember some of the great moments at Factory and the look on their faces when their records started to take off. Tony Wilson’s look of utter amazement thinking ‘How did that happen?’ That excitement sadly was the beginning of the end. We all knew they never should have moved to an office with such an insane overhead but you couldn’t tell them anything. That was the beauty of it. It wasn’t an arrogance, Factory did what Factory did and for a while it worked wonderfully. And we all loved it. It was a time and it was a place and I loved nearly every minute of it. I say nearly because I don’t think I really loved it when the collapse came and I was owed a horrendous amount of money. My immediate concern then was how I was going to keep myself afloat and my own staff in a job. Factory went, I cashed in some insurance policies in bought a barge, went off to Bali and Lombok for a holiday (not on the barge I hasten to add), shoved some money in to my company, TMP dusted myself down and careered on for another ten amazing years. It’s the things that seem the most daunting at the time that make you stronger, more resilient. When the dust finally settled I thought if I could survive that I could survive anything. 

Factory was more a way of life, not to dissimilar to Island Records in some ways in that it was a bunch of people putting records out they liked, records they’d be proud to have in their own record collection. They thrived on loving what they did. It wasn’t a job, music and records was their hobby. Everything was so very different back then where  the media would respond to quality and respect what those pioneer labels were trying to do. They would join in their success. They weren’t hell bent on creating trends for people to follow they just loved it when they heard something original, something that moved them enough to write about it.

And we went from that to journalists trying to make a name for themselves by being controversial and writing reviews that would get them noticed rather than the music. And quite often reviews that you couldn’t understand. I’d find myself reading stuff and thinking ‘Does he like this’ ( I say he because it always seemed to be guys writing all the ‘look at me, aren’t I great’ pieces.’

And so change started to happen and the music business began to change………..and my God did it change! What did happen seems to be a daily conversation with the people I talk to. We are all older and more reflective, we look back and think ‘Wow what a roller coaster of a ride.’ Over the coming weeks I’ll share some of those thoughts and look back. Should be fun. Main thing is I”M BACK!

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Journey Through The Past, View from the room, record companies , tony michaelides, Island Records, Factory Records, tony wilson, 24 Hour Party People

Pity the poor Whitney

Well fancy mentioning the Grammys and forgetting the star turn, Whitney Houston…….that was of course a joke. Whitney Houston has less personality than a lump of lard and far less flavor. What the hell is that all about??….when a hall full of Grammy groupies all feel the need to bring the house down for the woman who last did what??…marry the greatest catch of all time Sir Bobbins Brown? The perfect couple, Mrs yuk and Master plonk (note,deliberate absence of capitals.) Maybe it’s time for Bobby to relaunch his ‘career’ and re release ‘My prerogative’ for the ???? time. Talk about a career on one song…shame about the follow up(s)

Don’t you just love that ‘Clive Davis loves Whitney’ routine. Every opportunity he drools accolades over her, re invents her , she slides away again(thankfully) then it’s Grammy night and it’s all about the ego, Clive Davis and wheeling Whitney out. ( what a great idea for a board game ‘Wheeling Whitney Out’) He even has his own Clive pre Grammys party. Apparently it’s the place to be…well it would be, Clive’s there!

I don’t dispute he did things in his day but he just can’t back off. His obsession with creating ’stars’ (the people we now call ’stars’….. the ones who get manufactured and propelled in to pop stardom and then can’t even get a lift to therapy from the ones who created them.) Their ego’s are too vast they have no time for failures. You’re done, I have my ego to take care of, you’re on your own. Clive just won’t let go, he just can’t bear it if he’s not in the spotlight. He’s done alright out of the business but when did the business last do alright by him and his short term pop star? Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson in a decade? They had a leg up but I think they’re fine doing it their way nowadays. Where the hell are the rest? Swept under the carpet so you won’t ever mention their names again. That really would not do!

Urgh, pukesville…what was all that blowing kisses and mouthing ‘I love you’ between the odd couple.GET A ROOM.! What place does that have?… except of course, a global audience. I’ll cancel cable when we get The Clive and Whitney show’

The good thing is that it’s over..Clive, Whitney, The Grammys, Clive’s party, Clive’s ‘I’m an icon’ award. All done. Lord only knows what next year’s show has to offer. Maybe it’ll be Coldplay, U2, Clive Davis, Carrie Underwood, the list of inevitables goes on and on and on……..oh and Whitney Houston , her new dress and a new way of blowing kisses to Mr Showbiz.

And finally we had Paul McCartney from the greatest band the music business has, or ever will create…….. and on this night of the stars and together with a global audience they forgot to mention it was the 45th anniversary of The Beatles debut on The Ed Sullivan show. The rest as they say was history….the other ‘rest’ wasn’t.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, View from the room, record companies , Clive Davis, Grammys, Whitney Houston

The Wham Bammy’s

They’re over before they begin……at least if you do what I’ve been doing for the last few years, recording the Grammys. And the nominations aaaaaaaargh. A million blogs, endless questions and most of them pondering the same one, do they mean anything anymore? They could have saved some money for next year’s by recording  U2, Coldplay etc and not even bother having them turn up. Coldplay have become the house band. NASCAR whoops,  sorry NARAS ( Not Actually Relevant Artists Serenading) just adore them. They are safe as houses (personally I don’t have anything against them), yet they do seem to be the foundation for the House of Grammy though. You don’t need to see the nominations in advance nowadays, there is no element of suprise They are the standard bearers and let’s throw in some quirky Brits for good measure and to look cool. The Grammys nowadays looks thrown together, it looks like come the end of the year someone thinks…’ Mmm February’s not far off, pass me a pad, I’ll make some notes.’ It has ceased to be an event anymore, it’s appeal lies in it’s history.

The question everyone has is what relevance do they have today? The mere mention of the word ‘Grammy’ used to make you tingle …the big night, night of a thousand stars but now??? What I did learn was that NARAS has had the same production team for 30 years…and the same director ! Does he have no shame. Why on earth would he want to attach his name to show …well silly question, probably for the pay check and none of the grief, leave that to the organizers. It’s formula with a capital F.

These are the ones who seem to think that Stevie Wonder and The Jonas Brothers are a good fit. What the hell does Myley Circus add to Taylor Swift’s song? After all she wrote it and performs it perfectly well  by herself….. or is it saying let’s be all things to all people. That can be the only explanation for Stevie Wonder and The Jonas Brothers. Next year maybe we’ll have  Lindsay Lohan playing pedal steel guitar with B. B. King., possibly Jay Z and Don Williams. Britney and Obama?The only thing it does is remind me is who she  has for a dad…..Billy Ray who?

The sound was appalling. The jury is out on the U2 song. Was it the sound or the song? Personally I was very grateful for the backdrop displaying the lyrics as I didn’t have had a clue what Bono was prancing and singing about. On first hearing it didn’t do it for me, we’ll see…. maybe it’ll grow. I like the band and when they go away to make a record I expect the first track they showcase to be a killer. They need to sell a lot of records and now isn’t the time. Good luck guys. No doubt they’ll be glancing over their shoulder and seeing how Bruce performs, how many records he sells even after the Superbowl performance fresh in people’s minds. Time will tell us all, it’ll be tough.

Filed under: View from the room , Coldplay, Grammys, Jonas Bros, NARAS, U2

Bickershaw revisted

I never finished telling you about the Bickershaw festival. That’s the problem I’ll start something, something else will come in to my head and I’ll think ‘must have a rant about that’…… and before you know it’s gone! Now’s the time methinks to go through the blogs and see exactly what I need to go back to…….Oh My God, could be scary but nevertheless I have a duty. I’ve started so I’ll finish.

And so to Bickershaw. Just pick it up as I go along that’s what I’m attempting to do! If you’re still confused then just scroll back and read the original blog. I think if I’m not mistaken it was the first festival I ever went to but I’ll have to check back with my old mate and fellow gig follower Kenny and see if The Buxton Festival at the Pavilion Gardens(yes in Buxton) came before Bickershaw. That one was an all nighter, that much I do remember. Stuck in the middle of a row and desperate for a pee was also a lasting memory as well as The Edgar Broughton Band doing Wasa Wasa. I’ll be back to that one once I can recollect the complete bill…..do feel free to remind me though.

Anyone who went to Bickershaw will always remember The Grateful Dead. They came on after midnight and played for around 4 to 5 hours. As dawn came up over a sodden Wigan they played a wonderful version of Dark Star. It what adds the magic to Wigan, it’s what gives it it’s romance……

As previously mentioned the festival lost 30,000 pounds which was an enormous amount of money back then, well hardly petty cash now. In fact it equates to around a half a million pounds now and needless to say they didn’t organize another… The security too was hopeless with around one third of the 60,000 crowd coming in over the fences effectively making it a free festival…..except of course for the mugs who paid.

Donovan was on, Country Joe, Hawkwind, The Incredible String Band,The Kinks who were were all pissed, Cheech and Chong, Dr John and a whole bunch of others.If you’d seen the bill on a poster it wouldn’t have looked out of place in San Francisco but to think of all places Wigan had attracted some of the cream of the Flower children was bizarre……..not that Lemmy had ever seen a flower, then or since. At the time Family were one of my favourite bands and one of the main reasons I went. Roger Chapman was an amazing front man to watch and songs like Weaver’s Answer brought out the best in him. I didn’t know this until I looked up some facts on the internet but Joe Strummer and Elvis Costello were also in the crowd that weekend and Strummer quotes it as the best festival he ever went to. Also my old pal Mick Middles, writer and journalist from my old home town of Manchester was in attendance so I’m going to call him as no doubt his recollections of Bickershaw are bound to be better than mine……..that should ensure that I can at least finally box off this little episode.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, View from the room , Bickershaw pop festival, Country Joe, Grateful Dead, Lemmy, Mick Middles, The Kinks

A new dawn

So today it all begins. Much as I am delighted to see Obama take the helm it’s just as exciting to see George Bush going. I’ll never understand how he got re elected though….one mistake you can condone but to ask him to come back and do it all over again is a little odd. Could you ever expect to see two so opposite people? Obama is a brilliant speaker, articulate, intelligent, passionate and above all believable…. and George Bush isn’t. Watching the build up to the inauguration is amazing, people are starting to believe again, something that has sadly gone in a world clouded in doom and gloom. We need today and we need it bad.

January has been a fairly miserable start to the year with more job losses and more still to come and today is going to energize us all. I was pleased to see that all the music industry people and comments on Facebook are all pro Obama so let’s hope that optimism shines through our industry. The music industry could do well to practice what the new President preaches, all of us working together, rallying round to help make it happen. In an industry as fragmented as the music industry has become we need direction, we need something to inspire and motivate. Record companies used to have belief in their artists, the belief that they had what it took and with that came the hope to succeed. Politics or music it’s all the same, you have to believe in your ability to make it happen.

With hope will come opportunities and we’ll need to be ready for those opportunities, we’ll need to be prepared. I think that’s all anyone can ever hope for, to be given the opportunity and to be just given that chance. Too many have had too many disappointments for too long now. There is no consolation no matter how bad things get when you look over your shoulder and see people losing their homes, their jobs and most all their dignity. All people who were once proud have taken the slings and arrows and deserve more. So much has so little to do with them yet they suffer the injustices. Seems wrong that George Bush could drag America through so much of a mess and walk back to the safe haven that is his world, no cash flow problems, business as usual, oblivious to what we alll have to deal with. And he didn’t even get made redundant, he retired!

It’s a mad mad world where those that create the mess, whether it be politics, banking, insurance etc walk away unscathed, even with bonuses!…… and yet others lose so much.

Here’s to the new boss……….not the same as the old boss. Not even close.

Filed under: Opportunity, View from the room , George Bush, Obama

I wanna make you a star

We need stars, we don’t have them any more and the ones that we do call stars are different, they’re train wrecks, they’re misfits, they’re tortured ‘artists’…. but Lindsay, Britney, Madonna even, aren’t tortured like Janis was, Jimi Hendrix or Brian Jones were they are just people craving attention. It doesn’t matter if it’s they who crave it, their manager, their agent, their publicist or their record company…… they all crave it and they’ll do whatever it takes.

People used to love to pin up posters on their walls idolizing their heroes, they loved what they did and they could never get enough. They looked forward to what they were going to do next, they were loyal. It what being a fan was, supporting their favorite pop stars careers and always being interested in what they were up to.

The music business loved stars too and not just for the money they made from them either. They knew how to create stars , knew how to deal with them and most importantly they knew how to get the best out of them. They understood what was needed to be a great act and they were prepared to persevere. The music industry and the artist grew up side by side, you couldn’t have one without the other……..now most artists are left to grow in spite of the industry! If success comes then it’ll be more down to their work ehthic and doing it for themselves.

They have more patience and they have greater belief in themselves and are in it for the long haul. Record companies are the shorter than short haul, they want it now……..and if it doesn’t come they don’t want to know.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, View from the room, record companies , artist development, music fans, music industry

And so this was Christmas..

And so this was Christmas and what had we done ? Another year over a new one just begun…..cheers John. Well I don’t know about you but I was glad to see the back of it. The sadness of good friends passing away and just generally, disappointments. Not bothered though, all a learning curve and I have spent the time preparing for the new year, new challenges, new people and new places. All good for the future although the end of the year had half the western world in mourning, hammered by an economy careering in to freefall and wondering exactly what ‘future’ meant. A solemn time for a lot of people but life deals up some crap…….. and that clown America had up top for the last 8 years has a lot of explaining to do. Probably not though, I doubt if he’s aware of any problems, probably just a blip, we’ll be fine. I’m forever looking at him thinking’ How the hell was that allowed to happen?’ How can so many be so utterley foolish, it’s like they said ‘Here’s the world, go fuck it up’

Enough of that, enough is enough, Amen. I like January though and especially when all my friends back in the UK are freezing and I’m holed up in one of the kindest climates. December seems to drag on but January has a kick in it, it’s telling you ‘c’mon get a move on, there’s work to be done.’ It might be a time for new year’s resolutions but bollocks to that…..if it ain’t resolved by now then it ain’t worth resolving! December’s drag becomes January’s gallup though spare a thought for the retailers, first wondering what to stock up on and now wondering when they can sell it and for what price. Many will sell at less than cost and their January will be a horrible start to probably a horrible year.

2009 gave the word ’sale’ a whole new meaning. Many Brits remember when sales began on Boxing Day and never before and just about everyone went. After that, New Year’s Day cleared out the rest of the leftover stock and everyone got around to ordering stuff for the New Year. Looks like New Year now is leftover year, they didn’t need it then and they don’t need it now…..or least of all they can’t afford it.

I’m going, even I’m getting depressed.

Filed under: View from the room , january sales, store sales

The shows of old

I don’t miss going to gigs. I spent most of my life there for the best part of 25 years either with bands I was working with or choosing to go and see others in the time I had off. And looking back I saw pretty much everyone I wanted to.

Now here’s the difference…………..I actually saw them, I wasn’t just there. Today you can re mortgage your house and get yourself a ticket somewhere up in the Gods to ’see’ a band. It’s not the same, something is happening on stage and to prove you haven’t been ripped off they’ll show the performance on a couple of screens in the arena and you can then see it’s the show you paid to see.

I feel very lucky though that everyone who ever meant anything to me I’d seen in a concert hall of less than two thousand. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, The Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen…the list goes ever on. I saw Bruce earlier this year courtesy of my ex who very kindly bought me a ticket to the Tampa show. A huge amount of money to be seated up several tiers and I couldn’t help been taken back to the Manchester show when he was touring around ‘The River.’ I’d bought the best part of the two front rows of the circle and re sold them to my friends at Granada TV…I knew the ticket agency so I got them to reserve some seats and it just grew and grew and grew!

Needless to say the show was incredible but what made it so good was you could see the energy close up, the sweat on his brow, the facial expressions , the interaction with his band, you could see it all. Sound and vision all rolled in to one…..it felt like he was there performing just for you. Bruce isn’t the only one who misses those days, he’ll still turn up and jam at a small venue with someone he likes, he needs the buzz he gets from seeing the whites of people’s eyes. His show has been tailored for arenas for a couple of decades now because he has become so huge but as used to it as he has become I bet he yearns back to that golden era when performances were so much more intimate. It was so personal.

With bands like REM, U2 it was even better as I watched them grow up playing clubs and performing to a handful of people. While the price of success means a greater demand for more people who want to see you, I can’t help but wonder that for so many concert goers today it’s all they have….stadia tours seem to be the norm.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, View from the room , Bruce Springsteen, led zeppelin, REM, The Pink Floyd, U2

Songs of and songs from

Leonard Cohen is a marvel. As I embraced music, and all it was about to thrust upon me his debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen sounded like nothing I had ever heard. I liked it in 1967 and I like it just as much now, 41 years later. To call it a timeless classic would be an understatement, it just seems to connect with generation after generation and I’m convinced it always will When you hear Suzanne for the very first time or So long Marianne, Chelsea Hotel, Famous blue raincoat…you’re there, he’s transported you there in the songs. Leonard Cohen is a unique poet and a pretty amazing guy. I met him once but more of that later.

I think I was just short of my fifteenth birthday when I first heard The Songs of Leonard Cohen. He hardly looked like a pop star and certainly not one plucked from the flower generation yet his face intrigued me much in the same way as Al Pacino’s did in Taxi Driver. In fact Cohen looked like he could have played any one of Pacino’s roles yet I doubt if Al could have sung just one verse from his songs.

Most of the music of the late sixties was uplifting, it was about free love,peace, getting high, about being happy!……yet Leonard Cohen’s was dark, dour and to those that didn’t like him pretty damn miserable. Everyone who had Led Zeppelin records, The Pink Floyd, Dylan still had Leonard Cohen in their collection. If you had a dozen records Leonard Cohen’s was one of them and in some cases Songs from a Room made it two!

His music almost has a European feel to it, even though he was born in Montreal…and for a long time he lived in Greece too. If you know his music then it would seem his relationships have been less than simple and yet if you met him you couldn’t imagine anyone not wanting to be with him for ever! He was discovered by the same guy who signed Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen..a guy called John Hammond.

When I first heard Songs of Leonard Cohen it was with a girl I’d met, Denise who lived next door to a school friend of mine, Sudi. Even though she wasn’t my girlfriend then, I awarded her the honor after just one play! I found it very easy to like a girl after I’d seen her record collection. I mentioned in a previous blog that years later when I was at college I met the woman I was to marry…and why not when she had Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust. With records like that I knew the children would turn out wonderful!

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Journey Through The Past, View from the room , Add new tag, Leonard Cohen, Songs from a room, Songs of Leonard Cohen, tony michaelides, ziggy stardust