Superbowl Superboss

Tampa is awash with Superbowlites, they’re everywhere and all to see the men with big shoulders running around shouting until eventually throwing an odd shaped ball out of the ground. Everyone jumps up, play stops……. and an entire new team runs on. I don’t understand American football and I don’t think I ever will.

Nevertheless it’s popular. The adds run at $3 million for a 30 second commercial and sadly they were all booked pre recession……$100,000 per second! Rhianna played the other night, The Eagles last night, there’s Fleetwood Mac, Puff Daddy, whoops P.Diddy who turned up in St Pete early this morning for a party. Snoop is snooping around, it’s all going on. Meanwhile I’m checking out Fox Soccer Channel and I think Wigan on the box will do just fine, no problem…..leave ’em all to paaaaaaaaarty.

…….Oh and then of course there’s The Boss, the man who knows about as much about the game as me, Bruce Springsteen. He’s turned it down a million times but Boss times are hard and like he boldly admits, he has a new album out. There’s no fee but they’ll cover expenses, nice, him and Patti get a hotel room… but then again the audience for his 12 minute half time show is a billion! No need for a sweat drenched 3 hour show. Boss move by Boss man. Nice work if you can get it.

Bruce did a press conference on Thursday and no suprise, it was all over everywhere………it was the first he’d done since 1987 and the media lapped it up. Brucey boy seemed in good spirits and I did like his honesty about not being a football fan and wanting to shamlessly plug his new album. One thing both he and Miami Steve said got me thinking. They said they came out of an era when the music was brilliant and the artists set a very high standard……..and they felt it their job to maintain those standards, they wanted to be great. It’s a wonderful philosophy, admire you’re peers but at the same time try and emulate them.

Springsteen has worked relentlesly for several decades to be where he is. He shunned CBS’s (now Sony) hype campaign and the posters that claimed ‘I have seen the future of rock n roll and it is Bruce Springsteen’ He hated it, he demanded they take them all down. As was the case with his heroes and when he was growing up, he wanted to be judged on merit and not some overhyped record company campaign. He was right, he was more than a commodity, he had a vision and he wasn’t prepared to compromise.The artists that have survived are the ones who had a say in their career, they too had a vision and weren’t prepared to stand back and let the record company turn them in to what they thought they should be, and create something that would make their job easier….make them marketable. They had belief and they had guts and if was going to take time then so be it. It worked then but they won’t let it work now, they all watched as everything came tumbling down. They pushed the self destruct button while blaming everyone apart from themselves.They knew it all.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, Opportunity, record companies, Bruce Springsteen, CBS, Superbowl

Sweet little mystery no more

I woke this morning expecting to see some replies to my e-mails from friends and colleagues…..I log on, nothing! I grumbled to my mother who is staying with me at present while cursing the internet. Bless, she offered to take me in to town to see if I could buy the internet….

The cable guy, Verizon Fios guy to be exact appeared with new router, a tweak here, an extra box there and we are back on. I log on and there before me a bunch of e-mails from my old cohorts at Island Records with the header ‘John Martyn 1948 to 2009’ and the inevitable news that he has died. Maybe some of you here in America might not have heard of him but John was a giant, I’d like to say a gentle giant and at times he was, at other times a ferocious beast. Sadly at times the demon alcohol took over and he was erratic and scary. Whichever John Martyn turned up he was always a total genius, a brilliant guitarist and a fantastic songwriter. If you don’t know him you’ll know Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Dave Gimour and others who played with him or recorded his songs and their versions of ‘Sweet little mystery’ and ‘May you never’ John Martyn’s songs were timeless songs. Sadly another one gone who seemed to be around as long as you had been into music and collecting records.

John Martyn had many music biz friends who were also fans,he was very much admired. A rare talent and another one who won’t ever be replaced. Like many others I am saddened by his loss yet not totally suprised, he ravaged his body and it just eventually gave up. Just a few years ago he had a leg amputated and though not entirely sure this may have been alcohol abuse related. He joked about it. His cause of death was cited as pneumonia, how much of anymore could his body have taken, his immune system must have packed up years ago.

John Martyn had demons but a sensitivity in his songwriting that you don’t often see. ‘Some keep diaries’ he said….’I write songs’ Chris Blackwell, the guy who first signed him was a good friend and originally could not release his ‘Grace and Danger’ album as he found it too upsetting, he had known John and Beverley both. John pleaded with him as it as a carthatic release for him, he needed it……Chris eventually obliged. It was a moving piece of music and as always with John Martyn it cut straight from the heart. Nothing about John Martyn was ever safe…… yet always sacred.

I worked with him in the seventies and eighties. He made me laugh and he made me cry. He would go in to a radio station and leave us all gasping for breath with some mindblowing guitar and another time he would sit outside in my car refusing to move and refusing to let me take him in for a pre arranged interview. Another time he announced he didn’t want to do anything in Scotland and wanted to go see his dad who still lived there in Glasgow. Testing times for an embryonic plugger. How do you explain to someone sat in reception that your artist will not budge. How can you answer ‘Why’?….and if I was to confront him and tell him not to be silly I was terrified of the consequences, I put up and shut up. Driving him in my car once from one radio station to another his accent changed, we hit Glasgow and he became Glasweigen! We did the interview and he wanted a drink, it was 10-30am and I was petrified. Working with John Martyn could be hard but at other times wonderful. He could be so warm and friendly too, delighted to see you.

I remember once when he played Manchester Polytechnic, he walked out on stage blind drunk clad in great coat, slided his guitar alongside his amp took two steps to the side and promptly puked up. Once over he dragged his shirt sleeve across his mouth, took two steps forward and took off in to song like nothing had ever happened! Some hapless character, mop in hand slipped on to the stage having been assigned puke retival duties. The set was blistering.

John Martyn is now gone but won’t be forgotten. Along with Bob Marley and Robert Palmer the mainstay of early Island is disappearing but with it too come fond memories of what made this the greatest label ever…. the people. Memories too of Martyn’s press officer for so many years who dealt with his erratic behaviour so well, the much loved Rob Partridge who slowly slipped away and left us just before Christmas.

For all of us who were there so many things remind us of all the good times we shared. It takes every kinda people.

Don’t worry ’bout a thing……..every little thing gonna be alright.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, PR, record companies, Chris Blackwell, Island Records, John Martyn, Rob Partidge

Radio revisted, perhaps?

I’ve been thinking it might be time to give radio another shot…….I did my first show in 1984 and my last in 1996 so that makes 12 years on and now 12 years off, so 2009 could spell a new beginning. We all know how radio has become crap and the only good radio is the stuff you need to hunt down…..so I can’t lose, I’m either crap like everything else or I become sought after, hunted down. I’ve been toying with the idea for a good few months. It was originally prompted around 9 months ago from an old friend, Guy back in the UK who said ‘Have you ever thought of doing your show again?’ I said no. He asked why and I said I didn’t know. Then I got excited we had a play around at doing it, made a bit of a false start and it kind of fell by the wayside. I think now the time could be right though. It is after all Year of the Tone so I can at least participate. If you think it’s a totally dumb idea then please let me know……. and I’ll remove you from my Christmas card list.

I don’t see anything in Tampa filling the gap, bit like the dentist I went to……. so maybe I should do a show focusing on the new blend of bands coming throught the UK. I have plenty of friends who would be only too willing to help so maybe we should give it a go and see what happens. There’s a cool local station here called WMNF which has a wide variety of shows so maybe they’ll be interested, we’ll give it a whirl and if they say no then we’ll think again…and still do it. I have to admit it would be a gas tapping in to some old pals in the UK and searching for some of the best bands, and I’m positive they would be grateful for some action over here.

I started a group on Facebook a few months ago, The Last Radio Programme mainly so I could recollect some stories from back in the day and blog about them. I was reminded of some funny episodes….I think every time I turned up it was potentially a funny episode anyway! I always thought when Mark Radcliffe went off to London to work for Radio One and I inherited his radio territitory, i.e. the gap he left, that if it lasted 3 months and I brought the station tumbling down then it would be a laugh and at least I could include it in my resume……but twelve and a half years must have meant I got something right. I remember I was the only plugger who could guarantee people at least one play!

Radio has changed radically but the diffence between traditional and the rest is vast. There must be a place for me to float in radio ocean…..after all my last tune on my last show was Neil Young’s ‘I’m the ocean’ Float on, Tone.

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Journey Through The Past, Radio Ga Ga, Last Radio Programme, tony michaelides, Tony the Greek, WMNF

Get it together

I’ve been moving furniture around and I’m knackered. I’ve lost half the stuff I put in places to make it easier to find them but I suppose it’s bound to get easier when I eventually do find them……. Nevertheless good things happen and Facebook once more re introduces figures from the past and more glorious memories come flooding back. An old TV pal from many moons ago, Sally located me and we have been exchanging e-mails furiously. As she has now spent more time on my blog than I have she’ll be vital in helping me drag out a few more gems, especially from the great times spent on music television shows.

Sally worked at Granada for a good few years and was there 30 years ago when I managed to get a bunch of Irish kiddies a nice little break. I have to admire them for booking U2 way ahead of anyone else around the time ‘I will follow’ came out. Back then U2 were only getting interviews on specialist radio shows so it was very bold on Granada’s part to stick their necks out and book them, especially on a kid’s show. Not only did they get on TV but the show was broadcast nationally. Looking back at that footage nowadays is incredible and yet so few web sites even list it. We know it exists…we were there. U2 looked so young but then again so did I !!! They were always so grateful for every opportunity, very humble and lapped up the chance to meet the media.They were the perfect band to get on radio or television…you got them on and they did the rest. They made a plugger’s job easy. I’ll get blasted here from Sal if I’m wrong but the show was ‘Get it together’ presented by one of the world’s most famous owls, ‘Ollie Beak.’ The show’s producer was Muriel Young, a lovely lady who sadly passed away a few years ago but someone who I can still picture vividly. She came out of an era in television, the 60’s where some of the most amazing bands passed through their doors. I missed that one professionally (yes, too young!) but still had my radio and TV there to give me the most amazing education.

Television back in the 70’s , especially music television which was where I was hovering was littered with the best bunch of people you could ever hope to meet. I made some great friends there. If you loved music and worked in television you were allowed to work on music programmes……..whoever thought up that recipe deserves a medal, music people for music televsion. Then again the same could be said of record pluggers, we loved music so all day you were exchanging stories, talking about great new records that had come out, booking bands on to shows, doing the work and having great fun at the same time. TV researchers trusted you and no matter how much I wanted to get my bands on to TV I prided myself on never trying to force stuff on them that clearly wasn’t right for the show. There were other places to book other bands so why even try to get an act on a show that wouldn’t be right for their audience anyway, what’s the point?

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, Opportunity, PR, record companies, get it together, Granada TV, music television

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, record companies, Uncategorized, View from the room, artist development, music fans, music industry

Stars in my eyes

Ridiculous, insane! Here I am slumbering in my lounge, lounging in my slumber writing blog number whatever and I’m being savaged by biting insects. For God’s sake it’s January and while the world freezes it’s ass off I’m being bitten! Florida is nice, don’t get me wrong but the insects never get a day off, it’s never too cold for them to die off……. and they love me, they love me more than humans do. I have love bites from insects. Ungrateful, maybe but if any insects subscibe to my blog they should read this and feel some remorse. I don’t love you……get over it. Anyway that wasn’t how I intended to start this blog, not the intended sting in the tail.

I was about to wax lyrically about the demise of the star, where he, she, they went ….who was responsible and why it was ever allowed to happen. Rock n’ roll was it……. it invented the dogs bollocks, dogs had no bollocks before rock and roll. I grew up with heroes and I want them back.

When you got in to music it was enough to reach out and want to touch any part of it. I admired the bands and the artists making the music and I wanted to be them…but I was crap and when I realised there was no chance of being one, hey no worries I was still just as happy. It was the music that was keeping my attention and keeping me happy.

I was deliriously happy, content to just be a fan but I got lucky and got to work behind the scenes…… but still I never lost the fan in me. No matter what happened to the business and the people buying the music it never lost my attention. Sadly though today you can read as much about the mess it’s in as you can about any artist.

I still want my heroes though. Music created stars, stars had dreams and we had dreams too. Music had so much to do with everything you did…where you went, who you went there with, who you dated and who you hated. Now I know why I never kept a diary, I didn’t need to, I could trace most major events in my life to what records were released! I know what music was played at my wedding(s) what I was listening to at school and each year I was listening to it, at college where I was when I first heared Dylan, Bowie, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin. Talk to me about David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour in the 70’s at the Hardrock in Manchester and I’m there. I can tell you where I stood, who I went with, who I saw there and how I even got there. I’m there!…and even weirder from someone with a self confessed lousy memory. I can even tell you how I lost it.

There’s a lot more ranting here methinks. I need to get my soapbox and return to this but right now I need to forget about the heady days of rock and roll and empty the dishwasher.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, record companies, rock n roll, Stars, ziggy stardust

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

What now for the music biz

The record industry needed to find something that would save them from themselves. They needed to find the solution before the problem,and now the problem is global and has spiraled out of control…..everyone with their own crosses to bear. With the economy taking such an unprecedented pounding you wouldn’t lay money on the music business having anywhere near an OK year. Mutiny, mass exoduses of bands wanting to find their own solutions to the problem will inspire little confidence in an industry they once looked to as their mentors.

Music industry people like Chris Blackwell and Ahmet Ertegun, Herb Alpert and a smattering of others from the past together with the Michael Lippmans and Paul McGuinesses of the present still retain their mantles and their success is deserving. In their own domain they have successfully managed every part of the process and gained the respect of their artists….but where do the others turn to for guidance. These people have their own houses to keep in order but nowadays what do they see around them, where do they turn find the like minded people of old that they rely on to work with? Where is the support, the back up they once had. Labels believed in their artists and would do everything they could to show that support, they used to inspire one another.

Where are the people who once were so enthusiastic about the music they couldn’t wait to spread the word. They needed to make money but it was the music that drove them. When I first started in the music business in 1974 my immediate boss Ray Cooper was first and foremost a fan, it was why he wanted to work in the music business….he’s still a fan today.Back then we’d spend as much time discussing music on other labels as we did on the stuff we were selling, the same at Island later on…….there didn’t seem to be anyone there who wasn’t there for the right reasons.

Once this was an industry abundant with adventurous, creative people, now it’s an industry scared of risk, frightened by mistake, confused, tried and tested……… and found guilty.

We can hope for change but this isn’t the change President Elect Obama had in mind. This is one thing he or no one else could manage to change. We will look at what happens now in the music industry and if last year was a year of radical change then this year is going to see even bigger change……..and for those that can survive it, good luck.

Filed under: Managing Creativity, record companies, Chris Blackwell, Herb Alpert, Michael Lippman, music industry, Paul McGuinness