A DAY IN THE LIFE OF XM: THE BOB LEFSETZ VISIT

Bob Lefsetz, the mother of all Industry bloggers,
visited XM. I’ve known Bob for many years. His blog
is must reading for anyone remotely connected to
music. He doesn’t give a shit about anything or
anyone in terms of his opinion. If he thinks God is
an asshole, he’ll say it. Whenever I visit LA, we
have a free form dinner somewhere and rant about the
state of life. While Bob was an early believer in
XM, he’s recently written some things that would lead
you to believe that XM’s programming is sinking into
the FM standard. There may be some things that might
lead people to think that, but to us the evolution of
XM, while complex, is absolutely not geared on going
backwards! Bob was unsure of that. So we thought it
might be time to have him visit us. So we wrestled
with a few dates and came up with one last Tuesday. If
he comes in and checks out the vibe and it’s
lame---then maybe he’s right.

At first we were thinking “let’s put on a dog ’n pony
for him”…then—Naaah! He’s WAY too smart not to see
through that. So the “plan” was no plan. He
visits…walks the halls and checks out the reality of a
day in the life at XM. No show…no presentation…just a
day at XM. Nothing more...nothing less.

So…he arrives. At first I take him to Eric Logan’s
weekly staff meeting with managers of various
programming departments. I got excused from this so I
could be Bob’s host. After a quick hello, we wander
the halls. Run into Jessie Scott from X Country…they
talk about some Austin artist that played on a
Springsteen album…then Jackson Brady from Real Jazz
wanders over and it’s a Jazz rap…then Earl Bailey and
he connect on Philadelphia Stories…then Ben Smith from
Fine Tuning engages Bob on the virtues of his channel
in 5.1. Perfect! This is all spontaneous. No one
was “briefed”, no script..…they’re just talking their
game. No hype…just excitement about talking about
what they do.

We then wander up to the second floor for a tour of
our 85 studios. We also have an amazing setup at
Jazz@Lincoln Center in NYC and at the Country Music
Hall of Fame in Nashville, but the 2nd floor here in
DC is the creative command center. First we walk into
“The Quincy Jones Room” (production rooms are named
after masters of sound—from the Jerry Wexler room to
the Stravinsky room to the Orson Wells room, etc…)
“Audio Animator” Larry Whitt is there…amongst the Pro
Tools, keyboards and Fenders. Larry gives Bob
Production 101 and then we play “stump the star”,
where artists are asked to pick ANY song, and we can
then call it up and instantly play it. The only artist
to beat us was Jon Anderson who wanted Ilhan
Mimaraglu. We didn’t have it. Then Dylan stumped
us. Odd. But he found a song we didn’t have! But
Anderson’s worse than Bob Dylan in terms of
challenging our data base! OK—enough of that. We
walked…through Prod Rooms, Talk Studios, On Air
studios and banks of databases. Then I noticed Eddie
Kilroy from Hank’s Place was taking a break. We walked
in. Hank’s Place is an amazing format. A few times a
year Willie Nelson pops in and takes over…it’s
loose…it’s decorated like a bar in Lubbock circa
1956. I’m wondering…how will a Jewish Lawyer like Bob
relate to Eddie, an ex-Rodeo champ who oozes Red
State swagger? Man—they hit it off. Why? Because
Eddie is the real deal. No pretense…just passion. Then
we run into 50’s guru Ken Smith…Ken waxes on about how
the 50’s are the roots. The early R&B…the depth beyond
Hound Dog…the spirit of early Rock and R&B. Then into
our Performance Theater. Unfortunately it was a mix
day with no artists; originally the Cars were to
perform an Artist Confidential, but Elliott Easton
broke his collarbone…but Bob was able to Q&A Jackson
MacInnis, one of our top session engineers…He’s the
guy Paul McCartney said “Good job mate” to after his
gig at XM.

The tour continues. I’m feeling sorry for Bob because
everyone we run into in the hall is SO happy to tell
their story. It’s like the finger in the dike has been
pulled out and all of this passion comes pouring
out---into Bob’s ears. But he’s digging it…except when
we go by a channel he doesn’t like. Walking past the
“Big Tracks” studio, he boos. Hates the
channel. Well, I can understand that. NO ONE likes
ALL of our channels. That’s the point---If you create
channels that have a distinct Point of View, some
channels will be appalling…that’s the give when you do
PURE channels. That channel is PURE. Pure CRAP in his
mind…but I think if you were 16 and getting laid to
Bryan Adams songs in 1986, you might think
differently. Then again, we’ve got a zillion channels
that cover pretty much every musical POV from that
decade.

Into Deep Tracks for vinyl masturbation with George
Taylor Morris...then over to Bluesville where Bob and
Bill Wax talk about the future of the blues. Then
into Soul Street where he and Bobby Bennett engage in
a conversation ranging from early Motown to the state
of Hip Hop. Now—I am actually getting impressed. I
work with these guys every day and I forget what
treasures we have running these channels. These guys
and gals are INTO IT. They are SOOOO incredibly
focused and passionate. I need to spend more time
rekindling the musical relationship. Jim McBean, the
king of Audio Animators, had an animated rap with Bob…

Then I think we scared him. Took him into meet Phlash
Phelps and sit in on a few breaks. Phlash is out of
his mind…in a good way. He is a whiz at the pace and
intensity of what makes that channel soar as a Top 40
circa 1965. Along with Terry Young and Pat Clarke,
they’ve really captured the spirit of Top 40 Forty
years ago. He walked out thinking---What was that??!!

By now it was lunchtime. Over lunch Kurt Gilchrist
wandered over to talk about the Decades channels in
general, but wait—here comes Gary Hahn from our
Marketing group, and Chris Walsh, the guy who oversees
our artist videos. Bob launches into a tirade about XM
marketing. He just saw remarkable passion in action
and doesn’t think our marketing reflects that.

After lunch…it’s back to the halls. Sonny Fox on
comedy…Kate Bradley on The Loft…Coolguy from Liquid Metal...Tobi on XMU…Robert
Davis on The Village…one after another, he asks a
question and gets bombarded with emotion and
buzz. During our hall walking, he asks some business
questions. Time to unleash him on Eric Logan, our EVP
of Programming, a CEO in training and a brilliant guy
who actually understands the business side of XM which
I sorta get, but is SO complicated and detail driven
that it’s a godsend to have Eric on board since he
understands programming and actually loves the
business side. Hell, he was a “ costumed duck” at some
hillbilly station in Oklahoma and now is a Senior
Executive at an emerging technology company like XM. So
I sit in for a sec and they go into this whole rap
that is in some MBA code. I leave, though I’m
impressed that Bob actually understands the code as
they go on and on about CPGAs (Not the Canadian PGA as I first thought) and other stuff that I’d
rather avoid.

Forty minutes later, I come back…they’re still
talking.

Sixty minutes…still talking.

Finally Eric has to go to some meeting and I rescue
Bob…but I think he was into the business rap.

Back in my office we start talking airplanes. I want
to take him on one of our Barbecue Runs. Trips I take
with the Robert Friedman, CEO of the Red Hot and Blue
chain. We hit it off. I want to run a BBQ chain and he
wants to be a PD. We’ve taken some amazing trips,
like the one to Memphis with Maxx Myrick our Jazz
icon. Going to a BBQ place with Robert Friedman is
like going to a Yes concert with me. We’re backstage
looking at smokers. (Ribs not joints) Its weird eating Pork Ribs with a
guy named Friedman who weighs about 120 pounds. On that particular trip we hit six places, a minor league ballgame, atrip down Beale Street and a long nap. Oh
well…..Bob is definitely coming on a flight. I do my
Eric Logan rap but instead of financials it’s
instrument approach procedures…I smell a fresh victim
with Bob next time he’s here. He tells me the guy who
runs Guitar Center owns the same plane I have…we look
him up on the FAA Data Base. Got his home
address…guess I can use that next time I need an amp.

Then onto my XM rap. It's a 72 hour presentation that I condense into about 12 minutes. He gets it.

Bob sees the 1962 Gibson ES-175 in my office. I bought
it in 1972 so I could sound like Steve Howe since that
was his signature guitar. Didn’t work out…so I gave
Bob some of my demos…that might be a big mistake.

Lou Brutus pops by with a package of stuff from his band the Dead Schlembeckers. Bob is starting to question our sanity which is a good thing.

OK—On to Dinner. We went to Tosca, an Italian
restaurant near the Capitol. Buzzy enough for him to
see the VIPs (Senator Feinstein was there), quiet
enough to talk. George Taylor Morris (GTM) and Mike
Marrone came with. Bob continued on his rage against
the XM marketing POV…interspersed with dialogue
about…everything. I can’t really disagree with
everything he was saying…he made good points…and
there were some things that made sense, but then
again some that didn't. It’s a very complicated business. I say
that a lot because it IS. It’s like no other
business. People tend to think it’s easy…it ain’t. In
any case there was a good dialogue. I took his
thoughts to heart because he CARES. GTM drove him
back to his hotel and got stopped by the Pentagon
police for blowing a stop sign. Part of the DC
experience. Those guys don’t look like terrorists so
it was a nonevent. I drove Marrone back to XM…he was
complaining that Bob was too jet lagged to record a
show for the Loft. I think Mike wanted to do an
all-nighter with Bob and record some stuff. Too bad
this isn’t 1978 or they’d still be in the studio.

Next morning...more hall walking! I think he loved
talking to Marlin Taylor. 71 years old…going on
30. Invented Beautiful Music. The passion of a true
radio warrior. Proudly displayed photos of WDVR FM in
Philly in 1963. An FM pioneer. On to a quick visit with our "new guy" John Clay who runs the 70's...Then some face time
with Dan Turner, our SVP of Operations. I call him Mr.
Wolf (from Pulp Fiction)…he gets things DONE...and has a bizarre collection of odd album covers--REAL odd on his wall, along with other whacked stuff. Dan has a good balance of insanity and Operational TCB. Dan
takes him down to meet Marrone. They cut a show
together. I pop in and ask some stupid question…but
they’re INTO the show. I leave.

Around 2:30pm his car back to the airport
arrives. We missed so much. He didn’t get to see our
5.1 demonstration, or the Slide guitarist Bill Wax had
in, or about 150 other people that he would have dug
talking to. But he DID see a typical day in the life
of XM….hope he liked it.