ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT NOTE: REBUTTAL!

ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT NOTE: REBUTTAL!

There was a nice get together for Hugh Panero at the Capital Grille here in DC. Small group of long time employees from the early days as well as Nate Davis of course (who is actually a ‘long time employee’ since he’s been on the board from the start, though just recently assumed the helm—along with Chairman Parsons) and most of the senior executives. Low key…lots of stories. A real nice evening. Event ace Stephanie Mantelmacher once again out did herself putting the small group together in a wonderful environment. Hugh got some nice sentimental gifts including every Artist Confidential and Bob Dylan show in a nice personal set. I felt good about that since those were two quality ideas I spearheaded that mean a lot to Hugh and XM. I CLEARLY remember the early days of putting those together—right down to Business Guru John Dealy and his protégé Dr. Joe Verbrugge, helping (forcing) me to make sense of the idea—at least make it presentable beyond my typical “We gotta do this—trust me” rant. As a consultant I could get away with that. Present an idea, and with support of the ownership/management it would be expected that the local station would execute. Here at XM I had to learn to channel the ranting into something that normal business people could understand as I can’t present an idea and head out of town!. I still have trouble with that...but I think I’m getting better. I still prefer: “Here’s an idea—Lets AFDI it—no meetings…let’s just do it”…but there ARE procedures to getting things to happen…as XM is poles from a locally consulted radio station! I need to learn patience and procedures…drives me nuts sometimes—but that’s life. An interesting highlight of the night was that Gary Hahn had a glass of wine. He’s usually too buried in his Blackberry to do anything much less have a glass of wine. I noticed that because he was unusually animated—must have been the wine talking. Then, James Carville drops by as he’s dining at this DC power hub. A few kudos for Hugh…a pithy comment about Senator Craig…and he’s back to his power steak. Hugh reminded me that he still reads these blogs. He may be off premises...but he’s still “here”.

There’s a content renaissance at XM. Called XMX—Channel 2. Suddenly millions of people are literally discovering Quincy Jones shows…Bob Dylan...Tom Petty...Wynton Marsalis and scores of other amazing content that has been buried within our 100+ channels. Now it breathes…you can hear it. A renaissance! The emails are pouring in with people discovering these and other exclusive shows we produce. This channel is really revolutionary. Not in concept, but in the reality that it is exposing some pretty amazing musical content to people who may have ‘heard’ about these but never really absorbed them. XMX makes it EASY to experience these incredible shows where the ARTISTS are truly in control.

On a totally different note, A few weeks back I wrote about a trip to Cooperstown with a focus on how upset XM’s Sandy Girard was putting up with Eric Logan and me. She wasn’t too happy about the reporting, and wrote a rebuttal.

From Sandy Girard (who incidentally is kind of the go-to all business type person as a liaison between XM programming and….pretty much every other department):

I do not read blogs. It may be a reflection of my personality and personal preference to communicate directly, which usually involves face-to-face conversation and a little eye contact (but not the uncomfortable kind). My aversion to blogs is due primarily to the fact that I already feel like my day is cannibalized by powerpoints, meetings, conference calls, firedrills, negotiations and other madness, so I have little time or inclination to read about what someone else is thinking as trying to process my own thoughts has become increasingly more challenging. I also find that many bloggers come across as self-absorbed, ego maniacs desperately seeking attention by claiming they have some critical insight or knowledge that the rest of us could not figure out for ourselves (see Perez Hilton). And lastly, the other danger I associate with the blogosphere is that many people who read blogs, believe that if it's written and published on the world wide web, it must be fact. This last point explains why I am writing this

My exception to my blog boycott is the Lee Abrams Blog. This is because Lee is quite the opposite of the Perezes of the world. He is not self-absorbed, nor is he an ego-maniac and he has a bottomless treasure chest of incredibly amusing and insightful stories about the music business and of course about XM. I don't get to read his blogs as often or as quickly as Lee would like, but I do get to them and I am almost always chuckling about one of his many "big fish" stories. However, after being questioned, consoled and hearing so many chuckles from our coworkers about his Aug. 6th "Musical Lulls and a Travelogue to Baseball Land" blog that included my name, I knew I had to quickly get up to speed and do some reading. After reading Lee's depiction of our trip to Cooperstown, I didn't chuckle when I realized that I was the big fish in that day's blog and after a face-to-face (and a little uncomfortable eye contact) with Lee he invited me to post a rebuttal. I have decided to do so in the interest of clearing my reputation as the "Cooperstown whiner" and also to ensure that Lee's blog continues to present entertaining truths and not unfounded gossip.

These are the facts:
1. Yes I did go to Cooperstown with Lee and Eric (after a lot of peer pressure from both and promises of "we'll work out the hotel room. It'll be great!")
2. We did eat at Rednecks (not my choice)
3. It was about 100 degrees there and you probably up the temperate at least 20 when you're inside one of the unairconditioned giftshops exceeding the store's max capacity by about 200 baseball fanatics
4. Yes we did meet Cal and he was as gracious and impressive as his fans would attest
5. Yes I did get dumped at the Super 8 and it was complete with hookers, roaches, mildew, etc.

Now where facts get distorted and the rest of the tale may be missing critical details:
1. "Sandy was still upset that we stranded her on the street while lusting for memorabilia."

Yes, it's true that I sat outside while Eric and Lee sprinted back and forth, across, into and through every single store with reckless abandon. However, much like the mom who sits holding the kids' stuff while they squeal and get ready to ride the roller coaster, I held every bat, mug, card, tshirt, button, baseball cap, shotglass and sticker without one word of complaint and did so with a (sweaty) smile.

2. "Stopped at Wendy’s (Eric’s favorite) and headed back to our Hotel—The Ho Jo. Pretty lame and overpriced, but clean."

While they feasted on double cheeseburger meals and frostys from Wendys, someone else was left to forage for herself (without a vehicle) and since the Super8's one vending machine wasn't working, I decided to brave it and walk to the gas station and treat myself to some Dasani and sunflower seeds.

3. "Kept getting nasty emails from Sandy about the roaches, odors and general disgust at her room at the SUPER 8."

Now, this inaccurately portrays me as some kind of whining, high maintenance princess. Although I will confess that I did send Lee and Eric a message giving them updates about the exciting activities that I personally witnessed in my room, including the roach that was crawling on the wall by my bed (probably to meet his large and extended relatives under the bed) and what I'm certain was the prostitute working hard for her money in the room next door, I did so without complaint. When I was a Peace Corps volunteer I lived in an apartment without running water for nearly 4 weeks during a "record hot summer" and I never once complained. If I wanted to live in a filthy space with bugs and other sketchy characters, I'd sign back up to return to my post -Soviet apartment in Ukraine and not agree to attend a business trip with my "friends" Lee and Eric.

Thanks Lee for giving me the chance to respond. Even if this doesn't make the official Abrams blog, I already feel slightly vindicated.

---OK that’s the word from Sandy….

Finally…The Pink Floyd masterpiece “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” is coming out soon—re mastered. A must listen for anyone who missed it back in ’67. A study in early psychedelia that had a profound influence on the British progressive music scene back then…a pivotal time in late 20th century music.

KOOL STUFF AND A TRIP TO THE AGENCY

KOOL STUFF AND A TRIP TO THE AGENCY

Many comments about my exclusion of Hip Hop in the musical trend blog a few weeks back. Understandable as it should have been prefaced that the overview was focused on Rock music trends. There are similar but distinct lines that track different music genres such as Hip Hop as well as Country and other popular genres.

My mistake for not clarifying that. I do notice though that Hip Hop like any new form follows the same path as any revolutionary offshoot. It starts in the underground…emerges as a culturally significant sound that scares those who don’t “get it” (look, lyric, attitude etc…), then goes into the mass market and is ‘acceptable’ and finally becomes a part of the mainstream sound. The Rock similarities are striking: The dangerous Jim Morrison freaking out the middle aged in 1967, permanently banned from American Airlines for urinating on a Flight Attendant…then in 1997, he’s featured on American Airlines video as an “American Icon”.


Had a good Artist Confidential with Kool and the Gang. I was never a big fan, but they were really good, and those who WERE big fans, STILL ARE (It’s that 16-30 thing—musically formative years---the music you grew with—stays with you!) I always was impressed that they used the exact same riff on Celebration as on Yes’ Roundabout. BK Kirkland did a good job hosting and Kool and his gang were just wonderful to deal with. The flight up in the Cirrus was good. Took Aaron Lee and Bill black from our production aces. Bill was a little concerned about the flight having not flown with me before. Aaron didn’t make it any easier as he was humming “That Smell” from Skynyrd before we took off. Oddly enough, Bill used to be in the Army and jumped out of planes into battle. So, after we took off and he realized we weren’t in for certain death, he relaxed and was the ideal passenger. A good thing since flying with those guys is like flying with two Linebackers from the ’86 Bears. Aaron and I hung out in NYC after the show as he had to do some mixing and I had a presentation at Lowe, our agency. Kind of a “the soul of XM” thing. More on that later. With an open evening I invited Aaron to dinner. He deserves it. Works his ass off and despite many opportunities to, never complains—just gets it done.



We went to Milos. A spectacular Greek Seafood place. Last time I was there was with our Jonathan Schwartz. The very Greek manager sort of took us under his wing and suggested some strange fish that “just caught in the Mediterranean three hours ago” (must be a fast plane to make it to NYC that fast I thought). Anyways we ordered it. Then—he came back and said the fish was too big...”come, look at our selection”…we went to the back to inspect the fish on display and he pointed to another one “just caught in the Mediterranean three hours ago”—Took his word. It was great. Had Skordalia, a powerful garlic puree. Three days later my dogs wouldn’t even look me in the face. Great place though. Love the Greek vibe.



Next morning, spoke to the entire agency. It was fun. Speaking to them emerged from an offsite we had geared to define the XM Brand. They went around the room asking people to tell an XM story. Many of the stories were a bit tame as in “It was so cute when my dog Snuggles first heard XM and gave a big bark…”. I decided to tell the story of a bonfire we had at my house where the entire programming department brought a tee-shirt from a station they worked at and we lit them all in a swirl of kerosene to symbolize our mission. Then proceeded to do a war dance. Our neighbor, a CIA psychiatrist (seriously) was most impressed. Jack Wormington, our SVP of rockets and a retired General was more frightened of this event than his 8 years in Viet Nam. I think the story—embellished with expletives, helped change the tone of the offsite from tame to gutsy. It was the “attitude” side of XM vs. the traditional side. So—I went up and preached the XM attitude! Great receptive group.



After the session, headed back to Teterboro. It was madness. Huge delays, bad weather and bad congestion with controllers having zero tolerance for anything short of airline level communications skills. Some poor bozo in a Piper Cherokee couldn’t keep up and the controllers basically told him to stay on the ground and not to bother him. Having filed a flight plan for only 8000 feet, we lucked out and got a clearance pretty fast…unlike the 500 heavy iron guys (big jets) all filed for 30000+. Once off the ground it was smooth sailing back to BWI where I dropped off Aaron. But the plane definitely had remnants of the Skordalia lingering in the cabin…



Loved the Simpson’s episode last weekend. It’s where Kent Brockman gets fired. The whole show is about a Fox show bad rapping Fox. So honest and real. Hilarious. I love Fox. I think a lot of their shows are cheesy and as a hard core Independent, the news is a little Over the Top at times…but all in all for what they do I think they do it so bloody well. I’m sure Murdock will make the Wall Street Journal very scary to the competition. There are Fox bashers out there---They should study them rather than bash them. Their execution and boldness is refreshingly excellent.



On the other side of the coin, there’s local TV News. I’ve been watching it lately. It’s so bad ---it’s funny. It’s not far off from an SNL routine. The clichés are beyond belief. A parody of itself. Check it out—it’s SO goofy!



Got a sneak peak at the new Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio Hour Series---WOW! He’s taken it up a notch. And Tom Petty is back in production. Bob n Tom (now THERE’S a morning show) have some amazing shows coming.



Billboard Magazine looks pretty good these days…they’ve really improved that.



Opie and Anthony did a show here in DC. Spent some time with opie. Trying to get him to fly with me. He and Anthony talk about me flying drunk and falling asleep which is quite ridiculous. But I think he believes it “might” be true. His girlfriend thinks it is. So now it’s a mission to get him up since I’m frighteningly clean (compared to 20 years ago especially!), and go into an unbelievable state of Air Force straightness when anywhere near an aircraft. Airplanes aside, I like talking to him---he’s edgy but still likes to hear about the old tricks that he and a can re-think. Can’t design the future til you understand the past…

A HUGH PANERO STORY (PART ONE)... AND A NEW LOW IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

A HUGH PANERO STORY (PART ONE)... AND A NEW LOW IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

Hugh Panero came from the cable side. About a month into XM (then AMRC) he asked if I could introduce him to people in the music Industry. So, we went to LA and I took him around to meet various people. He came up with the concept of “Expanded Head and Deflated Head”. This refereed to people who did tons of drugs in the 70’s yet came out OK and are actually smarter—that’s the Expanded Head types. Then there are those who did so many drugs in the 70’s that their heads have lost intelligence, thus deflated heads. For years to follow, whenever he’d meet someone in the music business, he’d turn around and ask “Expanded”?? The only guy we met that he was completely stumped about was John Kalodner who never even chewed gum but somehow looked like THE most bizarre rocker you could ever meet. He comes swaggering into our hotel room dressed in an all white robe with a beard to the floor and the look of Phil Spector’s best smoking buddy. John proceeded to ask intelligent questions and engage in high level talk about the state of…everything. Hugh was speechless. After John left, Hugh asked “What the hell was that”!? Clearly not expanded as he has always been drug free…not deflated as he’s smart. I just told Hugh “Welcome to Rock n Roll”….we ended that day dialing around LA Radio. Hugh was appalled at what he heard. Questions like: Why does everybody talk that way? Do people actually LIKE this stuff? I think it was that moment he really realized—Hey---We can do some damage here! Then there was Norm Pattiz who spent most of the meeting talking about his jet...and the list goes on. Clearly a different lot of characters than in the cable business. But, those characters are what gave the business a cool edge. Unfortunately, the music business has lost that edge as so many of the characters have cashed out, retired, been driven out or have burned out. The new guys don't seem to have the same swagger--There are exceptions, especially in the Hip Hop area (no shortage of character there), but a lot of that lunacy is gone and replaced with a more tight assed approach---Judging by the state of the music business, it worked better under lunacy. Well...times change! I didn’t know Bob Lefsetz too well back then—now THAT would have been an interesting stop.

That trip was fun. On the way back aboard United we went on and on about possible names for XM. I suggested GO! He liked that...but of course Disney owned it we soon found out. So the next week we had the entire XM staff of 8 in a room coming up with name ideas. THAT was a disaster as everyone had an issue with every name brought up…and there were some BAD ones. You could tell what businesses people came from by their suggestions. Anyone from Cable had a name that ended with “star”. So we went out-of-house and the name XM was suggested. It stuck. We were close to being ____Star. When it came to naming channels, that was easier. Just kinda named them. Steve Cook who ran marketing then, eye rolled some of them, and there was a contingent that wanted the channels to be named Rock 1, Rock 2, Country 1, Country 2 etc…but we kinda took advantage of everyone focused on other things and delivered the official channel name list. The only one that uniformly was rejected was CLICK. Actually it was the expression Click—a sound you make with your tongue and cheek...and I think it probably means something in some exotic African language. But that idea was TOO weird for the room. There were a few others that didn’t make the cut. The original name of the Comedy Channel was Up Yours—actually suggested by the Comedy PD at the time. Boneyard was originally called The Bone—also known as both a reefer and an erection, which should resonate to the 20-30 something male target. Much to my surprise no-one complained about calling our reggae channel “the Joint”.

It was about that time that Hugh came up with an XM salute---actually a hand/arm contortion that sorta meant XM. No one REALLY knew what it meant but it was fun to do and we humored him. He'd always end his periodic all staff meetings with the salute. Those meetings were extremely casual...usually a ton of people crammed around our biggest conference rooms. These were meetings that EVERYONE attended. He'd always try to embarrass me by, without notice, asking me if I had any questions. After two of those I came armed with GOOD questions. He stopped asking me. His meetings were interesting. Under his hardened CEO shell, a lot of us thought he was nuts (in a good way)--kind of "He's as crazy as we are"! That's a good thing.

The early XM was SO much like early FM. No playbook. But early FM guys had the advantage of learning A LOT about life through mistakes. One of my fondest memories of what NOT to do on FM was a DJ on an “underground” station in Miami called WBUS. That station was an inspiration for what we did at AOR in the golden days of that concept. An inspiration on what NOT to do. The DJ was playing America by the Nice. However, he was playing the studio version in the right side and the live version in the left. Figured that listeners could have their choice by turning their stereo to all right or all left. Of course the live version was 7 minutes longer and there’s the issue of people with Mono radios. Then he opened up the phone lines. One guy called and he was so fucked up that he started babbling about the impending revolution and how Nixon was setting up labor camps for hippies. Walked out of that hang thinking “I NEED AN FM”!

Journey to the Twilight Zone. Went to Tangier Island with Jim Mc Bean and his family. The only way to get there is by ferry or plane. We flew. Landing was fine but the runway hasn’t been attended to in 30 years. Cracks, weeds, you name it. Some ultra friendly—too friendly--old guy greeted us in a language that is exclusive to this Island. About 200 live there and EVERYONE is named either Pruitt or Crockett. You can tell because everything is "Helen Crockett’s Inn" or something that has a Crockett or Pruitt. It’s a marshy little burg with no industry other than crabbing. There are two crab restaurants there--I will say they are great--better be the crabs were caught a few minutes before.…a few gift shops selling weird stuff—Jim bought a tee-shirt and they stuffed Bible passages into the shirt. The whole place is in black and white…tombstones in the front yards. In fact, there are tombstones everywhere. No cars. Just golf carts and bikes.

Last time I was there, I flew Sonny Fox (PD—XM Comedy) and his Wife there. They wanted to buy a house and retire to it in a few years. They too were scared off by the strange vibe of the place. Mayberry meets the Outer Limits. Could picture an axe murderer in the midst of this strange little Island

I have Cox cable for my internet at home. Unbelievable. It went out and I called customer service. Pathetic. The person spoke pretty much no English. Chinese I think. Was on the phone for over an hour after spending 15 minutes on their “automated customer service” system. The first person told me to go to their website to diagnose the problem with my Internet not working...huh? That’s when I got the Chinese lady who tried to walk me through the problem. It was comedic. I couldn’t understand a WORD she was saying. Here’s what I don’t get: How can you serve customers if you can’t speak English? There are a lot of Spanish speaking people around—that’s cool—they have a special phone line for that. But you use the regular English line…and they don’t speak English??!! What are these people thinking? More lies! I love how they talk about customers come first, etc…What complete bullshit. You just KNOW they don’t give a fuck. Or maybe they have a department with a head of “We Give a Fuck” but I can assure you that the senior guys there are pretty disengaged. Then after many complaints I get a letter from them addressed Dear Customer Lee Abrams….how personal! Customer Service has got to be about the most difficult task out there as everyone thinks their problem is the center of the universe and there are SO many people to deal with—I respect that--but you gotta wonder what some of these places are thinking. “Dear Customer Lee Abrams”? Then there’s Southwest Airlines. I called their reservation number a few years ago and the recording said “Press seven for instant service” I pressed seven and the response was “You must be kidding…sucker!” Took a horrible experience and had me on the floor--told 20 people how cool Southwest was, even though it still took 20 minutes to talk to a human.—And you wonder why they are among the most profitable airlines???

Finally—a great video about “marketing to Women”… Or subtly how NOT to market to women but most people marketing to women are clueless: http://bringtheloveback.com/2007/05/16/mdas_europe/

READ ALL THE BLOGS HTTP://LEEABRAMS.BLOGSPOT.COM

KORN, THE MOODY BLUES, MANDY MOORE AND THE MENTAL INSTABILITY OF CELEBRITIES & POLITICIANS

KORN, THE MOODY BLUES, MANDY MOORE AND THE MENTAL INSTABILITY OF CELEBRITIES & POLITICIANS

The XMX Channel two is on the air and it is off the charts. For example, To REALLY hear Bob Dylan and Tom Petty do their shows…tell their stories…play an eclectic mix that only guys of this musical caliber can play is mind blowing…then you hear Quincy Jones’s shows—My God! Then to REALLY hear the Artist Confidentials…and Bill Anderson talking one on one with Country masters. THIS is what XM is all about. THIS is radio magic. THIS is brilliance. The programs on XMX have historically gotten played, but in a fleeting way. On XMX you can LIVE these shows. They DEFINE 21st century radio.

Many Artist Confidential tapings recently.

KORN: Loud. The most ragged band we’ve had in the famous and luxurious Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center. THE most beautiful venue in the land with a three story glass wall overlooking Central Park. Usually a place where Tony Bennett types play, though we’ve also had Sting and Andrea Bocelli there. Korn were great…hilariously out of place…but great. The venue was all freaked out that they’d be a bunch of rowdy glue sniffers with guns. In reality the crowd was a totally cool, albeit dangerous looking to the ultra straight briefcase crowd as they were all adorned in heavy tattoo, chains and black t-shirts…but they were Rockers. That’s cool. Host Lou Brutus did a good job as the band was a bit “laid back”...but they warmed up and delivered a great show…the first five minutes were tense though. Lou: So—how’s the new CD? Band: crickets. Went like that for a few minutes. Funny enough was that in the same venue, a few hours later, we had Derek Jeter doing a Baseball Confidentail hosted by our Buck Martinez. Jeter was great. Buck was brilliant. The crowd ranging from cute kids to hard core fans. The best questions were from little kids asking questions like “Mr. Jeter—who’s your favorite best friend on the team”? Randy Ezratty, Rob Macomber, Jayme Karp, Megan Boggia and their respective teams were unbelievable in handling two high profile/high maintainence events with grace and perfection. It helped that Korn asked for oxygen…Megan found a tank of medical Ox from some underground dealer who didn’t require a Doctors notice. After Korn, there was a full tank left and she tried it. Got a huge buzz…reminded me of a 15 year old after her first drink. Giddy. Then everyone else started sucking the mask. I avoided it because I had to fly that night and something told me it might not be a good idea…but everyone else was buzzed on pure oxygen.

MANDY MOORE: I was a little worried about this one. Artist Confidential is about artists with a story to tell. Eric Logan is pressing me to get younger “pop” artists—I tend to draw in the grizzled veterans…I figured Mandy might be one of these airhead DUI types with deep answers like” Yeahh, like .what---EVER..like Paris is soo cool”. Man was I wrong. She was intelligent, focused and a joy. Extremely professional and smart. If there was a Culture Stock Market—I’d buy shares of Mandy.

MOODY BLUES: Hey—these guys are the goods. Plus they’ve been on the Simpsons. Justin Hayward is an old friend and it was great to see him again. I recall many meetings with him—always found him delightfully smart, passionate and a genuine No BS “artist” of the highest caliber. Odd thing is that he looks EXACTLY as he has since about ’69, and his voice is actually BETTER than ever. We packed the room in exactly 9 seconds after the invites went out. They are SO British. You really appreciate the soaring timelessness of their music and particually the lyrics that take you to a special place if you let hem. A wonderful event. George Taylor Morris proved that his is a master at engaging artists of this level.

…Korn…Mandy Moore…Moody Blues—Then we also had a fantastic live set with Pearl Jam at Lollapalooza…and Michelle from 20 on 20 scored Hillary Duff doing a show from her bus. Can you say diversity? Speaking of diversity—again, check XMX Channel 2. It’s amazing.

A perk of working at XM is baseball. The night before the “Double Header” of confidential (Korn/Jeter) at Jazz at Lincoln Center, I flew Baseball programmer Chuck Dickemann, his son and Jayme Karp to New York. That night we had field passes to see the Yankees play my beloved but pathetic White Sox. Unreal. Walked through the catacombs…past the Sox and Yankees club house, THROUGH the Sox dugout and then hung out ON the field during batting practice. Now I know how it feels for a civilian to go backstage at a concert. The one thing I noticed is that for the fans—it’s a big game—for the players, it’s a job. These guys are at work. Another day...another game. I found it fascinating. Yankee reliever Mike Meyers as well as a lot of players and coaches know Chuck. Myers was especially loose and fun to talk to…took Chuck’s kid into the clubhouse to get some hats. Unfortunately he was released two days later! The Sox went on to lose miserably.

Then—on Saturday flew two silent auction winners back to New York and back to Yankee Stadium. A-Rod hit #500. Pretty exciting…but damn it was 107 degrees…I am OVER day baseball when it’s over 100 degrees.

I really don’t like most politicians and tabloid celebrities. Most of them seem to have severe emotional issues. Think about it—to be of the mindset make it in politics being extremely sleezy or even criminal helps—there are of course exceptions, but even many of the exceptions are lowering to the junk culture mentality—maybe that helps get votes, but it’s SO bad for our National health. Does Hilary REALLY need a contest to find a campaign song? I thought these were the people that are supposed to lead with something on a slightly higher level. Newt Gingrich has some interesting comments on CNN:

Potential presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich on Tuesday blasted the modern-day road to the White House as too long, too expensive and verging on "insane."
The former House speaker from Georgia said he will decide whether to enter the GOP presidential field in October. But in a wide-ranging speech at the National Press Club in Washington, he ridiculed campaign consultants and spin doctors who he said are extending the 2008 campaign. He said presidential debates have become "almost unendurable."
"These aren't debates," the former Georgia congressman said. "This is a cross between [TV shows] 'The Bachelor,' 'American Idol' and 'Who's Smarter than a Fifth-Grader.'"
"What's the job of the candidate in this world?" asked Gingrich. "The job of the candidate is to raise the money to hire the consultants to do the focus groups to figure out the 30-second answers to be memorized by the candidate. This is stunningly dangerous

…then---to be a tabloid celebrity, you need to have severe insecurity. Yes—there are once again exceptions…well, a few anyways. The American public is hip to the politicians…but still enamored with celebrity. THAT is the problem with our culture—revering people who are mentally unstable. I’m not kidding—it’s poison. I’m NOT referring to the brilliant creative artists that live in the deep end (they went off it when they were ten)—I’m talking about the mindless celebrity trash. Gotta separate talent from mindless celebrity. I’m not sure the public does. Pure Celebrity worship Rips the soul apart…feeds bad information into the DNA…Incidentally---the celebrities I refer to are the ones who are celebrities who’s main talent is getting noticed or working the tabloid circuit without really delivering anything more memorable than six months. The politicians I’m talking about are a large portion of them. There still are brilliant and honorable ones, but it’s too easy for the most corrupt, wealthy and scheming---top enter and market themselves high profile politics. Once the American public sheds junk culture celebrity attraction and sees through the pure marketing of politicians, will we heal. But now—it’s evil stuff. Fed by media’s attraction to the instant dollar with zero long term investment in short circuiting the soul of our Nation. Once again it’s unfortunately about marketing bites and bullshit rather than substance---Substance WLL win but the substance people need to wage a war against the dumb-down marketers...or better yet, both sides need to come together and deliver substance and kill the hype and let the substance flourish without the bullshit. Our culture is based on BULLSHIT—that’s bad. I remain optimistic that it’s fixable. Especially since people timelessly engage and respect "real". The slow way is that the BS artists who are being bought into eventually become non factors as the public catches on. I hope for more to FIGHT the Junk Culture/BS and speed up the smartening of our culture. When Europeans think we’re dumb…maybe they’re right. But we're being taught to be dumb. Smarteners that smarten in a way that's in sync with the North American mindset will prevail.

..and then there’s Sean Penn hanging with that lunatic in Venezuela…a real “lead story” Media is the bad guy---Misusing power to feed the junk culture. Fight it!

New York Times is cutting the page sizes to save money. Saving money is important. So is looking into the deeper problem. Newspapers are thrashing about to help their next quarter instead of looking at WHY they are increasingly irrelevant and FIXING it. It’s fixable---but ain’t gonna happen with quarter to quarter band aids…needs some dramatic change. The public perception of the newspaper is that its on life support—all you hear about is the cuts. What if a newspaper re-tooled itself..It’s resources...It’s multi media platform and fucking dramatically changed the paradigm? They’d be a renaissance instead of buzzards.

Remember in 1953, radio was dead. Why listen to the Lone Ranger when you could WATCH it. THEN—Guys like Mc Lendon and Storz created Top 40…and radio instantly went into a golden age. Top 40 was DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT and in sync…and it saved radio. There’s a Top 40 that newspapers can evolbve to—on 21st century terms. Print isn’t dead (look at Maxim, Us or AARP)…news isn’t dead (look at Fox, Drudge and WINS)…It’s the NewsPAPER concept that is still rooted firmly in EIGHTEEN hundreds thinking that is dead.

XM signs Ferrarri for radio. That’s kinda cool. Probably only about ten built a year…but at least they have XM.

LOST HERO: A name that you rarely hear is Jim Schulke. He was one of the godfathers of FM Radio. His stations DOMINATED FM in the 60s and early 70s. His format was “Beautiful Music”—He was an audiophile who had an amazing studio up in New Jersey. He had incredible standards of quality and commanded FM stations who bought his service to meet the standards. Musically it was schmaltz…but brilliantly done. Had massive ratings—mostly geriatric, but massive. He invited me to his Studio way back when I was with Burkhart/Abrams. Wanted me to join him to create an automated AOR format. Had to pass…couldn’t see that working then as AOR was dependant on having a character., but it was a cool experience…opened my eyes to sonic quality as a critical ingredient in success on FM….and beyond

MUSICAL LULLS AND A TRAVELOGUE TO BASEBALL LAND

MUSICAL LULLS AND A TRAVELOGUE TO BASEBALL LAND



In the early 50’s, it was Doggie in the Window era. Mitch Miller, Doris Day and the like were making snappy and happy songs. The underground was brewing with a sonic gumbo of Black artists and Hillbillies, but in the mainstream, it was all pretty, safe and happy. A musical LULL. During lulls, the mainstream music culture:

*Features harmless lyrics by harmless artists.

*Labels/Moguls are in control and the formula is followed closely

*The “look” is non threatening.

*Dancing is at a popularity peak as people dance and hum…but don’t really LISTEN.

*Music has minimal impact on culture other than being a soundtrack

*There’s an underground happening, but it is still out of reach to the masses.

*It’s about tabloids more than musical notes.

*Music media is on autopilot.

*Mc Donalds Pop rules. Predictable…safe…consistent with few surprises. Musical originators are copied, cleansed for mass consumption and formularized.

*Artists have short life spans....and become trivia questions


Then—There are intense periods. Periods of tremendous change compressed into a short period of time. During Intense periods:

*The old wave hits a brick wall.

*The “sound” changes. New instruments…new techniques…new recording methods.

*The “look” is new…different and scary.

*Satan is responsible according to many.

*Listening Technology changes.

*Music impacts culture profoundly. There are fights over music.

*Artists are in control.

*People dance less and start listening more

*The "next generation" of long term artists emerge

*Music Media goes through explosive evolution.

*Not a lot of copying artists--everyone is too busy creating their own sound or contributing to the movement.

The intense periods happened: 1955 (Rock n Roll); 1964 (Liverpool); 1969 (Everything); 1980 (New Wave); 1993 (Grunge). All of the above characteristics happened during these periods…and all of the ‘lull’ characteristics happened between these periods. Take the intense period of ’69:

--All over for the old wave. Paul Revere and the Raiders hit the wall.

--Fuzz tones to synths to an arms race over number of tracks and amplifier output changed the sound. The modification and enlargement of traditional instruments.

--Musicianship was a selling point

--Lyrics were social statements

--Junior came home from college looking like a hippie and got thrown out of the house.

--Satan was responsible for the Iron Butterfly

--Stereo revolutionized listening as it became mainstream.

--FM emerged as a force

--Walk into the wrong bar and play Hendrix on the jukebox and a fight would ensue

--No one told Cream how to write a song or to keep it 3 minutes.

The next generation of artists is created. Lasting artists.

*You don’t DANCE to Abbey Road. You LISTEN.

This is all highly CONDENSED and probably arguable, but due to space and finger strength limitations I can’t get into all of the details, but suffice to say, we are IN a musical lull...live with it (and of course some prosper mightily from it)—or try to be part of the change. There WILL be another intense period. In ’62 amidst every singer named Bobby, in ’66 amidst the canned Monkees, in ’76 amongst the sappy pop, 86 with mindless hair bands, and now---it’s a lull. Like before—the lull makers hit the wall. Lulls still create fans! If you were in your musically formative 16-20 years during a lull—you still LOVE that music—but BIG PICTURE—the intense periods are where the shocking change happens. And of course there are a few artists that cut through. Elvis, Beatles, Pink Floyd, Sinatra—but those are the RARE ‘timeless’ artists that will be around in 200 years…can’t say that about more than a handful.

Speaking of change…funny how the word “Green” changes. In 1957, I believe KJR in Seattle did a campaign about the competition being “Green” with envy over the new KJR. In ’67, WCFL did a “Think Green” $$ campaign, now Green is about Global Warming.

TRAVELOGUE: Flew with Eric Logan and Sandy Girard to the Hall of Fame Induction weekend in Cooperstown. Upon arriving we checked in and went to “The Redneck Barbecue” (real name) for lunch. Logan demanded Barbecue. It wasn’t completely authentic—the music was XM’s Top Tracks channel, but it was OK. Nestled between a mini Putt course and a Go Cart track. After lunch we headed to the Hall of Fame. Bad idea. The town has about 4000 residents, but 250,000 were in town for the weekend. Finding a parking space was challenging. Ended up paying $50 to park for a few hours in some guys muddy back yard. The place was mayhem…but fun. It’s the center of the universe for baseball fans. Passed on the over crowded Hall and met up with Chuck Dickemann who runs our Baseball channels—walked over and said hello to Rob Dibble and Night train Lane at the XM broadcast center—they were interviewing pitching great Vida Blue. It was pretty cool. Then---off to a super exclusive party the Orioles threw for Cal Ripken Jr. WOW. In a tent on an estate overlooking an incredible lake…lavishly catered…ALL friends of Cal. Rod Carew…Jim Palmer…Eddie Murray. They were all there. Eric is buds with Cal so we got some face time. Great guy---TALL! Very down to earth and sincere. This was NOT a fan event, but a very personal one for Cal…it was memorable. We left with Cal Ripken wine. Two bottles in a box with an Orioles logo. Hit Main Street to buy baseball memorabilia. Every person walked up and offered up to $1000 for the wine. Pretty collectible I guess. The stores there are unreal. Heaven. Nothing like the junk you see at most stadium gift shops. Sandy Girard doesn’t like baseball so she waited on the street in 90 degree heat…very unhappy…as Eric and I hit EVERY store. Bought custom bats…photos…even Mets gear for Lou Brutus who begged before we left. I’m a White Sox fan and it was hard to find much as everything was Yankees and Red Sox with some Dodgers (Brooklyn) stuff thrown in…but it was so great. The real deal for real fans. Made the mistake of cooing over a 1965 photo of knuckleball great Hoyt Wilhelm and was attacked by some guy who went on and on….and on about his collection of Wilhelm cards. It was THAT kind of scene. Had to duck into an alley to escape the guy.

Back to the hotel for a break. Feet were hurting and drenched in sweat. Had a few Gatorades and a cool down before we were to meet up for dinner with the XM crew. Loaded the GPS info into the Hertz rental. Went to Sabatini’s Restaurant. One problem, never found it. GPS took us to a corn field. Almost ran into a Deer and a Cow trying to find it. Logan was having a tantrum…Sandy was still upset that we stranded her on the street while lusting for memorabilia. We dropped her off at her hotel as it was now about 10pm. What a dump. The ONLY hotel with a room. Hookers outside and this is Oneonta, New York! Stopped at Wendy’s (Eric’s favorite) and headed back to our Hotel—The Ho Jo. Pretty lame and overpriced, but clean. Kept getting nasty emails from Sandy about the roaches, odors and general disgust at her room at the SUPER 8. Next morning, we met her—still unhappy—and went to he Neptune Diner. A Northeast Classic. As every place we went, they were blasting XM. The local stations are unmistakable and unmemorable. Dead Air…Bad puking DJ’s. Laughable “slogans”. No wonder every store and restaurant had satellite. Over breakfast and the XM 70’s Channel, we decided that we’d seen it all. The Ripken party, the memorabilia…the vibe. Wonderful trip. The actual induction was later in the day but we decided to bag it as the crowds were predicted to be of riotous scale. Plus big storms were threatening. Filed a flight plan and headed back to Oneonta Airport. Just as we got there—a throng of fans were waiting at the Mayberryesque ramp. John Travolta was flying in. Had a King Air—nice plane but was expecting a jet. Revved up the plane and took off into a low overcast. Up on top of the clouds, we had nice weather—until hitting Lancaster, PA—then the huge storms came in. We navigated around them of course, but Sandy was half asleep in the back hearing me and Eric talk about “Damn—check that one out—tornado…” on the onboard NEXRAD. Freaked her out. After her devastating waits while we memorabilia hunted…the bad hotel…the restaurant that never was…now this! Landed safely back in DC, but Sandy has not yet recovered.


Occasionally across XM, you’ll hear “lazy words”. These are tired words that:

Have no traction because no-one believes it.
Are old school
Drag us down the dated FM path
Are easy to use because…they’re easy to use…

These aren’t words that’ll kill us…but they do contribute to sounding less-than-sincere. Among those words:

GREAT “You’ll hear Great….”
YOUR FAVORITE “hear all your favorite…”
BEST “For the Best in…”

I encourage us to try alternate words that say the same thing—but in a more XM way

Heard a Deep Tracks promo. Great example of NOT using “lazy words”. They used the line “handcrafted sets” (as has the Loft for a long time) to describe the music programming on the channel. They COULD have used “All your Deep Classic Rock Favorites” or something silly like that. Think about it: “Handcrafted Sets”. It’s original, says what it is and illustrates exactly what is special about XM in a world of computer crafted sets

Finally---Derek De Bastos, John Dealy (aka Johnny D/aka Business God aka/Has been involved since the early 90’s), Jeff Snyder, Dan Murphy and others were also here during the pre XM Summer of Love in 1998. I indicated that I was the sole remaining non Chairman level employee. Well— Derek, John, Jeff, Dan and others were also here on the scene and qualify for full recognition as true XM veterans.





In the early 50’s, it was Doggie in the Window era. Mitch Miller, Doris Day and the like were making snappy and happy songs. The underground was brewing with a sonic gumbo of Black artists and Hillbillies, but in the mainstream, it was all pretty, safe and happy. A musical LULL. During lulls, the mainstream music culture:

*Features harmless lyrics by harmless artists.

*Labels/Moguls are in control and the formula is followed closely

*The “look” is non threatening.

*Dancing is at a popularity peak as people dance and hum…but don’t really LISTEN.

*Music has minimal impact on culture other than being a soundtrack

*There’s an underground happening, but it is still out of reach to the masses.

*It’s about tabloids more than musical notes.

*Music media is on autopilot.

*Mc Donalds Pop rules. Predictable…safe…consistent with few surprises. Musical originators are copied, cleansed for mass consumption and formularized.

*Artists have short life spans....and become trivia questions


Then—There are intense periods. Periods of tremendous change compressed into a short period of time. During Intense periods:

*The old wave hits a brick wall.

*The “sound” changes. New instruments…new techniques…new recording methods.

*The “look” is new…different and scary.

*Satan is responsible according to many.

*Listening Technology changes.

*Music impacts culture profoundly. There are fights over music.

*Artists are in control.

*People dance less and start listening more

*The "next generation" of long term artists emerge

*Music Media goes through explosive evolution.

*Not a lot of copying artists--everyone is too busy creating their own sound or contributing to the movement.

The intense periods happened: 1955 (Rock n Roll); 1964 (Liverpool); 1969 (Everything); 1980 (New Wave); 1993 (Grunge). All of the above characteristics happened during these periods…and all of the ‘lull’ characteristics happened between these periods. Take the intense period of ’69:

--All over for the old wave. Paul Revere and the Raiders hit the wall.

--Fuzz tones to synths to an arms race over number of tracks and amplifier output changed the sound. The modification and enlargement of traditional instruments.

--Musicianship was a selling point

--Lyrics were social statements

--Junior came home from college looking like a hippie and got thrown out of the house.

--Satan was responsible for the Iron Butterfly

--Stereo revolutionized listening as it became mainstream.

--FM emerged as a force

--Walk into the wrong bar and play Hendrix on the jukebox and a fight would ensue

--No one told Cream how to write a song or to keep it 3 minutes.

The next generation of artists is created. Lasting artists.

*You don’t DANCE to Abbey Road. You LISTEN.

This is all highly CONDENSED and probably arguable, but due to space and finger strength limitations I can’t get into all of the details, but suffice to say, we are IN a musical lull...live with it (and of course some prosper mightily from it)—or try to be part of the change. There WILL be another intense period. In ’62 amidst every singer named Bobby, in ’66 amidst the canned Monkees, in ’76 amongst the sappy pop, 86 with mindless hair bands, and now---it’s a lull. Like before—the lull makers hit the wall. Lulls still create fans! If you were in your musically formative 16-20 years during a lull—you still LOVE that music—but BIG PICTURE—the intense periods are where the shocking change happens. And of course there are a few artists that cut through. Elvis, Beatles, Pink Floyd, Sinatra—but those are the RARE ‘timeless’ artists that will be around in 200 years…can’t say that about more than a handful.

Speaking of change…funny how the word “Green” changes. In 1957, I believe KJR in Seattle did a campaign about the competition being “Green” with envy over the new KJR. In ’67, WCFL did a “Think Green” $$ campaign, now Green is about Global Warming.

TRAVELOGUE: Flew with Eric Logan and Sandy Girard to the Hall of Fame Induction weekend in Cooperstown. Upon arriving we checked in and went to “The Redneck Barbecue” (real name) for lunch. Logan demanded Barbecue. It wasn’t completely authentic—the music was XM’s Top Tracks channel, but it was OK. Nestled between a mini Putt course and a Go Cart track. After lunch we headed to the Hall of Fame. Bad idea. The town has about 4000 residents, but 250,000 were in town for the weekend. Finding a parking space was challenging. Ended up paying $50 to park for a few hours in some guys muddy back yard. The place was mayhem…but fun. It’s the center of the universe for baseball fans. Passed on the over crowded Hall and met up with Chuck Dickemann who runs our Baseball channels—walked over and said hello to Rob Dibble and Night train Lane at the XM broadcast center—they were interviewing pitching great Vida Blue. It was pretty cool. Then---off to a super exclusive party the Orioles threw for Cal Ripken Jr. WOW. In a tent on an estate overlooking an incredible lake…lavishly catered…ALL friends of Cal. Rod Carew…Jim Palmer…Eddie Murray. They were all there. Eric is buds with Cal so we got some face time. Great guy---TALL! Very down to earth and sincere. This was NOT a fan event, but a very personal one for Cal…it was memorable. We left with Cal Ripken wine. Two bottles in a box with an Orioles logo. Hit Main Street to buy baseball memorabilia. Every person walked up and offered up to $1000 for the wine. Pretty collectible I guess. The stores there are unreal. Heaven. Nothing like the junk you see at most stadium gift shops. Sandy Girard doesn’t like baseball so she waited on the street in 90 degree heat…very unhappy…as Eric and I hit EVERY store. Bought custom bats…photos…even Mets gear for Lou Brutus who begged before we left. I’m a White Sox fan and it was hard to find much as everything was Yankees and Red Sox with some Dodgers (Brooklyn) stuff thrown in…but it was so great. The real deal for real fans. Made the mistake of cooing over a 1965 photo of knuckleball great Hoyt Wilhelm and was attacked by some guy who went on and on….and on about his collection of Wilhelm cards. It was THAT kind of scene. Had to duck into an alley to escape the guy.

Back to the hotel for a break. Feet were hurting and drenched in sweat. Had a few Gatorades and a cool down before we were to meet up for dinner with the XM crew. Loaded the GPS info into the Hertz rental. Went to Sabatini’s Restaurant. One problem, never found it. GPS took us to a corn field. Almost ran into a Deer and a Cow trying to find it. Logan was having a tantrum…Sandy was still upset that we stranded her on the street while lusting for memorabilia. We dropped her off at her hotel as it was now about 10pm. What a dump. The ONLY hotel with a room. Hookers outside and this is Oneonta, New York! Stopped at Wendy’s (Eric’s favorite) and headed back to our Hotel—The Ho Jo. Pretty lame and overpriced, but clean. Kept getting nasty emails from Sandy about the roaches, odors and general disgust at her room at the SUPER 8. Next morning, we met her—still unhappy—and went to he Neptune Diner. A Northeast Classic. As every place we went, they were blasting XM. The local stations are unmistakable and unmemorable. Dead Air…Bad puking DJ’s. Laughable “slogans”. No wonder every store and restaurant had satellite. Over breakfast and the XM 70’s Channel, we decided that we’d seen it all. The Ripken party, the memorabilia…the vibe. Wonderful trip. The actual induction was later in the day but we decided to bag it as the crowds were predicted to be of riotous scale. Plus big storms were threatening. Filed a flight plan and headed back to Oneonta Airport. Just as we got there—a throng of fans were waiting at the Mayberryesque ramp. John Travolta was flying in. Had a King Air—nice plane but was expecting a jet. Revved up the plane and took off into a low overcast. Up on top of the clouds, we had nice weather—until hitting Lancaster, PA—then the huge storms came in. We navigated around them of course, but Sandy was half asleep in the back hearing me and Eric talk about “Damn—check that one out—tornado…” on the onboard NEXRAD. Freaked her out. After her devastating waits while we memorabilia hunted…the bad hotel…the restaurant that never was…now this! Landed safely back in DC, but Sandy has not yet recovered.


Occasionally across XM, you’ll hear “lazy words”. These are tired words that:

Have no traction because no-one believes it.
Are old school
Drag us down the dated FM path
Are easy to use because…they’re easy to use…

These aren’t words that’ll kill us…but they do contribute to sounding less-than-sincere. Among those words:

GREAT “You’ll hear Great….”
YOUR FAVORITE “hear all your favorite…”
BEST “For the Best in…”

I encourage us to try alternate words that say the same thing—but in a more XM way

Heard a Deep Tracks promo. Great example of NOT using “lazy words”. They used the line “handcrafted sets” (as has the Loft for a long time) to describe the music programming on the channel. They COULD have used “All your Deep Classic Rock Favorites” or something silly like that. Think about it: “Handcrafted Sets”. It’s original, says what it is and illustrates exactly what is special about XM in a world of computer crafted sets

Finally---Derek De Bastos, John Dealy (aka Johnny D/aka Business God aka/Has been involved since the early 90’s), Jeff Snyder, Dan Murphy and others were also here during the pre XM Summer of Love in 1998. I indicated that I was the sole remaining non Chairman level employee. Well— Derek, John, Jeff, Dan and others were also here on the scene and qualify for full recognition as true XM veterans.