to give up the offer of a job of running a UK publishing company, and return to Los Angeles to help a brother and his two daughters through a truly awful custody battle with a sociopath, I would not have taken it.
Family had always meant a lot to me, I suppose because I just didn't have a "normal" one.
Now, I am the one who is broken and there's no one to help me at all. In fact it would appear that I have become the pariah of the family.
Sad, and finding it hard to start again.
61 is a hard age to realise that all that you've stood for, justice and fair treatment brings you to a point of desperation.
Depression is not understood. Neither is ptsd or panic disorder. A fact that I realise must be common to so many people suffering with the same serious illness.
So you put one step in front of the other, and hope.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Cranberries, Ray Parker Jr and acts we missed out on
Exchanging comments with Stephen Foster about the Memphis Sound this morning and I got into how some musicians are just so brilliant and so love what they play, that you are drawn into them. And I then to thinking about drummers, in particular Steve Ferrone (was quite happy just listening to him play anything at sound check, as it took hours for the producer to get the sound he particularly wanted) and Anton Fig, who tie as best drummers in my history and then to Fergal Lawley of The Cranberries. From there I found myself wondering how many acts different staff at different companies, would love to have signed and did their upmost to get the "powers that be" to agree with them, yet failed.
I think I'll start with the famous Ray Parker Jr story, when I was still at Chrysalis.
Ray (and his drummer Ollie Brown who both played for Stevie Wonderand goodness knows how many albums, Ray played guitar on. He once commented that he couldn't remember, there were so many) and I became friends through JD Nicholas, who I'd signed as a write to Chrysalis Music Ltd, so wanted to sign to Chrysalis, but no go at Chrysalis, we hadn't yet accepted that r & b could be pop and would go mainstream.
Ray may be African American (and at Chrysalis we hadn't had much luck with a band called Lynx, I think), however, his music is pop and he has one of the sexiest voices, as well as being a great guitarist and songwriter (he told me once he wrote a lot of his songs from listening to women), and he wanted to be with Chrysalis. I tried my hardest, but no, no go, too black for the label. How ridiculous. Anyway, Ray's next album which we passed on contained "Ghostbusters", so how stupid can some A & R decision makers be! Plus, I then had to put up with a lot of teasing as everyone at Chrysalis knew Ray was my friend and the so called close resemblance of "Ghostbuster" to "I Want New Drug". I just kept playing "Pop Music"(signed by another legend of the business, Seymour Stein, and he also signed Madonna - who we also passed on at Chrysalis) and still think that the only similarity is the bass riff.
I can think of one A & R guy I worked with at Imago (he completed reimaged himself to look like TCE), who didn't even know who Tom Dowd is. How can you be in A & R and not know one of the finest producers ever?!!!
Chrysalis turned down The Squeeze, a great rock band with fantastic songwriting, whose early pub/small club performances I haunted. And the irony of not only passing on still one of the best rock bands, but the opportunity to get The Police thrown in too.
Dire Straits were another they just couldn't get, although Chris Briggs and I did our best to convince the powers that were, to sign the band.
TCE once phoned me a year after sending him a cassette of a band, Minor Detail, whose manage couldn't get a meeting with the UK company, but could see me. That led to a visit to see the band by the UK A & R, often nicknamed um and r.
Anyway, I had no clue what to say to a boss who had just listened to a cassette I'd sent him a year previously! I plucked up courage and called him and said that they'd signed to Polygram a year ago. Well, he responded, what about their publishing?!!! Sadly, the band's unique vocal quality was a&r'd out of their debut album, and they did nothing.
But the Cranberries, have to be one of the worst lack of foresight by a label head. At Imago, Michael Murphy (often wonder where he is) originally heard of the band and then involved Lauren Bromley (from One Little Indian, another great small label and I often wonder where she and Eric - who also worked for Imago - are too) and then me, then Kate. We traveled to Ireland to see them perform so many times. And eventually managed to get TCE to agree to fly them over to London for him to see them perform at a club in the UK. He just couldn't get it. Thought that the songwriting was brilliant, but that Dolores wasn't a star! How he could miss her unique frail quality, and that she was surrounded by light is beyond me. But she wasn't flashy and coming from a small Irish town didn't dress like Madonna. I found myself reminiscing how when I watched them, I also frequently found myself mesmerized by Fergal's drumming, he so loved playing them and that was obvious.
Fortunately, they signed with Denny Cordell, who to me was a legendary record man (Shelter Records - Leon Russell, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) and also one who treated women equally. As Imago didn't really function that well, to say the least!
And I'll end with what I still find a funny anecdote. Certain of the Imago A & R staff and I were flying into Dublin to see The Devlins perform. But fog descended, and we were informed that we would probably get diverted to Shannon. Now the man, who sat next to me on the plane happened to buy and sell airplanes and as is my habit, I got talking with him. Learning of our dilemna, he offered to fly us in his private jet at Shannon to get to Dublin, but that still wouldn't get us to the show in time. Well, he "knew people in places", and I saw him disappear into the captain's cabin and the next announcement was that the pilot was going to seek a hole in the fog to try and land at Dublin. First and only time I've ever heard the air staff announce precise safety instructions for a landing. (Fortunately, I am not afraid of flying, once you're in a plane, you're no longer in control and that's just that!). Well we landed, with great sighs of relief from many passengers to an almost empty Dublin airport and made the Devlins' show, joined by the airplane seller and buyer. Us, Imago A& R didn't manage to sign them to Imago either! Ina Meibach was their lawyer, and she's an excellent one, and all for the artist and not the politics of being a lawyer in the music business as quite a few are. Don Passman is another, whose only concern is what's best for his client, not his relationship with labels.
Enough of could haves, didn't do, failed to and I'll end with Chrysalis US passing on The Knack with "My Sharona"!
I think I'll start with the famous Ray Parker Jr story, when I was still at Chrysalis.
Ray (and his drummer Ollie Brown who both played for Stevie Wonderand goodness knows how many albums, Ray played guitar on. He once commented that he couldn't remember, there were so many) and I became friends through JD Nicholas, who I'd signed as a write to Chrysalis Music Ltd, so wanted to sign to Chrysalis, but no go at Chrysalis, we hadn't yet accepted that r & b could be pop and would go mainstream.
Ray may be African American (and at Chrysalis we hadn't had much luck with a band called Lynx, I think), however, his music is pop and he has one of the sexiest voices, as well as being a great guitarist and songwriter (he told me once he wrote a lot of his songs from listening to women), and he wanted to be with Chrysalis. I tried my hardest, but no, no go, too black for the label. How ridiculous. Anyway, Ray's next album which we passed on contained "Ghostbusters", so how stupid can some A & R decision makers be! Plus, I then had to put up with a lot of teasing as everyone at Chrysalis knew Ray was my friend and the so called close resemblance of "Ghostbuster" to "I Want New Drug". I just kept playing "Pop Music"(signed by another legend of the business, Seymour Stein, and he also signed Madonna - who we also passed on at Chrysalis) and still think that the only similarity is the bass riff.
I can think of one A & R guy I worked with at Imago (he completed reimaged himself to look like TCE), who didn't even know who Tom Dowd is. How can you be in A & R and not know one of the finest producers ever?!!!
Chrysalis turned down The Squeeze, a great rock band with fantastic songwriting, whose early pub/small club performances I haunted. And the irony of not only passing on still one of the best rock bands, but the opportunity to get The Police thrown in too.
Dire Straits were another they just couldn't get, although Chris Briggs and I did our best to convince the powers that were, to sign the band.
TCE once phoned me a year after sending him a cassette of a band, Minor Detail, whose manage couldn't get a meeting with the UK company, but could see me. That led to a visit to see the band by the UK A & R, often nicknamed um and r.
Anyway, I had no clue what to say to a boss who had just listened to a cassette I'd sent him a year previously! I plucked up courage and called him and said that they'd signed to Polygram a year ago. Well, he responded, what about their publishing?!!! Sadly, the band's unique vocal quality was a&r'd out of their debut album, and they did nothing.
But the Cranberries, have to be one of the worst lack of foresight by a label head. At Imago, Michael Murphy (often wonder where he is) originally heard of the band and then involved Lauren Bromley (from One Little Indian, another great small label and I often wonder where she and Eric - who also worked for Imago - are too) and then me, then Kate. We traveled to Ireland to see them perform so many times. And eventually managed to get TCE to agree to fly them over to London for him to see them perform at a club in the UK. He just couldn't get it. Thought that the songwriting was brilliant, but that Dolores wasn't a star! How he could miss her unique frail quality, and that she was surrounded by light is beyond me. But she wasn't flashy and coming from a small Irish town didn't dress like Madonna. I found myself reminiscing how when I watched them, I also frequently found myself mesmerized by Fergal's drumming, he so loved playing them and that was obvious.
Fortunately, they signed with Denny Cordell, who to me was a legendary record man (Shelter Records - Leon Russell, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) and also one who treated women equally. As Imago didn't really function that well, to say the least!
And I'll end with what I still find a funny anecdote. Certain of the Imago A & R staff and I were flying into Dublin to see The Devlins perform. But fog descended, and we were informed that we would probably get diverted to Shannon. Now the man, who sat next to me on the plane happened to buy and sell airplanes and as is my habit, I got talking with him. Learning of our dilemna, he offered to fly us in his private jet at Shannon to get to Dublin, but that still wouldn't get us to the show in time. Well, he "knew people in places", and I saw him disappear into the captain's cabin and the next announcement was that the pilot was going to seek a hole in the fog to try and land at Dublin. First and only time I've ever heard the air staff announce precise safety instructions for a landing. (Fortunately, I am not afraid of flying, once you're in a plane, you're no longer in control and that's just that!). Well we landed, with great sighs of relief from many passengers to an almost empty Dublin airport and made the Devlins' show, joined by the airplane seller and buyer. Us, Imago A& R didn't manage to sign them to Imago either! Ina Meibach was their lawyer, and she's an excellent one, and all for the artist and not the politics of being a lawyer in the music business as quite a few are. Don Passman is another, whose only concern is what's best for his client, not his relationship with labels.
Enough of could haves, didn't do, failed to and I'll end with Chrysalis US passing on The Knack with "My Sharona"!
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