Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Tony wrote:

<I'm not old enough to know, but isn't this the way it used to done?
Didn't you used to cut a record and then just do everything you could
to get people to listen to it?>

Don't think so Tony.... you need to go back and do some history about
"Payola" or in other cases have friends who were DJ's who were into the
music... I think that lots of artists getting started out, cut a
record then prayed a lot... some got the breaks and others did not...
in the case of CSN, they all came from known entities that got the
right breaks and they sounded heavenly together... a natural...

CPR is heavenly but my thought is that it's going to fill a niche in
today's market, like it or not.. and that niche is not where the hugely
successful groups are found... like Dave Matthews, for instance..

I'd still rather see a CPR show any day to CSNY or Dave Matthews...
but that's me..
  

    
Amen to most of what you said, tnf.  There was ZERO media before the CPR 
Maritime shows here a couple years ago, and a local story seemed like a 
slam-dunk to me:  former longtime Bay Area resident and "American Beatle" 
discovers his long-lost son who happens to be a great musician, bla bla 
bla.  The Maritime Hall was about 3/4 full, and I gave four tickets away.

The CPR media problem may be similiar to what post-Dead bands like Ratdog 
are facing:  certain of the bandmembers were SO famous, for SO long, all 
they had to do was be rumored to appear on a bill and throngs came.  Now, 
alas, they almost have to start again at the bottom of the gig chain, 
hustling and schmoozing.

Speaking of the Grateful Dead, mwah ha hah, I have a question for Dave 
Zimmer:  Some of the best music made by the CSN guys was made in various 
proximity to members of the Dead, the Airplane, and so forth -- the 
so-called Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra, circa 1969-75.  How do you 
think this affected, changed, informed, energized, CSNY's music, and also, 
how did CSNY affect these other guys?
  

    
Ooooh, I just thought of a very dark question.  I wonder if <croz> had 
chosen the self-aggrandizing path, and called the band David Crosby and 
Friends or something, if they'd have bigger B.O. as they say in Hollywood?
(That's "box office.")

CPR records ****don't even come up**** on an Amazon search for "David 
Crosby," with the single exception of the first album, which does come up 
because I spent weeks going back and forth with Amazon's (very responsive) 
customer-service department to try to get CPR factored into Crosby search 
results.  Sorry to refer to Amazon again, sqb, but let's face it:  It's 
the first online site most people go to to find CDs, or information about 
CDs.

<Croz> chose the noble path, because CPR really is a product of all three 
guys equally, but I wonder...
  

    
It does seem alot more publicity work could be done to coincide with
the tours. Hell, send a press release to the college and artsy/weekly
newspapers, as well as the regular media, and hold a press conference
at each stop. Play the college circuit across the country. Do
interviews with the radio stations that take a few risks. For instance,
in my area, KBAC-Radio Free Santa Fe is actually a Clear Channel
buyout but they have retained most of their freedom because of their
unique market and have played CPR releases all along. They consistently
have instudio performances/interviews by the likes of Michelle
Shocked, Jill Sobule, and tons of other more independent acts. How
about NPR type stations? How about a record company like Rounder? I'm
certainly no expert, but it just seems there are alot of avenues for
CPR promotion that haven't yet been tapped consistently. It sure would
be a shame to lose this band...
  

    


>  Amen to most of what you said, tnf.

That was <cmf>, Tony Bittick, talking, Steve.  But I agree with him, too.

I am a struggling musician, trying to find a way to get my music into the
ears of the larger public.  Oddly enough, CPR and I are in very much the same
boat, because even though CSN/CSNY are a BRAND that makes big money when they
tour, other than Neil the individuals are beneath the industry's regard.

The industry sucks.

My favorite musicians are thriving on the underground circuit, totally
independent of radio, most of the music press, etc.  They market by word of
mouth, which is hugely amplified by the Internet -- the largest and most
efficient grapevine in the history of the universe.

Some of the most successful "underground" bands have put tremendous resources
into developing their community organizations - offering incentives to local
fans to put up posters and spread the word.

The tape trading circuit is another smart way to promote an up-and-coming
act, though there is a point at which an artist -- the business half of an
artist -- would rather sell CDs than have their live shows traded, and the
tr4ading culture seems not to value at all the thing they have to pay for.

I could blather on for hours about this, but I will not do so here.

My day job is radio.  I do my best to expose the music I love to new ears.  I
agave up on Croz and CPR after David stood me up for a second interview and
never bothered to send me a copy of the new CD.  That may have been two or
three CDs ago.
  

    
Just catching up here ...

>digaman/steve silberman wrote ...

>Some of the best music made by the CSN guys was made in various 
proximity to members of the Dead, the Airplane, and so forth -- the 
so-called Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra, circa 1969-75.  How do
you think this affected, changed, informed, energized, CSNY's music,
and also, how did CSNY affect these other guys?

I'm not sure I would go so far as saying the PERRO sessions represent
some of the best music the CSN guys ever made -- since Stills was not
really involved in those recordings and Nash was not featured
prominently. I do LOVE that PERRO music, though, but have always
considered it more of a Crosby/Dead/Airplane thing. The wonderful
exploratory nature of the songs and jams and the musical combinations
is magic. It's great hearing Garcia, Lesh, Grace, Croz and Kantner meld
together naturally. Magic that lingers.

It would have been great if the impact of these sessions was to bring
more of this recording and/or performing style to CSN or CSNY. But, to
my ears, it didn't happen -- except on the first Crosby & Nash album,
which featured many of the PERRO participants. People not familiar with
what combination was capable of must listen to Crosby's "The Wall
Song" (not to mention Blows Against the Empire --"Have You Seen the
Stars Tonight" and "A Child Is Coming" --, Baron von Tollbooth and the
Chrome Nun, and Croz's first solo album). In CSN and CSNY, the
experimentation was more internal than communal.

Even though Kantner, 20 years ago, told me that he felt CSNY's
extended jams "came from San Francisco," I'm not sure I agree. I think
Stills and Young would have extended such songs as "Southern Man" and
"Carry On" without inspiration from the SF groups. They were doing it
the Buffalo Springfield on "Bluebird."

As for how CSN and CSNY affected the Dead and the Airplane. Well, the
vocal harmonies is the most obvious influence. It's been stated by
Garcia in a number of interviews that the sound of the vocals on
American Beauty and Workingman's Dead were inspired by CSN. You can
certainly hear that. In fact, in some ways, I like the sound of the
Dead vocal blends better than some subsequent CSN recorded blends. The
Dead vocal blends on those records sounded so immediate and real --
kind of like The Band, too. 

Instrumentally ... I think Croz's open-tunings and sense of melody
wafted into Garcia's and Kantner's consciousness -- particularly on the
Airplane's Crown of Creation and Volunteers. Even though Stills stayed
at Mickey Hart's ranch for a time and played on his solo album as well
as Volunteers, I don't hear any musical Stills-isms in any subsequent
music created by those groups. 
  

    

Regarding amazon:  Yesterday I was talking with a manager about how he is
selling the independently-released CD by a favorite songwriter of mine.  It's
on jambase, and on amazon, and a few otheronline sources.  Not CDBaby,
because this manager didn't like the fact that CDBaby charges $35 to list a
CD and doesn't do anything to promote it.  amazon takes 55%, but amazin is
VISIBILITY.  You'll make less per unit but sell a lot more there -- UNLESS
you have a very effective way of driving customers to your own merch site.
  

    
The place where I can hear a bit of Stills' influence on the GD GD is in some
of Weir's acoustic guitar stuff, I think.
  

    
Crosby was able to sell out the Wiltern in 1989 (or so).....i doubt cpr
would half fill it.

Crosby should use the marketing value of his name and just call it the David
Crosby Band.

Speaking of coverage, cpr's london show from last year got a very good
review in either:

q
mojo
record collector

i read all three and am not home right now to find out which magazine the
review was in
  

    
>Crosby was able to sell out the Wiltern in 1989 (or so).....i doubt
cpr would half fill it.

I was the CPR Wiltern show in November of 1998 (recorded for the
fabulous "Live at the Wiltern" album that Mr. Silberman mentioned
earlier). It may not have been a sell-out, but the place seemed packed
to me.

>Re: Stills's influence on Weir's acoustic playing ...

Maybe, now that I think about it ... his rhythm style. But Weir can't
finger-pick like Stills, at least I haven't heard him do it.
  

    
Er ... I meant to say I was *at* the CPR Wiltern show ... 
  

    
Diga expounded:
>The CPR media problem may be similar to what post-Dead bands like
>Ratdog are facing:  certain of the bandmembers were SO famous, for >SO
long, all they had to do was be rumored to appear on a bill and
>throngs came.  Now, alas, they almost have to start again at the
>bottom of the gig chain, hustling and schmoozing.

Really glad to hear you say this because it's exactly what I've been
thinking only I didn't consider myself enough of an authority  (lack of
balls I guess) to say it out loud.

My real fear is that the same could probably be said about whomever is
supposed to be repping CPR. Who exactly that is is not important and I
have NO interest in mentioning names, as that's really got nothing to
do with it. It's just that it's got to be a lot easier selling David
Crosby than CPR.

And just as with artists, I'm sure eventually PR firms and such get,
well, "comfortable". My sense is that whether or not CPR becomes
Crosby's third entrance to the Hall of Fame, or the band folds
tomorrow, it's NOT going to have much of an effect on the current PR
group. And quite frankly, if I'm pushing my new, and quite probably
last, band, I don't know if that's the kind of group I want battling
for my success.

Pushing a group of this size means getting your hands dirty. It means
sweat equity. And if you've already got a stable of superstars, who
wants to get their hands dirty?

I think that's the kind of promotion CPR needs. Some person or group
of persons with enough faith in the band and the desire to jump into
the trenches and really sell this group. Hard, the way it deserves it.
And better yet if they've got a vested interest.

And here's the heart of the matter.

If CPR was being promoted at the level that the band performs, if the
intensity this band puts into its music was being matched by the
promotional effort... fuggettaboutit. I'm not saying they'd be a smash,
but I think we could safely quit talking about Crosby having to fund
the band. And I also think they'd be viable for as long as they chose.

The sad truth is it's not. And obviously it's NOT just one man's
opinion.

As for CPR being billed as David Crosby and friends, it's already
started. I agree with you Diga. Very noble of David to have included
the other names in the band. And as sad as the change is, even this
naive dreamer understands there's a bottom line.
  

    
> Nash was not featured
 prominently


Respectfully disagree here, Dave.  Nash's "I Used to be a King" is one of 
the very peak PERRO artifacts, with Garcia on pedal steel, Lesh, and 
Kreutzmann.  On "The Wall Song," that's Nash playing piano, and one of the 
other primo PERRO moments is the extended version of the take, where Nash 
is right there beside the entire band through a long jam with Garcia and 
the rest.  Kantner told me that Nash orchestrated the second side of 
"Blows," adding a lot of the "feel" (not just the congas!) that made that 
side perhaps the best thing the PERRO guys ever did, outside of David's 
first "solo" album.

Nash is the most underrated guy in PERRO.
  

    
Steve, thanks for clarifying and pointing out Graham's PERRO
contributions. I knew Nash was involved, adding to the sound (and, of
course, "I Used To Be A King" is stunning), but I must admit I never
associated him as much with the PERRO sessions as Croz. My mistake.
  

    
No prob, big dude.  Of course, the most famous PERRO artifact of all time 
may be "Teach Your Children" <grin>.
  

    
>The most famous PERRO artifact of all time may be "Teach Your
Children"

I still find it hard to believe that Garcia was just learning how to
play steel when he came up those moustache curling licks. I can't
imagine the song without them. 

I still hope Nash carries through with a talked about plan to create a
CSN CD, alternating first demos with released songs. "Teach Your
Children" would be on that CD for sure.

cmf/tb wrote ...

>If CPR was being promoted at the level that the band performs, if the
intensity this band puts into its music was being matched by the
promotional effort... fuggettaboutit.

You are right on, TB. Any volunteers?

  
  

    
WADR, those pedal steel licks were pretty much a hold the bar and step on a
pedal kind of deal.   They're almost built into the instrument in the same
way the the Elmore James blues lick is built into an open tuned slide
guitar.   What's impressive is how good he made them sound in the context of
CSN.
  

    

(For those who might be wondering, "WADR" is shorthand for "With all due
respect."

Off-WELL readers who would like to contribute a qestion or comment are
invited to send email to inkwell-hosts@well.com )
  

    
> They're almost built into the instrument

Then why is Garcia on pedal steel identifiable in just a few notes, as he 
was on every other instrument?
  

    

My friend Mark Van Allen, a great pedal steel player based in Atlanta, told
me not long ago that Jerry Garcia is a major bone of contention among steel
players.  On one side, the faction that thinks he was way overrated as a
pedal steel player, didn't do much to advance the art, grabs a
disproportionate amount of attention; on the other, those who thought he had
a distinctive style on the instrument and advanced the cause of pedal steel
by playing it on a igantic pop hit record.
  

    

Jerry was characteristically humble about his own playing:


DG   Do you miss playing that steel guitar?

JG   No.  Really, it's a hard instrument to play.  I would love to play
the pedal steel if I had another lifetime in which to play it. If I had
a situation where I only had to play steel.  It's really a weird
instrument -- first of all, you have to demolish...  it turns out to be
crippling to think of the thing as some sort of mutated guitar.  Your
first thought is to try and think of it in terms of a guitar -- you
have to erase that entirely from your thinking, otherwise you won't get
anything out of it.
  

    
He clearly was overrated in that he played THE best-known pedal steel 
lick, the lick that defines the instrument in the minds of Joe and Jane 
Babyboomer, when he had barely learned the instrument.

I know several pedal steel players who could have played the "Teach" licks 
as good or better, but I don't know any who would have come up with the 
majestic, yearning lines he plays on the studio version of "The Wheel."
  

    
I agree Steve ... and the likes of Pete Drake or Buddy Emmons or
Sneaky Pete Kleinow may have played different (more intricate) licks if
they were working the "Teach Your Children" session, but I can't
imagine how they could have fit with into the song's subtle arrangement
any better. The *feel* fit the song perfectly and, I believe, our
friend Stephen Barncard was there at the time Garcia put them down. Who
cares if the licks weren't technically complicated? They still move
me.  

Ben Keith once admitted that during the "Old Man" session in Nashville
Neil Young told him, "Play it like you don't know how to play. Just
hold some notes and let them swell." Again, the *feel* worked.
  

    
And on topic, there was his gorgeous playing on "Laughing."  Not 
technically demanding perhaps, but out of quite a few versions I've heard, 
all wonderful, it's Garcia's pedal steel -- and, of course, Joni's 
crescendo harmony -- that lifts that version into paradise.
  

    
Good Morning Mr. Zimmer.

A question... why a book on CSN and NOT CSN-Y?