Frigging holiday in other people's Disneyland! OK. I guess it's better than a Journey or Foreigner cover band.... Which isn't saying much. By the way, there is one cool cover band. It's in Japan, and they are a AC/DC cover band called, ABCD. OK? At least those guys in ABCD have a sense of humor, and they aren't doing it for money, they do it for fun. The rest of these bands mentioned above do it totally and completely for money. What a rock n roll swindle! NOTE: I think I find Disney's Country Bear Jamboree more entertaining, original and satisfying than these packaged rock band deals.
"Brevity is the soul of wit." - Lord Polonius from Shakespeare's Hamlet 1602
Everyone knows that the attention spans of people are getting shorter yet rock musicians (people who are appealing to those with the shortest attention spans of all), keep making songs that are getting longer. I don't get it. According to the website: Attention Span Statistics data: "The average attention span in 2000, 12 seconds. The average attention span in 2012, 8 seconds. " Yet, people keep making pop and rock songs longer and longer! Ever since "Let it Be" by the Beatles and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which BOTH were six minutes long, pop and rock musicians keep making songs over four, even five minutes! Is this counter-intuitive? Or just plain, well, "Not smart"?
No. This is NOT what I want!
I think it's not very smart. Let me tell you why... I used to program and select all the music for a very popular morning drive-time program in Tokyo. Our service area covers 42 million homes, so it's huge. I know that many people like me (I've asked) have agreed that the "perfect pop/rock song" is 2.5 minutes long (or thereabouts). Three minutes? Well, okay... Three and a half minutes? You're pushing it. Over 3:30? Hmmm, it had better be as good as the Rolling Stones, "Jumping Jack Flash" (which, I didn't look, but I believe is 3:48!) Still, with that, I will probably cut the last 30 seconds. Over 4 minutes? That's starting to get really difficult to use. Over 4:30 or 5? No thanks... Send me a radio-friendly version, will ya? (By the way, if I must be going to a commercial in, say, 1:40 from now, and I have to cover the time, will I play the 2:30 song and cut 50 seconds, or am I going to play the 5 minute song that has a 48 second intro? Easy call, isn't it?) Yet musicians keep sending us their new singles and the songs are all over four or five minutes. I hate it! Why? OK. It's simple. Did you know that there are ten times more listeners at 7 am than there are at 7 pm (due to people driving in the morning)? Let me repeat that: Did you know that there are ten times more listeners at 7 am than there are at 7 pm (due to people driving in the morning)? And the number of listeners rapidly declines after the morning driving time ends (in Japan, after 8:30 am). So that's why you want your song on before 8:30 am; there's many more potential listeners for your tunes if they are on early. Did you also know (at least in Japan's case) that the average listener listens to FM radio for only twenty minutes at a time? That's right. Now, morning shows (the ones with, by far, the highest ratings) need a quick tempo and a fast pace. We don't have time to screw around. We have to get lots of information, news, weather, sports, traffic, commercials and music shoved into the shortest time span possible. That means we play lots of short songs in the mornings (when, as I mentioned, the ratings are highest)... That means we (well, I won't) play any songs at all that push the 3:30+ mark (or I just lop off a few minutes - do you want that?) I greatly prefer short songs. If you send me a 2:30 song, then I will greatly consider that for airplay during the peak times... But, if you send me a 5 minute song? Yeah, later on in the show... Or never. Long songs are difficult to use. Of course, I'm talking about the fun shows that are on in the mornings (did I say the ratings = more listeners - were higher at that time? I did? Thanks.) That means, in my case, I will play short, up-tempo songs like early Beatles, Stones, Ramones at peak times to get the listeners pumped-up and ready to go in the mornings. We don't do easy listening... It used to be that, long ago, songs were always under 3 minutes. What happened? I don't know. But this "long song" business is foolish. It's simple; if you want your songs played when there are the most listeners, then make them short. If you can't say it in 2.5 minutes, then you need to work on it. Of course, there is a time and place for longer songs.... But generally not on the highly rated morning shows... I'm trying to wake people up in the morning and cram in as much as I can in the shortest space I can... But, then again, maybe people don't care about radio anymore... OK. I can understand that too. But, knowing this, and if you DO want radio airplay, why would you want to make long songs? Your call. NOTE: Oh, and PS: If you are a new musician, then make sure you "Like" the FB pages of the radio programs you are (or want to) promote to. Our FB page is here: https://www.facebook.com/MikeRogersShow/
NOTE TWO: THE PERFECT SONG? I don't know but it's a great example of what I'm talking about. Within the first 30 seconds, you hear the intro, verse, chorus and hook... If this isn't perfect, then it's damned close: The Beatles - Paperback Writer (if link doesn't work, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmVwo2DxkGg)
Again, recently, I've had several people writing to me telling me to introduce them to a Japanese record label because they are "absolutely sure" they can break big in Japan. So I'm going to go over this subject again.... But before I go into why you, independent artist in the west, will probably never get a contract with a Japanese label (until you have a contract with a western record label first - and why bother? You can become big without either label because of the internet)... Let me give you some reality about Japan. From Lady Gaga, Coldplay and Other Western Artists are Minor in Japan
This column is about Japanese Rock stars versus Western Rock Stars in Japan... The premise is that, in spite of the hype and hoopla in the western press, USA and UK artists have seriously fallen out of their position of "Most Favored" in Japan (and China and elsewhere in Asia). That's what this post is about.
But, over these last fifteen years, sales of albums from US and UK artists, and in turn their popularity, have dropped off a cliff. Western artists are just not the draw or as popular as they were a few decades ago.
The last big western artist who could come to Japan and quickly sell out a few nights at Tokyo Dome was Michael Jackson at the height of his popularity in the early nineties.
But that was a long time ago. Very few western artists can come to Japan anymore and sell out the dome even for one night. Most today don't even try. Coldplay certainly couldn't do it.
In fact, I don't think there are any bands in the entire world (excepting, perhaps a Rolling Stones reunion) that could sell out a few days at Tokyo Dome these days. Aerosmith is playing there next week, for one night, but they are having a hard time selling tickets and will be lucky to sell out the arena seats on the first floor.
In the last month, I've had three different artists' managers and agents from the USA, Ireland and Britain ask me for help in getting them a release deal or a music publishing deal in Japan. These people ask me because I play a lot of new and independent music on the FM radio. Perhaps they also know I used to run one of Japan's most successful Indies labels (in the late 80s & early 90s) and I have been involved with alternative music and the promotion of that kind of music since the late 70s.
Today, I'd like to write a short post about why it is next to impossible for an unsigned independent artist in the west to get a record or publishing deal in Japan in the year 2017. I do this to help people and I do this to help myself because I've written this explanation more times than I care to and don't want to do it anymore. This example though, I'm sure, is not just limited to the music industry. I think this example is a microcosm for all industries across the board in Japan when it comes to subsidiaries and licensing product across international boundaries. Let me give you specifics. I can think of three artists that I really like and have been playing on our weekly FM radio show. (I guess I shouldn't name them. You can see our playlist here: https://www.interfm.co.jp/wtf/) Because of this support and these efforts to bring new music to Japan, I have earned the reputation for being the guy who finds these new artists and plays them years before they break even in the west. May I pat myself on the back? Recent examples were Amy Winehouse who we began playing heavily in 2006, a full two years before she she broke big, Guns & Roses, Rancid, and a bunch of others I can't recall now. I was the first one to play these artists in Japan years before they got popular even in the west. Over the years there were dozens. Like I said, this is an example, a microcosm, of how other businesses in Japan work also. If there is a parent company and a subsidiary involved you can be sure that politics play a big part in all decisions that are made... This point is obvious but many artists fail to grasp this. In the past, I have also introduced independent artists to Japanese record labels and music publishers and have gotten them contracts. But that was well before the year 2000. Japanese labels and music publishers today are not interested in signing new western acts for the Japanese market and here's why... Let's take the example of a world-wide label like Warner music. Warner in the USA releases hundreds of albums annually. Of those hundreds of albums, only a handful get released in Japan. It is unclear how the process for deciding which artists' albums get released in Japan is made. Ostensibly, it would be a decision founded on which artists' album the local label people believe would be most popular and sell the best, but I would be a fool to tell you that is exactly how it is done. I have been in Japan long enough to know that politics and favors are quite important in the decision room. I know that sometimes the good of the company is sacrificed in order to placate some employees' desires and wishes. I have witnessed, more than five times in my life, adult Japanese men over 40-years-old of age, actually crying or pouting like little children at business meetings because they didn't get their way. I've seen this in the last month, actually! Grown men crying like children! It was astounding. So remember that, perhaps, sometimes an album is released just because Mr. Tanaka is a fan of that artist even though the rest of the staff don't feel that it will sell well... And when it doesn't sell well? Does Mr. Tanaka suffer any penalty? Not immediately and perhaps never. In a few years he might be transferred to another section. Ever heard of the Peter Principle? If you haven't you should. The Peter Principle says that, "In a hierarchy, every employee will rise to their highest level of incompetence." That, in a nutshell is one of the biggest reasons I can see why business is bad in today's Japan. But I digress. The western arm of the label releases hundreds of artists a year. In Japan, only a few of those are released. Politics play a big part. Now, when hundreds are not released, what would happen if the Japanese side arbitrarily picked up an artist from, say, London who wasn't signed to the sister or parent label and released that artist in Japan? Well, you can bet that the sister or parent company would soon find out about it and they would be very pissed off. It would become a major political problem for the western label (destroy their credibility in the local market) and it would then become a major political problem for the Japanese side too. The western arm of the label would say (of course), "Hey! We have all these other artists that we released. Why don't you release one of those? Why don't you help us promote our artists?" A big row would ensue. And people would be angry and relationships frayed or destroyed. The Japanese, not being ones to want to make trouble, would rather decline unilaterally signing an artist from the west - one that, by the way, doesn't even have management that the Japanese side has a relation with - so if there is trouble, they have no one to blame. The Japanese just won't do it. In the west, you have the Billboard charts. In Japan, we have the Oricon charts. They are both corrupted by payola but they are what we use. To see the most recent Oricon charts, we have to subscribe and pay money. There's no way I'm going to pay money for that so here's the most recent Oricon Chart Top 30 chart that we can see for free. It's from Nov. 11, 2011. See if you recognize any names on the Top 30:
See any Adele? Lady Gaga? Katy Perry or Flo Rida? No? Neither do I and you will rarely, if ever, see them on any Japanese charts. Like I said, sales of western artists have dropped off a cliff in Japan. There won't be any recovery of those sales anytime soon, either. Understanding these things, then you can see why your band, unsigned in the west, has a basically zero chance of getting signed here in Japan. I hate to break this news to you good folks and great musicians but it is what it is. Don't take it personally at all if a Japanese label or publisher doesn't answer your inquiries about your music. It's not about the music anymore. Imagine if there were a time slip and your band were the Beatles, as yet undiscovered in 2017 and unsigned to a label in the west, there's no way a major Japanese label will sign you for release in Japan. It has nothing to do with your music and your talent and gift; it has everything to do with intra-company politics. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, if they were 18 years old today, would have a major problem. And that's why the major music industry is dying. Good riddance? NOTES: Interestingly, there are some indies bands in the west who do get signed in Japan to some really cool indies labels.... One good example are the Baby Shakes from New York. They got a licensing deal and I heard they have recorded songs here in Japan... How did they do that? Baby Shakes - Do What You Want https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xF6Yl8RAqc
The Baby Shakes got signed to an indies label run called "Base" that is run by a really nice guy named Toshio. (BASE: http://recordshopbase.com/) Base is cool. I gather Toshio does what he does because it is a labor of love. Another cool label is Vinyl Junkie: http://vinyl-junkie.com/label/ (Vinyl Junkie might license your album, but not if it has already been released overseas... I have never heard of them doing anything but licensing.)
If you write to these good folks, you can tell them you read about them on my blog.... I don't know if that'll be any help, though!
The reaction to the last Cool and Strange music (Cool & Strange Music - East Meets West Jan. 27, 2013) was quite satisfying to say the least. Thank you. Actually it was almost all about a music genre that most people haven't heard of but they hear it everyday; it's called "Library Music." It's the kind of music that's used for background music on movies, TV shows and TV commercials. It's everywhere and some of the best music being made today - or at anytime in the days of film and mass media - has been made by "Library" musicians and composers.
That's what the last Cool and Strange was about and that's what today's Cool and Strange is all about: Library Music. What really surprised me about the last Cool and Strange post, was that I have several inquiries concerning the Morphine Mambo Jazz Club... The majority of which were the questions, "Who are these people?" and "Where can I get their music?" Well first off, if we can believe the liner notes in the CD (which I think we can't) it claims that the Morphine Mambo Jazz Club was a London Club in the sixties that inspired Julian Temple, the film maker, to make the movie entitled "Absolute Beginners" and David Bowie to sing the song with the same title... Both were, well, pablum.... They pale in comparison to the real thing. And the compilation, Morphine Mambo Jazz Club is the real thing!
Folks, this album is an extremely rare highly sought after collectors item. Like I said, I have one (brag, brag, snort, snort!), but last I heard was that they were selling for a few hundred dollars each and you couldn't find them anywhere. I checked on Amazon too and I found it is unavailable.
Unavailable, but as you can see, all 5 star reviews! Oh, wait a minute! That's probably the review I wrote, never mind!
If you commence a Google search for Morphine Mambo Jazz Club probably the best you can find is that this artist has something to do with a guy named Jack Trombley... So like the music and this post, if you are to search for answers to clues, you'll also find that, as far as Jack Trombley is concerned, he may or may not actually exist. Besides Jack, there's a few other "shady" characters, but I think Jack is the most intriguing of the bunch... Even though he probably doesn't exist...
Mobster Scene
Confusing? Yep. I'm not convinced, but many of us record-collection geeks think Jack Trombley is a pseudonym; a stage name.
Jack Trombey is also sometimes credited as T. Trombey and he is a British composer. Since I am not sure if he really exists (I mean, in that name). I am not sure he is still alive. Here's why: Jack Trombley composed pieces for Dewolfe Music, a production music library. Many Jack Trombley compositions were used in film and television productions such as Monty Python, Doctor Who, Van der Valk and Dawn of the Dead; so we're talking about stuff from the late 60s and early 70s.... Some suspect, and perhaps I do too, that Trombey is actually a pseudonym used by Ron Goodwin to compose for DeWolfe Music.
Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17 February 1925 – 8 January 2003) was a British composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years. His most famous works included Where Eagles Dare, Battle of Britain, 633 Squadron and Operation Crossbow.
But wait! We're not sure that Jack Trombey is Ron Goodwin so let's go back to the facts we already have that we know are definitely true.
World of Strategy No. 4
Jack Trombey composed for DeWolfe Music. At DeWolfe, we know that Jack Trombey composed for many British TV shows including Monty Python.
De Wolfe Music is the originator of what has become known as production music as it was established in 1909 and began its recorded library in 1927 with the advent of 'Talkies'. The library consists of over 80,000 tracks, all pre-cleared for licensing and synchronisation. They have been used in thousands of productions including Monty Python, Emmanuelle, Dawn of the Dead, American Gangster and Doctor Who. Well known theme tunes include Van der Valk and Roobarb....
...Music was also provided for classic episodes of Dr. Who, while in the 1970s De Wolfe scored The Sweeney, Monty Python's Flying Circus and cartoon theme tunes for Roobarb & Custard and Henry's Cat. Eye Level, the theme music for the television detective series Van Der Valk, became a million-selling number one single in 1973. To composer Jack Trombey’s surprise, Eye Level topped the charts for six weeks and saw Simon Park conducting his Orchestra week after week on Top Of The Pops alongside glam superstars Wizzard and The Sweet. It was the first TV theme ever to hit Number One, and proved so popular the Simon Park Orchestra actually outsold The Beatles in the UK for a whole week.(Emphasis mine) Much of De Wolfe’s music from that era has since become cult among record collectors and music enthusiasts all over the world.
What?! A Jack Trombey composition outsold the Beatles for one week in the prime of the lads from Liverpool? Astounding!
Jumbo Waltz
And, unfortunately folks, the trail on Jack Trombey grows cold there. I have been searching (along with my record collecting geek friends in the UK and Germany) for the answer to "Just who is Jack Trombey?" for over a decade with no luck... For now, all we have is this great music. Jack Trombey! If you are still out there, give us a call... I know some folks who'd like for you to come down to the precinct office to answer a few questions about your whereabouts and the disappearance of a certain music composer.... And, with that, I'd like to leave you with this wonderful memory from the gang at Monty Python... What would they have done without Jack Trombey?....
Besides Jack, the album is filled with like-minded folks with great tracks. There's R. Tisley, Peter Reno, Keith Papworth, Frank Rothman, J. Hawksworth and W. Hill... Morphine Mambo Jazz Club... Find and grab it if you can!
Stop it right now! Take your eyes off that beautiful woman's, er, ummm, gloves. First up, Shang Shang Typhoon - Let it Be
I generally dislike cover songs (especially Beatles songs) as I find it is extremely rare to make them better than the original. But I do enjoy when an artist can do so and add originality and charm that makes the original, not better, but fresh again.
Shang Shang Typhoon (上々颱風 Shan shan taifūn) is a Japanese band of the 1980s and 1990s. Led by Kōryū, the band also features female singers Satoko Nishikawa and Emi Shirasaki. The SST sound is a blend of Okinawan music, min'yo singing and other Japanese elements, with some rock, pop and reggae thrown in. The unique sound of the group is largely due to an original instrument devised by Kōryū that he calls "sangen"; a banjo strung with shamisen strings.
In 1990 Shang Shang Typhoon signed with the Epic/Sony label, but more recently they have recorded on independent labels.
Next a record I bought in Los Angeles at a used record store in 1982 or so. Didn't know who this was but I thought the jacket was cool. Then I listened to it and thought THIS IS A FRICKING GREAT RECORD!!!!!
Sandii and the Sunsetz - Battery (seems to me the 7 inch single had a title, "Love Battery")
Sandii is HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! I like the Devoesque scenes at the start.
Though they garnered the most attention in the early 1980s under the name Sandii and The Sunsetz, this Japanese Pop band had already been recording together with similar lineups and under similar monikers for nearly a decade prior. Backed by band leader and guitarist Makoto Kubota, guitarist Kenichi Inoue, bassist King Champ Onzo and percussionist Hideo Inoura, and fronted by lead singer Sandii, born Sandy O'Neale, the band found moderate success throughout the 1980s
And finally, I leave you with this (as Toby Turner would say) "Epicousity!"
Hot on the heels of the very successful Cool and Strange Music post about Yo Yo Hashi, here's today's version that is guaranteed to crack you up!
Matsuchiyo - A true geisha
Our feature song today is by a very well known Japanese artists by the name of Akiko Kanazawa. Akiko is probably best known for singing the "Pokemon Counting Song." In this 1982 released version of the Beatles 1966 hit, "Yellow Submarine" Akiko Kanazawa gives it the royal "Japanese" work over for a delightfully different take on a rock standard. Enjoy!
Akiko Kanazawa - Yellow Submarine Ondo
The next song is called "Snake Girl" by Kazuo Umezu. Kazuo Umezu is a Science Fiction/Horror writer and also is well known for drawing manga (comics). You've just got to check out his Wikipedia page. He LOOKS like a nutty manga artist!
Here's Kazuo Umezu and Snake Girl
Also, once again, if you are interested in geisha, here is the trailer for Matsuchiyo - Life of a Geisha that was recently created by Ken Nishikawa:
In the last month, I've had three different artists' managers and agents from the USA, Ireland and Britain ask me for help in getting them a release deal or a music publishing deal in Japan. These people ask me because I play a lot of new and independent music on the FM radio. Perhaps they also know I used to run one of Japan's most successful Indies labels (in the late 80s & early 90s) and I have been involved with alternative music and the promotion of that kind of music since the late 70s.
Today, I'd like to write a short post about why it is next to impossible for an unsigned independent artist in the west to get a record or publishing deal in Japan in the year 2012. I do this to help people and I do this to help myself because I've written this explanation more times than I care to and don't want to do it anymore.
This example though, I'm sure, is not just limited to the music industry. I think this example is a microcosm for all industries across the board in Japan when it comes to subsidiaries and licencing product across international boundaries.
Let me give you specifics.
I can think of three artists that I really like and have been playing on our nightly FM radio show. These artists have also hit the Top 5 Japan countdown. You can see that chart here. Because of this support and these efforts to bring new music to Japan, I have earned the reputation for being the guy who finds these new artists and plays them years before they break even in the west. May I pat myself on the back? Recent examples were Amy Winehouse who we began playing heavily in 2006, a full two years before she she broke big and, more recently, Adele who was introduced to me by Rodney Bingenheimer. I was the first one to play these artists in Japan years before they got popular even in the west. Over the years there were hundreds. Guns and Roses was another notable one way back when.
Like I said, this is an example, a microcosm, of how other businesses in Japan work also. If there is a parent company and a subsidiary involved you can be sure that politics play a big part in all decisions that are made... This point is obvious but many artists fail to grasp this.
In the past, I have also introduced independent artists to Japanese record labels and music publishers and have gotten them contracts. But that was well before the year 2000. Japanese labels and music publishers today are not interested in signing new western acts for the Japanese market and here's why...
Let's take the example of a world-wide label like Warner music. Warner in the USA releases hundreds of albums annually. Of those hundreds of albums, only a handful get released in Japan. It is unclear how the process for deciding which artists' albums get released in Japan is made. Ostensibly, it would be a decision founded on which artists' album the local label people believe would be most popular and sell the best, but I would be a fool to tell you that is exactly how it is done. I have been in Japan long enough to know that politics and favors are quite important in the decision room. I know that sometimes the good of the company is sacrificed in order to placate some employees' desires and wishes.
I have witnessed, more than five times in my life, adult Japanese men over 40-years-old of age, actually crying or pouting like little children at business meetings because they didn't get their way. I've seen this in the last month, actually! Grown men crying like children! It was astounding.
So remember that, perhaps, sometimes an album is released just because Mr. Tanaka is a fan of that artist even though the rest of the staff don't feel that it will sell well... And when it doesn't sell well? Does Mr. Tanaka suffer any penalty? Not immediately and perhaps never. In a few years he might be transferred to another section.
The western arm of the label releases hundreds of artists a year. In Japan, only a few of those are released. Politics play a big part. Now, when hundreds are not released, what would happen if the Japanese side arbitrarily picked up an artist from, say, London who wasn't signed to the sister or parent label and released that artist in Japan? Well, you can bet that the sister or parent company would soon find out about it and they would be very pissed off. It would become a major political problem for the western label (destroy their credibility in the local market) and it would then become a major political problem for the Japanese side too.
The western arm of the label would say (of course), "Hey! We have all these other artists that we released. Why don't you release one of those? Why don't you help us promote our artists?" A big row would ensue. And people would be angry and relationships frayed or destroyed.
The Japanese, not being ones to want to make trouble, would rather decline unilaterally signing an artist from the west - one that, by the way, doesn't even have management that the Japanese side has a relation with - so if there is trouble, they have no one to blame.
The Japanese just won't do it.
Suddyn, one of the best bands in the world today? Not signed in Japan.
In the west, you have the Billboard charts. In Japan, we have the Oricon charts. They are both corrupted by payola but they are what we use. To see the most recent Oricon charts, we have to subscribe and pay money. There's no way I'm going to pay money for that so here's the most recent Oricon Chart Top 30 chart that we can see for free. It's from Nov. 11, 2011. See if you recognize any names on the Top 30:
See any Adele? Lady Gaga? Katy Perry or Flo Rida? No? Neither do I and you will rarely, if ever, see them on any Japanese charts. Like I said, sales of western artists have dropped off a cliff in Japan.
There won't be any recovery of those sales anytime soon, either.
Understanding these things, then you can see why your band, unsigned in the west, has a basically zero chance of getting signed here in Japan. I hate to break this news to you good folks and great musicians but it is what it is. Don't take it personally at all if a Japanese label or publisher doesn't answer your inquiries about your music. It's not about the music anymore.
Imagine if there were a time slip and your band were the Beatles, as yet undiscovered in 2012 and unsigned to a label in the west, there's no way a Japanese label will sign you for release in Japan. It has nothing to do with your music and your talent and gift; it has everything to do with intra-company politics.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney, if they were 18 years old today, would have a major problem. And that's why the major music industry is dying.
"I was wise enough to see that one can't experience one's grandfather's revolution. Rip it up!" ~ Jp Valentine
There are a very many things that we need to be thankful for and I wanted to share just one of mine with you and hope that, after this, you'll take a few moment's time to close your eyes, relax and reflect on yours too.
The one I want to tell you something that I have discovered the importance of nearly 35 years after it happened! All until this time, I was thankful that I was there and got to see it, but I never fully grasped how I was able to be a part of a bigger picture; a bigger "scene." Now that I have, I realize that God (Vishnu, Siva, Buddha, the Great Electrode, Bob, what-have-you) gave me such a wonderful present that I shall always cherish.
Usually, when you read these sorts of posts and articles about what we should be thankful for, you are given a litany of the usual things and those are things to be thankful for today: Family, a home, food, health... Of course, those are things to be greatly thankful for and to never forget. But, may I ask that you indulge yourself and take a time trip and be thankful for something you probably don't really think about all that much? And, perhaps, feel a little guilty about today if you stop, reflect and say, "Thank you for that wonderful time!"
I'm talking about being thankful for the past. The past that's never coming again. I'm talking about being thankful for the treasures of youth we received. And, I'm talking about giving up gracefully those treasures of youth so that we do not cling to to them like a drowning man clings to straw, but that we surrender them to the next generation with class befitting our age and experience.
I'm talking about our youth. Those wonderful dates, places you visited, things you experienced that only young people can do. I want you to take this morning and reflect for a few moments on your favorite of those experiences; experiences that probably you, and only you, of all those around you know about.
This morning, when I woke up, I thought about my life and how lucky I am; how lucky I was. I enjoyed things that few people could have and, I'm sure, that you can say the same thing about yourself. Everyone has enjoyed something special in their time in this cosmos that has happened especially for them that no one else can, or will, ever experience again.
For me, there are so many. But, like I said, I'd like for you today to think about and focus on one.
Here's my "one" that I stumbled upon that I rediscovered yesterday and it was something that happened about 35 years ago! While I enjoyed it at the time, I didn't realize that it was so unique. Let me reminisce and tell you about it.
I wrote yesterday about a producer friend I have who lives in Hollywood. His name is Jp Valentine. Jp and I have become good friends, I like to think, yet we have never even met. We have corresponded greatly and he sent me a gift the other day that really has stopped me and made me pause and think.
The present he sent me was a book entitled, "Riot on Sunset Strip - Rock'n'Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood." It is a wonderful book filled with photos and accounts of the Golden Time between 1965 and 1966 for Rock'n'Roll music and the Sunset Strip that occurred for a few shorts months.
Here's a VERY short synopsis of the book:
For a brief period between 1965 and 1966, Rock’n’Roll music, heavily influenced by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as well as American acts such as the Byrds, the Doors, Love, Buffalo Springfield, the Mamas & the Papas and more, displaced cinema as the center of action in Hollywood. The scene appeared out of nowhere, lasted a few exiting and incredible few months and then just vanished just as suddenly as it appeared. The mix of London and Los Angeles gave rise to an eruption of local music and culture at that time. From this cultural explosion, Rock’n’Roll combined and quickly permeated television, animation, cinema and popular culture around the western world.
Here is a snippet of a review of the book that I took from Amazon:
I loved this book because of the way it put me right on the Sunset Strip in the mid 60s, making me feel like I was sitting at Canter's Deli with Gene Clark and then dancing to The Byrds at Ciro's later that same evening. I also love the argument it makes about San Francisco's elitist attitude about its own 60s bands, versus those of L.A. Ask me to choose between The Grateful Dead and Love, between Moby Grape and The Byrds, between any SF garage band and The Seeds or The Music Machine, and I'm going with the Hollywood "cream puff" act every time. The book also makes you feel the tragedy of the collapse of the Sunset Strip nightclub scene, after the police effectively shut it down because some influential people in town didn't like the idea of the Strip being a place for teenagers to hang out and dance to groovy music. You get to know what a magical time and place the Strip was in 65-66, and it makes you want to be there.
Wow! That sounds like a cool place! I love that sort of thing. Jp tells me these sorts of cultural booms happened in London, Paris, Berlin and America in the 1920s, as well as a few other places and times that I was too dumb to take note of. He also tells me that, besides 1965 ~ 1966 on the Sunset Strip, that it happened again, albeit very briefly, on that very same Sunset Strip in 1977.
The weird thing is that I was there in 1977 and saw it and was a part of it! I never realized that that time had its roots in a sixties rock movement in Hollywood.
I knew it was fun and have always been thankful for being there and seeing it and being a part of it, while it was going on, but never realized how it fit in with the evolution of pop music culture in America until I read page 25 of "Riot on Sunset Strip - Rock'n'Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood." On page 25, it talks about the sudden disappearance of the Hollywood Rock music scene in 1966. It says,
"Not even the smallest portion of the (Sunset) Strip would seem vital again until the emergence of the punk rock scene in the late 1970s..."
That really astounds me. I never realized how the seventies punk boom fit into the overall history of Hollywood and Los Angeles. The seventies punk boom in Los Angeles, also, seems to me was there one day and then gone the next.
The Deadboys were one of the best live acts I have ever seen
I wrote to Jp:
"In my youth, I lived all over the USA moving almost yearly and changing elementary and Jr. high schools annually. It always made me a sort of outcast with few friends. I stayed in Calif. through high school but still was considered sort of "backwards" by my peers (even the slang and lingo and how kids talked was different from the Mid West - where I just came from - to California)."
"When the punk boom happened, I used to drive my car, by myself, to Los Angeles and go see punk bands. I saw the Deadboys play, I think it was 5 nights in a row and Sham 69 play 7 nights in a row at (I think it was the Whiskey - can't remember). I liked it so much that I drove all the way from Venture to Los Angeles (about 1.5 hours) every night to see these shows! I loved it. I loved Hollywood. Guess what? I thought that the night club scene was the way it always was and always has been... Now I read that part in the book, "Riot on Sunset Strip..." and it really surprises me that it is not. I got lucky... I stepped into a Time Warp! I honestly didn't know. I thought it was business as as usual... Thank you, Jp. for allowing me to know this and thank you God for allowing me to be there."
Wow! That was a wonderful time. That was my time....
But now, we're back to today... I'm back to this blog post. It's a Saturday morning here in Japan and my family is sleeping and I am sitting here reminiscing about the past, a past they know nothing about.
It is a guilty pleasure of mine to enjoy those memories that only I know about and only I can recall...
Thanks for listening to mine. Now, it's your turn. Whether you want to write it down or not, why don't you take some time today or in the morning tomorrow to sit down and think back? Think way back to something you haven't thought of in years... Maybe it was that time with friends? Or that time with mom and dad when you were a child? Or maybe it was that time on that date with that someone you'll never forget?
Think back. Remember it. It is a present. Enjoy it.
Enjoy the wonderful memories and, while still cherishing them, gracefully give up the treasures of youth...
Be thankful for them. Enjoy them. You have many more wonderful memories coming.
