Music Business Blog by Jason Feinberg

I could probably write 10000 words on how amazing it was to see Carole King and James Taylor live at the Troubadour last night, but there’s not much new one can say about two legends who have written some of the most recognizable and legendary songs of all time.

I can say, however, that seeing them in a 350 person venue was a once in a lifetime experience, and it was easily one of the best shows I’ve attended. I don’t care what type of music you are into, when two artists as talented as these two perform, you feel it.

The show was part of a six-show set to mark the Troubadour’s 50th anniversary. From our friends at LiveDaily:

“In these walls, there is a deep musical history that spans many generations,” Troubadour booker Brian Smith said in a statement. “To have Carole and James back to help celebrate the last 50 years and to bring in the next 50 … is quite an honor.”

Taylor made his solo debut at the club in July 1969 and King joined him on the Troubadour’s stage later that year, marking her debut as a solo artist, according to a press release. Both have since become multiplatinum-selling artists, Grammy winners and members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Forget Rocktober, for me November was where it was at. The Murder City Devils reunion shows, two Cave Singers shows, the David Lee Roth-fronted Van Halen show, and then this.

There’s a Dec 4th Cave Singers show which I am also going to squeeze into that list, I can’t freaking wait. Their two sets in Austin earlier this month were just too damn short.

So much good music, sure am glad this is what I spend all day every day doing.

Thanks to a ticketmaster connection we got some ridiculously awesome seats for the Van Halen show at Staples last night. I’ve given up on trying to actually BUY good tickets, I am always the guy who logs on right when the pre-sale starts and still never gets anything (or anything good).

The wife and I have been waiting many years to see a David Lee Roth-fronted VH show, and after a recent aborted tour (or ten) we finally got our wish.

My review to most people has been “The highs were high and the lows were low.”

I absolutely love David Lee Roth. And 1984-and-before Van Halen is some of the sweetest stripper-rock on the planet. But I couldn’t help this feeling all night that this was the absolute best Van Halen tribute show I’d ever seen.

There was plenty of rock to be had, and when the band was in sync they really delivered. This tended to be during choruses of their big hits and during the last few songs of the night.

The rest of the time I felt as if there were 4 different people on stage, each doing their part, exactly as scripted (or notated). I guess 4 people playing the exact same song at the exact same time equals performing said song, but I don’t think it equaled a performance the way I saw it.

I loved DLRs usual stage antics and banter, but it all seemed very rushed and scripted. Nonetheless, good ol’ Dave is the consummate showman and he gave us exactly what we wanted, enormous inflatable microphone and all. Extra points for the holding up a hat with his unit bit.

Reunion type shows are either a hit or miss with me. The Murder City Devils reunion show two weeks ago in Austin was an example of how it should go down – a bunch of guys playing their hearts out, thrilled to be back on stage with each other and connecting to their sea of devoted fans. I just didn’t get that full connection with Van Halen.

Maybe it was the mix – the sound was pretty bad. A wall of guitar noise and DLR somewhere in there.

Like I said, high highs and low lows. But at the end of the night, when all was said and done, it was a DLR-fronted Van Halen show, and it rocked.

Good summary of the CMJ marketing + promo panel I moderated over at the Digiwaxx Dream Team blog.

Money quote:
…the panel covered very interesting topics and served as a good discussion forum in answering questions that various members of various types of companies had to offer. The essential message that underlined each and every response involved knowing one’s direct and indirect audience and targeting them both with as much efficiency as possible. This means for urban hip-hop promoters, know that mixtapes play an essential role in your target audience. For indie-rock tour managers, knowing that fans love to have a piece of your band even after the show ends and the album repeats. It is at this point in the discussion where Jonathan again yells “t-shirts and stickers, you can’t go wrong!”…

Read more at http://believeinthedream.wordpress.com/

Second Murder City Devils show was phenomenal. These guys deliver such an amazing live performance, so much energy. Fortune smiled upon me and I got to watch the show from the stage. It was so great to just be a fan and enjoy myself – usually when I am at a show like this I am working, either there with a band I am promoting or looking for new biz.

I have to give major thanks to the one and only Gabe, he helped take this weekend from an A+ to an A++++++. He and everyone in and around the band are some of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. I think that’s one of the reasons MCD has such a huge, loyal following – they really appreciate their fans and go out of their way to make it a great experience. In my line of work I deal with a ton of artists and I can say that bands this nice are a rarity. I said it in my post last night – bands should pay attention to how MCD operates, whether on purpose or not they have created a very strong brand that will last a long time.

Back to Los Angeles in 8 hours, going to be a long week. I suspect I’ll be playing Murder City Devils nonstop, reliving this amazing weekend.

As always, Murder City Devils delivered a whiskey-soaked good time. I had an interesting view – from above and off to the side of the stage. I could see everything from a birds-eye view, including the dude who got thrown out, slammed into a van, then repeatedly got his ass kicked every time he tried to jump the fence. Also the flood of people around me falling off chairs, landing on their heads, getting tossed around. MCD shows tend to be a little violent, this was no exception.

Awesome new merch – I spent a fortune and it’s worth every penny. This band knows how to deliver, both sonically and visually. I’ve always likened them to the Misfits in this way – with MCD you don’t just get music, you get a vision, a vibe, and a complete package. For you up-and-coming bands looking to learn about branding and image, this is one band you could learn a lot from.

Part of this goes to Nate Manny. He is both one of the guitarists in the band as well as an amazing graphic artist that is responsible for much of the band’s visual elements. I like his work so much I hired him to do all the logos and branding for my marketing company. I really respect his vision and ability to take all mediums into consideration. Once again, you bands should be paying attention.

Show number two tomorrow, as well as those two Cave Singers shows, Poison Idea, Against Me!, Riverboat Gamblers, and a ton more.

Fun Fun Fun Fest has been, well, fun so far. I spent all day in front of Stage 2. Here’s why:

Stage 2 Lineup
Neurosis (8:30-9:40)
The Sword (7:30-8:25)
Angry Samoans (6:40-7:25)
Sick Of It All (5:50-6:35)
Battalion of Saints (5-5:45)
Madball (4:15-4:35)
Witchcraft (3:30-4:10)
Saviours (2:55-3:25)
Modern Life Is War (2:20-2:50)
Viva Hate (1:45-2:15)
Iron Age (1:10-1:40)
Down To Nothing (12:40-1:10)

Heading to Mohawk’s in just a minute to see the 1st of two shows by the Murder City Devils. If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know this is one of my favorite bands. They broke up in 2001, so to get to see them is a rare and wonderful thing. I went last year when they played two shows in Seattle and that was amazing. I expect these two to blow my damn mind.

Cave Singers play two shows tomorrow, real excited about that. Derek from MCD is in the band but they are nothing like MCD – well except for some good ol’ fashion bleakness here and there. Very folky, a touch of Dylan, and something quite unique. Really excited to see them, their new record is superb (especially on delicious 180 gram vinyl).

Off to rock mighty, fools.

I am really into Macs, so I wanted to get Leopard (Mac OSX 10.5) up and running and check it out. I do all my marketing work on my MacBook Pro so I chose to check it out on my desktop (a G5 Dual-2.5ghz with 4GB ram running 10.4.10).

Not only did I choose to install it on my secondary computer (mostly used for crunching video and Photoshop work) but I installed it clean onto the secondary internal drive. If you do that you can always go back to your old system if things go wrong. And if only a few things don’t work (as any first release will have) you can still do those things by booting into the old system.

Pre-install I used OnyX to do the usual maintenance stuff any Mac owner should do – repair permissions, run system scripts, etc. I take good care of my computers which always help the likelihood of a successful install.

Install went super smoothly. I did a custom install where I removed a few unneeded things (languages, printer drivers) to save some space. Really nothing to else say, it was very easy and required very little interaction. OSX has always done a great job with the installation process.

Doing a new install (versus upgrading your existing system, rarely the best choice) does require re-installation of certain programs, but in most cases you can use the same Applications folder as the older system. Most things worked exactly as expected, but you do have to check sites of programs to make sure they aren’t any major problems.

It looks amazing. The 3-D dock is nice and the default background combined with the dock looks stunning on a 23″ HD Apple display. I doubt I’ll keep it around forever (you can switch it to a more conventional dock) but it looks cool and I’ll keep it around for now.

Spaces is great. It’s not a new technology in the sense that *nix has had this in the X-Windows system for ages. But the OSX delivery is excellent. It’s super easy to use and looks great. It’s useful to be able to have multiple virtual screens, each running related applications but nothing else. It certainly helps my creative flow to let the screen have more breathing room.

More to come…