Poetry Audio: THE BURDEN OF ETERNAL YOUTH

Posting this just in time for the summertime rush of veteran artists playing outdoor theaters—some of them likely on farewell tours.

Peter Frampton and cell-phone concert videos: a contrarian view.

Today, this bit of News Trivia went viral:
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/peter-frampton-throws-cell-phone/

I'm aware that the "fan" was obnoxious enough for Peter Frampton to put him on the Cannot Call cell phone plan.  And I'm also cognizant that Frampton and his management (and perhaps the venue) didn't want video taken at the concert.

But I think Peter Frampton shot himself in the metaphorical foot.

With the physical recording market becoming more niche and downloads giving way to pay-per-month music streaming services, artists need to make the bulk of their money on the road.

Though it may pain Frampton to look out into the audience and see cell phones instead of raised cigarette lighters (particularly in the post-FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE superstardom period of 1976-77), fan-shot concert videos are his best, cost-free-to-him, mode of advertising.

A typical YouTube user may see a snippet of a recent Frampton concert and buy a ticket for a future show.

And--who knows?  The fan may actually enjoy the show so much he/she forgets to take out his/her phone.

THE BURDEN OF ETERNAL YOUTH--RECORDED VERSION

I read this in 2002; Jimmy Smith put a backing musical track on it and combined both at his home studio in Sherman Oaks CA.

The Bob Buchmann era at KLOS-FM is over; DJ Jim Ladd also fired.

At least Chris Carter's BREAKFAST WITH THE BEATLES--the only program I listen to on KLOS--is unaffected by this wave of downsizing.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/legal-and-management/more-layoffs-at-cumulus-ladd-buchmann-leave-1005441562.story
http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/kabc-324171-director-program.html
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/radio-323981-new-oct.html

Survey: Which classic rock act would you like to see at the 2011 Super Bowl?

Wasn't at home for this year's Super Bowl, but I did get to see a snippet of The Who's stage performance (sounded good to me though Roger Daltrey can't negotiate high notes as in his youth/early middle-age).

With full expectations that the NFL will again opt for veteran rock acts next year, here's a list of artists with 12-minute stadium-rocking potential. Send your votes to the e-mail address above so I can tally them:

A. LED ZEPPELIN
B. VAN HALEN
C. THE EAGLES
D. THE BEACH BOYS
E. THE ROLLING STONES
F. DEF LEPPARD
G. SANTANA
H. ELTON JOHN
I. ROD STEWART
J. ERIC CLAPTON
K. JOHN FOGERTY
L. JOHN MELLENCAMP

Re the end of Aerosmith as we know them.

Steven Tyler's recent announcement that he's leaving the legendary band Aerosmith--plus Joe Perry's "we're looking for a replacement lead vocalist" tweet on Twitter--will probably cause both fervent and casual fans to say "uh-oh."

To me, Aerosmith carrying on without Tyler would be akin to The Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger.

I'm assuming that Perry thinks that soldiering on with a ringer lead vocalist is financially viable since bands like Journey and Foreigner (the latter called "faceless" by ROLLING STONE) have drafted sort-of-soundalikes and have continued their careers (though on a second-tier, we-know-we're-an-oldies-act basis).

At this point, Perry and the rest of the band would be better off persuading Tyler to do a career-spanning-with-special-guests farewell show (which can be further monetized by DVD and/or pay-per-view). Then, the remaining members should retire the name and regroup if they so choose.

As long as they decide on a name other than The Joe Perry Project.

End of an era: Rita Wilde out as program director for "classic rock" KLOS-FM.

Bob Buchmann, former Program Director at NY classic-rock station WAXQ-FM is replacing 25-year KLOS-FM icon Rita Wilde. (To show you how out-of-touch I am, I didn't even know KLOS is now being run by Citadel instead of Disney.)


A poster on the Los Angeles message board for radio-info.com said this:

Wow, that's too bad, sort of. Rita Wilde was at KLOS forever, and did a number of cool things like the U2 B-sides compilation (named after herself - the Wilde album) and the semi-annual A to Z. She also did the rock report, which was well done, I felt. Though I don't like Jim Ladd that much, he's at least allowed some freedom on the air, and Wilde supported him.But overall, she presided over a period of time when KLOS became terribly, terribly boring. You can't play the same 300, 400, or 600 songs for a decade and expect people to stick around [my emphasis, not the poster's]. I am smack in their demo (actually a little bit younger) and listened very heavily to KLOS in the 80s and early 90s. I really WANT to like the station, and I've always kept it on my presets.......but I haven't really listened for many, many years.It's a shame they're probably blaming her for their low ratings, when in fact they probably ordered her to have a small playlist. Another good example of how having a small playlist does NOT work for stations without new music to play.Bring on the new PD, and may you play a lot of interesting rock music so I actually want to listen.

Another poster responded as follows: "KLOS was too deep [in terms of their library of songs]....deep cuts [songs that aren't "hits"/signature songs] cause tune out.....plain and simple. Look at Indie [referring to Indie103.1 FM--an LA classic-and-current alternastation which was terminated recently, retreating to online-only status].

The above dialogue speaks volumes about the too cautious, over-focusgrouped mess that is current terrestrial radio. And the same kind of flesh-eating bacteria takes place now on recently-merged satellite titan Sirius XM--try listening to the 80s alternastation First Wave, which has a much shallower--and, arguably, more tortuously overfamiliar--playlist than KLOS.

Probably what KLOS should do is let a little more of the Jim Ladd ethos creep in--give some classic artists [from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen to The Grateful Dead to The Allman Brothers to The Pretenders and Heart] greater rotation (even if Buchmann doesn't want to stray from the hits, my advice is to play more than just the two or three biggest ones)--plus more emphasis on new songs by "classic" acts. And by all means hang on to the few programs that distinguish the station from some of its classic-rock siblings--namely Chris Carter's BREAKFAST WITH THE BEATLES show, which deserves to stay put after years of maltreatment by KLSX-FM (which used to be a pretty good example of a classic format done reasonably well before changing to all-talk).

I'd like to think that KLOS, with the change in program director, could be an example of how to do a classic format right instead of a possible lipstick-on-a-pig approach which thinks that DJ changes and a smaller playlist will make for higher ratings.

Let's see whether or not I'll be wrong again.