Bob Lefsetz: Genius at Work

I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Bob Lefsetz. Bob writes passionately, intelligently, and from a world-weary and no bullshit perspective on all styles of music and pop culture. He sneaks in his views on life, relationships, love, and everyone's need to connect. And he is also my hero. Get turned on and read/subscribe to his newsletter at: http://www.lefsetz.com/

The following is from Bob's post on 4/20/07 and used without his permission. (Keep in mind Bob is not a jamband aficionado. He's just a music lover at heart who "gets it"):

It started with the Dead, then the Allman Brothers took up the torch. And Phish and the Dave Matthews Band carried the flag forward. It was about playing more than records. It was about going to the shows and being carried away by the music, not the PRODUCTION!

It wasn't a once a year event. It wasn't Madonna backed up with dancers and vocals on hard drive. It was a bunch of twenty and thirtysomething musicians. Wearing onstage the same duds they inhabited offstage. They took the stage and plugged into their amps. And music started to come out. They didn't start with their big hit. They didn't HAVE a hit. They were reinventing it every night. Trying to create a unique experience, that satiated both them AND their audience. Otherwise it's boring! Isn't playing the same songs in the same order over and over again boring? Isn't that more akin to theatre than music?

But this scene. The mainstream press didn't get it. After all, these acts, except for ultimately Dave Matthews, they didn't sell any RECORDS! Therefore, they couldn't be that GOOD!

But tell those who went to see these acts live. Those still going to Bonnaroo. They're POSSESSED! There's a joy at the show that is the ESSENCE of the music experience.

I saw Robert Randolph on the Grammys. How is that supposed to translate? Has music EVER been good on TV? Especially played in a barn with a million other genres? Well, maybe the Beatles were great on Ed Sullivan, but it was something new, it wasn't an awards show circle jerk.

And I saw Robert Randolph gigging with the Allmans at the Beacon last year. Truly good. But that was the Allmans' gig.

Late Wednesday night, I was driving in my car, pressing the buttons on my XM radio, and I came across ['Love is the Only Way In' by Robert Randolph and the Family Band] on XM's Cafe.

I found myself shimmying and shaking in the seat of my Saabaru. When I got to my destination I couldn't turn the radio off. I couldn't get Strasburg out of my brain, how he was RIGHT!

I was in the groove.

You can't break music like this on television. Certainly not on Top Forty radio. Call-out research can't quantify it, it's not something intellectual, but something you FEEL!

Shit like this gives me hope, makes me want to go to the gig. Because it's about the music, the experience. That's the way it used to be. You were INVOLVED!

But now all the old systems have broken down, we're rebuilding. And we've got to start with not how you look, not whether you fit the slot, the niche, the potential marketing possibilities, but the MUSIC!

You've got to concentrate on the music. It's got to reach people in their heads and hearts. And if it does, you're on the road, to success, to riches.