R.I.P.

I couldn’t believe the news as I watched it unfold Thursday, I mean who would have thought?  I kept thinking to myself, “Not him, not now.”  It was one of those unexpected, surreal moments that everyone will remember in history.

When the news broke, I was walking along First Avenue past a group of street vendors and one of them screamed out in shock, the others stopped me to ask if I could check on my phone to confirm if their worse fears were really true. There were so many different rumors and stories coming across all the social networks, bloggers and gossip sites. I admit, I was disturbed to see that TMZ was being looked to by many as a credible news source. (even though they seemed to have broke the story nobody wanted to believe first) Then I couldn’t access anything online for a second because the whole world pretty much maxed out the bandwidth. As I kept walking down towards home, all I could see were looks of disbelief written on almost everyone’s face, and it quickly became the topic of every conversation I walked by, people of all walks of life and ages. The widespread rumors became reality and each news outlet began to confirm everyone’s fears.

Grief set in and his tragic passing continued to be the topic of conversation that I would overhear for much of the night. I don’t go out as much as I used to, but that night I felt like I should go hear his music and celebrate his life. Ended up at APT and Evil Dee went into an MJ tribute set that made the entire place go crazy! It felt ethereal, such an outpouring of emotion – everyone in the spot was reciting, singing, dancing, some were doing it with tears streaming down their cheeks – smiling and crying at the same time.  There were many others out and about that night at different spots, and I’m sure everyone who was shared that similar, surreal moment when we all rode the boogie and shared in that beat of love.

The next day MTV became a video station again, nostalgia struck me and I wished they’d stay that way. The reflections continued, he meant different things to different people and even generations, there were the obvious pre – OFTW and/or Thriller opinions, but I did find it baffling that shortly after there were some people who would take this time to question his talent and how relevant he really was.  Some arguing that he was pale (not literally) in comparison to other cultural icons like Elvis, Frank Sinatra and The Beatles.  I’ll just presume fans of the latter are just bitter over Michael’s business acumen, which would have made any shrewd capitalist proud. For those of you who don’t know the story, back when MJ recorded with Paul McCartney, he was starting to see some of that “Thriller” money, Paul mentioned suggested to him that he should look into owning publishing and that his catalog would be up for sale.  Michael shortly after purchased half the rights to The Beatles’ publishing owning more than Paul himself!!!  On a side note right around this time, Nike, who at the time was the #2 athletic footwear maker in the world behind Reebok, paid Michael Jackson $500,000 to use the song “Revolution” for their new Nike Air running commercial.  This, along with their signing of the other M(ichael) J(ordan), could be considered the turning point that helped to put the swoosh back on top for good and continue to become the culturally iconic brand it is today.

That is just one story among the numerous others that people shared, it was touching to see the world’s reaction to Michael Jackson’s passing unfold in front of my eyes  - the tributes, the countless status updates, people posting his songs and videos, the Tweets the Tumblrs – people were sharing their thoughts and stories, expressing what Michael meant to them.  There should be no denying that he’s left an indelible impression in pop culture’s history and meant so much to so many.  He was a truly a gifted wunderkind, a pioneer and a cultural icon.

He will surely be missed by all.

Patent: Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion, inventor Michael Jackson

I subscribe to Bob Lefsetz’s email mostly for the shits and giggles I get reading his constant critique and blasting of the current state of the music industry, at times he can be very insightful with his observations, but in one of last week’s emails he wrote:

“As for Record Store Day…How laughable is that.  If you’re salivating over this, you’re living in 1990, and hoping we go back to 1970. Record stores are dead. As dead as your Apple II. Some will survive, as dealers in antiquities and tchotchkes, but essentially everyone will buy online.”

And although he may be half-right, I don’t particularly agree with calling the effort laughable. This is going to be Record Store Day’s third year and many labels are creating special rare releases for various genres on 7″, 12″s and CD’s for the thousand plus independent retailers involved globally, not to mention the hundreds of artists performing and having ‘in-stores’ to support the cause.

Like many, the record store meant a lot to me when I was growing up, especially the independents, eclectically curated by it’s staff with what they were listening to, the indie record store staff were always extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the music they listened to and the artists who created it. Record stores and those who frequented them are part of a subculture like no other, the experience at the stores is almost as important as the music, I remember being the curious kid always checking the various NYC (and outer borough) record shops always searching to find music new and old, digging through the bins, finding both popular and obscure bands’ albums, singles, b-sides, live recordings and DJ mixtapes. I’d study the different albums’ artwork and visuals, listening intently to the depth of their sound on vinyl, loving the crackle coming from the speaker when the needle hit the record. I remember visiting stores like Other Music, Record Runner, Downtown Music Gallery, Jammyland, Dance Tracks and Finyl Vinyl to name a few, listening and finding out about different genres of music or going to Bate Music on Fridays to get the next Tuesday new releases before most. Sadly, many of these spots are no longer, but these indelible experiences that they provided me will have me out to support the movement on April 18th.

To end this off, I also want to applaud Bob Lefsetz for later posting a response to his email by Record Store Day’s co-founder Michael Kurtz, a part of which read:

“…We aren’t claiming that we are the saviors of the music biz, but we are doing a great job with what we do. And, just as importantly, we are having fun. Remember what that was like? If we could get a hundred other music biz people to take this approach, instead of hyping Irving Azoff’s latest Wall Street-like-move, or Wal-mart, or Apple, or Google China, or whatever the latest nonsense of the week is, we’d all be in a lot better shape. Now is the time to get behind the artists. They are the stars. They are the creators. Find the ones that suit your taste and do all that you can do to make them shine. If you can’t do this then my suggestion is to please do us all a favor and be quiet for awhile. There’s too much noise and negativity already. It’s time to be appreciative about music and the very special people who make it, as well as the fans that love it. That is what record stores do and what Record Store Day is about.”

Well said…

For more info about Record Store Day in your area go to http://www.recordstoreday.com

Capone and me "shooting myself in the foot"

I’ve been seeing some recent posts on Capone-N-Noreaga promoting the upcoming release of their third album, “Channel 10″, which leads me to this photo that I dug up from my archives.  Back in March of 1999, while I was working for TRACE Magazine I got offered the opportunity to interview Capone  for a Queensbridge-themed music issue.  Mind you, I wasn’t originally hired as a writer, I handled ad sales and marketing, but with such a small staff I got the fringe benefit of being able to ‘wear different hats’ while I was there.

I remember the day vividly, it was such an indelible experience for me to get an ‘official’ tour of the historic QB projects from one of its very own and being able to see and experience the neighborhood that inspired and spawned so much talent.

Suffice it to say, I’m not that good of a writer, hence my short lived career and to even further add insult to injury, the story ended up being dropped from the issue!  Hahahahahaaa…

Fast forward seven months and now I’m working for Triple 5 Soul, (Yes, I mentioned it as 555-Soul in the previous post, because it was totally different then.*) and DJ Soul was music editor for Mass Appeal. (R.I.P.- Patrick Elasik)  He was trying to close his first issue, so I asked him to consider the story for an upcoming issue and joked that if he wasn’t going to run it I would be left with no choice but to drop Mass Appeal from Triple 5 Soul’s ad plan!  I guess he took me seriously because he ended up running the piece and it was the first story in the magazine only four pages in from the ad we ran on the inside-cover-spread.  I’m joking…I don’t think that was the reason…Regardless, I’m just glad he ran the story and gave me a shot.  Thanks DJ Soul…

You can read the story below:

Thinking back, it was last New Year’s Eve when I bumped into Jon Shapiro, random considering I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years and here he is in the madness that ensues on the streets of Manhattan just after midnight.  Shipes said he’d been on his grind making moves such as bringing Sean Kingston to Epic Records and in the process leveraging an imprint deal for his label, Cinematic Music Group.  He also mentioned that he was signing Devin The Dude to an indie label, Razor and Tie, which baffled me since (I thought to myself, “Wait, didn’t you just say you signed to Epic? and) I knew Devin had been on Rap-A-Lot for his entire career. We laughed about some buffoonery that took place the last time we saw each other, exchanged numbers and that was how 2008 began…

After that chance meeting he offered me the opportunity to consult and project manage the marketing and album packaging for Devin The Dude, which I was psyched about because for one, I’m a fan of Devin’s and second, throughout my career I’ve (sort of) been on the peripheral of the music industry, but never had the opportunity to work directly in it, so here I am with my first hands-on gig and it’s an ideal one at that. Ideal because not only is Devin one of nicest, most down to earth artists I’ve met, but I also got the chance to meet, and work with a bunch of talented and creative people on this project, which I’m absolutely grateful for.

I’ll elaborate more on the project and the people in a later post, but for now, it’s a brand new year and although I didn’t have chance meetings this New Year’s Eve, I’m looking forward to what the future brings…