MIKE GREENE

Let me get this straight...you want to make the Grammys younger and hipper, then you RAIL against the younger generation?

What is this, SCARED STRAIGHT???

You demonstrated just how out of touch you and the rest of your generation are. God, what you were saying...sounded like February 2000! Hell, EVERYBODY knows that downloading music is theft, stealing, piracy. But, even the draconian mama herself, Judge Patel, has acknowledged that the landscape constantly shifts. Things move forward. The state of the situation must be constantly evaluated. Yes, Napster was illegal, but...is the concept of ONLINE MUSIC illegal? What have the major labels done to further the cause of online availability?

To quote the dude I saw later at Patina, almost less than zero.

Yes, the acts of yore, like Elvis Costello, were in search of TRUTH! Today, the acts are phony, and the powers-that-be are ignorant and just want to protect their turf.

Online music is PERFECTION! But the labels won't GIVE IT TO THE PUBLIC! And THAT'S why people are downloading/stealing! THEY know it's better. Only label employees and oldsters think the CD is superior.

So, when you get on international TV and wag your finger...god, you look like fucking Nixon.

You should have used this opportunity to talk about the state of music. God, you built the best show you could, but if that's the best we've got to offer, we're FUCKED! You should have talked about contracts. You should have EXTOLLED the virtues of online music. Then, you would have affected the dialogue, then you would have become a hero to the young and hip, then you would have made a difference.

And, as far as the Net stealing from/ripping off the new and developing artists...THIS IS COMPLETE BULLSHIT! The NUMBER ONE problem we have in the music business is EXPOSING THE PRODUCT! MTV's got a limited number of slots. Radio's just as bad. The only other place something can catch fire is on the Net. Talk to ANY new act. They'd LOVE to be downloaded. That would mean they were on the road to MAKING IT!!

DAN TYMINSKI

You're my fucking hero.

Alicia Keys. How come no one's investigated and found out what your REAL last name is? I mean "piano", "keys"...give me a break.

At least you didn't wear one of those hat/hair get-ups. Enough with the image.

And, you base your act on the MUSIC and then you do a dance routine? You were so busy saying you stood up for yourself...why didn't you stand up and tell Clive and everybody else that this had NOTHING to do with what you were selling. You could have REFUSED! Like they weren't going to let you on the SHOW???

Meanwhile, you could be Christopher Cross. I mean you aren't the aforementioned...Mr. Costello. Your songwriting talent is barely superior to that of Mariah Carey. We'll see what happens in the future.

ANYWAY, god, Bob Dylan...won't SOMEBODY take off the emperor's clothes/the blinders? An ABOMINATION! What, were they playing two songs at once??

To imagine that one of the highlights of the show could be Train... Almost corporate rock.

But, god, they nailed their own song. And the strings were great. And it was PAUL BUCKMASTER! At the Forum Tuesday night John Fogerty went on and on about Kenny Aronoff. How he was the best drummer in the UNIVERSE! When I saw him behind the kit, god, I was thrilled. I was thrilled that Paul Buckmaster was conducting the orchestra. Couldn't ANY of the lame TV star presenters say this was the dude who added all those lush orchestrations to those classic Elton John albums? Maybe played a snippet? Turn it into the History Channel for a minute? Hell, even TONY SOPRANO loves the History Channel.

And couldn't they have let Patti Labelle do more than screech? Let her sing a VERSE?

But, it was all made up for by Mr. Tyminski.

I went to the Down From The Mountain show at the Universal Amphitheatre just to hear "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow". No drummer. Just a small collection of players. Mr. Tyminski stepped up to the mike just like George Clooney in the movie, and delivered the...pure essence of music itself.

And, when I saw him backstage later that night, he wasn't huddled in some exclusive dressing room, rather he was wearing a windbreaker standing under a heatlamp approachable like some dude you went to high school with.

And, he nailed it again last night.

This "O Brother" thing. NOW, the record's going to do a couple more million. More in fact. One CANNOT overstate this story. With almost no airplay of any type millions of records were sold. We've got a MUSIC problem, not a PIRACY problem. Hell, sales last year were UP in the U.K. They've got Morpheus and KaZaa too...

The "O Brother" stuff is authentic. It reminds you of being exposed to music in grade school. When it was about the SONG, the joy of SINGING! And with Mr. Tyminski's pure voice and Alison Krauss' angelic singing, it's a wonder their band Union Station is not the biggest in the nation. One thing I WILL tell you, decades from now, when most of the people on stage last night are starring in "Behind The Music", penniless, working menial jobs, Alison Krauss and Union Station will still be touring the land to adoring fans. Tells you something, doesn't it?

JOHN SYKES

Introduced me to Brad Paisley.

I'm on the red carpet. And Sykes is telling me about CMT.

I say I KNOW I KNOW! Jason told me about Kid Rock appearing on the channel.

Sykes told me it was their highest rated show ever.

Sykes is a winner. Look what he did with VH1. And now VH1 Classic. With him behind it, CMT and country music are due for an explosion. Well, at least GROWTH!

TOM FRESTON

STILL likes Ryan Adams and U2, no matter WHAT I say.

Hell, as Bob Chiappardi told me later in the evening at Skybar, Ryan is the only one who's DANGEROUS out there.

Yup, rock used to be about danger.

And, there's no danger left in the landscape.

And, Bob said sure, he wasn't as good as Elton, didn't make records like our heroes did in the seventies...still, he was the best out there, the best we've got.

And, not because it was a party, not because I like Bob, but only because it's the truth, I told Bob we were on the same page, I agreed.

Still, my e-mail was running nine to one against Ryan. People slagging him left and right. He just wasn't that good a songwriter, not that big a deal.

Why did people CARE?

It's the backlash. They've been overhyped. The machine is fucking ignorant. Thinks that people don't have brains. Doesn't understand that in trying to reach NEW people, you're reaching the same people again and again and pissing them off.

As for U2. They performed really well...but I ask you, dearly, sincerely, is that REALLY such a great song? I mean you're a fan, is it even in the same LEAGUE as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"? Insane.

Shit, I love U2 too. But even our heroes, we've got to keep them honest. U2 IS the best rock band out there. But we need to challenge them not to be the best act, but to make the best RECORD!

(I didn't get into it with Paul McGuinness when he and Roger Ames and I were confabbing at Skybar. Roger told me that U2 did this amazing cover of a Ryan Adams track. Paul didn't catch it. We were repeating the story for him. I was making a joke..."This band, U...2, have you heard of it?" But, Mr. McGuinness wasn't in a laughing mood. It was all about world domination, whereas for the public, there's belief, but a bunch of joshing and jiving, chuckling and ribbing...but, got to give Bono props for his attitude. His line about being the one who talks, the singer, when Edge was going on...was pretty funny.)

ALAIN LEVY

You're SCARING ME!

How come whenever I see you out and about you've got no entourage, no hangers-on, no one who wants to speak with you.

I went to your party.... Whoa, CREEPED ME OUT!

I wasn't planning to go to the EMI party, but we had a friend who works for the company. We decided to stop by.

You could drive right up. No line of cars whatsoever.

Ditto when we exited.

You couldn't get NEAR the Mondrian. Sunset was a parking lot. When the Warner party ended at two...there was a veritable THRONG of people waiting to retrieve their cars.

But, wait a minute, it gets WORSE!

The food at the EMI party... Drum roll please.

Pizza, french fries, chicken strips and salad. I KID YOU NOT!

It was like going to that Halloween party that mother threw on that classic PBS Special...about the farmer's wife. She threw the whole thing for fewer than five dollars.

I'm sure the biggest expense for the EMI party was the valet parking. God, the red-vested parkers were lined up with nothing to do.

Alain... If you're going to cheap out to this level, DON'T HAVE A PARTY!

Is EMI a major or a minor?

God, you fucked up the company pretty good. You should hear the word on the street about the Serletic/Lott deal. People are BEYOND laughing. They're creeped out and sad. They feel they're watching a death spiral.

And, Andy Slater has produced no success yet. And, I heard that he wasn't even going to PUT OUT the Kylie Minogue record...you made him. Doesn't show a lot of vision. Sure, it's mainstream crap, but that's what's selling, AND a broad-based record company must sell ALL kinds of music. Just ask Donnie Ienner.

And, once again, WHERE IS THE BLACK DIVISION???

You're not inspiring confidence.

Or, maybe it's all a ruse. With these hires and a videotape of this party you're going to show up at Mario Monti's door saying he MUST allow you to merge with somebody.

This is a business of PERCEPTION!

Sure, at some point, you've got to back it up with some reality, some cold hard facts, some decent numbers. But, they go hand in hand.

Perception is EMI is HISTORY. A JOKE!

And that you're an EGOMANIAC! A NAPOLEONIC figure. Sure, you're smart, but it takes a TEAM to win. You've got to get everybody on your side. Both within your companies and the industry at large. Make nice, play with everybody. Shit, take lessons from Irving. How is it that someone who everybody says can't be trusted knows everybody, everybody admits to liking personally, and continually is a player and has success. Irving WORKS at it. By phoning, and being nice. Alain, why don't YOU phone and make nice.

And, just because you're only making a mil a year doesn't mean that EVERYBODY ELSE has to sacrifice across the board, eating french fries...hell, your health plan costs are going to balloon if you keep this up.

Hire a public relations firm. Get your house in order.

T-BONE BURNETT

Hero number two.

After the EMI party, we went to the "O Brother" soire at Patina. Lisa and her cohorts at House of Blues had been the promoter of the live show. Invitations were sent at the last minute. We said we'd only go if the soundtrack won.

It did.

I figured it would be the best food of the evening.

But, it was a bit dainty. And I'd filled up on the crap at the EMI affair.

Anyway, the "O Brother" party was very much a movie business party. They're always smaller, a bit less populated. You're not squeezed in quite as tight, you can move around.

Seemingly every actor in the movie was there. And quite a number of the musicians too.

No ogling, we were all insiders.

Anyway, I was standing by the bar, and T-Bone starts exulting.

Shit, up close and personal this guy is...an unattractive nerd. He's got a big nose and a doughy body.

But, unlike the plastic masses, he hasn't gone for surgery, hasn't started an extreme workout regime to make him look better, in order to qualify, in order to be able to play. No, he's decided to just be himself. And be comfortable in that role.

I was always a bit cool to T-Bone based on his rep, what I'd heard.

But he came across as that geeky guy you went to high school with. You weren't exactly friends, but you had some laughs in gym class.

Next to Mutt Lange, T-Bone is the best producer in the business.

He won't GUARANTEE a hit record, because maybe he refuses to change who you are to fit his hit mold. He just brings out the best you. And, if you're good...you're going to hit.

Don Was uses a similar philosophy...but Don's a little bit TOO laid back. Then again, Don's on a bit of a comeback recently.

ROGER AMES

E-mailed me about hitchhiking across Canada listening to "Take It Easy" in the car that picked him up. He asked them if they could turn it up. He'd read about the act in "Rolling Stone" and was curious.

Roger convinced me. He truly WAS an Eagles fan.

And he was extremely warm at Skybar. We were laughing like old pals. What more can you ask for?

Skybar was everything that the EMI party was not. Wall to wall people. Real rock and roll Hollywood.

Closed the evening here. Got pushed out with the rest of the crowd at two a.m.

Got home dreading the hour of back exercises still on the schedule.

But, when you've had the excruciating pain I've had...you never miss an assigned day.

And having gotten the adrenaline flowing after my workout, I sat in the kitchen and read today's newspapers.

There was Grammy coverage. Got to give Mike Greene credit. He's made the Grammys almost equivalent to the Oscars. A big deal. Everybody pays attention...except for the musos who really drive our business, who pick up on the new trends and prime the general public for them. Used to be the acts these people got into and championed were far in excess of fifty percent of the business. Now, the Top Forty wonders own the vast majority of the marketplace. Still, these dedicated fans...there's still a ton of them out there, that still believe. Living for music, looking for something new.

The old ones comb record stores. Places like Amoeba Music.

The young ones...they're all on the Net.

It's these people we've got to play to if we want our business to return to health. We've got to give them satisfying music and deliver it in a fashion they want.

Read "The Tipping Point". These are the mavens. They turn on the connectors and salesmen. Short-circuit the process and the rapidity of your ascent will only be matched by the steep nosedive of your descent.

I think I'm going to go to Mike Greene's office with my iPod. That would change his opinion.

He's say...well, can't we just do this with the major label offerings?

I'd tell him it was impossible. You can't transfer them to hand-held players. Never mind the fact that most of the material isn't available.

If I had a laptop, I'd show him iTunes. How all my music is accessible INSTANTLY!

Then I'd go online, and hopefully, at that moment, I'd be able to find a track from one of the old acts he was in, decades ago. Oh, he might be aghast at first. But then, he'd get excited. For, if he was being traded, that meant...SOMEONE REMEMBERED HIM! He hadn't been FORGOTTEN! People WANTED his stuff. Nothing is more exciting to an artist.

Sure, later, thinking about it, he'd start becoming desirous of getting paid. But then, I'd ask him. Okay, would you like to stop the trading completely? Since you're not being compensated? No, no, he'd ultimately say. He WANTED his stuff exposed. He just wanted to be paid for it.

I'd tell him we're on the same page.

And that we could have this system. Tomorrow. With their deep pockets the major players could offer a subscription service of unrestricted tracks that was so easy to use, everybody but hard core college students and cheapos would subscribe to it.