ONCE A NAME, ALWAYS A THREAT –9/8/06
" I'll let you be in my dream, if I can be in yours." -- Bob Dylan
Thirty years ago, Bob Dylan had a #1 album on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart with 'Desire.' This week, Bob returned to the top of the charts as his new album, 'Modern Times,' debuted at #1.
The album also ranked #1 on the Coalition Of Independent Music Stores chart, #1 at amazon.com, sold briskly in online digital sales, in Starbuck's (where it was sold at a sale price), and of course in the brick and mortar mass merchandisers as well. (Best Buy had it sale priced at $9.99 with a special booklet of photos) It was also sold separately with a Bonus CD. All together, all these things contributed to the first week's sales
If you're not a Dylan fan, this news is of course not very interesting to you. But a Dylan fan or not, it's proof positive again that quality artists in the upper demographics can still have impact at retail and on the charts. Dylan is an artist established in the '60's, so it doesn't take a great deal of analysis to come to the conclusion that most of his original fans (like himself) are well over 55+ years old. And guess what? Those folks buy CDs when they like them in very respectable quantities.
I'm not suggesting that Dylan isn't reaching younger fans as well. Following his last two critically acclaimed albums ('Love and Theft,' and the Grammy winning 'Time Out Of Mind'), and because of his relentless touring, he's exposed himself to new audiences everywhere. Then this year, PBS broadcast and promoted the (also critically praised) Scorcese documentary on Bob, 'No Direction Home ' several times.
The industry needs to be reminded time and time again that people that grew up in the late '50's and the '60s, are the first generation of rock'n'roll music consumers. They never stopped listening to music. Sure, their lifestyles changed, but music was always (and still is) an integral and vital part of their lives.
Dylan's music played an enormous part in keeping the music vital. When "Like A Rolling Stone" (now ranked as the #1 single by ROLLING STONE on their '500 Greatest Songs Of All Time List' ) hit the airwaves forty-one years ago in the summer of 1965, nothing was ever the same. The song brought with it a whole new sound that created a whole new genre in pop (folk-rock), it exploded out of our car's radio speakers with such force as Dylan screamed out "How does it feel?", and somehow we all knew what he was singing about. And even if we didn't, he struck us with such visceral force, we just fell down each time we heard the song.
The number of artists Dylan has influenced is staggering. John Lennon said without Dylan, The Beatles would have never written 'Rubber Soul.' Bruce Springsteen paid homage to Bob when he gave a speech before inducting him into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and has frequently talked about how Dylan influenced him. The list goes on and on and young songwriters today still record Bob's songs and sing them in concerts, broadening Dylan's audience even more.
So congratulations, Bob. It's been three decades between #1s, "How does it feel?"
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Commentary and one man's opinion –2/17/2004
THE BEATLES
"We were four guys...I met Paul, I said do you wanna' join the band, ya' know? Then George joined, then Ringo joined...we were just a band that made it very, very big, that's all." - John Lennon
Yes...very big indeed. Forty years ago the "Lads from Liverpool" hit our shores and nothing was ever the same.
Their first appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' was watched by an estimated 74 million people that Sunday night in February 1964 making it one of the biggest events in broadcast history and the crime rate in U.S. cities dropped dramatically during the show's broadcast. It was indeed, as Ed Sullivan used to say, " A really big show!"
The assault on American radio and charts was equally overwhelming. In the past few decades you've all read about the chart accomplishments of such mega-artists as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Madonna, and others, but they all pale in comparison to this statistic:
For the week ending April 4, 1964 The Beatles had 11 singles on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 chart, including the first top five slots:
· #1* - Can't Buy Me Love
· #2* - Twist and Shout
· #3* - She Loves You
· #4* - I Want To Hold Your Hand
· #5* - Please, Please Me
· #31* - I Saw Her Standing There
· #41* - From Me To You
· #46* - Do You Want To Know A Secret
· #58* - All My Loving
· #65* - You Can't Do That
· #79* - Thank You Girl
Of course if you're old enough to remember listening to your favorite Top-40 station back then you remember hearing all these songs and more as the "British Invasion" started. It's almost impossible to imagine any artist or band being able to monopolize the charts and radio in such fashion today, and I don't think we will ever see it happen like that again. It was a different time.
Just how much The Beatles changed everything in pop culture has been the subject of many articles, books, TV specials, and now they teach courses on them in many colleges. Prior to The Beatles, Top-40 radio didn't play album cuts from best-selling artists...not even Elvis at his height. But when The Beatles released 'Rubber Soul' and made the decision that there would be no single released from the album for radio or retail (much to Capitol's dismay originally), radio programmers simply put "Michelle" on their stations along with "I'm Looking Through You," and about four other tracks from the album. The Beatles ruled at retail and requests so radio had to respond. But the fact is, NOBODY had ever achieved that kind of airplay (album tracks) at Top-40 radio previously. The Beatles were the first. Of course 'Rubber Soul' wasn't the only album they released without a single for radio/retail. 'Sgt. Pepper' (the first rock "concept" album) didn't have a single and neither did their double-album, 'The White Album.' But it made no difference...they were all over Top-40 radio. Of course the release of 'Sgt.Pepper' (and subsequent concept albums by the Stones, Who, etc.) gave birth to the notion that the radio audience might want to hear more than just singles and a great radio man named Tom Donahue eventually put an FM station on the dial in San Francisco, KSAN, and "progressive radio" (the forerunner of all album radio that followed) was born.
Before The Beatles, there was no such thing as "stadium rock." Nobody had ever played arenas or stadiums before 1964. But The Beatles sold out Shea Stadium, Candlestick Park, and other stadiums around the country in mere hours after tickets went on sale, shocking those in the press and media who predicted the shows by the group ("a fad" as they were called back then ) wouldn't sell tickets in those quantities. I saw them at Carnegie Hall, Forest Hills, and at both Shea concerts. The word mania doesn't begin to describe what occurred the minute The Beatles took the stage.
Long before MTV hit the air, The Beatles made a TV film called 'Magical Mystery Tour.' Though the critics in the UK panned it for the most part, in hindsight one can watch it and realize it was merely a long-form video with five separate concept videos to support their new songs. They were years ahead of the curve in realizing how music and video could be merged for greater audience.
Another amazing fact: 'Sgt. Pepper' was recorded in four-track. Yup, that's right. Four track. Listen to it today and you realize what an engineering masterpiece it is and how many tracks had to mixed down and on top of each other to make the final recording. Many albums made today use dozens more tracks and updated technology...but sonically, 'Pepper' remains a masterpiece.
I could go on and on...I've been a Beatles fan for these past 40 years. I never imagined that night I watched them on the Ed Sullivan show that within five years I'd be lucky enough to get a job working for Capitol Records selling Beatles records, and then promoting them to the very radio stations I grew up listening to.
When I worked for Capitol Records in 1970 and 1971 in New York City I was fortunate enough to meet John Lennon. The first time I talked to him I got "mealy mouth," was nervous, and he asked me what was wrong. I mumbled and then said..."I...I watched you on Ed Sullivan..." And he said, "Ah...well, that was The Beatles thing and all that...I'm just John now...so tell me what kind of music do you like?" We talked until the wee hours of the morning and I walked back to my apartment on a cold December morning with my mind racing.
The Beatles created the soundtrack for our lives back in the '60's and each song they sang made us feel like the wait wasn’t going to be too long, and that sooner rather than later, we’d all be on our way to better lives. Maybe that’s been only partly true, but it’s what we all wanted to believe because their music made us feel such things. So we sang their songs loud, proud to claim them as "our own." But we should’ve known they belonged to the whole world and that the world we lived in was moving away from innocence.
John was right...they were a "band that made it very, very big." They were all that...and a whole lot more. A helluva lot more.
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Commentary and One Man's Opinion –3/17/2004
"NIGHTMOVES"
It was a long time coming, but they finally inducted Bob Seger into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame this week. I had the privilege of working with Bob and his manager, Ed "Punch" Andrews, when I was National Promotion Manager at Capitol. Bob even credited me with picking most of his singles from "Nightmoves" on through "Roll Me Away" in MUSICIAN magazine in May of 1983...the same month I left Capitol to join Irving Azoff and his new team at a rejuvenated MCA Records. Bob's induction this week made me think about the first time I heard "Nightmoves."
Bob was mixing the 'Nightmoves' album downstairs at the Capitol studios and one night around 7:30 p.m. Punch walked into my office with an acetate of some songs from the album. He asked me to listen to a few tracks and I did. The first track I heard was "Rock'n'Roll Never Forgets" and I thought it was another great Seger rock and roll record. Then I heard "Mainstreet" and my hairs started to stand-up...and then the opening chords of "Nightmoves" came through my speakers. It was a "one listen" record for me (and most everyone) and I knew it was going to be a BIG hit and elevate Seger into star status. Punch said something like he and Bob thought it was a hit as well, but that Bob might not want to release a mid-tempo record first because his audience might not expect it. Punch left my office to take a phone-call and I then did my own "nightmove"...I quickly put a blank cassette-tape into my tape recorder, played the song again, and without Punch knowing, I taped a copy of it. Punch returned to my office and we continued some dialogue and I said something like "this song is it...it has to be the lead single on this album." Punch told me that Don Zimmerman (then President of the label) and John Carter (one of our A&R men...and a legend in the business to this day) told him the same thing, but Bob was going to need to be convinced to release it as the first single. Bob came into my office about a half hour later and while talking to me, started staring at some black and white performance photos I had of Bruce Springsteen on my wall. "Guess you're a Bruce fan...me too," he said. I said, "I know...you called BORN TO RUN a pivotal album in rock'n'roll history in ROLLING STONE..." We chatted a bit more about "The Boss" and I eventually said, "This song is YOUR 'Born To Run' Bob...it's gonna' change everything..."
After Punch and Bob left my office, I called my boss, Bruce Wendell (then Capitol's VP of Promotion) and told him I HAD to come by and play him the tape. It was a "one listen" for Bruce as well and then he said, "I'm having dinner tomorrow night at The Palm with Paul Drew (then head of programming for the RKO Top-40 stations), I have to play this for him." Bruce had that dinner and he played the song for Paul Drew and Paul heard the same thing we all did...a smash. He told Bruce he was going to put in on WHBQ in Memphis and WRKO in Boston out-of-the-box and if it did what he expected, he'd add it a week later at KHJ in L.A., KRFC in San Francisco, 99X in New York and elsewhere. Getting these stations back then was tantamount to having a rubber-stamp that said 'HIT' to all of radio and Bob Seger had never had a single achieve that level of major Top-40 airplay.
Bruce and I called Bob and Punch several times, as did other Capitol executives, and we all insisted that "Nightmoves" had to be released first. I remember Bob was still concerned about not having a real rock'n'roll record out for his base in Michigan, and I remember saying something like, "This song is going to be so big Bob I wouldn't worry...Detroit will be proud to claim you as their favorite son." He asked Bruce and I if we thought the song would get some immediate response from some big Top-40 stations and we both told him we guaranteed it would...never revealing what had already transpired after I made a tape of the song and Bruce played it for Paul Drew.
Obviously the single was released and the rest, as they say, is history. To this day, I don't think Punch ever knew I made a copy of the song and what we did with it...but it probably wouldn't have made any difference. "Nightmoves" went on to become the "Single Of The Year" in ROLLING STONE, it took Bob into multi-platinum sales success, and it connected with the audience at large that ended up embracing Bob from coast to coast for years to come.
"Nightmoves" was just the first of many Bob Seger hits. Soon it was followed by "Mainstreet," "Still The Same," "Hollywood Nights," "We've Got Tonight," "Old Time Rock & Roll" (made even more famous by Tom Cruise later on in that great scene from 'Risky Business'), "Fire Lake," "Against The Wind," "You'll Accompany Me," "Roll Me Away," "Shame On The Moon," "Like A Rock" and more. In 1987, my boss at MCA, Irving Azoff, asked me if I'd like to promote a single by Bob from the soundtrack to 'Beverly Hills Cop 2' and he played me a demo of "Shakedown." I smiled and said, "If Bob cuts this I'll kill for this single and ram it up the charts." It went on to become Bob's only #1 single in BILLBOARD and I had great fun promoting it and to this day take great pride in its chart status.
Bob Seger was one of rock's best singer/songwriters...and I miss seeing him live. If you haven't listened to Bob lately, pull out one of his CDs and sit back and enjoy.
Congrats Bob on your well-deserved induction!
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Commentary and One Man's Opinion –3/31/04
SEEING IS BELIEVING REDUX
I originally started DISC & DAT as weekly newsletter when I was the promotion manager for Capitol Records in Florida in the early 1970's. As I mentioned in my first issue last year when I dusted off the masthead ahead again for this new media newsletter, I wrote weekly commentaries back then with the intention of creating meaningful dialogue between radio stations and the local label professionals.
One of the commentaries I wrote back then was titled "Seeing Is Believing" and it was my commentary on seeing Bruce Springsteen live for the first time on his 'Born To Run' tour. Springsteen had just gotten the covers of TIME and NEWSWEEK and the Columbia Records publicity department went into hyperdrive to make sure the world knew who the artist known as "The Boss" was. Though Bruce had achieved heavy rotation at album radio, I remember talking to almost all the Top-40 program directors about the "Born To Run" single in my region and almost all were convinced the single was "hype" and Springsteen was strictly an artist that appealed to the FM album stations.
I got my copy of the 'Born To Run' album the week it came out from the local Columbia rep, Tom Sgro, and I though it was brilliant. I also had my reservations about believing all that had been written about Springsteen's live shows in the press. How could anybody be that good? Then of course came the famous Jon Landau quote from a review of Springsteen in Boston: "I have seen the future of rock and roll and it's name is Bruce Springsteen." Whoa. That was it for me. I had to see Bruce when he played Miami and I asked Tom for tickets.
I still remember that night...because it was one of those extraordinary events in my life that reaffirmed my belief about what how powerful music can be and how it can affect one on so many levels. Bruce played over four hours that night...I ended up standing on my chair after his third or fourth encore, screaming for more with others. Screaming so loud, I lost my voice. But I screamed louder the next day in print when I wrote my "Seeing Is Believing" commentary on the front page of my newsletter and sent it out to over one hundred radio stations. (A copy of my commentary eventually made its way to Columbia Records in New York City because Bob Sherwood, then VP of Promotion, told me he'd read it) I implored every program and music director to see Springsteen and witness what I had so they too could see how an artists can touch and move an audience. So they could forget their thoughts about "hype" and really see what generated those TIME and NEWSWEEK covers. So they could see what's supposed to happen between a performer and his audience when there's a connection that bonds the audience to that performer.
Almost all the program and music directors asked me during the next week why I bothered to write a front-page article promoting an artist on another label. More important, why bother promoting an artist "without Top 40 appeal?" I spent hours...tens of hours, talking to radio people about Springsteen and how important and significant I thought it was for any artist to deliver such passion in a concert that could so move any audience after four hours. Didn't they want to be part of that? Wouldn't they want their radio audience to feel that? A few got it. Most didn't. The "Born To Run" single only reached number 23 on the BILLBOARD Top-100 Singles Chart. Of course it became a staple at album radio and it's now a classic and Bruce's hallmark song.
So I'm writing this today because I still believe "seeing is believing" and that any artist that delivers such power when they perform live makes that incredible connection with their audiences that so much of radio today doesn't. I had the privilege of seeing The Eagles here several months ago. After three plus hours of hits and an incredible show, the man sitting next to me (who was in his twenties by the way) asked me between one of the encores, "Jeez...where are the new bands like this? They don't play stuff like this on radio anymore." Well, some stations might...but they're probably country radio these days. Country radio and CMT (Country television) even played Springsteen's tracks from his multi-platinum 'The Rising' CD. But, the fact is...the guy next to me saw...and believed...he felt that connection.
That connection...I think this quote from the late Johnny Cash sums it up: "You've got a song you're singing from your gut, you want that audience to feel it in their gut. And you've got to make them think that you're one of them sitting out there with them too. They've got to be able to relate to what you're doing."
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SEEING IS BELIEVING REDUX-#2 –5/27/04
"Who can go the distance? We'll find out in the long run..." - The Eagles
Thanks to my old boss Irving Azoff, I had the privilege, once again, of seeing The Eagles live this past weekend as they continue their 'Farewell 1' tour. Glenn Frey said satirically on Round one of this tour, "This is 'Farewell 1...that way we can do 'Farewell 2, 3 and more...great marketing concept." Personally, I hope there's a 'Farewell 4, 5 & 6'. It's been thirty two years since The Eagles first hit the airwaves and their 'Very Best of The Eagles' CD package has sold multi-platinum in the past year. A "long run" indeed.
The Eagles take the stage without all the special effects now so much a part of concerts by lesser artists that need them because they divert audience attention away from the lack of real quality in songs. They do use screens for affective video and graphic backdrops...and there's plenty for the audience to watch as they hear songs that cover three decades in the band's group and solo histories. Hearing these songs performed live as they were originally recorded makes them timeless. Glenn Frey and Don Henley are GREAT songwriters...and in my opinion, they are 'America's Lennon and McCartney.' Their songs, like Beatles songs, have survived the greatest test of all...the test of time, and the lyrics and melodies are as powerful today as they were when we first heard them. When Henley sings "Dirty Laundry" today and dedicates it to "Mr. Rupert Murdoch and the Fox News Channel," the lyrics take on a whole new meaning. But most important, these are songs that will live longer than the band and they're now a permanent part of the ongoing history of American pop music. When you witness almost twenty thousand in the audience (all ages by the way) singing every word to such classics as "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "Lyin' Eyes" (which Frey dedicated to his first wife..."Plaintiff"), "Take It Easy," "Tequila Sunrise," "New Kid In Town" (well the list goes on and on...just pick up an Eagles Greatest Hits CD for more titles) you understand quickly that this is a band whose music is deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of so many people.
I didn't write this as a "concert review." I wanted to write it because I wanted to express the sheer joy of seeing such a show...one that inspires an audience to celebrate three hours of great music and also makes them ask at the end of the evening, "what artists today will be able to do this, play for nearly three hours with such a strong body of work, twenty-five or thirty years from now?" Sadly, that list has yet to be started.
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Commentary and One Man's Opinion –7/9/04
THE LITTLE BAND THAT COULD
With no "hit" single, no video play on MTV or VH-1, little or no airplay at commercial radio (only at some Triple A stations), Wilco's new album, 'A Ghost Is Born', sold over 80,000 copies its first week out, and debuted on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart at 8*. You only need look at the Top 20 albums on the Billboard chart below, to see that Wilco is indeed an exception to the rules of what's supposed to be part of the formula to generate such a strong debut chart position.
In the April 7th issue of DISC & DAT I quoted Wilco's manager, Tony Margherita as saying (in reference to people file-sharing online) "These people are NOT the enemy." I talked about the success of their last album, 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,' and told the story about how their label's (Reprise) A&R department had decided the album was not suitable for release. Wilco took the album back, put it online for their fans to hear and download, and they generated a storm of critical acclaim and controversy. Nonesuch eventually picked up the album, it was released, was certified Gold, and went on to become Wilco's biggest seller ever.
I don't expect 'A Ghost Is Born' to remain lodged in such lofty chart territory next week. Without all the "fixings" that go into making mega-platinum sellers (as mentioned above), I expect the album will take a noticeable drop in its second week and beyond. But what's important is the fact that 80,000+ people thought enough of Wilco and their music to buy this album the first week. It means there's an audience out there that's very active in responding to artists NOT on MTV, VH-1, etc. and they'll actually buy CDs (there's a twist!) from these artists if they know they're getting value for their dollars. (i.e., there's a whole lot more than just one good song on the album) Equally as important, they're buying a CD from a band that does not try and stop people from downloading their songs on the Internet, and they view the Internet as an ally.
The chart debut also provides evidence again of just how important touring can be to drive long-term artist(s) success. Touring is a critical part of artist development, and in this day of instant gratification and largely disposable music, it's an element that has sometimes been overlooked in extending the life of a band or an artist. No matter how big a video is and how many CDs artists can sell from that exposure, it means little if the audience doesn't connect with the artists in concert or if the artists can't deliver live. Wilco has been building audience and fans for years now by touring after every album release. I said it before, and I'll say it again, when artists deliver live and tour frequently behind their releases, "Seeing is believing."
Success stories like Wilco's cannot be talked about enough. Wilco makes albums that major labels used to take pride in releasing because the MUSIC was more important than worrying about how to market it to the right audience.
Billy Joel has said, " Videos destroyed the vitality of rock 'n' roll. Before that, music said, 'Listen to me.' Now it says, 'Look at me.' " While you may choose to argue that point, I think one has to admit it contains more truth than falsehoods. Wilco's music is the kind that does say "Listen to me..." and in my opinion, it's most encouraging that there is an audience that's doing exactly that by buying their CD.
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Commentary and One Man's Opinion –7/23/04
"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." - Jimmy Buffet
Thirty years ago (oops...seriously dating myself here...but as Mr. Dylan sings" Oh, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.") I walked into a radio station in Miami to promote my latest batch of records on the Capitol label and the program director asked me to listen to a new record by an artist on ABC/Dunhill. He dropped the needle down and I heard "Come Monday" by Jimmy Buffet for the first time. The melody and lyrics hit me immediately and I said something like, "Well...I guess that's one slot you're filling this week." He nodded and said "I love getting records like this...makes my job easy."
"Come Monday" became Jimmy's first hit...and though it only went to #30 on the ' BILLBOARD Hot 100' it introduced him to a whole bunch of listeners. It would be three years later before Jimmy scored his biggest single, "Margaritaville" which went to #8 in 1977, and became Jimmy's 'calling card' from that point on.
A funny thing happened on the way to radio with Jimmy's songs from that point on...despite decent album sales and good ticket sales at his concerts, radio just stopped playing them. He always received some play at AC and even at some AOR stations, but Top-40/CHR largely chose to ignore Jimmy's music because they felt it just wasn't what they were looking for at the time. All this time, Jimmy toured behind every album release and ALWAYS delivered a great show for his audiences. Many of his fans would attend multiple shows and the loyal ones would eventually become the "Parrotheads."
If you've never been to a Jimmy Buffet concert it's hard to describe the incredible rapport Jimmy has with his audience. But suffice it to say from the moment he hits the stage until the very last note of the very last song in an encore, it's just a great show. And Jimmy still delivers at EVERY show in every city...and if you haven't heard, he sells out arenas and stadiums EVERYWHERE he plays.
I've talked about how playing live can play an integral part in extending careers of artists because if they deliver in front of their audience...they make that connection that bonds the audience to the performer(s) for years. Jimmy is yet another example of an artist who's been able to do that regardless of whether radio thought he was "hip" enough to play at a given point. Jimmy's always been cool...it's just that a whole lot of radio didn't "get it" in regards to what was going on out there in his concerts. I've never understood how mass appeal radio could choose NOT to play artists like Jimmy who sell hundreds of thousands of concert tickets and millions of albums. Don't they want any of the people who but the tickets or CDs listening to their station?
This week, after a 30 year career, Jimmy Buffet notched his first number-one record as 'License to Chill' (filled with duets with Country superstars) debuted atop the BILLBOARD U.S. pop album charts on Wednesday, selling 238,600 copies plus. I hope Jimmy celebrated by having "another cheeseburger in paradise" at one of his Margaritaville restaurants.
"It takes just as little time to see the positive side of life as it does the negative side." - Jimmy Buffet
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Commentary and One Man's Opinion – 10/29/04
IT'S 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE'...BUT NOT NECESSARILY FOR OUR MUSICAL GUEST
Poor Ashlee Simpson. This past week she: a) Pulled a "Milli Vanilli" on Saturday Night Live; b) Then blamed it on her band for playing the wrong song at the end of the show (completely ridiculous and phony excuse...what did them playing the wrong song, if that was true, have to do with her vocals coming out of speakers on tape?); c) Then her father the next day blamed Ashlee's "acid reflux" problem at the time requiring the need for a vocal guidance aide since her voice was hoarse; d) Then the day after that, blaming the technical fowl-up on the drummer in the band for pushing a wrong button on some equipment.
If you haven't yet seen the clip yet on any of the dozen TV shows airing it, or heard about this yet (and that would be almost impossible since the news of this was everywhere), Ashlee had a "microphone malfunction" and scurried off stage when a production glitch caught her possibly lip-synching the wrong tune when she came out to debut the song "Autobiography" for her second number. But whoever was responsible for piping in a studio-engineered rendition for Simpson to mouth screwed up, playing "Pieces Of Me" once again. (The song she did in her first set) Ashlee hopped around briefly (looking ridiculous), then slinked off the stage as her hapless band half-heartedly faked away.
"What can I say folks, live TV," Law shrugged at the end of the show trying to explain the incident. Her manager-father said Monday his daughter used the extra help because acid reflux disease had made her voice hoarse. "The whole situation was a bummer," Ashlee Simpson said in an interview on MTV's "Total Request Live." Yeah...for you Ashlee, but we all got a big laugh from watching it over and over.
Meanwhile, Ashlee failed to show up at a previously planned concert at a Utah high school Tuesday as part of a radio station arranged contest, according to Salt Lake City TV station KSL. Ryan Cabrera performed for the kids instead of Simpson.
So now Ashlee gets added to the list of others suspected of doing the same on occasion (Britney, Janet Jackson, J-Lo, her sister Jessica, etc.).I hope that as more and more "artists" are manufactured and packaged for us all someone might consider building the ultimate models...you know, real androids with killer looks and an incredible voices. Then we can pay to see them perform in some WESTWORLD type concert venue where we've been told, "Nothing can go wrong...nothing can go wrong...nothing can go wrong..." Ooops...somebody punched the wrong button again.
