BarrieBergman

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Last week the lovely wife and I boarded a big Delta Box and went to New Orleans for the Jazz Fest.  The indignities of flying today have been widely chronicled, but I saw an incredible use of our tax payer dollars, while in the New Orleans airport!

We were in the first class security line and suddenly another line opened up to our left.  It turned out this was the full body scan line.  Well before we got to the scanner, a worker told us that this was the body scan line, and if you didn’t want the scan, you needed to go back to the other line.  In other words, the scanner was only for rich people and any suicide bomber, who didn’t want to get scanned, should go to the other side.  Welcome to the Big Easy, the real Big Easy!

The Jazz Fest is the best big musical event I’ve ever been to.  It combines indigenous music with the biggest names in Rock and Roll.  Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and the Beach Boys played the first weekend, and The Eagles are playing the second weekend.

Seeing Bruce with an audience of 150,000 people was a religious experience.  He’s still the best I’ve ever seen, and he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.  Also Trombone Shorty is one of the most exciting new talents around.  Find him on a video, if you get a chance.

Four days of eating, drinking, and partying in NOLA should last for a while.  My diet and my liver are shot to hell.  Rock and Roll and old age may not be the greatest combination for a recipe.

~
Lord have mercy on my Rock and Roll soul
-Kimberly Kuepferle

Thanks Dick

We lost an American icon this week, Dick Clark.  Dick was an original.  He was the first person to break a record nationally.  He never saw color in artists.  At a time when many radio stations refused to play music by black performers, Dick played Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and James Brown for a national audience.

He was a hell of a businessman.  He took Rock and Roll from the clutches of payola and let his audience decide about the merits of the music (i.e. “I like the beat.  I can dance to it.  I’ll rate it a ten.”).

He created the Academy of Country Music and many other award shows, primarily to showcase the music, when so little Rock and Roll was on television.  His production company was extremely successful, and no New Years Eve will ever be the same without him.

I met Dick a few times.  He was always kind and respectful toward me.  He did business on an honest, ethical basis, which was missing in many of his contemporaries.

I don’t think the American record business would have developed without Dick Clark.  So many of us owe him so much.  He will really be missed.

~
Hail Hail, Rock and Roll
Deliver me from the days of old
Rock, Rock, Rock and Roll
The music is there body and soul
- Chuck Berry

Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

Recently a friend of mine sent me some statistics on healthcare rapidity in a number of foreign countries.  Why I should care about how long it takes a Parisian to receive an appendectomy is for another day, but the point is that national healthcare treatment is slower in other countries than it is here, although a lot cheaper.

I have experienced private healthcare in England.  A few years ago, I had a small shower accident at the London Four Seasons.  I ended up with a cut on my thigh that needed several stitches.  The Four Seasons was wonderful and paid for everything.  (What a surprise.)

I went to a private clinic (a.k.a. rich people’s clinic).   It was very nice and incredibly expensive.  I wasn’t paying, but I was stunned at how expensive it was.

I didn’t want to get into the English healthcare system, and therein lies the problem.  I want my cake and fast medical care, too.  I think we need to provide universal healthcare, I just don’t want to wait for my next facelift.

It seems to me that there must be some middle ground.  As a society we are going broke spending money for healthcare.  We should be able to spend less money on nationalized healthcare, but still not slow things down to a crawl.  I know that expecting efficiency out of the government is probably a pipedream, but what the hell, anything could happen.
~
I’m a big fan of Rock & Roll poetry.  So from now on I’m ending these missives with a quote from some of our great poets.

Hey diddle diddle
I’m playing my fiddle
I’ve got nothing to lose
- Chuck Berry

The Name Game

I love celebrity baby names.  It’s not enough to be screwed up themselves, celebrities need to screw up their kids with wacko names.  I know what it’s like to have a name that no one ever spells right.  My father decided to spell Barrie with an “ie” and that was the last time anybody ever spelled it right.  This is the reason I’m so weird today.

Mariah Carey named her baby Monroe, which I suppose is after the Doctrine.  She’s such a history buff.  Gwyneth Paltrow named her kid Apple, but that’s okay because she’s perfect.

Ethan Hawke called his Indiana because David Letterman is from there or maybe because the ugliest city we ever had a store in was Evansville.  Victoria and David Beckham have Harper, whose sexual orientation is unclear.

Viola Davis has Genesis, doubtless named for the band.  Alicia Silverstone has Bear Blu, which totally escapes me, and Mike Tyson has named his progeny Morocco, so he can be called “The Rockin’ Moroccan.”  Natalie Portman’s little dancer is Aleph, while Kevin James’s son is Kannon, what a little firecracker.

January Jones has Xander, a totally mad name.  Jewell calls her child Kase, which I believe is a travel bag.  Jessica Alba’s girl is Haven, which I suppose left out an “e,” but it could be a place to hide.

All this is just ammunition for my oft-held belief that people should be licensed to have children.  To use kids to encourage one’s own ego is so unfair.  I’m thinking of changing my name to Alvin.

Arts and Crafts

I’m on several boards of art organizations.  Up until a few years ago these organizations were funded by either a university or by the local government.  In our present economic environment, the arts in our country have gotten short shrift.  We’ve cut school budgets, community playhouse budgets, dance funding, music funds, and painting classes.

What place does art have in a successful society?  Why should we care about local drama classes?  Art is a mirror of our society.  It’s a way of looking at ourselves in a skewed prismatic mirror.  Art points out our foibles and our strengths in a different way.  Strong societies nurture art.  I hope we get the message before we lose some of our most valuable resources.
                                                             ~
The short term Kardashian wedding seems to have started a trend.  Celebrities are throwing away marriages as fast as they can start them.  I, for one, am terribly worried.  Just last week Heidi Klum and Seal, a marriage for the ages, split up.  Now my favorite fat person, Aretha Franklin, announced her wedding is off, stillborn before she could even enjoy marital bliss.  I think we need a congressional commission to look into this growing problem.

High Times on Stage and Off

Continuing last week’s theme of Arlene and Barrie go to rock and roll shows . . .

We once went to a show with James Brown, where he peeled off 2 one hundred dollar bills from a huge wad of money.  He handed the cash to the guy at the door and said, “Let my friends in.”  I was backstage one night talking to Sam Cooke, and I happened to mention that my girlfriend was in the audience.    Sam said that he wanted to meet her.  So he and I went into the small balcony, where he could meet Arlene.  He sat with us and talked for a long time.  To an awestruck kid, it doesn’t get any better than these experiences.

Artists say the damnedest things on stage.  Wayne Newton says, “You’re the greatest audience I’ve ever had,” every night.  Do not ask how I know this or whether I ever saw Wayne Newton live.  Once you get by the usual clichés of, “Hey Altoona, are you having fun?” or “We’re gonna party all night long,” some artists reveal themselves by what they say. Tony Bennett, admittedly long in the tooth, said, “What a night” about ten times.  Linda Ronstadt complained about how cold it was in two different concerts over a ten-year period.  Get a sweater, bitch!  Miles Davis played with his back to the crowd and never said a word.

Katy Perry, playing at home in Santa Barbara, was excited and made the evening very personal with wonderful local memories.  James Taylor sang, In My Mind I’m going to Carolina in California, and transported me home to NC without a plane.  Mary Wells, having throat trouble that eventually derailed her career, came on stage and just waved, showing she was at the concert.

The list of remarkable things go on and on, but my favorite was a middle level country singer performing in Dorton Arena, a converted agricultural building at the NC State Fair, who said in perfect sincerity as he ended his act, “Raleigh, I’ll never forget you.”

Now on Our Stage

Over the years I’ve seen some of the greatest entertainers.  My father started to take me to see great talent, when I was a little kid. Arlene, my wife, and I continued the practice.

My father took me to see such varied performers as Nat King Cole, Marilyn Monroe, and Gene Autry.  We saw Bob Hope, Perry Como, and Spike Jones.  We also saw Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and a host of other people.

Arlene and I have seen everyone from Bruce Springsteen, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, James Brown, and Tina Turner, when she was still with Ike.    Throw in Ray Charles, Led Zepplin, Sam Cooke, and literally thousands of others, and I’ve had a good look at the entertainers of the last part of the 20th century.  Looking back on all these shows, I’ve seen and heard some amazing things on stage. 

I even got to be on stage a few times.  Alabama once gave me an award in front of 16,000 people, and our family got to sit on stage during an Eagles concert.  The energy that comes toward the stage from that many people is a pretty heady experience) and is responsible for some incredible stuff that I’ve heard performers say and do.

I saw Elton John get hit by something someone in the audience threw at him.  He went down like a brick, out cold.  He came back later and finished the concert with a big bandage on his head.  One night I was in the first row for a Zepplin concert, and I didn’t stand up, when Robert Plant told the audience to stand.  He started yelling obscenities at me.  I saw Charlie Rich, the country singer, get so drunk on stage that he fell off of his piano stool.  I watched Warren Zevon swig an entire fifth of vodka out of the bottle, while on stage.  When we took a picture after his set, I had to hold him up, because he couldn’t stand.

I met Jimmy Reed, the great blues singer, laid out on a table, because he was so drunk he was too drunk to stand.  Arlene and I walked in on Jackie Wilson, when he was naked, which was thrilling for all of us.  I’ve got a bunch more.
To be continued next week . . .

He Works Hard for the Money

I saw Paul Simon at the Santa Barbara Bowl this week.  The Bowl is a little gem with 4400 seats.  It was a WPA project built in 1932.  You can see the ocean from the venue, which makes it fairly unique, and it is a terrific place for artists to play.

Paul Simon was great.  He was on for two hours and ten minutes, during which he sang most of the songs I wanted to hear, plus a sprinkling of new songs from his latest album.  He sounded wonderful, and had good stage energy, particularly considering he’s 70 years old.

He did not plug his new album; he didn’t say it was available at the concession stand; he didn’t shill for any worthy charity; and he didn’t say, “Hey, Santa Barbara.”  He also didn’t ask the audience if we were having a good time, although I think he cared that we were.

As a contrast to this amazing show, we saw Aretha Franklin at the same venue last year.  She tossed off her hits in very quickly played medleys, and she sang arias from two operas.  (Yeah, I know . . . What the hell was Aretha Franklin singing opera for?).  She was totally self-indulgent with no regard for her audience.

Aretha has assumed gigantic body proportions, and I think that this interferes with her ability to perform.  She broke a strap to her gown during the evening, which she found hilarious, but I found sad.  It just hung there, forlornly having given up the ghost of holding her in her dress.

I bumped into Aretha recently at a New York hotel concierge desk, where she was playing the bitch diva to the hilt.  I have loved Aretha since the 60’s.  It seems to me that artists need to care about their audience and be more like Paul Simon and less like Aretha.  At a time when artists have to tour to make a decent living, they owe us fans their best work.

Thanks Mark

Thank you Mark Z and the Winklevoss’s. You guys made my life better with Facebook, but I didn’t realize it for a long time.  I finally got it a year ago, when I was promoting my book and my speaking by using social media.

I looked at Facebook as a marketing tool, but what I realized was that it was a terrific way to reconnect with old friends.  I’ve lived a long time and in a number of places, so I’ve met a bunch of people in my life. By using Facebook, I’ve gotten in touch with many friends who I long ago lost touch with.

I’ve heard from numerous people I worked with at our old company, Record Bar.  Some of them I never even met because our stores were so spread out geographically.  The comments have been wonderfully complimentary.  To have people say such nice things about a company we sold twenty years ago brings me a warm glow.

It reminded me of a reunion party we had for the company a few years ago.  A lot of ex-employees of the company were there.  When Arlene and I got to the party, we naturally fell into our old rolls as hosts.  We split up and didn’t see each other until the end of the evening.  People were so warm and complimentary about the company.  We were both very gratified.  As I said to Arlene at the time, “Hell they didn’t have to suck up anymore, we aren’t the bosses now."

It’s really great that the good feelings about the company have lasted so long.  We tried to make it a special place to work, and it looks like many folks thought we succeeded.

Music Soothes the Savage Beast

I saw Alison Krause and Jerry Douglas at the Santa Barbara Bowl last week.  Alison was wonderful.  She has the voice of an angel, and she has managed to keep her band together forever. The ensemble plays the way only a band that’s been together for a long time can.

Jerry Douglas is the world’s greatest dobro player, a consummate musician, and an all round great guy.  Many years ago he stole his wife Jill away from our company, the Record Bar.  Jill was a terrific store manager, and I’ve never forgiven Jerry for it.  Jill and Jerry are still a couple after all these years, not the easiest thing for a musician, with such a demanding travel schedule, to accomplish.  They have raised successful kids and other than Jerry being on the road 150-200 nights a year, they’re just like Ozzie and Harriet.

Music has always been important to me, and to have had the privilege to be friends with musicians and song writers has been something I’ve always loved.

Seeing an act like Alison and Jerry at a beautiful venue like the Santa Barbara Bowl is magical.  The Bowl has 4,400 seats outside with an ocean view.  If you ever get a chance to see a concert there, don’t miss it.  Alison and Jerry are out for a while before they go to Europe.  Musical nights like they provide don’t come along that often.  Go see them and enjoy.