Any chance to see Lyle Lovett live in concert is a must see. This extreme talent forges between Texas Troubadour, Minister of Gospel, and Folk musician extraordinaire. I was on the team when Lyle Lovett and his large band broke and earned him a Grammy for Best Country Male Vocalist. Waters run deep with emotion and Lyle is no stranger to it in his writing. A master story teller; watching Lyle, live performing songs by Lester Young, Bob Wills and Guy Clark makes you lean in a little more. Meeting Lyle at the Greek Theater in Berkley was a moment I’ll not soon forget. Quiet, Introspective, intelligent he made us all feel welcome, especially when one of my guests said her mom was a huge fan but was running late and missed the access to get backstage. Lyle said wait a minute let’s go find her, and he proceeded to venture to the stage and look for her mom. Gracious and kind Lyle spent the next 30 minutes entertaining us with “Tales from the Road” he called them. Taking the time, speaking to each of the individuals who were our guests Backstage, he made an impression on all of us. By the way this was preshow, so after speaking to him and then watching him perform we all were mystified.
Nirvana
I met and spoke to Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl numerous times. In this profession, it’s unavoidable when you work with a label whose artists you represent when you are in the field. One of the early interactions with the band was in the planning stages of the release of ”Nevermind” Through an executive at Geffen Records we had discussed with Kurt doing a record release party, which was vetoed. I suggested an instore autograph signing or an instore Live Performance. Kurt liked the idea of performing for a small group of fans in a store and said he would only do it at an indie store. I suggest Peaches in the U- District of Seattle which was approved by the band and label. They had a solid fan base already from the release of “Bleach” and performing in small bars and clubs near the University. 9/16/1991 the store was packed to the gills with anticipation, of course the fire department showed up, took one look at the crowd inside and said no one else is allowed inside, so we stationed a couple clerks to guard the entrance, so if you were late you were stuck outside. The band lit into a searing 10 song set rift with a mosh pit and kids crowd surfing over the record racks. Kurt at one point dove into the crowd himself. The instore turned into a success, and store sold all 400 pieces of “Nevermind” The band stuck around and signed autographs for about an hour outside in the parking lot in front of the Fire Engine. The fans were great and stuck around. I brought the band back into the store to meet Jamie the manager and his staff. I leaned into Kurt and asked “Well what did you think?” and he said “Better than expected” Enough said.
https://youtu.be/wqEFhNR9-t8
https://youtu.be/s7npc9J-Zzs
Peaches store in Seattle was in the process of being sold off. The new owners called them Beehive Records.
Iggy Pop opening for The Cars
I was invited by a friend in the business to see Iggy Pop on his Blah Blah Blah tour open for The Cars at the Oakland arena in the late 80’s. I had a pair of tickets so I asked my wife to go with me and I told her that I had Back Stage passes for Iggy Pop. She was cool with it but was not as keen as I was. When we arrived there was a green room stage right set up for the greet and meet. There were probably about 20 of us. Iggy slid into the room with his manager and came right up to Nancy and I first. I introduced myself and Nancy and Iggy with his steel blue eyes was completely dialed into us. I asked him about his early days and how I had seen him at The Old Waldorf run across the table tops and cut himself with a broken bottle. We dished about the state of music and where he thought it was going. He said he was digging on The Clash recently and a few other bands. It was a great conversation and then he moved along to meet others…We stayed and had a beer all the while waiting for everyone to finish their conversations and then something incredible happened. Iggy came right back over to me and said Hey Ric and Nancy, how are you seats. I said we were all good… he had a sharpie in his hands and I rarely did this in those days but I asked him to sign something for me, he leaned over and signed Nancy’s plain white T Shirt she had on. He Thanked us for coming and exited. What struck me the most about him, was that he made the rounds at the Greet and Meet , made an effort to come all the way back around and over to me and had remembered who we were by name and made contact again to make sure we were all set for the show. Remarkable experience.
Elton John at Shoreline Amphitheater
Elton John had recently signed a new deal to return to MCA Records and was heading out on a National tour called “Sleeping with the Past” It was standard in those days to bring Record Store buyers, managers, and owners to concerts in your respective markets. I had personally invited about 20, the other staffers invited 20 and our radio promoter invited about 20, so we had a whole mess of people together. I arranged a greet and meet with Elton who said he would meet everyone pre show. Upon arriving a bit early to Shoreline, I met with production and we did the Back Stage Pass computation, also I got a chance to meet Elton in his dressing room. His dressing room had been made to order by Bill Graham himself. Bill took great pride in making performers feel special. Bill had specially prepared Elton’s dressing room with 25 hand picked Hats from a Haberdashery in San Francisco, he lined them in columns on the wall. When I met Elton he was having fun trying on the different hats with different colors, feathers, braids, crests and boas. I asked him which one he was going to wear and he said; “ I think I’ll use quite a few of these tonight” True to his word, during the performance he changed wardrobes a few times, including the Hats!
Set list 8/20/89 Shoreline Amphitheater
Smoke filled intro to
Bennie and the Jets
Island girl
Harmony
Tiny Dancer
Sleeping with the Past
The Bitch is Back into Brown Sugar cover
I guess that’s why they call it the blues
Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters Pt.1 & Pt. 2
Funeral for a Friend/ Love lies bleeding
Sorry seems to be the Hardest word
Daniel
Candle in the wind
Sacrifice
Blue Eyes
Philadelphia Freedom,
Burn down the Mission
Levon
Stones throw from here
Sad Songs say so much
Don’t let the sun go down on me
I don’t want top go with you like that
Encore
Saturday Nights alright for fighting
Rocket man (I think it’s going to be a long time)
Drinking Champagne with Diana Ross at the famed Clift Hotel in San Francisco.
I was invited to an exclusive private party at The Clift Hotel in San Francisco for Diana Ross who was embarking on a new venture “Ross Records”. a joint label deal with RCA Records. She was interested in meeting music executives in a few key markets to discuss the launch of her New Record Label and subsequent album “Red Hot Rhythm & Blues”. Here I was with my wife Nancy sitting on a couch drinking champagne and talking business with the most famous lead singer from the most successful female vocal group in Pop Music history, Diana Ross. This World Famous performer was discussing intimate details about her new project with me; and discussing how I could help her launch her record in the San Francisco Bay Area market. She told me that the Bay Area was always very supportive of her, from her early days in The Supremes to her solo career. We talked strategy, sales history, radio support and retail plans. She told me about working with Luther Vandross her producer and backing vocals on the record. By the way, The song “Dirty Looks from the album cracked the Top 10 R&B singles charts and went Gold. .So many players from the Wrecking Crew are all over the record. She discussed a TV special she was planning around the release date with special guests Etta James, Little Richard, her friend Billy Dee Williams, LL Cool J and others. She was a dream come true, sweet, honest, open and intriguing to talk to. I was also stunned when a letter arrived recapping our visit and Thanking Me for my input. Memorable to say the least.