Was today as rotten a Monday for you as it was for me? Good gracious. Computer problems, having to re-do things, printer problems... ugh, ugh ugh! It sure was Monday.
I did not get to go to the Big & Rich party, had a last minute project come up. I did, however, confirm with the label that Keith Anderson's cd has been pushed back, and will NOT be coming out October 9th. (Feel free to go out and buy Van Zant's CD that day instead!) There are some good party pictures up at CMT.com.
I've decided I need a reality show. Because the things I get to do, really are too good to just keep to myself. I love sharing with y'all here, but it would be so much better if I could just take you all with me so you could experience it all first hand. I guarantee you that you'd have a completely different outlook on music, and the artists.
Today's celebrity extravaganza was a Round Robin with Faith Hill. Like a high profile Round Robin I did last week, it was held at The Reba Complex (aka Starstruck Entertainment) at lunchtime. (Reba was in the building, but I didn't get to see her.) Unlike last week's extravaganza, they fed us lunch! Seriously -- I can't tell you what a difference that makes in my day. Not that I expect to be wined and dined at every turn. But if you schedule any media event near a mealtime, you KNOW it's not going to start on time, it's going to run long, it's going to completely wipe out the day's schedule, and we're going to be behind on everything else we've got to get accomplished in our day. A sandwich and a cookie goes a long way in smoothing everything out and making it ok. Because without it we're hungry, grumpy, and needing to get out of the office.
So I definitely appreciated the set up. They played us the new single, which Faith debuted on Ellen. Which reminds me, I forgot to share my Ellen in NYC story -- remind me to do that tomorrow. I liked the single, although I think the title should have been "Let it Rain."
Right off the bat Faith told us nothing was off limits, whatever we wanted to talk about was cool. There were about 10 of us in the room, and 3 more out of towners on the phone. We were supposed to go an hour, we each got a question and a follow up.
Once an hour was up, Faith was insistant on staying and making sure everyone got a 2nd round of questioning in. We stayed for over an hour and a half. She was very loose and talkative and relaxed, and it was a lot of fun. She joked and talked about the Tim onstage incident in Louisiana... shared stories about the girls... talked about the tour... the upcoming Greatest Hits project... we covered everything. And while Faith was working, Tim was taking Gracie to the dentist.
The only time things got dicey was when she was asked about the CMA's not recognizing the highest grossing country music tour with an Entertainer of the Year nomination. "You will have to ask the CMA's about that." When pressed further she was quick to say that Tim deserved it, and lavished praise on what he's done for country music, onstage and off. She said his reaction was "why don't they like us?" and as a wife, she was there to console him, and that after a couple of days they just moved on. She also said it was the CMA's loss, because he wouldn't be on the show, and the fans' loss, because they would be disappointed in not getting to see him.
She also completely volunteered the full story of what happened at last year's CMA's... how it all went down, how she even heard about it, calling Carrie that very night, and how her biggest concern was that her girls were going to get harrassed at school about it. (And they did.) She revealed calling her manager and saying "I'm done" because she was just sick about it all. It was only a couple of weeks ago that she saw the telecast for the first time - she couldn't bring herself to watch it until now. And once she saw it, she understood why people took it so wrong. But she also said there are "miles" of tape of her clowing around with the camera guy at various tv and video shoots.
I have 4 1/2 pages of notes from our session, I wish I could come up with a way to share everything with the world. The sad thing is it all gets chopped up into "newsworthy" soundbites, but as a complete conversation, I think these types of things are really special. I just wish I could figure out a way to transfer them in their entirety (or mostly entirety... there are always some things not fit to print, LOL) onto the radio. This type of thing is what makes me realize that I'm in such a blessed position, and I know the fans would love to be in my shoes. Heck, I'm a fan myself, and I love being in my shoes!
Maybe that's the show. In My Shoes.... a conversation with (Artist). Although I prefer the idea of wearing a camera on my head and making my own little reality show. Ooh -- how about calling it "Fly on the Wall."
In other Late Night Ramblings... there's a Greatest Hits epidemic sweeping country music. Trisha Yearwood, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Sara Evans (10/9) Keith Urban (11/20). Lonestar reveals their new lead singer this week at a showcase in Nashville I'm hoping to make it to. "More Than A Memory" only fell to #8 on Country Aircheck's chart... I haven't seen R&R yet. Trisha is up 2 spots to #27.
15 comments:
Thanks for confirming that Joyce! You Rock!! I'm not a very happy camper at the moment. @#%$!
We've been waiting for the past 6 months for the CD, did they happen to give a reason why the pushed it back again?
I would love to tag along with you some day. I like your suggestions for a show title. The show may keebosh (sp?) your "Protecting the Guilty" topics that you share with us.
"Trisha is up 2 spots to #27." Maybe they will meet in the middle somewhere. :-)
Paula
I would LOVE to be the fly on the wall in your office or the mouse in your purse as you trek from event to event!
You do such a wonderful job telling the stories here on your blog. Thanks for sharing with those of us far far away that can't participate (even in the 'open to the public' stuff!)
Thanks for all the info, J.
I know this is late but this quote from Garth Brooks is bothering me. The CMT recap of his #1 party quotes him as saying:
"Asked if his No. 1 debut might set a precedent for new country singles, Brooks said, 'I hope it's a rare thing because songs should earn the right,' and that the fans should be the ones who get it there."
Isn't that hypocritical? "More than a Memory" got to #1 in its first week because of Big Machine, not because of the fans got it there. It didn't "earn the right." So what Garth is really saying is that he hopes the principle of fans getting a song to #1 applies to everyone else except for him. Sorry, I can't respect that.
I've heard Lee Brice's original of "More than a Memory" and it's much better than Garth's version anyway. It's a good song but only a mediocre performance from Garth Brooks. I think there are much more deserving songs on the chart right now, including Trisha's song. Congratulations to the Big Machine machine I guess but I'll be hoping that MTAM doesn't make it back to #1.
About Faith, it's tough when the story everyone's telling isn't the one that most of the media wants to hear. Even Carrie went everywhere, including Oprah, to say that Faith was joking and had always been really nice to her. Still there are people who will never believe that it was a joke. I'm sorry that it affected her family.
I wish I like Faith's new songs from this greatest hits set better. It's confusing because she seems to be zigzagging back and forth from country pop to the down home traditional stuff. "Stealing Kisses" was a great song and she did a great job with it. I wish it had done better on the radio because I like it so much more than "Lost" and "Red Umbrella."
Leelee - I presume it's because the single didn't do well, they need the power of airplay to propel album sales.
Floating -- if you re-read the quote, you'll find the answer to your question lies right inside, and Garth was anything but hypocritical.
"Asked if his No. 1 debut might set a precedent for new country singles, Brooks said, 'I hope it's a rare thing because songs should earn the right,' and that the fans should be the ones who get it there."
He was asked if what MTAM did (debuting at #1) should set a precedent for new country singles (first time it happened, but could it be the wave of the future?) And he said he hoped it (debuting at #1) was a RARE thing (not happening regularly) because the song should EARN (deserve, work for -- not be entitled to) the right to be number one and that the FANS (not the record label) SHOULD BE (weren't in this case, but SHOULD BE) the ones to get it there.
He continued on to predict it would fall as low as the 30's (although it didn't) and then he wanted to see if "fight and claw" (little by little) it's way back to the top, because he'd love to give those guys another party. That's where he had the great line that I loved about after it falls "there begins it's journey."
I can't imagine how he could have been more gracious in saying -- I know this is a rarity, but I want to prove, the old fashioned way that this is a great song that is touching people.
You said So what Garth is really saying is that he hopes the principle of fans getting a song to #1 applies to everyone else except for him. Sorry, I can't respect that.
If he had said that, I totally wouldn't respect that either. I hope now that you've looked at what he said a little closer, that you see he didn't say that at all.
Thanks for giving me the chance to clear up the confusion.
I would like to hear Lee's version as well -- if you read my post about the #1 party you saw that Garth said HE liked Lee's version better, and the other song in his catalog that he could say that about was "Shameless." Pretty good company for Lee to be keeping, and I'm excited that a fellow GarthNutt is seeing his dream come true!
Lee Brice had the song on his myspace when the single was first announced, J, but last I checked it wasn't there anymore.
J, I appreciate the additional context. But the fact remains that Mr. Brooks made his comments after engineering a huge push to debut at #1. If he believes so strongly in #1s being earned, why was he behind the big push in the first place? It doesn't change the inconsistency for him to say he knows this one didn't earn it but now he hopes it does. Not for me, anyway.
If you believe songs should earn #1, then let requests and listener feedback decide the song's fortunes from the beginning. Don't manufacture an event and then turn around and basically say it should be a one time exception.
Yes, Lee Brice pulled his version of MTAM from his myspace a couple weeks ago. Understandable but too bad. He doesn't oversing the song the way Garth Brooks does.
Sorry if it sounds like I'm taking my chart frustrations out on one song. I don't think MTAM is a terrible song and there are songs that I dislike a lot more that have made it to #1. It just so happens that the circumstances here are an especially ugly reminder of how listeners can get bypassed by backdoor corporate shenanigans.
Well I'd disagree that it was engineered to be #1... if you'd have asked anyone at Big Machine 2 weeks ago where they wanted it to debut, I guarantee they never dreamed that big. It was engineered to be a big smash, yes, and I'm sure when Kenny set a new record at #16 last week it gave them something to shoot for. But if a record company could FORCE radio to play their music, believe me, there'd be a lot of songs that would have gone #1. If it had been a sucky song, radio wouldn't have played it.
I'd also disagree that listeners got bypassed because radio played the song that much. Talk to Barbara, in Columbus, who's radio station at first wouldn't play it because "it wasn't a Top 20." That's the way a LOT of radio stations operate, and believe me, that doesn't have anything to do with whether the fans want to hear it. How many stations STILL haven't added Trisha's single because it's only at #27? Fortunately (for Barbara, anyway!) the OH station did add the song a couple days later and started playing it nearly hourly -- not because it was debut day and all these stations across the country were doing it, or because Big Machine asked them to, but because listeners (like Barbara, who were requesting and requesting) were demanding they do so.
No matter how you look at it, it's a bit of a wacky system the way FM radio "tests" songs and hires consultants to determine what should be played. I'm glad we don't have to live that kind of life at XM!
I like the idea about you wearing a camera on your head too. But you do make us feel like we are right there with you! :) Thank you.
I don't like Lee Rice's version of MTAM, but maybe thats just me.. I THINK I have it on my computer...
No matter how much I request and request songs on my local FM station, they still will NOT play any Trisha Yearwood single--they just play She's in Love with the Boy, How do I Live, and maybe XXX's and OOO's. As a matter of fact, I don't believe I've even heard Garth's current single. Sure, I don't listen to it as much as I do XM, but you'd think I'd at least hear something...
J, I respect your position but I disagree. For every station like the one in Columbus, there were 5 or 10 that spun MTAM every hour. They announced they would do this even before anyone had heard the song. That is bypassing the listener, no matter how you look at it.
My argument has never been that MTAM is a sucky song. Lee Brice, Kyle Jacobs, and Billy Montana wrote a good song though not a great song, in my view. My argument is that this is not such an event song that it warranted being shot up to #1, or even top 5 or top 10. Why am I holding it up to such a high standard? Because of where it ended up. I believe its debut position is at least 95% reflective of corporate shenanigans, and to me that is unacceptable.
Of course there were some requests for Garth's song -- the man has a lot of fans. I never argued that he didn't. But MTAM was not topping request lines at various key stations the week it debuted at #1, nor is it now. When I say its performance is not the by product of listener feedback it's not because I think no one in America likes or loves this song. It's that not nearly enough radio listeners responded to this song in a way that justifies its #1 debut. This was an event manufactured by hype and backroom deals, without enough respect for real listener feedback.
I agree the system is hinky with consultants and testing. One of the consequences is that it has become harder and harder for any women to break through and chart consistently. I find that disheartening to watch. But the imperfections of the system aren't an excuse for bypassing it as blatantly as Big Machine and Garth did with MTAM. At least the system involves an effort at getting real listener feedback through statistically reliable means. I often don't like the result in the current system but I sure as heck prefer it to what happened with MTAM. Especially with Mr. Brooks now disingenously saying that he hopes MTAM climbs within the current system after he went outside of it.
I don't mean to be argumentative. LOL, this is my Garth moment, where I say I don't mean to be something but sound like it anyway. Sorry. Let's just agree to disagree. Peace.
Floating, every artist wants their song played on radio alot. Garth of course wanted "More Than a Memory" to be number one, but he himself said on an interview that he could have never dreamed it debuting at number 1. Like J said no one ever imagined it debuting at number 1. More than a Memory is a great song that radio stations ate up. Ultimately it is the radio stations decision to play the song or not, how many ever times they play it. Some have played it hundreds of times, some none. Garth is a very popular artist with a great new song. Radio is thrilled to have him back with the fans. That is why it debuted at number 1. Not because of a scheme on Garth or Big Machine's part. Garth is the artist who consistently sets records. This is just another feat under his belt. There is no need to call him hypocritical or unworthy of a number 1. He can't help that radio is VERY excited to have some new material from him and it happens to be a great song that deserves number 1 no matter how it makes it there. The fans can now request More than a Memory and bring it back to number 1 which I think is a real possibility.
Another thing to bear in mind- radio sells advertising to pay its bills; the more listeners, the higher the rate to advertise. That's why drive times and midday, when there is likely to be a larger listening audience, it costs more to advertise.
If a radio station is announcing the largest selling artist in the country will be on every hour, don't you think for one minute those advertisments are going to be very expensive for the businesses, as they know the audience numbers will also be very high.
Radio is a business, period. IF they don't have enough businesses buying advertising space they're gone.
Garth isn't being played every hour right now, but he is getting airplay. I've yet to hear trisha's new one, but I'm requesting it daily.
Joyce,
Thanks for the great blog full of information. I just got Kennys new album.....its awesome. I love all the songs already. Glad to hear he is a down to earth person...he deserves all the success that is coming his way. I cant wait to hear Faith' new song. Hope you enjoyed NYC. God Bless. Anja
Anja! How on earth did you find my cyberspace home? I'm tickled that you are here! Welcome. :-)
Ladies and Gentlemen... Anja's husband was the lucky winner of the 2 backstage passes to meet Kenny at Madison Square Garden. She and her hubby Steve were awesome -- and they're XM subscribers!
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