THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
“Sometimes it is the smallest thing that saves us: the weather growing cold, a child's smile, and a cup of excellent coffee.”--Jonathan Carroll
This newsletter is dedicated to Roberta Petersen who was born on this day. She was my mentor, who believed in me at 19, signed the Flaming Lips after I brought them to her as an intern, and hired me as a full time A&R person on the same day.
Along with Karen Berg, Bert was a trailblazer: a woman A&R person in a field completely dominated by men. Bert signed Dire Straits, Devo, The BoDeans, Janes Addiction (with Steven Baker), and so many more legendary acts. You can read her obit to learn more.
What Roberta taught me was that it was ok to be unconventional when establishing yourself in a career, ok to fearlessly blaze your own path. When I graduated from college and started working for her a month later, she taught me about the Mo Ostin vision of treating artists with respect and giving them their freedom. She was a thorn in the sides of anyone who did not understand her vision for her acts, and her artists loved her for that. You saw it in their eyes when they walked into her office. When KD Lang arrived one morning with a Constant Craving final mix in her hand, the energy filled the room as she told Bert she had come straight to her office, interrupting our demo listening session, to get her thoughts on the recording before anyone else. Roberta put the track on, closed her eyes, meditatively listened with her hand on the volume control, and as the final note faded out looked at KD and smiled, “That’s wonderful…this will be huge.”
She did not work with Captain Beefheart, but when he was almost finished with Trout Mask Replica, he called her on the phone, asked her if she had an hour, and proceeded to whistle the record to her. That is one of my favorite of her stories. That and almost getting burned to death at the Flaming Lips show I had gotten her to fly to Oklahoma City to see. They lit their equipment on fire that night, and almost lost control….or maybe DID lose control, but got lucky enough to survive the evening.
She wanted to go see Slayer play but was worried that it might be too rough of a crowd to go alone. We met at the Pacific Dining Car downtown and went in my Toyota to the gig (she was worried her Jaguar would get keyed outside the venue). I kept telling her that she was overly worried; nothing was going to happened to us (she kept saying, “you’ll see, you’ll see”). As soon as the band took the stage and Jeff Hanneman started the first guitar build up while Dave Lombardo crashed onto the drums, the chairs in front of us were ripped out and a hesher right in front of me stood up and decked the person in front of Roberta. As the fight intensified she looked at me and smiled, “I told you so, sport.”
Happy Birthday Bert. Miss you dearly.
South Africa Mourns Anti-Apartheid Trombonist Jonas Gwangwa
Jonas Gwangwa never achieved the fame of fellow musician Hugh Masekela, but in his home of South Africa, his musical and political fame stayed with him till he passed. He became such a symbol for the anti-apartheid movement that at times he feared for his life (the article here reminds us that his house was bombed at one point). His band, The Jazz Epistles, both paved the way for the African-Jazz sound as well as shoved a finger at the oppressors in control of his homeland. And the track Dyambo that he recorded with Hugh Masekela & the Union Of South Africa is just a killer. There is a lot to discover within the decades of recordings Jonas laid down. RIP.
Joan Didion Revisits the Past Once More
A new collection of Didion’s early-ish work. Love this outtake in the article: Telling Didion that “having a pretty place to work is important to a man,” Nancy Reagan fills an apothecary jar with hard candies for his desk, carpets the floors of the State Capitol “in a pleasing shade of green,” Didion writes. (What green carpet, Didion’s deadpan delivery invites us to ask, has ever been “pleasing”?)
Ampersand Icon’ Penn Jillette honors Siegfried Fischbacher
A great (and unexpected) tribute to Siegfried from Penn of Penn and Teller upon Siegfried’s death a few weeks ago.
5 Unreleased and Mysterious Black Sabbath Songs
Sure, Sabbath enthusiasts have probably heard some of these songs on the bootleg circuit or around the Internet….but I hadn’t and the stories behind them are great.
Leaves Compared With Flowers
By Robert Frost
A tree’s leaves may be ever so good,
So may its bark, so may its wood;
But unless you put the right thing to its root
It never will show much flower or fruit.
But I may be one who does not care
Ever to have tree bloom or bear.
Leaves for smooth and bark for rough,
Leaves and bark may be tree enough.
Some giant trees have bloom so small
They might as well have none at all.
Late in life I have come on fern.
Now lichens are due to have their turn.
I bade men tell me which in brief,
Which is fairer, flower or leaf.
They did not have the wit to say,
Leaves by night and flowers by day.
Leaves and bark, leaves and bark,
To lean against and hear in the dark.
Petals I may have once pursued.
Leaves are all my darker mood.
Oh man, so sorry to hear that David! Only knew her by reputation, which was pretty damned good! Never knew she was Ted Templeman's sister. #RIP