THE SIGNAL from DAVID KATZNELSON

New look for David's newsletter, new platform...hopefully same vibe

Hey all,

After almost two years (more?) I have decided to move my newsletter onto a new platform. David Pell of NEXTDRAFT recommended that I try Substack…so here I am. I am hoping that Substack will allow me more freedom to write more, add new kinds of content…while staying with the overall vibe I have tried to keep these past years. I am uncertain if I will be publishing as regularly….let’s see how long it takes me to get the hang of the new technology in front of me. Maybe I will enlist my ten year old daughter Kaya to help out…she seems to scarily be more proficient at on-line publishing then I am. So maybe we should just dig in with some interesting articles from the past week. Click on the headline to go to the article. Thank you for continuing to read!

Flaming Lips Play Show with Each Audience Member Inside a Plastic Bubble

Leave it to the Flaming Lips to reinvent the concert experience. You knew it had to happened—bubbles everywhere. Looking forward to the tour (and loving the new album).

“Martin Eden” Lurches with Salty, Oceanic Appetites

I wrote my honors thesis on Jack London with a focus on Martin Eden. The book was a perfect read for jumping into Hollywood life for the next decade, focusing on the tension between wanting to “make it” and what to do with success when it came. I cannot wait to see this film. And while we are on the subject of Martin Eden, Greg Dulli’s THE TWILIGHT SINGERS recorded an amazing song mused by the novel on their quintessential record Blackberry Belle. Check it out here: MARTIN EDEN by The Twilight Singers.

“AT THE INSTANT HE KNEW, HE CEASED TO KNOW”…..

Mexico City's Smitheone Fuses Technology and Humanity

Groovy stuff to take you through the day….

Bob Biggs, founder of iconic L.A. independent label Slash Records, dies at 74

Very sad…great article on Bob and his career. My reflections below and an incomplete mixtape of Slash greatness here: SLASH comp

When I first met Bob Biggs, he was coming over to the Ski Lodge (Warner Bros Records) to take my boss Roberta Petersen out to lunch to talk about new BoDeans material (and probably Faith No More shenanigans as well). Of course, I already knew who he was: growing up entranced with the film DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, where he was putting together his SLASH magazine (I still own originals of the Dave Vanian and Darby Crash issues) and talking about the LA punk scene he helped amplify. When I met Bob, I had already spent years throwing records on my turntable by The Misfits and the Violent Femmes and Los Lobos and The Germs and and and. I knew how he loved both the music and the scene the music came from…the fashion, the aesthetic…I had studied it all in my Punks On Film class at UC Berkeley. So I was just amazed when he walked in…dressed more fashionably than I expected and taller than I expected… just taking over the room with this energy he always brought with him (or at least, as much as he could do with Roberta Petersen also present).

Bob looked me up and down shook my hand and immediately asked me what I was listening to. Bert smirked while trying to shut me up, feigning to not want me to give away any A&R secrets. But we talked music anyway and he would take me out to lunch every so often after, talking about his bands….wanting the scoop on what else was going on. He would even let me play him records when he was in the office…even getting interested in a band I played him…Operation Ivy…wanting to know everything about them…about Gilman street, the whole scene.  I am pretty sure he knew about them already, but it was awesome talking to the guy who signed The Germs about music.

When I took over the A&R responsibilities for the BoDeans after Roberta jumped ship to Geffen, we spoke more often. I was thankful for any and all advice he had for me, especially with a band that could be difficult.  He approached making records with a kid-like mad scientist exuberance…with the smarts of an industry veteran.

Through Bob and Bert I met the great A&R wonder Anna Statman and through her I met one of my dearest friends Mike Minky….Slash veterans…loyal to Bob wayyyy past their tenure at the label because he was a great guy…a record man…a true supporter of art and the artists who made it. He was everything you wanted him to be after reading his magazines, listening to his records and watching him up on the screen talking about punk rock. What a legacy he left.

RIP Bob Biggs and thank you. I might not be able to go drinking and raise one in your memory with all the friends of yours and mine who would do the same….but I have some records to play tonight and they have your name Slashed all over them.

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