Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Anyone watch the ELO concert on BBC2 last night? It was recorded at Wembley in June.

Actually, it's not ELO these days, the band had a falling out, so now we have to call them Jeff Lynne's ELO.

I was going to describe the Show, but whilst searching for something related - follows shortly - I discovered this review of the Show, so you are spared my ramblings;


https://rockshot.co.uk/27284/live-jeff-lynnes-elo-wembley-stadium/


It was not the best ELO gig I've ever seen, but ELO are ELO & always worth a watch. The 2014 Hyde Park conceet was so much better. Wish I'd gone to see that.

Lynne was a factory worker when he left school but he dreamed of being a rock star, so one day he just refused to get up & go to work, telling his disapproving Mum "I'm gonna be a rock star".

He's not done too bad for himself.

Love their stuff, so upbeat. Much of it is nearly 50 years old, but Mr Blue Sky, Telephone Line, & Roll Over Beethoven have aged superbly & they still cheer me up.

He's well connected, too, with the likes of Dylan, Harrison, Orbison, & Petty in his network. Ugh, just realised 3 of those at no longer with us.

2 disappointments from last night's TV Show - he never did Ticket to the Moon. That one is a mere 36 years old, but I know every word;


Remember the good old 1980's
When things were so uncomplicated
I wish I could go back there again
And everything could be the same

I've got a ticket to the moon
I'll be leaving here any day soon
Yeah, I've got a ticket to the moon
But I'd rather see the sunrise, in your eyes

[tikay]

The other disappointment in the Show was the absence though illness of Richard Tandy.

Richard has been with Jeff forever, (well, 46 years) & he's essential.

He's wonderfully anti-cool, turning up for a (soft) rock gig wearing a lounge suit.

Click to see full-size image.

If you can't place Richard Tandy, he's the pianist who does that waow-waow mouth organ thing in Mr Blue Sky (2 minutes in). And if you decide you cba to watch an old bloke in a lounge suit waow-waowing, think again, you might just enjoy admiring the lady violinist. Most fetching. This was from the Hyde Park do.

[tikay]

Talking of Rockumentaries, anyone see It's So Easy, And Other Lies?

It tells the story - in his own words -  of Duff McCagan. who was the bass guitarist for Guns N Roses, & Velvet Revolver.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duff_McKagan

Duff narrates the whole thing, backed by a band gently strumming the soundtrack of his life (mostly GNR stuff) behind him. He's 53 now, but looked great in a smart black suit & white shirt.

Not the kind of person I'd usually take to - his addiction to cocaine & vodka makes Keith Richards & Anthony Keidis look like beginners - & he had to get to the gutter before he sorted himself out. His pancreas exploded to the size of a football & he was near to death, but he was soon back to his alcohol & drug addiction again.

But then, like a fairy tale, he meets a beautiful girl, & they have a kid, & then another, he goes all daft & soppy, loves them to bits, gets himself cleaned up, & they all live happily ever after. Ahh.

Now he's a wealthy businessman - runs a sort of Wealth Management business for rock stars, lives in a grand waterfront home & has got the lot.

You can probably find it on You Tube, its also available in Audio Book & all that sort of stuff. It's a bit long - nearly 2 hours - but incredibly good to watch.

Here's the 2 minute trailer - please watch it, you'll get the flavour straight away.







He looks pretty good these days too, all things considered, huh?

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Ever wondered how much Noddy Holder & Slade must be worth?

That bloody "Merry Christmas Everybody" thing - it's Christmasssssssssssssss - has been around for 32 Christmases. (Christmas's?)

Turn the Radio on, there it is, walk into Tesco or Asda, there it is again. Sympathy goes to Supermarket Staff who are forced to listen to that shite on a loop all day long.

Here's the Radio 2 PRS Royalty Rates;

Per minute - £21.77

Per track (average) £82.07



It's mind boggling how much they must have earned from that one ditty.

No wonder he is always smiling. Well he might.

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

Ever wondered how much Noddy Holder & Slade must be worth?

That bloody "Merry Christmas Everybody" thing - it's Christmasssssssssssssss - has been around for 32 Christmases. (Christmas's?)

Turn the Radio on, there it is, walk into Tesco or Asda, there it is again. Sympathy goes to Supermarket Staff who are forced to listen to that shite on a loop all day long.

Here's the Radio 2 PRS Royalty Rates;

Per minute - £21.77

Per track (average) £82.07



It's mind boggling how much they must have earned from that one ditty.

No wonder he is always smiling. Well he might.

Click to see full-size image.

£82 per play? Are you sure? I'm struggling to grasp the enormity.

Presumably it's split between a lot of peeps?

[booder]

That bloody "Merry Christmas Everybody" thing - it's Christmasssssssssssssss - has been around for 32 Christmases. (Christmas's?)

I will take the overs.

[tikay]

Ever wondered how much Noddy Holder & Slade must be worth?

That bloody "Merry Christmas Everybody" thing - it's Christmasssssssssssssss - has been around for 32 Christmases. (Christmas's?)

Turn the Radio on, there it is, walk into Tesco or Asda, there it is again. Sympathy goes to Supermarket Staff who are forced to listen to that shite on a loop all day long.

Here's the Radio 2 PRS Royalty Rates;

Per minute - £21.77

Per track (average) £82.07



It's mind boggling how much they must have earned from that one ditty.

No wonder he is always smiling. Well he might.

Click to see full-size image.

£82 per play? Are you sure? I'm struggling to grasp the enormity.

Presumably it's split between a lot of peeps?

Yes, fair point - that amount is divvied up (variously) between the artiste(s), songwriter, publisher, record label etc.

It still comes to a few bob though.

Here's the page I found those Royalty Rates, it's about half was down;


https://www.sentricmusic.com/blog/2014/october/a-dab-ble-into-radio-royalties/



The records go round, & money comes out the other end.

We should form a blonde band, & cut some tracks, you never know, we might be the next Robbie, Jeff or Taylor Swift.




 

[RED-DOG]

We should form a blonde band, & cut some tracks, you never know, we might be the next Robbie, Jeff or Taylor Swift.

 

Dickie Hart and the Pacemakers?

[tikay]

That bloody "Merry Christmas Everybody" thing - it's Christmasssssssssssssss - has been around for 32 Christmases. (Christmas's?)

I will take the overs.

You got me there Norfolk Bloke. I blame my researchers.

Make it 44 years.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Xmas_Everybody

That Wiki page is worth a read. Here's a snippet or two;


In 2009, PRS for Music announced that up to forty-two percent of the world's population could have listened to the song


In 2015 it was estimated that the song generates £500,000 of royalties per year


Nice little pension, that.

[tikay]

We should form a blonde band, & cut some tracks, you never know, we might be the next Robbie, Jeff or Taylor Swift.

 

Dickie Hart and the Pacemakers?

Ooh, very good.

[RED-DOG]

We should form a blonde band, & cut some tracks, you never know, we might be the next Robbie, Jeff or Taylor Swift.

 

Dickie Hart and the Pacemakers?

Ooh, very good.

To be serious for a moment, I assume you're ticker is fine, it was just your pipes that were a bit clogged, yes?

[nirvana]

I watched about 4 mins of the ELO thing on yesterday - mostly just trying to get a close up of him to see if I could figure out how old he was as his voice was a lot better than most people of his age at these kinds of events. Never much of a fan but I liked one track - 'Livin Thing' back in the day so I could spare 4 mins in case.

Anyway I was Moved to wiki him and I think he was 70. Pretty good for his age and like you allude to, incredible number of collaborations with pretty stellar names - most pretty boring tbf but I acknowledge their mass middle of the road appeal :-) Slight comical and melancholy undernote looking out at the crowd and thinking I'd fit right in to that demographic

[mikeymike]

My buddy John of 30 odd years wrote the music for a No1 in 1986 and gets a nice royalty every year, the funniest thing is it was his only hit and on the record label they spelt his surname wrong.

[hhyftrftdr]

You're on the gravy train for life if you can write/record a successful song for Christmas. As long as it gets on the radio and on all the compilations in December then you're laughing all the way to the bank.

[Karabiner]

Jona Lewie must have made and still is making an absolute fortune for a guy with fairly limited talent.

I still sing along to both of his hits though - send the cavalry and kitchen at parties -so it seems that catchy pays serious dividends.