An open letter to David Baerwald and the Infosource,

regarding why I believe he gets no respect from the

label, and the music industry at large:

 

 

 

August 31, 2002

 

 

 

Greetings:

 

It has now been sixteen years since BOOMTOWN was first released by a 26 year old David Baerwald and his collaborator at the time, David Ricketts. People have been asking me why is he still an unknown quantity a decade and a half after first arriving on the scene? I have what I believe is the proper answer, and I wish to bring this up, so we can work collectively to arrive at a tenable solution that will benefit us all, and bring this music to a wider audience.

 

Before HCTNFU was released on July 16th, I had placed a personal order for what amounted to about a $425/US order, for 27 discs. Two were for Paula and I, and the rest were purchased to gift our music loving friends and family members here in Buffalo, and elsewhere. I even sent one to my friend Peter from the Netherlands. In support of my efforts, an extensive package of NFU promotional materials arrived in my mailbox one day, completely out of the blue.

 

Thank you for that package! (You know who you are!) 

 

I wanted to do the most I could to try to get a little word of mouth going.

 

I succeeded in selling about twenty additional copies of BOOMTOWN, the only other disc that is even in print at this point in time. Since I NEVER burn illegal copies of anything, all requests for copies of BEDTIME STORIES or TRIAGE had to be referred only to half.com and ebay.com, because these two discs are no longer in print, and haven't been for a number of years now. I do not know if anyone has succeeded in picking up copies of those two discs, but for the sake of this discussion, I am assuming that they haven't been able to get them.

 

But, I did not want to leave people high and dry, so I handed out copies of what is allowed to be traded. With every new person, came the same two questions:

 

01) Why haven't I heard of this guy before?

 

 - and -   

 

02) What else is available by this artist, and where can I get it?

 

Unfortunately, all I could do was get them to buy a few copies of BOOMTOWN, and nothing else.

 

As July 16th drew near, and we began seeing mass dumpings of HCTNFU in the used section of our favorite record stores, I knew that this release was in big trouble. Going into my own local store, I was able to find five promotional copies of the disc. That could only have meant that all of the local radio stations came in and dumped these discs instead of having the program director listen to them, and later, play them on the radio.

 

To the best of my knowledge, not a single local station played not even one track from HCTNFU. 

 

Not even once.

 

I also sent two discs to the best club in town, with a full promotional package, along with the name, address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail and website addresses, of BOTH the management and booking agent listed inside the disc and on the LOST HIGHWAY DB page. I was hoping to get them a gig in town. I am sad to announce that the in-house booking agent for that club didn't even acknowledge receiving my package, let alone thanking me for the free music.

 

But, I didn't send that package out to get a thank you.

 

I did it because David is a kindred spirit, and I wanted to help bring his music to a wider audience. I naiively thought that if I provided all of the info, all the guy would have to do is pick up the phone, and set up a gig on what was supposed to be a tour due to begin by the end of August.

 

We have also been hearing about the trouble people have been having with the street team, some even having no luck getting them to respond at all. Kevin, I think that was you, correct?

 

I have to assume if we cannot even get them to respond to the e-mail of people who sincerely want to help, then they aren't very interested in promoting an artist they claimed they were excited about signing, and adding to the roster of talent previously signed to the label.

 

LOST HIGHWAY has had at least one hit before, so they do know how to do their job when they WANT TO. The trouble is, why they would claim they were excited about signing David, and later, do absolutely nothing to promote him, has been one of the reasons why we all have been left scratching our heads here of late.

 

I have arrived at what I believe is the answer, and I would like to see what everyone here thinks about my idea concerning this matter. As I said above, I would like to arrive at a workable solution, so we can ram this record up the charts, in spite of the label ignorance.

 

If you look carefully at the HCTNFU liner notes, you will discover that LOST HIGHWAY is part of what is now UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP. Between SONY, AOL TIME-WARNER, and UMG, these three companies alone probably account for 80% of everything on the shelves in all of the record stores across the entire USA.

 

To say that this is BIG BUSINESS, almost misses the point entirely. This is because I believe that this matter goes far beyond mere business considerations.

 

As we have made it safely across the threshold into the 21st century, all throughout our lives, we have found more and more power being given to fewer and fewer people. If the statement above is true, that these three companies alone account for 80% of what makes it into your favorite record store, that also means that less than ten people are making all of the decisions as to what we get to hear, and what gets to those store shelves.

 

The one thing that I have a greater awareness of, is that the music of today, is completely devoid of all of the following:

 

01) Political awareness and activism

02) Spiritual growth and development

03) Self-awareness and self-actualization 

04) Thought and independance from the herd

 

Naturally, you can respond and claim that hardcore rap and hip hop is politically aware, but, unfortunately, that is the politics of division and self-destruction. It is mostly about issues that only serve to divide and conquer a social class that has nothing, and to fight against it, the victor gains nothing.

 

Listen to the music on the radio, or on MTV or VH-1, and you are treated to an endless display of visual titilation, and sterile, robotic, and clinical beats where one group is merely a cookie cutter replica of what was popular six months ago.

 

Just to give you one example:

 

We have the "three black chick" DESTINY'S CHILD, merely copying what EN VOGUE and T.L.C. did a couple of years ago. And, THEY were only copies themselves of THE SUPREMES and THE VANDELLAS from the 1960's. Recycle and repeat. This is the mantra of the music industry at this point. For a couple of hard rock examples of this concept, listen to BON JOVI and DEF LEPPARD. Both are spending their entire careers rerecording alternate versions of what amount to nothing more than SON OF SLIPPERY WHEN WET and HYSTERIA LITE.

 

The same set of severely limited musical and lyrical themes are endlessly recycled, which has quite a hypnotic effect on the listeners, dulling their senses until the point when they desire and expect a very limited subset of the true talent or ability of the artist, that is, if you can even call most of them "artists" at this point.

 

For David Baerwald once upon a time released an album that was the result of his listening to his producers and label A & R reps, and today, he does not hide his distaste for that album. He also goes out of his way NOT to perform songs from that album, because it wasn't what he was truly capable of, and he knows it. This is why BEDTIME STORIES is not represented fairly in his live sets.

 

So, for his next release after BEDTIME STORIES, David listened to his heart and soul, and spoke out about issues that concern him in an extremely deep and profound manner. This is why TRIAGE is recognized as his most personal and best release by quite a large number of those who enjoy his music.

 

But, speaking out against the "POWERS THAT BE" doesn't endear an artist to the label, when that label amounts to nothing more than "POWERS THAT BE, INC."

 

You can assume that the major label indifference to David Baerwald is a confirmation of this idea, because the man has proven over and over again that he knows how to write hits. But, David has stated here several times that he cannot bring himself to the level of hack writing that others such as RANDY NEWMAN, seem to have no problem doing the same thing over and over again, ad nauseum.

 

It seems every time I go to the theatre to see a film, the music is done by either DANNY ELFMAN, or RANDY NEWMAN.

 

The people behind POWERS THAT BE, INC. do not like it when the TRUE POWERS are attacked, and that appears to be David's greatest transgression or trespass against the unwritten rules of the music industry. They may not like it, but for me, it was extremely heroic for him to place his morals and social consciousness above and beyond any financial considerations.  

 

For instance, David's dedication on TRIAGE did not bode well for his future in the industry, so long as that future depends upon the good graces of those who work for POWERS THAT BE, INC., but, this is also why David is one of my own personal heroes and a mentor of sorts.

 

Anyone who reads David's lyrics immediately understands his personal anguish at the way things are going right now, with the greed, and with the uncompromising dishonesty of politicians and big business, of which LOST HIGHWAY, and to a greater degree UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, is certainly a part. All of you here at the Infosource who have been keeping up with my concerns, will recognize similar themes in my own writing.

 

So, the problem boils down to this:   

 

How can we translate our enthusiaism into advocacy for this wonderful music, and this emotionally driven and pensive artist?

 

This appears, to me, to be the problem at hand.

 

Since July 16th, I have either purchased or encouraged the purchase of approximately 50 discs. This was what I was capable of, given my budget and personal situation. Like some of you, I cannot pick up and go to a club and do one-on-one advocacy and cheerleading for the NFU.

 

But, something so simple as writing a review for AMAZON.COM, I am quite surprised that more of us didn't do at least that much. That only takes a couple moments, and costs nothing but your time and a little creative writing.

 

So, given these circumstances--- anyone care to offer additional thoughts, and/or a solution, or a working plan to transcend our own musical tastes, and become an advocacy group for this dear friend of ours?

 

Any additional thoughts?

 

David, how about you? Do YOU have anything to add to this discussion? 

 

 

Peace and Prayers -----> Kent Daniel Bentkowski - Buffalo, New York USA