Frank Gutch Jr: While Most of Us Talk, Some of Us Do— Grass-Tops Recording; Record Store Day Goodies; Media and Politics— The Hot Topics Are Nothing New; Plus Them Incredible, Edible Notes

Don’t look now, kiddies, but in spite of all the mumblings and grumblings of a plethora of naysayers, the music industry is reinventing itself.  Not at the top, of course, where one (Universal) or two (are any others left?) keep eating the detritus remaining from the Great Music Holocaust of the late-90s and early-2000s.  Rather than change the model, executives at the various major labels would rather go down with the ship, hopefully while clutching that pot of gold in the form of those golden parachutes being handed out by corporations which claim to lose money but which seem to be able to find millions enough to buy out contracts of those leaving the fold. (How do you spell bribery these days?)  They hang on, but not because they are competent.

Frank Gutch Jr: Read It Now: A Look at the Edward R. Murrow I Remember… plus Notes You Should Read…..

This will not be like any other column I will write for DBAWIS.  I will sound different and write differently and will, in all probability, mimic the style of one of the most influential people in my life outside of my immediate family.  That style may seem outdated in this world of soundbytes and visual chicanery, a world in which you have seven seconds to catch a potential reader/viewer’s attention.  It is solid and straightforward enough but would be looked upon certain pundits of pop culture as dull and outdated.  Seven seconds.  For most music programmers for the chains of radio stations gathered under the ever-growing corporate umbrellas, that is how much time you have to make your case.  It would be enough to make Edward R. Murrow‘s eyes roll back in his head, though I am pretty sure they never did.  Roll back in his head, that is.  Murrow was never surprised, or didn’t appear so onscreen.  And he was seldom caught off guard.