Our old manager Merck Mercuriadis sent me an email today with the subject line Just look at this smile.
This article in Rolling Stone is an amazing revelation of how badly the music industry is doing. On the other hand I couldn’t stop smiling back at the photo of Debbie Southwood-Smith, an old friend from Interscope, someone who loved Buddahead when we were signed by Jimmy Iovine to the label. When I knew her she seemed lost, unhappy, and misguided by an industry she had poured herself into. She was great her job too - she discovered and signed Queens of the stone age.
I have an amazing story about Debbie and Jimmy Iovine but I am going to keep that for “Navigating Shark Filled Waters”, so until then I just want to say, “Debbie, if you read this, I want you to know I am so overwhelmed by happiness to see you so happy - congrats - and I forgive you for trying to get me to buy pants that are way too tight for me”.