Shooting Stars

[afaceinthecrowd]

Shooting Stars: LRH & the Mission Holder's Kristallnacht—My “Take”

“It’s time for everyone to sit back, relax and enjoy…All! That! Jazz!” Bob Fosse

Over a few installments…not sure how many yet, probably 3 or 4…I hope to, as best I can, say what I wanted say when I first posted here almost a year ago. Having ESMB to post stuff on and all Y’all to read and comment on has done me a world of good. I hope something in this is helpful to someone else now or on down the road.

Thank you, blownstaffmember, for making the comment that led to me to realize that this was something I needed to do…thanks a whole bunch for your superb rhetorical question, “Was there anything that elron did that wasn't sophomoric?”

For anyone that comes across this thread somewhere down the river and hasn’t read the first two parts of my “Take” on the Apollo Stars it may be helpful, for full “context”, to do so before reading this.

http://www.forum.exscn.net/showpost.php?p=373064&postcount=74
http://www.forum.exscn.net/showpost.php?p=393190&postcount=84

If anyone out there has additional information, “seasoning” or a different “Take” I’m all ears.

Looking back on all this now and what came after, my “Take” is that the “Power of Source” story may well be the story of the "tipping point" that led to the Mission Holder’s Kristallnacht.


Part One

Ron, The Music Mogul

"The Situation”

The initial Test Lacquer Masters from several World Class Mastering Studio Labs were dispatched, post haste to the Apollo where Hisself, his electronics/recording geek Dan Auerbach, his audiophile Son-in-Law, Jon Horwich (Action Aide, Head of the Action Bureau Flag where all Flag Missions were prepped, briefed, “fired”, operated and debriefed) and a small cadre of “insiders” listened to them on El Ron’s personal and very expensive, Studio Quality, State of the Art sound system.

As said in my narrative in the 2nd link above, the POS Master Tape was one serious goat rope. El Ron insisted that the Master Discs (one for manufacturing each side of an LP vinyl disc) be cut “flat”…straight to the Lacquer Master with no Sound Engineering. This was done in face of the fact that the exacting, sequential and well established “Tech” for LP production was to get everything down per established parameters on a Master Tape. The generally accepted Master Tape “recipe” was for what is essential to be in the “pre-mixed” ingredients to best perform Master Mix and the next steps of a very technically exacting process.

POS had not been recorded that way…it had been recorded El Ron’s way…Hisself’s “New Technical Breakthrough In Sound Recording”—“ClearSound”, if I recall correctly. According to the Mastering and Recording Engineers there was nothing “New” about ClearSound. El Ron’s “ClearSound” was, in essence; a Master Tape Recording that was recorded on First Class “Live Performance Recording” equipment (with the exception of some of the mikes), in a too “Live” room and not a Studio, by an obviously inexperienced amateur engineer, trying to have it sound "live" without the technical knowledge or experience of how to do such. Unless the Engineers were allowed to do their job and “engineer” the Master Tape—or, better yet, a new Master Tape recording was done technically correct—the resulting vinyl disc would be one helluva turkey.

The Professional Sound Recording Engineers critique rendered El Ron a very irritated and frustrated Demonic Cult Leader. But, as always, Hisself bounced…err, that is to say…bounced back.

“The Why”

Source knew the source of the problem. After all, Hisself had “dealt with those ‘Hollywood Birds’” before. But, this time, El Ron El Rey was in the driver’s seat, this time El Ron El Rey was writing the checks and they were gonna do it El Ron El Rey’s way. Period.

Against the consensus of some of the finest record production folks in the world that the “Power of Source” was truly a P-O-S, El Ron found the “Real Why” that unlocked the door to the handling; they were wrong and Hisself was right.

With the caveat, “We don’t want our name on this,” the Mastering Studios said they would be happy to have all the money El Ron wanted to spend (waste), the way Hisself wanted to spend (waste) it, for as long as Hisself wished to (and their patience and sense of humor remained intact).

Thousands of upon thousands dollars (1974 $) of Lacquer Masters upon Lacquer Masters from a host of Mastering Labs were rushed to Flag and out of the stacks, finally, El Ron had an “A” and “B” side of POS that Hisself deemed as an acceptable reproduction “true” to the ClearSound Master Tape. Every one of those Lacquer Masters had been cut exactly the same…“Deadstick”…no boost, no EQ (“marrying” of tonal frequency of instruments), no mixing, no sound engineering—all knobs, dials and settings at “Flat” or neutral.

“The Bright Idea”

With the sweet taste of victory over the “Hollywood Sound Boys”, El Ron went hard after the next beach head…the Hollywood Music Industry.

In customary El Ron/CofS fashion, dummy shell-corporations were set up; “Source Music” (recording company), “Source Records” (record production company) and Tone 40 Music (music publishing company). Specifically selected Missioanires were well outfitted, briefed and fired to “look the part” of young, well financed and energetic record industry execs—Missionaires that El Ron personally trusted but were, as also customary with these types of ops, Hisself’s vassals and had no experience whatsoever in the Music Business or how Hollywood worked—all they knew was what El Ron told them they knew. Strategically located Hollywood offices were taken and outfitted, cards and letterhead printed, phones installed.

Poof!

El Ron was back!

El Ron had returned (?) triumphant to Hollywood!



In a few days or so:

Part Two

L. Ron Clouseau


Peace.

Face

 

[Dulloldfart]

Bring it on!

Paul

 

[Panda Termint]

Thanks for the above, Face. I'll wait with barely contained patience for the rest of the story.

 

[Mark A. Baker]

... As said in my narrative in the 2nd link above, the POS Master Tape was one serious goat rope. El Ron insisted that the Master Discs (one for manufacturing each side of an LP vinyl disc) be cut “flat”…straight to the Lacquer Master with no Sound Engineering. This was done in face of the fact that the exacting, sequential and well established “Tech” for LP production was to get everything down per established parameters on a Master Tape. The generally accepted Master Tape “recipe” was for what is essential to be in the “pre-mixed” ingredients to best perform Master Mix and the next steps of a very technically exacting process. ...

One caveat on this, Face. Not with regard to POS, but recording generally. Cutting from a "master tape" was evidently a normal industry practice, but this was primarily a cost driven decision, rather than a way of "maximizing quality" of the resulting recording.

Many of the best recordings I have personally ever heard were lp's made "direct to disk" by Sheffield Labs, aka Lincoln Mayorga & associates. Of course, THEY had the engineering and musical expertise to get things right; a process which requires the availability of specialized skills and the willingness to take the time to get the exact recording effect desired. Sheffield did brilliant work, as did several other top audiophile "direct to disk" manufacturers. The resultant disks were typically much more expensive than the norm for the industry, but frankly they were well worth the additional expense.

My audiophile ex-brother-in-law clued me in on this, a matter I hold to his credit. Whatever else he may have been, he was a serious lover of recorded music based as a result of his own work in the entertainment field. With regard to recording & sound reproduction he "knew his onions".

I've never had the misfortune of hearing more than a slice of the "Power of Source" recording. I heard a bit once at the mission where I was on lines. It was just enough for me to deem it a good idea to go spend time elsewhere for awhile.


Mark A. Baker

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

One caveat on this, Face. Not with regard to POS, but recording generally. Cutting from a "master tape" was evidently a normal industry practice, but this was primarily a cost driven decision, rather than a way of "maximizing quality" of the resulting recording.

Many of the best recordings I have personally ever heard were lp's made "direct to disk" by Sheffield Labs, aka Lincoln Mayorga & associates. Of course, THEY had the engineering and musical expertise to get things right; a process which requires the availability of specialized skills and the willingness to take the time to get the exact recording effect desired. Sheffield did brilliant work, as did several other top audiophile "direct to disk" manufacturers. The resultant disks were typically much more expensive than the norm for the industry, but frankly they were well worth the additional expense.

My audiophile ex-brother-in-law clued me in on this, a matter I hold to his credit. Whatever else he may have been, he was a serious lover of recorded music based as a result of his own work in the entertainment field. With regard to recording & sound reproduction he "knew his onions".

I've never had the misfortune of hearing more than a slice of the "Power of Source" recording. I heard a bit once at the mission where I was on lines. It was just enough for me to deem it a good idea to go spend time elsewhere for awhile.


Mark A. Baker

You are correct, Mark. I've heard Sheffield "Direct to Disk" vinyl LP's through tube, bi-amped, Klipschorn speakers and could hear a thumb rub on the sheet music when pages were turned.

From what I heard, Sheffield's offered to work with El Ron on a "D to D" of the Stars to give "Ron, The Sound Engineer" more of whatever the "ClearSound" was that Hisself was singularly hearing...for a most handsome fee. Obviously, that never happened.

I meant no disrespect to Jon Horwich with the term "audiophile"...I used the term in the truest sense of the word. Personally, I liked Horwich...we always got along just fine.

Thank you for the "seasoning".

Face

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Shooting Stars, Part Two

“He's All Hat and No Cattle.” Cowboy Saying

While working on “Part Two” I realized I was not properly “framing”, “L. Ron Clouseau”. So, here’s my revised Part Two of, “Shooting Stars”.

Part Two

Buckaroo El Ron’s Whip

“The Handling”

Unfortunately, the data collection and reports from His Mogulness’ Vassals out in Hollywood detailed yet another barrier El Ron would have to smash through; those Record Production Boys (RPB’s) weren’t part of the “New Civilization”…they were part of the crumbling old civilization that still hadn’t embraced El Ron’s “Modern Management Technology”. Without a clue that “Ron, The Management Genius” had invented and bequeathed to Earth, “The Monolithic Command and Control Organization”, those idiots had built an industry of vertically integrated companies.

Those RPB’s Vertical Integration was a Capital Intensive—and very heavy Working Capital Intensive—four legged stool; Recording, Manufacturing, Promotion/Sales and Distribution. RPB’s searched out talent or were ‘Pitched” talent and Master Tapes of talent by Agents or Independent Producers. Once a talent was taken on board—unless it was an proven, major or established talent—RPB’s set about the task of “molding”, “framing” and “presenting” that talent the way they deemed was the best way to make some money. Unfortunately, in the case of POS, that would most certainly begin with starting over with a new Master Tape, done either by a selected Professional Producer/Engineer or redone per “the recipe”.

El Ron wasn’t gonna leave anything to chance with these Hollywood Birds anymore. After all, it took Hisself to finally figure out how to properly record sound! “Ron, The Music Mogul” would have to by-pass the RPB’s to ensure Hisself’s Planet could hear the true “Power of Source” in ClearSound. Left to their devices, and “Old Tech”, those RPB’s couldn’t be trusted with such a landmark piece of…piece of……piece of….piece of “Artistic Brilliance” and “Technical Mastery”.

Although the POS album has a cut, “This Planet Is Ours”, the only way that pronouncement would reach Hisself’s Planet meant El Ron would have to out fox those RPB’s. El Ron had to beat them at their own game.

And so, Buckeroo El Ron set about the task of crafting and tooling Hisself the proper “Whip” to use to beat those RPB’s with and corral them.

“The Plan”

“The Whip”, El Ron fognited—triumphant yet again—would be to unleash the “Power of Source” on those RPB’s as a turnkey finished, manufactured, boxed and ready to ship Album. Only problem was…there wasn’t one. All there was, was the ClearSound Master Tape and “LRH Approved” Lacquer Masters.

Manufacturing a vinyl LP is a machine/labor intensive process requiring expensive equipment and skilled labor. The Lacquer Masters were the just the beginning of a technically precise, multi-step process of alternating positive/negative dye-casting and pressing that resulted in a vinyl LP to insert into a finished Album Jacket, shrink-wrap and properly box for bulk shipment. This took time, this took skill and it took serious money to set up an operation like this. Those pesky RPB boys owned/controlled most of the “Pressing Plants”.

But, the Hollywood Music Industry is huge, diverse and very entrepreneurial in nature, with niche “Mom and Pop” operations that provide—for a healthy fee—various parts of those RPB’s system. The Executive Vassals of Source Records were set about the task of finding a Custom Pressing Plant to acceptably manufacture and package “The Whip”.

‘The Program”

After an intense “Rush” Priority search the Vassals found what was widely regarded to be the finest Custom Record Manufacturer in SoCal. These folks were known for manufacturing LP Disks equal in quality to—if not better—than those RPB”S. They didn’t care how the Master Tape sounded, how the Lacquer Master was engineered, how many you wanted made. These guys—as long as you paid their exorbitant fee for a minimum run (I recall hearing it was 1,000), or their well above industry standard prices for larger runs—would make you all the records you wanted; their niche was the manufacturing of custom LP’s that were as close a representation of what was on the Lacquer Master as was humanly possible.

Ron, The Music Mogul was ecstatic. Not only had Hisself found a company that would manufacture POS LP’s at State of The Art Standard, the manufacturing company had a subsidiary that would take the clients artwork and photos and manufacture—for a handsome fee— the album jacket covers you as you wanted.

But, El Ron wasn’t about to leave anything to chance with these “Boys”. Even though this Custom Pressing Plant had been in business for over 30 years, Hisself was not about to yield quarter. Test runs—each at thousands of dollars for a “minimum run”—of various Lacquer Masters from Hisself’s piles were ordered to ensure that “Power of Source” was being “fully duplicated”. Numerous random vinyl disks were selected during the run and rushed to Hisself’s Research Room on the Apollo…the rest discarded in the trash.

After exhaustive “A to B” testing with the “inner circle” El Ron had named, wanted and gotten the product; an LRH Approved Metal Master to manufacture thousands upon thousands of true ClearSound of POS’s (double entendre intended). Shooting Boards for the front and flip side of the Album Jacket were rushed out to Hollywood from the Apollo. More test runs of thousands of dollars of printed album covers went into the trash until El Ron, finally, held “It” in Hisself’s hands.

Buckeroo El Ron had “The Whip”!

All that was left to be done was for the Source Records Executive Vassals to gain access to those “RPB’s” and unleash “It”!


In a few days or so:

Part Three

L. Ron Clouseau


Peace.

Face

 

[Panda Termint]

Fascinating. I once worked for a Major Record Company, your description of their modus operandi is accurate.
Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[Infinite]

Thanks Face - what a glimpse into a truly bizarre story. One thing you can say about Hisself, he was certainly a character.

Now . .. coming up with whack-a-doodle ideas, deceipt and intrique, interfering in every step, alienating professionals, paying over the odds, singular lack of success . . . where have I heard all that before?

 

[Mystic]

I MUST have III now or I will die a thousand s.

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Yep, Blip...Hisself was real LuLu.

Unfortunately...what sticks in my craw...was that thousands of good and decent Org Staff and SO were working themselves beyond exhaustion, living in squalor, eating slop, their children wanting while thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Dollars were literally being chucked into a dumpster in some putrid back alley in SoCal.

Face

 

[Mark A. Baker]

You are correct, Mark. I've heard Sheffield "Direct to Disk" vinyl LP's through tube, bi-amped, Klipschorn speakers and could hear a thumb rub on the sheet music when pages were turned. ...

A bit off topic but in light of the reference to Sheffield Lab I think you will enjoy this, Face. I just posted an update on the "Saturday Night" thread with a few samples of Lincoln Mayorga's work. This includes a bit from the legendary Moscow Jam sessions with the Moscow Phil.

http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?p=525604#post525604


Mark A. Baker

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Yep, Blip...Hisself was real LuLu.

Unfortunately...what sticks in my craw...was that thousands of good and decent Org Staff and SO were working themselves beyond exhaustion, living in squalor, eating slop, their children wanting while thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Dollars were literally being chucked into a dumpster in some putrid back alley in SoCal.

Face

keep 'er comin'

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

A bit off topic but in light of the reference to Sheffield Lab I think you will enjoy this, Face. I just posted an update on the "Saturday Night" thread with a few samples of Lincoln Mayorga's work. This includes a bit from the legendary Moscow Jam sessions with the Moscow Phil.

http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?p=525604#post525604


Mark A. Baker

Thanks Mark. As gooder as good gets.

Face

 

[Emma]

Really enjoying your story Face

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Really enjoying your story Face

Thanks Emms.

Face

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Shooting Stars, Part Three

“Yeuh kneuh, of keurs, I meant to that?!” Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers)

I spent—we all spent—years and thousands upon thousands of hours, Dollars and energy “Buying” El Ron’s construct. I have spent years and thousands upon thousands of hours, Dollars and energy “dismantling” the construct I bought into…and am still not done. I’ve reached the point where I don’t regret a minute of it. There were some dark days…tortured, desperate and dark days; days that, now, I don’t regret. My times with El Ron used to haunt me; now they are the arrows in my quiver and ESMB is my bow.

For me there has been no Silver Bullet, no Red Pill or Blue Pill, no one singular “Moment”. For me it has simply been going forward—always forward—one foot in front of the other, one step at a time.



Part Three

L. Ron Clouseau

“The Major Target”

El Ron was frustrated...Hisself (H) now had the bestess of best Whips but those RPB’s don’t just let everyone that asks for an appointment into their palatial, Studio Quality Sound System equipped offices to make “The Pitch”. You had to be “somebody” or know “somebody”.

Although there were a handful of Music Industry Scns—from recording session musicians all the way up to Chick Corea and Stanly Clarke—sprinkled around Hisself’s (H’s) Planet, El Ron, expressly, did not want any of them to know about POS at that time. Over my years in service to El Ron, I always found it odd that (H) intentionally remained isolated, or at least arms length away, from Scn’s that were actually real experts and professionals. H’s modus was to “learn” something H’s way, run it through the bowels between H’s ears and, “Presto Chango”; regurgitate yet another “Tech Breakthrough” and pontificate as an “expert” on yet another subject. El Ron then “Packaged” up all H’s “hard won knowledge” and sold “It” to all of Us.

Unfortunately, to those RPB’s, Source Records and its’ Executing Vassals (EV’s) were “nobodies” and, believe it not, El Ron didn’t want H’s name, or Scn’s, mentioned until H’s minions were inside the “Corral” and could properly apply “The Whip”—and there were, of course, "R" instructions as to how to precisely do that.

“The Vital Target”

In Hollywood there are two things that get you access to “The Players”; “Talent”—whether it be “casting couch” talent or more—you had to have to some Talent; Money—Hollywood loves money and views it as a form of “Talent”. And, El Ron had access to tons of long tons of money.

Laced in to the fabric of Hollywood are Talent Agents. Higher up the Talent Agent food chain are the Lawyer/Agents and, at the top, are Lawyer/Agents that not only know what they are doing, they are specialized in specific niches of the Entertainment Industry. A Niche Lawyer/Agent (NLA) has a reputation and a track record that yields instant phone access to all the Players in their Industry niche. If you’ve got the bucks, you got yourself one helluva gunslinger.

El Ron had selected the EV’s well and H’s Action Aide Son-in-Law was a bright, savvy and sophisticated guy from a well to do, refined and successful family. A plan was cooked up, the Action Aide made the pitch to “Daddy” (an act that always required consummate skill and gambler’s guts and luck) and H bought it—the purse was opened wide and deep to find and hire the “Paladin” of Hollywood NLA’s. The EV’s snapped-to and, within the flash of a Rock Slam, the baddest MFer in the Valley saddled-up to bust open those RPB’s corral doors for Source Music.

“The Valuable Final Product”

Paladin was very, very impressed…with the fact that POS had been Mastered by a Legendary Mastering Engineer and had been manufactured by the finest “Boutique” Pressing Plant in the Industry. As for the rest of Paladin’s assessment of the POS held in his hand and listened to on his Studio Quality Sound system? Second verse, same as the first; the Master Tape recording was an amateur mess, some of the mikes were inferior and others were the wrong type for that instrument; the room was too Live and the engineer did not correct for it, the music was a sort of “Jazz Fusion” which usually doesn’t sell well even if expertly recorded by top artists and engineers; the ensemble was poorly put together with some mediocre musicians, some good ones and some were good enough to back up top talent; I’m confident you’ve been told all this by the Legendary Mastering Engineer, who happens to also be a first rate Jazz Composer, Arranger, Director and Musician; I understand what El Ron’s trying to do but H needs to let some folks that know what they’re doing—have spent their whole careers trying to “Capture Live Sound”—help H out…all it takes is money, lots of it and H obviously has no shortage of that; and oh—just curious—who’s the juvenile that came up with the album covers? Paladin also said that unless he could reveal just who and what "Source Music" was to the RPB's he contacted he would go forward and El Ron agreed.

Paladin was not an English Butler…he was a Bounty Hunter. Paladin gave the EV’s the “lay of the land” as he saw it, to be relayed to H sans sugarcoating. If El Ron insisted that POS was “It” then he’d go with it—under the proviso that H understood that the only interest those RPB’s would have in Distributing this particular POS Album (double entendre intended) was the fact that El Ron had a “ready made market” that would buy anything H put out.

“The Implementation”

Paladin’s message to El Ron rolled off H like water on a duck. Paladin was being paid a fee that would have fed all of PAC SO plentiful and very good food for weeks and weeks. “All we need and want from this Bird is to deliver the goods,” H huffed. Within a few days, Paladin sent another message to El Ron; he had 4 Major Record Companies that would let the EV’s in their corral and one of them was H’s best hope to cut a deal. Paladin’s advice was to take on the three less likely RPB’s first and for him to go with the EV’s so that they could get some experience “under fire”, he would personally groom the EV’s and show them “the ropes”. Once that was done, they’d take on the target of most opportunity. El Ron agreed and, straightaway, the EV’s and Paladin were inside one and then, shortly thereafter, a second and then a third RPB corral.

The third, fourth and fifth verse was also the same as the first. “Target’s” 1-3 were impervious to “The Whip”. Unless H was willing to let them help redo the POS Album, soup-to-nuts, they had no interest at all in having their name associated with “It”. If El Ron would foot the bill to properly redo POS then they would be interested in trying to put a deal together, knowing that the only chance there was of them making any money was that Scns would buy the Power of Source. And, in order to even talk about trying put that deal together, they’d need some “Hard Numbers” on the true Scn Membership, the geographic distribution and any other Demographics that could be put together. El Ron ordered the EV’s to proceed to target 4.

“The ‘Truth’ Revealed”

Target 4 was a very successfuland, renowned Major Record Company made up of some very bright contrarians. These RPB’s had made a lot of money taking well calculated risks on new sounds and timely different “twists”. They’d had their share of losers but some of their winners were, and still are, cash cows. The “Big Dog” in the Corral that day would be one of the “Founders”—today he is in every Music Industry Hall of Fame of any note.

El Ron had “them” where H wanted ‘em. Afterall, this wasn’t gonna be Buckeroo El Ron's first Shootout at the OK Corral. Paladin had served H’s purpose and was told "step aside" and Buckarro El Ron would take it from here. El Ron carefully selected a “Special” Missionaire—a proven Big League Reg—briefed him, outfitted him and fired him off to the Source Music International Headquarters in Hollywood, California. The plan was for Missionaire “Special” was to accompany the EV’s to the standoff and once they had cowed these RPB’s with “The Whip”, Special would reveal himself as El Ron’s personal emissary to them and H's personal "Negotiator".

Final verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse. After sitting through the same meeting the EV’s had been through before, The Negotiator revealed just who and what he was and went for the jugular. He understood they were just using tactics, but, they could dispense with all that…he was here to cut to the chase and to put the “Deal” together!

“Okay son,” laughed Big Dog, “I can see why El Ron sent you…you’re good... you’re real good. Okay, here’s the "Deal". We’ll put POS out just like it is. El Ron pays all hard and soft costs, guarantees the profit we want and agrees that Scn can’t sell one record, or anything related to POS or the Stars through the Church or to its’ Members and, as you speak for H, I’ll shake on it right now and we can start putting things on paper tomorrow.” Special said he wasn't authorized to do that, continued to ‘negotiate” for a few more minutes and then he and the EV’s were handed their hats. Special was oredered back to Flag the next to be debriefed by, personally, by El Ron…what a lucky guy.

Several days later the EV’s received the word from El Ron that they had done a "fantastic job, Very Highly Commended, Very Well Done"…new Mission orders were on their way.

In the new “Mission Information” Packet L. Ron Clouseau explained what really was going on. H had been conduction “Research” into the “Existing Scene” of the Hollywood Music Industry.

LRC’s revealed that H's secret intention all along was for POS to be a “Pilot Project” to “test” how well Pubs US could release, handle and market a new El Ron product.


In a few days or so,

Part Four

The Power of Source Unleashed


Peace.

Face

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

“Yeuh kneuh, of keurs, I meant to that?!” Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers)

I spent—we all spent—years and thousands upon thousands of hours, Dollars and energy “Buying” El Ron’s construct. I have spent years and thousands upon thousands of hours, Dollars and energy “dismantling” the construct I bought into…and am still not done. I’ve reached the point where I don’t regret a minute of it. There were some dark days…tortured, desperate and dark days; days that, now, I don’t regret. My times with El Ron used to haunt me; now they are the arrows in my quiver and ESMB is my bow.

For me there has been no Silver Bullet, no Red Pill or Blue Pill, no one singular “Moment”. For me it has simply been pushing forward, never stopping—always forward—one foot in front of the other, one step at a time.



Part Three

L. Ron Clouseau

“The Major Target”

El Ron was frustrated...Hisself (H) now had the bestess of best Whips but those RPB’s don’t just let everyone that asks for an appointment into their palatial, Studio Quality Sound System equipped offices to make “The Pitch”. You had to be “somebody” or know “somebody”.

Although there were a handful of Music Industry Scns—from recording session musicians all the way up to Chick Corea and Stanly Clarke—sprinkled around Hisself’s (H’s) Planet, El Ron, expressly, did not want any of them to know about POS at that time. Over my years in service to El Ron, I always found it odd that (H) intentionally remained isolated, or at least arms length away, from Scn’s that were actually real experts and professionals. H’s modus was to “learn” something H’s way, run it through the bowels between H’s ears and, “Presto Chango”; regurgitate yet another “Tech Breakthrough” and pontificate as an “expert” on yet another subject. El Ron then “Packaged” up all H’s “hard won knowledge” and sold “It” to all of Us.

Unfortunately, to those RPB’s, Source Records and its’ Executing Vassals (EV’s) were “nobodies” and, believe it not, El Ron didn’t want H’s name, or Scn’s, mentioned until H’s minions were inside the “Corral” and could properly apply “The Whip”—and there were, of course, were "R" instructions as to how to precisely do that.

“The Vital Target”

In Hollywood there are two things that get you access to “The Players”; “Talent”—whether it be “casting couch” talent or more—you had to have to some Talent; Money—Hollywood loves money and views it as a form of “Talent”. And, El Ron had access to tons of long tons of money.

Laced in to the fabric of Hollywood are Talent Agents. Higher up the Talent Agent food chain are the Lawyer/Agents and, at the top, are Lawyer/Agents that not only know what they are doing, they are specialized in specific niches of the Entertainment Industry. A Niche Lawyer/Agent (NLA) has a reputation and a track record that yields instant phone access to all the Players in their Industry niche. If you’ve got the bucks, you got yourself one helluva gunslinger.

El Ron had selected the EV’s well and H’s Action Aide Son-in-Law was a bright, savvy and sophisticated guy from a well to do, refined and successful family. A plan was cooked up, the Action Aide made the pitch to “Daddy” (an act that always required consummate skill and gambler’s guts and luck) and H bought it—the purse was opened wide and deep to find and hire the “Paladin” of Hollywood NLA’s. The EV’s snapped-to and, within the flash of a Rock Slam, the baddest MFer in the Valley saddled-up to bust open those RPB’s corral doors for Source Music.

“The Valuable Final Product”

Paladin was very, very impressed…with the fact that POS had been Mastered by a Legendary Mastering Engineer and had been manufactured by the finest “Boutique” Pressing Plant in the Industry. As for the rest of Paladin’s assessment of the POS held in his hand and listened to on his Studio Quality Sound system? Second verse, same as the first; the Master Tape recording was an amateur mess, some of the mikes were inferior and others were the wrong type for that instrument; the room was too Live and the engineer did not correct for it, the music was a sort of “Jazz Fusion” which usually doesn’t sell well even if expertly recorded by top artists and engineers; the ensemble was poorly put together with some mediocre musicians, some good ones and some were good enough to back up top talent; I’m confident you’ve been told all this by the Legendary Mastering Engineer, who happens to also be a first rate Jazz Composer, Arranger, Director and Musician; I understand what El Ron’s trying to do but H needs to let some folks that know what they’re doing—have spent their whole careers trying to “Capture Live Sound”—help H out…all it takes is money, lots of it and H obviously has no shortage of that; and oh—just curious—who’s the juvenile that came up with the album covers? Paladin also said that unless he could reveal just who and what "Source Music" was to the RPB's he contacted he would go forward and El Ron agreed.

Paladin was not an English Butler…he was a Bounty Hunter. Paladin gave the EV’s the “lay of the land” as he saw it, to be relayed to H sans sugarcoating. If El Ron was insisted that POS was “It” then he’d go with it—under the proviso that H understood that the only interest those RPB’s would have in Distributing this particular POS Album (double entendre intended) was the fact that El Ron had a “ready made market” that would buy anything H put out.

“The Implementation”

Paladin’s message to El Ron rolled off H like water on a duck. Paladin was being paid a fee that would have fed all of PAC SO plentiful and very good food for weeks and weeks. “All we need and want from this Bird is to deliver the goods,” H huffed. Within a few days, Paladin sent another message to El Ron; he had 4 Major Record Companies that would let the EV’s in their corral and one of them was H’s best hope to cut a deal. Paladin’s advice was to take on the three less likely RPB’s first and for him to go with the EV’s so that they could get some experience “under fire”, he would personally groom the EV’s and show them “the ropes”. Once that was done, they’d take on the target of most opportunity. El Ron agreed and, straightaway, the EV’s and Paladin were inside one and then, shortly thereafter, a second and then a third RPB corral.

The third, fourth and fifth verse was also the same as the first. “Target’s” 1-3 were impervious to “The Whip”. Unless H was willing to let them help redo the POS Album, soup-to-nuts, they had no interest at all in having their name associated with “It” and if El Ron would foot the bill to properly redo POS then they would be interested in trying to put a deal together, knowing that the only chance there was of them making any money was that Scns would buy the Power of Source. And, in order to even talk about trying put that deal together, they’d need some “Hard Numbers” on the true Scn Membership, the geographic distribution and any other Demographics that could be put together. El Ron ordered the EV’s to proceed to target 4.

“The ‘Truth’ Revealed”

Target 4 was a very successfuland renowned Major Record Company of some very bright contrarians. These RPB’s had made a lot of money taking well calculated risks on new sounds and timely different “twists”. They’d had their share of losers but some of there winners were, and still are, cash cows. The “Big Dog” in the Corral that day would be one of the “Founders”—today he is in every Music Industry Hall of Fame of any note.

El Ron had “them” where H wanted ‘em. Afterall, this wasn’t gonna be Buckeroo El Ron's first Shootout at the OK Corral. Paladin had served H’s purpose and was told "step aside" and Buckarro El Ron would take it from here. El Ron carefully selected a “Special” Missionaire—a proven Big League Reg—briefed him, outfitted him and fired him off to the Source Music International Headquarters in Hollywood, California. The plan was for Missionaire “Special” was to accompany the EV’s to the standoff and once they had cowed these RPB’s with “The Whip”, Special would reveal himself as El Ron’s personal emissary to them and H's personal "Negotiator".

Final verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse. After sitting through the same meeting the EV’s had been through before, The Negotiator revealed just who and what he was and went for the jugular. He understood they were just using tactics, but, they could dispense with all that…he was here to cut to the chase and to put the “Deal” together!

“Okay son,” laughed Big Dog, “I can see why El Ron sent you…you’re good... you’re real good. Okay, here’s the "Deal". We’ll put POS out just like it is. El Ron pays all hard and soft costs, guarantees the profit we want and agrees that Scn can’t sell one record, or anything related to POS or the Stars through the Church or to its’ Members and, as you speak for H, I’ll shake on it right now and we can start putting things on paper tomorrow.” Special said he wasn't authorized to do that, continued to ‘negotiate” for a few more minutes and then he and the EV’s were handed their hats. Special was oredered back to Flag the next to be debriefed by, personally, by El Ron…what a luck guy.

Several days later the EV’s received the word from El Ron that they had done a "fantastic job, Very Highly Commended, Very Well Done"…new Mission orders were on their way.

In the new “Mission Information” Packet L. Ron Clouseau explained what really was going on. H had been conduction “Research” into the “Existing Scene” of the Hollywood Music Industry.

LRC’s intention all along was for POS to be a “Pilot Project” to “test” how well Pubs US could release, handle and market a new El Ron product.


In a few days or so,

Part Four

The Power of Source Unleashed


Peace.

Face

Wow!

Thank you for a look inside Alice's Looking Glass.

 

[Ogsonofgroo]

Bloody fascinating stuff Face *bows* & , wow, just plain ol' wow!

 

[AngeloV]

Intriguing story that provides a glimpse into the egomaniac side of LRH 'hisself'.

Looking forward to your next installment.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

it is as if switches kept getting thrown along the way 1964 stealing the study tech, ending GPM research, 1976 raising the prices 10% a month, 1981 taking over the missions, purging independent thinkers