A Tribute to an Original….

In Honor of Larry , please check out these great CLIPS.

Letterman Regular ‘Bud’ Melman Dies

Rest in Peace Calvert, I will forever remember that night at The Other Cafe in SF.

The balding, bespectacled nebbish who gained cult status as the oddball Larry “Bud” Melman on David Letterman’s late night television shows has died after a long illness. The Brooklyn-born Calvert DeForest, who was 85, died Monday at a hospital on Long Island, the Letterman show announced Wednesday.

He made dozens of appearances on Letterman’s shows from 1982 through 2002, handling a variety of twisted duties: dueting with Sonny Bono on “I Got You, Babe,” doing a Mary Tyler Moore impression during a visit to Minneapolis, handing out hot towels to arrivals at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

“Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself – a genuine, modest and nice man,” Letterman said in a statement. “To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him.”

The gnomish DeForest was working as a file clerk at a drug rehabilitation center when show producers, who had seen him in a New York University student’s film, came calling. His was the first face to greet viewers when Letterman’s NBC show debuted on Feb. 1, 1982, offering a parody of the prologue to the Boris Karloff film “Frankenstein.”

“It was the greatest thing that had happened in my life,” he once said of his first Letterman appearance.

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DeForest, given the nom de tube of Melman, became a program regular. The collaboration continued when the talk show host launched “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS in 1994.

Cue cards were often DeForest’s television kryptonite, and his character inevitably appeared in an ill-fitting black suit behind thick black-rimmed glasses.

The Melman character opened Letterman’s first CBS show, too – but used his real name because of a dispute with NBC over “intellectual property.” DeForest, positioned inside the network’s familiar eye logo, announced, “This is CBS!”

DeForest often draw laughs by his bizarre juxtaposition as a “Late Show” correspondent at events such as the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway or the anniversary Woodstock concert that year.

His last appearance on “Late Show” came in 2002, celebrating his 81st birthday.

DeForest also appeared in an assortment of other television shows and films, including “Nothing Lasts Forever” with Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.

As per his request, there will be no funeral service for DeForest, who left no survivors. Donations can be made in his name to the Actors’ Fund of America.

Moment of Zen

1st Records….Now CD’s

In a dramatic acceleration of the seven-year sales decline that has battered the music industry, compact-disc sales for the first three months of this year plunged 20% from a year earlier, the latest sign of the seismic shift in the way consumers acquire music.

The sharp slide in sales of CDs, which still account for more than 85% of music sold, has far eclipsed the growth in sales of digital downloads, which were supposed to have been the industry’s salvation.

The slide stems from the confluence of long-simmering factors that are now feeding off each other, including the demise of specialty music retailers like longtime music mecca Tower Records. About 800 music stores, including Tower’s 89 locations, closed in 2006 alone.

Apple Inc.’s sale of around 100 million iPods shows that music remains a powerful force in the lives of consumers. But because of the Internet, those consumers have more ways to obtain music now than they did a decade ago, when walking into a store and buying it was the only option.

Today, popular songs and albums — and countless lesser-known works — can be easily found online, in either legal or pirated forms. While the music industry hopes that those songs will be purchased through legal services like Apple’s iTunes Store, consumers can often listen to them on MySpace pages or download them free from other sources, such as so-called MP3 blogs.

Jeff Rabhan, who manages artists and music producers including Jermaine Dupri, Kelis and Elliott Yamin, says CDs have become little more than advertisements for more-lucrative goods like concert tickets and T-shirts. “Sales are so down and so off that, as a manager, I look at a CD as part of the marketing of an artist, more than as an income stream,” says Mr. Rabhan. “It’s the vehicle that drives the tour, the merchandise, building the brand, and that’s it. There’s no money.”

The music industry has found itself almost powerless in the face of this shift. Its struggles are hardly unique in the media world. The film, TV and publishing industries are also finding it hard to adapt to the digital age. Though consumers are exposed to more media in more ways than ever before, the challenge for media companies is finding a way to make money from all that exposure. Newspaper publishers, for example, are finding that their Internet advertising isn’t growing fast enough to replace the loss of traditional print ads.

In recent weeks, the music industry has posted some of the weakest sales it has ever recorded. This year has already seen the two lowest-selling No. 1 albums since Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales, was launched in 1991.

One week, “American Idol” runner-up Chris Daughtry’s rock band sold just 65,000 copies of its chart-topping album; another week, the “Dreamgirls” movie soundtrack sold a mere 60,000. As recently as 2005, there were many weeks when such tallies wouldn’t have been enough to crack the top 30 sellers. In prior years, it wasn’t uncommon for a No. 1 record to sell 500,000 or 600,000 copies a week.

In general, even today’s big titles are stalling out far earlier than they did a few years ago.

The music industry has been banking on the rise of digital music to compensate for inevitable drops in sales of CDs. Apple’s 2003 launch of its iTunes Store was greeted as a new day in music retailing, one that would allow fans to conveniently and quickly snap up large amounts of music from limitless virtual shelves.

It hasn’t worked out that way — at least so far. Digital sales of individual songs this year have risen 54% from a year earlier to 173.4 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But that’s nowhere near enough to offset the 20% decline from a year ago in CD sales to 81.5 million units. Overall, sales of all music — digital and physical — are down 10% this year. And even including sales of ringtones, subscription services and other “ancillary” goods, sales are still down 9%, according to one estimate; some recording executives have privately questioned that figure, which was included in a recent report by Pali Research.

Meanwhile, one billion songs a month are traded on illegal file-sharing networks, according to BigChampagne LLC.

Adding to the music industry’s misery, CD prices have fallen amid pressure for cheaper prices from big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and others. That pressure is feeding through to record labels’ bottom lines. As the market has deteriorated, Warner Music Group Corp., which reported a 74% drop in profits for the fourth quarter of 2006, is expected to report little relief in the first quarter of this year.

Looking at unit sales alone “flatters the situation,” says Simon Wright, chief executive of Virgin Entertainment Group International, which runs 14 Virgin Megastores locations in North America and 250 world-wide. “In value terms, the market’s down 25%, probably.” Virgin’s music sales have increased slightly this year, he says, thanks to the demise of chief competitor Tower, and to a mix of fashion and “lifestyle” products designed to attract customers.

Perhaps the biggest factor in the latest chapter of the music industry’s struggle is the shakeout among music retailers. As recently as a decade ago, specialty stores like Tower Records were must-shop destinations for fans looking for both big hits and older catalog titles. But retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co. took away the hits business by undercutting the chains on price. Today such megaretailers represent about 65% of the retail market, up from 20% a decade ago, music-distribution executives estimate. And digital-music piracy, which has been rife since the rise of the original Napster file-sharing service, has allowed many would-be music buyers to fill their CD racks or digital-music players without ever venturing into a store.

Late last year, Tower Records closed its doors, after filing for bankruptcy-court protection in August. Earlier in 2006, following a bankruptcy filing, Musicland Holding Corp., which owned the Sam Goody chain, closed 500 of its 900 locations. And recently, Trans World Entertainment Corp., which operates the FYE and Coconuts chains, among others, began closing 134 of its 1,087 locations.

But even at the outlets that are still open, business has suffered. Executives at Trans World, based in Albany, N.Y., told analysts earlier this month that sales of music at its stores declined 14% in the last quarter of 2006. For the year, music represented just 44% of the company’s sales, down from 54% in 2005. For the final quarter of the year, music represented just 38% of its sales.

Joe Nardone Jr., who owns the independent 10-store Gallery of Sound chain in Pennsylvania, says he is trying to make up for declining sales of new music by emphasizing used CDs, which he calls “a more consistent business.” For now, though, he says used discs represent less than 10% of his business — not nearly enough to offset the declines.

Retailers and others say record labels have failed to deliver big sellers. And even the hits aren’t what they used to be. Norah Jones’s “Not Too Late” has sold just shy of 1.1 million copies since it was released six weeks ago. Her previous album, “Feels Like Home,” sold more than 2.2. million copies in the same period after its 2004 release.

“Even when you have a good release like Norah Jones, maybe the environment is so bad you can’t turn it around,” says Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Research.

Meanwhile, with music sales sliding for the first time even at some big-box chains, Best Buy has been quietly reducing the floor space it dedicates to music, according to music-distribution executives.

Whether Wal-Mart and others will follow suit isn’t clear, but if they do it could spell more trouble for the record companies. The big-box chains already stocked far fewer titles than did the fading specialty retailers. As a result, it is harder for consumers to find and purchase older titles in stores.

Randy and Ron: The Early Years

The Creative Marketing of Death

RIP: Luther Ingram

LISTEN HERE.

Luther Ingram, the R&B singer and songwriter best known for the hit “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want to Be Right),” has died. He was 69.

Ingram died Monday at a Belleville, Illinois, hospital of heart failure, friend and journalist Bernie Hayes said Tuesday. He had suffered for years from diabetes, kidney disease and partial blindness, his wife, Jacqui Ingram, said.

Ingram performed with Ike Turner at clubs in East St. Louis, roomed with Jimi Hendrix in New York and was the opening act for Isaac Hayes. He recorded through the 1980s and performed in concert until the mid-1990s, when his health began declining.

“His instrument was his voice; his heart and head were his inspiration,” said Hayes, a St. Louis journalist, disc jockey and author of “The Death of Black Radio.”

Ingram was born November 30, 1937, in Jackson, Tenn. He started writing music and singing as a boy in a group with his siblings after his family moved to Alton, Illinois, in 1947.

He had a five-year association with Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records during the height of its success. In 1971, Ingram and songwriter-performer Sir Mack Rice co-wrote “Respect Yourself” for the Staple Singers, which turned into Stax’s biggest hit.

Ingram recorded “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want to Be Right)” in 1972 on Koko Records, which Stax distributed. The song was No. 1 on Billboard magazine’s R&B chart and was later a hit for Barbara Mandrell.

His other popular songs include “Ain’t That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)” and “I’ll Be Your Shelter.”

“He was a soft-spoken, quiet person that I think relished peace,” said Deanie Parker, who spent her career at Stax and Soulsville. “He was a very intense singer; he took it very seriously. When he was rehearsing, he’d go over it and over it and seek perfection.”

A “musical visitation” will be held Sunday at St. Augustine Catholic Church in East St. Louis. He is to be buried Monday at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery in Belleville.

Britney Spears To Give Kevin Federline $19 Million in Divorce Settlement

Troubled pop star Britney Spears has agreed to hand Kevin Federline a massive $19 million divorce settlement, according to reports. Four months after splitting, the pair have reached an agreement over joint custody of their two sons, 18-month-old Sean Preston and Jayden James, six months – and a financial deal which will make Federline a wealthy man.

According to British newspaper The Sun, Spears’ was driven to finalize the divorce during her spell in rehab to treat substance abuse. Under the deal Federline will get a $2 million lump sum plus half Spears’ earnings during their marriage and half the proceeds from the sale of their Malibu, California home.

A source tells the newspaper, “Everything changed when Britney went into rehab. She and Kevin started talking again and he’s been a tower of strength for her. Her time in rehab has given Britney a lot of time to think, and has shown her Kevin loves his kids and is a good dad.”

Black Sabbath, reborn

The reunion of the Ronnie James Dio-fronted version of Black Sabbath has been a long time coming. But it’s not likely to be a long-term affair.

And don’t call the band Black Sabbath, either. The combo is hitting the road as Heaven and Hell, a nod to the title of Dio’s debut with Sabbath in 1980, a year after original singer Ozzy Osbourne was ousted.

The change was made so as not to confuse this lineup with the reactivated original Sabbath, which intends to record a new album and tour in 2008, delayed from the original plan of late 2007.

“There is only one Black Sabbath,” Osbourne’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne said after the Dio reunion was announced last October.

Heaven and Hell also consists of two Sabbath co-founders, guitarist Tony Iommi and bass player Terry “Geezer” Butler, and drummer Vinny Appice.

The first leg of the world tour began March 11 in Vancouver, and will run through March 30 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. It will resume April 22 in Phoenix. Megadeth and Machine Head are opening the U.S. dates.

“We’ve approached this as really having an ending period. We all have other commitments, and we’ve had a lot of turmoil in the past. So maybe this is the way to avoid it,” Dio said.

But Iommi sounded a more optimistic note. “We haven’t locked the doors … It’s one of those ‘Let’s just see how it goes’ (situations).”

Iommi said the tour will feature songs only from the Dio periods of the band, so fans need not shout out for “War Pigs” and “Iron Man.” In addition to the platinum “Heaven and Hell,” on which original drummer Bill Ward played, Dio appeared on 1981’s gold “Mob Rules” and 1992’s “Dehumanizer” — and the 1982 concert set “Live Evil.” Heaven and Hell plans to film and record at least one show on this year’s tour.

Iommi allegedly referred to the diminutive singer as “little Hitler,” and accused him of sneaking into the studio to enhance his vocals.

Dio quit after “Live Evil,” launching a successful career at the helm of his own band, and was replaced by Ian Gillan, and then by Tony Martin. He rejoined for “Dehumanizer.”

Any past animosities, according to Iommi, have been put to rest.

“These things, they get blown out of proportion,” he said. “When you see each other everything gets sorted out, especially with this lineup. We’ve always sort of got on very well, and it’s like we haven’t been away from each other. So there’s no point in holding grudges against anybody, I don’t think — certainly not at our bloody ages.”

Lego Uno Project Complete

Heather Mills can finally rest easy: she’s a very rich, one-legged woman.

Sir Paul McCartney has reportedly agreed to a $63 million divorce settlement with his estranged wife, ending a bitter six month battle over the former Beatle’s vast fortune that kept us amused and enraged.

Mills can now return to milking more money out of other innocent souls. Milos Pogacar, you’re next.

The singing legend has allegedly agreed to hand over his $7.8 million home in St John’s Wood, London to the former model, as well as his $11.8 million mansion in Beverly Hills.

It’s unclear who keeps the Heather Mills sex photos.

The out-of-court settlement means McCartney will never have to publicly defend himself against Mills’ claims of physical abuse while she was pregnant with their daughter Beatrice in 2003.

We just hope the Kara Janx wedding has a happier ending than this.