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"I Didn't Build This World, But I Sure Can Tear It Down"
May 2007
By PETER CASE
 t's sometime in 1979. I'm relaxing in my rundown 4th floor Hollywood hotbox apartment (for more on this abode, see the lyrics for my song "Two Heroes," posted on the pcblog earlier this year at petercase.com)... the Plimsouls had formed on the first day of the year, and were already becoming a popular club draw in town.
We were all broke, though... we rehearsed and played as much as possible, goofed off the rest of the time, and no one had a job... we'd been voted "Top Unsigned Band in L.A." by the Music Connection readers... whatever that meant... they told me & Eddie one afternoon... we were walking down Hollywood Blvd... and after a short moment of triumphalism, right there on the curb... we came down... and I don't think I've celebrated anything since.
Anyhow, I'm home and the phone rings: a woman's voice: " May I speak to Peter Case of the Plimsouls?"
"You got him."
"Can you meet with Gabe Winters in his office in Century City, tomorrow at 11 am?"
"I'll be there" I said and hung up.
I knew that Gabe Winters was the most powerful music business lawyer in LA. I knew that because I'd just seen his name in the L.A. Times: "The Ten Most Powerful Men In The Music Business", and Gabe 's name was at the top of the list.
I felt a combination of nerves, exhilaration , and anger... it's great that a guy like this is calling... he must want something... that could mean good news for me and the band... the fucking nerve of these guys just having a secretary call up like that and deliver the request like it's Cinderella or something... maybe we'll get to make a decent sounding record..." etc...
I guess I told a couple people about the meeting, but I went alone... I was suspicious, I wanted to have freedom of movement, I didn't want to get stuck in there if it got stinky.
I drove my trusty Ford over there... it was a 65 Fairlane 400... baby blue... I'd bought it for 400 dollars from Louie's dad... Manny Ramirez, who had a shoe repair place out in Paramount. I found the address, it was a 25 floor tower: so I parked my car in the garage and took the elevator up to the top floor, to the offices of Somers, Etcetera & Etcetera... Attorneys At Law.
I was immediately shown by the fashionable and pretty young receptionist back into Gabe's office.. .Gabe was standing behind his desk, smiling at me. We shook hands... The gal brought me a glass of water that I'd asked for, and left the room. Before she left, Gabe said: "Rachel, please hold all of my calls".
Gabe was still smiling at me. I was in a chair in front of his desk. Behind him, and all around us, were huge plate glass windows, offering a view of the entire Los Angeles area... from the ocean to the Santa Monica Mountains... and beyond. For a second I was afraid I was gonna jump through the window, and try to fly away, but the feeling passed.
"I understand you are really quite the rocker," he said, or some nonsense like that... "Some people I work with are very interested in your future."
Just then the phone rings, and Gabe looks irritated, hesitates, then picks it up.
"I thought I told you to hold my calls, Rachel... oh okay ...just for a second... put him on... Hello, Prince Rupert! How are you doing, buddy? Look, I've got the million for Mick... tell him its all taken care of, will you? ... great... you'll have to excuse me, I'm in a very important meeting, I can't chat right now... Okay... best to Mick and you... we'll talk soon."
He puts down the phone and smiles graciously. "Please excuse me Peter... so tell me about yourself."
That was my least favorite conversational opener back in those days.. .I'd been on the run... lived on the street... been involved with a lot of this that and the other thing: opening up with strangers made me nervous: I was struggling to pull some words together, something inane about: "me & the band are just waiting for the right opportunity" or some jive... I'm sweating, uptight, I feel at such a complete disadvantage...
The phone rings again, and Gabe reacts angrily, picks up the phone and yells "Rachel! What the devil is it? I thought I told you to hold my calls...I'm in a very important meeting! Who... well for God's sake... can't he call back later?... what?... he did? Well, okay tell him just for a second... Okay put him through.... Hello: Mayor Bradley?... I'm going to have to kick your ass on this stadium deal! I'm in a very important meeting and I can't talk right now, but I'm not happy with the way this thing is going. Okay? We'll have to work this out later...I've got to go, I'm in the middle of something now... I'll have to speak with you later."
He hangs up and returns his gaze to me. "Sorry, Peter . Where were we?"
The upshot of the meeting with Gabe is that he represents a Producer named Joe Wissert... Joe wants to sign the Plimsouls to Columbia and produce the record. Could I bring the whole band back tomorrow, and meet with Gabe there at the office... Joe will come by... and we'll get things rolling.
Okay, so I bring the band , that's Louie & Davido, back the next day. He has Rachel hold his calls, and I wondered to myself who it was gonna be this time: Maybe Jimmy Carter was gonna call from the White House for some advice about the Hostage Situation, or something... but no, things took another quick turn.
The band shakes hands with Gabe , exchanges pleasantries, shifts uneasily in the silence, as Gabe smiles at them...
Gabe leads off with this: " So Lou... Louie Ramirez... what does your father do for a living, Lou?"
"He owns a shoe repair shop in Paramount," answers Lou.
"Well, how would you like to buy him a whole chain of shoe repair shops?"
Louie said he thought that would be great. Gabe said, well work with me and you'll be able to do that in no time. Dave was quiet, Lou was impressed. I was ready to leave.
We meet with Joe, who has never even seen the band play... I'm not knocked out by his studio resume, even tho he'd produced Boz Scaggs' trillion selling album Silk Degrees... there was nothing so rock and roll about that... I'm thinking, Joe seems like a nice guy.. but his lawyer is bringing us into the deal: that seems like a conflict of interest right there. Gabe says he'll represent us, but that would be like having no representation at all, if anything goes wrong with Joe.
Gabe was going to prepare the deal. We were supposed to leave, and go home and think about it. It just seemed like a big corporate rip off to me, where the band gets chewed up and spit out. I had my eyes out for this stuff. I wasn't buying.
Lou was so happy, his father was gonna be glad to open that chain. I can't remember what he used to entice the rest of us... I wasn't listening anymore. Sorry, Louie... on our way out of the office past Rachel, I borrow her pen and a piece of paper and scrawl "Thanks But No Thanks: The Plimsouls" on the paper and hand it to her : Please pass this note into Gabe for me.
And that's how I handled the opportunity that came with The Big Phonecall.
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