Looks like my friend Bryn Bridenthal has finally retired. One of the greatest publicists in the history of the music business, she has, during her career headed publicity departments for four record companies – DreamWorks Records, Geffen Records, Capitol Records and Elektra-Asylum Records. During her career, she handled publicity for Queen, Mötley Crüe, The Cars, The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, Jr., The Pointer Sisters, Carly Simon, Eddie Rabbitt, Patrice Rushen, Grover Washington, Jr., John Prine, X, Megadeth, Duran Duran, Steve Miller, Crowded House, Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Beck, George Michael, Enya, Slash’s Snakepit, Forest For The Trees, Herb Alpert, White Zombie, The Sundays, Hole, Aerosmith, Jimmy Page, Robbie Robertson, Joni Mitchell, Don Henley, Nelly Furtado, Toby Keith, The Isley Brothers, Rufus Wainwright, Lifehouse, eels, Papa Roach, Floetry, Jimmy Eat World, Alien Ant Farm, Jessica Andrews and Buckcherry, among others!
That is quite a list! A few weeks ago she sent out an email to her friends saying she was retiring to concentrate on her work as a glass artist.
Her talent and wisdom will be sorely missed by any press person who still remembers when one of the jobs of a publicist was to treat a press person with respect and work with them to try to get what they needed to do their job.
Last week was the 25th anniversary Farm Aid concert. Held at Miller Park in Milwaukee (thankfully the roof was closed) the concert was a rousing success. Some new artists (Band of Horses, Amos Lee) some soon to be superstars (Jamey Johnson, Norah Jones) and a few unlikely pairings (Willie Nelson and American Idol judge Steven Tyler, for example) and the classics (Dave, John, Neil and Willie). It should be noted that there were about 100 photographers working there that day, and everything seemed to go pretty smoothly. There seemed to be a pretty good level of respect among the working photographers and it seems that everyone got what they needed.
Last night I was hanging out in back of a venue talking to a band I had just photographed. The subject of putting on a show to make it worth the money for the fans came up. These guys (Anti Flag) from Pittsburgh had just driven 8 hours to play a 35 minute set at a festival, and all said that, although they were tired, and all in their middle thirties, and that it wasn’t as fun to drive around in a cramped van anymore, they were still going to jump around like crazy because they owed it to the people that bought their tickets and music!
They certainly did!