RIP Ahmet Ertegun

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061214/ap_en_mu/obit_ahmet_ertegun_9

:'(

Many of the best memories of my misspent teens and early 20s happened with a soundtrack of Atlantic's greatest hits.

 

RIP. I wonder how accurate Curtis Armstrong's portrayal was in "Ray."

 

i got to know ahmet a bit when i covered the cosmos of nasl fame in the early '80s. warner bros. owned the team. i used to tease ahmet about how he turned down a chance to sign jackson browne when browne sent him a demo tape.
ertegun threw the tape in a trash can, telling his secretary, "this kid can't play the guitar and he can't sing."

the secretary had alsso heard the tape, though, and gave it to an ertegun underling by the name of david geffen. geffen soon branched out on his own, creating elektra-asylum, and signed browne, who always gave thanks to geffen on his album jackets.

r.i.p., ahmet. he didn't blow many chances to sign talent.

 

He heard Aretha, though, and a couple dozen others.
RIP.

 

Man ... doesn't get much bigger than this guy.

 

Aretha, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Wilson Pickett, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, CSN&Y, Drifters, Coasters ... holy shit.

 

Great anecdote about him and the late lamented J Geils Band in the Bill Graham oral history.
Also, Otis used to call him, "Omelet."

 

Damn.

First Fat Joe, now Ahmet.

RIP. Damn damn.