Jay Leno, The Softball Pitcher

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If you missed Jay Leno's inaugural show in the 10 p.m. ET time slot Monday night, consider yourself lucky. I watched and I'm still trying to get his horrible "interview" of Kanye West out of my head. West, as you know by now, had stolen the spotlight from Taylor Swift the previous night on MTV's Video Music Awards and the rumor was that he would use Leno's show, on which he was performing with Jay-Z and Rihanna, to apologize.

What transpired could be used to teach college students how not to conduct an interview. In fact, I will use it in the college class I'm teaching at Belmont University here in Nashville.

Let's go to the transcript...

LENO: Welcome back, everybody. We're thrilled to have Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West here tonight. But before they perform, this really wasn't planned; we did this kind of last minute. Kanye wanted to talk, so please welcome Kanye West.

Talk about what, Jay? You're not going to tell folks about the incident the previous night? After all, not everyone was watching when Kanye took the mic from Taylor and not everyone saw the clips posted on Web site, Facebook and Twitter. Tell us why he's here, Jay.

(Applause.)

Have a seat, my friend. First of all, let me say thank you for honoring this commitment. A lot of times, people -- things happen. They kind of back out at the last minute, or they have a publicist or someone call and say, "Oh, I'm sorry, my client's not available." So thank you for coming and doing this, in light of all the things that have been going on.

Tell me about your day. Have you had a tough day today? Yes, Jay, he had a tough day. He was rude to a young woman on a nationally televised awards show. He interrupted her acceptance speech so that he could call attention to his own opinion about who should have won the award.

(Weak laughter.)

WEST: Yeah, it's been extremely difficult. I just -- just dealing with the fact that I hurt someone or took anything away, you know, from a talented artist or from anyone, because I only wanted to help people. My entire life, I've only wanted to give and do something that I felt was right. And I immediately knew in the situation that it was wrong, and it wasn't a spectacle or just -- you know, it's actually someone's emotions, you know, that I stepped on. And it was very -- it was just -- it was rude, period. And, you know, I'd like to be able to apologize to her in person. And I wanted to --

LENO: So when did you know you were wrong? Was it afterwards? as you were doing it? When did it strike you, "Uh-oh"? Uh-oh? Yeah, that's what he was thinking, Jay. Uh-oh.

WEST: As soon as I gave the mic back to her and she didn't keep going. (Laughter.)

This next segment is where Jay attempts to make it seem like he's grilling Kanye. He still doesn't specify what it is that Kanye's mom would be disappointed by. He can't, he's pitching softballs.

LENO: Let me ask you something. I was fortunate enough to meet your mom and talk with your mom a number of years ago. What do you think she would have said about this? Would she be disappointed in this?

Would she give you a lecture?

WEST: Yeah. You know, obviously, you know, I deal with hurt. And, you know, so many celebrities, they never take the time off. I've never taken the time off to really -- you know, just music after music and tour after tour. I'm just ashamed that my hurt caused someone else's hurt. My dream of what awards shows are supposed to be, 'cause -- and I don't try to justify it because I was just in the wrong. That's period. But I need to, after this, take some time off and just analyze how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life, how I'm going to improve. Because I am a celebrity, and that's something I have to deal with. And if there's anything I could do to help Taylor in the future or help anyone, I'd like -- you know, I want to live this thing. It's hard sometimes, so --

LENO: Thanks for coming here, and thanks for doing that. Doing what, Jay? Drilling your softballs foul even though you pitched them right over the plate? Barely mentioning Taylor's name?

(Applause.)

You're going to sing? Give it a shot? Yes, he's going to give it a shot, Jay. He's a tough kid. But don't be so tough on him next time, OK?

Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift

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I recently made a discovery. If I mention Taylor Swift in my blog, hits and page views go way up. Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift.

I've heard from people that know, that Web sites such as t-swift.com and just-tswift.com are highly attuned to any world wide web mention of Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift. When they find a story or picture or mention of Taylor Swift, they go viral, baby. Big time.

My recent interview with Scott Borchetta included a question about Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift.

Here's a sample of the comments posted on my blog regarding my conversation with Scott (better known as the man who signed Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift.):

AHHHHHHHH I'M A SUPER FAN!!!!!!!!!! :) I'm so exciteddddddd ahhhhh :D

YESSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fearless re-release. I'm such a super fan that I went to Hendersonville, TN when Fearless was released to actually get a glimpse of Tayor!!!! I CANNOT wait for thi album to be re-released. PLEASE BIG MACHINE LET IT BE SOOOONNNN!!!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? I AM THE BIGGEST TAYLOR SWIFT FAN EVER!! Please release more (brilliant!) songs!! I love you taylor (and scott too!!)

:) XOxxoXOxxo

If I had realized how rabid Taylor Nation is, I would have included Taylor Swift in a post months ago.

When I started this blog, it wasn't so that I could get rich. I was just looking for another outlet for my writing. That said, why can't I do both? I mean, Taylor Swift probably would agree, wouldn't she? In fact, I know she would. Taylor Swift endorses this blog fully and would love to have another outlet for Taylor Swift fans to keep up what's going on with Taylor Swift.

Did I mention that I spent close to 30 minutes on Taylor Swift's tour bus last Labor Day weekend talking to Taylor Swift about Taylor Swift's then-forthcoming "Fearless" album?

So Plain Speak About Taylor Swift is born. Unless, of course, Selena Gomez has more rabid fans. OMG, what if Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez became BFFs?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????

Scott Borchetta & The Remnants

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I recently did an interview with Big Machine/Valory Music/Republic Nashville CEO Scott Borchetta that landed in the pages of Billboard and on Billboard.biz. As is the case with many interviews I do, space limits what can actually be published. With that in mind, I offer you, dear reader, the best of the rest of my conversation with Scott—the remnants, if you will.

How has your role changed since you launched Big Machine in 2005 and what have you learned?

That’s a great question because it’s become so many different things. When we first started the label, I was really a glorified vice president of promotion. I always had had at least a voice in what acts were doing what, what singles came out, etc., but at the end of the day that was never really just my call.

But working with [former DreamWorks principal James] Stroud gave me the opportunity to really be involved with all aspects of a label. James really allowed me to learn how to run a record company. Obviously I had to learn a lot more about marketing, learn a lot more about distribution, learn contracts from zero to putting a record out, and that knowledge base has expanded greatly.

Being involved in the negotiations, being involved in global marketing with all the Universal companies that we work with is fantastic. Obviously we’re involved in different parts of management with different artists. We’re not day-to-day managers of anybody, but we have different strategic consulting management responsibilities.

We’ve always felt that we always wanted that open door policy. If you can save a new artist heartache, [you should]. It’s about saying, “You shouldn’t do this and this is why. We’ve been here before. This is 20-plus years of experience saying, 'You can try that. Here are two or three things that could happen if you go down that road'.”

And when you have new families come in—because it’s very rare when it’s just an artist, especially as we’re delving more and more into younger artists—there’s a lot family involvement. And they don’t know anything coming in.

Until you’re on the job, there’s no on the job training. And so, whether it’s everything that we’ve gone through with the Swift family or if it’s just a new act that we want to sign that’s a family act that we’re hoping to land literally today. There’s a lot of family involved then. It’s three siblings, and their parents are very involved, and we invite that. Nobody knows their kids better than their parents. So why not use that knowledge base? They’re experts on their kids. So we welcome all that. With Kate & Kacey, their dad, Frank [Coppola], is a very smart man, and so why shouldn’t we have him in the circle of the knowledge base?

The first act you’ve signed to your new Republic Nashville label is Fast Ryde. What’s the story behind their signing?

I had just gotten back from Australia. I was there for the second week that Taylor was over there. I was in the office Monday, and Harry, my assistant, says, “Hey, Allison,” our VP of A&R “wants you to hear this CD.” I’m like, “Alright, when’s our A&R meeting?” He says, “Thursday.” I’m like, “Alright I got a couple days, right?” So Monday goes by, Tuesday. Thursday I said, “Let me play this. Get ready for Allison. See what she’s got.” And I’m like, “Oh my god.” I played the first song, it’s amazing. Play the second one, “Are you kidding me?” I call her before the meeting, “Why didn’t you break into my office?” She goes, “I tried.” I’m said, “You’re right. Harry told me. You know what, if they can breathe, they’re signed. Get them in here.”

And they ended up being these two young, cool guys [James Harrison and Jody Stevens] who have this whole thing going on. It was one of those beautiful situations where something fantastic happened right under your nose.

We told them “You want to be here. We want you to be here. Let’s go.” We told them about the Republic opportunity. They kind of scratched their head and looked at each other, and then met with [label president] Jimmy [Harnen] and myself together and they said, “Alright. Let’s go.”

You had several different releases between Taylor’s first album and her second—there was a Christmas record, a Wal-Mart exclusive, a deluxe edition—do you foresee doing different variations again between the second album and her third?

Yeah, we will do a “Fearless” deluxe re-release. There will only be one more version of the album, but she has so much music that comes out of her. There are some great songs sitting, and she and I were just talking about this last week. Like, “You know what? ‘Sparks Fly’ is a great song, and if we don’t get to that song, you’ll leave it behind and your fans won’t ever get to own it.” So that’s a song that she’s seriously considering for a deluxe re-release.

There are three or four or five things sitting that, with as quickly as she’s growing up, if we don’t get ‘em now, they won’t get out. And she acknowledges that. It goes back to the first album conversation. She didn’t really want to put “The Outside” and “A Place In This World” on the first record. I said, “They’re so important and they’re such great songs, if you don’t put them on the first record, we’ll never get to ‘em.” And she was nice enough to go along with me on that and there’s been a couple times where she’s high-fived me. She said, “You know what? I’m glad we put these songs on this record because they made the record so real.”

So that’s where she is right now. We’ve had a couple things that have happened musically during the “Fearless” campaign that will be part of a “Fearless” deluxe edition and that’s for the fans. We’re not going to shove a million copies of a re-release out there. We’re pretty knowledgeable about what the super fan wants, and so we’re going to make just enough to fulfill that need and desire. Also we very specifically, from day one, established her as a fourth-quarter artist. So there will be people going into the stores in the fourth-quarter saying, “I want to buy a Taylor Swift gift for my daughter/sister/girlfriend/whoever it is.” We’re not going to disappoint.