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Substack. Heard of it?

Substack. Heard of it?

Hello Readers. Thank you for supporting my blog. I want to let you know I am moving The Man on the Move to Substack @ https://themanonthemove.substack.com/ Substack makes it very easy to write, post, subscribe, follow, etc. As bonus (for me), no constant WordPress updates, plug-in updates, hosting updates, PHP what the hell is that updates, etc. I will still keep the toddro.com domain and try…

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Poker Dilemma

A decade ago I walked out of a tired, old, Native American casino with a poker dilemma. Perhaps you can help me… Seattle I’d just finished recording a project at a studio east of Seattle. After we wrapped our last day of a 2 week session, we hit the road for Seattle and a long return back to Nashville. My musical compadres and I rolled into a Days Inn around midnight for a few hours sleep. We…

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Is This A Joke?

Is This A Joke?

If after ten minutes at the poker table you can’t spot the rube, then you are the rube. – Ancient Poker Proverb I haven’t played in awhile, but I used to play a lot of poker. A LOT of poker. I’ve won several tournaments and I can hold my own in very solid games. I used to play in an illegal card room in the basement of a high-rise condo at I-440 & West End. Until it got raided. Luckily I wasn’t…

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LA Guy

Installment #3 of “The Shallow Money Trench” by Todd Robbins – point blank war stories amassed from 30 years in the music industry I am going to open with this: you will find no better studios and no better talent than what you find in Nashville, TN. Sure you may find more famous studios, more well known figures, different creative approaches, and varying musical viewpoints from city to city;…

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An Autopsy of The American Man – Part II

An Autopsy of The American Man – Part II

Manliness… where did it go? When did it become a bad idea? You’ve seen him. You know him. Our fellow man who is fearful of his own masculinity. He tries to remove it from his body as if it’s some kind of foreign object. He ends up neutered with no energy, no sense of direction, and no courage. He is trapped in a constant state of fear where anything he says or does might hurt or offend…

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The Music Broker

Installment #2 of “The Shallow Money Trench” by Todd Robbins – point blank war stories amassed from 30 years in the music industry There are a lot of folks in Nashville running around claiming to be “producers”. Some of them are as they claim – and they are damn good! Others only play the part. I prefer to call the ones who are faking it “music brokers” instead. Today, for the first time since…

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Gamestopped

Who knew Reddit could blow up Wall Street? It just did. Or it tried. Much has been said, much has been written. I’m shocked at how little people know, even as they posture to provide expert commentary. Ja Rule? I wanted to recap it all as I did a profile on Robinhood three years ago. Much of what I wrote then is just now coming to light as cause for concern today. Let’s break it down. Short…

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Deaf In One Ear

Deaf In One Ear

Installment #1 of “The Shallow Money Trench” by Todd Robbins – point blank war stories amassed from 30 years in the music industry In the peaking years of the music business most anything was possible from a money perspective. In 2005, give or take a several years on either side, people would write checks for a wide array of music related services. Money flowed through Nashville’s Music Row like…

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#2021

It’s here. 2021. When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. If you thought 2020 was atypical, I have a feeling that was just the warm up act. To keep pace with the action, The Man on the Move is mixing it up: I’ve had dozens of request for more true stories, and I’ve got ’em. Thirty years worth of war stories in the music business offers quite a collection. I’ll take aim at the good, the…

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A Single Point of Failure

A Single Point of Failure

Yesterday Nashville joined the list of cities victimized by terrorism. Too many people suffered a single point of failure when it happened. Communications It seems reasonable… AT&T offers you a package deal. Bundle your phone, internet, and tv service into one package and save money by proving you are a loyal customer, right? Then AT&T is either target or collateral damage in yesterday’s…

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Investing in Normal

With the election winding down the Man on the Move is not waiting for long, drawn out court battles. It’s time to gear up for a Biden presidency…

Where Do We Stand?

Last week, ahead of the election, I considered Societal Norms:

Government spending and taxation are no longer correlated. Fiscal and monetary policy have diverged.

Debt is normal and even encouraged. It’s to the point where…

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Societal Norms

I’m taking a look at societal norms, and reconsidering a few…

The New Normal

A few weeks ago we saw a nominee for the Supreme Court talk about sexual preference on televised hearings. The “preference” part irritated the progressive thinkers of our country. By the end of the day, literally within hours of her using the term, Merriam-Webster Dictionary changed the definition of “sexual…

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Espresso Chronicles IV

Espresso-fueled ramblings [non-political]

Why am I still sitting in a doctor’s office in mid-2020 filling out 7 double-sided forms of paper with a crappy ballpoint pen? Of course the doctor rolled up in his Tesla and asked me questions about his iPhone 11 Pro Max pairing with his newest generation Apple Watch, but I’m out here chiseling hieroglyphics in stone so his staff can then take my data…

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Espresso Chronicles III

Warning. Espresso fueled rambling ahead. Proceed with caution.

I’ve been seeing a pervasive trend lately. Especially in the creative industry active on social media. Especially in folks who came to Nashville from the West coast or the Northeast. Some arrived decades ago, some more recently. There is a trend.

A (Very) Brief History

First, a look back. When the money was good Nashville was…

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Espresso Chronicles II

My last espresso-fueled rambling generated some good convo. And some hateful DMs (thank you). I got up early this morning, had 4 shots, and started thinking about men.

The Trades

We stopped teaching trades in school. No shop class, metal working, small engine repair, auto mechanic, or paint and body. Now we teach all the kids the same thing, a common core, and tell them to all go to the…

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Espresso Chronicles I

History is written by the winners. Society is made up of winners and losers. We won.

Now, however, we pay the price for raising a generation that spends their Saturday mornings loading up a mini-van to go play non-contact sports. Playing time today is mandatory, based on just “being there”. We don’t keep score and all the players get a trophy. We focus on self-esteem instead of building…

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Bobby D is Broke

Bobby D is Broke

Most everyone I know could make do on $7.5M per year. Robert De Niro, however, is going to struggle.

How do you star in Godfather II, Heat, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, The King of Comedy, The Untouchables, and Cape Fear only to end up broke? Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Robert De Niro!!! Give him a hand everybody!!! [cue sad trombone. cue slow clap. cue a smattering of boos]

The…