Record Industry Salutes, Roasts Joe Smith

Testimonial fund-raisers are often tedious, hollow exercises, but Thursday night’s salute to music-industry veteran Joe Smith--which raised $1 million for the City of Hope--was an exception.

Smith, president of Capitol Industries-EMI, has emceed about 40 testimonial dinners in the last 20 years, but the gala at the Century Plaza Hotel was the first time he has consented to be the honoree.

Finally, the industry’s toastmaster was being toasted. Or--more precisely--the roast master was being roasted.

Over the years, Smith’s biting humor has cut through the pomposity that characterizes most formal awards banquets. Among his classic zingers:

--Introducing Dick Asher, the president of PolyGram Records: “Before he got to PolyGram, he thought Bon Jovi was a red Italian wine.”

--Introducing Clive Davis, the egotistical president of Arista Records: “Let me read from Clive’s own personally drawn resume: ‘Clive was born in a manger in Bethlehem. . . .’ ”

--Scanning the dais of executives at a banquet in New York, he told the audience: “All of you would be safer in Central Park tonight than you are in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel.”

So who emceed Smith’s banquet? Who could possibly top Smith at his own game? The master of the insult, Don Rickles. “The zinger of all time is zinging the zinger of all time,” said Gene Smith, associate publisher of Billboard magazine, summarizing the audience’s anticipation before the event.

It’s no wonder that the event was a sellout, raising a record $1 million for the music-industry chapter of the City of Hope--$200,000 more than the annual dinner has raised in any of its 15 previous outings.

As it turned out, Rickles went pretty easy on Smith, a friend for more than 20 years. Most of his material seemed to be straight out of his racy Las Vegas act, but the comedian did poke fun at Smith’s obsession with the Lakers. Smith has pricey seats for every Lakers home game, which prompted Rickles to say, “The Lakers won the basketball championship, and it only cost Joe $7,450,000 to be on TV and go, ‘Yeah Lakers.’ ”

Smith, who served as president of Warner Bros. Records and chairman of Elektra/Asylum Records before taking the Capitol job early last year, is one of the most respected and best-liked executives in the music business.

Richard Perry, a top record producer who has known Smith for 20 years, said in an interview after the event, “I’ve never heard anybody say a bad word about Joe Smith. It’s the nature of our business that any time anyone is successful, a certain amount of resentment builds up around that person. But Joe is able to get the job done without alienating people.”

Perry added that Smith helps keep alive the sense of camaraderie and friendship that characterized the fledgling record business when Smith was breaking into it 30 years ago. “That’s rare in this day and age when corporation is fighting corporation,” he said. “Joe kind of brings us all down to size and says we’re all pals, we’re all in this together.”

Irving Azoff, chairman of MCA Records, first worked closely with Smith a decade ago when Smith ran Elektra/Asylum and Azoff managed the Eagles, the label’s most successful act.

“Joe has a knack for making you feel good in both good times and bad,” Azoff said in an interview. “I just can’t imagine the business without him. He’s a fixture. He really holds us together.”

In presenting the City of Hope’s Spirit of Life award to Smith on stage, Russ Solomon, president of the Tower Records chain, said simply, “The record industry is a much happier place with a guy like Joe.”

In accepting the award, Smith noted, “Those of us in the entertainment industry are so lucky: We love what we do. We live the best of the good life and it’s time that we should pay back with our money, energy and talents.”

The Massachusetts native reminisced about his charmed life in the music business, back to his days as a Boston deejay in the mid-’50s--”back when the payola was really good,” he quipped.

Smith also read a passage by Emerson that he said summarized his feelings about life. “Not Keith Emerson,” he clarified, referring to the rock star. “Ralph Waldo Emerson.”

Later, seated at a table as the room cleared, Smith spoke more seriously of his affection for the industry.

“This industry is a family,” he said. “As opposed to the film industry, where there is great back-biting and envy and people don’t rejoice in each other’s successes, in this industry, we still rejoice when somebody has a hit. We know that there’s room for everybody and that everybody will get their shot.”

Smith acknowledged that the industry has lost some of its charm as big corporations have increasingly come to dominate it, but he added, “I think on a personal level, we can keep a certain degree of intimacy. Whatever our individual priorities are, we can still share the sheer joy of being in the music industry.”

LIVE ACTION: Tickets go on sale Monday for the Sept. 21 Los Angeles Coliseum date of Amnesty International’s “Human Rights Now” tour featuring Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N’Dour. . . . On sale Sunday are Bruce Hornsby & the Range on Aug. 18 and Aerosmith with Guns N’ Roses on Sept. 14-15, both at the Pacific Amphitheatre. . . . Tickets for the Pacific’s “Dirty Dancing” show Aug. 14 go on sale Monday. . . . The Moody Blues will be at the Pacific Amphitheatre on Aug. 26 (tickets on sale now) and at the Greek Theatre Aug. 28-30 (tickets on sale Monday). . . . The Greek has added a second Bryan Ferry show, on Sept. 19. . . . The Church, Peter Murphy and Tom Verlaine (solo) will be at the Hollywood Palladium on Aug. 13. Tickets on sale Monday.