Our Country

If it's just about money, why bother being an artist?

We have two worlds, the educated and the uneducated. Those willing to do the hard work and those who like to take it easy.

And in today's world, artists like to take it easy.

Or else they're all about the money. Witness Jeff Koons. Are his balloon animals really forever or are they just well-marketed objects the rich can trade while the lower classes argue over celebrities?

There is a story in today's "New York Times" that is so horrifying and eye-opening that if everybody read it and understood it there'd be riots in the street.

Actually, there are riots in the street, at least protests, and I view this as a good thing. When have you heard of white kids being accidentally shot by the police? (Thanks to Chris Rock for this reference, read his interview with Frank Rich in "New York" magazine, it's the best thing I've read all weekend) Under the pretense of keeping ourselves safe, as if the terrorists are going to go to Missouri or Oklahoma, we've beefed up the police and eliminated privacy to the point where everybody's guilty until proven innocent, at least if you're a black man.

But the point is entertainers don't understand money. Their handlers do, that's why they're all up the ass of Silicon Valley, investing in tech. But today's entertainers come from the lower classes, believing that fame is its own currency, however fleeting, and that if you're getting paid one cannot evaluate the work.

So this leads us to a nation wherein a country artist famous for speaking her truth in song hooks up with the producer do jour to make disposable mainstream music and after drumming up interest on social media the press lauds her for selling a miniscule number of albums, because our nation is all about the digits.

But how about Relational making $188 million in two years?

That's real money. The kind entertainers barely score. The kind they can make once and not again. Notice that U2 isn't doing stadiums this time around? They're afraid they can't fill them.

But back to Relational... They split up a profitable steel and ball bearing company in order to fill their coffers. Those in control now want to add debt to a company with little previously. They want short term returns.

So the rich get richer and the rest have no idea what is happening. Meanwhile, Carl Icahn buys a scrapyard and gets rid of worker health insurance. Huh?

And all this has me pondering my own path.

When I graduated from college, where I was immersed in the liberal arts, where there was no business track, it was all about the journey, one of self-exploration and expression. That's how we got that great music and art. It was made by those with a safety net who believed they could make a difference.

No one wants to make a difference anymore, they just want to get paid. And can you blame them when the truly fat cats live a lifestyle you can only dream of?

So if I graduated from college today I'd get on the career path, immediately. Those matriculating from elite universities all do this, out of fear that they'll be left behind. If you don't start today, you won't even have a chance tomorrow. You can't make it as a social worker or a teacher, and if you didn't go to college you can't make it at all. Unless you win the lottery.

And that's what art has become, the lottery. A way for the poor and uneducated to win a payment they'll fritter away nearly instantly.

Believe me, if you needed an advanced degree to make it as a pop star the landscape would look vastly different.

Instead we're told if you've got no wrinkles and can gain an audience on YouTube you're a king. No one can argue with millions of views. Say the content sucks and the joke is upon you.

Meanwhile, Dave Grohl, our patron saint of credibility, makes a marvelous documentary on recording history and then bores us to death with new music you never even have to hear once. That's right, "Sonic Highways" is stupendous until the Foo Fighters start to play, then you want to turn it off.

But to criticize Mr. Grohl is to antagonize his fans. Who only have his fame to hang on to. They don't know the people running this country. They might go see the classic acts live who once impacted the culture, but those acts are running on fumes, creatively bankrupt.

So I'm flummoxed. I don't want to encourage the great unwashed to pursue their musical dreams, because they're too young and too uneducated to have anything to say.

And I'm angry that the faceless rich get all the good seats and opportunities and I'm closed out of a world I'm only vaguely familiar with.

This is not a music business problem. This is an American problem. One in which we venerate the rich and tell the poor they're just not working hard enough. Whereas the truth is the poor never had opportunities and we're all beholden to the corporations who want short term results.

Come on. Did you ever find an artist who could create a lasting hit from scratch in two years? Research and development is everything. But that's been gone in music since MTV minted instant stars based on looks, a paradigm that continues to this day on reality television.

Scott Borchetta should be home in Nashville, developing talent, as opposed to mentoring wannabes working for advertisers on television. Has any great talent emerged from TV shows? Carrie Underwood's hits are written by others. But Scott can't turn down the money and the fame.

No one can turn down the money and the fame. Those are the currencies of our culture. And neither one will keep you warm at night.

So I'm angry. Label me mad as hell.

If only those not privileged were aligned with me, if only those not winning would agitate for change. But if they complain, the corporation won't endorse them, won't give them a leg up. And none of them understand that art is more powerful than money, ever day of the week.

But you need to be educated to know that.

You need to live in a culture where what is exalted is the great, not the profitable.

That's right, they ruined movies and they ruined music too.

And they're laughing all the while. Because they're all getting paid, they're all living the lifestyle the rockers used to. The nerds running these companies are getting their revenge.

But remember, nerds were never cool.

These are drones.

We need intelligent anti-thinkers who believe hard work is shredding in their basement as opposed to promoting themselves on social media. Who realize not everything they do is great. Who understand the spoils go to those who go their own way.

But we live in a nation of sheep.

Might as well be a shearer.

That's what the bankers and corporate titans are.

You're the product.

Wake up.

"How Wall Street Bent Steel": http://nyti.ms/1ALA0tl

"In Conversation With Chris Rock": http://vult.re/1yrqWcq


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