AMATEURS
Ask permission.
PROFESSIONALS
Do. Amateurs are afraid they're going to ruffle feathers, they're afraid they won't have success, they want everyone to feel good about them. Professionals know this is an impossibility. Sure, there are amateurs who don't ask and do heinous things, but they usually don't even see the landscape to begin with. Decide and then act.
AMATEURS
Manipulate.
PROFESSIONALS
Make their counterparts believe the behavior/solution is to their advantage. No one likes to be manipulated. They don't mind being influenced, even if it benefits others at the same time. They just don't want to be a pawn in the game.
AMATEURS
Are all about today.
PROFESSIONALS
Are all about tomorrow. Professionals leave money on the table, they nurture relationships, they know that today's triumph may not translate into victories tomorrow, that taking a victory lap in the press prematurely is going to backfire and piss people off.
AMATEURS
Love publicity.
PROFESSIONALS
Want to stay out of the news. And if they're in the news, they like to control the story. Which is why professionals hire expensive PR people, because those PR people know the players, they can influence them and trade horses with them, because they both know they'll see each other tomorrow.
AMATEURS
Know it all.
PROFESSIONALS
Are always learning. If you don't learn something important every month, you're hanging with the wrong people, if you're hanging with people at all. The web is a fountain of information, but professionals will tell you stuff one on one that they would never put in writing.
AMATEURS
Are about filling up their contacts list.
PROFESSIONALS
Know that it's who you know, and one key relationship is better than a dozen secondary ones. The pro wants to know the decision maker, the person who can say yes, the CEO of the company, not the head of marketing or development.
AMATEURS
Bitch about the game.
PROFESSIONALS
Play the game, and try to change what they dislike over time.
AMATEURS
Are afraid to bring out the big guns.
PROFESSIONALS
Know when to huff and puff and blow someone else's house down. The key is to do this consciously, aware of the fallout.
AMATEURS
Boast.
PROFESSIONALS
Don't talk about their accomplishments unless they come up in the conversation naturally. They don't need to advertise, they're already the person.
AMATEURS
Burn the wrong people.
PROFESSIONALS
Burn the right people, if they burn anybody at all. Burning relationships can demonstrate power, but don't piss off the CEO unless you've got a chip to play against them.
AMATEURS
Need to win all the time.
PROFESSIONALS
Know if you never lose, you never really win. If the deal is one-sided, if leverage is overused, it will come back to haunt you.
AMATEURS
Are all flash.
PROFESSIONALS
Are subtle. They fly private, but they don't tell you. They drive a BMW or a Mercedes, not a Lamborghini. They blend in, they don't stand out.
AMATEURS
Believe life should be fair.
PROFESSIONALS
Know that life is inherently unfair. And sometimes you have to grease a palm or work a relationship to get what you want.
AMATEURS
Think they're better than everybody else.
PROFESSIONALS
Never forget where they came from and are aware they can go back there, so they might act entitled, but they usually go out of their way to be nice to the little people.
AMATEURS
Can only see what's in front of them.
PROFESSIONALS
Are always looking over the hill, around the corner. They're searching the unknown to see where it's all going, so they can be prepared when it arrives.
AMATEURS
Think nothing changes.
PROFESSIONALS
Know that everything is constantly changing, they're not wedded to the past. They don't lament the death of Main Street and manufacturing, they're all about the data.
AMATEURS
Put all their eggs in one basket.
PROFESSIONALS
Spread the risk. They know the only person who wins all the time is the one who does not play.
AMATEURS
Have false modesty.
PROFESSIONALS
Own their success. They're confident.
AMATEURS
Expect to win right away.
PROFESSIONALS
Know that success is elusive and hard fought and that a momentary blip of success at the advent may be just that, momentary.
AMATEURS
Are afraid.
PROFESSIONALS
Are self-assured. They roll with the changes. They don't get thrown off guard. They're cerebral. They don't fly off at the handle. They absorb the loss and figure out how to punch back.
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Friday 3 October 2014
Rhinofy-John Barleycorn Must Die Primer
It was supposed to be a Steve Winwood solo project.
At this point Traffic had broken up. They'd already released their half live/half studio final project, "Last Exit." And Steve had moved on to Blind Faith, whose album had a prodigious first side but imploded after their one and only 1969 tour. But in the process of making the record, the group reformed, minus Dave Mason, who was about to resurface with his exquisite solo debut "Alone Together," and the end result was this LP.
Few were waiting for the Traffic reunion. The band had never had a hit, despite writing them for others. Fans were rabid, but most people were still clueless. But it was "John Barleycorn Must Die" that got everybody to pay attention, not because it had a single, but because of the sound and the songs, it was an amazing listening experience.
JOHN BARLEYCORN
This is the first cut the uninitiated were exposed to, the first song that FM banged consistently when that format was dominant. Yes, 1970 was the turning point, the better-sounding radio format had a presence in all markets and it was the heyday of album rock, you didn't have to cross over to AM to be a star.
Now Traffic did quiet and acoustic previous to this, although it was not their primary sound, but this song stuck out on the radio, unlike so much of today's music, and even the radio hits of yore, this was intimate and three-dimensional, it set your mind free, it made you think about life.
Every baby boomer knows it, I'm doubtful those under thirty have ever heard it.
EMPTY PAGES
My favorite cut on "John Barleycorn Must Die," the first side closer, there's the opening flourish, the melody, but even more Steve Winwood's voice, one of the best in rock history. "Empty Pages" is both flip and majestic at the same time. You can't help but be impressed by the anthemic chorus, never mind the keyboard noodling. A minor masterpiece that like its lyric has been lost and forgotten.
EVERY MOTHER'S SON
This closed the second side. And got early airplay. Once again, it features an exquisite Winwood vocal, but that's de rigueur on this LP. It too, like "Empty Pages," has a hooky chorus, but it's a slower number, more of a slow burner, that gets under your skin.
GLAD
An instrumental when that format was dead and buried. "Glad" opened the album and went on for seven minutes but no one fast-forwarded through it, actually, tapes barely had an impact at this point, even though it seemed closer to jazz than rock we all knew it and loved hearing it. Hearing it on Sirius XM last night inspired me to write this!
FREEDOM RIDER
Here's where Chris Wood shines, with his sax in the intro and then his flute accents. Sure, Winwood worked with others before and after Traffic, before and after Wood and Capaldi, but he never captured this exact sound without them.
STRANGER TO HIMSELF
It's about the interplay of piano and acoustic guitar. The way Winwood seems to be prancing through the English countryside. This is both lighter and more serious than the other cuts. What you hear here, throughout "John Barleycorn Must Die," is the pure joy of making music. It does not sound like they labored over getting it right, but more about capturing what transpired in the room.
I was a gargantuan Traffic fan. I started with the second album, went back to the first and owned "Last Exit," I loved "Medicated Goo" and "Shanghai Noodle Factory."
I saw Blind Faith live.
But I couldn't wait for the Traffic reunion, back when we truly waited for the next projects of our favorites to see what they were up to.
And in the spring of 1970, before "John Barleycorn Must Die" was released, I went to the Fillmore East to see the band.
The band was announced with a traffic light suspended from the ceiling, shining its beam. And even though I was not familiar with the new material, I got it, because you only have to hear stuff like "John Barleycorn" once.
The band went on to even further success with "The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys," its title track ubiquitous, but in truth "John Barleycorn Must Die" was the apotheosis. It distilled what came before and was less labored and self-conscious than what came thereafter. "John Barleycorn Must Die" is a perfect album, it's got only six songs, three per side, and you never lament its length, when it finishes you just play it again.
And isn't that what a great LP is all about?
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1vvknoM
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At this point Traffic had broken up. They'd already released their half live/half studio final project, "Last Exit." And Steve had moved on to Blind Faith, whose album had a prodigious first side but imploded after their one and only 1969 tour. But in the process of making the record, the group reformed, minus Dave Mason, who was about to resurface with his exquisite solo debut "Alone Together," and the end result was this LP.
Few were waiting for the Traffic reunion. The band had never had a hit, despite writing them for others. Fans were rabid, but most people were still clueless. But it was "John Barleycorn Must Die" that got everybody to pay attention, not because it had a single, but because of the sound and the songs, it was an amazing listening experience.
JOHN BARLEYCORN
This is the first cut the uninitiated were exposed to, the first song that FM banged consistently when that format was dominant. Yes, 1970 was the turning point, the better-sounding radio format had a presence in all markets and it was the heyday of album rock, you didn't have to cross over to AM to be a star.
Now Traffic did quiet and acoustic previous to this, although it was not their primary sound, but this song stuck out on the radio, unlike so much of today's music, and even the radio hits of yore, this was intimate and three-dimensional, it set your mind free, it made you think about life.
Every baby boomer knows it, I'm doubtful those under thirty have ever heard it.
EMPTY PAGES
My favorite cut on "John Barleycorn Must Die," the first side closer, there's the opening flourish, the melody, but even more Steve Winwood's voice, one of the best in rock history. "Empty Pages" is both flip and majestic at the same time. You can't help but be impressed by the anthemic chorus, never mind the keyboard noodling. A minor masterpiece that like its lyric has been lost and forgotten.
EVERY MOTHER'S SON
This closed the second side. And got early airplay. Once again, it features an exquisite Winwood vocal, but that's de rigueur on this LP. It too, like "Empty Pages," has a hooky chorus, but it's a slower number, more of a slow burner, that gets under your skin.
GLAD
An instrumental when that format was dead and buried. "Glad" opened the album and went on for seven minutes but no one fast-forwarded through it, actually, tapes barely had an impact at this point, even though it seemed closer to jazz than rock we all knew it and loved hearing it. Hearing it on Sirius XM last night inspired me to write this!
FREEDOM RIDER
Here's where Chris Wood shines, with his sax in the intro and then his flute accents. Sure, Winwood worked with others before and after Traffic, before and after Wood and Capaldi, but he never captured this exact sound without them.
STRANGER TO HIMSELF
It's about the interplay of piano and acoustic guitar. The way Winwood seems to be prancing through the English countryside. This is both lighter and more serious than the other cuts. What you hear here, throughout "John Barleycorn Must Die," is the pure joy of making music. It does not sound like they labored over getting it right, but more about capturing what transpired in the room.
I was a gargantuan Traffic fan. I started with the second album, went back to the first and owned "Last Exit," I loved "Medicated Goo" and "Shanghai Noodle Factory."
I saw Blind Faith live.
But I couldn't wait for the Traffic reunion, back when we truly waited for the next projects of our favorites to see what they were up to.
And in the spring of 1970, before "John Barleycorn Must Die" was released, I went to the Fillmore East to see the band.
The band was announced with a traffic light suspended from the ceiling, shining its beam. And even though I was not familiar with the new material, I got it, because you only have to hear stuff like "John Barleycorn" once.
The band went on to even further success with "The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys," its title track ubiquitous, but in truth "John Barleycorn Must Die" was the apotheosis. It distilled what came before and was less labored and self-conscious than what came thereafter. "John Barleycorn Must Die" is a perfect album, it's got only six songs, three per side, and you never lament its length, when it finishes you just play it again.
And isn't that what a great LP is all about?
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1vvknoM
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Thursday 2 October 2014
Artistic Requirements
TRUTH
In the land of the phony it's your responsibility to speak from the heart in an unfiltered way. If you're second-guessing the audience, you're already in trouble. Put the beer company in your song and you've lost credibility, and credibility is key to believability and longevity. It's your duty to reach down into the hearts of the audience and resonate with their true feelings.
POINT OF VIEW
Nobody likes a wuss, nobody likes namby-pamby. If you're not offending someone, you're not doing it right. Likes are for Facebook, not art. Art has an edge. Art makes people uncomfortable. It makes people think. It makes people feel. If you rub off all the rough points no one will talk about you, no one will care about your art, and now, more than ever, the road to success is paved with discussion.
PRACTICE
We can debate all day long whether Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule is accurate. All I can say is practice gives you a facility, an ability to be your best self. I'm a great skier, but only after being on the hill thirty days straight do I have the confidence and ability to ski between the rocks. Sure, amateurs can do it, but one false move and they're dead, literally. The practice gives you the recovery gene, you're able to accommodate mistakes instinctively. I admire John Oliver because he does his act so well, but the truth is it was honed on the "Daily Show." You're not a great performer the first time you hit the stage. You learn by experience. What works with the audience and yourself. So you can buy a short cut, but then your life will be full of short cuts. You can sing the songs of hitmakers, but once you're no longer flavor of the month, when you're no longer privy to the best material, what are you going to do then? If you're a writer yourself, you can survive. And a
great writer has a facility with words the same way I can ski between the rocks, it's got to be a reflex gene.
CREATE
An artist creates. Constantly. That's their job. The same way a baseball player plays 162 games a season. You've got to keep doing it, you've got to love it. If you'd rather social network, be a businessman.
IS NOT SUBJECT TO INTIMIDATION
People will try to change you, say they're gonna kill your career and other hogwash. Don't bend. That does not mean you're always right, but if your inner tuning fork says you are, stand up for your viewpoint. Business is about manipulation, art is unselfconscious, it emanates from deep inside. Your best art will be made when you're not even trying, when you're channeling the gods.
KNOWS THE LANDSCAPE
Art is all about influence. The Beatles were influenced by "Pet Sounds." Be aware of the landscape, study the history, not so you can testify like an expert but so you can establish a jumping off point, so you can see you were not the only one who was confronted with this issue.
PUTS ART OVER MONEY
Sure, everybody wants to get paid. But if it's your primary desire, you're not an artist. First and foremost an artist wants to create and have his art experienced by as large an audience as possible. If you're concerned about money, go into tech, where if it doesn't pay, it doesn't play.
IS SINGULAR
Unlike anything else. In the heyday of classic rock, Jethro Tull didn't sound like anything else, and when you first saw Alice Cooper your draw dropped. Being me-too is not being an artist. An artist test limits, challenges the audience's preconceptions. If you're operating behind the audience, or are at the same place they are, you're stagnant, you're not being an artist.
LEADS DOESN'T FOLLOW
If you're cocksure, always confident you're on the right path, you're not an artist. An artist is an explorer. And sometimes he finds himself atop a snowy mountain in the wrong place without a compass.
HAS TO COME UP WITH HIS OWN ANSWERS
If you're looking to others you're ceding your artistry. You must know what you want. Others' ideas can stimulate you, but they can't provide for you, they can't give you your starting point.
HAS TO SAY NO
A businessman says yes and then lies in the future to try and get what he wants. An artist is pure, an artist won't do that which is uncomfortable, the business and the audience bend to the artist, not vice versa.
FIGHTS BACK
Apologize if you're wrong, but defend yourself if you're not. Just because someone is criticizing you, that does not mean they're right.
HAS A BACKBONE
It's tough to be an artist, especially today, when there are so many diversions and the only thing anybody talks about is money. But the truth is money pales in comparison to art. Art slays money. And usually generates a pile of it anyway. Being an artist is a sentence, it's painful, and if you don't feel this you're not one.
ART IS POWER
Only superseded by love.
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In the land of the phony it's your responsibility to speak from the heart in an unfiltered way. If you're second-guessing the audience, you're already in trouble. Put the beer company in your song and you've lost credibility, and credibility is key to believability and longevity. It's your duty to reach down into the hearts of the audience and resonate with their true feelings.
POINT OF VIEW
Nobody likes a wuss, nobody likes namby-pamby. If you're not offending someone, you're not doing it right. Likes are for Facebook, not art. Art has an edge. Art makes people uncomfortable. It makes people think. It makes people feel. If you rub off all the rough points no one will talk about you, no one will care about your art, and now, more than ever, the road to success is paved with discussion.
PRACTICE
We can debate all day long whether Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule is accurate. All I can say is practice gives you a facility, an ability to be your best self. I'm a great skier, but only after being on the hill thirty days straight do I have the confidence and ability to ski between the rocks. Sure, amateurs can do it, but one false move and they're dead, literally. The practice gives you the recovery gene, you're able to accommodate mistakes instinctively. I admire John Oliver because he does his act so well, but the truth is it was honed on the "Daily Show." You're not a great performer the first time you hit the stage. You learn by experience. What works with the audience and yourself. So you can buy a short cut, but then your life will be full of short cuts. You can sing the songs of hitmakers, but once you're no longer flavor of the month, when you're no longer privy to the best material, what are you going to do then? If you're a writer yourself, you can survive. And a
great writer has a facility with words the same way I can ski between the rocks, it's got to be a reflex gene.
CREATE
An artist creates. Constantly. That's their job. The same way a baseball player plays 162 games a season. You've got to keep doing it, you've got to love it. If you'd rather social network, be a businessman.
IS NOT SUBJECT TO INTIMIDATION
People will try to change you, say they're gonna kill your career and other hogwash. Don't bend. That does not mean you're always right, but if your inner tuning fork says you are, stand up for your viewpoint. Business is about manipulation, art is unselfconscious, it emanates from deep inside. Your best art will be made when you're not even trying, when you're channeling the gods.
KNOWS THE LANDSCAPE
Art is all about influence. The Beatles were influenced by "Pet Sounds." Be aware of the landscape, study the history, not so you can testify like an expert but so you can establish a jumping off point, so you can see you were not the only one who was confronted with this issue.
PUTS ART OVER MONEY
Sure, everybody wants to get paid. But if it's your primary desire, you're not an artist. First and foremost an artist wants to create and have his art experienced by as large an audience as possible. If you're concerned about money, go into tech, where if it doesn't pay, it doesn't play.
IS SINGULAR
Unlike anything else. In the heyday of classic rock, Jethro Tull didn't sound like anything else, and when you first saw Alice Cooper your draw dropped. Being me-too is not being an artist. An artist test limits, challenges the audience's preconceptions. If you're operating behind the audience, or are at the same place they are, you're stagnant, you're not being an artist.
LEADS DOESN'T FOLLOW
If you're cocksure, always confident you're on the right path, you're not an artist. An artist is an explorer. And sometimes he finds himself atop a snowy mountain in the wrong place without a compass.
HAS TO COME UP WITH HIS OWN ANSWERS
If you're looking to others you're ceding your artistry. You must know what you want. Others' ideas can stimulate you, but they can't provide for you, they can't give you your starting point.
HAS TO SAY NO
A businessman says yes and then lies in the future to try and get what he wants. An artist is pure, an artist won't do that which is uncomfortable, the business and the audience bend to the artist, not vice versa.
FIGHTS BACK
Apologize if you're wrong, but defend yourself if you're not. Just because someone is criticizing you, that does not mean they're right.
HAS A BACKBONE
It's tough to be an artist, especially today, when there are so many diversions and the only thing anybody talks about is money. But the truth is money pales in comparison to art. Art slays money. And usually generates a pile of it anyway. Being an artist is a sentence, it's painful, and if you don't feel this you're not one.
ART IS POWER
Only superseded by love.
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Wednesday 1 October 2014
Adele
Why has she sold six times as many albums as her competitors in the marketplace?
Last night I went to dinner at BOA with seven others.
For those unfamiliar with the territory, BOA is a steakhouse on the border of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, it sits astride Sunset Boulevard in a high rise housing the Soho House atop its peak and nondescript offices in between, and it's everything you hate about Los Angeles.
Where Jason Flom said the center of the music business had moved.
Lee Trink said he felt the change seven years ago.
I said it was all about Lucian Grainge deciding to run Universal from the west coast.
And the west coast is different from the east coast. On the west coast it's not about the mind so much as the body, and the bodies were in evidence. From oldster to youngster, from the truly rich to the wannabe, they paraded in this paragon of excess where the food was good, but not quite good enough to justify the price.
And that's when Jason asked his question.
Adele's "21" is closing in on 13 million copies sold in America. We can quibble with Jason's multiple, but the truth is very few albums sell two million copies, almost none, but Adele has sold an exponentially larger number than the other artists. More than double that of America's biggest rock star, Taylor Swift, who Bernie said killed at the iHeart Radio festival in Vegas.
Bernie Cahill said Adele triumphed because she was fat. Because she was every woman.
Jason countered that wasn't good enough for a six times multiple, furthermore, Adele didn't do any of the usual promotion. She didn't do the radio shows, she didn't show up at the station, she did nothing everybody else does and believes is necessary.
So this begs the question of credibility. Which I believe is key.
But Jason and Lee Trink did not believe this was enough to explain it.
Lee spoke about the last decade at Lava, when they had a counter, tallying all the double digit million sales, like those of "Devil Without A Cause." No one does those numbers anymore, why?
And the truth, which I proffered, is "21" is really not that good. It's not something that calls out to be endlessly repeated. It's more about professionalism. But in a world of amateurs, does that stick out?
Or is it the fact that you just can't get the word out anymore. And Adele's album is the only one that has sustained in the marketplace long enough that everybody knows about it. Because the truth is we live in silos. And we think that which is mega is not. If the "New York Times" is unaware that Amanda Palmer got castigated for soliciting free performances, never mind Lena Dunham and her publisher Random House, what are the odds most people have even heard of the big records? And if they've heard of them, have they checked them out?
But maybe it's because of the genre. Too much of what we're purveying is not liked by everybody. Whereas Adele delivered an update on R&B, a more universal sound
Bernie said it was Adele's authentic voice.
But the truth is most of those songs were cowrites, the unsung hero is Dan Wilson, who had a hit with Semisonic, but his solo album sank like a stone, despite penning those Adele hits.
And Jason started talking about Lorde, who he brought to these shores. She's successful, but she's only sold a couple of million copies of her album in America.
So what is it?
Could it be that we're purveying crap?
The assembled multitude had a hard time denying that. Jason said how the 79th best band of the seventies is better than the best band of today, and it's hard to argue with that.
And if "21" came out in the eighties, would it have sold six times as many as "Thriller"? No one believed that.
Then again, Lee talked about the phenomenon of Norah Jones, how her debut sold double digit millions.
But Jason countered that that was in an era when multiple people were hitting that number, Norah didn't supersede everybody else.
And then the conversation wandered, to food and relationships and the desire to see acts live or the lack thereof.
And I'm sitting here now wondering why Adele is closing in on 13 million albums sold in America and no one else is close to double digits, I still don't know why.
Then again, what's bigger today is bigger than it ever was. Tracks on YouTube have a billion views. Not yours, but a few. We all gravitate to that which is huge because we want to feel part of society, we want to belong.
And is that the reason we all bought "21"?
Or is it really that good, is it really that credible, is it really that much better than everything else.
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Last night I went to dinner at BOA with seven others.
For those unfamiliar with the territory, BOA is a steakhouse on the border of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, it sits astride Sunset Boulevard in a high rise housing the Soho House atop its peak and nondescript offices in between, and it's everything you hate about Los Angeles.
Where Jason Flom said the center of the music business had moved.
Lee Trink said he felt the change seven years ago.
I said it was all about Lucian Grainge deciding to run Universal from the west coast.
And the west coast is different from the east coast. On the west coast it's not about the mind so much as the body, and the bodies were in evidence. From oldster to youngster, from the truly rich to the wannabe, they paraded in this paragon of excess where the food was good, but not quite good enough to justify the price.
And that's when Jason asked his question.
Adele's "21" is closing in on 13 million copies sold in America. We can quibble with Jason's multiple, but the truth is very few albums sell two million copies, almost none, but Adele has sold an exponentially larger number than the other artists. More than double that of America's biggest rock star, Taylor Swift, who Bernie said killed at the iHeart Radio festival in Vegas.
Bernie Cahill said Adele triumphed because she was fat. Because she was every woman.
Jason countered that wasn't good enough for a six times multiple, furthermore, Adele didn't do any of the usual promotion. She didn't do the radio shows, she didn't show up at the station, she did nothing everybody else does and believes is necessary.
So this begs the question of credibility. Which I believe is key.
But Jason and Lee Trink did not believe this was enough to explain it.
Lee spoke about the last decade at Lava, when they had a counter, tallying all the double digit million sales, like those of "Devil Without A Cause." No one does those numbers anymore, why?
And the truth, which I proffered, is "21" is really not that good. It's not something that calls out to be endlessly repeated. It's more about professionalism. But in a world of amateurs, does that stick out?
Or is it the fact that you just can't get the word out anymore. And Adele's album is the only one that has sustained in the marketplace long enough that everybody knows about it. Because the truth is we live in silos. And we think that which is mega is not. If the "New York Times" is unaware that Amanda Palmer got castigated for soliciting free performances, never mind Lena Dunham and her publisher Random House, what are the odds most people have even heard of the big records? And if they've heard of them, have they checked them out?
But maybe it's because of the genre. Too much of what we're purveying is not liked by everybody. Whereas Adele delivered an update on R&B, a more universal sound
Bernie said it was Adele's authentic voice.
But the truth is most of those songs were cowrites, the unsung hero is Dan Wilson, who had a hit with Semisonic, but his solo album sank like a stone, despite penning those Adele hits.
And Jason started talking about Lorde, who he brought to these shores. She's successful, but she's only sold a couple of million copies of her album in America.
So what is it?
Could it be that we're purveying crap?
The assembled multitude had a hard time denying that. Jason said how the 79th best band of the seventies is better than the best band of today, and it's hard to argue with that.
And if "21" came out in the eighties, would it have sold six times as many as "Thriller"? No one believed that.
Then again, Lee talked about the phenomenon of Norah Jones, how her debut sold double digit millions.
But Jason countered that that was in an era when multiple people were hitting that number, Norah didn't supersede everybody else.
And then the conversation wandered, to food and relationships and the desire to see acts live or the lack thereof.
And I'm sitting here now wondering why Adele is closing in on 13 million albums sold in America and no one else is close to double digits, I still don't know why.
Then again, what's bigger today is bigger than it ever was. Tracks on YouTube have a billion views. Not yours, but a few. We all gravitate to that which is huge because we want to feel part of society, we want to belong.
And is that the reason we all bought "21"?
Or is it really that good, is it really that credible, is it really that much better than everything else.
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Monday 29 September 2014
Deezer Hi-Def On Sonos
INCREDIBLE!
"I can see you in the morning when you go to school"
"Crime Of The Century." That's the album we used to take to the stereo store, to demo the products, to decide what we wanted to buy, that's what I'm listening to right now on Sonos via Deezer Elite.
Actually, there's that sound in "Bloody Well Right," it's why I bought my Nakamichi 582, because it replicated it perfectly, in a way the even more expensive, top-of-the-line, Aiwa could not.
The regular album was not enough, despite the exquisite Ken Scott sound what you really needed was the half-speed mastered edition. Yes, our goal was to get pristine sound from the systems we paid thousands for.
"So you think your schooling's phony"
Yes, once upon a time our favorites questioned authority, they just didn't lay down in the corporate trough. That's what's so great about "Crime Of The Century," despite sounding so mellifluous, hooking us immediately, the message was just as strong...that the system made you an automaton and you had to be awake and aware and find your own path.
Via music, it was the only way.
Well, there was Kurt Vonnegut too, the Dead did call their publishing company Ice Nine, but the way our ears were opened was primarily via music. How far we've come, when today's students just want to march in line through the Ivy League into the bank. Sure, there are some techies pushing the envelope, but isn't it interesting so many dropped out of college.
Just like the musicians of yore, they didn't fit in, college was not in their path.
Anyway, in a week where Thom Yorke is trying to reinvent the past, the future is here.
That's right, there's no longer a need to take the long way home. You don't have to buy files and put 'em in the Pono player that you still cannot buy, rather you can sign up to Deezer Elite via your Sonos system and live in the future RIGHT NOW!
"So you think you're a Romeo
Playing a part in a picture show"
Yes, you want to take the metaphorical long way home, the one wherein you crank up the music and set your mind free, letting the tunes wash right over you.
That's right, Supertramp eventually had some hits. And managed to do this without completely changing their sound and selling out.
So, maybe you don't have a Sonos system. You can buy one for a song these days, I don't need to do a commercial, either it's on your radar or you're so busy buying vinyl or refusing to pay at all that you can't partake of the modern world.
And, if you've got Sonos, fire up the app on your phone and go to "Add Music Services" and slide down to Deezer, the first 30 days are free, check it out.
That's right, the future is here. While you're complaining about Spotify payments, trying to jet us back to a substandard past, we're living in a fully-formed future.
Isn't this what we were waiting for? All the music at our fingertips at one low price? And now it sounds just as good as what came out of the speakers before MP3s gave everybody a downgrade.
And Neil Young's agitation had nothing to do with it, all those musicians bitching, yup, you had to leave the future to the techies, because they are the only ones who can deliver it. And we might go through fits and starts to get there, but now we've arrived.
Ditch those crappy speakers. Get ready to spend to hear the sound. Because you want to get closer. Because after all your complaining we've finally hit the HD era in music, AND IT SOUNDS SO GOOD!
http://www.deezer.com/offers/elite
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"I can see you in the morning when you go to school"
"Crime Of The Century." That's the album we used to take to the stereo store, to demo the products, to decide what we wanted to buy, that's what I'm listening to right now on Sonos via Deezer Elite.
Actually, there's that sound in "Bloody Well Right," it's why I bought my Nakamichi 582, because it replicated it perfectly, in a way the even more expensive, top-of-the-line, Aiwa could not.
The regular album was not enough, despite the exquisite Ken Scott sound what you really needed was the half-speed mastered edition. Yes, our goal was to get pristine sound from the systems we paid thousands for.
"So you think your schooling's phony"
Yes, once upon a time our favorites questioned authority, they just didn't lay down in the corporate trough. That's what's so great about "Crime Of The Century," despite sounding so mellifluous, hooking us immediately, the message was just as strong...that the system made you an automaton and you had to be awake and aware and find your own path.
Via music, it was the only way.
Well, there was Kurt Vonnegut too, the Dead did call their publishing company Ice Nine, but the way our ears were opened was primarily via music. How far we've come, when today's students just want to march in line through the Ivy League into the bank. Sure, there are some techies pushing the envelope, but isn't it interesting so many dropped out of college.
Just like the musicians of yore, they didn't fit in, college was not in their path.
Anyway, in a week where Thom Yorke is trying to reinvent the past, the future is here.
That's right, there's no longer a need to take the long way home. You don't have to buy files and put 'em in the Pono player that you still cannot buy, rather you can sign up to Deezer Elite via your Sonos system and live in the future RIGHT NOW!
"So you think you're a Romeo
Playing a part in a picture show"
Yes, you want to take the metaphorical long way home, the one wherein you crank up the music and set your mind free, letting the tunes wash right over you.
That's right, Supertramp eventually had some hits. And managed to do this without completely changing their sound and selling out.
So, maybe you don't have a Sonos system. You can buy one for a song these days, I don't need to do a commercial, either it's on your radar or you're so busy buying vinyl or refusing to pay at all that you can't partake of the modern world.
And, if you've got Sonos, fire up the app on your phone and go to "Add Music Services" and slide down to Deezer, the first 30 days are free, check it out.
That's right, the future is here. While you're complaining about Spotify payments, trying to jet us back to a substandard past, we're living in a fully-formed future.
Isn't this what we were waiting for? All the music at our fingertips at one low price? And now it sounds just as good as what came out of the speakers before MP3s gave everybody a downgrade.
And Neil Young's agitation had nothing to do with it, all those musicians bitching, yup, you had to leave the future to the techies, because they are the only ones who can deliver it. And we might go through fits and starts to get there, but now we've arrived.
Ditch those crappy speakers. Get ready to spend to hear the sound. Because you want to get closer. Because after all your complaining we've finally hit the HD era in music, AND IT SOUNDS SO GOOD!
http://www.deezer.com/offers/elite
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Lena Dunham/Free Work
"Lena Dunham Does Not Pay": http://bit.ly/1oqQbVV
"Why stars like Lena Dunham ask aspiring performers to work for free": http://wapo.st/1yxgZgM
What stuns me here is Ms. Dunham and her publisher, Random House, and the writer for the "New York Times" were completely unaware of the Amanda Palmer kerfuffle.
Yes, Amanda too wanted her fans to perform for free. But the crushing blowback caused her to compensate them. How could the above entities be completely unaware of not only that blowback, but the whole situation?
That's the world we live in. Where everybody's in their narrow silo and the rest of us don't only not care, we're completely unaware.
Did you see Prince put out a couple of new albums? Did something on Yahoo I think. But he's still living in 1984, he thinks MTV still rules and "Purple Rain" reigns when the truth is no one is paying attention. The youngsters have completely tuned out and the oldsters have been burned so many times and albums require so much dedication that we all just shrug and move along.
The diehard fans yell loudest. Kind of like those complaining to NBC over Nipplegate. Everybody's so afraid of their shadow that they pay attention to the minor minions and change course when the truth is most of these people have nothing better to do than complain and should be ignored.
Were any of those bitching at Amanda Palmer fans? No, her fans were eager to play for free. But the system crashed down upon her, she was suddenly the poster girl for ungrateful ingrate.
But Amanda Palmer was marginal compared to Lena Dunham. How could it be no one in the food chain was aware of Amanda's travails? And how come the press gives a pass to this woman although talented would have a hard time holding Roseanne Roseannadanna's purse.
I watched "Tiny Furniture," I read the "New Yorker" article. If you think that's great filmmaking, you've never seen Francis Ford Coppola never mind Billy Wilder.
As for "Girls"... I don't care that she's parading her less than perfect body nude, I've yet to be hooked.
But I keep having her and her story jammed down my throat. She's the voice of a generation! Are we that hard up for heroes that a neurotic twentysomething is exalted to the heavens?
But who cares about Lena Dunham. And that's exactly my point. The entire media business seems unaware the internet happened. They think it's solely a publicity tool, a way to hammer their message in a million forums. And they keep blaming theft and all kinds of bogeymen for their reduced sales while failing to realize we're interested in other stuff and don't care about what they're talking about.
Yes, media has become an echo chamber.
Furthermore, the publishing business is now taking a page out of the music business's book. I'm surprised Lena's tour/show isn't booked by Live Nation, the promotion giant would have done a much better job. Because providing tickets and security and putting on a gig is much more complicated than those living in front of the camera realize.
So I hate the new world. Because I just can't figure it out. Nothing seems to matter. Yet everybody who could be asking hard questions refuses to, for fear of being left out of the circus.
The truth is to go mainstream you must whittle your message down narrowly or wait until your broad message is slowly picked up by the masses. You can be in the "New York Times" and no one can care.
And you wonder why YouTube stars generate all this heat.
Lena Dunham could have done something really different, she could have had a day long YouTube extravaganza, it's nothing new, One Direction did it last Thanksgiving. But no one at Random House, never mind Lena, seems to know that either.
Is anybody paying attention?
Does anybody realize we know "Wake Me Up" and "Hey Brother" and don't care about the rest of Avicii's album? And that other than "Get Lucky," few have time to delve into Daft Punk's?
And the wannabes are even worse. They don't want anything to change for fear of being left out, because they're dummies who refuse to enter the uncharted future. But that's what artists do, take risks.
And artists have influences.
Turns out Lena Dunham's been living in her own echo chamber for so long she's got no idea what's going on.
"Turning a Book Tour Into a Literary Circus (and a Hot Ticket)": http://nyti.ms/YGITGo
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"Why stars like Lena Dunham ask aspiring performers to work for free": http://wapo.st/1yxgZgM
What stuns me here is Ms. Dunham and her publisher, Random House, and the writer for the "New York Times" were completely unaware of the Amanda Palmer kerfuffle.
Yes, Amanda too wanted her fans to perform for free. But the crushing blowback caused her to compensate them. How could the above entities be completely unaware of not only that blowback, but the whole situation?
That's the world we live in. Where everybody's in their narrow silo and the rest of us don't only not care, we're completely unaware.
Did you see Prince put out a couple of new albums? Did something on Yahoo I think. But he's still living in 1984, he thinks MTV still rules and "Purple Rain" reigns when the truth is no one is paying attention. The youngsters have completely tuned out and the oldsters have been burned so many times and albums require so much dedication that we all just shrug and move along.
The diehard fans yell loudest. Kind of like those complaining to NBC over Nipplegate. Everybody's so afraid of their shadow that they pay attention to the minor minions and change course when the truth is most of these people have nothing better to do than complain and should be ignored.
Were any of those bitching at Amanda Palmer fans? No, her fans were eager to play for free. But the system crashed down upon her, she was suddenly the poster girl for ungrateful ingrate.
But Amanda Palmer was marginal compared to Lena Dunham. How could it be no one in the food chain was aware of Amanda's travails? And how come the press gives a pass to this woman although talented would have a hard time holding Roseanne Roseannadanna's purse.
I watched "Tiny Furniture," I read the "New Yorker" article. If you think that's great filmmaking, you've never seen Francis Ford Coppola never mind Billy Wilder.
As for "Girls"... I don't care that she's parading her less than perfect body nude, I've yet to be hooked.
But I keep having her and her story jammed down my throat. She's the voice of a generation! Are we that hard up for heroes that a neurotic twentysomething is exalted to the heavens?
But who cares about Lena Dunham. And that's exactly my point. The entire media business seems unaware the internet happened. They think it's solely a publicity tool, a way to hammer their message in a million forums. And they keep blaming theft and all kinds of bogeymen for their reduced sales while failing to realize we're interested in other stuff and don't care about what they're talking about.
Yes, media has become an echo chamber.
Furthermore, the publishing business is now taking a page out of the music business's book. I'm surprised Lena's tour/show isn't booked by Live Nation, the promotion giant would have done a much better job. Because providing tickets and security and putting on a gig is much more complicated than those living in front of the camera realize.
So I hate the new world. Because I just can't figure it out. Nothing seems to matter. Yet everybody who could be asking hard questions refuses to, for fear of being left out of the circus.
The truth is to go mainstream you must whittle your message down narrowly or wait until your broad message is slowly picked up by the masses. You can be in the "New York Times" and no one can care.
And you wonder why YouTube stars generate all this heat.
Lena Dunham could have done something really different, she could have had a day long YouTube extravaganza, it's nothing new, One Direction did it last Thanksgiving. But no one at Random House, never mind Lena, seems to know that either.
Is anybody paying attention?
Does anybody realize we know "Wake Me Up" and "Hey Brother" and don't care about the rest of Avicii's album? And that other than "Get Lucky," few have time to delve into Daft Punk's?
And the wannabes are even worse. They don't want anything to change for fear of being left out, because they're dummies who refuse to enter the uncharted future. But that's what artists do, take risks.
And artists have influences.
Turns out Lena Dunham's been living in her own echo chamber for so long she's got no idea what's going on.
"Turning a Book Tour Into a Literary Circus (and a Hot Ticket)": http://nyti.ms/YGITGo
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Garth's Store
"I'm just one or two years and a couple of changes behind you"
"Fountain Of Sorrow"
Jackson Browne
Apple discontinues the iPod and Garth Brooks puts up an MP3 selling site, believing it's about the deal, unaware that no one wants gasoline in an electric world.
Well, we haven't quite hit that point in automobiles, and maybe hydrogen wins, but haven't we had enough of Garth's self-satisfied, aw shucks demeanor wherein he lectures us whilst saying it's all about his family and his fans?
Come on Garth, it's all about you, always has been.
And I hear he's doing half the shows he wants to, but what intrigues me is the deafening silence re his download store. This is a guy who holds a press conference for a fart, who weighs in on the minutiae of his career, why no victory lap delineating the sales of his music?
Because the numbers are bad.
Can I prove that?
No, but neither can you.
That's the world today, you whip out a falsehood and hope it sticks, believing everybody's too busy to fact check. Kind of like the Miss America pageant. Watch John Oliver's takedown of the organizations proclamation of its delivery of $45 million in scholarship money here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDPCmmZifE8
In other words, even when Garth Brooks comes out and tells us how many files he's sold, don't believe him.
But the truth is files are dead.
But what stuns me is the people who are now defending files over streams, who once upon a time defended CDs over files. They too are living in the past.
And then there's Garth's single. What a piss-poor effort. So treacly upbeat as to make one go into sugar shock. Garth couldn't see the game had changed? People loving people? In the land of Ferguson? He'd be better off hooking up with Dallas Davidson and the usual suspects since country radio is a game and either you've got to play it or live outside it, unlike at Burger King you cannot have it your way.
So what we've learned here is it's about the game, not the player.
And that stunts work once, like Garth's CD sale at Wal-Mart, and then they die. Yup, seen any superstar selling exclusive product at the reviled discounter recently? Not to the point anybody knows about it.
Turns out country fans are streaming too, which is not hard to believe when the hits contain rap and electronic elements.
Your job as a musician is to make music.
Race car drivers don't build automobiles.
Baseball players don't make bats.
And they're called Sony and Canon, not "Spielberg."
Garth, you're a has-been. Who's been so busy making lunch and driving your kids to school that you seem to have missed the entire internet era.
You could catch up.
But U2 couldn't.
P.S. You won't watch the above John Oliver clip, because it's fifteen minutes long, but his fans did. Furthermore, notice that HBO has not issued a takedown notice, knowing that when you're building your enemy is obscurity. But John Oliver is so good that he's developed a cadre of fans. And in today's world, where it's so difficult to gain critical mass, those who do have power. Yes, while Garth and the rest of those left in the last century play to the media, the youngsters play to their fans, they go down. Knowing that what's in the media can be easily ignored, it's seen for what it is, hype, and you establish fans one by one and if you're truly excellent they convert others and build an army. But John Oliver is on fire, Garth Brooks is a smoldering ember at best.
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"Fountain Of Sorrow"
Jackson Browne
Apple discontinues the iPod and Garth Brooks puts up an MP3 selling site, believing it's about the deal, unaware that no one wants gasoline in an electric world.
Well, we haven't quite hit that point in automobiles, and maybe hydrogen wins, but haven't we had enough of Garth's self-satisfied, aw shucks demeanor wherein he lectures us whilst saying it's all about his family and his fans?
Come on Garth, it's all about you, always has been.
And I hear he's doing half the shows he wants to, but what intrigues me is the deafening silence re his download store. This is a guy who holds a press conference for a fart, who weighs in on the minutiae of his career, why no victory lap delineating the sales of his music?
Because the numbers are bad.
Can I prove that?
No, but neither can you.
That's the world today, you whip out a falsehood and hope it sticks, believing everybody's too busy to fact check. Kind of like the Miss America pageant. Watch John Oliver's takedown of the organizations proclamation of its delivery of $45 million in scholarship money here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDPCmmZifE8
In other words, even when Garth Brooks comes out and tells us how many files he's sold, don't believe him.
But the truth is files are dead.
But what stuns me is the people who are now defending files over streams, who once upon a time defended CDs over files. They too are living in the past.
And then there's Garth's single. What a piss-poor effort. So treacly upbeat as to make one go into sugar shock. Garth couldn't see the game had changed? People loving people? In the land of Ferguson? He'd be better off hooking up with Dallas Davidson and the usual suspects since country radio is a game and either you've got to play it or live outside it, unlike at Burger King you cannot have it your way.
So what we've learned here is it's about the game, not the player.
And that stunts work once, like Garth's CD sale at Wal-Mart, and then they die. Yup, seen any superstar selling exclusive product at the reviled discounter recently? Not to the point anybody knows about it.
Turns out country fans are streaming too, which is not hard to believe when the hits contain rap and electronic elements.
Your job as a musician is to make music.
Race car drivers don't build automobiles.
Baseball players don't make bats.
And they're called Sony and Canon, not "Spielberg."
Garth, you're a has-been. Who's been so busy making lunch and driving your kids to school that you seem to have missed the entire internet era.
You could catch up.
But U2 couldn't.
P.S. You won't watch the above John Oliver clip, because it's fifteen minutes long, but his fans did. Furthermore, notice that HBO has not issued a takedown notice, knowing that when you're building your enemy is obscurity. But John Oliver is so good that he's developed a cadre of fans. And in today's world, where it's so difficult to gain critical mass, those who do have power. Yes, while Garth and the rest of those left in the last century play to the media, the youngsters play to their fans, they go down. Knowing that what's in the media can be easily ignored, it's seen for what it is, hype, and you establish fans one by one and if you're truly excellent they convert others and build an army. But John Oliver is on fire, Garth Brooks is a smoldering ember at best.
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Sunday 28 September 2014
Jamestown Revival At Way Over Yonder
They were playing "Born On The Bayou."
I've been in a funk, trying to figure this crazy, messed up world out, or rather my place in it. You grow up too young to participate and then suddenly you're too old to matter, held back by not only others' judgment of you but the knowledge that the end is near. And it is.
I've got no idea what to do with my time. Whether to stay home and read, watch television, or is it really just all about hanging with friends? I feel like I'm in the pinball machine of life, without my hands on the flippers, afraid I'm gonna fall in the hole and it will all be over, knowing if I don't pay attention I'll tilt and suddenly I'll be done without warning.
So today I went to the Santa Monica Pier for the Way Over Yonder festival. To hear Jackson Browne. To see friends. To check out some new acts. Because I felt like that old cliche a change of scenery would do me good. If I sat inside just a moment longer I'd spontaneously combust.
And if you asked me at 8:20 PM what this was gonna be about, I'd have said Jackson Browne's "Barricades Of Heaven".
"Running down around the towns along the shore
When I was sixteen and on my own"
Back before we were cataloging our lives via Instagram, when no one was paying attention, not even our parents. We left home and we called collect every week or two but the truth was we were on our own adventure and there was only one constant, music. We may not have had iPods, but it was everywhere, it was the glue that kept us together. And it was all about the mind-meld as opposed to financial shenanigans. No one wanted to get rich, we didn't even know what that was until the eighties. Other than players, nobody we knew had a Mercedes-Benz, you could hear someone calling from one end of the house to the other and our dream was to play music and go on the road, or to work with those who did.
But now the world has gotten smaller, but something has been obliterated, there is no glue, nothing holding us together, because money never kept anybody warm at night, for that we need others.
"Standing in the ocean with the sun burning low in the west
At the edge of my country, my back to the sea, looking east"
That's exactly where we were, according to Jackson's kids, the center of the universe, that's right Santa Monica by the sea. We were literally standing at the edge of our country, looking east. And it's a good place to be. It means we've gone as far as we can go, we've shed not only family and friends, but inhibitions. At this distance, three hours behind New York, it matters not a whit where you went to college, what you got on your SATs, life in California is all about your own personal experience.
Or to put it Jackson's way, he likes Newport, but he loves Santa Monica.
What can I say?
Standing in the audience with no VIP all in it together it was the same as it ever was. You remember music, right? Something that's played on real instruments that is melodic that you can sing along to, that touches your soul. And that's not what's being sold in commercials, it's not what's getting endorsements, but it's what we need.
And got at today's Way Over Yonder festival.
And I'd be lying if I told you every act was spectacular. It seems today people can sing, but they seem to have lost the ability to write. Listening to Jackson for just a moment illustrates the difference.
Which is why Jamestown Revival was such a revelation.
I couldn't leave to go to the carousel to see the act I came early to see, I was riveted by the notes that were just right, the way the band played in harmony, the way my body was set free.
And I'd never heard them before.
But now it's after midnight and I'm playing their album "Utah" on Spotify and I'm having that same experience, you know, the one where I don't want to push fast-forward, where I don't want to go back to the classics, where I just want to go to the next show.
I don't know why these people do it. It certainly couldn't be fame and riches, because this music is not on that path, it features no synths, no beats, no aggressiveness, it's more like life, just in the pocket.
"So play me that old time music
Play that familiar song"
Those are the lines in the song "Golden Age" I'm listening to now.
And I'm not telling you it's going straight to number one, I'm not telling you Jamestown Revival is going to replace Lady Gaga, I'm just telling you the music is setting my mind free and giving me hope.
I'm never gonna have an app, I'm never gonna make it big in tech.
Because I don't want to. I want to use the tools, but I don't want to throw my life away in pursuit of riches. I'm not a 1's and 0's guy, I want to color outside the lines, I'm looking for something messier, like love.
You remember love? Not the porn-infused one you experience on the internet, but the one between two real people? Who have imperfections, who don't always get along, whose experience is enriched as time goes by.
We're on a train to nowhere. We've sacrificed culture in the name of influence. Money is all that matters.
But it doesn't matter to me.
I don't want to hear you bitch about Spotify payments, about all the ways you're getting screwed, I want you to stop wasting that breath and practice and play or get out of the way. I want you to study the game of notes and changes, not html and tweets, I want you to reach out across the aisle, from across the stage, and touch my soul.
Jamestown Revival is not groundbreaking, there's nothing you haven't heard before, but to hear it once again resonates. Because once you take the sheen off the popsters all you're left with is aluminum, the bones of the productions which are here today and gone tomorrow. What we need is food, that keeps delivering to the plate again and again.
So what I'm saying is when Jackson was singing "Barricades Of Heaven" I was the only one singing along, but it bothered me not in the least.
But I didn't see anybody singing to "Take It Easy" either. Because the audience is too young and everyone's burnishing their image on their mobile phone. In touch with air.
I'm right here.
You're right here.
We can't let the tools trump our identities, we can't let them become the story. We can't let money get in the way of fulfillment.
"I'm missing the music
I'm longing for you"
I'm gonna make a playlist. I'm gonna tell you if you think you've got the answers, you're wrong. I'm gonna tell you that life will mess you up. Just when you think you've got it figured out, you're gonna get fired, you're gonna get sick, and the only thing you're gonna be able to rely on is music.
I know that again tonight.
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1rBSwSL
http://lineup.wayoveryonder.net
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I've been in a funk, trying to figure this crazy, messed up world out, or rather my place in it. You grow up too young to participate and then suddenly you're too old to matter, held back by not only others' judgment of you but the knowledge that the end is near. And it is.
I've got no idea what to do with my time. Whether to stay home and read, watch television, or is it really just all about hanging with friends? I feel like I'm in the pinball machine of life, without my hands on the flippers, afraid I'm gonna fall in the hole and it will all be over, knowing if I don't pay attention I'll tilt and suddenly I'll be done without warning.
So today I went to the Santa Monica Pier for the Way Over Yonder festival. To hear Jackson Browne. To see friends. To check out some new acts. Because I felt like that old cliche a change of scenery would do me good. If I sat inside just a moment longer I'd spontaneously combust.
And if you asked me at 8:20 PM what this was gonna be about, I'd have said Jackson Browne's "Barricades Of Heaven".
"Running down around the towns along the shore
When I was sixteen and on my own"
Back before we were cataloging our lives via Instagram, when no one was paying attention, not even our parents. We left home and we called collect every week or two but the truth was we were on our own adventure and there was only one constant, music. We may not have had iPods, but it was everywhere, it was the glue that kept us together. And it was all about the mind-meld as opposed to financial shenanigans. No one wanted to get rich, we didn't even know what that was until the eighties. Other than players, nobody we knew had a Mercedes-Benz, you could hear someone calling from one end of the house to the other and our dream was to play music and go on the road, or to work with those who did.
But now the world has gotten smaller, but something has been obliterated, there is no glue, nothing holding us together, because money never kept anybody warm at night, for that we need others.
"Standing in the ocean with the sun burning low in the west
At the edge of my country, my back to the sea, looking east"
That's exactly where we were, according to Jackson's kids, the center of the universe, that's right Santa Monica by the sea. We were literally standing at the edge of our country, looking east. And it's a good place to be. It means we've gone as far as we can go, we've shed not only family and friends, but inhibitions. At this distance, three hours behind New York, it matters not a whit where you went to college, what you got on your SATs, life in California is all about your own personal experience.
Or to put it Jackson's way, he likes Newport, but he loves Santa Monica.
What can I say?
Standing in the audience with no VIP all in it together it was the same as it ever was. You remember music, right? Something that's played on real instruments that is melodic that you can sing along to, that touches your soul. And that's not what's being sold in commercials, it's not what's getting endorsements, but it's what we need.
And got at today's Way Over Yonder festival.
And I'd be lying if I told you every act was spectacular. It seems today people can sing, but they seem to have lost the ability to write. Listening to Jackson for just a moment illustrates the difference.
Which is why Jamestown Revival was such a revelation.
I couldn't leave to go to the carousel to see the act I came early to see, I was riveted by the notes that were just right, the way the band played in harmony, the way my body was set free.
And I'd never heard them before.
But now it's after midnight and I'm playing their album "Utah" on Spotify and I'm having that same experience, you know, the one where I don't want to push fast-forward, where I don't want to go back to the classics, where I just want to go to the next show.
I don't know why these people do it. It certainly couldn't be fame and riches, because this music is not on that path, it features no synths, no beats, no aggressiveness, it's more like life, just in the pocket.
"So play me that old time music
Play that familiar song"
Those are the lines in the song "Golden Age" I'm listening to now.
And I'm not telling you it's going straight to number one, I'm not telling you Jamestown Revival is going to replace Lady Gaga, I'm just telling you the music is setting my mind free and giving me hope.
I'm never gonna have an app, I'm never gonna make it big in tech.
Because I don't want to. I want to use the tools, but I don't want to throw my life away in pursuit of riches. I'm not a 1's and 0's guy, I want to color outside the lines, I'm looking for something messier, like love.
You remember love? Not the porn-infused one you experience on the internet, but the one between two real people? Who have imperfections, who don't always get along, whose experience is enriched as time goes by.
We're on a train to nowhere. We've sacrificed culture in the name of influence. Money is all that matters.
But it doesn't matter to me.
I don't want to hear you bitch about Spotify payments, about all the ways you're getting screwed, I want you to stop wasting that breath and practice and play or get out of the way. I want you to study the game of notes and changes, not html and tweets, I want you to reach out across the aisle, from across the stage, and touch my soul.
Jamestown Revival is not groundbreaking, there's nothing you haven't heard before, but to hear it once again resonates. Because once you take the sheen off the popsters all you're left with is aluminum, the bones of the productions which are here today and gone tomorrow. What we need is food, that keeps delivering to the plate again and again.
So what I'm saying is when Jackson was singing "Barricades Of Heaven" I was the only one singing along, but it bothered me not in the least.
But I didn't see anybody singing to "Take It Easy" either. Because the audience is too young and everyone's burnishing their image on their mobile phone. In touch with air.
I'm right here.
You're right here.
We can't let the tools trump our identities, we can't let them become the story. We can't let money get in the way of fulfillment.
"I'm missing the music
I'm longing for you"
I'm gonna make a playlist. I'm gonna tell you if you think you've got the answers, you're wrong. I'm gonna tell you that life will mess you up. Just when you think you've got it figured out, you're gonna get fired, you're gonna get sick, and the only thing you're gonna be able to rely on is music.
I know that again tonight.
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1rBSwSL
http://lineup.wayoveryonder.net
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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