Jimmy Page is 72.
I don't know whether he ripped off Spirit, whether he and Robert will be held accountable by the jury, but I do know there will come a time when both of them won't be here anymore. Or they will be, but they'll be too infirm to play.
Been a strange year out there, from David Bowie to Glenn Frey to Merle Haggard to Prince. With Dan Hicks and a bunch of lesser lights extinguished to boot. They defined a generation. And now they're gone.
My mother just told me she's the last one standing.
Do you have a deceased parent? It's a club you don't want to be a member of. If you're lucky, you'll end up an orphan, although I'm not looking forward to that day, when there's no context, when I realize I'm next.
Last night I had dinner at Amy's. Her son David is moving to Philadelphia to attend medical school. His UCSB girlfriend is gonna follow him. They're at the beginning, I'm at the end.
Not that anybody my age acknowledges that. That's the problem with baby boomers, they always think they'll rule, that they'll be here forever. But even Sumner Redstone is gonna pass. Ray Kurzweil too. And as much as Steve Jobs changed our culture, Apple no longer even introduces one more thing, his signature style is gone. Kinda like the bands of yore, either you saw them or you didn't. But what's even worse, so many of them have not survived into the second decade of the twenty first century. Does anybody under twenty know who 10cc was? Or even Gerardo? They're bleeding edge, they're on the oldies circuit, they become ill and then they die. Meanwhile life keeps moving forward.
Geri is in hospice. Lois's cancer has returned. My mother has always said to pull the plug, but she positively lives in the present, that's the key to longevity supposedly, along with good genes, but when she starts reflecting on her mortality...
It creeps me out.
I look in the mirror and see gray hair. I'm told I'm irrelevant every day. Even worse, I can now see the end, what do I want to do with my time, what do I want to accomplish?
Weird to pick up the Travel section and realize there are places you're never gonna go. That you're never gonna be rich. That more doors are closing than opening. You don't see yourself going over the hump, but suddenly you realize you passed it. And nobody wants to acknowledge it.
We keep hearing about an afterlife, about medical breakthroughs, as if this story is not going to end.
But it is.
I saw Led Zeppelin, twice. Back when Jimmy Page was still dangerous, before his hair had turned white. The goal was to get inside the Riot House, to become part of it. Musicians even had groupies. But in today's tabloid world nobody does anything untoward and we hear endlessly about nerd power and I don't even recognize the landscape anymore. And when they talk about the money "Stairway"'s made they never reference the cultural impact, how rock radio ruled and the tune was always number one, the most famous, the toppermost of the poppermost.
Doesn't matter whether the intro was nicked or not, it's part of my DNA. And yours. A cultural institution.
But I don't think Justin Bieber has it on infinite repeat. I don't see it on the Spotify charts. Everything meaningful fades. Whether it be Johnny Carson or Jay Leno. And when they try to keep the franchise alive it just makes you squirm. Cancel SNL. Once upon a time it was dangerous, John and Danny tested limits we didn't even know existed. And Jimmy Fallon does David Letterman's show, poorly, and the press gives him a pass. Makes me want to scream at the screen like Grandpa Simpson, but we laugh at him, I don't want everybody laughing at me.
Everybody's got something wrong with them. The body mutates and rebels and no one gets out of here alive. But when you're twenty five, you think you're immune, but you're not.
I never thought my mother would live forever, but I never envisioned a day when she was not here. We don't speak every day, but when we do I'm rooted, I know who I am. And I'll be somebody when she's gone, but I'll be somebody different.
She jumped off the phone. The ending was abrupt. I heard about everybody's illness and then she had to go before she started to cry.
I cry for Glenn Frey.
I lament my brethren going on a desert trip to see has-beens, however gigantic they once might have been. I don't want my memories tarnished, I want to remember how it once was. Thank god for Robert Plant refusing to regroup. It'd be like Magic and Bird, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, playing basketball. Sometimes the era passes.
But the memories and feelings live on.
Once upon a time "Stairway To Heaven" was brand new. You dropped the needle and went on an aural adventure. You enjoyed hearing it on the radio, it made you feel warm and fuzzy, it set your mind free.
But now it's just a signifier of what once was.
Who even cares if it survives, we won't.
We think everything we do is important, we build a resume, acquire assets and try to climb the ladder when the truth is no ladder exists. We're here and then we're gone. And intellectually I knew this, but today I feel it.
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Friday 17 June 2016
Thursday 16 June 2016
Altamont
They were so untogether!
We think of the Stones as a seamless machine, all-knowing, hoovering up cash from all over the globe. But back in '69 they had a personnel change, they hadn't performed in America since '66, and they just weren't sure they were relevant, that they'd be embraced by the newly-hippified States, having missed not only the Summer of Love, but Woodstock too.
So they embraced Rock Scully, manager of the Dead, whose new business manager Lenny Hart re-signed the band to Warner whilst Rock was on a plane to London, where he got busted, despite Scully having negotiated a much better deal with Columbia. Isn't it interesting that the Dead ended up being signed to Clive Davis's Arista down the road.
Not that I can vouch for the veracity of all this. It's evidenced in Joel Selvin's new book about the rock tragedy, and he who writes down history owns it, and despite us knowing so much about the Stones it's amazing how little we do know. Selvin has reached into the bowels and uncovered not only who was sleeping with who, but how the gigs played out across the States before the tragic day.
Security for the tour was provided by someone no one knew who said he was in cahoots with both Chrysler and the NYPD. He provided his services for free, so no one probed.
The Stones blinked and confirmed the free concert because they were goaded into it by a critic, Ralph Gleason, who was complaining about high ticket prices, which weren't even close to ten bucks.
And the Stones were nearly broke. Getting paid was the main motivation for doing this tour. Which began with operations on Oriole, in the Bird Streets, high above L.A., with the band finishing up "Let It Bleed" and ended with them recording "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" in Muscle Shoals.
You know that.
But what you don't know, unless you lived through the era, was how different it all was.
We were making it up as we went along.
And from the east coast, California might as well have been Mars. And so many Americans were first or second generation, their parents weren't lawyers or bankers, but barbers and blue collar workers. Not only did you not know what everybody else was doing, no one knew what you were doing, there weren't security cameras everywhere.
And that's the big story of Altamont, how security was provided by the Hells Angels, the Stones unaware that the faction in the U.K. was a wimpy version of tribe in the Bay Area.
But...
Were the sixties dark or light? Upbeat or tragic?
Today's right wing wants to deny their existence, wants to roll back all the advances made during that era. But the left wing papers over the drugs and debauchery, the people wasted along the way. You didn't smoke dope with your parents. Hell, I was shocked when a kid in my Boy Scout troop stood on the high school stage and told everybody he'd dropped acid every day of the previous year. It was an era where you knew so much yet knew so little. You wanted to belong, and it was music that was the glue. We were addicted to the radio, it told us not only what to believe, but what to do. It was the radio that had everybody showing up for a gig that was supposed to be somewhere completely different just days before.
Actually, it was supposed to be in Golden Gate Park. But rather than get a permit through well-greased channels, the Stones' operative went straight to the mayor and got bounced.
Sears Point Raceway would have been good. There was infrastructure, and maybe enough time. But after the stage was being built the owners freaked out, Filmways, which controlled the speedway, I know, sounds insane, wanted a piece of the movie. Jagger said no and the show ended up in a wasteland with no cops and no highways, talk about a disaster in the making.
But that was a different era.
Kind of like when you expected your computer to crash. My Macs haven't crashed in years. But there were days back in the eighties, even the nineties, when if you wanted to compute you had to know how the machine worked, everyone was a hobbyist, everyone was on their own, there were no help lines and no internet to aid you. But today my mother's got all the digital equipment, we excoriate a company if its product doesn't work right out of the box. But it didn't used to be that way.
It didn't used to be this way in music.
Sponsors, schmonsers. The gig took place at some building you rented where the owner had no idea what was going on. It wasn't until the nineties that concert promotion was consolidated. It was all territorial, and you didn't cross lines. And the people who owned those spaces...were renegades triumphing on will and intimidation, it was not about education. It's still not about education, the winners succeed on personality. But education buys you safety, and the established always want safety, especially for their children. That's what happens when you get a mature society, that's what happens when you get a mature business, like music.
It's not new folks. It was all codified between '64 and '79. Not only how to do a show, but who got the money. Credit Peter Grant, an intimidating wrestler, for making the acts rich, with 90/10 concert deals. And record royalties went up and the MTV era just showed the power of promotion, how much money could be made.
And nothing's changed since.
Three labels control recordings, as Steven Cooper said, you can't get on one of his playlists without being signed to Warner.
And there are two huge concert companies.
And you wonder why there's stagnation.
But it didn't used to be this way.
And now tech's hit a wall too.
What's next?
I don't know, but change is coming, from somewhere we cannot predict.
And if you want to know what it's like to be in the maelstrom, the cauldron from which the future brews, read "Altamont: The Rolling Stones, The Hells Angels, And The Inside Story Of Rock's Darkest Day."
P.S. It's not coming out until 8/16, don't shoot the messenger, the book business hasn't gotten the memo. Peter Gabriel releases a Muhammad Ali song today with no advance warning and every newly-reviewed book is unavailable.
P.P.S. It's the details that will freak you out. A full delineation of Meredith Hunter, he becomes three-dimensional. That's what makes the book powerful, the raising of the story from the dead.
P.P.P.S. Everybody's googlable. That's right, read about a poet or Mickey Hart's girlfriend and you can immediately see what they look like yesterday and today, so many are still living. It was a different era, you didn't buy insurance, rather you lived your life to the fullest. Funny how these people are our heroes, as opposed to those who jumped through hoops.
P.P.P.P.S. It's all about judgment, and planning. Yet, the bleeding edge is populated by those on hejiras of personal fulfillment as opposed to wallet-lining. Success lies on the razor's edge of risk, a place those with experience and wisdom too often refuse to tread.
https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062444257/altamont -
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We think of the Stones as a seamless machine, all-knowing, hoovering up cash from all over the globe. But back in '69 they had a personnel change, they hadn't performed in America since '66, and they just weren't sure they were relevant, that they'd be embraced by the newly-hippified States, having missed not only the Summer of Love, but Woodstock too.
So they embraced Rock Scully, manager of the Dead, whose new business manager Lenny Hart re-signed the band to Warner whilst Rock was on a plane to London, where he got busted, despite Scully having negotiated a much better deal with Columbia. Isn't it interesting that the Dead ended up being signed to Clive Davis's Arista down the road.
Not that I can vouch for the veracity of all this. It's evidenced in Joel Selvin's new book about the rock tragedy, and he who writes down history owns it, and despite us knowing so much about the Stones it's amazing how little we do know. Selvin has reached into the bowels and uncovered not only who was sleeping with who, but how the gigs played out across the States before the tragic day.
Security for the tour was provided by someone no one knew who said he was in cahoots with both Chrysler and the NYPD. He provided his services for free, so no one probed.
The Stones blinked and confirmed the free concert because they were goaded into it by a critic, Ralph Gleason, who was complaining about high ticket prices, which weren't even close to ten bucks.
And the Stones were nearly broke. Getting paid was the main motivation for doing this tour. Which began with operations on Oriole, in the Bird Streets, high above L.A., with the band finishing up "Let It Bleed" and ended with them recording "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" in Muscle Shoals.
You know that.
But what you don't know, unless you lived through the era, was how different it all was.
We were making it up as we went along.
And from the east coast, California might as well have been Mars. And so many Americans were first or second generation, their parents weren't lawyers or bankers, but barbers and blue collar workers. Not only did you not know what everybody else was doing, no one knew what you were doing, there weren't security cameras everywhere.
And that's the big story of Altamont, how security was provided by the Hells Angels, the Stones unaware that the faction in the U.K. was a wimpy version of tribe in the Bay Area.
But...
Were the sixties dark or light? Upbeat or tragic?
Today's right wing wants to deny their existence, wants to roll back all the advances made during that era. But the left wing papers over the drugs and debauchery, the people wasted along the way. You didn't smoke dope with your parents. Hell, I was shocked when a kid in my Boy Scout troop stood on the high school stage and told everybody he'd dropped acid every day of the previous year. It was an era where you knew so much yet knew so little. You wanted to belong, and it was music that was the glue. We were addicted to the radio, it told us not only what to believe, but what to do. It was the radio that had everybody showing up for a gig that was supposed to be somewhere completely different just days before.
Actually, it was supposed to be in Golden Gate Park. But rather than get a permit through well-greased channels, the Stones' operative went straight to the mayor and got bounced.
Sears Point Raceway would have been good. There was infrastructure, and maybe enough time. But after the stage was being built the owners freaked out, Filmways, which controlled the speedway, I know, sounds insane, wanted a piece of the movie. Jagger said no and the show ended up in a wasteland with no cops and no highways, talk about a disaster in the making.
But that was a different era.
Kind of like when you expected your computer to crash. My Macs haven't crashed in years. But there were days back in the eighties, even the nineties, when if you wanted to compute you had to know how the machine worked, everyone was a hobbyist, everyone was on their own, there were no help lines and no internet to aid you. But today my mother's got all the digital equipment, we excoriate a company if its product doesn't work right out of the box. But it didn't used to be that way.
It didn't used to be this way in music.
Sponsors, schmonsers. The gig took place at some building you rented where the owner had no idea what was going on. It wasn't until the nineties that concert promotion was consolidated. It was all territorial, and you didn't cross lines. And the people who owned those spaces...were renegades triumphing on will and intimidation, it was not about education. It's still not about education, the winners succeed on personality. But education buys you safety, and the established always want safety, especially for their children. That's what happens when you get a mature society, that's what happens when you get a mature business, like music.
It's not new folks. It was all codified between '64 and '79. Not only how to do a show, but who got the money. Credit Peter Grant, an intimidating wrestler, for making the acts rich, with 90/10 concert deals. And record royalties went up and the MTV era just showed the power of promotion, how much money could be made.
And nothing's changed since.
Three labels control recordings, as Steven Cooper said, you can't get on one of his playlists without being signed to Warner.
And there are two huge concert companies.
And you wonder why there's stagnation.
But it didn't used to be this way.
And now tech's hit a wall too.
What's next?
I don't know, but change is coming, from somewhere we cannot predict.
And if you want to know what it's like to be in the maelstrom, the cauldron from which the future brews, read "Altamont: The Rolling Stones, The Hells Angels, And The Inside Story Of Rock's Darkest Day."
P.S. It's not coming out until 8/16, don't shoot the messenger, the book business hasn't gotten the memo. Peter Gabriel releases a Muhammad Ali song today with no advance warning and every newly-reviewed book is unavailable.
P.P.S. It's the details that will freak you out. A full delineation of Meredith Hunter, he becomes three-dimensional. That's what makes the book powerful, the raising of the story from the dead.
P.P.P.S. Everybody's googlable. That's right, read about a poet or Mickey Hart's girlfriend and you can immediately see what they look like yesterday and today, so many are still living. It was a different era, you didn't buy insurance, rather you lived your life to the fullest. Funny how these people are our heroes, as opposed to those who jumped through hoops.
P.P.P.P.S. It's all about judgment, and planning. Yet, the bleeding edge is populated by those on hejiras of personal fulfillment as opposed to wallet-lining. Success lies on the razor's edge of risk, a place those with experience and wisdom too often refuse to tread.
https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062444257/altamont -
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The Power Hierarchy
1. Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook
Because that's where the eyeballs are. Facebook far eclipses television and radio, it's not only where you go to connect, it's where you go to be informed. In an era of chaos, he who imparts order triumphs. Facebook killed MySpace because it was organized, there were rules. People say they prefer Android to iOS, Windows to MacOS, but those are the vocal minority. Give people too much choice and they become overwhelmed. As they are in the music business, with a plethora of playlists. You don't want to go to a bunch of sites to get your news, it's all there on Facebook, it won.
2. The New York Times
Someone has to report the news. But the Grey Lady adhered too long to that old saw that content is king. No, distribution is king. Trips to the "Times" site keep going down, because readers keep getting the "Times" stories elsewhere, never mind other outlets rewriting the paper's content and posting it to their own advantage. The "Times" has boots on the ground. It's just not sure which war it's fighting.
3. Jeff Bezos
It's not only Amazon, it's the "Washington Post." Not only is Jeff selling us all our stuff, he's made a huge move into content. And he's based his complete enterprise on the opposite of entertainment...it's all about credibility, it's all about trust, there's no smoke and mirrors, no bait and switch, you can return items and oftentimes when you don't want something Amazon just lets you keep it. You can find cheaper prices elsewhere, but you won't go. As for the WaPo, Bezos took a declining asset and revitalized it, spent money and enhanced web traffic. Oftentimes dying enterprises just need new eyes. The news media has been cutting back for over a decade, thinking that balancing the books was the most important thing. Just like Philippe Dauman thought momentary stock price was everything. You protect the crown jewels, you don't axe them. Selling a piece of Paramount is like denying your child a college education because you don't want to go into hock paying for it, not looking at
the long term. Funny how the techies look long term.
4. The Public
Never has the individual had this much power. No, I'm not talking about YouTube stars, I'm not talking about the self-promoting nitwits using new communication tools to try and establish a brand, I'm talking about you and me. Not only do we reach more people, oftentimes it's the ONLY way to reach people, via word of mouth. Advertising is skipped or ignored. Media is seen as hype. You move mountains by infecting individuals and having them spread the word. Whether it be a new app or a new act. It's a collective force that is gigantic.
5. Beyonce
Not Taylor Swift, because Twizzle Stick is just selling girl power, Beyonce's spread her message far beyond that. And she's got fans and media coverage... Sure, there are more poignant acts. But impact is based on attention, and right now no one has got as much as Beyonce. She's got fans, who listen to what she has to say. She could go political, pro-Hillary, anti-Trump, and she could sway the election. But she grew up in a different era wherein if you alienate one customer you're doing it wrong. Steve Jobs knew that alienation was power. When you stand for something and double-down on it people are drawn to you, especially in today's crazy days.
6. Netflix
Because it's totally today. It's an on demand service for a very low price. Sure, you can subscribe to HBO Go or Showtime On Demand, but they each cost more than a month of Netflix! People hate commercials, they'll pay for quality, and once they pay, they indulge. Not only does Netflix have a ton of content, it's a paragon of creativity on new projects, it's the opposite of network, there are no notes, only a blank check, because the company realizes creators do best when they're allowed to follow their muse to excellence. Remember when people bitched that Netflix went from DVDs by mail to streaming..? True power players are always ahead of the game, they can see the future, and have the confidence to make big bets. He who is living in the present is lost in the future. Can you hear me radio?
LESS POWERFUL THAN YOU THINK
1. Apple
It's about software, not hardware, it's about eyeballs, not eking more from the same posse. The device is a commodity. And upgrade cycles have slowed. Apple could have been the new WeChat, but it refuses to open up iMessage in order to monetize it. Apple may be the world's most valuable company, but it's verging on becoming moribund. Facebook speaks to everybody, Apple can't even get anybody to use Connect.
2. Google
Because we don't search that way on our mobiles, and mobile is only going to become more powerful, it's king. And, Facebook does better in online advertising.
3. Snapchat and Twitter
They've both got the same problem, tons of buzz but not enough users. People have checked out Twitter and have abandoned it and great swaths of the public consider Snapchat too difficult to use. Don't confuse the noise with the footprint. Just because Snapchat gets all the ink...remember when Twitter got all the ink? Twitter is a feature, the company needs to be sold and baked into something bigger.
4. Samsung
See Apple above. It's about software, not hardware.
5. ESPN
We're overpaying for that which we do not use. A company built for an old model, the cable bundle, it can only go down. As for its crown jewel, the NFL...as long as people keep dying from CTE, the sport is time-stamped, just like human-piloted cars. Within two decades, probably more like ten or fifteen years, no one will drive their own car and then they won't even own a car, not only will vehicles drive themselves, you'll call them up on demand, just like you do a show on Netflix. Incomprehensible? Then you cannot foresee the death of the NFL.
UP FOR GRABS
1. Les Moonves
He could end up in control of Viacom, just you wait. Because not only does he know how to garner and keep eyeballs, he makes money doing it. Power is not about the enterprise but the individual. You may hate Les, but he's made in the same mold as his boss Sumner. Look to he or she who created the company, or took it from zero to hero. And give them the reins and let them keep them.
2. Music
Something only grows when it's ahead of the public, when it pushes the envelope. What are the music breakthroughs, festivals? Something that hearkens back to Woodstock, just with better food, more toilets and a higher ticket price? We need less choice, via anointing of a few hits acts, and more bleeding edge. Furthermore, internal distribution wars are only confusing the public. Which service should one subscribe to, what do I need? Damned if most people know. And Apple Music jumped the shark when Trent Reznor trashed YouTube. Sissies cry and complain about the rules. Winners MAKE THE RULES!
3. Finance
Dodd-Frank has already reined in Wall Street, and that's a good thing. The public has turned against the financiers and once you're the enemy of the people, you're in trouble. If you're picking a career, this is not it. Young people believe in the altruistic who build, today's finance is anything but.
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Because that's where the eyeballs are. Facebook far eclipses television and radio, it's not only where you go to connect, it's where you go to be informed. In an era of chaos, he who imparts order triumphs. Facebook killed MySpace because it was organized, there were rules. People say they prefer Android to iOS, Windows to MacOS, but those are the vocal minority. Give people too much choice and they become overwhelmed. As they are in the music business, with a plethora of playlists. You don't want to go to a bunch of sites to get your news, it's all there on Facebook, it won.
2. The New York Times
Someone has to report the news. But the Grey Lady adhered too long to that old saw that content is king. No, distribution is king. Trips to the "Times" site keep going down, because readers keep getting the "Times" stories elsewhere, never mind other outlets rewriting the paper's content and posting it to their own advantage. The "Times" has boots on the ground. It's just not sure which war it's fighting.
3. Jeff Bezos
It's not only Amazon, it's the "Washington Post." Not only is Jeff selling us all our stuff, he's made a huge move into content. And he's based his complete enterprise on the opposite of entertainment...it's all about credibility, it's all about trust, there's no smoke and mirrors, no bait and switch, you can return items and oftentimes when you don't want something Amazon just lets you keep it. You can find cheaper prices elsewhere, but you won't go. As for the WaPo, Bezos took a declining asset and revitalized it, spent money and enhanced web traffic. Oftentimes dying enterprises just need new eyes. The news media has been cutting back for over a decade, thinking that balancing the books was the most important thing. Just like Philippe Dauman thought momentary stock price was everything. You protect the crown jewels, you don't axe them. Selling a piece of Paramount is like denying your child a college education because you don't want to go into hock paying for it, not looking at
the long term. Funny how the techies look long term.
4. The Public
Never has the individual had this much power. No, I'm not talking about YouTube stars, I'm not talking about the self-promoting nitwits using new communication tools to try and establish a brand, I'm talking about you and me. Not only do we reach more people, oftentimes it's the ONLY way to reach people, via word of mouth. Advertising is skipped or ignored. Media is seen as hype. You move mountains by infecting individuals and having them spread the word. Whether it be a new app or a new act. It's a collective force that is gigantic.
5. Beyonce
Not Taylor Swift, because Twizzle Stick is just selling girl power, Beyonce's spread her message far beyond that. And she's got fans and media coverage... Sure, there are more poignant acts. But impact is based on attention, and right now no one has got as much as Beyonce. She's got fans, who listen to what she has to say. She could go political, pro-Hillary, anti-Trump, and she could sway the election. But she grew up in a different era wherein if you alienate one customer you're doing it wrong. Steve Jobs knew that alienation was power. When you stand for something and double-down on it people are drawn to you, especially in today's crazy days.
6. Netflix
Because it's totally today. It's an on demand service for a very low price. Sure, you can subscribe to HBO Go or Showtime On Demand, but they each cost more than a month of Netflix! People hate commercials, they'll pay for quality, and once they pay, they indulge. Not only does Netflix have a ton of content, it's a paragon of creativity on new projects, it's the opposite of network, there are no notes, only a blank check, because the company realizes creators do best when they're allowed to follow their muse to excellence. Remember when people bitched that Netflix went from DVDs by mail to streaming..? True power players are always ahead of the game, they can see the future, and have the confidence to make big bets. He who is living in the present is lost in the future. Can you hear me radio?
LESS POWERFUL THAN YOU THINK
1. Apple
It's about software, not hardware, it's about eyeballs, not eking more from the same posse. The device is a commodity. And upgrade cycles have slowed. Apple could have been the new WeChat, but it refuses to open up iMessage in order to monetize it. Apple may be the world's most valuable company, but it's verging on becoming moribund. Facebook speaks to everybody, Apple can't even get anybody to use Connect.
2. Google
Because we don't search that way on our mobiles, and mobile is only going to become more powerful, it's king. And, Facebook does better in online advertising.
3. Snapchat and Twitter
They've both got the same problem, tons of buzz but not enough users. People have checked out Twitter and have abandoned it and great swaths of the public consider Snapchat too difficult to use. Don't confuse the noise with the footprint. Just because Snapchat gets all the ink...remember when Twitter got all the ink? Twitter is a feature, the company needs to be sold and baked into something bigger.
4. Samsung
See Apple above. It's about software, not hardware.
5. ESPN
We're overpaying for that which we do not use. A company built for an old model, the cable bundle, it can only go down. As for its crown jewel, the NFL...as long as people keep dying from CTE, the sport is time-stamped, just like human-piloted cars. Within two decades, probably more like ten or fifteen years, no one will drive their own car and then they won't even own a car, not only will vehicles drive themselves, you'll call them up on demand, just like you do a show on Netflix. Incomprehensible? Then you cannot foresee the death of the NFL.
UP FOR GRABS
1. Les Moonves
He could end up in control of Viacom, just you wait. Because not only does he know how to garner and keep eyeballs, he makes money doing it. Power is not about the enterprise but the individual. You may hate Les, but he's made in the same mold as his boss Sumner. Look to he or she who created the company, or took it from zero to hero. And give them the reins and let them keep them.
2. Music
Something only grows when it's ahead of the public, when it pushes the envelope. What are the music breakthroughs, festivals? Something that hearkens back to Woodstock, just with better food, more toilets and a higher ticket price? We need less choice, via anointing of a few hits acts, and more bleeding edge. Furthermore, internal distribution wars are only confusing the public. Which service should one subscribe to, what do I need? Damned if most people know. And Apple Music jumped the shark when Trent Reznor trashed YouTube. Sissies cry and complain about the rules. Winners MAKE THE RULES!
3. Finance
Dodd-Frank has already reined in Wall Street, and that's a good thing. The public has turned against the financiers and once you're the enemy of the people, you're in trouble. If you're picking a career, this is not it. Young people believe in the altruistic who build, today's finance is anything but.
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Tuesday 14 June 2016
Henry McCullough
Spotify: https://goo.gl/072FuK
YouTube: https://goo.gl/NTl4aP
He was in the Grease Band.
What would you do if I sang out of tune?
You'd know one of the most famous songs of all time, the second cut on "Sgt. Pepper." An iconic number sung by Ringo, one would think it was uncoverable. But this proved to be untrue.
Underground FM radio was slowly becoming the norm. It was a dividing line more accurate than whether or not your hair was long, did you listen? Late at night? When Alison Steele, the Nightbird, took you on tours of aural fantasy? When Rosko and Zacherle escorted you on adventures? When you tuned in to hear not what was already a hit, but that which was brand new, that titillated you, that made you rush out and buy the LP?
Joe Cocker's take on "With A Little Help From My Friends" was a revelation, a reworking of a classic number into something wholly different. But it never crossed over to the AM dial, most people never heard it, until the "Woodstock" movie blew a hole in the national consciousness, made rock both the soundtrack and the religion of a generation. This was not 2016, when cultural events come and go, that flick played all summer, and one of the highlights was the aforementioned Mr. Cocker, performing "With A Little Help From My Friends."
It was the same arrangement, but in its live iteration more haunting and powerful, the Chris Stainton organ solo set the tone, but it was Henry McCullough's soaring, searing guitar which put it over the top.
There's not a baby boomer alive who doesn't know that riff.
And now Henry McCullough is dead.
Music is not like movies. Where the public walks out during the credits. Rather, listeners comb the details, read about the studios, the managers and the personnel. I've never met Henry McCullough, but I certainly know who he is. Back when musicians were our heroes, before it became about tech and money and steel as opposed to soul. Cash will buy you a comfy bed, but it definitely won't keep you warm at night, whereas a great tune will not only toast your tootsies, it will set your soul free and give you a reason to live.
McCullough did not play on the studio original, although he was a member of the cast.
And speaking of casts, he was the guitarist on "Jesus Christ Superstar," back when it was only a recording, when we did not know that Andrew Lloyd Webber was more Broadway than Brill Building, when limits were being tested every damn day and it was a full time job keeping up.
But Henry did play on the second LP, the eponymous "Joe Cocker!," which is even better than the debut.
And he also graced McCartney's "Live And Let Die" and "Hi, Hi, Hi," as well as playing the solo in "My Love."
He was a soldier in the rock and roll wars. Although we didn't know that it was a fight, that it was a competition, until decades in we found out some people lived and some people didn't, some people had careers and some didn't. Some were famous and some were just working musicians.
Like Henry McCullough.
They just wanted to play. Stardom was a byproduct. Until the Beatles no one expected it to rain down coin, no one expected it to last forever, no one believed half a century later those who were exposed to these tunes would remember every detail, not only the tracks, but who played on them.
We bought our tickets and went to the show, the only place you could experience the magic. There were no cell phones, no selfies, no Snapchat Stories, only memories.
And by time I got to see Joe he was playing with Leon Russell and his band of merrymen known as Mad Dogs & Englishmen.
But just a month before, on the very first night I got stoned, on my 17th birthday, I went with my dearly-departed friend Ronnie to see "Woodstock" in the heart of Boston. This was back when films were platformed, when they didn't come to your own hometown for months, when you made a pilgrimage, when you recited how many times you saw the flick in the theatre, three in this instance, before everything was available at your fingertips.
And there was no advance word, no news, everything was a discovery. And when Joe Cocker took the stage the excitement was palpable, no one knew about his spastic movements, no one knew what the backup musicians looked like.
And then we did.
I'll never forget it.
Or Henry McCullough.
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YouTube: https://goo.gl/NTl4aP
He was in the Grease Band.
What would you do if I sang out of tune?
You'd know one of the most famous songs of all time, the second cut on "Sgt. Pepper." An iconic number sung by Ringo, one would think it was uncoverable. But this proved to be untrue.
Underground FM radio was slowly becoming the norm. It was a dividing line more accurate than whether or not your hair was long, did you listen? Late at night? When Alison Steele, the Nightbird, took you on tours of aural fantasy? When Rosko and Zacherle escorted you on adventures? When you tuned in to hear not what was already a hit, but that which was brand new, that titillated you, that made you rush out and buy the LP?
Joe Cocker's take on "With A Little Help From My Friends" was a revelation, a reworking of a classic number into something wholly different. But it never crossed over to the AM dial, most people never heard it, until the "Woodstock" movie blew a hole in the national consciousness, made rock both the soundtrack and the religion of a generation. This was not 2016, when cultural events come and go, that flick played all summer, and one of the highlights was the aforementioned Mr. Cocker, performing "With A Little Help From My Friends."
It was the same arrangement, but in its live iteration more haunting and powerful, the Chris Stainton organ solo set the tone, but it was Henry McCullough's soaring, searing guitar which put it over the top.
There's not a baby boomer alive who doesn't know that riff.
And now Henry McCullough is dead.
Music is not like movies. Where the public walks out during the credits. Rather, listeners comb the details, read about the studios, the managers and the personnel. I've never met Henry McCullough, but I certainly know who he is. Back when musicians were our heroes, before it became about tech and money and steel as opposed to soul. Cash will buy you a comfy bed, but it definitely won't keep you warm at night, whereas a great tune will not only toast your tootsies, it will set your soul free and give you a reason to live.
McCullough did not play on the studio original, although he was a member of the cast.
And speaking of casts, he was the guitarist on "Jesus Christ Superstar," back when it was only a recording, when we did not know that Andrew Lloyd Webber was more Broadway than Brill Building, when limits were being tested every damn day and it was a full time job keeping up.
But Henry did play on the second LP, the eponymous "Joe Cocker!," which is even better than the debut.
And he also graced McCartney's "Live And Let Die" and "Hi, Hi, Hi," as well as playing the solo in "My Love."
He was a soldier in the rock and roll wars. Although we didn't know that it was a fight, that it was a competition, until decades in we found out some people lived and some people didn't, some people had careers and some didn't. Some were famous and some were just working musicians.
Like Henry McCullough.
They just wanted to play. Stardom was a byproduct. Until the Beatles no one expected it to rain down coin, no one expected it to last forever, no one believed half a century later those who were exposed to these tunes would remember every detail, not only the tracks, but who played on them.
We bought our tickets and went to the show, the only place you could experience the magic. There were no cell phones, no selfies, no Snapchat Stories, only memories.
And by time I got to see Joe he was playing with Leon Russell and his band of merrymen known as Mad Dogs & Englishmen.
But just a month before, on the very first night I got stoned, on my 17th birthday, I went with my dearly-departed friend Ronnie to see "Woodstock" in the heart of Boston. This was back when films were platformed, when they didn't come to your own hometown for months, when you made a pilgrimage, when you recited how many times you saw the flick in the theatre, three in this instance, before everything was available at your fingertips.
And there was no advance word, no news, everything was a discovery. And when Joe Cocker took the stage the excitement was palpable, no one knew about his spastic movements, no one knew what the backup musicians looked like.
And then we did.
I'll never forget it.
Or Henry McCullough.
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Monday 13 June 2016
Bloodline
Spotify link: https://goo.gl/1NMaFB
YouTube link: https://goo.gl/zIbahO
Do you have family secrets? Stuff everybody knows but no one talks about, that you're fearful would doom you if it saw the light of day? Blood is thicker than water and it's amazing how far you can fall by protecting your relations.
TV now requires an investment, it is no longer hit and run, watch what's on, now you ferret out series and devour them, and you don't want to waste ten plus hours on that which is not worthy. But you love reveling in that which titillates, knowing satiation is only a click away.
After finishing "Narcos" last summer and looking for the next project to consume my sister Jill recommended "Bloodline." She's a therapist, she thrives on interpersonal relations. But I thought it was a bit hokey, we gave up for a while, ditching it to the dumper like "Orange Is The New Black." But it got better as it progressed, and we finished it just before the new season began at the end of May.
And seasons on Netflix are radically different from regular TV. They throw the whole thing on your plate like meat in front of a mad dog and you get to decide how you want to consume it, fast or slow. It's a personal adventure, there's no water cooler talk, no media hosannas, but if the series clicks it becomes part of the national fabric, which is so strange in today's here today gone tomorrow society. A Netflix series is akin to a book, it percolates, it gains momentum over time.
And people are just starting to talk about season two of "Bloodline"... Whew!
"And you'll drown before the water lets you in
Yeah, you drown before the water lets you in"
Danny is dead. Will the culpable players be held accountable?
But it's more complicated than that. Turns out the deceased had a son, and an untrustworthy baby mama, in cahoots with John Leguizamo who is so creepy you get hives.
It's all set in the Keys. I only went once, to hook up with Jimmy Buffett. But it's definitely different. Kind of like Vegas with a twist. Hot and far from the metropolis and there are different rules, the ones enforced by the power players, the landed gentry with money, as opposed to the police.
But John is a policeman.
Married to Jacinda Barrett, of "Real World" fame. Who's now in her forties, where did the time go? I remember when she was an ingenue and we hung backstage at a Live show at the Greek when she was dating Chris Hardwick. Chris became king of the nerds, Jacinda became an actress, and Live faded into the darkness. All over MTV and then into the dustbin, their music is a distant memory, it's astounding what is remembered and what is not.
And Sissy Spacek is the matriarch, in a performance worthy of an Emmy. Sans facelift she looks her age and acts it, has wisdom and heart and refuses to be pushed around, like any grandmother, she roots the family.
Which was run by the tyrant Sam Shepard. So many dads are bad-asses. And I don't mean bad as in good. I mean as in upstanding pubic citizens who are hell to live with, you're constantly under their thumb, they give you some rope and then you hang yourself.
And Linda Cardellini, Meg Rayburn, got out of town but it didn't last, because her family pulled her back into its trap. I've experienced this with girlfriends, their fathers won't let them loose, only in this case it's the whole damn family.
And there's another brother, Kevin, a hothead with bad judgment... Life is all about good judgment, not playing by the rules but to your advantage. Talk to a lawyer before you talk to law enforcement. If you think coming clean and telling the truth works you're an amateur the pros laugh at.
And there are a zillion plot twists. Some expected, some not. But every character rings true. They're all striving to get ahead. Not everybody can be a rapper or a YouTube star, most are just trying to make it work in their own hometown, where everybody knows their name and they've been pigeonholed.
And certain episodes of season two are almost too anxiety-provoking to watch. That's what sun and rain and blackness will do for you.
And music.
That's right, there's a theme song, which plays only briefly, at the advent of each episode. I never fast-forward through it, it sets the tone.
"The young man goes out looking for the diamond in the sea
The old man rows his boat to shore and falls with twisted knees"
You're either going up or down. And oftentimes you don't even know in which direction you're heading.
Once upon a time theme songs became number ones. Not only "Friends," but Mike Post instrumentals. But today, without cultural coherence and with radio risk a thing of the past, only anointed cuts in pop formats have a chance. But in an alternative universe "The Water Lets You In" would run up the chart, because it's haunting, it's a rhythmic loop that entrances you immediately, and isn't that the definition of a hit?
Sure, it's reminiscent of Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive," but different enough that a lawsuit is out of the question. And "Wanted Dead Or Alive" has persisted, decades later it still gets airplay, it's the anthem of the "Deadliest Catch."
But "The Water Lets You In" is brand new.
"Bloodline" is a twenty plus hour commitment. Most won't take the plunge, most won't follow through. But those who do...
When you see me mention it and my eyes will brighten, they're fictional characters but I'll want to go deep with you. The show is about life...
And it's life only.
P.S. The subtle, minimalist, good guy who's really bad performance of Beau Bridges is the best on screen, if he doesn't get an Emmy there's no justice. And Chloe Sevigny finally rings true, you believe she is Chelsea O'Bannon, and if you ran into Jamie McShane in real life you'd be stunned if he wasn't the scumbag he portrays.
P.P.S. "I think the thing I wanted most was just never meant to be." Ain't that the truth, growing up is making peace with the fact you're never going to grab the brass ring. It's only the weak who check out early, not only do the strong survive, they see that ultimately no one wins, victories are hollow, and it's all about the highs along the way.
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YouTube link: https://goo.gl/zIbahO
Do you have family secrets? Stuff everybody knows but no one talks about, that you're fearful would doom you if it saw the light of day? Blood is thicker than water and it's amazing how far you can fall by protecting your relations.
TV now requires an investment, it is no longer hit and run, watch what's on, now you ferret out series and devour them, and you don't want to waste ten plus hours on that which is not worthy. But you love reveling in that which titillates, knowing satiation is only a click away.
After finishing "Narcos" last summer and looking for the next project to consume my sister Jill recommended "Bloodline." She's a therapist, she thrives on interpersonal relations. But I thought it was a bit hokey, we gave up for a while, ditching it to the dumper like "Orange Is The New Black." But it got better as it progressed, and we finished it just before the new season began at the end of May.
And seasons on Netflix are radically different from regular TV. They throw the whole thing on your plate like meat in front of a mad dog and you get to decide how you want to consume it, fast or slow. It's a personal adventure, there's no water cooler talk, no media hosannas, but if the series clicks it becomes part of the national fabric, which is so strange in today's here today gone tomorrow society. A Netflix series is akin to a book, it percolates, it gains momentum over time.
And people are just starting to talk about season two of "Bloodline"... Whew!
"And you'll drown before the water lets you in
Yeah, you drown before the water lets you in"
Danny is dead. Will the culpable players be held accountable?
But it's more complicated than that. Turns out the deceased had a son, and an untrustworthy baby mama, in cahoots with John Leguizamo who is so creepy you get hives.
It's all set in the Keys. I only went once, to hook up with Jimmy Buffett. But it's definitely different. Kind of like Vegas with a twist. Hot and far from the metropolis and there are different rules, the ones enforced by the power players, the landed gentry with money, as opposed to the police.
But John is a policeman.
Married to Jacinda Barrett, of "Real World" fame. Who's now in her forties, where did the time go? I remember when she was an ingenue and we hung backstage at a Live show at the Greek when she was dating Chris Hardwick. Chris became king of the nerds, Jacinda became an actress, and Live faded into the darkness. All over MTV and then into the dustbin, their music is a distant memory, it's astounding what is remembered and what is not.
And Sissy Spacek is the matriarch, in a performance worthy of an Emmy. Sans facelift she looks her age and acts it, has wisdom and heart and refuses to be pushed around, like any grandmother, she roots the family.
Which was run by the tyrant Sam Shepard. So many dads are bad-asses. And I don't mean bad as in good. I mean as in upstanding pubic citizens who are hell to live with, you're constantly under their thumb, they give you some rope and then you hang yourself.
And Linda Cardellini, Meg Rayburn, got out of town but it didn't last, because her family pulled her back into its trap. I've experienced this with girlfriends, their fathers won't let them loose, only in this case it's the whole damn family.
And there's another brother, Kevin, a hothead with bad judgment... Life is all about good judgment, not playing by the rules but to your advantage. Talk to a lawyer before you talk to law enforcement. If you think coming clean and telling the truth works you're an amateur the pros laugh at.
And there are a zillion plot twists. Some expected, some not. But every character rings true. They're all striving to get ahead. Not everybody can be a rapper or a YouTube star, most are just trying to make it work in their own hometown, where everybody knows their name and they've been pigeonholed.
And certain episodes of season two are almost too anxiety-provoking to watch. That's what sun and rain and blackness will do for you.
And music.
That's right, there's a theme song, which plays only briefly, at the advent of each episode. I never fast-forward through it, it sets the tone.
"The young man goes out looking for the diamond in the sea
The old man rows his boat to shore and falls with twisted knees"
You're either going up or down. And oftentimes you don't even know in which direction you're heading.
Once upon a time theme songs became number ones. Not only "Friends," but Mike Post instrumentals. But today, without cultural coherence and with radio risk a thing of the past, only anointed cuts in pop formats have a chance. But in an alternative universe "The Water Lets You In" would run up the chart, because it's haunting, it's a rhythmic loop that entrances you immediately, and isn't that the definition of a hit?
Sure, it's reminiscent of Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive," but different enough that a lawsuit is out of the question. And "Wanted Dead Or Alive" has persisted, decades later it still gets airplay, it's the anthem of the "Deadliest Catch."
But "The Water Lets You In" is brand new.
"Bloodline" is a twenty plus hour commitment. Most won't take the plunge, most won't follow through. But those who do...
When you see me mention it and my eyes will brighten, they're fictional characters but I'll want to go deep with you. The show is about life...
And it's life only.
P.S. The subtle, minimalist, good guy who's really bad performance of Beau Bridges is the best on screen, if he doesn't get an Emmy there's no justice. And Chloe Sevigny finally rings true, you believe she is Chelsea O'Bannon, and if you ran into Jamie McShane in real life you'd be stunned if he wasn't the scumbag he portrays.
P.P.S. "I think the thing I wanted most was just never meant to be." Ain't that the truth, growing up is making peace with the fact you're never going to grab the brass ring. It's only the weak who check out early, not only do the strong survive, they see that ultimately no one wins, victories are hollow, and it's all about the highs along the way.
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WWDC
They promised us one more thing, and all we got were emojis.
It was like listening to a new album from a faded rock star, all style and no substance.
This is about leadership.
And tech.
And the need for us to have something or someone to believe in.
Despite the glorification of the self, the promotion of one's personality and penumbra for effect, the truth is we need those above us, they inspire us with their excellence, they give us something to live for.
And that is not Tim Cook and his band of nerds.
A plethora of people it was. Of both sexes and more than one color. It was a veritable rainbow coalition, akin to some Up With People, appeal to everybody, make me puke presentation.
We're looking for bleeding edge, presented with charisma, and there was none of that here.
It's now Tim Cook's company. He takes the stage and you wince. Not this boring old fart again. The supply chain supplicant who inherited the operation...I'd rather hear from Janice in accounting. And if you don't catch that John Oliver reference you're missing out on something funny and dangerous, that makes you think, as opposed to what we got here today.
I returned my Watch, I couldn't see it. And now they promote it as a health service. That's the breakthrough app? Laudable, but most people are just not interested. It's like promoting a band with fans that most of us just don't care about. Can you write a hit single already?
As for Eddy Cue, he's a salesman. A great antidote to Tim Cook, but you scratch the surface and find no genius. It's like listening to a a Senior Vice President at some sales conference in Vegas, NEXT!
That's where Craig Federighi started, he's the last of the Jobs survivors. And he got the most airtime today, and he made the most of it. He cracked jokes, he evidenced a personality, but what he was selling were tweaks, nudges, there were no breakthroughs in evidence.
Tech has hit a wall. MySpace replaced Friendster but Facebook stole the eyeballs and it appears we're at the end of the road. Nothing's gonna break the monopoly. We've become accustomed in the past two decades to a wiping clean of the slate every couple of years, we believed revolution was just around the corner, it was thrilling to watch and be a part of, but now... It's a few companies honing their offerings and consolidating power.
I could bore you with the offerings, but...
Let's see, Siri has come to the Mac!
A service I never use because she constantly gets it wrong.
I can draw responses on my iPhone. No, get this, I can draw responses on my WATCH! And if you think that's gonna work well you've got Lilliputian fingers and are a graduate of Art Center.
I was hoping for a new MacBook Pro, mine's aged, I want to replace it, but there were no hardware offerings in sight. Then again, so many of the new features will only work with the latest iteration of devices. Pushing on your phone to bring up options. You do have a 6s, right?
Wrong.
And now that people actually have to pay for the devices, now that contracts are about service as opposed to hardware, most people believe their mobile is good enough, the upgrade cycle has stalled.
But you're missing out on features!
But most of the features they demonstrated today I wasn't interested in and will never use.
I can create invisible ink! I can have my emojis automatically suggested! Who gives a crap. No, let me take that back, the mobile and texting rule communication, these features will be utilized, but they will not push the envelope.
As for music, the vaunted relaunch... One of the worst demos of all time, coherence was left back in Cupertino. And you know the company's screwed when they still insist on combining files and streams. When they say downloads, do they mean tracks I've purchased or what I've synched via the $10 a month service? Damned if I know. But at least it wasn't Jimmy Iovine giving the demo, but a hip young lady who evidenced that music was cool, something different, and had no place at this geekfest.
The geeks don't want no freaks.
And the freaks have been too busy trying to suck up and sell out to the geeks.
Time to go your separate way. Time to focus on creativity, making it about testing limits as opposed to money. One hit single can rain down more cash than most tech startups. But you've got to have the inspiration and the chops and...
The pendulum is swinging back. The artists are going to regain control. What are you gonna say?
P.S. The highlight was the Swift demo, proffered by a woman who lived for physics who had a bit of subtle attitude, a flash of the old Jobs crass. It was too long and covered too much but you got a window into what could be done, it made you want to enter the coding world.
P.P.S. Enough with the self-congratulatory videos. We get it, you're Apple, why not give us one more thing that will not only thrill us, but raise your stock price?
P.P.P.S. I watched, but I didn't feel involved, a member of the tribe. The attendees looked like zombies who'd drunk the kool-aid. And I love to drink the sugary soft stuff too, but you've got to get me with your head and heart, from the very start, and keep titillating me along the way, and today I felt no connection.
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It was like listening to a new album from a faded rock star, all style and no substance.
This is about leadership.
And tech.
And the need for us to have something or someone to believe in.
Despite the glorification of the self, the promotion of one's personality and penumbra for effect, the truth is we need those above us, they inspire us with their excellence, they give us something to live for.
And that is not Tim Cook and his band of nerds.
A plethora of people it was. Of both sexes and more than one color. It was a veritable rainbow coalition, akin to some Up With People, appeal to everybody, make me puke presentation.
We're looking for bleeding edge, presented with charisma, and there was none of that here.
It's now Tim Cook's company. He takes the stage and you wince. Not this boring old fart again. The supply chain supplicant who inherited the operation...I'd rather hear from Janice in accounting. And if you don't catch that John Oliver reference you're missing out on something funny and dangerous, that makes you think, as opposed to what we got here today.
I returned my Watch, I couldn't see it. And now they promote it as a health service. That's the breakthrough app? Laudable, but most people are just not interested. It's like promoting a band with fans that most of us just don't care about. Can you write a hit single already?
As for Eddy Cue, he's a salesman. A great antidote to Tim Cook, but you scratch the surface and find no genius. It's like listening to a a Senior Vice President at some sales conference in Vegas, NEXT!
That's where Craig Federighi started, he's the last of the Jobs survivors. And he got the most airtime today, and he made the most of it. He cracked jokes, he evidenced a personality, but what he was selling were tweaks, nudges, there were no breakthroughs in evidence.
Tech has hit a wall. MySpace replaced Friendster but Facebook stole the eyeballs and it appears we're at the end of the road. Nothing's gonna break the monopoly. We've become accustomed in the past two decades to a wiping clean of the slate every couple of years, we believed revolution was just around the corner, it was thrilling to watch and be a part of, but now... It's a few companies honing their offerings and consolidating power.
I could bore you with the offerings, but...
Let's see, Siri has come to the Mac!
A service I never use because she constantly gets it wrong.
I can draw responses on my iPhone. No, get this, I can draw responses on my WATCH! And if you think that's gonna work well you've got Lilliputian fingers and are a graduate of Art Center.
I was hoping for a new MacBook Pro, mine's aged, I want to replace it, but there were no hardware offerings in sight. Then again, so many of the new features will only work with the latest iteration of devices. Pushing on your phone to bring up options. You do have a 6s, right?
Wrong.
And now that people actually have to pay for the devices, now that contracts are about service as opposed to hardware, most people believe their mobile is good enough, the upgrade cycle has stalled.
But you're missing out on features!
But most of the features they demonstrated today I wasn't interested in and will never use.
I can create invisible ink! I can have my emojis automatically suggested! Who gives a crap. No, let me take that back, the mobile and texting rule communication, these features will be utilized, but they will not push the envelope.
As for music, the vaunted relaunch... One of the worst demos of all time, coherence was left back in Cupertino. And you know the company's screwed when they still insist on combining files and streams. When they say downloads, do they mean tracks I've purchased or what I've synched via the $10 a month service? Damned if I know. But at least it wasn't Jimmy Iovine giving the demo, but a hip young lady who evidenced that music was cool, something different, and had no place at this geekfest.
The geeks don't want no freaks.
And the freaks have been too busy trying to suck up and sell out to the geeks.
Time to go your separate way. Time to focus on creativity, making it about testing limits as opposed to money. One hit single can rain down more cash than most tech startups. But you've got to have the inspiration and the chops and...
The pendulum is swinging back. The artists are going to regain control. What are you gonna say?
P.S. The highlight was the Swift demo, proffered by a woman who lived for physics who had a bit of subtle attitude, a flash of the old Jobs crass. It was too long and covered too much but you got a window into what could be done, it made you want to enter the coding world.
P.P.S. Enough with the self-congratulatory videos. We get it, you're Apple, why not give us one more thing that will not only thrill us, but raise your stock price?
P.P.P.S. I watched, but I didn't feel involved, a member of the tribe. The attendees looked like zombies who'd drunk the kool-aid. And I love to drink the sugary soft stuff too, but you've got to get me with your head and heart, from the very start, and keep titillating me along the way, and today I felt no connection.
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Sunday 12 June 2016
Ticketing
We're leaving eight billion dollars on the table!
You've got to listen to Michael Rapino on Peter Kafka's podcast. Or maybe not, you haven't got that much time and don't care but then you can't get a ticket to the show and need a scapegoat and denigrate Ticketmaster and illustrate your lack of knowledge and contribute to the problem and there you have America in a nutshell...a land overloaded with information where everyone complains and points to inaccurate facts.
Within said podcast Rapino delineates Live Nation's complete business model, tells more about the company's vision than you can get by reading a lifetime of Ben Sisario articles or "Rolling Stone" pieces. This is the music business education you're yearning for. And it's definitely business, if you want creativity look to the labels, then again, the labels aren't sure what they're looking for, bunkered down in search of cash they're pursuing commercialism, and that's why the listener is unsatisfied. As for those doing it for themselves, testing limits... It's hard to get attention, hell, I've never even seen anybody write about the above podcast or email or tweet about it, and Rapino is one of the two most powerful people in the music business!
The $8 billion figure is the amount by which we underprice tickets.
But let's go back a step. If Drake or Beyonce play Madison Square Garden, what are the odds you can get tickets anyway? Superstar acts might tour every three or four years, millions want tickets, not everybody can go. Just because you can tweet and pontificate on Facebook that does not mean you can get inside the building. Which flummoxes you, that you have access on Ticketmaster but you can't conclude the transaction.
Because of the bots.
But this is not a technological problem, no, this is all about economics!
Which abhor a vacuum. It's no different from drugs. The government reduces Oxy availability and the heroin dealers see an opportunity and move in. That's what happened, that's why everybody's o.d.'ing, heroin is not only cheaper, it's a more available fix.
So get off your highfalutin' college education pedestal and see when an entire industry underprices its inventory there will be those willing to move in and skim the profits. You can't put billions up for grabs and expect those who are not already rich, or those who already are, the hackers and the ticket scalpers respectively, to not move in and take it.
Of course there's subterfuge in the offering. When tickets finally go on sale they may be less than a tenth of total inventory. Pre-sales and holdbacks making up the majority. Get your Amex or Citi card, or both, join the fan club, do your best to be an insider, there are rewards for being a regular customer as opposed to buying once a year... But the real problem is we're underpricing our tickets.
What's the value of a front row Beyonce ticket? Four hundred? A grand or fifteen hundred in NYC? That's what they end up going for, either through scalpers or platinum procedures. Yes, platinum, it's a way for the industry to capture that income without looking bad. You give a good seat and a laminate and maybe a poster or a meet and greet and somehow that rationalizes a ducat price far in excess of face value. But the truth is people just want the seats, close, and that's what they're worth.
And then you have Lin-Manuel Miranda bloviating about bots in the "New York Times." We haven't even been able to eradicate e-mail spam, what are the odds we can mess with the bots? Low.
But give "Hamilton" credit, they just jacked up the price for good seats to $849. Don't get your knickers in a twist, that's what they go for anyway, but not via the primary sale, but scalpers.
Or, you can enter a lottery for a cheap seat, wherein victors get in for just ten bucks. But the odds of winning are about as good as those in the California Lottery.
But "Hamilton" has it half right. The rich have unlimited bucks, they're gonna pay anyway, why not capture that income?
And the poor are priced out, so give them hope, give them a small chance.
But the truth is in order to make this work, to get rid of the bots, acts have to charge with the tickets are worth. That's what the Stones do, that's why you can always get a ticket.
But the wimps paying fealty to their fans while they make backroom deals to scalp their own tickets are worried about the backlash. Screw that, the public already knows what tickets are worth, that's why StubHub and the scalpers are so profitable! And how great is it we work in an industry where even the poor will overpay for what they truly desire, yes, people will scrimp and save and blow the piggy bank for the show they want to see. And you can always get a ticket at an exalted price, just Google, the offers come right up.
So...
Let's come out from under the covers, let's stop blaming the bots.
Either...
Price the tickets at what they're worth.
Or...
Employ a paperless or lottery system to ensure that the great unwashed can get in.
Expect outsiders to bitch, they always bitch, you've got to ignore them.
But if you don't go paperless, if you don't tie the ticket to the initial buyer, you're gonna discover...
The rich people are gonna get most of the good seats.
And there you have America. You might be priced out of "Hamilton" at $849 a ticket, but to a corporate denizen, someone who landed in Teterboro, that's just the cost of doing business, their only decision is whether they want to go or not.
So you can't get a ticket because there aren't enough, they aren't priced properly and the rich scoop up the good ones.
We can start by pricing our shows properly. As Rapino says, we've got to raise the price to sit up close and personal and lower it to sit in the upper bowl.
But that's never been the case. A bad seat costs almost as much as a good one.
But now, more than ever, people want to sit up close.
I don't expect rapid change. Acts only have one career, and frequently it's very brief. But it's the acts' responsibility to fix this problem. And railing at scalpers picking up margins like candy ain't gonna do it. Who'll follow the Stones into flex pricing? Who'll follow Metallica into paperless? What will it take to make this behemoth industry move forward?
I'd say there's no chance, then again, this political season has illustrated the public knows the truth and is ready for change.
We're ready for change in the ticketing business.
Michael Rapino podcast: http://goo.gl/6iu6XN
Lin-Manuel Miranda, "Stop the Bots From Killing Broadway": http://goo.gl/wvnnCH
"Hamilton Raises Ticket Prices: The Best Seats Will Now Cost $849": http://goo.gl/cu0y6U
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You've got to listen to Michael Rapino on Peter Kafka's podcast. Or maybe not, you haven't got that much time and don't care but then you can't get a ticket to the show and need a scapegoat and denigrate Ticketmaster and illustrate your lack of knowledge and contribute to the problem and there you have America in a nutshell...a land overloaded with information where everyone complains and points to inaccurate facts.
Within said podcast Rapino delineates Live Nation's complete business model, tells more about the company's vision than you can get by reading a lifetime of Ben Sisario articles or "Rolling Stone" pieces. This is the music business education you're yearning for. And it's definitely business, if you want creativity look to the labels, then again, the labels aren't sure what they're looking for, bunkered down in search of cash they're pursuing commercialism, and that's why the listener is unsatisfied. As for those doing it for themselves, testing limits... It's hard to get attention, hell, I've never even seen anybody write about the above podcast or email or tweet about it, and Rapino is one of the two most powerful people in the music business!
The $8 billion figure is the amount by which we underprice tickets.
But let's go back a step. If Drake or Beyonce play Madison Square Garden, what are the odds you can get tickets anyway? Superstar acts might tour every three or four years, millions want tickets, not everybody can go. Just because you can tweet and pontificate on Facebook that does not mean you can get inside the building. Which flummoxes you, that you have access on Ticketmaster but you can't conclude the transaction.
Because of the bots.
But this is not a technological problem, no, this is all about economics!
Which abhor a vacuum. It's no different from drugs. The government reduces Oxy availability and the heroin dealers see an opportunity and move in. That's what happened, that's why everybody's o.d.'ing, heroin is not only cheaper, it's a more available fix.
So get off your highfalutin' college education pedestal and see when an entire industry underprices its inventory there will be those willing to move in and skim the profits. You can't put billions up for grabs and expect those who are not already rich, or those who already are, the hackers and the ticket scalpers respectively, to not move in and take it.
Of course there's subterfuge in the offering. When tickets finally go on sale they may be less than a tenth of total inventory. Pre-sales and holdbacks making up the majority. Get your Amex or Citi card, or both, join the fan club, do your best to be an insider, there are rewards for being a regular customer as opposed to buying once a year... But the real problem is we're underpricing our tickets.
What's the value of a front row Beyonce ticket? Four hundred? A grand or fifteen hundred in NYC? That's what they end up going for, either through scalpers or platinum procedures. Yes, platinum, it's a way for the industry to capture that income without looking bad. You give a good seat and a laminate and maybe a poster or a meet and greet and somehow that rationalizes a ducat price far in excess of face value. But the truth is people just want the seats, close, and that's what they're worth.
And then you have Lin-Manuel Miranda bloviating about bots in the "New York Times." We haven't even been able to eradicate e-mail spam, what are the odds we can mess with the bots? Low.
But give "Hamilton" credit, they just jacked up the price for good seats to $849. Don't get your knickers in a twist, that's what they go for anyway, but not via the primary sale, but scalpers.
Or, you can enter a lottery for a cheap seat, wherein victors get in for just ten bucks. But the odds of winning are about as good as those in the California Lottery.
But "Hamilton" has it half right. The rich have unlimited bucks, they're gonna pay anyway, why not capture that income?
And the poor are priced out, so give them hope, give them a small chance.
But the truth is in order to make this work, to get rid of the bots, acts have to charge with the tickets are worth. That's what the Stones do, that's why you can always get a ticket.
But the wimps paying fealty to their fans while they make backroom deals to scalp their own tickets are worried about the backlash. Screw that, the public already knows what tickets are worth, that's why StubHub and the scalpers are so profitable! And how great is it we work in an industry where even the poor will overpay for what they truly desire, yes, people will scrimp and save and blow the piggy bank for the show they want to see. And you can always get a ticket at an exalted price, just Google, the offers come right up.
So...
Let's come out from under the covers, let's stop blaming the bots.
Either...
Price the tickets at what they're worth.
Or...
Employ a paperless or lottery system to ensure that the great unwashed can get in.
Expect outsiders to bitch, they always bitch, you've got to ignore them.
But if you don't go paperless, if you don't tie the ticket to the initial buyer, you're gonna discover...
The rich people are gonna get most of the good seats.
And there you have America. You might be priced out of "Hamilton" at $849 a ticket, but to a corporate denizen, someone who landed in Teterboro, that's just the cost of doing business, their only decision is whether they want to go or not.
So you can't get a ticket because there aren't enough, they aren't priced properly and the rich scoop up the good ones.
We can start by pricing our shows properly. As Rapino says, we've got to raise the price to sit up close and personal and lower it to sit in the upper bowl.
But that's never been the case. A bad seat costs almost as much as a good one.
But now, more than ever, people want to sit up close.
I don't expect rapid change. Acts only have one career, and frequently it's very brief. But it's the acts' responsibility to fix this problem. And railing at scalpers picking up margins like candy ain't gonna do it. Who'll follow the Stones into flex pricing? Who'll follow Metallica into paperless? What will it take to make this behemoth industry move forward?
I'd say there's no chance, then again, this political season has illustrated the public knows the truth and is ready for change.
We're ready for change in the ticketing business.
Michael Rapino podcast: http://goo.gl/6iu6XN
Lin-Manuel Miranda, "Stop the Bots From Killing Broadway": http://goo.gl/wvnnCH
"Hamilton Raises Ticket Prices: The Best Seats Will Now Cost $849": http://goo.gl/cu0y6U
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